Paul steadied his breathing to minimize the rise and fall of his rifle. Looking through the scope, he gradually got the cross hairs where he wanted on his target. With his right thumb he made sure that the weapon was set to full automatic. With his left thumb he activated the laser ranger and the distance to the target appeared in his scope. Satisfied, he took in a breath, let half of it out, and then held it.

Paul gently squeezed the trigger and a thunderous roar erupted from the rifle as bullets headed towards his target. The recoil from the rifle wasn’t that bad, so he sent another burst at the target without having to reset the shot. Above the noise of the rifle firing he hardly heard the shell casings hitting the floor.

A second target appeared, heading towards him. Paul took aim, and then opened fire again hitting the new target with two short bursts. Satisfied, he flicked the safety on and set the rifle down on the counter. He removed his safety goggles and ear defenders and placed them next to his rifle, then pressed a button on the side of booth to send both targets headed towards him. As they got closer he could see that he had hit both targets both times in the head and center mass. Paul was pleased with the grouping. If the targets had been real people then they would have been very dead!

“So this is where you’ve been hiding.”

Paul turned around to see who had spoken to him. It was Major Andrew “Dobber” Dobson. “Hey Andrew, I thought I’d kill some time while I was waiting to go back on active flight status.”

“I take it there’s been no word from Command as to when that will be?” Andrew asked.

“Not yet, Leo said he’ll be contacting them again later today. But at least it’s given me the chance to get my shooting back up to scratch.”

“So I see.” Andrew was looking at the other targets that Paul had shot earlier, most of them where in a similar state to the two that hung in front of Paul now.

Paul picked up his rifle and a black cylinder that had been lying on the counter. He slotted the cylinder into the barrel and started to screw the silencer into place. He then picked up his goggles and put them back on, but, this time, left his ear defenders off. He pressed another button on the side of the booth and several targets came towards him. Taking aim quickly, he flicked off the safety and set the rifle to full auto. As Paul squeezed the trigger and started shooting the targets, Andrew was amazed at how quite the rifle had become, the shell casings were making more noise when they hit the floor than was the rifle actually firing. With a click, the ammunition ran out. Paul ejected the empty magazine and cocked the weapon several times to make sure there wasn’t a round still chambered. Pointing the rifle down range again, he squeezed the trigger, but all that happened was a click, indicating that the rifle was indeed empty. Paul applied the safety once more and then took off the silencer.

Andrew looked at the last target; its mid-section was completely shredded. “Ouch. I’d hate to be one of your targets!” he said, then added before Paul could respond, “I’ve noticed that you’ve been at the range quit a bit lately. Any reason why?”

Paul smiled. Since returning to Blue Squadron, he had been on the shooting range a lot. “It helps clear my mind and keep me calm while waiting for Command to let me get back out there in a fighter.”

Andrew nodded as Paul cleared up his shooting station and asked, “Tell me again how come you never had to give that rifle back to the R and D people?”

Paul held the rifle in his right hand. It was given to him several years ago. Since then, he had used it a few times on missions that required him to fight on the ground. In his opinion, it was a good weapon. “Well, after the trial period was over, only a few testers gave positive feedback about its performance. It seems that most people prefer laser rifles to projectile ones.” Paul shrugged, then continued, “so, plans for mass production of the X-14 were shelved indefinitely. Thing is, those of us that liked it were allowed to keep the prototypes. I even get my own little ammo shipment every supply run.”

“I see,” Andrew replied. “Oh, by the way, how’s the nose?”

“Fine.” Paul gave a little sniff, “The MDs say it wasn’t broken, just badly bruised. It still hurts a bit when I sneeze though!” he chuckled. Several days ago, he was hit in the face and knocked out by an Imperial spy. The spy was then killed by the new joint operation squad onboard the Morning Star known as Team Hawkbat.

Paul shouldered his rifle and collected the rest of his equipment before the two men set off towards the turbo lift. While they where waiting for the lift to arrive, Paul turned to Andrew, “So what brings you down here anyway?”

“Leo asked me to let you know about today’s briefing at 14:00 hrs. He said he knows that you’re not on active duty yet but he feels that you should be involved with mission planning and briefings.”

Paul nodded and looked down at his crono; it was only 10:00 hrs. “I’m sure Leo didn’t send you all the way down here just to tell me that?”

“Err, no. Not entirely. I was just kind of curious about something else and thought I’d ask you about it.”

The lift arrived, doors slid open, and both of them stepped in. Andrew looked at Paul to find out what destination he wanted. “Deck 10, armory please. So go on then; what do you want to know?”

Andrew pressed the button for deck 10 and then pressed the button he needed for himself. “I was wondering where you’ve been? You disappeared without even a word to anyone for the better part of a year and then just turn up in Imperial Missile Boat! So, I was just kind of curious as to where you’ve been.”

“Andrew, if it where up to me, I’d tell you, I’d tell everyone, but I’ve been told to keep it all quiet and that’s what I’m going to have to do. I’ll tell you this though, it’s not being kept quiet for my safety, but for others. Now that’s all I can say.”

The lift stopped and before Andrew could try and ask him anymore questions, Paul walked out and headed to the armory to hand in his rifle to the Quarter Master. The lift doors shut leaving a frustrated Andrew inside.

Blue Squadron briefing room – 1400 hrs

“Ok people, settle down.” Sean ‘Leo’ Healey stood at the front of the briefing room, he touched a button on his data pad and the lights in the room dimmed. “Today we’re going back to basics, by that I mean we’re doing a hit and fade mission.”

Hit and fade missions were the Rebels preferred attack method back when the Rebel Alliance first challenged the rule of the mighty Empire because the Rebel fleet was not big or powerful enough to go one on one with the Empire’s superior forces. So the Rebels used the hit and fade strategy of jumping in, doing a lot of damage in a short amount of time, and then jumping back out. After the death of the Emperor and the destruction of the second Death Star, the New Republic was now in a position of moderate strength, so the hit and fade tactics were not being used as much any more.

“Our target is this...” Leo pressed a button on his data pad and a holo-image of a space station appeared. “The station itself is of no real strategic importance; it’s what is inside that we’re after.” Leo pressed the button on his data pad again. The image of the station was replaced with two Imperial profiles. “On the left is Commander Kern. He is the current Imperial Commander of the sector. He has a particular brutal record, a very hard line Imperial, not a pleasant individual at all. Next is Inquisitor Apex. Inquisitor Apex is one of the Empire’s most skilled interrogators. It is thought that Apex has been the reason why the Alliance has lost a number of strategic engagements, which should have been easy Alliance victories.” Leo pressed the button on his data pad again. The holo-images of Kern and Apex disappeared and the lights came back on in the room.

Several pilots shuffled about in their seats. When everyone settled down, Leo carried on with his briefing.

“Red Squadron will be flying CAP on this mission, leaving the station’s destruction to us. Intelligence reports say that enemy presence in the area is light to moderate.” Several pilots groaned at the assessment. Blue squadron’s newest pilot, Deanna “Dee” Hashi, raised her hand. “Yes, Dee?”

“With all due respect, sir, but Intelligence hasn’t exactly been on the money lately. The last few missions we’ve had they’ve gotten it wrong…in style!”

A murmur of agreement came from the pilots as they started talking among themselves about their last few missions where the intelligence reports had been pretty poor and inaccurate.

“Settle down…all of you…now!” The tone of Leo’s voice made the room fall silent. “I know that our Intel has been off of late, but I am assured that the information about fighter strength at the station is of the highest caliber.” The well disciplined pilots kept quiet. “Ok, all B-Wings will have a Rocket load out, while X-Wings will be using Advanced Proton Torpedoes. Any questions or comments?” It was not the best question he could have asked at that time.

Paul raised his hand. Leo nodded. “Just one thing to remember…when the station’s shields go down, keep an eye out for any shuttles running away.”

