by Anny at 30 Jun 2004, 20:19 The 6 shadow like objects dropped out of hyperspace and split into 2 groups. Gracefully both groups formed arrowhead formations like gymnasts following strict, well-rehearsed routines. After the manoeuvre was complete the six shadows plotted their course and increased speed eventually bursting into hyperspace once more.
Chapter One
The heavy clank of machinery echoed throughout the desolate warehouse, only a small section of the whole building was the one emitting that noise. A large mechanical arm moved over a pile of boxes, lowered its claw and tightly grasped one of the solid, metal cubes. The arm manoeuvred with the box expertly, swinging the box round it placed it in the cargo hold of a vessel.
“Just 3 more to go, and we’re out of here†Came a deep, rough voice to the mechanical arm’s controller and the other men that stood in the warehouse, aiding with moving the boxes into the cargo hold. The voice came from someone standing atop a balcony in the warehouse.
“Right you are boss†Came the reply of the controller. After depositing the first crate, the arm repeated the process with the 2 remaining boxes. Once the last few boxes had been loaded into the back of the vessel. The arm suddenly became motionless and the small buzzing noise that came from it ceased. The cabin door swung open and another figure appeared, this figure was clad in casual, some would call it scruffy, clothes and carried a knife, sheathed in the big black boots the his feet occupied. He was unshaven and rather bulky. He stepped down from the cabin and spoke,
“Right boys, that’s all of ’em.†Then turning to the apparent leader he asked,
“Are we getting outta’ here now boss?â€
The Boss, as he had just been referred to as, turned to address the man and in answer to his question said,
“Yes, yes we are†Then raising his voice so all the others could hear he added, “Alright boys, lets get this stuff outta’ here!â€
The one that was dishing out the orders appeared to be a Bothan of race and was seemingly better dressed than the rest of the people there. He observed the ants below him, scurrying around, and getting ready to move out. The people down there were all male, and the majority Bothan, out of the 6 people below him, four were Bothan, one Weequay and one Human.
“Don’t you just love being able to relax?†he thought to himself chuckling.
One of the Bothans on the floor, made his way over to a control panel, he punched in a few of the keys and the huge doors of the warehouse began to rise slowly. Warm evening air seeped in, yet it was almost dark. After the door had risen about halfway of the maximum amount it could, it began clear what was out there. Four men, three more Bothans, and another Human, stood proudly next to what appeared to be two Firespray patrol ships. The Firespray’s had a symbol tattooed on the side of them. The symbol appeared to be a flaming dragonhead, beautifully drawn and painted, It appeared to be the work of a professional. Strangely enough this symbol had also been painted on the side of the other vessel inside the warehouse. That vessel could be identified as a YT-2000, fairly spacious and average for speed. Another thing that could be easily picked up on was that every single person there bore the same symbol somewhere on themselves. Whether it was on their clothes or tattooed on their body, the message was clear: These guys were serious.
The grin on the leaders face widened, as the men and vessels came fully into view, he held up his arms in a welcoming manner and said,
“The horses are here to pull my chariot.†A short burst of laughter erupted throughout the warehouse. After a short pause to compose themselves, the boss and his companions grabbed the things they had brought with them, weapons, armour etc. and boarded the vessels,
“Its gonna be a bit cramped in here, but you’re just gonna’ have to deal with it. You know what they say, no pain, no gain.†The boss announced.
The vessels took off and exited the planet’s atmosphere, one Firespray took point while the other guarded the YT-2000 from behind. The boss was sat inside the cockpit of the YT-2000, he grabbed a Comm-link system, which seemed to link all three vessels together and said,
“Plot the course†The pilot of the YT-2000. A Weequay, known as Il’Yuw punched in a few numbers and letter on a keypad and returned to his piloting. The other pilots in the Firespray’s did the same.
“Done sirâ€,
“Roger thatâ€,
“As you wished†were the replies of the three pilots.
Sat in the back of the YT-2000, accompanied by the boxes, were three men, two were Bothan and one Human. The two Bothans looked reasonably similar, they both wore the same clothes and had the dragonhead tattooed on their right arm. The human had a larger dragonhead symbol on his shirt, the dragonhead stood out against the white background brilliantly. All the men in the back carried Blastech DL-17’s in a holster by their side. This gang or mob or whatever they like to be known, seemed quite organised, probably a force to be reckoned with.
