Beyond - Legends Stars Called Galaxy (NJO AU) - Chapter 18, 8/30!

hurt the Vong, again and again and again, until they just can't embrace the pain any longer

loved that line

 

Okay, so my definition of moment is a bit longer than everyone else's...


I like this chapter though I was taken aback at first to see Booster choosing sides. But then I remembered in the X-wing book, when he met with Corran, Gavin, and Huff Darklighter, that he made Huff give the Rogues stuff for free. So I think Booster isn't quite as anti-government as he says. Well, not government, but you know, the side Wedge and Mirax are on.

Interesting that Karrde is considering giving up his independence, but the stakes have never been higher. Shada being against it makes total sense, and I agreed with much of what she advised.

The old gang has returned. It's like Old School, only infinitely cooler.

Great rebuttal!

Most awesome line. Ever.

 

Thanks for your review, Inara! Glad you liked Booster's little speech, heh. Yeah, Booster integrates way better into a command structure - as long as it's a loose command structure, giving him space to do whatever he wants that conforms to the general goals of whoever he's affiliated with - than you'd think he might. Wedge had him in the Insiders in the canonical Enemy Lines duology, so I figured he'd have a similar role in SCG.

 

Up through Chapter VI!

?Politicians!? he grumbled as he headed down the corridor. ?Why did it have to be politicians??

Is that a nod to Indy?

I really like how you show the different perspectives of what's going on, especially with Anakin now in the picture. Sharr and Piggy coming up with the goddess idea (through spying, no less ), Jag and Shawnkyr's debate over whether or not to help the NR, and my favorite part - Han angry with Anakin. It shows he cares.

 

Oops! Double post.


+1

 

It was indeed a nod to Indy. Glad you're catching up! Thanks for the R&R!

 

Holy Corellian Hells! Yes, I just read Chapter VII.

I can't believe you killed Tycho! He's supposed to be one of the Immortals. Can't say I'm that sad about Pwoe's death. The pathetic schemes he comes up with, really...

Jaina was briefly surprised, but she remembered that it had always been the politicians and not the military that had shunned the Jedi and scoffed at their advice.

I thought that line was great, because the more I thought about it, the more it made sense throughout the entire saga. When there was no Republic-wide military, the Jedi were the keepers of peace (maybe "enforcers" gives the wrong idea). Excellent fighters and strategists, and they sure as hell had military discipline.

They did also have political skills, albeit the more noble and respectable kind. Negotiating, diplomacy, patience, objectivity - they put the current politicians to shame. No doubt as the Senate became more corrupt in the Old Republic, they became resentful of the political sway the Jedi inadvertently had.

So the way I see it, these old-timer military commanders like Rieekan and Bel Iblis knew how much the Jedi had done during the Clone War and really respect them for that. The politicans, on the other hand (not all of them, obviously, but a good number at this point), laugh off Jedi tactics. Can't really blame them when the Yuuzhan Vong are overtaking their home planets, but maybe it also shows what little understanding they have of military affairs.

Anyway, enough of my dissertation. Time to catch up some more!

 

Baljos combed his fingers through his scraggly beard and shook them out, sending miniature clouds of orange dust rising into the air. ?I notice it,? he said, ?but that?s only because it makes my beard look like Cheezos.?

HAHAHAHA! Nothing like Wraiths to brighten up a day!

Chapter VIII's down...

 

Did this story get forgotten, More story with A/T

 

Chapter VIII

"Remember how the stormtroopers always used to march out in their parade-ground formations in their shining white armor, because they were fighting 'like civilized people'? Remember how ridiculous that was? And we just jumped out from nowhere and shot them all down?"

"I remember," Luke replied, not sure he was liking where his friend was going with all this.

"I think it's time that you and Mara talked to Wedge," Leia said grimly.

Now that sounds interesting... I feel so bad for Winter - not only is she dealing with long-distance grief, but she's holding together a movement at the same time.

 

Update any time soon? I just found this and am lovin' it.

 

Sorry everyone...as you might have guessed, story is on indefinite hiatus. If anyone wants to take it up and continue where I left off...PM me.

 

Hey. I'm back. Wow, it's been a while.

I'm going to be quite honest: I don't know how long I'm going to retain my interest in this 'fic, or how often I'm going to care to update it, or how consistent I'm going to be about even checking in. That being said, I decided I might try my shot at getting back to writing this, just to see where it takes me.

This is Chapter...uh...it appears to be Chapter 16. Enjoy it.

---

[b]Chapter XVI: Nothing in its Right Place[/b]

"I have something interesting for you, General," said Lando Calrissian, appearing in a flash of cape and military uniform in Wedge's office.

The Corellian looked up. "Yes?"

"A tape that you might want to look at," Lando continued. "The [i]Wild Karrde[/i] just transmitted it to me."

"Of?" Wedge probed.

"Traest Kre'fey's address to Bothawui."

Wedge almost slapped himself for forgetting all about the volcanic Bothan admiral and his intended speech. "Put it on," he ordered. "You've seen it already, I presume?"

"Before taking it to my commanding officer?" Lando looked hurt.

"You've seen it," Wedge accused.

