Riders of the Fringe

[Gir Quee]

Katarr-class Frigate Pompey, near the Hast System

“Do you miss it sir?”

Gir spun about on his heel to face the vessel's captain, a lanky brunette with mismatched hazel and green eyes. He briefly let a confused smile crease across his face as he somewhat surreptiously reread her name tape. The man shook off his reverie as he focused his thoughts on the woman now standing in front of him. He quickly removed his eyes from her form to rest again on the viewport.

“Do I miss my homeworld?” asked Gir, turning his eyes back into her gaze.

“Your homeworld is nearby?” said Mial, “I didn't know that...I meant the uniform...ah...not-sir.”

“Perhaps more than I should,” admitted Gir, tugging at the white sleeves of shirt, “it doesn't feel quite right to be wearing civilian clothes on the bridge. You look well in yours.”

“Thanks boss,” said the twi'lekk navigator passing by.

Gir mock-glared, “You're not welcome, Inun. Why don't you splash some lomin-ale on that tunic too.”

The crewman briefly halted to return a mockglare at the admiral, “Maybe I will...but only when you're sitting next to me. Don't worry, this time I'll make sure to get some on you.”

The two dropped the act, with Inun sauntering over to his station while Gir glowed. There is something liberating about not wearing the uniform...Though I feel like I'm missing part of myself as well...It's hard remembering that the role isn't always just you....but just a position...many more have come before me, and hopefully many more wll come after me...But Mial's voice interrupted his thoughts again.

“You shouldn't let him do that, not-sir...”

 

[Gir Quee]

"Worried about discipline breaking down?” asked Gir, “I'll admit...this is a rather unorthodox and untried arrangement.”

“Among a regular military force, yeah...I'd say so. This is more lax than the first shipping company I worked with,” muttered Mial.

Gir briefly grinned, “The again, you wouldn't be saying that to my face. That's the benefit of being 'not-sir'...I'm going to be tempted to return to this ship once we're done...just for being called that.”

She shuddered, “Please don't. This place is beginning to not only appear to be a pirate ship, but to feel like one to me as well.”

“Don't worry, you won't be a pirate captain forever,” said the blonde man, turning to eye the quarren reclining at the communication's console, “Tops, any message yet?”

Lieutenant Topur briefly glanced at his screen and shook his squid-like head, “Not yet, not-sir.”

Tobias is late...That's unlike him...but the times have changed...I've changed...perhaps he has as well. Gir shuffled over to the bridge's command chair and hovered over it before turning his gaze back to Mial, who now leaned up against the bridge viewport.

“Do you mind if I steal your seat, Mial?”

She flashed a bemused smile at him, “Like I can actually say no to you...not-sir?”

“I'll take that as a yes then,” said the man, gently descending onto the padded chair.

Gir began to tap several buttons, pulling up all information that he could find on his homeworld's traffic that Bohr, one of the GRIM slicers attached to the mission team, had found while messing around in the local satellite software. He recognized a few last names on the exit and entry records of Hast traffic control. Some of the last names he knew, even if he knew their ships, while some of the ship names he knew well, even if he didn't know their current operators well. His eyes lingered on one particular name, Sted Tobias and his Stardiver. He wasn't familiar with the man's new ship, though he could still remember the hyperdrive coolant-scented hold of the man's old Orincoco...

 

[Gir Quee]

Ten years ago...

HT-2200 Medium Freighter Orincoco, Hast

“One day you'll have a ship of your own Gir,” mused Tobias, sweeping his hand across the ship's hold, “It'll be imperfect, but you'll love it all the same. It's kind of like having a lover...”

“It still needs an odor eliminator,” persisted the blonde guy, with a grin, “just like a lover should take daily bathes.”

“Unless you're working on the coaster Flying Fish, and you're out at sea for days on end without a member of the opposite sex present...” smirked the older man.

“That was two days at sea, and the refresher station was broken. And none of us were about to jump into that sea to simply bathe,” defended Gir.

