SW fanfic: ph34r m3

[Kelly Antilles]

Another story written for a fanfic challenge. There is a virus plaguing the New Republic. It's up to Ghent, Karrde and the Rogues to figure it out. (and you all can blame IG-88E for me posting it here. )


PH34R M3: Chapter 1


Commander Althar sat in the command chair aboard the Mon Calamari cruiser Islander. He was directing his crew against a group of renegade pirates who were terrorizing a small colony on Druckenwell. Things were going well.

"Sir, the enemy is retreating," said his Mon Cal first officer.

Althar's whiskers wiggled happily. "Good. Have our fighters take care of any stragglers."

"Yes sir."

They watched several of their own fighters surround the enemy ships. The pirates surrendered and the fighters began escorting them towards the cruiser.

An alarm began to wail from the defense station. "Sir! We've lost all our shields!"

The Commander turned quickly. "We what?"

"Comms are down," reported another crewman.

"Restart them."

"I can't, Sir. The entire program seems to have been erased."

"Environmental systems have stopped working," another crewman shouted.

Althar was flabbergasted. What was going on with his ship? Systems were going down left and right. The gods only knew what would be next.

That's when it happened.

They heard the first explosion, but had no time to react. Fire swept through the cruiser, enveloping it in flame. They never had a chance.

Outside, the fighter pilots could only watch as the Mon Cal cruiser exploded, taking out a few of their own ships at the same time.



Calin Thermod hated his job. It was boring picking up debris from destroyed ships. Sure, seeing the bodies and picking up the odd personal item could be fun at times. However, the circumstances behind the destruction of this ship freaked him out. All anyone knew was that it had blown up.

That's why he was here. Calin had been sent to find the blackbox recorder. He'd been searching the debris for three hours. All he'd found had been body parts and metal from the hull.

A light on his console began to flash. He looked down to see that his sensors had picked up the recorder. "There you are," he said to himself as he began to maneuver his ship towards the small object.

A mechanical arm extended from the small ship. Calin used it to capture the small box that wasn't even black. It was bright orange. The arm retracted back into the hold and deposited the recorder into a small airlock.

Calin waited for the cycle to finish then reached inside for the recorder. The outside was scorched badly. He began to wonder if the data was going to be recoverable at all.

Moving into the cockpit, he put the recorder into the special computer aboard his ship designed to read these types of boxes. The terminal came to life as the computer began its check. Calin watched as random numbers and letters scrolled on the screen. "Just like I thought," he mumbled. "It's all corrupt."

Suddenly the screen went blank. He tapped the keypad. There was no response. "Come on, you stupid computer." He slammed his hand against the monitor.

A blinking cursor appeared at the top left-hand corner of the screen. After a moment, text scrolled across it.

SYSTEM INOPERABLE. DISK DELETED. UNABLE TO REBUILD.



Ghent, chief cryptographer for the New Republic, was stunned. He'd never seen a blackbox with data that couldn't be recovered. He had been trying for three days solid to read the disk to no avail.

"Any luck," Admiral Ackbar asked from behind him.

Ghent shook his head. "Nothing. It's as if the box was inoperable or..." he sighed. "I really don't know."

Ackbar could see how upset the young man was. "If it's unrepairable, then it's unrepairable." He laid a flippered hand on the cryptographer's shoulder. "It will be written off as an accident. There wasn't even enough left of the ship to give an idea of what happened, other than the engine exploded."

"I'm sorry," Ghent said as he turned around. "I just wish I knew what killed all those people."

"So do I," said the Mon Calamari. "So do I."

[Kuja]

I'll take the blame for that any day!

Damn! A Mon Cal just going up like that? POST MORE!

[Kelly Antilles]

Ok, since you asked for it. One more before I have to leave work for the day.


PH34R M3: Chapter 2


Pash Cracken flipped his A-Wing around another asteroid. The rest of his squadron was following, each taking their own path. His radar showed how well his squad was doing. They had come a long way since the death of Thrawn. "All wings report in."

"Ace Three here."
"Ace Five, jinking away."
"Ace Twelve, following along."

Pash listened to each of his squad members count off. Everything was fine until Four spoke.

"Ace Four here. I have a problem."

"What is it, Four," Pash asked.

