"CSI: Tenacity."


A.K.A. "Murder in Space."

Written and Directed by:
Paul Burton.

STARRING

Rojic,   Jimmi,   Karnov,   Niall,   Kory,  
And introducing:
Joe-90 Hen3ry and 'Lucky.' and 'Blinkie.'
as the droids.

AND
Storm Cutter
their ship.

And introducing:
Major Castor D'Estrella, an officer in the Republic Navy....

The attractive Twi’lek woman comes over. “I am here to see that all your needs are catered for.”

“Thanks.” Niall says. She smiles sweetly at him. He marshals his thoughts quickly. “-Though I’ll have to warn you that we all have rather diverse needs.”

Oona. -Again!

Karnov asks for a secure channel to enable him to contact the Jedi council. A junior officer leads him away. The captain asks for a helper to pilot a shuttle for a few hours. “I’ll go.” Kory volunteers. “Seeing as Niall has got his hands full.”

Jimmi says, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Rojic stops Jimmi right there. “Oh that’s right, go and jinx it why don’t you?”

Oona leads Niall away. She glances at Storm Cutter. “It’s such a shame….”

“Shame? How?”

“A shame that your ship is so unbecoming!”

“Looks okay to me.” Jimmi says, but the irony is lost.

Rojic butts in. “His last one was quite nice…. It was all long and smooth and quite phallic. –It even had a powerful thrust!”

Rather pointedly, Oona invites Rojic to go somewhere. “Why don’t you report to the quartermaster? I’m sure there’s something there to amuse you.” Turning her attention back to Storm Cutter and Niall, she continues. “Who keeps her in shape?”

“The gaffer.”

“The gaffer? Who’s that?” She asks.

“Not ‘who’ – ‘what.’ ‘Gaffer’ as in big roll of gaffa tape!” Niall nudges her arm. Oona laughs at Niall’s joke. No one else is laughing. “Tough crowd!” Niall observes dryly.

Rojic calls over his shoulder. “Of course the ship’d be in a lot better condition if we got paid once in a while. –Decent money for a decent ship!”

Jimmi catches up as Oona stops. She asks. “How can you bear to have a Toydarian on board anyway?”

Jimmi is quick to respond. “Nobody told me he was a Toydarian!”

Niall makes light of the insults directed at Storm Cutter. “Think of it not as a ship, but fifty-thousand rusty rivets flying in tight formation!”

1/12500th of Storm Cutter. -In perfect formation!

Oona laughs again. Kory is in her flight suit, and waves goodbye. Oona turns to Niall. “Are you two…..Er….Together?”

“Oh no, we’re not together. Just good friends.”

Jimmi spoils the ruse. “He kissed her once!”

“Did not! She kissed me!”

“It takes two to do the Trianii ritual dance.”

Oona is not put off. Instead, she warns about Kory. “She has the look of a heartbreaker.”

“-And the lips of a heart-stopper.” Jimmi adds.

Niall is getting tired of Jimmi’s interrupting. “Don’t you have some massage or singing or something to do?”

Oona gets the hint. “The crew don’t often get entertainment. I’m sure you would make a big impression of you were to visit the mess hall and do a turn.”

“I had a funny turn in a mess hall….” Jimmi says. Oona laughs. “See? You’re funny. You should go. The crew will undoubtably really appreciate it.”

Jimmi turns to go. In a whisper Niall says, “They obviously haven’t heard Jimmi's singing yet!”

Oona continues. “There are so few aboard, we have to make our own entertainment….” She realises that this didn’t quite come out right. Niall looks at her, slightly embarrassed. She looks around to check that no-one is watching. Then she slips her arm into his.

Rojic has followed his generously-sized nose and located the quartermaster’s office. It’s not much more than a partition between the hangar deck and the vast stores, but Lieutenant Commander Tebbo the quartermaster regards it as home.

“I have a list of stuff we need. It’s quite a big list, I’m afraid.” Rojic looks sheepish.

“Okay, let me look at it.” Tebbo tells him. He takes a sharp intake of breath. “You’re not kidding! The paperwork alone will take a month to fill in!”

Rojic produces a bottle of Toydor brandy.

“But that’ll do nicely!”

