Vive le Rex!

An Imperial TIE Fighter

	Elusian Gant was in trouble, and he didn't know it. He was a young

conscript, but very much willing to show his ability and love for the Empire.

At some point during the battle, he had been alerted to an escaping shuttle

by his flight leader. Having just dispatched with an X-Wing, he rushed to

intercept the shuttle.

	Apparently the Rebel craft had been severely damaged and its

hyperdrive wasn't working properly. So it would be some time before they were

able to go to lightspeed. Lushy, as he was called by his friends, figured it

would be easy to disable the shuttle.

        Unfortunately, Gant's TIE was also damaged in the dogfight with the

X-Wing. Most of his sensors were out. He had to rely on his vision alone to

stay with the shuttle. This meant that he could no longer keep track of the

fleet behind him.

	He pursued the ship at full throttle for quite some time, and was

almost in range. He couldn't wait to knock the shuttle out, and claim the

treasure inside for the Empire. Gant was fresh from Flight School, and he

was, as mentioned before, a conscript. This didn't mean he wasn't loyal

though. Far from it. Gant was really a follower. He just needed some

direction to his life. When the Empire came to his home world, and took

as many people as they could find, Lushy couldn't have been happier. 

	He dreamed of glorious battles in the sky, and of some day being a

grand officer in the Imperial Navy. He, of course, didn't want to be a lowly

Stormtrooper. Only those who were unfit to be pilots were Stormtroopers! He

wanted someday to command entire fleets. His dreams were washed away in an

instant as the shuttle quickly shot away. Lost in hyperspace. 

	Lushy's heart stopped for a split second. He began to panic. What was

he going to do? Nearly all of his instruments were down. Only his weapon

systems remained functional. He had no idea where the Thanatos was.  He was

lost in the middle of space with no sensors. He was dead.

The ISD Thanatos

	"Are all the fighters accounted for?" asked Admiral Kelum Soular. 

	"All except for one, sir," came the reply from down in the comm pit. 

	"Which flight group?"

	The young officer was slow in his response which irritated the

Admiral.

	"It was, uh, Gamma, um . . . Two, sir. Gamma Two." Soular made

it a habit of trying to keep track of his higher-ranking pilots. Gamma

Two was not one of them, and he had no idea who the pilot was. 

	"What happened?" asked Soular. The comm officer spent a few

moments talking to Gamma's flight leader, and relayed the story about the

shuttle to the Admiral.

	"Captain Hols believes it to be destroyed. They haven't had contact

with the TIE for some time," the comm officer said in closing. Soular

thought for awhile about this.

	"Recall all fighters. This battle is won. We will look for the

missing fighter when everything is back in order." The Admiral was not too

worried at this point.

	"What about the rumors that the Quammel Otte is in the area?" asked

Parey Werce, the XO. 

	"If it is, we will get to the TIE first and deal with the Rebel in

due course," said the Admiral confidently.

The Quammel Otte

	The Quammel Otte was not technically part of the Rebellion. It was a

rogue ship filled with people who were fed up with the Empire and the

Rebellion alike. It did whatever it could to get by. Mostly smuggling and

pirate activities. It has been known to do some bounty hunter work from time

to time, also.

	Lieutenant Rayia Jersi and Tem Ferrus were in the middle of a heated

argument about an ancient game they had learned on a backwoods planet when

the Blue Light came on. The Blue Light was attached to their belts. It could

have many different meanings, but one thing it always meant was to get to

their ships quickly. 

	With their game forgotten they bolted from the room. Running

breathlessly down the dark corridors they asked each other what they thought

the Blue Light meant. When they got to the hangar, they saw Olan Herke

climbing into his beat up X-Wing. He noticed them and gave them a quick smile

before jumping lightly into the cockpit of his ship. 

	Rayia sprinted to her A-Wing, Tem to his Gunboat, and both got their

ships ready for take off. All three pilots watched the screen to their right

spew out their orders. There was a TIE Fighter out there, unescorted. They

didn't need to read the rest to know what they had to do. 

	"Everybody ready?" asked Rayia.

	"Ready chief!" shouted Olan. He always called her chief for some long

forgotten reason.

	"Ready Lieutenant!" said Tem. And with that the three ships lifted off

the flight deck of the Corellian Corvette, and sailed out into open space.

