X-Men/Star Wars: The X-Over

Keep your pants on bro...lol
*********

Logan threw himself at the last two troops with reckless abandon, burying his left claw in chest of the one with the weapon and bringing second to the grown with an arm tackle. He thought he had everything under control when thecommunicator crackled...

"Say again GW 161...you have an unidentified intruder?"

Quickly thinking Logan grabbed the trooper by throat and growled.

"Tell him it was a mistake," theformer Weapon X ordered. "Tell him or I'll do you justlike your friends...Tell him!"

The trooper shook with fear as Logan loosened his grip on theman's throat so hecould speak.

"Negative, control," he said into the communicator. "False alarm, my apologies."

Logan nodded and knocked the man cold with an elbow to his temple.

"All clear, fellas," he said, whispering to the hidden compartments in the floor.

Han emerged more than a bit amazed by the little man's ruthlessness and his efficiency. Stillhe tried to act like the professional soldier his rank made him out to be.

"Good work, Logan. Put them in the compartment, Chewie," he said coldly. "Bind and gag the one who's still alive."

Chewie followed Han's instructions, tying the limp trooper with some spare cable and then sealing him in the smuggling bin with his 5 dead partners. Getting the smell out would take some doing, but the Falcon's cleanliness was hardly the primary concern at themoment.

"C'mon," Han said checking the powerclipin his blaster. "It won't take them long to realize something's up."


[This message has been edited by elegant_weapon_at_UNC (edited 12-11-1999).]

 

BRO!?!?!?!?!?!? I am not a guy!!!

And why haven't you posted more?

 

Cyclops was thoroughly confused. His optic blasts had just fizzled a few feet before impact. The X-Men had counted on a firepower advantage, without it there was little hope of accomplishing their mission.

"Any ideas?" Cyclops called to Skywalker who was deep in concentration protection his party from the hail of blaster fire.

"I've never seen this before,its like there's a hole in the Force," Skywalker said, not taking his eyes from his work. "In anycase, we're not going down this hallway. We need to regroup..."

"Roger that,Commander," Cyclops replied. "Jean, forget about the offense, help Luke cover us with a forcefield. Psylocke, cover our rear, make sure they don't send reinforcements up from the hangar."

With that Summers turned and cut loose with a full force optic blast, opening a hole into an adjacent corridor.

"Lets go! Pull back!" he shout and fired a blast at the ceiling, bringing down an avalanche of debris cutting off the hallway in front of the strange new troops. The X-man couldn't help but smile, please with his own ingenuity.

"Indirect fire's a *****, huh?"

Skywalker took no time for celebration.

"This way," he said, leading them through the hole into the adjacent corridor. "Here we go, in here!"

The foursome ducked into what appeared to be a maintence locker.

"Any idea whats going on?" Psylocke asked immediately. Skywalker only shook his head.

"Whatever it is, it must have something to do with those lizards," jean said, thinking out loud. "Why else would they carry them around in those bulky packs?"

"A creature that blocks out the Force?" he said, tryingto wrap his mind around the paradox of a living thing out of tune with all of life's energy, when a realization suddenly came to Jean.

"Like the Savage Land?!"

"The what?" Skywalker asked quickly.

"A place we've visited," Psylocke answered quickly. "A hidden jungle where the environment somehow cancels out our powers. It does make some sense..."

"Fine, we know the cause," Summers said, redirecting the conversation to the present. "now, how do we fight it? We were counting on surprise and our powers to compensate for their numbers advantage..."

"It seems that they don't have enough of the little creatures to equip every soldier with one," Jean said. "other wise they would havehad them in the hangar."

"True," cyclops finished his wife's thought. "They must be some kind of special unit for fighting...uh...'Force users'."

Skywalker said he'd never heard of such a unit, but conceded that the logic was more than sound.

"If they're limited in number, then we've got the advantage," Psylocke said with a smirk. "We know where we're going, they don't."

"yes, but they know what our likely targets will be," Cyclops thought frowning. "They'll be covering vital areas with these troops: bridge, engineering, life support, probably the weapons room and fire control, too. We've got to find an unpredictable target."

Outside they could footsteps on the metal floor as squad after squad moved through the ship searching for them.