They settle down with a fat death-stick and the bottle, while L-B series droids run around fetching and carrying. Soon the little office is filled with death-stick smog, pierced by raucous laughter. “Got any missiles?” Rojic asks.

“‘Bogof’ today on missiles. You’re in luck!” –What type do you need?”

“Type-six with the half-height fins, high-yield in a lattice concussive spread.”

“Um….We’ve got the regular ones.”

“That’ll do. We couldn’t afford six-hundred credits a missile anyway.”

“This brandy is more than making up for your lack of credits…Or credentials!”

Genuine Toydarian brandy, from Toydor. -Also
available in miniature (Toy) sizes!

Oona is still chatting with Niall. “So the Quarren….”

“Karnov, yes.” Niall says, not really listening to what she says, but listening to her soothing voice.

“Quarren are often the agents of the Hutts.”

“Karnov’s a trainee Jedi.”

“I’ve never met a real Jedi before.”

“Trust me…. You didn’t....Oh, it doesn’t matter. One day he’ll be a great.... Master.”

“-And you?” She asks.

“I’m.... On a different path.”

The junior officers have rounded up many of the off-duty crew, and quite a few on-duty crew too. Jimmi is performing for them. The set involves some singing, playing the Faln horn and telling tall tales of their exploits. Jimmi works in a few good jokes too. The audience lap it up. “We don’t get any performers out here. We have to make our own entertainment!” Jimmi finishes off with an improvised tale of heroism and inter-galactic love all set to music and an entertaining tune. After several encores, Jimmi is declared the star of the show. The party goes on long into the night, and Jimmi even ends up signing autographs for the fans.

Oona offers to take Niall to the officer’s mess to eat. “I haven’t eaten since….Er….” Niall says. “Well, it’s a long time, anyway.”

“In that case, maybe I can find an out-of-the-way place for you to rest in. With clean sheets and a proper bed and room to swing a Cathar.”

“Sounds good. –Care to join me?”

“I thought you’d never ask!”

Oona gives Niall a look. Then she places the faintest of kisses on his cheek. As she does so, her brow furrows. A thought crosses her mind. “I can’t risk any of the crew seeing us together.”

“I was just thinking the same, with my crew.” Niall says. “Now that Storm Cutter is empty.....My cabin is pretty private.”

“We won’t be disturbed?” Oona asks.

“The crew know better than to disturb me!” Niall says. Oona goes to freshen up while Niall quickly tidies up.

Oona puts her arms around Niall, and they kiss. She puts her head tails around him too. The kiss gets deeper and more passionate. They tumble into the cabin and close the door firmly. Soon she is pumping him for tales of his exploits.

Some hours go by. Jimmi is entertaining; Karnov is in conference with his superiors. Niall is.…Well, around and about where we left him, but now sleeping peacefully. One can only assume he is dreaming of rockets taking off and maglev trains running into tunnels. Meanwhile, Rojic is getting nicely drunk with Tebbo. “Have you got any bacta?” He asks Tebbo.

“You can’t drink that!”

“No we need some more for our ship. -And a new set of filters too!”

“I’ll have to run that one by the captain. It’s over ten-thousand credits worth!”

Rojic tries another tack. “Another drink?”

Tebbo looks blurrily at the nearly-empty bottle. “Captain, can my best friend Rojic here have some Bacta?” He waves the bottle. “Yes, give him all he needs!” The two of them descend into giggles. Tebbo stands up and sways. “Droid! Bacta for Rojic!” He sits down again heavily. “Now let’s finish off the captain!”

“One thing still puzzles me,” Rojic says, somewhat drunkenly. “A captain in the navy is roughly equivalent to a colonel in the army, while a captain in the army is roughly equivalent to a lieutenant in the navy.”

“What’s your point?”

“No point, it’s just rather confusing.”

“You should try it on dress-down Friday - Or even dress-up Tuesdays!”

Later that night, Major Castor D’Estrella is sleeping soundly. It’s been a tough day. It’s about to get worse when the communicator buzzes in his cabin. “What is it?” He snaps.

“Sorry, sir, but we need you right away in hangar five. It’s Lieutenant Tegan sir.”

“What about her?”

