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Test Drive 1999 short story by Louis
Turfrey and Mark Newbold Twenty-eight years after Episode
IV – A New Hope The Berone
Sunrise flew effortlessly over the forests of Vorathie Prime. Its pilot,
sensing a shifting in the winds, raised the nose slightly. Ryath Centaur
enjoyed taking the Sunrise out on
occasion. She was a heavily modified stock heavy freighter, but she’d never
let him down. It helped that his wife Paige was as good a pilot and mechanic
as she was. Her father, Jan Lomona had once owned the ship, until that
fateful day ten years ago. Centaur winced at the memory. What a way
for a good pilot to go. Paige Centaur swung effortlessly from one engine
crossbeam to another as she tweaked and modified the sublight systems. She
was nearing forty years old but didn't look a day over thirty. It helped
being as fit as she was. It helped having a husband that insisted upon it.
Ryath Centaur, ex Imperial Biker Scout, mercenary and a former hero of the
New Republic was a stickler for exercise. It’s
a shame that he isn't as punctual as he is fit, she thought to herself.
If he had been, she would have been able to do these repairs on the ground.
She smiled to herself fondly as she remembered the faces her father used to
pull when he arrived late for a job or a meeting. Still, the opportunity to
test-drive the Sunrise always
brought back fond memories. Tarr Ranth landed his ship at the new Orbital
Space Dock that Nias Derril had constructed above Vorathie Prime. He was
looking forward to the reunion with some of his oldest friends. Since the
rise, fall and rise of the Empire and the slow rise of a New Republic, he had
been extremely busy at the war trials on Coruscant. He had been forced to
pass over his part in the latest trial to one of his colleagues, the Jedi
Blake De'Athe. De’Athe had thought it better that he didn't join this
reunion. He’d been under the thrall of the dark side of the force for a long
time and committed terrible crimes, but had been exonerated. Unfortunately
some of those crimes had been committed against his friends. Ranth's memories
became grim as he remembered the price they had paid. Nias Derril, Daemon
Garr and Jan Lomona had all paid dearly for his betrayal. Still, it didn't do
to bear a grudge, and it had been ten years ago. Nias Derril watched the Dark Star III enter the main hanger. He personally guided the
tractor beam that completed the landing procedure. He felt proud of his
accomplishments since Jan’s accident. He refused to think of it as anything
else. Blake had tried in vain to overthrow his Imperial programming.
Consequently he had made a lot of very powerful enemies. The Freedom Flyer had been a casualty of
that struggle as had Nias's legs, right arm and half his face. He reached up
to touch the new plastiskin that coated the right side of his face. It still
amazed him that technology allowed him to function like any other human. Well
not quite like any other human. He smiled to himself. Yes this would be a good week. The new space dock orbiting Vorathie Prime was to
act as a trading post and residence for those items grown and cultivated on
planet, and those goods would be then be imported off world. Hoping to set itself up as another prime
site of commerce, the designers and directors had spent billions of credits
making the station into a state of the art concern, hoping to attract
millions of customers to this part of the Setnin Sector. Centaur brought the ship into orbit, setting
course for the new Orbital Space Dock. The Dock, as everyone had called it,
had been recently finished and was just about to be named, hence the excuse
for a reunion. Centaur sighed as his wife entered the cabin behind him. She
reached over his chair and placed her arms around him. He caressed the arm
that had only an hour before been swinging through energy couplings. Paige
moved around and sat in the co-pilots seat. He noticed she had changed and
looked even more beautiful. “Do you
think he'll turn up?” Paige was ever
hopeful that her father, missing now for almost ten years, would one day
return. Centaur looked across to her and gave a sad smile. “Garr
has been searching for eight years, ever since he found out about the
possibility of his survival. If anybody can find him then Garr will. We'll find out soon enough.” He pointed out of the window. “ We're here.” The Sunrise
arced over the curve of the station, sun glinting off the newly polished
armour plate. This was the reason the Centaur’s had been late. The Sunrise had undergone a massive
re-fit. Advanced up to date shields, ablative armour and a newly fitted
Quadex power core. With an advanced hyperdrive multiplier she was now among
the fastest ships in the galaxy, or so Paige contended. Approaching the port side of the station, Centaur
took the ship in for a low pass across the control centre, looping her back
up and over in a twisting inverted loop. One of Jans' old tricks. Centaur
couldn't help but remember the day he had lost his old friend… Jan had been returning from A-desando, after
taking Ryath and Paige to their honeymoon destination. He'd insisted on
flying the Thunderchild II for them
as an extension to their wedding present. The fact that he'd made his long
time friend and his daughter equal shareholders in the Trac-Tran Transit
Company had not been enough. He wanted to do this as a way of showing how
much he'd approved of the marriage.