“Uh-huh...look Gir, I know things will be different for you at the Academy and all, but I hope you come back sometime,” said Tobias, “even if you're in charge of a leaking lard pinnace.”

“Oh, I'll be around from time to time. I have family here still...”

“They took you in,” started Tobias, “and I'm certain that you're grateful for that if nothing else, but still...they're not flesh and blood Gir. I know you'll keep in touch with them, but I'm not sure if you'll actually come back...it'll make more sense when you're older..."

Gir smirked, “So much older...”

Tobias wanly smiled, “When you have more of the life experiences that I have had...but you're terribly good at distracting me. I owe you one, and maybe one day, I'll be able to pay you back somehow. Sometimes its the common folk like me and you that are the best friends, you know...”

 

[Gir Quee]

The present...

"Contact reverting from hyperspace," quipped the Pompey's gotal sensor operator.

Gir refreshed his sensor display, pulling up a visual feed on the new arrival. His eyes swept across the brasslike hull of an almost pristine-looking L19 freighter. He blinked. Those haven't been made in forever...I wonder how it managed to snag one in such good condition too...you know what, I might not want to know that... The admiral picked up his headset comlink and flicked a switch.

"Glad to see you that you could make it Tobias. Long time no see."

"And who's fault is that? Heck Gir, you can't even stop by Hast itself...I admit, I was expecting you to come in a different ship than that...I've seen the holos you know."

"You expected a star destroyer?"

Several kilometers away, Tobias laughed, "Yeah, I know it sounds ridiculous. I suppose that would be too noticeable to slip through all the borders to get here, if the republic can even spare it with the war going on. But what's with your ship's transponder? Running in the dark like that...for a second when I jumped to your coordinates, I thought I had run into a pirate ambush."

"Come onboard Tobias, and I'll explain everything."

"Roger that. I'll bring her in shortly. You better meet me in person in that bay, got it?"

"Got it," said Gir, "Pompey out."

The blonde man gently set the headset down to sit on the chair's armrest. He sounds hoarser than I remember...maybe he's sick? The man shook his head. I've got enough things to think about besides that. The admiral turned his gaze back to Mial, who turned her eyes from the incoming freighter to stare back into his own. Gir felt a slight awkwardness as their eyes briefly lingered to peer into each other's souls.

"I'll be going to the hangar," said Gir, rising from the chair, "Mial, you have the bridge."

"Oh joy," smirked the brunette, sauntering towards the chair, "do I have it for fifteen minutes you'll be visiting your friend?"

Gir mock-glared at her, "Just for that, I'm putting you on 24 hour bridge watch in accordance with GR Reg 4-25."

"That's a real threat with all of these other regulations we're currently enforcing. Just think of what your friend here will think when he gets onboard and sees one of them 'real' Republic warships just like on the holos."

Gir shook his head, "We might have grown up in the boonies out here, I'll admit. But you don't survive on the fringe by being gullible or naive..."

 

[Gir Quee]

The past...

Ten years ago...

HT-2200 Medium Freighter Orincoco, Hast

Gir frowned and slowly brought his left pointer finger to his lips. Frowning, Tobias let his hand drop down to rest on his holstered pistol, while Gir jerked his head to the left. The ocean sailor looked around him, but he didn't see any real weapons within nearby reach. He gingerly grasped a duraplas crate cover and began to stand up.

“Well,” started Gir, hefting his crate cover, “you can never truly know who your friends are. Even if you've known them a long time.”

“You can be such a pessimist at time,” said Tobias, quietly drawing his blaster.

The two made small talk as they entered the next hold over to stand over a pile of four bloodied bodies. Gir eyed them intently, before swinging his crate lid to smash into one of their heads. His target let out a sharp cry of pain. The body jerked as the prone man rolled onto his back to get up, but Tobias simply shot him with a stun bolt. The man spasmed before going limp again. Gir kicked the downed man in the crotch, but the man didn't move. The seawater sailor gestured at the prone man's hands.

