Chapter 6        Isis Coordinates

Two weeks later.....

The stars and other pinpoints of light seemed to put themselves to rights again as the Redeemer came out of hyper space. To the left of the ship the white, crystalline world of Isis could be seen. It was really a sight to behold as the sun would catch a tall spire and send rainbow lights everywhere. Several starship construction facilities were circling Isis as well and anyone could tell that by the way that the shuttles flew between the space docks and Rebel cities below that the Rebels were doing very well for themselves here. Isis was deemed as a Rebel safe world.

"It’s too bad that we won’t be able to spend some time relaxing on Isis," Zaron said almost wistfully as he looked out the view port.

"Yeah, imagine it. A Rebel colony. A whole system where the Imperials have never been. No chance of getting boarded or shot at or…" Maharet also was taking a look out of the view port. She glanced over at Tolian.

"Don’t be so sure. With a colony this large, security must be a nightmare," Tolian put in his opinion on the matter.

"Well, its gotta be safer than trying to run that Imperial blockade on Palmanar," Andromeda spoke up.

"Yeah, I wonder who they found to pull that one off?" a Rodian by the name of Kosh asked. There seemed to be a long silence and Tolian coughed embarrassedly. All eyes were suddenly upon him.

"On second thought, I’m sorry I even asked," Kosh seemed to lower himself further into his seat.

"Wait a minute. How are we supposed to get supplies through the blockade?" Maharet asked, her form nothing more than a mere shadow.

"We’ve got a stolen Imperial transponder code that we’re going to burn into a Corellian gunship called the Handree. It’s waiting for us in the city of Neskroff on Isis," Tolian explained quietly.

"The gunship’s been stocked up with practically all the medical supplies we’ve scarfed from Imperial convoys this month," Andromeda said quietly.

"Sounds a bit risky—putting all those valuables in one ship," Maharet said concertedly.

"We’ve got no choice. We’re taking a big enough risk just trying to get two ships through the blockade," Andromeda explained.

"Two ships?" Kosh asked disbelieving.

"Right. After we install the code into the Handree’s transponder we’re going to have to escort her to Palmanar. If those supplies don’t make it millions of lives will be lost," Tolian explained the severity of the situation.

"Uh-oh," Andromeda said.

"I know it sounds pretty bad…" Tolian began.

"No. I mean "Uh-oh" as in I think something bad is happening now," she had her eyes fixed to the console.

"What’s that on your scanner?" Kosh pointed out.

"My uh-oh. It’s a ship—but it’s not giving off an Alliance-confirmed transponder code," Andromeda began to search the horizon.

"It’s not Imperial, is it?" Maharet asked.

"Hang on a minute. Uh, yeah. It’s Imperial," she confirmed. The whole group chorused their own moans of "Uh-oh’s".

"Uncle, can you pick up an ident-beacon or code of some kind?" Andromeda asked.

"Working on it, just a sec," Tolian was bent over the console. "It’s a scout ship. Survey vessel from the Imperial Survey Corps."

"Where’s our patrol fleet?" Kosh was becoming nervous.

"Other side of the system. The scout must have stumbled in blind; just a routine charting mission. Maybe they don’t know…" Zaron seemed to hold his breath.

"We gotta get it while we still have time and maybe surprise," Maharet was almost completely out of her seat with the excitement.

"If we don’t stop them from reporting the location of this colony to the Empire, those people down there are in a lot of trouble," Kosh pointed out.

"They’re heading into low orbit. Probably want to make a more complete scan before they report back to the Empire," Zaron said grimly.

"Better move fast, before she has a chance to jump to lightspeed," Tolian cautioned.

"I’m bringing us around. Here we go!" Andromeda seized the controls with an adrenaline rush coursing through her veins and went after the Imperials. She slammed her hand down upon the button that fired the laser cannon at the Imperial ship and was pleased that there was a direct hit.

"Great shot! Sensors show that you’ve just knocked out their hyperdrive. They won’t be making a jump anytime soon!" Zaron crowed cheerfully. But the cheer was short lived as the Imperial ship returned fire, striking a hit of their own.

"Damage!" Tolian snapped.

"We’ve lost our shields and most of the controls were ionized!" Zaron reported. "We won’t be able to sustain this for much longer!" Andromeda fired off another shot that took out the enemy’s shields.

"Hey there, Redeemer! This is Grey Leader. Need a hand?" a voice came over the com as four X-Wings came into sight headed up from the planet surface on an intercept course with the Imperial vessel.

