Way the heck back in 1997, when I was 19 years old and didn't know any better I wrote this. It was meant to be a piece of a larger story where the Empire from Star Wars invaded the Federation not long after the events of Star Trek:First Contact. Yeah, I know. But cut me some slack, I was less than a year out of high school. Anyway, if you've ever wanted to see Captain Picard in a battle with AT-AT walkers, then here you are:
STARDATE 49603.1 LOCATION: EL ADREL IV
Picard heard it first. The distant scream of ion engines.
He looked up from the phaser cannon he was constructing. "Beverly, I think
we'd-"
His combadge chirped. "Data
to Captain Picard"
"Picard here."
"Captain, we are
tracking a squadron of TIE bombers heading for this location. Since the
outpost's defenses are not yet functional, I recommend we evacuate into the
forest."
"Good idea." Picard said. "We'll disperse, then meet at
the bend in the river. Notify all personnel; Picard out."
The TIEs were almost on top of them now.
Picard collected his phaser rifle and climbed out of the trench he was
in.
"Beverly!"
He called to the Doctor, who was about twenty meters away putting a shield
generator together, "Run!"
Crusher was already on the move, bolting into the woods just as the lead
bomber began a strafing run.
Picard followed her, running with all his might. There was an explosion
behind him.
The scream of the TIE's engines was deafening.
It dropped another charge.
The world dissolved into a storm of white heat, and Picard was suddenly
aware that there was no ground under his feet. He was careening through the air
much too fast, almost flying . . .
Wham!
He hit something solid and rough. A tree trunk, he realized, as he fell
to the ground. Amazingly, he didn't seem to be seriously hurt. About four
meters behind him was a smoking crater. The charge had detonated no more than
two meters behind him. He should have been killed.
Another TIE roared overhead, barely above the treetops. Suddenly, a
blast of phaser fire streaked up and speared its underside. The unshielded
fighter spun crazily out of control, then crashed into the forest canopy and
exploded.
Picard craned his neck to see where the shot had come from and saw Worf
perched in a tree. "Good shot, Mr. Worf!"
"Thank you, sir!"
"Come on, we'd better get to get to the river!" The entire
left side of Picard's body had started to throb painfully where it had hit the
tree, and it got no better as he jogged through the woods toward the river's
bend.
The TIE's, he noticed, had ceased their attack, at least for the
moment. The only reason he could think
of was that the Imperials had met their objective.
The river was about six and a half meters wide and only half a meter
deep. It flowed swiftly over the rounded, smooth rocks that littered the bank
and the riverbed. As Picard reached the river's bend he saw that most of the
fifty or so Starfleet personnel who had been assigned with him to set up the
outpost had made it safely. Beverly
was treating a few wounded, and Data was giving orders to two security men.
When he noticed the Captain walking toward him, he dismissed the guards.
"Report, Mr. Data." Picard said.
"The outpost has been destroyed, sir." Data said. "We
have six confirmed dead, four unaccounted for, and seven wounded."
"Have you been able to communicate with any of our ships in the
area?" Picard asked.
"The USS Voyager is the
only ship in range," Data replied. "However, I have been unable to
establish communication. It is possible that the energy fallout from the TIE
bombers' weapons is causing the interference."
"If that's true, then it will be at least an hour before it
dissipates," Picard said. "See if you can find out what happened
to-"
"Sir!" squawked one of the security men.
Just as Picard turned to see what had startled the young men, a sizzling
red blaster bolt streaked over his head and crashed into the trees behind him.
Two Imperial scout walkers were coming out of the forest across the
river, followed by hordes of stormtroopers.
Aboard the Death Star the door
chime to Grand Admiral Hord's office sounded.
Hord looked up from his computer screen. "Enter."
The doors parted and Commander Zahn stepped in and saluted.
"Report, Commander."
"The bomber squadron reports that it has destroyed the Federation
outpost on El Adrel, sir. We're entering orbit now."
"Excellent; and our ground force?" Hord asked.
"They have landed and are moving to engage the enemy troops,
sir."
"What of the, ah, piece of technology I want captured?"