“Well you’d better get down here. I'm in the hangar where Rose Wanderer is berthed.”

D’Estrella shrugs into his uniform and a few moments later is standing with several troopers looking at Lieutenant Tegan. The Bothan woman is lying face-down in a pool of blood. “She’s dead sir.” A trooper tells D’Estrella.

“I can see that, trooper. Best inform the captain.”

“He’s on his way sir.”

“-And round up the crew of Storm Cutter.”

“Will do sir. I’ll have the men fetch them.”

Major D'Estrella.
-After the plastic surgery.

D’Estrella crouches to look at the body. He touches nothing, but peers closely. It would appear that there is a major wound in the woman’s back. Up under the ribs, into the vitals. –A nasty way to go. Tegan has a blaster but it isn’t drawn. Possibly her attacker came from behind. Finally, out of curiosity he puts the back of his fingers on her. -The body is neither particularly warm nor cold. D’Estrella can’t accurately determine a time of death. He rules out opening the hanger doors to cool the body as there are no ruptured blood vessels or other signs of space exposure.

By the time that this information is gathered, the crew of Storm Cutter has assembled. D’Estrella looks over them rather scornfully. “I’m going to suppose that you’re going to deny everything, and have water-tight alibis. However, we’re a peaceful and tight-knit community here on the Tenacity. -Yet only a few hours after you arrive, one of our officers lies dead in a hanger. Start talking!”

“I can vouch for Niall.” Oona says, but doesn’t elaborate. Kory and Karnov also have alibis. The search widens. “Where were you between two and four this morning, blind pew?” D’Estrella asks Jimmi.

“In the mess hall, entertaining. –And after that in the dressing room.”

“Can anyone vouch for you?”

“About half the crew.”

Rojic is buzzing drunkenly around the hangar. Gently bumping off the walls and swooping. Like an overgrown housefly, he does lazy lines, punctuated by tight 128- degree turns.

“Restrain that thing!” D’Estrella shouts. Two troopers come over to grab Rojic, who miraculously starts rapidly sobering up. Rojic has an alibi, besides, Niall tells the lieutenant that the assailant was probably about human-sized, reasonably fit, and strong enough to overpower Tegan. This somewhat rules out Rojic.

D’Estrella is cooling somewhat. He admits that this kind of thing isn’t a run-of the-mill investigation. As the crew of Storm Cutter have good alibis, he lets them into his confidence. “I want this settled fast. There is a killer at large on this ship. I’m going to need all the help I can get. I’m going to make a leap of faith here and assume that a Jedi and his crew are innocent. –In return I’m going to need your help.”

Niall reassures him. “Trust me we’d like to get to the bottom of this as much as you do. We’re at your disposal.”

With the situation sorted out, they get down to work. They take high-definition holographic images of the crime scene, and when completely satisfied, troopers and droids come to remove the body to the infirmary. There a 21-B droid goes to work examining the wound. Other droids and equipment run toxicology tests. The 21-B reports back that the wound was indeed from a blade of some kind. “Probably a vibro-blade.” Niall says. “It’s small enough to be easily concealed, and one doesn’t need a lot of force to inflict a nasty wound.” 21-B looks at him.

“Guns for show….Knives for a pro.” Niall says, in a slightly disturbing way.

If the droid is shocked, it doesn’t show it. “I’m starting to wish you hadn’t said that, sir!”

D’Estrella is looking into motive. “Was there anything here worth stealing?” He wonders, pacing around the hangar. A drip of oil plops into a small puddle beneath Storm Cutter. “Definitely not the ship, that’s for sure!”

“What about inside?”

Rojic volunteers to search the ship. He zips at high speed into the cargo bay. He starts checking off everything in his mental inventory. Secretly though he hopes that his most valuable possession is still there. By degrees he comes to his cabin. Checking that there is nobody watching, he goes inside and looks beneath the bunk in his room. There is a small wooden crate there, rather battered and looking pretty unremarkable. Rojic slides open the cover. The crate is bare! He swears to himself.

“Poodoo! Tanna crystoo gonna way’ya. Summo poodoo theevo magpi-oo dunna runna widoo miyna crstoo! Vandal’ss, abode-oo karkers, seemi-cookie visi-goth-ee! Bastadaas!”

