Galactic Civil War, 6 Months before the Battle of Endor
Outer Rim near the Karatos Star near the Unknown Regions
Crystal Mining Base 1189
Command Bridge
0900 hours
Commander Erren Vilrus stood staring into the bright void that was te Karatos Star. He had been standing there for a long time, a passerby would say that he was deep in thought, but in fact, he was trying to beat back his utter boredom.
This Mining Base 1189 was one of thousands of bases that were far from any source of action. There was no glory or honor to be had, nor even the slightest feeling of excitement.
Only the hope of meeting this month's required amount of crystals.
Commander Vilrus was slightly short in stature, and quite pudgy as well, for being in an area of absolutley no action, he had sort've fallen from proper organization and exercise.
Vilrus had been here 2 years, enough to drive any officer recruit crazy. Being assigned to a dead-end mine was a death sentence for his hopes of a grand career serving the Empire. It was nothing like the recruiters had said, and now, Vilrus was doomed to a no-where job until his retirement. Which wouldn't come for many many years.
"Commander Vilrus, the status report from post 311 has just come in." Said a gray-uniformed junior officer.
"Alright, Neff, what's the report?"
The Junior Officer began reading it, "They are behind schedule with only 3 kilos of kerephite crystals as opposed to the requirement of 10 kilos at least. Production is slow and discipline is lax. Apparently, morale isn't high and production wo't be stepping up anytime soon, sir."
"I asked for the report and not your personal opinion, Lieutenant Neff. Back to your post!"
The Lieutenant saluted and began walking back to the comm station. Vilrus went back into staring out the windows at the void of light. He decided to look at something else and brought his vision to one of the many asteroids circling this small moon. Everyone of those asteroids had an outpost working hard to find kerephrite crystals. These crystals were a recent discovery, and apparently it would help the Empire build its new super-weapons, but the amount of crystals found was greatly reduced after the first year. And now, Mine 1189 was a backwater again.
The Commander went to a small command chair near one of the large windows, and he sat, deciding to get some sleep.
Outpost 1
Observation Post
0930 hours
Sergeant Krat Pterzen mouthed all of the words of the holovid he was watching, "The Sudden Arrival."
He had watched this holovid over a hundred times over the course of one day, and now he was confident that he could've played the part better than the illustrious actor, "Derran Selvil." Krat was also confident that he was going mad with the boredom of the post.
He looked away from the horror holovid for a moment to look out at the stars, and he saw nothing of interest.
Krat looked back at the holovid to see the monster suddenly appear and jump on the hero, a damsel in distress screaming nearby.
"Hmpf, this movie isn't very creative is it?" Krat said to himself.
"What was that, Krat?" Said his friend Morvus who was currently watching the stars on the other side of the compartment.
"Nothing Morv, just trying to stem the tide of boredom."
Suddenly, a small red light began beeping on the control panel on Krat's observation desk. He hit the button and a small viewscreen popped up, showing the daily cargo ship coming in to haul out today's finds. But strangely, it wasn't making contact with the tower, something that a pilot wouldn't do when trying to land in an asteroid field.
"That's strange," Krat said.
Morvus piped up, "Well, I think their comm is down, probably cruised a but too close to the star."
Krat nodded and went back to watching the holovid, completely and utterly bored that he didn't care if that ship was a rebel, which he knew it wan't.
Outpost 3
Hangar and Distribution Center
0945
The cargo ship landed in the hangar safely, at least that Deck Chief Baret Wilchesen could see. The same ship came in everyday at the same time, hauling out crystals. Nothing special.
Wilchesen smiled and went back to reading the news holo, apparently the Rebels had just crushed the Star Destroyer "Indomitable" near Felucian orbit.
Wilchesen would've given his right arm right now to be there fighting the rebels. But sadly, he'd lost it already at the Battle of Manaan, which landed him this desk job in a nowhere mining facility.
He looked back at the loading ship, and something strange caught his eye. There were no lights inside the ship. Well, there was no landing lights on the outside either. Wilchesen didn't like the look of it and pressed a small inspection button on his control panel in front of him. He watched from his position above the ship as Stormtroopers surrounded the entrance of the ship as a small metal board descended so the stormies could inspect the inside of the ship.
Then everything went dark.
This happened daily also, the asteroid would get to close to the star in it's orbit, and the power would go out, giving the maintenance squads something to do.
"Well, at least those squads have something to do."
Wilchesen stood to stretch. Then he heard blasterfire.
And then screams...and what sounded like an inhuman roar.
Wilchesen looked out the window but couldn't see anything due to the dark.
