PROLOGUE
"Ten minutes till we drop out of hyperspace, commander." Com. Hank Haywater nodded to the lieutenant, then waved him away. He knew this would be one heck of a mission. The Tan Kal star cluster had almost nothing important to check into, so why would the Empire want a probe into it? He had no time to think about that now. He had to get up to the bridge.
Hank Haywater had been an outsider all his life. When he was ten years old, Haywater had lost his parents when their yaht was attacked by pirates. He then spent his next five years being shoved from foster home to foster home. Soon after his fifteenth birthday, Hank fled the foster care facility. One year later, Haywater joined the Imperial Academy. Graduating third in his class, Haywater signed on the Nebulon-B the Outrider. When Haywater reached the rank of lieutenant, he was transferred to the Imperial Star Destroyer Supernova, under the command of Captain Piett, the top person in Haywater's class. Piett despised Haywater and it took Hank nearly a year to become Piett's second in command. Even then, Haywater did not get the respect he deserved, sometimes being ignored. During the years, Haywater learned to hate Imperial anti-alien policies and alien slavery. The well-built Haywater was now 23.
As Haywater marched to the bridge, he wondered why. Piett only kept him there as a symbol, and he never did anything. He knew they would encounter resistance from this backwater planet. This cluster had no organized government, so somebody higher up had to have decided to add these systems to his list of accomplishments. Haywater straightened his collar and walked onto the bridge. Up in the front of the room stood Captain Piett. Decked out in his dress uniform, Piett looked more like a parade leader than a battleship captain. With a quick nod, Piett acknowledged Haywater's presence. "Give the order, Commander", he said. Haywater picked up a comlink and bellowed,
"All crew prepare for reversion to realspace!" Piett nodded and said,
"On my mark. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..., MARK!"
The Star Destroyer quickly came out of hyperspace. On the forward viewscreen, the tunnel of light known as hyperspace reverted into stars, and below that, planet M7867. In another corner, two Nebulon-B's, three Carrack Cruisers, and one troop transport. Almost immediately, the line was filled with reports and positions from every ship. Piett nodded at each one, but gave no orders. He's waiting for the planet to surrender to him, Haywater thought.
"Sir, transmission coming in from the planet", a lieutenant reported.
"Put it on-screen", Haywater barked. Piett turned around, obviously displeased.
"Commander Haywater, you have no authority to give that order", he said. But it was too late. Whoever it was was now on-screen.
On the main view-screen were two humans, a man and a woman.
"Welcome to Chrysslist", the man said with a sneer,
"We treat you with hostility" Not a warm welcome, Haywater thought. The man continued,
"We will prevent your conquest with everything we have. Now please leave the system with your life, or you will die here."
Piett was now furious.
"No, my friend, it is you who will die here", he said as he shut off the transmission. Switching to the fleet's communications, Piett gave his orders.
"All fleet go to red alert with all crew to battle stations. We will follow our original plan. Commander Haywater, you will lead this ship's ground forces. Get to the assault shuttle!" Without a salute, Haywater turned around and headed for the hanger.
On his way, Haywater stopped at his room. He had made up his mind. Today he would desert. Grabbing his commando backpack, Haywater stuffed the few things left over from his old life. Finally, Haywater carefully placed a picture of his mom and dad in his backpack. He swung the backpack over his shoulder and continued his journey.
Within five minutes Haywater had arrived at the Supernova's main shuttle bay. Within moments of his arrival Haywater was greeted by two Imperial stormtroopers.
"We will escort you to the assault shuttle", one of them said dryly. Haywater just nodded, and the two troopers turned on their heels and marched toward the large assault shuttle. The ship they were taking him to lacked the elegance of the smaller Imperial shuttles, in reality it was a rounded box with two quad lasers and a cockpit. The stormtroopers stood to each side of the ramp as Haywater quickly walked up. The door to the cockpit was open and Haywater walked to his chair, receiving crisp salutes from the flight crew.
"All systems operational, awaiting your command", said the pilot.
