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Author's Chapter Notes:
Character and concepts: if you recognize them, I don't own or profit from them. That's strictly the privilege of Marvel/Disney and the Estate of Irwin Allen.
* * * * *

A LONG TIME AGO IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY...

"Remind me, again, why we're headed for Endor?" asked Obmuj.

Logunn of Zeheth chuckled, as he petted his pet dinko.

"Because Jabba the Hutt's been bragging that no other creature _in the whole galaxy_ can beat his pet rancor in a fight to the death! And, Bogo the Hutt is calling him on it. That's why he's hired us. Bogo wants us to capture a live Endorian hanadak and smuggle it back to Nar Shadda for a test match. Against a nashtah/gundark hybrid that he's personally funded the genetic engineering of! Which ever one of them kills the other? That's the one he'll pit against the rancor on Tattooine!"

The Cragmoloid pondered this information for a few moments.

"And exactly what does an Endorian hanadak look like?"

"Basically?" replied the Zehethbran: "It's a three meter-tall species of killer ape native to the planet's Forest Moon."

"Hmmph!" Obmuj grunted: "Three meters tall, huh? I guess that explains _my_ presence, here."

Logunn chuckled, again: "Sorry, pal. But, you're the only one of us with enough brawn to make such a live capture even remotely possible!"

Suddenly, a proximity alarm began beeping throughout the recreation lounge of "the Nightshrike" (the YT-1000 freighter they were traveling aboard). Rudely awakening the dinko, who started snarling--and malodorously spraying--as a result!

"Aw, Bub!" exclaimed Logunn in annoyed disappointment.

Obmuj--holding his left hand over his trunk--went over to the ladder leading up to the cockpit and shouted upward.

"Hey, Tocneppil! What's going on?"

The freighter's captain and pilot did not answer that question with good news.

"Two Imperial cruisers bearing down on us!"

"Imps??!" echoed the Cragmoloid: "In this system?"

As if to clarify that point, the freighter's radio crackled to life.

"Attention, Nightshrike! Attention, Nightshrike! This is the VICTORY-class Star Destroyer PRIDE OF CORUSCANT. Shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded. Repeat: shut down all engines and prepare to be boarded! Any attempt at escape or resistance, and you will be summarily fired on."

"Oh, great!" muttered Logunn (whose own racially characteristic musk had finally calmed Bub down): "Well, at least I get to take some TIE fighters with me."

"Maybe not," replied the human captain: "Strap yourselves in. I'm heading for Endor's Gate!"

"WHAT???" chorused his two passengers, semi-alarmed.

"I'm gambling they're not as desperate to catch us, as we are to shake 'em. So, what better way than to skirt the event horizon of a black hole?"

Unable to argue with that logic, Logunn and Obmuj did as instructed.

* * * * *

LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT,
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
(MAY 25, 1983)

"Spindrift to Tower," intoned Capt. Steve Burton: "Spindrift to Tower. Pre-flight check completed. Ready to take-off when cleared. Over?"

"Roger that, Spindrift," replied the chief air traffic controller: "You are cleared for take-off. Over."

Whereupon, the orange-colored, saucer-shaped, nuclear-powered VTOL/SST began its maiden flight.

* * * * *

The turbulence the Nightshrike was experiencing began to increase. And, still, the PRIDE OF CORUSCANT and her sister-ship continued their pursuit.

"B-B-B-B-Blast them!" stammered Tocneppil: "W-W-Why w-w-won't they v-v-veer off?"

"M-M-Maybe," yelled Logunn in reply: "They f-f-fear P-P-Palpatine m-m-more than any b-b-black hole!"

Suddenly, the turbulence let up.

"What in the name of the Force...?" Obmuj rhetorically began to ask.

"It's not me, if that's what you're wondering," the human captain called down: "We've been pulled away from the event horizon...by a wormhole! Brace yourselves!!"

* * * * *

EARTH ORBIT
(MAY 25, 1983)

"Mayday! Mayday!" Steve Burton franctically shouted into the microphone...to no avail.

"Steve!" yelled Dan, his co-pilot: "We're going in!!"

* * * * *

Kyle Noticias looked up from her bowl of tomato soup.

"Was that thunder I just heard?"

Her sister Leslie did the same.

"Couldn't be. The weather forecast called for sunshine all this week."

"Finish your lunch, girls," admonished their mother: "The sooner we're done eating, the sooner our food will settle. And, the sooner we can finish rehearsing that new trapeze move."

Yet, even she had to look up at the sky when a second thunderous sound was heard.

tbc
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