Chp-23: Various Interludes 3
Darna Sabrir
Minda System, Ugea, Accordia, Imperial Tower
They had caught him. The saboteur.
It hadn't been particularly difficult, as he was not an infiltrator, but instead just a greedy techy who let the shine of credits outweigh his sensibilities.
He had almost gotten away, a backup ship already prepared and everything. Thankfully, Darna had contacts.
Many contacts.
She had spent the last few months building up something akin to a spy network of sorts. Friends that she invited over to gain new, calmer, better lives. They were often ex rebels, dissidents and the like who had left that life behind, and were willing to work to keep this little slice of the galaxy peaceful.
While they lacked the ability or power to make any real moves, they did function well as an information collection network. The mood of the people, internal company problems, the criminal underworld. While the web was not as all-encompassing as she wished it was, it let her hear a consistent stream of news on the next actions of the big local corps, unions, and crime groups. It also let her sneak an anonymous tip to the local enforcement squad of a suspicious vehicle.
It doesn't take a genius to realize who's ship it was.
At that very moment, as she continued to send out new orders, manage the day to day bureaucracies that she normally did, and prepare herself a cup of hot chocolate(the governor's love for it had rubbed off on her), the poor saboteur was sitting in a room some floors underground, stuck with the Commander.
His fate was sealed, and Darna didn't care for him in the slightest, but the idea of what might be happening still made her shudder.
The dinging of her terminal alerts her to a new message. Opening up the app, it reveals a report detailing the new influx of pirate attacks, with some sightings of corvette and even frigate sized ships. She frowned. They were getting arrogant. The governor's status had yet to be made public, so they likely assumed he was dead, and Minda weakened.
Then, a thought crossed her mind. The rebellion wouldn't like their newest important outpost to be jeopardized like this, and might see fit to intervene. It would be to their benefit, after all. Save the outpost, save the system, cast doubt on the Empire.
It was with this in mind that she sent an encrypted message through a dozen different towers, bouncing and bouncing the signal so much it would take a comms specialist a week to figure out where it went, much less what it said. At the end of its journey, it landed in Sidheths personal terminal.
It's contents a warning. Stay still, or begone. There would be no rebel interference.
Darna let out a sigh, then sipped her drink. Even the sugar couldn't settle her mind, quell the sadness at having just threatened a good friend of hers.
Unfortunately, it had to be done.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grot Gurr
Dark Space, The Duet's Dominion, Engineering
Gorza was hot as bantha dung walking through the maintenance tunnels, the piping that made up the walls trapping the heat. Sure, he was Esral'sa'Nikto, and so his face fins were doing wonders to regulate the heat, but even then it felt like he was taking a bath in an ISD's main thruster.
Thankfully, his PDA was built for these kinds of environments. It was a specialty model, built to look just like any other commercially available engineer PDAs. It was, however, different. Aside from the better security measures, it was chock full of military spec soft/hardware. Thermal sensors, wiretapping apps, and, most importantly for him, high-performance malware.
Turning down another pipe-filled corridor, Gorza approached the terminal near another one of the main thruster systems. The place had actual patches of rust, and clearly cracked pipes, but no cameras. Plugging his PDA in, he ran the basic diagnostics, and found a load wrong with the ship. Now, the CIS built these things tough, real tough, so the problems, like the fact that only half the cooling systems were working, meant that the ship still had a good while before it went under. Unless, of course, more systems just…didn't work.
And so, Gurr started uploading the virus, the progress bar so slow he wished he hadn't lost that rubber ball in a pipe a few days ago. The virus would ensure that, should the correct code be transmitted, the thrusters would cease to work. Amongst other things. It was one of many viruses that he and his teammates were tossing about the ship. Hell, his sister was working on the hyperdrives, and the team lead was working on the main computer.
He shuddered. All this spy work already made him nervous, he couldn't imagine trying to do this somewhere with a bunch of other techs. Almost makes the heat worth it. Almost.
The scratchy tone of the intercom system startled him from his revelry.
'...th-s…-ing….o-.....ally! Hello, go-d sailors of the mighty Duets Domi-ion! It is I, your benevolent King, Olmil Troddreessa!'