“He got them partially cut,” said Gir.

“So that's what you heard.”

“Yeah, it sounded sort of like one of the cables on my boat coming loose.”

“Well, that could have turned out badly...” said Tobias, holstering his pistol.

“I don't have to say it...”

“I know, I should get rid of them.”

“I know that they're not good people,” mused the Quee, “but they're people all the same.”

“And that's why you nearly strangled the first one into a coma with only cargo netting...”

“Like I said...not good people...”

“Well, at least their won't be any dead bodies to bury...I should have never worked with them,” said Tobias, “and I knew there was something off with them when they offered me the job, but still, I didn't think they'd go that low...”

 

[Gir Quee]

The Present...

Gir walked onto the deck of the hangar and involuntarily shivered. His teeth began to chatter as the air cooled around him. That's the one thing about the uniform...it's a bit better of insulator than just this...The blonde man shook the thoughts from his head as he strode past several paint-chipped Cutter-class Interceptors. As he rounded one of the interceptor's wings, the L19's ramp began to descend with the softest whine that Gir had ever hear of a ship's ramp. Gir stopped at the front of the ship's ramp to gaze up at Tobias. Gir let a smile creep across his face.

"Ian, I'm not sure if you changed a bit, or your ship's lighting is just..."

"Bah!" half-growled the large man as he strolled down the ship's ramp, "you know it's not the ship...she's almost in mint condition...I know I know, I probably put on a couple of pounds..."

Gir spared a furtive glance at the man's frame as he stood next to him once more. He doesn't look any different to me...and he still smells like those pungent Tionese cigarras...The two began to walk through the hangar. Ian's bead-like eyes plainly drank in all of the sights without inhibition.

"I think my ship looks more legit than yours," mustered the older man, "is this an unsanctioned mission? Mercenary crew and ship?"

The admiral shook his head, "We're a bit far out of our normal jurisdiction. I figured that we'd attract less attention than a blatant Republic vessel would."

"Don't be like that Gir," said the other man, coming to a halt, "this isn't a simple whitewashing act of convenience...you've always been a bit more protean than the average guy..."

Ian swept his hands to encompass the Pompey's whole hangar and its motley array of checkered Cutters and Y-wing starfighters.

"...but this is deception on a grand and tedious scale. I take it that means you believe my story."

"I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't."

Ian gestured at the chrome-plated pistol holstered on Gir's hip, "You don't think it's a bit ballsy to be wearing that given who we're going to be seeing?"

 

[Gir Quee]

The Past...

"You should take this since you haven't got a real weapon on you."

Gir turned his eyes from the limp forms of the fringers to Tobias's outstretched hand. Or rather, what was in his hand. Gir picked up the skeletal handgrip of the silver pistol before eying its various controls. Gir flicked the setting off of "kill" to "stun".

"The one you just kicked in the crotch had that tucked into his belt. It's a WESTAR-34, pretty high end, especially given their...profession...or lack there of."

"I wonder where he got it from," said the blonde man, peering through the pistol's sights.

Tobias shrugged, "Someone with more money than sense? I don't think this trio has the umph to have taken out a real fighter."

"What are you going to do with them?"

"By rights," said Ian, "I oughtta space them. There's a certain code among us who live out on the fringe. That's something that one day, you'll understand Gir. Well, maybe not if you go to the Republic's academy...but among us independents...we have our guidelines...I can't just kill them."

"Well, you can't exactly take them to the nearest Sector Ranger either..."

"No," admitted Tobias slowly, "but I have a plan that should teach them a lesson...and what a lesson it will be..."

 

[Gir Quee]

The Present...

Gir shook his head as they strolled deeper into the vessel, "He won't be seeing me...or at least he shouldn't."

Ian furrowed his brow, "You're changing the plan."