Suddenly, a hole in space appeared on the left flank of the convoy. Out of it came three Z-95 headhunters, in a tightly packed arrowhead formation. They soared out in front of the convoy and turned to face it. Then at the rear of the convoy, another three Z-95’s appeared, flying in the same tightly packed formation as their counter-parts did before them. They took up positions behind the vessels and went weapons hot. Ready to make their move. The YT-2000 responded by preparing their weapons also, then they hailed the Z-95’s,
“Mr. Shrewden, so glad you could make our acquaintance. What business do you have coming here?â€
A quite posh, yet mocking voice was heard sent a reply back,
“I am here to deal with you, scum. I know you are transporting illegal goods. Now you have two choices; you can either try and fight your way out of this one, but I feel I should warn you. I have some of the best pilots in the galaxy fighting with me, and we are well drilled. I really don’t think your band of rag-tag lawbreakers, could be much of a match for us. Or you could surrender to us, stand down and we will accompany you to the nearest planet. Where we can inspect your cargo and then decide what we are going to do then.â€
There was a long pause, then a message was sent back to the Z-95,
“Inspect this!â€
At the moment the message was sent, the quad laser cannons of the YT-2000 opened up, targeting one of the Z-95’s. A beam of laser shot through space and hit its mark, the shields of the Z-95 managed to hold it back, but were now severely damaged and the pilot and co-pilot were shaken up pretty bad.
When the first shot was fired, all hell broke loose. In the cockpits of the Z-95s commands were screamed at the pilots. The perfectly drilled and disciplined squadron knew exactly what to do. The headhunters split up the squadrons, so every ship was on its own. The badly damaged Z-95 retreated a little, staying out of the combat for a moment.
In they cockpit’s of the YT-2000 and the two Firespray’s was utter madness, the pilots were screaming at the gunners, the Boss shouting orders over the Comm-link and the guy’s in the back of the vessels distraught and wondering what to do. After a lot of shouting and bawling by the boss, order was finally returned and he was able to continue. He instructed the two Firespray’s to attempt to hold off the attackers as long as possible, so the YT-2000 could try and get out of there.
The Z-95’s moved into positions so the whole group on enemy ships was surrounded, then they made their move. The ship that was damaged attempted to lay down a base of fire, they opened up weapons at the closest of the Firespray’s, first with its laser cannons, the shields that protected the Firespray managed to hold out against it. Then it fired a missile from its concussion missile launcher. The missile soared across space, and hit its mark with deadly accuracy. Penetrating the shields and severely damaging the hull.
Inside of the wounded Firespray’s cockpit, the co-pilot’s body was limp and motionless, when the vessel had been hit with the missile, his head had been thrown into the control panel in front of him. Causing him major head damage. Bare wires buzzed and sparks flew everywhere. The thick blanket of smoke that occupied the cockpit made visibility increasingly difficult for the pilot, he had to rely on the radar for guidance.
The five other Z-95’s moved in for the kill, two on each Firespray and one to aggravate the YT-2000 for now, the top priority was to take the escorts out first, then they could concentrate on bringing down the boss’ vessel. The headhunters attacked simultaneously, strafing the Firesprays with laser fire. For the already badly damaged Firespray, this meant more trouble, the shots just increased the damage already done to the hull, which now meant, a well placed shot could bring it down.
The other Firespray returned fire as the Z-95’s flew overhead, firing its laser cannon it glanced one on the rear causing minimal damage. The YT-2000 was desperately trying to shake off the headhunter that was on its tail, although the Z-95 that was following it was not firing upon it, but it still panicked the pilot slightly, which affected his ability to steer the vessel.
“Get us out of here now!†The boss screamed at the pilot. “Jump to hyperspace!†he added in the same tone of voice.
“I-I’m trying sir, I’m trying†Was the pilots shaky voiced reply.
After a lot of frantic button bashing, the pilot managed to get the ship ready to go into hyperspace,
“Alpha one and two, help Beta three, don’t lose him!†Came the orders from the leading Z-95 to the one that was following.
“Aye sir.†Was the reply as two ships pulled away from the Firesprays and made their way over to the YT-2000. The boss’ ship jumped into warp, quickly followed by the Z-95’s. Now the hunt was on.
Back at the battle with the Firespray’s, the odds were a little more even now, it was now only 3 on 2. The shaken-up Z-95 had returned and was already getting stuck in. Laser was fired without stopping to aim, it was like manoeuvring through an asteroid field, desperately trying to dodge the rocks. Laser cannons were still pounding the weakened hull of the Firespray. It was trying to fight back, but the pilot lacked the skill and experience needed to be able to do anything. He would just have to pray for the best.
The other Firespray seemed to be coping quite well against the headhunters that were hot on it. It had caused slight damage to both of them, and still had a good percentage of shields left. The Z-95’s that stalked it prepared to go in for another run, when suddenly, out of no-where a missile came hurtling for one of them,
“LOOK OUT BENSON!†One pilot screamed to another,
But the warning wasn’t quick enough, the missile hit Benson’s vessel with full force, penetrating its hull and causing a huge explosion. The ship tore into pieces, and those pieces were scattered through space. Benson, was dead.
