Saga Solid Ground - X-wing squad fic, OCs, OT, completed 3/30

Thanks again, Lumi.

Me? Kill another character? *innocent expression* Nothing to worry about. No one's even going to be put in harm's way...except Darin...and Mackin...and...um...

And my curiosity is getting the better of me...what does that line in your signature mean? (The one starting with "Velvollisuus.")

Welcome, _JM_! Thanks for all your comments.

Sad when CC died though I thought I understood the reasoning, better to kill someone quick than let them slowly die, but the Imperials were more ruthless than I was thinking.

I'm sure I haven't scored any points with people who like the Imperials with this story. This is more brutal than I usually write the Imperials, but I needed it emphasized in this. The Coronas just happened to run into an Imperial group who was taking the Rebel hunting between ANH and ESB very seriously.

Quivers reaction was great, you can understand him desperately not wanting to lose another friend so soon and trying to convince Darin out of it.

Yup, that's it exactly. I'm glad that came through.

Hmm, it's been a while (too long, actually) since I read Mandatory Retirement. Maybe once class is done I can go through and read the X-wing comics again.

Thanks again, everyone, and I'll see you all next week.

-Katie

 

Velvollisuus on vuorta raskaampi, kuolema höyhentä kevyempi

it's finnish and means that Responsibility is heavier than a mountain, but death is lighter than a feather... It's from one of Robert Jordan's books, I don't remember which one though...

 

where did you go all of a sudden? *looks under her carpet* you here... ?

 

Yeah, still here, just couldn't get online last week and Darth Real Life has been rather mean lately. Update's coming tomorrow.

And I like that quote. Very thought-provoking. Thanks for the translation.

-Katie

 

welcome....

 

Wahoo, Page Three.

Without further ado...

*****

Chapter Ten

There was still some dim light left in the cavern when Darin awoke from a fitful sleep. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, tried to ignore his growling stomach and went over to get a drink of water from the available consumables on the X-wings.

Mackin was there, doing the same thing. "Get some sleep, Thumper?" he asked.

Darin nodded. "A little, sir. How long until we go?"

"Another two hours. Thirty minutes from now, suit up and we'll go over everything again."

"Yes, sir."

Mackin walked away. Darin finished his water and then ducked down to open the cargo hold in the belly of Mackin's fighter. All the strut-riders had stowed their bulky chestboxes in there when this all started, and Darin started looking for his; after a thorough search of the hold, however, it was apparent that his equipment wasn't there, even though the others were. Certain he had stashed it in the hold, he frowned in puzzlement and widened his search area to include the bare cavern floor in the immediate area, but he still couldn't find it. Darin was completely baffled.

The next logical course of action was to ask someone about it. He looked up to do just that but hesitated. Most of the other pilots were sitting together beside Ikoa's X-wing, and it looked like they were trying very hard to have a normal conversation together. Thumper couldn't hear the topic of the talk over the waterfall's echoing noise, but he knew the specific topic wasn't necessarily important next to the act of having the conversation. Some of the Coronas were chuckling at something Slurry had said, and the Bilgana looked confused about why they were laughing so Pellicer started explaining something to him. Probably just a cultural difference. From that small amount of laughter and from the looks on some of the pilots' faces, Darin figured a few had been able to put their current situation out of their minds for at least a short time, and he had no desire to remind them of it again.

Mackin and Weas were deep in their own conversation, so that left one person he could ask: Quiver. His wingman was sitting by himself against the cave wall a short distance down, working on something. Normally Quiver would have been talking with the others and enjoying their company, but he'd been unusually withdrawn ever since CC was killed. Darin briefly considered not going over there, wanting to avoid Quiver a bit more because of their fight, but he really needed to find his chestbox to see if he could patch up the hose somehow before he left.

He hesitantly walked up to Quiver and tried to sound casual. "Hey, Quiver, have you seen my..." He trailed off as he looked down and saw Quiver with his missing chestbox plus another one. "?-Chestbox."

Quiver glanced up. "Yeah, just a minute." He punched a few more buttons on one chestbox, hit a couple others on the second, then flipped the same switch on each. "There." He stood up and offered one to Darin. "Here you go."