"Sith, I can't control it."

He looked out and saw Ace Four spiraling towards an asteroid. "Pull up, Four!"

"I can't," the pilot screamed. "My stick is..." Static filled the comm as the A-Wing slammed into the rock.

Pash's heart stopped. He always hated when he lost one of his pilots. This was worse. It was a senseless death. "Ace group, out of the field. Everyone back to base immediately."



Pash threw his helmet into the wall as he stomped from the docking bay. Several techs scrambled to get out of the red-haired pilot's way. He slammed his fist into the panel to open his office door. Once inside, he let off a string of curses in several languages.

Once a bit more calm, he sat heavily in his chair and cried. Loosing a pilot was always hard. More so when that pilot was a friend. Another hole opened in his heart.

The comm on his desk beeped. "Sir," queried his first officer.

Pash wiped his face and opened the comm. "Yes."

"Um, there is an urgent call from NR Headquarters for you."

His brow furrowed. Do they know already? "Give me a moment then patch it though."

"Aye, Sir."

He got up and splashed water on his face. Looking in the mirror, he saw his father looking back. "This is getting ridiculous," he said to himself. Drying his face, he returned to his chair and connected the holocomm.

Admiral Ackbar's face appeared. Pash suddenly sat up straight and a look of surprise crossed his face. "Admiral."

"At ease, Commander," the Mon Calamari said.

He relaxed a little. "To what do I owe this pleasure, sir?"

"I wanted to let you know how sorry I am for your loss." Ackbar's hands were templed beneath his chin. This told Pash that there was more to this conversation than condolences.

"Sir, if I may be blunt. You never comm when I loose a pilot. You don't comm Wedge when he looses a pilot. There's something wrong here and you think the loss of my pilot has something to do with it."

"I see you have your father's deductive reasoning." The Mon Cal's lips curled into a smile. Soon, however, the seriousness returned. "Just two weeks ago we lost the cruiser Islander. The blackbox recorder returned no indications as to what happened. Since then, we have recorded several other mishaps similar to yours."

"Have you tried decoding it?"

"We've had our best cryptographers on the case. They say the box is blank. It either never began recording or it was erased."

"What does this have to do with my pilot?"

Ackbar could sense Pash's ire. He had known the younger Cracken for quite some time and knew of his reputation as well. "We fear that whatever happened to the Islander happened to that A-Wing."

"I'm not tracking, Sir."

Ghent moved into view beside Ackbar. He had a scowl on his face. "Commander, the only way to explain this is that I think there is a computer virus traveling through the New Republic. It's affecting ships left and right. I can't isolate it."

Pash looked at the younger man and cursed under his breath. "You can't isolate it. Then how do you know it's a virus?"

"I... I really don't. This is purely speculation."

"Speculation won't bring my pilot back." He turned his attention back to Ackbar. "Admiral, if there is nothing else, I'd like to end this transmission."

"Of course, Commander," Ackbar said. "Send us anything you find out about your pilot's crash."

Pash's face fell. He felt so old. "As soon as we get someone out there to hopefully recover the body, I'll let you know what we find."

"That is all I ask."

[Kuja]

Hmmm....a virus...well, have a nice day at work!

and post more when you get back, dammit.

[Kelly Antilles]

I've been at work all day. I'm going home now. I'll shoot myself a couple of chapters so I can post them tonight. How about that? Will that ease your curiosity a bit?

[Kuja]

A bit.

[Kelly Antilles]

PH34R M3: Chapter 3


Talon Karrde sat watching the ladies pass by as he lounged by the ocean on Tibrin. The planet, because of it being mostly aquatic, had become quite the tourist attraction. And that was exactly what Talon wanted to be... a tourist. The time since he had helped the New Republic destroy Thrawn, he had been quite busy. Business was booming. Right now, however, he only wanted to relax.

"A message for you, Sir," said a young female Ishi-tib. She handed him a flimsy before turning to leave.

Talon took the message and read over it. "Sith," he muttered. "That's the third one this month." Another of his smaller ships had been destroyed. One had lost its shields in the middle of a meteor storm. One had a gravitational fluctuation, which drove the ship into a volcano. This one's environmental systems failed and imploded some volatile chemicals on board.

