Chapter 4 - My ship back

(Yavin V, Great Massassi Temple operating as the makeshift Rebel Base, Pre Episode IV)

Mala had never been to the Yavin system but the gas giant she had seen upon dropping out of hyperspace put her in awe already. She descended down with the remainder of her squadron on the moon's nightside to the coordinates she'd been given. As her fighter broke the plane to the ionosphere light glimmered in a thousand different directions. Mala almost panicked before she realized what it was. The ionosphere had frozen over and her fighter had plated through the ice sheets breaking them into tiny fragments. Her engine light then refracted from all the fragments as her shields burned them up.
Good thing I ordered shields up for the descend... Mala thought to herself as she guided the battered X-wing fighter toward the beacon on her nav computer.
The jungle canopy below came into view with a beautiful array of fauna stretching for miles. Some treetops were growing flowers from the tops adding a lighter shade to the sketch dark green of the jungle night. The moonlight glinted from the canopy and reflected back at her showing the amount of dew atop the trees. As she neared the beacon a grand stone temple came into view.
A corellian corvette was parked in the hangar bay as she made her squadron's way over it to the fighter hanger. She began the landing sequence on her fighter and for the first time, noticed that she'd lost an entire blaster. She thought back to the battle and in the mass confusion of getting her shields back up she remembered taking a good hit on her left side and commenting, "There went something I might have needed." Squealer, her purple and white R5 unit had gotten the shields up just in time for her to loop on the tail of the TIE interceptor that had taken prey to her. In the confusion, she'd blasted him on the rounded loop and dove, for two more 'Eyeballs' as she called them were picking her up.
A droid's chirp brought her back to reality and she reached forward and shut the fighter down before she pulled her helmet and took a long breath of her fighter's recycled air before opening the hatch. The dense and wet air hit her like a good slap. She released her first breath and greedily sucked in another of the wetter, heavier air.
Looking to her left, she could already see General Dodonna making his way over to her fighter. His blonde hair was beginning to streak with grey but he kept his composure and even through the last defeat his wrinkles still numbered the same as they had on Dantooine.
"Captain," Jan Dodonna began as Mala began to descend the stairs from her fighter. "You performed excellently. Your strategy saved us from defeat."
"With all respect, General," Mala countered with a grim expression. "If I did so well, why do I feel like I've failed?"
"Loss does that, Captain," the General replied. "Your squadron loss six? Was it?"
"Seven." Mala uttered in response.
"Seven, including a sound and competent leader and excellent pilot, Commander Jenko," Mala grimaced at the name as Jan, unnoticing, continued to speak. "Unfortunately, this leaves Blue Squadron Leaderless. Therefore, I'm giving you the rank of Commander and the first pick of new candidates from the 'vette."
Mala looked over at the Corellian blockade runner and nodded. "I'll need seven then."
"Nine." Dodonna countered. "We're taking those two and reiterating Red Squadron with them. They're good pilots and their kill counts were phenomenal."
Mala looked over at the two new kids in her flight. She shook her head then nodded. "Nine then."
"Train them up, Commander. We're counting on you. The big battle hasn't been fought yet." Dodonna finished, summoning Jet and Biggs away from her formation. That left her standing with Blue Nine, a human male from Agamar. He was a rich kid and a good pilot. After all, his fighter showed the least amount of plasma scoring. And Blue Three, a human female from Coruscant. She was level headed and battle worthy but lacked leadership experience. Mala knew what her choices where.
"Three, you're now Blue Five. Nine, considering you was a flight leader; you'll retain your number and move up to XO. I'm giving you a promotion to Lieutenant," Mala said looking over at the male. His black hair matted in the wet air. His name, she knew, was Gibson. She'd always called him Gibs. The female nodded at her new number. Her name was Corsail. Her brown hair shook as she nodded, cut to the ears, it was matted with moisture too. "Go pick nine new recruits from the 'vette. I'll set up quarters and spacing."
"We'll need a new squadron name," Gibs cut in.
