This post is being borrowed from Riel's story writing competition a few weeks ago. The Flight School story never got off of the ground because I was busy and no trainees posted. Let's try to change that this time around. Bear, I took the liberty of changing a few things, but most of what you had posted earlier remains intact here. I hope to see some newbies posting, along with anyone else who wants to!
Members who may post on this story are:
Bear, Swomz, Darkhawk, Liquid, Riel Fury, Japheth, Say, and all Trainees.
Ships in this story are:
ISD II
Crusader
ISD II
Devastator
Platform
Saratoga
Several squadrons of trainees in TIE Fighters
1 TIE Droid Squadron
Bear and Darkhawk's personal fighters
Bear's Orders:
A group of smugglers are attempting to take advantage of the VEN while the Offensive and Defensive Fleets are away on a campaign. The Training Fleet, with a small Escort Frigate of the Lorn Home Guard, must act as Customs Officers, seizing any illegal cargo.
Bear's Plot:
I'm telling you the basic plot because it might be a bit confusing, and I don't want people to get confused (if any trainees post, for example).
Heeka Gellogh is a smuggler, attempting to smuggle a huge cargo of slaves into the VEN's home system. To do this, he has disguised himself as Commander Andrew-Wilson D'alembord, a Lorn Home Guardsman, and stolen an Escort Frigate. His men have infiltrated the
Crusader, in a plot to sell it to a fellow Smugglers gang.
Heeka is repulsed from the ISD, and the
Crusader must chase him and his ship through the system to capture him and his cargo - as they do that, they have to keep an eye out for anyone else who may enter illegally - pirates etc.
Basically, this next post sets up a pretty straightforward cat-and-mouse chase. If its confusing and weird, tell me (
[email protected] ), and if you want to adapt it slightly when you post, feel free. Also, if anyone doesn't like the Frigate's name, tell me... its not intended to be offensive. Enjoy!
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(From Bear)
Captain Bear frowned. He was standing on the bridge if the ISD II
Crusader, surveying a map of the system. Next to that was a paper showing his orders. Next to that was another paper showing a differant set of orders direct from the Lorn Home Guard. He was confused. At his disposal was an Imperial Star Destroyer, an Escort Frigate, three Squadrons of trainees, and a newly constructed Squadron of TIE Droids. He also had a Platform from which to base his operations. With all this, he had to do two jobs – keep an eye on one side of the system for the enemy, and keep an eye on the other for smugglers, who would inevitably try to take advantage of the lack of Naval ships.
“Sythspawn!. Defend a system with less than quarter a fleet,” he spoke softly to nobody in particular.
“Sir? Commodore Darkhawk for you,” a young warrant officer said formally. Bear heard his heels click together as he said it.
“Thank you. In my quarters,” Bear replied, picking up the map and papers and disappearing through a small door leading out of the bridge.
He walked in and saw a projection of Commodore Darkhawk, looking very calm.
“Evening, Bear!”
“It's the morning.” Bear replied irritably.
“Is it? Hadn’t noticed.. You got any ideas on how we do this yet?”
“Yeh. Leave the reserves here; take the ISD and go and do some real work.”
“Ha! I wish! I thought we could detail the
Saratoga to the centre of the system, the
Crusader to the north and east, and the
Bitch to the south and west.”
“The
Bitch?”
“It's the name for that Escort Frigate Lorn has sent us.”
“Why name your ship after your mother-in-law?”
“Ha! Good one! Anyway, what do you think?”
“We’ll confer with this Lorn guy.. what’s his name?”
“Commodore Andrews-Wilson D’alembord.”
“What a mouthful... Toff?”
“You bet. Bought his commission for 5 million credits, got to Commodore in six months.”
“Bloody hell. Alright then..” Bear pressed a button, and a young man, well dressed with gold braid and a row of medals on his uniform, appeared. Well, an image of him did.
“Hello, Captain,” he said coldly.
“Hello, Commodore. This is Commodore Darkhawk, Training Officer.”
“Great. I get a couple of Training guys under my command,” Andrews spat.
