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Author	Topic: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OCs, OT, complete 6/17 (extras 6/24)
Idrelle_Miocovani Title: Solar Power loving Scattergories Hostess Registered: Feb '05	Date Posted: 4/9 1:11pm Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/8 - Date Edited: 4/11 12:34pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Idrelle_Miocovani
	First! (I'll be back, promise. I have an essay to write. ) edit -- back! "I don't have trust issues. I have husband issues." Poor Lataise! It's interesting to see this argumenet from Chase's point of view and his sort of... I dunno... clueless-ness towards the female mind? If that's a way to put it... That hurt more than Chase expected it to, and his words lashed out defensively. "Fine, you don't trust me? You don't believe me? Maybe I'll go back in there and really find a girl on the Holonet, or maybe I'll go do the nightclub scene instead. If I'm going to get accused of it anyway, I may as well have some fun and actually deserve the yelling!" Ouch! I hope the two can work out their problems. Excellent update, Thumper! -----signature----- "All the world's a stage." As You Like It, II vii, 139 "Actors! The mechanics of cheap melodrama!" Guildenstern, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." Hamlet, II ii, 249-250 Ish's Padawan
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The_Face Title: Fan Fic Manager Up Up and Away Registered: Feb '03	Date Posted: 4/9 9:32pm Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/8
	Oh Chase Chase Chase... It's late here so I'll be brief, but good update, Thumper! Nice use of a biased POV. -----signature----- If mercy falls upon the broken and the poor Dear Father, I will see you there on distant shores * Galaxy of Suspects, a CorSec Mystery: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28083207&brd=10476
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yodas_waiter Registered: Oct '06	Date Posted: 4/13 2:31am Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/8
	I've finally caught up with the story Thumper and I'm liking it. I especially liked the chapter where Chase was left alone in space, facing the end. You captured that feel of creeping desperation really well and Chase's subsuquent development after that has been believable. Good work. Can't wait for more -----signature----- Padawan to Sionnach-Airgid Author of Chyler databank entry Nominated Best New Author in Before the Saga 06/07 The Enforcer (SW Super-hero tribute): http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/28028864/p1/?2
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Inquisitor_Skywalker Registered: Mar '08	Date Posted: 4/13 2:26pm Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/8
	Excellent story, Thumper! I love how fallably human you've made Chase. It really adds to the story. Could you add me to the PM list please? -----signature----- "Mercy is the mark of a great man." stab "Guess I'm just a good man." stab "Well, I'm alright..."
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Arcalian Registered: Mar '05	Date Posted: 4/15 7:11pm Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/8
	Ooooh boy. What's gonna happen, Chase, when you eliminate someone who isn't a rebel? What then? And do you think Lataise would understand if you told her you'd murdered someone, but it's okay because he was (probably) a Rebel? Mind you, I don't think she'll be with you much longer anyway. -----signature----- Arcalian If you don't take yourself seriously, who else will? http://arcalian.deviantart.com/ http://idlewilder.proboards54.com/index.cgi?
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Thumper09 Registered: Dec '01	Date Posted: 4/15 7:58pm Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/15
	Idri: Eww, an essay? I hope it went well. Cluelessness is a good word here. Heck, I don't understand the female mind, and I'm a girl, LOL. I hope the two can work out their problems. Me too. Writing arguments is danged hard. Thanks for the comments and for reading! Face: I'm glad the bias worked. POV is one of my most favoritest things evar. Thanks for reading and replying! yodas_waiter: I'm happy you liked the stranded chapter--it seemed to work out better than I was expecting it to. Also, thanks for letting me know the development is working so far. Thanks for reading and commenting! Inquisitor_Skywalker: Thanks very much for the compliments. I'm glad Chase is coming across as both fallable and human. I'll put you on the list. Thanks for replying and reading! Arcalian: Heh heh, what then, indeed? And do you think Lataise would understand if you told her you'd murdered someone, but it's okay because he was (probably) a Rebel? Now that would be a very interesting conversation to eavesdrop on. Chase would probably spin it a bit differently, though. Thanks for reading and replying! -------- And here we have the last half of Chapter Seven, picking up right where we left off. Your regularly scheduled plot will continue in next week's update. -------- Chapter Seven, Part Two "Now who's running off?" Chase grumbled. At least that fight was over and he could have some peace and quiet again. He stalked back into the café with every bit of his body language warning everyone in a three-block radius to leave him alone. Other café patrons discreetly scooted their chairs in more as he walked past them. Chase went straight to the public access Holonet terminal to pick up where he'd left off. For thirty minutes he tried to do just that, but he couldn't concentrate enough to get anything done. The words on his datapad and the terminal screen were just lines and dots that never translated into Basic and never sank in while floundering in the aftermath of the argument. Blast it, everything had been fine. What was she getting on his case about, and why? What was her problem? This seemed bigger than one of her mood swings. "Damn it," Chase muttered as he finally gave up on getting any more productive work done. He'd better go home and figure out what the hell was wrong with his wife before he was forced to sleep on the couch for the rest of the month. He again collected his belongings, paid for the useless access time and got into their speeder. A few minutes later he pulled up to their house. "Lataise?" he called as he unlocked the