With a shake of his head, he stood and dropped a handful of credits on the table beside his chair. He shoved his hands into his pockets as he headed back to his hotel room.

His room was underwater. He found the fish and plant life very soothing. Standing by one of the viewports, he tapped his comm and opened a link to his ship. "Please tell me I read that wrong, Aves."

"I wish I could," his comms officer replied. "Something is definitely wrong."

Karrde sighed. "I'll be up after dinner. Let me know if there is any news."

"Ghent commed."

Karrde blinked. "And what did our illustrious New Republic cryptographer want?"

"He asked if we'd been having problems with unexpected casualties."

"And your reply?"

"I told him he'd have to talk to you directly."

Karrde smiled. He could always rely on his crew. "Send Chin down to pick me up. I'll contact him as soon as I get there."




Wedge Antilles grieved, not only for the family of the pilot, but for the Commander in charge of the squadron. He had known Pash Cracken for a long time. They had worked together as a cohesive team in the battle against Thrawn. Loosing one of your team members was never easy.

At the moment, however, he and the rest of the Rogues were on their way to training. Even though Thrawn had been defeated, the New Republic was still being harassed by pirates and the remnant of the Empire. He wanted the Rogues to stay in shape. He didn't want to give the Senate a reason to disband the squad.

The jump was to be blind. The only droid that knew the coordinates was Gate, Wedge's R5. After they had lifted off, Gate transmitted the coords to the other astromechs and slaved them together.

The trip was quiet and that worried Corran Horn. The Jedi pilot was just learning his Force powers, but this was one he knew well. Something was about to happen, and it wasn't going to be good.

Suddenly, the stars reverted to normal as everyone dropped out of hyperspace. "What the..." Wes Janson looked in shock down at his console. His droid was beeping frantically. The engines were stalled.

The same was happening to the other eleven pilots of Rogue Squadron. The comm was alive with chatter.

"What's going on?"
"Are we there yet?"
"Did anyone get the name of that Interdictor that just came through here?"

"Uh, guys," Derek "Hobbie" Klivian's voice cut through the rest. "We may want to try and get our engines restarted soon."

"Why's that," asked Tycho Celchu, Wedge's first officer.

"Because we're about one hundred klicks away from a black hole."

All eyes were suddenly looking outside the viewports. "Oh gods," whispered Inyri Forge. They had no engines to speak of and were now drifting slowly to their impending doom.

Gate's constant wailing finally got Wedge's attention. The Commander looked down at the screen to read the translation of what the droid was going on about. "Sith," he muttered. Flipping his comm open, he spoke to the entire squadron. "Rogues, we have a big problem. It seems that little virus that's been going around has hit us. Gate is currently working on getting us out of here."

Whistler, Corran's R2 unit, began scanning his systems. Before Wedge could finish his speech, he had tracked down the problem. Using his slicing program, he rerouted the program around the infected sectors and brought the X-Wing's engines back online.

Corran saw his console light up. "Whistler, what did you do?"

I BYPASSED THE PROBLEM. I AM SENDING THE CORRECTED PROGRAMMING TO ALL THE OTHER DROIDS.

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Rogue Nine to Rogue Lead. Whistler just brought my engines back up. He's sending the code to all the other droids."

"Good work, Nine," Wedge said with a small sigh of relief. "See if you can figure out where we are while the rest of our droids get our engines up."

"Roger, Lead." Corran scanned the area and found that they were two sectors over from Starbase 421. Whistler told him something before he commed Wedge with the information. "Wedge, we're two sectors from Starbase 421."

"Good. We can go there for repairs."

"But, we can't use hyperdrives. Whistler had to bypass it completely to get the engines back up."

Wedge shook his head in disgust. "Alright. It's going to be a long trip. I'll comm ahead and see if they have any ships they can send out to pick us up."

[Kuja]

Ha! Whistler rocks.

Karrde's been hit, too? Hmmm...

[Kelly Antilles]

I'll be nice and give you one more before I'm off to bed.


PH34R M3: Chapter 4


Wedge, Tycho, Corran and Pash sat in the latter man's office. The tall redhead passed around the decanter of Corellian whisky to the others. "You guys were really lucky," Pash said.

They nodded in agreement. "I wish I knew why," Wedge added.