Darin looked at it in puzzlement. That was Quiver's chestbox, if he wasn't mistaken, and Darin's, the one with the cut hose, was still sitting on the ground. He turned his confused look to Quiver. "That's yours."

"Don't worry, I adjusted it for you. I was going to just switch hoses, but we don't have the correct tools with us so it was easier to change box settings. Here, you're going to need it."

When Darin realized that his wingmate was trading boxes and that Quiver would be keeping Darin's useless emergency life support system, he shook his head and didn't take the equipment. "Quiver, I?-"

"If you protest," Quiver interrupted in a deliberate voice, "I will hurt you so much that no life support system in the galaxy could help you." He cocked his head a bit and shifted his tone of voice to a more reasonable one. "Think about it. If this all goes as planned, I'll be on the transport and I won't even need it. You will." He casually stepped beside Darin. "And you know you can use my X-wing if you want, but this will allow you to use y

 

Small side note, in Isards Revenge Corran Horn lost a canopy pane and he was able to reach under his seat for a repair kit (consisting of a duraplast panel and a tube of sealant). Could be something introduced after the Coronas get home and make a report, could have been something that CorSec (or CorranSec ) added. I only remembered because I had a pilot crash and use the tube of sealant to repair a crack in his survival kit canteen.

Still make me feel sorry for Darin though having to board his canopy up with little chunks of stuff. Poor guy can't catch a break.

When I read that his chestbox was missing I though for a moment that Quiver had taken it so that Darin couldn't go, this seemed a little unlikely as it would be rather childish (like a small kid hiding his parents shoes so they can't go out) but I'd forgotten that Darins chestbox had been damaged.
Glad that although Quiver doesn't want to lose another friend that he is reacting to this by working to maximise Darins chances rather than retreating from the reality and trying not to think about it.

Thought occurs that if the Imperials had some black camouflage cloaks to cover their white armour (in the same way that Arctic troops have white cloaks to blend in with snow) then the plan would have rather foundered right there as blaster bolts came out of the darkness.

I like hearing the dogfight via the comm traffic and hearing the reactions of the other Corona Squadron pilots. Very effective, especially with the doubts over how much is acting and how much is genuine fear and tension.

Looking forward a lot to the next installment.

 

I really loved Darin and Quiver's interaction. And I mean really loved it

 

*slips in, deciding to procrastinate from homework for a while*

JM,

Could be something introduced after the Coronas get home and make a report, could have been something that CorSec (or CorranSec ) added.

Heh heh, cool! There's certainly enough time between the stories for that to happen... I really need to reread the Rogue books--it's been too long. Maybe after this evil class is over... <insert assorted grumblings here> I have so many stories (online and books) I want to read and catch up on...


Glad that although Quiver doesn't want to lose another friend that he is reacting to this by working to maximise Darins chances rather than retreating from the reality and trying not to think about it.

Great, I'm glad that came through.


Thought occurs that if the Imperials had some black camouflage cloaks to cover their white armour (in the same way that Arctic troops have white cloaks to blend in with snow) then the plan would have rather foundered right there as blaster bolts came out of the darkness.

Y'know, I never thought of that. That's a very good point. I'll have to remember it for the next time a situation like this comes up.
Plus, when I wrote those scenes, I kept having to remind myself that they were taking place at night. I kept picturing it as daytime in my head, so that certainly didn't help.

Thanks for all your comments.


Lumi,

I really loved Darin and Quiver's interaction.

Thanks. Those two are so much fun to write. Glad you liked it.

Update coming on Tuesday.

-Katie
*looks at pile of homework and wishes she could make all her characters do it for her*
*pictures this strange scene with the Coronas doing her class project*
*follows the scene along for a bit, up until the point when the Coronas get bored doing this "kid's stuff" and decide to have a food fight instead*
*yells at them to clean up the mess*
*decides she's been just a little too stressed out lately*

 

I'll be waiting, more or less patiently. I have to just remember that patience is a virtue, isn't it? Damn, it's going to be hard to sit still..

 

Next installment.

*****

Chapter Eleven

It was the first thing that had gone right on the mission since they'd landed three days ago.