"We better hurry too..."

[This message has been edited by elegant_weapon_at_UNC (edited 12-11-1999).]

 

Hundreds of reports from all over the world watched as Steve Rodgers, also known as Captain America, leader of the Avengers, stepped out of the helicopter and on to the steps of the Capitol in Washington DC.

Today's emergency session of Congress was going out live to nearly every home in America. It was an audience usually reserved for Presidents, indeed Rogers remembered well watching FDR give his famous "Day of Infamy" speech in a not unsimilar time and manner. The nation's number one soldier was going to address the government.

Resplendent in his red, white and blue costume and carrying in his left hand that famous stars and stripes shield, Captain America approached the microphone at the center of the House of Reps.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the symbol of freedom and justice said. "We face a very trying time. The Amazon is burning. Australia has fallen. These Imperial troops are mustering for a push into Asia and the entire world lives in fear under the threat of orbital bombardment."

Rodgers took a breath, considering for one last time the action he was about to take. He would do what had to be done, and so he steeled his will and continued.

"And America has done nothing!"

The murmurs of the audience was replaced by stone-silent shock. Was Captain America actually speaking against the government?! Rodgers let it all sink in and continued.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said in a bold tone that spoke from the best parts of the human spirit. "I watched this nation wait for nearly 3 years while Hitler and the Nazi's ran roughshod over Europe. I watched us plead the same case of isolationism and capitulation. And then, at the end of the war I saw the fruits of that policy. I saw the bodies of the innocent stack head-high at Auschwitz! I saw the poor starving in a ravaged Eastern Europe! I saw American boys lying dead in the surf at Normandy! All because we waited too long to do what we knew to be right! All because we thought that pain inflicted is only our responsibility when it happens on our side of an imaginary line on some map! I'm here to tell you that capitulation and isolation did not work then and it will not work now! If there is to be a free America, there must first be a free Earth!"

Captain America paused again before making his final statement.

"But it is not the place of a soldier, even a super-soldier to make policy. My duty to my government tells me to follow orders and wait...but my duty to my people tells me to fight, now and to my last breath. What choice do I have?"

And with a single tear rolling down his cheek, Steve Rodgers pulled off his mask, and layed his famous shield down on the podium.

"I hereby resign my commission in the United States military, and my leadership of the Avengers...If Captain America can not join the fight, then Steven Rodgers will."

With that final statement, Steve Rodgers strode out of the Capitol and, pushing his way through the crowd of reporters, boarded a stolen SHIELD transport for Australia.

He wept the entire journey.

 

Ok, this may be just a bit of ridiculous nitpicking, but there's no "D" in Captain America's last name. Just plain ol' Steve Rogers. World's oldest living boy scout. *chuckles*. And Captain America crying?? Stealing a SHIELD Transport?? No @#$% way!! I'm not even a Yankee, but you don't see Captain America cry! Ever. Not even in the face of what he had to do!! Besides, he'd probably steal an Avengers Quinjet instead.
*sighs and mumbles something about getting the Avengers involved with this* I mean, I didnt want to slaughter the poor Imps. Thor. Iron Man. Captain America. It would be a massacre!

But, continuing with the story...

----------------------------------------Earth -- Australia

General Auren Covell stood under the blazing Australian sun as he supervised the troop embarkment procedures and for what must have been the twentieth time, wiped his sweaty brow. By the pit, he thought. This mudball's almost as hot as Tatooine. And it only has ONE sun.

Then he heard a strange sound. What seemed to be the roar of engines. But none that came out of Imperial standard vehicles. He looked up and saw several aircraft flying at high speed towards their base. And in that same moment, they fired their missiles at some of the troop barges.

Covell reflexively ducked for cover, even though the missiles were aimed at the farthest of the barges. He swore under his breath. "How in all the hells--?!"

A young trooper ran towards him. "General Covell, sir! We're under attack!!"

Covell grabbed him by his cuffs and shook the man violently. "I can see and hear that you idiot! How in the hell did those things get this close to us?!"

"We don't know sir. Our sensors are registering major jamming on all frequencies. It's as if the entire electromagnetic spectrum has gone haywire!"