Gamma Two

	Gant was sweating profusely now. He hadn't picked up the Quammel Otte 

because of his sensors. Even if they worked he still wouldn't have known it

was there because of its cloaking shield. He did, however, notice the three

tiny points of light emerge somewhere up ahead. 

	Lushy had one fleeting thought that they were from the Thanatos and

were there to rescue him. He soon doubted it. As they came nearer he noticed

the tell tale s-foils of an X-Wing, an A-Wing in the middle, and what

appeared to be a Gunboat on the right. Lushy had not been an Imperial pilot

long, but he knew that there were no X-Wings or A-Wings in the Imperial Navy.

He seriously doubted that the Rebellion had any Assault Gunboats either.

	So what was this? They weren't even in a tight formation! While

pondering this, Gant noticed that the three ships had gotten much closer. He

was having trouble thinking straight. What was he going to do? 

Rayia's A-Wing (a.k.a. The Shark)

	Rayia was trying to get the TIE pilot on the comm without much luck.

	"Imperial TIE Fighter. Cut your throttle to one-third and get ready

to follow us. We are not going to fire on you unless you do not acknowledge."

She had repeated that order over and over the last couple of minutes with the

same results. Rayia couldn't understand why he wasn't responding or shooting.

She figured he would do one or the other.

	"Maybe his instruments are toast, chief," came the voice over the

comm.
        "Yeah well we'll have to disable him at any rate. As long as he's not

firing he'll make an easy target. Ready Tem?"

	"Yeah, I'm ready boss."

	"Go ahead," was the order.

Gamma Two

	Lushy's heart threatened to leap from his chest for the second time

when he saw the Gunboat firing at him. Luckily he realized that the beams

were ion lasers meant only to disable him. He figured if he shot at them,

they would shoot back full force. As it was, the X-Wing and A-Wing were just

flying around him.

        If he were a little more brave, or stupid as the case may be, he

might have tried to fight his way out. Gant decided against that however. If

he managed to survive, what would he do then? He had nowhere to go, and there

were probably more ships where these came from. He decided to oblige them. At

least he was alive.

The Shark

	"He's cut his throttle," Rayia said across the comm. Her wingmen

concurred with her report. "Keep cirlcing him Olan, I'll call the Quammel

Otte for the shuttle."

	"Aye, sir."

        "This is Shark calling Atlantis. We need a Whale out here. Dolphin is

secure. Repeat Dolphin is secure."

	"Okay 'Shark'. We're sending out the 'Whale'," came the sarcastic

reply. "You know Rayia, we don't need to use that stupid code."

	Rayia laughed to herself. Rov, the comm officer, hated using all

those code words. 

        "Sorry Atlantis, just wanted to keep this a secret from any Killer

Whales out there," she said with a smile.

	"Yeah whatever," was the answer.

	By the time the shuttle reached the TIE Fighter it was totally

disabled. The pilot was taken into the shuttle, and a tugboat lead the TIE

back to the Corvette. The Shark and her wingmen circled the Quammel Otte a

few times to make sure nothing else was out there. Satisfied, they returned

to the hangar.

The Quammel Otte

	Elusian Gant opened the top hatch of his TIE Fighter and got out. He

tried his best to keep his hands up while getting down to the flight deck.

Looking around he saw a few people with guns drawn, and pointed at him. There

was another X-Wing, another Gunboat, and two more A-Wings. No TIE Fighters.

He was still having trouble figuring out what was going on here. These people

obviously didn't want to kill him. They could have done it in space.

	After a few minutes of standing there in silence, he was moved to one

side of the deck, and the three fighters that attacked him landed gingerly in

the hangar. The pilots hopped out and started to chat with the people with 

the guns. They finally led him down the hall.

	He was put in a small room that look like a sick bay. 
	
	"Just let us know if you need anything. The captain will be here in a moment to 

explain your options," said the lone guard.

	"What's going on here?" asked Gant.

	"The captain will explain."

	So Gant just sat on a table and waited.

                *       *       *       *       *       *

	Rayia walked into the captains quarters. Captain Rook Leery was

sitting at his desk. He offered her a chair.

        "Well sir we have a TIE Fighter and an Imperial pilot. Now what?" she

asked.

	"What kind of shape is the TIE in?"

