...back to fiction

Run-On fiction 
by 
Omicron Squadron\Wing VIII\ISD Colossus

"And I want to be able to eat off my warhead launchers! Hopefully, this will keep you awake during the next squadron briefing." LT Brakiss was glaring at his commander's back as CM Devlin left the hangar. An hour ago, during Omicron's semi-weekly squad briefing, Brakiss felt the hand of the sandman and drifted off into a dreamland filled with exploding MonCal Cruisers and light kisses from the foxy bartender. Unfortunately for him, those "exploding cruisers" were actually briefing map points and the "light kisses" were taps from LT Devin McCloud trying to wake him up. Now, he was "assigned" to wash, wax (three times), and reload his commander's, CM Devlin, missile boat. "Paingiver 2000. I'll say it's a pain."

"Hey there sleepy head!!" It was the "resident ace", LT Troutrooper.

He knew TT was loving this; in fact, TT loved it whenever somebody other than himself failed.

"Hi TT. Why are you in here? Don't you have another mission to fly in the sim?"

"Naw. I finished that one yesterday. I actually came in here to realign my GUN's lasers. They weren't quite straight last time I took her out. How's the...uhh...'work' going?" Brakiss could see that TT

was enjoying every second of this.

"Actually, I was just starting. I could give you a hand with your lasers if you like."

"No thanks. I think I got it. Plus, I wouldn't want Dev to think that you didn't get the full pleasure of waxing his MIS," Troutrooper grinned, then walked over to his gunboat.

"Grrr...Someday, I'll wax your ass, Trout," Brakiss thought.

"Done yet?" Someone friendly, finally. Oh, crap. It's CM Flash.

"Almost, sir. Just need to reload this monster."

"Well, when you get done, LT Kromtal wants to see you. Don't ask why,

just do it."

[LT Daukern Fost]

"Yes sir. I'll report to him as soon as I finish up here" Brakiss replied, wondering what else was going to go wrong today. "Good, be quick about it. And make sure you clean the targeting display while

you're at it. You know how CM Devlin hates smudges." called CM flash as he crossed the flight deck. Brakiss finished reloading the missile boat and was on his way to see Kromtal when he met up with LT Yar.

"Did you finish the wash and wax?" chuckled the lieutenant.

"Yes I did, and I'm glad everyone else is getting a laugh out of it." Brakiss replied, glaring at Yar who's smile widened at the obviously irritated pilot.

Both men arrived at Cm Devlin’s office where the commander, TT, Kromtal, and Daukern where overlooking a star map. "it's about time Brakiss!" Devlin snapped. "Did you fall asleep again?"

"No sir!" Brakiss said "Your MIS is clean, waxed and reloaded sir"

"Good. Now back to business. We have been chose be the WC to fly an assault mission on a Materials processing plant. The plant has been shipping material to a sector known to be in rebel control."

"What type of defenses are we lookin at?" asked Yar "It’s only a small plant, I'm sure the supplies they are shipping cannot be great enough to warrant a very large defense force."

"No it doesn't, but there are two modified frigates in the vicinity. Our attack should bring them in to defend the plant. When we have them engaged the Colossus and the Challenge will hyperspace in along with an interdictor, then the rest of the squadron will launch and we'll clean up the entire sector."

"We'll start tomorrow at 4, Local Time that is" said CM Devlin. "Get some sleep or visit the cantina, just relax, I don't want us to screw up our first real assignment! More briefing before the mission. Now go

and relax, that's an order!"

"Yes sir, CM Devlin, sir!" the pilots replied. Omicron Commander <SALUTE> and went to his private apartments to drink cocoa and watch "The Itchy and Scratchy" show.

"OK. So what are we going to do now, guys?" asked LT Brakiss.

"Well, we can go to the Concert hall and watch Du'tra and Si'tra, the new

Twi'lek dancers..." replied LT Troutrooper.

"That'd be boring, I've seen them on Jomark IV, before I joined the navy, they're not so cool..."

"Eventually we can go to Cantina and get some Alderaanian Ale, Calamarian Knife or any other strong drink - simply get drunk!" said LT

Yar. "Heh, yeah! And we can do that - CM Devlin said we should 'relax'.

I'm always relaxed when I'm drunk" added LT Kromtal.

"So let's get to Cantina" shouted Brakiss!

The pilots went quickly to ISD Colossus Cantina, because they wanted to

drink much of the alcohol and get to bed early to be fresh for the mission. Yar, Kromtal, Brakiss, Flash, Troutrooper and Daukern Fost entered the Cantina, which was full of pilots from other squadrons. The pilots cheered the Cantina barman, WyldeFyre, and sat at a table near the entrance. They've ordered a can of beer for themselves. The Boys opened

up the cans and drank a little. Then CM Chei-Ras, CMDR of newly-opened

Eta squadron and Ship Doctor, came to their table.