He took out his blaster pistol and motioned for his two Stormtrooper guards to follow. They went into the elevator and came down into the hangar quickly.
Wilchesen couldn't believe what he saw.
The entire squad of stormtroopers had been slaughtered, butchered more like, judging by their wounds. But there was still no sign that anyone had been there. No left over blades, no footprints, and no bloodmarks on the floor, only on the dead troopers.
Wilchesen motioned for the two stormtroopers to check out what was inside the ship. They nodded and walked carefully up the ramp. One stood guard outside examining the scene, and the other one went inside.
Wilchesen sat on a duracrete box that was right next to the ship. This was indeed the most exciting thing that had happened ever since the time his arm was blown off at Manaan.
Suddenly, there was a large bumping sound in the ship, and it literally rocked about for a second. Then it was silent.
Wilchesen kneeled and prepared to shoot anything that came out, the other stormtrooper readied himself as well.
Something rolled out of the ship.
A Stormtrooper helmet.
The other trooper, struck by rage, charged in, firing as he went.
But something hit him too, and he flew out of the ship, pinned to the opposite wall by a strange blade.
Wilchesen ran, ran as he had ever ran before. He managed to make it into one of the mining tunnels to get the miners out, but he found a more terrible scene as he found there break area.
The miners had been slaughtered as well. And it wasn't a clean mess either.
Wilchesen backed out slowly, but something dripped on his shoulder.
It wasn't blood and it wasn't water.
He shook uncontrollably in fear as he looked up slowly.
The creature growled.
And Wilchesen didn't even have a chance to scream.
Command Bridge
1000 hours
"Sir, the power is back on, everyone has reported in...except outpost 3."
Vilrus looked at Neff," What are you talking about? They know it's mandatory to check in after a power-outage."
Neff shook his head, "Maybe they forgot, or maybe the comm is down. Allow me to check."
The Lieutenant pressed a button on the command board.
And the only thing heard was static.
Needless to say, Vilrus was worried.
"Form a search squad. We have to know what happened."
Vilrus looked at Outpost 3 that was right outside the command bridge. There were no lights on, and the area looked silent, absolutley silent.
Something had to be there.
Then something went deathly wrong. All the lights on the stations connected to Outpost 3 went out. And then emergency lights began to sound in the Command Bridge. All the comms were static.
For 20 precious minutes, the Command Bridge was frozen in fear. They had no idea, what to do. Then they began to hear screams coming from behind the door into the Command Bridge. Everyone broke the trance.
"Lieutenant Neff! Begin scuttling operations! We must stop this...this whatever this is!"
The Stormtroopers and officers began a defensive barrier in front of the door.
Vilrus began sending a class 1 Top Security emergency. He then quickly sent it to central command at Coruscant. They would definately listen to this.
Vilrus sighed as the message was sent. He was now going to try to survive. He hefted his blaster and aimed at the door.
Something banged hard on the door.
Once...
Twice...
..and the third time....nothing.
Everyone relaxed.
Neff especially, "Whatever it is, it can't get in."
The people inside chuckled happily to themselves.
Suddenly, the vent above Neff opened, and something zipped down, taking down a screaming Neff. Parts flew everywhere, and the crew began firing like mad men. But the beast was huge, maybe 8 feet in full height, and it was fast. Too fast for the men.
The crew was quickly ripped apart, and only Vilrus was left. The lights went out, and all he could see was the massive silouhette of the beast. He shivered and fired off a shot. It missed, and the beast quickly stuck a blade in Vilrus' gut. For the first time, Vilrus saw the beast's face, and he tried to scream.
But darkness climbed into his vision.
And it was over...
Coruscant Central Command
Three Days Later
1100
"Lord Vader, take a look this." Admiral Piett said.
The Dark Lord took the small report from the Admiral's hand.
"I have little time for a small mining post, Admiral, do not waste my time."
"But Sir, one of our ships was patrolling that area, and they reported something strange, we don't know what."
This caught Vader's attention, "Interesting...Admiral. I do not have the time to investigate this personally, but there is someone who would...of course...for a hefty fee."
Piett knew exactly who.
Boba Fett.
To be continued.....
Excellent story CQ! I love the Idea of Boba fett vs, whatever killed the miners
Not a bad start at all, though I think that you might have rushed a tad in some areas. There was one error that I pointed out though:
Apparently, morale isn't high and production wo't be stepping up anytime soon, sir."
I expect that you meant won't.
Like it! Was a little slow at first, but caught my interest pretty soon in. And I especially love the death of Wilchesen; just like something out of a horror movie! Can't wait to read more!
