Jaerstein Cysse: Random Chapters And Crap

[Mickey 1]

Sorry about the proofreading, I mean lack thereof, haven't reached that phase yet. But here's a little taste of what's to come.

Reunion

A Chapter in

The Life of Jaerstein Cysse

Reaching over to the hyperspace levers, my breath quickened. The timer started to count down from five. A drop of sweat rolled down my forehead. Senses heightening and time blurring, I entered a state of pure focus. My eyes stung and blurred momentarily from the perspiration, as the timer hit four. As I tightened my grip on the levers, the ship jolted unexpectedly.

The streaks of light outside my cockpit suddenly retracted into pinpoints of light. The reversion to realspace left me only slightly disoriented, and I was quickly able to regain my bearing. I ran a quick sensor scan and found the rest of my squad as well as the other starfighter squadrons. Ahead, just a few thousand klicks, hung the main asteroid of the Bilbringi system?s Imperial shipyards, against the starry backdrop. I thought we would be closer.

The ovoid lump of rock and its surrounding ship platforms were partially silhouetted against the systems star. It was a brilliant scene, only darkened by the fleet of Imperial warships massed among the drifting asteroids.

Thoughts began racing through my mind like a Malastarian pod-race.

I realized what had happened with my exit from Hyperspace. It seemed to have happened too soon, and I confirmed that by noticing how far we were from the shipyards.

?What the...!? I exclaimed upon the site of Interdictor cruisers to the sides. The pieces began to come together. ?So that?s how we came out so soon.?

?I think they knew we were coming,? one of the squad leaders muttered over the com.

I spotted little spots moving toward us in mass. Long-range scanners identified them as TIEs.

Seconds later the rest of our fleet reverted from Hyperspace.

?Battle Alert!? a fighter pilot called over the com. My computer identified the speaker as Rogue Two. ?TIE interceptors coming in ---bearing two-nine-three mark twenty.?

?Its gotta be the work of Thrawn, only he would be able to pull this off,? announced Gray Leader.

The rest of the fleet quickly picked up on what was happening, and Admiral Ackbar was surely one being who never missed a beat. ?All ships---emergency combat status,? his coarse voice came in strong and calm. ?Defensive configuration: Starfighter Command to screen positions. It appears to be a trap.?

He finished off saying what the rest of us in starfighter had already deciphered. It was definitely a trap. Thrawn?s cunning was seemingly never ending, eternally surprising.

?You hear that Grays, let?s go get that blue-skinned Imp scum,? gray Leader spoke over the squad?s channel.

?Copy that leader,? I responded.

?Loosen up the formation, here comes the enemy,? Leader said grimly. ?Stay sharp, and break to attack.?

I watched the wave of ball shaped cockpits flow toward us at a rapid pace. The top of my radar screen went almost totally red with blips. I loosed a couple of ion blasts intermittently with my constant pour of fire from my three laser cannons. The bolts flew out from right, bottom, left; streaks of red racing toward the enemy fighters. At least two of the TIE Interceptors winked out in flashes, but they kept getting closer. Breaking formation I sent my fighter into a roll as the TIEs peppered the black space with green bolts.

?Watch those defense platforms, a stray bolt will take you right out,? Gray Six reported.

I spotted a few of those bolts and made a mental note to avoid them. The S-foils and main body of my ship rotated around the cockpit as I threw it into a spinning roll to starboard. I brought It back and leveled the ship out so I could fire a few more shots before the wave hit us. I took out one more fighter before having to pull up and turn to port to make a gap in the tightly formed Imperials. I continued the port turn and swept it into a full direction reversal, putting me on the tails of a squad of squints.

My grip tightened on the stick as I struggled to keep them in my targeting reticle. I squeezed the trigger, the first of my bolts hitting the starboard solar ionization panel of the squint. The last two ripped the panel of at the support columns. It split apart and begun an uncontrollable tumble. I climbed a little to starboard and begun firing at the bottom half of a squint trying to turn itself around. This time I caught it right in the bottom of the ball cockpit. The life support oxygen tanks and systems exploded in a flash of white. As the cockpit viewscreen darkened to compensate, I smoothed out my turn into an easy bank. I can?t believe this. This is almost too easy. I tried not to get too cocky, but I had never been shooting like this.