Leo nodded towards Paul. “Anyone else? Ok, in that case, go get your ships ready, we leave at 1630 hrs.”

All of the pilots, except Leo and Paul, stood up and filed out of the room. “I’ll be speaking to Command when I get back concerning your flight status Paul,” Leo said. “I’m hoping that you’ll be granted full flight status.”

“Thanks, Sean. I appreciate that. I would have liked to be going with you on this one. Any chance you can slip me in?”

Leo laughed, “I wish I could, but I think Command would have me flayed alive if I counter one of their orders. What are you going to do while we’re gone?”

“Well, since I can’t go and play with you guys, I thought I’d go and take part in Lieutenant Vinie’s unarmed class.”

“Well, at least I’ll know where to find you when we get back.”

“Really?” Paul asked, sensing that Sean was having fun at his expense.

Leo laughed as he patted Paul on the shoulder. “Yeah…sickbay!”

“Humph, you make sure you don’t get fragged out there, Chief. Otherwise I’ll never get back into a cockpit!”

Leo feigned being hurt as he left the briefing room and headed towards the turbo lift that would take him down to the hanger and his ship. Paul was left wishing that he could be joining his squadron in the upcoming attack.

Ten minutes later

While the rest of the squadron was getting ready for the mission, Paul headed to the ship’s gym. When he got there, he removed his flight jacket and holster and hung them over one of the weight machines. In the center of the gym, tumble mats had been put down so that if people were thrown to the floor the impact would not hurt them that much. At the mats edges, there were about 30 people watching Lieutenant Vinie throw a large Trandoshan male over her shoulder. The Trandoshan lay on the mat and blinked several times before moving. With amazing speed and agility the Trandoshan got up on his feet and quickly went on the attack. Several punches and kicks were aimed at the small Twi’lek woman, all of which Alecia dodged with ease and grace. Before the Trandoshan could react, Alecia dropped down to one knee, and using her forearm, she slammed it into the Trandoshan’s stomach, winding him. Then, before he had time to recover, Alecia once more flipped him onto the mats. Alecia stood over the prone Trandoshan and offered him her hand. The Trandoshan accepted and was helped back up onto his feet by Alecia.

“Thank you, Sergeant Kossk. Your help with that demonstration was appreciated. That will be all.”

“The pleasure was all mine, Lieutenant, honest!” Kossk walked off the mats holding his stomach with his left hand and rubbing the back of his neck with his right.

“Now, do I have any other volunteers?” Alecia stood in the middle of the mats looking at her captive audience. “Anyone?” Alecia noticed Paul standing at the edge of the tumble mats. “Ahhh…Major Sweet! If anyone needs some practice it’s you! Especially after what happened to you at the hands of that Imperial agent! How about being our next volunteer?” A few of Alecia’s people laughed at the comment.

Paul moved forward, “Sure. I’ll have a go; but you have to promise to be gentle.”

Alecia watched as Paul walked on to the mat. “I’m sorry, Major, but I’m afraid there are no guarantees here. Besides, you fighter jocks could do with a bit of toughening up.” With that Alecia bowed towards Paul and assumed a fighting stance. He sighed and did the same.

“Tell you what, Leftenant, we should have a three fall match, first one to put their opponent down on the mat three times wins.”

“Sounds good to me, Major.”

For the first minute, they just used feints to get the measure of each other; neither of them fully committed to attacking the other. It was Paul that made the first move by throwing a punch towards Alecia’s face. Her hands shot out and grabbed Paul’s wrist. She was planning on throwing him over her shoulder just as she had done to Sergeant Kossk. But, that was as far as her plan went.

Knowing what she would try, Paul was ready with a counter move. With his left hand, he shoved her squarely in the chest as he pulled his right arm back in towards himself. With her body set for a throw and not expecting a counter move, Alecia was sent sprawling to the floor with a loud thump. Paul settled back into a fighting stance.

The look of surprise on Alecia’s face didn’t last long. She flipped back onto her feet and also dropped back into a fighting stance. “First round to you, Major.” She was already moving from left to right on the mats.

Paul nodded towards her, waiting for her to attack this time. He had a feeling that Alecia wasn’t used to coming off second best in these types of situations and she was looking for a way to even the score. To throw her off, he changed his mind and made the first attack again, going in with a low punch towards her stomach. Alecia easily countered the attack, but didn’t have time to respond with her own attack as Paul was already attacking again with a flurry or kicks and punches. He could see that she was not the sort of fighter used to being on the defensive and decided to frustrate her even more.

“What the heck?” Alecia didn’t know what made Paul say that, however, she did realize that he had let up on his attacks and she was now going to use Paul’s hesitation against him by going on the offensive. But, before she could, Paul spoke again. “What the hell is Lieutenant Wielsan doing with those flowers?”

The comment was enough to stop Alecia in her tracks as she turned and looked towards where Paul was looking. Wielsan wasn’t there. Instead, Alecia found herself being thrown over Paul’s shoulders and landing hard on the mat. It was the oldest trick in the book…and she fell for it. She slammed her fists into the mat at the thought of being bested.

Paul backed off and got himself ready in a fighting stance once more. Alecia flipped over and got into a crouch. Her face was flushed with anger and her lips peeled back in a feral snarl. She leapt towards Paul as fast as she could. She was going to smash him to the ground with all her strength. She was just within reach of him when he sidestepped and crouched down in one fluid motion. As he did so, he started to spin and let his right leg go out. His drop kick connected with the back of Alecia’s legs and swept them from under her as she landed. For the third time in a row, Alecia landed hard on her back, winding herself.

Before she could react, Paul put his left hand firmly on the canter of her chest, pinning her to the floor. She looked up to see that he was poised to punch her straight in the face with his right hand. Then his fist shot forward, stopping millimeters from her nose. She blinked once, and let out a slow breath of defeat.

Before her breath was fully expired, Paul was up and walking off the mats. The crowd opened a gap for him to walk through and several of the onlookers where shocked at what they had just seen. It was the sort of thing didn’t happen to their Lieutenant.

“Well, I think that’s three rounds to me, Leftenant. We must do this again sometime.” With that, Paul attached his holster and slipped on his flight jacket. Without looking back he walked out of the gym leaving a stunned Alecia Vinie still lying on the training mats.

Thirty minutes later in the Fishtank

Paul was seated at one of the tables in the Fish Tank, the preferred place of the majority of pilots and crew for winding down after a long day. He was taking a sip from a steaming mug as he listened to his two companions at the table. Rob “Biggs” Baden and Chelsey “Vape” Maxfield were both still on light duties after recently being shot by the same Imperial spy that had also attacked him. As he took another sip from his mug of tea, he realized how good it was to be back among his friends after all the time he had spent away from them on assignment for the NRI.

Chelsey was still using a walking stick to get around and her chest was still sore whenever she laughed, which was what she was doing now. She winced and then laughed again, which made her wince yet again, making both Rob and Paul laugh, which, in turn, made Chelsey laugh all the more. When she finally stopped herself from laughing, she looked at the other two pilots. “I swear the pair of you are trying to make me kill myself from laughing to death!”

“Ms. Maxfield, are you suggesting that we are deliberately doing this to you for our own devious pleasure?” Rob’s face was completely deadpan as he spoke. “I am utterly shocked at such an allegation, even though it’s true.” They started laughing again. The three of them continued to talk about various subjects for a while longer, and only stopped when a furious Alecia Vinie stormed into the Fish Tank. Alecia looked around; locating Paul, she marched over to the table.

Paul looked up, “Can I help you, Leftenant?”

“Damn right, you can! You can explain to me what the hell all that crap was back there in the gym!”

“Excuse me, Leftenant? Do you have a problem with your training session that I attended?” Chelsey and Rob watched the scene unfolding in front of them, unsure at what was happening.