"Do we ever! Much obliged, Grey Leader!" Andromeda acknowledged, but the help was not to be as the Imperial ship picked off the X-Wings one by one with deadly accuracy and headed for the surface.

The surface of Isis was nearly blinding as the pursuit began under a mid-day sun. The Imperial ship dived into the nearest canyon and Andromeda was hot on its tail. It hit an outcropping on the crystalline canyon wall, sending shards of crystal showering the Redeemer. Andromeda did her best to dodge the debris in order to keep up and Tolian decided that it was not a wise idea to be firing any guns. There was a fear of bringing the entire canyon down around them. Yet it seemed that the more the chase went on, the more the canyon seemed to crumble around them.

"Maybe we should get out of the canyon," Maharet seemed to get a little nervous herself. No sooner had she said it when they lost sight of the Imperial ship and the Redeemer bottomed out with no warning, coming to a screeching halt on the canyon floor. The visibility through the falling debris was down to zero and as the Redeemer’s engines cut off, the sound of falling crystal could be heard hitting the ship, literally burying it. The crystal rain seemed to last for a good twenty minutes. The daylight coming through the view port was getting dimmer and dimmer.

"I’ve got an idea. Maybe we could blast out of here," Zaron suggested. No one seemed to object as he bent over the controls. The Redeemer gave a violent shudder as she sprung to life and tried to move from underneath the rubble, but couldn’t.

"Maybe we could dig our way out," Maharet displayed her clawed hand.

"That stuff is way too fine. If you open up a top hatch this stuff will rush in like water," Tolian examined the crystals covering the front view port.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance," the Rodian headed for the ramp. "Open up the ramp. It can’t flow up. I will use my light-saber to cut us out."

So the rumor they had been hearing about the base was true. Kosh was a Jedi. Andromeda’s heart seemed to leap into her throat as Kosh’s bronze saber ignited. He immediately went to work on clearing a pathway out of the ship. Thankfully, it took him practically no time, but the heat that came from the saber as it cut through the crystal was too much for the path to be used right away. It was an estimated hour before the path would be deemed safe.

"I just hope that those Impies are having a worst time of it than us," Zaron muttered as he settled himself to wait.

An hour later as they emerged from beneath the Redeemer, they learned that she was buried in at least ten meters of the fine stuff. They only carried their weapons of choice and began to follow the canyon on foot. They were hoping that the Imperials had crashed close by. They found a suitable place to climb up to a cliff overlooking most of the canyon. Maharet had suggested they climb out to try and get a better vantage point, not to mention trying to get out of harms way and keep from getting buried themselves.

When they reached the top of the cliff, they were in for a surprise. A crystalline figure stood there looking at them. At first, it looked as if it were part of the crystal terrain, but it moved, literally melting into the wall behind it. Its silhouette was plainly seen moving within the wall, melting into the ground. It made its way to their feet and slowly came up out of the ground to face them.

"I am Saartri of the Gatreetees. You will choose a member of your tribe to fight for your lives!" he said in basic with a terribly thick accent. Andromeda almost couldn’t make his speech out. Looking upward they could see that there were hundreds of other crystal-like beings like Saartri peering out at them from another cliff high above them.

"Up there!" Saartri indicated as he melded into the ground again. They looked at each other. It didn’t seem like there was much of a choice. They looked at each other, trying to find some kind of alternative in the other’s face, but didn’t find it. With a shrug or heavy sigh they climbed up to where the tribe was waiting.

There were about thirty of the Gatreetees waiting for them. Saartri was in the front holding onto what looked like some kind of rope and a club. He held them out toward the Deffel.

"Fight for life!" he repeated. Maharet obediently took the objects from him, unsure of their use. Saartri held a club of his own and held onto the other end of the rope.

"First to fall loses life!" he proclaimed as a mighty cheer arose from those around him. Apparently, he was their best warrior.

Maharet stood at the ready, although not quite sure what she was ready for. Saartri came at her first, swinging his club and landing a hit against her arm. The Deffel swung back in defense, bringing her club down Saartri’s shoulder. The crystal warrior seemed to stagger back a step or two. Maharet saw her chance and with another blow brought Saartri to his knees. The surrounding tribe was suddenly quiet. It was apparent that he was beaten.

"Now you must take life," he said and knelt down on one knee at her feet. He bowed his head and waited.

"But I can’t do that. I cannot take a life in cold blood," Maharet looked from her friends to the tribe. The chieftain seemed to be suddenly upset.

