Date: Wed, 02 Sep 1992 12:59:43 +0000 (GMT)
From: Colin Ford <Phoenix@chdpf.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Liberator 5
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Thanks for the feedback on Trake I'll explain all in another message
but here is chapter Five. As Usual any responce will be
appriciated. Enjoy

Liberator - five.

	"If anybody offers peanuts, " Said Onia, "I think I'll throw 
up."
	The Bridge was dark and the air was stale. Onia picked herself 
off the deck and looked about. The status lights were the only source of 
light. They gave the bridge shadows, that danced with each different 
readout. The others were lying down on the job, but the command seat 
was empty. She tapped the communicator on her chest.
	"Sledge ? "
	"Yeah !" came the reply.
	"Where are you ?"
	"Down in the Cargo bay. I'm linking the Bucket to the 
Liberator. Jump Start this thing."
	"Right, Any Idea where we are ?"
	"Nope, Can you wake the rest of them? I need help with this"
	"I guess we need even Tor`s help then ?" grinned Onia.
	"Guess So."
	It took Onia about ten minutes to wake everybody up. Flach 
the wookie was the worst, He was in some deep sleep. She even had to 
break open a medpak in order to wake him up. Slowly power began to 
return to the ship, but not fully. The air became breathable again. 
Everybody was , at least, sitting up when Sledge walked into the Bridge.
	They all looked at him.  "How are we doing ? "
 Tor replied, "Life Support, Mauovering and that's it. The 
Computer's taking too much power."
	"What's it doing ? " That said.
	"I dunno." Said Sledge, "but the good news is that we're home. 
Everything feels right."
	"Great ! Home but with nowhere to go." Said Polgara
	Sledge turned back to the screen and flicked a switch.  The 
viewscreen was replaced by a large 3 dimensional grid. A golden bird 
flashed away in the top corner far away from any of the star systems 
shown on the screen. 
	"Right, where is the nearest system with a Gas Giant? " said 
Sledge.
	"Well, this looks good, " said Taff pointing to a point of light 
not far from the glowing bird, "It's about the right size for a gas giant."
	"Can we make it there ? " asked Sash..
	"Well, I don't see why not." Replied Tor. "Liberator should 
have enough for a jump to that system and once we're there we skim off 
the Gas Giant to refuel."
	"I've drained the Bucket to power us up." said Sledge, "We've 
got  nowhere to go if we're in trouble."
	"I'll fly about checking for it." said Onia, "At least I'll be able 
to warn everybody from my x-wing"
	Flach growled from the engine readouts.
	"Well, the computer's back to normal. " said Taff, "You think 
Servana's back Sledge ?"
	"I dunno, but we had better be going."
	Sledge sat down in the command seat and everybody took their 
usual places. Onia at the helm, Polgara at the sensors, shields and  
communications, Flach at weapons and Tor at the Engineering console. 
Sash and Taff couldn't go down their turrets. There wasn't any power to 
fire their guns, so they sat near the Nav Computer. 
	"We've got an hour, till we get there Sledge." Said Taff.
	"Well let's go then."
	Onia pulled back the hyperspace levers and the Liberator shot 
forward.