“Anything the matter?” Niall asks from behind the door.

“Nothing….Er, I just can’t find my tusk-brush.”

“It’s rather insulting to lie to a Jedi.” Niall reminds him. “It’d be unfortunate if I had to take your brain apart with the force if I thought you were deceiving me.”

“Those Jedi mind tricks don’t work on me!” Rojic counters.

“No. But a few deft strokes with a lightsabre does.”

“Okay.” Rojic comes clean. “The crystals – the dark, evil, force-sucking- energy-amplifying crystal ingots. They’re gone!”

Jimmi is standing next to the pool of blood. Stretching out with feelings, Jimmi looks into the force…. “Ah….This is a question about the past isn’t it!” However there is nothing in the force that Jimmi can get a firm fix on. Niall comes over. He waits respectfully for Jimmi to finish. “What are you getting?”

“Just...images, really. Feelings….Nothing definite. It would have helped if I’d known her or even met her.”

“Never mind. We’ll find a way. Rojic’s dark-crystal ingots are missing. Though if I’d known he was harbouring those things I would remove his ‘crystals’ with a rusty knife.”

“I though that the Jedi were above and beyond all that.”

“Trust me, there are things that disqualified me from becoming a Jedi knight. – And Toydarians toying with things that are far beyond their understanding is just one of those things.”

Jimmi is shocked. “You won’t hurt him?”

“No. But I’m sure going to tell him what he can expect if he ever pulls a stunt like that again!”

D’Estrealla comes over. “We should search the lieutenant’s quarters. -If the killer hasn’t already. I’ve had my troopers on high alert, but the killer is still at large, and may have got there first.”

“I’ll come with you.” Jimmi offers.

“Best to keep alert and stay in pairs or threes if possible. How about you, Mister Niall?”

“I’m off to find that Toydarian and read him his fortune. If that doesn’t sober him up, I’ll strap him to my back to act as armour. –There’s also a lead I need to follow up.”

“Well go careful, there’s a killer on the loose.”

“We’ll be careful. I’ve got my Jedi training and a wingman….Rojic!”

Rojic buzzes drunkenly over. “I love you Niall. You’re my brother….”

“And you can drop the act now too.”

Rojic sobers up considerably. “How did you know?”

“Because an addled brain is bad for business. Though it’s not as addled as it will be after I’ve finished with you.”

Rojic is suddenly very serious and very sober. “So what’s the plan?”

“I stand here and concentrate. Then we take a tour of the decks while I try and home in on those missing ingots..”

“And me?”

“You watch my back. And pray that the ingots are still on board Tenacity.”

“-And if they’re not?”

“Then you’ll be going where they’ve gone – without a spacesuit.”

With the implied threat in Niall’s tone, Rojic respects him a few percentage points more. –He knuckles down and covers his crew-mate. Niall starts pacing along the decks.

Jimmi and the major have gained access to Tegan’s quarters. The room is neat and tidy – as D’Estrella expected. Soon they locate a data pad. “Aha!”

Jimmi apologises. “I can’t read it, I’m afraid, unless there’s audio output.”

“No matter we’ll run it through the droids. I expect it’s encrypted anyway.”

“Send it back to Kory. She’s good with this sort of thing. –The droids will do the job, but they lack the insight. Kory’ll crack the code in a fraction of the time.”

They let Kory look through the data. It isn’t long before she has cracked the encryption, and is poring over the readouts. A few minutes later she sums up. “There’s a lot here to take in, but I can give you the gist of it.”

“Stick to the facts ma’am!”

Kory continues. “Well, Tegan was looking into crew rotations. It would seem that the record-keeping has been tampered with, or in the very least is rather sloppy. Several space marines left the Tenacity, but there’s no record where to. Several arrived, but we don’t know where from. The numbers go up and down too. Something is rather suspicious.”

“Anything else?”

“Well, it would appear that the stores is also the victim of poor stock management. I’m no expert, but there’s stock there that was never delivered, or missing and never replaced. – And many other permutations.”

“So that gives a motive of sorts. Though not a big enough reason to kill someone…..I wonder…..”