Another explosion almost shook him off his feet, making him curse again. "Shavit! Where's Fel?? Find him and tell him to get his people on the air!". Covell then clicked on his comlink and set it to an open channel. "Attention all troops, we are under attack! Cease embarkment positions and man all battlestations. All ground and air forces, movilize and repel all intruders!"
He then turned back to the lieutenant. "You, get me on one of those AT-AT'S, now!"

Soontir Fel ran to his TIE Interceptor at break neck speed, adjusting his flightsuit and equipment as he sprinted. He lept into his ship's cockpit and prepared for flight. He couldn't believe these Earthers. They had dared to attack them again, after that massacre a few days back. But yet, he had been lucky to had survived that fight at all, what with that...monster...that had swatted his entire wing as if they were mere flies. If the Earthers had come back with that thing...things would get very ugly.

He clicked on his comlink and adressed his squadron. "This is Avenger One, ready for take off. Squadron, signal me if everything's green." He stared at his control panel as his squadron's com channels flared up green in his instrument panel; each light turning on with the respective pilot's vocal "go" acknowledgement.

"We're ready Avenger One", said his wingman over the com.

"Take to the sky, Avenger Squadron. Kill anything that isn't a TIE, and watch your six."

"Roger that, Lead", said Avenger 3.

"What do you think, Baron? Think they'll throw that Vader wannabe at us again?", said Four.

"I hope not, Kryz", said Fel. "But if that happens, you know the drill. We try to take him down, no matter what." Fel scanned his Combat Multiview Display and searched for the nearest enemy fighter. He scanned the sky and found a couple of the enemy fighters strafing the ground troops and carrier craft, doing a very good job of avoiding the ground troops defensive fire while they struck with impunity. Very good, he thought. They haven't lost their backbone after that fiasco, and are doing a good job at getting even. Unfortunately, that's not going do to them much good. Fel targetted the nearest fighter and proceeded to intercept.

To his credit, the F/X-44's pilot did a good job at trying to shake him loose. He h

 

Ok, this may be just a bit of ridiculous nitpicking, but there's no "D" in Captain America's last name. Just plain ol' Steve Rogers. World's oldest living boy scout. *chuckles*. And Captain America crying?? Stealing a SHIELD Transport?? No @#$% way!! I'm not even a Yankee, but you don't see Captain America cry! Ever. Not even in the face of what he had to do!! Besides, he'd probably steal an Avengers Quinjet instead.
*sighs and mumbles something about getting the Avengers involved with this* I mean, I didnt want to slaughter the poor Imps. Thor. Iron Man. Captain America. It would be a massacre!

But, continuing with the story...

----------------------------------------Earth -- Australia

General Auren Covell stood under the blazing Australian sun as he supervised the troop embarkment procedures and for what must have been the twentieth time, wiped his sweaty brow. By the pit, he thought. This mudball's almost as hot as Tatooine. And it only has ONE sun.

Then he heard a strange sound. What seemed to be the roar of engines. But none that came out of Imperial standard vehicles. He looked up and saw several aircraft flying at high speed towards their base. And in that same moment, they fired their missiles at some of the troop barges.

Covell reflexively ducked for cover, even though the missiles were aimed at the farthest of the barges. He swore under his breath. "How in all the hells--?!"

A young trooper ran towards him. "General Covell, sir! We're under attack!!"

Covell grabbed him by his cuffs and shook the man violently. "I can see and hear that you idiot! How in the hell did those things get this close to us?!"

"We don't know sir. Our sensors are registering major jamming on all frequencies. It's as if the entire electromagnetic spectrum has gone haywire!"

Another explosion almost shook him off his feet, making him curse again. "Shavit! Where's Fel?? Find him and tell him to get his people on the air!". Covell then clicked on his comlink and set it to an open channel. "Attention all troops, we are under attack! Cease embarkment positions and man all battlestations. All ground and air forces, movilize and repel all intruders!"
He then turned back to the lieutenant. "You, get me on one of those AT-AT'S, now!"

