Jedi Cool Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 chapter 1: Kell Tainer gets in a fight with a cyborg in a bar on Coruscant after the cyborg whacks his wingmate, Runt, over the head. While the fight goes on, unit medic Ton Phanan laments at how people always ask how the patient is and never the doctor. When New Republic Military Police arrive, the Wraiths know they will have a few hours to relax. As they are hearded out by the MPs, Face notes the name of one and asks if he’s Corellian. The man says he is and Face remarks to Wedge about the mission to M2398 where they’d met Corellians. That wasn’t true, of course, but Wedge plays along and says he’s Face’s wingman. Into the double line of prisoners Face walks until he is able to slam his fist into the throat of one. Kell responds next and, when blasterfire starts, Wedge grabs the cyborg to use as a shield which works well when an MP’s shot chars the man’s chest. Wedge grabs a blaster and raises up to see Wraiths and MPs struggling until Ton Phanan, holding a blaster rifle, yells for everyone to drop their weapons. Face explains during the interview that the man hadn’t walked like a Corellian and explains that his training as an actor makes him especially observant to physical mannerisms. The speed at which the so-called New Republic Military Police arrived at a lower level of Coruscant led him to believe that this was a set-up. The cyborg was sent in to cause trouble while these fakers came in and arrested the pilots. They suspect Zsinj is behind it because of the trouble they gave him in destroying the Implacable. Ackbar suggests that Wedge decide whether to complete leave here or return the safety of Starfighter Command. He does have a mission for him, though. Wedge asks if they’d heard anything more about Fel. Baron Soontir Fel had been one of the Empire’s top pilots and commanded the 181st TIE Fighter Squadron that was the most feared in the galaxy. For a short time, he even flew with Rogue Squadron before returning to the Empire. He and his wife, Wedge’s sister Syal, haven’t been seen in years. However, Fel turned up at their last engagement, commanding portions of the 181st and some of the Implacable’s fighters, too. It is possible that he is now serving under Zsinj. Ackbar confirms there is nothing new to report about Fel or his family. Wedge tells the Wraiths that leaves are cancelled and that he wants volunteers to guard Runt and Janson until they are released from medical care. Afterwards, Phanan pulls Tainer aside and asks if he knows the name of the colonel who debriefed them. It was Atton Repness. Colonel Repness is responsible for training pilots in danger of washing out of starfighter training. When Kell’s fellow pilot and girlfriend, Tyria Sarkin, had been in the program, Repness had given her better marks than she deserved and tried to get her to eject out of an X-Wing during a training mission so he could retrieve it and sell it on the black market. When Tyria had refused, he wrote her up for insubordination and explained that reporting him would cause her to be removed from the starfighter program because her real scores would not be good enough. Phanan has a plan to catch him. Since he’s still training pilots, he’s likely pulling the same thing on others, too. They don’t know exactly what he looks for, but they could try sneaking an attractive female who struggles with piloting into his class and sees if he takes the bait. One of the survivors of the Implacable is a woman by the name of Lara Notsil who was the mistress of the late Admiral Trigit. She was kept drugged and is currently being debriefed by Intelligence to see if she has any information to give up. They could recruit her and sponsor her in the class to catch Repness. A day later, Janson gives them the good new and bad news. Bad news is he’s back and will be making up duty assignments for those who failed to prevent him from being shot at the bar. Runt is back, too, which is good because some of his personalities like resting and some don’t. To replace the three Wraiths lost, he introduces their new computer specialist Castin Donn of Coruscant, Twi’lek Dia Passik who will assist with larger newer vessels, as well as information on smuggling and slaving and Shalla Nelprin whose name Tainer remembers. Her sister, Vula, had trained him in hand-to-hand combat. As it happens, Shalla will taking over that aspect. She will also assist with matters relating to Imperial Intelligence. He is dividing them into three groups with Runt, Piggy and Face as the leaders to come up with theories on what Zsinj is up to and what is his strategy. For now, they are to confine themselves to base. Once off-planet, they may be working with Rogue Squadron who are currently aboard the Mon Remonda with General Solo looking for Zsinj. The three team leaders choose their teammates, each, on principle, taking one of the new members.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Doubtless, this Lara Notsil is the person we knew as Gara Petothel in Wraith Squadron.IIRC, Piggy was the hand-to-hand combat specialist. What does he do now that Shalla is in charge of that? And are they not replacing Grinder the code-slicer? (or is that what Donn is doing as a computer specialist?) or the land vehicle specialist that was Falynn Sandskimmer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 8, 2015 Author Share Posted January 8, 2015 chapter 2: Gara Petothel checks through the packet of encrypted data before sending it off to Warlord Zsinj in the hopes that he will have a new assignment for her that will get her off of Coruscant and away from the rebels. A knock at the door startles her and she checks to make sure she looks like her new identity of Lara Notsil, reminding herself of her cover story. Two rebel pilots are at the doorway. One is Lt. Phanan whom she met at the medbay and the other she recognizes as Garik “The Face” Loran. She’s surprised he’s still alive. Face assures her that his death was a propaganda lie by the Empire which wanted to make the galaxy think that the rebels were evil enough to kill a child actor. They note she’s working at a low-level position and living in the lower levels of Coruscant. They’d like to offer her a better job if she is willing to trade favors with them. They’d like her to undergo pilot training and pretend to do badly, just skating along. They are trying to set up someone who is recruiting poor trainees into doing something illegal. She thinks it’s ridiculous herself, then realizes this could be a prime opportunity. In her persona as Lara, however, she admits she dreamed of being a pilot while a farmgirl on Aldivy but had given up all of her dreams when her world had been destroyed and Trigit had taken her aboard his ship. If she does what they want, her dreams would be awakened which is why she can’t go through with it. All she would have to show for it in the end would be bad scores which won’t get her into any piloting school and, if what she did became known, anyone she worked for would think she was spying on them, too. She gets them to assure her that they will arrange a posting for her with Rogue or Wraith Squadron. This puts her in an extremely valuable position for Warlord Zsinj. While Shalla Nelprin runs a simulation through Coruscant, she is asked why she thinks so many Intelligence officers are employed by Zsinj. She says because there is a huge supply of them after the death of Isard who have multiple choices at their fingertips. Zsinj is a compulsive liar but he doesn’t mind them knowing that because he wants an audience who can see through his lies and appreciate what he’s doing. He’s a grandstander with an ego. Wedge is unhappy when Phanan and Tainer come to him with the story of Repness. They leave Tyria out of the story. Wedge thinks Cracken’s people are best suited to handle this, but they think that it’s possible Repness could have conspirators and, if that’s true, one could be in Intelligence where they could inhibit an investigation. Wedge asks them what is going to happen if she runs into a problem and they are off Coruscant or even undercover. They argue that they can arrange for her to have access to HoloNet or at least put her in contact with someone here who can help her, maybe even Princess Leia. Wedge tells them Leia is very busy and may not even be here. However, he will base any consideration on her as a pilot on his own assessment of her skills and character, not on her scores or participation in this assignment. If he thinks she’s up to par, he will consider her for a Rogue or a Wraith.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I know Princess Leia was on a mission to Hapes that she referred to when speaking with Wedge in “Wedge’s Gamble”, but didn’t she come back from that? Or did she?Can’t they just look into whether or not Repness loses an inordinate number of X-Wings with his trainees? Now that they know his modus operandi, they just have to look for a bunch of lost X-Wings under really bad trainees who passed muster. Surely the pattern would indicate shenanigans. I mean, it’s not like the New Republic likes losing X-Wings. Wasn’t the loss of ships part of what made Ton Phanan underdesirable to squadrons? They didn’t like the cost of replacing them. It just seems like they're starting off with a complicated scheme that puts their new friend Lara at risk, to say nothing of making a promise to her that they have no authority to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 chapter 3: Face talks to his team about how he thinks Iron Fist is a huge symbol for Zsinj which he uses for high-profile targets. Runt disagrees that Zsinj cares much for symbols. It’s the governors of worlds he visits and either terrorizes or bribes to work with him. They are the key to his power. Dia Passik bounds out of the simulator and Ton Phanan confirms she’s really good. Face congratulates her and the Twi’lek warns him it won’t work. She was a slave dancing on Ryloth when he was young so she never had the chance to fall in love with Garik “The Face” Loran. He changes tactics and tells