Suddenly, green lines streaked past my cockpit. I checked my scanners and saw a squint on my tail. I hit my reverse thrusters and dipped my nose. The bogey zoomed by overhead. I pulled my nose back up and throttled up. I jumped on his tail in a flash. Despite his fighter being incredibly more maneuverable than my B-Wing, I still managed to punch fire into his ionization reactor. I banked starboard to avoid the resulting explosion.

?...Cysse...Gray Seven...Jaerstein do you copy...Cysse?? Gray Leader?s frustrated voice came over the com.

I realized in shock that I had been so battle-focused that I couldn?t hear the com. ?Yeah, Yeah I?m here leader. Sorry I must?ve been too focused.?

?Well what are you doing? We aren?t on fighter defense, would you mind forming up so we can hit those capital ships?? The annoyance in his voice turned my face red in embarrassment.

?Alright leader, continuing to your current coordinates.? Banking my fighter over to set a straight-line flight path toward the rest of the squad, I punched my throttle up to full. I ran a quick diagnostics check on all flight systems. Proton torpedoes all full, blasters still in the green, shields still in the green, and engines still all in the green. Good. I weaved my fighter in and out of the intermittent dogfights that others were engaged in. I opened up my com channel to the whole fleet, so I could get a feel for how the battle was going.

It wasn?t good. The Grand Admiral Thrawn was possibly the greatest war genius the galaxy had ever known. Our fleet seemed to be fighting a losing battle already. Guess I better get going. I spotted the rest of the Grays already assaulting a Star Destroyer?s shield generator tower. I moved into formation with my wingmate Gray Eight.

?Hey Jaers, good to see you could join us,? he joked.

?Wouldn?t miss it for anything, Dallows. So how far are we on these generators??

?A couple of more torps oughta send ?em nova. But Leader wants us to get started on that Destroyer over to port.?

?Alright lets move! You take lead, I?ll hang back and take the TIEs,? he pulled out front and I hung back to provide cover. We throttled up, gunning it for the Destroyer. I glanced back to check for other friendlies following us on our assault, and saw a couple peel away from their attack runs. The space behind them lit up as the giant gray orbs of the generators turned into a white and orange eruption of ionized particles. I brought up targeting sensors, and prioritized the shield generators on the next Destroyer that was growing in my viewscreen. As we neared, I noticed a lack of defensive fire coming from the ship. That?s odd I wonder why it is hardly firing upon us. Oh well, that just makes my job easier.

As the bulk of the destroyer began to fill my viewscreen, I noticed more ships drifting in toward the perimeter of the Imperial fleet. They were smaller than the destroyers, a sort of motley assortment of vessels ranging from light freighter to large capital warships. I wonder why they are moving into battle. Thrawn seems to have things under control; he should be pulling out his convoys. The Imperials seemed not to notice them and they looked too large to be a convoy, I realized. I put those thoughts into the back of my mind and concentrated on the strike at hand.

?Fire up those torp launchers, we need to make quick work of this one,? I hailed the squad members running the strike with us.

?Looks like you Grays could use a hand with these TIEs,? a familiar voice came onto the channel.

?What TIEs?? Dallows inquired.

?Those ones!? I shouted as I noticed a flood of red blips on my radar screen, followed closely behind by some green friendlies. ?Pilot identify yourself,? I called back to the familiar voice.

?What you don?t remember your old buddy Kairs? This is Green Seven I got some X-Wing cover for you all.?

?Thanks Kairs, keep ?em busy while we knock out the shields.? I heard a shout that was suddenly cut off by a crackle. Every pilot knew that sound.

?My wing is gone, repeat, Gray Three is gone,? the com unit identified the panicked voice as Gray Four.

?What happened?? Leader asked Four.

?Those Golan defense platforms, one of the turbos caught him,? Four answered.

?Alright, alright. Four, form up on Two, you guys go after those blasted platforms.?

?Copy that Leader,? Two and Four replied in unison.

?Five through Eight, form up on Jaerstein. Seven, can you handle lead?? The orders came from Leader and the news sent a tingle down my spine.

?Affirmative lead.?

?Good. I?m gonna go work on those platforms too.?

I attempted get control over myself. He just gave me command of one third of the squad. I embraced the responsibility. As I made the first attack run up the dorsal spine of the destroyer, I had little trouble with TIEs, and turbolasers.

