From: Nathan Yates <Fifty_Caliber@webtv.net>
Subject: [IP]SW:Revenge and Loyalty-The Story of Commander Nathan 'Enforcer' 
Yates

Disclaimer: Anything in the Star Wars Universe is the property of George
Lucas, Lucasarts, and LucasFilm  (just covering all bases:)). No money is
being made off of this, it's just for fun.  Chapter One:  The Beginning

Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, on Corellia.

  "Good work! You've fixed a hyperdrive!" said Deris Yates.  "Thanks, dad"
Nathan was visibly relieved. He had been nervous about this for weeks.
Patching a hyperdrive was the last thing he had needed to master in order to
become a full-fledged starship technician.  And he did it all by himself. 
This was his proudest moment. He had mastered everything his parents knew
about starship mechanics. He was only 18 and his career was set.  Most people
his age were either going to college or into the Imperial armed forces. More
school didn't appeal to him. He hated studying. As for the Empire-well, he
knew some of the kids who were going into the military, and he really didn't
care for them. Some of these were the types who would enjoy pulling the wings
off of insects, or punching kittens. The rest were too dumb for anything
else. Big, stupid and/or mean. He supposed they would make good stormtrooper
fodder.  Nathan had been asked if he wanted to go to the academy, due to his
high intelligence. They wouldn't conscript him due to his being slightly
overweight, even though they would probably whip him into shape. Oh, well, it
was a moot point anyway. He was going to be a civilian technician and that
was that.  "That looks great, Nathan", said Yonas, Nathan's mom.  "Thanks" 
"My Clan will pay you well. This is excellent work!" said Doen Picadilly,
leader of the Bloodkurst Clan, and captain of the pirate vessel _Hot Shot_.
"The modifications you have made will aid us greatly in our fued with the
Pilak Clan."  "Thank you for the compliment, but we have no problem with
whatever you pay us for. Our policies include "No questions asked", said
Yonas.	"Nice to know you can be trusted. I must warn you, though. The Pilak
Clan is far more ruthless and violent than we are. If they found out about
this, they may threaten or attack you. Their calling card is a fresh woon'tak
heart.	"We appreciate the info."said Deris.

      *       *      *

  "But I'm sure we can take care of ourselves"	"That's what he thinks",
Wilhem Givens, leader of the Pitak Clan, stated.  "That bug you planted
onboard works wonders" he said to the shadows.	The Wraith stepped forward.
"When will I receive my payment?"  Givens said to one of his men, "Cole, pay
the...guy?" Wilhem wasn't sure what to call it. Cole pulled out several
credit vouchers to the Wraith, and it snuck back into the shadows.  "Alright,
now that that's taken care of, Lupus, Checkers, and Parchesi, I want you to
take care of the Yates family. Make it known that if anybody helps our
enemies, they wind up like our enemies."  "Right, boss"

   *       *       *

  The Yates's finished their work, and were paid very well. After the
Bloodkurst ships left Nathan cleaned himself up and told his parents that he
was going out to celebrate. He wondered if that girl Jadi from school would
be interested in going with him.

  *       *      *

  The landspeeder crept up the street towards the Yates residence. The man
riding in the back lifted up a shoulder mounted proton torpedoe launcher,
took aim, and fired. Deris and Yonas never knew what hit them as the
low-yield fusion warhead detonated.

  *       *     *

  Nathan felt...ok, he guessed. He and that girl just kind of stumbled
through their conversation during dinner. They hardly had anything in common,
and she seemed pushy and arrogant. Oh, well. There are always more fish in
the sea.  He drove into his neighborhood and noticed the sky was glowing a
bit brighter than usual tonight. He heard sirens. He turned onto his street.
His house was on fire!	He almost sped up to it, but there were police,
ambulances, and fire engines all around it. Nathan came to a stop and ran up
to his yard. A policeman kept him from getting too far.  "Lemme go! That's my
house! My mom and dad are in there!"  "Sorry kid. There's no one in there
now. Stay back."  Nathan's eyes started to burn, and it wasn't from the
smoke. "What do you mean?" He shoved the cop aside, and got closer. He went
past the cordon the police had set up and got closae enough to see the body
bags. "No. NO!" 'This couldn't be happening' he thought. He turned away, and
his eyes fell on an object on the side walk.  A woon'tak heart.  A WOON'TAK
HEART! It was the Pitak Clan!  "I thought I told you to stay back!" The
officer reached to restrain him if he had to.  "Wait!" Nathan said tearily.
"I know who did this", pointing at the woon'tak heart. "That's the symbol the
Pitak pirate gang uses".  The officer visibly stiffened up."How would you
know that, kid?" The officer started to sound suspicious. "Were your folks
part of the fringe?"  Nathan wasn't sure how to respond. He didn't want to
say anything that would get him into trouble.  "Well? How about it?" 
"Alright, that's enough!", a voice called out.	"Yes, sir!"  An older officer
walked up to them. "This boy's been trough enough. What do I keep telling you
about tact?"  "Sorry, sir"  "I'm Captain Watts, and this is Officer Lane. So,
you live here".  Nathan nodded.  "Well, why don't we get out of here and go
down to the station. We'll give you a chance to get ahold of yourself, and
then we have a few questions for you, OK?"  Nathan just nodded. He was
starting to feel numb.

   *       *      *

  Later, at the police station, after Nathan regained his composure, and
after he mourned his parents' deaths, he was in Captain Watts' office.	Watts
was reading a file on Nathan. Son of Deris and Yonas Yates of Coronet. !8,
brown hair, blue eyes, had been in trouble for several fights in highschool.
Most of the people he fought wound up injured, while he walked away virtually
unscathed. Said to emulate a move seen on popular professional wrestling
programs called a DDT, which involved grabbing a guy's head under your arm
after he's been doubled over, and falling backwards, driving the opponent's
head directly into the ground. Using this move Yates caused several
concussions.It is also noted that his teachers had this to say: while
mischevious, he was polite, smart, respectful and considerate. Just don't
pick a fight with him.	His parents had been suspected of helping out fringe
groups, and were very well off becuase of it.  "Well, It looks like your
parents made the wrong kind of people mad. A woon'tak heart, eh?", the
captain said.  "Nathan here seems to know that that heart is the Poontik
Clan's symbol".  "How did you know that? Don't worry, you won't be in any
trouble. I think you've suffered enough already", Watts said grimly.  Nathan
decided that this would be the only way to help them. "We repaired a ship
that belongs to their enemy. The captain warned us of the Pitak clan.  After
a few more questions, the captain said "Well I'm afraid that in cases like
this, there's not much we can do. These people are probably long gone from
this planet. Plus, they probably have a hide-out in deep space. We'll let you
know if anything comes up."  Nathan left the office, infuriated. 'It just
wasn't fair! There had to be some way!'  Suddenly, he had a flash of insight.
'That's it!', he thought. They could trace the explosive to its dealer, using
the residue left over.	He walked back to the office fast. But as he got
closer he heard Lane speaking.	"We'll...have...let them
know...missed...him."  "Uh, hello?" Nathan knocked on the doorjamb. He
wonered what that was about.  "Huh? Oh you're back? What is it?" Watts looked
embaressed and Lane just about jumped out of his skin.	"You were talking
about me, weren't you?" Now he knew. And NOW he was mad. "You work for them
don't you?"  "Shut up kid! You don't know what your talking about!" Lane
said, nervously.  "Why don't you just admit it?"  Lane came toward Nathan.
Lane threw a punch, and Nathan squatted down and swung his arm up between
Lane's legs. He doubled over in pain. Nathan stood up and began stomping a
mudhole into him. Watts got up, and Nathan turned around to face him. Nathan
threw a punch, which was blocked. Watts returned one of his own, which
connected and Yates was standind there dazed. Watts tried to cuff him, but
Nathan struggled, got the cuffs away from Watts, and then belted him with the
cuffs. Having knocked both of them silly, he then gave each of them a DDT. 
He then hauled ass out of the station. Nobody had noticed the commotion,
because as luck would have it, some particularly wild perps were being
booked, and they had everyone's attention.  Watts and Lane had been kind
enough to tow his speeder behind theirs. At the time he was unfit to drive. 
Now, he'd be flooring it. He had to decide what his next course of action
was.  He went to his bank and got some money out. He then got something to
eat, and checked into a hotel.	As he was eating, he thought back to what 
his
parents had taught him about life.  One lesson was, win by any means
necessary. That's why he never got in trouble with them about his fights. 
Second, take risks if the benefits outweigh the costs.	Third always bide
your time. Yes. He would eventually have justice. It would just take time. 
He fell asleep while thinking of all this. He had a dream. In it, he saw a
woon'tak heart getting crushed by an Imperial insignia. Then the logo caught
on fire and burnt up, and from the ashes, a phoenix rose out! A phoenix with
the Imperial symbol!  He woke up and thought about it. The Empire, in the
first place was brought about because the Senate had been corrupt.  Tarkin,
who they said caused Alderaan to be destroyed, was one man. He caused more
problems for the Empire than he helped it. He did not represent the whole
Empire, which stood for order. They also kept the various aliens from
fighting each other.  The Rebels, on the other hand, had in the past, harmed
civilians with some of their terrorist attacks. They also enlisted the help
of pirates.  Pirates. He decided on what he would do.  He would join the
Imperial Navy and help bring all of these criminals to justice.

End Part 1

(Secondary note: Thanks to Curtis Saxon's SW Technical Commentaries for the
info on TIE fighter systems)

   Chapter 2 -- The Academy

  After deciding what he would do, Nathan got in touch with his uncle Cole
and his family.  They were shocked and saddened to hear about what happened.
Cole made the arrangments to give Deris and Yonas a proper funeral at the
Yates family plot near Ak'grovia. At the funeral Nathan told him what he was
planning to do. Cole thought he was crazy at first, but then Nathan pointed
out to him that it would be the only chance their family had at personal
vengeance. Nathan was the only man in the family who could do it. Cole was
too old and had a wife and kids of his own to take care of. Cole decided he
had a point. There _had_ to be vengeance. On Correllia, the biggest rule of
all is, you simply _don't_ mess with family. Nathan's relatives wished him
luck, and he started planning.

     *      *      *

  Nathan had to decide what type of role he wanted to be in. He clearly
wanted to be in a combat role. In the Navy the choices were sparse. Bridge
crew, gunnery officer or starfighter pilot. Of these, the only one that
appealed to him was to be a starfighter pilot, for various reasons. First, he
had been an amatuer pilot for quite some time. Being expert technicians who
serviced fringe groups in desperate need for ship repairs, as well as doing
legitimate work had paid his folks well. His family had owned a fairly large
house as well as their own ship, a souped up yacht that could handle like an
interceptor. His father had taught him, and he proved to be a natural pilot.
By the time he was sixteen, he could perform all sorts of aerobatic manuevers
with ease. He also liked the idea of being an underdog, flying in a seemingly
vulnerable TIE fighter. He liked taking on the odds, but that was the
Correllian in him. He also felt that flying a fighter allowed him to fight
the enemy one on one, without anyone to keep him from personally destroying
the enemy. He always felt that he worked best by himself.

    *       *     *

  A week later he went and applied for the Imperial Acadamy. When the
recruiting officer checked his identification, Nathan was a little worried
that something might show up about the two cops he had left unconcious in
their office at the police station. It had been mentioned on the news they
had both lapsed into comas by the time anyone found them, due to the head
injuries he gave them. His backside was still sore from hitting those DDTs.
Oh, well. It would teach them to keep their door shut if they don't want
someone to overhear their conversation. Fortunately, nothing showed up on the
IDs, and began testing that day. What followed was the single most hectic
week of his life. First came a very extensive physical, which he passed. He
was worried about that. He had spent the past week trying to slim down as
much as he healthily could. He would probably have to keep it up if he made
it through the testing period.	The tests and exams weren't easy, but
fortunately, Nathan read a lot.He knew some of them he passed by the skin of
his teeth, though. When it came to the piloting exams he passed those with
flying colors. He was accepted.

    *       *       *

  He left his family's ship with his uncle, and said his goodbyes. He then
boarded a shuttle with the other cadets and they went to Carida on a larger
ship.

  *  *	*  

	Nathan found life at the Acadamy different from anything else he
had ever seen. It was disciplined, regimented, yet satisfying. When he wasn't
studying his courses, he was either drilling, learning new hand-to-hand
fighting skills, and flying in simulations. It was the latter he enjoyed the
most. Flying mock battles, learning formation flying, learning how to fly a
TIE fighter in general was interesting. At first, he had to get used to the
controls, but he got used to it. One of the things that really freaked him
out, though, was the TIE's virtual reality sensor system. Since there were no
veiwports to either side, it used a system in which there were tiny  sensors
all over the solar panels, as well as the aft of the ship, which were linked
to special devices in the TIE pilot's helmet that allowed for him to 'see'
past the wing panels. Whereever he turned his head, it felt to Nathan like he
was looking out into space. It was disorienting at first, but he got used to
it, like anything else. He also learned to respect the TIE fighter's
capabilities, and its shortcomings.  Over the four years he soon learned the
value of teamwork, he could think clearer--he no longer was indecisive, and
could, within 4 seconds could derive a course of action and implement it. He
was staring to become a warrior. He always felt thrilled when he got to fly
during wargames. He wound up getting more kills than most.  He also decided
to try for a degree in starship mechanics, and for the heck of it, a degree
in chemistry. He had always enjoyed that as well. There were things he knew
to make, that it was a good thing for the Empire he didn't join the Rebels. 
After four years of attending the Imperial Naval Acadamy, Cadet Nathan Yates
graduated at the top 10% of his class, with doctorates in Starship Mechanics
and Chemistry.	New pilots were given the chance to get themselves a
callsign, and Nathan chose the name 'Enforcer'. He would be an enforcer of
Imperial Law. Ensign Nathan 'Enforcer' Yates and a few more were assigned to
serve aboard the Super Star Destroyer _Executor_. They needed a few
replacement pilots.

END PART 2


CHAPTER 3 - Initial Duty

Time: 10 months after the Battle of Hoth.

Ensign Nathan Yates was on one of two shuttles which 
carried a group of his fellow graduates on their way to 
their first assignments. And what assignments they were. 