It hadn't started out that way, though. While he and Darin were dogfighting, Commander Mackin had gotten his first good visual look of the colony and surrounding terrain, or at least as good as it could be in the darkening evening. At first he had thought the plan was over before it even started: while the colony was in the hills, he hadn't seen a suitable out-of-sight landing spot near enough to it to get him and Rudder inside the colony in any short amount of time. In this plan, time was his enemy, and it had had him surrounded and at blasterpoint.

Then finally, their luck changed. Mack spotted a processing plant on the far outskirts of the colony, one that used hazardous materials so there was a safety buffer of building-free land around it. He could get there quickly since it was so isolated and buried deep in the hills. He smiled a small, grateful smile and began setting up to "crash."

Now, just a short time later, Mack was crouched beside Rudder and trying to stay out of sight. He felt much too obvious in his bright orange flight gear. "Come on, Rudder," he hissed impatiently.

The R2 unit swivelled its domed head to flash a few lights at the pilot in annoyance while it continued trying to override the lock on the side door to the plant's shipping and receiving bay. Finally the little droid beeped softly in triumph, and the door opened. Mackin slipped inside, ducked behind a cargo container and looked around.

There was a row of small landspeeders, likely the workers' personal vehicles. Against the wall nearest the bay doors were what Mackin was looking for: a few transports with cargo containers stacked beside them, awaiting loading.

There was something else in the bay as well: a group of workers all standing at a window and talking amongst themselves about the huge explosion they'd seen, heard and felt nearby. They were making guesses at what it was and telling those who hadn't seen it how it had lit up the night when a supervisor came over and ordered them all back to work.

Mackin could tell that some of them were uneasy at how close the "fireball" had come to hitting them, and he decided to use that to his advantage. He crept as quickly as he could to the nearest alarm station on the wall. He needed the dock emptied fast so he wouldn't be seen, and nothing was faster than an emergency evacuation of a hazardous materials handling plant whose workers were already skittish about their surroundings.

The dock was vacated a very short time later, and the alarms covered up the sound of Mackin's footfalls as he ran to the nearest transport that he recognized as having a hyperdrive.

Rudder was just rolling up the loading ramp when Mackin finished powering the transport and bringing its systems online. The pilot sealed the doors and doublechecked the fuel quantity gauges while the droid queried the ship's computer to learn how to open the bay doors.

A minute after that, the transport disappeared into the night.

*****

The commander of Corona Squadron flew as fast as he could back toward the valley. He met no immediate resistance and figured Darin had done a good job of leading most of the Imperial air forces away. While they might have been able to sneak out of the valley before while the Imperials were occupied with their tight-beam searches, he doubted he could sneak back in with the Imperials certainly on the alert for something now after the dogfight with him and Darin. He turned to the Rebellion's scrambled tactical frequency so he could call Lt. Weas and tell him to be ready to provide cover as he came in, and he told Rudder to plug into the console and decrypt it.

Mackin was surprised to hear traffic already coming over the channel. As he tried to make out the static-filled words, he saw on his scope the blinking dots of TIE fighters moving toward him from around the river valley. Someone must have detected him peeling out of

 

I'm with Quiver, go pick up the X-Wings again (remembering to check for booby-traps)- they're expensive!

I take it Crescent Star was what kept the orbital forces at bay while the Quakes went atmospheric. Good job Thumpers hyperdrive isn't out though since they've already left, even better job that the Quakes decided to extend their time searching.

At least I hope his hyperdrive is operational, could be cosy trying to fit him into a Y-Wing with the pilot and gunner (possible, but definitely cosy ).

 

Oh dear!

Thumper you deviant girl, you've changed this story around! And here i was thinking that i was way ahead of everyone else

After reading both versions, i think i prefer this one

Quick Question: Will you consider posting the other corona stories once Solid Ground is finished? I think they'd be well receieved!

 

.
JM,

...they're expensive!

Yup, and supplies are short for the Rebels now...

At least I hope his hyperdrive is operational, could be cosy trying to fit him into a Y-Wing with the pilot and gunner (possible, but definitely cosy).

