Star Wars: Tales from the Fringe- Ruthless Entanglements (Fanfic)

[R. Zion]

Greetings folks! I bring before you now a project I've just started working on, my first fiction in ages.

The story you are about to read (as soon as I begin posting it), take places in the period between A New Hope and the Empire Strikes Back and features a cast of original characters, with cameos from saga and EU characters round about.

Anyway, I would be most thankful for any critiques or comments, not matter how short. I know we got some SW fans, so I expect to see a few of you around here.

[R. Zion]

Chapter One


[I]“Unidentified vessel, this is the Imperial Star Destroyer Abdicator. You have entered a restricted area. Please lower your shields, halt your engines and prepare to be boarded.â€

[R. Zion]

In a huff of exasperation, Loon gathered his green and crimson robes around him, and marched off the lift, bounding into the crew lounge. Several other of his crewmates sat around at the scattered table, taking advantage of their brief freedom before they had to get back to their work.

Abras Seaskimmer, a human jack-of-all-trades, and Shalla Zarr, the Twi’lek medic, sat huddled in the far corner table from him, quietly chatting. Dormanin, the Vurk chief mechanic, sat overflowing on two seats, reading from a datapad dwarfed in his hand. Sillek, the white-skinned Quarren weapon’s master, was there as well and sat at the table closest the Neimoidan half-breed, his two pale hands reaching out from under his consuming cloak and lifting up the glass of steaming tea to his lips. All watched cautiously as Loon entered and dropped heavily down on his seat.

“That bubble-headed conman!â€

[R. Zion]

Well, 119 views and not a response. Hopefully y'all are enjoying this. Anyway, here's Chapter two. Enjoy!

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Chapter Two

The crimson sun was low on the horizon as the city of Oradin came into view, shadows heavy in the details of the city as people still bustled about the street. All landing procedures complete, the Nova Hound began to slow as it lowered closer to the docking bay. Steam hissed from its body as the ship finally touched ground and moaned slightly as it came to a rest, a small piece of the black with blue trimmed hull plating dropping to the ground with a loud clatter that scared away a few vermin creeping in the shadows. The inner machinations of the craft began to whir and steam puffed out once more as the landing ramp achingly descended and three silhouettes appeared from the lighted interior and exited. It was Captain Marikk who took the lead, hands tucked away in the pockets of his jacket, with Sillek and Craeldo closely in tow.

Marikk glanced about from side to side and then reached an arm behind his neck and stretched. “Well then, where to, Crae?â€

[R. Zion]

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From the shadows of the lounge entranceway, the Quarren peered out, his face mostly covered by the high collar of his cloak as he watched the incoming invaders.

“Fan out across the ship,â€

[Muopii]

Sorry for not posting sooner. I just didnt have time to read it.
I'm not much of a writer so I can't give a good critique, but it definetly has the Star Wars feel about it. I like your characters, too. And Mara Jade, who woulda thunk it? Overall, I am enjoying this tale. Please post more.

[R. Zion]

A/N: Whoo boy, it's been a while, but an update has finally come and BOY HOWDY is it a whopper. I'd STILL appreciate any comments from the fine folks here (thanks, by the way, to Muopii for your kind words before). Just call me a feedback junkie. ^_^

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Chapter Three

The blue and green mottled orb of Chandrila, a lush jewel against the cold darkness of space, was a lovely sight through the main viewport. It was most definitely a lovely sight to see, considering the haven it would hopefully provide for the Nova Hound while they got things back in working order. Chandrila was the closest and, thankfully, most peaceful planet near Brentaal where they might avoid Imperial eyes for a time. And if simply for this fact alone, Marikk was glad they were here.

[i]“Incoming vessel, this is Chandrila space station, what is your intended business?â€

[R. Zion]

Hushed whispers and the hum of electronics were all that could be heard in the corridor. Imperial officers seemed rather anxious, some even scurrying towards the walls or side chambers as the quartet made their slow progression forward to the Destroyer’s docking bay. Two words heard most amongst those whispers as the officers stood and watched were “Bounty Hunters.â€

[R. Zion]

“Well, I serve as professor of Xenoarcheology for the University of Imperial Center and have done so for the past twenty-five years. I and an associate of mine, an Ithorian by the name of Dowan Modow, had been leading a dig of an old Clone Wars-era Separatist bunker a few kilometers from Oradin.

