Girl
power!
This is a neat place here, Callista
thought when she and the rest of Typhoon Squadron went down the main corridor
of Zeqwa Station in the Golgi sector. The pilots had fought bravely against
some stinking rebels who had tried to ambush them two days before, and Melluish
being the party animal of the squad had suggested to celebrate their victory in
the station’s famous bar.
“Mell, coming here was, like, the best idea you’ve ever had.“ Typhoon’s
commander Maverick joked about. Calli chuckled and patted Mell’s back who
failed in trying to look offended.
“You’ve got to try the Caipirinha they make here, it’s fabulous! When
you take a zip you feel like embracing the whole galaxy!“ Mell informed us.
“Well, then we’ve got to have Calli and Vex drink some of them, don’t
we?“ Vader said and earned some laughter. Calli didn’t mind those jokes about
her being a girl, but she wasn’t sure how Vex felt about it, since she was new
to the squadron and not yet familiar with the pilots ‘special features’. Taking
a glimpse at her, she saw that her wingmate smiled too.
Zeqwa was a neutral station, run by a Devaronian called Kg’hah.
Nevertheless, the pilots didn’t wear their Imperial uniforms, evading the
chance of being identified.
Calli walked a bit slower, getting on level with Mell who had fallen
back a little.
“Geez, why can’t we always wear comfortable stuff like that...“
Mell ignored her statement and looked around interestedly. Calli heard
him mumble something to himself.
“Hey, Mell, everything all right?“ Finally, he noticed her presence,
though he did not look at her.
“I guess so. I was just thinking that it’s quite empty for a Friday,
this bar is usually frequented by hundreds of people.“
“Well,“ Calli tried to distract him, “then they can give all the fine
liquor to us!“ Mell smiled at her and nodded.
The rest of the squadron had already picked a table and sat down. Mell
took a chair next to Menelaus, and Calli sat down besides her commander, with
her winglady sitting opposite of her. When all of them had their drinks in
their hands, Vexan and Calli having one of those notorious Caipirinhas, Mav got
up and held some sort of speech.
“My dearest followers, in the name of the Imperial Navy I thank you for
your extraordinary service the day before yesterday, you did your job very well
and proved your worth to the Emperor’s Hammer. And now stop worrying about your
Ties and get those drinks down!“
Nobody had waited for Mav to finish his words, so most of the glasses
were already emptied. Dan was already ordering the second round.
“Ts. If I were your commander, I’d..“ Mav started, but the sudden
appearance of a dozen heavily armored guards with Rebel insignias interrupted
him.
“Now what’s this supposed to be? We’re on neutral ground, so just nick
off, will ya?“ Vader asked. Several muzzles pointing at his chest made him
reconsider the idea of throwing insults at the Rebels.
“You dirty bunch of Imps chose the wrong place for your little party.
Get your hands up and do not even think about using your blasters. You girls,“
some guy looking like an officer said and looked at Vexan and Calli, “get away
from that scum, those are Imperial pilots.“
Confusion was filling Callista from the toe to the top and she was
completely incapable of any coherent thought for a split-second. Then she
exchanged a short look with her winglady and stood up energetically.
“Imperial, eh?“ she said and tried to put as much contempt into her
voice as she could when looking down at her commander, “You bloody little
bastard!“
She slapped Maverick so hard in the face that his head almost made a 90°
turn. She just prayed that he’d trust her- and forgive her afterwards.
Spitting on the floor, she said : “And I was close to liking you... come
Cheenah, those guys aren’t worth our company.“ Vexan, who was staring at her
silently, slowly got up from the table and followed Calli to the exit of the
bar.
The last thing Calli heard was “All right bastards, where’s the other
two guys?!“
Out of the bar, Cal let out a deep sigh that seemed to relieve her of
all her tension.
“That was some nice acting.“ Vex affirmed. “What are we gonna do now?“
“They knew we’d be here, Vexie, someone must have told them we’d be
here. They couldn’t have known just by looking at us.“
“Yeah, well, we should be glad that their source wasn’t clever enough to
tell them that the Empire admits women to service.“
Calli was exhausting herself trying to think of a plan, but the recent
event prevented her mind from being any use to her. She looked at Vexan, hoping
to find any sign that her wingmate had succeeded in thinking.
“Vexie, what are we supposed to do now?“
“Hey, may I remind you that YOU are my flightleader? You’re supposed to
be the thinking part of us, and I’ll take care of your bum while you are
thinking.“
“Anyway, I’ll be thankful for every idea. Well, let’s see what we’ve
got. We’re on a space platform, only the two of us, with the rest of our
squadron captured. Our shuttle has probably been seized and is protected, not
that we’d want to leave and quit our boys.“
“Call for reinforcements?“ Vex suggested.