?Five and six you take starboard, that?s your port. Eight we got the other.? I barked out. I pulled up just in front of the towering box that formed the bridge. The two streaks of blue speeding out of my launchers found their marks. One struck the column on which the sphere of the port generator was mounted. The second struck its lower hemisphere. The two explosions were promptly accompanied by two more.

The blasts flared up to port, as I continued a hard banking turn to starboard. I brought the ship around and noticed the destroyer was making a turn of it?s own. The ship turned its bulk rapidly, and it then became clear why they weren?t firing on us. I pondered for a moment why it was ignoring us. My radar beeped as it picked up new enemy blips, TIEs releasing from the main bay. I tightened up my turn so I could catch up with the destroyers pivoting and gain a visual on the generator towers.

?Make one more pass on the shields, Five and Six,? I commanded after I made a visual check on the generator towers. Prioritizing my targets, I set the new TIEs that were releasing, at the top.

?Eight, let?s help the X-Wings with those TIEs.? Making a turn back to starboard, I dove down to get underneath the Imperial ship. Suddenly, the destroyer batteries opened up.

?Watch that fire Greens,? Green Leader shouted over the com.

?Wait, wait, they aren?t firing on us,? this dawned on me as I watched the bolts streaking right past us. The green bolts attempted to find their marks: that rag-tag group of freighters and cruisers. Those ships are on our side! Fire flared up as the group opened up on the weapon platforms with a barrage of laser fire. ?What is going on here??

?All groups, designate the following ships as friendlies,? what sounded like Ackbar?s voice came over the com.

Long-range scanners put a new view on my radar screen that encompassed most of the battle space. The new view designated the freighter group as green friendly blips. My ship shook as a warning bleep went off in the cockpit. Just a minor hit but enough to get my attention back in the battle. Despite the turbolasers ignoring us, the TIEs continued to harass us.

?Cysse you seemed to have pick up a follower,? Dallows informed me.

Turning my body I was able to peek out the back top of my cockpit and spot the squint. I went evasive. Sending my B-wing through a series of rolls and banks. Light groaning noises came from the gyro stabilization system affixed to the cockpit. They were notoriously faulty and I hoped it would hold together. Green bolts streamed past my ship, and I kept one eye on the red blip denoting the Interceptor.

?Whew. Got that Imp,? the cheer of Dallows complemented the winking out of the TIE.

?Thanks Dallows, I owe you one.?

I looked out ahead of my ship and spotted a pair of TIEs breaking for attack. The swept up towards a lone X-Wing. I raked my fire on a line toward them, hoping to score a hit. A pair of blasts caught the lead TIE on its dagger shaped ?wing? and sent it spinning toward its port side. The other interceptor made a trying effort to avoid its out of control wingmate, but to no affect. They both went up in a brilliant blast that continued expanding as my fighter swooped through the remaining particle cloud. The amount of TIEs that had launched from the bay was now halved. Only a single squadron remained. I scanned the black vacuum for another target, when a strange crackle came over my com.

?...freigh...er...Gar...Sta...m...tem...in...to defect,? the static cleared up at the end following a tuning related noise, but the message was still indiscernible. Although, the voice seemed somewhat familiar, hearing it brought me a bit of nostalgic comfort, as if it were reminiscence not reality. I know that voice, who is that?

?Repeat, hailing all vessels of the New Republic, this is Captain Cysse Imperial freighter Garos Star I?m attempting to defect.?

I quickly fumbled over the com controls. It?s Kiesthen I can?t believe it! I finally found the channel. ?Kiesthen, this is Lieutenant Jaerstein Cysse, good to hear from you.? Barely holding back the excitement I continued, ?I?m tight beaming you a set of coordinates. We can rendezvous there and we?ll escort you in.?

The nav computer allowed me to find a suitable rendezvous and I sent them over to his ship. ?Kairs, Dallows form up on me. We?re running escort duty.?

?Neg that Gray Seven. Can?t break squad,? replied Kairs.

?Neg that too Cysse, that?s out of our role. Leader told us to stay here,? Dallows sounded disappointed in my command.

?But we got the shields. Its my brother who?s defecting, so we?ve got to bring him in.?