“Noooo!†Cried the pilot that had tried to warn him, this moment of sorrow soon turned to one of anger and he turned his sights onto the Firespray,
“This one’s for you buddy†He said as he increased speed and headed on a collision course with it. Laser’s firing, he gained on the helpless Firespray, The pilot was shocked, he may have a few tricks up his sleeve, but nothing could have prepared him for what he about to face. The headhunter continued to gain on the Firespray until he was about a hundred yards away from him. At this point, a missile was released, and a sharp pull up was initiated. Another explosion occurred, the pieces of shrapnel littered the area, and the fire that had been created attempted to engulf everything within a mile radius. The pilot inside the headhunter was relying on all his strength to get his vessel away from the explosion. Sweat poured from him as he pulled the control stick backwards, desperately struggling to get out of there.
The other Firespray had been disabled and surrendered shortly after it’s engines went dead and power shut off.
“Alpha one give me a report on that scumbag. Do you still have him in your sites?†The leader asked.
“….†No reply,
“Alpha one, I repeat. Do you still have the vessel in your sights?â€
“I hate to say it but, we lost ‘im sirâ€
“Damn! That slippery little snake, he always manages to get away. But not next, time oh no, next time, he’s mine.â€
End Of Chapter 1
Chapter Two
The Z-95’s towed the heavily damaged Firespray to the nearest planet and prepared to board it.
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed throughout the ship, as the seconds passed the sound got louder. The repetitive, ‘clank, clank, clank’ of metal soles colliding with metal flooring was amplified by the empty corridors and carried to every place of the vessel. Now it became clear that it wasn’t just the sound of one pair of feet, it was the sound of several.
Vo’Scil sat nervously, slumped against the side of his damaged cockpit, his co-pilot and other companion both lay, not breathing, not moving, dead. He was alone and wounded in his right arm. As the footsteps came closer, his heart started to pound against his chest and his breathing became heavier. He knew something bad was about to happen. His left arm reached down and unbuttoned his weapon pouch, he carefully slid his DL-17 from the holster and raised it. Holding it firmly between his chin and chest, he proceeded to his shirt pocket and produced an ammo clip. After a lot of struggling, he managed to replace the clip in his weapon and arm it. He held the blaster firmly in his good-arm and brought his knee up so he could rest the weapon on it. He sat waiting, for the footsteps to reach him. Then, only destiny would decide the outcome.
He knew the footsteps were only a few hundred meters away now, his left arm shook with nerves. As he was trying to compose himself he could hear whispers coming from just outside the cockpit. Then he heard a voice shout,
“Surrender, and come out with your hands up. You are outnumbered and outgunned, there is no other option. You are docked to our ship, come out the moment we open the doors or we will fire upon you!â€
He was not scared by this threat, he knew he would be killed either way. He opened his mouth and replied,
“I-I can’t move, my right arm is badly damaged. I can’t get up.â€
After a short pause and a little more whispering, the voice said again,
“We are moving in now, if you try anything, you will be brought down with extreme force.â€
The pain in his arm got worse, his heartbeat accelerated and blood trickled from the wound in his arm. A piece of shrapnel was embedded and he had attempted to create a makeshift bandage out of the sleeve on his shirt. Then, the doors opened and someone came into view. He was wearing black pants with a white shirt and had a blast helmet protecting his head, he carried a Blastech DLT-19, that was pointed down at the floor.
Vo’Scil aimed his DL-17 at the man and fired, a laser bolt shot out and hit the man in the chest, throwing him backwards with extreme force. He flew back, through the open doorway and landed on the hard floor. He screamed with pain and frantically tried to bear the pain, gritting his teeth as hard as he could. The blood vessels in his head stuck out boldly, his body was very tense.
“Get him outta’ here!†Screamed the voice that had spoken to Vo’Scil before.
“You’re gonna pay for that!†It said again, this time a tone of anger could be recognised. Then, another two men appeared in the doorway this time; both had their weapons aimed at him. Vo’Scil saw his life flash before his eyes very quickly, then two bolts hit him, the damage spread upon impact, causing him to cry out in pain. One hit directly in his head, the other in his chest. His already slumped body, slid down even further, his grip opened and the weapon that had previously occupied it dropped to the floor. He lay there motionless.
“Got ‘im!†Exclaimed one of the men who had fired upon him.
“Alright, now lets get Mitch to a medicâ€.
The YT-2000 descended until it reached the spaceport. Il’Yuw manoeuvred the vessel into a position where it was possible to land it.
“Nal Hutta, my kinda place.†The boss remarked as the ship touched down.
The boss, pilot and the other three passengers exited the vessel and began to unload
the cargo. As they were unloading, they were approached by a Hutt accompanied by several others, of different species, brandishing an assortment of blasters. One of the Hutt’s accompanies was a communication droid, it tapped the boss on the shoulder as he lay down one of packages and said,
“Excuse me sir, Mr. Caffran I presume, my name is TC-14, his excellency Dufrani Gijiila the Hutt believes he has some business with you, regarding the freight that you are currently unloadingâ€.
