Star Wars Missions 002 - Escape from Thyferra

  Table of Contents

  COPYRIGHT

  PRELIMINARY MISSION

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  MISSION BRIEFING

  YOUR MISSION: ESCAPE FROM THYFERRA

  THE AFTER-MISSION

  Where was the Death Star? Admiral Termo knew something was wrong when it did not arrive at the Delrakkin system at the appointed time. There was no reason for the delay, unless the battle station had been… destroyed.

  Admiral Termo left the bridge of the Imperial Star Destroyer Liquidator and went to his private quarters. Once there, he punched in the combination for a small safe concealed in his desk. A panel slid open, revealing three holotapes marked EMERGENCY ONLY.

  The holotapes had been given to Termo by Grand Moff Tarkin. The Admiral sat down in his chair and inserted the first one into a holoprojector. Termo pressed a button, then waited.

  The hologram glowed green as it flickered into focus. Termo instantly recognized the lean, hawklike features of Grand Moff Tarkin.

  “Admiral Termo,” spoke the ghostly hologram. “If you are viewing this holotape, it is because I was not able to transmit a message from the Death Star to the Delrakkin system at the designated hour. Of even greater concern, I ordered you to wait for the Death Star at Delrakkin, and we have not yet arrived.

  “Because you do not know the full details of your mission,” continued Tarkin’s flickering image, “I am sure you must be confused. I am making this message as a mere precaution. I do this to stress the importance of your mission.”

  Admiral Termo leaned closer to the hologram. He studied Grand Moff Tarkin’s expression, trying to see if the old face seemed worried.

  “Wait until 0300 hours, Admiral,” instructed Tarkin’s green hologram, “then send a coded transmission to destination B90-478R. I cannot divulge the name of your contact, but assure you that he is of extremely high rank.”

  Probably another Grand Moff, thought Termo.

  “If the Death Star arrives before 0300 hours,” continued the Tarkin hologram, “disregard this communication, and destroy the second and third holotapes. That is all for now, Admiral.”

  For a moment, the hologram glowed even more brightly, then seemed to turn away as the green light faded to empty air.

  Termo pressed a button for the ship’s comm. “Admiral Termo to Communications Officer Tix. Any sign of the Death Star?”

  “No, Admiral,” replied Tix from the bridge.

  “Keep me posted,” ordered Termo. He switched off the comm.

  Termo turned and looked out his small window to see scores of distant stars. “What could possibly have happened at Yavin?” Termo wondered aloud.

  Deep within the Rebel base on Yavin Four, General Dodonna walked down a long corridor. The Rebels were conserving power, so only one portable light hung in the dim walkway. But as the General reached the end of the hall, he saw a familiar droid’s eyes glowing in the darkness.

  “Thank you for coming so quickly, General,” said the golden droid.

  “What’s going on, Threepio?” Dodonna asked. He appeared tired. See-Threepio had used a comm unit to contact the General, but the droid did know that Dodonna had been sleeping at the time.

  “I hope you’ll forgive me, General,” Threepio pleaded, “but I was instructed not to say anything more over the comm. Won’t you please come inside? The others are waiting.”

  In the room, Dodonna found Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo seated at a round table. Chewbacca the Wookiee stood against the wall.

  “General Dodonna,” Princess Leia began immediately, “we’re sorry to disturb you at this late hour, but we have come across some information that may be of great importance to the Rebel Alliance.”

  The sleepiness vanished from General Dodonna’s eyes. He was suddenly alert. Nodding his head toward Leia, he said, “Go on.”

  “We know that the Death Star was carrying a large supply of bacta,” Leia reported. “Although the bacta was destroyed, we were curious about this information. We wondered why the Empire would want so much bacta since it is used to heal people.”

  “That is puzzling,” Dodonna agreed. “The Empire would sooner destroy an entire civilization than heal a single person.”

  “We thought the same thing, General,” Luke offered. “But then we learned from the captured Imperial captain that the Death Star’s bacta was contaminated!”

  “All over the galaxy,” Leia continued, “people trust that bacta can heal almost any wound. The Death Star was carrying enough bacta for a small city. I believe that the Empire was planning to use their contaminated bacta as a biological weapon!”