Corran sat up and downed his whisky. "My theory is that only ships with droids are able to counteract the effect of the virus."

"That's a possibility," Tycho added. "None of the other ships have had droids involved in ship controls other than our X-Wings."

"True," said Pash. "But every time the virus has struck, it has been different." The comm on his desk beeped. He reached over to activate it. "Cracken."

"Commander, there's a ship hailing the station asking for you."

The men looked at each other curiously. "Did they give a name?"

"No sir. Shall I patch it through?"

Pash sighed, "Yes, of course." The comm clicked several times as the transmission was routed to his office. "This is Commander Pash Cracken."

"Ah, Commander, how nice to hear your voice." Talon Karrde's voice came through loud and clear.

Pash looked at Wedge. They both were completely flabbergasted. "Captain Karrde, what a surprise. What can I do for you?"

"You and I have something in common, Commander. We both have lost someone in our respective organizations recently. I've come to discuss these incidents to see what we can do about them."

He raised an eyebrow at Wedge, who nodded. "We definitely welcome your input, Karrde. I'll clear your ship for landing immediately. Cracken out."



They sat looking out an observation window in the lounge. "I'm really sorry about the loss of your pilot," Karrde said quietly to Pash.

"I appreciate your concern," he replied. "Do your people have any clues as to what is going on?"

The older man sat back and took a sip of his Corellian whiskey. "We have theories. And we all know what theories get you."

"Nowhere," Tycho said with a sigh.

"On the contrary, my dear Captain. These theories have created more theories. It is those theories that get us nowhere." He sighed and looked at the light reflecting through the liquid in his glass.

Wedge sat forward and placed his elbows on his knees. "We need to figure out the common denominator here. What do we know for sure about this virus?"

"It doesn't effect the same systems each time," Pash offered.

"Ships with astromechs have a better chance at combating it," Corran added.

"It is effecting New Republic as well as my ships," Karrde said.

Wedge looked at Talon. "Do you know if it has hit any other smu... uh, trader's ships?"

He gave Wedge a sly grin. "No, I do not."

"What if it is just Karrde's and the New Republic," Tycho asked.

"Then perhaps our culprit is someone who despises us both."

Wedge ran his hands over his face and sighed. "We need to be positive about this first."

A young flight officer approached the men. "Commander Cracken, the Home One just came out of hyperspace. Admiral Ackbar is asking to speak with you."

All five looked at each other and stood. Pash led the way to a briefing room where he had Ackbar's comm transferred to. "Admiral. I hope you don't mind if..."

Ackbar raised his flippered hand to belay him. "Not at all, Commander. I am glad to see you all. We have some new evidence on the virus and I wanted to let you know."

"What is it?"

"Perhaps it would be best if we come aboard and discuss this privately." Ackbar's eyes shifted from side to side.

"Of course. We will be awaiting your arrival in my office, sir."




1f j00 ar3 r34d1n9 7h1s...
900d j0b.
n0w 17 iz j00r 7urn.

1 1z b4ck, 9h3nt. ph34r m3.


The others blinked. "Uh, Ghent," started Corran. "I thought you said there was a message here?"

The men sat around a terminal reading what the cryptographer had pulled up on the screen. "I'm sorry, sir. It's a language a buddy of mine and I created years ago. I found it in one of the virus programs."

"How," queried Wedge. "I thought the program erased itself after it was set off."

Ghent turned his chair to face the others. "Jedi Skywalker. He was flying to Tatooine when his droid, R2-D2, came across the code in the ship's system. They quickly disabled it and brought the program to the Admiral." He nodded at Ackbar.

"So, what does it tell you," Tycho asked.

He pointed at the screen, reading as he followed with his finger. "If you are reading this... good job. Now it is your turn. I is back, Ghent. Fear me."

"Your friend, I take it."

The young man nodded. "And from what I got of the code, it's a project he and I were working on before..." He trailed off and lowered his head.

"Before what," Wedge prodded.

"He got a big offer from the Empire. They wanted something to eradicate the Rebellion. He thought this program would be great and hoped we'd get it finished soon enough to present to the Emperor. I couldn't do it. He begged me to stay, but I wasn't about to." He sighed and looked at the floor.

