Fiction Home - More by Jol Allson - More in Action and Aventure

'Roguer Niner, come in. I repeat, Roguer Niner, come in please.'

'Base One, this is Roguer Niner, I'm in position, just south of the base. Activity is at an all time low. Nothing's moving. It looks like Ytries's packed up and left.'

'Roguer Niner, Base One, do not move from your position, I repeat, do not move. We have movement from the Imperious.'

'What? But that ship hasn't moved for over 12 years, how can it suddenly start up again?'

'We have no idea Roguer Niner, it looks like the Imps are taking all the Beta class Assault Shuttles from the hangar. Hold on while we send a T-65BR to investigate.'

'Roger Base One, Roguer Niner awaiting confirmation to move.'

* * * * *

Major, Dr. Ilexa Thorn sat, almost lay in the cramped cockpit of the T-65BR Recon X-Wing. She was on stealth approach to the Star Destroyer, and oblique white triangle, laying against the blackness of space. All scopes checking in the clear, so she powered up the throttle and shot forwards.

'Base One, this is Recon One, I have a visual on the Imperious, stating final approach.' She said calmly into the headset mic. Not feeling any of the calm she portrayed in her voice.

'We have you on radar Recon One...'

'Base One, come in. Base One? Answer me for cryin' out loud!' Thorn was beginning to sweat now, her first Recon mission pertaining to the new threat and it was botched up after all of 10 minutes.

The comm system crackled. 'Rebel fighter craft, you are in restricted Imperial space, identify yourself or you will be destroyed.'

* * * * *

'Roguer Niner, Base One, get back to the Stargate immediately, Recon One has been discovered, all communications between her and us are being jammed!'

'Base One, Roguer Niner, you say her, who is flying Recon One?'

'Er, I'm not authorised to reveal that Roguer Niner.'

'Really? How original! Tell me or I'll have you re-assigned to Hoth, Base One.'

'Roguer Niner, tell Base One that Roguer Six is on the line.' A new voice entered Roguer Niner's headset.

'Base One, Roguer Niner, I have Roguer Six on the line.'

'Roguer Niner, Base One, Recon One is being piloted by Major Ilexa Thorn.'

'Roguer Niner, Roguer Six, I know Major Thorn is a friend of yours, but you do not have permission to stray from your mission. Get back to the Stargate now!'

'Roger Roguer Six, Roguer Niner proceeding to Stargate. Over and out.'

* * * * *

Grand General Itlor Ytries, commander of the Imperial Forces of Begliar, was bored. Begliar was a remote planet, in the Denab system, providing an excellent staging ground for Imperial forces operating on the planned take-over of Earth. There was nothing to do, and the Imperial training programs took none of his skill to complete.

There was no question about it, he was the best at ground tactics. The only remaining Grand General, he was appointed by Grand Admiral Thrawn himself to oversee the defence of Mount Tantiss. Swifted away by High Admiral Teradoc until his assassination by the late Admiral Daala, he'd quietly tried to seize control of the Empire for himself. That was until Pellaeon came along, he was a competent commander, and Ytries was happy to follow his lead, being given complete control over the Imperial Army and Special Forces.

Suddenly a keening alarm went off and Ytries walked briskly around his desk to his comm terminal. He flicked it on.

'Ytries here, what's happened?' He barked harshly at the Major on the screen.

'Sir, we've discovered an old Rebel T-65BR snooping around the Starscream site.'

'Is Dr. Gog in any danger?'

'No, we're conducting the final tests on him now.'

'Good, it's taken too long for us to be thwarted by the Rebels.'