He could always strut-ri--um, wait, I guess he couldn't do that. So yeah, unless he wants to be shoved inside an occupied Y-wing cockpit, an operational hyperdrive is a necessity.

Darin would be really upset at having to leave Botch behind, too.


Mjsullivan,

Thumper you deviant girl, you've changed this story around!

Yeah, that was the last substantial part I wasn't happy with, and I didn't get to it until last week. Now I'm at least happier. The rest should be the same, but I have a part to smooth out in the next post. Hopefully it won't change anything.

After reading both versions, i think i prefer this one

Thanks. This one doesn't show as much of Mackin, but I think it's more plausible with the timing of everything.

Will you consider posting the other corona stories once Solid Ground is finished?

I'm not sure yet. I wasn't planning to, at least not right away, but we'll see how this goes. The others are a lot more dependent on background knowledge than Ground is.

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

-Katie

Edit #2: formatting

 

Quiver's X-Wing is always "boobie" trapped. It's got Quiver in it.

 

LGA, Quiver says he's planning a special April Fools Day visit for you. (I tried to tell him that it's not like Christmas where Santa goes around to each house, but he seems to get these Earth holidays mixed up).

Anyway, everyone, here it is. And, shall we say, here goes nothing.

*****

Chapter Twelve

Quiver silently followed the transport and Ikoa's and Weas's X-wings down to the plain-looking planet. These were the jump coordinates they had been given by Crescent Star up above Lokinha, and Mackin had explained to them that they were going to be landing here temporarily. Command wanted to quarantine the transport and any fighters from which they had been separated while on Lokinha and go over them with a fine-toothed comb to ensure there were no Imperial tracking devices on them. Plus, Quiver knew that this way the ships would be isolated from Star for a while in case they missed a homing device and the Imperials showed up anyway?-then when they did show up, they'd just find empty X-wings on an empty planet.

Quiver couldn't fault their logic, but he really just wanted to go back to the ship. He envied Pellicer, who had needed to land on Star to escape because his hyperdrive was out and then got to stay aboard. The plan was for another pilot to bring his fighter down to the planet for him when they arrived so that it too could share in the quarantine.

The three X-wings and the stolen transport started bumping through the atmosphere, heading to their designated landing spot. They softly settled to the ground soon after.

Corona Ten awkwardly powered down his X-wing with his off-hand and opened his canopy. He just sat there for a while, taking a long look all around at the sky and then blankly staring out ahead at the bleak landscape. The end of his flight made him feel like other things were coming to an end as well. While in hyperspace, Quiver had stared out his windows the entire time like he'd expected Darin to fly right up beside him and wave, but he hadn't. The two Quakes who had been looking for him hadn't found him before the Coronas jumped to hyperspace, and Crescent Star hadn't picked up anything either. Part of the plan was for Darin to transmit a code word over the squadron frequency right before he escaped the system so the others would know he'd gotten out, but they'd heard nothing from him since his distress call. The chances that Darin was still alive were fading with each passing minute.

This mission had cost Quiver his two best friends in the galaxy. He'd experienced the loss of squadmates before, but never anything like this. It hurt like hell, and Quiver didn't know how to make the pain stop or if it ever would. He'd had a little bit of time to prepare himself for losing Darin, which had helped a tiny bit, but CC's death was still a mind-numbing shock to him.

Saying goodbye to her had been the hardest thing he ever remembered doing. On Lokinha when Mackin had brought Quiver to his fighter, things had started out normally enough. Sure, Mackin had given him a good warning about how he had better go straight up to orbit as soon as his fighter was powered up, but Quiver had just offhandedly agreed and climbed onto his fighter. However, after Quiver had disabled the booby-trap and started powering up his X-wing to leave, he caught sight of the crater where CC's fighter had been, and the entire world stopped. He remembered feeling like a dewback had barreled into him at full speed.

By that time Mackin had already left with Weas to get their last X-wing, Pellicer's, but Ikoa had remained behind in Weas's X-wing. It took more than a few calls on her part before Quiver had realized the voice was talking to him. Even then, he hadn't cared what the voice said; all he could do was stare at the crater, its deep shadows in the night making a black void in the ground that matched the one inside him. He almost turned on his landing lights to illuminate it and chase the shadows away, but he figured that would just be worse.