Pash put a hand on his shoulder. "We understand. Do you have any idea where he is now?"

Ghent shook his head. "No. I never heard from him again after that. I guess he's heard I've gone legit and wants to test me. See if I've still got it."

The red haired pilot looked over at the Mon Calamari Admiral. "Sir, my pilots and the base are at your disposal. If there is anything..." He was interrupted by the beep of a comm.

Ackbar's first officer faded into view on the terminal. "Sir, the droids have detected the virus beginning to spread through the ship."

"Have them trap it as Ghent discussed," Ackbar said calmly. "Once they have it, alert me immediately."

"Yes Admiral."



They didn't have to wait long. The men took Ackbar's shuttle back to the Home One. Ghent immediately got to work on decoding the virus. "I can't believe the progress he made with this."

Talon Karrde had not left his friend's side. "What do you mean?"

"When we originally designed this code, it left behind a message. Now, it wipes everything." Ghent's fingers flew over the keys. "But he still goes about things in the same way. I'm done." He slid his chair back to admire his work.

Karrde looked down at the strange code on the screen. "You know, I really miss you, Ghent."

The cryptographer laughed. "Not as much as you miss Mara, sir. Anyway, here is the important thing." He pointed at a specific piece of code. "That is the markings of the pipeline he used to scoot the virus over to the Republic. I should be able to trace it back to its original source."

"And we'll be able to catch our culprit."

"If he's still there." Ghent scooted back up to the keyboard and began the trace.

[Kuja]

Oooooh, two crazy hackers duking it out, with the galaxy as the ring!

I love it!

[Kelly Antilles]

Well, IG, it looks like you're the only one paying any attention to this story. Oh well. I'll still finish it for you. Three more chapters.

PH34R M3: Chapter 5


Pash, Wedge and Tycho stood at the front of the briefing room talking softly. The Rogues and Aces entered the room in silence. They knew what they were there for and were ready to get out there and stop the virus.

Since Wedge was the higher-ranking officer, Pash allowed him to address the group. He stepped up to the podium and began to speak. "Rogues and Aces, you know what's going on and why you are here. We have traced the location of our target. It seems he is on Woostri. Some of you may remember that Thrawn's clone Jedi C'boath led an army to destroy the main city. Of course, that was the only city on the entire planet. Anyway, it seems our target has set up camp there and we're going to find him."

A chorus of "yeahs" and "finallys" met his ears and he smiled. He waited until the din died down before continuing. "It sounds like you all are ready. Here's what we're going to do."




Ghent swallowed hard as he looked around himself at the members of Rogue Squadron. These people were professionals. He was just a mere computer geek. But, if they were going to catch Sauron red handed, they needed his help.

"Nervous?"

He looked up at the blonde pilot who had just sat beside him. "Huh? Oh, just a little. How do you do it?"

Hobbie's blue eyes twinkled. "Practice," he laughed.

Ghent's laugh betrayed how nervous he really was. "I'm serious though. You guys go out and risk your lives every day. My job is to just sit in a dark room in front of a terminal and decode programs."

The taller man put a hand on his shoulder. "You're just as important as the Rogues, Ghent. Had you not figured out who was sending the virus out, who knows how many other good people we would have lost."

He sighed and hunched his shoulders over. "Perhaps."

"No, it's a fact." Hobbie looked towards the front of the shuttle and saw Wedge looking in their direction. He nodded and pat Ghent's shoulder. "There's no time to argue, Wedge needs to see us."

The two men stood and moved forwards. Wedge led them into a small room where a hologram of Karrde projected above a table. "Ok, he's here now," Wedge said to the holo.

"Ghent, the advance scouts are reporting back that there is an automated defense system in place." Karrde's image flickered with static. "It seems both sensed each other at the same time. The ship was banged up, but nobody was hurt."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "What kind of system is it," Ghent queried.

"Both physical and computer. They detected an underlying program attached to the broadcast warning. Luckily your firewall caught it and deactivated the virus before it could even get started."

"What kind of physical attacks were there," Tycho asked.

Karrde looked down a moment. "Ah, they said it looked like a group of ion cannons were ready to fire if they had gotten any closer. Once the firewall detected the virus, they pulled back."

"Could they tell if any more weapons were down there?"