her she’s the woman he’s been looking for all of his life. Then admits that he was only complimenting her as an opener to find how she screwed up bad enough to be stuck in Wraith Squadron. She knows nothing about that. She volunteered for this squadron after hearing what happened to the Implacable. They are astounded that their new reputation has preceeded any old reputation they had. She tells them that she was the slave to a man from Coruscant who traveled around on his ship, the Violet Hem. Over the years, she had a number of the pilots teach her things about flying and, when a visitor arrived with an armed shuttle, she made sure the Hem’s shields were down, stole the shuttle and blasted it out of the sky. Face turns to Castin and asked how he ended up here. Castin volunteered, too, because things happen around Commander Antilles and he wants to be where the action is so he can help wipe out people like Zsinj who can only be counted on to do evil things. He was here on Coruscant when the Emperor died. A New Republic broadcast was transmitted over the HoloNet showing the Death Star blowing up. While the crowd of a couple hundred thousand went wild, those with rebel leanings began pulling down a huge statue of Palpatine until stormtroopers showed up and started firing on the crowd with blasters set to kill. He saw a young mother die next to him, grabbing her baby as she went down so the child wouldn’t be trampled in the panic. Face realizes that the Empire wouldn’t have transmitted a Rebel broadcast. Someone would have had to have sliced it in. He guesses it was Castin’s group. Obviously, Castin has a personal grudge against the Empire which suggests some volatility. It’s possible Dia and Shalla have some hidden emotional issues, too. Piggy fixates on pirates. Zsinj had used pirates on M2398 which is something he’d never done before. He can’t be in such a bad position to have to rely on them, so Piggy thinks that Zsinj may be building up a second, disposable fleet. Runt doesn’t think the pirates are useful for anything beyond the news and intelligence that he can’t get elsewhere. Wedge waits until Donn stands at attention and properly requests permission to speak with him. Donn explains that he’d like a new room assignment because Runt smells and it’s keeping him from sleeping. Wedge knows that Runt has a different odor but it’s not particularly offensive. He checks Donn’s record and finds citations for bravery and ingenuity, but some reprimands for conflicts, all involving non humans. He offers to have him room with Piggy instead but Donn mentions he would have the same problem. Wedge asks if his resistance cell had any non-humans in it. When Donn says it didn’t, Wedge tells him that this is something he is going to have to get used to. He is not always going to be in a situation that allows him to live separately from non-humans. He recommends asking one of the non-human pilots sometime how he smells to them and may be surprised by their answer. For now, room assignments are changed only for a good reason. Warlord Zsinj busies himself in a facsimile of his bridge located in his quarters when General Melvar approaches him. Zsinj is currently noting a junior officer sitting on the bridge viewing flying simulations rather than doing his job. Melvar gives him a report on a Gara Petothel who was left hanging when both Isard and her direct supervisor in Intelligence died. Petothel worked with Trigit and was instrumental in getting information that helped him destroy Talon Squadron. She is now on Coruscant and has sent a message indicating that she will be assigned to an Alliance X-Wing unit soon and wants to know if he’s interested in using her services. Zsinj remembers the woman but wants to make sure she hasn’t been turned by the rebels first. He tells Melvar to verify her current identity and loyalties. As for the young ensign who has already been told before not to waste time on simulations, he just wants to fly too much. He should be removed from the bridge and everyone else told he was executed for disobeying orders. Instead he should be put through piloting evaluations. Once that happens, he should be praised or criticized accordingly. Then executed. Zsinj hates wasting good crewmen but can’t have them disobeying orders. Wedge lets his pilots know that Ackbar has sent back their theories for dealing with Zsinj. Runt explains his analysis determines that Zsinj will probably continue to expand his financial Empire among those worlds that are ruled by governors who are susceptible to being bribed. But he will use Iron Fist in a way that proves his usefulness to them. Runt thinks they should find out which of those planets he is likely to court and make arrangements for that planet’s governor to find a reason to need the protection of Iron Fist. Then they can arrange a surprise. Piggy explains they’ve noted Zsinj’s ownership of corporations on even Alliance worlds, the unusual use of the Blood Nest pirates and the cells identical to the ones Piggy was held in while he was experimented on by Binring scientists. He feels the corporations are best handled by Intelligence and, while the cells are of personal interest to him, he thinks they should pose as a pirate group and be recruited by Zsinj. Face and Phanan each find merit in Runt’s and Piggy’s ideas. However, he suggests they pose as an acting troupe as Kell has a great voice and Runt is a natural mime. Wedge tells him to present the real idea. Face thinks that, since Iron Fist is important to Zsinj symbolically that he may drive into the heart of Isard’s old territory and liberate another Super Star Destroyer from Kuat Drive Yards. He remembers that Zsinj had intimated another position was in the ready for Admiral Trigit. He’d thought it was the Iron Fist at first, but now thinks it might have been another Super Star Destroyer. He also introduces the possibility that Ysanne Isard is alive. They know that she has a reputation for hiding when she’s alleged to have fled. She did it on Coruscant. No one saw her board the shuttle she was believed to be fleeing in and she’s hardly foolish enough to fly a ship that’s slower than pursuing X-Wings. She could have been using a sophisticated communication system that fooled them into thinking she was aboard it when she was, in fact, using a remote system. Face really does think Tycho shot her down but it’s something he’s wondered about. Wedge will send this recommendation to Cracken and have them investigate Thyferra to see if there is any evidence of her survival. Ackbar has already reviewed the plans and, while he’s sending Intelligence to find out if KDY is building a new SSD, it’s low priority so he’s combining Runt’s and Piggy’s plans. They will be forming a pirate group to hit a world that Zsinj should be courting, but isn’t. The planet will be eager to have the protection of Iron Fist. They will be stationed aboard the Mon Remonda but Rogue Squadron will not be seeing them in the halls. In the meantime, he rearranges some of the wing assignments and team leaders. He notes that Kell doesn’t seem bothered when Face is given a team leadership over him. They will be basing their pirate operations off of an old mining world called Halmad. Their hyperpacetransport will be the old slow leaky carrier so that Zsinj won’t get suspicious about a Corellian corvette like Night Caller being support for both X-Wing operations. They do not have enough X-Wings right now so they’ll have to use the two TIEs they have and act as pirates to steal others. The two new female pilots have TIE experience so Wedge assigns Donn, Kell and Phanan to start picking up simulator time. He dismisses them to get ready for departure, but asks to see Tainer and Phanan privately. They tell him that Lara Notsil was reassured by what he said and they’ve helped her complete an application for pilot training, given her glowing reviews and set up an account that she can use for HoloNet use. Wedge warns them this either produces results or nothing whatsoever because Cracken will feed them into a processor if it’s anywhere in between.--------------------------------------------------------------------------Wraith Assignments and members: Wraith Leader/Wraith One: Wedge Antilles Wraith Two: Castin Donn Wraith Three: Wes Janson Wraith Four: Dia Passik Wraith Five: Kell Tainer Wraith Six: Runt Wraith Seven: Ton Phanan Wraith Eight: Garik Loran Wraith Nine: Myn Donos Wraith Ten: Salla Nelprin Wraith Eleven: Tyria Safkin Wraith Twelve: Voort “Piggy” saBinring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 10, 2015 Author Share Posted January 10, 2015 chapter 4: In a bar on Halmad, Ton Phanan picks a fight with some pilots that is broken up by several stormtroopers who turn out to be Wraiths. They drag off the unconscious pilots until they can recon the local Imperial base. When a patrol comes by with a police skimmer, they offer the troopers and their prisoners a ride. In the base, the troopers bring in their prisoners and an officer decides how those men will be punished for their misdeeds. Shalla stays aboard the skimmer, but is replaced by Janson, responsible for making sure the two troopers driving don’t talk to anyone. The others carry unconscious pilots head toward the officer quarters and prepare to dump their cargo in an alley somewhere. In the confusion, it is hoped that no one notices that 11 troopers have arrived and not 10. Lara Notsil deliberately fouls up a simulation in her piloting class that results in the death of herself and her wingmate. She’s kept after class by her trainer who tells her she has great scores in other areas and would be an asset to the bridge of a capital ship as a communications or navigations specialist. She insists she’s going to be a pilot. The trainer warns her that she doesn’t want to be responsible for the death of one of the friends she’s made here. Even worse would be surviving such a thing. She notices a man she recognizes as Colonel Repness watching them. After he leaves, and once she is alone, she rewires the simulator and jumps back in to show herself how much better she is than she’s playing at. Still, she is bothered by what he said because she is beginning to genuinely like her fellow trainees.