“It took us 2 hours to get here through hyperspace, so help will need
some time to arrive. Only failures call for reinforcements anyway, remember
that. Those Rebels probably won’t keep our lads on this station anyway, they’ll
want to question them and eventually torture them and finally...“
“Ok, ok, I got the hang of it. No need to scare me unnecessarily. Let me
see... if they are going to bring our pilots away from here, then they won’t
waste any time. Hopefully they’ll spend some more time looking for those other
2 non-existant Typhoon pilots.“
“Yah... they’ll need a shuttle. And they won’t take ours, since they’ll
want to dismantle it looking for information which they are most likely not to
find. This station isn’t all too big. If we could take a look around, we’d
certainly locate the shuttle they’re going to use for transport. Since they
must have planned this whole action, the shuttle should already be prepared for
takeoff. So what we are going to do is find it and disable it, so that they
can’t take our lads away. Easy.“
“I agree with it being easy, so maybe we should modify your plan - which
is brilliant without question - to make it a bit more... adventurous...?“ The
shining that had filled Vexie’s eyes amazed Callista and frightened her a bit
too. But when her wingmate told her about her modification, Calli was eager to
follow her in this thing.
It didn’t take them all too long to get to the hangar and locate the
shuttle that was most likely to transport their comrades to a Rebel headquarter
or a prison colony. It was the only one besides the shuttle that had taken
Typhoon squadron to Zeqwa. The only difference was that it was an almost
brandnew Escort shuttle painted in an astounding Royal blue whereas their space
vehicule was nothing but an old piece of junk compared to it.
“Hey, do you think Ronin is going to let me keep this beauty if we’ll manage to get our guys outta here
alive?“ Vex asked silently. The two young women were now standing at the door
of the respective hangar bay, peeping around the corner curiously.
“Er, no offense Vexie dear, but I think blue suits ME better!“ Cal joked
and her winglady joined her chuckle. Given the circumstances, the two of them
were rather cool, repressing their nervousness successfully.
“So here we are now. Any idea how we’re going to get past this guard?“
Calli asked. Vex peered into the bay to catch a glimpse of the man Calli was
talking about.
“Oh, we don’t have to get past him. He’s probably only the pilot
anyway.“
“Wee, ok. We’ll just tell him we’re the mechanics who are supposed to
check the shuttle’s engines.“ Without waiting for a reply, Calli was heading
for the guy that was standing close to the spaceship, facing the endless
vastness of the universe.
“Calli! Calli!!! We don’t half look like mechanics you nut!“ Vex
whispered energetically, but her flightleader was already on her way.
When she had almost reached the shuttle, the man finally noticed her
presence and turned around, reflexively fumbling for his blaster.
“You stop where you are!“
Cal put on her most enchanting smile and stretched out her hands,
showing that she was unarmed.
“Hi there.“ The man, who was wearing a New Republic Strike Force
insignia, seemed to be quite extraordinarily confused with Calli’s appearance
and behaviour.
“What are you two doing here?“ he asked with a slight but distinctive
trembling in his voice. Vex had joined Calli by now and was standing behind
her.
If possible, Callista smiled even more brightly now.
“Weren’t you notified? We’re supposed to check the shuttle’s engines.
Won’t take long really.“
“I wasn’t told about that. Who ordered you here?“
Calli was now continually stepping closer to the guy.
“..General... Merky?“ she asked insecurely.
“I’ve never heard this name before.“ the Rebel said and lowered his blaster as
Callista approached him. She fixed his gaze with her eyes and brought her body
close to his.
“Oh. Well, anyway, I have some other things in mind with you that are
certainly going to be far more exciting than checking engines...“
The pilot didn’t seem to care for his environment anymore, the prospect
of an unexpected romantic adventure blurred his perception - Calli closed her
eyes when the guy bent down to kiss her...
An awful noise of broken bones and disrupture of flesh almost made her
sick. The lifeless figure of the pilot sunk down in her arms, and it was not
until now that she noticed Vex standing behind the figure with a heavy tool in
her hands that was now spilled with blood and hair.
Calli somehow had a bad conscience, which was sort of a new feeling to
her. She knelt down to check for the man’s vital signs, but she couldn’t find
his pulse.
“You’ve--- you’ve killed him!“
“Oops. How careless of me.“
“Aww. And he was so cute. And no, you don’t have to remind me of my
duties as the loving wife of the FO.“
“Anyway, we’ve just shown what a great team we are. And now let’s get
him somewhere he won’t be found in the near future.“
Still a bit surprised at Vexan’s coolness - Calli didn’t know whether
her winglady had ever killed a person with anything but her Tie - she helped
her mate to carry the corpse behind some unimportant looking crates. Sort of
disgusted, Calli put on the rather soiled suit of the pilot, formed her long
hair to a solid bob and hid them under the dead man’s cap.
“Now all we can do is wait for them to come.“ Calli said and headed for
the shuttle to join Vexan.
“Jesus, they wanted to take our lads to Coruscant! How pervert!“ Vex
exclaimed after studying the navcomputer’s data.
“Mav and the bunch can really be happy to have us, can’t they?“
“Ssh!“
The two women had heard the sound of steps approaching the hangar bay.
The barking of orders could also be perceived. Through the chatter of voices
Calli could hear Menelaus throwing a pretty bad word offending some Rebel’s
mother and a short groan when he was probably kicked for this.