?Copy that wing I?ll get your cover.?

?Well Kairs, you coming or not??

?I gotta cover my squadmates.?

?Bring ?em with. You got command of half the Greens.?

?Not anymore. Already lost Eight and Eleven.?

?Stop stalling Kairs and form up.?

?Alright Jaers. But you?re acting reckless, you better not get anyone killed,? concern seeped into his voice.

?I?ll try not to Kairs,? I said somberly.

Bringing my fighter around I aimed toward the coordinates I gave Kiesthen. Once everyone had formed up, Dallows, Kairs and three Greens, we throttled up to full. We made our way toward the coordinates, dodging and diving past ships of all sizes. It hit me like a concussion missile. We were losing. Bad. It looked as though it was only time until Thrawn prevailed. That realization dimmed my spirits.

?Cysse?? the com came alive with Kiesthen?s voice. ?Are you there??

?Right here Kiesthen.?

?I want you to forget this escort plan. It will draw too much attention to me. The Imperials don?t know I?m defecting.?

?Forget it Kiesthen. We?re on our way.?

?No you forget it! Now listen to me Kiesthen, stay away from the freighter!? he seemed past aggravated now, and I should have listened to him. He did have a point, after all. My thick headed-ness got the best of me.

I could now make out his freighter in the distance. It began to grow larger as we got closer. We moved into flanking escort position on the sides of the freighters. My video com flickered to life, it was Kiesthen

?Jaerstein I told you to stay away! Now either act like your attacking or break formation,? I could now see the angered frustration on his face.

?Not a chance, not in the middle of the battle like this. You need our escort.?

?TIEs incoming. Right behind us,? Kairs reported nervously.

?Alright break escort formation and attack the fighters. Keep ?em away from the freighter,? I ordered.

The TIEs swept in, a full squadron. We were outnumbered. I threw my controls forward into a tight dive. Which I continued until my cannons were aimed at the underside of the TIEs. I opened up with rapid fire, sharing the blasts with two squints. I managed to knock them both out rather quickly. The first blew into a gas cloud; the other fragmented and spun out of control. I brought my maneuver into a full loop, putting me back on horizon with the freighter.

I spotted another TIE to port and banked off to attack him. With the rear end of the freighter filling my viewscreen, I moved towards its port side in pursuit. The freighter was fairly large about one hundred meters in length. As the squint continued on pursuit of another Republic fighter, I squeezed the trigger shooting of a few bursts of laser fire. One struck. A large green column of energy engulfed the fighter, leaving only the resulting explosion.

?What just happened? That looked like a destroyer turbolaser...but why would it be firing on it?s own fighters?? My question was quickly answer as another bolt ripped past in front of my B-Wing and exploded on the freighter?s port shield. ?Oh No.? I muttered.

?They know, they?re firing on Kiesthen,? Kairs sounded over the com, his voice cracking with panic. ?Kiesthen, reroute shields to your port side.?

?I told you Jaerstein, but you wouldn?t listen!? Kiesthen growled at me.

?Go evasive, punch to full throttle,? I ignored his last comment.

?I am at full throttle.?

I carved an arc around the front of the freighter. Looking out the starboard side of my fighter, I saw another blast against the shields.

?My ship can?t take much more of this.? Another blast flew past the freighter, missing narrowly.

?Do you have an escape pod or backup vessel on board,? I asked him.

?No. If you got an extra seat in that fighter, I could open the bay for you. Maybe you could give me a lift.?

?Do it,? A smile crept over my face. I thought this Expanded B-Wing would come in handy. It was only about a standard month ago that my request for a B-Wing E2 had been filled. One could always use an extra seat in their fighter, I figured. I flew along the top of the freighter towards its rear end. The bay doors began to open. I matched my speed with the freighter, and begun to put down my landing gear. I started to maneuver into the opening. Another blast jolted the ship, causing my to have to swerve my fighter a bit. I started to move below the top of the doors, into the brightly lit cargo bay. There stood Kiesthen in his Vac-suit, just waving.

Sealing up my own flight suit into EV capabilities, I vented the atmosphere from the cockpit and equalized the pressure to vacuum. I put the B-Wing down lightly on the floor of the bay. A moderate clank resonated through my ship. I opened the cockpit hatch and waved Kiesthen over to the fighter. He came running and jumped in, fastening up his restraint harness in record time.

