Fiction Home - More by Anton "Viper" Moore - More in Action and Aventure - More Third Fanfic Challenge entries

I suppose there's someone like me in every military unit, someone who can get things done. The guy you turn to when you need something found, or something lost. I tend concentrate on the "finding" part though. If you want me to make something disappear, come see me after the story's ending. It'll cost you. Anyways, back to the subject at hand. Our story starts off on a cold, cold planet. A planet named: Eurthis.

"You Sithing scum!" Smilax shouted in the face of his companion. The fat Rodian had been trapped in the ice cave for almost twelve hours now, his only companion a small, reed-thin human by the name of Beloz.

Beloz was a completely unimaginative human, not all that uncommon for his species in Smilax's personal opinion. He'd graduated from the University of Coruscant with a degree in pre-Republic archeology. Smilax, on the other hand, was a graduate of the New Republic's Army Basic Non-Combat Officer Training course, and a sergeant in the New Republic Army by rank.

They had been trapped when Beloz had inadvertently caused a landslide that had blocked the exit to the cave. Already Smilax could feel his circulation system beginning to shut down as it battled against the cold to keep his reptilian form from hibernation.

"It wasn't my fault!" Beloz retorted sharply and defensively. "How was I supposed to know the roof of the cavern was unstable?"

Sergeant Smilax roared as loud as he could manage and spat back at the small man, "You're the Sithing archeologist; you should know more about rocks than I can be reasonably expected to. And as to the first point, yes it was, you started the landslide!"

"Silence, both of you!" shouted the cave's third occupant, a horned Devaronian male named Tolwan Jantz who sat with his back against one of the walls, fiddling with a blaster powerpack. "We don't have time for pointless bickering."

Both combatants tried to get the last word, "But he..." "You said..."

"I said silence!" Sergeant Jantz roared. "While you two have been bickering, I've been busy fixing us a way to get out of this place. Now move away from that wall, or the shockwave will shatter your spinal column."

The red-skinned Devaronian stood up and tossed the powerpack against the far wall. It bounced down against the various projections and protrusions and settled itself at the base of the rockslide. Tolwan immediately took cover behind a large boulder.

The explosion of the overloaded powerpack was deafeningly loud within the confined walls of the cavern. Had it not been for their combat helmets, the noise most likely would have ruptured the eardrums of all three.

Dusting himself off, Jantz surveyed his handiwork. A small but obviously unstable hole had been blown into the rocks that had trapped them. Sunlight spilled in from the outer corridors, shining a small circle of wan light on the floor of the cavern.

"Through the hole you fools, we're out of powerpacks!" Jantz shouted at the two figures lying prone beside where he had taken cover. Smilax instantly pushed himself forward, scrabbling for purchase as he propelled himself forward and through the hole blasted in the rocks. Beloz was a bit slower, and not as used to adapting himself to different situations. Jantz grabbed the human by the collar and dragged him to the hole. The Devaronian shoved him into the hole and crawled in after, pushing Beloz in front of him as he crawled through the narrow crack in the stone.

We made it out that day. I wasn't sure If we would or not, but we did. Beloz proved to have a mild concussion from the blast wave and all the rocks falling on his head. Once we were back out into the main tunnel system, we found the rest of the platoon we had been assigned to frantically digging in the wrong place. I shouldn't have been surprised; Coup was leading them after all.

No slight intended toward the man. He's a good leader and a brave guy, but sometimes he can make silly mistakes.

Anyways, back on subject. After our successful escape from the caves, we were shepherded back to the gate to hold the position with 3rd squad while the rest of the platoon carried out the task we'd been sent to Eurthis for in the first place: the capture of a Goa'uld weapons cache thought to be located down in the caves.

The Goa'uld had been expunged from the surface of Eurthis for centuries. How and why remained a mystery. SGC teams dispatched to her sister planet of Arthis had located and retrieved a series of ancient texts that when decoded pointed to a hidden weapons cache somewhere in the extensive cave system of the planet. We never did find it.

What's this got to do with how we captured the Nirvana? Absolutely nothing, it just happened to be my first mission after being assigned to the unit.

Get back to the story? Oh fine, just lose out on the benefit of my years of experience and wisdom for a little adventure tale.