The terminal shut off and Ytries brought up another screen. It read:

Project Starscream Staff
Dr. Borborygmus Gog - Starscream Project Leader (Killed by wraiths of Kivan people, a people he'd killed during Project Starscream)
Darth Vader - Emperor's Supervisor to Project Starscream (Killed while destroying the Emperor)
Dr. Mammon Hoole - Starscream Project Creator (Defected from the Empire and eventually destroyed Project Starscream)
Eppon - Project Starscream creation, the first of the un-killable soldiers. (Destroyed by Hoole)
Dr. Evazan - Starscream Death to Life Co-ordinator (Killed by Boba Fett)
Colonel Jorran Allson - Starscream Security Advisor (Killed while trying to defect)

He scrolled through the list of deceased people assigned to the project. There would have to be one alteration to this list soon. He brought up the altered list, it read:

Project Starscream
Dr. Borborygmus Gog - Starscream Project Leader (Killed by wraiths of Kivan people, a people he'd killed during Project Starscream. Cloned on the planet Myrkr)
Darth Vader - Emperor's Supervisor to Project Starscream (Killed while destroying the Emperor)
Dr. Mammon Hoole - Starscream Project Creator (Defected from the Empire and eventually destroyed Project Starscream)
Eppon - Project Starscream creation, the first of the un-killable soldiers. (Destroyed by Hoole)
Colonel Jorran Allson - Starscream Security Advisor (Killed while trying to defect)

Ytries sighed and dropped into his chair. It was going to be a long time until he could finally realise his dream, be the most powerful man in the galaxy.

* * * * *

'Roguer Niner, Base One, what is your position?'

Silence.

'Roguer Niner, Base One, do you read me?'

Silence.

'I repeat, Roguer Niner, this is Base One, do you read me?'

A slow hissing noise suddenly started over the comm line. 'Base One, Roger Niner,' The voice was very distorted, 'I've been cut off from the Stargate. Looking for alternative routes. All this metal's playing hell with my sensor package.'

'We read you Roguer Niner, if Recon One lands, we want you to meet up with Major Thorn and escort her to safety.'

'I read you Base One, Roguer Niner out.'

* * * * *

General Nick Fel, Rogue Squadron High Commander, sat at the head of the table around which his joint chiefs sat at regular intervals. He surveyed the grim faces carefully, especially the face of Dr. Cat Farr. She was Ilexa Thorn's direct commanding officer and it had been her that released Ilexa for the mission.

'Okay people, as of two hours ago, we lost contact with the T-65BR X-wing, call-sign Recon One. Piloting this craft, if you do not already know, was Major Ilexa Thorn. The only other New Republic person on the planet is an agent working for the SGC at the current moment, codenamed Roguer Niner. I need to know what we can do to get both our people out alive and safe.' Nick said.

General Viper Moore, the Tactical Director of Rogue Squadron, raised one eyebrow, 'It would seem that we need to establish contact with Major Thorn to direct her to a safe landing spot, those T-65BRs are fast, but they can't escape squints.'

'That's going to be difficult with her current position.' Cat put in.

'Where is Thorn?' Brigadier Acid Burn asked. The longstanding friend of Nick Fel, Burn was an expert on Imperial hardware, as well as being a top notch Intelligence Agent.

'She's evading pursuit around Myrkr.' Nick replied. He turned to face another officer, 'Wedge, what options do we have for contacting her?'

Colonel Jol Allson, Rogue Squadron's Director of Mechanics and Communications, known as Wedge to his comrades and friends, looked up. 'I'm not too sure, from this report it looks as if the Imperials are bouncing the jamming signals off the high metal content trees of Myrkr. That would be what I'd do. It would mean they can amplify the jamming signals to reach about a third of the way around the planet from the jamming station's position. If we could relay a comm signal through Roguer Niner's pack, we should be able to reach Major Thorn,' he shrugged, 'that is if Roguer Niner can find a strong enough power source to break through the interference.'

'Didn't Talon Karrde use to have a base on Myrkr?' Colonel Glantry Fett, Rogue Squadron's Director of Starfighter Command, asked.

'Yes, but you're not supposed to know that.' Nick answered him.

'Why not?' Glantry asked suspiciously.

'Because Karrde asked for the New Republic not to reveal the location of his bases. So how do you know?'

'I heard rumors.'