“Problem? For starters, you humiliated me in front of my people; damn it! And the reference you made about Lieutenant Wielsan…how dare you?” Alecia was starting to go red in the face as she got more and more angry, her voice rising in volume, causing the few other people in the Fishtank to stop what they where doing and see what was going on. “Who the hell do you think you are? What gives you the right to…”

Before Alecia could carry on with her tirade, Paul stood up so fast that his chair went over backwards. With his face just an inch from hers, Paul’s voice was quiet, calm and deadly. “Before you carry on, Leftenant, I suggest you reel in your temper. Sit down and shut up before I bust you for being insubordinate to a superior officer and throw your ass in your own brig. Do you copy, Leftenant?”

The wind seemed to be knocked out of Alecia again for the second time that day as she looked around the Fish Tank, noticing, for the first time, that everyone was watching her. Before she could go Paul spoke again. “I said sit down, Leftenant. That’s an order!”

Realizing that she had over stepped the mark, Alecia did as she was ordered while Paul picked up his own chair and sat back down. The other people in the Fish Tank also slowly returned to their own conversations and drinks. “So, what’s the problem, Vinie? You’re pissed at me for showing you up in front of your class and the fact that I know that Lieutenant Wielsan has a crush on you? Or are you pissed that the Captain ignored your suggestions and recommendations about me? Or is it everything I just said?”

The red had started to fade from Alecia’s face and her normal skin color started to return. “How did you know, sir, about what I recommended to the captain?”

“After the incident with the Imperial agent the captain called me in. He told me that, for a while, I was the prime suspect. He also told me how you wanted to question me when it all kicked off and that, when that was denied, you wanted me under guard. So, what was it, Vinie? Was it your suggestions being ignored by the captain again?”

He paused for a second, but did not let her answer.

“Now, I don’t know if it’s something personal about me that you don’t like, or if it’s ex-Imps in general, but hear this and hear it well, Leftenant. The captain is satisfied with my actions; Captain Kitz is satisfied with it; and, just for good measure, so is the NRI. So, if you have any problems with me, deal with it. Understood?”

He paused again. And again he continued before she could answer.

“As for how I know about Wielsan’s little crush on you, you’d have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to notice how he behaves when you two are together. Would you like me to tell you what happened in the gym earlier as well?”

Alecia simply nodded.

“From what I’ve seen of your unarmed combat you’re pretty good, but that’s it. I was able to beat you for a few reasons: you’re overconfident in your abilities; you get easily distracted; and, finally, you let your anger take over. Put all of that together and, sooner or later, you’ll pay for it…big time. Also, you need to remember that I’ve been trained by both sides and I’ve been doing this longer than you.”

Alecia looked at him for a while before speaking. “I am sorry for losing my temper, sir. I would completely understand if you want to report this incident.”

“No. I don’t think that’ll be necessary, Lieutenant Vinie. You are more than welcome to join my friends and myself for a drink and a chat if you like, just to prove that there are no bad feelings on either side.”

“I appreciate the offer, sir. I really do, but I think I should get back to my duties.”

“Ok. Another time then.”

“Yes, sir.” Alecia snapped off a quick salute, turned, and left the Fishtank.

When she had left the bar, Paul let out a long sigh. “You know, it seems that women on this ship all want me dead or in custody! Rob, next time we meet up with any Gamorreans, please remind me to go ask them for advice on how to get along with women.”

Chelsey was wincing again as she laughed. Rob just smiled, slowly shaking his head.

C & C, one hour later

The three pilots went up to the C & C room to listen to the attack on the Imperial station. So far, the attack was going as planned. It even seemed that the Intel assessment was right on the money about the fighter cover number. Still, it was difficult for the three pilots to listen to the battle chatter. They all felt as if they should be out there.

Paul looked at the display table. The icons of his squad mates were concentrated around the Imperial station silhouette, while Red Squadron’s were spaced out, mixing it up with the Imperial fighters. Rob pointed out that several Imperial fighters had managed to get past the attacking Reds and were heading towards Blue Squadron’s location.

Leo must have seen them on his display, as he ordered Blues 4 and 10 to attack them. Kristofer “Target” Chester and Sara “Red” Ayana responded to the orders and immediately set off on an intercept course. Shortly thereafter, one of the Imperial fighters winked out of existence on the display table, a victory yell came from Red as she scored her first kill. She didn’t have time to celebrate for long as she targeted the next enemy fighter.

While Red and Target where dealing with the fighters, Leo and the remaining Blues had managed to get the station’s shields down. Certain parts of the station on the display started to flash yellow and then red, indicating that those sections had taken heavy damage. As more and more red areas appeared on the station icon, a new contact appeared on the display.

An Escort Shuttle had launched from the stations hanger. Paul had no doubt about who was on board the fleeing craft: the primary targets of the mission, Kern and Apex, trying to make good their escapes.

Andrew’s B-Wing was the closest fighter to the shuttle and he was going after it. Paul noticed the B-Wing’s shields were dropping slightly as Andrew closed in on the shuttle. Obviously, the shuttle’s rear gunner was doing his job. The shield readings for the shuttle also started to drop slowly at first, but then began to come down rapidly as Andrew hammered away. Before they failed completely, the image of the shuttle vanished from the display. For a few seconds Paul thought that the shuttle managed to escape into hyperspace, until he heard Andrew on the comm say that he had destroyed the target.

The station itself was destroyed moments later, leaving the few remaining Imperial fighters stranded with no base to which to return. However, judging by the way Red Squadron was still on the offensive, it didn’t look like this would be a problem for long.

Five minutes later, it was all over. All that remained of the outpost was debris. No one from Blue or Red suffered any serious damage. The two squadrons formed up for the jump that would bring them home and the three grounded pilots watched the display as, one by one, the fighters vanished into hyperspace.

Chelsey spoke first. “It looks as if we missed a good fight.”

“Indeed. But, there will be others; you can be sure of that.” Everyone agreed with Rob’s statement. As long as the Empire tried to hang on to its power, there would be a lot more fights for the two squadrons in which to partake. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’ll be several hours before both squadrons return, so I think I’ll head over to the Regis.”

“I’m off to the MDs to get my dressings changed and go for another bacta dip,” Chelsey added.

“Well, I guess that just leaves those reports for me to complete then,” Paul said with little enthusiasm. “Ah, the joys of senior rank!”

Leo’s Office - 2230 hrs

Leo was looking at the after combat reports from the previous mission. He was going over the events of the attack on the station and writing up his own accounts to send off to Command. He noticed that Flight Officer Ayana had managed to get three kills; two more and she would be an Ace. The damage report from Pappy was also on his desk. This time it was surprisingly small: a few scorch marks here and there, and the stabilizer on Andrew’s B-Wing would need to be replaced. Some of the exploding shuttle had lodged itself in his B-Wing, destroying the stabilizer.

Leo allowed himself a small smile. A damage report like this was one that he liked to see; no casualties and not much work for Pappy and his crew. Everyone was happy. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. He would work on the report for another thirty minutes before sending it to Command, then go to the Fishtank, have a drink, and then turn in for the night. Before he could carry on, there was a knock on his office door.

“Come in.”

The door slid open and Paul walked in. In his hands were two steaming mugs. Before Leo could say anything, Paul placed a mug in front of him and sat down.

“Thought you could do with a hot caf to keep you going, Chief. I know when I was doing after combat reports I needed something to keep me awake.”

Leo looked at the steaming mug in front of him. “Is that what you’ve got?”

“Nah, I can’t stand the bloody stuff. I drink Tea, much more civilized.” Paul smiled as he raised the mug to his lips and took a sip.