"No word yet, Admiral."
On the opposite side of the planet, and in a lower orbit than the Death Star, the USS Voyager circled anxiously.
"Captain, the TIE bombers have detonated a series of concussion
charges in the lower atmosphere directly above the remains of the
outpost." Lt. Tuvok was saying. "The resulting energy fallout makes
it impossible for us to establish transporter locks on the survivors."
"That's why they did it," Janeway said. "They're doing quite
a job adapting to our technology."
"Sensors show an Imperial ground force headed toward what's left of
the outpost," Ensign Kim reported.
"Probably to pick off the survivors," Chakotay observed.
"I'm not about to sit around and let them," Janeway said.
"Mr. Paris, can you take us into the atmosphere, low enough so we can
punch through that interference and beam up our people?"
"Yes ma'am, absolutely," Paris
replied.
"Captain," Tuvok said. "I must point out that when we
descend into the atmosphere, the Death
Star will likely discern what we are about to do and send several squadrons
of TIEs to stop us. We will not be able to lower our shields to beam Captain
Picard's party on board without risking serious damage. If Voyager were to be shot down, we would most likely crash onto the
people we are attempting to rescue, which would be most . . .
counterproductive."
"You're right," Janeway said. "If only we had another
starship or two to keep the Death Star's
attention-"
Harry Kim interrupted. "Captain, message from the Enterprise! They're warping to
rendezvous with us and should be here any minute!"
Janeway smiled broadly. "There's our
diversion."
The USS Enterprise streaked toward El Adrel at
high warp.
“”In range?”
Riker asked urgently.
“Not yet, sir.”
Lieutenant Hawk replied. “Five more minutes.”
“Geordi, we need
more.” Riker urged.
“We’re doin’ all we can, Commander,” Geordi
replied over the intercom. “Push the
engines any more, and I guarantee a meltdown.”
“Will, he’s
doing his best.” Deanna said softly.
“If the Captain
gets killed, that won’t make one bit of difference.” Riker shot back.
Picard fired his
rifle at the leftmost scout walker and watched for a second-no longer-as its
cockpit exploded noisily, then set his weapon to wide beam and began laying out
field bursts to slow the approaching troops. Everyone with a phaser quickly
followed suit.
One advantage
Starfleet had was that their personal armaments were far more powerful than
those of their Imperial counterparts. An Imperial blaster rifle could barely
shoot a dent in the heavily armored walkers; with Starfleet phasers, the
walkers might as well be made of cardboard.
The second
walker exploded, courtesy of Data, and the remaining stormtroopers began
fleeing into the woods.
Just then, there
was a roar from the sky, and Picard looked up to see a tri-winged Imperial
shuttle descending on them, raining blaster fire. Picard glanced back at the
place where Beverly and her small medical team had been treating the injured,
and was relieved to see that they were gone-no doubt into the woods, away from
the fighting. He joined his officers in shooting up at the shuttle, which was
about to land in the middle of the river.
The Starfleeters
were trying to stand their ground, but the fire from the shuttle coupled with
that of the Stormtroopers reemerging from the forest was driving them back.
The shuttle
touched down in the riverbed.
Picard, Worf,
Data, and a handful of others were at the very edge of the woods, still taking
shots at the Imperials. Suddenly, a brazen plan popped into the Captain’s mind.
“The shuttle’s communications system may be powerful enough to get through the
interference,” he said to his officers. “As soon as it drops it shields we’ll
storm the hatch, force our way in, and take control of the ship before they
have time to react.”
There were nods
of comprehension.
“Let’s go.”
The raised their
rifles and charged out into the open just as the shuttle’s shields went down.
Data raced ahead
of the group at android speed, and the stormtroopers from the original ground
force that had fallen back earlier ran out behind Data, cutting him off from
the others.
Data continued
to advance toward the shuttle’s hatch, holding his fire to avoid destroying a
vital system.
The hatch swung
open and a team of stormtroopers jumped out shouldering huge black guns with
narrow barrels and wide circular emitters.