“Your command? I believe you’re under OUR command!” Darkhawk retorted angrily.
“I have my orders, Commodore. The Lorn High Command has put me in command of the Customs Expedition.”
“That's a disgr-” Bear began.
Darkhawk interrupted. “That's enough! Commander Andrews, your ship, the
Bitch, will be assigned to the south and the west. You will report on any findings to me on the
Saratoga.”
“I wish to report to my own Commanders. I object strongly.”
“Denied, but your objection is noted,” Darkhawk overrode.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you, SIR.” Darkhawk emphasised. It was obvious he had taken a dislike to the Lorn Commander.
Andrews just snorted, and his image disappeared. Darkhawk sighed.
“What an idiot.”
“Yes, but what did you expect?” Bear asked.
“A brain. This is the Navy, after all.”
“He’s from the Home Guard. Its not quite the same.”
“True. What will you do with him?”
“Keep him out of the way. He gives you any trouble, let me know.”
“Captain.” Darkhawk smiled, and his image disappeared.
Bear sighed. This was going to be quite a long day. Still, at least he could keep the
Bitch at bay, and Darkhawk was there... that, at least, inspired some confidence. Bear spent the next couple of hours in his quarters, mapping out where the
Crusader's area would be, and where the
Bitch's would. He assigned the Droid Squadron to the Saratoga, a single TIE Squadron to the
Bitch, and two to the
Crusader. He chuckled. He could imagine Commander Andrews refusing the Squadron and sending them straight back again.
He decided to take an afternoon nap. It had been a while since he had done that. On the
Saratoga a few months ago, as the TO, he had had ample time to rest and recuperate, but now he found himself in joint-command of an entire System. There was not much time to rest, but he would catch an hour now.
A few hours later, he woke. He looked at his clock, and jumped up with a start.
Damn! he thought. He had overslept! And there was a lot of noise in the bridge. He pulled on his tunic and the rest of his uniform, and ran in. There, holding a blaster to a young crewman's head, was Commodore Andrews-Wilson D’alembord. There were several men dead around him, and several of the Ship's Officers, including Lieutenant Commander Yves, had their own blasters aimed at the Commander.
“What the hell?!” Bear exploded, striding across the room angrily, seemingly unaware of the threat of the blasters.
“Ahh, Captain!” Andrews said coldly, turning and aiming his blaster at Bear. “All is not as it seems, eh?”
Bear gulped. How had Andrews got on the Crusader? Why wasn’t he informed? And why was he attempting to take over the ship? He gulped again.
“Lets not do anything stupid now..” Bear said slowly.
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(From Bear) Lieutenant Commander Johnson, XO of the Platform Saratoga, sat up with a start, spilling his coffee down his tunic.
“Oh, god.. What now?!”
There were red lights going off around him, and a lot of beeping. He could also hear people running around shouting. Some were screaming. He glanced down between wiping the coffee off himself, and his eyes bulged open. The
Devestator was firing on him!
“Oh my god! Oh my god! What do I do?!” he moaned, pressing buttons almost at random.
“Sir, we have just been hit by a concussion missile volley. We are evacuating the bridge!” someone shouted from behind him. Johnson spun round and saw that whoever it was had obviously gone.
He heard a loud bang, and the platform shuddered. There were more beeps now, and his console was emitting smoke. He pressed buttons which would communicate with the
Devestator, and with the
Bitch. They weren’t working. He could just hear radio static, and explosions.
“God damn it!” he shouted, standing up.
Another shudder knocked him to the ground, and the room started to fill with smoke. What was going on?! He glanced around and saw nobody was in the bridge. There was a security droid standing obedianetly by the door, waiting for him. Or, at least, it would have been waiting for him, if it wasn’t on its side beeping madly.
He crawled along the floor of the bridge towards the door. The platform was shuddering constantly by now – the
Crusader must have opened fire with its ion cannons. He reached towards the open door, and crawled out. There was nobody in the corridor.