The newly-comissioned officers had been in the top of their 
class, and so they had been  given top postings. One group 
was to report to Coruscant as new members of its defense 
force. The other group, Nathan's group, had been assigned to the
Imperial Navy's flagship, the _Executor_.

Nathan was very excited. And nervous, given the 
_Executor_'s commander's reputation for dealing with 
unsatisfactory officers. He thought about it, and decided, 
if he did screw up out there, chances were he wouldn't make 
it back anyway.

The shuttles dropped out of hyperspace, and though the 
viewports were small, the  passengers were able to see 
enough to make them gape in awe at the sight. Coruscant, 
now called Imperial Center, was brilliant, like a jewel in 
the night. 

"Would you look at that!" excaimed Jace Sanro, Nathan's 
best friend. The two had become good buddies over the 
four years at the Acadamy. He was the son of a farmer on 
Ukio who wanted to see the galaxy. He had turned out to 
be a good pilot as well as Nathan. They hoped to be 
wingmen together

. They had had many a good time. There were times when 
cadets had leave, and they took advantage of it, partying 
and going where they could, living it up. And NOBODY 
messed with them. A few tried, but they soon grew a brain, 
and figured it was unwise to screw with an Imperial. They 
also enjoyed playing practical jokes on the other cadets. 

Using his devious mind and knowledge of chemistry, Nathan 
would whip up some odd concoction, and Jace would 
deliver, or 'deploy'(To use a military term) it. Sometimes 
it would be something that stunk. Other times it was 
stuff that would cause minor problems when consumed. 

Usually it was hiliarous.

"Yep Jace, it sure is!" He had been here before, but it 
never ceased to amaze him. He didn't think there was 
anything quite like it anywhere. 

The shuttles split off, with one headed towards an orbital 
station, and the other headed towards the largest _anything_ 
in space around Coruscant, namely the SSD _Executor_. 

What an awesome ship.

* * * 

A couple days later, after the new crewmembers had gotten 
settled in, all hell had broken loose in the space around Coruscant.

On the other side of the planet from where the _Executor_ was, a small 
unknown navy had launched fighters and started to open fire in the
middle of a high traffic area. Lord Vader ordered the ship to go
around the planet, and as soon as it was over the horizon, her 
fighters were launched. Nathan and Jace were among the first 
ones out the launch bay. 

It was chaotic. There were civilian craft everywhere, a 
handful of them disabled, as well as skyhooks, satellites,
and other objects that are commonly seen in orbit around 
Coruscant. The enemy seemed to consist of a strange type of 
fighter and a few corvettes. 

Nathan and his flight of six TIE fighters hurtled forward 
into it. As they were about to meet the enemy, Nathan's 
trained eye took particular notice of two of the civilian 
craft.'I wonder what a YT-1300 AND a YT-2400 are doing here. 
Probably no good'. But then he had no more time to think as 
they came upon the enemy and pounced on them. 

Nathan and Jace were able to each nail a 
fighter on the first pass. Then he and and his flight got 
into a furball in which Nathan got three more, and Jace got 
two, as the two of them did a series of rolls, Immelmans and 
spins, all the while sticking to each other's wings. The 
furball didn't last but a few seconds and the TIEs made 
quick work of them.

'Man, where did they find these guys?' Nathan figured 
mercenary/pirate and rebel pilots would have to be pretty 
good. These people were pushovers, though.

A few moments later, there was a huge explosion as a 
skyhook was blown to smithereens by a cannonade
from the _Executor_.

He wondered what that had been about. Somebody crossed 
the _wrong_ line, that was for sure.

The mop-up took about half an hour, with most of the 
attackers surrendering, while others tried to escape. They 
had been promptly dealt with. Nathan managed to bag two more 
while Jace got two more as well. They both became aces in 
one battle. 

This was true for some of the others as well.

* * *

Nathan was having a good week. He shot down six fighter 
craft in one day, and found out that those forces had 
belonged to the now-deceased Prince Xizor, head of the 
Black Sun crime syndicate. He wouldn't lose any sleep over 
that. Chalk one up for law and order. Vader really put his 
foot down on that one. Nathan was in the hanger 
bay, helping his crew chief go over it as well as painting 
his kills on the hull.

Losses had been very light, having only lost 4 fighters out of 
the 5 dozen that had been launched, and two of those had 
been to collisions. 

Darth Vader strode through the hanger bay with a purpose. 

He had sensed a--he didn't know what it was. Just 
something drew him there. Everyone tried to act normal 
and calm, but Vader knew better. He had always made 
people nervous. He marched around, and listening with the 
force, he found what it was. 

Or rather, whom.

Nathan was looking inside at a circuit in one of the wing 
pylons and it took him a few seconds to notice the 
mechanical breathing. When he did he dropped what he was 
doing and stood at attention.

"Ensign Nathan Yates, at your service, my lord!" He 
hoped that was the proper response. 

"At ease, Ensign." He wondered what the force had to 
do with this lad. Then noticed something familiar. That's 
what it was. The force guided this young man. He had sensed 
it in Captain Solo several months ago. They both had a 
similiar aura around them. They wouldn't ever be able to 
manipulate the force like a Jedi, but there are some 
individuals whose lives are strongly influenced and guided 
by it. In effect the force manipulates them instead.

He explained all this to Nathan, and he understood it 
completely. Nathan said it explained that dream he had 
four years ago. Vader asked about it, and Nathan told him 
about it and why he joined the Navy. The details of the dream 
bothered Vader in a way. It seemed to imply that the 
Empire might collapse, and then be reborn, while Yates 
got his revenge. Strange indeed.

Vader wished him luck and left to contemplate this, 
and other matters, such as his son and the upcoming trip he 
had at the new Death Star.

* * *

A couple of months later, the _Executor_, along with the 
other ships of the Imperial Death Squadron were deployed 
to escort the Emperor and to protect the new Death Star 
while it completed its construction. The scuttlebutt 
was that they were going to ambush the Rebels here when 
they tried to attack. 

Sure enough, the attack came. The Imperial ships were 
on the far side of the planet from where the Rebels would 
come out of hyperspace. The Rebels figured out that the 
shield was still up just in time before someone crashed 
into it. They were still turning around when the 
Star Destroyers showed up. 

They had already launched their TIEs, and they raced 
forwards to meet their counterparts on the other side. 
And once again, Nathan and Jace were right in the thick of it. 

They had again been part of a flight of six. However, two of 
them had been among those to fall in the initial head-on 
meeting. There were fighters and flak everywhere. Nathan's 
group dove, climbed, zigged and zagged as they weaved 
their way through the enemy fleet. He had never seen this 
many warships in one battle.

This was big. 

The Destroyers held position in a position that would make the Rebels 
trapped between the Endor moon and them. And the Death Star. 

Talk about a rock and a hard place. 

Supposedly the Emperor had a little surprise for them. 

Whatever it was, Nathan had suggested to his squadron 
commander that they should keep away from the capital 
ships as much as they could. 

He had a feeling he knew what the surprise was. Sure 
enough, about five minutes into the fighting, the Death 
Star opened fire on a Rebel Cruiser, destroying it. 

'_This_ had to be good for our morale', he thought.

The fighter battle had been pretty much 
back-and-forth up until then. 

The Rebel pilots were as good as he expected them to be. He 
had been able to get two kills so far. He didn't know about 
anyone else. They had mainly been concerned about staying 
alive. After a couple of minutes, the Rebel fleet charged forward into
the Imperial ships. They started tearing into each other, trading
massive amounts of fire. Sometimes a damaged one 
rammed into an enemy vessel. 

Nathan had never seen so much carnage. There were bodies 
floating out in space, as well as debris, and fighters who 
had been taken out with the hull still intact, with the 
dead pilot still inside.

After about a half-hour of fighting, the shield went down. Several
Rebel fighters headed towards it, including a Corellian YT-1300
freighter. 

Nathan wondered if it was the same one he saw at Coruscant. 

They weren't that common anymore. Nathan, Jace, and 
four TIE Interceptors were the closest ones to the Death Star 
and had to give chase. The other two fighters in Nathan's 
flight, including his CO, had been shot down. The six of
 them raced after the Rebel ships in a very complicated 
obstacle course over the unfinished portion of the 
Station. 

Finally, the Rebels turned into a tunnel. The
 Rebels were lined up front to back like this:One X-wing, the 
_Millenium Falcon_, two A-wings and a Y-wing, and one 
X-wing.

Nathan led the Imperials into the tunnel, his 
fighter in the lead, followed by Jace's and the four 
Interceptors. However, just as the last interceptor came in, 
tragedy struck. 

Jace's fighter struck the wall and bounced 
between the tunnel walls twice before exploding. 

"JACE!" 

'No!' Angered, he opened fire on the trailing X-wing, the 
twin laser cannons obliterating it. 

Moments later, the three Rebel fighters in the back of 
the frieghter veered off into a side tunnel. Nathan turned 
to go after them, and two of the Interceptors followed. The 
tunnel was full of twists and sharp turns, and narrow spots. 

The Y-wing wasn't nimble enough, or the pilot wasn't 
good enough to avoid smashing into a wall. One of the 
Interceptors had slowed down to make one really bad hairpin 
turn, and the one behind it smashed into him. 

Along the way Nathan jockeyed for a 
clear shot. Eventually he hit one of the A-wings, but the 
other was just too good. 

Whoever it was knew what he was doing.

Nathan detected a major power surge on his sensors, 
coming from the center of the Death Star. He had a really 
bad feeling about this one. He hit his accelerator and made 
it go as fast as he could. 

The A-wing was faster but it was straight ahead, so Nathan decided to
 take a shot. He had him locked on and was about to fire, when
suddenly, the A-wing turned. They had reached the way out.

Nathan turned upon reaching the end, wary of any attack that might 
come. 

As Tycho Celchu made his way back to the fleet, he was 
thinking, 'That guy was impressive. The Empire's starfighter corps is
one thing they don't lack in'. 

He realized he was very lucky. 

When Nathan swung around towards the battle, what he 
saw shocked him. The _Executor_ was _gone_. What 
happened? Several other ships had been destroyed as well. 

Then, just as he was halfway back to what was left of the 
fleet, the Death Star exploded.

The Destroyers were trying to escape. One had destroyed a 
Corellian Corvette which was blocking the hyperspace route 
out of there, and then it received fire from a Rebel ship, which
destroyed it. 

However, it did launch a number of lifepods, which were 
being recovered by the ISD _Chimera_, while it was 
fighting with the Rebel ship. 

Nathan went in to help where he could, taking down a B-wing 
in the process. Other stragglers had joined him and the _Chimeara 
was able to retrieve all of the lifepods. 

The TIEs then received permission to come aboard. As 
soon as they were secured, the _Chimeara_ made the jump to 
hyperspace.

* * *

Over the next few days, Nathan mourned the loss of his 
friend Jace, as well as the loss of his shipmates. He also 
helped with the repairs the ship needed. He and the other 
pilots had been commended for their aid in rescuing the 
lifepods, but he didn't feel he deserved it.

He wondered what had gone wrong, and how the Rebels 
won. It looked like his dream was coming true. 

END PART 3 

[Small discaimer:] Admiral Prittick and Annaj were referred to in 'The
Truce at Bakura' by Kathy Tyers.

 
                    Chapter 4
                 The Struggle
Time:Shortly after the Battle of Endor

     After being routed from the system of Endor by the Rebel Alliance,
what was left of the Imperial Death Squadron, as well as the support
vessels it had been given, regrouped at Annaj. An Admiral Prittick had
arrived to take command of this group. Upon hearing the report of the
battle, he went ahead and notified the rest of the Empire of the news:
Emporer Palpitine was presumed dead, along with Lord Vader.
     This news resulted in major repurcussions for the Empire. Some
systems openly declared themselves independent from any government. One
world, Bakura, even went as far as to side with the Rebels! Some of the
more powerful leaders of the Empire, such as Warlord Zinj, as well as
some of the sector moffs and even a handful of the Grand Admirals took
control of the little parts of the galaxy they controlled, and formed
their own little empires.
    As for the Empire herself, it came under the control of the director
of Imperial Intellegence, Ysanne Isard. Her command was simple: the
Empire would bring back order out of all this chaos. The Navy and Army
would battle all insurgents, traitors and Rebels until they all
surrender or were destroyed.
    
 ******

      Ensign Nathan Yates was not having a good week. He had volunteered
to help repair the bridge of the _Chimera_. It had taken a bad strafing
run right across the command deck. The captain, and most of the bridge
crew hadn't  been ready for the explosive decompression. For whatever
reason, the ISD's second-in command, a Commander Pelleaon, had made it
to safety took control of the _Chimera_ from her auxillery bridge. Now
he was going to get promoted to captain.
     When Nathan and the rest of the repair crew came onto the bridge in
their pressure suits (actully, they didn't have one for him, so he wore
his flight gear) they found a charnel house. Apperently the bridge
emergency systems failed. A bulkhead door was supposed to slam shut
immediately, but for some reason it was delayed, and someone from the
secondary bridge had to set it manually. There was also supposed to be
air pumped in, but after it took so long to seal it off, there was no
point in doing so. Many of the crew had held on while the air was
rushing out into space, and as a result died slowly, not from lack of
oxygen, but lack of air pressure. A lack of a sufficient atmospheric
pressure will cause the blood vessels to expand, due to not having any
external pressure on them. A person in a near- or total vacuum will feel
like they are going to explode all over. In many cases the crewers did
meet such a fate, and their blood vessels burst, leaving the deck a
bloody mess.
    The first day, the repair crew cleaned out the deck, mainly by first
actually filling the bridge with oxygen, and hosing the place off. Then
they blew it out into space by raising the bulkhead. There wasn't much
left to bury, anyway. There was a memorial service held later. This way
was less complicated. They didn't care for it, but, that's the way it
is.
   The second day, they had to replace the transparisteel and the
structeral part of the bridge. This was hard work, but Nathan had no
problem with it. 
    The next few days they worked to replace the computers on the
bridge. This part would take a while. It was during this time Nathan
made  friends with this computer whiz named Kallner Vaskell. Nathan was
shocked at how good he was at computers. Almost as good as he was at
repairing and flying ships. He bet he was a slicer in civilian life.  
     After it was all done Nathan got a bit of bad news: he was still in
a TIE fighter squadron. He wanted an Interceptor. Oh well.