The hatch closed shut, and I punched the life support and pressure controls back up to normal. Turning the repulsors up to full I got the B-Wing up off the bay floor. ?Good to see you again Kiesthen.?

?Yeah, you too. Thanks for the pickup I was...? He was cut of as the freighter took its fatal blow.

I could now peek over the of the bay opening and saw the fireball that was the bridge of the freighter expanding. It was spreading rapidly back to the bay of the ship. Fire and debris suddenly flew up in a violent fury towards us as the fuel slugs and reactor in the ship went. I made a quick pivot and throttled up to full speeding away from what was the freighter Garos Star. ?Whew. That was close.? My chest heaved as I let out a breath of relief.

Edited April 27, 2004 by Jaerstein Cysee

[Mickey 1]

no feedback? C'mon people...please?! need to know if this even halfway decent before I leave this style in the whole saga

[Andy 52]

Sorry, sorry! I meant to read it when you posted it but I was busy and then forgot...

It's pretty good. I was really getting into it.

I'll try and direct a few people pver here to comment. Especially Pod, she's good at commenting on stuff. Better than me anyway. lol

[Mickey 1]

hey thanks beeurd, I appreciate the help.

here is the beginning of the prologue, and will also post the unfinished first couple pages of Chapter 1

Prologue

The Cloudy Future

All my life I had looked to the stars, always wanting to be among them. Spending my first eighteen years, more or less bound to a rock by the universal force of gravity, had only heightened these feelings. I gazed out the viewport of the cruiser Sernpidal as I thought back to the days of my youth. The stars seemed much brighter those days, the invasion seemed to dim everything these days, especially spirits. Why couldn?t everything be as simple as it was, as easy as it was? The last few years had taken a severe toll on the galaxy and it?s denizens. It was taking a toll on me. Being a squad leader before the war was nice, but these times left us with nothing nice. I?d lost so many pilots in the last few years, that I had lost track. The stress was beginning to crack me.

?Would all Squadron Leaders please report to the Starfighter Breifing room.? A monotonic female voice sounded over the ship?s intercom.

I took in a deep breath, taking in some inspiration and attempting to exhale all the bad thoughts and feelings inside. I will save the galaxy. It is my job now to continue the fight, and I won?t quit. This thought caused a tingle to run through my body. I realized at that moment that what I had been working for my whole life was now culminating. No longer was I just another fighter jock, I was now a leader.

short now, but it should be about 6 pages...

in case you didn't notice, the story has a split timeline...with the present as the Vong Invasion and Jaerstein's reflections occuring aroung the Thrawn Era.

[Mickey 1]

Chapter 1

Looking to the Stars

The morning light broke through my window and bathed my room in its glow. It awoke my eyes from their rest. Today was another day, just another day, in my life. With a slight groan and yawn, I lifted the bed sheets from my body and swung out of bed.

?The current temperature in Ariana is 25 degrees, the skies clear, and we expect sunny conditions to exist all day.? A female voice came over my room?s speakers.

I walked over to the window and gazed over the sprawling and immaculate city of Ariana. Ariana is the capital city of my home planet Garos IV. A beautiful city in its own right, Ariana is one of the leaders in education and culture, in the galaxy. It truly is a wonderful place to grow up, but I started to tire of it.

My eyes rose to the sky, all my life I looked to the sky. All my life I wanted to be in the sky, among the stars. I had begun to resent gravity, loathing it for its tireless effort to keep me on the ground. One day I will truly be free, one day I will experience more than just a cruise through town in a Skyhopper. The stars will be mine.

A tone sound behind me and I turned my face from the window. The main viewscreen in my room flashed on and a picture of my good friend Blaine Delvin appeared.

?Hey Jaers, how?re you functioning?? Blaine greeted me.

?Decently, ? I replied. ?I suppose you want my part of that Astro-Engineering Project. Sorry about that I meant to send it last night, but I fell asleep early. I?ve been quite tired lately.?

?Not a trouble, Jaers. If ya just want send it on over to me now I can turn out the hard copy.?

?You got it.? I walked over to my datapad, brought up the document, and transmitted it to him. ?Did you get your speeder back from the shop?? I asked him.

