Best try on Chrome browser.
Into the Chaos — Author’s note.
Welcome to the eighth chapter of my story ‘Into the Chaos’. A Sci-fi story that just happens to take place in the Unknown Regions of the Star Wars universe just after the Great Galactic War, almost 4000 years before the events of the movies.
As I said, this is the eighth chapter and if you haven’t read the previous ones, I recommend that you do that first.
Disclaimer: I do not own or hold any rights to any Star Wars licenses, including the star ships used in this story.
Some warnings:
This is an erotic sci-fi adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don’t mix the two.
This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.
P.S. The series is self-edited, so any mistakes are mine, though I now have a proofreader, that can catch missing words ect. Thanks to Jessejames932006 for doing that.
P.P.S. While you’re here anyway, please rate the chapter and leave a comment 🙂
——————-
Chapter 8 — Finishing touches
Dreadnought Majestic, Snare system, the Labyrinth nebula. Year 2 ATC/ 3651 BBY
“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people.”
“who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”
Holodrama
Dreadnought Majestic
I did have plans for a repeat of the first movie watching, but as it turned out the duty schedule didn’t cooperate, and Elise Samko, Yaki and Titlow couldn’t make it. So instead, I had invited XO Betty Nagos and her spouse Senior Mechanic Arthur Waydar.
However, since the movie was ready the same day as one of my dinner parties for the officers, I had invited Captain Jalmia Tarrick of the Hammerhead-class Banshee,
First Officer John Larstrin of the Wyvern-class Hawk and Tactical Officer Ramzed Hel of the Hammerhead-class Kilit, in addition to Chief Engineer Keller. The last was mostly there because he was still recovering and Shakka had flat out forbidden him to leave Majestic until he was fully healed, and she didn’t trust him not to work if he was alone, so she came along as well.
Keller and Shakka were the first to arrive, with Shakka pushing Keller’s repulsor chair, the Chief Engineer looking somewhat grumpy about having to sit in a medical chair. They were followed by Nagos and Waydar, who arrived hand in hand. As always when I saw them, I was struck by how different they were. Betty Nagos was a slim blue-skinned Pantoran that looked very small when standing next to her dark-skinned giant of a husband.
The next to arrive was Ramzed Hel. A tall, almost lanky, human male with dark hair, an easy smile, and clothes in bright green and blue colours. A welcome change from the rather dull uniforms I was used to seeing people in. He was followed a few moments later by John Larstrin, another human male who was a few shades lighter in skin tone and at least ten centimetres shorter than Ramzed.
The last one to arrive was Jalmia Tarrick, yet another human, but a female this time. Dark haired and dressed in a dark-green knee-length dress, she looked both good and very different from the sharp-witted naval officer that had done very well in any test I had put her through.
The setup was the same, with a dinner that was served while we saw the movie, so we didn’t have to use titles, and I gave an explanation about it before we started.
“Yeah,” chuckled Shakka, as both Betty Nagos and Waydar nodded at the explanation. “You’re nodding now, but I bet you that you mess up before the night is over.”
“No bet.” Said Waydar, smiling his white smile. “I know you’re right.”
“It was worth a try.” Commented Shakka, as the door opened and the server-droid came in with the appetizer. “Dinner is served, sirs.”
“All right!” Said Betty Nagos enthusiastically. “Movie time!”
I nodded with a smile and as soon as everybody had gotten their food, I asked the computer to play the movie.
It started with a quick recap of the last episode, telling the story so far and then the second new thing showed up, which was a title screen where the name ‘Dragon’s Quest’ appeared against a sparkling field of stars, followed by the episode name ‘Centauri 21’ written in a smaller font under it, before both titles exploded in a fiery conflagration. A few seconds later, that was replaced with us arriving at Centauri 21 and went right into Elise Samko talking Captain Bobba into surrendering the Last Chance in return for removing the slave-chip from him and his crew, and a chance to get his ship back.
The preparations to take on the pirates were neatly explained as having happened during our hyperspace trip and the taking of the pirate base went exactly like it happened, as it showed me in the prepared Sith disguise using an illusion to get the pirates to surrender, threatening to drop an asteroid on their base if they didn’t comply.