"I don't want to put your life at risk for this unless we absolutely have to," said Gir, "I'm hoping that we can convince him to meet at a more neutral location for the exchange."

The older man shook his head, "I don't think he'll buy it. That requires him to leave his safety."

"It's worth an attempt," said the admiral, "it's actually one of the reasons for all of this."

"He's not going to want to board what looks like a pirate ship."

"I didn't say anything about him coming here," said Gir, "I was thinking about a shadowport or some other neutral ground..."

Ian stopped, "Not every shadowport is a hive of scum and villainy you know. I can't see many of them taking too much of an interest in that sort of thing happening on their turf...you'd have to find the place first."

"Or have him find it for us."

"Playing with fire Gir, playing with fire."

"I've already asked. I'm just waiting on a response."

"Wait...what?"

 

[Gir Quee]

Gir tapped a button on his comlink, activating the cylindrical device, "Mial, go ahead and make the jump."

Her voice seemed to squeak a little through the device's miniscule speaker.

"Aye...not-sir."

Ian eyed him curiously as they entered Gir's quarters, "Already on the move, huh?"

"I don't see any reason not to be," mused the admiral, briefly hesitating, "is something the matter?"

Ian shook his head, "No, it's very...professional of you...I thought that maybe, well...maybe you stop by and meet up with some other folks before departing."

"Well...the thought did cross my mind, I'll admit. I haven't been in this region of the galaxy in a long time," started the man, wanly smiling, "but I'm almost beginning to think of Lantillies as my homeworld. Its people are the closest I've been able to find coreward of our native culture...I know it's not the same, of course..."

"I suppose you haven't kept in touch with Pedric or Cindel...have you?"

Gir slowly shook his head, "I'm afraid not. What's happened to them?"

"Cindel's married now to a new settler originally from Corellia, and Pedric is still running across the lanes on his ship."

"What about Allet?" said Gir, recalling a mottled quarren that the group occasionally hung out with at the docks.

"Ah...he passed about a year after you left. His ship went down in a squall off the southern cape," recalled Ian slowly, "they didn't find much of the wreck, much less of her crew."

"Sorry to hear that."

Silence pervaded the room. Ian shifted his gaze to eye the random decorations of Gir's room, while Gir pulled out a datapad to ostnesibly read. It's a good thing this isn't a full-blown homecoming...I might die from the awkwardness...He glanced at his chrono. Only a couple weeks to go of this...wonderful...

 

[Gir Quee]

Several weeks later...

The Pompey surged through hyperspace, with its crew already at battle stations. Mial had taken over the captain's seat, at Gir's insistence, while both he and Ian stood at the back of the bridge. Gir glanced backwards through the ship's door to a nearby communication's chamber before turning his gaze back towards the flowing lines of hyperspace travel.

"Do you feel ready?"

"I guess. Not much for me to really do, except look pretty."

Gir snorted, "You can always hurl insults at him."

Ian let a wan grin crease his face before turning to briefly make eye contact with his old friend, "Because he doesn't have reason enough to hate me...or so it would seem...I'm sure he'd love it."

"I'm serious...it might even be useful."

Mial's voice rose up from the murmur of the working crew, "Ten seconds people, don't botch this up on me now!"

The stars stopped flowing and Gir immediately felt an instant shift of gravity as the Pompey reverted to realspace. Clouds of brown dust buffeted the hull of the warship. In the distance, Gir could see the distant specks of light that he guessed was the quartet of stars that formed system's core. Yet there were no waiting ships for them. The admiral smacked his lips.

"Well, this is a cold welcome..."

"Well, you heard it from me first," smiled Ian, "welcome to Kelsier..."

"Incoming communication!" announced one of the sailors.

 

[Gir Quee]

"Patch it through to my chair," said Mial.

The miniature holo-projector built into her chair began to hum as light began to coalesce into the image of an extraordinary pale humanoid. The holographic visage peered around the bridge of the ship, briefly settling on Ian before turning to gaze into the woman's mismatched eyes.