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 chapter 5: Shalla is hiding in the back of a skimmer waiting for the driver to enter the motor pool. Obviously, skimmers are not considered items needing constant surveillance, but she still has to avoid two sets of troopers and other Imperial workers. In the meantime, outside the hangar, Wedge and his team are trying to figure out how to get past the stormtrooper guards. Runt plugs into their frequency and finds they are discussing a game called “Quadrant”. Wedge orders Janson and Donos to stun the two guards, Tainer and Runt to pull them off and Phanan and Face to take their places. Castin checks the data from the troopers, finds there’s a passcode that’s either transmitted or spoken. He hopes it’s transmitted. Shalla hears two troopers in the office making their report, debating whether or not there were 10 or 11 stormtroopers on their skimmer and not remembering the name of the sergeant whose patrol they picked up earlier. She enters the office, pulls her blaster and shoots one, realizing too late that she forgot to set it to stun. The other trooper attacks her and she shoots him, too. Shaking, she is stunned by the deaths of two people because of a lapse in judgment. Her father would never approve of that. She has a short period to get this office in order and to get herself and the two bodies out of here on one of the skimmers. After Castin determines the passcode is related to one of the games of “Quadrant”, they get the hangar doors open. Castin tells Wedge that they need to watch the number of anomalous requests triggered here as too many of the wrong kind will result in flags raised that could bring investigation. There are 8 TIE Interceptors here. Wedge tells him to put in a request for immediate maintenance requested an hour ago, the arrival of the crew right now and also a request to service the holocams. Then he disables those cams. Wedge, Janson, Kell, Runt and Dia work on six of the Interceptors while Donos and Tyria spread grafitti over the hangar crediting the damage to the Hawkbats…their fake pirate gang name. Five of the ships are prepped when a skimmer of troopers appears outside ready for a shift change. Wedge sends Donos and Tyria to the door to help Phanan and Face if needed. He tells the others to forget about sabotaging the last two Interceptors and just get the sixth one prepped. Phanan explains over comm. that Face is trying to bluff the new arrivals when the sound of blasterfire erupts.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hawkbat is a popular name. Besides being the name of a ship in our last novel, it was also the name of Captain Cohl’s ship in Cloak of Deception. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 chapter 6: It turns out that Face had done his best, but the troopers kept insisting on security measures that Face wasn’t familiar with so he shot one, then Phanan shot the other. The skimmer gets away though. Wedge tells Castin to put his diversion in place and for the others to get the hangar doors open and locked that way before the central computer does it. Five of them will take the prepped Interceptors while the rest will continue to pose as stormtroopers. The stormtrooper on the skimmer reports that the intruders have the hangar doors opened when a loud siren goes off and he sees a huge turbolaser cannon shoot up into the sky. Obviously, they are under attack. In actuality, this is Castin’s diversion, utilizing old wargames scenarios he’d found archived. Tainer and Phanan are not familiar with Interceptors at all, even in simulators, so they bump into a few things on the way out. The five ships pull up out of the hangar, turn and destroy the remaining ships and then raise up into the sky for a run that destroys the bunker. Shalla arrives with the skimmer she swiped from the motor pool and picks up the stormtrooper Wraiths. They are no sooner in the vehicle when pursuing troopers fire on them. The Wraiths bust through the main gate and are soon at the site where the original skimmer had picked them up. Piggy is waiting there. They peel off their stormtrooper armor, load it in a container and then board the other skimmer, looking like tired tourists. Their base is located in an asteroid belt in the Halmad system. They have an old freighter called the Sungrass commanded by Captain Valton who looks as beat up as his ship, several Interceptors which are being painted in a way that one would expect a pirate gang to paint their ships and the two TIEs. One of the Interceptors is being painted to look as though the engine has been knocked askew. Wedge is concerned that some ambitious pilot might look for an easy kill rather than treat it with caution, but it’s an experiment so he lets it ride. Wedge has Runt set up the conference module when the Narra approaches and heads that way himself, noticing Tyria and Kell kissing. He’s about to reproach them for the inappropriate display but stops himself. Along the way to the module, a dreary area of the asteroid so much resembles the Death Star Trench that someone has hung miniature lights above to make it look like a starry sky. He is irritated with both and doesn’t know why. His Elite Squadrons have fewer regulations than the regular ones and he certainly can’t begrudge them the opportunity to make their surroundings more pleasant. In the conference module, he asks Runt about confused minds. Runt gives him some advice on dealing with minds that cannot answer the questions they have. Upon reflection, Wedge understands that he is jealous of the normal life that he doesn’t have. The only way he can truly expect to have such a life is if he accepts the generalship which would deprive the New Republic of his more important skills. Dia and Janson catch him musing and assume he’s napping. Orders have come in from Coruscant. They are pleased with the results of the operation and will approve funding for their pirate activities for now which is a boon. The Wraiths have a couple of missions coming up, some with the Rogues, some not. There are no new X-Wings coming. Janson asks if he’s alright and Wedge admits he’s feeling his years. He decides to get some simulator practice. At the simulator, Wedge starts to open it when he spots someone inside it and ducks. Face asks what’s going on and they look inside to see a life-sized stuffed Ewok complete with pilot’s gear, helmet and blaster. The datapad in its hand announces that it’s Lt. Kettch reporting for duty. And includes the words, “Yub, yub, Commander”. As Face struggles to keep from laughing, Wedge tells him to take care of that. In the meantime, Lara Notsil is told by one of her smarming colleagues that she’s being transferred to Colonel Repness’s remedial class. He doesn’t think she’ll even last there. Lara can outfly him any day, but she has to keep up this charade. It’s better to return to Zsinj’s service and vape this idiot. On the other hand, some of her classmates, such as her wingman, may not be great pilots but they are genuinely good people and destroying them would cause her some regret.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We remember that Janson had tried to convince Wedge in Wraith Squadron that Lt. Kettch, an Ewok, was a an actual candidate. This is a continuation of that gag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 chapter 7: Since Face was the one who befriended a drunken navigator at a bar on Halmad and got the secret of how his ship avoids pirates, he is now sitting in space waiting to jump on that ship. Right now, he’s wishing he had better entertainment and that his fake scars didn’t itch. He adds many of them so that he won’t be as recognizable. The real one makes him stand out. It could be fixed but Face keeps it as a reminder of the evil he did while acting as a child for the Empire, improving morale and inspiring recruitment. The Wraiths take the cargo ship Barderia without incident, seize some of their cargo and even offer to send an emergency signal to the ship’s rescuers. They want the captain to know that the Hawkbats don’t kill unless provoked. In the meantime, Lara Notsil is offered a chance to stay in her training class and keep the false scores that Colonel Repness has arranged for her if she abandons an A-Wing during a mission that will be presumed to be destroyed. Though he’s using a recording suppressor, she’s already been in his quarters, found the device and altered it so that she can record the whole thing and transmit it to her account. However, she has no intention of informing the Wraiths when she can use this opportunity to salvage her career. And the Hawkbats hit the Barderia again with Captain Rhanken puzzled as to how they knew how to find him again. Face tells him there’s a leak in his trade guild. Finding the file much larger than the short conversation she’d had with Repness, Lara finds that he uses that suppressor a lot and even for his private work. As a result, she gets access to all of his private black market dealings, as well as conversations with members of his team and the previous trainees, some of whom had been forced into participating, some who didn’t. Among them is Tyria Sarkin who’d been blackmailed. She comprises a letter in the style and poor grammar of a code-slicer and sends it anonymously to General Cracken and the office of the Inspector-General. She pauses when it comes to the recordings of the trainees. It’s better to have their careers tanked now and deprive the rebels of pilots on top of sparing their lives when they go against Imperial ships. But she had wanted to be a pilot, too, and wasn’t allowed to transfer from Imperial Intelligence. She recognizes the face of one of her comrades who will probably be approached in a couple of days with a similar offer. This young man has said he would like to die young. She decides to let him die as he chooses. Attaching her own file to the letter, she deletes the information about the rest. Then she goes to