Leo raised an eyebrow at Paul before picking up his mug of caf and also took a sip. “Ok, I spoke to Command about returning you to active flight status. To which, it is my duty to report to you that, unfortunately…” Leo paused at the word when he saw Paul’s saddened face and then continued, “…they saw fit to grant you full combat flight clearance. Congratulations, Paul and welcome back.”

Leo reached over his desk and held out his hand. Paul took his hand and shook it.

“Oh, before you rush off to the Fishtank, you’re flying patrol in thirty minutes.” Leo was expecting an outburst or at least a growl, but, instead, all Paul did was simply smile and nod. Not getting the reaction he expected, Leo continued, “You’ll also be taking Cadets Hulk and Phantom with you. Please try and bring them back in one piece.”

“No promises, Chief. But, I’ll see what I can do. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got Shade and a flight suit to dust down and a fighter to prep.” Paul stood up and saluted. Leo gave a casual salute in return and then waved Paul out of his office. Paul picked up his mug of tea and left the office.

Thirty minutes later, Hanger, Morning Star

Paul received clearance to take off from the duty officer and gently eased his X-Wing through the Mag Con Force Field. As soon a he was clear, Paul nudged the throttle to full and shot away from the Morning Star.

The X-Wing took off a little faster than what Paul was used to in his Y-Wing. Fortunately, for him, Blue Squadron had an X-Wing in reserve that he could fly after the untimely demise of his Y-Wing. But, Leo and Dobber assured him that they’d be getting one or two more Y’s in the near future. They also told him that Blue would eventually be all B-Wings once the NR’s supply of Y’s ran out. Since the older Y’s were no longer being produced, its replacement, the B-Wing, was quickly becoming the NR’s staple heavy assault fighter/bomber. Rumor had it that there were even newer fighters now in development that would be hitting the fleet within the next few years. But, until he sat in any new fighter, Paul was happy to be in the cockpit of the versatile T-65.

Looking at his display, he located the Frigate Regis and headed towards it. “Shade,” the little droid chirped in acknowledgment, “patch me through to the Regis, little fella.” Shade gave a whistle and then beeped to signal that the comms channel to the Regis was open. “Blue 3 to Regis, I believe that you have two packages for me to pick up. Care to send them out to me?”

Lieutenant Kristy McCall was the duty Comms officer that evening and took the incoming transmission from Paul. “Copy Blue 3, wait one please.” Kristy switched channels and quickly spoke to the two cadets who where waiting for clearance to launch. “Blue 3, packages are on the way to you now. Play nice now. Regis out.”

“You know, Shade, people seem to have the wrong impression about me and I can’t understand why!” The little droid let out a noise that sounded like a raspberry, then started to chatter and chirp, telling Paul exactly why. Paul laughed at what the little droid said. “Well, when you put it like that, I suppose you could be right. Not saying that you are, mind you.”

The two X-Wings of Cadets Benfall and Spek’lya joined up on Paul’s X-Wing. Paul keyed his Comms, “Blue 3 to Morning Star. Starting patrol. Out.”

The patrol lasted five hours. Paul had used the patrol time to observe the two cadet pilots doing various combat maneuvers and also to see how they acted under combat conditions. They had powered down their lasers to their lowest settings and engaged in dog fighting with one another. Cadets Benfall and Spek’lya were really coming along, Paul would include in his report on his observations of the cadets during the patrol.

It felt fantastic to be back inside the cockpit of his fighter again. It felt as if he had never left. The smells, the noise, and the feel of everything felt just how it should be. Paul asked Shade to connect him to the Regis. “Blue 3 to Regis, two packages for you, unharmed and in one piece as requested.”

“Copy, Blue 3. Thanks for looking after them. Regis out.”

Paul cut his throttle back to idle and watched as the two X-Wings lined up with Regis’ hanger and docked. Once they had both done so, Paul pushed his throttle to full and shot off towards the Morning Star. “This is Blue 3 to Morning Star, requesting permission to land.”

“Morning Star to Blue 3, you are cleared to land, welcome home.”

“Begin the landing sequence, little fella.” Shade whistled in response and Paul surrendered the X-Wing to his droid. When the engines shut down, Paul pressed the switch to raise his canopy. A ladder was placed on the side of the cockpit for Paul to climb down and he saw that Pappy stood near by waiting. Paul walked over to him, “You’ve done an excellent job of looking after her while I’ve been gone, Pappy. Thanks. She handles just as I remember.”

“Aye, well it wasn’t too hard, Major. With you being away, we didn’t have to repair it all the time.”

Paul took on a wounded expression and clutched his right hand to his chest, “But Pappy, without pilots like me, you’d be out of work!” The Chief Mechanic snorted and walked off. Paul smiled and then headed towards the turbo lifts so he could get showered and a few hours sleep.

Three days later, lunch time

Paul collected his tray from the cook and headed towards a table where he saw Blue and Red pilots sitting. Easing down into one of the empty chairs, he sniffed at the bowl in front of him, letting the pleasant aroma enter his nostrils. It smelled very tasty, so, he picked up some of the bread that was on a side plate, dipped it into the stew, and placed it in his mouth.

Steve “Schmitty” Michadick sat opposite of him. “Go easy on it, Paul. It’s only Bantha Stew!”

With his mouth half full of food, Paul replied, “Steve, if you’d had to survive on Imperial food for the past several months, you’d be exactly the same, my friend.”

“In case you’ve forgotten, I grew up on Imp food,” Steve replied sharply. “So, unless things have changed that much over the past several years, their food can’t be worse than ours.”

“Let me put it to you this way: if the Imps ever got their act together, they would realize that they didn’t need to build huge super weapons. All they needed to do to conquer the galaxy was to serve everyone standard Imp meals and planets would be surrendering by the hundreds.” A few people laughed at what Paul said. “Seriously though, the food was bloody awful where I was.”

“Which was where exactly?” Andrew asked, knowing full well Paul couldn’t answer his question.

“Never you mind where, Mr. Dobson.” Paul balled up his napkin and threw it at Andrew, but he ducked. The napkin missed Andrew’s head and landed in Neill “Ranger” Magill’s stew.

People where laughing, while Neill just sat there with his spoon half way to his mouth, looking at the napkin that had suddenly become part of his meal.

“It’s good to see that you’ve still got bang on targeting, Paul!” Wildstar, who was also sitting at their table, taunted.

Paul looked to Richard “Wildstar” Vogel, shrugged, and simply said, “Secondary target?”

It was good to hear the sound of laughter from familiar people once again. The months Paul had spent undercover back in the Empire had not been an easy ones. Sitting here, with these people, Paul knew that he was home and among friends.

A few minuets later, after the laughter had died down, Chelsey Maxfield arrived at the table with her lunch and sat down. She picked up her mug in her left hand and her knife in her right. She then proceeded to tap the knife against the mug loud enough to get the attention of everyone sitting at the table. When they all had their eyes on her, she spoke, “I’ve just come from the infirmary and I’m pleased to tell you all that I am now officially fit for duty once more.”

Some of the pilots cheered; others clapped. Neill held up his hands to make everyone be quiet. Once the noise died down, he spoke up, “Congratulations, Ms. Maxfield. We’re all very happy for you. And now I have some even better news for you!” He paused. “You’re on patrol duty from 16:00 hrs until 21:00 hrs. But, wait! That’s not all! You’ll also be taking Cadets Hulk and Phantom with you and writing up evaluation reports on them afterwards.”

Chris “Pip” Layne, who was sitting opposite of Chelsey, burst out laughing as he saw the look on her face.

“Oh, Pip, you’ll be joining them as well. Might as well make it a foursome on patrol today,” Ranger cut him off.

Chris’s face sank. This same thing happened to Pip two days ago when Rob was deemed fit for flying. “You’ll learn one day, Pip. I hope.”