"I see that you would seem to have him...though he looks more free than I was expecting."

"I don't deliver damaged goods," said the brunette, "you saw my first mate standing behind him. He's behaved so far, and even if he was to misbehave, he couldn't take on my whole crew."

"Perhaps," suggested the echani, "but this man is dangerous. Trust me, I know from personal experience. He almost killed me once...once upon a time..."

Mial offered a cold smile, "I wouldn't know."

"You're not much of a small talker, are you, Captain Penna?"

"Not with people I don't know well," mused the woman, "not with people I don't fully trust. That reward you put was too big of an offer to ignore though. But is it real?"

"Anxious to see the prize, are we?"

She slowly shrugged, "You see that we have our part of the deal."

"I appear to see it," corrected Ryun, "but I will give you a demonstration to prove my point."

The echani turned briefly offscreen and uttered a few words which Gir didn't quite catch. Almost immediately, a broadheaded starship appeared in the center of the Pompey's bridge viewport. Gir blinked. So the reward is true...or they at least have the technology...Gir briefly inspected the vessel before turning to eye the holo-graphic image.

"Where do you want to do the exchange?"

"Here is fine," suggested the echani, "my ship may not seem dangerous by itself to your frigate, Penna, but know this: I haven't revealed my full hand. There are other cloaked vessels around you. If you try anything stupid, you will regret it. I am moving our ships to dock, if you do not object."

"I don't."

"Excellent, I look forward to seeing you in person soon," said Ryun, turning his gaze upwards to stare at Ian, "and you too...old friend."

 

[Gir Quee]

The holographic image of Ryun faded away as the channels cut out. Mial swiveled in the Pompey's command chair to face her "first mate". Her mismatched eyes bore into his placid blue eyes.

"Not exactly what we anticipated."

"No," admitted Gir, pulling out a datapad, "but we can still pull this off."

Mial hesitated, "You're actually going to use them?"

"I'd rather see them go down than us."

"A fair point," said the woman, rising from her chair, "I'm just hoping they don't take us down too."

"That's why they're going in first..."

"Yeah, that's not to reassuring," said Mial, striding up to join the pair, "but I suppose there are worse gambits to take with an unknown enemy."

The trio strolled down the relatively short corridors to nearest airlock. People swarmed around the group. A pair of sailors double-checked their vibro-rapiers behind the trio while a squad of Republic marines clad in power armor moving to conceal themselves in a nearby stateroom. Gir double-checked his pistol's powerpack and personal energy shield before turning his eyes upward. He stared at the approaching shape of the Night Vector. I really ought to be more scared...the echani are renowned warriors...is it because of my last fight against them...but circumstances are different now...

 

[Gir Quee]

The two starships coupled, causing a slight shudder to reverberate through the metal deck beneath their feet. Gir's hand dropped to gently rest on the butt of Ryun's former pistol. The doors hissed, venting a brief cloud of gray-white gas that quickly dissipated to reveal a pair of echani thugs striding towards them. One of them briefly stopped to holler at a person that none of them could see. The other thug briefly halted too. Gir tapped his comlink's activation stud.

"Bridge, tractor the target vessel when I say mark..."

Ryun, dressed in a rich blue tunic, came out from behind the two thugs. The echani flashed a predatory grin at Ian and snatched a shock-club from one of his compatriots. Gir cleared his throat and pretended to cough to get his mouth near his comlink.

"Mark."

Mial gave him one of her rare serious glances before turning her gaze unto Ryun, "Where's the device?"

"It's right back there, don't worry..."

The two ships shuddered once more as the Pompey's tractor beams ensnared the Night Vector in its grips. Ryun briefly glanced backwards to stare into his ship even as Gir drew his silver pistol. even before he had fully drawn the weapon, Gir was firing stun bolts. The first bolt charred the deck right between the crime lord's legs while the next three ran up against Ryun's chest. The first two seemed to be absorbed by some sort of armor that Gir couldn't see, but the next one slammed into Ryun's throat. The echani collapsed even as the air around him began to fill with blaster bolts. Gir glanced around to assess the situation.

