Star Wars: The Legend of the Alicorn

by Hudibadudi

Chapter 3: The Yhfrendar

Chapter 3: The Yhfrendar

The Yhfrendar was a small freighter that had been in use for nearly a hundred years, and Dups Winstar had acquired it six years ago. He had made many trips in it since then, and today he had just taken off from the world of Corellia with a cargo of transponder-code cards bound for Duro. Next to him sat a young, blonde-haired woman, Mira.

“Dups, why did we have to leave so soon? I thought you said that we were going to stay in that spaceport for a few days,” Mira asked, pouting a little, as she looked over at him from the co-pilot's seat.

“We need the money that's going to come from delivering this shipment,” he replied. “The ship needs some maintenance that should have been done a long time ago.” He finished putting Duro's hyperspace coordinates into the navicomputer and they made the jump to hyperspace.

Mira got up and walked toward the back of the ship. “Another day or two wouldn't have made that much of a difference,” she called out from the crew quarters. “You did promise, after all.”

Dups got up to go back and join her. “If we can make the repairs we need to make on Duro, we'll be staying there for at least a week.” He sat down next to her on the bed.

“Plus you know how much I hate space travel,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“I told you before that you didn't have to come with me,” he said. “You can go your own way whenever you want to.” They sat in silence for a moment, before being suddenly hurled forward onto the floor, as if the ship had come out of hyperspace. Dups got up and helped Mira to her feet. “That stupid navicomputer is probably acting up again.”

He walked into the cockpit and sat down in his seat, examining the computer systems. “Everything seems okay,” he said, slightly confused. “It just doesn't seem that, well, that just shouldn't have happened. Unless...” He looked up to see his fears confirmed. “Pirates. Of course,” he said, sighing.

There were three of them, two smaller ships with one larger ship, probably the captain's. Dups shifted the shield power to the front of the ship as the pirates opened fire.

The ship trembled from the shots, causing Mira to come running up to the cockpit. “W-why are they firing at us? Don't they just want the cargo?” Mira asked, trying to stay calm.

“Don't worry,” he said, trying to reassure her. “They know they can't do anything to us as long as the shields are up. They're just trying to frighten us into surrender. Then, their captain will...” He was cut off when the ship's communications system started beeping, indicating an incoming message. “Contact us,” he said, finishing his sentence. Dups pressed a button and the message began to play, in a rough, harsh voice:

“Good day, captain. I am Captain Drathor, of the Perlious. I believe that it would be to both of our benefits if you were to surrender your cargo to me, along with any passengers that you might have on board. If you do so, you will of course be allowed to go free. If you refuse, I will take your cargo, your ship, and most importantly I will take your life. Make your decision and make it now.”

“What are we going to do Dups?” Mira asked. Though she was afraid, she did a good job of hiding it, sounding quite calm when she asked the question.

“Do you see that world down there?” Dups asked, pointing at a small world that was quite green. “They made the mistake of pulling us out of hyperspace in the middle of a planetary system.”

“Wait. You're thinking about running? Won't they just destroy us?” she asked.

“It's our only choice. The shields should last long enough for us to make it out of their range. Then we'll just spend a day or two on that planet until it's safe to leave. The only problem,” he added, “is that they might come looking for us, but I doubt that they'll think it's worthwhile.”

Dups set the engines at max power and the ship began picking up speed as he pointed it at their destination. The pirates, after realizing that their prey was trying to escape, again opened fire. The ship began shaking from the impact of the hits. A red light began flashing on the console.

“Shields low!” Mira shouted. She took her seat next to Dups and began adjusting the controls. “Cut back on the throttle or the shields won't have enough power to stay up.”

“Don't worry, I've got this,” Dups reassured her. “Just two more minutes before we enter the planet's atmosphere.”

“We won't make it that much longer. A few more hits and our shields will go down.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it.” Dups did a barrel-role, and in so doing, dodged several incoming lasers. He began flying erratically, trying to throw off the pirates' aim. Unfortunately, a shot broke through the shield, causing a small explosion and setting off multiple alarms. The engines began losing power and the shields were now completely down.

