“There are dangers, even to this great Empire—to you and to all of us. The Emperor wants you to know who our common enemies are. First, there is the problem of rogue alien races who cannot, or will not live in peaceful coexistence and commerce with the human race, or who have designs of conquest themselves—races like the Mon Calamarians and the Wookiee. You can join us in thwarting their destructive efforts.
“There are also some who wish to resurrect the old corruption. Led by former senators who want to return to their corrupt ways, these rebels have dared to interfere with our attempts to bring peace to the galaxy. Make no mistake. They are led by desperate and persuasive criminals, and they have made unholy alliances with some of the very alien races who desire our destruction. We welcome qualified volunteers in the fight against these evil beings and their lies.”
The admiral stopped speaking and looked over the assemblage. Maarek felt his eyes sweep over and, very briefly, lock onto his. Or so it seemed. The moment was very fleeting, but it somehow made Maarek feel noticed—and very uneasy. Then the man continued his speech. He spoke as if he were welcoming them to a hotel or resort. As if he were speaking to paying customers or invited guests. Maarek supposed some of the audience might actually have been invited, but many were dressed, like him, in prisoner’s clothes.
“You are on one of many great ships of the Emperor’s fleet,” said Mordon. “This is the Imperial Star Destroyer Vengeance. Nearby are several other Star Destroyers and a few frigates. We are here to assure you and your neighbors peace, order, and prosperous commerce.
“Many of you have never seen a Star Destroyer before. I will now acquaint you with this marvelous instrument of peace and order.”
Then the lights dimmed and a holo projection appeared near the man. It showed a great ship, dagger-shaped and ending in a raised wall topped by two cylindrical projections. Though it looked quite complex, there was no scale by which to judge it, and Maarek looked on with mild interest.
“This is an Imperial-class Star Destroyer,” the man announced with obvious pride. “It is an impressive bit of engineering. By way of comparison, I’ll show you what a standard interplanetary shuttle craft would look like in scale.”
A small shuttle appeared, much like the one the Bordali had used to transport Maarek and his mother. It was merely a speck. Maarek felt his heart skip. He was inclined to suspect some trickery, but the man went on, as if reading his mind.
“This is no exaggeration, beings of Taroon. This is accurate. Very few if any of you have ever seen anything like it. You are now located on Deck 50 in the mid octal of the ship.
“A Star Destroyer contains many thousands of soldiers and crewmembers. It is, essentially, a city in space—or a fortress. Each Star Destroyer carries dozens of heavy turbolasers and ion cannons and a variety of other offensive and defensive armaments. In addition, each carries several squadrons of TIE fighters and TIE bombers as well as peace-keeping groups of AT-AT and AT-ST walkers and various other surface vehicles.”
Then it suddenly hit Maarek like a 10-g deceleration. This wasn’t a recruitment lecture, as he had thought at first. This was a thinly disguised threat. This Star Destroyer carried enough destructive power to level a relatively small planet like Kuan. If the Empire actually had more than one of these behemoths, it was no wonder they were able so easily to declare themselves masters of a whole system. And that’s why so many leaders from both Kuan and Bordal were here. This “invitation” being extended to the worlds of Taroon was offered with a blaster to their heads. They cooperated. Or else.
But what was Maarek doing here? What did they want from him?
Meanwhile, the admiral made a signal to someone and a holo presentation began. It was a sort of guided tour of the Star Destroyer, making it look more than anything like some well-armed military hotel. Music accompanied the presentation, and fitted itself well to the mood of the images being displayed.
“The Imperial-class Star Destroyer is home to tens of thousands of spaceborne troopers and crew. Here, in the civilian area, you see many beings going about their business. There are shops, services, eating establishments, and leisure centers.”
As the narrator spoke, the holo showed something that might have been a street in a prosperous city, except that everything was on a somewhat smaller scale. The projection angles had been chosen well to give the impression of a lot of space, but Maarek saw that the whole scene showed a fairly small area—at least by planetary standards. Then the scene shifted.
The holo showed several images in quick succession. First, there was a small suite, spotless and new looking. There was a bedroom, living area with communications nook, and a small toilet room. There was no kitchen or apparent eating location. The narration that accompanied the images said this was the typical quarters for the crew. It looked inviting, almost cozy.
The music became more heroic and the holo shifted to an area loaded with equipment and people working. The narrator identified it as a control room, “one of many aboard the Star Destroyer,” There was a bustle of beings, mostly human, running back and forth from one console to another, looking exceedingly busy and efficient. “The Star Destroyer is run by a dedicated crew of skilled technicians. They control the many functions of the ship including propulsion and navigation parameter input, life support monitoring, shield management, and weapon charging. There are several specialized control rooms as well. For instance, each bank of the Star Destroyer’s turbolasers has a separate downstream control area, and there are terminal allocation stations for each hangar to handle and route all traffic to and from the ship.”