Mial and Ian had drawn and fired their own weapons shortly after Gir had. He saw the two bodies of Ryun's guards sprawled across the floor. Of of them appeared stunned like Ryun, but Gir was certain that the next one had not been so lucky. Either Ian hadn't set his holdout blaster to stun, or it didn't have a stun setting. The trio advanced into the yacht, backed up by the pair of sailors and the formerly concealed marine squad. As the group set up their defended beachhead, Gir tapped a button on his datapad. Almost a hundred meters away, bug-like droids began to come alive.

 

[Gir Quee]

They heard the droids before they saw them.

The Droideka Mk IIs, recently confiscated from an arms smuggler, rolled through the ships' airlocks. One of the doors into the room slid open to reveal a startled crewmember. One of the marines promptly shot the echani; causing him to crumple onto the ground with a smoking crater in his chest. Gir hunkered down behind a crate and began to issue new orders to the droids. The droidekas continued forward through the door to cruise through the vessel, only halting to dispatch those they encountered. Mial pulled out her comlink.

"Pompey, this is Mial. Have we been fired upon at all?"

"Not yet," said the disembodied voice, "we haven't seen any new vessels."

"He was bluffing," guessed Ian, "there can't be that many stygium cloaking devices laying around even here..."

Laser fire echoed through the distant corridor. Gir glanced at his datapad screen, noting that one of the droidekas had taken fire, though its shields had stopped much of the damage before it had taken any damage. He glanced at its holo-feed. It's on the bridge...the ship is almost good as ours...As if to reinforce that point, dozens of marines poured through the airlock into the cramped room before Gir waved them onward. He turned his attention to Ryun, still laying prone on the floor. Gir turned his eyes back to Ian.

"Just like old times."

Ian snorted, "You'd better tie him this time around."

 

[Gir Quee]

Three hours later...

Bridge, Yacht Night Vector, in orbit via Keysier

Ian towered over Ryun, now tightly bound to an observer's chair. A pair of vac-suited marines stood behind the echani, guarding him just in case he attempted to escape. Other members of the Pompey's crew now manned the Night Vector from her bridge to her engine room. The yacht's surviving crew of the yacht now languished in the frigate's brig; if they had survived the initial assault. Gir turned his attention to Bohr, the GRIM slicer attached to this special mission.

"Have we found it?"

"Yeah, we're nearly there, it's in that cargo container over there by his father's trade station," replied the slender man, scrawling through dozens of data-streams, "quite the smuggling set-up they've got here. Pretty high tech. I'm surprised his father would consider giving him the job after how he botched his first job with you guys years ago."

"Maybe he believes in redemption," grumbled Ian, turning his gaze from his former partner.

Ryun scowled and bit his tongue.

"Or he's just a normal father, even if his profession isn't the most legitimate..." suggested Gir, eying the bound echani carefully.

Several quiet minutes passed as Mial maneuvered the orbital cargo container into the yacht's airlock with a tractor beam projector. Gir spent most of that time watching the orbital traffic around Kelsier carefully. It was perhaps the most vulnerable part of the mission, especially with the Pompey almost a light year away, but the man didn't want to attract more attention to their actions by the presence of a foreign vessel of such power.

"So you got your precious reward," muttered Ryun, watching the container disappear into the yacht's hold, "more than enough crystals in there between this ship's device, the device I promised you, and those in all of the cargo containers I've stashed around. What are you going to do with me now?"

"I think we'd be stupid to maroon you again," said Ian, "but it's not my call this time..."

"You're coming home with us," said Gir, "don't worry. I have a place for you and your crew. I think you'll at least find it more enjoyable than where we dropped you off last time..."