"No, but the possibility is there."

Wedge looked at the others. "We'll get started on a plan and let you know."

"Alright. Karrde out." The image faded away.

"Any suggestions?" Wedge sat on a bench nearby.

Wes turned his head and opened an eye from where he was laying down. "Send the Aces in to take out the weapons and then we go down and head out on foot."

"That's a great plan, but," Wedge began.

"There's always a but."

"Especially with you, Wes," Hobbie jested. "Since your own is so huge."

He sat up and looked offended. "My butt is not big!"

"Children! Settle down." Wedge sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He was sure he'd just acquired several more gray ones. "I was going to point out something. A-Wings have very little shielding."

"But they're fast," Tycho pointed out.

"Exactly. So, we'll need a few X-Wings to cover them. Tych, I want you and Hobbie to lead this team. I'll lead the ground team. Ghent, Myn and Corran."

"I'm hitting the dirt with you," Wes said in all seriousness.

Wedge nodded. "Ok, we can add Ooryl to our group as well. Perhaps Talon would like to send a few of his guys with us too."

"Karrde will probably come himself," Ghent mused.

"We'll see. Tycho, you stay here so we can contact the Aces, the rest of you are dismissed."

[Kuja]

Oooh, ground op. Corran with his lightsaber and Myn with his rifle...that's a comb I've gotta see!

[Mr Bean]

Corran with his lightsaber and Myn with his rifle...that's a comb I've gotta see!

At them friends!
*Bzzzz Lightsaber noies

BANG
*Click wiirllll
BANG
Click Wiirllll
BANG
Click Wirrlll
Can I have one Myn?
BANG
Click Wirrlll
No
BANG

[Kelly Antilles]

Here's the next chapter.

PH34R M3: Chapter 6


Wedge sat in the copilot seat of the shuttle the guerilla group was using to land on the planet. Outside the viewport, four X-Wings and eleven A-Wings flew in formation. He glanced over at Pash who was also watching. How he ever talked his way into going with them was still a mystery. "Never underestimate the power of a Cracken," Tycho had said after he had finally agreed to allow Pash to join the ground team.

Corran was piloting the shuttle. "Here comes the first wave," he said.

A moment later, a salvo of ion blasts flew past them. Wedge knew that his fighters were getting the coordinates of the cannons and heading towards them. He had every bit of confidence they could take out the opposition. Leaning over, he activated the comm switch. "Rogue Lead to Rogue Two, how is it going?"

"We're taking heavy fire, but they're easy to dodge. The Aces have already taken out five emplacements."

"Good, do you have any coordinates where we can land yet?"

"Nothing safe just yet. Shouldn't be much longer."

"Understood." Wedge leaned back and sighed.

"Give them time, Wedge," Corran said calmly. "It can't happen instantaneously."

"I know, Corran." He rubbed his eyes. "I just hope this whole thing is not for nothing."

"There's no need to worry about that," Ghent said from behind them. "He's still here."

"How do you figure that," Corran asked.

Before the young man could answer, the comm beeped. "Rogue Two to Lead. We've got some landing coordinates for you. It's going to be a tight fit, but I'm sure your pilot will be able to handle it."

They could hear the smirk on Tycho's face. "Coords received, Two. Now, get back to the ship. If we need you, we'll comm."

"Copy, Lead."




Corran landed the shuttle in a small clearing in the middle of a dense wooded area. The rest of the group began loading up. Each had a backpack which contained several days worth of rations, a medpac, a datapad, spare blaster packs, a blanket and a flare. Myn carried his sniper rifle and two blasters. Wes was a walking arsenal. Most everyone else had blasters or rifles.

Wedge walked down the ramp to where Ooryl stood alone. "I believe everyone is ready."

"Good. We must go this way." The Gand pointed through the trees to the northwest. "Qyrrg will lead."

One thing Wedge had learned in the few years Ooryl had been with Rogue Squadron was to always go with the Gand's hunches. His people called him a Findsman, a Gand whose purpose was to help find things. It could be as trivial as a lost pet or as complex as helping someone find his destiny. "Ooryl is in front," he said as the others joined them. "Myn, Wes, I want you two in the rear. Watch our backs."