“Alright, let the fun begin.“ Calli whispered and stepped out of the
shuttle when the group of Rebel guards and Imperial prisoners entered the
hangar.
“Hey Brad, get the thing working, I wanna get away from here before the
Emperor’s Hammer sends reinforcements.“ the officer who had sent Vex and Calli
away shouted.
Calli coughed, trying to sound sick.
“We’ll be off in a minute, don’t worry.“
“Hey buddy, you don’t sound too well - you sure you can fly?“
Callista was already getting back into the cockpit as the group
approached.
“Wouldn’t want to miss it, mate. Get in, we’re wasting time.“
Observing the others entering the shuttle, Calli got into the pilot seat
herself and looked at Vexan.
“Did you enter the new route?“ she asked her winglady.
“My, you really failed your calling. You could make heeps of money as an
actress you know.“
“Did you enter the new route?!?!“ Calli really wasn’t in the mood for
chatter now. This was the most critical phase of their little operation.
“No I did not. They might check our course again before granting
permission for takeoff.“
“Good girl. Now let’s see if we can’t mock space traffic control.“ Vex
had already hit the button for the hatch and started up the sub-space drive. If
they managed to take this last obstacle, they’d be off to the ISD Challenge.
“Control, this is shuttle... Anorexia.“ Neat name, Calli thought. “Humbly asking for permission for take
off.“ I wouldn’t make a good man with
that voice.
“Brad, anything wrong? You sound a bit... funny.“
“Sorry man, I’m not in my best form, caught a cold.“
“Ah, I see. Well, get off from here and kick those Imperial butts for
me, will ya?“
“Sure thing.“
Calli’s fingers were almost stiff when she piloted the shuttle out of
the hangar bay.
“My goodness, such idiocy should really be prohibited. Any Imperial
officer would have asked for the pilot’s ID in such a situation.“
“Well, Vex, that’s the difference between them and us. We’re just more
intelligent.“
“What if our passengers notice that we’re taking a different way?“
“Oh. Right. Let me see.“ After minute’s search Calli found the button
that would darken the hatches of the cargo hold. Almost immediately after she
had pushed it, the ship’s comm device crackled.
“Brad, what’s that supposed to be? Any problems?“
“Not really, but we’re passing a field with exceptionally high
radioactivity, so I thought I had better protect you a bit more.“
“Oh. All right then. Are we taking the short cut?“
“Sure we are. Isn’t it neat?“ Calli had added that last bit to give her
fellow pilots a hint at the present situation. Neat was Calli’s favourite adjective to describe things she liked.
When they had reached the jumppoint to the Fallaphi sector, Vex and
Calli relaxed and leaned back. Once they were in hyperspace and well on their
way home, they were safe.
“You know Calli, it really was too easy. They should at least sent a
couple of Alphabet fighters after us.“
“Your desire for thrill will kill you one day, Vexie. But till then,
let’s plan how to show off with our greatness.“
During the hyperspace jump, Cal and Vex heard a bit of a rumble from
astern, probably the noise of more mistreatment of the Imperials. Their rage
grew more and more and they were close to getting into the cargo hold, but then
they decided not to endanger the success of the mission.
When they fell out of hyperspace just a few clicks away from the
Challenge, both of them let out a deep sigh of relief.
Disconnecting the intershuttle comm, Calli contacted the Challenge’s
bridge.
“ISD Challenge, this is LCM Callista of Typhoon squadron pilotin shuttle
Anorexia. Do not shoot at us, I repeat, do not shoot at us! Get a hangar bay
ready and send a couple of troopers down there. We’ve got some prey in the
cargo hold.“
“Understood, Callista. Permission to land in cargo bay CA-12 granted.“
That was some thing Calli liked about the Empire. In contrast to the so
called New Republic, the officers of the Empire didn’t need a full description
of everything, they just knew how to do their jobs.
Calli opened the shuttle’s comm channel.
“So buddies, we’ve arrived. Hope you had a nice flight and enjoy your
stay. Get ready to disembark in a couple of minutes.“
Cal and Vex landed the shuttle safely and made themselves comfortable in
their seats. It was only a question of seconds til the Rebels would surrender.
Icecold horror filled them when they heard blastershots in the hangar.
Finally, something had gone wrong.
Grabbing the blasters that were deposited in the cockpit, they unlocked
the door to the cargo hold and stormed out of the shuttle. Numerous muzzles
were aimed at them and as they peered around, they noticed that four lifeless
bodies dressed in New Republic uniforms were lying on the floor.
“Wee, I suppose they weren’t into surrendering...“ Vex said staring at
them.
After some seconds of total confusion, the crowd of stormtroopers parted
and the rest of Typhoon squadron, led by Commander Maverick, approached the two
girls.
“Cal, Vex,“ he started, “that was some neat work.“ A fat grin got hold of his face and then he embraced
his two heroines. One by one, the other members joined the group hug.
Calli turned her head to face Vexan and smiled.
“See, it’s so easy to make them happy.“
The end
By CMDR/COL Callista/Typhoon/Wing X/ISD Challenge