"We'll worry about that later. For now we need a mechanic and some parts and some fighters," Mala replied. "I know we'll never be the Blue Squadron that was under Jenko, but we can make our own name and reputation. With a lot of time in the sims, we can train up the newbies. Then it's on to doing missions." Mala paused to judge the reactions. "Red Squadron will be the Rebellion's new glory squad. But don't let them fool you for a minute. They took two of us, but not the best. The best blues are still standing here."
"Roger," Corsail acknowledged.
"Now pick the new recruits and get rested up. I'll find out where our rooms are and then get us a supply tech and a mechanic." Mala finished. She turned on her heal and headed deeper into the giant stone temple.


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(Tatooine - Present)

"Well, if it isn't Madak Stary," Mala stated as she slid into the booth next to Mirax scooting her over. "Only the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, considering."
Mirax raised an eyebrow at the newcomer. Of course she recognized her old friend, Mala, but the cockiness of the rutian twi'lek was not quite as she remembered.
Madak smiled. It was almost as if Mala could see his ego swelling at her battery of compliments. "And then there's Mirax. I've been away awhile, but even I've heard of your exploits in the smuggling field. Seems like daddy's little girl is making her own waves in the galaxy. I'm impressed."
Mala's mouth could always sweet talk Madak. His ego made his weakness but she never mistake that most of the time her own words were true. With Boba Fett's death at the hands of Han Solo, Madak was now probably the best bounty hunter, uncontested by any other. Mirax had always been more of a problem for her to read. She was a female and that was a start but as much that Mala knew of her, Mala didn't know as much personally. Her own comment about Mirax's father may have angered her but it wasn't the intent.
Mala could only hope that the gleefulness of her mood was displayed in her words and evened the mood on both of them as Mala was relieved to see two of her old friends. Taking a long draw from the lominale, she swallowed and continued.
"As much as I'd love a question and answer session, I hate to say that this isn't a pleasure outing," Mala stated.
"We figured that much," Mirax replied. "What's up, Mala?"
Apparently, Madak too had seen through her words, "'What do you need? would be the more appropriate question." Madak stated from across the table.
Mala smiled, "I guess neither of us had ever been much for small talk, so I'll get right to the point. Imps got my ship and I want it back."
Madak almost laughed but Mirax's face stayed even displaying little emotion. "Couldn't you do that alone?"
This time it was Mala's turn to smile. "I may carry a saber, but don't let it fool you. I can't use the force all that well. If you'll remember correctly, the Jedi were wiped out and there was no one left to train me. Besides, being with Jabba doesn't exactly allow you to access holocrons for knowledge of the force, ya know?"
Both brigands nodded. Madak spoke first before Mala could continue. "So what's the plan?"
Mala froze. She obviously forgot the think that far ahead. She looked from Mirax and then back to Madak. As her violet eyes turned back to Mirax she dumbfoundedly replied, "I was hoping you two could help with that one."
Mirax finally spoke, "Well, there's two problems with all this. First, and most apparent is the ground troops. If you haven't noticed, the Empire dropped a small bunker by the starport and they keep at least eight stormtroopers at your ship at all times."
"Four for me and four for Mirax," Madak muttered counting on his fingers. "What will Mala do, Mir?"
Mala smiled as Mirax cut her eyes at the zabrak. Then the Corellian youth continued with wisdom far beyond her current age, "As much as I wouldn't mind blasting in there. No sooner than the first shot is fired that whole starport will be crawling with stormies from the nearby bunker. And even if you were to get into space. There's two squadrons of TIE fighters hangared up at Bestine, two klicks from here. Those'll be scrambling as well. Not to mention the Star Destroyer in space."
Mala lowered her head. Getting her ship back didn't seem as easy as she had hoped it would. Now it was looking as if she'd be stuck on Tatooine for a while until she could acquire transport.
"Is there any good news to this?" Mala finally asked after a long silence.
Mirax raised her glass to her lips and swallowed a bit of the brandy inside draining the tumbler and setting the glass down. "Madak," Mirax stated, "Wanna share with Mala what Kazer knows?"
Madak shrugged and then opened his mouth to speak, "Well, the Star Destroyer has been running some of its command section to Eisley. If you look around the cantina, you can see the imperials drinking on leave. There's not much else to do on this sand heap for them anyway. Word is, the Captain's down here, so lesser intelligence is up there."
