Saga - Legends Legends of the Rebellion: Alliance Aces

This is the story of the alliance's first X-wing pilots. They will face loss, hardship, and defeat but they will not be forgotten. And remember, every legend has a bit of truth tucked inside.


Prologue:

“Riff on your feet, we've got a transport trying to leave the system and we've been called in as air support” a boy, not much younger than me, stood in the doorway of the bunkroom.

“Alright, I'm on my way” I jumped off my bunk and began jogging to the armory to get my equipment.

As we made our way down the corridor the rest of our squad joined up with us. After we put on our flight suits we began the short trip to the main hangar of the Victory-class star destroyer and a moment later climbed to the upper loading racks.

The comlink buzzed for a second before our officer’s voice could be heard. “Squadron, there is an unauthorized transport attempting to leave the planet. Your mission is to escort the Tartan patrol craft to the transport for boarding and inspection. Keep an eye out for any rebel activity.” The officer's voice cut out and I began loading into my TIE Fighter.

The whirring of the engine filled my ears as I prepped for takeoff. My fighter was released from its holding rack and I hit the thrusters to exit the hangar. As we flew from the hangar and into the planet’s orbit I noticed that the transport was stopped a short distance away.

“This is the Tartan craft, fighters fall in around me” A voice said over the comlink.

I followed my squadron in a right strafe to and positioned myself on the left flank of the Tartan. As we approached the Transport I noticed that it was a civilian model. Before I could have another thought a voice rang in my ears.

“This craft was reported as stolen and is under the control of insurgents. Open fire.” I froze for a second as the rest of my squad maneuvered into attack formation.

TIE fighters began to swarm the transport, firing on it when my comlink buzzed to life again.

“This is civilian transport G dash 7-7-3, hold your fire! We are not hostile!” my heart sank in dread as I realized we had been ordered to kill civilians for no reason.

I broke formation and performed a flanking maneuver on the squadron. “Hold your fire those are civilians! There are no insurgents onboard!” but they squad began firing again.

I released a burst at the TIEs without trying to hit any of them, and two of them broke formation and strafed left to flank me.

“DHX-11317 return to your formation or you will be shot down.” I ignored the warning and moved into attack position.

A blast of plasma whizzed past me as the two fighters began to release a flurry of blasts from behind me. I shot off a burst, landing a direct hit on the squad leader who was still engaging the transport. I pulled away and performed evasive action to try and shake the two on my tail.

“Riff what are you doing!? We're your squadron!” a voice pops into my comlink.

“I'm sorry Aren, I can't serve an empire that commits murder like this.” I flip off the comlink.

I perform an inside loop and pull up behind the two fighters that were tailing me. After a short hesitation I open fire with a large barrage, destroying one of the fighters and severely damaging the other.

The rest of the squadron scattered their formation and began moving towards me at full speed, engines whirring loudly, even through my cockpit. Laser bolts buzzed past from all directions and after a failed attempt at evading them my left wing was clipped.

Alarms started going haywire, and lights flashed wildly as I spun out and plummeted towards the planet’s surface. After several minutes of falling and spinning I lost consciousness.

I woke up to the smell of burning metal and the sound of crackling flames. The front of the fighter was shattered and mangled. An imperial shuttle flew over and I could hear it land not far away.

I heard voices and running but before anything else happened I blacked out again...

 

Nice start. Love a good pilot fic, writing one myself hope to keep reading this.

 

Thanks! I have been itching to do this for a while so I'm glad people might like it!

 

The 1st person approach is going to be interesting. I have only tried two stories using that POV and felt it was tough so I will be interested in seeing how you develop your story as move forward. It will provide some great insights on you main character from the cockpit so I hope you stick with it.

 

Yeah I will stick with it, I'm going into more detail with the chapters than I did with the prologue though, so hopefully it will be a better read. I always found first person easier to write, not sure why.

 

Chapter 1


The door opened and a trooper clad in gleaming white armor stepped in and pointed his blaster at me. “Get up scum, it's time for you interrogation.” he barked in a gruff voice.