Repness and turns him down, telling him she will inform his superiors. He threatens to work up a psychological profile of her as a compulsive liar. When she tells him he’s not going to have enough time to do that, he knocks her out. The Wraiths board the Mon Remonda where they are greeted by Rogue Squadron and General Solo.Solo explains to Wedge that the ship has four fighter squadrons, Rogue, Wraith, the A-Wing Polearm and B-Wing Nova. The other three have been doing all the work while the Wraiths are pretending to be pirates. For the time being, they are patrolling the borders of Zsinj-controlled space and hitting good targets. They try to follow up on leads here and there. Wedge cautions him about setting patterns on how he responds to leads because Zsinj may be dropping those on purpose to get enough of a profile on the Mon Remonda to lure it into a trap. Han agrees to let Shalla look over the information regarding their recent raids to make sure he’s not being too predictable. Face witnesses a conversation – or an attempt at one- by Nawara Ven, one of the Rogues, and Dia. Dia cuts the Rogue off because her experiences on Ryloth were not the same as his so they really have nothing in common. Another Twi’lek Rogue by the name of Tal’dira notes that Nawara lost that case. Ven quips he was never even in the courtroom. Wedge calls for Face and tells him that this Lara Notsil situation has been resolved without needing the Wraiths at all. It seems that Repness assaulted her and drugged her after she threatened to report him. When she woke up in the infirmary, it was all over because an anonymous code-slicer had sent a bunch of data on Repness to Intelligence. General Crespin has taken over the training ship, retested Notsil whose scores are quite good. He’s assigned her Repness’s personal X-Wing. While both Rogue and Wraith Squadron are full, they can use the snubfighter so Wedge will be taking her on here. He wants Face and Phanan to make sure that this remains great news.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We remember Nawara Ven and Tal’dira as from the Rogue Squadron books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 14, 2015 Author Share Posted January 14, 2015 chapter 8: Zsinj is glad to hear that Petothel has managed to get a posting aboard the Mon Remonda. She can get the data to them so he can destroy the ship and get rid of Solo, as well as all of those troublesome starfighters. General Melvar does express some concern that they’ve not been able to communicate with her directly or approach her. He’s managed to find a native of Aldivy and has an agent there prepping him to convince Petothel that he’s one of Lara Notsil’s thought-to-be-dead siblings. They’ll use him to contact her and have her checked out. Wedge briefs the Rogues and the Wraiths on the world of Lavisar which is a planet much like the kind that Zsinj prefers to deal with, setting up a business under an assumed name and funding his military excursions. There’s a Raptor unit – one of Zsinj’s elite trooper units – located in Syward where a Lambda-class shuttle factory is located. Shalla’s report is not encouraging. It indicates a certain predicatability on the part of the task force in responding to leads. On the other hand, they can’t change their tactics too much or Zsinj will be onto them. Wedge notes that it appears that the Raptor units become more active after a hit. Nawara suggests that, rather than the task force hitting sites that Zsinj doesn’t want hit, they are actually doing his work for him. If a lead indicates that Zsinj is there, even if he isn’t, the task force hits the target, weakens its defenses and makes it more vulnerable to being courted by him. Hobbie has suggested going groundside, setting off an ineffective bomb which leaves the sensors in place and allows the planetary defenses to respond in a way that makes them feel powerful when the fighters are chased off. This leaves them with no motivation to go to Zsinj for protection. The Wraiths will be pulling this one off. On a related note, Wedge introduces Lara Notsil who is joining the squadron after busting up a black market ring. An Intelligence team will plant the dud-bomb and one volunteer will approach the governor with Shalla’s data showing that Zsinj intends to set him up for protection needs. Lara volunteers that the governor in question likes sunfruit liqueur. She learned it while working at a shipping company on Coruscant where there was a lot of data on worlds that stopped trading with Coruscant after it fell to the New Republic. Squeaky, Wraith Squadron’s supply officer, notes he’ll have to get some sunfruit liqueur then. Tyria comes to Wedge and tells him he might lose her as a pilot. She explains that Repness blackmailed her into keeping quiet about the offer he made her and that she refused. She knows that he may expose her to help himself. Wedge notes that he could also contact her and threaten to expose her unless she helped his defense. He knows now that he had given Phanan and Face permission to conduct this scheme to get Repness on Tyria’s behalf. But he doesn’t think it will ever require any of them to testify, so, for now, he tells her to talk to no one about it and that she’s a Wraith until she dies or transfers out of the unit. In the hangar, Lara notes the difference between the rebel pilots they are told about in Imperial training and the reality. None of them are disappointed at not being able to kill the enemy. They seem content with their mission to fly down, hit a few targets with minimal life lost and flee. This is much more emotionally-healthy than the Imperial pilots. But she will be among them soon, so she has to banish those thoughts from her mind, as she boards her X-Wing. The pilots call in. The Wraiths will go to the planet, while the Rogues will wait at the edge of the system in case Zsinj has set up a trap. They exit hyperspace near one of Lavisar’s many moons. Face notes that the TIEs are scrambling. Lara instructs her astromech, Tonin, to record Imperial pilot transmissions. Wedge and his group give a very believable performance of pilots disappointed that the ground team didn’t do their job and preparing to exit the system again. But Lara notes an unusual item in the Imperial transmission, has Tonin analyze its location and transmit it to Wedge. It appears that they will have enemy approaching from ahead from one of the lunar bases. Sure enough, several combat shuttles and TIEs approach. They are still within the gravity well of the moon and the TIEs from the planet will reach them before they have a chance to escape. Wedge orders them to engage the lunar force and then prepare to exit. Piggy already has an escape course plotted with the exception of the moment they all form up and leave.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This chapter includes several members of Rogue Squadron, including Corran Horn, Asyr Sei’lar and Gavin Darklighter.I’m sure the New Republic Intelligence Team can do what I suggested in earlier chapters. Find out how many times a ship has ostensibly been lost under one of Repness’s training missions and which trainees were involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 chapter 9: The X-Wings head toward the approaching fighters. Lara appreciates the irony of having Wedge Antilles right in front of her with an undefended stern. She could vape him right now and have fame for the rest of her life. But it seems so treacherous even if she could assume that she could evade Face or one of the other pilots long enough to get down to the planet. Treachery doesn’t exist in Imperial Intelligence, just efficiency. Yet, she’d determined that Trigit was treacherous because he’d been willing to sacrifice his loyal crew just to keep the Implacable from falling into the hands of the New Republic . She’s gotten even with him for that. Her mind is conflicted. She has to protect her wingman, but the price on Wedge’s head is high. She cannot kill Imperial pilots, but Zsinj is the same as Trigit. She doesn’t know what to do. She ultimately takes some damage and makes one kill. On the way out of the system, she knows that the Rebels were right. The Raptors should have been the first to defend Lavisar, but they didn’t because they aren’t there yet. This is just a ploy by Zsinj to needlessly sacrifice some Imperial pilot lives so that he can move on on Lavisar and offer his protection. This is not how her life is supposed to be. She’d proven her loyalty again and again after her parents’ arrest for treason. She’d hated them for that. She’d believed anti-rebel propaganda. Now questions everything she was ever taught. She is treated like one of the team back on the Mon Remonda, a feeling of belonging she hasn’t had in years. She wonders if she can bury Gara Petothel. While the Wraiths and Rogues were in the sky, Kell and Runt had pulled off a couple of raids on Halmad that procured some Imperial holodramas, strafed a few luxury water vehicles, robbed a bank and found out information about starfighter base construction, including one out of the way of anything it should need to protect. Wedge warns them about having too much fun pretending to be pirates. Thus far, they have shown the world of Halmad that they are vulnerable to these strikes and that targets include both military and civilian interests. That should tenderize them enough to start looking to Zsinj. He does, however, want the two starfighter bases taken out. At dinner that evening, Face notes Ton Phanan talking with Lara Notsil. After she leaves, he senses something is afoot but Phanan is all joking. As he walks away, though, it’s as if the real Ton Phanan is absent. An hour later, Face knocks on Phanan’s door and enters to find his friend drinking. He wants to know what’s wrong. Phanan explains that Lara’s not interested in him. The same was true of Falynn, Tyria, Dia and every other woman since he was injured at the Battle of Endor. His allergy to bacta means he has to be fitted with prostethic devices every time he gets hit. Half his face, one of his legs and every woman who looks at him sees he has no future. He has friends for which he’s grateful, but they’re in present. Phanan sees no future. Face tries to reassure him but Phanan wants to be left alone.