The two men silently nodded and let the others move forward before taking up guard, one to each side. Ghent stood beside Talon looking around nervously. "You've never really been anyplace like this, have you," Karrde asked.

Ghent shook his head. "I've lived in either big industrial cities or on a ship most of my life. This is something new, and I'm not sure I like it."

The older man chuckled and slapped his shoulder. "At least you have the best the New Republic has to offer watching your back."

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Karrde," Wedge replied with a grin.



The group made it through the forest without incident. The woods parted to reveal an open plain. In the distance, they could see the city. It loomed on the horizon, much like Coruscant loomed from space. They traveled for several kilometers before encountering any resistance.

Ooryl spotted the sentries first. The group dropped to the ground just at the apex of the hill. Down below, a group of droids was set up like a blockade.

"Wes and I should be able to take them out from here," Myn said while looking through the scope of his rifle.

"What? And warn everyone where we are," Chin, one of Karrde's men, asked.

Ghent sat on the ground and pulled his laptop out. He typed frantically for a short time before nodding. "They're deactivated."

"What?" The others looked down the hill. Sure enough, the droids were dormant. Some had fallen to the ground, while others stood still. "I'll be a Hutt's uncle," Karrde said with a shake of his head.

"We better go before they reactivate themselves. I don't know how long that will be."

"Reactivate?"

"They're hooked up to a central system. Eventually, the system will realize they aren't responding and reboot them." He stood and closed the computer, slinging it back on his side.



The group quickly moved through the checkpoint and hid in a burned out building. "We can cover more ground if we split up," Corran said as they gathered in the center of the main room.

"Agreed," said Wedge.

"We can't use any transmission frequencies that are common, though," Ghent said.

"Why not?"

"That's how he got the virus through. He knows them all. I'm sure he keeps tabs on them."

The Rogue leader nodded. Pulling his comlink out of his pocket, he keyed in a frequency he'd remembered for a very long time. "Red code one from Yavin. Synchronize your comlinks with mine."

They did as they were told. "Corran, you take Ooryl and Talon with you. Myn and Wes are with Ghent. Pash and Chin are with me." Nods were seen all around and the three groups left the building.

[Kuja]

Hmmm, not much action here...you building you to something, Kelly?

I think the commando team is perfectly characterized.

[Kelly Antilles]

You want the last chapter?

[Kuja]

Please?

[Kelly Antilles]

Since you asked so nicely....

PH34R M3: Chapter 7


Myn shot yet another droid that came around the corner. "Can't you get that door open any quicker," he shouted at Ghent.

The computer specialist typed frantically on the keyboard of his laptop. "I'm going as fast as I can. This must be the central door. It has at least ten password files."

Wes fired and dropped three more droids. "If you don't get that door open soon, we're not going to care about how many damn passwords there are. We'll be paste."

"I'm working! I'm working!" Four firewalls were open. He just had to get through... The door opened suddenly. "It's open."

Wes shoved Ghent through the doorway and waved for Myn to follow while he covered them. He followed behind and closed the door. "Lock it back," he told Ghent.

"It's already locked. And I didn't do it."

The two Rogues spun and pulled their weapons up. There was no danger before them. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Myn pulled his comlink out and broadcast the coded message to the other two groups. "Hopefully they can get in too."

"Who can get in," Corran said as his group appeared around the left corner. Wedge and his group appeared behind them from the right.

The three men looked at them in shock. "How did..." Myn began.

Corran held up his still ignited lightsaber. "Cuts through even the toughest durasteel and can still slice a droid in two."

Ghent had moved to a terminal nearby and was searching its database. "We've been locked in," he said to the others. "This whole building has been locked down and the droids are starting to surround it."

He keyed in a few more things before the terminal shut down. The screen remained black for a moment before a bright red arrow began blinking on it.

Ooryl looked down the hall at the next terminal. It had a blinking arrow in its screen. "Ooryl thinks we are supposed to follow the arrows."

Ghent looked towards the other screen and nodded. "I think you're right." The group resumed their original marching order and started out through the twisting hallways.

They wound their way towards the center of the complex and up several stories. Traveling down a long hallway, Ghent noticed something different. The terminals were no longer flashing arrows. They were flashing letters.