  “What?!” said Dodonna. “You mean they planned to use bacta to poison a city? But that makes even less sense. The Death Star was capable of destroying whole worlds. Why would the Empire want to use contaminated bacta as a weapon?”

  “Maybe there is a world that the Empire doesn’t want to destroy,” Solo suggested. “They need the planet, but not the people on it”

  “Exactly,” Leia stated. “If this is what the Empire intended, the plan may not have ended with the destruction of the Death Star. There may be more contaminated bacta out there — anywhere. If there is a city or world that’s in danger, we have to try to help.”

  General Dodonna cast his eyes down at the table before he spoke. “Can we get any more information out of the captured Imperial captain?”

  Chewbacca uttered a low, menacing growl.

  “Captain Skeezer refuses to tell us anything more,” Solo reported. “But Chewie has just offered to make Skeezer talk.”

  “Please, Solo, let’s not resort to that,” said a surprised Dodonna. “The Empire endorses extreme methods of questioning, but I do not. There are other ways to gain information. What about his crashed ship? Were there any records of where the ship came from or why it entered the Yavin system?”

  “There wasn’t any record of origin on the Carrack cruiser’s computers,” Luke answered. “Captain Skeezer may have been on a secret mission. The good news is that the Carrack cruiser is in pretty good shape despite the crash. We’ve got three teams of technicians working on it. It should be repaired in a couple of days.”

  “That is good news,” Dodonna agreed. “We can add that ship to the Rebel fleet. But about the bacta How do you think we should proceed, Leia?”

  “There is only one planet in the galaxy that produces bacta,” Leia stated. “Thyferra, in the Polith system. We have a contact on Thyferra, a woman named Voralla Morbo. She’s helped the Rebellion when we needed to transport bacta. Perhaps she knows something about the Death Star cargo.”

  “Isn’t Thyferra controlled by the Empire?” asked Luke.

  “Not exactly,” Leia replied. “Thyferra has remained neutral and sells bacta to both the Empire and the Alliance. However, the Empire controls much of the bacta production and distribution.”

  General Dodonna shook his head. “For all we know, the Death Star’s contaminated bacta may have been made somewhere else.”

  “But General,” pleaded Leia, “it’s our only lead! Thyferra may prove to be a dead end, but we have to try!” Leia kept her voice firm when she added, “I will not lose another planet to the Empire!”

  Silence filled the room. Everyone knew that the Princess referred to her home world, the planet Alderaan. Grand Moff Tarkin himself had ordered its destruction.

  “Very well,” Dodonna said. “How soon will you leave?”

  “The Millennium Falcon is powered up and ready,” Solo answered. “We can be out of here in five minutes.”

  “Oh, dear!” cried
Threepio. “We’re leaving that soon? I must get Artoo! He’s still trying to fix that droid from the ancient fortress!”

  Dodonna looked gravely at Leia “I don’t have to tell you to be careful,” he said. He turned to the others and added, “But I will say… may the Force be with you.”

  Communications Officer Tix watched nervously as Admiral Termo paced on the bridge of the Imperial Star Destroyer. Finally, Termo turned to Tix and asked, “How long has it been since Captain Skeezer left this ship?”

  “Twelve hours, sir,” Tix responded.

  Termo gazed out the viewport at the planet Delrakkin. Another storm was visible on the surface of the lush, green planet.

  “Twelve hours,” Termo echoed, “that should have been enough time for Captain Skeezer to reach the Yavin system, locate the Death Star, and report back to me.”

  Officer Tix remained silent. In the hours since Captain Skeezer had left the Star Destroyer, Tix had begun to wonder what could have happened to the Death Star. Perhaps the massive battle station had been struck by a gigantic meteor or had accidentally traveled into the area of a supernova (the explosion of a very large star). It was impossible to imagine that anything less could have destroyed the massive weapon. It was impossible to know what would happen to the Empire if the Death Star was… gone.