front door and walked in. A light in the living room was on like it always was in the evenings regardless of whether they were home or not, but that was all. No one answered him. If she was giving him the silent treatment, Chase couldn't help but think it was almost refreshing after having to sit through all the tirades and arguments lately. He walked through the living room, tossed his jacket on the couch and poked his head in the kitchen. Some dishes were piled up, waiting to be put through the washer, and a few ironing projects were hanging off a cabinet by the far wall. Chase pulled back and continued his rounds of the small house. "Lataise? Are you here?" She wasn't in the baby's room, the refresher or the bedroom. Chase paused in the bedroom and then walked over to the four special shelves on the wall that held Lataise's beloved collection of glass birds. He inspected them closely and noticed a fine layer of dust on them. That wasn't good; she always kept those things cleaner than the plates they ate off of. The only times she let them get dirty were when she was upset about something. It was obvious that Lataise wasn't in the house, so he sat on the bed and pulled out his comlink. As Chase tried to get through to Lataise's comlink, his eyes were drawn to the holo on the wall of the two of them at some zero-g dance lessons they had taken. He realized with some dismay that it had been a while since they had done something enjoyable like that together, and if things kept going the way they were going, it would probably be even longer. That was even assuming the Rebels didn't take everything away first. Chase grumbled to himself as he waited for her to answer. He felt stuck between the Rebels and his increasingly-difficult marriage. Working to solve one of those problems made the other problem get worse. Lataise never answered her comlink, and after giving up on that route Chase walked back into the living room to figure out his next move. Looking around, he saw a small box by the holoemitter. Upon further inspection he found that the box contained their collection of episodes of Smuggled Stars, a classic comedy series that Lataise enjoyed and which was older than either of them. Chase smiled a bit in spite of himself as he remembered one of their first dates when they sat and watched the episodes together for hours, something that was enjoyable even though he couldn't have cared less about the comedy aspect of the show. The comforting memory lessened his reflexive grudge that had been building since the fight. She must have been watching the episodes again recently, but why would she be wasting time doing that when she herself claimed she had a lot to do around the house? Chase tossed the box back down on the floor, and the small noise it made echoed softly down the hallway. He looked down the hallway as if he could see the sound. Had the house always echoed like that? He didn't know, and for some reason it made him uneasy. Chase decided he didn't want to be in the living room anymore and the kitchen was a better place to be. Inside the kitchen, he took the kettle and began filling it with water to make some Kosh Tea. It was almost full before he realized that he had automatically been preparing enough for Lataise as well. But she wasn't home, and he didn't need this much water just for himself. Just for himself. Something about those three words made Chase hurriedly shut off the faucet and leave the kettle, nearly full, in the sink. He began to pace around the kitchen, and then he moved beyond that to restlessly walk throughout the house to relieve some nervous energy that was building up. He unconsciously followed the walking path he had created through the different rooms in the couple weeks following his return from the combat deployment, but this time his footsteps echoed noticeably and seemed to emphasize the fact that there was no other person there to break up the stillness. Being alone in the house was nothing new to him, but something now made it feel different. Cold shadows spilled into the hallway from the bedroom and the baby's room. A circuit breaker inside of him tripped, and the small, comfortable house began to grow large, lonely and unwelcoming without Lataise's presence. The sensation unnerved him. Chase stopped walking, shook his head hard and fought back memories of the similar feeling he had experienced in his damaged TIE Fighter, but a few deep breaths didn't keep them at bay for very long. The feeling grew, and with it the realization of the looming physical distance between him and Lataise. Just like back then. The pilot felt cold sweat on the back of his neck, and he coughed to clear his throat. He didn't know why his heart rate was increasing and his breath was short. He wasn't in a doomed TIE anymore: he was back home. He wasn't going to die. He wasn't losing his family... Only he had no idea where his wife was, and he was completely alone. Chase had just enough presence of mind to grab his jacket before he quickly backed out of the front door. He barely took the time to lock the door and stumbled into the landspeeder with only one thought in his head: he had to go find her. But where? Had Lataise said she was going anywhere special tonight or this week? Chase tried to remember, but nothing they had spoken of for the last few days had stuck with him. He put the speeder in gear and hurried into town without caring if he got caught for going too fast. The outermost streets curved to match the shape of the bay's shoreline, but aside from that the familiar roadways were laid out efficiently and allowed Chase to navigate his way through them effortlessly. The closest place was where Lataise worked, not too far from the café he had been at earlier. It was one of the few businesses on that street that did not have an evening shift, and from the road Chase could tell the building was dark and unoccupied. He continued on. Their earlier argument that had taken place mere dozens of meters away was forgotten. He had no better luck at her favorite restaurant, several stores she frequented or the community center where they were attending parenting classes together. Every failure just made Chase drive more quickly and more anxiously to the next place. He even went to the nearby house of one of her good friends, but the woman hadn't seen Lataise either