Ion cannons,
Picard realized in a flash. The Imperials had come to get Data. “They’re after
Data!” he said to his team. “We’ve got to get to him!”
The Starfleeters
opened fire on the line of troops between them and the shuttle.
The Imperials
held position and returned fire with wide-field bursts.
Picard saw Data
fall to an ion blast. The stormtroopers picked him up and rushed him up the
ramp and into the shuttle. Then, one by one, the perimeter troops broke off and
bolted into the ship.
Picard, Worf,
and the remainder of their team started to move forward, but the shuttle’s
blaster cannons suddenly came to life, providing cover for the stormtroopers as
they got onboard.
The last
stormtrooper turned and ran for the ramp.
Picard and his
men charged after him.
A shot from Worf
destroyed the shuttle’s starboard blaster.
A shot from
Picard speared the stormtrooper in the back just as he scurried up the ramp.
The ramp began
to retract as the shuttle began to lift off.
Picard’s team
instantly swung their rifles up to fire on the shuttle, but their shots
splashed harmlessly against its newly-raised shields.
Captain Picard,
Lt. Commander Worf, and the two remaining Security ensigns stood in the middle
of the swirling river, surrounded by the bodies of fallen Imperials and
Starfleet officers, and watched the Imperial shuttle disappear into the sky’s
sea of blue.
“Commander,
we’re coming up on El Adrel IV.” Lt. Hawk reported.
“Drop out of warp,”
Riker ordered. “Hail the Voyager.”
A second later,
the image of Captain Janeway was onscreen. “Glad
you could make it, Commander.”
“So am I,” Riker
said. “What’s going on down there?”
“The Imperials have just dropped another
ground force. We think it’s because the first one must have failed to kill
Captain Picard’s team.”
“I see.”
“Our transporters still can’t punch through
the interference at this range, so I’m prepared to take Voyager into the atmosphere if you’ll keep the
Death Star distracted.”
“You’ve got it,
Captain.” Riker replied. “Mr. Hawk, take us after the Death Star, Mr. Johnston, ready phasers and quantum torpedoes.
Let’s go!”
“Retreat!”
Picard yelled at the top of his lungs. “All hands retreat! Carerra, Porter,
help Dr. Crusher move her patients! Worf, Armstrong, Gleason, with me! We’ve
got to hold those Imperial walkers back as long as possible!”
In the distance,
four-legged Imperial AT-AT walkers plowed through the forest firing their
blasters, knocking down trees, and causing general havoc.
“They’re almost
here . . .” Porter said.
A scout trooper
on a speeder bike came zipping through the trees. In a flash, Picard raised his
rifle and fired. His shot blew the steering vanes off the speeder, and it spun
wildly off, then crashed into a tree and exploded.
The first AT-AT
came into view, plowing trees under and firing its head-cannons at anything
that moved.
Worf aimed his
rifle and fired. He prepared himself for the sight of his shot knocking the
metal beast’s front-left leg out from under it. Instead, it left only a black
streak.
“It appears the
Empire uses materials other than cardboard to build its walkers.” Picard
murmured.
Gleason’s voice
was hushed with dread. “We’re in trouble.”
The Enterprise streaked along the inside of
the Death Star’s equatorial trench
straying phaser and torpedo fire in every direction.
“Closer, Mr.
Hawk, we’ve gotta get closer!” Riker urged.
The ship rocked
hard from a turbolaser blast.
“Shields holding
at ninety-two percent!” Johnston
reported from the Tactical station.
A brief flurry
of motion at the edge of the viewer’s range caught Riker’s eye.
“What was that?”
“Imperial Lambda-class shuttle entering one of
their hangar bays, sir.” Lt. Perim replied from the Ops position. She squinted
at her readouts. “Sir, there’s a Starfleet comm signal emanating from that
shuttle.”
“They must have
captured one of Captain Picard’s team.” Deanna said.
Riker frowned.
“I wonder who . . .”
The ground
exploded a scant three meters from Picard, incinerating two security men and
sending a third flying through the air like a rag doll. The Captain nodded
swiftly at Worf and Carerra, and the three of them aimed and fired at the
nearest AT-AT. Their shots hit one of its legs, just above the knee and a small
shower of sparks erupted from the blast point. Yet the walker marched on.