'Nick? Shouldn't we get back to matter at hand, you can indulge your ego and authority later,' Cat nudged him in the ribs.

'Oh, sorry, where was I? Oh yes, Acid, I want you to slice into the New Republic databanks and find out the exact location of Karrde's base, a layout of the base and powerpoints in the base.'

'On it.' Acid got up and left the room. A few seconds later he stuck his head back in the door. 'This is illegal isn't it?'

'Yes!' everyone in the room groaned.

'Goodie!' Acid ran off again.

'Phil, go watch him.' Nick said, 'We don't know what could happen otherwise.'

The Captain stood up. 'Yes, sir,' he said, saluted and left the room.

'We gotta teach him to relax a little.' Major Padmé Fett looked at her husband. Glantry just waved her look away.

'He'll get used to it when his time comes. Leave him be for the moment.'

Nick coughed into his hand. The Fetts broke off their conversation and Viper put down his datapad and turned to face him.

'Thank you. Wedge, I need you to find a low use frequency that we can give to Thorn so she can transfer pictures straight back to the base. Cat and Viper, can you head down to the SGC with a small special forces team, gate to the nearest Imperial Base and blow it up...'

'Aww, how come they get all the fun?' Jol moaned.

'Because I can trust them with explosives and I need you here. Padmé, Glantry, I want you to take the Renegade to Coruscant and wait for instructions. Dismissed'

All the officers stood up and began to wander out of the briefing room.

'Roguer Niner, this is Roguer Six, do not acknowledge this communication. I need you to head to the co-ordinates 22.23N, 56.45W, there you will find an abandoned base. Find a power port and connect your communications package to it. You will receive further instructions from Base One in time.'

* * * * *

Sgt. Stehr saw someone in the clearing ahead, quickly climbing a tree he looked out into it. Someone stood up and pulled at the helmet of her jump-suit. The Stormtroopers hiding in the trees behind her caught a glance of short brown hair before she pulled the helmet back on and walked out of the clearing.

'Phoenix Base, this is Sgt. Stehr, we have sighted an intruder, it is someone in a black jump-suit with some kind of stealth armour. When she has her helmet on it is nearly impossible to see her.'

'Sgt. try to follow him, use extreme caution, she may be a member of Rogue Squadron. We have cut off her access to the Emperor's Eye, so she is trapped on this planet.'

'Yes, sir.'

Those were the last words ever to emerge from Stehr's mouth, dropping to the foot of the tree he looked around for his squad. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck. Turning around he saw a woman, dressed in dark green camouflage dressing grab on to a rope. His last sight of her before he collapsed to the ground was the word 'Niner' written on the back of her pack.

* * * * *

'Roguer Niner, Base One, report.'

'Base One, Roguer Niner, I had to take out a squad of stormies and there's someone else here.'

'That's impossible Roguer Niner, we haven't dispatched anyone else to that planet.'

'Yeah, and that's another thing, what planet is this.'

'All you need to know is that it's codename is Starscream.'

'Starscream? What kind of a codename is that. '

' A very apt one, Roguer Niner, a very apt one.'

What on earth is going on here? And who was Base One. My mission brief was to take orders from Roguer Six, he's handed me over to this Base One person, who keep acting like I have one mission objective alone, and anything else is irrelevant. I have a bad feeling about this.

* * * * *

Jol, if you're reading this message, then I'm dead, I obviously didn't make it while defecting. I thought you should know about the line of work I've been doing. It's called Project Starscream. The aims of Starscream are to build an entity which is impervious to all forms of attack, including the force . The project leaders where Mammon Hoole and Borborygmus Gog. Dr.Gog is a mad man, his experiments have killed the life on this planet already and now he's trying to create and army of indestructible soldiers. Jol, you have to keep this next bit of information secret , Borborygmus Gog left some of his DNA in a secret location, even I don't know where, in the hope that he will be cloned. Apparently the Empire has a mountain full of Spartii Cylinders. I do have one good piece of news though. Dr. Hoole has managed to kill the first Starscream entity, along with Gog. If Gog's cloned you have to stop him, I've included the complete files on Starscream to help you.