I stood up and began walking, but before I could make it out of my cell he whacked me in the head with his armoured forearm.

“Keep moving” he grunted before pushing me up the stairs.

Outside the door were four other stormtroopers who also pointed their blasters at me. They got into a circular formation and marched me down the corridor to the interrogation chamber. They shoved me down into the chair and locked my hands onto the table.

“The commander will be here momentarily.” said a trooper to my left before leaving the room.

I sat in the empty room for several minutes before the door finally slid open. A tall, slender man stepped in and glared at me with an angry gaze.

“So you're the traitor in question. I will admit you have an impressive record but that won't sway your punishment after this stunt.” he said as he sat in the chair across from me.

“Let's see here… Top of your class at not only the Academy but also the Advanced Academy. From a wealthy family, on the planet of Kuat. I figured you would have been more loyal than this to your Emperor. Shameful.” I turned my head away from his stare and sighed.

He leaned in closer “So now tell me, what rebel cell are you working for?”

I thought to myself for a second in confusion and then answered. “I work for no rebel cells. I have had no contact outside the Empire since graduation.”

“Ah, I find that hard to believe. Attempting to rescue insurgents, and it appears on your previous mission you had questioned your superiors as well.” He leaned back again, with a more sinister look on his face now. “Well it's a shame your efforts were in vain, rebel or not, as the transport was still destroyed and your two comrades were pointlessly killed.”

I suddenly remembered the three fighters I had shot down and wondered who it was I killed. I sighed deeply and stared at the man for a moment, noticing that he was a captain from his rank plate.

“Don't worry, your childhood friend is only in the med bay for a few minor injuries. Aren Varris was it? Well he probably isn't your friend any more.” the man chuckled.

“What is my sentence? Or am I just going to listen you ramble until I die?” I scoffed, knowing for sure that I faced execution without a trial.

“Eager to die I see, however your sentence will not be as merciful as an execution. You have yet to serve the empire usefully, therefore you will be sent to the Prison mines of Kessel. If you somehow manage to survive for five months you will have the chance to be reinstated into the Empire on maintenance or something.” He sat up and glared at me with the same sinister smirk as before.

My heart sank. Even wookies never survive longer than two months on Kessel, this was indeed worse than death. But I also knew that escape from Kessel was nearly impossible.


“Trooper, escort Mister Korbin to his shuttle with the other prisoners bound to Kessel. And try to keep him in decent shape.” He said as two Stormtroopers unlocked my binds and lifted me from the chair.

They marched me down the corridor and as we passed the med bay I glanced in and saw Aren inside a bacta tank, with severe injuries. I felt sick and disgusted with myself, but I kept walking.

The stormtroopers shoved me every few steps until we finally arrived at the hangar, where a shuttle was preparing to take off. I was loaded onto the transport and locked into a seat. Locked in the seat across from me was a scruffy looking man and a girl no older than me with a scar on her cheek.

“There will be no speaking or other forms of communication with each other on this trip. Any trouble will not be good for you, especially where you're going.” A chiss male said as he boarded the shuttle.

After a few more troopers loaded on the doors closed and I could feel the ship take off, I was on my way to my grave...

 

Sorry in advance for any grammatical errors, I don't have a proofreader and I don't catch my own mistakes that well yet...

Chapter 2


The shuttle ride to kessel felt like it took ages. It was a mostly silent trip, except for the troopers talking every so often. My wrists began to hurt from the binders, but when I tried to shift my hands the trooper next to me would nudge me with his blaster.

A while later the chiss lieutenant came back in from the cockpit and started barking orders to the troopers. “Alright, we’ve entered the kessel system, troopers prepare to move these prisoners. No mistakes or it'll be your head, these are highly dangerous criminals.”

The shuttle landed and when the door opened a deep chill went across my body, and the smell of machinery filled my nose. The troopers shoved me down the ramp and I ended up falling off.

“Get up you scum!” The lieutenant grabbed me by the arm and started dragging me until I regained my footing.