"Heya guys, mind if I join?"

"No problem CM, here's a chair for you".

"So, how's life in Omi, boys?" asked Ras.

"Well, quite good, we're not complaining about anything, apart from Brakiss who had to clean CM Devlin's MIS today" replied TT.

"Heh, I gotta choose someone for my craft, it needs to be reloaded. *gulp, gulp* OK. I have to go and do some paperwork, see ya later" said Ras and want to cantina toilet.

Omi Boys ordered more beers and started to watch the TV, some of them even liked the "Starship Stormtroopers" movie. The pilots drank 3 more beers and were ready to go to their quarters, they didn't want to get really drunk before sleep to avoid hangovers.

"I'm drunk and relaxed - we can go now :)" - said LT Kromtal. All pilots stood up (some had to hold their chairs when doing it). They were about to leave the cantina when LT Crevent Thrawn showed up. He looked tired as he was running to them very quickly.

"CMDR Devlin wants to see you. All of you! Now!" he shouted.

"What? NOW!? I'm nearly drunk; right now. I gotta get some sleep!" - LT Yar was somewhat scared.

"Yes, he said to report to him immediately!"

"Oh, dang!"

As Brakiss sat in his TIE Defender, waiting for the launch signal, he reached down and grabbed a small bottle. He nervously unscrewed the cap and took a quick swallow of Mankuroo.

"Brakiss, Devlin, and Crevent, your docking collars have been released. You may launch when ready." The control officer squawked in his surly voice.

"Here goes noth'n." Crevent said, barely audible through the comm.

"Hey, Thrawn, shuddap' will ya? We haven't even left yet and already your whining." Brakiss replied. Brakiss heard the whine of his engine grow increasingly louder and he left the docking bay of the ISD Colossus. He waited patiently as the rest of the squad formed up.

"This is Commander Devlin, enter hyperspace on my mark. 5..4...3...2...1...mark." In a shimmer of pseudomotion the rest of the squad entered the mottled sky of hyperspace. But here lay Brakiss, his hand clutching the hyperspace lever. He pulled again and again, but to no avail. What the? "As if this could get any worse..." Brakiss mummered to himself. He checked the read out displays to discover that his hyperdrive coolant lines had been disconnected. He threw power to the drive to head back to the docking bay but there was no docking bay to enter.

"I guess this is what we get for being new." Crevent's calmed voiced entered Brakiss's ear.

"What in the name of Tarkin's teeth are you still doing here?" Brakiss snapped.

"Hey, mine isn't working either. And it looks like were going to be stuck

here for awhile." Crevent commented on the fact that the Colossus had left

before the squad.

"What do we do until they get back?" Crevent asked.

"We fly in kriffing circles for the next hour; how should I know!?" Brakiss snapped again. He really didn't like this alien. He really didn't. All of the sudden, Brakiss saw Crevent start to shoot wildly.

"Hey, Crevent. I know your a little hacked off, but the only thing your hitting is dust. And dust doesn't get much smaller than it is, so stop wasting cannon energy." Brakiss said in response to the constant blasting.

"You fool! I'm not shooting at dust. Do a sensor focus on this vector, 110 mark 84. You see it now?" Crevent chided. Brakiss tapped a few keys and the display came up. No, no it couldn't be. Sitting relatively where Crevent was blasting, was the battered shape of a probe. "Oh, shavit." Brakiss hissed.

"No sir, you don't understand. With that probe, they know their coming." Crevent's

voice nervously spat. "They know they’re coming . . ."

"So what we gonna do now?" - Brakiss said nervously.

"We gotta warn ISD Colossus, but how? We're stuck here!"

"Can't we repair the hyperdrives?" Brakiss whimpered.

"Yeah, we like glue them on!!!"

"Easy, easy I'm nervous right now—our first mission and we're left in the middle of nowhere..."

"Don't panic, CM Devlin should notice that we're not there - it looks like we're just have to wait here"

"Yeah, but what if they're ambushed? Like you said we must warn ‘em!"

"Ok, so let's thin..." In that moment pilots saw a big light coming towards them, it was some kind of craft exiting hyperspace.

On board the ship, the captain yelled, "Oh god! It's Imperials! Hesyi, change the course, we gotta run from here!"

"Acknowledged!" - said the YT-2400 navigator.

"Whoa! Brakiss, check the craft!!" LT Brakiss, who had enough of adventures for a long time, throttled up and tried to catch the running craft

Crevent, it's YT-2400, I'll identify them in 3..2..1 sec. Looks like

they got some illegal contraband - alcohol from Pol'shkaaa Prime"

"No time for that Brakiss, disable them - they have a working hyperdrive!"

