Chp-8: Resolve

Chp-8: Resolve

Tomar Eirie

Minda System, CR92A Assassin-Class Corvette Mindan Courage

He rushed through the bowels of the Mindan Courage as the alarms blared, heading towards his gunnery position as he passed the rest of the crew, all scrambling into their positions.

A pirate fleet had entered, and was making a beeline for the capital. However, a splinter had broken off and was heading towards The Bore, the refinery in the belt, and the Courage was being dispatched to help defend, along with 3 TIE's. Small, but it was all that could be spared. He could only hope that the Bore's defenses could make up the difference.

As he strapped himself into his turret seat, he could only reminisce on all the things that had brought him here. He had been born on Ord Mantell, and gone through Imperial Navy training there as well. He had grown used to how the Empire did things. Cold, dark streets. The looks of people as he passed by in uniform, not respect, but fear. Not as much as a trooper might get, but it had made him feel isolated. 

Then, he was transferred to this corvette, sent to a backwater system because some governor had requested some extra personnel along with the ship he ordered. Tamar could've refused the transfer, the officer in charge of those things was a family friend, after all. But… a part of him wanted to get away from it all. The stares, the fear. He thought that being in the Empire was glorious, but it just felt cold.

When he had arrived in Minda, he found not cold stares and fear filled eyes, but respect. The people of Minda respected the Imperial military. Troopers conversed with people in the streets, kids got to pretend to ride security speeders, hell a tour of the old clone wars Acclamator was done a few times, like a museum that could fly. 

Minda felt different. Sure, the Imperial symbols were everywhere, but things felt… alive. 

For the first time since he completed the academy, Tamar Eirie felt like a true soldier.

And so, as the Courage dropped out of sublight acceleration above the refinery, he trained his quad laser cannon on the nearest pirate junk-ship, and opened fired.

He could only smile as the enemy went up in flames, and the TIE's screamed past his camera port. 

Minda was a place he felt he belonged, and Tamar would be damned if some pirate scum took it from him.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luka Yridman

Minda System, Minda-0-A, The Bore

The Bore was a fairly large asteroid refinery, though not the largest Luka had ever worked in. It was called as such, because it was mostly an underground base, built into a large hole in the dwarf-planet sized asteroid that made it look like it was boring into the ground.

Again, it wasn't the largest facility Luka had ever worked in, but it was the one he enjoyed the most. The pay, courtesy of the Empire, was quite good. He got benefits, retirement, and a good set of days off a year. Not only that, but the working conditions were very good. 

The Bore was kept clean by a combination of droids and janitorial staff, along with a very strict set of safety measures, from handrails to fire suppression systems to disposable B-1 droids meant to investigate potential dangerous malfunctions, and could be remote controlled to do remote repairs.

Suffice to say, this was the best Imperial job Luka had ever worked, if not the best he had ever worked. 

Which is why he was so pissed. Pirates!? Frakking pirates!?

As he fumed while on the way to one of the safety bunkers, the intercom blared to life.

"All personnel, be warned, pirate boarding craft have landed in the hangar bay. Evacuate to the bunkers immediately! Security will take care of them, but until then, hunker down, and stay safe."

With that announcement running through his mind, he started speeding up his gait, passing by a group of security personnel, a group of mixed species, clones included, carrying a laser sentry towards the hangars.

By the time he reached the bunker, his anger had turned to fear. He could only hope things went well. 

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Burst Hopkin's

Ugea, Accordia, Imperial Garrison

When Burst had heard of Minda, he had been sceptical. A place where clones would be accepted? In the Empire! HAH! It sounded like a joke. But then he saw the Acclamator, and he decided that he had to make a choice. Stay homeless, or take a chance with a backwater system. 

Now, here he stood, wearing refurbished clone armor, standing in front of the assembled Imperial Infantry he had been training for the last two and a half months. 

It was there that he started his speech.

"Soldiers, never before did I think that I would one day be standing here again, wearing this armor again, going to war again. I, like most clones, was cast out. Obsolete in the face of the new Empire. Yet, here I stand, taken in by the people of Minda. For the first time since the Clone Wars, I have a place I can call home. I am proud of my home, and of all of you, who I have trained to the best of my ability."

He pauses, looking out over the faces of those he has trained. Etching them into memory, so that he may remember those that fall.