“By the way, s… Thalen.” asked Ramzed as he placed his glass on the table, the movement making his bright blue and green clothes contrast violently with the white tablecloth. “What would you have done if they had refused to surrender?”
“Dropped a small asteroid on the moon and asked them again.” I answered dryly. “The tremors from the impact should have persuaded them to surrender. If it didn’t, we would have to land and make a ground attack.”
Waydar grimaced. “A ground assault against a fortified position is rarely a good idea.”
“Agreed.” I said, “Which was why I was trying to avoid it.”
“Oh… That’s me.” Blurted Shakka suddenly, interrupting us.
Looking at the screen, I saw the Fury-class landing in the grand cave that served as a hangar. The pirates were lining up as they had been ordered to, and one of them had dragged Shakka along.
Like the first scene with Samko, the red Twi’Lek was wearing more clothes than I remembered, but she managed to make the doctor outfit she was wearing look sexy. Or rather the animators had managed it, and the movie followed her as she was escorted into the Fury, while the remaining troopers took the rest of the base.
The scene shifted to us coming out of the Fury and I had to admit to myself that we looked extremely badass, as theme music started playing while the ramp lowered to reveal me in my black armor, flanked by a squad of Black Dragons. A sight that caused the pirates on the screen to swallow nervously, as we marched towards them.
I suddenly remembered something and looked over at Waydar. “You didn’t!”
He grinned, but before he could answer Nagos asked. “He didn’t what?”
“When I was trying out the new armor, your genius husband here mentioned that since I was now in a holovid, I ought to have my own theme melody. Majestic, run the movie back thirty seconds and play it.”
“Yes, sir”
The theme music started faintly the moment the ramp started lowering and increased in volume as the viewer was able to see more and more until it reached a crescendo as we started walking down the ramp towards the pirates.
“I might have mentioned something to that effect to the animator team,” admitted Waydar, trying not to laugh openly. “But I hadn’t expected them to follow my suggestion… It looks and sounds good, though.”
“It works.” Stated Jalmia with a smile. “I mean, I wasn’t there but the scene still gave me the chills.”
Capitulating, I sighed and turned my attention back to the screen, where I had left the freeing of the prisoners to Yaki to go search the rest of the base, and the animators had focussed on Yaki and the Black Dragons, as they freed some of the slaves, taking time to talk with each one, explaining that they were there to free them, but couldn’t free all of them at once, until they knew if any of them would be a danger.
Then the scene cut to the short, but intense, fight with the animal shaped droids in Lord Mahaw’s quarters, leading directly to where we were informed that a capital ship had arrived in the system and was heading towards the base.
Somewhat to my surprise, the animators had kept at least some of the conversation we had at that point, which made it as clear as transparisteel to everybody watching, that we, as a Chiss crew on a rescue mission, didn’t need to stay and fight. We could just as easily have taken our ships, along with the freed Chiss, and hypered back to Alpha Viga, leaving the prisoners, slaves and plunder to Sharon the Red, but instead we chose to stay and fight for the prisoners.
I hadn’t even considered that piece of information important, but by the looks of Betty Nagos, Waydar, Jalmia Tarrick and the rest, they were impressed by it, so I quietly decided that the animators knew what they were doing.
What followed was a tension-filled scramble to get some of the ships away, install the fighter-droids in the Fury and get the hardware ready, while the Black Dragons freed more prisoners.
“This is surprisingly exciting!” Declared Betty Nagos. “I’ve only heard a few stories and rumours, not the real thing.” She looked at me. “This follows the real story, right?”
“Oh yes.” I answered with a nod. “It’s exactly as I remember it.”
“Good.” The XO said with a satisfied nod.
Waydar nodded in agreement, but didn’t say anything, as the scene became a montage of Master Engineer Garcith hurrying to install the fighter droids and their control unit on the Fury, Samko franticly programming the Mimic Decoys and the rest getting the ships ready for combat under the direction of Meistrin, before finally taking off.
However, unlike what I expected, the scene didn’t shift to space, but stayed at the base, showing how some of the freed prisoners and slaves, at the insistence of a wounded Captain Zu Iska, had prepared to resist Sharon the Red’s pirates in case we lost the space battle.