******
   It was a week later after the _Chimera_ received replacements, that
they had been ordered back into action. A number of worlds had left the
Empire, and Isard had ordered that they must be pacified. Admiral
Prittick was commanding the group from the ISD  _Jackhammer_. They were
being sent to the system known as  Holnick. Inteeligence told them
resistance should consist of a Carrack-class light cruiser, an old VSD,
and a few Corellian Corvettes. Command sent three ISDs: The
_Jackhammer_, _Chimera_, and the _Tyrant_. 
   However, that did not turn out to be the case.      As  soon as they
got there, they knew intel had really screwed up. They hadn't expected
an MC90 Mon Calamarian cruiser, or the two MC80s that were with it. Not
to mention a mix of 8 Escort and Assualt frigates. 
   The Rebels had this system in the bag.
   The Imperials were going to try the best they could. They didn't call
for an extra ISD becuase they were needed elsewhere.
    Nathan had been in the second squadron to luanch, and his group flew
near a frigate, and strafed it quick, making her sheilds dip a little.
Then an X-wing squadron attacked, causing them to scatter. In the
ensuing furball, first one TIE got hit, then another. Then an X-wing was
destroyed. Nathan had one on his tail, and he dove, snapped, and kept
rolling the dice to keep the Rebel off his tail. Then there was a lock,
and the X-wing launched a torpedo. NOW Nathan really flew like a madman.
He flew as fast as he could and turned in every direction he could.
   Somehow, through it all, he lost the torpedo. He turned around, and
went after that dumb SOB that launched the missile. He had him selected
in his targeting computer. There was nothing the slower X-wing could do.
Nathan kept up with him until he had a lock. He then fired, destroying
the Rebel.
   Nathan looked around. Half his squadron was destroyed, and the rest
was in trouble. He went to get an X-wing off the tail of another TIE. He
quickly got a lock and blew it away. 
   Meanwhile, another Tie got destroyed. The guy Nathan just helped got
the X-wing that did it as the two of them paired up as a wing.
    An order came in: "All craft Echo Whiskey three seven" 'Aw, Hell'
Nathan thought. 'Recall?'. 
    Echo Whiskey three seven was today's code for TIE recall and
recovery. That normally wouldn't happen unless they intended to retreat.
     What was left of Nathan's squadron formed up and sped off towards
the _Chimera_. Nathan realized he hadn't even learned many of their
names. Whoever said war is Hell knew what he was talking about.
        The X-wings and the other Rebel fighters stayed with the fleet,
ready for anything unexpected. 
     Sure enough, the ISDs sheilds had taken a fairly bad pounding. The
admiral decided there was too much firepower they were up against, and
didn't think the Empire needed to lose anymore ships so soon.
     This system had to be coceded to the Rebels for now, but maybe one
day it could be taken back. If only if it weren't for all those capital
ships....
       Nathan wished he could fly something with a little more
firepower, but it looked like he was stuck in fighters for the time
being.

*******

End Part 4a.

I'll try and have the rest of this chapter up by tomorrow, OK?
Lots more action to come in this one. This is where Commander Yates
starts to build his reputation, and does some things that come back to
haunt him later on in this story. He also does something you'll _really_
like. You'll see!
Hope y'all like it so far.
      
  Note: Read part 4a first if you haven't, ok?

********

    After their retreat from the Holnick system, the ISDs returned to
Annaj.  The TIE squadrons had to replace their losses. At intel, heads
were _rolling_, almost in the literal sense. None of the ISDs had been
damaged, but they would have been if they had pushed their luck.
    Being one of the few surviving members of his squadron, the CAG of
the _Chimeara_, Commander Fizer, decided to promote Nathan from Ensign
to Sub-leutenant. Only a few of the senior members of that squadron had
been good enough to survive that battle. Fizer told Nathan that he was a
good pilot, and a team player. He told him that when the replacements
arrived, help them adjust and lead by example. Since he was young, they
were more likely to listen.

********
       A few days later, after getting replacements, they set out to
pacify another  world that had left the Empire. This time they wouldn't
have such a big problem. It was deeper within the Empire, and they
hadn't been in touch with the Rebels. Nathan had a new guy as his
wingman, an ensign named Lasko.
     "Okay, Lasko, stick to my wing! It may be what keeps you alive out
here" 'Some people my age just never want to listen.' Nathan thought.
'They all think they have it figured out.' 
      "Roger that"
      The system, called Sosa, was defended by a pair of Carrack class
light cruisers. The planet had a number of starfighter bases on them.
The two ISDs sent, the _Tyrant_ and _Chimeara were to try and take the
bases intact. This meant the TIE squadrons of the ISDs had to get the
planet to send all of their fighters up to meet them.
      The ISDs made quick work of the _Carracks_  
The dogfight took the better part of two hours. The TIEs Sosa had were
equal to the number the Imperials sent out that day-144. The battle was
fierce, with some fighter losses on the Imperial side, but it became
obviuos soon who would win. The Empire was able to secure the system.
They sent in shuttles filled with troops in them. Nathan was one of the
ones who escorted the shuttles down to the surface. 
     The local Army, along with some of the civilians tried to resist by
ambushing the troops as they landed. They mostly had small arms, but
then they revealed they had an E-WEB and opened up on a shuttle as it
landed. The shuttle put up its sheilds, but they wouldn't last long. 
       Nathan saw it and dove to attack, while Lasko covered him. Nathan
opened fire on the position of the E-WEB and took it out. He then
decided to do something that might get them to stop fighting. He made
another strafing run through the city, taking out all sorts of
buildings. Shortly after that, he got a message: "All craft, Tango
India". That meant to cease fire because the enemy just quit. He didn't
really enjoy what he just did, strafing houses and schools, but it was
an effective way to scare your enemy into submission. Oh, well, this was
war, and in war, you don't play nice. And that was the bottom line. 
   The fighters were eventually recalled and relieved. Nathan was
feeling tired, so he was glad. When they returned, he reported Lasko did
alright.
*******
    
A day after the Battle of Sosa, Yates was called in to the CAG's office. 
In there with him, was Captain Pelleon. 

"At ease, Nathan", the CAG ordered.

"Sub-Leutenant Yates, we have called you in here to question you about your 
actions in the events which occured yesterday, specifically, in what occured 
before the surrender of the insurgents", Captain Pelleon said. 

"Yes, sir".

Fizar spoke up. "Ensign Yates, what made you decide leave your position to 
strafe the city?"

Uh-oh. He must have screwed up. "May I speak freely, sir?" Still, he wouldn't 
let himself be intimidated.

"You may".

"Well, sir, I decided that strafing the city would get them to surrender. 
If I hadn't, there may have been more casualties for our side. The enemy 
at least had a few heavy blasters. That might have caused some seriuos losses. 
One thing I know we don't need right now is to lose more men."

Pelleon gave a small smile. "Very, well, Sub-Leutenant. It turned out most of 
the non-combatants were in shelters. The places you hit were some of their 
main hideouts, and a headquarters. Good job. It was very precise. They thought 
they were being specifically targeted! How could you have known?"

"Just lucky, I guess."

"Well, since we just promoted you, how about a Copper Sun with starbursts?" 

The CAG said with a grin."You earned it.". 

"Yes, sir!"

Pelleon walked over to him and pinned it on him and shook his hands. 
"Congratulations. I have a feeling you will go far in the Empire's service" 

'If he doesn't get killed, he thought'. He then saluted him.

**************
A week later he had just returned to the _Chimeara_ from a 
Barrier Combat Air Patrol, or BarCAP, which is when a carrier vessel 
has fighters patrolling the perimeter around the ship, so they are 
already out there in the event of an attack. He was on his way from 
the hangers to the barracks, when he saw Keelner getting pushed around 
by another pilot.

"I told you to get me that other vid!" Jaul Paques had Keelner by his 
collar, and was shaking him quite a bit. Jaul was a huge guy. Heavy 
muscular build. Tall. He was barely under the limits for being a TIE 
pilot. He was a fair pilot. But he had the brains and the tact of a 
bull in china shop.

"But I swear, that's all they had!" Keelner pleaded. "I'm gonna ring your neck." 
Paques growled.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you"

"Huh?" Jaul looked up.

"You heard me." Nathan said.

"Mind your own business. I outrank you." True. He was a Leutenant, one 
pay grade higher than Nathan.

"That doesn't say much, does it? It IS my business. That happens to 
be my friend, you're holding, and if you don't let him go, this is 
going to turn ugly, you get it?" Nathan was ready to tear this guy 
a new one, but he held back. It was up to Jaul.

Jaul decided it wasn't worth it, and let Keelner go. "I'll deal with 
you later. Right now, I have a BarCAP coming up in a few hours." Then 
he walked off.

Nathan let out a long breath he'd been holding. "Man, what was the deal?"

Keelner straightened himself up. "Oh, that jerk-off Jaul wanted me to 
slice into the _Chimeara_'s procurement records so when he got his next 
set of supplies, they would have a certain set of vids included with them." 

Keelner gave him a wink, then continued. "I put the order in, for that type, 
but appearently, they were out ofthat set, or something, and a different set 
were sent. A _really_ different set, if you know what I mean. Now I think 
he's gonna kill me. That ass-hole HAS got to go!"

"Hmmm....well, I might be able to do something to get rid of him, without 
killing him, and play a really mean joke on him at the same time" He grinned 
evily. "Think you can get me into sickbay? There are a few chemicals I need..."

********

Keelner was able to get Nathan into sickbay without anyone noticing. It was 
unusual for a healthy crewmember to go there, but it wasn't against regulations. 
It was just uncommon. Nathan didn't want to be noticed. Fortunately, the only 
places were that were under constant surveillance on an ISD were the detention 
area and the bridge, and the only reason the bridge was, was to record the 
actions of the bridge crew and the captain for reveiw by the higher-ups. 
The only recording devices used in sickbay were for whenever the doctors 
and the medical droids had to perform some complicated procedure.
Nathan was able to get what he needed without any problems: a few chemicals 
and some small lab equipment. He set up what he needed and got right to work. 
He did not have much time. Keelner could keep the droids and what-not 
preoccupied 
for only so long.

After an hour, he was finished. He had really enjoyed that. Ever since he 
was a kid, he enjoyed chemistry. Somewhere he had found an old book on 
chemical formulas, and he couldn't believe the stuff in there. If the 
Rebels knew what he knew, they probably would've been able to kill the 
Emporer sooner.

Anyway, he finished, and put everything away the way it was. He then made 
his way back to the TIE Pilot Barracks without incident. He went to Jual's 
equipment locker. Keelner was able to find out the date Paques entered the 
service. Nathan punched the numbers in, and sure enough, it opened up. He 
had done the same thing as anyone else did.

Nathan reached in and pulled out the bottom part of the flight suit. He then 
took out the tiny bottle that had the chemical in it. He opened it up and 
poured a little into the inside of the pants. It had no smell, or color.

Nothing happened.

Nothing was supposed to happen, yet. The chemical still lacked a key ingredient 
which it needed to work. When it got this ingredient, it would be able to eat 
away at certain materiels.

The material that TIE flight suits are made of, for instance. The key ingredient 
was in human sweat. Humans sweat alot in certain parts of their body, and the 
chemical was placed right next to one of these areas.

Nathan left quickly.

***********

Paques went out on his patrol shortly after that. In ten minutes, he began 
sweating.

In twenty, things started to happen. The chemical mixed with the sweat, and it 
started to eat a hole in the seat of his pants. The hole was only a few 
millimeters 
wide. However, TIE pilots have to wear an airtight suit becuase most TIEs have 
no 
life-support system. Thus, the pilots are in total vacuum outside their suits.

As a result, a millimeters-wide hole easily became several centimeters wider. 
You 
can guess the result....if not, here it is!: Jual was in immense pain. It felt 
like 
his nuts were gonna fly off into the vacuum. He tried calling for help. His 
helmet 
was still on tight. "HHHEEEELLLPPP!! EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!" he kept crying out 
for 
help in a high pitched voice. The pain was almost unbearable.

Finally, he was picked up by the _Chimeara_. He had suffered massive 
decompression, 
and was rendered sterile. He needed special treatment to save his stuff, so he 
was sent 
off to a special clinic. It was fortunate for him he came from a family with 
influence. 
That was the main reason an idiot like that had gotten so far in the first 
place. The 
investigators concluded it was Paques' own fault. It was the responsibility of 
each 
pilot to take care of his own equipment. 

A day after the Paques incident, Kellner and Nathan talked about it.
"Man, Nathan, that was kriffing hilarious! Where did you come up with that?" 

Kellner couldn't stop laughing about it. 

"Let's just say I'm better off if no one knows, OK?" 

"Okay, anything you say. In fact, if there's anything at all you need, and I'll 
get it for you. I owe ya." 

"Alright, just don't send me any weird vids." 

"Haha, you got it!"

 ******** 
A few days later, the _Chimeara_, _Tyrant_, and _Jackhammer_, as well as 
the ISD _Harbringer_, and six Carrack-class cruisers were barreling there 
way towards a hotspot. The Rebels were trying to invade one of the Empire's 
worlds. The system, called Damitol, had declared independence. However, 
the Imperial forces there tried to stop it. The Rebellion sent ships and 
troops there to help the traitors.

The garrison commander had barely been able to get a distress call out 
before they cut him off. 

The ten ships arrived to find the planet was well-defended. Four 
MC-80 Mon Cal cruisers, and several frigates, Corvettes, and gunships. 
In terms of firepower, things were about even.

Yates and the rest of the squadrons were launched immediately. The TIE 
fighters were to escort the bombers while the Interceptors were to protect 
the battleships from the enemy fighters. Yates and his wingman, Lasko, 
were to protect a bomber. They managed to take care of a couple of A-wings as 
the 
bomber made its run on one of the Man Cal. cruisers. The missiles did extreme 
damage on its port side sheilds. An ISD opened up on it and moments later the 
cruiser was dying. Several more rebel ships suffered severe damage, including 
two of the cruisers. Eventually they decided to retreat. The Empire lost 
two Carracks, and the rest of them had suffered varying amounts and types 
of damage. Two of the ISDs, the _Jackhammer_ and the Harbringer_ were damaged, 
also. The battle had been won, at least temporarily. 

