Chapter 5

 

At the rendezvous point, they all met in the briefing room aboard the Jolly Tonnage.  This had been quite difficult since Kthulhu and Vlad were aboard starfighters, which lacked ship-docking capability.  They had had to go extra vehicular to get aboard.  The suggestion was made that they would need a starfighter carrier to avoid the inconvenience in the future.  A good idea, but it will have to wait for now, MixMaster thought.

          After all the introductions were made between Ton’s crew and Clan nWo, MixMaster got the meeting started.  “Alright, now that we all know each other, I would like to propose our next mission.  Thanks to Suicide13 we have this delivery to make on Ando, but what only he and DaSquatter and I knew until now is the cargo is a shipment of weapons to a small rebel group trying to liberate the world from the Empire.  I have been doing some research, and have found some useful information.  The New Republic has not been able to aid the rebels because most of their resources have been allotted to hunt down Warlord Zsinj and other self proclaimed warlords causing problems for them.  We are also a good distance behind Imperial lines, which is not a strategically good place for the New Republic to be operating.  That is why we are the ones supplying the rebel group with weapons from the rim.  Which also means we can get in on the action.”

          “Why would we want to do that?  What’s in it for us?”  Cheshire asked.

          “Well, there won’t be much in the way of credits, but there are quite a few Imperial bases on planet.  Which means there will be lots of equipment for the taking.  We’ll also be able to use the rebels for more firepower and as a distraction.  When we make the drop we will see if they are interested.  If they are, the ground team will consist of myself, DaSquatter, Mort, and Vlad.  Wendy will fly back in the Star Duster and relay the attack plan to Ton who will be waiting here to assist in our escape from planet.  Ton, Vlad’s X-Wing will be available to you, do you have a pilot for her?”

          “Yeah, Cheshire can take that assignment.  He’s my best pilot.”

          “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of her.”  Cheshire commented to Vlad with a grin.

          Vlad gave him look disapproval back.

          “I promise.” Cheshire reassured him.

          “Good.  Kthulhu and Vlad will fly cover for the Tonnage again.  Wendy, just try to keep the enemy fighters in front of you and keep the Star Duster close to the Tonnage.  Ton will supply you with gunners, and Gadget will be your co-pilot.”

The young woman nodded in acknowledgement.

“Gadget, I want you to plot our escape vector and relay it to all our ships.  I also want you to have two alternate escape vectors ready in case of emergency.”

          The small droid beeped an affirmative.

          “Suicide13, tentatively, you will be attacking the base with us in Kamikaze.”  Kamikaze was Suicide13’s custom freighter.  What model or make it was originally MixMaster could not tell.  Suicide13 and whoever might have owned it previously had added so many upgrades and new armoring it was impossible to tell.  Pretty fitting name.

          “Our escape will be to Ord Mantell.”  DaSquatter added.  “The system is pretty lax in the way of governmental control, it is the perfect place to regroup and plan our next move.”

          “Any questions?” MixMaster asked.  Everyone in the room looked back at him in silence.

          Vlad broke the silence.  “I’m all for stealing some Imperial ships and supplies, but are you sure this is a good idea?  Imperial compounds are usually well guarded.”

          “We’ve thought about that and this will entail some risk, but Suicide13 has dropped supplies here before and provided us with some useful tactical data.  The Imperial base on the north continent is fairly small for Imperial standards.  With the aid of the rebel cell, we should be able to get in and out without too much trouble.  As I said earlier, we are also pretty deep inside Imperial space, so the Imperials feel they need less troops to keep locals in line.”

          “We’ll also be able to modify our plans when we get there.”  DaSquatter added.  “Wendy will relay any changes in plan to the rest of you up here.  Just remember timing will be essential.”

“Any other questions?  None?  Good.  Let’s get to it.”  MixMaster got up and the meeting was ended.

 

          They made it down to the planet past planetary security without incident.  MixMaster looked around and surveyed they area.  The black of night around the landing site made it impossible to see more than 50 meters.  The exchange was being made at midnight local time and the drop-off point was located 100 kilometers outside the city where the Imperial base was, in the middle of a grassy knoll.  This kept them away from any inquiring eyes that might get suspicious and alert the authorities.  The leader of the rebel group was a dark man who called himself Ciaran.

          “All our cargo is loaded, we will be leaving now.”  Ciaran said.