'And I, yo- magnific-nt Queen, Tir Troddreessa! And we come with such wonderful news! Our endeavors have been very successful, and now we can begin to expand! Soon, the neighboring systems will be ours, and after that, the entire sector!'
'Of course, my beautiful wife is correct as always! With the death of the Mindan governor, that pesky system will soon be ours for the taking. And, of course, the Admiral of the sector fleet is as flaky as ever. It won't be long before we can call the Myto Arrow our very own Kingdom!'
As they kept on rambling about their insane ambitions, Grot tuned them out and checked his messages to see if the team lead had heard all that. The small, encrypted reply confirmed this, and he sighed in relief. He couldn't bear to try and actually listen to what these two morons are saying for more than a minute, so he's glad that someone will be really dissecting the speech for clues.
When he turns back to the terminal, he notes the virus's completion is almost finished.
He smiles. Then winces as a rubber ball comes bouncing out of the piping directly into his face.
"How haven't you melted?" he exclaimed, rubbing his forehead.
The ball did not respond.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ife Veers
Minda System, Gladiator-II-Class Star Destroyer Theorem, Imperial Mining Outpost 3-4-A
Ife was not having a good day. Which was odd, as one might be inclined to believe that destroying as many pirates as she had today would be a great thing for someone who wished to advance her career as she did.
The problem lies in the fact that the pirates are getting bolder and stronger, and instead of beating them back, she is desperately defending.
"Approaching outpost 3-4-A, unidentified ships on scanners" sound off a crewmember.
"Ready the ion cannons, deploy the TIE's in standard positions, and send a warning. I want those ships obliterated the second they tell us to kriff off."
Out the viewport, she could see the pirate ships circling the outpost. A larger group than usual, it consisted of a smattering of light freighters and a Consular-class cruiser. For a pirate group, it was large. Compared to her forces?
Nothing.
She could see the minute they heard the order to stand down, their ships already turning to run.
Looking towards Hrax, she raised an eyebrow. The girl checked her PDA, confirmed the status of the ion cannons, then nodded towards her.
"Fire for effect"
"""YES MA"AM"""
Veers watched with a muted sort of glee as the barrage of blue bolts saturated the field of battle. While the freighters dodged and weaved, a veritable wall of blue slammed into the Consular, its shields buckling and its engines going dark.
The TIE fighters pushed into attack formation, focusing down individual freighters like a deadly swarm, chewing through the flimsy second hand armor panels like Mugwuffin chewed through BBQ.
As the remaining pirates escaped towards hyperspace, Ife once again turned towards her second.
"Contact the outpost, check if they're alright. Have a team clear out that cruiser, standard pirate procedure, and once that's finished have the Rationale tow it back to the yards."
"Understood, ma'am." Hrax simply said, already relaying her orders to the rest of the crew.
This had become a standard procedure for the defense flotilla, hunting pirates across the system. The Consular wasn't even the largest ship they had encountered. That honor went to an old republic Hammerhead-Class Cruiser. It was a powerful ship, or, at least, it had been. However the pirates managed to make that thing fly, it clearly wasn't enough, because it took only two barrages to shut the whole thing off.
Now it was permanently landed in Accordia, restored to act as a museum piece as it would be far too expensive to upgrade to modern standards, teaching about the Old Republic from the times of the Great Galactic War. Not much information about the war was available, but it was still a decent attraction, acting as one of the centerpieces of the Mindan Galactic Museum that had been built on the outskirts of Accordia as an attraction.
Now, as the boarding craft approached the Consular, Hrax approached her.
"Commodore, I've just been informed that you have a priority call awaiting you in your office."
"Understood." turning towards the pit officer, he nods, logging the change of command "I relinquish bridge command to you then, Second Officer Hrax. Keep things smooth"
"Yes ma'am"
Hrax saluted, and Ife made her way towards her quarters. While Captains quarters were located in a variety of places depending on the ship, on Star Destroyers of any kind there could be found at least two captains quarters. One was more of a well furnished broom closet of sorts, fit with a single bed, small desk and a kitchenette depending on preference. It was found on the bridge itself, for easy access.