The next part of the battle to take back Damitol was going to involve ground 
warfare. The TIEs were given the role of close air support.

Half of the Chimeara's wing was assigned to assist on a well-defended city. 
It had fortifications and heavy weapons capable of taking out a walker 
defending it. The Empire wanted the world's infrastructure intact. 
That meant precision strikes. Nathan and Lasko's squadron was ordered to 
strafe these guns. They figured what worked for the Rebels at Yavin 4 would 
work for the Empire here. Fighters and Interceptors were the only craft 
capable of dodging the air defenses, so the bombers were held back for now.

Yates and Lasko flew low, and managed to hit a light turbolaser cannon. 
Then they strafed a row of troops.

They completed a pass over the city as more fighters came in. 

Then the two of them came under ground fire. Several automated medium 
blaster cannons with high rates of fire were being used for anti-aircraft 
guns. Lasko's TIE was slowly chewed up. He tried to eject, but the system 
had been damaged. Then something caused it to explode. 

Then Nathan was fired upon. The blaster bolts hit his repusorlifts, and 
Nathan knew his fighter was doomed. He pulled the rungs on the ejection 
lever. The hatch blew off with an ear-shattering POP! and Nathan could 
feel himself shooting up into the air. 

The guns continued to fire on his TIE.They were programmed to shoot at 
anything that looked like an Imperial fighter. Nathan prayed that they 
wouldn't target him. The fighter then exploded, sending bits of 
shrapnel in all directions. Several peices struck Nathan in his right 
side. He howled bloody muder, it hurt so bad. He had a piece each in 
his shoulder, the leg, the hip, and in the right cheek. 

Fortunately, none of them penetrated the flack vest wore. If one of those 
peices had hit him in the lung or the gut, he could have easily been killed.

He somehow got the strength to use his thrusters to make his way over behind 
the front lines. The enemy did not seem to notice or care. He didn't care 
about being a prisoner, that was for sure,

He touched down on the other side of a hill a few kilometers from the city 
where the army was gearing up for an assault on the city. Stormtroopers came 
too him and rushed him to the temporary infirmiry they had set up. They didn't 
have any bacta, so they had to bandage him up. The doctor told  him to stay put 
and rest.

A few hours later the troops, with speeder bikes, AT-STs, and AT-ATs. Nathan, 
against the doctor's orders got up to watch the battle from a high point on the 
hill. The city's defenses were only halfway out of commision. The walkers did 
manage to take out the heavy guns, but not without losing 3 AT-ATs and 9 AT-STs, 
several bikes and a few hundred men. 

Still, the city had been taken with a minimum of collateral damage. After that 
day, 
Nathan had a newfound respect for the Stormtroopers. When all was said and done, 
they will get the job done. 

************

As the Army was fighting on the ground, up in space, a struggle just as deadly 
was taking place. The Rebels returned in a greater strength. The _Jackhammer_, 
still not fully recovered from the previous battle, took heavy fire at the start 
and was destroyed. Admiral Prittick died. The other 9 ships knew they 
had to hold the line. The _Harbringer_ was in better shape and had managed to 
take out an MC80 and a Corvette before succumbing to the rebel assualt. It 
looked like all was lost.

Until their distress calls were answered. Out of hyperspace came a modest-sized 
fleet of ISDs, VSDs, and some smaller ships, which destroyed several rebel ships 
and caused the rest of them to flee. 

The _Chimeara_ hailed them and asked who was in command. The admiral was a man 
known as Timothy Jones.

END CHAPTER 4


Chapter 5-Bombs away! or the one where I start having fun

       After the taking of the Damitol System, the former _Jackhammer_
task force had to lick its wounds. Admiral Jones announced he was going
to take command of this group, as well as his own  fleet, which
consisted of the ISD's _Death's Head_, the _Judicator_, _Warpath_, and
the _Ferocious_, 7 VSD's, a dozen Interdictor cruisers, 6 _Strike_-class
cruisers, and 14 Carracks. An entire sector fleet. And now he had
command of two more ISDs and 7 more Carracks.
      This gave him some extreme confidence that he would be able to
beat anybody, and would only half listen to advice from his tactical
planners. He told them, "Look, if I need advice on how to fight a
battle, I'll consult my instuctor at the Acadamy, allright?". But more
on that later. Let's check in on the hero of this story, shall we?

*******

       When we last left him, Sub-Leutenant Nathan Yates was forced to
bail out of his stricken fighter, was wounded, and somehow managed to
land in the middle af a camp of stormtroopers. They had run out of
bacta, but they did manage to clean and dress his wounds. When he
finally got back to the _Chimeara_, he was told to go to sick bay. 
      When he got there, he saw dozens of wounded, some laying on cots,
some on the floor, some just sitting. Ground troops, Ship personnel, and
even crewers who managed to escape the _Jackhammer_ and the _Harbringer_
were there. He bet he was the only pilot here.
         A service droid walked up to him and asked him what he
required. Nathan thought for moment. He knew that, without bacta
immersion, due to his wounds there would be some scarring. However, he
also knew he could live without it. His shoulder and leg (mainly the
thigh) were hurting him and were stiff, but there were other ways of
treating that. He never cared for cosmetic surgery, either, and he knew
the Imperial Navy doctors never practiced it, anyway. He would be
ashamed of himself if he used a bacta tank just to heal his face when
people here were dying. That just went against his principles. However,
he did want to get better so he could fly again soon. So, he told the
droid to give him a bacta injection. It would at least repair the
muscles and everything, from the inside.
         A few days later, he was able to get rid of the bandages. His
leg and shoulder felt like knew. Then he took the one off his face. For
the first time since he had to wear them, he used a mirror. He looked at
the right side of his face, and the scar looked....well, it made him
look badass! It wasn't as bad as he thought. He would certainly have
something the chicks would want to ask about next time he was on leave.
And, if they were nice (looking) enough, maybe, he would show them the
_other_ two scars that he got that day....
         
********

     After getting medical clearance for flying, they had to find him an
assingment. The Imperials were still at the Damitol system, making sure
it was completly pacified. There were also salvage operations taking
place. Supplies had grown short for the time, and the _Chimeara_ and the
_Tyrant_ were short of TIE craft, as well as pilots.. 
      Nathan was ordered to see the CAG about a combat assingnment.
       The CAG told him the only fully intact craft they were able to
recover was a TIE bomber. He also told him that he was the only pilot
who didn't have a ship. Commander Filzer asked Nathan how would he care
to fly a bomber. He also said if he didn't want to he could go be an
instuctor or be assingned to flying shuttles. He also told Nathan he was
the best young pilot he had ever seen, and was hoping Yates would get to
grow old. Yates told him he wanted to fly and to fight. He told the CAG
that he was well aware of the risks when he signed on. If he was worried
about them then he wouldn't have joined in the first place. To Commander
told him so be it.  
        Nathan went down to the hanger to see his new ship, the
double-hulled TIE bomber. It was still being repaired, mainly around the
cockpit. He asked the technician what had happened. The tech told him
that during the battle, a peice of debris struck through the canopy and
killed the pilot. The ship just flew on until it ran out of power. 
        Nathan looked at her, and thought, 'well, I'm trading speed and
manueverability for the ability to land some heavy blows against enemy
warships. I guess it's a fair trade'. Up until now, he had flown the
best he could, and had scored an impressive number of starfighter kills,
and succesful ground support missions. However, no matter how hard he
tried, he couldn't keep the Rebels from winning. A single, tiny
starfighter with two laser cannons just can't make that much difference
in a battle consisting of several hundreds-of-meters-long starships,
each with enough firepower to slag whole worlds. But maybe, now, he
could make a difference in the big picture.

************

       For the next few months the _Chimeara_ and the fleet it was
attached to saw quite a bit of action. There were a number of offensives
Admiral Jones led, but they were succesful only half the time. The
Rebels were slowly building their forces up, and had good leadership.
 Fortunately, they sometimes focused on other ex-Imperial factions and
that bought the Empire some time.
          It was going to be a long war.
     
*********
      
      Sub-Leutenant Nathan Yates was personally doing great. In battle
he was responsible for the destruction of several Rebel Warships,
including a killing blow on a Mon Cal MC80. He also managed to take out
some pirate ships that the _Chimeara_ happened to encounter. Nathan was
particularly interested in the remains of these ships. It turned out one
of them was Pitak Clan ship. This made him glad he joined the Empire.
Unfortunately, it was only a small courier vessel (like a YT-2400) and
the computer and the pilot were destroyed, so he wouldn't be able to get
any info from them.
          Still, it was a start towards his revenge.
          He thought about what he would do if he ever found out where
the pirates' hide out was and decided the only thing he could do is go
AWOL. The Empire wasn't going to spare a warship just to fulfill
someone's vengeance. He would have to do it personally. 
          During this time one of the most notable missions he flew
against the Rebels was this time the Imperial Navy caught them with
their pants down, thanks to Intellegence, for once in a while. The
Alliance had sent a small group of ships to this one planet where its
leaders wished to speak with representatives of the Alliance.  The Navy
formed a blockade around the planet with its Destroyers and cruisers.
The Interdictors were placed in a pattern that made any route into
hyperspace difficult to reach.
          The Rebel group consisted of an MC80, two Escort Frigates, and a 
Corvette which carried the diplomats (They wanted a ship that could move 
fast). The whole group was still in orbit while the Corvette was waiting 
for permission to land. They instantly knew they had to escape.
            The TIEs had all been deployed in flights of four throughout
the area. Nathan was in charge of his own bomber flight, and there was a
flight of fighters nearby, and some distance away, another similer
group.          
              Interestingly enough, the Rebels had decided not to deploy
any of their own fighters. They were going to make a dead run for
hyperspace, and weren't stopping for anything. The best bet for them was
to blast their way past the weakest point in the blockade, which was
where a single Carrack-class cruiser was holding position just outside
the interdiction field. An escort frigate shot it out with this cruiser
and managed to blow it to smithereens before it succumbed to heavy fire
from Star Destroyers and the Interdictiors themselves. Unfortunately,
this left a hole in the blockade. The Corvette was making a beeline for
it with the MC80 and the frigate trailing behind. It just so happened that
Yates and his flight were in the vicinity of this gap. He looked at the 
situation and quickly came up with a plan. He keyed his mic. "Delta Green 
Flight, this is Delta Green leader, listen up. We are going to attack that 
Corvette, but, I want you to target the solar dish on its top. We're going
to come in trailing one another, fire, then pull out. If the dish is gone,
hold your fire. I want you to practice restraint. The ship's hull needs to 
be intact for this to work. Copy?"   
        A series of three double mic clicks over the speakers signalled
acknoledgement.    
       "Alpha Green flight, cover us, over and out"
        The flight came in at the Corvette just as it was reaching the space the 
Carrack
had occupied. First Nathan fired his proton torpedoes at the solar dish,
and pulled out. The first salvo wasn't enough, so the second bomber
fired, and this time the dish blew. As a result, the Corvette had to
shut down its reactor, and was dead in space, effectively blocking the
Rebels' escape route.  
        The remaining Frigate and the MC80 were soon taken out by the
massive firepower it was up against, and the Corvette and the
dignataries were captured. The system was then placed back under
Imperial rule.
           Yates and his flight were all commended for their ingenuety
and Nathan was promoted to Leutenant.

***********

       A few months later, after several more battles, the _Chimeara_
and its crew arrived at a world where they were able to get some R & R
for once.
           This was when Nathan started to have problems with a certain
pilot named Leutenant Damewood, whom his friends called 'The Damer'.
            Nathan, and an assortment of other pilots, troops, techs,
and other off-duty personnel were at a cantina in the planet's chief
spaceport. Many of them were entertaining the ladies who hanged around
there often. Several of them were quite young, and were more than
willing to humor the imperials' stories. Nathan was talking to this
particular sweet young thing that was practically in his lap and telling
her about how he got his scar. "Well, it's like this, I was flyin' this
mission where we had to take out some heavy guns that defended an enemy
city. They had some smaller guns that could hit us. Poor Lasko. He
didn't even have a chance at ejecting. Then I got hit and I was able to
bail out. That gun kept firing at my fighter and it blew up. Shrapnel
from it hit me in a few different places. Hey, maybe later would you
like to see where else it hit me?", he said with a grin.
            The girl kind of wiggled. "Oohh, ok. Sure, I'd like too."
         Nathan thought if this was right or not, but decided, sure, he
had a mission in life, but he knew his parents wouldn't want him to miss
out on enjoying life, either. In his line of work he lived day to day,
and didn't worry about what might happen next. Someday, maybe he would
have time for a wife and a family, if he survived that long, but right
now, he needed a break from it all.
           While this conversation was taking, place, a Leutenant
Damewood, aka, 'The Damer', snuck up to them. He had figured out that
what had happened to his buddy Jaul Paques was somehow tied to this
Yates guy. He knew he was friends with that tech/slicer Kellner, whom
Jaul was giving a hard time. The Damer slipped something into Nathan's
drink when he thought no one was watching. He then walked away.
          Nathan gulped down the rest of his drink after he decided to
take the girl (who said she was about 19, but he wasn't sure...) up to
his room, and next thing he knew, he blacked out.

*********

       The next morning, Nathan awoke with a _pounding_ headache. His
buddy Vaskel, who was in the cantina the previous night gave him a cup
of coffee and a painkiller.                        "Uhhh....What
happened?"         "Somebody slipped you a mickey"
         "WHO WAs IT?!!", he yelled, and instantly regretted it. Damn,
and he _hardly_ ever drank. Which was a rarity for a Corellian. He just
never cared for having his senses dulled. 
           "It was a pilot named Damewood. He was some friend of that
Paques guy".
             "He's Bantha Fodder"
            "Whoa, now, Nathan, don't kill him. You don't want a
court-martial, do you?" 
            "No, but I want to kick his ass. Where are my clothes?" The
pill he took was already starting to clear his head.  
              "Ummm-" 
               "I've got 'em honey" The girl he was with the previous
evening walked in. "I washed your uniform for you."
                     "She helped me bring you up to your room." 
            Nathan thought for a second. "Hey, Vaskel?"
           "Yeah?"
           "How much time do we have for shore leave?" 
           " Two days"
           "I guess I can kick that guy's ass later. You think you can
go somewhere for a while?"            "Sure, pal. See you later" As he
left, he winked at Nathan.