and promised to get in touch with Chase if she heard from her. Chase was trembling as he got back into the speeder. After all the fights they'd had recently, he didn't know why this was affecting him so badly. He'd never lost control like this before just because he didn't know where Lataise was, and his reaction was frightening him almost as much as everything else was. Chase tried to search for that internal discipline the Imperial Navy had given him, but he couldn't concentrate enough to seek it out. All that was there was a desperate need to see his wife. He tried her comlink again as he drove back through town, but she still didn't answer. Chase sped up, not knowing where else he could go but feeling a little better that he was at least doing it in a hurry. He was a few blocks away from the café and feeling like he was going in circles when he caught sight of a familiar parking lot he was going past. Chase's heart beat a little faster at recognizing the location's potential, and he braked hard and pulled in, oblivious to the collision he had almost caused with the speeder behind him. The lot was empty, and Chase parked the speeder underneath a lone split-bottom srika tree before jumping out. As soon as he was outside of the speeder, the sound of waves lapping at the beach below filled his ears. Chase jogged to the beach access staircase that this parking lot served, and he jumped down the stairs two at a time. Maybe she was here. Lataise loved walking on the beach. Chase landed in the deep sand at the bottom of the staircase and looked around. It was hard to see at night, but the beach looked deserted. Small whitecaps on the waves were the only part of the water that was visible. The cloud layers almost invariably disappeared at night, but the starlight and the light from one of Craci IV's two small moons didn't help visibility much. A short distance down, there was a dark area visible on the light sand. Chase squinted, then began walking toward it to get a better look. When he got closer and his eyes had adapted more to the dark, Chase almost drowned in relief. That dark figure ahead of him was Lataise sitting on the sand. "Lataise?" he called. She got to her feet with a little bit of difficulty and began quickly walking down the beach away from him. Chase had never seen her do that before. He began jogging after her, his chest tight. "Lataise? Wait. Please." She kept going, so he increased his speed and caught up with her. "Lataise, please wait. I'm sorry." She slowed to a stop, and Chase tried to gently pull her to him but she shook free of his hold. Hurt, he backed off and tried a different approach. "I've been looking everywhere for you," he said just loud enough for her to hear over the waves. "I'm sorry for what I said. It was stupid of me, and I didn't mean it." Looking more closely at her face in the soft glow of light pollution from the city of Legis Bay, Chase could see she was crying and probably had been for a while. Guilt bubbled up amid the turmoil of the other emotions in his gut. Lataise wiped at her eyes and wouldn't meet his gaze. Finally she said in a small, shaky voice, "I thought you wanted someone pretty." It was hard to make out her words through the tears, and Chase wasn't sure if he'd heard her correctly. "What?" he asked softly. "What are you talking about?" She sniffled and waved a hand in the general direction of the rest of her body. "I'm all bloated and swollen and nasty, my hair is all ratty, and I was worried you'd found someone pretty..." He at last heard what she was telling him. Those words surprised Chase more than almost any others he'd heard that night, and he took extra care to keep his tone of voice gentle. "No, no, no. Why would I do that? I've got my pretty little someone right here." He again tried to softly pull her into a hug, and this time she let herself be enclosed in his arms. "Everything I need is right here." Chase held her as her tears dampened his jacket, and he closed his eyes and inhaled her sweet scent mixed with the salty air and salty tears. "You're beautiful, and you have a beautiful little life inside you," he murmured to her. "Don't you ever believe otherwise." When Lataise eventually spoke next, the tears had not let up. "I'm sorry. I miss you. I'm scared, and I need you." "Shhh," he soothed. "I'm here, just like I promised. I'm not going anywhere. We're in this together." "I know you're physically here, but it's almost like you never really came back. I miss you." "It's okay," Chase whispered. "Everything will be fine." He was ashamed to think that he had let things with the Rebels get so personal that he'd ignored the personal reasons he was doing this for. He wouldn't make that mistake again, no matter how hard it would be to keep things right with Lataise while he secretly worked on securing their future safety. That was the problem, though--his efforts had to be a secret because his superiors wouldn't approve of the route he was taking outside of the sacred Imperial bureaucracy and chain of command, so he had to continue preventing Lataise from learning about it in order to protect her and himself. He had to be careful. If his superiors found out about his plan and disapproved to the point of sending him to prison for his initiative, he still wouldn't be able to raise his child with Lataise like he so desperately wanted. He wouldn't be able to hold his wife like he was doing right now. Protecting them all meant keeping this secret from Lataise, and damn, that was going to be hard. Gradually Lataise's tears diminished, and the pair sat together on the cool sand and watched the dark waves. Chase was getting cold, but he found that keeping Lataise close helped warm him. At one point while they were holding each other, Chase broke the quiet by softly saying in Lataise's ear, "Do you really want to know what I was doing on the Holonet outside of home?" She looked at him. "Yes, what was it?" "Well, it'll ruin the surprise now, but...I was looking for a nice gift for you. Sort of a little pick-me-up since your pregnancy seems to have gotten you down a bit. I couldn't do it at home because I didn't want you accidentally seeing anything while I was working on it and searching." Chase made a mental note to himself that now he'd actually have to look for such a gift as well as come up with the money to pay for it. Luxuries cost a lot of money on this world. There was silence for a moment, then Lataise buried her face in his chest. "Damn it, I'm so embarrassed." "No, no, don't be." Chase smiled a bit as he pulled her down with him until he was lying on his back and she was lying next to him while using him as a pillow. He was pleased to note that he felt no pain from his former injuries in his shoulder or ribs where Lataise was lying on them. "This is one of those things we'll look back on in twenty years and laugh about." "What? No, it won't. First, it's too embarrassing, and second, you never laugh at jokes or funny situations anyway." "Sure I do." Chase knew his claim wasn't really true, but he tried to sound a bit indignant all the same. "Listen, it'll go something like this. Something like, 'Hi, Mom, that's a pretty piece of jewelry. When did you get it?' 