          “Hold on a second.  I was wondering if you would like to go in on a little joint venture with us?”  MixMaster asked.

          “You may have supplied us with weapons, but we do not collaborate with the likes of you or your group.”  Ciaran responded as he turned and headed for the rebel transport.

          “Not even if it means an attack on the Imperial base?”  DaSquatter asked.

          Ciaran froze, then slowly turned and cocked an eyebrow in curiosity.  “Okay, you’ve got my attention.  What are you proposing?”

          “We need equipment.  The less they have, the better off you are.  And since we will be leaving planet soon afterward, they will not come looking for you after we leave with the goods.”  MixMaster said.

          “Why do you need us?”

          “Well, there are only four of us available to attack the base.  We could use a few more bodies.”  DaSquatter answered.

          “And any information you have on the Imperials and the base would be helpful.”  MixMaster added.

          “I think that can be arranged.  But we had better get out of the open.  There is an Imperial Star Destroyer that orbits over the dark side of the planet.  We might look suspicious if we show up on sensors here.”

 

 

          The next morning, MixMaster sat in their stolen speeder on the edge of the forest, waiting for the signal.  Ciaran had assigned one of his men, Igor, to go with Clan nWo and attack the base.  Igor was pretty young, MixMaster thought, maybe eighteen, but Ciaran claimed he was one of his best men.  The rebels would also be taking out two of the four towers on the perimeter of the base at the onset of the attack.  According to the information the rebels provided, the base was enclosed by a wall five meters high and 1000 meters long on each side.  The entrance to the base faced west, but they would be attacking from the south, where they could hide in the nearby forest.

The attack was scheduled for morning to avoid the Imperial Star Destroyer stationed on the night side of the planet on their way off planet.  MixMaster looked at his chronometer.  Two minutes until the attack would begin.  He looked over to DaSquatter in the driver’s seat, then back to Mort, Vlad, and Igor in the back.  Wendy had left a few hours ago to relay the plan to the others.  Suicide13 was at the spaceport aboard the Kamikaze.  He would be providing air cover for them once the attack began and the rebels had taken out the two southern towers.  The towers were the main reason they needed the rebels.  The twenty meter tall towers were each armed with two E-Web anti-infantry laser cannons about ten meters up, and another anti-starfighter laser cannon at the top.  Alone, there was no way they could take out the towers from the ground, and they currently did not have enough firepower in the air to take out the towers either.  The rebels, however, had two portable concussion missile launchers.

One minute.  “Everybody ready?” MixMaster asked.

“Let’s smash up some poodoo!”  DaSquatter replied.

“I say hell yeah to that!”  Vlad added.

MixMaster laughed.  “Good.  Let’s just make sure we smash them before they get a chance to smash us.  If we can do that we’ll do fine.”

5...4...MixMaster held the remote control he had hooked up to the cargo truck they had also stolen.  He had used a device similar to the one he had invented back home that had gotten him and Gerard here in the first place.  Man, that seems like years ago, not months.  3...2...1...0...He hit the throttle lever and the truck raced out from the trees about twenty meters to the east of them heading straight for the wall.  Almost immediately the E-Web cannons were tracking it and firing.  The truck had 300 meters to cover from the forest to the wall, and under the heavy fire from the E-Web cannons it looked to MixMaster like it would not make it.  Then, right on schedule, two red streaks lit the morning sky.  One from the east took out the eastern tower, and one from the west did likewise.  They both hit mid-height destroying the E-Webs and the structural supports, causing both towers to topple under their own weight.

“Go!”  MixMaster ordered DaSquatter as the truck slammed into the wall.

“Truck is still in one piece.”  Vlad reported looking through a set of electrobinoculars.

“Good.”  MixMaster said as they sped towards it.  They truck was not supposed to smash through the wall.  They had modified it with a ramp on the back end so they could launch their speeder over the wall.

“Here we go!”  DaSquatter yelled as they approached the wreck.

“Whoohoo!”  Mort yelled as they hit the ramp and flew over the wall.  As they crested the wall they saw a squad of stormtroopers to their left turn and open fire on their speeder.  To the right MixMaster caught a glimpse of a small white ship that looked similar to a Lambada class shuttle.