Mala nodded as Madak continued. "They've been ferried down by a Lambda. It's still parked down in the starport, not that I can think that will help us. It means the Stormtroopers are running tighter security down by the Starport. That adds eight more in the vicinity of your eight guarding your Skipray. The only plus is that the stormies are on double shifts. That means one of the two groups is fresh and the other has already ran their eight hour rotation and are pulling eight more."
Mala's brow narrowed, her brain was working and her braintails began to twitch as she thought.
"Furthermore, we're armed and have the element of surprise." Madak concluded.
"That doesn't stop the TIEs at Bestine," Mirax added. "So if we do get you to your ship, you're on your own from there."
"Two squadrons are a lot, even for a blastboat. But what I don't have in weapons, I have in maneuverability and speed. I might be able to run it. The Star Destroyer presents a problem though. That's a full wing of TIEs and I seriously doubt even the Lieutenant up there will just "let" me go." Mala replied still thinking.
Mala paused and looked at Madak. "How many stormtroopers are at the bunker?"
"Two shifts sleeping one on duty, about twenty-four. That's forty in all stationed in Eisley." Madak replied immediately before cutting his eyes at Mala, "You aren't thinking about hitting the bunker first are you?"
"Thought had crossed my mind but I rejected it. If you're looking at that few then two out of three of the stormies will be on double shifts. Three places to cover and only five units to cover." Mala's eyes narrowed. "That brings us back to the shuttle."
"Excuse me, but you realize that waving your lightsaber around automatically makes you the target. And don't you remember that you just said you can't use the force all that well?" Mirax cut in.
"What did you just say?" Mala asked.
"You can't use the force all that well?" Madak asked.
"No, the other part," Mala replied.
"The fact that waving your lightsaber around at night makes every white-armor-clad, swinging dick point their gun at you and spray." Mirax clarified.
"Hmm." Mala thought again. She ran her finger around the edge of her lominale mug and then plucked it from the table and took a sip. As she set the mug on the table, she raised her eyes to Madak. "You got explosives."
"Two thermal detonators, but I don't see what good those will do," Madak replied.
"Well there are enough of us to be in two places at once, but with thermal detonators. Why?" Mala stated with a smile growing on her face. "Mirax, how well can you stay hidden in the dark?"
"You know I can always get inside unwanted places," Mirax shot back with a grin.
"Alright, here's the plan. Set one detonator for about ten minutes delay. Mirax will take the detonator down and plant it on the fuel pod of the Lambda. That will give us the boom. Then we line up and wait for it before we hit the stormtroopers at the Jewel." Mala smiled again. "Mirax's tactical genius just gave me an idea."
"What's that?" Madak asked.
"Well, if they see a lightsaber they'll be shooting at it. That leaves you two to pick them off quickly while not having to worry about being fired upon." Mala replied.
"We're forgetting about your lack of jediness, Mala," Mirax interjected.
"I may not have practiced remotes in ages. I still have my skills. Besides, I may not be able to reflect blaster bolts back; I should be able to deflect all of them from hitting me if I give myself enough distance. You two could take out two before I even have to ignite my blade. I'm sure the explosion will chatter the comm enough that if we're fast, I could be on my ship and launched before they realized what happened. That should lessen the TIE engagement until Im in space. Then all I have to do is pull the hyperspace lever." Mala extended her hands palms up and smiled. "Who's up for a bit of fun tonight?
Madak and Mirax both smiled. "Ain't exactly brigand style, but we're in?" Madak answered.
Mirax looked back and forth between the zabrak and the twi'lek. "Only one question. Where do we go once she's on the ship? Stormies will be everywhere."
"Terra Nova's in the hangar, so we can duck there until things calm down." Madak answered immediately. "Also, gives Mala a bit of air cover if needed."
"Nah, once I'm in the Jewel, it's all on me. I don't want a registered brigand vessel involved or the punishment will ring on Kazer's head. That's the last thing I want." Mala countered.
"So then we just hide?" Mirax asked.