This was not the quarters she was going to. Entering the elevator at the end of the bridge, she makes her way down a floor, walks down the hallway, and enters her room. She finds herself in a decently wide office, a stark black desk taking up the center of the room. She rarely used it, finding more use in the bridge-side office, but it was more secure.
Sitting down, Ife activated the holo center while wondering what could be so important. When Grant pops up in the holo, her face contorted in a mixture of barely contained rage and glee, she knows its serious.
"It's Edin."
The abrupt start confused her for a second. "...what? Who-"
"We caught the saboteur, and its Edins governor who ordered the hit." Spat Kaela, her eyes wild. "Likely connected with the Consortium."
"...You know we won't be able to pin this on him, right?" Ife nearly winced as she spoke, knowing the response. As she did, her hands began to type, a message asking for reinforcements to be sent to the Admiral. It was an order from the governor to send these at a semi-regular rate, if only for there to be evidence when the whole pirate situation eventually exploded.
"WHAT!" Snarled the Commander, snarling so hard that for a second, she thought she saw canines in the woman's mouth. Even over the comms, this woman was distressingly scary. Ife almost stopped typing at that, her hands freezing as her instincts told her to cover her face, while her training told her to keep typing.
She barely kept her hands on the terminal.
"We lack the evidence, as any confession given under torture or duress is suspect at best. The Moff also dislikes having such things brought to him, so he would likely dismiss the case outright."
Grant continues to stew, but eventually controls herself. "When the governor awakens, which should be soon, I'll inform him. The next course of action can be determined later, once the situation has been evaluated."
"Of course. I'll reinforce the Edin-Minda lane in the meanwhile." Almost sighing in relief while she sent the message, she could only be glad for Grant's considerable professionalism. Her ability to refine the beast within was remarkable.
Grant nodded, said her goodbyes, and left. It seemed every conversation with her could go a dozen ways. From the subtle competitiveness of trying to gain the governors favor during personal lessons, to the pleasant times spent actually planning those lessons together on the rare occasion they happened, to the professional exchanges they had just now.
Commander Kaela Grant was a wildcard, but a necessary one at this point in time.
And though Ife would never say it aloud, Kaela was a wildcard she liked.
But only a little.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zyx Mola
Corporate Sector, Etti System, Etti IV
Zyx was, to summarize a story that would take to long to tell, incredibly bored. After she had last been to Minda, she had taken on a few more missions, eventually being sent to a safehouse. Thats the worst part. She was not informed of her next mission, or when it would be, only to stay put and wait.
Thankfully, there was enough supplies around to keep her fed, and she had access to the holonet, so it wasn't a complete bore, but still. No social interaction! She couldn't freak people out with her observation skills, which was the best part of being a spy!
So, she sat there, munching on some snacks as she watched some mediocre Neimodian drama. The characters gasped more realistically when credit coins were dropped down a drain than when their families were killed, but it was still entertaining in an ironic sort of way.
That was when her PDA(she was one of the first to be assigned one. It was great) beeped with a report message. It was the reports she requested be given to her on Minda. She was a decent ways up the totem pole all things considered, especially for an Agent, so she was afforded some niceties. Of which reports on her brothers little governance experiment was going.
Pausing her show, she brought up the report, and sped read it. A useful skill, and one that all M.I agents were taught. Reports were sent in specific codes that, with the aforementioned skills, could be read and understood in mere seconds.
Upon finishing reading, she felt like shooting something. A muted sense of anger and worry pooled in her gut, only held back by her training and the fact that she was half a galaxy away. Anger would do her no good here.
Regardless, her fingers tapped the screen a little too hard when she sent a request to investigate Minda. Her baby bro had almost been killed. She couldn't let that stand!
Of course, the request would likely be denied. But still, she had to try. After that was sent, she had two messages sent to both Shal and Alvi detailing the event.
"Kriffing politics" she ground out, trying not to bite her nails like she did as a child. "Why couldn't we just, not kill each other."
The silence gave no answer.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alvi Mola
Lothal, Imperial Factory
Alvi was not doing the best. As she swerved the Seeker through the air, she knew that the turn wasn't as good as it could have been. Again, she swerved, this time firing a barrage at the pre-set targets. Not bothering to check her hits, she finished the exercise and landed.
Olrat was, unlike every other test flight, not immediately upon her. Instead, he was more reserved, and tense. Why?