?Negative on that, its still in there, Torreil won?t have it done until the end of the week.? He responded, dejectedly.

?Do you need a ride??

?From you??

?Yeah.?

?I don?t think so!?

I stared back at him with a look of mock pain on my face. ?Are you trying to say something about my driving??

?Let?s just say I?d be safer taking a lonely stroll through the under levels of Coruscant.?

?Honestly, Blaine. That truly hurts me when you speak that way.?

?I?ll see you in class Jaers,? he chuckled and shook his head as the screen faded out.

My speeder sat down in the main bay. A sleek green Sorosuub, with aftermarket performance engines, it was capable of neck jerking speed. I retracted the top and hopped into the two-seat cockpit. Opening the bay door, I powered up the speeder, which I lovingly called Ariana Terror. I punched the throttled and was slammed back into my seat with great force. I exited the entrance path to our home with furious haste. Exhaust heat burned out of the turbine nacelles and the high-performance ion jets growled with passion. I slammed the control wheel into a hard right as I slid the landspeeder onto the road in front of our home. I caught a glimpse of the frightened driver left in the wake of my adrenaline driven recklessness.

A beeping came on in my speeder warning me that I was exceeding the posted speed limit for the road I was on. With a sigh, I reached down and turned up the music playing over the speeders internal speakers. I came to the freeway and raised the float height of the speeder. Repulsor beacons outlined the pathway for entrance to the freeway. This was one of Ariana?s larger freeways consisting of six lanes of traffic into the capital city. Checking my chrono, I saw I needed to make a bit better time.

I sped along for a few more klicks heading into the city of Ariana. Then the sounds of a siren came on in my speeder, I looked back and saw the flashing lights of a Patrol Speeder.

?Jaerstein Cysse, please exit the Floatway and slow your vehicle to a stop.? I recognized the voice coming over my intercom system. Which actually was a good thing, maybe I could get out of another citation.

[Mickey 1]

as long as I'm posting ... here's some other chapters I've pulled up, some probably won't make the final edit, but hey writing is fun. Sorry about these being just a big jumble-mess ... I haven't completely worked out the storyline yet, also sorry if some of it seems uneven at this point, these have all been written sporadically over the past four years.

?I plan on taking my flying seriously,? I announced. ?So, I want to going the New Republic?s starfighter pilot academy.?

My parents looked shocked when I made that announcement. ?But Jaerstein, who?s going to follow in my footsteps and take over the speeder dealerships? After Kiesthen left for the Imperial Academy six years ago I?d been planning on passing them down to you.? My father pleaded.

?But that?s just it, you let him go off and be and pursue his dreams to be a pilot. I just don?t see why you?re so opposed to letting me move on to the starfighter academy.?

My father looked over at my mother for a moment, ?If that?s what you want then we are O.K. with it, but don?t start celebrating yet because we want to think it over for a while. We will let you know by whenever the next registration period begins so, that you?ll have time to send in an application.?

?The next registration begins in two weeks so, you?d better think fast.? I added. ?Oh, and dad, I won?t be able to come in to the office tomorrow I wanted to take tomorrow off and go flying with some of my friends.?

?I guess we can get by without you for one day. Have a good time.? He replied as I turned and left the main living quarters.

I figured I?d better head down to the hangar and prep my T-18 Skyhopper. I walked down the hall and into the turbolift to the hangar we recently installed. The turbolift stopped and got out and headed past our row of landspeeders and under the family treasure, our private space yacht. I got to my side of the hangar where my speeder was parked and both my new T-18 and my hand-me-down T-16 Skyhoppers were parked.

It had been six years since Kiesthen had left for Imperial Academy. My parents had told him not to go there, because they felt that the Empire was evil. The day they decided to let him go he promised them that he would be safe and he would honestly never support anything that he felt to be evil. They didn?t like the idea either way it would end up but, they trusted him. Before leaving we came up with a ?secret code? that would allow us to communicate, knowing that the Empire would screen and censor his messages.

I had recently received a message from him that stated, in code, that he had secretly defected. He had begun doing intelligence and various other jobs from the Alliance, while still working as an Imperial freighter pilot. He had been receiving training to become an X-Wing pilot, while he was on leave.

