Tales From The BBS

presents:

Smuggler

By: Black 1

Okay, here's the deal. I haven't finished reading NJO yet, I'm at Star By Star, but haven't read it or anything after it yet, so if you see ppl that are dead, deal with it. If you see stuff that happened differently, deal with it. This story involves the Vong and stuff, but as i'm not sure wut happens in the rest of the story, stuff happens separate from that series. It is before it, and at the same time during it. Confusing, sure, but deal with it =)

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Ace
Chapter One

Ace glanced out the cockpit at the hypnotic spinning of the lights that made up hyperspace, then his eyes settled on the beautiful woman next to him, his wife Layla. She had jet black hair and a tan complexion. She had once told him that her name meant "Dark Beauty". He certainly thought the name fit.

His peaceful reverie was suddenly shattered by the blaring of alarm klaxons. Around him, the streaks of light that were hyperspace were abruptly becoming pinpricks of light in the distance. His ship, Black 1, shuddered, and his wife woke with a start. "What's going on?" she demanded.
"Oh nothing sweetheart, but if you don't mind heading down to the turbolaser..."
"The turbolaser! Why? Are we under attack?"
"Not sure just yet darling, but I certainly don't normally get yanked from hyperspace in the middle of a Kessel Run."
She turned and nearly bolted down the access ladder to the turbolaser skillfully hidden in the belly of the ship. Ace glanced out the viewscreen again and froze. There, silhouetted against the churning gravatic anomalies that made up the Maw was an Imperial Interdictor Cruiser. The ship was hailing him. Trying to wipe the startled look from his face, he reached for the com and flicked it on. A man in a jet black uniform appeared on the screen.

"What the hell are you doin' out here son? This is no place for those who wish to live."
"We were, uh...just returning from a...vacation on Kessel."
"A VACATION on KESSEL? You got sand for brains boy!? Who in their right mind would take a vacation to Kessel?"
"Well, err...we have friends there."
"Ah, I see now. Stand by for docking."
"Umm...yea...sure."
He flicked off the com, sweating profusely, and glanced behind him in time to see his wife returning from below.
"What was all that about?" she asked, out of breath.
"Oh nothing, the Peace Brigade just want to board our ship."
"The Peace Brigade!? What do they want with us?"
"Well, err...they kind of might think that we're Peace Brigade too."
"And what would've given them THAT idea?"
"Don't know, but their boarding, mind scanning that Interdictor for life-forms?"
"Okay. Wow! There's only 2 on board, is that even enough to RUN an Interdictor?"
"Maybe they're just floating there...hmmm...suit up and get down to the air lock, I'll be right behind you."
They quickly went back to the supply locker and donned the light battle armor they often used in just such circumstances and checked the power packs on their modified blast rifles. Layla went down to the air lock, rifle trained on the door. Ace soon joined her after a quick check of their cargo, a load of high power weapons, carefully hidden in the bulkheads. A faint jolt rocked the ship, and they knew a docking cord had attached. Ace jumped down the wall dividing the cockpit and the air lock and trained his rifle on the door as well. Layla reached down and cycled the lock open, allowing those outside clear passage. By now they could see the dark-clad man Ace had talked to and the other life form they had found on board. Neither were armed, clearly expecting a routine rendezvous with other members of their alliance. Both Ace and Layla tightened on the trigger at the same time, cutting the men down before they even left their ship. Motioning for Ace to follow, Layla started through the docking cord and into the Interdictor.

Chapter Two

The interior of the Interdictor was completely black. Ace reached behind him and yanked a glow rod from his pack, igniting it. He pushed ahead of his wife and down the corridor towards the bridge. Layla was staring around the ship when she realized her husband had gone ahead. She turned to follow him but paused when she heard a dull thud and a string of curses issuing from further down the corridor. She drew her blast rifle and hurried ahead. About halfway to the bridge, a door was open to her right, and she ignited her own glow rod before peering in.
She immediately gasped and looked away, horrified. Forcing herself to look back in, she saw the gruesome site once more. Strewn about the floor were the broken and bloodied bodies of the entire crew of the Interdictor. All bore Peace Brigade insignias and were clearly dead. They were the least of her problems at the moment however, for towards the rear of the cabin, squatting on a table over the unconscious form of Ace, was a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. His horribly scarred visage stared at her, then snarled something in his native tongue. She glanced quickly over him, assessing the threat he posed. She decided it was a pretty big one, as he sported Vonduun Crab Armor and had an Amphistaff slithering down his forearm.