Johnson stood to his feet and started to run. He managed to keep his balance for a few minutes, running down the endless corridors shouting for help, until a young trainee grabbed him and dragged him through a door. It was the shuttle bay.
“Ahh.. Johnson..” Darkhawk said, striding into the room in dress uniform. He was bleeding, but as Johnson watched, the cut seemed to disappear. Johnson knew what few men did - that his commanding officer was a Dark Jedi. How powerful, though, he did not know. The Training Officer never wore his lightsabre either, almost as if he were trying to hide his powers.
“Sir. What is going on?” he replied.
“Only God knows. The
Crusader is firing on us, and they won’t accept our communications. We’re evacuating.”
“Evacuating? But sir, this is our Headquarters...”
“Yes, well...” he was cut short by a huge shudder. They looked out of the huge window of the shuttle bay, and saw a few shuttles flying off. Several were smoking. One had just blown up.
“GET IN!” the pilot shouted. They clambered into the Army drop-ship, which had been loaned to them for training. It wasn’t exactly comfortable.
There were a few men in there – Darkhawk, Johnson, an experienced Petty Officer with scars all over his face, and the trainee. He was holding a young girl, who was sobbing.
“God..” Johnson muttered, as they flew off the platform. He looked out the window and saw the damaged Saratoga. It was not destroyed, but was smoking heavily. It looked weak.
The shuttle shuddered as half of the
Saratoga exploded. It did not take much off, but shot rubble and wreckage into space, narrowly missing the shuttle. Johnson jumped back as a body hit the window. It was a young trainee, probably not yet sixteen.
“God...” he moaned again. “What are we gonna do?”
“I am going to see what's wrong with the
Crusader - alone. You all will call for the
Devastator, then tow what's left of the
Saratoga down to Abrae planet for repairs.” Darkhawk replied calmly. He knew the
Saratoga was tough, and by the look of it, the
Crusader had stopped firing. Whoever... or whatever... had been firing it had obviously stopped.
The lone shuttle sped off towards the ISD as the rest flew down to the planet.
“Ha! Stupid? How could this be stupid? I have taken over your ship, Captain. I think you’re the stupid one!”
Bear narrowed his eyes. He could see a red glint in the Commodore's eyes, and he knew what that mean.
Clone.
He sighed, and in one swift movement, grabbed his blaster and put a bolt neatly through the impostor's neck. His neck exploded in blood and mucus, but the Crewman had survived.
“Damn...” Yves said slowly, lowering his own blaster, and putting two shots into the spasming body of the ursurper.
“He’s a clone. Maybe the real Commodore didn’t mastermind this...”
“Sir! Someone has captured the weapons centre!” a young man shouted, looking up from his console. “They’re firing on the
Saratoga!”
Indeed they were. Bear could feel the ship shuddering slightly as several missiles were fired, and then the ion cannons began to fire. His men were frantically trying to override the system to stop the firing, but nothing could be done. All Bear could do was pray.
“Send 100 men to the weapons centre,” He said to the Security Officer, an old Lieutenant. The man nodded, and ran off out the door.
A few minutes later, the firing stopped, and he heard a voice on the intercom.
“This is Ensign Isacc Brackenridge. Weapons Centre secure.”
“Where’s the Lieutenant?” Bear asked.
“Dead, sir. Only about half of us survived.”
“Damn. Thank you, Petty Officer.”
“My pleasure.”
The intercom was switched off, and a young man said something to him. A shuttle was approaching from the heavily damaged
Saratoga. Most of the evacuation shuttles had headed straight for the Naval HQ Planet, so this one must contain Darkhawk – if he was still alive.
“I’ll meet them in the shuttle bay.” Bear replied and went off to meet his old friend.
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NTO/SCAP/FL/COM Darkhawk/Raptor 3-1 /ISD II Devastator/OFF/VEN/VE/(=A=)(=SA=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)(=FOCE=)[LoC][BRC][VC:Ebony]
DLS/CM/SG Darkhawk/Sith/Eagle 1-5/mSSD Atrus/VEDJ/VE