**********

           Later, Nathan and Vaskell went around town, looking for The
Damer. 
            "What kind of lame nickname is that, anyuway? Like that's
supposed to impress somebody. <snort>."
              "Don''t ask me, Nate. Whatever gives someone their kicks."
              Then Vaskell told him to hold up. He thought he saw him.
Yep. There he was walking down the street (singing Doo-wap-diddy
Diddy-dum diddy-doo). He was kind of close to an alley, and there
weren't many people around. Perfect.     
         "Alright, I want you to keep an eye out for anyone. I'll deal
with this"
               Nathan ran up from behind him, grabbed the guy by his
hair, and slammed his face into a wall. He then dragged the Damer into
the ally, and smashed his face into the wall again, breaking his nose.
Nathan then stomped a mudhole into the guy.
              "That'll teach you to mess with the 'Enforcer'! Don't do
it again!"         
             He then walked off, leaving Leutenant Damewood in pain and
a bloodied face and broken nose.

***********

              A few weeks later Admiral Jones' group were sent to a
rebelious world, called Mennitonka, that was deep inside the Empire.
Nearly every ship that was in his command was sent there. They weren't
expecting trouble from the Rebels, oh, no. 
              The world was a HEAVILY defended weapons manufacturing
center. New tech was always being discovered, and older tech was always
being improved here.
               After an epic space battle in which the group lost some
of its smaller ships,  and Nathan furthered his reputation by helping to
bring down a Golan-II battlestation in orbit around Mennitonka, and
destroying a Carrack with a direct hit on its reactor. 
                They then focused on the planet itself. There was a
_long_ drawn out seige operation while they tried to take down the
planetary sheid. After about a few weeks, they were able to make  a
crack in the sheild, and they were able to land troops. Soon most of the
planet was taken over by the Imperial Army, after a month of bloody
fighting. It helped that the troops could call in orbital bomardment,
and this was instrumental intheir victories here. 
              However, when they got close to Minnetonka's capitol, they
ran into HUGE problem. The city was surrounded by mountains, and it was
walled. The walls had heavy gun emplacements. The mountains housed
planetary defense Ion Cannons and Turbolasers. The army couldn't get
close without taking a massive barrage from the city, and when a
Stardestroyer got within firing position to hit it, it got blasted by
the heavy ground-to-space defenses. They tried launching torpedoes at
it. The city had powerful jammers in place that sent the missiles way
off course. When they tried to blast it from a distance, it appeared
they had some type of powerful ray sheild. In fact, there was a
noticable bluish tint in the air around the city.   
                Someone looked into the Imperial database, and found
this very device came from the Emperor's long-gone homeworld of Naboo!
Somehow, the tech must have survived. So, they couldn't blast it with
TLs, couldn't launch missiles at an angle from it, and couldn't launch
missiles from directly above it in orbit.                   Something
had to be done.    
              Then somebody came up with a plan. It took some persuasion
with the Admiral. He wasn't fond of unconventional tactics, but decided
it may be the best chance they had at completing the conquest of
Minnetonka. Because of the tactics he had used so far, losses had been
heavy enough. If it worked, it would also send a message to anyone who
might oppose the Empire.    
             All the experienced bomber bomber pilots were told to
report for special training, including Nathan. 
             The training involved a sim that had the pilots flying a
noticably souped-up TIE bomber over Minnetonka City, and dropping a
single bomb over it.
              Only four pilots made it through the training, out of all
the pilots out of the entire battle group. Yates was one of them, as
well as Commander Filzer.  
                 They were then taken to the hanger bay of the group's
flagship and given a special breifing by the air boss of the whole
fleet. 
              "Men, this mission is of the utmost importance and you are
the only ones who have chance of accomplishing it." He then pushed a
button on a remote which opened a pair of doors in the hanger. They
revealed to show four TIE bombers with a strange modification: The
weapons pod had been removed and in its place was a single hard point.
            "Each of your bombers will be equipped with a single
15-megaton fusion bomb. You will each fly to the point specified in your
computer and drop the bomb. When one has been dropped, the rest of you
will receive a signal and you will have 5 seconds to pull out. Each bomb
has an old-style parachute. No complex electronics to screw this up. The
enemy has too many tricks up his sleeve.
              "The bomber has had its engines greatly improved, and that
plus the reduced mass make them fly about 20% faster in atmosphere. Now,
prepare for takeoff. Good luck and may the Force be with you."

**********

             Nathan was flying his bomber low over the land on an
eastern approach to the city at nine times the speed of sound. His
designated I.P., or Initial Point (the point at which a bomber begins
its bomb run) was 600 km to the east of the capitol. Until he got within
its vicinity, he didn't have to worry about anti-aircraft weapons. The
Army had seen to that. He used the time during his approach to go over
his bomb run checklist. Master arm switch-on. Parachute-check.
Detonation altitude-surface burst. For millinia now, nukes had virtually
no radioactive fallout  unless a jacket of colbalt or some other highly
radioactive isotope was attached to it. These were a far cry from the
weapons that the ancients of this galaxy had feared, along with their
environmental effects.  Yield-maximum. The city was quite large, but it
wasn't spread out. Many inhabitants lived underground. There were also
hardened underground command centers there. This called for total
annihilation. Safeties-off.  And so on.
           Approached the city. He noticed the other bombers were
approaching, one from each side of the city.
           The flack was heavier than anything he had ever seen before,
even worse than the training sim. He flew in at breakneck speed,
balls-to-the-wall, towards his target. He barely had time to notice as
the signals of two of the bombers  winked out on his sensors.
            Then, in one of those times you just _know_ there's a
greater power in the universe controlling everything and guiding
everyone, Nathan somehow managed to make it through hundreds of plasma
bolts sent his way and was over the target. He heard the tone, pickled
his bomb, and pulled straight up like a bat out of hell.
            The remaining pilot pulled out at that same instant, still
carrying its bomb. As such, it lacked the speed to pull out fast enough,
and was shot down.
             Nathan's bomb slowly drifted to the ground thanks to its
parachute. Its altimeter slowly ticked down to 0 meters as it set down
within the walls that surrounded the entrance to a command center. The
walls had fixed gun emplacments, observation posts, and fortified gates
manned by armed gaurds at all times.
           The bomb landed, the parachute flattened around it.....
            And nothing happened.
            The plan had been hastily thrown together, and no one had
bothered to check on the bombs' status themselves. A few years before,
the planet where the main fusing circuits for them had been manufactured
they had had a bad metalmite infestation. Some them had gotten into the
shipment that this bomb's circuit was in before they were exterminated.
If someone had bothered with a thourough examination, they would have
found that one of the wires was seperated by about a millimeter.
            The Minnetonkan governor, Louis Cypher, the planet's cheif
general, and an alien that acted like a spazo happened to be in one of
the wall's observation posts during the attack. After it was over, they
walked down to the ground. 
            "Well, General Lucas, it looks like you need to motivate
your gunners more."
             "Sir, we did manage to shoot down three of them"
              "Yes, but it's the one who got through who we need to
worry about. Well, Binks, it's a good thing that was a dud, or your race
would have been extinct. It's no wonder most of them were wiped out.
Your shield couldn't even keep out a bomber." In exchange for his ray
sheild, Governor Cypher had given Jar-Jar Binks, last of the Gungan race
a home and protection.
              "How wude" Binks said with his silly lisp. "It thertainly
workth better than thith thtupid bomb." He began walking over towards
it, curious. As he did, Lucas and Cypher noticed the wind was starting
to pick up just a little. They also saw that Binks was very close to the
bomb, and it registered that it was probably still armed.
            "Wait! Stop!" They yelled at Jar-Jar. He looked over at
them, but he was still walking.
            Then it happened.
            The wind filled the chut up, and it foofed up, and its ropes
went taut. Jar-Jar Binks tripped over the ropes, and fell on top of the
bomb. Inside of it, the damaged circuit was moved just enough to
connect, for a split second.
             That was all it needed. 
              In that instant, the capitol of Minnetonka, its eight
million residents, and Jar-Jar Binks, last member of the Gungan race,
were erased in a blinding flash of light.

************
 
             No one was sure why the explosion was delayed, but since it
was succesful, Nathan was commended for a job well done. He was sorry
Commander Filzer was gone. He was a good C.O. and it had been an honor
serving with him. Nathan even gave an eulogy at his memorial service.


End Chapter 5

Chapter 6:The Mean Streak


      After Commander Filzer's memorial service, the pilots of the
_Chimera_ were assembled in the breifing room, and stood at attention as
the new CAG of the _Chimera_ was introduced.       Lt. Commander (soon to be 
full Commander) Rob Dalton marched his way to the podium. Dalton
was known as one of the best pilots in the Empire. He was a veteran ace
and a former test pilot. He had test-flown the TIE Advanced, also known
as Lord Vader's personal fighter, and the TIE Defender, considered the
best fighter Seiner ever produced. He was currently flying an
Interceptor.  And he was known as one bad SOB. Everyone called him the
Mean Streak.
"Be seated. You all know who I am, and you know my reputation, so I will
keep this short and to the point. I have two simple rules: First, don't
piss me off. Second, see rule #1. Now, the casualty rate of the
_Chimera's_ starfighter complement has been unusually high, and I know
it's due to some of the missions you've had to fly. I also know a few of
you have quite a bit of promise and have proven yourselves in battle
time and again" As he said this last he was glancing at Yates.
"Once we get a full complement of pilots we are going to drill and
practice and train until we have the best damn combat wing in the
galaxy. I want as many of you as possible to survive out there. Right
now they've been rushing new recruits and conscripts through training
just to replace the positions of more experienced men who died. As a
result they don't get the training they need. We're going to fix that."
"That is all. Dismissed."                                        The
assembled pilots began filing out and headed to the pilot's lounge. The
pilots weren't scheduled to go back on duty till the next day, when the
replacements would start arriving. They weren't worried about a Rebel
attack. They were still over Mennitonka, deep inside the Empire. The
troops were handling things without much trouble. The destruction of the
Mennitonkans' capital city demoralized them enough that most of them
surrendered. Most of the pilots decided it was a good opportunity to get
drunk.
Leuitenant Yates walked up to the bar and ordered a shot of whiskey,
then he made a silent toast to his fallen commanding officer.
"I demand an apology!"                                         The whole
room stopped and looked up.    Leuitenant Damewood stood right next to
Nathan, looking at him like a lunatic.
Nathan turned his head and looked 'The Damer' right in the eye.
"I don't apologize for somethin' I ain't sorry I did. Now I told you not
to mess with me, and you should know better, especially after I stomped
a mudhole in your ass. You want me to do it again?"
Angered at this, Damewood reared back and took a swing at Nathan.
Nathan blocked and punched back, getting blocked as well. Damewood then
landed a right. Before he could follow through, Nathan kicked him in the
side. Nathan then gave him a left hook. A brawl started and the pilots
started cheering them on.
Suddenly there was a loud -zap!- and a blue flash of a blaster set on
stun. Everyone  stopped and looked up to see Dalton with his blaster
pointed upwards.
"Allright! Just WHAT the HELL is going on HERE?!"
Yates spoke up."Well, sir, Lt. Damewood holds a grudge against me." He
pointed at The Damer. "This is Damewood--he's half-retarded'
"Why, you peice of--"                                            Before
Damewood could get any closer, Dalton said" OK, you two, there's only
one way to settle this. Follow me"
Nathan and the Damer, along with the other pilots, followed Dalton. They
were all curious about what would happen. Almost the whole wing thought
they knew what the deal was, especially after Damewood came back from
that last shore leave with a broken nose. They went  throughout the
massive ISD until they reached the Army's section of the _Chimeara_. The
troops had barracks, their own mess hall and rec facilities, and a
decent-sized gym. The gym is where they were going. It was open to the
entire crew all the time. In addition to weights and other equipment,
one section of ithe gym had a boxing ring. If they so chose to,
personell on board could learn hand-to-hand fighting from a
stormtrooper. There ware also boxing tournements held on board. The
champion for one ship gets to fight the champ from another ship,
depending on conditions. There was also seating for spectators. These
matches were sometimes quite good for morale, and broke up the tedium of
a long cruise when there wasn't any combat.
The gym had a number of people in it, including a few officers, several
stormtroopers sans armor, and some enlisted crewers, all working out.
They were all looking at the gathered pilots.
Dalton lead Nathan and the Damer to the ring. "OK, you two, I am going
to let you settle this like men. You are going to fight each other until
one of you quits. There are no rules, and no stopping the fight for
excessive loss of blood. I will monitor the fight to declare the winner.
The loser will be the one made to say 'I quit'. Now, get ready". Yates
and The Damer went to opposite corners to remove their uniform jackets.
Quite a crowd was forming. Many of them were feeling a bit bloodthirsty.
They were hoping this would be a good fight, and didn't know what to
expect.                                      They just started slugging
it out in the center of the ring. They traded punches, but the Nathan
landed a good stiff blow to Damewood's still tender nose, stunning him.
Nathan relentlessly pummeled him. Then he gave him a superkick right in
the jaw, knocking The Damer over. Then he picked him up by the hair, and
punched him so hard, he went down again while Nathan held a bunch of
hair ripped from the Damer's scalp. Then Yates threw him through the
ropes outside the ring. Yates went out after him. Damer was trying to
get out of his gaze but Nathan stood him up, kicked him in the nuts, and
put him in a front facelock. Right onto the polished metal deck, Nathan
gave him a DDT. Damewood landed right on his head, receiving a
concussion and, as his body flopped over 180 degrees onto his back, a
severe case of whiplash. "Say it, you pile of monkey crap, say it",
Yates yelled at the Damer. Rob stood over him listening, but Damewood
was barely conscious. Nathan then went and picked up a folding chair and
started whacking him with it. First he whacked him in the face twice, as
it slowly became a crimson mask. He then thrusted the chair into his
chest, cracking a rib. He then stood Damer on his feet, only to whack
him over the back of the head. The gathered crowd started chanting
"E-C-DUB! E-C-DUB! E-C-DUB! E-C-DUB!" They were a bloodthirsty bunch,
alright. '_I guess you have to be in order to make it in the Empire_',
thought Nathan.                          Yates then whacked Damewood
across the back three times, as hard as he could. Yates then leaned
forward and spoke to him in a low voice, "Piss on Jaul Paques, piss on
your sorry style of revenge, and piss on you. The first rule of gang
warfare is, 'if they send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of
theirs to the morgue'. Maybe this'll teach ya not to pull any punches
next time." He then started stomping him in the back. Then he decided to
have a bit of fun. He picked the Damer up, who was half-unconscious, and
suffering severe brain damage. Nathan dragged him over next to the ring,
and hoisted him onto the apron. He dragged him to the center of the
ring, and put the Damer's arms across his chest like they do with
someone in a casket. Nathan stood over his head, and rolled up his
sleeve. he them ran to the ropes, bouncing off of them, then running
past Damewood, he bounced off the other side's ropes. He ran right up to
the Damer, and gave a weird little shake with his arm. He was about to
drop an elbow onto the guy's head, when...
The Damer's body DISAPPEARED right THROUGH the ring!
Nathan jumped back 7 feet from where he was at. "WHAT THE HELL!?"
Everyone just stood there in shocked silence. Lt. Commander Dalton went
in for a look, but kept a respectful difference. "Totally out-of this
galaxy. I've never heard of anything like this. C'mon, Nathan, let's
back away from this and send a tech crew down here. Maybe they can
figure it out."
Later, it turned out it was a small, random tear in the fabric of time
and space itself. They open up on occaision throughout the universe, and
seal up almost as soon as they open. The chances of encountering one was
astronomical. Nathan decided to look on the bright side that he would
never have to put up with that idiot ever again. "Good riddance", he
said. Still, he had this nagging feeling that something still wrong...
that he hadn't seen the last of him.... not that he'd lose sleep over
it. After all, shit happens.
*                   *               *
(Founder's Homeworld, somewhere in the Gamma Quadrent of the Milky Way
Galaxy)
The Damer's unconcious body appeared out of nowhere and fell twenty-five
feet into a gelataneous mass that spread out as far as the eye could
see.
This was the Great Link of the Dominion Founders. At once the Founders
took notice of the life-form that had suddenly violated their peace.
They moved him to a shore and laid him down. Several of the
shapeshifters seperated from the Link and examined him. They had never
seen a life-form such as this before. They also had never seen anyone
who had been so battered and bloodied. "Who and what is he?" one of them
asked aloud. "We shall find out". The one who answered took a closer
examination. He wasn't sure, but he thought the solid was dying. The
fact that part of his cranial bone felt cracked and his head appeared to
have a dent in it told him that. It also looked like he had a punctured
lung (When he fell the broken rib caused this). "There is only one thing
we could do for him, for him to live." Everyonre knew what that was, and
they weren't sure it was such a great idea. "But he's a SOLID! An
outsider! It would be dangerous." protested one. The one that examined
Damewood said, "There is much we could learn from him, especially about
his species, and whoever did this to him. We can shape his mind as we
see fit. This poor creature couldn't harm anyone in the state he is in.
" Eventully, they all agreed. They took Damewood into the Great Link.
Slowly, they changed him, restructured his entire DNA, and his biology.
Their minds became one. Thje founders were horrified to find that this
one had been savagely and ruthlessly beaten by one of his own kind,
known as 'Humans', and, from Damewood's somewhat damaged memory, learned
they are only interested in war and conquest. The one who had injured
him was known as Yates. Soon, amongst the Founders, that name became
synominous with terror. It was horrible one would treat a member of his
own species that way. They also concluded the being known as Damewood
would prefer to be addressed as The Damer from now on. And he was
enlightened in the ways of the Founders, as his mind wasb filled with
knowledge of who he was now, instead of who he used to be.
*            *              *