“How bad is the damage?” Mira asked.

Dups didn't reply for a moment. “One more hit, Mira, just one more, and we're dead.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “We're almost there though.” The next few moments were tense, death could come at any moment. Finally, as the ship began entering the atmosphere, the lasers shooting past them stopped.

Mira sighed in relief. “We made it.” She relaxed and sat back in the chair, no longer in a life or death situation. “Dups,” she said, “never, ever, do anything like that again.”

He nodded his head in agreement. “Agreed. Never again.” Deep down though, he doubted whether or not he'd been able to keep his promise.

As the ship neared the planet's surface, they noticed that there was nothing but forest as far as they could see. Tall trees reached up from the surface, obscuring the land below. They searched for a place where the trees were more scattered, but after several minutes of looking, they hadn't found one.

Mira was the first to see a clearing. “There! Right over there! Do you see it?” she asked, pointing at it. “There's a clearing in the trees over there.”

“Yeah, I see it,” Dups said. “I guess it's big enough for the ship to fit in. Of course, I don't see any other option. I can't fly the ship in its current condition much longer.”

Dups turned the ship toward the clearing and initiated the landing procedures. Unfortunately, the damage was greater than Dups had estimated, and as the ship began descending, the repulsorlift engines failed and the ship dropped the remaining distance to the ground.

Luckily for the two of them, they had been sitting down, buckled in their seats, so that when the ship hit the ground, neither one was hurt. The ship, however, didn't fare so well. It had landed on the landing gear, but the force of the impact was so great that the landing gear was destroyed. The engines had also stopped and none of the power systems were working.

“Well, so much for leaving in a few days. In this shape we're not going anywhere for a while,” Mira stated as they worked their way through the wrecked ship to get outside and examine the exterior damage.

They exited the ship, into a thick fog, and turned to see the extent of the damage. The ship lay at somewhat of an angle, having hit a few trees on the way down and was now laying on top of them. “Not a perfect landing, but I've had worse,” Dups remarked, almost jokingly. “The damage appears to be mostly minor, but I'll have to go back inside to see what shape the engines are in. If they aren't too bad, we should only have to make a few major repairs before we can leave.” He stopped when he noticed that Mira looked at him like he was crazy.

“Just a 'few' repairs?” she asked sarcastically. “Are you crazy?! We can't fly anywhere in that! It's nothing but a heap of junk right now!”

“How dare you call my ship a heap of junk!” Dups shouted back. “If it weren't for me you'd still...” he said before she cut him off.

“Don't you even think about bringing that up!” she shouted, starting to get angry. “'Oh, Mira, I saved your life, I did this, I did that, blah blah blah',” she said, mocking him. “All you ever care about is how you can make more money. That's all that is ever on your mind. You always say, 'If we leave now we can make some extra money'. You never care about what I think. No, it's always you. Everything's about you.” She paused for a moment to take a breath before continuing on her rant, “Do you know how much you mean to me? Does it ever cross your mind?” She paused again for a moment. “I love you Dups, I really do,” she said, tears running down her face. “I … I don't know what else to say.”

Dups reached out and pulled her into a hug. “Mira, I know I'm not perfect, far from it actually, but everything I do is with you in mind. I ran from the pirates because I didn't want to lose you. I don't care about the cargo, or the money I would get from selling it. The only thought going through my mind as we were landing was how grateful I was that you were safe. I love you too Mira.”

Mira, no longer crying, looked up into his eyes. “I'm sorry Dups, I shouldn't have shouted at you like that. I'm sorry.”

Dups brushed the hair away from her face. “No Mira, I'm sorry. I needed that. I lose track of things sometimes, things get in the way. You're always there to bring me back to reality.” They hugged again, and the fog that had shrouded the clearing since they had landed began to lift.

Comments

[Hudibadudi]

For you fans of the fic out there, I've been really busy here lately so I haven't been able to work on it as much as I would have liked and also had writer's block. The good news is that the next chapter is coming soon, hopefully in a week or two.