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 chapter 10: Tyria enters the module she shares with Lara and gives her mail. Lara is confused and even more so when she recognizes a man named Tavin Notsil who was the real Lara Notsil’s brother. He tells her he was out of town the day the Empire hit it and has learned she’s alive, too. Lara is prepared to send him some kind of message cutting off family ties without revealing her face when she recognizes her own face on some of the family holos in the background. There are images of things she has never done in her life. Most confusing is the letter Tavin reads that she herself wrote but is attributed to Lara Notsil, not Gara Petothel. She realizes that the words were in a letter she wrote to Zsinj which means that he has induced Tavin Notsil to make contact with her. This also means he knows her new identity and the safe haven she’d found here is gone. Overwhelm with emotion, she starts to cry. Tyria tries to comfort her but can’t really as she doesn’t know what’s really bothering her. Lara decides to go for a walk. Face notices her leaving and that her walk is more like someone from Coruscant than an agrarian world like Aldivy. He thinks Trigit must have really kept her drugged and messed up her mind. Hopefully, she’ll turn to her fellow Wraiths when she needs it. After finding out from Kell where a good place to scream is, Lara finds the tunnel and screams loudly. Then she has to assess her options. She can return to the original plan and rejoin Zsinj as an Imperial operative. But Zsinj is untrustworthy and has proven that. She could confess to the rebel commanders what she was but they would never trust her again and she finds of late that trust is something that she really needs. Further, she had been responsible for passing on the information that doomed Talon Squadron. Its last survivor, Myn Donos, could very well kill her. She could also stall Zsinj until he gets killed and cannot expose her. Bits of her training comes back to her. She had been discouraged from keeping a hold of roles she’d played and identities she’d used. She remembers some of them and who those people were that never really existed. Myn Donos approaches and gives her a handkerchief. He doesn’t understand why such happy news would make her unhappy. She explains that she guesses she’s glad her brother is alive even though she hadn’t cared for him much as he was a criminal. She knows his message to her isn’t about her well-being, but an attempt to draw her home so she can be complicit in his schemes. Donos asks if it’s possible Zsinj has gotten to him. If her brother is the type of person she says he is, he might be willing to sell her out for credits. Zsinj seems interested in taking out the Wraiths so he could have gotten her name off the roster and approached her brother. This must be investigated because he could do the same to the rest of them. He insists on helping her put together a small team. She knows she shouldn’t let him, but she trusts him. And that fact makes her even more emotional. Wedge endures the mockery of Face when he looks into the cockpit of his fighter first to make sure the Kettch stuffed toy isn’t in there. It pays off when Face throws the toy out of his own fighter. At least morale is high. Kell, Runt, Tyria, Donos, Piggy and Castin are off in the Narra. They will require more time in these initial stages and Wedge isn’t sure that Kell is up to the job. He seems to have had some performance anxiety issues that might have resolved themselves. He and Janson are keeping an eye on him. Castin has modified their comms so that their voices will be hard to pick out in case they are being monitored. In some cases, the gender changes, in others pitch and volume, in Wedge’s…his sounds like an Ewok speaking Basic. But at least morale is high Down on Halmud, one team gets control of the landing pad where the tanker Bastion is waiting. In space, the rest of the squadron is prepped and ready to go. Wedge has never put much stock in easy missions, but this is supposed to be one.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 17, 2015 Author Share Posted January 17, 2015 chapter 11: Kell’s team directs the tanker, Bastion, under fighter escort, toward one of the starfighter bases. The base will be given a two minute warning to evacuate in order to minimize lives lost before the tanker is detonated. When his sensor board lights up, Kell tries to reach Wedge who does not respond. Wedge’s team hits a landing platform. At least, they think they do until they realize shields came up just as they fired. There are TIEs approaching to intercept now. The Bastion and its escorts are caught by a tractor beam. Kell gets the idea to let it get as close to the capital ship as possible and detonate the explosives. Communications are dicey at this point and they have to keep the charade of being Hawkbats going. Which is difficult when Wedge’s team comes up against fighters from the 181st. It takes some quick flying and maneuvering to take down six enemy fighters. The ship looming ahead must be at least a Star Destroyer. It is, in fact, the Super Star Destroyer Iron Fist. Donos has his sniper rifle. They have the datapad with the detonation codes. As they head toward the ship, there are several TIEs flying around. Wedge watches a dogfight between Face and Phanan and some TIEs one of which hits Phanan’s engines and his ship drops into the forest, the signal lost. Wedge knows the other fighters will fly over to try to help Phanan and get themselves picked off, so he calls an abort mission and gives the code. Face’s Interceptor still flies below the tree cover. They wait until the tanker is pulled into Iron Fist, then blast the shuttle Narra out of dock with it. Donos, his sniper rifle modified to send data instead of laser blasts, fires at the tanker. Nothing happens. It is very difficult firing a stream of data from a moving shuttle. The second does nothing. The third results in the detonation of the tanker which takes the Iron Fist’s landing bay with it. Face flies through the tree cover, evading TIE pursuers and hoping to get a look at Phanan. The other ships are leaving, pursued by TIEs of their own. He could go with them but Phanan might be alive. He lands near a muddy lake, covers his ship with a large leaf pad and waits. As the Narra flies off, Kell checks on Donos in his spacesuit who is a little toasty from the flare-up but is otherwise finds. Donn puts together an exit vector.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What happened to the Mon Remonda and Rogue Squadron? I didn't read about any of their presences in the system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 18, 2015 Author Share Posted January 18, 2015 chapter 12: Face cuts through the growth searching for Phanan’s fighter. Wedge tells the others that they will have a ground team put in to search for Face and Phanan, but that they might be dead. Regardless, this is a victory and, if they have not been compromised, they can continue their Hawkbat identities. He asks Castin about the satellites he’d set up to monitor activity around Halmad. Castin explains he can’t access it anymore because it says he’s not authorized. There was also a message from Zsinj on it. He plays it and the warlord compliments them on their successes today even though it was not a victory for them. This world is in an alliance with him now and he will hunt the Hawkbats down. Or they can leave the system and find some other place to harass. Or they can work for him. He sends hyperspace navigational information for one of their representatives to meet with him. This is an opportunity to continue what they’ve started, but neither Wedge nor Janson can go as they would be recognized. Some of the others would have Imperial files, too. Since this will be a volunteer mission only, Wedge wants anyone who wants to remain out to let him know. Castin offers to be part of the mission, but Wedge thinks his history as a code-slicer would make him recognizable. Castin says that he has an idea. He can work up a code to slice into the Iron Fist that will send out a signal every time the SSD itself sends out a transmission. The signal can be tracked by the Wraiths. All he has to do is wear a stormtrooper uniform and hide in the shuttle’s smuggling compartment. Wedge thinks it’s a good idea, but doesn’t want to insert the code on the first meeting. Anything can go wrong and, since Zsinj has never met them before, he will be wary for tricks. Wedge would prefer that they build up some measure of familiarity with the Imperials first. Castin insists he’s better than any of the Imps’ security people, but Wedge notes that he doesn’t know anything about Zsinj’s people. Face finds a stormtrooper and two Raptors at the crash site. They note that the pilot is gone but was obviously injured and crawled out. The Raptors get on speeder bikes and start off. Face shoots both of them and the stormtrooper. One of the bikes crashes; the other is damaged, but intact. He shoots into the TIE cockpit so that the Imps can’t get any data from it and then takes the damaged bike in search of Phanan. He follows the trail downstream, hoping Phanan crawled for water. He is stopped by a pain to his head which turns out to be Phanan holding a rock. The man is injured internally but is able to get on the bike. Face guns the thrusters and the engine dies. Phanan quips that Face bought this one used. After trying to fix the speeder, Face suggests going downstream and finding a community with a doctor in it. He might even find a female doctor who is charmed by Phanan’s personality. Phanan jokes that it won’t work as she is likely to recognize the handsome Garik “The Face” Loran. Face thinks they may have to surrender to Zsinj’s forces to get him some treatment. Phanan tells him they are not doing that. If they are identified, it blows the Hawkbat operation up. If he dies, Face has to do what he can to get back to base, but he wants his friend to promise to dispose of his body so no one will know he was here. Face drags the speeder along with Phanan hanging over it as dusk falls. Phanan hands him a datapad with some last thoughts on it. Face accuses him of being fatalistic and tells him to stop punishing himself. Phanan tells Face that he does it himself. At least Phanan wants to punish the people who hurt him; Face wants to punish the child he used to be. Further down, Phanan notices the Iron Fist in orbit. Face looks up at it and decides he’ll do what he must to bring that ship down. He notes that the ship doesn’t look that intimidating from that far away. When Phanan doesn’t answer, his friend looks down and sees that he’s dead. Then Face’s eyes fill with the first tears he’s shed since childhood.