Saga Up in Flames (Diary Challenge 2013) - Wedge, Booster, Mirax. Completed 12/28

Title: Up in Flames
Author: Thumper09
Characters: Wedge, Booster, Mirax
Timeframe: 4 BBY to ?
Genre: Drama, some Action
Summary: After his parents’ deaths on the Gus Treta station, Wedge tries to find a new direction in life.
Notes: This is my entry for the 2013 Diary Challenge. This story is based on information from the comics "The Phantom Affair" and the X-wing Rogue Squadron Handbook. It does not include anything from "Lucky" as I prefer the RS Handbook’s version of events. Constructive criticism is welcome. Star Wars is owned by Lucasfilm and Disney, not me (obviously).

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Entry 1

I don’t know where I’m supposed to start.

I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do.

I mean, how can I do anything when all I can see when I close my eyes is the fire? When all I can hear is the static from the comm and–

I can’t even write it. Not yet.

Damn it.

I hate what Mom and Dad did! How could they do that when they knew what would happen?! All I want to do is scream over Gus Treta’s intercom how everyone alive there had better appreciate the fact that they are alive because of my parents, and my parents are gone forever because of it! Because of those pirates! Because CorSec didn’t catch them in time! And Booster and Polipe wouldn’t even let me do anything to help! I could have helped. I could have done something!

I really wish Myra was around right now to talk to, and hopefully I’ll see her soon before I can’t take this by myself anymore and just explode. Booster’s here, but he’s not exactly the shoulder-to-cry-on type. And Syal, I really wish she was here too, but I still don’t know where she is. And– how am I supposed to find her to tell her our parents are gone? How? That’s something she needs to know. But how do I do that when I don’t know how to contact her? Maybe Booster knows a way. I’ll have to ask him. But until I see Myra, Polipe suggested I write things out to feel better. Don’t see how that’s possible at this point, but at least it gave me an excuse to hide away in my quarters on Skate for a while.

Everything’s gone.

This has been the absolute worst day of my entire life.

I just want Dad and Mom back.

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Poor Wedge! This really had to be the worse day of his life.

Good start for the diary.

 

A good start for poor Wedge

 

Followed to this thread from the link in your siggy Great start and character focus - do like Wedge. That starting point you picked, that was definitely a crux-point But it led to grand adventures and the love of his life, Iella.

 

Hazel - Thanks, and thanks for reading! Wedge sure went through a lot then.

Earlybird - Thank you, and thanks for the reply!

Jade_eyes - Thanks! I agree, I think that day set a lot in motion, both good and bad for Wedge. Though Iella's definitely one of the best things. I love those two together. Thanks for reading!

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Here's the next update. It's a bit longer than I think most of them will be, but I didn't want to split this one up.

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Entry 2

I did it.

Yesterday.

And since it’s the middle of the night and I can’t sleep because my mind is just too wound up, I’ll go ahead and write about it. That should settle my brain down.

It’s kind of been a blur, but was just a few days ago when those pirates were refueling at our fueling depot on the Gus Treta station, and they didn’t unhook the fuel lines before they flew off fast. I’ve heard it was when CorSec showed up. Their engine thrust ignited the spilled fuel. Set the depot on fire. Dad and Mom died separating the depot from the rest of the station before the fire could spread.

I can’t believe I actually just wrote that.

Initial security reports and Incident Reports– like what happened could blithely be called an "incident"– called it an accident. Like anything pirates ever did that took lives could be considered an "accident." Even so, they were still responsible but had gotten away, not even caring what their "accident" had caused. Those same reports were pretty clear that the ship’s name was Buzzzer, a Series IV picket ship. She belonged to the Bonestar Pirates. As a distraction I spent hours going over the drawings and specs for Series IV pickets, hoping some day I’d get a chance to use the info. I had no idea it would be so soon.

It wasn’t long after the memorial service for my parents on Gus Treta yesterday. Booster was the only reason I got through that. Everyone was all like, ‘Oh, they saved us all, they’re heroes, we’re alive because of them,’ but what they didn’t seem to get was that they were my parents, and now they’re dead, and what good is that lipservice going to do me from now on without them here? Yeah, all the beings on the station might be happy now, but eventually the feeling of gratitude and relief at being saved from a premature death will wear off. They’ll go back to their daily routines and forget all about the reason they’re still alive. But me, I’ll remember it and have to live with it for the rest of my life. I still can’t believe my parents sacrificed themselves for all these strangers and left me.

