Chapter Two: A New Beginning

The Imperial Star Destroyer exited hyperspace and the sublight engines ignited, casting a brilliant blue sheen across the rear of the hull. As it neared the planet a single Sentinel class shuttle left the hangar and it’s wings folded down as it increased speed towards the planets surface. The rear of the ship contained a strange collection of tubes, sensor equipment and storage tanks, while towards the front sat an odd assortment of personnel. Stormtroopers sat on one side of the ship, staring blankly across the aisle at the four scientists they had been sent to guard.

The ship began to shake a little as it began to enter the thicker atmosphere of the planet and the scientists gripped their chairs a little harder, causing one of the troopers to smirk a little inside his helmet. In the cockpit Darek Moortel eased back the throttle a little, trying to reduce the drag on the large ship. He ran through his landing checks and activated the weapons systems, despite the sensor readouts showing no life signs in the immediate area. His co-pilot and weapon operators were all running through their own checks, he reached forward and opened the com frequency to the crew compartment.

“We’ll be landing in a few moments, area appears clear. Troopers take positions near the crew doors.”

He flicked it off and turned to his co-pilot as the landing site came in to view, “Look at the state of this place, orbital bombardment?”

“Looks that way,” answered Angelus, “can’t see what could have been worth it here though. Wasn’t it one of ours?”

“That’s what I heard. Keep the weapons hot, I’ll handle the landing.”

“You got it.” Angelus looked back towards the passenger compartment as he spoke, “Meat shields are in positions, clear for crew doors.”

He turned back to his control panel as Darek manoeuvred the Sentinel ever closer to the intended landing site. The area was awash with rubble and metal, much of it fused together from the heat of high energy impacts. Angelus spotted an area that looked suitable to touch down on and pointed to it through the transparisteel cockpit. “Right there looks good, firing in three, two, one.”

A trail of smoke burst forward from below the sentinel and streamed towards the site as Angelus fired off one of the Sentinels powerful missiles. It was quickly followed by bright streams of laser fire as Darek fired his own high energy blaster cannons. At the same time he pulled back hard on the throttle and pulled in the flying surfaces. With practiced ease the Sentinel quickly drew to a stop in mid air as the repulsorlift engines kicked in and took over from the sublight drive. At the same time its large wings effortlessly folded up as the landing gear dropped down in to position. Crew doors on either side of the ship opened out and the contingent of Stromtroopers took positions, peering out across the landscape through the rifle scopes, alert for any signs of movement.

Darek waited for the smoke to clear and made a final check of the sensor systems.

“Going in now, slow ahead.”

He maintained a steady grip on the controls and edged the ship forward, with the Stormtroopers behind him keeping watch from the doors he had to be careful not to accelerate too quickly, or the g-force could send them tumbling to the ground below. Angelus and the weapon operators scanned back and forth through their sights for movement as well, their job was to protect the ship from surface attack. With the ship moving so slowly through the air it was an easy target for surface to air missile attacks, or even worse, EMP weapons.

The ship’s landing gear made contact and Darek cut the engines. “We’re down,” he announced, “report in.”

“Clear ahead.” Announced Angelus and the two weapon ops.

The stormtroopers had already disembarked from the ship and had fanned out on each side, lying prone on the planets surface. “We are clear outside,” reported the squad leader, “standing by.”

“Ok Angelus, your turn now, I’m heading aft.” Said Darek, already unbuckling the restraint harness and standing up, “keep the systems running till I get back.”

“Aye sir,” answered the copilot as he glanced up Darek, “any idea how long we’ll be here?”

Darek shrugged and took one final look through the cockpit. “Nope, but from the look of it out there I don’t think there’s much for them to find.”

The science group had already left their seats and were now unhooking the equipment from storage. Darek approached them and helped one move a large storage container on to a cargo sled, it’s antigrav motors whining briefly as they compensated for the new weight.

“What do you guys expect to find here?” he asked casually, tapping another piece of equipment in curiosity.

“None of your business soldier.” Answered one of them curtly, snatching the item away from Darek, “you are here only to transport us to and from the surface. This is way above your clearance level so keep your nose out and follow orders.”

Darek bristled at the rebuttal and squared up to the man, standing toe to toe he towered easily over him and used his height to his advantage, staring him in the eye. “Well that’s the thing now isn’t it. We’re supposed to drop you here then wait, flightdeck secured with no admittance to anyone after landing. So, that gets me wondering, it’s got to be something dangerous hasn’t it? Radiation? Something contagious? Or maybe something likely to rip my arms out. So, since I got to carry this cargo, I want to know what it is.”

“Captain, you would be better off doing as you have been told. As I said, you are only here to follow orders, orders from the Emperor himself. This wasted attempt at intimidation will not yield any more from me, I can assure you of that.”  The man stared back at Darek, giving away nothing and clearly not impressed by his attempts to assert his authority.

Darek growled before turning away and stomping back towards the cockpit. He took one last look back towards them before slapping his hand against the door controls, sealing the crew off from whatever would soon be onboard.

Bite my shiny metal Tie Fighter!