"Only the first couple minutes," the gambler admitted. He slid the tape into the slot below the datascreen on the wall. "I'm sure it got better."

The image fizzled into life; Traest Kre'fey, with cautiously rippling white fur and blazing violet eyes, sat behind a desk emblazoned with the insignia of the New Republic. The flags of Bothawui, Coruscant, and the Republic stood behind him. Wedge frowned, his eyes searching in vain for a trace of the Bothan military insignia on the desk or on the admiral's uniform.

Kre'fey spoke; his language was Bothan, but the speech was subtitled in Basic. "[My fellow Bothans and other denizens of Bothan Space?]" he seemed to wince slightly at his own wording "[?I speak to you not as the commander of the Bothan fleet or an official of the Bothan government. I speak to you as a fighter and a rebel.]

"[The galaxy has changed. The New Republic exists only as these symbols and banners you see surrounding me. Coruscant has fallen. There is no known power in the universe with strength to singlehandedly drive the invaders, the loathed Yuuzhan Vong, from our galaxy back into the cosmic void to which they belong.]"

"There he goes," Wedge murmured.

"Shh," Lando admonished him.

"[It is with full consciousness of this sad fact that I must warn you that the policy being pursued by your government is doomed to certain failure, and abject catastrophe for the Bothan race. Tomorrow, the office of President Rem'wha intends to declare holy war on the Yuuzhan Vong.]

"[I am here to tell you that the president is gravely mistaken in doing this.]

"[My friends in the Alliance High Command, which has declared martial law across the galaxy out of brutal necessity, have told me that they will not recognize an all-out campaign of genocide against the enemy. While I may not personally condone their decision to consider leniency, the fact remains that if the Bothans strike out on a crusade of holy war, the Alliance will not support us.]

"[The Bothans are a mighty force in the galaxy, one of the strongest independent powers remaining against the mass of the Yuuzhan Vong. But we are not that strong. Coruscant has already fallen, and the enemy spreads now to engulf the Galactic Core. We cannot fight this war alone.]

"[You have three choices. You can surrender and accept a fate worse than death under the black claw of the Yuuzhan Vong. I will not. You can throw yourself pointlessly against the fleets of the enemy in a hopeless suicide mission for the cause of holy war. I will not. Or you can stand with the free peoples of the galaxy, and we can make our stand and repulse this hideous threat together. I will be with them as I hope to be with you, my people.]

"[I am no longer your commander. But I would still lay down my life for you. That is the nature of the Second Alliance; more, it is the nature of the Bothan people.]

"[Join me and we will rid the galaxy of this evil. Just as we need their guns, o

 

Bump.

 

Cool, I hope you continue with this.

 

Thanks, me too.

 

Chapter XVII: Strategy

"A commodore," Karrde seethed, his strides long and angry.

Shada glided easily at his side, moving with the grade of a Mistryl Shadow Guard. She smiled slightly in spite of herself; while she had been opposed to coming to Borleias in the first place, seeing Karrde truly out of his element was so sufficiently rare as to be ceaselessly entertaining. "You know, Karrde, you'd make life a lot easier for yourself if you just stayed out of other people's business."

He waved the comment off almost petulantly. "I know," he said, "but where's the fun in that? Besides," he added, swiping briefly at his goatee, "other people's business is my business."

"You really should just retire before they make you Chief of State," she remarked.

"No," he said. "If I was Chief of State, I could just make all the channel-tapping I do legal. I'll have to see if I have that kind of jurisdiction as an Alliance Commodore."

She considered this for a moment. "Martial law," she noted.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Can I help you?" Karrde stopped up short. A large-boned, awkward-looking young man had stopped in front of them.

He stammered for a full ten seconds (Shada counted them out silently in her head) before managing to form a coherent sentence. "Are you Talon Karrde?"

"Commodore Talon Karrde," he reproved, grimacing with distaste as he said the title. "You're supposed to salute, I believe."

"Oh. Um..." The young man, barely more than an overgrown boy, mangled a salute. "Sorry, sir."

"The burden of apology rests with me. It was a joke," said Karrde.

17. He is bad at jokes, Shada recalled from a list of notes that she had written and compiled about Karrde during her tenure as the man's closest associate. She was up to number 1,146 by now, if she remembered correctly.

"Oh. Um...well...Commodore Karrde," the kid stammered. "I'm...my name is...I'm Tam Elgrin. I'm here with Wolam Tser. I operate his holocam. I was on Coruscant when it fell," he blurted. "I wanted to...I mean, I want to...I was going to ask..."

Karrde waited patiently. Shada smirked to herself, but remained silent.

"Can I do some filming?" he finished, out of breath. "On your spaceship, I mean. Nobody knows anything about the, uh, the...the Smugglers' Alliance? I thought it'd make a good feature, or a holodocumentary, or something."

Shada looked over at her boss, lifting her eyebrows in surprise, and found him staring right back at her. Their eyes met, his a piercing, forever inquisitive yet refined blue-grey.

Karrde made haste looking back at Tam Elgrin. "I would have to talk to Tser about that," he said lightly.