Niall, Rojic and Oona are scouring the decks. Niall is concentrating on locating the ingots. Finally, he narrows it down to the hanger deck, but much further along from where Rose Wanderer and Storm Cutter are berthed. He grips Oona’s arm. “They’re here! I can feel them!”

“Then we must hurry. The killer might be with them, or guarding them, or about to return for them.” Oona presses a communicator, she summons four troopers to accompany them, along with another officer.

Kory has identified seven crewmembers that are under suspicion. “These seven have shady pasts, or their pasts have been conveniently erased. We might narrow the number down a bit….”

“Okay. Do that. We’ll round them up, or get some troopers to round them up.” Kory narrows the search even more. With a list of names, D’Estrella and Jimmi set off. In another part of the ship, Lieutenant Brennis overhears the message. She sends out a message of her own. A few seconds later, there is a communication for the major.

“Help! Help!” They hear the sound of blaster shots in the background. Then a spine-chilling growl that is distinctively that of a Wookiee. “Hangar twenty-six……” There is another growl, and the line goes dead....

“I’ve got to get there!” D’Estralla tells Jimmi. I’m sorry, but there’s no way I can wait for you, er….Miss….-Or is it mister?”

Jimmi neither denies nor conforms the major’s assessment of gender…. But merely says. “It’s alright, you run, I’ll follow.” The major sprints off. A second later Jimmi runs along behind him.

Niall, Rojic and Oona are soon in the hangar, assessing the situation. Several shady characters are there, prepping a shuttle for launch. Niall suspects that the ingots are aboard the vessel. They shout for the deck-hands to stop, and tempers get frayed quickly. Words are exchanged and some blasters are drawn…. Suddenly it’s a full –blown Mexican standoff!

The major and Jimmi arrive a few seconds later, as Niall, Oona, four troopers and a Duros junior officer are covering Executive Officer Lassit and his cronies. Lassit orders the troopers to stand down. Niall counter-orders them not to. “Belay that order!” He says in his most authoritative voice. Lassit opens fire on the troopers who are not standing down. The cronies shoot Niall, knocking him back a step. A trooper goes down under a hail of blaster bolts and another is injured. The remaining troopers manage to hit Lieutenant Brennis, who has also opened up with a blaster. Niall is starting to think that this fight isn’t going their way. He’s not wrong either. Oona draws her blaster, but holds fire until she has a clear shot.

There are footfalls along the corridor to the left of Niall and the defenders. A Bothan and a Wookiee are pounding along it into the hangar! The Bothan fires into the troopers, felling one of them. The Wookiee fires from the hip with a menacing looking bow-caster. The troopers are being beaten back! On the right hand side, Major D’Estrella and Jimmi are running full-tilt along another corridor. Jimmi yells, “Drop your weapons!” But the enemies are confident of their victory. They do not comply.

Rojic, who has been skulking in the shadows, flies up to the ceiling. He has made his way on silent wings to a position to shoot at Lieutenant Brennis. The lieutenant is an old soldier though, and she spins and returns fire. Rojic is winded by the force of the shot. He yelps in pain. Major D’Estrella pulls out a really big gun. “They call this the hammer!” he exclaims, and shoots at the rampaging Wookiee. He misses!”

One of the enemies, a Zabrak, hits a trooper, while another trooper manages to shoot one of his fellow marines in the back! Jimmi snaps off a shot at the Wookiee, who takes a blaster bolt full in the chest, and doesn’t even flinch! A third marine falls under the barrage, and the enemies look as though they will easily win the day. Niall is starting to think that they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. Several more shots from the enemies all miraculously manage to miss their targets, giving our heroes a slight breathing space. Niall whips the blaster back into his holster and in a deft movement draws, ignites and sweeps with his lightsabre. His nearest attacker hardly even feels his gun hand being sliced off! He doesn’t even yelp in pain, the move was so fast and fluid. Niall is getting into his stride now and steps closer to another defender. Oona shoots, but the shot does no more than a flesh wound. The Bothan hits the major again, and the shot makes the man reel backward. A second shot injures Jimmi. The Wookiee is about to press home a mighty attack, and truly show what a Wookiee can do to an un-armoured man. The major manages to keep his cool in the face of the rampaging beast, and snaps off a shot. With an almighty howl, the Wookiee falls at his feet, much to the relief of Jimmi, who saw it looming large and very angry in the force.