'Well, Daughter, funny story, before you were born your father was shopping for it as a surprise, but he was acting so weird that I thought he was having an affair. Funny story, huh?' Right? Right?" Lataise playfully swatted his shoulder. "You've been around Radek too much. All joke attempts do not have to end with the words 'right, right'." "Hey, give me a break. I'm not good at this." Lataise laughed softly and then snuggled into her husband, making herself comfortable. They rested their clasped hands gently on her growing belly and simply lay there together on the beach listening to the waves and looking at the stars. The recent reminder of his damaged TIE soon made Chase divert his sights away from the void of space above. A few firebugs drifted lazily overhead. Before too long Lataise was lulled off into a nap. When Chase noticed this, he shifted his body very carefully so as not to wake her and managed to reach in his pocket with his free hand and pull out his research datapad. While his wife dozed, he reviewed the information he had gotten on the Holonet earlier that night. He still had work to do. -------- -----signature----- "Like anything worth writing, it came inexplicably and without method." -Karen Eiffel The Way--Imperial pilot OCs, OT: http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/28104637 OC X-wing fics: http://www.coronasquadron.com/corona.html
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Arcalian Registered: Mar '05	Date Posted: 4/15 9:08pm Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/15
	He's bought himself some time.....until she catches him again. -----signature----- Arcalian If you don't take yourself seriously, who else will? http://arcalian.deviantart.com/ http://idlewilder.proboards54.com/index.cgi?
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Inquisitor_Skywalker Registered: Mar '08	Date Posted: 4/16 9:57am Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/15
	Hey, thanks for the PM! Well, things are lookin' up there for Chase's marriage at least. He still seems a little obsessive about his mysterious pet project, though ... I have to say, the excuse of buying a surprise gift was a nice save on Chase's part ! Keep up the good work, Thumper! -----signature----- "Mercy is the mark of a great man." stab "Guess I'm just a good man." stab "Well, I'm alright..."
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LordGoldenArrow Title: Retired Chapter Rep Melbourne, FL USA Registered: Jan '02	Date Posted: 4/16 7:01pm Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/15
	Did anyone else groan and want to throw something at the monitor when Chase's wife accepted his explanation? ::rolls eyes:: If she wasn't blonde before she deserves to be one now. Nice job Thumper! Anyone who can pull off a reaction like that from a reader is doing an outstanding job.
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Idrelle_Miocovani Title: Solar Power loving Scattergories Hostess Registered: Feb '05	Date Posted: 4/17 4:40pm Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/15
	"You're beautiful, and you have a beautiful little life inside you," he murmured to her. "Don't you ever believe otherwise." Awwww. Nice to see things are sort of looking up for Chase and Lataise right now. Why do I get the feeling that this isn't the end of their troubles? Nice to see some kind of a resolution for now, though! Excellent update, Thumper! -----signature----- "All the world's a stage." As You Like It, II vii, 139 "Actors! The mechanics of cheap melodrama!" Guildenstern, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." Hamlet, II ii, 249-250 Ish's Padawan
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The_Face Title: Fan Fic Manager Up Up and Away Registered: Feb '03	Date Posted: 4/19 1:54pm Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/15
	Good work building the atmosphere. You continue to do a great job of putting us in Chase's state of mind, as with the loneliness of his TIE before and here the desperation of his search for Lataise. And when it seems like there might be a moment of repair in their relationship, he adds another lie. That slight sinister twist to an otherwise sweet moment, like the (growing) dark streak that's tainting Chase's otherwise good morality, really keeps me on edge reading. Great post, Thumper! -----signature----- If mercy falls upon the broken and the poor Dear Father, I will see you there on distant shores * Galaxy of Suspects, a CorSec Mystery: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28083207&brd=10476
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yodas_waiter Registered: Oct '06	Date Posted: 4/21 4:12am Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/15
	I loved how you compared the empty house to the same situation with the TIE. A nice way of showing how desperate Chase was to find Lataise. Nice update Thumper! -----signature----- Padawan to Sionnach-Airgid Author of Chyler databank entry Nominated Best New Author in Before the Saga 06/07 The Enforcer (SW Super-hero tribute): http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/28028864/p1/?2
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Trika_Kenobi Title: Arena Olympic Sweeps Competion Winner Registered: Nov '99	Date Posted: 4/21 2:27pm Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/15