	"It's pretty beat up. We only used ion cannons on it, but it must have

been in a fight before we got to it because it's falling apart. None of the

instruments work. Only its weapons are operational."

	"Is it salvagable?"

	"Sure, me and Yale can fix it. It'll probably take awhile."

	"And what about the pilot?"

	"Not sure. None of us got to talk to him. He seems pretty shaken up.

You want me to talk to him?"

	"No, but come with me. I'll talk to him, but feel free to chip in."

	"You got it."

                *       *       *       *       *       *

        Rook Leery strode confidently into the sick bay with Rayia Jersi in

tow. The big man stepped close to Gant and offered a hand. Lushy reluctantly

shook it. He was more than a little nervous.

	"What's your name? asked Rook.

	"Lus. . . uh, Elusian Gant," Lushy replied. 

	"So how long have you been with the Empire?" the Captain continued.

	"Are you with the Rebellion? Because if you are, then I can't talk to

you. I am an-"

	"Just answer the question," said Rayia sharply.

	"Well I was conscripted a few months ago. Just got out of flight

school. What are you guys gonna do with me?"

	"Just relax. So you're a conscript? How do you like service in the

Navy?" Leery was an ex-Imperial officer. 

	"It's great," Gant said flatly.

	"That's a good answer. Now tell me your real answer." Gant was

sweating profusely now. He wanted these people to get on with whatever they

were doing.

	"It's okay. Nothing special."

	Rook asked several more questions about Gant's past life. He figured

this guy would be easy to keep. He really didn't want to kill Gant. The poor

guy was conscripted. He didn't willingly join the Empire. The problem was

whether or not they could afford to keep him. The Quammel Otte could use

another pilot. Especially one who could fly a TIE Fighter. He decided to keep

him. He explained what the Quammel Otte was all about, and how its crew could

have no affiliation with either the Empire or the Alliance. Gant, or Lushy as

he said he preffered to be called, seemed to welcome this with open arms.

	"So you could show our pilots how to fly your TIE?" asked Leery.

	"Oh, sure! I'd love to!" Gant was just happy to be alive. He could

learn to live here. It was nice. Away from all the political problems. 

	"Great, let me show you around." And with that, they were off for the

grand tour of the Quammel Otte.

The ISD Thanatos

	Percy Werce opened the door to the Admiral's quarters. He was

expecting a tantrum when Soular heard the news.

	"I take it you have something for me XO?"

	"Uh, yes sir. Sort of sir. We haven't found any trace of Gamma Two or

the shuttle it was chasing. We've been following the last known trajectory

for some time, and haven't found any debris from either ship."

	"So you don't have anything then?" said the Admiral angrily.

	"Well, uh, sir, I just wanted to update you on our current position.

Since we haven't found anything, we are assuming Gamma Two was captured by

the Rebels or the Quammel Otte."

	"I can draw my own conclusions thank you XO. Well we had better find

the Rebels or the Quammel Otte, whichever it is."

	"Yes sir," said Werce and stormed out.

	Soular sat and thought for awhile. Well if it is the Quammel Otte,

this would be a great opportunity. They could get ahold of a Corvette, the

ships on it, and the traitorous dogs aboard. He couldn't wait to out-manuver

those jerks. It would be fun.

The Quammel Otte

	Lushy walked back to his quarters after giving a short discussion on

the controls of his TIE. Captain Leery had said they were hoping to get more

TIEs, because they were so fast. However, they were hard to come by since

none ever flew alone.

	It had been a good day, really. He was pretty happy with the Empire,

but he wasn't treated very well. Here he was an expert on TIE Fighters, and

he had his own quarters! He walked in and streched out on his bed.

	He was almost asleep when he heard someone knock on his door. He got

up and unlocked it. A short man walked in. He looked around quickly, and told

Lushy sit down. He did.

	"So, you were an Imperial pilot?" the man said. Lushy nodded. "You

were a conscript?" another nod. "Good, well I'm not very sympathetic to these

people. I think they're wrong. I am a member of the Empire. Always have been,

always will be. We have to stick together, and wait for the right time. If

you go against me, I will kill you. I promise. I'll be seeing you," and with

that he left.

	Lushy fell back on his bed once more. Now he was more afraid then

ever. He decided that it wasn't such a good day after all.