Just then her husband stirred, and immediately lay still at the sight of the scarred beast leaning over him. Not sure of what the warrior would do next, Layla fired a high-powered burst strait at its head. Instead of ducking, it simple stood up, catching the bolt on its torso, absorbed by the armor. The only visible result of the assault was the slight swaying of the monstrosity. There was also a bit of blaster scarring on the armor, but it was rapidly disappearing as the armor healed itself. Driven by the need to save herself and her husband, Layla lunged forward, simultaneously unsheathing and igniting her vibroblade. Clearly startled by such aggression from an "infidel," the warrior barely had time to brace before Layla was upon him, slashing at his armor, trying to get to the weak point under his arms. The warrior was surprisingly strong, despite all the stories she had heard, but she was fast. Ducking and weaving, she was a blur of motion as she avoided all of his blows. She was close that the Amphistaff could not even be brought up to strike at her, and she had slashed it a few times with the vibroblade anyway, so it hung limply from the warrior's arms. Suddenly, Ace jerked up, ensnaring the warrior's legs in his arms. This gave Layla the break she needed, and she lunged for the armor's weak point. As the warrior fell, she drove the blade home, killing the armor and the warrior who wore it.
Both gasping for breath, Layla and Ace limped from the room, supporting each other. They both still held their blasters ready as the resumed their trek to the bridge. They reached it without incident, but neither could shake the odd feeling of emptiness that stemmed from the brutal slaughter of the crew. Encountering no other warriors, they hoped that there were no more on board. Once through the portal to the bridge, they locked it behind them, closing the blast door for good measure. The com light was still blinking, and the console it rested on read "Transmitting."
"Must've gotten off a distress call before that Vong penetrated the bridge." Ace mused, referring to the vile species as Vong purposely.
"Yeah, but if they were Peace Brigade, I don't wanna be here when their reinforcements show up. The last thing we need are Vong enforcers blaming this on us, along with the weapons we're smuggling to various resistances," Layla replied.
As if to emphasize this, proximity alarms started going off, warning of approaching ships. Ace glanced out the viewport and froze in shock when he saw 2 flotillas approaching, Vong ships from the Maw, and Peace Brigade vessels from Kessel.

"Sithspawn!" cursed Ace, grabbing his wife and propelling her towards the hatch.
"We gotta get to Black 1 before they get her, or we're deader than an Ewok in an Imperial Garrison!"
They slapped open the hatch and bolted unhindered back towards their beloved ship, all to aware of the ominous presence of the enemy fleets fast approaching from either side. Of course, thought Ace, when you're smuggler, most people are your enemies.

Chapter Three

They arrived, panting, in the cockpit of Black 1. Alarm sirens were blaring, but were quickly silenced with a punch and a string of curses from Ace. The enemy fleets were flanking him, quickly closing off his escape. He pushed his thrusters as far as they would go, pushing them both back into their seats before the inertial compensator caught up. The docking arm tore off, dangling from the crippled Interdictor behind them. Seeing their prey beginning to escape, both sides began firing at them, but it seemed that he had to evade fewer than he should have.
Suddenly, it hit him. The Peace Brigaders on the Interdictor must have told their comrades what it was that had killed them. The Vong and the Peace Brigade were firing at each other! What a lucky break! he thought, turning to his wife who nodded that she, too, understood. One thing didn't make sense though; the two Peace Brigade who had tried to board their ship. Why had the warrior refrained from killing them? Then it dawned on him. On their mad dash back to the ship, he had tripped on the bodies in front of the docking arm. Their faces were the scarred visages of a Yuuzhan Vong. They must have been wearing ooglith masquers! That made more sense, 3 Vong could easily take out an unsuspecting crew.
Startled out of his revelations by a playful punch from his wife, he returned his attention to the more immediate problem. Even though they were forgotten at the moment, they were caught in a deadly crossfire. Yelling at Layla to get down in the turbolaser bay, he drove strait towards the weakest part of the fleet surrounding them, a Vong light cruiser analogy.
Reinforcing his forward shields, he dove across the hull of the cruiser, feeling the jolts from the turbolaser from below as his wife tracked across its Yorik Coral armor. Anxious to try out some new weapons emplacements he recently had installed at Kuat Drive Yards. Flipping open a panel on his control board, he grasped a joystick and whipped it around, aiming his new dual Heavy Repeating Cannons at the coral skippers all around them. He played the nearly constant beams through the space surrounding them, overloading the dovin bassals and leaving chunks of Yorik Coral in his wake. He hoped his new toys worked as well on the ground as in the air.
He as past the cruiser, fingers still tightened on the trigger, when Layla returned. Seeing her, he pulled a lever, and they jumped into the familiar safety of hyperspace.
"Where we goin'?" Layla queried.
"Oh, since we just saw two supposed allies fightin' each other, we're headin' to Tatooine. I reckon someone would pay good money for information like that."
"So why are we headin' to Tatooine?"
"Because that's where the people we want to contact can be found."