"Preferably, so it doesn't get traced back to Kazer, yes," Mala answered. "We ready?"
Madak pulled a detonator and rolled it across the table to Mirax. "Your ball, sweetie," Madak added with a wink.
"Oh, the gentlemen!" Mirax added sarcastically catching the detonator.



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Madak and Mala hunkered down near an old power conduit near the starport. Just within sight was the troop of eight stormtroopers that were guarding Mala's Skipray Blastboat, Thief's Jewel. Madak had been trying to entertain Mala with stories from the past and now he was on another.
"Anyway, this weequay walks up to Enyl and tells her, 'You sold me some bad spice'." Madak explains in a lowered voice with a big smile on his face. "Enyl sucker punches this guy in the stomach and takes off running between his legs. I have never seen anyone move so fast before; he pulls a blaster and starts randomly shooting toward the door. Hell, I would have shot him but I was too busy laughing my @$$ off..."
Mala kept her face straight under the constraints of the circumstances, steadily watching one of the stormtroopers systematically clean his weapon from the sand and grit of the previous day's sandstorm. In the distance, muffled explosions littered the landscape. Mala could only guess the direction had been from that of the dune sea. She only wondered what the bombers could have been trying to kill out there in the desert.
"Did you not think that was funny, Mal?" Madak asked.
"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention... oh look! Here comes Mirax." Mala replied nodding her head toward the approaching shadow.
A few moments of silence passed for Mirax to scamper the last bit of distance toward the crouched pair of old comrades.
"Well, Mala, I got good news, bad news, and worse news... which do you want first?" Mirax began in a hushed voice.
"Worse news..." Mala and Madak muttered simultaneously.
"To know the worse you have to hear the bad..." Mirax replied. "The imperial hacker just landed nearby in a hangar at the end of the docks."
"I wondered what ship that was," Mala stated recalling the ship landing moments prior to Madak's story.
"Worse news is I recognize that ship anywhere. It's the Jade Shadow." Mirax continued.
Mala gave Mirax a dumbfounded look causing her to continue. "You know, the Emperor's Hand?"
Mala shook her head slowly, raising her eyebrows and continuing the dumbfounded expression giving Mirax a clue to elaborate. "Okay, look. Kazer's been keeping tab on the Empire's movements. Seems they have a new assassin the Emperor has been using called the Hand. She's some lightsaber wielding red head with darkside powers like Metalface Vader. Girl's got serious skills. That makes this a bad situation. She's been missing for some time now but her landing here means she's been nearby or she's back from whatever mission Palp's old @$$ had her on."
Mala nodded slowly. "And the good news is...."
"Not even finished with the worse. Every swinging white clad asshole is up here to meet her in some kinda imperial greeting. Even the captain of the Star Destroyer up there. We'd wondered why he was down here... that now explains it." Mirax said quickly in a whisper.
"The good news, Mir..." Madak said. "She wants the good news."
"Oh... bomb is in place... it'll blow in about..." Mirax glanced at her chronometer, "Oh! Now."
An explosion rocked the starport with its fiery brightness cutting into the silent Tatooinian night. The stormtroopers were all now standing, even the one with his disassembled carbine. Their helmets betrayed their alertness to the sudden interruption of the calmness. Now was the time for the storm.
Mala pulled her lightsabers with either hand from the small of her back and looked toward the one stormtrooper that had been assembling his E-11 as he pulled a pistol from his belt. "I'd say now's the time to start killing stormies, don't you think?"
Both her silver and her purple blade ignited simultaneously in a snap-hiss of energy. The stormtroopers immediately leveled their weapons and started pouring red blaster fire into the small alleyway. Mala began to twirl and dance. With each twist, she snatched a blaster bolt from the air and redirected it toward the ground or the wall. A few went back toward the hangar but none struck anything valuable. It was eight successive blasterbolts from either side of her that downed the troopers. The one that had been assembling his carbine was the last to fall as he'd drawn a smaller scout pistol.
Mala quickly covered the distance to the dead stormtroopers as Madak and Mirax took up positions in the other direction. A red lightsaber blade was only three hundred meters from them and a full quarry of stormtroopers and officers behind that.