Ok, ok, I'll get back to the story, sheesh.

Tolwan leaned back in his chair and surveyed the vast underground warehouse that had been specially constructed to hold Rogue Squadron's armoury.

The place was huge. Rack upon rack of weapons ran in parallel lines through the room, and a door set into the western wall led into the garage areas where maintenance was done on the unit's vehicles. In addition to standard maintenance facilities, the garages also contained an elaborate and fully complete machine shop. The eastern wall held a set of turbolift doors that ran down to the prep room.

Yep, the new base was a vast improvement over trying to operate off of a star cruiser that had to hide behind a moon all the time. Jantz had been one of the last to be pulled off of Earth, and had arrived too late to fight in the Battle of Farpoint, although he'd been able to take a role in the Battle for Farpoint Orbital Station that had occurred two months later.

His promotion to Assistant Armourer wasn't too bad though. Since he'd been pulled from Earth, he'd seen the addition of two more ships to the unit and the destruction of a nest of pirates. All in all it had been exhausting work.

Sergeant Jantz had just kicked back and put his feet up when troopers began pouring through all three entrances. Tolwan was so startled that his chair tipped back and he spilled out onto the floor behind his desk.

"What in the name of the Force is going on here?" he shouted from his place on the floor.

One of the commandos who was busy raiding a rack of grenades shouted back to him, "We're going to steal a ship."

"You must be joking," Jantz said, struggling up to his feet. "Steal a ship?"

The commando turned back to him and nodded, "Yup, Colonel, ah, I mean Brigadier Moore and General Fel have given the go ahead. We're going to capture an Interdictor."

"To counter-balance the gravitational flux their combined egos are creating, no doubt."

The big man laughed, "I'm Major Conwy, I'll be leading the expedition."

"Do you have room for one more?" Tolwan asked. "I think I'd like to come along."

Conwy paused, looking the horned Devaronian up and down; taking the chance to size him up before making his decision, "Sure, sergeant. Final brief is in an hour, gear up and be in the briefing room by then."

"Thank you, major."

You wouldn't be interested in the briefing. It was unoriginal and unimaginative; I was bored out of my mind.

We split into four groups and boarded the landing craft, each of us a bit nervous about being stuck in the troop compartments, unable to defend ourselves.

The four Sentinel class landing craft took off from Farpoint's landing pad and made their way up through the atmosphere and into orbit where they waited for a brief period of time while Wraith and Nova squadrons launched from the orbital platform.

The landing craft broke orbit, escorted by Wraith and Nova squadrons and proceeded out past the edges of the planet's gravity well before jumping to hyperspace.

Inside the landing craft designated SG-4 1, Tolwan fidgeted, constantly wriggling around in his jump seat.

Across the isle, Major Conwy leaned closer to him. "Nervous?" he asked.

Jantz stopped his fidgeting and replied, "About the mission? No. I'm nervous about being stuck in this can and not being able to do anything while the pilot tries to get us to our target. I'll feel much better once I'm off this transport."

Conwy smiled, sympathetically, "I know how you feel. No soldier feels comfortable placing his life in the hands of a landing craft pilot."

"I agree, I've always felt the most vulnerable when the drop ships are taking us down."

Nodding his agreement, Conwy asked, "How long have you been in the New Republic Army?"

"About six years. I joined after Endor and the destruction of the second Death Star," Tolwan explained. "My family was killed when the uprisings on Devaron were brutally suppressed by the Empire."

"Montellian Serat?" Conwy asked sympathetically.

Sergeant Jantz nodded, "Yes. They weren't even part of the group of rebels. They were simply rounded up and massacred with the rest of the prisoners. Kardue'sai'malloc will one day pay dearly for what he has done to his own people."

"I am sorry," Conwy said, seeing that he had touched a nerve in his Devish companion.

Tolwan shook his head, "No matter, it was a long time ago, and you could not have possibly known."

The rest of the flight through hyperspace was conducted in silence. The rest of the soldiers either slept or took the opportunity to clean their weapons and recheck everything that they had checked before they left.

Shortly before the revision to realspace, an alarm sounded, waking the slumbering soldiers. Interior lighting shifted into the red battle lighting to conserve energy and the pilot's voice came over the intercom.

