Grand Marshal Trilogy: Wrath of the Grand Marshal

From Jalassociatecomics

This a Wrath of The Marshal short story, on which the comic will be based. Enjoy!

Prolog

The Grand Marshal Trilogy:
EPISODE TWO

THE WRATH OF THE MARSHAL

It has been a period of uneasy
peace for the New Republic.
Though the Grand Marshal and
his treacherous troops have
been seemingly crushed underfoot,

Rumours have been spreading about
a violent and bloody return.
The New Republic cannot help but
feel uneasy as they sense
the wrath of the Marshal is nigh.

A new generation of Jedi, handpicked
by the great Luke Skywalker himself
steps forth to face the sea of
trouble, and by opposing, end it...

The Return

It was an early morning for Jake, who had yet to get used to the irregular shifts of New Republic patrol duty. Jake was also known by his callsign Violet 2, and sat at the controls of his A-Wing, floating lazily in orbit around the stronghold of Yavin 4.

On patrol duty, the craft was almost never required to display the swift agility and startling firepower for whicch had made its name. Jake liked action, and was deep in the throes of boredom, not caring much for the incredible vistas of deep space.

He drifted back to happenings a short half-a-year ago, where he was involved in an epic space battle between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant, in response to the capture of Commander Luke Skywalker. violet 2 and that same craft had made a daring escape when closed in upon by formidable TIE forces.

The pilot was shaken from his remininces by a comlink transmission. It had come from his duty partner Tom, Violet 4. He was often known for his flashiness, as was clearly exhibited by the wild markings on the exterior of his heavily souped-up A-wing.

"Anything come up yet?" Jake's good friend muttered in a tone almost as bored as he was. Jake's unenthusiastic reply was suddenly come short by a panicked exclamation by his partner, followed by a shocked "you'd better look at this..."

On Tom's windshield appeared a fearsome sight, one that belonged to six months back. Surely he was hallucinating, hadn't all trace of that horrid regime long been wiped out? And yet, there it was, appearing closer and more thretening with every second that elapsed. An Imperial Shuttle, flanked by a single TIE Interceptor.

"What in Palpatine's..." Tom instinctively reached out for the ejector seat control, leaning out to the side. It was however, much too late. Two concussion misslies shot out of the TIE Inceptor, a screaming trail behind them. "It's not supposed to do that!" were all Tom, paralyzed with fear and disbelief, could manage.

The missiles collided head on, blowing the fighter back, with every second bringing a worse state of disintegration. Tom held on the the cargo compartment door for dear life, as he watched his arm violently ripped fron its socket, the rest of his body soon following. As with the craft, all that remained of the pilot was a mangled, scattered mess.

"Violet 4! Do you read me!" Jake yelled into the comlink, not expecting a reply. In a fit of rage, hed jammed the fire button on his dashboard, but only succeeded in destroying a small part of the TIE Interceptor's wing. By now his trajectory was almost in line with that of the menacing space craft. Almost calmly, the Interceptor's black-clad pilot fired. Two new missiles trailed out of the concealed launcher, a discreet but deadly modification, and met their target.

The Grand Marshal had returned.

Not Yet Opening Time

By now, the monitor station back on the ground had sensed that their two patrol craft were no more...but were unsure, initially, what to make of it. Was it a rare glitch? "Violet 4! Come in!" Ground support was still trying to confirm if the reported loss was really that.

"It just disappeared!" The hitherto quiet (and, most thought, rather boring) life of a radar systems control officer had suddenly begun brimming with flurried action. The events of half a year back were still haunting most of the New republic officials, who, despite not-so- interesting jobs, were always on the lookout.

High above the forested moon, the Imperial Shuttle and its escort, protected by stealth cloaks which protected them from all forms of detection except sight, made their leisurely approach to the still-awaking new Republic Stronghold.

"ETA five minutes, sir," the modified Interceptor's pilot said into the comlink. The image on his holographic heads-up-display showed a nod from his superior on board the Shuttle. The holograph then faded away, and the pilot began his landing checks, slowly flicking the swithches on his dashboard one by one.

Just as a precaution, armed soldiers had been deployed at all areas around the Base where a landing could be facilitated. The Jedi had yet to be notified, though. There was no real reason to bring the state of alarm to that level. furthermore, the threat had yet to be confirmed.

Breaking through the dense, year-round tropical atmosphere, the Shuttle's three wings slowly folded up into the landing configuration, and the repulsor-lift engines underneath it facilated the gentle landing. Behind it, the TIE Interceptor followed. Too shocked to take any action, the ground support stood slacked-jawed, their gaze following the ships' descents