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Does Face really believe the Imperials would have given Ton medical treatment had they surrendered? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 chapter 13: Face covers Phanan’s body with a blanket, takes his supplies and walks back to his hidden Interceptor. He rises it up into the air, finds the area where he left the ruins of the bike and Phanan, then uses the lasers to destroy the body before flying off into space. Wedge debriefs Face and tells him that, if he needs to talk, he can talk to him, Wes or Myn. They all know what he’s going through. They can’t really help him get over it but can assure him the experience is survivable. Face wants to be the one to write the condolence letter to the family. Wedge tells him that it’s not necessary. Phanan had no immediate family and, in fact, made Face the beneficiary of his will. He sends Face to get some rest, then tells Janson to make Lara Face’s wingmate. Since she has had the first aid course more recently than the rest of them, she gets to be the unit’s medic, too. She should also keep an eye on him and report any indication that he’s suffering any undue stress. After Janson leaves, Donos appears, looking far more casual than normal, including wearing the Corellian Bloodstripes that the blow to his self-esteem had caused him to avoid. Wedge doesn’t think this is about Face. Donos explains about Lara’s thought-to-be-dead brother who appeared out of nowhere and shouldn’t have been able to contact her. He has an idea for a mission. Face brings up his missives, including Phanan’s final letter which he had typed an hour before his death. Phanan tells him that his injuries are severe and he probably won’t make it. He doesn’t want Face blaming himself as the only ones at fault here are Phanan for his failure to fly better and the now-dead Zsinj pilot. He has left Face the beneficiary of his will. He inherited a great deal of credits from his parents. Some of it is to be used for a specific purpose and, if Face doesn’t do it, the whole amount will go to a rich actor Face hates. He thanks Face for being his friend. Then Face pulls up the will. Wedge announces the itinerary. Face, Kell and Dia will take the shuttle Narra and meet with Zsinj. Donos and Lara will meet with her brother and try to probe to find out whether this is a Zsinj plant. Wedge has to go back to Coruscant to make a report and the rest are able to accompany him for leave. Janson is staying here. After Janson forbids them from having any fun, Castin Donn tells Wedge he finished his program. They can use it on this mission. Wedge reminds him that they are not using it on this mission. Castin persists and says this is the only chance they’ll have for sure. Wedge points out that if he’s right, they’ll save lives. If he’s wrong, there’s a missed opportunity that they may have again and he just has a survivable blow to his reputation. If Castin is right, they might have a chance to follow Zsinj. If he’s wrong, he and his whole team get killed. He also asks Castin if he should criticize a superior officer’s decision in public or in private. Castin admits it should be in private. For that, he gets to stay on the station. Face catches up with Castin who thinks Wedge is too afraid to risk lives. Face points out that Wedge risks their lives all the time, but even a Corellian has to care about the odds sometime. He makes Castin promise not to do anything while he’s here on the station. Face, Kell and Dia fly off on their mission. Face is worried he won’t be able to keep himself from killing Zsinj the minute they meet and get them all killed. They are in their pirate disguises. The Narra took some damage when in close proximity to the Fist’s tractor beam. It’s nothing Cubber can fix until replacement parts arrive. They decide to go back and make sure Castin isn’t hiding in the smuggling compartment. He isn’t. But Lt. Kettch the Ewok is.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 20, 2015 Author Share Posted January 20, 2015 chapter 14: The Narra arrives at the coordinates provided and is given another set of coordinates by a satellite. A file is received, but they send it to a datapad instead so as not to risk giving Zsinj access to their ship or some other malicious activity. Entering the coordinates by hand, they head off to their next destination. At Aldivy, Lara does her best to field Myn Donos’s questions about a home that isn’t really hers. If he doesn’t stop, eventually he will figure out she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. General Melvar reports a shuttle taking the coordinates provided by them. Zsinj tells Melvar to prepare the cast. Face reminds his team to stay in character, but to defer all tactical questions to him. General Melvar introduces himself and requests they turn over their weapons, then has them scanned for weapons they might have forgotten about. This gives Kell a chance to prove how quick his reflexes are when he engages a stormtrooper who is less polite with his scan. Lara and Myn land on Aldivy and find the ruins of the hometown from which the real Notsil hailed. There is a standing prefab blue house waiting there. She arranges a signal with him if she needs help and then moves toward the rendezvous. Castin Donn, in stormtrooper armor, is hiding behind reflective shielding that makes the back of the storage compartment look bare. He has a datapad and watches the Imperial scanning crew finish their work. Once they are done, he moves aside the containers and sneaks out onto the ship’s deck, then gets his material so that he can prove to Commander Antilles how right he was. Zsinj greets them on the bridge where there is a dining table arranged above the pit. Face expresses some concern over the damage he caused the Iron Fist but Zsinj assures him it’s nothing that isn’t reparable and invites them to dine. Lara approaches the house where Tavin greets her and attempts to embrace her. Lara pushes him off, stating that she doesn’t feel that close to him yet. He introduces her to a man in farmer’s gear named Captain Rossik who addresses her as Lt. Petothel. He explains that he has a small transmitter that she is to plant on the Mon Remonda, then disappear on her next mission. Lara explains that the rebels are thoroughly searched after every leave and never know where they are. Their security is more paranoid than the Empire’s. He asks if she can send a comm. signal from the ship. She thinks that might work instead. Then he notes on sensors, the presence of another person very close by. She tells him it’s her wingman who was required to come with her. Rossik wants to kill him now. Lara explains that it will look suspicious if she returns without him, but Rossik decides they’re eliminating the wingman and then returning to the Iron Fist now.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the last chapter, Face and his team were concerned enough about Castin stowing away on the ship that they opened up the smuggling compartment only to find the stuffed Ewok. Does the ship not have scanners to search for extra lifeforms? I would have thought it wise to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 chapter 15: Dinner is tasty and, Face hopes, not poisoned. Zsinj comments that audio feeds of the Hawkbats’ transmissions during the battle indicate that they may have had an Ewok among their pilots. Knowing that Zsinj is referring to Castin’s modifying Wedge’s voice as a prank, Face plays along and tells Zsinj about the fierce Lt. Kettch who was modified in a laboratory with chemicals. Since this is Piggy’s background, Face is interested to see both Zsinj and Melvar exchange a look. Zsinj recommends pitting Kettch against their own best pilot, Baron Fel, who isn’t at the table. Castin sneaks through the ship, looking for a place to work. Along the way, he passes a viewport where he sees several aliens in cages, including a Talz attached to drip tubes. The Talz roars in rage, something unusual as it is a normally peaceful species. Lara refuses to go back to the Iron Fist and Rossik insists. She pulls her blaster on him, but is countered by Tavin who has one, too. Rossik tells her she’s outgunned here and her partner can’t help her. She gives the signal and Donos uses his sniper skills to take down Tavin. Then Lara shoots Rossik. When Donos appears, she is rattled and tells him they were going to force her to go back to Iron Fist with them. Her brother would not have gotten paid if she hadn’t, so he was willing to kill her instead. Castin is irritated because the security is much better than he’d anticipated and it’s harder to get his mission done. He’s also nauseus, thinking about the Talz. It shouldn’t bother him. The Talz aren’t human, after all. But he feels sympathy anyway. Then he’s approached by several stormtroopers and knows they are coming for him. A few blaster shots later, and he gets into the lab, frees the Talz and takes off before getting a blaster bolt to the leg. Seeing a trooper come for him, he pulls his datapad and destroys it so they will not know what he was trying to do. Zsinj begins telling them about his offer to have them supplement his forces while attacking an orbital and refueling station. He