Several other transports began landing and unloading prisoners. We were all lined up and bound together by electro cables. The two prisoners on the transport with me were to my right and we were at the end of the line.

An Officer walked out onto the platform and was joined by the Chiss Lieutenant from earlier. “Alright prisoners, you are now under my jurisdiction. You will work to earn your keep and possibly your freedom. Those who refuse to work or are no longer productive workers will be executed and disposed of.” he paced back and forth as he spoke to us.

“Now for today you will be moved to your cells and will not have to work, but your quota will be larger for tomorrow.” the Chiss chimed in, but was given a dirty look by the officer.

Stormtroopers moved in and started escorting us to the cell block we would be housed in. When we got to the block our links and cuffs were removed and I could see all of the prisoners. The roughly thirty prisoners were separated and placed in the cells in groups of four.

“Enjoy your last night of ease scum, you won't last long in the mines” A tall stormtrooper chuckled as he whacked the girl that was with me in the back with his gun to hurry her up.

“Don't touch her you Imperial Dog!” The man jumped at the trooper but was quickly sent to the ground after another trooper clotheslined him with a long rifle.

“Stupid bounty hunter. I'll let you off easy this time, but next time your face will be fried.” the trooper barked out in anger before closing the gate to our cell.

After they left I walked over to check on him but the older man placed in the cell with us grabbed my shoulder to stop me. The man was sitting up now and the girl was sitting next to him crying.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I walked over to them.

They both looked at me but the man looked like he was ready to knock my head off.

“Don't come any closer. I know what you are.” the man stood up and lightly pushed the girl behind him.

“What are y-”

“You're an Imperial dog just like them. You murder innocent people for no reason, and then you act like it's for the glory of your Emperor!” he backed up defensively as he shouted at me.


“Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm in here because I betrayed the Empire to save civilians!” I pushed him backwards with one arm.

He tackled me and slammed my head on the ground once. “But how many did you kill before you realized you were wrong!?”

We wrestled around for a bit before and the girl started screaming at us to stop. Eventually a stormtrooper came and threatened to blast us both if we didn't stop, so we did.

I stood up and we looked each other in the eyes briefly. “I killed two people since I've been in the military, and they were both Imperials.” I turned and walked to the other side of the large cell to where the old man was sitting on his bunk.

I climbed onto my bunk and laid down but I wasn't tired.

“You know…” said a slightly raspy voice below me. “It's hard for people who weren't raised in the Empire, or trained by them.” he stood up so that he could look at me. “I don't know what you've done, but I know what you could do. If any of us make it out of here alive, we need to help make the Empire fall.”

I thought about what he said for a few moments before replying. “I wouldn't know where to start. Rebel cells are usually planetary based and not very organized.”

“There is one. But I can't talk about it here, they're watching.” he turned and looked outside the cell gate again, and the Chiss from before quickly turned and disappeared around a corner.

“Hey um… Thanks, I guess. My name is Riff. Riff Korbin.” I reached my hand out as I spoke.

“Ferden Blrib. Good to meet you” he shook my hand lightly.

A while later I decided to try talking to the man again, and so I walked over but he instantly put his guard up.

I put my hands up to show I wasn't there to fight. “It's okay, I just want to talk.”

“About what? I don't have much to talk about with you.” he scoffed.

“I wanted to apologize for earlier. I guess I didn't realized how hard it is for people. Also… I'm Riff. Riff Korbin.” I stuck my hand out but he didn't shake it.

“Jax Rayza. And that's my daughter, Jain.” he pointed towards the girl who was sleeping on the bunk behind him. “It's getting late, you should probably get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow.”

I laid in my bunk for what seemed like hours, but finally sleep found me...

 

Good start! It looks like Riff is in for a pretty rough time on Kessel. I'm interested in learning more about him, and seeing if he and the other prisoners can help each other through at all. I also wonder what his friend Aren will think about him after what happened in the TIE battle.

Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks! I'm glad you are liking it so far. Knowing people enjoy it goes a long ways! May the force be with you~