"Fifteen seconds to hyperspace exit. Heads up, we're going in hot."

Conwy began strapping his crash webbing into place. "Alright," he shouted, "you heard the pilot. Everyone strap down!"

A chorus of "aye sir's" sounded throughout the troop compartment as the rest of the men in the compartment began fastening their crash webbing.

November Company of the 325th Republic Assault Regiment had been assigned the task of capturing the Interdictor class cruiser Claw. To do this, 237 men from first, second, and third platoons had been chosen to board the cruiser and seize the bridge and engineering sections. Nova squadron would use their ion cannon-equipped B-Wing bombers to disable the cruiser, while Wraith squadron would fly cover for the four landing craft carrying the men of the first three platoons of November Company and keep any Ties off of the B-Wings.

Tolwan felt the shift in power and the slight lurch as the landing craft left the safety of hyperspace. For a handful of seconds, nothing happened. They continued straight and level. Then everyone in the troop compartment was thrown violently into their restraints as the pilot began executing maneuvers that the inertial compensators could not handle. Tolwan could hear the gunnery mounts begin to open fire and the ship reeled again as something impacted the shields.

The battle outside was going even worse than Tolwan had thought. The starfighters were outnumbered 2-to-1 and the bombers had not counted upon the Claw being able to jump to full battle readiness in such a short time. Getting in under the withering fire coming off of the Interdictor had proven to be a challenge, and to do it while under attack from swarms of Ties had proven to be even worse.

Slowly, the numbers began to even out as Wraith Squadron fighters shot down Tie after Tie. Rouge Squadron losses were remarkably light, with one B-Wing pilot being shot out of his fighter. The pilot was retrieved by one of the Landing Craft and brought aboard.

The remaining few Ties communicated their surrender and powered down their weapons and engines, allowing the X-Wings to turn their attention to the Interdictor that was causing the bombers so many problems. A barrage of proton torpedoes caused severe damage to the shields, and the opportunistic B-Wing pilots darted in, firing their ion cannons at the larger ship's engines and command and control center. Waves of blue-white energy crackled over the ship's hull, shorting out subsystem after subsystem until the ship lost power.

The landing craft moved in, three coming up into the Claw's main hanger bay, while the fourth landed in the ship's secondary launch bay.

Tolwan could hear the gunners continuing to fire even after the ship had landed, and finally the pilot's voice came over the intercom.

"Everyone out! Lets go!"

Conwy slapped his restraint release and shouted at the men in troop compartment, "Go! Go! Go! Go!"

Tolwan grabbed his E11 blaster rifle and charged out the door and down the ramp right with the rest of the troopers. They came under immediate fire from the catwalks above and from the blast doors leading into the rest of the ship. The Landing Craft's repeating blaster cannons opened up on the Storm Troopers firing from the blast doors while the troopers dove to cover, firing up at the Imperials hiding on the catwalks above.

A sharp bark preceded an explosion that took three friendly soldiers with it, splattering those nearby with molten plasteel and organic residue. The soldiers continued to push forward, despite the losses, with Conwy right with them, urging his men on and fighting back when the opportunity presented itself.

Right behind him was Sergeant Jantz, empting his powerpacks even faster than the troopers around him, causing more than his share of damage. One Storm Trooper rose to throw a proton grenade at the invading New Republic soldiers and Tolwan shot him neatly in the throat, where the armour did not offer as much protection.

The Storm Trooper toppled backwards, the primed grenade rolling out of his hand and exploding among his comrades. Conwy's troops occupied the position recently vacated by those Imperials and continued to push forward towards the blast doors leading out.

"Captain Trevall!" Conway shouted to the commander of November Company. "What's the status of Second and Third Platoons?"

"Elements of Third report that they have secured the secondary launch bay and are moving forward into the ship." Trevall reported. "Second reports they are pinned down on the other end of the main bay. They can't link up with the rear guard left by Third."

Conwy looked around, "Send the fourth squad from Third to help them break through. The rest of First Platoon will move to capture the command tower."

"Aye, sir!" The human captain moved off to issue the orders to the appropriate parties.

"Tolwan!" Conwy barked.

"Here, sir!"

Conwy turned to regard him, "Didn't you once do demolitions?"

"I improvised some a couple of times, but not really. No."