Anyway, that’s not something I want to talk about now. Not long after the memorial service ended, Booster tracked me down again. His contacts came through where CorSec didn’t. He’d found out that it wasn’t an accident, and the ship’s captain, Loka Hask, had ripped away from the fuel lines on purpose to blow up the station and stall CorSec from their pursuit. He’d also found out Buzzzer’s approximate location.

I’m glad Booster didn’t stop me, not that he could have. He even let me use his old Z-95. His Headhunter. Appropriate.

Booster and Polipe came with in Pulsar Skate, and we found Buzzzer near Jumus like his contacts had said. I went after them. My first shot damaged the ship but didn’t destroy it. I hope they knew then what was going to happen. I hope they felt as scared and helpless as I did watching Mom and Dad die. Booster wanted me to disable their engines and let the police come get them. I didn’t agree with that approach.

I knew right where I wanted to hit: the main weapons magazine.

I fired. And I hit it.

Buzzzer erupted into this huge fireball as it exploded. It brought back the image that was burned into my mind of the flames inside and outside of Mom and Dad’s refueling station.

I watched the superheated gasses die out into nothing in the cold of space. All that was left was chunks of debris.

Just like that, I got revenge on the pirates who murdered my parents.

It was so sudden. And I guess I didn’t feel exactly like I thought I would. Some parts, sure. I was happy to wipe them out after what they did. But something else just felt... off. I don’t know, empty. Like it was the end to my life as I’d known it. Like I didn’t know where to go from there. Like I’d accomplished my goal and had no new one to take its place. And sure, now the pirates were gone, but that didn’t bring back my parents. Not that I honestly expected it to, but... I don’t know.

After I destroyed Buzzzer Booster asked me how I was. It took me a minute to answer, but I told him I was all right. All I wanted to do then was go home.

So we did.

My mind’s been in overdrive since we got back. It feels odd to realize that I actually killed people. That’s something you can never come back from. I don’t regret it, but I have to accept that I crossed that line and can’t uncross it, and it puts things in such a different perspective than before. With that squeeze of the trigger I became someone different. Somehow things I would have considered intense before now don’t mean anything. Everything’s cloudier. Muted.

It’s all very confusing. I don’t know what it all means yet, but I guess I’ll find out. The memorial service was only yesterday, but it all seems so far away now after everything that happened since.

And now I see this writing has backfired on me. I’d wanted to get it all out of my head so I could sleep, but now that I had to focus my thoughts enough to verbalize them, my brain is pouncing on that and trying to work through it all again now that it’s not so nebulous and muddled and confused up there.

In the morning (or tonight if I can’t get my brain to shut up soon) I’m going to trim off my ponytail. It doesn’t seem to fit me anymore. It seems too... young.

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Awesome writing of very real emotions there That's exactly how I'd imagine someone would feel in a situation like that. Looking forward to reading about how Wedge lands on a new goal to strive for.

 

Yes, very intense and real!

 

Interesting. I never knew there was a backstory for Wedge. Is there anyone in the SW galaxy that isn't an orphan? Nice update!

 

Intense emotions and great how you write them

 

Jade_eyes: Thank you! I'm glad it seemed realistic. We'll start to explore his new path now. Thanks for reading!

Hazel: Thanks! I get worried sometimes about going too over the top, so I'm happy it came across all right. Thanks for replying!

Jedi_Lover: Thank you! I don't think Wedge's backstory comes up too often in the EU. The events in the previous post were depicted in an X-wing comic (and there was a very brief mention in one of the X-wing novels), but from here on out the info is pretty high-level without many details (that I know of). And yeah, I know what you mean about the high percentage of orphans in the GFFA. Parenthood seems dangerous there. Thanks for reading!

earlybird: Thanks! It's good that the emotions came through well. Thank you for replying!

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Entry 3

I saw Mirax today. We’d commed a few times since it all happened, but it was so much better talking to her in person. She felt bad that she couldn’t get back here in time for the memorial service, but I know she tried to.

One of the first things she did after all the greetings and initial sympathy talk was done was ruffle my hair and tell me how different I looked with my new haircut. After that we grabbed some lunch and then roamed aimlessly around Gus Treta for a long time, talking.