  The Millennium Falcon’s engines roared as it flew swiftly away from Yavin Four. In the cockpit, Luke and Leia sat behind Solo and Chewbacca. An empty Y-wing starfighter was secured to the lower hull of the Falcon. The Y-wing could only seat two passengers, but General Dodonna had suggested the Rebels might need the extra vessel on Thyferra. Even Solo agreed that it was a good idea to have a backup ship.

  The droids were in the central hold area of the Falcon. Threepio gazed out a narrow window and watched as Yavin Four became an increasingly distant dot among the stars.

  “Better get buckled in back there,” Solo’s voice spoke over the Falcon’s comm “We’ll be making the jump to hyperspace in a few minutes.”

  “Dear, oh, dear,” Threepio muttered. “I really do hate space travel” He turned to Artoo-Detoo. The astromech droid stood beside the holographic game table. Artoo had transformed the table into a workbench. He was nearly finished with Q-7N’s repairs. The droid had needed quite a fix-up after the injuries it had sustained while helping Rebel forces in a battle on Yavin Four. It was quite an old model — a real challenge to restore.

  “Really, Artoo!” Threepio said as he sat down beside the table and strapped himself to the seat “I don’t know why you’re spending so much time working on that ancient droid.”

  Artoo emitted a rapid series of beeps.

  “Yes, yes, yes,” Threepio replied. “I know that the little fellow was of some help in capturing the Imperial captain on Yavin Four! But you don’t really think that you can get the old thing to work again?”

  “I’d app-app-appreciate,” stammered the ball-like droid on the table, “if you duh-duh-didn’t refer-rrrr to me as an-an-an ‘old thing.’”

  “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you could hear me.” Threepio turned to Artoo. “Good work, Artoo-Detoo! I knew you could fix our new friend!”

  Artoo whistled an electronic question to the tiny droid as he made an adjustment to Q-7N’s vocabulator.

  “Hmmm… yes, I think you’ve fixed it,” Q-7N replied. “I can speak clearly again. Thank you, Artoo.” Q-7N’s photoreceptors rotated as the droid looked around. “Where are we?”

  “We’re in the central hold area of the Millennium Falcon, the ship owned by Han Solo,” Threepio answered. “Master Solo was a smuggler, but now he and his copilot are members of the Rebel Alliance.”

  “I used to be owned by smugglers,” said Q-7N, then corrected, “pirates, really. But that was a very long time ago.” One of Q-7N’s photoreceptors stared at Threepio and the small droid asked, “Are you and Artoo also Rebels?”

  Q-7N’s question caught Threepio off guard. The protocol droid had never thought of himself as a genuine member of the Rebellion. “Well, now that you mention it,” Threepio began as his voice filled with pride, “I suppose we are!”

  “Then I’m a Rebel too!” said Q-7N. “So tell me… what are we rebelling against?”

  Threepio’s head rocked back and he fixed his gaze on Q-7N. “Why, against the Empire, of course,” said Threepio. “You know, like the stormtroopers that you fought on Yavin Four?”

  “Oh!” exclaimed Q-7N. “Them!”

  Threepio leaned close to Artoo and whispered, “Artoo? I think you might have missed one of Q-7N’s memory circuits! How could anyone forget the Empire?”

  Artoo’s answer was lost to the noise of the Falcon’s engines as the battered stock light freighter thundered into hyperspace.

  Admiral Termo sat at the desk in his private quarters on the Imperial Star Destroyer. Behind him, a small window was filled with a view of the planet Delrakkin. In front of the desk, Communications Officer Tix adjusted three switches on a compact holocomm, then attached two wires to one of the switches. After the wires were tied, Tix clipped one wire in half, clamped off one end, and rerouted the other to the Star Destroyer’s computer. Termo watched the entire process with great interest.

  “You’re positive our ship’s computer will not have any record of this transmission?” Termo inquired.

  “Yes, sir,” responded Tix.

  “And you guarantee this transmission will not be intercepted and decoded?” asked Termo.

  “There is always a possibility that a transmission may be intercepted on the HoloNet, sir,” replied Tix. “But only the people at the destination frequency will be able to decode it.”

  “Good work, Tix,” praised the Admiral. “Now leave.”

  Tix nodded and left the Admiral’s room.