The Zabrak and the remaining enemies make short work of the last trooper. The enemies are on the front foot, having lost only a Wookiee and a hand so far. Then Niall confronts the Zabrak, who raises his gun, pointing it directly at Niall’s head. However, this isn’t fast enough to resist Niall’s attack. The lightsabre passes through shoulder, chest and hip. The Zabrak falls in two neat halves to the floor. Jimmi shoots another unconscious, and suddenly the remaining enemies are surrendering. Niall shuts off the lightsabre, satisfied that they’ve won the day.

The remaining enemies are rounded up. They are sullen and angry in defeat and will not divulge any information. Niall says that the Jedi have a way of extracting what they want to know. A deckhand eventually tells them the facts:

“It was Lassit. We was the pawn of Rodian crime lord. He’s a separatist sympathiser. Stuck out here, no troops, nothing to command. It plays with the mind in funny ways. Anyway, Oona suddenly says that she knows something. Lassit has some connection to her. She told him that the ingots were aboard your ship.”

“-And?”

“-And Tegan has been suspicious. Queeg thought that he was in the clear, but Tegan must’ve been following him. Tyr'Reya was covering Queeg when he emerged from the ship with the loot. It’s a certainty that Tegan would have told the captain her suspicions were founded. Tyr'Reya saw to it that she was silenced. However, some troopers were coming so there was nothing to do but hide the ingots and wait for the rest of the gang. We were to pilot the shuttle out of here and make our escape. –That’s when you guys appeared.”

Niall looks angry. He turns to Oona. “I trusted you!” He says. She flinches at his reaction. She tries to justify her case. “I couldn’t help it. I hoped that if I helped the Republic, they would sort things out. Nothing happened. Then Lassit said that if I helped him, he would see to things. -My sister is in trouble back home.”

Niall isn’t feeling particularly compassionate. “You can go with the others. I’ll see to it that you get justice. The Republic will hear your case and your motives. I’ll let them decide your fate. I did wonder how you sensed the ingots though.”

Oona looks embarrassed. “I occasionally get funny feelings. I think I'm just lucky.”

Niall continues. “I’ll also inform the Jedi council about your condition. There is a possibility that you have some latent force skills.” Oona stares at him in disbelief. He continues. “The council like to keep tabs on that kind of thing.”

“What about us?”

“There is no ‘us.’ You lose. I’m the victor. You’re getting on that shuttle where you belong.”

“But I….”

“You’ve got to listen to me. Do you have any idea what you'd have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten we’d both wind up dead.” Niall looks genuinely sorry. “I’m Sorry, Oona, but this is the end of a beautiful friendship.”

“But things could go bad…..”

“They already are! You almost jeopardised our mission!”

“No. I sense danger!” Oona insists.

“Your powers need to be monitored. I can put in a word for you, but it’s not my decision.”

Oona is about to reiterate her comment when several alarms sound.

Half a dozen troopers lead the prisoners away. When her back is turned, Oona brushes a away a tear. Moments later the shuttle launches, and heads out into space. It turns in a lazy arc and jumps into hyperspace. A junior officer appears. “Those alarms, major! -The enemy has been sighted, coming out of hyperspace. It’s an attack force. They’re bearing direct. Two munificent cruisers!”

D’estrella sizes up the situation immediately. “We’re no match for them! Action stations! We’ll see Rose Wanderer clear and then jump for hyperspace!” He turns to Niall and his crew. “Best round up your team, stat. Those cruisers will be on us in minutes. We’ll cover your jump. Now run!”

They run for Rose Wanderer. They signal Joe-90 to wheel Lucky the astromech droid aboard. When everything is stowed, they bid a hasty farewell to Storm Cutter, Hen3ry, and the other droids. They make hasty preparations to head out into space. Rose Wanderer groans at the strain.

“Ah….The joys of the open space lanes….” Niall says, stretching into the pilot’s chair. “The empty void, the inky blackness, the silence…the fighter escort….” He punches the ramp closed button. The ramp closes painfully slowly.

At this point, a number of even more urgent alarms start shieking. The lights aboard Tenacity all turn red to signify red alert.