	Latecomer to the story! Thumper, I found this nice little story in your signature from the good ol' OC thread, and I must say, it's simply awesome so far. Please put me on your PM list and let me know whenever you update. Thanks for the adventure. I'm looking forward to more! -----signature----- "Once a Talon, always a Talon." Clear skies, sir. http://www.TalonIntelligenceSquadron.com proud oldbie master to -Kypster-
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Thumper09 Registered: Dec '01	Date Posted: 4/22 7:18pm Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/22
	Arcalian: Yeah, it'll be a bit harder for Chase to cover his tracks now. Suspicion can be a hard thing to dislodge. Thanks for reading and replying! Inquisitor: His pet project should be de-mystified in this upcoming chapter, and yeah, he is a bit obsessive about it. It's always seemed to me that "it's a surprise" was the type of excuse that could pardon many odd sorts of behavior. Thanks for replying and reading! LGA: It sounded plausible in Lataise's ears. Plus, it means she gets to believe that everything is shiny and she gets a present out of the deal. I wouldn't mind choosing that reality instead of another. Thanks for reading and commenting! Idri: Whether or not it's the end of their troubles partly depends on how good Chase gets at lying and conniving as he gets deeper in all of this. Lataise would probably be the first to notice something else off, so we'll see how long the resolution lasts. Thanks for replying and reading! Face: Chase is learning how lying gets easier the more it's done, heh heh. I guess Yoda would have a saying about how that leads to the Dark Side, huh? With these sorts of chapters it's hard for me to tell if they're properly in-character or not, but it sounds like it wasn't jarringly outside of Chase's established mindset, so that's good to hear. Thanks for the read and reply! yodas_waiter: Thanks. I figure it's still recent enough for something big like that to still affect Chase pretty strongly in other areas of his life. Thanks for reading and replying! Trika: Hey, the signature thingy works, huh? Awesome. Thanks a bunch for the compliments, and I'll make sure you get my odd little update PMs. I hope the story continues to entertain. Thanks for reading and replying! -------- This is another long update, and I apologize for that. I would like to thank both my trusty Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook and my recent trip to Las Vegas for helping me imagine what Mondder might be like. Next week's update might come late on Monday. Not sure yet. DRL is confuzzling. -------- Chapter Eight Two weeks passed. Chase felt he could have gotten things done in one week except he'd had to cut back on his daily research quite a bit to spend more time with Lataise and put her mind at ease. Thankfully, it seemed to be working for now, and it was time to test that. Chase casually showed Lataise a datapad when he got home from work one day. "I have to take a short trip to check on something for the squadron." "You do?" She looked over the datapad, which contained a Naval travel authorization document Chase had filled out with bogus details and a forged signature. "When? How long?" Chase took the datapad away before she could start memorizing any information on it. "Tomorrow, and it's only for the day." He was taking tomorrow as a day of leave from work to cover that side of things. "I'll be home in time for supper. Can you drop me off at the spaceport in the morning on your way to work?" "Sure, I suppose so. Where are you going? Is there a problem?" "I'm going to Etti IV," Chase replied. "A company there was supposed to ship something to us and it got delayed significantly. The commander wanted to send one of us to check on it because it sends a stronger message to the company to have a fighter pilot breathing down their neck, but within the squadron they couldn't spare anyone with too high a rank. So out of the junior grades I drew the short straw. Sorry." Lataise didn't say anything for a minute, and Chase knew she was contemplating this in the wake of the previous fake work excuses. At last she shrugged and said, "Not your fault. Duty calls, right? Just let me know when you need to be at the spaceport tomorrow." Chase smiled at her, grateful for the perfect behavior he had forced from himself for the last two weeks. "Thank you." The next morning, Lataise dropped him off at the Legis Bay Spaceport. Once Chase was inside the spaceport and alone, he changed out of his uniform into the civilian clothes he had worn underneath his uniform. The uniform was soon stowed in a storage locker. Chase was too nervous to have anything blatantly Imperial in his possession in case something backfired during this next part of his plan. A few hours after that, Chase was sitting on a commercial transport bound for Etti IV; however, his destination there was not a company with bad delivery dates, and it certainly wasn't anything squadron-sanctioned either. In the course of his research during the last few weeks, Chase had scoured and cross-referenced a lot of information on the Holonet, and his results pointed to a person he thought could help him out with a very important part of his plan against the Rebels, someone named Yhunia Vient. Vient was an employee in the computer code programming division at Cybot Galactica's headquarters whose information had similarities to an anonymous person with the social username of "CodeBlue." CodeBlue had expressed opinions on various Holonet sites that made Chase believe he was both competent enough to do this and would be willing to. While Chase believed that Vient and CodeBlue were the same man, he wasn't 100% certain. It would be too risky to contact Vient through Cybot Galactica channels, so instead Chase had set up his own anonymous account and had used it to send a message to the CodeBlue alias requesting a meeting for a possible work project. He hadn't liked the thought of a face-to-face meeting for liability reasons, but it was safer than sending detailed information about his plan over unsecured Holonet channels or communication frequencies. Who knew where the information could end up then. CodeBlue had accepted and suggested a specific meeting location on Etti IV. All of that had brought Chase to where he was right now in that passenger seat. The uncertainties and anxious anticipation of the rest of the day made him feel like he was leaving on the Victory Star Destroyer to head into