The scene dissolved to show a large room dominated by a raised balcony. The scene depicted a large holomap. Again, there were various soldiers and crew busy at work on various mysterious machines.
“Tactical operations are handled from the central planning bridge. Here, the commander and his crew can maintain constant awareness of ongoing operations.”
The holo presentation continued, showing some of the other sights of the Star Destroyer, including a quick look at one of the huge turbolasers.
Finally, the image faded, the music went silent, and there was a moment of utter stillness within the amphitheatre. Then, slowly, the image of a man appeared in the holosphere. He was dressed in a long robe and hood, and Maarek felt a resonance within him. Here was a great man of ascetic values and deep thoughts.
The man’s face was shrouded beneath an oversized hood, so only parts of him could be seen.
There was something about him that drew you to him. The man spoke. His voice was soft, yet it pierced the senses.
“I am… the Emperor,” the man said. He said it simply, with no pretense, but with just a little hesitation to make the idea sink in. This really was the Emperor!
“Maarek—he called Maarek by name, he could swear it—you have been called upon to join us, to join for the good of all beings.” It was terrifying. In front of all these people, how could he be addressing Maarek? Or was it some trick of the mind? Already, Maarek was unsure whether he had heard correctly or not. But the hooded being was speaking still, and his voice and inflection rose slowly as he did. “Those who oppose us must be destroyed. Those who would corrupt others, enslave them, and steal what belongs to us all must be stopped. It is time for strength. It is time to remove the last obstacles to peace, prosperity, and real power, such as has not been seen in the galaxy since the days of legend.”
Maarek felt each word the man spoke, as if it were a physical entity. The Emperor spoke for some time, denouncing his enemies and promising to eliminate them. He spoke of loyalty and of peaceful domination over all the worlds. And by the time he had finished speaking, Maarek was ready to do anything, go anywhere, to serve him. The Emperor was the only hope for unity and strength. Unity and strength. It became Maarek’s motto.
That was three months ago. Now Maarek worked as a mechanic in one of the main hangars aboard the Star Destroyer, surrounded by rows of vehicles ranging from TI
E fighters to Imperial walkers. He was lasing a new heat panel onto the side of a TIE interceptor that had come in for repairs.
They had left Taroon behind and were light years away by now. Marina had stayed on Kuan to try to help in the transition of power and to look for her husband. Both Maarek and Pargo had joined up, seduced by the excitement and the power of the Empire. Also, though he couldn’t explain it, Maarek had a strong feeling that his father was no longer in Taroon and hoped to find him somewhere in the vastness of the galaxy.
This hangar was a repair and construction facility, and all the vehicles here were either under construction or were damaged and in need of repair. Great burn marks, slashes, and twisted metal confirmed the fact that not all systems were as easily assimilated as Taroon had been. The Vengeance was constantly on the move, making hyperspace jumps from one hot spot to the next.
Though Maarek had no reason to know about the military missions of the Star Destroyer, there were always rumors and stories filtering down even to his level, and he knew the Vengeance was involved in several actions simultaneously. They would jump into an area of conflict, launch TIE fighters or landing craft, then jump to another area to launch additional ships or to provide support to ongoing operations. Each time they jumped, he could feel a slight displacement or blurring of vision, but it quickly passed.
In the past few hours, the Vengeance had made several jumps. Then, perhaps an hour ago, several damaged fighter craft had been brought into the hangar. Maarek and the other mechs were working hard to bring them back into service. Earlier there had been several muffled thumps and someone told Maarek it might have been heavy torpedoes hitting the Star Destroyer’s shields.
It was quiet now and the TIE interceptor was repaired. Maarek asked permission of the foreman to test the interceptor. It was an unwritten rule that Repairs was supposed to perform shakedown tests of the vehicles before handing them back over to Ops, Many mechs had learned the basics of piloting, and Maarek’s swoop experience made him a natural.
“We’re in planetary orbit over Farboon,” the foreman told him. “There’s no action out there. Go ahead, but make it quick. We’re scheduled for another jump in three hours.”
Maarek climbed into the TIE/In and adjusted the seat and belts. He wasn’t wearing the standard TIE pilot’s helmet and life support gear, but a modified version the repair crew had rigged together. He didn’t worry about wearing sub standard gear, however. This was the moment he always waited for. Even if it only lasted a few minutes—just long enough to test the fighter’s systems—it was like being a bird freed from its cage.
He signaled over the comlink that he was ready and fired up the twin ion engines. There was a dull roar inside the cockpit and the vehicle began to shudder a little. He made a mental note to pass this one over to an engine specialist when he was finished. Then he guided the small craft onto its repulsor lifts and toward the airlock.
