Mara Jade awoke to the whine of repulsors firing. "That’s interesting," thought Mara "We don’t even have a Spaceport nearby. It was very unusual for a spacecraft to come within three kilometers of her parents house. Mara could hear her parents muffled voices coming from the living room.
Mara wiped her long braided brown hair out of her eyes. She then waddled to the plain white wall opposite where her bed lay. She pressed a panel half way up the wall. Instantly the room was awash of light as the window opened. Outside all Mara could see was the vast open plains of red dust. Then something caught her eye. A tiny speck on the horizon. She guessed that was the spacecraft, which had woken her up. Mara hurried to get dressed she was anxious to find out why a ship had landed on Mara’s property.
As Mara entered the lounge room her parents both stopped their conversation and turned towards her. Mara loved her Mum and Dad. She loved her mum’s sharp features and her love for life. Mara also loved her father. He was a strong, burly man who worked in the local bacta mine. She then realised her parents were both wearing grey collars around their necks. They looked just like the collar she has for her pet Bantha. "Mum" questioned Mara "Why are you wearing that collar?"The soldier led Mara all the way to their spacecraft. It was an old rusty Y-wing. The reason they’re called Y-wing’s is because it is shaped like an upside down Y. They were the typical transport ships used by the Empire. Simply because they’re cheap, quick and disposable along with the pilots who fly them.
Mara was guided to a rather comfy flight seat directly behind the pilot. After she was strapped in she realised she could only see the front viewport if she pushed herself as hard as she could off the flight seat. She felt the Y-wing rock. But it wasn’t the usual rock of repulsors coming online to push the craft of the ground. "Go Go Go!" shouted the Imperial soldier to the pilot. Suddenly the Y-wing rose. Mara felt something deep inside her, it was telling her something bad had just happened, something very bad. Mara strained to see the viewport. Over the top of the pilot’s bald scalp she could see the blackness of space. In this part of the galaxy there was few stars. Suddenly a bright light flashed past.
Wedge Antilles loved to fly his X-wing. Ever since he met up with the Rebellion a year ago he had been a flying ace. Now he had an incredible weight on his shoulders, flying for the elite Rouge Squadron was tough work. But Wedge was ready for the challenge.
Wedge moved into formation beside Rouge 6, his wingman. Dead ahead loomed the enormous hull of the Super Star Destroyer Soul Reaver. Just one SSD could single handedly wipe out an entire city in seconds. Wedge could just make out the giant turbo laser turrets mounted on the sides of the SSD. The turrets were the main reason Star Destroyers are so dangerous. With their incredible range and reload time they were extremely dangerous.
"Ahhhhh!" screamed Rouge 4 "I’m hit! My Inertial Compensator is down. I’m gonna try and crash into the shield domes!" The two shield domes, which sit atop the giant SSD’s bridge, provide the entire ship with massive shields. As soon as the shields are gone a barrage of proton torpedos can easily destroy the SSD.
Wedge aimed his X-wing towards the SSD’s hull. A loud bang rocked Wedge’s X-
wing. Through the front and side viewports Wedge could see a massive fireball. There was
nothing Wedge could do but fly straight through the fireball. Wedge’s sensors went blank.
Then he was through to the cold blackness of space. Wedge’s R2 droid Squeaker reported
minimal damage to one of the four engines.
"Rouges, let’s leave ‘em alone and return to Folor Base for a rendezvous with Wraith
and Nova Squadrons’."
The old rusty Y-wing landed. Mara could see pilots running frantically towards TIE-
fighters and TIE-Interceptors the two starfighters used by the Empire.
"Time to go" said the Imperial soldier. Mara unbuckled her flight harness and stood
to stretch her legs. On the trip to Soul Reaver the Imperial soldier had revealed many
things. His name was Commander Lytian. He has a wife but no children. The Commander
now acted much different from the sturn voice which had told her she had to go with him.
But there were still many things Commander Lytian hadn’t revealed. When was she going
to see her parents again?
"Hurry up" shouted Commander Lytian "The ship’s about to go again!"
Mara raced towards the Commander. He bent down and scooped her up in his big
strong arms. He carried her deep inside the Soul Reaver towards her new quarters.
Commander Lytian was relieved that he had Mara Jade on board. He felt sorry for her. She was so small and helpless. She didn’t realise that she would never see her parents ever again. That was probably a good thing.
"I have to go now Mara" told the Commander "I’ll be back later.""Nice shooting" shouted Commander Lytian over the roar of laser rifles being fired. Mara had been in one of the numerous shooting galleries aboard Soul Reaver. Usually this area was off limits to everyone under the age of 18, but Mara was a special case. Commander Lytian had given her a special clearance card, which gave her access to all the ships facilities.
Over the past two months Mara had worked up a very strong friendship with the Commander. He treated her like a daughter and she treated him like a father. All the free time he had he spent with Mara.
Mara placed the laser rifle down onto a nearby gun rack with a clank. She turned and
hugged the Commander.
"Where have you been?" asked Mara Jade.
"Well I’ve been on the bridge with Admiral Mofatt. Sorry I didn’t have time to drop by
earlier." replied Commander Lytian.
"It’s alright" sighed Mara releasing the Commander from her loving embrace "Just
don’t go away like that again."
The Commander picked Mara up off the ground and swung her in a circle, then
pulled her close and kissed her forehead.
The sound of an alarm rang out. Commander Lytian dropped Mara to the floor. "I have to go" shouted the Commander as he raced out the door "I’ll be on the bridge, you can watch me on the holo in your room." Mara stood motion less, once again she was alone.
Mara wasn’t sure how long she stood there for, but when she turned the holovision in her quarters on a battle was in full swing. Mara watched the Commander shout orders. Then in the left-hand corner of the screen she saw a faint light. It increased in brightness and grew larger by the second. Mara turned her attention back to the Commander. He had a worried look on his face. The light grew until it was at least a two meters in diameter. Then she realised it was a Rebel Starfighter. Seconds later the holovision blanked out. The screen flickered before showing a gaping hole in the bridge. There were motionless bodies floating around the room. Mara spotted Commander Lytian floating against a bulkhead dead. Mara cried. She had just lost the only friend she had aboard the Soul Reaver. Mara felt a wash of pain flood over her, which then turned to anger. A deep red burning anger, against the Rebel scum who had just killed Commander Lytian. "They must die" laughed Mara "They must die."
By James Wigley