Ooh. Good job, CommanderQ. This is such a good idea! It was a little slow and confusing at first, but once you got into it more it was worth the read! I look forward to more, as always!
-Fish-
Not a bad start at all, though I think that you might have rushed a tad in some areas. There was one error that I pointed out though:
I expect that you meant won't.
Yes, I meant won't:D Thanks for the observation! I'll make the correction right away!:D
Thanks Anduril and Fish! I'm glad to hear that I have achieved the slow effect in the beginning, I wasn't sure if it would work:D Thanks again! Next part will be coming soon!:D
2 Days after the Karatos Mining Incident
Outer Rim
Tatooine
Jabba's Palace
1200
Boba Fett sat a table alone in the corner of Jabba the Hutt's large audience chamber.
Fett had been watching and observing carefully all the activities taking place in the chamber for the last 5 hours. From his position, nobody could hide, just the way Fett liked it.
Some may consider Fett overly cautious and paranoid, but he thought of himself as simply....smart.
In the past time, Fett had noticed Jabba's Majordomo, Bib Fortuna, converse with several other lowlifes like the contemptible Quarren, Tessek, and a fat Gammorean, who's name wasn't important. He'd also seen a whole number of criminal activities going on right underneath the large Jabba's nose, or whatever that thing was between his eyes.
Luckily for Fett, nobody would suspect him of eavesdropping. Mandalorian helmets had that advantage, he could look like he was watching the beautiful Twi-Lek dancers, but in fact, he was witnessing an arms deal in the far corner of the room.
Fett sipped through a straw his drink, a red Correlian ale. It tasted horrible, but it added to Fett's cover as a mere patron of the large Hutt who seemingly was always squealing for either the blood of others as entertainment or food. A nasty combination.
Needless to say....Fett was bored. He longed for the moments back when he was hunting Han Solo, but that stopped with the little 'incident' in Cloud City.
Fett smiled at the Carbonite block at the darker end of the room.
His prime accomplishment indeed.
Suddenly, a loud screeeecchh came from the trap door in front of Jabba's dias, and another Twi-Lek who wasn't pleasing the Mighty Jabba fell through to the hungry claws of a Rancor.
If Jabba keeps killing his Twi-Leks, prices on his slaves would rise...heh, not that I really care, thought Fett.
He stood from his seat and began walking across the loud and stinking room as all of Jabba's thugs and associates rushed to see the Twi-Lek get eaten.
Idiots. They have no concept of entertainment. They should give a blaster to the Twi-Lek, maybe that would make it more entertaining.
Fett thought harder and suddenly realized that that wouldn't be very entertaining either.
Fett moved quickly through the crowd and out into the near deserted hallways of Jabba's palace.
The Mandalorian's room was only two rooms away from the Hutt's, Jabba had definately put security in mind, and Fett would provide it...for the right price.
He reached his room and activated the door and walked in to the unlit room, or closet more like. He turned on the lights and sat down on his cot, grabbing his holo emitter to check for any messages.
Boba Fett longed for their to be a message.
Dumb criminals and a Hutt just aren't the ideal assignment.
Fett brought the Holo to his eyes and saw one message filed in. Fett smiled once again.
He activated it and a blue hologram of Admiral Piett, the new commander of Vader's fleet and flagship, the Executor. Of course, Vader was nearly always on the flagship, not giving the Admiral that much time to build his name as a great strategic mind. He probably wasn't anyway.
The blue hologram spoke," Hello, bounty hunter."
Fett noticed a distinct hostility in Piett's voice.
"Lord Vader has a mission for you, and it has a nice price if you're wondering."
Fett's ears perked up.
"We have recently ran into a problem. One of our mining colonies in the outer rim has recently been met with an..."
"Accident." Fett said in unison with the hologram.
Piett straightned,"Yes, Lord Vader knows that this may sound like too simple an assignment, but this hologram contained in the message may interest you."
Piett disapeared to show a dark hallway, and Imperial Stormtroopers running down it.
Who were quickly slaughtered by some massive beast.
Piett reappeared," Yes, bounty hunter, a creature of some sort. One of our retrieval droids took that information from a surviving security cam. We don't know what it is. Bring us back this beast's body, and we will pay you a complete fee of nearly 1,000,000 credits."
Fett turned the hologram off and immediatley began sending a response with only two words: I'm in.
Looking promising, CQ. :) I did enjoy the first chapter immensely, and this one certainly gives a good mindset of the Fett. Looking forward to the action soon. :)
Good job! It was brief, but it was what we wanted to know. Post more soon!!!