is called away for a moment, then returns. He offers a huge commission regardless of whether or not they succeed or fail, but won’t give them much information. He is especially intrigued by their stories of people in their unit adept at intrusion and offers to find use for them, too. However, he’d also like a demonstration of their skill. They watch stormtroopers drag Castin Donn in. Zsinj wants Face to kill the man. Face notes the man isn’t much of a target and, after all, he is one of Zsinj’s own men. Zsinj counters that the young man is an intruder whom he’s not much interested in interrogating. Face demands a commission for it, but is interrupted by Dia who offers to do it. He’s relieved she has some kind of plan and begins plotting what he and Kell will do. Then she shoots Castin. As the Hawkbats are escorted back to their shuttle, Zsinj wants Melvar to find out as much as he can about who that intruder was, since he obviously wasn’t a member of the pirate gang. He is concerned that the intruder shot stormtroopers, released a Talz speciment which then killed other troopers before being killed himself. He asks if an Ewok specimen has escaped, but none were aboard this ship. One of the planetary labs somewhere could have, though. Zsinj orders an investigation to find out where one might have been lost. Aboard the shuttle, Face waits until they are out of the Iron Fist’s vicinity before asking for a report. Dia explains that Castin was already dead. The troopers were carrying him like cargo, not like a prisoner and it was obvious his chest plate had been replaced. They wanted to make her think she was killing him. This doesn’t make her feel better and she has a breakdown in which she shrieks and punches. The real Dia wouldn’t have done such a thing. She feels like she’s dead herself. Face grabs her and tells her that she saved his, Kell’s and her own lives by doing what she did. Zsinj never would have believed their story if she hadn’t. She cries herself to sleep. They will have to rendezvous with Cubber and make sure there is no tracking device on the Narra. Until then, Face will have to write another incident report.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 22, 2015 Author Share Posted January 22, 2015 chapter 16: After reading Face’s report, Wedge lectures him about assuming responsibility for Castin’s death. The young man had a history of insubordination, he’d rigged the duty roster so it wouldn’t have him on duty until after the mission was over and even had a dummy in his bed. The only people Face was responsible for was himself, Kell and Dia. Dia seems to have calmed down but her roommate, Shalla, will be keeping an eye on her. Face assures Wedge he will do the same to Kell, who had looked into the smuggling compartment and hadn’t spotted the stowaway. They discuss the mission itself and Face mentions how he noticed that Zsinj and Melvar seem to recognize the modified alien concept. They may be involved in a project like it or know of one. After assuring Face he’s a good officer who will have to do this again someday, Wedge goes for a walk. Janson runs into him and asks if he’s alright. Wedge admits he’s trying to avoid both looking over the Zsinj data and contacting Castin’s parents. Janson reminds him that the Wraiths were misfits from the beginning. Most of them have gotten better but they still have emotional problems that make them unfit for normal squadrons. It makes sense that there will be heavy casualties among this unit for that reason. Lara is doing as well as can be expected. Donos is watching her. But the Wraiths will have to contact their families and warn them about the possibility of Zsinj trying to get at the squadron through their relatives. For now, though, Wedge wants Janson’s help going over the Zsinj data. The planet has a station with huge security around it. It looks like Coruscant but Wedge can’t be sure. The security complement is wrong but it could be bad intel. The problem is that there isn’t anything that Coruscant would have on a space station that it wouldn’t be easier to have on the planet itself. The Inner Council meets downside. There could be cargo ships. Wedge remembers Princess Leia has been working on getting resources to help the fight against Zsinj. Then he remembers something else. He writes it on a piece of flimsiplast and tells Janson to put it in his pocket, taking it out later to confirm he’s right. Then he asks for Castin. Reminded that Castin is dead, Wedge asks who the next best code-slicer is. That would probably be Lara Notsil. Lara is asked to translate the complement of ships in Zsinj’s data into what it would be in terms of Imperial ships. Then they will analyze which planet has such a complement of Imperial defenses. Wedge finds Runt painting the mess hall for a ritual that he will not explain and wants all pilots and civilians assembled there, in dress uniforms. After analyzing Lara’s data, Wedge notes, and Janson confirms by the note in his pocket, that Zsinj is hitting a space platform at Kuat. This means that Face was right several weeks ago in speculating that Zsinj is after another Super Star Destroyer. They can’t warn the government of Kuat. Their orbital platforms are rigged to destruct in the event of an invasion. They can’t bring a New Republic fleet in as that could get out. They’ll have to let him get away with his new toy. But they may be able to use Castin’s slicing program on the SSD and then jump them later. He sets Lara to work on modifying it for this mission. It turns out that Runt has arranged for the mess hall to become a formal dance venue for the evening. There are lights, food and music. Wedge tells the disgruntled Janson to wait and see how this turns out before punishing Runt. Lara maneuvers around Face and they dance together, her complimenting his dancing and showing him one he hasn’t learned which results in him dancing with Dia and Lara with Janson. Face asks her if she ever relaxes. Dia admits she has trouble reconciling the girl she was on Ryloth to the pilot to the woman she became after desecrating the body of one of her colleagues. She thanks him for not letting her die. She knew, after he stopped her from hurting herself, that he would not let anyone hurt her. She hasn’t felt that way since childhood. He kisses her and they stand motionless under the starry lights.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------We already know about the rigged KDY platforms from the book Hard Merchandise.In chapter 8, the Imperials had found a native Aldivan to pose as Lara Notsil’s brother. Presumably, the real Lara had a brother. Nevertheless, this man obviously wasn’t the real sibling. On the other hand, the Wraiths don’t really know that, so I suppose that alerting their families to be on the lookout for Zsinj to try to get to them isn’t a bad idea. However, we really haven’t seen that happen so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 chapter 17: The New Republic cannot confirm if an SSD is being built at KDY but it could be located at another station around a planet in the same system. Piggy speculates that Zsinj will be using a large complement of pirates and mercenaries to help shield the SSD during the takeover process. For that reason, they shouldn’t expect the Iron Fist to drop out of hyperspace until after the Destroyer starts moving. Wedge warns them that this is their best chance to get rid of Iron Fist and it could cost lives doing it. They are going to try to get a transmitter on the Fist or the new Destroyer or both. They may be able to use Castin’s program for this or a standard transmitter or by getting someone aboard one or both ships. Their goal is also to stay alive and take out as many of the enemy as possible. Wedge, Kell, Tyria, Face, Dia and Piggy will be the Hawkbats. Lara has made up fake identities for herself, Shalla and Dia in the hopes that one of them will be used for the Intrusion Team that Zsinj will put aboard the new Destroyer. The rest of the Wraiths will join the Mon Remonda and fly. Hopefully, there is enough time between the raid and the signal to bring in Iron Fist that will allow the Hawkbat team to rejoin the Wraiths and fly. There are elements of General Solo’s fleet at nearly every escape point. They don’t know when Zsinj will contact them so he wants as much done as possible in the interim, including disguises and backup materials for the Hawkbats. The warlord has asked for the presence of Qatya Nassin, Shalla’s identity, for the intrusion team. Kell had painted her out to be his instructor who had once taken down a Wookiee. The Hawkbats are in their disguises, the Wraiths in their pilot gear. Wedge talks to them frankly about what they’ve been through and then lets them go with a wish that the Force be with those who believe in it, for those that don’t, their weapons and intent. Then he approaches Janson and shows him the stuffed Ewok decked out in Hawkbat gear. Janson is stunned. Wedge reminds him that Zsinj thinks they have an Ewok pilot named Kettch. If one of his pilots flies close to Kettch’s ship and finds a human pilot in it, it will look bad. So Wedge is wearing black to cover himself up and wants Janson to orient the toy in the cockpit of his fighter for him. The Sungrass jumps out of hyperspace, joining the Iron Fist, along with others, such as the Ill Wind and the Emperor’s Net. The Sungrass lands in the hangar of the Fist where they are met by Melvar. Shalla carries a datapad that she claims is a weapon with a reinforced edge. In reality, it does contain a number of weapons they may have to use against the ship. However, Melvar has his hand-to-hand combat specialist, Captain Nebters, test Shalla’s skills which she demonstrates quite adeptly against the man who doesn’t think anyone can actually defeat a Wookiee but she comes as close as anyone he’s ever met. Melvar introduces her to the team she will be working with, some in stormtrooper armor, others in KDY uniforms. He’s been bribing a colonel here with lucrative smuggling opportunities for a couple of years but the man doesn’t know Zsinj is behind it. They’ve been watching how he handles KDY security around the SSD Razor’s Kiss in order to do the same. They will be able to land on the ship, but will have to use their skills to get past the few crewmen who will be on the ship in order to get to the bridge. An emergency alert should do it, but some may lag behind. They have to prevent any signals from getting to the main bridge. Once they taken over the ship, they will send a signal so that the Fist knows it’s moving. Shalla will be taking point on most of the mission. She notes the only other female on the mission, a crewer named Bradan, and realizes her job was meant for this woman originally. Bradan admits it was thought that a smaller woman would look less suspicious. Shalla agrees but apologizes for stealing her glory. Bradan says there will be glory enough for all of them if she succeeds.