Chapter Four
The rest of their journey to Tatooine was made without incident, and they landed their ship in the dessert, not wanting to draw unwanted attention to themselves. They made the half-day trek into Mos Eisely carrying with them everything they would need...and then some. They were both dressed in their battle armor and carrying large packs stuffed with weapons and anything else they thought might prove useful. Once in Mos Eisely, they started hinting around that they had information that may prove useful to the New Republic. They met up with an old friend, a wampa named Dan, who gave them the use of a room in his cave just outside of town. He had burrowed with his sharp claws into a sand dune, and there stood his cave. He approached from the dessert as Ace and Layla were storing their packs, and the sight of him caused both to bite their lips, trying to stifle their laughter. Wampas are, after all, native to Hoth, but this particular wampa got tired of the cold and the wet, so he relocated to the other extreme. He wasn't too happy about it now though, and only wanted to get back to his cave on Hoth. The sand had turned his white fur tan over the years, and he blended into the dessert almost perfectly.
They had met him a few years back on his trip to Tatooine, when he had sounded so hopeful for a new life. He had agreed to let them use part of his cave for a few days in return for them transporting him off-planet. They had readily agreed since they had room for four on Black 1, it was a big ship. After thanking Wampa Dan, they headed back into town, entering a cantina they found in the middle of the city. They sat down and ordered Corellian Whiskey, hoping that an intelligence agent would contact them soon.
"So, what more can we do to attract attention to ourselves, Ace?"
"I'm not sure honey, but someone sure seems to have taken interest in us..."
As Layla turned back to look, a tall man sat down at the empty seat next her.
"Greetings."
"Hello," Ace began, "I'm Ace, and this is my wife Layla. You would be..."
"Yes, yes, I know all about you two. My name is Menace 64, I'm a clone from Khomm. I am a New Republic Intelligence agent sent here to escort you two to Admiral Kre'Fey's flagship."
"I see...and why would the Admiral be interested in us?"
"Well, rumor has it that you have some information that could prove quite useful to us in our struggle against the Yuuzhan Vong and their allies."
"Yes, that may be true, but you also must understand that my wife and I are...people of business..."
"Oh yes, we completely understand that and are willing to treat you simply as friends, and who knows? You may even get a bonus."
"Okay then. Our ship's berthed out of town...I assume you'll be joining us?"
"Yes, I am to be your guide and protector until such time that we are in the presence of the Admiral."
"Very well, meet us at Wampa Dan's cave in an hour...I assume you know the location?"
"I'll be there. Until then." And with that, he got up and quickly exited.
Ace and Layla finished their drinks, noting to their surprise that it was Whyren's Reserve. That intelligence agent must have been waiting for them. They then turned and headed back to Dan's to gather their gear and alert the wampa of their abrupt departure. As it turned out, Dan was more than happy to leave immediately, he threw his few possessions in a sack and headed out with them, holding a small detonator in his free hand.
"What's that for, Dan?"
"Oh, I can't leave my cave intact, against wampa code to reveal wampa secrets." He grinned and pushed the detonator, doing a little jig as he watched his hated sand cave collapse in on itself.
"I'm free!" he roared, happier than he had been for longer than he cared to remember. They were just beginning to wonder where Menace 64 was when they spotted him coming down the street from the center of town. He waved and sped up his pace, reaching them in only a few seconds.
"Not bringing anything?" asked Layla, surprised.
"Oh, I have plenty. Hidden weapons, transmitters, receivers, its all here, just not visible to the untrained eye. I AM an intelligence agent, remember?"
"Of course," replied Layla, trying to hide her nervousness.
Ace turned and led them back to Black 1, reaching it before nightfall. They boarded and stowed their gear, both Dan and Menace 64 settling into restraint chairs in their cabins. Ace and Layla were up in the cockpit, having checked carefully over their ship on their way there, all too aware of the rodent-like Jawa's who took any machinery they could find. Everything seemed in place though, so Ace raised the ship on repulsors and rocketed towards the sky.
A robed figure watched their ship depart from his hiding place behind a sand dune. He was taller than most Jawas, and his eyes did not glow through the cowl like the rodents he sought to imitate. Once he felt that he was out of the infidel's sensor range he removed his hood, revealing his scarred and disfigured face. He pulled a villip out of his robes and placed it on a rock in front of him. As it started inverting, he went over his report mentally. He visibly straightened as the villip took on the form of Warmaster Tsavong Lah.
"You have success to report, Tavom Shai?"
"Yes, Warmaster. I was unable to destroy the infidels who carry the information about our attacks on the Peace Brigade, for they had more protection than we had anticipated. I was able to place a Tracer Beetle on their ship, however. I will follow and destroy them and their escort as soon as they leave hyperspace."
"Very well underling. Do not disappoint me again."
The villip reverted to its original shape, and Tavom Shai replaced his hood and began heading back towards his coralskipper, hidden amongst the dunes.

Props to Dan for this awesome dream card!