“As we were clearing away some of the debris in what I suspected was once the commander of the installation’s quarters, I found a hidden hatchway beneath where the bunk had been. Within it were scattered pieces of equipment and a few weapons, nothing spectacular, but as I drew closer to the bottom I discovered this box and its most unique contents nestled away in one corner. On one of the old datapads that had been amongst the rubble I discovered the Commander’s personal log and in it found some most interesting tidbits of information.

“Apparently this which I am now holding was discovered on Dantooine by scouts for the Confederacy early in the war and ferried off the planet shortly before their forces there were defeated by the Republic. It was transported here for safe keeping until it was to be transported to its intended owner, Count Dooku of Serenno. According to the Commander, something began to come over him and he coveted the device for himself. It would seem that, in his desire, he hid it away from all sight to keep as his own. Only, not long after that, the planet was liberated by the Republic, the base destroyed, and this treasure lost in the dust of time.â€

[R. Zion]

With a lurch the civilian transport came to rest in its dock and a great rush of beings flooded through the airlock and dispersed across Chandrila station. Amongst them Mara Jade moved swiftly, covered all but face and feet by her black cloak, as she began her hunt for the ship. She felt both conspicuous and inconspicuous at the same time, pushing through the crowds to cover as much ground as she could as quickly as possible, looking around at what were uninteresting sites for typical tourists.

As she broke away from the crowds and down a much less busy corridor, she happened to come upon a small office whose doors were left open. Much to her joy, inside she found a working computer terminal and, after slicing through the station’s security protocols, began to scan through the dock logs for ships that had arrived on the station within the past twenty-four standard hours. The list was of a moderate length, mostly transports and a few private yachts and bulk freighters, nothing that particularly caught her eye until, nearly at the bottom, she found an unregistered ship docked in Repair Bay 3. It wasn’t this, though, that perked Mara’s interest but the ship description: MODIFIED CORELLIAN ENGINEERING CORPORATION LIGHT CRUISER. This has to be them, Jade thought, pulling up a map of the station to find directions to that particular repair bay. There can’t be that many old Republic ships docked around here. My master’s prize will soon be in my grasp.

Mara stared intently at the screen for nearly a minute, burning into her mind the path with which she had devised to take to the ship. If all worked according to plan, she would sneak aboard, find Professor Ardina, and take from him what she sought. Whether he came out of the situation unscathed or not depended on how cooperative he was feeling. Secure in her plans, she executed one final measure of precaution and disabled the surveillance holos in that section of the station before logging out of the system. Quickly making sure the room was arranged the way it had been before she arrived, she made her way out and disappeared back into the corridor.

The path was smooth as she traveled, so to speak. Avoiding all contact with others, she stuck to the shadows as best she could in the mostly well lit corridors, sneaking past the station’s crew, ducking through side passageways and, within a matter minutes, found herself close to the airlock where the ship was docked.

It was silent there in the hallway as she made her way to the wall-mounted control display and began her work. It was simple enough to slice through any security codes for the airlock, and she had gained access with little effort. A smirk of success and Mara pressed down on the control pad, watching as the hatch parted and revealed the shadowed entranceway to the mercenary ship. Cautiously, she reached out with the force to feel for any presence near the inside of the door, but thankfully found none.

However, as she began to slink inside the Nova Hound, both her sense of hearing and the Force sense detected an approaching presence from the direction of the main repair bay. Reaching out with her power, she manipulated the control console and closed the hatch doors, leaving her to move quickly in the darkness to remain undiscovered.

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Marikk furrowed his brow and tapped his foot impatiently as he and Craeldo stood guard over the airlock entranceway to their ship. His cousin’s report was ill-timed news, completely killing the feeling of triumph for what he thought was an well-executed escape. If the Imps had tracked them, it wouldn’t be long before Star Destroyers or Bounty Hunters or who knew what else from a thousand dreadful imaginations might converge upon the system and take them. He had already gotten a hold of Obbeo who had returned within the last few minutes, and from what he heard Loon was now resting in his quarters, but Dorm and Leda were dawdling at some corner of the station or another, though they had said they would be there shortly.

“This is a fine mess,â€

[Felix]

This is Felix, who used to be Muopii. I'm loving your story...keep it up!!!

[R. Zion]

Chapter Four

Extravagance was nearly a badge of honor for the Neimoidians, credits the measure of a being’s success. This was the way his mother had raised him. This was the way of his people.

Though the lighting had been set to dim, Loon’s quarters still held a bright glow to them due to the reflection of the near overwhelming presence of gold within the room. What items in the room that were not gold were either plated gold or made of something equally as valuable. Finely woven rugs upon the floor, paintings and tapestries hundreds of years older than he upon the wall, and furniture created by the finest craftsmen known. This was hardly the scene one would find on a Mercenary ship, and thanks to his careful precautions few actually saw it.

