Fiction Activity

Competition
What goes around, comes around.
Textual submission

Major Hector Ricmore
Clan Vizsla Immobilizer-418 Class Heavy Cruiser
Zsoldos System, Wild Space

A lone figure walked through the hallway, a jaunty tune spilling from his lips. The tune was interrupted by the sharp Clack! Clack! Of armored footsteps. He moved at a steady pace, in no rush to arrive at his destination despite his jovial mood. The crew members of the ship granted him a respectful berth, in part due to his rank, but mostly due to his reputation for being an eccentric if effective officer.

Hector Ricmore, Major of the Iron Legion, was quite pleased. His commission and battlefield promotion had allowed him to afford a new ship, the new A Wing variant currently being utilized by the Resistance in their fight against the First Order. Having a newer vessel was quite exciting for the Pilot, after utilizing an ancient YT-1300 and dealing with the temperamental prototype of the TIE Advanced V1.

The Zygerrian could not help but break out into a smirk as he gazed upon his vessel. 7.68 meters long, with a central cockpit within the long wedge shape. 1 laser canon was attached to each side, with a pair of missile launchers completing the armament. Painted metallic black, with purple stripes and sigils, the A Wing was both aesthetically pleasing and an impressive ship.

Hector settled into the cockpit of the vessel and began his preflight checks. He was pleased to note that the weapons were operational, engine functioning as normal, and the navigational computer had already been set for his trip to Arx. Turning on his on board comm unit he contacted the Immoblizer’s bridge. “Bridge control this is the Lament, are we clear for the test flight?”
The comm unit crackled in response. “You are clear, Godspeed Lament.”

The hangar doors opened wide, allowing the A wing to swiftly exit the capital ship. Hector activated the hyperdrive, the blackness of space replaced by rushing stars. Reaching down the Zygerrian grabbed his data pad, opening his chronometer and setting an alarm for when he would arrive. Trusting in his hyperdrive to get him to his destination he settled down to sleep.

Some Time Later

The shrill ringing of his alarm roused Hector Ricmore from his rest. Blinking drowsily he shut off the alarm before gazing outside his vessel, where stars continued to pass by at an alarming rate.
“...What.” The Zygerrian mumbled in confusion, he should have reached Arx by now.
“Are you working properly?” He questioned, inspecting his data pad. The chronometer appeared accurate and he could not seem to find any fault with the device. “The ship itself then? I swear if I bought defective junk for this price.” The Zygerrian began the process of once again inspecting his ship. Engine working fine, weapons operational, shields online. With growing horror, he looked at his nav computer. “Don’t tell me. Not this. Not the only time I let someone on my ship.”

A thorough inspection of the Nav computer proved those fears to be true. The set course for Arx had merely been a static screen programmed by a slicer, the vessel had actually been set to reach Nar Shadda. Traveling to the Outer Rim was a longer journey than moving between the two set points in Wild Space, causing the discrepancy in Hector’s alarm.

The pilot chuckled. “A sabotaged Nav computer? That’s fine. I was actually worried that we had a technician so incompetent that they could not program a Nav computer properly.” A smirk spread across his lips “This is turning into quite the adventure”

Picking up his datapad he began to sketch out a route back to Zsoldos from Nar Shaddaa. “Let’s see what happens” Hector assured himself.

A Few Days Later

Lament, Cry of the Stars dropped out of hyperspace in front of Nar Shaddaa. Debris ringed the cesspool of a planet, interspersed by the occasional vessel, no doubt up to some nefarious or criminal task.

Hector’s eyes narrowed when he saw some of these vessels approaching; an Aurore Class freighter flanked by 2 HH-87 Starhoppers. Were these ships in league with the saboteur who sliced into his ship?

His comm unit crackled to life. “Hector Ricmore of The Dark Jedi Brotherhood, you have amassed quite a bounty upon yourself. Surrender now and we will make your death quick and painless. Choosing to resist will only prolong your agony. We do hope you pick the second one, it’s been a while before my boys and I had some fun.”

Not bothering to dignify that with a response Hector pushed the A Wing full throttle towards the freighter. Pshew Pshew Pshew! The A wing fired its laser canons. “Wait for it” Hector muttered to himself as he rapidly closed the distance between himself and the enemy vessels; who currently began to return fire. The A wing dipped and dived, avoiding the oncoming blaster fire.

The distance between the ships decreased until Hector could see the pilot within the Freighter. “NOW!” He thought as he fired the proton torpedos aboard his ship, replacements to the usual missiles carried by such a vessel.

Hector pushed his flight stick forward, turning on its ion afterburner for additional speed. The Zygerrian was thrown back into his seat from the sudden acceleration, gripping his flight stick with gritted teeth as he tried to retain some semblance of control over his ship. A sudden shockwave ran through his entire ship and sent a shiver down Hector’s spine. “I’ll take that was a success then.” The Zygerrian said aloud.

He spun his vessel around to deal with the HH-87 Starhoppers. Charred wreckage filled his vision, the freighter and starhoppers reduced to slag floating through space.
Hector’s jaw dropped. “Proton Torpedos alone should not have carried enough of a blast to destroy all three ships. What on earth was that?”
He hadn’t yet targeted the Starhoppers so it was doubtful it was anything involving them.

“The ships nav was sabotaged, could the saboteur have gotten to the torpedo’s as well? But that makes no sense, why would a saboteur bother doing something that could increase my firepower and my chances of escaping the bounty hunters?”

That left the Freighter than. “...were the hunters carrying something unstable aboard? Did they actually expect to win an engagement while carrying something explosive?”
Putting his helmet into his hand Hector gave a sigh at the sheer stupidity he had encountered.

“Hopefully Declan can help me sort this all out. I’m certain he has contacts over at the bounty office.” Hector flipped on his nav computer and set his course for Zsoldos, triple checking that the course was accurate this time.
“Let’s head home Lament.”