Soontir Fel ran to his TIE Interceptor at break neck speed, adjusting his flightsuit and equipment as he sprinted. He lept into his ship's cockpit and prepared for flight. He couldn't believe these Earthers. They had dared to attack them again, after that massacre a few days back. But yet, he had been lucky to had survived that fight at all, what with that...monster...that had swatted his entire wing as if they were mere flies. If the Earthers had come back with that thing...things would get very ugly.

He clicked on his comlink and adressed his squadron. "This is Avenger One, ready for take off. Squadron, signal me if everything's green." He stared at his control panel as his squadron's com channels flared up green in his instrument panel; each light turning on with the respective pilot's vocal "go" acknowledgement.

"We're ready Avenger One", said his wingman over the com.

"Take to the sky, Avenger Squadron. Kill anything that isn't a TIE, and watch your six."

"Roger that, Lead", said Avenger 3.

"What do you think, Baron? Think they'll throw that Vader wannabe at us again?", said Four.

"I hope not, Kryz", said Fel. "But if that happens, you know the drill. We try to take him down, no matter what." Fel scanned his Combat Multiview Display and searched for the nearest enemy fighter. He scanned the sky and found a couple of the enemy fighters strafing the ground troops and carrier craft, doing a very good job of avoiding the ground troops defensive fire while they struck with impunity. Very good, he thought. They haven't lost their backbone after that fiasco, and are doing a good job at getting even. Unfortunately, that's not going do to them much good. Fel targetted the nearest fighter and proceeded to intercept.

To his credit, the F/X-44's pilot did a good job at trying to shake him loose. He h

 

Ack! Sorry for the double post. :Þ

 

1) My bad on the spelling

2) I never said all the Avengers we're joining the fight...just Cap...I agree, too many heroes would be no fun...but I had to get Cap in there because I like him, he's not pwerful enough to turn the tide single handedly but he's a fun character to write...he'll amount to little more than a cameo...

3) If you saw your life's work going down the tubes and you had to go back on everything you'd ever stood for you'd cry too! Besides, its not like he was bawling in public, he held his dignity until he was alone on the transport...

 

Han Solo, garbed in Stormtrooper armor, casually walked down the Falcon's access ramp, just as a new squad of stormtroopers sprinted towards the ship. Great, Solo mused to himself.They know something's up, alright. The helmet's communicator buzzed in his ear and once again he tried to do his best imitation of a proper stormtrooper.

"TK-141, there seemed to be a disturbance awhile ago. What's the situation?"

"Negative, everything's fine. We're all fine. How're you?"

The lead stormtrooper looked at him oddly (if one could tell from the expressionless masks they wore) and leveled his blaster. "TK-141, what's wrong with your voice? You have a cold or something?"

"Um, yeah, something like that." Then he coughed violently in his helmet, making the lead trooper grab the side of his helmet reflexively.

"Jeez, Fren, head up to Medbay and take something for that", said another 'trooper. "We'll relieve you here."

"You know, there's no need for that", said Han. "We're doing fine here. We'll be done searching the ship in a few minutes."

The lead 'trooper tapped the side of his helmet again and looked at Solo. "Hey, I'm not reaching any of your squad mates through the comm. What's going on in there?"

Aw, for crying out loud...I'm not gonna get another 'Death Star infiltration' here, am I? Losing all patience now, Han leveled his blaster and in the blink of an eye fired consecutive stun bolts at the squad.

Solo looked around and saw no one else nearby. Fortunately, the Falcon had been brought up from the main hangar bay to a service/ storage area. They were deeper into the ship than he had originally hope for, so things were looking up. At least for now.

"I thought we were gonna do this quiet like, bub?"

Solo gasped and turned around, facing Logan just as the short roughneck was lighting up one of his cigars. "Jeez, do you always sneak up on a body like that?!", asked Han, more than a little agitated.

Wolverine grinned and chuckled softly. "It's a knack. So, what're we gonna do with these guys? I don't think we can tuck in more dead troops in your ship."

"They're not dead, just stunned."

"Why didn't you kill 'em?"

Han wondered briefly about that and he just shrugged. "Maybe cause they're poor slobs doing their job and I didn't feel like slaughtering them. Or maybe I'm getting old in my old age."

Logan glanced down at the stunned 'troopers and exhaled a puff of smoke. "Yeah. I know that feeling."