It felt good to really talk to her about everything, even the parts I wasn’t sure how to say. She even told me a bit about her mother’s death. Myra was too young to really remember her mother before she died, but she told me how it still affects Booster on anniversaries. She also told me about some things she’s secretly seen and heard Booster do on those days when he thought Myra wasn’t around, but under threat of torture I’m forbidden to write them down in case Booster might ever find out. To protect against casual, accidental viewing of the subject matter I’m going to go ahead and encrypt this entry too, not that I expect that would so much as slow him down if he ever decides he wants to read this some day for some reason. Please don’t kill me, Booster. I didn’t breathe a word of it to anyone.

But really, what Myra told me helped. If even someone like Booster can still after all this time feel sad about losing someone but survive and be as strong as he is, then maybe this feeling won’t kill me even though sometimes it sure feels like it will.

Eventually Myra asked me the million-credit question: what was I going to do now. I didn’t know the answer. First she thought I would go dirtside to Coronet City and pursue my architecture full time. Something as far away from space stations and refueling depots and pirates and exploding weapons magazines as possible. When I told her that didn’t feel quite right, she tried to talk me into staying on Pulsar Skate full time with her, Booster, and Polipe. That was closer, and something I’d actually been seriously considering already, but still not it.

We brainstormed a while– probably for a full lap around Gus Treta– and she even got a laugh out of me with some really off-the-wall suggestions. First time I’ve done that since it all happened. Eventually she nudged me in a direction that I think feels right: getting my own ship and hauling freight. I think a bit of roaming will suit me now.

We’re going to talk to Booster about it tomorrow at breakfast. I’ve learned a lot from going on runs with him to know how a lot of it works already, but I don’t know enough about things like finances and permits and insurance and stuff. And it’s not like I’ve ever bought my own ship before either.

The whole notion is scary and exciting. And it’s a wonderful distraction.

I’m going to go look at used freighter ads now.

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Cool post with the confiding in a good friend and concrete plans to foge.

 

Love his connections with Mirax and Booster and Myra. And taking his life in a new direction is nice

 

Jade_eyes: Yup, now that Wedge picked a direction he can start making things happen. Thanks for reading!

Earlybird: Wedge is fortunate the Terriks were there for him during that time. Thanks for reading!

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Entry 4

Thankfully Booster’s supportive of my new plan. He told me a lot of things to consider, and I went with him, Myra, and Polipe on his next run. Booster walked me through all the little details of each portion that I’d never paid attention to before. All the paperwork is going to be pretty dull, but maybe I can get a droid to do it for me instead.

When we got back to Gus Treta there was an official-looking transmission packet waiting for me. Turns out it was the initial insurance payouts for Mom, Dad, and our fueling depot. I hadn’t expected them so soon– thought it’d be stuck in bureaucratic purgatory for a long time yet, but all the forms had expedite directives from the Gus Treta administrator’s office plastered all over. Booster checked it over and said it looked to be in order.

I hated thinking of what the payment really represented. A bunch of numbers, a bunch of credits can never substitute or replace what I lost. It’s impossible and insulting. When I told Myra, she spun it around in a way that I could handle better, that this was how Mom and Dad could ensure I’d be all right if something happened like it did. The credits weren’t replacing my parents, it’s really more like Mom and Dad giving me a gift or an interest-free loan from the afterlife. Thinking about it that way made it easier for me to look at that insurance payout as a down payment on a freighter. Didn’t feel as guilty about it.

Booster had a little time before his next run, so he took me and Myra to a guy he knows who has a used ship yard kind of close by. Of course the really awesome ships were way out of my price range. There were a few cheaper clunkers that were okay, nothing special, but not what I wanted to live in and base my livelihood on.

Then I found one I liked. Not really sure why. She’s a beaten-up little YT-700 with the registered name of Solstice. Needs quite a few repairs, but I can manage that, and the price was good because of it. She’s small enough for me to handle on my own, both in terms of flying and of dealing with the cargo, especially while I’m getting started. There are lots of opportunities for upgrades and modifications. We took a short test flight, and I liked the way she flew. The cockpit interfaces and layout are comfortable too.

After we landed and I expressed my interest, Booster had me do all the negotiations on my own. I think I did all right, but I imagine his pal also responded to the silent warning glares Booster gave him from behind me when he tried to add some extra fees. I don’t think Booster realizes I noticed.

I didn’t expect quite so much paperwork for buying a ship. Definitely need to get a droid. Licenses, permits, registrations, payment agreements, weapons certifications, it just wouldn’t end.

