Star Wars - Tales From The Mos Eisley Cantina

Home > Science > Star Wars - Tales From The Mos Eisley Cantina > Page 30
Star Wars - Tales From The Mos Eisley Cantina Page 30

by Kevin J. Anderson


  clapped him on the shoulder. "I don't know how you did it,

  recruit, but I have a feeling you've been marked for a one-in-a-

  million career!"

  The familiar background hum of the starship didn't comfort

  Davin Felth. The sharp oil-on-metal smell, harsh lighting, and

  polished decks of the huge troop transport should have made Davin

  feel right at home- but ever since receiving the hush-hush orders

  from Colonel Veers's command section, he had been totally

  confused.

  No one questioned the sealed orders when he reported to the

  Imperial troop transport, and no one explained exactly what he was

  supposed to do. All he knew was that now, two hundred light-years

  from Carida, he was assigned to a detachment of storm-troopers,

  setting off for some forsaken planet.

  Stormtroopers!

  He drew in a breath and tried to explain for the third time to

  the man staring at papers on the desk, ignoring him. "Captain

  Terrik, you just don't understand. I've spent the last day trying

  to find out what is going on, but no one has the authority to help

  me. I was told personally by Colonel Veers that I would receive an

  assignment worthy of my talents. I'm an AT-AT operator, not a ...

  a foot soldier!"

  The officer's smoothly shaven head snapped up so that Davin

  could see the man's eyes. Deep, penetrating, and utterly without

  fear, Captain Terrik bored his gaze into Davin like a lightsaber.

  "Stormtroopers are not foot soldiers!" He placed his hands on his

  desk and stood, barely holding back his trembling. "If it was up

  to me, you Jawa slime, I'd have spaced you when we first hit

  vacuum. I'm well aware of Colonel Veers's orders, and we're going

  to follow his directions to the micron!"

  "Very well," said Davin, somewhat relieved. He straightened and

  looked smartly around the cabin. Headquarters for the small

  detachment of twenty Stormtroopers on board the ship, Captain

  Terrik's cabin was decorated with battle streamers, plaques,

  paintings of battles against the Rebels, and a holo of Lord Vader.

  "You will show me to my correct assignment, then." He smiled at

  the captain. Terrik trembled more visibly and turned redder by the

  second.

  "Stand at attention!" growled Captain Terrik. "Listen up, you

  mynock bait! It took me all day to confirm those orders, and

  Emperor only knows why Colonel Veers wants this. But you belong to

  me now, Felth! We've got another month of maneuvers before we get

  to Tatooine, and I intend to use that time whipping you into

  shape."

  "Tatooine?" said Davin, his face growing white. "What's that?

  There must be some kind of mistake."

  "Oh, no." Captain Terrik grinned wolfishly. He picked up

  Davin's orders lying on his desk and shook them under Davin's

  nose. "My detachment of storm-troopers is relieving the Thirty-

  seventh Detachment that has been stationed at Mos Eisley on

  Tatooine. We'll be assigned to the governor, but we're not in his

  chain of command-my superior is in the next sector, half a light-

  year away. In case you haven't noticed, we're not going directly

  to Tatooine, so I'll have a month to break in a young Jawa slime

  like you, turn you into a real stormtrooper. You'll learn pretty

  quick what it's like to be a foot soldier." Captain Terrik spat

  the words out of his mouth and grinned at Davin. "Any more

  questions, golden boy?"

  Davin felt what hope he had left seep out of him. Standing at

  rigid attention just microns in front of Captain Terrik's face,

  Davin knew what it was like to jump from a crashing ship into a

  pit of burning fuel.

  Davin Felth was in the best shape of his life when he prepared

  to land on Tatooine. But getting there on board the troop

  transport the past month had been pure hell.

  The twenty Stormtroopers in the detachment had all pitched in

  in some way or another, "helping" Davin get up to speed in the

  rigorous training. Their normal three-month period of

  disciplining, schooling, and physical fitness was compressed into

  a never-ending nightmare for Davin. The stormtroopers were not

  about to allow a mere AT-AT operator, although a graduate of

  Carida Basic Military Training, into their esteemed ranks without

  passing through a minimum of ritual.

  Davin did not have the time to be homesick or lonely, although

  his thoughts sometimes drifted to his two roommates back at

  Carida. He wondered where they had been assigned.

  Ten hours before landfall, Davin marched up to the

  quartermaster and collected his desert gear heat-reflective

  armor, comlink, filtermask, blaster rifle, blaster pistol,

  temperature-control body glove, utility belt, energy source, and

  concussion grenade launcher. He staggered to his cabin under the

  load of equipment

  Davin donned his helmet with automatic polarized lenses. Fully

  outfitted in the desert-terrain gear, he clunked to the mirror in

  his small cabin and looked himself over. Like it or not, he was

  finally a storm-trooper.

  He used his chin to click on his chinmike, activating the

  comlink. He tapped into stormtrooper radio traffic for the entire

  troop ship "Access to AT-AT bay now open." "Cold assault and

  aquatic assault detachments reporting still in stasis." "Tatooine

  landing for refurbishment ready when ready."