“Those things
have got to have a weak point.”
Carerra said, frustrated.
“There appears
to be a lot of machinery on the underside of the walker.” Worf observed. “But
there is no way to get beneath the walker except to run directly at it.”
“Unfortunately,
we’ve no other choice.” Picard said. “What is it you always say, Mr. Worf?
‘Today is a good day to die’?”
“It is an honor
to serve with you, sir.” Worf said. “You have the heart of a true Klingon.”
“Really,” Picard
said with a glint of humor in his eye. “I’ll have to get Beverly to take a look at that. Let’s go.”
The three men
stood up and broke for the nearest walker, running in a zigzag pattern to make
it more difficult for the AT-AT’s gunner to target them.
The walker
turned its head and started to fire at them. A blaster bolt whizzed over
Picard’s head, then he heard an explosion behind him followed by Carerra crying
out.
The walker fired
again, and Worf went flying.
Picard was
almost underneath the walker. Just a few more steps . . .
His foot snagged
a tree root that protruded from the ground, and he fell. The AT-AT aimed its
head directly at him, like a predator studying its prey.
The Captain
fearlessly swung his rifle up and fired at the face of the walker. No effect.
The tips of its
head cannons began to glow, and Picard was acutely aware that there was no way
to run, no way to dodge, nothing to do but brace himself for death’s white-hot
onslaught, when suddenly a dark shape passed overhead. Phaser fire rained down,
and the last thing Picard saw before the transporter beam took him was the
AT-AT going up in flames.
“All Starfleet
personnel have been retrieved, Captain,” Ensign Kim reported.
“Imperial
walkers have been destroyed,” Commander Tuvok added.
“Good work,”
Janeway said. “Mr. Paris, take us out of the atmosphere and set a course to
rendezvous with the Enterprise.
An alarm went
off on Tuvok’s panel. “Captain, three Star Destroyers have just dropped out of
warp at the edge of the system. They will intercept us in six minutes.”
“Even with the Enterprise we can’t stand up to three
Star Destroyers.” Chakotay said.
“Agreed,
Commander.” Janeway replied. “Mr. Paris, prepare to take us out of here. Mr.
Kim, notify the Enterprise that-“
“Wait!” Captain
Picard emerged from the turbolift, his uniform torn and bloodied and a
nasty-looking bruise on the left side of his face. The Doctor was right on his
heels.
Janeway turned
to Picard. “Yes, Captain?”
“About ten
minutes ago an Imperial shuttle landed and took off again from El Adrel. Where
did it go?”
“Back to the Death Star.” Janeway replied. “Why?”
“They captured
Commander Data,” Picard replied. “I hate to think-“
“Excuse me,
Captain Janeway,” the Doctor interrupted. “But I’ve been trying to treat this
man ever since he was first beamed in, but he won’t cooperate! He has a-“
“Doctor, this is
Captain Picard, the commander of the fleet.” Janeway said.
“I don’t care
who he is,” the Doctor snapped. “I’m a doctor, not a zookeeper, and when I’m
trying to treat patients in my sickbay, I expect them to stay put!”
“Doctor, I think
you should go back to Sickbay and attend to your other patients,” Chakotay
said. “That’s an order.”
The Doctor
rolled his eyes. “The Klingon was
more cooperative than this!” he said as he walked away. “After I sedated him,
anyway.”
“Your EMH has
quite a personality,” Picard remarked.
“He takes some
getting used to,” Janeway replied. “Now, what about Commander Data?”
“He was captured
by the Imperials,” Picard said, “and they specifically came after him. They might try to access the
classified Starfleet information in his memory banks.”
“What are we
going to do?” Chakotay asked.
“My officers and
I will beam back to the Enterprise,”
Picard said. “We’ll stay in the area while you take the Voyager to rendezvous with
the rest of the Sixth Fleet. We’ll get him back.”
Janeway nodded.
“Good luck, Captain Picard.”