After lunch the pilots set off to attend to their various duties. For Paul, it was doing an inventory check of munitions and spares for Blue Squadron. Shade was helping him. They just finished up counting the spare parts as Shade transmitted the data to Paul’s data pad. The little droid whistled and beeped a few times.

“Yeah, I see we’re going to order a few things. Make sure that we get them on the next supply run the Star gets.” The droid tootled a reply.

“Right. Ok, let’s head over to the weapons locker.” Paul exited the storage locker and shut door. He keyed in the code and the door locked. Then, with Shade following him, he walked across the hanger deck to the munitions locker. He keyed in the access code and heard the door unlock. Turning the handle, he pushed the heavy door open and entered the room. “Ok, little fella, start your counting.”

Shade went to the center of the room and stopped. A beam of light emitted from his optical sensor at the start of the magazine rack. The droids head swivelled around until it completed the task. The whole process took about two minuets. Again, Shade transmitted the data to Paul’s data pad.

Looking at the display, Paul started to make some notes next to the findings. “We’re going to need some Torpedoes and Space Bombs soon; we’re running low on them, and I reckon a dozen Rockets wouldn’t hurt either. Ok, that’s that then. We’re done here, little fella. Let’s go.”

Before he could turn to leave, Shade started whistling at him. Paul looked down to his data pad to see what Shade was telling him. “You found an anomaly? Where?”

More whistles and beeps.

“On one of the Space Bombs? Ok; I’ll have a look.”

Paul walked over to the rack where the Space Bombs were stored. “The one in the back, right?” Shade beeped a yes. Paul eased his head in the rack to have a look. As he got to the rear side of the Space Bomb, his eyes locked onto a device secured to it. There was a wire attached to it, which was then attached to the wall of the armory. There was also a red light blinking slowly off and on. Paul felt the blood in his veins turn to ice water. He carefully removed his head and turned to Shade. “Ok, little fella, I need you to do exactly as I say and no arguing. I want you to get out of here and back to our quarters; understood?” Shade beeped once and left.

Paul exited the armory also. Seeing the deck officer, he waved the man over. “I need you to clear this hanger immediately and without using comms. I also want you to get in touch with the Captain and tell him we’ve got a situation in Blue Squadron’s armory; clear?”

“Yes sir, right away.”

The deck officer hurried off to carry out his orders, leaving Paul leaning against the wall. He was still there when Captain Ru’kaart turned up. With him was Lieutenant Vinnie and two of her security team. Paul stood up straight as the Captain walked over to him.

“What seems to be the problem, Major?”

“We’ve got an Imperial Mk IV limpet mine attached to one of the Space Bombs, sir.”

If what Paul just said had surprised the Captain, it didn’t show on his face. “Lieutenant Vinnie, do you have any ordinance experts under your command?”

Alecia thought for a moment before replying. “One, maybe two at the most, but that’s it. I think Colonel Nosnern will have people more qualified for this sort of situation.”

The Captain nodded. “Ok, get the Colonel here and let’s see if she can help. Also, I want both of the Squadron leaders here as well.” Alecia looked to one of the people that had come with her and the man set off to get everyone the Captain had asked for.

Paul stepped forward. “Captain, if I may?” Captain Ru’kaart nodded for Paul to continue. “While I was waiting for you, I got to thinking about this. I highly doubt that this is the only device aboard. Whoever planted this one, I’m betting planted others as well. I reckon you’ll find others in similar areas. That’s the thing with Mk IV’s if one goes off they all go off. They’re all set to the same frequency. A signal is sent by the exploding device to any others nearby.”

“So, are you suggesting, Major, that we seal off all armories and other such areas and sweep them?”

“No, sir. I’m suggesting that you confine all non-essential personnel to quarters and search the entire ship, top to bottom.”

As Paul finished, Sean, Kelly, and Elise Nosnern arrived. After quickly being briefed on the situation, Kelly spoke up. “With your permission, sir, I’d like to scramble half of Red Squadron now and put the rest on five minute standby.”

“Do it.”

Kelly saluted the captain and then jogged off.

Captain Ru’kaart turned his attention to Elise. “Colonel, how many people do you have under your command that can deal with this type of situation?”

Elise answered straight away. “Thirty two, sir. All of them are trained demolition experts.”

The captain grunted in approval. Looking at Paul, he said, “Ok, Major, if we go along with your suggestion, how long do you think it would take to search the ship?”

Paul thought about the question before giving his answer. “Being realistic, I reckon you’re looking at four days, five max, if we go stem to stern, checking everything, such as access panels, hatches, basically everything. Colonel Nosnern’s people will be able to give you a more accurate time scale once they get started. One final point you should know about, once you’ve located a device, you can’t disarm it straight away. You need to find any others as well. If you disarm only one, a signal will be sent, setting off the others. All devices need to be disarmed at the same time. Once that is done, you can then deal with the trip wires. I’m sure Colonel Nosnern’s people will know this already, but just making sure, it’s what makes the Mk IV’s so deadly and why the Imps like to use them.”

Captain Ru’kaart took a moment to take it all in. “Ok, Colonel, get your teams organized and searching as soon as possible. If you need anything or have any problems, you come to me straight away.”

Elise threw up a smart salute, turned on her heel, and headed off to get things started. Captain Ru’kaart turned to Alecia, “Lieutenant Vinnie, when a device is found, I want your people to guard the locations. I want at least five of your security people at every site.” Alecia turned to her remaining colleague. With a look, Alecia sent the man off to carry out the captain’s instructions.

“Ok, I’m going to go to the bridge and make an announcement confining everyone to quarters. Until Lieutenant Vinnie’s team gets here, I’m leaving the three of you to guard the area.” Sean, Alecia, and Paul all saluted the captain when he finished.

As the three of them waited for the security detachment to turn up, Paul drew his DL-44 from his holster. He ejected the energy clip, checked the reading, and slotted it back in. Thumbing off the safety, he put the gun back in its holster, but left the securing strap undone.

Alecia watched him. She waited until he was finished before she spoke, “You expecting trouble?”

“Nope, but then again, I wasn’t expecting to find a bomb today either!”

“Fair point.” Alecia started checking her own weapon.

The security detachment arrived just as the captain started to address the ship over the P.A. system. “Attention, all personnel, this is the captain speaking. Due to a situation arising aboard the ship, I am forced to set the ship to Condition One throughout. All non-mission essential duty personnel are ordered to return to their quarters until further orders. All mission essential personnel are to report to their department heads and await further instructions. That is all.”

Command Briefing Room, 2100 hrs

At the head of the table was Captain Ru’kaart. Sitting around the table were Commander Abodar, Captain Sooli Kitz, Lieutenant Alecia Vinnie, Lieutenant Colonel Elise Nosnern, Captain Talia Benq, Lieutenant Colonel Kelly St.Clair, and Lieutenant Colonel Sean Healey. Captain Ru’kaart rubbed his chin before speaking, “Earlier today I spoke to Fleet Command to let them know the situation onboard the Morning Star. They’re sending the Reef, Pride of Yavin, and Defiant to cover us while we hunt for the bombs. They should be here in half a day’s time. They also offered to send us additional ordinance experts. I told them I would get back to them on this matter after I asked my own people. Colonel Nosnern?”

Elise cleared her throat before speaking. “Thank you sir, I think that the report is best given to everyone by Captain Benq, as she is the one leading the operation.”

Captain Ru’kaart signaled for Talia to carry on. The small Zabrak women stood up. She looked even smaller than normal, as she was still dressed in her bomb disposal uniform. It seemed to swallow her whole. Talia’s helmet was on the table in front of her, its huge visor making the helmet rest at an odd angle. “Thank you, Captain. We have located a second device. This one was found in Red Squadron’s armory. It was attached to a Proton Torpedo in the same way the one in Blue Squadron’s armory was attached to the Space Bomb. The area has been sealed off and Lieutenant Vinnie’s people are guarding the site. As for Command’s offer of help, sir, I’ll take it. The more people we have looking, the quicker we can resolve the situation. So, yes, sir, I would appreciate any additional help that can be sent.”