Since it was new to me, I paid close attention as Iska had a heated debate with a Chiss Sergeant from the guarding troops, who refused to hand out weapons to the freed prisoners until they had heard that we had lost. Even sitting in an infirmary bed, Iska looked fierce as she argued with the sergeant, but as the Sergeant steadily refused to go against orders, Iska had gracefully accepted it and started to plan the defence of the base instead.
As most of the scene took place in the infirmary, the other patients were visible in the background from time to time, causing Keller to gulp as one background showed a sleeping or unconscious Fama Sul being attended to by a medical droid.
“Shakka, how bad was she hurt?” He asked in a low voice.
“Bad enough.” Answered the Doctor with a sigh. “But you’ll have to ask her if you want to know more. I don’t give out patient details to anybody else.” She paused and then added. “But if you want some personal advice… don’t ask and be patient. Gravely wounded people don’t like to talk about it and if they want to, they’ll start themselves.”
He nodded slightly as he glanced around. “Fair.”
On the screen, the scene had shifted to an outside view of a Foray-class Blockade Runner flying through an asteroid field, followed by a scene with us ambushing it, while staying out of the range of its lasers. The mimic decoys and sliced transponder codes making it seem like there were a lot more Mantis and Furys than there really were.
“Smart move.” Commented Jalmia Tarrick. “But wouldn’t the lack of mass show up on the gravitronics?”
“Not in an asteroid field.” Answered Ramzed and swallowed the food he had been chewing. “Too many objects to sort through and too much interference from the Ultrachrome, which I guess is why Thalen chose to fight there.”
They looked over at me, making me nod. “Yes… at least that was one of the reasons. Being able to dodge behind a large rock if shot at was another reason.”
There were some chuckles at the table, but they stopped as my animation started the negotiation with Sharon the Red, which ended with the complete surrender from the pirates as I promised them a ship to get home in.
“Better than they deserve.” Mumbled Keller, obviously still affected by the sight of Fama Sul, making me nod. “Yes, but I wanted the ship intact and that was the only way I could think of to make them do it.”
“Fair… oh, and by the way, that projection trick is really something.”
I shrugged. “That one is just an illusion. I wouldn’t be able to do it if they hadn’t accepted the call we made, but on the bright side it saved us from at least two combats and that is always good.”
“Agreed.” Nodded John Larstrin.
The scene continued with us taking the ship and ferrying the pirates to the surface, with the exception of Chef Winston who stubbornly refused to leave. In the end the prize crew under the command of Ensign Mivito decided to let her be and carried on their mission, while the Dynamic-class freighter and one of the dropships went into hyperspace, heading back to Alpha Viga.
I took the opportunity to pause the movie, so the droid could remove the plates and serve the main course before I asked the computer to restart the movie again.
The first scene was the sudden appearance of Dark Maiden, Mahaw’s Raiders last ship, along with an old Class VI Bulk freighter. That ended the peace and the screen exploded in ion and turbo laser fire as the battle commenced. Like the other combat scenes we had seen, this one was both intense and exciting, shifting between various ships to pinpoint critical moments.
To my amusement, the battle brought people to the edge of their seat and kept them there during the whole combat, only relaxing when the combat was over.
The scene shifted to the base, where the message about the victory in space caused people to cheer and celebrate. Some were dancing around, others were hugging, tears of happiness running down their chins.
I was slightly stunned by the sight. Being focused on winning the battle and then caught up in the practical details of the aftermath of the combat and having to catch Sharon the Red’s transports, I haven’t really thought about the people on the base, or rather the immediate effect the victory had on them. Since we for obvious reasons couldn’t be present at both places at once, being there when the news of a victory reached people simply didn’t happen for a naval officer involved in the actual combat and it was heart-warming to see.
“You know,” said Jalmia Tarrick slowly and thoughtfully while running a hand through her black hair. “When you see these scenes in vids, they often look overdramatized and somewhat fake but seeing this makes me rethink a few of them.”
Both Ramzed and John Larstrin nodded in agreement, with Larstrin saying. “Yes, I remember a few of them as well. Unless perfectly executed, they usually fall flat.”