Chewbacca, Beast and Gambit walked down the access ramp and walked towards both men.

"Well, here we are", said Beast. "Where do we go from here now?"

"Well, we get out of here and find the most direct route to the bridge", said Solo. "Once I figure out where exactly in the ship we are, getting there will bew no problem."

"Or so we hope", said the Beast, smiling, as he grabbed one of the stunned 'troopers blaster carbines. Gambit followed the big, blue, furry man's lead and disarmed two of the troopers.

"Heh, always wanted my own laser pistol." He smiled at Solo and he tucked the carbine under his trenchcoat.

Han stared at Logan as the man pulled his mask on and adjusted his gloves. "You should take one too, you know. I don't think you'll have many chances to take down stormies like you did back there."

Logan grinned ferally and shook his head softly. "Much obliged bub, but I'm not too crazy about guns. Besides --" he paused and crossed his forearms over his chest, his adamantium claws popping out of their implanted housings with a loud 'SNIKT' of metal sliding against metal "-- I don't need guns."

"Huh. A fan of getting up-close-and-personal, eh?", said Solo with frank admiration.

"Yup", said the Canadian smuggly.

Chewbacca growled something at Han and he nodded at the Wookie. "Yeah, you're right, we shouldn't be wasting more time. Help me hide our friends here. You know the drill, gag 'em and disable their comlinks."

After a few minutes, they finished hiding the 'troopers and walked out of the storage bay.

"Alright", said Solo. "First order of business is to locate a comm terminal and find out where we are. Fro

 

Kewl

 

Thanks for the kind praise Amidala22. My audience is small but every kind word or critic is welcome.

 

Yeah, this rocks! And could you remember Excalibur? And Fury? Oh, BTW, I noticed that there's only two of you writing this.
Pretty nice work!

 

I'll try to write more on Storm and Kurt's teams. I've just realized I've dug quite a hole for myself here, having 4 different battles going on at the same time!
*gulps*
Any help would be sincerely appreciated.

 

To the top!

 

Just wanted to tell you that you've got a (previously) hidden admirer here. Great job!
Unfortunately, I'm not all that familiar with the Marvel superheroes (know some of the X-Men, Spidermen, Capt. America) but I enjoyed your story just the same. (Actually, I'd love more Thrawn scenes. He's my favorite character in EU. But that's your decision.) Love what you've done.

 

Thanks for the kind words, Butler. I'll try (yeah, I know, I know: there is no try) to do my best.

Up, up, and away!

 

Cyclops was disturbed, his mind racing, calculating one tactical option after the other, all the while listening to the ever loudening footsteps in the hall.

"what about communications?" Jean asked.

"Why would they guard it?" Psylocke said, picking up on Jean's logic. "Who would we call?"

"Once we were in the comm room we could issue orders to the other ships in the fleet, or to the internal security on this one," the red-haired telepath said.

Cyclops nodded his concurrence with his wife's logic and rubbed his chin.

"Misdirection does seem more wise than brute force at this point," Skywalker said calmy. "I think its the best plan we've got."

"alright then," summers agreed. "you're on point Luke. But take us a round about way, if they know communications is our target they'll shift some of those lizard-troops there."

Luke nodded and shifted his saber to his right hand as he stepped cautiously out into the hallway with the X-Men in tow. He considered his path for a second and then turned to whisper to the others.

"This way," he said. "COmmunications is on the next deck up. We'll make it look like we're an assault on the fire control room, on this deck, then blast our way into communications from below. May the Force be with us..."

 

MORE!!!!!

Please write more!!!!

 

Australia...

AS the battle raged overhead between the TIEs and the flyers, a small fleet of SHIELD HUMVEEs raced accross Australia's barren plain.

"Lets get the lead out, boys!" Fury barked. "There they are! Lets go to work!"

Indeed, there they were. The Imperials had collected their forces on the north side of the Outback in preparation for their push into Asia. The collection of firepower was unlike any army Earth had ever seen.

"But all the targets are in one place," Fury thought with a sly grin. "They never figured we'd come after their main force, not after our earlier pasting. There overconfidence in their weakness. Now we make them pay for it."

"Nightcrawler, Collossus, Iceman you're up!" the Colonel barked over the radio.

