Ride of the Valkyries

[Jaden Luka]

This is a backstory thread, set some time between Endor and now. Subsequent threads should catch things up to the current timeline.


Astral Queen - Ord Radama

- - -

"Well that was worth it."

The stars spiralled slowly about the Astral Queen as she pulled herself away from the gravitational tug of Ord Radama. Her engines hummed lazily, the sound thrumming through the deckplates as she flew casually along her allocated flight path, dodging gracefully through the relatively empty skies of the Outer Rim world. Granted, their voyage here had turned out to be a bust - a search for replacement engine parts that had dissolved into a wild Bliz chase - but now he was back behind the controls of his belovéd ship, Jaden Luka didn't have a care in the 'verse.

His co-pilot on the other hand wasn't nearly so easily satiated.

"Quit whining, Amos," Jaden called over his shoulder to his burley human companion, nestled at the aft console of the YT-2000 cockpit. "Its just a bit of mud."

Amos Iakona scowled as he replied. "Not just mud. Swamp mud. Horrible, stinking, sticky swamp mud, that has welded itself to my boots." He prodded the offending ooze with a finger, and growled as he found it set solid. "That's never coming off," he complained with a sigh.

Jaden chucked - perhaps not the most diplomatic of responses, but over the last seven years he and the man seated behind him had gone through so much that Jaden was pretty sure he could get away with near enough anything. "Its not like you to make such a fuss over something so trivial," he teased.

"Its not just the mud," Amos bit back. "My coat is drenched with that gorram rain, and I think that weird green fog has soaked its way into my skin." Despite his impressive size and usually intimidating features, Amos managed a fantastic impression of a childish tantrum, wrapping his arms tightly across his chest. "It'll take weeks to get the smell off me."

"You could try taking a shower..." Jaden offered, deadpan, tapping in the first few commands that would prepare the ship for the jump to lightspeed.

Amos' eyes narrowed. "I would, if you'd managed to pick up a replacement hydro-pump for the 'fresher."

Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Jaden winced. The Astral Queen had served them well for the past seven years, but she was by no means a new ship, and had picked up a few recurring faults and quirks over her decades in service. One of them was a twitchy hydro-shower; another, as the red-text message flashing on Jaden's screen illustrated, was a slightly faulty hyperdrive. "Oh, come on!" he grunted, slamming the heel of his hand into the edge of the nav console in frustration. "Too early in the morning for you, your highness?"

"Maybe she didn't like getting coated in green rain either," Amos offered casually.

Slumping forward in his seat, Jaden felt the straps of the safety harness tugging on his shoulders. Like most flyboys, he'd always hated the idea of the restraints: after all, racing around the countryside in a souped-up airspeeder hadn't exactly been an activity frought with health and safety considerations. But since coming out here, into the 'real world' that was the galaxy at large, he'd discovered the hard way that strapping in was a useful measure to avoid annoying things like broken arms and skull fractures.

"Try the jump sequence again," Amos suggested.

Jaden frowned. The tone in his co-pilot's voice had changed. That was a bad sign: there wasn't much that could shut him up when he was in the mood for whining. "Something wrong?" he asked, risking a glance over his shoulder.

"I think there's an Imperial Cruiser in the area."

Quirking an eyebrow, Jaden shifted a little more in his seat. "Your Ginntho senses tingling again?" he asked, but the concern in his voice was geniune. Over the years, he'd come to trust Amos' remarkably accurate gut feelings.

"No, its just..." Amos waved a hand at the console in front of him lazily. "The sensors just picked one up."

Instantly, the colour drained from Jaden's face. They didn't have any particular quarrel with the Empire - sure, being out here on the fringes leant a little more weight to the stories of corruption and suspect activities that the anti-Imperialists tossed around, but Amos was a Stormtrooper veteran and Jaden had been set to serve as a TIE Pilot until he'd been cheated out of his place at the Academy. They may not have liked the way the Empire handled some of its business, but there was a big stretch between that and actively opposing them. Today however, reconsidering that stance might have been in order, particularly since someone - Jaden's stomach lurched - had forgotten to renew their transport licence with the local authorities. Their hold might only have contained a few tons of Ord Radama clay to trade into the ceramics industry, but without a license the Imperials would treat them as harshly as if they were up to their viewports in spice.

"Wake up Trip, and see what he can do with the engines," Jaden instructed. "And you might wanna get yourself up in the turret. I don't wanna open fire on an Imperial patrol if I can help it, but..."

"Yeah," Amos replied, already fumbling his way out of the seat restraints. "We don't want any Imperial entanglements."

As his co-pilot disappeared through the cockpit door, Jaden grimaced at a blinking light on the communications console. Reaching for the headset dangled over a few non-descript switches and dials, he settled it in place, and flicked on the comm array.

"Corellian Transport, this is the Imperial Cruiser Edean. You have deviated from your allocated flight path through this system. State your intentions."

"Cruiser Edean," Jaden responded, "This is the Transport Astral Queen. We are currently suffering a minor hyperdrive malfunction; our technician should have the problem corrected momentarily."

There was a hesitation on the other end of the line; that made Jaden feel even more nervous. "Power down your engines and prepare for docking, Astral Queen. We will render assistance."

That was a bad sign. And giving their real name was stupid as well; a quick check would flash up their lack of license. Unfortunately, they hadn't really had time to modify the IFF into a suitable disguise. "Uh...negative, negative," Jaden sent back, mind fumbling over some kind of suitable excuse. "Our crew has the situation under control."

Another long pause before the Imperial vessel spoke again. This time, any illusions that the Empire was trying to help had disappeared completely. "Power down your engines and prepare to be boarded."

Jaden slammed off the comms with a fist, curses raining from his lips. "We've got a problem!" he yelled, voice echoing down the corridors of the ship.