"Push off", Haywater replied, his mind on the tactical screen in front of him. A cloud of blips was moving quickly toward the Imperials. The computer logged them as various size destroyers, cruisers, and corvettes, along with!
many fighters. These people were going to put up a fight. Haywater was much relieved to see four TIE fighters pull up to escort the assault craft in. As they prepared for reentry, Haywater noticed something strange. The attacking ships had pulled into parking formation just out of range of the Imperial guns. They were waiting for something, but what?
The answer came a moment later. Three ruby red bolts of energy lanced up from the planet at one of the Nebulon-B's. The first bolt punched a hole in the shield, allowing the other two to hit the hull of the ship. Seconds after the bolts hit, the front part of the ship exploded in an enormous fireball. The engine array floated away and started being drawn toward the planet.
On a Chrissilistian frigate, Captain Horacio Devin turned to face his crew.
"A hand for our comrades on the ground." The bridge erupted into cheers. The cheers abruptly stopped as a Lieutenant reported an enemy ship heading right for them. It was identified as a Carrack cruiser. Devin's ship was ready, mounting 20 turbolasers and 5 ion cannons. The Carrack opened up with its front-facing weapons and Devin answered in kind.
"Maneuver for a broadside", the Captain ordered.
Just then, the fighter attack was launched at the Imperials. Headhunters, chop-jobs, and other various fighters boiled out from their ground bases and ships. Every last one of the fighters seemed to want to take a potshot at the enemy frigate on their way out. So the Imperial captain didn't know what hit him as a full broadside collapsed his shields. The Carrack tried to roll in a futile attempt to show fresh shields to his attacker. The next broadside left rolling explosions all over the ship, and it soon lost power and began to drift toward the planet.
Haywater saw the engine array drift toward them then he could see nothing but the planet below. On his tactical display, he saw a couple dozen ships pop out of hyperspace. Before Piett's orders came, he knew what had happened.
"Get this ship to the ground as fast as possible!!" he yelled to the crew.
"It's a trap!"
Devin's sensors tagged the ships as Binarian and Zan Coltariotian, two inhabited planets in the Tan Kal cluster. He looked at his crew.
"I guess those treaties were worth something anyway", he said as his crew erupted into cheers.
Piett watched in horror as a Carrack disintegrated before him.
"All ships prepare for retreat!" he yelled into the com. The Supernova began to pull away from the planet. But it was too late.
"Sir, we have a large group of ships pulling out of hyperspace", the officer gulped,
"They've cut off our escape route."
"Sithspawn!!" Piett slammed his fist on the bulkhead.
"Surrender is not an option. Bring up the battle group and punch a hole through that fleet." Just then the Supernova was rocked with an explosion.
"The enemy fleet has opened an attack", a weary voice stated.
Haywater watched as the fiery remains of the Imperial transport fell toward the planet. That's 1,000 troops and a couple walkers, Haywater thought. He'd be lucky to make it out alive. His pilot was trying to get the shuttle down quickly and safely.
Just then he saw a ruby-red bolt lance out from the planet toward the assault shuttle. With a jarring explosion the shuttle was nailed. The crew of the shuttle was thrown foreword, but the restraining harness held them fast.
The foreword viewscreen exploded as the copilot's head was thrust into his console. The pilot struggled to even out the ship and land. Commander Hank Haywater saw the ground rush up to meet them. His head hit the console and everything went black.
The Supernova charged toward the fleet massed to trap it. With every gun blazing, it met up with the enemy fleet. TIE fighters chased the enemy Headhunters, desperately trying to buy more time. By the force, luck, or brute force, the Supernova broke through the enemy formation and went into hyperspace.
In his ready room, Piett pondered what he thought would be his greatest defeat. All that stood between him and a fleet command was this mission. Someone was going to pay.
Haywater woke up with a blaster rife pointed at his face. A human soldier was on the other end.
"This one's alive!" the soldier said.
"We're going to take you to your new home."
Chapter 1