P
H
3
4
R
M
3

At the last one, they found themselves at a door. Ghent swallowed hard. His old friend had certainly gone over the deep end this time. He wouldn't be surprised if the door opened and...

The door swished open. The room was spacious yet looked crowded. It looked like the central computer on Coruscant. In the center was a control hub. A high-backed chair sat in the middle. "How nice of you to finally join me, Ghent," a raspy voice said.

"Sauron... you really went too far this time." Ghent shook his head as he slowly entered the room. The rest of the group spread out around him, with Talon and Wes flanking his sides.

"I went too far?" The chair spun around to reveal the man, no, he was more machine now, that was called Sauron. "You are the one who left me. You left me to die, Ghent."

The young man's jaw dropped. His friend was almost a droid. About the only "human" thing left of him was his head. And even that was covered partly in metal. "What happened?"

"I finished the program, Ghent. It was nearly flawless. I was there to present it to the Emperor himself. Then your friends here," he spat the words out, "began attacking. The ship I was on was damaged severely. Luckily the hyperdrives were active and the captain jumped before the Death Star exploded."

To one side, Wedge saw Pash flinch. He reached an arm out to stop the temperamental pilot from charging.

"Sauron, you know how I felt about the Emperor. Nothing good was going to come out of you giving him that virus anyway. He probably would have had you killed." Ghent slowly began to move forward.

"You're wrong. You were always wrong."

"What took you so long to send the virus," Talon asked.

"I had to perfect it," Sauron replied with a gleam in his eye. "I had to wait until the stinking New Republic was weak so they couldn't retaliate. But then I saw Ghent on the holonews. 'The new computer specialist for the Republic' they touted him. That was something I couldn't very well pass up." His eyes looked into Ghent's. "You've done well, my apprentice," he said in a soft, yet deadly voice.

"A lot better than you," came back Ghent in an even tone. "Especially now." The cryptographer reached out and grabbed a set of wires from under the control panel and pulled.

Sauron screamed. His connection with the computers had been broken. "No!! Stop!! You're killing me!"

"You're killing yourself," he said above the screaming. "You aren't even human anymore. This has to stop now." He grabbed more wires and yanked them out. "You never cared once about the people who died from your little virus. Sympathy is a human emotion. You're a machine, you have no sympathy left."

Ghent walked around the console and kept yanking wires. It wasn't until Ooryl stepped in front of him that he stopped. Looking towards Sauron, he noted that his former friend had gone quiet.

"That is enough," the Gand said quietly. "He has passed on."

Ghent then did something he hadn't in a very long time. Sinking to his knees, he began to cry.



Ghent stood on the hilltop above the city. Once Sauron had been disconnected, all the droids deactivated. Corran found a speeder bike and left to get the shuttle. The once bustling city seemed so lifeless.

"You did what you had to."

The young man turned to see Talon Karrde standing beside him. "I know. It still doesn't hurt any less."

Talon nodded in understanding. "You're right." They stood in silence watching the sunrise behind the city. "Power corrupts."

"That it does." Ghent pondered for a moment before speaking again. "You still have room for a hacker?"

The question shocked the older man. "You want to give up your day job?"

"No, I just want to go home."

Talon Karrde smiled. He put a hand on the young man's shoulder as the shuttle landed. "You're welcome to come home any time, my friend."

[Kelly Antilles]

and I swear I didn't steal your character name. I wrote this about 4 or 5 months ago. Great minds think alike, huh?

[Kuja]

and I swear I didn't steal your character name. I wrote this about 4 or 5 months ago. Great minds think alike, huh?

So do psychos...

I like! It was pretty good.

[Kelly Antilles]

"pretty good"??? IT's ONLY PRETTY GOOD?!!?!?

(well, you mentioned psychos and I'm about as psychotic as I get since it's that time of the month)

[Kuja]

Well, there's a break in the last two chapters. One seconed they're heading in, the next they're separated and neck-deep in droids and blasterfire?

And I don't think you developed the team as well as you could have. Showing them tearing their way through the droids to get to the building would have been awesome.

OTOH, Sauron was a great character, and Ghent's reactions were perfectly believable, so it's not like I thought it was lame or anything.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

I liked it..... actually I LOVED IT! Lata and Happy 31337 p|-|4|\|f1cc1|\|g!