Not to say it had always been that way. In fact, at one time Jan had
been mighty hostile towards the whole relationship. But, he had matured a lot
since those first days as a free trader with a teenage daughter, and soon
came to terms with it. Even promoting it. A bomb placed on-board the Thunderchild II by a one-time student of Blake De'Athe and a
loyal supporter of the Empire had exploded just minutes after Lomona had
entered hyperspace for the return journey home. The explosion had caused a
wormhole distortion within the hyperspace tube. All the investigators had
found were the remains of the drive systems and some of the shell. The escape
pod was nowhere to be found, and was presumed lost in hyperspace. Jan never
turned up. Two years later, Daemon Garr returned after a protracted period of
time out of the sector asking for Lomona. Daemon owed Jan a life debt, and
although not taken as seriously as a Wookie's, it was still a debt. Daemon
was distraught, and convinced himself that Jan must be alive…somewhere. He had looking for him, theorising that
when the pod had ejected it must
have exited the hyperspace tube. And so he had been searching, on and off for
eight years. Similar bombs had gone off in Nias’ and Bad Luck Beon Odiss’
ships at the same time. Beon had been able to land the ship, but his co-pilot
had died on impact. Nias had not been so lucky, losing his fiancé and his
legs. The fanatic responsible was eventually caught and despatched by Blake
who had returned from his battle with the dark side of the force. It had cost
him dearly and he had not been the same person since - refusing to take a
place on the newly reformed Setnin Council of Jedi, insisting that he could
not be trusted. They met in the central lounge. There were others
there, local diplomats, old acquaintances and some of Nias's business
partners. They didn't intrude on the camaraderie that existed between the old
friends. Bad Luck Beon joined them half an hour after Centaurs arrival and
they all sat down to chat about old times. It couldn't last though. Beon
stood up, moving towards the dais at the far end of the room. “Today
we are here for two very important reasons. The first, and probably the most
important to the majority of you here, is the naming of this station. As well
as that, we would like to remember an old friend who disappeared ten years
ago. Jan Lomona was an inspiration to us all. He showed humour when we felt
pain, was always there when his friends were in trouble, usually causing it,
and always knew when to buy a round of drinks. Many of you here will not have
heard of him, or will only have heard rumours.” Bad Luck paused and raised
his glass. “He was, in my humble opinion, the best pilot in the galaxy. He
was always able to pull a new manoeuvre out of his bag of tricks. So, as a
way of honouring a friend, and an inspiration to half the Setnin Sectors
underworld, I'd like to name this station.”
Odiss picked up a communicator unit off the dais. “Mrs Centaur, the
show is yours.” Enormous metal shutters rolled up around the room,
revealing large transparisteel windows. Outside these giant windows the whole
station could be seen and beyond that the blue-green orb of Vorathie. The sun
was just rising over the terminator creating an awe-inspiring view. The crowd
gasped collectively. The suns rays caught the Berone Sunrise as she powered up her engines and pulled at the
giant coverings that had been placed over the stations nameplate. As the covering moved Beon moved back up to the
microphone. “Ladies,
and gentlebeings, I give you Jan’s
Folly - Vorathies new trading station.” The crowd clapped, friends cheered and no one
noticed what was happening outside the main windows. The Berone
Sunrise was flying, really
flying. Swerving in and out of the stations superstructure the craft was
pulling manoeuvres that even the famed Salura
Star would have found difficult to match. Beon smiled. This
must be Paige’s tribute to her father he thought. No one noticed Daemon Garr enter the room. Centaur was busy watching his wife display her
flying abilities. Jan would be proud
he thought to himself. A soft arm wrapped its self around his waist. He
pulled back in alarm to find Paige standing next to him, tears in her eyes.
It was then he noticed Daemon Garr standing behind her. “What
the…?” His brain wasn't kicking in. Who was flying the Sunrise? Daemon answered the question for him. “There
was an explosion aboard the Thunderchild
II. Lomona managed to escape. He ejected in the escape pod and rode
through hyperspace for a while until he was pulled out by a wormhole. That took him right across the galaxy. He didn’t know where he was, what planet
he was on, nothing. So, he decided to
make the best of his situation and start over. Make a name for himself where nobody had ever heard of
him. He spent the next eight years
carving a new reputation for himself on the other side of the galaxy, making
contacts and playing at being the hungry smuggler again. I found him two years ago near the
Core. I’d traced certain clues to the
other side of the Core and wound up finding him on a dirtball of a world
called Dagoah. I asked him how he’d
been and told him that his friends and family were missing him very
much. He said he’d not been in
contact because he knew that you two were happy together and that he didn’t
have to worry about you anymore.” Daemon took hold of Paige’s hand and looked
straight at Ryath. “He asked me not to tell you. You know how he likes making
grand entrances.” Centaur smiled at that. He looked out towards the
spectacle that Jan was busy creating with his beloved ship. No one else
seemed to have noticed that it wasn't Paige flying the ship. They were all
too busy looking through the window at the display on hand. Beon grinned widely. Even Nias Derril seemed to have a tear
forming in his one good eye. Centaur grinned inwardly. Jan Lomona loved it. Ten years of flying other peoples ships could
never hope to be a substitute for his own beloved freighter - he had been
itching to fly the Sunrise again.
Besides, who could really test
drive the new engine set up except for him? He barrel rolled the Sunrise and put her into a loop that
would reflect the full force of the Vorathie sun at the onlookers in the
central lounge. Spinning three times in a second the Berone Sunrise looked for all the world like a giant flashing
beacon of hope as she burst past the main windows. It’s good to
be back. Test Drive 1999
short story by Louis Turfrey and Mark Newbold Twenty-eight years after Episode
IV – A New Hope Histories – Written by
Louis Turfrey and Mark Newbold, this story is hugely significant, in that it
pushed the Lightsabre chronology forward a vast amount of time towards
what would become the New Underworld Age. Without this story, which
was originally a `what-if’ tale, none of that would likely have
occurred. In this story we learn the
fate of the smuggler Jan Lomona, who had disappeared a decade before and was believed dead. Test Drive tells a very different
story from the Mid-Rim, and despite being written before the advent of the New Jedi Order,
this tale is set in the centre of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion and the formation of the Galactic
Federation of Free Alliances – the body that would replace
the New Republic. Cast of Characters Ryath Centaur Paige Centaur Bad Luck Beon Odiss Nias Derril Tarr Ranth Blake De’Athe Daemon Garr Jan Lomona |