I was excited when I received this message, I knew that soon we would be flying together. I sat there daydreaming about the day when we will be reunited. I powered up my work repulsor-stool, and I pulled it underneath the Skyhopper. I grabbed my laser-welder and began putting the factory-made thrust-boosters, that I had ordered for the ion engine. I should be able to smoke Kairs tomorrow, I thought to myself. Within a few hours, I had fully installed the new engine upgrades.

Now, to test these particle blasting beasts out. I climbed into the cockpit and sealed it behind me. I flipped the startup switches and the engines sprung to life. It seems to check out all right. Unable to control the urge, I hit the button to open the bay door. The Skyhopper blasted out of the cavernous bay. Charged ion particles accelerated me to over 1,000 kilometers per hour, shortly after I cleared the opening.

I hauled back on the stick, lifting my nose up to the sky. I rolled the skyhopper through a series of rolls that brought it?s nose back to pointing groundward. The hills below came up fast, filling my viewscreen. I eased forward on the stick, bringing me back to horizontal, flying inverted.

Lets see how well these handle on the cliffs. I rolled back over and buzzed my house. I pointed the nose south, and headed towards the beautiful metropolis of Ariana. I swept my speeder to starboard, throttled down, and skimmed by the outskirts and suburbs of the city. Lets just avoid the evening rush on the skylanes.

The speeder blasted along the egdes of town. I scanned for any apparent air traffic that might approach, seeing nothing I began to accelerate. The coast of the Locura Ocean approached on my starboard viewscreen. I spared a glance down and saw the various repulsor and float water vessels as they swarmed to and from the marinas and coastline. They appeared from this altitude, to resemble a colony of the insectine nearts, traveling to and hauling food from a fresh crop.

The coastline began in a gentle climb, which escalated quickly into the Tahika Cliffs. I could tell without even being able to see, that it was covered with tourists, as it alwasy is. I swooped down to only several meters above the jagged rocks jutting from the ocean like the menacing fangs of a boetay. I rolled onto my starboard side and tightened up on the cliff walls. Tightly following every contour and swooping in and out of slight curves in the face.

Coming around one point edging out into the water, I spotted the infamous island-rock known as Sarrel?s Tunnel. Sarrel?s Tunnel, named for a general in Garos IV?s civil war, actually had a large two-thirds of a kilometer tunnel running it?s length, on low tide it was easily large enough to fly a skyhopper through. I rolled out to level, keeping the heading that the edge off the point gave me. I quickly covered the three-quarters of a kilometer gap between the coast and the rock.

Making a slight adjustment I got a vector for entry into the tunnel. I slowed up a little for the first couple curves, but after that, it was easy cruising. I throttled up to full, knowing full well that their was no room for error. The daylight from the exit came up quick, and I blasted out the opening.

?Yeeeeaaaaaah Hooooooooo!? I howled. ? Whew, That was almost too easy!? I boasted.

I swung back around to head towards the way I had just come. I zoomed back along the cliff walls, trying to get to record speed on the second half of the lap.

With the throttle all the way to the red line, I tightened my grip on the flight stick. The hopper?s maneuvering jets kept the ship smooth and still, despite my hard banking turns. All of a sudden the Skyhopper shuddered.

I spared a quick glance at my diagnostics display, while struggling and fighting with the stick. My starboard booster had blown. Thinking quick, I powered down both boosters, cut my main engine to half-speed, and kicked in the repulsors.

The hopper started to steady itself again, and I finally had time to let out a few curses. Dammit, I can?t believe I blew that booster. That will take me a while to repair, but I don?t have the time. With the big race tomorrow I had few options left. I decided to take the hopper into Torreil?s shop. It would cost me a bit, but at least I knew he?d have it done by morning. I limped my speeder back to town, took the lower skylanes, until I reached Torreil?s Speeder Repair.

Flipping on the comm switch, I hailed Torreil?s shop.

?Hey, Jaerstein is that you?? Torreil replied.

?Yeah, It?s me.? I responded.

?What do ya need Jaerstein old buddy??

?Are ya gonna let me land, or would you rather I hover here all day?? I said curtly.

?Well that depends, business or just stoppin by to say hello?? Torreil joked. ?By the way, what?s that smoke comin out of the hopper, wouldn?t have anything to do with those new boosters you ordered??

?Yep blew the starboard one, but I could explain it all if you?d let me put her down.?