"Oh this just gets better and better," Madak sighed to Mirax.
"Oh? And I thought you loved this sort of thing." Mirax shot back.
"I do, that's why I said that," Madak said with a grin. His pistol started up with the firing but he couldn't get a shot close. A red lightsaber was repeating Mala's trick.
"Not good!" Mala exclaimed. She looked up and then left. "Madak, your last detonator!" Mala yelled disengaging her purple lightsaber in her right hand. She dropped it to the ground as Madak ducked for cover and fished in his pouch for the last detonator. Mala pulled her own pistol and fired three shots into the overhead conduit, causing it to start spraying some sort of liquid into the alley. Madak timed his throw perfectly and she backflipped to holster her pistol before catching the detonator and arming it in midair and tossing it with the momentum of her landing.
"Oh blast!" Madak exclaimed as he and Mirax came out of cover faster then Mala could blink. The explosion pushed their diving bodies and Mala's standing one to the ground. The entire alley was covered with flames from burning starship fuel.
Mala slowly stood and picked up her lightsaber before walking over to the dead stormtrooper corpses littering the hangar bay floor. One of them reached for his pistol and with his last bit of strength tried to level it at Mala. Mala stabbed down with her silver blade into the black neck garter beneath the stormtrooper's helmet. There was a sizzling sound and then his body fell limp.
"Hey, Madak, wasn't that one of your four?" Mirax asked pulling herself to her feet with a cocky grin.
Madak didn't answer. He only leveled his pistol at the remaining stormtrooper corpses and littered them with an unrelenting hail of blaster fire until his small crude pistol clicked. As he discarded the power cell and replaced it, he looked over at Mirax and sneered. "I'm not sure of that. But I am sure none of the rest of them will be moving again. Ever."
Mala looked back as more blaster fire began to rain through the thick flames. Her silver blade whipped through the air in a half arc picking up two bolts and sending them higher into the air as she exclaimed over her shoulder, "Time to go, Madak!"
Madak looked at Mirax as Squealer, Mala's droid, emerged from the shadows near the flames with Mala's swoop pack tucked in one of its pinchers and began toward the Skipray's ramp. Mala hit a hidden switch on the hull to lower the ramp and then ducked inside as the droid passed Madak and Mirax.
"What? No 'thank you'?" Mirax asked Madak.
Madak shrugged, "I kinda liked the idea of getting the hell out of here. Those flames won't hold forever."
"Riiiiiiiiight. This way," Mirax told Madak as Mala closed the boarding ramp, the droid safely onboard and beeping and whistling about the scanner and hacker equipment in the cargo bay. Mala didn't see Madak and Mirax disappear but by the time she was in the cockpit, both the bounty hunter and the smuggler's daughter were gone.
Behind her, Squealer rolled into his position, dropped the swoop pack, and plugged in. His treads hitting the right spots on the small sensory paneling in front of the terminal caused Mala's console to light up. She pulled a small scanner to her face and slowly spoke the code. "Jewel access, unlock all systems. Identification Malait'kla. Password, Seven Seven Wraith Two One Brigand." A flash of red hit her in the eyes and then there was a beep.
The entire ship whirred and panels began lighting up all over the Skipray blastboat's small modified cockpit. Before her a blinking terminal ran a startup check and passed all systems to the green operational status from the black disabled status. Mala reached forward and pulled a lever, kicking in the hovercoils to bring the ship off the ground as sand began to blow wildly around the hangar. She pressed another button and sealed the cockpit from the rest of the ship just in case. A hail of blaster fire angled up and slammed into the bottom of her ship causing no damage to her skipray but a little to her pride.