Quiver suspected he would ha

 

This was definitely one of my favourite X-wing fics, Thumper. I've read others that have been good, but the thing that shows through well with yours is the Corona's history with each other. They laugh and joke together like old friends (the briefing from the first chapter remains one of my favourite scenes from any fic to date )

Whatever you do, keep writing. You gave me OC's to care about - which can be hard to find on the JC forums - and I hope you find time to keep expanding the Star Wars universe!

Great job,
MJ

 

I hope that Trainneer realises his career is over and that, although any court martial would almost certainly clear him of wrongdoing, by his actions he has forfeited the trust of those under his command and destroyed any reputation he had for being able to execute a field command.

Or at least I certainly hope so

Poor Thumper! It seems like there were options other than making him do a belly landing, but congratulations to him in managing it with enough skill that his X-Wing potentially might be salvageable.

I love Quivers thoughts when he was looking at the crater where CCs X-Wing had been and I think Ikoa chose the only means (short of shooting Quiver) to dissuade Quiver from his rescue attempt. Quiver was not going to allow any consideration of his own safety to influence him, but saying that he could be endangering Darin made him think.

Hue sounds cute. (Actually Hue sounds CUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTEEEEE!)

A very good story, a wonderful set of OCs who you made us care about and who I really want to see more of.

 

.
Mjsullivan,

Thanks for the compliment and the comments. One of the things I love most about pilot stories is the opportunity to show the camaraderie that squadmates can build with each other, especially after serving together for a while. I'm sure the same could hold true with any type of unit in wartime, I'm just biased with pilots.

The briefing scene was a lot of fun to write.


JM,

I can tell you that after this, the Coronas definitely aren't happy with Trainneer.


Poor Thumper! It seems like there were options other than making him do a belly landing,

True, but it was better than trying to have him land in Crescent Star's hangar like that. I guess I should figure out if that kind of ship has tractor beams...


Hue sounds cute.

Yeah, CC would settle for nothing less than the cutest pet she could find.

Thanks for the compliment and your comments.

********

Okay, maybe "outtakes" was the wrong word for most of these. It's more like a gag reel if this was being filmed. These are just weird, goofy little things I've imagined while trying to picture a scene or an action, and are meant for nothing more than amusement purposes. Most are not in-character for the specific situation, which is why they're not in the real story.

April Fools Day edition of "Solid Ground." Chronological, most from the beginning of the story.

*****

Chapter Two

Darin sat up and slowly spun around to face Quiver, hanging his head. "Yes, master. I'm sorry, master. It won't happen again, master. I go now."

"And stop groveling. I hate it when you grovel."

"Yes, master. I'm sorry, master. It won't happen again, master."

By now CC had climbed up on Darin's X-wing, and she playfully gave Quiver's shoulder a shove. The force of the push sent Quiver off the snubfighter, and he tumbled to the ground. CC just smirked. "Oops."

*****

Chapter Three

Darin shrugged sleepily. "Suit yourself. Just don't blame me when you get soaked." He walked back to his X-wing, laid out his bedroll underneath one of the S-foils and had just begun trying to get back to sleep when he heard some commotion. Rolling onto his stomach, he peered in the direction of the sound and saw Lt. Weas running between the squadron's fighters and calling to the pilots asleep under the wings.

"Coronas, up, now! We've got a situation! Wake up!"

Darin quickly pushed himself to his feet, forgetting there was an S-foil directly overhead. The clang of his head hitting the wing reverberated throughout the canyon almost as loudly as the surrounding pilots' laughter did. "Ow!" Darin yelled. "Stop laughing! That hurt!"

*****

"Here's the deal," Weas told his flight on the way. "I'll land by Three and help him out. Nine and Ten, help Six. Seven, fly cover for us. All of you, think of ways to get them from here to the rendezvous point."

"Yes, sir," came the chorus of acknowledgments.

As they split slightly and headed to their respective destinations, Darin said, "Looking back, I think your mission was safer, Ten."