The three X-Men flew into battle. Nightcrawler teleporting left and right. Knocking off Imperial troopers and then disappearing just as quickly as he'd come, leaving only the faint scent of brimstone behind. Iceman slid into the center of the camp with his traditional charisma.

"Howdy, boys," he remarked casually as he began caking the Imperial emplacements with a thick cover of ice.

it was the big Russian bear, Collossus who took the cake for best entrance however. Leaping from the back of a SHIELD fighter, he took metallic form in free fall, making of himself a human bomb of impenetrable organic metal.

He landed with a hellacious crash right in the center of the camp and began his viscious pursuit of those bizarre walking tanks.

"Your our armor buster, big man," Fury had told him in the briefing and it was clear that Peter Rasputin was well-suited to the role as, with a single blow, he broke the left leg of the first AT_ST to approach him. Laughing he watched it stumble and limp away, its crew leaping out of the cickpit, as the vehicle collapsed into a portable fuel depot.

"Thattaway, tovarisch!" Fury congratulated the Russian in the poorly accented Russian he'd picked up in training, but never bothered to practice.

Fury wished with all his heart that he could see the Imperial commander's face now...

 

YIPPEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

MORE MORE MORE!!!!


Please write Fast !!!

 

err....is it too late to point out that at this point in the continuity Cyke and Jean aren't married yet?

Anyways....

---------------------------------

Steve Rogers sat in the transport's cockpit, flying at top speed towards Australia. As he tried to tune in on any military frequencies in the area, he wondered for the fiftieth time if he hadn't acted too rashly.

He meant each and every word he had said in the Capitol building. He had wanted to stir the American heart to rise up and take arms against the invaders. As the veteran of the most devastating armed conflict in the history of the planet and as the long-standing leader of the Avengers, he knew that inaction was not an option to consider against the threat they were facing. His long time friend Nick Fury -- virtually on his own and with the few resources he had managed to muster -- had gone to Australia to oppose the Imperial advanced. Nothing had been heard from his force in quite some time and steve feared the worst. The soldier in him wouldn't abandon a man -- a friend even -- just like that. So he would go to him, to fight and die beside him if necessary. He prayed he was not too late, and that the only thing he'd be able to do was bring his body home.

"Nice speech, Steve", squawked his radio suddenly. "It really moved me, but I expected no less from you. Now, what in the hell do you think you're doing?"

Rogers blinked, staring stupidly at the radio for a second. "Tony? Where are you? How did you find me??"

"Wasn't hard to find you Steve. I knew you'd rush to Australia to help Nick. But I never imagined you'd actually have the brass cajones to go off on your own. As to where I am, look out to port."

Steve turned his head, glimpsing out of the tiny cockpit. And there he was, the Golden Avenger, Iron Man, flying side by side the SHIELD transport. Iron Man turned his head and waved his hand in salute.

Steve shook his head and sighed. He almost chuckled, but the situation wasn't quite amusing. "Go away Tony. Don't involve yourself with this. The Avengers were ordered to stay back home to protect American soil in case of any Imperial advance."

"Yeah, we were. But there's one Avenger that has decided to go off on his own -- with even asking for any back-up -- to fight the invaders that are already in GLOBAL soil. The Avenger's charter is not exclusive to the U.S., Steve, you know that."

"I quit as chairman of the Avengers, Tony. Perhaps you didn't hear. Consider me a vigilante then."

"That's a fact", said Iron Man in a sour mood. "Captain America, the criminal. You've even moved up to Grand Theft Shuttle. Thor, you feel like arresting the joyrider here?"

"Thor? He's here too?"

"Aye, Captain", said the God of Thunder. "Thou seriously didst think the Scion of Asgard* would miss a glorious battle besides one of his truest and bravest of mortal comrades?"

"Thor..." Steve said, gnashing his teeth.

"'Tis useless to argue the point, friend Steve. I am Avenger, and I am the champion of Midgard**. And I will respect no order from any cowardly mortal that tells me to hold my hand and let my friend go into battle on his own."

"Great", said Steve, slightly annoyed. "Just great. I should've known the two toughest hotheads in the team wouldn't leave well enough alone..."