END PART 6a

Over the next few months, things were starting to get worse for
the Empire. A lot of bad things had occured. Coruscant fell too the
Rebels, but not before the Empire unleashed the Krytos virus that would
give the so-called New Republic alot of grief. However, the problems
were short-lived when Thyferra, the primary world for producing bacta,
soon allied with the Rebellion. Before that, Ysanne Isard had set up
camp there and was going to use it as a temporary capital for the
Empire. Unfortunately, Rogue Squadron, and a number of other insurgents
and traitors, managed to defeat Isard, and the SSD _Lyusakanya_.  This
sent the Empire reeling, and now the senior man in the Imperial Navy was
now Admiral Jones.
The Empire began to lose a lot of territory very quickly, and it was
mainly due to poor strategic planning on the admiral's part. Either
ships were positioned wrong for a battle, or not enough ships were used
for a battle, when there were enough in reserve. During conferences, it
was said it seemed Jones only pretended he was listening to his
advisors. He thought he knew everything, and his arrogance was  costing
the Empire. But there wasn't anything anyone could do about him. He
always surrounded himself with his loyal honor guard. Everyone figured
this bunch was severly brainwashed in some way.
For the ISD _Chimeara_, though, things weren't quite so bad. The losses
for their fighter wing were down to 2 percent per every 2 months. This
was far better than it had been. All the extra training instituted by
Commander Dalton had paid off. It now seemed that some of these green
pilots might just survive the next few years.
Another bright spot was the the introduction of women into the Imperial
Navy. This was a policy change put into effect by Isard. One that made
sense, to Nathan, as well as others who weren't as sexist as the late
Emporer had been. Putting women into shipboard duties like
communications and navigation and the like freed more men up for combat
duty. There were some things a woman just doesn't need to be in, and the
stormtrooper corps was one of them. A few of the new pilots were female.
They were also physically well-built. You had to be tough to fly a TIE.
It took a lot out of you. Having some ladies on board did wonders for
the crew's morale. Of course they had to behave themselves lest they
would be shown to the nearest airlock if they didn't. The men didn't
have much of a problem with it. They wouldn't have time for anyhing more
than polite conversation with them anyway. Anything else would have to
wait until the next shore leave. However, no one knew when that would
be. The war had taken a turn for the worse. Still, the _Chimeara_ fared
better than most of the ships in the Empire. 
                However, there was something, or rather someone, among
them that would like to ensure _no_ ship in the Empire would fare well.
*           *              *

 After Coruscant fell, one of the main priorities was to capture the
city-planet's primary database. One part of the database included
records of the Imperial military's entire personnel roster. Before the
world fell, agents from Imperial Intelligence were sent to delete
certain records that the Empire didn't want to fall into the wrong
hands. Among these were a few non-descript files that included the
personnel file of Grand Admiral Thrawn, as well as the secrets of the
Unknown Regions of the galaxy. Only the Emporer had known these files
had actully existed and what was on them. These intelligence agents were
simply given a list of files to be deleted, which had been written up by
the Emporer himself in the event this day would actually come. He wanted
to ensure that  that knowledge would die with him.
However, there was still a ton of information left to be looked at.
There was a team assigned by New Republic intelligence to sift through
the personnel files, and determine which Imperials posed the greatest
threat to the Republic. More specifically, these agents belonged to a
secret organization within the rebel government called Alpha Blue. Alpha
Blue's purpose was to ensure that the Republic would be restored through
any means necessary. It was made up of a group of elite men, women, and
various aliens who weren't among the more public figures of the
Rebellion, such as General Solo, Skywalker, Organa, or Admiral Ackbar,
each of whom was considered elite in their areas of expertise.
Alpha Blue had determined that it might be more economical to
assassinate Imperials that had the best combat records, such as those
that had pulled off dangerous missions or were highly decorated, rather
than take them out in battle. This wouldn't be very easy, however,
because they didn't have many field agents to pull off so many hits in
so many different places, especially on ships. Many of the best Imperial
servicemen and officers were widely dispersed, with only one or two per
warship or army division each. However, it turned out there was one
warship in the Empire which had several outstanding officers on board.
The ISD _Chimeara_. Admiral Drayson, head of Alpha Blue, went over the
reports.                                                 Leuitenant
Nathan Yates, highly decorated fighter ace of aces (meaning he shot down
at least 25 enemy fighters) and bomber pilot. Reported to be the only
TIE pilot to survive the run through the Second Death Star's tunnels at
the Battle of Endor, partially confirmed by Rogue Squadron XO Tycho
Celchu. Wanted war criminal for the strafing and bombing of civilians,
and the utter destruction of the capital of Minnetonka. An Imperial news
report attached to the file hailed him as a hero of the Empire for
pulling off a near-impossible mission, which saved thousands of lives
for the Navy and Army.                           Commander Rob Dalton,
former test pilot and ace of aces, new Commander Air Group for the
_Chimeara_. Responsible for making the _Chimeara's_ starfighter wing one
of the best in the Empire.
Captain Giliad Pelleaon, CO of the _Chimeara_. One of the most competent
officers in the Imperial Navy, with many years of experience behind him.
Practically led a succesful retreat from the Battle of Endor of the
remaining Imp. forces there. Under his command, the _Chimeara_ has had a
good success record.
            Lt. Commander Mark Sheppard, Gunnery officer. In charge of
the Port aft section of heavy turbolaser batteries on the _Chimeara_.
Utterly professional, and totally didicated. One of the few mavericks in
the Navy. Targeted for termination by the Rebellion, for security
purposes for knowing too much about them in the insurrection in  and
because revenge motivates him, due to events during the insurrection of
Y'koad IV twenty-four years ago. Has one of the best gunnery crews in
the Navy under his command.
There were others on board, such as Stormtrooper Lt. Shanver, who had
been awarded the Order of Palpatine, one of the highest medals in the
Empire. In addition there was General Covell, who was said to be a
protege' of General Veers, who had been in New Republic costudy since
the Battle of Endor.
Looking over this, Drayson decided it would be worth risking one of
their feild agents to eliminate these people. So, he picked one of  his
best assassins, a man named Mantrid. He was planted into the Imperial
ranks as comm officer, and then Republic intelligence was able to get
Mantrid onboard the _Chimeara_. It took the work of dozens of slicers
and ID fakers and perfect timing to pull it off. Being a communications
officer would allow him to report in to his contact. He had extensive
encryption and hacking skills. He was to confirm the presence of his
targets, and report in his kills, once every month.

*                      *                       *
The mess hall was crowded with officers and men trying to get their
lunch. Lt. Den Shavner, a respected and feared stormtrooper, was having
a lousy day already, and now he had to wait for what almost seemed
forever. He finally got his meal and went to go get his seat when
somebody made him trip up. He fell, and his food when scattering all
over the floor. He said, "Who in kriffing hell-?"
"Sorry, excuse me." The Navy officer that had caused Shavner to trip
offered his hand to help him up. "I didn't see you"
"Why, I should break your kneecaps for that"
The Navy lieutenant visibly blanched. "H-here, you can have my food. I
haven't even touched it." He handed the stormtrooper his plate. "I'll
even clean up this mess for you" The stormtrooper just snatched the dish
from him and went to the nearest table and started eating. The Navy
Lieutenant went to get the stuff he needed to clean the floor. And as he
did, one could see an evil smirk accross his face. _That's right, big
boy, just shovel that food into your mouth. This was going to be easy_,
Mantrid thought. _Too easy_.
*                  *                    *

            Six hours later, Lt. Shanver wasn't feeling very well. He
was in the _Chimeara's_ shooting range when  his heart started to beat
faster than normal. In five minutes, he felt like he had run a marathon.
Three minutes later, he felt like a load of bricks had fallen on his
chest. He collapsed from a massive heart attack. By the time help
arrived, it was too late too help him. An autopsy was performed. Shavner
had been in peak physical condition, so they knew foul play was
involved. They found traces of the poison in his system. They notified
the _Chimeara's_ security police about it. They launched an
investigation into the matter, but could only determine the toxin had
been injested. When they asked those who knew him if the victim had any
enemies on the ship said no. They did find out about the incident in the
mess hall, and the police got a description of the officer that had
given the late stormtrooper his last meal. Unfortunately, they couldn't
find an exact match in the ship's database. It would have been easier if
there had been security cameras in the mess hall, but since when did
someone plot to commit a serious crime in a cafeteria? They assumed two
things: It was a Rebel and he was an expert at disguise.
The murder was reported to the Captain, and he told them to just keep
looking. He saw to it the word was queitly spread through the ship so
that everyone might be extra careful.  He didn't want to lose any crew
members to mistakes.