combat again. Eventually the transport dropped out of hyperspace, and the capital planet of the Corporate Sector came into sight. Etti IV was pale green and blue, and dark clouds swirled over much of its surface. The vast amounts of starship traffic around the planet tended to intimidate most pilots not familiar with it, and it was definitely a lot more intense than the refueling hub of the Craci System, but it still did little to faze Chase after he had grown up on Imperial Center. He noted with approval from the way the transport was boldly moving into the fray that this ship's pilot was not intimidated either. The transport began its descent to Etti IV's surface and rocked slightly as it passed through storm clouds. Finally it settled to the ground in the spaceport of Mondder, the capital city. Lightning flashed outside as rain sluiced down the transport's small windows. Chase disembarked with the rest of the passengers and went through the environmentally sealed tunnel into the spaceport where he was greeted with numerous security scans and identification checks. As soon as he was clear and past them, the first thing he noticed was the advertisements everywhere. Lights, sounds, on the walls, projected in the air...everywhere, for everything. The spectacle made dogfights seem lazy and boring, and Chase decided he really didn't need more of that type of excitement in his life. He tried to step around the people who had stopped in their tracks to gawk at it all. The spaceport was huge and noisy with many different languages assaulting his ears, and even though he had no bags of his own, it was a challenge to move through the milling crowd of bodies and luggage and screaming children and travelers running late for their flights. The only ones whom the crowd willingly parted for were the armed CSA security officer Espos while they patrolled, and Chase also made sure to stay well away from them. He'd heard enough stories to decide that he did not want to cross them or even get their attention. He was eternally grateful that the team that had been investigating Tight Beam's disappearance was from Troiken and had not been comprised of Espos from the CSA. He'd probably be in prison right now if it had been. Within the mass of people and aliens, Chase hunched his shoulders down a bit and unconsciously reverted back to the short steps and skillful maneuvering he'd learned to use back on Imperial Center to get through the dense crowds. He found and took advantage of every cubic centimeter of space between him and the people around him. Chase made his way through the spaceport, past nonstop ads and clothing stores and pet shops and restaurants, until he found the outdoor speeder taxi stand. Pulling his jacket collar up around his neck, he went through yet another set of security scans at the exit, stepped out into the humid air and the thunderstorm and headed to the line waiting for speeder taxis. Luckily it was underneath an overhang that mostly sheltered the people from the rain. The speeder taxis operated with an odd sort of organized chaos. The passenger barely had a chance to tell the taxi pilot his destination before his bags were in the storage compartment and the passenger was rushed into the taxi. He'd be lucky to be able to take a breath before the taxi would blare its horn and try to get out into the spaceport traffic. No sooner had one taxi left than another arrived to take its place and consume the next waiting passenger. Chase was ready when it was finally his turn. He knew this drill. As an airspeeder taxi pilot herself back on Imperial Center, his mother had ensured that Chase and his siblings knew exactly how to work with taxi pilots. It was just as hard for the taxi to get through the spaceport traffic as it had been for Chase to get through the spaceport. The streets of Mondder were full of speeders and pedestrians despite the rain, but the taxi pilot skillfully maneuvered between them all. It wasn't too long before the taxi dropped off Chase at the meeting location, a brightly lit cantina a few kilometers from the impressive and massive buildings of the Cybot Galactica headquarters. Chase paid the speeder taxi pilot and gave him a hefty tip, then he stood outside of the cantina for a moment and looked through the bright windows thoughtfully. He'd expected it to be...dimmer. More run-down. In all the holovids he'd ever seen, that was what covert meeting locations were supposed to look like, not...this. Chase shrugged to himself and went inside out of the rain. The pilot easily located the side table CodeBlue had told him about. Chase slid into one of its seats, took off his wet jacket and glanced at his chrono. He was an hour early since his plans had included some buffer time for any traveling issues, so he settled back to wait. The cantina was about half full in the late afternoon hour, and Chase didn't bother trying to adjust much to the large time difference since he wouldn't be here long. Most of the patrons were blue-skinned Etti and humans, though there was a table of ugly, segmented, bug-like Rakririans as well. Another table had two Espos who seemed to be coming off-duty. Chase looked away from the disgusting sight of the Rakririans, then flagged down a server droid and ordered a drink. There was no reason for him to stick out, especially with those Espos around. Chase nursed a couple drinks while he waited and casually watched the other patrons come and go. He breathed more easily when the two Espos left. The nonstop speeder and pedestrian traffic on the street outside reminded him of Imperial Center, and his thoughts wandered to that place. He didn't really miss the planet, but he missed his parents at times. His mother had been ecstatic at the news of her first expected grandchild, and he figured they would make more of an effort to visit him and Lataise after the baby was born. A little under an hour after his arrival, another patron walked in. Chase glanced at the ridiculous appearance of the alien and then tried to ignore the creature by going back to his drink. He wasn't expecting the alien to give a cheerful greeting to the bar staff, grab a drink from them, and then come right up to Chase's table and slide into a seat across from him. "Hello," the alien said. "I hope you haven't been waiting long. You're ProgrammerNeeded, are you not?" Chase