But Steve Rogers found himself smiling, nodding softly. "But my friends...I am priviledged and honored to have you
at my side. It would've been hard to go there without someone watching my back."

"That's what friends -- what teammates -- are for, Steve", said Tony Stark. "You should know that better than anyone else."

"Yeah", conceded Rogers with a smile, "I guess I should."

"Good", said Thor. "Enough banter. Now, let us prepare for battle, my friends. 'Twill be a glorious day."

"We're some of the worlds mightiest heroes (or so they say), Goldilocks", said Iron Man. "Epic is our stock in trade."

Steve Rogers couldn't help laughing at that, and his two friends roared in laughter besides him. "Well said, old friend!", roared Thor. "For honor, for Midgard, victory will be ours!"
--------------

 

As a matter of fact, reading the above is quite an uplifting experience. (There actually is true friendship out there...) Anyway, isn't that what superheroes are for?

 

The Starjammer shuddered at yet another impact from the Victorious' turbolaser batteries. To their credit, the Starjammers had given as good as they got, managing to cripple one of the smaller Imperial ships and bloodying the nose of the Star Destroyer chasing them. The Starjammer fired concentrated ion and proton bolts at the pursuing ship, weakening its forward shields and incinerating any TIE Fighter that got too close.

"How much longer now, Corsair?", asked Lilandra Neramani, bracing herself against a bulkhead as yet another laser blast hit the 'Jammer's shields.

"Almost there Lil", said the Starjammer's Captain. "I gotta put more distance between us and that fleet to clear out of their jamming field. Still, that one ship is muffling us pretty badly..."

Another blast, this one pushing Corsair right out of his chair. But Hepzibah caught him right before he toppled off the command alcove of the multi-storied bridge.

"Whoa...not to mention that it's battering us in the same manner." He winked at Hepzibah and flashed a smile at her. "Thanks for the save, Ms. Kitty."

"Anytime, Cris", purred his feline Second IN Command. "But far from escape we still are. Does Captain have plan?"

Corsair smiled and nodded at her. "As a matter of fact, I do. I've been checking out the stats on that Destroyer and I think I've found a weakness we could exploit. Raza, Ch'od, target the command tower. Concentrate your firepower on those big, spherical modules on top. I think those are their shield generators."

The cyborg, Raza, nodded grimly. "Once we knock yon shields, disabling the starship will be easier to make our run."

"You got it, big guy. Alright, I'm turning us around. Waldo, apply all power to forward shields and accelerate to attack speed. Let's chime their bells, troops!"


At the Victorious' bridge, Captain Drel Sona watched the battle with mixed feelings. On one hand, his ship had made the alien intruders scamper with their tails between their legs, just as he had hoped for. But on the other, this silly pursuit of the ship seemed tedious. He dearly wanted to finish them off and be done with it. There was hardly any challenge left in this after all.

"Captain Sona", said his XO as he approached the captain. "We have a report from Storage Bay 45. They found the two stormtroopers squads we had sent to search the ship." At this the Colonel paused, biting his lip.

"Well, speak up man. What happened to them ? Why did they fail to report?"

"Most of the men were found dead, seriously injured or unconcious, sir. We managed to revive one of the troopers and he informed us that his squad was attacked by some sort of wild beast. He couldn't specify whether there were more intruders."

Sona gnashed his teeth. Intruders, on his ship. And he himself had brought them along. Of all the stupid... "I should've blasted that tramp freighter to atoms instead of bringing it aboard. Alert all stations. Tell them we have intruders aboard. Post additional security in all vital areas, in case they're attempting some sort of sabotage."

"Captain!", called one of tactical officers from one of the crew pits below the command catwalk. "The enemy ship is turning around and speeding to engage us."

"What? They must be insane. If they try to charge us we'll split their hull open like a walamelon. Alright, apply full power to forward shields and blast them out of the sky!"

"Sir, our shields are down to 40 percent!", replied the lieutenant with just a hint of panic on his voice. "Their ion canons have severely depleted our shields. Engineering is trying to give us more power, but they don't expect to give us more than 10 percent for the next fifteen minutes!"