The boss turned to face the droid and replied,
“That’s me, what does he wish to discuss?â€
The droid translated this for the Hutt, the Hutt garbled a few things to the droid, who replied,
“The most powerful Dufranni wishes to discuss he payment of this. He believes that the price you asked is too high for the goods that you are delivering.â€
A frown appeared on the boss’ face, he answered confused,
“Too high? That was what we agreed, that is how the price will stayâ€
There was a short pause for translation, the Hutt’s flesh rippled as he laughed out loud, he spoke a few more words to the protocol who replied,
“The great Dufranni requests a price of twenty-thousand credits, a mere five-thousand credit decrease in price.â€
Caffran, as the droid previously refereed to him, clenched his fist, the blood flow increased and anger started to over come him.
Suddenly he lashed out, he pushed the protocol out of the way, sending it to the floor, the four of his men all drew there blasters at this point, each aiming them at different targets. The Hutt’s guards were desperately fumbling with weapon pouches and ammo clips trying to respond to what threatened their master. In this moment of confusion, Caffran was able to get behind Dufranni, he pulled a strangling cord from his back pocket and wrapped it around the Hutt’s flabby neck, it barely reached all the way around, but it still did its job. As the Hutt’s air supply grew thinner, Caffran spoke, still seeing red,
“Look, Hutt. Six of my men died getting this shipment here, and I lost two good ships. So you’re either gonna pay me what was agreed, twenty-five thousand, or I’m going to squeeze this chord even tighter, then well I think someone as stupid as you could work that out. Oh, and don’t even think about setting your guards on me, there’s no chance they’ll hit me. Oh no, not when I have a shield that is over three times my size, not to mention weight.â€
The Hutt was desperately trying to resist, arms flaying in the air, gasping for breath, but to no avail. Caffran just tightened the grip of the rope more and more, as Dufranni tried to resist, until eventually the Hutt realised resistance was pointless so gave up resisting. Caffran released the grip on the Hutt when he felt it had realised resistance was pointless.
The shaken droid was up and stood helplessly watching by its master’s side, it’s master who could only manage to say one thing for lack of breath. The droid listened carefully, and translated,
“As you wish Mr. Caffran, as you wish.â€
The men on both sides lowered their weapons and holstered them again, at last, the tension that previously could have been cut with a knife had lifted. Both parties saw each other as less of a threat and calm was re-instated.
He woke up with a jolt, his body ached all over, his arms, legs and head were strapped to a cold metal seat. Sweat was pouring from all areas of his body, his clothes were completely saturated with it, and he was lying in a moist pool. He attempted to sit up straight but the tight bonds restrained him from doing so, just causing them to cut deeper into his flesh. Both his head and is chest were undergoing excruciating pain, it felt like someone had hit him with a sledgehammer repeatedly. Then a powerful beam of bright light hit his face, blinding him momentarily. He tried to raise his hand to block it, but this only compensated as the same problem as before. He closed his eyes to protect himself from the light, then a deep voiced male spoke in mocking kind of way,
“Glad you could be here, Mr. Vo’Scil.â€
“Wh-who are you?†Came the feeble reply,
“Now, I want to ask you a few questions, do you think you could possibly co-operate?†The deep voice said again, then without waiting for a reply added,
“Good, now. Would you like to tell me where your gang leader was heading?â€
The Bothan did not reply,
“Wrong answer!†The interrogator replied, a quick bolt of electricity was sent to the surface where Vo’Scil was tied, causing his body to jump and the sweat pouring from him to increase.
“Now I’ll ask again shall I, Where was your boss heading to when we intercepted you?â€
…
Still the Bothan remained silent
Another bolt shot through him, forcing him to grit his teeth to withstand the pain.
“One last time!†The anger in the man’s voice increased, he was getting frustrated,
“Where was your gang leader, Mr. Caffran heading, when we bumped into your little convoy!?â€
…
This time the interrogator was prepared to wait a little longer, and simply said,
“Where?â€
…
“Where!?†the frustration and anger increased in his tone,
…
Still nothing,
“Last chance, WHERE!?â€
…
“That was definitely not the answer I was looking for my friend, now I feel it is my duty to say to you…†There was short pause, with which Vo’Scil used to prepare himself for whatever was next,
“WELCOME TO A WORLD OF PAIN!†As these words were shouted, electricity was continuously passed through the Bothan, increasing in voltage as time continued, until eventually, the Bothan passed out, and went limp again…
End of Chapter 2
This is just the first 2 Chapters, i am currently writing the third.
All comments/critisism welcome
![[Unknown user]'s Avatar](./download/file.php?avatar=179_1377974117.jpg)
![[Unknown user]'s Avatar](./download/file.php?avatar=2_1377974117.png)