But I finally signed that last form, and now I’m the very proud owner of Solstice. I have her docked here at Gus Treta for repairs, which I’ll be starting on first thing tomorrow.

I own a ship.

Captain Wedge Antilles. I like the sound of that.

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Wedge has an interesting past, so it's nice to see it explored. I really like the ship name Solstice for some reason. Also liked the portrayal of his friendship with the Terriks. Some unofficial family is a wonderful thing for him to have while coping with his losses.

 

Kahara: Thank you! I agree, the Terriks really helped him out during this time and made a big difference in his life. Who knows where Wedge would have ended up without them? Thanks for reading!

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Entry 5

I haven’t had much of a chance to write in this lately, but I needed to take a break and give my eyes a rest from staring at those tiny circuit boards, so I’ll put something in here quick.

I’ve been spending all my time fixing up Solstice. She needed some repairs to be reliably flightworthy, and I’m enjoying modifying and upgrading other systems. It’s nice. Keeps me from thinking too much. I’m spending credits hand over fist on parts, and that stuff is not cheap unless it too is broken, but it’s not as bad as it could be since I’m doing a lot of the labor myself. Some of the parts I can find for sale here on Gus Treta, others Booster picks up for me.

I was spending the day elbow-deep in the navigation console when I heard Booster come onboard. I thought he was just bringing me another box of parts, but when I looked behind me there was Myra, brandishing this ryshcate at me with a big grin. Booster and Polipe were there too, all squeezed into the tiny cockpit. Booster said they couldn’t let my 18th birthday go by without a ryshcate. I was trying not to do anything for it since it only made me miss Mom and Dad, but it’s impossible to tell a Terrik something they don’t want to hear, so I plastered on a smile, cleaned the grease off my hands and took them down to the little dining area/lounge on Solstice where there’s at least something that acts as a table. I cleared away enough tools and parts for everyone to sit down, though it was still kind of cramped.

It was really good ryshcate. And it was really good to take a break and just talk and laugh with them a while. When we cut the ryshcate, Booster patted a bulkhead and made a toast to the start of my new life.

Then they brought out my birthday presents. I couldn’t believe that after everything they’ve already done for me lately that they were giving me presents on top of that, but they did. Booster and Polipe were paying for the latest box of parts I’d asked them to get (which they actually did have with them now). Myra, though, she got me this custom-made holder for all the important licensing, insurance, and registration datacards for my ship (that’s still so neat to say... my ship). It attaches to the side wall in the cockpit so it’s always visible and always in reach. The best part is that the holder is emblazoned with the name Solstice and there’s a tiny holoemitter on top that projects a holo of me and my parents. I got a little choked up.

We talked about how things were progressing with Solstice. Soon I’m going to start putting up notices around Gus Treta that I’m accepting freight hauling jobs. Hopefully I can get things going.

So, yeah, overall I’d say it was an okay birthday.

I just really wish Mom and Dad could have been here for it.

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Great he got a ship in Entry Four. Nice name for it too. But Entry Five--awwwwww! huggles for everyone. Mirax is a sweetheart, literally like his own flesh and blood sister

 

Caught up on reading and liked the posts. Captain Wedge Antilles. I like that and great that he has a ship and the nice memories

 

Jade_eyes: I agree, Mirax and Wedge have a great "sibling" type of relationship. It's really enjoyable reading about that in profic. Thanks for the reply!

Earlybird: Wedge will be hanging on pretty tightly to both the ship and the good memories as he tries to sort all this out. Thanks for reading!

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Entry 6

I guess this is the "real world" my teachers always warned me about.

I’d had notices up around Gus Treta for about a week advertising my new freight hauling business. I received no interest, no inquiries, even though I was priced as low as I could possibly afford to be based on operating costs, taxes, and tariffs. Blast, those are expensive. But anyway, how does a market station not have an overabundance of people who need to move goods?

Just when I was starting to go out of my mind, my comlink beeped on my business frequency with what would turn out to be my very first client, Mr. Tel Regen. He needed a few containers of droid parts taken to Duro. I grabbed a hovercart and ran over to meet with him as fast as I could. We signed the agreement, and then I brought the containers to Solstice and loaded them up right away. Took me forever to get the paperwork done when all I wanted to do was get going.

I was so excited. When I was finally flying full-throttle away from Gus Treta toward Duro, belting out a few verses of Corellia Ho!, I thought everything was well on its way to coming together.