  A series of voices checked in. Davin thought he recognized some

  of the stormtroopers' voices.

  There was a long pause of silence. Sounding irritated, Captain

  Terrik's voice came over the comlink. "Ten twenty-three? Are you

  up and ready?"

  It took Davin a full two heartbeats to realize that Captain

  Terrik was speaking to him.

  "Ten twenty-three ready, sir."

  "Report to the landing craft, ten twenty-three. Prepare to

  disembark. Move it!"

  "Yes, sir." His name stripped away, Davin had been assigned the

  emotionless number 1023 as part of his stormtrooper

  indoctrination. Their zealous devotion to duty demanded denial of

  the individual, pledging their allegiance only to the Emperor.

  Unwilling to make that commitment, Davin turned his thoughts to

  his family, his friends, as the training attempted to squeeze away

  his memories. His fellow stormtroopers reveled in the mystery that

  surrounded their existence, their lack of identity. With no one to

  turn to or confide in, Davin felt miserable.

  It only took a moment to gather up his meager belongings. The

  clothes he had taken with him from home seemed useless now, but he

  kept them as a reminder of the life he used to have. He stuffed

  them in a sand-colored duffel bag and carried them with his

  weapons down to the landing craft. He kept to the side of the

  corridor as he walked, trying to keep out of people's way. A group

  of naval troopers double-timed around the corner.

  The corridor widened to the immense landing bay. Stepping

  inside, he felt as if he were outdoors. Worker droids ran along

  scaffolding that reached higher than an AT-AT; the bay
was so wide

  that he had trouble seeing to the opposite side. He set off for

  the landing craft, halfway across the immense bay, to join the con

  tingent of stormtroopers.

  "Ten twenty-three?"

  Davin swung his gear down and faced Captain Terrik. "Present,

  sir."

  "You're assigned to scout unit Zeta. Something came up. We're

  delaying reporting to the garrison, so pile your gear in the

  storage compartment with the rest of the detachment."

  "Yes, sir."

  Davin lined up and waited for Captain Terrik to finish his

  paperwork. Accepting a salute from the officer on deck, Captain

  Terrik faced the waiting storm-troopers. A warbling sound came

  over Davin's comlink, informing him that Captain Terrik was going

  to a secure communications mode, using frequency-jumping

  techniques known only to the stormtroopers' sensors. "Quickly

  now-change of orders. We're deploying to the surface, bypassing

  Mos Eisley to participate in a search-and-destroy mission."

  Someone asked, "What are we searching for, sir?"

  "An escape pod. It jettisoned from a Corellian Corvette evading

  Lord Vader's Star Destroyer and landed somewhere on Tatooine."

  Breaking military silence, a gasp went up over the secure link.

  "Lord Vader - here?"

  "That's right," said Captain Terrik grimly. "Now double-time on

  board the landing craft!"

  Although Davin was the last to board the spacecraft, he was set

  into his station before all the other storm-troopers in his

  detachment. Lord Vader! The very thought of the Dark Lord being so

  close to the backwater planet sent a chill through Davin. He

  hadn't felt this strange since he had learned through the grape

  vine that Colonel Veers had never even mentioned Davin's

  "kneeling" defense for the AT-AT to his superiors. It was almost

  as if Colonel Veers didn't want anyone to know of the fatal flaw

  in the giant walker's design.

  The stormtroopers sat mute as they left the troop transport,

  their home for the past month. Visual images of Tatooine flashed

  inside their helmets, transmitted from the intelligence network

  orbiting Tatooine. Computer-generated graphics pinpointed the most

  likely landing place of the small escape pod.

  As part of scout unit Zeta, Davin was tasked with

  reconnoitering the rocky highlands. He gripped his blaster rifle

  and stole a glance at the rest of the storm-troopers waiting

  patiently in two rows beside him. Everyone studied the data dump

  from the mother ship. He wondered how the others could remain so

  calm when they were about to embark on a mission. And for Lord

  Vader at that! He just wondered why the pod was so important.

  The scouting craft landed with a bump. The side yawned open,

  spilling in hot air and brilliant sunshine. Davin pushed out and

  joined the other stormtroopers, who quickly lined up in front of

  Captain Terrik No one spoke over the comlink until Davin heard

  Captain Terrik's voice.

  "Lord Vader's Star Destroyer is mapping the planet with a

  sensor scan, trying to locate the escape pod. It must have buried

  itself on landing, or was hidden by some Rebel sympathizers. We

  have a preliminary position on the pod from just before it

  impacted, so we'll spread out and sift through all the sand on

  this planet if necessary to find it."

  "Why is the pod so important, sir?" Davin surprised himself by

  blurting out the question; he only hoped that Captain Terrik would

  be so busy that he wouldn't yell at him.

  "It's carrying classified material, and that's all you need to

  know. The point is that we need to find it ... or we'll have to

  explain to Lord Vader why a detachment of the Emperor's Own failed

  in their duty. Got it?"

  "Yes, sir!"