Brakiss's T/D shot a few rounds of ion charge at YT-2400 "Elsa" but the ship returned with laser.

"Dang, it's shooting at me"

"I'll help ya but you must disable it, my MIS doesn't have an ion cannon!" The two crafts started to shoot at the "Elsa", whose laser turret, controlled by Tomsten the YT's captain, missed rarely.

"Auch, they've hit me" Crevent said. In that moment Brakiss packed a nice charge of ion and the YT-2400 stopped.

"Hey, it's not disabled - it still has 35% of shields" Brakiss wondered.

"ATTENTION IMPERIALS, WE SURRENDER - WE DON'T WANT YOU TO RUIN OUR CRAFT"

LT Crevent Thrawn was about to dock with the YT, Brakiss was just after him.

"So we gonna use this ship to hyperjump to ISD Colossus?" Brakiss asked while the performing docking operation.

"Quite right, prepare your laser-pistol, it might be a trap"

"What?! I don't have a laser-pistol, Imperial PILOTS don't have laser-pistols!!!" Brakiss shouted.

"I always carry mine!" Crevent completed the docking operation and waited for Brakiss in the pressure tunnel. "Okay, here we go" Crevent pressed a button and the door opened - pilots went inside. Brakiss opened the door to the control room - "Here they are, CT!". Crevent aimed at Tomsten and the navigator Hesyi to scare them.

"Please lower your guns. We've surrendered so you can now call in for your TRNs. But how in galaxy did you found the only ship that smuggles Pol'shaaa's Prime alcohol?!" Tomsten asked.

"Shuddap! Actually we're stuck here 'cause our crafts are broken, looks like you didn't have luck today" Crevent and Brakiss tied the men and threw them into a stockroom. "Good night gentlemen, we're in a hurry". CT entered the Hyperspace coordinates and pulled a hyperspace lever.

"Crevent, we've left our ships there - you know that we'll be punished if we don't get them."

"It's not the time or place for that. We gotta save Omicron and the rest of guys. Let's hope we can still be on time to warn them. We'll be only 47 seconds late, this ship has a really fast hyperdrive!"

"Yeah, let's hope we can be there before enemy attacks Omi."

The bright tunnel light broke into long streaks, then shortened into small points. Crevent Thrawn scanned the sky for the Colossus. Brakiss, sitting

in the copilot's seat, flipped on the comm.

"LT Brakiss to ISD Colossus! This is an extreme emergency! CT and I got left behind and found a rebel probe had detected the fleet's jump. Hey--"

The Colossus' comm officer cut him off, "Move along, civilian!"

"No, wait. Those are my pilots." CM Devlin spoke up. "LC Mell's having some shuttles retrieve your fighters. Any rebel opposition shouldn't be too

strong until after we out the planet. You two are on starfighter superiority. Form up with Flight One."

"Yes, sir."

The starfighters with missiles were already exchanging missile fire and were preparing to come to blows with their lasers. A few Z-95 and A-Wings exploded mid-flight while some stronger shielded craft spiraled off in random directions. Green and red beams lanced out as the fighters when head to head. And then the front New Republic craft fell into range of the YT-2400. Twin scarlet beams flew from the dorsal turret and vaporized an X-Wing. Some stray shots of return fire bounced off the forward shields, but for the most part CT jinked the ship out of the way. An X-Wing and a Defender flashed passed, weapons blazing, and behind them, CT saw some A-Wings heading after the Imperial assault craft. He shunted shield power into the engines and shot off towards the interceptors.

"Brakiss, pin down those A-Wings will ya?"

"Sure, CT, why not?" Brakiss splashed lasers off the A-Wings, doing little damage but startling the A-Wings into jinking their craft. Two of the interceptors bounced off each other and spun away from the battle. The remaining two brought their weapons to bare on the freighter. CT jinked the craft all he could but the A-Wings' lasers ate through the shielding. Alarms rang through the cockpit as the shields failed.

"Uhh...I think we're in trouble."

"Really, ya think?" CT slammed the throttle back sending one A-Wing out ahead of the freighter. He looked back in time to see two red missiles connect with the underside of the other A-Wing, who's fate needs no explanation. "This is Lieutenant Stormfyld. Target destroyed. The installation is flaming debris."

"Omicron, this is Commander Devlin. Form up and prepare for hyperjump."

LT Jague Philu silently followed the count down to the jump. On the mark, he threw the hyperdrive lever forward.

Nothing happened.

"Eh?" Philu looked around. Right overhead loomed an interdictor cruiser. This confused him for a minute until New Republic starfighters flew from the docking bay and he realized that it wasn't the cruiser that had jumped in with the Colossus. He scrolled through the enemy targets. Along with the Republic interdictor, the two modified frigates he had heard about in the briefing, flanked each side, as well as a Mon Calamari Cruiser.