“Well, that one hit exactly right.” Said Betty Nagos and looked at me, looking like she was about to ask a question, but then chuckled instead. “Never mind, you weren’t there.”
“It’s still a hundred percent what happened.” Said Keller with a slight grimace. “One of the engineers helped them process the security data from the base.”
That made me blink in surprise. “We still have that?”
“Yes.” He said with a nod. “Tavune uploaded it to Duchess’ memory bank before wiping the memory of the security system on the base before we left.”
I nodded slightly. We had wanted to make sure nobody knew more about us that they had to and wiping the database had ensured that.
On the screen the scene had shifted to the capture of Sharon the Red’s two Sho-class transports, but after that thrilling combat, that was undramatic as we were able to meet them at the hyperspace exit and ambush them with Ion-cannons, eventually flying them back to Centauri Delta.
Master Engineer Gacith and his engineers went over the Sho-class transports and Chief Engineer Poul Keller was introduced to the viewer.
“I didn’t look like that!” Protested the Engineer, as he saw himself on the screen. “My hair looks all messed up!”
I sent him a grin. “Sorry, Keller, but you looked exactly like that, dishevelled hair and all. They even got the jumpsuit right.”
That shut him down, though he grumbled as the scene continued and I was sure that whatever meds Shakka had given him were starting to wear off.
The next part was interesting, as it showed what had happened while I slept after the long flight back.
While the ships were fixed, Meistrin, Samko and Yaki organized the rest, emptying the cargo hold of the bulk freighter so we could leave it for the pirates without also leaving them valuables that would allow them to get new ships later.
It also showed the gratitude of the freed prisoners as they had time to get a bath, new clothes and even some decent food. To my surprise, the last part was organized by Chef Winston, and now it was my turn to ask if that was true.
Shakka nodded in response. “Yes. Elise Samko and Yaki were trying to organize it, when Mivito pointed out that there was an experienced chef on board the Foray that could do it. So, Chef Winston took over and did a better job than any of us had ever dreamed of.”
We turned our attention back to the screen just in time to see the introduction of Master Gunner Kansen and with that, the information that Sharon the Red had Chiss among her prisoners and our decision to go rescue them. That was followed by the introduction of Resa on board the Phantom-class Yacht and finally us saying goodbye to those of the free prisoners that had elected to take one of the Sho-class transports to the nearest safe area.
To my amusement, the animators had included the scene where Yaki and I were standing outside the cave complex in the setting sun, looking at the Sho-class transport as its repulsors lifted it off the ground. Yaki took off her helmet first and on the screen, she shook her head a bit to loosen the black hair, the animation of her looking ridiculous good as the hair fell into place, the animation quietly asking. “Do you think they’ll make it?
The animation of me followed suit a moment later, and while I remembered how good it was to feel the wind against my skin, the animation-team had gone a few extra steps as the viewpoint shifted from the close-up of Yaki to a full body picture of me, in what could only be described as a ‘hero pose.’
The black armor gleamed dully in the faint light of the setting sun, the hilts of my lightfoils and handgun glinting momentarily in the light, the wind making my hair weave and the long black cape billow gently behind me, as I watched the transport becoming smaller against the twilight sky.
The picture changed to a close-up, where I looked way better than when I look in the mirror, and the setting sun reflected in my eyes as my animation answered Yaki.”Yes. We’ve taken out most of the pirates in this area. With a bit of luck, they should reach their goal in a week or so.”
I swallowed a sigh. While I did agree to have the animators tell the story of how we got here, I hadn’t expected them to create a cross between a holodrama and a freaking propaganda vid, but that was exactly what they had done, and they had even done a stellar job at that. The storytelling was well-paced, the action exciting and the animators had succeeded in keeping the characteristics of all the higher-ranking officers, while simultaneously making them seem just as competent as in real life.
The closing scene of the movie was my speech to those who had elected to join us, which the animators had elected to use almost in its entirety, but the music that underscored it, along with the close-ups of the people listening, make it seem a lot grander than I remembered it.
“That was fantastic.” said Ramzed Hel when the end-credits appeared on the screen. “I’ve heard stories about this, but seeing it, even as an animation, is really something else.”
ero
