Star Wars: Marooned

Star Wars: Marooned (Part 2)

The hatch to the bridge of the Vengeance slowly opened and Serrin let his blaster lead the way. The bridge was littered with debris of all kinds, and five of the forward view ports were sealed with dark steel that had slid into place when they had been penetrated by weapons fire. The bridge was a mess, bodies lay strewn and twisted over burned out consoles. Serrin made his way across to the remaining view ports. The ship's damage on the sensors was bad enough, but to visually see the damage mocked the remaining moments of Serrin's life. It was a miracle he had survived.

The ship was only one piece of junk in a vast debris field. Large chunks of blasted star ships floated in orbit above a harsh looking planet, a gas giant. Serrin was troubled by the Rebel Alliance wrecks he could identify as well.

Another planetoid lay just off the ship's starboard bow. A large, lush green moon promised a better life for the stranded, freed prisoner. The sensors on that side of the ship must have not been operating correctly. Serrin might as well have been looking at the moon from the other side of the galaxy. If he could not find a way off of this tomb, he would be a part of its memorial to whatever battle had taken place.

Serrin contemplated the situation and headed toward the communication station. As he approached, he dragged a turned over deck chair with him and set it in front of the console. Fortunately, the console was still operational. His mind wandered as he attempted to pull up any type of information that survived. As he waited for the data to appear he remembered his capture.

* * * * *

Serrin was supposed to meet up with a contact, and then meet with some Rebel operatives. His small group of rebel pirates was working a mysterious Imperial supply line when Vice Admiral Sturdin and the traitorous Torlock had drawn them into a trap. His Aeridian battle cruiser had been completely disabled by Torlock's sabotage, a bounty hunter working for the Vice Admiral.

Torlock had spent a lot of time earning the Captain's trust. Captain Serrin Ziehn had called for full shields and weapons when the fleet of Star Destroyers led by the Vengeance had appeared out of hyperspace. Their Interdictor Star Destroyer immediately threw up its gravity wells to keep them from escaping. As the defense officer onboard Serrin's ship reached for his console, huge explosions ripped through the battle cruiser.

The damage reports rolled into the bridge like a wave. The officer on sensors reported a small-unauthorized ship leaving the docking bay. Captain Ziehn immediately recognized the ship as Torlock's. The bounty hunter had betrayed him and Serrin's people to the Imperial dogs.

Sturdin's smiling, sarcastic voice came over the comm system and demanded Captain Ziehn's complete surrender. His answer was a partial salvo of torpedoes that decimated one of Vice Admiral Sturdin's support ships that strayed within range. That was all Serrin's ship had power to do. The weapons systems went completely offline.

Then all the power went dead as another set of explosions sounded. Torlock must have wired the ship well with his intimate knowledge of the capital ship's systems. The emergency minimum power systems kicked in and Serrin's feet again touched the floor. He immediately slammed his hand down on the internal comm system. "All hands, this is the Captain, abandon ship, I repeat, abandon ship. There is a fleet of Star Destroyers closing on our position. Rendezvous at our designated coordinates."

Serrin leapt from his command chair, hit a few buttons on his console and ran for the rear blast doors along with the rest of his command crew. "Get to your ships and get out of here." As his crew headed out, he stopped at the weapons console. His fingers flew across the controls.

The computer's female voice spoke, "Auto destruct sequence armed, please enter authorization code."

"S. Ziehn, Captain, Code 0931FB1T32-421."