"You, Shadow Warrior! Take life! Place paw on head and take Life!" he shook his staff at her.

"But—" she tried to protest again.

"Take great offense! Take life!" the chieftain seemed more than angry. Maharet looked to her companions for some help, but wasn’t finding it. Tolian appeared to be puzzled about the fact that she should take his life after such an easy fight. Zaron shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he had absolutely no idea. Andromeda stood in a defensive stance with one hand on her carbine and a look that seemed to say, "What are you waiting for?"

Maharet sighed deeply and placed her paw upon Saartri’s bent head. She had intended to take his life as the chief had requested, but instead she began to feel a strange sensation work its way from her paw to her head. She closed her eyes and saw what she thought was Saartri’s life—his childhood experiences, of carefree days riding crystal waves at great speeds, hunting for food and fighting other bouts with other warriors. Most importantly, towards the end of the vision, she saw the crash of the Imperial ship they were chasing earlier. It all went though her mind in a flash and when the sensation was over she found herself still standing there and the whole tribe was cheering.

"Congratulations," Tolian smiled in appreciation. "We are now a part of the tribe!"

"Saartri, the ship that you saw crash earlier. Where is it? We must get to it!" Maharet said suddenly.

"Is quite alright, my friends," Saartri replied. "We will take you there. You have friends in trouble?"

"No. Those are no friends of ours. Those are the bad guys," Andromeda said.

"Whatever you do, don’t let them into the tribe. They are a threat to the other humans that already live here," Zaron explained.

"Then we make haste!" Saartri said and motioned to the tribe with a wave of his hand.

Kosh spied it first. It was a wave of crystal sweeping through the canyon like a great flash flood. It was all white except for the rainbow crest that caught the afternoon sunlight. It came to halt just feet from them in the canyon.

"Is alright. Step on. We ride over there," Saartri stepped on and Maharet, already knowing what it did, didn’t hesitate to follow. Kosh stepped on next followed by Tolian, who was wondering why he was not sinking into the wave as it stood still for him. Zaron and Andromeda got on next and almost without warning the wave began to move. As it began to pick up speed Zaron and Andromeda could not keep their balance and wound up riding the crystal wave sitting down while the others rode it just fine standing up.

"Lucky thing you don’t get wet," Zaron commented.

"There it is!" Maharet pointed it out first. The Imperial ship almost wasn’t recognizable since it was half buried. The wave gently set everyone down upon the ground except for Saartri, who still remained on the wave.

"I must return to my people. The great city Neskroff is just at end of canyon. Good luck to you!" And with his final speech, the wave changed direction and took him back the way they came and was quickly out of sight.

Time was not wasted as the small band of rebels entered the obviously abandoned Imperial survey ship. It was discovered that there was a crew of eight and that only three had died in the crash. The cargo bay had all sorts of soil and plant life samples. Yes, there was no denying that this was indeed a survey ship.

In exploring the captain’s quarters there was a data pad that was left behind and on it were three personal log entries made by and signed by Captain Sallend Tonth. In a nutshell, she had said how fed-up she was with surveying, how her crew was fed up with surveying and how she was out in the Phen Sector against orders. She was certain that there was a rebel planet there somewhere and she was going to find it if it was the last thing she ever did. The final entry told of how she took the ship’s black box flight recorder as proof that there was indeed a Rebel planet, since the coordinates were recorded there.

"Possible defectors?" Tolian queried.

"I don’t think so! If I catch up with her, I’ll see to it that it’s the last thing Captain Tonth does!" Andromeda said with venom.

"Llellandra—" Tolian began in a warning tone.

"Gotta stop her! If she succeeds in getting the box back to her H.Q.—" she began

"Hey, you guys? Have you found anything?" Zaron’s voice was calling. "We’ll wait for you outside." Andromeda continued to poke around, but wasn’t finding anything of interest. She only took another moment to her satisfaction to realize that Captain Tonth had thoroughly cleaned out her quarters before following Tolian out.

"Night is fast approaching. I think that it would do well for us to get to the nearest settlement," Kosh made his observation.

"Of course. We’ve got to get to the city and warn them before those Imperials get there," Maharet seemed to be tense. They were all in agreement and quickly began the hike to Neskroff.

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*Chapters 6 & 7 based off of the Isis Coordinates module for the Star Wars RPG.  No Copyright infringement intended, honest!!  No profits being made, either!!