Conwy tossed him a satchel full of Nergon-14 munitions. "Well improvise something with those to clear the Storm Troopers from those blast doors or we're pre-Republic history."

"Yes, sir," Jantz said and started rummaging through the bag.

The fighting continued as Jantz peaked around the corner of the durasteel sheeting he was hiding behind and surveyed the landscape.

"Major!" he shouted to Conwy. "If you can keep those Imps on the catwalks from firing on me, I can take out the ones at the door!"

"Alright sergeant, go. We'll cover you," Conwy told him and then turned to issue orders to his First Platoon soldiers.

Jantz got to his feet and dashed across the bay, dodging the withering fire coming from the blast doors until he reached a point where they could no longer fire upon him. He was, however, in clear view of the Storm Troopers firing down from the catwalks. As soon as fire started coming in from that direction, Conwy's troopers opened up from below, showering the Imps with blaster bolts from their E11 and A280 rifles. The Storm Troopers withdrew, judging that one suicidal Devaronian wasn't worth risking their lives.

Tolwan got down on the deck and belly crawled along the wall up to the blast doors. Since the Storm Troopers hiding in the corridor could not see around the corner, Sergeant Jantz took his time and attached the Nergon charges to the wall next to the doors and set the primers. Once he was finished, he crawled back along the wall and dashed across the bay again to his previous position.

"Set sergeant?" Conwy asked him as he collapsed behind a packing container, out of breath and sweating heavily.

"Aye, sir," Jantz gasped out between breaths, holding out the detonator to the major.

Conwy took the device from Tolwan's hand and shouted into his comlink, "Fire in the hole!"

As soon as Conwy's finger stabbed down on the detonate button, a gout of flame shot blossomed around the blast doors. The charges had been set to detonate inward, and had done the job they'd been designed for. The resulting explosion had killed or seriously wounded all of the Imperials holding out in the corridor.

"Move troopers!" Conwy shouted at his men as the fire died down.

The First Platoon soldiers charged the door, firing up at the Imperials on the catwalks as they ran. They dove over the twisted durasteel and the disfigured bodies that littered the doorway and stormed down the corridor, rapidly securing ready rooms and the pilot's lounge as they went.

They met little resistance as they made their way to the main bank of turbolifts that would take them to the bridge. Conwy called all three lifts and locked them in place. The troopers then proceeded up into the lift shaft through the roof of the lift car. Each soldier pulled out his magnetic climbing gear and began their assent up the shafts. Once they reached the top, the trooper in the lead removed a stun grenade from his pouch and primed it. The soldier opposite the bridge door from him then tripped the door controls, sliding the door open just enough for the trooper to toss the grenade through, and then shutting it again once the action was complete.

A dull thud was heard inside the lift, and the group donned their breathing masks to keep the gas from affecting them. The doors were then opened fully and locked into place, and the soldiers streamed up out of the shaft and onto the bridge.

They immediately began rounding up the unconscious bridge crew and disarming them, binding their arms together with engine tape. One trooper activated the bridge ventilation system to vent the gas from the room, allowing everyone to take off the clumsy breath masks.

After seeing to it that the prisoners were secured Conwy made his way over to the Claw's communications station. "New Republic starfighters, this is Major Rhyan Conwy onboard the Claw. The ship has been secured, we have taken several prisoners and we have some casualties. Second Platoon is driving on the Engineering sections now and we expect to have complete control of the ship in about twenty minutes."

"This is Wraith Leader," Glantry's voice came over the comm, heavy with distortion, "we've dealt with the Ties, but that Station is a tough nut to crack, and reinforcements could be here at any moment."

"Copy that, Wraith Lead, we're working on it now. Looks like the crew had brought up a good deal of the systems that had been shut down, but no sublight engines, hyperdrive, weapons, or shields yet."

"We will provide cover for as long as we can. Good luck, major, Wraith Leader out."

Well, basically after that it's all fairly mundane. We managed to get the engines and hyperdrive back online and secured ship. I think we took something around a thousand prisoners and the rest of the ship's compliment was killed during the securing of the ship.

So there, you got your story. Happy?

What's that?

Oh for the love of the great Bird of the Galaxy, what do you want now?

Oh, you're welcome.