  "Then listen up. Alvien and Drax squads, cover the next

  quadrant. Zeta squad, come with me. Headquarters at Mos Eisley has

  grav-lifted in three dewbacks to aid in the search-they can cover

  more territory than we can and will lead us to the pod if they get

  a scent. Start a circular search pattern, move."

  The desert terrain was featureless, ever-shifting. Davin

  crunched his way through the sand, not sure what he was looking

  for, but knowing that some kind of evidence from the escape pod's

  landing had to be present. He climbed a small hill. The desert

  spread out in every direction. They might as well have been the

  only ones on the planet.

  Seeing a rise in the sand below him, he scooted down the ridge

  and poked his blaster into the ground. He struck something hard!

  He clicked on the comlink. "Captain Terrik, ten twenty-three

  reporting. I think I found the pod."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes, sir." Davin excitedly dug into the ground with his

  blaster butt . . . only to unearth a large rock.

  Captain Terrik appeared over the ridge just as Davin made his

  discovery. "Ten twenty-three, what are you doing!"

  "Sorry, sir." Discouraged, he trudged back up the small hill

  and joined t he rest of his squad continuing the search.

  After arriving from Mos Eisley, a giant lizardlike dewback was

  assigned to each squad. Davin was not given the opportunity to

  ride the monstrous reptilian beast, but that suited him fine.

  Every step the scaly animal took reverberated in the sand.

  The search seemed to last forever. Davin lost count of the

  breaks he took, and per Imperial orders, they were forced to stay

  in their suits and drink the distilled water flown in from Mos

  Eisley with the dewback.

  Setting out to cover another part of the quadrant, Davin

  spotted a glint out of the corner of his eye. There . . . whatever

  it was just caught the light from Tatooine's second sun.

  He almost cried out, but clamped his mouth shut. Clutching his

  blaster, he bounded for the glint of light. Slowly, the object

  took shape. Half-buried in the sand, the object looked scorched.

  As he drew near, he made out the faint red and blue markings of an

  escape pod.

  There was no doubt in his mind now. "Captain Terrik, ten twenty-

  three reporting. I've found the escape pod!"

  "If this is another one of your daydreams, ten twenty-three-!''

  "I'm positive, sir. It may not be what we're looking for, but

  it has Imperial markings."

  Minutes later Captain Terrik joined Davin by the object. A

  stormtrooper riding a dewback appeared over the crest of a rise,

  waiting for a signal that it was the right pod.

  Captain Terrik surveyed the site. "Someone was in the pod. The

  tracks go off in this direction."

  Davin fished a mechanism from inside the escape pod. There was

  only one thing that used such a device-an R2 unit. He held it up

  so all could see. "Look, sir, droids!"

  "All right. Form up. I'll inform Lord Vader the pod wasn't

  destroyed. Now we've really got to move."

  "Ten twenty-three reporting. They're not in the repair bay,

  sir," said Davin Felth. He stood in the middle of a bay full of

  droids, deep in the bowels of a Jawa sand-crawler. Cables
drooped

  across the ceiling; tables with disassembled equipment were strewn

  across the floor.

  "You've all searched the entire sandcrawler?"

  "Affirmative," answered each stormtrooper, calling off their

  trooper numbers one by one.

  "Form up outside."

  Davin stepped across a Roche J9 worker droid lying on the metal

  floor. Two Jawas stood just outside of the repair bay and muttered

  between themselves, obviously displeased that the stormtroopers

  would search their ship. Davin scanned the room one last time

  before he left and counted off an Arakyd BT-16 perimeter droid, a

  demolition droid, an R4 agromech droid, a WED 15 treadwell droid,

  and an EG-6 power droid-but there was no R2, or even a protocol

  unit that was often paired with an R2 droid.

  A gaggle of Jawas followed him outside the cruiser. All Davin

  could see of the little aliens were their bright eyes, looking out

  of their flowing hooded brown robes. The rest of Zeta squad stood

  waiting for him, their blaster rifles held loosely by their sides.

  The storm-troopers kept their backs to one another, watching all

  sides for any possible attack.

  As he joined the squad, Davin overheard Captain Terrik

  conversing with the head Jawa on the officer's suit speaker. "You

  are certain that the droids were sold to a moisture farmer at your

  last stop?" After a series of high-pitched chatters came from the

  Jawa, Captain Terrik turned and waved his arm back to Zeta squad;

  he switched to the secure stormtrooper frequency. "Form up with

  the rest of the detachment."

  Zeta squad double-timed in the sand away from the Jawa

  sandcrawler to join the remainder of the storm-troopers. They kept

  guard over the sandcrawler on a rise just to the south. Three

  enormous hairy banthas airlifted in from somewhere, two converted

  GoCorp Arunskin 32 cargo skiffs, and a Ubrikkian HAVr A9 floating

  fortress with two heavy blaster cannons waited on the other side

  of the rise.

  The Jawas yelled and shook their fists at the storm-troopers as

  they left. The little brown-robed aliens then scurried around the

  sandcrawler, preparing to continue their journey.

  Captain Terrik's voice came over Davin's helmet. "Floating

  fortress - fire when Teady upon the Jawa sandcrawler. When it is

  destroyed, ride those banthas up to the wreckage and leave that

 

‹ Prev