That feeling lasted until I reached Duro, at which point I got stuck in Customs for four hours because I hadn’t realized I needed a J-299CD form for this particular cargo along with the KM-330 form, and apparently Customs is a pretty big stickler on that, and J-299CDs are a pain to do on the fly in the field, and long story short, I am never ever forgetting the J-299CD form ever again. I think it took me longer to get through Customs than it did to get from Corellia to Duro. I definitely need a paperwork droid. Good thing this wasn’t a time-sensitive delivery or I’d have to be issuing a refund.

When Customs finally let me through, it was a simple enough matter to land in the spaceport, rent a landspeeder and complete the delivery. Things seemed to be looking up.

Then on the way back to Gus Treta, Solstice’s Engine #1 frequency modulator failed. I don’t know why– it tested out fine before I left– but it’s fried and beyond repair. I got back to Gus Treta fine, but that’s not something I should be flying around interstellar space without, so I have to buy and install a new one before my next freight run, whenever that is.

At first the payment sum looked huge and I was so proud of myself for having earned that much, but once I took out my expenses and the cost of a new frequency modulator, it turns out that I didn’t even break even on my first delivery. Hopefully the next one goes more smoothly.

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Poor Wedge with all the paper and engine trouble.
Customs can be a pain in the posterior

 

Thumper09, bravo on the realism Some things transcend galactic barriers But that was a learning experience and hopefully the next one will go smoother. And once Wedge's business gets going, all that clerical-type work could be handled by something more automated.

 

That "real world" thing can be a bummer, all right. Here I was expecting something dreadful and poor Wedge just ended up being buried by paperwork. Inescapable even in Star Wars.

 

Earlybird: It's a good thing Wedge learns from his mistakes to avoid those same annoying troubles in the future. Thanks for reading!

Jade_eyes: Thanks! Heh, I work for the government, and red tape tends to leak through into some of my stories. He'll definitely be aiming for a way to automate the clerical stuff. Thanks for reading!

Kahara: Nothing too dreadful yet, but in the future I'm sure Wedge will wish the worst of his problems were still paperwork. Thanks for reading!

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Entry 7

It took a week to get the engine frequency modulator I ordered, and it was more expensive than I’d first planned for because I had to expedite it up from Corellia. It’s getting a little tricky to find some YT-700 parts. After it came in, I got it installed and running smoothly within a few days. During the downtime week I upgraded and tweaked some of the navigational systems. I didn’t really like how the interface handled the trip to and from Duro.

I hadn’t stopped advertising my freight-hauling business during the downtime, but even so, no new clients commed. I must be doing something wrong– I’ll have to ask Booster when he gets back.

About two days after I got Solstice up and running again with the new EFM, Mr. Regen commed and asked if I could haul some more droid parts to Duro for him. Of course I accepted, and this time I made blasted sure to have that J-299CD form filled out ahead of time.

Things went fine, I got through Customs and landed in the same orbital city, and I delivered the cargo to the same company and the same guy as before, a Duros named Mr. Ezka Jootai. As we were wrapping up, Mr. Jootai said their regular hauler was grounded with an unforeseen ship repair. He asked, since I was already there, if I was available to deliver some of their repaired droids to their customer on Tinnel IV that day. I jumped at the chance, and while I was gathering the info from him I asked how much his company sells used or refurbished clerical droids for. It was a bit out of my price range though.

I got to Tinnel IV and delivered the droids without a problem. I’d never been to Tinnel IV before, so on a whim I figured I’d stay a bit and take a look around and try to get another hauling job there instead of wasting a trip back to Gus Treta. I didn’t bother with a hotel and just slept in Solstice, so the spaceport docking fees were my main non-operational expense.

Booster’s told me before that you have to spend credits to make credits, so I did some advertising in the spaceport and in some of the nearby restaurants and cantinas. I found some other freighter captains in one and bought a few rounds for them, but as soon as I asked if they knew of any small jobs that weren’t worth their while to take on, they essentially dismissed me, like I was too small of an operation to bother with. One guy thought I was trying to horn in on his territory and steal customers out from under him, which is definitely not what I was trying to do (and not that I could, with as small as Solstice is), and most of the others seemed to stop taking me seriously. It’s aggravating. The crumbs I’m looking for to get established are things they would no-bid anyway due to the size: it’s not cost-effective for them to use their huge ships to haul small amounts of cargo.

I took a short break and spent a couple hours sightseeing. It’s an interesting planet, and I’d like to see more of it sometime. I just didn’t have a chance to with trying to get another hauling job.