"What?" Quiver said loudly over the wind noise in Darin's cockpit. "Booking dewbacks makes missions safer?"

"Huh? No!"

"Cooking sarlacc brings fission paper pens?"

"No!"

"Wookiees back in the brig tore his shunned safe open?"

"No, you nerf-herder! Stop it!"

"Top it? I don't know, that last one was pretty good, I thought."

*****

Chapter Four

As soon as it seemed like they were all set, Darin yelled above the wind caused by the idling repulsorlifts and engines up to the astromech, "Rudder, go! And keep the gear down!"

Rudder, Ikoa's R2 unit, beeped in acknowledgment and relayed the message to Ikoa. The pilots thought they were home free until there was a wrenching sound from above them, and suddenly the X-wing lifted off, leaving them and the three struts behind sitting on the ground.

"Somehow I don't think that was supposed to happen," Quiver said after a moment of silence. "Were these made by the lowest bidde

 

I think I am just too used to playing X-Wing: Alliance where whenever you come within range of the hangar of what has been set as your ?mothership? (whatever it might be, including the Dauntless OPT I did ) the little message pops up ?Press SPACE to activate tractor beam?.
I was also thinking of options like ejecting and being picked up by a S&R shuttle or having a larger ship snag Thumpers X-Wing with a tractor beam and lower him gently (to refer back to the post you do have Mackin threaten to disable Quivers X-Wing and then tow him).

I love the gag-reel outtakes...I can really picture them playing as the credits scrolled at the end of the film or being incredibly popular at a Corona Squadron Convention

The X-Wing landing gear coming off was my favourite along with Ikoa wondering where the screaming was coming from. Not sure what the problem your favourite with Quiver getting smacked upside the head was, though I suppose it would have slowed things down a little.

I don?t blame Thumper for ducking in the last one, sounds like Quiver was going to do something between a wrestling clothesline and a high-tackle in Rugby

And congratulations on getting a mention in the FanFic newsletter, your excellent story deserves as many readers as possible.

 

Oh, I loved the ending. My heart was in my throat when you described the anguish Quiver felt not knowing if his wingmate was alive or not. Oh, so well written. And knowing you, I didn't know whether or not you'd kill him. I was so releaved when he survived. I was crying happy tears.

This has been one of the best X-wing fics I've read. Most definately. I hope you keep on writing more pilot fics, I really truly do. If you could PM me when you write another fic, okey. I'd really appreciate it..;


*very happy smiling*

 

*throws the homework aside for a moment*

JM,

I was also thinking of options like ejecting and being picked up by a S&R shuttle or having a larger ship snag Thumpers X-Wing with a tractor beam and lower him gently (to refer back to the post you do have Mackin threaten to disable Quivers X-Wing and then tow him).

You caught a plot hole. Having Darin crash-land was just a quicker and more dramatic way to get him down to the planet, which in turn made the story a bit smoother instead of having him land on Star. Maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to fix it.

or being incredibly popular at a Corona Squadron Convention

Ah, yes, CoronaCon. What I wouldn't give...
But thanks. I'm glad you liked them.

The only problem I had with including the "comm blackout/bait game" one was that that was going on right after Quiver and Darin told the rest of the Coronas that CC was killed. Quiver wouldn't have been in the mood to make wisecracks or jokes at that time. If it wasn't for that, I would have included it.

And congratulations on getting a mention in the FanFic newsletter

Thanks. That was really unexpected, but it really made my day.

Lumi,

Thanks for the comments and the compliments. I'm glad you liked the ending, even after more of that evil introspective stuff.

I didn't know whether or not you'd kill him.

That's one of the fun things about OCs.

If I post another story, I'll PM you.

Thanks again, all.

Back to homework. bleh.

-Katie
Thumper

 

Thumper - Just finished reading. Great story. From the time you killed CC to the end I was constantly worried for the safety of the other characters, which was one of the trademarks of the X-Wing books for me. A+ in my book. Looking forward to whatever you decide to write next.

 

Thanks for reading and for the compliments, Z. I'm glad you liked it, and the Coronas appreciate your concern for their safety.

Also, thanks for adding this story in your OC database. It's a great idea for a thread.

-Thumper