The Rebel Faction

It took a week to do the repairs to Smarts' hull, and as soon as they were finished, Smarts set off on his mission. The Astral Astoria had been kind enough to equip Smarts with a transponder that identified him as a ship on a humanitarian mission. During the week he had been at the Astral , he learned why no one else had accepted the job. It seemed that no one wanted to spend a month or more on one low-paying shipping run that would take them all the way around the galaxy. But Smarts learned something else why he was at the Astral Astoria; he learned that he had made his first friend.

Jarvis was the one that set everything up with Astral's shipping department, and he managed to talk the department into giving Smarts three of the six freighters they were going to loan him. The freighters had come from the Astral's impound, and were formerly the property of various smugglers who had been caught by the Astral's police force. No one would be missing the ships, and Smarts really hadn't asked for very much as payment, so Jarvis made sure Smarts got what the trip was worth.

Smarts had already made two of his deliveries, and he had only been met with mild suspicion so far, but the next world would be something totally different. The inhabitants of Shili, near Bilbringi, had been suffering from a terrible, deadly virus for several months, and by the time Smarts arrived, the virus had spread so far, the medical supplies they were allocated were no longer sufficient to eradicate the virus. Some people would not be treated, and given time, the virus would spread again. Smarts was faced with a terrible decision: stick with the schedule, or give them supplies that belonged to someone else.

He reviewed the information he had about the worlds the hadn't reached yet, and decided almost immediately. He would ensure the virus was eradicated. Bacta was getting scarce in the galaxy, and if the choice was between saving a world or making sure someone's shelf got restocked, he would choose to save the world, and deal with the consequences.

But the natives were not thankful. If Smarts had arrived on time, millions of people would have been saved, and there would have been no need to leave additional supplies. Smarts was still trying to understand organic societies, and this encounter only showed him that he had a long way to go. He knew he had done the right thing, but still these people were ungrateful and even angry at him. Smarts left quickly, getting away from the world before anything went wrong.

The next two worlds worked out fine, with only minor complaint about the few medical supplies they were missing. The next world, Omwat, presented a problem. Smarts had decided to give them less than half of the medical supplies they were supposed to get, so he would have enough for the rest of the worlds. When he informed the government, they immediately told the general population, and some people became violent. The planet's defense force was dispatched to force Smarts to turn over the supplies, and several civilian craft joined in the attempt.

Smarts was too far into the planet's gravity field to jump away, and his freighters hadn't made it back to him yet. Smarts, his main thruster still inoperable, began descending toward the planet, intent on protecting his freighters, which were coming under fire. Smarts returned fire through his remote link with the freighters, firing carefully in an attempt to cripple his assailants without destroying them. The first wave of local ships shot past the freighters, climbing to assault the core ship. Smarts swung the ship upside down, bringing the dorsal weapons to bear and opening fire with forty point defense cannons. The attackers focused their fire on Smarts' comm tower, and the dorsal shields began to weaken under the force of the attack, which intensified as more ships arrived from the planet's surface. The good news was, the freighters were now being ignored.

As Smarts tumbled towards the planet's surface in a near-freefall, the concentrated fire of the small enemy vessels began to fail, and Smarts made the decision to start taking lives. His fire concentrated on the largest enemy vessels, which were little more than light freighters, and the ships soon vanished in clouds of fire. Smarts shifted firing patterns, sweeping a concentrated net of fire back and forth through the immediate area, crippling and destroying several of the defense fighters.

As his freighters approached and added their fire, Smarts swung the core ship back around, firing the ship's small thrusters and preparing to break away from the planet's pull. The ventral surface of the core ship took some damage from the remaining enemy vessels, and parts of the lower decks suffered hull breaches, but all of the remaining cargo was stored in the upper levels, and Smarts had no desire to hurt anyone else. In the last few moments of the conflict, while his freighters approached and landed within the core ship, Smarts used his few functional tractor beams to pluck crippled ships from their freefall, and set them in somewhat stable orbits.

By the time the freighters docked, Smarts had already broken free from the planet's downward pull, and was accelerating out of the planet's gravity field, taking damage all the way. Finally, Smarts was free of the planet's field, and he jumped away, traveling to his next destination. As soon as he was in hyperspace, he dispatched droids to make what repairs they could.

Jarvis Ragnar met Smarts at the next world, with a sizable force of Astral Astoria's defense force. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew it couldn't be good. The defense ships spread out immediately, trying to make it harder for Smarts to select an effective firing pattern or escape.

Jarvis' holoimage appeared, and the look on his face would have made Smarts feel ashamed, if he though he had done anything wrong.

"Word travels fast, doesn't it?" Smarts said, careful not to do anything that might be considered an aggressive act. He didn't want to lose his only friend.

"We've received word that you've shorted some worlds their supplies, and while we were on the way, we heard that you attacked a planet." Jarvis stopped, apparently trying to give Smarts a chance to explain himself.

"I attacked no one," Smarts responded quickly, continuing his standard approach toward the planet, though he would run into Jarvis in only a minute or two if neither of them altered course. "They attacked me. I fired to incapacitate until they attacked my comm array, then I defended myself as best I could. I could have destroyed them all, and I would have taken less damage if I had. I was merciful; others would have wiped them out, and would have had every right to. They were trying to kill me!” Smarts began decelerating, but didn’t change course. Unless Jarvis did something, they would still crash soon.

“That still doesn’t explain why people are missing their medical supplies,” Jarvis pointed out quickly. The Astral’s defense ships were closing around Smarts now, a few of them swinging behind him.

“The world of Shili was suffering from a virus. They needed more bacta than they had, so I gave it to them. I stand by my decision, and accept whatever punishment you deem necessary. But, if I don’t finish the deliveries that I can, many more people are going to be angry, and a few will be dead.

Jarvis decelerated and turned, opening the path for Smarts to continue toward the planet. “The Astral Astoria government has given me authority to bring you in,” Jarvis said. “I am hereby ordering you to return to the Astral Astoria upon the completion of your remaining deliveries, at which time your fate will be decided. Will you comply?”

“Of course,” Smarts replied. He watched as Jarvis’ ship and the defense ships formed up and jumped away. Smarts continued on course, delivered his supplies, and made the next jump. And the next. And the next. Everything went smoothly from then on; apparently, the Astral Astoria had contacted the last planets and let them know ahead of time that there was a problem. With all but one of his obligations fulfilled, Smarts plotted a course for the Astral Astoria and entered hyperspace, unsure of what he was getting himself into.