“Their shots have damaged our repulsors.” DaSquatter yelled.  “Hold on tight, this is going to be a rough landing!”  They landed down hard on the roof of a building and crashed into some environmental equipment, slamming them forward in their restraints.

MixMaster unbuckled his safety harness and looked around.  “Everyone alright?”

“Yeah, we’re all here in one piece.”  Vlad replied.

MixMaster looked around.  “We should be on the roof of the barracks.  The transports we want are that way.”  He said pointing to the east side.  “That squad of troopers on the ground is going to be tough to get past.”

“Leave them to me.”  Igor said with a grin and held out two concussion grenades and a thermal detonator.

“Excellent!”  Mort said as Igor lobbed a grenade over the small wall that ran around the edge of the roof.  After the explosion they all ran to the edge to see the damage.  The blast had gotten all but two of the troopers who had ducked for cover behind one of the transports.

MixMaster raised his blaster pistol and started firing on the two troopers, “Everyone get to ground while I cover you!”  As ordered they started to climb down the five meter tall building using the rope they had brought.  Then the AT-ST that was standing guard near the command center north of the barracks opened fire on them.  “Quick, Igor, use the thermal detonator on that thing!”

“You got it boss.”  Igor replied.  Holes started to open up in the wall as the AT-ST’s heavy cannon ripped it apart.  Igor popped over the wall for a second and launched the thermal detonator at it.

MixMaster peaked over the top of the wall to watch the detonator fall short of its mark by five meters and roll on the ground.  “Son-of-a-Sith!  You missed!”  He yelled.  Then the detonator exploded taking out the AT-ST’s left leg, toppling it to the ground in a fiery explosion.

“Nice shot kid.”  Vlad exclaimed.

“Nice.”  MixMaster admitted.  “Quick, the rest of you get over this wall.  You know what to do.  There’s something else I want to get.”  He then ran for the eastern side of the building.  Most of the troops on the ground were running towards the others at the other end of the building.  Off to the north-east he could see TIE-pilots running to the hanger.  If they get airborne we are in trouble.

 

DaSquatter knelt on the ground behind a troop transport.  “Where’s MixMaster?”  he asked Vlad as he came over the wall.

“He’s after something else.  He said continue on the plan without him.”  Vlad answered.

“What?”  Mort exclaimed.

“Don’t worry, I think I know what he’s after.  Look and here comes Suicide13.”  Vlad said pointing to the west.  The Kamikaze came in low and fired on the two E-Web blasters mounted on the wall by the entrance gate.  The two guns exploded under the barrage of red laser fire as they were hit from behind because they were turned to the threat inside the base.  Then the anti-starfighter cannons on the two remaining towers opened fire on Kamikaze and he was forced to break off his attack and circle around to the south.

DaSquatter looked around and saw two more squads of stormtroopers closing in on them from the north and south ends of the barracks.  “We can’t make it to that shuttle.”  He said pointing to the Lambada class shuttle 100 meters off.  “C’mon, load up in this transport.  Vlad, take us out of here.”  DaSquatter said.

“What about MixMaster?”  Igor asked.

 

MixMaster saw Kamikaze break off as the cannons opened up on her.  It’s now or never.  He got up peered over the wall.  A pilot was exiting the barracks and heading for the south-eastern landing field.  MixMaster jumped off the wall and landed on the unsuspecting pilot to cushion his fall.  The force of the landing knocked the pilot out and almost knocked MixMaster out too.  MixMaster looked around and saw another pilot heading in his direction and drawing his blaster.  MixMaster rolled and pulled his blaster out and shot the pilot right in the chest.
          He got up and ran for the far end of the landing field.  He could hear the whine of the twin ion engines of the TIE fighters as they prepped for take-off.  Two more guards caught sight of him and opened fire as he reached his objective, an Imperial missile boat.  Similar in look to a Lambada class shuttle, the missile boat was smaller and carried an armament much different than the shuttle.  A single missile boat could carry 40 proton torpedoes or concussion missiles.  MixMaster climbed that ladder into the cockpit kicked it away as he closed the canopy and punched up the startup sequence.  No time for warm up.

He kicked in the repulsor-lifts as the engine indicators read green for go.  He turned the ship towards the troopers that had been firing on him.  He took aim and pulled the trigger.  A single line of green fire erupted from the nose gun, vaporizing the troopers.  The missile boat only carried one rapid firing laser cannon, but that was not it’s main attack weapon.  MixMaster flipped a switch turning the fire controls over to the ship’s projectile weapons.  He looked down at the display and saw he had a full complement of forty proton torpedoes.