Also, watch out for Gog, he's a Shi'ido. You must be very careful around him. Trust no-one in the Empire.

Jor

The words ran through his head day after day. He'd memorised the whole letter after reading it for the hundredth time. Now he finally realised something, he, Jol Allson, was the only single person to have a full copy of the Starscream files. The others were tucked away in some high security database somewhere . That meant if Gog ever came back, he'd come looking for Jol. That meant he had to tell someone about the file stashed in the lining of his carry-bag.

The console in front of him beeped a confirmation code and he looked down at it. Ah good, he'd found a frequency which would carry video to Farpoint from Myrkr. He transferred all of his findings to a datapad and headed for Nick's office.

* * * * *

Ilexa was very afraid now, without a safe landing spot or enough fuel to get out of the gravity well, she was stuck up with a lot of angry Imperials on her tail. Suddenly her comm unit crackled and came to life.

'Major Thorn, this is General Fel, do you read me?'

At first she was in so much shock that she forgot she had to reply to the message.

'General Fel, this is Major Thorn, I read you loud and clear, you don't know how good it feels to hear your voice.'

'We need you to transmit video feed on the frequency we're transmitting now.' A new voice came on, 'Then you can land at co-ordinates 22.23N 56.45W. There will be a member of RS there to meet you within 6 hours. Oh, and don't get yourself killed, I'm tired of having to fill in paperwork!' That was Jol, no two ways about it.

'Yes, sir.'

'And don't call me sir. It annoys me.'

* * * * *

'Roguer Niner, Base One, report.'

'Base One, Roguer Niner, I've completed the task set out for me by Roguer Six, am continuing on mission.'

'What task?'

'I was asked to put my comm unit on a power source so he could patch a signal through the Imperial jamming to Major Thorn.'

'Oh, very well. You are authorised to approach the base, use extreme caution.'

* * * * *

Ilexa Thorn sat her X-wing down as light as a feather, popped the hatch and climbed out.

'Hello?' she shouted off into the forest. 'Is anybody here?'

She shrugged and started to unpack her survival gear from her fighter.

* * * * *

Nick and Jol had just finished sending the comms message to Thorn when the system beeped again.

They looked at each other, puzzled and Jol punched the receive button. It was General Hammond.

'General Fel, Colonel Antilles, good to see you. I'm afraid I have some bad news. We've lost contact with Roguer Niner.'

'When was this?' asked Nick, one of only two people to know Roguer Niner's identity.

'About four hours ago, just after the first time you talked to Roguer Niner.'

'But we've been able to contact her since then.' Jol replied, mystified.

'Yes, you have because you're not being jammed, someone's directly jamming the SGC's communications with Niner.'

'Well that's not that bad news, what did you really call about?'

'We're not going to be able to get to Major Thorn in time. Someone's dialed up our Stargate to prevent travel. We can't shut it down.'

'Thank you for this news General, the Colonel and I will take it from here.'

'Very well Nick. Good luck.'

'Thanks George.' The comm screen went blank as Hammond cut the connection.

'Nick?' Jol asked.

'We're going after her.'

'Which 'her'?'

'What?' Nick shot Jol a look of annoyance, 'There's only one woman out there, that's Thorn.'

'Oh, please, don't patronize me. It's obvious Roguer Niner is a woman as well or you two wouldn't be so worried. If one of our male commandos got stuck, or we lost contact with them, you'd leave them alone, and not worry about it. But we lose contact with Roguer Niner and all sorts of strange things start happening. So are you gonna tell me what's going on?'

'Very well. It started about three....'

* * * * *

'Roguer Niner, Base One, where are you?'

'I'm approaching the nerve centre of the base. Are you sure there's going to be no-one in here.'

'Yes, very sure, this part of the base was abandoned years ago.'