		*		*		*

	Flach's growl of supprise rang around the bridge. The Nav 
Computer had told him there was a large Gas Giant in the centre of the 
system.
	"Don't look so supprised !" said Taff, "I told you it would be 
here."
	Flach grunted his opinion of Taff's navigation ability.
	Well, we're not in an asteroid storm now." Taff shot back.
	"Onia, your ship" said Sledge.
	With that Taff got into Onia's seat as she left the bridge. She 
turned walked to the turbolift and ascended to the next deck. She turned 
around into the flight deck. Her Xwing was covered in a big particle 
sheet. She hadn't flow her in two years. The only time that Onia came 
up here was to maintain her with the help of R2-D0.
	"Deo, You about ?"
	A bleep came from the top of the x-wing. Onia reached up and 
pulled the sheet down. Her Xwing was still the same colour as her 
original squadron in the Morris Sector. It was also fully armed with the 
Quad lasers and photon torpedoes. She climbed the ladder and got into 
the seat. The canopy  lowered and closed with a reassuring clump. 
	She saw the launch bay doors in front of her open, revealing 
the black depths of space. Looking down, she quickly flipped through 
the pre-flight and then pushed the throttle very slowly forward. The 
engines behind her began to gain in volume as the small fighter edged 
it's way out of it's docking bay. Once clear, however, the throttle was 
thrown wide open and the little ship darted ahead into the distance. 
Some gentle touches brought the ship around slowly to look back at the 
Liberator. Liberator was fully visible on her scanners and seemed to 
shine out like a beacon.
	 "Liberator - X-one here, your a little bright. Can you turn it 
down."
	"Sure X-One, we've got power for that, you scout ahead. Our 
E.T.A. to the gas giant is one hour with the lights turned off."
	With that Liberator seemed to shimmer and it's fine lines 
began to waver, battle damage and wreckage appeared all over the ship 
and the wings slowly folded in. The Ship disappeared from the X-
wing's scanners even though all Onia could still see was a 
unrecognisable derelict. She turned the X-wing around and after 
activating the scanners for a full sweep, she moved away.
	It was a relatively short wait until the Liberator arrived at the 
gas giant. The run there had been quiet but scanners had picked up a lot 
of activity from a planet nearer the centre of the system.  The X-wing 
arrived underneath the ship and turned around to cover the Liberator's 
Scanner's blind spot. From Onia's cockpit she saw the ship change back 
to it's original shape as the Liberator began to move into the upper 
atmosphere of the gas giant.  
Onia knew that the process would take ten minutes for the 
Liberator to scoop enough material to make the fuel it required and 
another couple of hours to create what it needed. After a short while, the 
ship emerged from the Gas Giant and slowly turned towards the 
outskirts of the system. Onia powered the X-wing level with Liberator 
and activated the comm.
	"How's it going? "
	"Fine." replied Sledge's voice, "We're full up. Got to wait on 
the synthesis to take place. We'll have enough for a jump soon."
	Suddenly the scanners on Onia's board lit up.
	"Trouble, something big is coming from hyperspace." she 
announced.
	A Nebulon-B frigate jumped in less than one hundred metres 
astern on the Liberator.
	"Hell, Where did they come from ?" Onia was shocked.
	The Liberator's engines flared into life and the ship began to 
pull away.  Onia threw open her throttle and began to overtake the 
Liberator. The frigate hung there as if taken by supprise but then slowly 
turned to face the fleeing ships.
	"What's the plan ? " Asked Onia.
	"We're calculating a jump vector now, we'll transmit in two 
minutes" came Polgara's reply. "
	"Two minutes !" 
	"It's going to take that long to synth up the fuel. Hang on, I'm 
getting another message. I'll patch it through."
	The comlink cracked.
	"On behalf of the Galactic Republic, We ask you to shut down 
your engines."
	"Well, at least they're polite." Quipped in Sash.
	"If you do not within twenty seconds, that will be seen as a 
hostile act and we will launch fighters."
	"We don't stop." Ordered Sledge, "We keep going."
	The Liberator and the Xwing continued to put more distance 
between themselves and the Frigate. The Frigate seemed to shudder 
under multiple launches of some smaller craft. Back on the Liberator, 
Polgara scanned the newly launched craft.
	"They're Xwings ? "
	 A ripple of astonishment went threw the crew.
	"Do we keep going ? " Asked Onia.
	"Yes." Ordered Sledge, " We only stop and talk to people 
once we find out what's going on."
	"Those X-wings are catching us up. " Said Onia, "They'll have 
range in a minute."
	Sledge turned to Taff. "Full ahead.!"
	The Liberator's engines began to roar in the background as 
Taff opened the throttle. Just ahead of them the Onia's Xwing  flew 
through her own evasive manoeuvres. 
	Flatch Grunted something.
	"No." said Sledge, "No weapons, not until we know what's 
going on. Tor tell me when we have power to jump."
	"Co-ordinates ready." shouted Sash
	The pursuing Xwings sighted their prey and began to fire 
small, optimistic bursts of fire. 
	"Co-ordinates to Onia. Taff break high right."
	The Liberator evaded the yellow shots from their smaller 
pursuers. 
	"Got the Co-ordinates." Called Sash.
	"How long until we have fuel?" Sledge turned to Tor.
	"We've got it now!" he replied.
        Polgara transmitted the numbers to Onia. On the screen ahead 
the Xwing's engines flashed and disappeared in a flash of 
pseudoemotion.
	"Welcome home." Muttered Taff as he pulled back the 
hyperspace levers.