“Excellent.”  He said to himself with a smile.  He aimed for the TIE hanger and fired two torpedoes deep into the hanger, then two more shallow.  The explosions destroyed machinery and ships and blocked the exit for the TIEs.

He flipped the comm frequency over to the nWo tactical frequency.  They were not encrypting their signals on this mission because they didn’t have time to load up the encryption programs into their stolen ships.  “Suicide13, circle back around and cover the other’s escape.  I’ll take out those pesky towers.”

“Roger that.” Came the reply from Suicide13.

MixMaster pulled the craft up and switched the shields to full power front since they had not had enough time to charge fully yet.  Laser fire from the towers started to splash on the shields but he ignored it.  He switched over to dual fire mode and fired at the base of the northeastern tower.  The ensuing explosion tore open a twenty-meter hole in the wall and toppled the tower above it.  He then turned and targeted the remaining tower.  A red light flashed a warning as his shields started to fail.  He fired the shot and kicked in the engines to full throttle to evade the remaining fire coming from the tower.  MixMaster saw the torpedoes hit and swallow the top half of the tower in flames.

MixMaster cut the throttle to half and circled around the command center to see Kamikaze taking out another AT-ST that was closing in on a troop transport taking off.  MixMaster figured that must be the others.  MixMaster unloaded four torpedoes into the heart of the command center rendering it fairly useless.  He then switched back to the laser cannon and started strafing the troops on the ground.

“Mort to MixMaster, we’re airborne, time to get the hell out of here.”

“I copy,” MixMaster replied.  “Everyone hit orbit and let’s get out of here.”  He pulled back on the yolk and punched the throttle back up to full heading for the sky.

 

When they reached orbit, MixMaster picked up two Carrack cruisers on sensors on an intercept course to cut off their escape vector.  “Mort, what kind of weapons you got on that transparatin can?”

“All we got is a pair of ion cannons.” Came the reply.

“Alright.  We’re gonna go head to head with the lead cruiser.  Stay in plane with the cruiser, it has a semi-blind spot dead ahead of itself, similar to Corellian corvettes.  Form up on me, I’ll punch a hole in their shields with some torps, then you two take out their bridge.”  MixMaster looked down at his sensor screen.  “And lets hope the cavalry arrives in time to save us from those TIEs coming from the other planetside bases.”

MixMaster got a target lock on the lead cruiser and fired a pair of torpedoes, followed by two single torpedoes at the cruiser.  The first pair splashed and exploded harmlessly against the ship’s shields, as did the third, but the fourth punched through the ship’s weakened shields and straight into the armor hull ripping it to shreds.  He then saw the red and blue laser fire from his companions open up the hole he had just made.

“Scratch one cruiser!”  Mort exclaimed as his ion cannons knocked out system after system aboard the cruiser.

“Yeah, but there’s still one more, and those TIEs are catching up fast.”  MixMaster countered.  Then he watched as the cruiser turned dead ahead of them exposing its port side to them.  “Oh, no.  Evasive maneuvers now!”  MixMaster ordered as the lasers on the cruiser opened fire on them.  MixMaster winced as a few lasers splashed over his shields.  He looked down at his indicator.  His shields were low on strength still from the beating they took from the laser tower on the ground and had not had much time to recharge.  The indicator flashed red in warning.  “We’ve got to get out of here fast boys!”

“Hey MixMaster, we are not going anywhere in this can if we don’t get help fast.”  Vlad exclaimed.

“Have no fear, your savior is here!”  came a cry over the comm.  Through all the garble MixMaster recognized it as Cheshire.

A transmission from Gadget popped up on MixMaster’s screen.  “Navigational data received.  Vlad, lets make way to the hyperpoint.  All other units hold off the enemy one more minute, then hyper out after us.”

“Understood.”  Came an answer from Ton.

MixMaster hit the booster button to accelerate his escape.  The Imperial missile boat was a fairly slow ship, so the booster jets, which sucked power from the lasers to the engines, was of great use during a fast escape.  Two minutes later he reached the hyper point and was safely away followed by the others.

The green-marked X-Wing that watched their escape flew off in pursuit.