blinked in surprise as the alien called him by the anonymous username he had sent the meeting request with. "Yes, I am. But you--" He broke off and studied the absurd alien for a moment. It looked like a Pho Ph'eahian with its four arms, large pointed ears and bright blue fur. "You're CodeBlue?" The alien gave a large, toothy grin. "That's me. Is that so hard to believe? Go ahead and look, I don't mind." He held up all four hands to show them off, then he tried to pat some of his fur dry. "But I've got to say, you really need a more imaginative username." "It gets the job done," Chase replied shortly. Damn it. Unfortunately, it looked like he was stuck with this blue thing for the work. It had still been the best candidate. He lowered his voice. "All right, well, this is a very sensitive project I wanted to talk to you about. Isn't there somewhere a little more...private we could go?" CodeBlue held one hand to his chest, and his voice changed to almost bashful intonations. "Why, Needed, we just met. Don't you think that's more of an activity for a second date? Or do you just get more forward with handsome blue-furred fellas like me? I shouldn't fault you for it. I am pretty irresistible." Chase twisted his expression into one of distaste. "What? What in the galaxy are you talking about? I'm here to talk business, that's all." CodeBlue's ears sagged, and he sounded almost bored when he said, "Oh. You're one of those people. All serious business, no humor. That doubles my rate right there. I get enough of those types at work." This blue thing was acting even worse than Radek. Chase grabbed onto the lead he had been given and plowed ahead, hoping that the "doubled rate" comment was merely another of its attempts at humor. "Your job, good, that's one question I wanted to ask you, since I guess we're not going anywhere else..." "We don't need to go anywhere else," CodeBlue said. "Everyone's good here. Besides, haven't you ever heard of hiding in the open? All the 'private' places are crawling with Espos and surveillance devices. Now what about my job?" "Is your real name Yhunia Vient? Do you work for Cybot Galactica?" CodeBlue narrowed his eyes slightly. "That's an odd question. Sounds like something an undercover Espo would ask." "Do I look like an Espo?" "All Humans look alike. And your reply wasn't a denial." "I'm not an Espo," Chase said. "Besides, I'd think they'd be more apt to arrest or shoot first and not bother with asking sneaky questions, don't you? I'm just trying to confirm your credentials, nothing more." CodeBlue thought about that for a moment. "Good point. And since it was such a good point, I'll give you your answer. Yes, 'tis I," he said with a flourish. "Though most people don't make the effort to piece my identities together. You must really be desperate for something." Chase was relieved that his research had been correct, though the alien's last comment ruffled him so he tried to ignore it. "Okay, good. Listen," Chase said in the same low voice as he leaned a little closer. Then he pulled back a bit when he smelled the alien's funny scent. "I need something done, and I need it done secretly." CodeBlue grinned wickedly and leaned forward as well, mirroring Chase's position. "What kind of something?" he asked quietly. "A computer something." "I'm good at computer somethings. Care to elaborate?" "Do you care to promise that whether or not you accept this, you'll keep it quiet?" Chase wished he didn't need to rely on an alien's word, but he hadn't really been prepared for this particular situation. "Ooh, now I really feel like I'm in a holovid or something. Yes, I promise. Want me to take a blood oath on it as well?" Chase paused, uncertain. Crazy, nonsensical alien rituals. "Uh, no, I don't think that will be necessary." "Good. 'Cause I was joking about the blood oath. Now what's this project?" Flustered, Chase took a few breaths to calm himself down, then he cleared his throat a couple times and began explaining. It felt strange to finally be speaking his plan aloud to someone else, and it was freeing and frightening all at once. "I need a computer virus made. This particular virus should only affect R-series astromechs. R2's and R5's in particular. No other droids or computer systems." CodeBlue's ears pricked, and his eyes lit up. "A hit on Industrial Automaton droids? Wonderful! My rates just went back down to their normal levels. You might even get a discount for this. Keep going." That was exactly the kind of reaction Chase had been hoping for and why he had picked a Cybot Galactica employee: the two companies were bitter rivals. Chase continued, "Here's what I need the virus to do. An infected astromech should look and behave normally. Its diagnostics should come back clean. A memory wipe should not get rid of the virus. The virus can be transmitted in whatever way is easiest, though I think direct droid-to-droid communications over their own frequencies would be simplest. Some sort of long-range transmission is needed as well or it might not spread past one capital ship. Now, listen closely. On starfighters like Y-wings and X-wings, the astromech droid is the only way to input hyperspace coordinates into the navigational computer. On randomly selected hyperspace jumps, say within the first ten jumps or so after becoming infected, an infected astromech should 'inadvertently' mix up or transpose some random numbers when inputting the hyperspace jump calculations into the starfighter's nav computer. It should not realize it made any sort of mistake. That's what I need." The blue alien seemed to mull that over. "So what you're saying is that you want a virus to cause an R2 to mess up the hyperspace jumps at random times, and the droid should appear on all counts to be healthy so no one suspects it's infected." "That's right." "And you realize these messed-up hyperspace jumps will cause that particular ship to--" "End up somewhere the pilot didn't expect. Fly into something. I'm aware of all the possible results." They were the ultimate end product Chase wanted; in fact, he was counting on them. Anything from a simple mission disruption to pilot death was welcome. His heart beat faster from the excitement of thinking about his plan again. The Rebels relied on their precious starfighters very heavily, and those starfighters relied heavily on their hyperdrives. If