The captain nodded his approval. “I’ll make the call as soon as this meeting is over.”

“Thank you, sir. If you have no further need for me, I’d like to get back to searching.” Captain Ru’kaart looked over to Elise who shook her head indicating that there was nothing else. Talia picked up her helmet and stuffed it under her left arm. She gave a salute, turned, and left the room.

Captain Ru’kaart waited for the door to close before continuing. “Captain Kitz, what do you have for me?”

Sooli stood up and moved over to a view screen on the wall. She pressed a few buttons on her data pad and the view screen came to life. On the screen was the image of the Imperial agent killed on the Morning Star just over a week ago. “At the moment, we’re working with the assumption that this man is responsible for planting the devices. We know that he was a skilled operative. This was made clear by the way he was able to access and bypass security systems on the Star. We think it was his idea of a good-bye present. However, we’re also entertaining the idea that he is not linked at all with the bombs and that we have another infiltrator aboard the ship. If this is the case, the devices might be set off at any time.”

Sean spoke up, “So, what you’re saying is: the clock might already be ticking, but we’ve no idea of how much time we might have left?”

Sooli nodded once. There was silence in the room for a while as everyone absorbed the information.

“Another thing that my team will be looking into after this incident is over is how the devices got onboard. Did the operative bring them onboard; or did they have help on the inside?” Again, the room was silent as people thought about the possibility of a traitor onboard the ship. Sooli walked back to her seat and sat down.

“Colonel St.Clair, how are your pilots doing?”

“They’re fine, sir, but I’ve talked to Colonel Healey and we agree that Blue Squadron should also be made ready to allow my pilots to rest and refresh.”

“Sounds fair. Ok, unless anyone has anything else…” Nobody spoke up. “You’ve all got things to do, so I won’t keep you any longer. Keep me informed, no matter how insignificant you may feel it is. I’m off to place a call to Captain Benq.”

Everyone stood up when the captain did, waited for him to leave, and then followed him out of the room.

Bridge of the Morning Star

Ensign Wraw was on duty when the supporting Alliance ships dropped out of hyperspace. The first was the Defiant. It was a heavy Corellian Gunship, one that looked like it had seen plenty of combat. There were several scorch marks visible on the hull plus a number of panels that stood out as newer ones due to their difference in color.

Wraw examined the ship in his display. It looked like a tough little character. The Pride of Yavin and Reef arrived together. The Pride of Yavin was one of the new Assault Frigates that the Alliance had started making. The hull of the frigate was that of an old Dreadnaught, completely modified, giving the ship greater speed, firepower, and armor. The Reef was a MC 80 Maximus, one of the earlier Mon Calamari ships that used to be a passenger liner, but had been converted to a military vessel.

Wraw looked at all the ships in his display. It was a nice little gathering: a picket ship, two frigates, and two destroyers. Wraw was also watching out for the arriving transports that were carrying the additional ordnance experts to help with the bomb hunting. They were expected to arrive in the next few hours.

With the arrival of the Reef, while one of her squadrons took over C.A.P. duties, both Blue and Red Squadron could rest. On his display, Wraw watched new contacts emerge from the Reef. The mix of Blue and Red pilots was ordered to land so they could rest while their fighters were re-fueled.

It was just over twenty-one hours since the first bomb had been found, and, so far, Captain Benq’s team had found a total of three bombs, including the first one found in Blue Squadron’s armory. Wraw looked away from his display screen and looked around the bridge. There wasn’t the normal background chatter that normally went on. Even during combat, people would be speaking to each other, passing on messages or orders. But, now, there was just an oppressive silence that no one seemed able to break. What really brought home the severity of the situation was ten of Colonel Nosnern’s troops in full combat gear with their rifles in hand. The captain was not taking any chances. Anyone that came onto the bridge was stopped and searched, had their I.D. checked, and, only then, allowed to continue. The thought that this sort of situation might possibly last for another three or four days did little to help matters. In a few weeks, Wraw was due to take some leave. He now found himself wishing that he was already on leave and even hoping that he would still be around to do so.

Paul watched, as a pair of the Reef’s patrol fighters flew past the Morning Star, while he waited to come in to land. When it was his turn, he activated the landing sequence for his X-Wing and brought the fighter through the Mag Con force field, following the deck boss’ landing instructions. Once settled on the ground, he shut down the fighter’s engines and popped the canopy. A ladder was placed on the side.

Paul stretched before getting out of the pilots seat. He had been flying along with everyone else for just over six hours. Placing both hands on the side of the cockpit, he pulled himself up and climbed down the ladder. Shade was being lowered down to the floor by one of the ground crew as Paul took off his helmet and placed it under his left arm. Everyone was heading over to where Kelly’s A-Wing landed. The Red Squadron C.O. was standing up in the cockpit calling the pilots over.

“As you know, the ship is set to condition one. That means that the Fishtank is not open and won’t be open until all of this is over. Movement is still restricted about the ship, so we will all be going to the mess hall now to get some food and drink and then it’s back to your quarters until further notice.” With that Kelly jumped down from his A-Wing and headed towards the turbo lift. As one, the other pilots followed him.

There were only two meals to choose from when it was Paul’s turn. One was a strange looking soup, which had tentacles floating in it. The other was a spicy noodles option. Paul looked at the soup. Maybe it was the heaters underneath the soup container, but Paul swore he saw one of the tentacles twitch. That was all he needed to decide what he was going to have.

Carrying his bowl of noodles, he sat down next to Rob and Andrew. Rob had also opted for the noodles, while Andrew had gone for the tentacle soup. Both Paul and Rob watched as Andrew stuck one of the tentacles in his mouth and started to chew. Noticing that he was being watched, Andrew quickly swallowed what he was eating and asked, “What?”

“Andrew, do you have any idea what the hell you are eating?”

“None at all! But, it tastes wonderful. The tentacles are really meaty and tender. Want one?”

Rob eyed the tentacle that Andrew had on his fork, offering it to them. “I think I’ll pass on the offer, Mr. Dobson, if you don’t mind.” Paul simply held up both hands and shook his head.

“Suit your selves, but you don’t know what you’re missing.” Andrew returned his attention to his soup.

After their meals, the pilots went back to their quarters. Shade was plugged into the charging socket in the corner of Paul’s quarters. Having quarters of your own was a positive most of the time: not bumping into someone else when you were getting dressed; having your own personal space. But, when confined to quarters, being by oneself was kind of lonely.

Paul thought about reading something. He picked up his data pad, flicked through the titles, and, not seeing anything he wished to read, flicked off the lights and got into his bed. He was asleep in five minutes.

Not long after that, he opened his eyes suddenly. Something woke him up, but he was not sure what. Looking at the time display on his data pad, he saw that he had been asleep for just over four hours. Still unsure of what woke him, Paul laid still in his bed. As he laid there, there was a knock on his door. he sat up, got out of bed, then quickly pulled on his duty trousers and a T-shirt. Paul hit the light switch and the room lit up. Blinking his eyes to get used to the sudden change to the bright light, he walked over to the door and pressed the button to open the door.

Standing in front of him was someone that he did not expect: “Veela?”

“The one and only,” the woman replied.

Veela Orrs opened her arms and wrapped them around him in a fierce hug. He returned the hug, but then pulled back slightly to look at her. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m helping out with the current situation on board. I’ve brought sixty ordinance experts with me to help yours find the bombs.”

Paul took a few steps back in to his quarters. Veela followed and the door shut behind her. “That’s good news. We need all the help that we can get.”

“That’s not all,” Veela replied. “The captain of the Reef has also offered his own ordinance experts, so there are over a hundred people now searching your ship.”