*	*	*
	
	Everybody assembled in the common room. They were all sat 
round a table with a deck of Sabacc cards set in the centre. Onia was 
missing from the group. Having been in an X-wing for the last four 
hours, freshening up was a necessity. Flach and Sash were having a 
quiet discussion, while Polgara and Taff played the holochess machine. 
Tor was busy looking though a datapad of the Bucket's  Engines.
	Sledge was also nowhere else to be seen. He was in his and 
Onia's stateroom, sat on his bed, making notes on a datapad. He could 
hear Onia in the humming to herself in the shower. He turned to call to 
her and stopped. There was another woman staring at him from the 
doorway. Recognition came almost immediately.
	"Servana." He gasped. "It's been a long time." 
	"Sledgehammer, it has." The figure replied.
	He could see the familiar blue glow that surrounded her. She 
stood before him in the familiar Jedi robes Sledge had seen her in 
before. The Silver hair lay flat as she looked through him with those 
incredible green eye's of hers. 
	"You've grown stronger." She said walking across the room, 
"even though I haven't taught you anything more." 
	"Where have you been? We needed help." Said Sledge.
	"I couldn't appear, you were stuck somewhere I couldn't reach 
you. " She sat down on a chair in the corner
	Onia emerged from the Shower, covered in towels. She saw 
Servana and gasped, almost dropping her towels in the process. 
"Servana !"
	Servana nodded in her direction.
	"Liberator's Power levels are now nearing full power level." 
Said Servana, "I have taken the liberty of contacting Master Skywalker. 
Times have changed."
	"How long were gone ?" asked Onia.
	"Ten Years. " Said Servana, "The Empire has fallen and a 
republic has taken it's place."
	 The fact didn't really sink in Onia's and Sledge's minds.
	"But with your old adversary returning as well, " she 
continued, "you have to contact Skywalker as soon as possible. The 
computer may be returned to full power but my time is running out. ", 
she began to fade, "I will be back. "
	"Ten Years !" Onia exclaimed, "Now what ?"
	Sledge looked his usual calm self, however Onia could see 
tension in his shoulders as he stood up. He turned to look at her, 
clipping his lightsabre to his belt. He picked up the datapad and turned 
to leave. He paused by the door.
	"How long until your ready ? " he asked.
	"A couple of minutes." She said.
	Sledge entered the common room and looked about. Tor, his 
thin frame was spread out over the couch, was examining a datapad. He 
had shoulder length, bushy hair and a lean face. His eyes looked 
permanently glazed over, but Sledge knew that fooled a lot of people. 
Sledge remembered how he'd joined the group. Him and Taff had been 
on the run from the Imperials. They had almost been caught on an 
Iothrian Life Ship but Sledge's group, under Schedik's command at the 
time, had pulled their fat out of the fire at the last moment.
Everybody stopped what they were doing and turned to look at 
him. He sat down at the table and told them what had just happened. 
There was a stunned silence. There was on outburst. Everybody was 
asking questions.  How could they have lost ten years, the ship's 
chronometers said only two, where were they, what next ? Sledge 
appealed for calm. 
	"I though Servana was part of the Computer?" asked Sash, 
"Why couldn't she have helped us out over the last few years ? "
	"I don't know. "said Sledge, "All she said was she couldn't 
reach us."
	"We need to think about what to do next." said Taff, "We'll 
have to worry about this later."
	Flatch suggested something.
	"General Madine ? " Said Sash, "If he's still alive."
	"How about Cossie ?" said Tor, "At least we know he'll be on 
Kashyyyk."
	"It's a case of if really. " said Polgara, " It's a case of where 
they'll be if they're still alive."
"Servana said that she'd already contacted Skywalker." Sledge 
muttered.
"Yeah Skywalker's just a kid, " said Taff, " What's the good of 
that ?"
"Taff. It's been ten years. Force knows how powerful he is 
now." argued Sash.
"Servana called him Master Skywalker." said Onia as she 
walked in the room, "I think that's our best plan. Find him."
"Has Courscant been taken ? " asked Polgara.
"Dunno, why ? " replied Taff.
"Well, it appears to me that if the Empire has fallen, a new 
government would be set up there." Polgara continued. "I reckon we 
scout the system and contact any Alliance people we find."
"What happens it there's no Alliance there? We could be 
walking into a giant Empire Fleet." worried Sash.
"Then we hyperspace out as soon as we know that the Empire 
is still in control. " said Onia.
"OK, We scout Courscant." said Sledge, "If we find our people 
there then we talk to them, if not we run from however is there. But I 
want us to go in ready for anything."
Sledge turned look at everyone. They all nodded their 
agreement.
"Sash, I want you to lay in a course to Courscant. We've off to 
find a Jedi Master." Sledge said.
"Or something at least" added Taff.


Right, That's yer lot. Too Be continued ......

--
Quote of the Year 

"I plan to Live forever or die trying"
Phoenix D'fire