                                                                                         
*
*                    *
Master Technician Kellner Vaskel was assingned to install a comm system
terminal for the Captain's quarters. This would allow the Captain to
send and receive communications without having to leave his quarters
when he had retired for the ship's 'evening'. It connected straight to
the stations on the bridge. The _Chimeara_ had several tranceivers on
board. This allowed the Captain to talk with the high command via
holonet, while one comm station can order supplies, while another comm
station can speak with another ship, without any problem. Kellner was
ready to quit. He was working overtime to get this done.
Vaskel turned on the terminal when he was finally finished, and patched
into the the stations. On one, there was a verbal communication between
Captain Pelleon and Admiral Jones. That prick Jones was ordering the
_Chimeara_ somewhere out near the unknown regions. Vaskel couldn't
beleive it. The _Chimeara_ was the best ship in the Navy! How could
they? _It must be politics_, he thought. Jones thought he was right all
the time. Pelleon, while he wasn't really an inspired leader, he was at
least competent and intelligent. Jones probably felt threatened by those
who had more sense than he.
.
                            Moving on, Vaskel checked another station.
This one was strange. An encoded message was being sent out, a text file
of some kind. That wasn't strange. The encrypt code it used was, though.
It didn't look like any standard Imperial code he had seen. Vaskell
slipped a datachip into the terminal and copied the message, as well as
take note of the message's destination. He had a suspicious feeling
about this. He was taking a bit of a risk doing this. If it was some big
Imperial secret and somebody  found out he would be in trouble. 
                 His work in the Captain's quarters finished, he
gathered his tools and equipment and left. He went up to the bridge to
inform the captain he was finished. He also wanted to get a look at the
guy who was sending the encrypted message. The captain was still in the
portside crew pit conversing with Jones. He looked over at the starboard
comm station, and saw a lone man manning the station at the moment. This
was the one who had been sending the message.  Vaskell took note of the
man's appearence.
Eventully, the captain signed off from the admiral and Kellner told him
his quarters were ready. He was now free to go off shift. This allowed
him time to look at the message he copied. He had his own laptop
computer which he normally used to patch into the ship's computer for
his various activities, such as slicing into the procurement records to
insure 'special' items were delivered onboard for those crewmembers that
paid him well for his service. The items requested were varied. Items
exotic foods, porn, booze, tobacco, recent popular music recordings, new
books, and non-standard sidearms (some people found shortcomings with
the standard-issue hand blasters and wanted something else. The hottest
item out there was the Blastech DL-44.) were among the most common. He
didn't get any requests for drugs or anything like that. Drug abuse
carried a stiff penalty in ANY military service, and no one in the
Imperial Navy would dare become a drug addict. They had a good chance of
getting vaped on the spot. These were all items that were hard to get on
a star destroyer, and they were making Kellner a rich man.
He had big plans for the money he was making. Someday he planned to get
out of the Navy and go into business himself. He had a lot of ideas that
could make him rich. He wanted to get into the computer industry one
day.
He patched his computer into the ship's navicomp and told it to look up
the coordinates that message was being sent to.
Then while it was running that application, he went into his decrypt
program and started to work on the message. After about an hour, he had
it cracked.
The document read:                       

<Agent Mantrid, operating code Gillian 1234, reporting in. Have
succesfully eliminated Shavner. Confirmed presence of Pelleaon, Dalton,
Covell, Sheppard, and Yates. Will move on Sheppard next.>

 
The rest of it was just authorization and authintication code,
unimportant stuff. Kellner now knew who the killer was. He had to tell
somebody! He made a copy of the document and decided to go to security,
but then figured the Captain might be a better choice. On the way to the
turbolift, he ran into Yates.                              "Keelner! How
the hell are ya?"                            "Nathan, I'm glad I ran
into you. I found out who the killer is" he said in a hushed tone.
"You what? How?"                                                "He was
using the comm system to send in an encrypted message to his superiors.
Listen-he's after you, the captain, Commander Dalton, General Covell,
and some guy named Sheppard."
"Who?"
"I'm not sure who Sheppard is. I think he's a gunnery officer. But he's
the next target."               "Somebody better warn him, then. What
can you tell me about the assassin?"                     "Well, he works
on the bridge as a communications officer, and he's about 2 meters tall,
with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. And the name on the report was
Mantrid"               "Okay, I'll be careful of anyone with that
description. I'll use that terminal over there to find out where
Sheppard's at. You have my comm-link frequency. You just tell the
capatain."
Vaskel got on the turbo-lift to the bridge, while Nathan checked the
computer to find Sheppard. All he had was one name. The only Sheppard on
board was a Lt. Commander Mark Sheppard, who was over the _Chimera's_
Port aft section of turbolaser batteries. Currently, he was in one of
the officer's lounges. Yates made his way there.
Sheppard was in the lounge, talking with several different officers.
Mainly they talked about weaponry and how effective some of them were,
and which ones nobody cared for.                  Yates came in and
spoke up. "Is there a LT commander Sheppard here?"
Sheppard answered,"Yes?"                                "Sir, I have
been informed your life is in-" Suddenly, his comlink beeped.
"Hold on sir-this might change what I have to say to you" And with that,
Nathan answered the call. Sheppard could only hear what Yates was
saying. "Yes? He did? He was? They did? That's good. Yeah, he's ok. I'll
tell him.Ok." He clicked off his commlink.
"Well? I'm waiting."
"Well, sir, they caught the guy who killed that stormtrooper. I was
about to inform you that you were his next target."
"How did they catch him?" somebody else asked.
"A tech who was setting up a new comm terminal in the captain's quarters
that would allow the captain to monitor all external comminucations from
there tested it, and found someone sending an encoded message out.
Apperantly it looked suspicious to him and he copied it, and later
decoded it. He also took note of the man sending it out on the bridge.
He just went to inform the captain, and the assassin was still on-duty.
They simply shot him in the back with a stun bolt."
Sheppard had a grin on his face. "I think I'm going to pay him a visit"
"Count me in, too, sir. I was on his hit-list, alon with the captain,
Commander Dalton, my CO, and General Covell"
"Give 'em all a call. We'll try and find out what the Rebels were
thinking when they sent him."
"I'm all for that, Lieutenant Commander"   

*         *          *

<End part 6b>

Part 6c

*           *           *           *
                  Captain Pelleaon, 
General Covell, Commander Rob Dalton, Lt. Commander Mark Sheppard, Lt.
Nathan Yates, and Lt. Keelner Vaskell were all seated in the captain's
conference room. To most, they would think these five were holding a
council of war.     
                  But they weren't.        
                        
                They were here to discuss what to do
about the assassin they had just caught. No, there was no question of
what his final fate would be, but rather, what to do _about_ it. 

                        As
far as anyone knew, the sort of mission he was on was unprescedented.
Send someone on board a capital warship, and attempt to kill several men
on board who had had much success in their careers. Rather than face
them in combat, the Rebels had tried to take them out in this cowardly
fashion! They _must_ pay. And each man in that room had been a target,
save Vaskell, whom had been the one to discover the identity of the
assassin known as Mantrid. "All right, now that everyone's seated, we'll
get down to business" spoke the captain. "Now, according to the report
that Lt. Vaskell has provided, the message he had broadcast was sent to
the coordinates of the Redimp System." He pressed a button on the table
in front of him, and a sector map flashed on the wallscreen. "I have
launched three probe droids to see what is in that system".
 
                 Commander Dalton spoke. "Sir, I recommend that if there
is a base there, we should hit it. We need to teach them a lesson."

                    "I agree with
the Commander, Captain", said General Covell. "It would be very good for
my men if they got to crush a few Rebels" 

                    "Hmmmm....."
                        

                     "You wanted to say something,
Leuitenant Commander?" 

                      Sheppard
had a grin on his face. "Well, sir, the word 'crush' gave me an idea of
what to do with Mantrid." 
                
                 "I'd like to hear it" 
            
               "Throw him into the trash compactor. I don't think I have
to tell you the rest". 
        
            Dalton said "A perfect place for
Rebel spies. To really send the Rebels a message, we could record and
broadcast it all over the galaxy."
  
           Pelleaon was somewhat taken aback by this. But, he too had
seen much brutality in his long service to the Empire, so it wasn't
anything new to him. He himself had both followed and given orders that
some might consider brutal. Orders are orders. 

             "If there is a Rebel base in that
system, we should capture it intact and use their equipment for the
broadcast. We could also broadcast the execution of any prisoners we
take," said Yates for the first time. "It would send everybody a message
not to try to be sneaky again, sirs." 

                "Excellent plan," said
General Covell. 

           "Yes. Very well. If there is anything there, that is what
we'll do. We will know soon enough. Is there anything else?"
                   Dalton spoke. "Well, sir, there is the interrorgation
of the prisoner....the three of us talked about it, and we would like to
conduct it." He gestured to Yates and Sheppard. "We want to know why
they sent him after us, and what do they know about us."
                  Pelleaon thought this over. "Do you think you can
handle it?"
              "Yes, sir. We each have some good ideas on how to get him
to talk. But we will need a medical team, at least two gaurds, and some
special equipment, which I've written down on this datapad" He handed it
to the captain. Pelleaon took a look at the list. Not a problem.
 
              "Very well. I'll see to it you
get these items as soon as possible. I trust he'll survive?"  
          "Yes, sir"

           "I'll let you know when they are
available. General Covell, get your men ready for action. The droids
should find something soon enough. All of you are dismissed" 

*             *               *

                  Mantrid was in his 
cell, fighting off the effects of the powerful stun blasts he had
received. Now that he was captured there was one last act he must
perform. One of his molars had been replaced with a hollow shell which
served as a tiny container. Now, he must open it. He touched the catch
that would open it with his tongue, it popped open--it wasn't there! The
suicide pill wasn't there! How would he end his life now? He could not
alow himself to be interrogated! He tried looking for anything that
might help, but nothing. He decided to try to jump a gaurd, and if they
shot him dead while doing so, then he would keep himself out of the
enemy's hands. 
Suddenly, the cell opened, but before Mantrid could do anything, Dalton
came in, grabbed his right hand, and snapped his arm, and twisted it
behind Mantrid's back, . He let out a cry of pain. 
            "You're coming with me!" Dalton began dragging him out of
the cell, and they brought him to an interragation room. Yates,
Sheppard, two stormtroopers, and a medical team were there. Mantrid was
sat down, and while the troopers covered him (with their blasters set on
stun) the medics attached a special collar to Mantrid's neck. Mantrid
groaned in pain again as needles on the collar jabbed into his neck.
"The collar administers Bacta and other substances into your system. It
was designed for keeping prisoners healthy", said the doctor. The medics
then worked on his arm, helping to repair it. Commander Dalton
said,"Mantrid, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard
way. Your choice. Now, what do the Rebels know about us, and why did
they send you to kill us?"
       
              Mantrid just sat in silence, and then said, "I can't tell
you" He couldn't just tell them. He had to resist as much as possible.

             "Very well. Lt. Yates has something he would like to do to
you."

              Yates said to the guards in a grim tone, "Strap him to the
chair". Grim, because he didn't know if he would have the stomach to
hurt a defensless person. But then, he also knew this person had to be
sick to do the assignment he had been sent on. Nathan himself, deep
inside him was a mean and twisted son of a bitch waiting to be
unleashed, the part of him that had seen him through some of the most
dangerous combat the galaxy had seen. And the part of him that allowed
him to eliminate his enemies, and those of his freinds. It had been a
part of him since the day he lost his parents.

            The stormtroopers strapped Mantrid into the chair, which had
armrests, bound to it by his wrists, the arms, ankles, and around the
waist. Very strong cord held him in place. Nathan reached behind his
back, and pulled out a crowbar. To him, it was a good clubbing weapon,
hard to break, and was a useful prying tool, if a little outdated. 

              "Now, let us begin" He said, circling around Mantrid "Now,
what do you know about me?"

           Mantrid stayed silent.
   
          THWACK~! Nathan swung  his crowbar on Mantrid's right hand,
bruising it and breaking several small bones there. "Wrong answer,
nimrod!"

           
*                *                          *

End part 6c.


*	*	* 

	Mantrid let out a yell of pain. His hand had been whacked by a crowbar. It 
was severely bruised, and one of the bones had been broken. 
	"There are 256 bones in the human body, slapnuts. That's one," Nathan 
said, menacingly. He stood in front of Mantrid. "Now, tell me what I wish to 
know. What do you know about me?" 
	Mantrid shook his head. "You'll have to kill me" CRACK~!< Nathan swung his 
crowbar across Mantrid's forearm, cracking the ulna. 
	Nathan waited for Mantrid to catch his breath before asking him, "OK, let 
me ask you a different question. What was in the poison you gave the 
stormtrooper?" Nathan was curious. He thought he knew what it was, but wanted to 
make sure. Of course, if this guy knew, it was possible they were dealing with a 
Malkite Poisoner, and that would be bad news. Those people were truly vile.
	In fact, Nathan would be shocked if the Rebels had one working for them. 
Something about this guy just rubbed him the wrong way...
	"Um, I...er...brought it with me!"
	"WHACK!" This time the crowbar impacted into Mantrid's kneecap, which 
crippled him. "Liar!" Nathan spat. "When people come on board an ISD they are 
searched for items such as poisons! The poison in question was likely to be a 
mixture of chemicals that are harmless by themselves but are deadly when 
combined!"
	"H...how would you know? What do you know about such things?"
	"SMACK!" This time, a blow to the shoulder. "I'LL ASK THE QUESTIONS, 
MORON!"
	And so, Nathan continued to ask questions, and not once did Mantrid give a 
straight answer, in spite of the pain he was in. The collar he wore kept him 
alive, and it kept him from going into shock, but it also what allowed him to 
feel every last bit of pain. By the time Lt. Yates was through, Mantrid had both 
of the bones in his arms broken, his legs shattered, a broken collarbone, and 
some cracked ribs.
	Nathan decided to take a break and let someone else interrogate Mantrid 
for a while. They allowed Mantrid's bones to heal up as well.
	Then Sheppard told the guards to take Mantrid and chain him to a wall. The 
wall itself seemed to have this soft, rubber-like padding on it.
	Sheppard opened up this case he had brought to the interrogation room and 
pulled out an old-fashioned slugthrower rifle.
	He said, "I've always had a thing for old-fashioned firearms." He had an 
evil-looking grin on his face. "Today's weapons just aren't messy enough. This 
is a 5.56mm RA-51, the finest automatic rifle ever made. It can fire single 
shots, full auto, or a three-round burst. Twenty and thirty round magazines. 
Enough firepower to kill almost anything. Or hurt anything." He said that last 
with a smirk. Mantrid gulped. 
	Sheppard attached a laser sight to the rifle so he would be able to place 
the round right where he wanted it. He asked, "Now, before I send a hot piece of 
metal through your arm, what do the Rebels know about me? Why do they wish to 
kill me? I'm just the head of a turbo-laser battery. Tell me what you know, and 
I won't hurt you"
	Mantrid swallowed his fear and didn't answer, preparing to take a shot in 
his arm.
	Sheppard fired a shot, but instead of hitting the arm, he shot him in the 
knee. "I changed my mind. The knee looked more tempting. Now, if you don't talk, 
the same thing will happen to other parts of your body. Why does the Rebel 
Alliance have it in for me?"
	"I don't know!"
	BANG! Sheppard shot him in the right arm this time. "I don't believe you. 
You know more than you let on. Tell us!" 
	"I-I can't tell you!" 
	BLAM! This time it was the left shoulder. "Can't or won't? Which is it? 
Why are we singled out for assassination?" 
	Mantrid came close this time, but still he refused. "NEVER!" 
	POW! This time it was in the other knee.
	Sheppard asked him eight more times, but the assassin still refused to 
break. At the end of this session, Mantrid's arms and legs were riddled with 
holes. They had to stretcher him to the bacta tank. 