  Termo cleared his throat He stared into the plastic lens and activated the holocomm. Termo leaned forward and spoke into the microphone. “B90-478R. This is Admiral Termo, commanding officer of the Star Destroyer Liquidator, presently located in the Delrakkin system.”

  Above Termo’s desk, a dark hologram blossomed from the desktop projector. Termo squinted at the glowing shape but could not see anything that resembled a face.

  “Yes, Admiral Termo,” a voice crackled from the hologram. “I have been expecting your transmission.”

  Termo didn’t recognize the voice but thought it best to proceed. “The Death Star has not arrived at Delrakkin,” said Termo. “I am waiting for orders from Grand Moff Tarkin.”

  There was a pause, and then the hologram began to laugh. There was something evil and sinister about the laughter. If a deep cavern could laugh, thought Termo, it would sound like this.

  Termo stared fiercely at the hologram and said, “I fail to see any humor in this situation.”

  “No,” replied the hologram. “You couldn’t possibly. Because you don’t know!”

  The hologram shifted and Termo realized that the blob was a cloaked head. The cloak was pulled back and the head looked up. Termo found himself staring into a pair of cold, dead eyes.

  “Grand Moff Tarkin is no longer with us,” leered the hologram, and the face bared its rotten teeth. “The Death Star was destroyed!” At this, the hologram began to laugh again.

  Termo didn’t know what to say.

  He had never before spoken with Emperor Palpatine.

  The Millennium Falcon tore through hyperspace on its way to the Polith system and the planet Thyferra. Brilliant light flooded past the Falcon’s cockpit. The armored hull of the cruiser rattled against the pounding galactic storm.

  “All right, everyone,” Solo cautioned, “we’re going to sublight.”

  “You’re not going to arrive too close to Thyferra, are you?” Leia asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Solo remarked. “I was kind of thinking it would be great fun to just ram the Falcon right into the planet”

  Leia shot an angry look at Solo. “I only meant that we should be especially cautious entering Thyferran space. We don’t want to ale
rt any Imperial ships that may be in the area.”

  “Well, thank you for stating the obvious, your Princessiveness,” sniped an annoyed Solo. “Maybe you’d, like to pilot the Falcon?”

  “I’d sooner pilot a broken-down landspeeder,” Leia proclaimed.

  “Oh, yeah?” Solo asked. “Then why don’t —”

  “Will you two please stop fighting?” Luke interrupted. “It’s really getting on my nerves.”

  Chewbacca looked over his shoulder and howled as he nodded in agreement with Luke.

  “Some friend you are, furball,” muttered Solo, nudging the hyperdrive compensator. The shimmering lights of hyperspace seemed to wash away as the Falcon entered realspace. The cockpit’s windows were suddenly filled with a clear view of the surrounding stars.

  “There it is,” Solo said, pointing to a nearby planet. “Thyferra. It looks like a clear route from here.” He turned to Leia “Have you ever met Voralla Morbo?” he asked.

  “No,” Leia replied. “But I’m told she can often be found in a cantina near the spaceport at Zalxuc City. She keeps Docking Bay Seventy-two set aside for the Alliance.”

  “Does the cantina have a name?” Luke asked.

  “It’s called Morbo’s Place,” Leia replied.

  “Huh. So she has her own cantina,” Solo commented. “What do you think of that, Chewie?”

  Chewbacca responded with several quick snorts that Solo recognized as the Wookiee’s chuckle. Chewbacca liked cantinas. So did Solo.

  “Punch it, pal,” Solo ordered casually. The Millennium Falcon blasted toward Thyferra.

  Minutes later, the Falcon hovered above the rooftops of Zalxuc City as it approached Docking Bay 72. Solo tapped several switches. A loud noise could be heard from below the Falcon.

  “What are you doing?” Leia asked.

  “I’ve detached the Y-wing from the hull,” replied Solo, “and I’m using the Falcon’s tractor beam to lower it to that roof.” Solo pointed to what appeared to be a sturdy metal rooftop. “We may need the Y-wing as a getaway ship, so we don’t want it stuck to the Falcon.”