'This'? You're talking as if you're inside this part of the base.

'Okay, I'm opening the door...now.'

The door slid silently open to reveal two Stormtroopers with their blasters leveled at her head.

'What in the name of the Sith?' Roguer Niner yelled.

'Roguer Niner, Base One, stay calm. If you'll join me in the next room we can get properly introduced.'

* * * * *

Nick lead Jol along one of the many corridors of Farpoint base, even though they all looked the same, Jol could tell he hadn't been down this one before. It was cooler than most and when they reached a huge blast door, Jol was certain he'd never been here before, there just weren't any huge blast doors in Farpoint.

'Here,' began Nick, 'is the answer to all our problems.'

He pushed a button on the wall and entered a password. The doors split and a thin crack of light along with an all too familiar sound came through the gap.

'That's funny, it shouldn't be active.' Nick exclaimed in surprise.

'Er, Nick, why is there blaster fire in that room?'

'Blaster fire?'

'I'd stake my life on it.'

'Uh, oh.'

As the doors got wider apart the two officers could see exactly what was happening in the room. In the center was an active Stargate and at one end of the room a few Farpoint personnel were huddled shooting at the masses of Stormtroopers pouring out of the gate. Suddenly the gate shut down leaving the stormies abandoned. For the moment.

'Inside!' Nick yelled.

As soon as both of them were inside Nick slapped a large, red panel. Immediately another blast door slammed down the corridor side of the one currently opening and a siren and emergency alarm wailed 'Imperials have entered the base, warning. Imperials have entered the base!'

Nick drew his blaster and started running towards the cowering Farpoint staff and shooting at the stormies. Jol followed suit. Both were good marksmen, but the sheer number of Imperial troops meant that soon they had to concentrate on running more than firing. As they skidded behind the closest crate Nick thumbed his com-link.

'Everyone clear in gate room. Open up Acid.'

As he put the comlink away again ten hidden war-droids came out from hidden niches around the room and started tearing the Imperial ranks to pieces.

After a few seconds it was all over.

Nick thumbed his comlink again, 'Okay, we're all clear down here.'

He stood up and wandered out into the room to look up at the control box. Jol wandered out to him.

'Nice place you got here, pity about the company, but I like the décor.'

'Shut up. I want to know why the Iris didn't stop those Imps.'

'Well when are we going to find Thorn?'

'"We" aren't. Acid and I are.'

'Well can I try and find Roguer Niner, seeing as you're so worried about her?'

'Very well. Who will you need?'

'I'll take Phil if you'll let me, but who would that leave in charge?'

'Bookdawg.'

'Can you trust her?'

'Yes. Now get going before I change my mind, Colonel.'

* * * * *

Meet you in the next room? Of an Imperial base? But you're supposed to be on my side!

Roguer Niner followed her Stormtrooper escort through a large and exquisite door. On the other side there sat a small, shriveled man in a very large chair. He stood up to great her and was joined by an Imperial Colonel.

'My dear,' the old man began, 'I apologize for bringing you here under false pretences, but the Colonel and I agreed you wouldn't come under any other circumstances.'

'I take it you're Base One?' Roguer Niner spat at the Colonel, who's face looked eerily familiar.

'I was indeed masquerading as Base One,' he said smoothly in clipped Imperial tones.

'So, who are you?'

The old man spoke again, 'I am Dr. Borborygmus Gog, Imperial Dr. Gog. You do not need to know my counterparts name right now, you may address him as Colonel.'

'So, Doctor. What do you and the Colonel want from me?'

'Why, your genetic codes which make you a fearless soldier. Oh, don't look so surprised, my dear, we've had our eyes on you for quite some time now. You are a member of Rogue Squadron's elite Special Forces or the RSF, you specialize in lone wolf missions of which you've never failed one. This whole mission, including the message sent to the Stargate Command was orchestrated from this room.

'What?' Roguer Niner hissed before she was struck behind with a large blunt object.



To be continued in The Long Walk Home...