"I can take you to see him right now," Elgrin said swiftly. "He thinks it's a good idea. I heard that you got here?" He stopped suddenly, winced, touching his temples with his fingertips. He shook his head and continued, stammering again: "I really thought it'd be an interesting piece. I ran to go ask him about it, and he thinks it'd be great."

"Well, I'll have to talk to him," said Karrde firmly.

"Okay. Um...can I...right now...?"

He glanced back and made eye contact with Shada again, fleetingly. "If he's close by," he said. "I can procrastinate and yet be an honest man for a few minutes. After that, I'm afraid that I will dwindle into indecency."

"Great," said Elgrin with obvious relief. "Wait...I mean...um...he's close, yeah, just...um...follow me? Sir," he added hastily.

Shaking her head, trying to decide just what to think, Shada followed Elgrin down the shabby little prefab hallway again, always at Karrde's side.

* * * * *

Wedge plunked down in his seat. He threw a look over his shoulder at Lando Calrissian, leaning easily against the doorframe.

"Well," Wedge said, "this is just slightly ridiculous."

Lando spread his hands. "Hey, we've got the best we can get," he pointed out. "Not to truss myself up or anything, but I do still remember Taanab. And the Death Star was a good trick, if you're not too old to remember that..

 

Another bump...not much fun writing for nobody, hmm

 

I'm reading, I'm reading!

 

More!

 

Soon!

 

excellent post!

 

Chapter XVIII: Still

Han Solo had not yet readjusted to waking up obscenely early every morning.

As he padded grouchily across the control room, shaking left hand gripping the handle of a grimy plastic mug of a cold grey substance that had been labeled "stimcaf", a ping sounded from a computer console, which had been kind enough to let him pass by without incident not five seconds before.

"Make me go back the way I came, why don't you," he muttered under his breath, making a military about-face to trudge over to the console. "Lando!" he called, his voice gruff and scratchy from too little sleep. "Lando, old buddy, we have more visitors."

"Hmm?" Lando jerked, then jumped up from where he had been slouching with his head across his outstretched arm. "Huh? What's goin' on?"

"Visitors, Lando," Han enunciated as best as he could. "As in, somebody dropping by to see us."

"Huh? Okay, okay," said the second-in-command of the Pyria system groggily. "Let them in."

Han checked the display. The mark was not Yuuzhan Vong, to his relief, but bore the transponder code of a New Republic civilian freighter?two, in fact. "Our lucky day, Lando," he said. "Looks like more refugees. Two shiploads of 'em."

"Oh," said Lando, visibly remembering where they were. "Okay. You want to let them land, or should I?"

The Corellian attempted to sip his caf, but flinched away before the substance even touched his lips. "Oh, I don't know, Lando," he said, half-smiling across the white mug at his friend. "I think that might be outside of my jurisdiction..."

Lando called him a very choice name, lumbered out of his seat, and grumbled all the way over to the console. He hit the com button.

"Borleias to incoming craft. This is General Calrissian speaking. Please identify yourselves and state your purpose."

Before Han had time to wonder if the theatrics were really necessary, a somewhat familiar voice crackled back over the com. "General Calrissian?" the woman asked, sounding incredulous. "The Calrissian? Lando, did my husband reactivate your commission?"

"Well, I guess I don't need to tell you how we're doing," said Lando. "Better than you might think, incidentally," he reassured her.

"I should hope so. I was just about to ask if..." Iella Wessiri's voice trailed off. "No, never mind. It's still bad even without jokes."

Lando agreed soberly, still rubbing sleep out of his eyes, "And bad jokes only make it worse."

"That's right. Is Wedge around?"

"He should be in his office. You want me to?"

She scoffed audibly across the com connection. "Of course not. You know how much I like surprising people."

"Right," said Lando. "Okay, so what two ships are these, and how do I know I should give you clearance?"

"We have the Bass Relief and the Tomorrow's Breakfast, both out of Coruscant."

"Tomorrow's Breakfast, huh? That sounds optimistic," Lando wisecracked. "Okay, what about clearance?"

Iella said after a moment, "I hope you take civilian codes."

"Of course."

"Really, really old civilian codes?"

"How old?"

"Well," said Iella, "I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't telling you myself. Somehow, whoever owned the Bass Relief hadn't updated her clearance codes since we captured Coruscant the first time."

Lando was silent for a moment. His nervous eyes met Han's, but Han just shrugged. Lando was enterprising; he could handle this.

At last, the former owner of the Millennium Falcon said, "Uh, what about the codes on the other ship?"

"The Tomorrow's Breakfast?" Iella sounded doubtful. "It doesn't even have codes, none at all. I think it's an old pirate ship."

"Oh, great," said Lando.

There was a brief pause, and Han fleetingly wondered if whoever was on the other end of the com connection, if it was not really Iella Wessiri speaking, had abandoned the ruse. But Iella's voice came back: "Lando Calrissian, one night about twelve years ago, you got very drunk at a gala to celebrate some sort of recent financia

 

lol. I was begining to wonder where Anakin and Tahiri had slinked off to

 

Hi,

I really like this!! Can you add me to your PM list, if you have one.

Thanks,

Cara