Paul offered Veela a chair as he sat down on his bed, noticing that her rank markings were now the same as his. “Congratulations on your promotion, Major Orrs. You never said anything about it the last time we spoke.”

Veela smiled. “It just happened last week. Battlefield promotion. My team took out an Imp base…more of them than us…heavily fortified positions…you know, a soft target! We got lucky anyway and someone upstairs figured it was worth a promotion and a pay rise. Oh, and the fact that everyone came back alive didn’t hurt either.”

“Well, you certainly deserve it; well done. Guess when all this is over, you can get the drinks.”

Veela snorted at the statement. “If anyone is getting the drinks, it’s you, fly boy!”

“Come again? How do you figure that?”

“I’ll tell you how; you disappear for months, then I get a five minute call when you decide to come back, but I’m not told squat about what happened. So, my friend, the drinks are most certainly on you.”

“Damn, Veela. That isn’t fair. You know I can’t tell you what happened. I’m not covering my six by keeping quiet; it’s to protect others.”

“I figured as much. Still doesn’t mean you’re getting out of buying me some drinks.”

“Yeah. Whatever, lady,” he laughed.

They continued talking for over an hour. He caught up on what his friend had been up to, how her husband Bey was doing, and how others in the unit he used to know were getting on. Paul could only tell Veela a few things, mostly of what had happened since his return to the Morning Star.

While the two of them where talking, Veela’s comm. beeped. She fished it out of her pocket and activated it. Paul couldn’t hear everything being said by the other person. He didn’t need to. As soon as Veela finished, she clicked the comm. unit off and stood up. “I’ve got to go. Captain Benq needs to talk to me about my team’s deployment. I’ll see you in a few hours.” She leaned in, kissed him on the cheek, then headed out of the room.

After she was gone, Paul leaned back against the wall. It was good to see Veela again after so many years. She hadn’t changed much in all that time. She was still a tough woman, but had a good sense of humor and remained a really good friend.

Command Briefing Room, three days later

The dark rings under Talia’s eyes showed just how tired she was. Again, her helmet was on the table and she was still dressed in bomb disposal uniform. She pressed a button on her data pad and a three dimensional image of the Morning Star appeared in the center of the table. The ship slowly spun and, while it turned, there were seven blinking red lights.

“Those are the mines that we’ve found. We’re ninety percent certain that these are all of the devices on board. I would love to be able to give you a one hundred percent guarantee that we’ve found them all, but I just can’t. Sorry, Captain.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Captain Benq. You, and all the other ordinance experts, have done a fantastic job under extreme pressure.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Now, how are you going to go about disarming them?”

“I’ll hand you over to Major Orrs for that, since it was one of her team members that came up with the idea.” Talia sat down, sinking right into the comfy chair.

Veela stood up and placed a small box on the table. “Now that we think we have found all the devices, we’re left with the problem of disarming them all at the same time. I don’t have to remind you that if we don’t disarm them all at once, they’ll all detonate. That’s where this comes in.” Veela picked up the small box for everyone to see.

Sooli looked at it for a while before asking the obvious, “What is it?”

“It’s an E.M.P. mine.” There was a low murmur as people whispered to each other. The captain held up his hand, signaling for everyone to be quiet. Once the room was quiet again, Veela continued. “The Electro Magnetic Pulse generated from this mine is enough to knock out anything electronic up to a meter away. One of the ordinance experts that I brought with me came up with the idea. We make seven E.M.P mines; attach them next to the Imperial mines; and then we detonate all of our mines at the same time, disabling the Imp devices. In theory it should work.”

“Thank you, Major Orrs.”

Veela sat back down. The captain looked about the room at the people in front of him. “It would appear that we have very few options left open, so let’s get on with it. How long would you need to get our mines ready for use?”

Colonel Nosnern answered this question. “About an hour, sir. Then another thirty minutes to get them in place. Probably two hours from now before we’re ready to detonate them.”

“Ok, let me know when everything is ready and in place. Get to it, people.”

Main hanger aboard the Morning Star

All the pilots assembled to hear the briefing and now stood together in a group in front of Lieutenant Colonel St. Claire’s A-Wing. Kelly stood on the A-Wing to make sure that everyone could see him. “Ok people, we’re going to be launching in twenty minutes, both squadrons. The Captain has asked for us to be out there patrolling when they try to disarm the bombs. It’ll mean that if anything goes wrong our fighters will still be combat ready. It also gives Defender and Legion squadrons a chance to rest and refuel.” Defender was the X-Wing squadron, and Legion the B-Wing squadron, on the Reef. “Also, just so you know, the captain has issued the order for all non essential personnel to be transferred to the Reef until it is safe to come back home to the Morning Star. Any questions?” He looked around; there were none. “Dismissed.”

Paul headed to his X-Wing. As he walked towards it, he saw Shade being lowered into the droid slot. He also noticed that Veela was waiting by his fighter.

“Hey.”

“Hey there, yourself.”

“So, are you heading over with the others, or are you staying here?”

“You know the answer to that question without asking. I’ll be here with my team.”

“Yeah? Well make sure I’ve got a home to come back to and stay safe.” Paul leaned in to Veela and kissed her on the cheek. In return, Veela squeezed his shoulder before heading off.

Paul climbed up the ladder and dropped down into the pilot’s seat. Pushing the buttons that brought the X-Wing to life, he ran through the fighter’s pre-flight and, satisfied that everything was working as it should be, pulled on his flight gloves and donned his helmet. The maintenance crew removed the boarding ladder and disconnected the fuel and power hoses. Giving the thumbs up to the ground crew and getting one in return, he flicked the switch that lowered the canopy. On the comm. he heard the others reporting their status. When there was a break, he made his own report, “Blue three has four in the green and is good to go.” Moments later the order to launch came from the controller on the bridge. Paul engaged his repulsors. When the fighter was hovering just over the deck, he pressed the switch to house his landing gear and got three red lights indicating that all the landing struts where secured. When it was his turn, he eased the ship through the force field. Once out in space he accelerated to seventy-five percent power. Locating Sean on his H.U.D. Paul brought his X-Wing in to formation and matched speed.

Once all the Blues were in formation, Sean spoke. “Begin combat patrol in your assigned sectors.”

Veela placed her hand to the headset she was wearing in order to hear the report she was being given. She turned to Captain Ru’kaart, “That was Captain Benq. She’s just placed the last E.M.P. mine in position. We should be receiving data from it any second now.” As if on queue, an ensign at a console gave Veela a thumbs up sign, indicating that the link to the E.M.P mine was established. “Ok, we need another few minutes to get them all in sync with each other.”

Captain Ru’kaart spoke into his own headset. “Attention, all personnel. This is the captain speaking. Make the ship ready. E.M.P. detonation in ten minutes. Everyone to their positions. Captain out.”

Steve watched the transports as they made their way from the Morning Star to the Reef. “That’s the last of the transports docking with the Reef now.”

“Copy, Blue Five. Now all we can do is wait.” Sean took a long look at the Morning Star as he flew by it. He felt confident that everything was going to be all right; yet could not shake the feeling of doubt that had been slowly building up inside him.

Veela was watching the console that would be used to detonate the E.M.P. mines. The screen had seven boxes on the left side, each one containing a carrier wave representing an individual mine. In the center if the screen, writing suddenly displayed two words: “Link Established.” Veela looked up to the captain, “We’re good to go.”

Captain Ru’kaart walked over to the console. Activating his headset once more, he spoke to everyone. “E.M.P. detonation in: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!” Captain Ru’kaart pushed the send key on the console.

No one spoke; there was only silence. For what seemed like an eternity, the comms remained silent. “All E.M.P. teams report in,” Captain Ru’kaart said, finally breaking the silence.