?Yeah, yeah, take gantry number 4. By the way, what would you, the best mechanic this side of Mount Usca, want from me?? He questioned me in a mocking tone.

?Hey ya don?t have to rub it in. I don?t have time to make the repair?s myself.? I retorted with a fake anger in my voice.

The hopper made contact with the gantry, after a minute or two of guiding it in. The landing clamps caused the speeder to shudder as the locked down. I turned off the comm, and powered down all systems.

Torriel was already standing up on the landing platform, a grin plasteres on his face. ?Well, good to see you again, and so soon. I tell you, if it wasn?t for you I don?t think I could keep my shop open. You know...?

?That?ll do Torriel,? I cut him off. ?Do you have any spare boosters on hand?? He smiled wider and his mouth started to open. ?Wait, wait, I?m sure your superb intuition allowed you to forsee this little event, and you made sure to order extra.?

?Well...yeah,? he shrugged complacently. ?If ya want I can help you install it tonight. It would take a lot less time and of course I would be there to make sure it was all hooked up properly.?

?Great. How soon can we get started?? I asked, trying to ease my anxiety.

[Mickey 1]

omitted

Edited July 22, 2004 by Jaerstein Cysse

[Ender 8]

I like the first-person viewpoint...

[Mickey 1]

hmmm, not sure what to make of that ^^

so it sucks that bad?

[Ender 8]

lol, I made that post on the run. I like the story a lot, some good stuff in there. Plus, I'm a sucker for first-person. :p

[Mickey 1]

well I should have alot of time to work on this over summer break, so I'll post more

Plus I'm doing a story from the malak/revan conflict (KOTOR) in first person as a Jedi Knight trying to make his way as a master and redeem his own master and fellow fallen Knights.

[Andy 52]

Argh, the evil era of continuity errors! ;)

[Mickey 1]

what do you mean by that beeurd? I would appreciate any advice on how to avoid continuity errors. I was thinking even maybe switching it the sith war or Exar kun conflict (I think those are the same though), maybe the Great Hyperspace War, or even earlier on in the Jedi history...but obviously I need to have the light-vs- dark conflict as it is a major aspect of the story. But exact time is quite changeable at this time...so any more input on that

also as you may have noticed in Reunion, it has actual quotes from that battle, I belive it's from dark force rising, was a while ago when I wrote that so not sure exactly what book that battle takes place in. I am quite a stickler for continuity and canon, so let me know on anything of that nature.

[Andy 52]

Well KotOR has a reference to the Yuuzhan Vong in it, even though the Vong didn't enter the galaxy until almost 4000 years later,

And the main Sith in it have the title "Darth", when Dart Bane, the Sith who started this tradition wasn't even born for another 300 years.

[Mickey 1]

ah, interesting...I didn't even notice that. I haven't seen the vong reference yet, I don't think, unless it took place on kashyyk, tatooine, dantooine, or taris, in which case I'd like you to point it out to me. but didn't they send advance scouts in? I recall someone finding vong skeletons that had long been buried in one of the NJO books.

either way what would you recommmend for the time period of my short story?

[Andy 52]

Well there were several Sith Wars, any of them would be good. And I haven't actually seen the YV reference myself, but have been told about it by a few people.

[Mickey 1]

i really shoul finish the Jaerstein Cysse saga too, but I do have it almost completely outlined

[Andy 52]

Well I've had the entire history of the Beeurd Empire outlined for about 2 years... But I still haven't got round to writing most of it down... ;)

[Mickey 1]

yeah I think I should quit my summer job and write for a living...as if it were possible for an unknown to publish a star wars novel

[CorSec 5]

*alerts Lucas copyright officials*

*alarms blare, red exit signs blink on and off*

*SWAT - Star Wars Assault Teams crash through windows and start beating the crap outta Jaerstein*

Star Wars is Copyrighted! It's ours! You can't have it!

[Princess 35]

Aight. Which one of you smartasses gave CorSec cheeze this morning?

[Ender 8]

I'm pretty sure it was Tsl...

[Mickey 1]

mmmm, cheese. I like cheese

but really, what is up with that whole crap about unknown not being able to publish, not even short stories, in like adventure journals or on Hyperspace?

Edited July 9, 2004 by Jaerstein Cysse