Security, though, to this extent almost always assured loneliness.

Loon leaned back upon the stack of plush pillows on the corner of his bed, now wearing only his under robes, surrounded by files, datapads and sheets of flimsiplast from some figures he had been going over. But these were not his focus now. In his hand, he toyed with an ovaloid holoprojector, rolling it between his fingers. In his mind he debated whether to activate it or not, to view the images within as he did on occasion when he got into a sullen mood. The past, though, was not a subject he much liked to dwell on.

There were always chances for exceptions to that rule, though.

Pressing firmly onto a small nob on the orb’s face, something inside hummed to life in the silence, beams of light arcing out from its sides and morphing together into a seemingly solid image of three beings overtop of it. A family. A smile, ever so slight, crossed Loon’s face as he scanned the scene, watching his father, the Duros Fellen Danar, his mother, the Neimoidian Loor Danar, and his own diminiutive form at age six. This was a bittersweet time in his life, a time of conflict on all sides.

Neither by Neimoidian society nor that of the Duros was he ever truly excepted, being a hybrid of the two species. To the former he was merely a worm milking off the good name of the species for his own glorification; to the latter a tainted being who possessed foolish ‘inner qualities’ that ran sometimes contrary to their way of life. Compassion, for one. Had he been wholly Neimoidian, compassion would have cost him his life early in the hive. This was a fact his mother had often reminded him of. She had bred him on the philosophy that in life you must win by whatever means necessary. Whatever means. The strong will live and the weak will die. The winner will take the spoils and the loser would be nothing more than dust in the wind.

His father, though, spoke much to the contrary. While he encouraged his son to do his best and to look towards victory, he told him to keep hold of that compassion within him. Many things in this galaxy can be bought and sold at the drop of a few credits, Fellen Danar once said,but if you lose your honor and the compassionate soul within you, no sum of credits will ever be able to buy it back.

These two philosophies brought his parents into conflict many times, and in fact their differing points of view left them almost constantly in argument from his childhood and even until today. It sometimes seemed beyond him how the two of them could possibly love each other always being in such a state, yet still their marriage somehow remained strong.

Loon glanced up and scanned the elegant and costly decorations that dotted his room. Money, possessions… he had acquired these things in the pursuit of happiness, trying to discover some form of pleasure in his own life. Or perhaps it was his mother he sought to please. While his father’s love was most assured, there was always the sinking suspicion that his mother would never truly be proud of him unless he was a success. That’s what made the choice to join up with Marikk so hard. He threw away a great deal of his success in order to help his cousin. A fool’s errand.

Another button pressed upon the projector’s surface and the image dissolved momentarily before being replaced by another. This time it was an image of two, Marikk and himself, ages 10 and 14. Related by their fathers, Marikk had spent much time with his family during the summers and for a few years in their older teen years. His cousin’s parents had passed on when he was very young, leaving him alone in the galaxy and passing from one relative’s household to another until he finally left to blaze his own trails.

Loon smirked again, remembering their times as children. His cousin often wanted to go out on some ‘adventure’ or another, wherever he could get into mischief around their home of Neimoidia. He, however, was too proper to be running around like a savage all day. There were studies to attend to; work to be done. Despite one refusal after another, Marikk did not lose spirit and kept on asking anyway, in hopes that his big cousin would come join him in play.

His hopes, though, were not in vain as there was finally one adventure he had decided to join in on. In his early twenties, Marikk left their home to find freedom, freedom from the strict rules his adopted mother tried to force upon him. In his travels, by some circumstance or another, his cousin found himself working in the underworld as a pilot and bodyguard for various gangsters, but within recent years broke away from that past life and went to start up what was now Marikk’s Mercs.

It was indeed the much maligned trait of compassion that had convinced him to join his cousin. Having left his firm on Muunilist, he helped to front the money to buy a ship for this little venture, the Nova Hound, and agreed to take care of their new business’s finances with the same ferocity he had done in public work. For this move his mother scowled upon him, but his father gave only a knowing smile and a reaffirming glimmer in his eye.

That seemed to make it all worth it, though. The joy of his cousin and the pride of his father.

Switching off the small projector, he dropped it down to his side and stared up at the ceiling. Perhaps the others had been right when they said he should pay Marikk a little more respect and care. Perhaps there was more to all this than money.

Then again, where would they be now without credits?