*	*	* 

	Mantrid woke up in another room on the ISD _Chimaera_ that he'd realized 
was a gymnasium. He checked himself to find he was quite stiff and sore from his 
last session, but he no longer had any bullet holes in him. He was surprised to 
be alive. He also noted he still had on that infernal collar. Then he looked up 
and noticed the group of troops and techs and some officers in the gym as well, 
some sitting, others standing. Then he noticed his tormenters were there as well 
and nearly jumped back in fright. /What are they going to do to me now/, he 
wondered. 
	The tallest one out of the three, Commander Rob Dalton, stood up. "Well, 
Mantrid, you've lasted this long, so I tell you what--I've decided you deserve a 
chance to get a piece of me. SO," he pointed towards the boxing/wrestling ring 
in the room, " in that very ring, we will go one-on-one. How does that sound?" 
Mantrid thought about it. He was, after all, an assassin. Maybe he stood a 
chance. /And maybe I'm Luke Skywalker/. "OK, why not? What do I have to lose?" 
	Dalton and the others grinned. A grin that sent shivers up Mantrid's 
spine. 
	They climbed into the ring. Both did a little stretching, but Mantrid's 
joints refused to cooperate much. They had had holes put through them, after 
all.
	The assembled crowd sat down for a show. Sheppard held up as holo-cam to 
record the fight. Nathan rang a bell.
	Mantrid tried to size his opponent up, but Dalton was on him fast. The 
fighter pilot punched him in the nose, breaking it. Mantrid tried to punch him 
but Rob knocked his hands aside like gnats. Mantrid was just too weak. Rob 
kicked him in the gut, and then picked Mantrid up over his head and press 
slammed him. Rob then got the assassin up onto his feet and started to pummel 
him. Mantrid was busted open at the lips and forehead, the blood adding to that 
coming from his broken nose.
	The crowd started to chant, "HIT HIM IN THE ARM, HIT HIM IN THE HEAD, WE 
WANT BLOOD, RED, RED, RED!!!!!" They were told what this guy was, and everyone 
there shared the same contempt for this slime.
	Rob then grabbed his arm and put him in a hammerlock (twisting a guy's arm 
behind his back). "Tell me what I want to know"
	"No." Rob broke Mantrid's arm.
	He then started punching him in the gut, then nailed him with a low blow. 
He then kicked Mantrid in the jaw. "End your suffering. Tell me what we wish to 
know," Dalton said, standing over Mantrid.
	Mantrid was in so much pain that he couldn't stand it. He realized it 
would be this way until he did tell them. They knew what they were doing. If 
not, his life would be a continual living Hell. He couldn't take much more of 
this.
	"OK, alright, I'll talk." 
	"Good." He looked up with a smile on his face. He looked at Yates and 
nodded. Nathan rang the bell, then went in the ring and raised Dalton's arm in 
victory. 

*	*	* 

	After getting him cleaned up afterwards, Mantrid told them about the 
personnel records, Alpha Blue, everything. 
	"You mean they want us dead simply because we're good at our JOBS?!" 
Nathan was incredulous. "What the HELL? It's like Vader in REVERSE, for God's 
sake!" 
	"You in particular have committed various war crimes," Mantrid admonished, 
which got him a backhanded swing from Nathan that knocked him out of his chair. 
Then he pulled his blaster and held the barrel under Mantrid's chin. 
	"YOU have the GALL to accuse ME of being a war criminal?! Look at yourself 
you piece of shit! You came to murder us. This is WAR you KRIFFING Sithspawn! 
You can't afford to play nice. In war you do whatever the other side allows you 
to get away with."
	"I-I stand corrected."
	"Good" 'The Enforcer' got up off of Mantrid and allowed him to get up. 
Mantrid wondered how much more of this he would have to endure.
	"OK," Sheppard said, "I understand that you were sent here because we are 
all good at what we do, but, really, what's so unusual about a good turbolaser 
gunner? Why am I singled out? Did they tell you?"
	"Well, they *did* seem to hint that there was more to you than met the 
eye, but they didn't say exactly what, other than you're out for revenge, and 
you might know something they don't want anyone to know." 
	Yates raised an eyebrow at that one. Revenge? Perhaps someone he could 
compare notes with? 
	Sheppard seemed to let what Mantrid said sink in...."Oh, I see." Mantrid 
wondered about what Sheppard's cryptic comment meant. "So, is there anything 
else you wish to tell us?" Dalton asked. 
	"No, that's all I know, honestly." 
	"Are you a Malkite poisoner?" Yates asked suddenly. 
	"Yes, yes I am." 
	"That's all I wanted to know. I was right about your method of poison." 
	"How do you know about that?" Mantrid was stunned.
	"You have no need of such knowledge where you're going." Then Nathan 
pulled out his blaster, and shot Mantrid with a stun bolt. 

*	*	* 

end part 6d

Part 6, concluded

	The assassin known as Mantrid woke up in pain.
	The first thing he noticed was the strong stench that surrounded him. Then 
his eyes began to focus, and he slowly realized where he was.
	The trash compactor.
	He tried to move, but he couldn't. His leg had been broken by the fall 
when he was thrown in. He had landed on a hard peice of metal, feet-first.
	"Comfy, Mantrid?" spoke Dalton.
	Mantrid looked up, at the top of the garbage chute. "What is the meaning 
of this? I thought you would kill me, but not like this!"
	"Ah, but this is our opinion of you. We have all decided this is where 
your kind belong,"Rob said again.
	Yates popped his head in, and said, "If you were just a regular Rebel, 
we'd probably just send you to prison, or simply shoot you. But spies and 
assassins deserve something special." He then started to position a holovid 
camera in the hatchway."Smile! You're gonna be a star! You'll be FAMOUS!"
	"Uh...wha?" Mantrid didn't know what to think about this.
	Then Dalton held up a datapad and read aloud from it. " 'For the murder of 
an Imperial citizen, and espionage, you are hearby sentenced to death.' Any last 
words, worm?"
	"How can you do this? I didn't even get a trail!"
	Sheppard then stuck his head through the hatch. "Imperial military law 
states that a trail is unnecessary with a confession or admission of guilt"
	Mantrid then realized there was no reasoning with these people. He was 
doomed.
	"Ah...perfect focus. Tell 'em we're ready!"
	Dalton spoke into a comm-link. "Ok, start 'er up!"
	With a whine of gears, the compactor walls started to slowly come 
together.
	Mantrid tried to get to his feet, but his leg would not cooperate. It was 
in too much pain. He just laid there, and decided there was nothing he could do 
but await the inevitable.
	But then he started to panic. The worst part of it was, the walls weren't 
moving that fast....and that NOISE! It was scarier than hell to him, and just 
seemed to get louder and louder. It dawned on him that he would be slowly 
crushed to death, and he let out a scream.
	They started to slowly press on him, and it hurt. It was like being deep 
underwater, then it got worse. His bones started craking and popping. Then his 
head and chest were squeezed so tight he passed out. His body could offer no 
resistance, and then the walls slammed together.
	It was over.
	The walls moved back apart, and the compactor's contents were emptied 
through a trap door, to a compartment that would dump the trash next time the 
_Chimera_ made a jump to hyperspace. Of course, she was already in hyperspace, 
on her way to the Redimp system.
	"Alright, now that that's taken care of, we've got to get ready for 
battle. Yates be in the briefing room in ten minutes." With that Dalton left.
	"Yes, sir".
	"And I've got to get to my post as well." Sheppard had a look of 
enthusiasm on his face. He was ready to go back into battle.
	"Sir?"
	"Yes?"
	"I wish to discuss something with you later."
	"Would you mind telling me what?"
	Nathan hesitated a second before saying, "It has something to do with what 
Mantrid had said, about why they were after you."
	The Lt-Commander gave him an odd look, then said, "OK, later when we're 
stood down."
	They then went to where they had to be.

******************************************

	The pilots' briefing room was quite spacious, with seating for 72 people. 
The _Chimera_'s TIE pilots were gathered for their next mission: assault on the 
Rebel base on the second world of the Redimp System.
	The Redimp System was a star system in the Outer Rim Territories, 
consisting of 7 planets, the second of which was capable of supporting life. The 
weather was mostly temperate all over, and the many grasslands made it appealing 
to ranchers and nerf herders. It had a few small cities and a spaceport, and its 
main export was meat.
	The Republic had felt it's location would be a good place for a 
communications center, designed to monitor traffic in it's area of the galaxy. 
It was staffed by 300 officers and enlisted personnel. It's defenses constisted 
of six fighter squadrons and two Ion Cannons.
	However, the people running things there had gotten somewhat lax; they 
handled tens of thousands of communications a day, in and out. They failed to 
notice the signal that was being sent out, but it wasn't from them; it was from 
an Imperial probe droid.
	It's programming allowed it to take advantage of the massive amounts of 
comm traffic at the base.
	And so, the pilots of the _Chimera_ had a very good picture of what the 
base would look like, and what they were up against.
	"Alright, settle down" Dalton conducted the breifing.   "We will be coming 
out of hyperspace in thirty minutes. As soon as we do, the _Chimera_ is going to 
saturate the area with ion fire, and then we launch. Alpha and Bravo Squadrons 
are going to escort Delta Squadron, two fighters to a bomber. Delta is to 
precisely hit the two ion cannons here and here"; he pointed at the two cannons 
shown on the map, "and the hanger here". He pointed at a large rectangler 
building. "Bomber Armament is going to be proton bombs. We want the rest of the 
base intact, and we want prisoners. Once all seems clear, Half of Alpha Squad 
will go up to escort the troop shuttles."
	"The rest of the wing is to fly CAP for the _Chimera_, in case any 
hostiles are inbound when we attack. Any questions?"

	None were forthcoming. "Very well. Everybody to your ships. Good hunting."

**********************************************

	Once the Star Destroyer came out of hyperspace, its guns opened up. First 
Alpha and Bravo Sqauds launched, followed by Delta. Yates' bomber dropped out of 
the bay with a sickening lurch, and then the engines kicked in. He formed up 
with Alpha One and Two, as they had planned.
	The TIEs swooped down towards the base like falcons encircling their prey. 
The defenses had been rendered inoperative by the ion bombardment, so they had 
free reign in the sky. Only a pair of X-wings were up to challenge them. Four of 
the Interceptors, one from each of four fighter/bomber formations broke off to 
deal with them. Six of the flights split to go after the hanger bay, and the 
other six split up to take out ion cannons.
	Yates got in formation with the other 5 bombers, with the Interceptors 
forming up in a staggered formation above and around them. He was feeling good. 
This was a *classic* milk run. Like dynamiting fish in a barrel. He armed half 
his bombs, and dropped them in a very good pattern. The hanger was completly 
leveled. Off to the east and to the west, the other six bombers destroyed their 
targets as well. Then they all alined up in a nice straight line, and dropped 
the other half of their bomb loads. The bombs formed a nice deep trench in the 
ground about 300 meters from the base.

************************************************

	Alpha Sqaud escorted a half-dozen Sentinel-class heavy troop shuttles to 
the surface. As soon as the ramp hit the dirt stormtroopers burst out, firing, 
laying down suppressive fire in case there was any opposition. There wasn't.
	In the base it was pandimonium. It was dark, and people broke into a 
panic. The commander told everyone to try to escape, in case they got blasted.
	Then the stormtroopers blew a hole in the wall on the first floor, and 
came in firing. Their weapons were on stun. Only a few rebels managed to pick up 
up a blaster and get a few shots off, but their aim was lousy, and it was dark. 
ost of their shots went wild. One stormtrooper shot an armed Rebel, and as he 
fell unconcious, his finger squeezed the trigger, and killed the man next to 
him.
	In 20 minutes, it was all over. 240 rebels captured (some of them were in 
the buildings thqat were destroyed, while some had put up more of a fight, so 
the troops simply used grenades to deal with it. Besides, they only needed 99 
prisoners), and 8 casualties.

*******************************************

	Yates, Kellner, Sheppard, and Dalton all stood at the Rebels' main 
communications console. The pilots had landed on the _Chimera_, and the four of 
them hopped aboard a shuttle back to the base.
	Kellner managed to get the right frequency they needed. "So, which one of 
you is going to speak?"
	"I will", said Nathan.
	"Aliright, this'll get their attention".

********************************************

	Across the Galaxy, in a secret bunker, as well, as the Cheif of State's 
ofiice, both places got a priority one holonet signal. Admiral Drayson and Mon 
Mothma turned it on, and wondered what was going on. They saw a young Imperial 
lueitenant standing in front of them.
	He began his speech.
	"Leaders of the New Republic: My name is Nathan Yates. I am a fighter 
pilot in the Imperial Navy. Someone from your government just tried to murder 
me. Not in battle, but on my own ship. He also tried to kill several people I 
serve with. He suceeded once, and killed a stormtrooper. But we caught him, and 
he paid the price you should all pay." Then he gave a slight nod.
	"The next thing they saw was a recording of Mantrid's execution. Mon 
Mothma got sick at her stomach, and heaved over her wastebasket. Drayson only 
shook his head.
	Yates spoke again:"Send one of ours to the hospital, and we'll send one of 
yours to the morgue.""Send one of ours to the morgue, and we'll send one HUNDRED 
of yours to the grave!" The scene cut away again, to outside the base. 99 men 
and women were lined up alongside the trench the bombers had blasted.
	There were several E-WEBs set up as well.
	"Do it".
	The simple command from Stormtrooper LT. Von Lowe brought about their 
deaths. The 99 were cut down before anyone could blink.
	Now the head of Alpha Blue turned sick. Mon Mothma started to cry.
	Then Yates came back on, and he said, "If you want to kill us, you'll have 
to do it in battle. You better think long and hard before you send anymore of 
these cowards to do a man's job. Think very hard. The life you save may very 
well be your own". With that, the communication was cut.

*****************************************

	The rest of the rebel prisoners were sent away, and the crew of the 
_Chimera_ went out on the town.
	When the _Chimera_ left, it dumped it's garbage, including Mantrid's 
remains. Meanwhile, Lt. Shavner and the troops that died in the assualt were 
given a proper burial.

End chapter 6.