I didn’t find one, and I stayed probably a day or two too long trying to make it happen. That completely ate my profits from my two latest runs that got me out there. I’m back in Gus Treta now. Hopefully Booster will be back soon and I can ask him the best way to find clients.

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Getting hauling jobs is difficult for him. But he sees a lot of the galaxy. Will Booster have some nice things?

 

Hi: Now that did seem like a plan - asking the bigger haulers about jobs they wouldn't have taken on anyhow. Yet, instead of taking pity and thinking: You have to start somewhere, and a few years back this was me; they got all noncommunicative about it. I guess they thought: Wedge is future competition, I'm very happy he's not getting discouraged and learning as he goes.

 

Earlybird: Wedge will have to wait a little longer to talk to Booster since he's running off to see more of the galaxy. Thanks for reading!

Jade_eyes: Wedge is definitely learning a lot as he goes. I imagine if he had remained a freighter pilot instead of becoming a Rebel snub jockey that he would have been some serious competition for every other freighter captain out there. Thanks for reading!

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Entry 8

Okay. Problem.

At least the backup hyperdrive is operational for now. I’ve done all I can at the moment and I’m too wound up to get any sleep in the meantime.

So I recently got a comm from a new client on Tinnel IV. Whether one of those freighter captains sent him my way (doubtful) or he saw one of my advertisements there, I’m not sure. Not that it really matters now. He was willing to pay good credits for a delivery. I needed the money and agreed immediately, then headed there for the pickup.

When I picked up the cargo I found out why he was willing to pay so well: it had to do with all the travel advisories and warnings for an area of space I’d be transiting through. The haulers local to Tinnel IV weren’t interested in taking on that risk for a small shipment. But it didn’t bother me.

I guess, in hindsight, that it should have.

I was supposed to take the cargo to Lyton Prime. The easiest way to get to the Lyton System without going sublight for several days to get around astronomical hazards is to use a certain, narrow hyperspace corridor. It’s not a main route, only tertiary at best. To get to that corridor from Tinnel IV, I had to take the Corellian Run to another, smaller corridor, and transition from that second corridor to the final one in the warning area. Anything other than that would have taken me days out of my way.

Other ships have to do this too. That’s why the travel warning is there: too many pirate attacks in that transition system since they know that’s where ships have to come out of hyperspace to start the new leg.

Turns out the travel warning was accurate. I was on alert when I dropped out of hyperspace in that transition system. I calculated my new jump as fast as I could, but two ships– a Neutron Star Bulk Cruiser and a Guardian light cruiser– dropped out of hyperspace in front of me and actively blocked my way. Before I could do much else they opened a comm channel, identified themselves as the Dauntless Pirates and demanded my surrender.

I refused. I think that surprised them, given the apparent odds. They spewed some threats, but honestly I was too angry to be scared. They saw a lone, shabby little YT-700 and expected some easy pickings.

What they didn’t realize was that I’d gone up against more dangerous pirates than them and won.

What I didn’t realize was that I wasn’t in Booster’s Z-95 this time.

That made things interesting.

Long story short, Solstice’s engines and lone laser cannon got quite a workout. I had to constantly use the Guardian cruiser as a shield so the Bulk Cruiser couldn’t get a bead on me with its more powerful weapons or tractor beams. During the course of the fight I destroyed the Guardian cruiser, and the damn pirates took out my shields, primary hyperdrive, and part of my life support. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to stick around and take out the Bulk Cruiser too, but by then Solstice was no longer up to that challenge and I’d destroyed the cruiser I was using for cover. I jumped into hyperspace using the slower backup system as soon as I got the chance and started repairs and damage control.

There were some problems, so once I felt like I’d gotten enough distance, I dropped out of hyperspace to perform the most critical repairs. I had to go extravehicular to patch up a huge coolant leak from the primary hyperdrive and to reroute power for the life support system. Thankfully I got life support back up and running fully. Shields are slowly recharging.

Now, as long as the backup hyperdrive holds out, I’m limping along to the Lyton System. Records show that there’s a small Imperial outpost there; I’ll report the pirate attack as soon as I arrive and see if they can help with the most vital repairs. The Imperials will need to help any ships coming in after me since that Bulk Cruiser is still there, and any freighter without an armed escort is going to have problems.

But after I report the pirate activity, I’ll complete my delivery. I’ve still got the cargo.

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