Josef Aghrad was on a routine patrol of the Calamari system. It was the same route he had taken every day for the last few years. Nothing had ever happened. He just flew around, then went home. But today would be different.
"Sir," his communications specialist said, breaking the usual silence of the patrol "I'm recieving a message. The signal is very weak, but I think we should be able to catch some of it."
That was strange.
"Put it on." Aghrad said.
His comm unit burst with a crackle, and then a broken voice started talking. "This is ..... Regrad of ..... Azgardi .... ctic .... Military. Our leader, Dolash ... becom ... insane. He ... killing ... ryone for .. fun of ... An rebelli... has be.. organized. We reques... immidia... ass...tance in fight.. this threat. If ...nyone rec..ves this, please ... to our aid. Come to " He then listed some coordinates.
"Hmmm," Josef said. "Send a message to the fleet, tell them that we're going to investigate. Then set course for that system."
"Sir," the navigational expert spoke up, "Those coordinates are in Wild Space."
"I don't care. They need help. Let's go."
"Yes, sir."
When the message was sent, the twelve MC-10 Starfighters set course for the place said by Regrad. Josef watched as the stars turned into long lines, signalling a successful jump to hyperspace.
"We should arrive at 0300. Be prepared." he said.
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They were about to arrive. Aghrad began to wonder what they would find. Would it be a planet, or a fleet gathering to strike? He would soon find out.
He watched as the clock ticked down, and with a jolt the sqaudron reverted to realspace.
Right in front of an Imperial Star Destroyer. A beep from Aghrad's sensor board caused him to look down. There was at least three other Star Destroyers and some Cruisers out there.
"@#%$!" he said. "Let's get out of here." His squadron turned to leave, but not fast enough. In an eyeblink, eight of his pilots were destroyed by the Star Destoyer.
"Evasive maneuvers!" He shouted. Two more of his fighters were incinerated. It was just him and Dack now. An alarm blared in his ear, signalling that his shields were down. He heard a thump from his engine area, and quickly checked there status.
They were shot. He desperately tried to restart them, but to no avail. He looked out, expecting to see the giant triangle shape of the Star Destroyer coming ever closer, but instead he was met with the sight of a planet.
And the surface was coming on fast.
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When he awoke Aghrad found his entire body coursed with pain. For some time his only thought was that he was alive. It was all that mattered. But soon his vision began to clear.
He knew he had problems when he saw a black mark blocking out most of his eyesight. Perhaps he ahd not been so fortunate.
After a while he realized that it was something blocking his vision. He moved to brush it out of the way, and with a sudden horror he realized that it was the bloody stump of what was left of his left arm.
He stared down of the part that was still left attached to his body. It was spilling his green blood everywhere, and he realized that he would have to stop it before he bled to death. He ripped off a piece of his shirt and tied it tightly to the stump, then rummaged around for the med pack. When he found it, he pulled out a painkiller patch and slapped it onto his shoulder.
After he felt like he was capable of moving, he popped open the hatch on his fighter. It opened partway, and then hit something hard and unyielding. He crawled out through the gap that was there, and looked around.
He was in the middle of a forest. He could see the wreckage of another fighter nearby, and he could see a Mon Cal sitting on a stump nearby, feasting on a self heating meal. He rushed over.
"Dack! Are you alright?"
The Mon Cal turned to look at him, and asped in horror. "Your arm!"
"I'm fine." He looked around catiously. "I have no idea where we are, but I think we should get moving. Hopefully there will be somewhere where we can make a call to the fleet."
"Yeah, let's go." Dack stood up, and they started walking throguh the forest, not knowing where they were headed, or even if there was any intelligent life on the planet.
But they were alive.