a squadron with infected astromechs made a jump to lightspeed and came out the other end with only half of their pilots, it would be chaos. They would falter. They would be weak and unprepared for whatever mission they were on. As the virus would spread and the Rebels had more and more occurrences, they'd have to change so many of their tactics and procedures to try to compensate for it or guard against it, and all of those changes meant utilization of more manpower and resources, which would often result in less efficient operations. Plus, no pilot would willingly get into a starfighter if he thought the hyperdrive would likely malfunction and strand him to die somewhere in space or impact him into the surface of a planet. They probably wouldn't even retreat from a fight on their own hyperdrives. There would be a panic. There would be chaos. There would be Rebel pilots who would never make it back from a fateful hyperspace jump, and many of them would likely never know what hit them. Chase would be the one responsible for weakening the Rebels' starfighter corps and therefore the entire Rebellion. Crippling them. Opening them up to a decisive strike from the Imperials. Kane had taken out four Rebels with a damaged fighter; Chase had the potential to take out many, many more without firing one shot. This whole plan was perfect from so many angles. Let those damned Rebel pilots see what it felt like to be stranded in a fighter without a way to jump to hyperspace and no one close enough to get help from. CodeBlue finally spoke. "I think I can do what you're asking. It'll be hard, but I can get it done." "How quickly?" "How quickly you want it? Price goes up for rush jobs." "I'm not familiar with the normal timelines for these sorts of things. Is two months considered a rush job?" "For something of this scale, two months would not be a rush job but it would be a priority job. Smaller price increase than a rush job. You're lucky I'm so good. For most people, two months would be impossible for this." "Then two months." That still gave him time to get the virus implemented in the field before his baby was born. "All right." CodeBlue nodded. "Oh, and I'll need your help with one small part of this. We have all the specs of the R-series astromechs, but I'll need the nav computer specs for the affected starfighters, since the programming interface between the droid and the navcomp will be important. Are those something you can get me? You seem like you have Imperial connections." "What? I do not," Chase said defensively. CodeBlue held up two hands in surrender. "All right, point taken, it's none of my business. But can you get them?" Chase waited for his nerves to settle down. "Yes, I can do that." He cleared a tickle in his throat. "Good, just send them to the same Holonet account you sent the meeting request to. The earlier, the better. Now, in exchange for this service, my contractual price will be..." The alien thought for a moment. "Twenty thousand credits." Chase stared dumbfounded at him. "Twenty thousand?" he finally managed. "You should be glad it's that cheap for something of this magnitude and with all the difficult restrictions you put on it, like the diagnostics. Plus, it pays for the total secrecy and a complete clearing of our tracks during the making of this product. I even gave you the 'Industrial Automaton Embarrassment Factor' discount. Sell any stocks you may have. As it is, you have the opportunity to allow me to finally pay off my endless debts and get the hell out of this place. Doesn't that make you feel all special inside? It should. The full amount will be due on delivery of the product. I'll take a 10% down payment to get started, or more if you'd like." Chase's head swam as he contemplated where he could possibly get that kind of money. He didn't have much of a choice though if he wanted to see this through. "All right, deal. How do I get the down payment to you? I don't exactly have it on me." The Pho Ph'eahian scribbled a number on a piece of flimsi he pulled from a pocket. "Here, send it to this financial account. It's secure and won't be traced back to either of us." The pilot pocketed it. "All right." "Well then, anything else I can help you with, ProgrammerNoLongerNeeded?" CodeBlue grinned at him. Chase was still distracted by the thought of all that money. "Um, maybe. Are there any places around here that sell gifts or jewelry really, really cheap?" "Why, there certainly are. We have everything. If you can't find it here, you can't find it anywhere." CodeBlue gave Chase directions to a few nearby stores, then stood and shook hands with him. "Pleasure doing business with you. I'll be in touch." The blue, four-armed alien left. Chase sat there for another few minutes and tried to think things through. One large hurdle had been overcome with his hiring of CodeBlue, but now he just needed the funds. In two months. He finished off his last drink, paid for it with hard credits, grabbed his jacket and left the bar. It was still storming out, but suddenly a speeder taxi seemed like an expensive luxury. Maybe his decision at the spaceport to decline purchasing a CSA Viscount tag and getting its visitor consumer discounts hadn't been such a good one. Chase began walking to the nearest store pointed out by CodeBlue. --------- -----signature----- "Like anything worth writing, it came inexplicably and without method." -Karen Eiffel The Way--Imperial pilot OCs, OT: http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/28104637 OC X-wing fics: http://www.coronasquadron.com/corona.html
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Arcalian Registered: Mar '05	Date Posted: 4/23 7:30pm Subject: RE: The Way -- Imperial TIE Pilots, OC Project, OT era, updated 4/22
	Yeah I kinda thought it was something along those general lines. It's all gonna blow up in his face, of course; he doesn't have the money for starters. He'll bankrupt his child's future before birth, or more likely get caught in the attempt. And thank you for acknowledging he knows he'd be arrested for what he's done. I hate it when people pretend they're not evil. He knows he is. -----signature----- Arcalian If you don't take yourself seriously, who else will? http://arcalian.deviantart.com/ http://idlewilder.proboards54.com/index.cgi?
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