Old Friends - Part IV

Werdna Elbee was waiting in Imperial Hanger H5, by the side of his old, yet trusty, YT-1300. It was called “Denwar,” after his real name. When Werdna first named the ship, he had no idea that that was his real name, due to his amnesia. He just thought that it was the name of the ship that he crashed in when he was 12 years old.

Admittedly, calling your ship after another ship that crashed is a bit dumb. Werdna didn’t mind though, he had always been a one for irony. If he had his own small fighter, he would probably call it something like “The Death Star III.”

After checking his chronometer, Werdna walked over to the ship’s hatch and continued on into the ship. He climbed though the narrow passageways and made it into the cockpit. Moving onto the pilot’s chair, he took to the controls and pretended to fight a great war. Werdna had been in quite a few scrapes in the past for the Empire, but never something as big as the Battles if Hoth or the Endor massacre.

In the corner of his eye, Werdna noticed two figures outside in the hanger walking towards his ship. This must be Tom and Ravnos, thought Werdna, I hope they decided to come along. I hate to party alone.

Werdna got up and went outside to greet his friends. After clearing the hatch Werdna yelled over, “So, are you coming along?”

“Since when have I missed the chance to dink and gamble?” joked Ravnos.

“Whenever you have to play me,” replied Werdna, “Follow me into my ship and we’ll set off as soon as possible.”

Once they were all in the ship, Werdna took to the controls again and closed the hatch. The ship shook a little as the hatch drew shut. “I hope that this thing can make it to the Independent Planets, Werdna,” stated Tom.

“Hey, don’t say things like that in the ship! You’ll hurt its feelings,” shouted Werdna, “Don’t listen to him, baby.”

“What, you have a droid built in this ship?”

“No…don’t be stupid!”

**********

Lavos’s head was hurting like hell as he got up out of his bunk. What the hell just happened, he thought, and where am I now???

The walls of Lavos’s room were a boring grey, and it was empty apart from a run-down bunk and a broken toilet. There was also a slight humming noise coming from above, the type of hum that you only get in starships. This was no Imperial Ship that Lavos was used to though; the facilities in his room were far too nice. You don’t get toilets in Imperial cells!

I must have been captured back there, Lavos continued thinking to himself, so odds are that this is a Rebel ship. Pirates would have just killed me; hell the Empire would have just killed me, so this must be Rebel.

Lavos looked around the room for cameras. If there were any, an interrogator would enter the room soon, knowing that Lavos was now awake. A normal person would never notice a spy-cam. They are far too small for that. Luckily Lavos was not normal, he was an Imperial officer, and could spot a spy-cam from miles away. The trick was not to look for the camera, but to look for imperfections in the walls.

There it was, hidden in a corner, the most obvious spot. Lavos knew he didn’t have much time left before the interrogator came for him, so he quickly looked around the room to measure it and look for any more imperfections that would cause him problems, or even be the makings of an escape route.

The cell door whooshed open, catching Lavos by surprise, and he stared up to see who was going to be interrogating him. It was a man in a Rebel uniform, and by the looks of it a high-ranking officer. He was a fairly tall man, with an officer’s build, and had curly blond hair.

“At last,” announced the man, as if he was on stage or something, “I’m so glad you’re awake at last.”

Lavos retorted drolly, “It’s not may fault that I went to sleep. Some prat with a Dreadnought tractored me into his ship and knocked me out with an injection.” Lavos’s memories were at last coming back to him.

“I apologise for that,” replied the Rebel, “Although you do know why I had to do that to you, don’t you?”

“If it’s about that time on Naboo and the dodgy merchandise I sold to some trader, the I assure you…”

“Don’t lie, Lieutenant Commander!!!” shouted the officer, “We have evidence that you are a pilot for an Imperial Faction…we have spies everywhere.”

“Even if I was, you have no right to capture me…we’re in independent territories.”

“What they don’t know about won’t hurt them,” retorted the Rebel, “I shall return when you are more co-operative, Imp.” The man walked out of the cell, and as suddenly as the door opened, it shut.

CPT Werdna Elbee

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