As she strapped herself in, she switched the coils over to the primary engines and listened to the sound of the Sarylcorp ViX multi-flux reactor moan as her tweaked engines roared to life pushing the twenty five meter craft much faster than your normal GAT-12j would be rated for. Hers was definitely modified. The two capital ship grade Mendarn Arms Dar-2 Ion cannons on the stabilizers had been replaced with four Seinar Systems capital ship grade ion cannons Mark V's, a lesser drain and equal hitting ion cannon that allowed her to pack just a little bit more of a straight punch than a normal blastboat could at just a tad bit slower firing rate. The Mendarn Arms Dar-2 medium ion cannon on the nose had been replaced by a twin mounted set of laser cannons stolen from a TIE fighter. This allowed laser only to kill fighters faster with one shot instead of having to shock them and then move on. It also gave her the ability like TIEs to litter the field with laser fire before kicking in the punch of her ion cannons to really slow a larger ship down. Along the side of the nose she'd had mounted and wired a pair of Incom Laser cannons equivalent to those of an X-wing. That was where her real power against starfighters lied. She kept the twin turret-mounted Senko Systems 5000x2 "Tru-Lok" laser cannons on the dorsal surface but gave her droid control over them. She also upgraded his programming to be able to seek and destroy incoming targets to protect himself the ship. These discouraged TIEs from lining up on straight runs from her rear and instead flying head to head against her arsenal in the front of the Skipray. Last but not least she had the concussion missile launcher on the port side replaced with a matching proton torpedo launcher like the one on the starboard side. Each bay held ten missiles and fired in succession. Giving her the edge she needed against larger targets.
Mala flipped a switch and rotated the Skipray's wings vertical as she passed through the upper atmosphere of Tatooine. She could already make out blips on her HUD that told her TIEs were on her tail long before Squealer began what earned him his name. His panic shriek was only drowned by the "Tru-Lok" laser cannons he controlled as Mala angled her deflectors and pushed more shield power to her rear.
One explosion littered the atmosphere behind her as Squealer whooped for joy continuing to give the TIEs a lot of red laser energy to deal with. Green laser energy flashed against Mala's shields and soon she was through to open space as the starfield spread out before her.
The TIEs behind her were the least of her worries. She was more concerned about the long dagger-like triangle filling the screen as she pushed the engines more and evened out the shields. The Star Destroyer held its fire so Mala switched over computers and plugged in as quickly as she could the hyperspace routes from her Naritav Elite Navigational Computer. It beeped and whirred and then displayed her coordinates as a new force rocked her ship with turbulence. Squealer was shrilling in a pitch that almost hurt Mala's ears.
Tractor beam! Mala thought reaching for the torpedo controls. Tractor beam this!
She depressed the trigger and launched a pair of proton torpedoes in front of her ship temporarily stealing the tractor beam's lock to them. She gunned the thrusters and banked sending her clear of the Star Destroyers tractor beam but into the field of its turbolasers. The gunners there began opening up in waves and at her current speed she'd be slammed by a full impact when she met that wall of green energy. The Terajoules would immediately shred her vessel. Of that, she was sure.
She had to think of another way to make it through the wall of energy, unless...
Mala skimmed the surface of the Star Destroyer letting the surface guns try to rotate to follow. The green energy trailing her ship's engine tail but nothing connecting with her shields.
"Squealer! Dump contents of cargo bay on my mark!" Mala said reaching for the throttle control. She fluttered her speed and the gunners mistimed their mark allowing her ship to pass with only major shield damage. "Mark!"
She could feel the ship depressurize as the vacuum sucked out all the scanning and hacking equipment in her cargo bay to open space. She pushed a button and released one of the five Adamite mines from her hold and simultaneously pushed another button to detonate it as she pushed the blue striped lever forward stretching the white stars into white streaks of light. The white streaks leveled out to blue wormhole of hyperspace and she fell back into her chair and sighed, wiping the sweat from her brow.
"Well done, Squealer." Mala told the purple and white R2 unit over her shoulder. Squealer beeped and chirped a question back to her.
"Well, I think the explosion should have been enough to have been my reactor. The debris should convince them that I was destroyed by the turbolasers." Another chirp and chime from Squealer.
"Well, I doubt anyone could tell it was hacking equipment. That mine would have made it unrecognizable."
Squealer let out a long moan. "Yea? Well, I didn't hear any of your ideas, Squeals"
The droid beeped twice and then fell silent.
After a moment, Mala replied, "Yea, I miss you too, old friend."

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