Sona's complexion paled and he glanced out of the bridge's view port at the alien ship charging them. His ship was virtually naked and had intruders running around doing Force-knows-what. Yes, Thrawn would have his hide for this. ?All batteries, fire on that ship! I don?t want anything getting through!?

The Star Destroyer rained green laser fire at the incoming ship, but the Starjammer was far mor

 

To the top!

 

Logan struck a match against the durasteel bulkhead, softly illuminating the darkened corridor as he lit his stogie. "So, bub, what do you think happened here eh?"

Han ignited a small glowstick he carried on his belt, illuminating the dark passageway further. Red emergency lights flashed along the corridors and he could hear the sounds of people rushing madly nearby. "Well, for one thing, the ship is powerless and all essential systems but life support and artificial gravity are shut down. I'd say that it was hit pretty bad in order for things to be like this."

"Prob'ly means Monsieur Summers gave the Imps a serious licking, neh?", said Gambit. "But if dis ship's going down, we don't wanna stay here, right?"

?A Star Destroyer?s a tough ship, kid. It takes a lot to bring one down. I figure the ship?s engineers are doing their damnedest to bring it back online, but still, it gives us a chance to move with less interference.?

?But aren?t we going to stumble in the dark just as our Imperial friends will??, asked Beast.

?Hey, trust me,? said Solo soothingly. ?I know my way around one of these monsters. I know a direct way to the bridge. Let?s see here.? He ignited a small datapad and checked in on their current coordinates. ?We?re on deck 24, Partition Delta. We?re still half a click away from the main turbolift shafts to the command tower. But we?re not gonna take those.?

?Why not??, asked Beast.

??Cause the ?lifts are probably down at this point?, said the Corellian. ?But?there?s a maintenance chute running parallel to the shafts. Hardly any sensors there, and very cozy.?

?So we climb, eh??, asked Logan with a smug grin.

Chewbacca growled his ?enthusiasm? at the thought of climbing nearly half a kilometer up a narrow ladder and Solo grimaced besides him. ?Hey, I don?t like it much either, Fuzzball. But it?s the best plan I can think of right now.?

?No problem for me?, said the Canadian X-Man. ?I?m in for anything sneaky.?

Beast nodded in agreement. ?I agree with Shorty here ?

?Hey, who you callin? shorty, Furball?? growled Logan.

Beast went on, dismissing him. ??the stealthier we are the better. Our hosts must know by now they have uninvited guests and are probably searching for us as we speak. We must be cautious and keep out of sight.?
?Huh. That sounds familiar for some reason?, said Solo. ?Anyways, there?s a maintenance conduit leading to the turbolifts just around the corner. We sneak in, and it?s smooth sailing all the way to the bridge.?

?I wouldn?t count on that, you rebel scum! Freeze?

Han did just that, lifting his arms and turning his head around slowly, to spot another squad of stormtroopers that had somehow snuck up on them.

?Huh?, muttered Gambit, turning his head to face Logan. ?You didn?t smell ?em on their way here? What happened homme, nose failing you??

?Shut up, Gumbo?, growled Logan. ?Their scent?s as antiseptic as that of their whole flamin? ship. I ain?t perfect, what can I say??

?Shut up, runt!?, yelled the stormtrooper captain. ?Hands up. And don?t try anything funny.?

?Funny? De ?runt? here?s as funny as a heart attack?, said Gambit. ?But this, THIS is funny.?

And in the space of a heartbeat, the Acadian somehow produced a card from his wrist, charged it with kinetic energy, and with the flick of his wrist threw it at the feet of the lead stormtrooper. The card exploded against the deck before the ?trooper could fire a shot, knocking him and some of his companions away like bowling pins. Three ?troopers remained on their feet however, but Logan was on them immediately. A couple of slashes from adamantium claws later, the troopers were a heap of white armor tinged with blood red crumpled on the floor.?

?Nice, Cajun. Real nice. There must be an entire battalion of these whitewashed bozos on their way here, after that bang ya made. I coulda handled the situation just fine.?

?Nah?, said Gambit. ?You just wanted to slash more of ?em and I didn?t let you, homes. Ya gotta do something about all those aggressive feeling boiling inside ya.? Gambit leaned on his bo staff, grinning at