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 24, 2015 Author Share Posted January 24, 2015 chapter 18: Shalla’s intrusion crew takes an old shuttle to Kuat where she admires the SSD. It’s quiet along the way, but she’s not bored, thinking of her old father who had raised his daughters on Ingo and taught them to be wary. She can hear him in her head now, reminding her to keep up the act as a mercenary and watch out for the people around her who may try to betray her to keep from paying her fee or out of jealousy for the skills they know she possesses. She’s the first into the hangar and knocks out the first stormtrooper she encounters. After several kilometers, she dispatches another curious officer. When her part of the job is done, she surreptitiously plugs her datapad into the communications console and hopes Braden and one of the remaining stormtroopers doesn’t notice it. When Melvar tells the Sungrass the signal has come from the target, Face turns the ship over the Valtan and goes to the hangar of the ship. In the meantime, the datapad pings when it’s finished and the stormtrooper hears it. He doesn’t believe Shalla’s assertion that it came from the other side of the door, but checks the holocams anyway. This allows her time to unplug the datapad and hide it. She offers to go out into the hallway to do recon. Outside, she tells him she’s spotted a demolition team still on board that seems to be setting up some type of ambush. She is going to take care of them, then utilizes the rigged explosives hidden in the datapad to make him think she’s doing just that. Right before she finds an escape pod. When the Iron Fist drops out of hyperspace, the Sungrass lifts off and Face’s team feigns surprise that they are not at Coruscant. Melvar points out they were never told they would be there, but the mission parameters remain the same. He also lets Face know that Qatya was killed taking out a demolitions team that would have caused problems. Face plays along and hopes that this is just a diversion on Shalla’s part to get away. In the meantime, as the Hawkbats help Zsinj with his goal, Wedge is experiencing trouble seeing with the Kettch puppet in front of him. Shalla jumps into a modified TIE Interceptor in the hangar and tosses the rest of her charges out which explode. She lifts off and heads out of the bay, hoping to be mistaken for debris.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 25, 2015 Author Share Posted January 25, 2015 chapter 19: Wedge is able to distract a few pilots who notice an Ewok in the cockpit of his fighter. Since Castin’s voice modifications are still on, he transmits in Ewokese basic, “Bleed and Die, yub, yub”. Shalla holds her breath as the 181st flies off and around the Razor’s Kiss to assess any damage, then she flies up toward the command tower and comms the KDY control tower. She identifies herself as a crewer from the Kiss which has been taken over by rebels or pirates. She is ordered to get to an escape pod. Since the Imps can probably monitor these transmissions, she hopes she has fooled them. Shalla’s transmission includes a code for a maneuver that had been planned as a possible part of the operation. When Wedge hears it, he knows she’s alive and it planning to make a hit at the ship’s deflector shield domes. There is an awkward few moments when Fel decides to fly with the Ewok Kettch and Wedge improvises some lines about not having a mate because Ewoks females aren’t smart enough. He asks about Fel’s mate, Wedge’s own sister Syal, before countering Fel’s statement that he’s the best human pilot by saying he’s heard of another. Fel thinks he means Luke Skywalker but Dia jumps in and mentions Wedge Antilles whom Fel dismisses as being lucky. When Melvar orders all fighters to pull back, Wedge is saddened that Fel seems happy in Zsinj’s service. Which means the next time they encounter each other, Wedge may have to kill him. This affords the ships an opportunity to get close to the Fist and cause some damage. Face doesn’t want Piggy to do it but he insists so Face has Tyria follow him. Piggy is hit and half crashes on the hull of the ship, then begins working out hyperspace formulas before the ship jumps. In the Fist’s hangar bay, Face emerges from the Sungrass to find one of the other pirate leaders angry at Melvar for not giving them accurate information. He feels he would have lost fewer pilots if they’d been prepared to fly against TIEs and doesn’t like being cheated. It turns out that the payments are in the form of datapads with numbered accounts they can access. Many of the pirates would prefer material goods. Face announces he will trust Zsinj who has too much to lose by betraying them and that calms most of the gangs down. When the Sungrass meets up with the Mon Remonda, General Solo urges Wedge to relax. Wedge is still nervous about the status of Shalla and Piggy. When the Castin program begins working, though, they get a general idea of where the Fist might be and prepare their forces to intercept.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 chapter 20: Zsinj receives a report on the damage to Razor’s Kiss and the status of the pirate gangs before he’s told that several ships have emerged on top of them. One of them is the Mon Remonda. He orders a hyperspace jump, but, they will not have enough room for that, so he orders all weapons to bear on the cruiser. From her hiding place, Shalla notes the arrival of the other ships and then turns her power on as the Imps have more important things to worry about. Piggy’s power-on systems don’t work. Rogue, Wraith, Polearm and Nova squadrons launch from the Mon Remonda. Shalla waits until the last minute, raises her Interceptor and fires on both projector domes. Zsinj is given the report. He orders fighters launched and the Kiss to take a course to prepare for a hyperspace jump. The Alliance fighters set proton torpoedoes to bear on the Razor’s Kiss and are contacted by Shalla who warns them to tag her as a friendly. When the Fist launches fighters, they turn toward it but continue to pound the Kiss on the way out. With the command tower hit, the Kiss is not responding to the Iron Fist. A low-level stormtrooper contacts them from the auxillary bridge and Zsinj puts his comm. officer on to talk the trooper through slaving the ship to the Fist. Sometimes, the universe is good. While Piggy finds the problem with his ship and starts to work on it, the fighter squadrons pair up against the swarms of TIEs coming out of the Fist. The Mon Remonda approaches the Fist’s exit vector and Han Solo orders the ship to open fire.Wedge takes a hit, causing his cockpit to become smokey. Newcomers arrive that turn out to be General Crespin and his trainees. Zsinj orders their guns to bear on the Remonda’s engines, hoping to stop her so they can escape without ramming the ship. After Shalla catches up with Wedge, the port projector dome on the Fist is taken down. Getting the news that the Remonda’s engines have been hit, Zsinj orders all fighters recalled and communication on the Razor’s Kiss to abandon ship. Face takes a hit and is sure he is dead, trying to think of some way to take enemy out with him. Then he realizes that Ton Phanan was right. He doesn’t have to settle accounts. Tyria comes along side him and escorts his ship back to safety. Wedge flies toward the 181st in the hopes of proving to Fel just how good of a pilot he is when all the starfighters pull back to their ships. As the Iron Fist jumps to lightspeed, however, the Razor’s Kiss explodes.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedi Cool Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 chapter 21: Wedge meets General Solo aboard the Mon Remonda and the latter mourns the escape of Zsinj once again. Wedge reminds him they’ve deprived the warlord of another SSD. Lt. Loran is going to be fine and they found Piggy floating in space. Shalla’s theft of a hyperspace-capable Interceptor is a boon. Wedge asks what it’s like to be someone else’s personal enemy. Solo hates it, but he can’t hand the job off to someone else who doesn’t hate Zsinj as much as he does. Melvar arrives with a status report which Zsinj waives off. He assumes one of the pirates put a transmitter on the ship at some point. He orders them to go back to their last engagement zone and pick up what’s left of the Razor’s Kiss. The Wraiths enter Face’s room where he is recovering. Wedge gives him the award for Mechanic’s Nightmare seeing as Face had to be cut out of his cockpit. He also notes that Shalla is promoted to lieutenant for her work in destroying the SSD and can even paint half of one on her X-Wing. Dia looks over and notices a bandage on his face and begins pulling it off. Face quips that women think they can pull one’s face off when they start dating you. It reveals that, underneath, the scar is gone. Face explains that Ton Phanan left him some money and required him to have the scar removed or someone he hates will be his beneficiary instead. They toast to their dead comrades. Dia, to people who don’t try to fool you. Face reminds her that she’ll never have that in Wraith Squadron.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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