That was when she caught sight of the Grand Admiral, and immediately saluted.
"Sir!"
"At ease, Squadron Commander." he said, studying his PDA. "Why were your scores lower this run? Your accuracy fell to 73% from 92%. And your speed was down by 20 kph."
Alvi almost seized up right there, still stuck in her salute. It took a few seconds for her mind to catch up, and when she did, he was looking her in the eyes, an inquisitive gaze unlike any other.
It scared her. Enough that she refused to speak a lie, knowing she would be caught.
"I-its my…brother, sir. Just before the flight, I received a message that he was almost a-assassinated, sir." Her breath caught a bit as she recalled the message. It had been short, and to the point. Zyx only ever wrote like that when things were bad. She much preferred talking around the point, just to annoy people.
Thrawn's eyebrow raised a smidge. "Your brother? The Governor, in the Bright Jewel Oversector?"
"C-correct, sir."
He hummed. "What made him a target?" By then, she had calmed herself, her stutter disappearing as she mentally fell back into her role.
"I don't know for certain, sir. Apparently some weapons testing demonstration went wrong and he was caught in the blast. A saboteur was identified, but I was given no more information."
Thrawn studied her, then made a quick few adjustments on his PDA. Unbeknownst to her, he was ordering a full report on the Minda system, as news about it kept popping up.
"Understood. Take the rest of the day off, Commander. I won't have our best pilot flying with a clouded mind. Center yourself, and return tomorrow with a clearer vision."
She saluted again. "Yes, sir! Thank you sir!"
A Grand Admiral giving her the day off?
Will wonders never cease.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luke Skywalker
Tatooine, Mos Eisley, Docking Center
In the decently cooled interior of the repair bay, Luke was guts deep in a pit droid, its brain open for all to see. Despite this, his eyes weren't on the open machinery. They were instead glued to the PDA he had propped up against the wall of the workbench. It was connected to the droid, giving him real-time data on its status as he messed around to see what was wrong. Just as he made the right connection, a voice rumbled throughout the structure.
"Boy, get over here. I have need of you."
"Gotcha boss! Be right there!" Luke yelled back. A few more tweaks, and the droid was up and aware.
"Hey there buddy, all new, huh? Just watch where you're going next time. Your headplate isn't that sturdy anymore, kay?"
The droid beeped a thanks in binary, before darting off. Job done, Luke made his way out of the workshop. Crossing the center of the bay, filled with machinery, bits and bobs, and even a few ships! He loved working on those the most.
As Luke passed through, he greeted some of the other techs that were working. His shift had a good mix of those who were friendly, and those who weren't, but the boss had made it clear that such tomfoolery wouldn't be allowed in the port.
Finally, he reached the end of the bay, entering through the backdoor of the offices. Up the stairs and a few turns later, he was at the executive office.
It was there that he stopped, took off his gloves, and knocked politely. A low, powerful voice spoke out in such a way that his very bones rattled.
"Enter."
And that he did. Closing the door behind him, he took in his Boss. The Gamorrean was large, green skinned and powerful. She also had a cybernetic right eye, and a number of scars across her face.
He dipped his head slightly, as a show of respect. If not for her stature and appearance, her voice would command fear alone. After all, she hadn't contacted him with the intercom, and he had been working on the other side of the bay. That was a good 60 meters or, with all the noise of a bay in the way as well. A testament to her powerful vocal cords. And he was pretty sure it wasn't a Gamorrean thing, she was just built different.
"Boy. You have done well by the port. I was right to hire you."
He couldn't help but grin a bit. With the PDA, he had learned a great deal, and when he fixed up the speeder during a trip into town, the Boss had noticed him, and offered him a chance at employment.
Uncle Owen had been skeptical at first, but after he came back with a solid paycheck, there were no real complaints.
The Boss continued, unaware or uncaring of Luke's reminiscing.
"A merchant has come, in need of repairs. His freighter is a CEC model, easy enough. You will repair it."
A ship! He got to repair a real ship! His eyes sparkled, the excitement palpable.
Boss snorted, her organic eye seeming to smile in place of her mouth. "Calm yourself, young one. It is a test. To see if you have the skills to proceed. Do not fear failure, for this is to see how your skill has improved, not to determine your future here."