As soon as he blasted out into space, he was greeted by the image of a great planet that dominated the blackness. It was green, blue, and white and it hovered directly ahead. Maarek had never flown near a planet, and he took a moment to enjoy the view. He scanned for any other ships, but saw none. He rolled the fighter to take a quick look at the Star Destroyer—he never got tired of looking at it, could never quite absorb the grandeur and immensity of it. Then he began to run the TIE/ln through its paces, watching carefully for any signs of malfunction.
Normally Repair operated on its own comlink frequency, but Maarek had discovered how to tune the link to a dual band that also picked up one of the non-restricted military channels. He liked to listen in on their operations, even though nothing of importance was broadcast over the channels he could hear.
Today was different. Just as he was about to head reluctantly for the hangar again, there was a sudden squawk on his headset and an urgent voice came on.
“All units. Is there anyone operational? Emergency. Please report.”
Maarek did not answer. He wasn’t supposed to be on this band, after all. But the voice kept calling and, apparently, not receiving any answer. Finally, Maarek decided to find out what was happening.
“This is Stele,” he said into the mike. “What’s the problem?”
“Who the hell are you, Stele? Where are you?” the voice demanded.
“I’m in Repair, testing a TIE/In for return to duty, sir.”
“We’ve got a shuttle in trouble…” the voice said quickly. He seemed to be listening to someone else speaking at the same time because his transmission came in bursts of speech separated by short pauses, “No time to argue. Escort destroyed… Too close to planet… Get over to the far side… Find the shuttle …” Then he relayed some coordinates and vectors that Maarek only vaguely understood. But he fired the engines to full power and headed around the edge of the planet. “We’ll be back…” was the last thing he heard from the voice. Then he was alone.
Looking at his scanners, he saw the Star Destroyer was gone.
The Shuttle
Navigation and acquisition of targets in raw space is no easy matter, but within a star system you sometimes get a little help from local sunlight glinting off metal surfaces. So it was that Maarek spotted the shuttle and its attackers maneuvering in the lonely blackness above the planet’s atmosphere. Soon he could see the blue glow characteristic of ion cannons flickering across the surface of the shuttle’s shields. Of course he had no idea what ion cannon glow looked like, just that it was easily visible.
“I see them,” he said into the comlink. There was no answer.
As he sped closer, he was able to spot two Y-wing fighters shooting at the shuttle, which clearly showed Empire markings. There was some debris floating about, and he recognized parts of several TIE fighters.
Maarek didn’t recognize the markings on the attacking Y-wings, but it didn’t matter. They were the enemy. Without thought he rolled into an attack angle that gave him a chance at both Y-wings on the same pass. The TIE/In responded smoothly, more smoothly than any swoop ever could, and sped closer to the scene. Maarek’s hand gripped the controls and his finger tightened slightly on the stud that would fire the interceptor’s weapons.
Just then, the nearer of the two Y-wings broke off and began to veer away. He’d been spotted! Maarek pressed the stud and saw the momentary glare of laser fire, but only from two of his lasers. He hadn’t quad-linked the lasers, and he wasn’t sure how to do so. Mechs generally weren’t allowed to test weapons. Even so, the dual lasers fired straight and true, and there was a brief glow in the aft section of the Y-wing—a partial hit!
But the enemy craft did not slow down and appeared undamaged. Maarek was tempted to follow the Y-wing; it appeared to be moving much slower than his interceptor. The second Y-wing was still attacking the shuttle, however, and Maarek altered course slightly to bear directly on it. He began firing as he adjusted his angle, and his first shots went wide. As he closed the gap, he started seeing the telltale glow along the body of the Y-wing. He was hitting the shields! The Y-wing stopped firing at the shuttle and began to move away, but very slowly.
He was mesmerized by the sight of his enemy trapped in his sights, and failing to adjust his closing speed, he almost crashed into it. At the last second he veered off. Then his onboard computer registered that he was being fired upon. As he twisted the TIE/In through a hard diagonal loop, he spotted the other Y-wing closing in on him.
He had the advantage of speed, but he realized that he couldn’t abandon the shuttle while it was still in danger. Fortunately his swoop training gave him an instinctual feel for combat and he doubled back on the Y-wing that had shot at him, watched it overshoot the shuttle, and went in behind both Y-wings again. That’s when he spotted the first X-wing fighters. They popped out of nowhere several thousand meters off the shuttle’s bow.
“I’m in big trouble now,” he said to nobody in particular.
Maarek pressed the firing stud, taking a few last shots at the Y-wings, then yanked hard on
the controls to pull into a narrow turn. He didn’t know if the X-wings were after the shuttle, or him. He did figure that he wouldn’t have much of a chance against the combined firepower of two Y-wings and two X-wings. If he was to do any good he’d have to pick his times, so he needed some distance.
Star Wars - The Stele Chronicles Page 3