“The sound of proximity alarms!” Kory yells. “Punch it!”

Niall does so. Out in the silent, inky-blackness, open space lanes…. Two enemy ‘Munificent’ class frigates power closer. This is followed a second later by a torrent of obscenities from Rojic.

Kory rounds on him. “Calm down! It could be worse!”

Kory screams at Niall. “You wanted a fighter escort right?”

“Yeah, but not enemy fighters!”

The frigates open their hangars and hundreds of smaller vessels pour out. There are fast interceptors and slower bombers as well as vulture droids. All the enemy ships open fire at the same time, and space is filled with bright beams of turbolaser fire aimed at the Tenacity.

“It’s worse!”

The communicator crackles into life. Captain Badoo urges Rose Wanderer on. “Run while you can! We’ll shield you until you make the jump…. We’ll follow. In the meantime, we’ll keep us between you and them and…..” The communicator snaps off. Niall slaps his hand hard on the throttle, Rose Wanderer slips into the shadow of Tenacity. “Engines are hot, Niall!” Rojic tells him, all business-like now that they are in mortal danger. “Shields to max, reactor spinning up – No hyperdrive, but even a backup-jump will flip us out of range!”

In a deft move for a rickety-old ship, Rose Wanderer slews sideways out of the gravity well of Tenacity. The enemy ships pour firepower into the Republic destroyer as it lines up to make a jump out of the area. “Almost there!” Niall calls, letting the others know. Jimmi switches the ships guns to auto, and starts returning fire at the closest vulture droids. The Tenacity shudders under the barrage, and although all of its guns are firing, it is no match for two frigates and several squadrons of smaller ships. Badoo hails them on an emergency channel. “Jump! Jump! We’re right behind you!” Niall lines up for the jump as torpedoes impact into the hull of Tenacity. It erupts in gouts of flame, and starts to break up. Niall punches the hyperdrive button, and as the stars slowly elongate into streaks, the Tenacity breaks in two, within a corona of fire. Niall fancies that he can see Storm Cutter tumbling through the fires, though it could be a trick of the light. The vision he saw with Mistress Luce haunts him. They start the jump. The backup engines groan and creak and the hull moans with the strain. Seconds later, they are in empty space once again. The pale light of the bridge echoes the pale expressions on the faces of the crew. There is a stunned silence that lasts a minute.

Kory slams a fist into the console, making everyone jump. “This damn war! I wish there was something we could do! To strike back! To take the fight to the enemy.”

“I’m not thinking about that so much as….” Niall starts to say.

“As what?”

“Well, we probably just lost Storm Cutter…..Mama’s gonna kill us!”

The silence descends again. Finally Karnov says gently. “We’ve got a job to do.” He reaminds them of the mission. They set co-ordinates and jump again. A few hours later and they emerge into a flotilla of small vessels. They scan for the Knight’s Move. They are reluctant to ping any other vessels and give away their ruse. When their patience starts to wear thin, a massive ship hoves into view from hyperspace.

Rojic’s mouth opens. Everyone stares. The Knight's Move has arrived, and not one of the crew can believe the size of it. “It just goes on….-And on….-And on!”

“Ten thousand meters, if she’s an inch!” Kory says, turning away from the scanners. “We're gonna need a bigger boat!”

“What could you possibly fill a ship like that with?”

“Well for a start, a lot of little ships!” Niall tells them. “Look!”

Sure enough, the little ships are starting to line up. A large hangar door peels open near the prow of Knight’s Move and the smaller ships, dwarfed by the leviathan, start to approach.

“I guess we wait our turn, eh?” Kory says, turning to the others. She notices something strange.

“What’s up?”

Karnov, Jimmi and Niall are looking rather ill. They have felt a presence in the force that far outweighs anything they’ve experienced before. Finally Jimmi sums it up. “It’s like the weight of the galaxy pressing on your brain. Sucking the life out of it, draining the force. There must be many hundreds, if not thousands of tons of crystal here. –Either on the little ships or on the Knight’s move.”

Quatermaster's insignia.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEXT THRILLING EPISODE: The Grand finale?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Footnotes:

Thanks to guest writer and director Paul Burton.