"Devlin to Omicron. Two flight, take out the INT. One and three flights, lets give 'em cover." Philu targeted the INT and selected his remaining heavy rockets. He shunted laser energy into the engines and sped toward the cruiser. The pilot jinked and juked through the laser and turbolaser fire. He did his best to hold the lock and keep alive. Philu could feel the cold sweat pooling in his flight suit as the INT's hull began to rush up at him and his targeting box flashed red.

Suddenly, an explosion rocks Philu's GUN and loses his lock on the Interdictor.

"What happened, Omi? I had a lock!"

"Sorry, Philu, these fighters are getting awfully close to the starfighters," replied Troutrooper, the one who destroyed the Z-95 that flew past Philu's GUN. Philu looked at his displays in disbelief and notices that his warhead launchers were damaged in the explosion.

"Sir, my launchers are damaged; someone else needs to take the shot."

"Affirmative, LT; cover the rest of FL-2 along with FL-1 and FL-3." replied CM Devlin. "LT Stormfyld, LT McCloud; take out the INT."

"Ok, you heard CM Devlin, McCloud; we're the only two left," Kromtal Stormfyld told him. "I only got two heavies left, so you need to use the rest of yours."

Devin McCloud sighed, just realizing the weight that was brought upon him. He'd never been in this kind of situation before; but he knew what to do: he had to get the Colossus and Omi out safely. He got out of this dreamy trance and was brought back into the battle by Omi's comm traffic.

"Take the shot!!!" He could hear all Omi screaming through their comms.

"Take the shot!!!"

Devin McCloud then let all his rockets fly.

The captain on the INT was screaming at everyone: "Keep the Batteries firing!! Take out those Defenders!!! WHERE THE HECK IS OUR SUPPORT?!!!" He paced the bridge, all the time yelling and waving his arms like he was having a spasm. He looked out the window to see a gunboat's warhead launcher get bent out of shape. "Good," he thought, "Plus, the rockets weren't fired. We might make it".

"CAPTAIN SIR!!!"

"What is it, comm?"

"It's a message from the fleet! It says that they can't reinforce us, as the ISDs Relentless and Immortal have them pinned down hard!"

Before the captain could reply, he looked up to see a lone GUN unleash its entire payload of heavy rockets.

"McCloud! Please respond! LT Devin McCloud!" LT Kromtal Stormfyld pleaded with his comm. "Damnit boy, if you don't respond to this, I'm gon--"

"What?! You're gonna do what?"

"MCCLOUD!!! We thought you were dead! I saw you fly into the exploding Interdictor and then...silence," KS was definitely excited he didn't lose one of his flight members. "You could...no, should have told us where you were."

"I know. I just like to hear you worry about me. Race ya home!"

When McCloud arrived back in the hangar--about 2 seconds after KS arrived--all of Omicron was there to greet him.

"Nice finish!"

"Try going around the destroyed cap ship next time."

"Hey McCloud, what happened to your GUN?"

That last remark stunned the LT for a second. He then turned around and saw why he lost to KS in the drag race home: two of his stabilizers were gone and one of his ion cannons was bent of shape. Omicron Commander, CM Devlin, walked over to McCloud to comfort him in his time of loss.

"Well, Devin, you killed an INT today. Well done. But because of your...how can I put this politely...over-confidence, you are hereby grounded until you fix your gunboat. Here's hydrospammer. Enjoy!"

As Commander Devlin was giving the tool to McCloud, Wing Commander Mell came into the hangar bay. "At ease, Omicron. You all have done a great job today! The ISD Colossus was rescued from...IMMENENT and COMPLETE ANIHILATION!!! Relax people. I was just kidding. Anyway, we didn't have too much to worry about, since the Rel and Immortal were taking care of the rest of this strike force. But good job nonetheless! Unfortunately, we did lose a couple. CM Flash was killed in action, as was LT Maarek. You know, TT, you need to keep a better eye on your flight members. Dismissed!" He saluted Omicron and left.

"Drinks are on LT Troutrooper!"

Sitting around the cantina, Troutrooper, Yar, KS, and Devlin were having drinks while debating on how long it would take McCloud to finish fixing his GUN.

"I give him two weeks," LT Yar bet.

"Geez, that's being optimistic. Two months," LT KS guessed.

"You're both wrong. I say he has to transfer to another flight 'cause he ain't gonna finish!"

"Trout, you're a punk. I won't allow him to transfer and he WILL finish. I agree with Yar, two weeks," Omicron's commander stated.

"Hey! Just the folks I was lookin' for!" WC Mell announced, "No need to salute me, we're in the cantina. Anyway, your promotions just went through. I would have put in McCloud's promotion, but he hasn't been here long enough. SALUTE!"

The pilots, still in shock over their promotions, saluted the wing commander.

...back to fiction