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“Well well, so these are the beings with whom the professor has taken refuge,â€

[R. Zion]

Abras worked at frenzied pace on the various control panels across the main chamber of the bridge, prepping the ship and getting the engines ready for take-off at the captain’s request. An incoming cry of protest came from Chandrila station as he eased the Nova Hound away from the station, accidentally knocking down a few manipulator arms from the ceiling of the repair bay as he flew the ship out into open space. By the word he had gotten from Marikk, bounty hunters were on their tail and they had to set course for Corellia earlier than schedule, even before they could pay their dues at the station. That would have to be taken care of at another time.

Wiping a gloss of sweat from his forehead and dragging his hand through chestnut hair, the young human moved quickly from the pilot’s station over to Sillek’s forward tactical console and raised the ship’s shields before returning to his previous position. Just then, something at one of the consoles began to give off a constant beeping. It was not long before he discovered that the ship’s sensors had picked up an incoming craft about to overtake them. The computer soon identified it as the Surronian Conqueror assault ship Void Prowler. The hunters were already upon them.

“Void-sucking mynocks!â€

[R. Zion]

The spraynet bundle twisted and rolled upon the floor as Craeldo struggled against it, pushing out and trying to break through but to no avail. The Rodian let out a snort of protest and starting kicking spastically against his confines. “Someone get me out of this blasted netting! I’m claustrophobic!â€

[R. Zion]

“There’s one mistake in your analysis, Quarren. Not all beings who carry a lightsaber… are Jedi!â€

[R. Zion]

I've decided that, instead of posting the rest of the fic, I'll give the links to the stories over at theforce.net. I'll post not only the link for this fic, but for a prequel, of sorts, and the sequel as well.

I would GREATLY appreciate any reviews or comments: 1. To keep me motivated and encouraged, and 2. If it's posted over on the tf.net boards, it keeps my stories alive and bumped.

Anyway, here you are and enjoy!

Shifting Facade: Sillek's Tale

Tales from the Fringe: Relentless Entanglements

Tales from the Fringe II: Bittersweet Reunion

[R. Zion]

Just bumping.... I'm sure the Third story in the above list has been updated since my last post.

[R. Zion]

Wow...it's been a while. Just bumping for those who might have missed these before or those who were following the second, it's been updated quite a bit since my last post.

Anyway, please take a look and give me your thoughts, either here, there or both. More responses means more bumps which means more people might seem them. Always good! ^_^

[Felix]

Meep! I totally forgot about this! Sorry man! I'll read everything when I get the chance!

[R. Zion]

lol....not a problem my friend. Just nice to see SOMEONE is still out there.

My only spoken fan here. ^_^

[Felix]

*shrug* I can't see why noone else has commented. ^^ I'm just a big starwars fan and you certainly pay it's due respects!

[R. Zion]

Heh....thanks. That's a big compliment if I've managed to get the spirit in my movies in my stories. Hopefully that'll continue as the series goes on. ^_^

I'll probably have another update back from the Beta for the 2nd story in a week, at most. I'll post again when it's up.

[Felix]

Okidokel! ^^ I hate reading off a screen so Ill have to print them off on the other comp when I get the chance. Looking foward to your next installment!

[TurkishMonky]

Love what i've read so far.... I grabbed the rest to read offline later...

you are a great writer, and an awesome expressor of the starwars universe.

(from a SW Expanded Universe Nerd)

[R. Zion]

Thanks, Turk! After just finishing a second 100 question Insurance Practice Test for today, it lifts the spirits to see such comments.

Keep your eye out....there's much more to come! ^_^

[Felix]

Yay for printers!! \^_^/ I finally snatched this thing from tf.net and printed it out! *jumps up and down* I'll read it right away!!

[R. Zion]

Woohoo! My little art project in conjunction with the series is coming along and I'll hopefully post the link when I start posting over on the fan art board at tf.net.

*sigh* I'm hoping I'll get Ch. 4 pt 1 of Bittersweet Reunion back soon from my beta. It's been several weeks, but as SOON as I get and post it, I'll let you all know.

[Felix]

Ok I finally got back from the lake so I can read now. ^^ Then I'm gonna start on the prequel, then its (woohoo!) sequel time! Thanks for writing man!

[R. Zion]

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I had been nominated for Best Ensemble over at tf.net's Summer Fanfic awards.

I lost.


Oh well....

[Felix]

No you didn't mention that. I'm sorry you lost, man but I think that's so awesome that you at least got nominated! It's better than I could ever do! ^_^