3 days after Karatos Mining Incident
Outer Rim
Imperial Space Station 1449
0800 Hours
Slave 1 roared out of hyperspace, stopping a few kilometers from the massive Space Station. This Station was the main hub of all Imperial activity in the Outer Rim, monitoring activites and providing aid to any of the Imperial Outposts this far out. Normally it was very quiet for them, but from what Fett had heard, the recent incident at the Karatos mine had put them all in uproar.
A blue hologram appeared of an Imperial Officer, uniform, straight and clean as always, and the officer stood amazingly straight, that was the way the Empire made them.
"Slave 1, we have been expecting you. Admiral Piett had informed us you'd be coming, but our reports suggested you wouldn't come until later..."
Fett frowned.
Imperial Ineffeciency, he thought.
"Your reports were wrong." Was Fett's only response.
The quick and curt saying had caught the Imperial a little off gaurd. The man looked slightly hurt for a moment.
"Well...in that case, you are cleared for boarding in Hanger AA23. A detachment will meet you there. Admiral Piett as well."
Fett nodded, he'd known Piett to be very straight forward when trying to get one of Vader's jobs done. It was that quality that probably kept Vader from killing this one as he had the last.
He sighed, "Good."
Fett deactivated the comm and grabbed the controls, pulling Slave into a deep dive, heading for Hangar AA23, which was based near the bottom of the Space Station.
He cruised in without problem, landing smoothly on the brightly-polished duracrete floor of Hanger AA23.
As said, there was a detachment of Imperial Stormtroopers, lined up perfectly outside of the ship, Admiral Piett inbetween.
The landing ramp opened, and Fett walked out, slowly and cautiously. Some considered Fett paranoid for believing that anything could be a betrayal.
Admiral Piett moved to greet him.
"It is good that you have arrived so promptly, bounty hunter."
"The job pays well, Piett."
The Admiral nodded, he knew Fett and his motives.
He turned and Fett walked alongside him as they moved to leave the Hangar.
"So....your assignment is simple. Kill whatever is inside the Karatos mine. Bring us back some sort of proof you killed it, then we will pay the 1,000,000 credits."
Fett nodded, "No catch?"
They walked a bit further until Piett replied, "No. Other then we have no idea what is inside the facility. We can't get anyone in to recon or report. The only droid that managed to survive caught only a morsel of information before we lost contact."
They left the hangar and walked into one of the hallways, bustling with activity.
Fett tightened the strap of his rifle.
"Information not needed. I'll kill it anyways. Anything else?"
The Admiral motioned for them to enter a door on the right. Fett followed and the door slid open, revealing many shelves and panels filled with weaponry and different types of technology. Also in the room were three stormtroopers in jet black armor.
"The only thing we ask is that you bring these Storm Commandoes along. Use them as you will. They have been told to follow all of your orders until the mission is complete."
Fett walked over to the 3 Storm Commandoes.
"Names." Was the only thing he said.
The first Commando stepped forward, "IC-9971, Sergeant Jek Kerlin, sir."
He stepped back and the next commando moved forward, "IC-9970, Corporal Ghez Kento, sir."
The final commando stepped forward, "IC-9969, Private Iodec Fera, sir."
Boba Fett nodded, showing no emotion and remaining quiet.
"Kerlin, Kento, and Fera. Good."
Fett looked at the Admiral Piett, "How soon will they be ready to go?"
Piett smiled, a characteristic he rarely showed, "Now."
Five Minutes Later. . .
All the talking that Fett had to go through with Piett had made his throat sore. Which was why he was happy that the Commandoes that were coming along were nearly as mute as Fett was.
The 3 Commandoes were strapped in on the seats below Slave 1's cockpit, where Fett sat.
He concentrated completely on the task at hand, methodically moving his hands across the control boards.
The ship rose slowly and flew out of the hangar.
A second blue hologram appeared, this time it was Admiral Piett.
At first, Fett paid no attention, setting the coordinates for the Karatos Star.
Piett spoke first, "The crew wishes for me to tell you something..."
He paused for a moment, and slightly rolled his eyes, there was no doubt that Piett disliked him.
"....good luck."
The coordinates were set.
Fett kept his voice completely emotionless, almost droid-like.
"Don't need luck...."
He punched the hyper-space button.
"....luck is for the weak."
Slave 1 jumped into hyperspace.
cool!
I'm liking this so far. Can't wait until he sees the beast!
Well, I finally got back to reading this sucker and man I'm liking it even more. Keep it up CQ!