"And now, that training is to be put to use. Pirates have entered the system with a considerable force. They seek to land here, at the capital, and force the governor to hand over all that the people of Minda have built, that you protect! While the honourable Captain Veers and her compatriots in the Navy will hold the majority of the pirate fleet in space, they will almost certainly fire drop pods and send landing craft. It will be up to us, the Mindan Planetary Defense Force, to take up arms, and protect that which we have worked so hard for! So, arm yourselves, for soon, we will do our duty! For the Empire, for prosperity, for MINDA!"

"FOR MINDA!" was a cry that echoed across the entire garrison, bringing a nostalgic joy to Bursts heart. He could almost see his clone brothers, lined up in formation, chanting "FOR THE REPUBLIC!".

Burst smiled under his helmet as his troops began to prepare themselves. His new home had given him a job, a life, even a name. He would not allow that to be taken from him, certainly not by pirates.

And so, he slings his DC-15A blaster rifle over his shoulder, and begins the march. 

Minda would not fall. Not while he still lived.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darna Sabrir

Ugea, Accordia, Capital Command Bunker

Darna was scared. Not the most scared she had ever been. Little could top the sheer fear of the rebel work she used to take part in. But a pirate fleet? Not a small flotilla, not some claim jumpers or smugglers like they were used to dealing with, but a proper fleet?

Well, to call a three Cumulus-class corsairs, some cobbled together gunships and fighters, a fleet, is a bit much. More like a flotilla. Still, it was formidable considering the extent of Minda's current defenses.

Hopefully, the military command could come up with a solution.

"Options people, what are they, and how well could they work?"

Governor Mola was standing around the holo table at the center of the bunkers command center, holo images of Commander Grant, Captain Veers, and various other military personnel projected around the table.

"Sir" Captain Veers started, "The pirate flotilla is moving too fast, they'll reach Ugea at least an hour before I can get there with the Gauntlet and the other Assassins. The trade fleet and its Nebulon's are days away, the remaining Nebulons and the new Arquitens are at least two systems from here… it would take at least 24 hours for any reinforcements to arrive from out of Minda"

Commander Grant seemed to radiate a bloodlust that unnerved Darna even across the holo. "We'll be waiting for them… can't wait to finally see some action!"

"...I suppose you will," said the governor in a calm voice. His ability to stay calm, even in this scenario, was incredible! (she couldn't tell he was about to shit himself)

"Of course!" Commander Grant was exuberant "We're already mobilizing our troops, setting up chokepoints in the city…" The holo's quality was shaky, but was she blushing? "… we will bathe the streets with pirate blood!"

The governor was once again perfectly calm, studying the holo-table with serious eyes(his hands were shaking, not that she could see). 

Then, he spoke. "We are clearly outgunned, but we aren't out-manned. We most certainly have more and better troops. If the pirates figure this out, they'll just bombard the city from above. So, we pretend to have evacuated. Every civilian goes to the emergency bunkers, and we ensure that every door, window, shop, is closed. I don't want a single sentient organism to be out and about. Most importantly, we leave the cargo crates of surplus weapons and ship parts out and about around the space-port, luring them there. If this works, it's very likely that the ships will get lower to the ground, and start to load the cargo crates. If we hide, say, some troopers and droidekas in said crates, well…"

Both the Commander and Captain stopped for a second. "It would be risky… but it could work. If we time it correctly, we could clear out one of their ships just as Captain Veers arrives, and if we have some on leave Navy Personnel on standby, we could load them up in the LAAT's and catch the remaining ships in a pincer. After all, while they might approach with all three ships, they'll probably only start loading one ship, and leave it behind to confront the Captain."

The governor stares into the Commander's projected eyes. "Can you pull it off?"

There's a second of silence before a terrifying look of pure excitement grows onto the Commander's face. 

"Of course. I'll have their heads on pikes by the end of the day for you, governor!"

As the meeting wrapped up, Darna missed the governor mumbling.

"Why can't the women in my life be normal?"

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi folks. Things are about to go down, huh?

I decided that y'all were right, and I should include more alternate perspectives in my chapters. This was a bunch of them, but going forward there should be a small alternate POV in most chapters, to help flesh out the story.

Also, in terms of my use of the Cumulus-Class Corsair, I know that canonically it only appears once, in 9ABY I think, but its production date is never directly stated, and given that its used by pirates I assume that it's an older model of ship.

Another thing, before I go. Some people have been confused about Minda's position in the galaxy. Now, Minda is a purely fictional system, but I chose to place it in a canonical sector, the Myto sector. You can find a great Star Wars map here, and the position of the Minda system here.

Regardless, as always, feedback, comments, interaction, it's all welcome. This is a great way to improve my writing and storytelling, and y'all's comments are a big part of that!

Thanks for reading!