He nodded, the small bit of nervousness now gone. Good, his job wasn't possibly in jeopardy.
"The ship is in Docking bay 100. Go, test yourself."
He thanked her, and started speed walking towards his tools.
After a few minutes, he finally made it to the bay in question. In it sat a beauty of a ship, a well maintained Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-2000 light freighter. A limited production run, it was still part of one of the most ubiquitous lines of ships in the galaxy.
Quickly, he made his way over, and immediately began work. The pit droids scanned and checked about while he checked diagnostics on his PDA, hooked up to the nearby terminal.
After identifying the problem, he set about working at it. Ordering the droids about, welding, connecting and disconnecting wires. For all that the ship was well maintained, and for all that it was a CEC production, it had a great deal of signs of overuse and fatigue that were wearing down on it. Not to mention that some of the aftermarket parts were not good for the ship at all.
Luckily, he remembered that the Boss didn't want him improving customers' vehicles without charging extra, so he would wait until the customer returned to tell them about it.
As he was working, time seemed to fly by. Suddenly, it was the middle of the day, and someone was calling out to him.
Extracting himself from the guts of the ship, he looked over to the source of the commotion,
What seemed like the crew of the ship had entered the bay, the captain approaching him.
"Hey there kid. You the techy Boss said, was working on Ol Franz here?"
"Yup!" he replied, keeping his cheer up even as he lowered his hands casually. Of course, he was actually keeping his hands near his knife. If Boss had taught him anything, it was that keeping a weapon on you in this city was a necessity.
The captain looked around the engine, humming to himself. "Looks like a good job, if nothing else. Especially for one so young."
Before Luke could respond the captain continued, noticing the PDA left on the ground where he had been working.
"Ah, that makes a little more sense. One of those can come in real handy."
Luke was startled a little. "You know about PDAs?"
He chuckled. "Course I know about 'em. They were part of my cargo. Sold a bunch on the way here. Got 'em right at the source too. Great pricing up there."
Before he could stop himself, he was already speaking with far too much enthusiasm for a conversation with a stranger. "You know where they're from! Please, you gotta tell me!"
"Hey, relax kid! It ain't no big secret. PDA's are a Minda born tech. That's up in the Myto sector, other side of the galaxy, kid. Oversector Bright Jewel."
Lukes face fell. Bright Jewel was literally on the other side of the galaxy, while he was stuck in the Red Tails oversector. Middle of nowhere.
Noticing his gloom, the captain gave a small chuckle. "Relax kid. With your skills, I'm sure you could get a good job on a larger ship headed that way. Besides, last I was there, the Governor was tossing a bunch of money at their R&D, and was hiring like crazy. Might get a sweet gig if you're up to the challenge."
Luke considered his words as they parted ways. Minda, huh? It wasn't the Academy, like he'd talked about with his friends, but still. An adventure is an adventure, isn't it? And he would love to meet with the people that came up with this.
His resolve seemed to harden in his heart. Minda, the system that might hold the key to his dreams. He just had to get there.
All of the sudden, his wallet just felt a whole lot emptier.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks! Sorry for the later update, but I kinda overplanned this chapter. I filled it with like half a dozen POVS that I just didn't find another place for. Honestly, I spent more time planning this chapter in class instead of doing my work or writing the damn thing.
Also, there seems to be a great deal of discussion on TIE tanks for some reason? I mean, I know they technically exist but there are better options, not that tanks are needed right now anyways. Kinda weird direction to go in, but I digress. The TIE variants chapter is coming up with the finalized TIE variants, the reasons for their existences, and how much Las had to bribe Seinar officials to get approval for the factories(hint: it's a lot). Also, yes, the R&D pov chapter is on the way. Just gotta get through this arc first, cause we're nearing the end.
Regardless, feedback and commentary on where this story might be headed is always appreciated. Also, I don't crosspost the Omakes, and there is a surprising amount on SB and QQ, with none n SV. I recommend checking them out, because they range from funny little crack stories to actually surprisingly well thought out, especially Roadripper on SB, who makes the majority of Omakes there. Very nice.
Thanks for reading!
-Freefaller