Paul listened to the reports come in one by one. All the Imperial mines had been deactivated; the E.M.P. mines worked! A cheer erupted from one of the pilots, then another, and another. The whole comms erupted with people cheering.

The captain’s voice on the comms calmed people down. “Nice work, people. Job well done. Now get those damn things off of my ship!”

The removal of the mines took just over half an hour to complete. They were placed in a container and jettisoned out an air lock. Once the container drifted a few kilometers away from the Morning Star, the Defiant’s gunners opened up. A laser bolt hit the container dead center. The resulting explosion was bright enough to be seen over 20 kilometers away.

Command deck of the ISD Predator, ten minutes later

“Sir, I’m picking up a signal. It’s Imperial.”

Captain Silas walked over to the officer that had just spoken to him. “Let me see.” He looked at the display. The signal was coming from another star system twenty light years away.

The officer sitting at the console blinked a few times as he noticed that something else was going on. “Sir, the signal is being redirected to Coruscant, on a priority one channel!”

“What? What did you do?”

“N-n-nothing, Sir.”

Captain Silas stood there, trying to figure out what was going on. A minute later, he was still trying to work it out when his comms officer called to him. “Sir, you have an incoming transmission from Director Isard!”

The color instantly drained from Silas’s face. “I’ll take it in my ready room. Transfer it there.” The comms officer complied, as the captain headed for his ready room. Once the door closed behind him, he pressed a button on his desk and the image of Ysanne Isard appeared on his display screen. “Madame Director, this is a pleasure. What can I do for you?”

“Spare me your pleasantries, Captain. The signal that you’ve just intercepted comes from an asset that I had aboard an Alliance warship, Agent Zero One Alpha. It means that the bombs that he planted aboard the ship have detonated. Therefore you have a damaged Mon Calamari Warship that is just waiting to be destroyed.” Silas didn’t say a word. He was too shocked to speak. “Also, Captain, you needn’t look so worried. I’ll be making sure you get the support of two more ships. As soon as they reach you, you are to jump in and destroy the Morning Star. I want no survivors.”

“Yes, Madame Director. I understand.”

“Good, make sure you do not mess this up, Captain. Otherwise, it would be best for you not to come back.”

The connection was terminated from Isard’s end, leaving Captain Silas wondering what had just happened to turn his day upside down. Snapping himself out of it, he walked back on to his bridge. He waited until sitting down in his command chair before he spoke. “Sound general quarters. Get the ship ready for combat. As soon as we are joined by two more Imperial warships, we are to jump to the location of the signal and destroy the Morning Star. Make sure that all squadrons are ready to launch when we revert to real-space.”

Bridge of the Defiant

“Captain Llexam, there’s a strange signal coming from the Morning Star.”

“What do you mean ‘strange’, Ensign?”

“Well, it’s the pattern. It repeats itself on a regular interval and it’s going out on a non Alliance frequency. If I’m correct, it’s acting like a locating beacon.”

Captain Llexam picked up a headset, “Put me through to Captain Ru’kaart, immediately!”

“You’re on, sir.”

“Dave, its Ghosin. We’re picking up a homing beacon coming from the Star, it sounds Imperial.” There was a pause. “No, we’re not sure how long it has been transmitting, but you can bet that the signal has been picked up and we’ve got company on the way.” Ghosin listened to Captain Ru’kaart for a moment before replying again. “Understood, and may the Force be with us.” Ghosin walked back to his command chair and sat down. He touched a button on the arm rest, putting him through on the ship’s speakers. “This is the Captain. All hands to battle stations. Imperial attack is imminent.” The lights on the bridge dimmed and then turned red and an alarm sounded.

“Captain, all stations report ready and secure.”

“Good, now all we can do is wait and see what comes for us.”

Bridge of the Morning Star

“The fleet is at full alert and ready to engage, sir. All fighter wings have reported in and are combat ready.”

“Thank you, Commander Abodar. Now all we need is the Imperials to show up so we can get this show on the road!”

“Captain, I’m picking something up on long range scans. Multiple targets on a direct intercept course.”

Captain Ru’kaart went over to Ensign Wraw’s station to look at the console. “Looks like we’ve got company.”

As if on demand, the three Imperial warships reverted back to real-space ahead of the Alliance fleet. Wraw looked at his display to see what had just dropped out of Hyperspace. “Contact, we’ve got an Imperial ISD Mk I, a Harrow Destroyer, and an Eidolon Frigate eight klicks out. They’ll be in firing range in one minute. The ISD and Frigate are launching fighters. Four…no, seven…correction; ten squadrons of enemy fighters incoming.”

“Order the Defiant and our fighters to engage the enemy fighters. The bombers are their primary targets. The Regis and Pride are to attack the Eidolon, the Star and Reef will target the Harrow.”

The captain’s orders were relayed to everyone.

“Sir, we’re in range.”

“All batteries, fire at will.”

Dozens of laser bolts from the Morning Star and the Reef shot towards the Imperial Harrow Destroyer. They were followed up by a barrage of Ion Cannon bolts. The laser bolts impacted on the shields of Destroyer making it visible to the naked eye. When the ion bolts hit, the destroyer looked like it was covered in dancing lightning as the charges played over the shields.

Bridge of the Imperial Harrow Destroyer Feudal

The tactical officer’s console overloaded. The exploding console blew the man from his seat, crashing him into the walkway. Captain Reakor knew just by looking at the man that he was beyond help. Smoke and flames were now coming from the ruined console. He shouted to no one in particular, “Get that fire under control. Damage report!”

“Sir, shields are down to sixty two percent, systems are at eighty five percent, guns are down to ninety percent. We’re getting reports of injuries and damage coming in from all over the ship!”

“Contact Captain Silas.”

“Yes, sir. Channel open, sir.”

“Silas, what the hell is this? There’s supposed to be one badly damaged Rebel cruiser here!” Another barrage of incoming fire hit the Feudal, setting off more alarms as more systems were damaged. Captain Reakor steadied himself as his ship lurched under the attack.

“They weren’t supposed to be here, Reakor. You heard what “Iceheart” said. Our fighters are engaging now. We concentrate all our firepower on the Morning Star. Once it’s destroyed, we’ll be in a better position to finish these Rebel scum. Ask yourself, Reakor, who do you fear more: these Rebels or Iceheart?”

The link to the Predator went dead. Reakor swore in frustration, loud enough to be heard by those around him.

“Bring us on an intercept course to the Morning Star. All guns are to concentrate on that target. Adjust the shields to full front.”

Reakor could only hope that it would be enough to save him and his ship

Paul’s H.U.D. went green. He pressed his trigger and a quad burst of laser fire shot out from his X-Wing. All four energy beams found their mark and the TIE Fighter exploded. Switching his targeting computer to the wounded TIE Bomber that he had originally been after, Paul changed course. The enemy bomber was still pressing on towards the Morning Star despite having lost over half of its starboard wing. The pilot was either very brave or just didn’t know when to quit. With a burst of speed, Paul got the TIE in his sights. Again, the H.U.D. went green and he pressed his trigger. His aim was on target and the bomber blew apart.

The Predator had launched two squadrons of TIE Bombers, while the Widow Maker, the Eidolon Frigate, had launched only one. Most of the TIE Bombers were destroyed by the four Alliance squadrons and the Defiant. A few managed to get through the fighter screen, however, and were now firing their rockets at the Morning Star. The gunners had no choice but to target the incoming rockets. As the incoming fire from the Imperial warships was all directed at the Morning Star, the rockets would have been too much for the shields to handle.

Several of the rockets got through the defense screen and impacted on the Morning Star’s shields. One rocket was able to get through an already weakened spot in the shields and impacted on the hull. “Hull breach on decks eighteen and nineteen. Damage control and rescue teams are being sent to the location.” Captain Ru’kaart listened to the report and then returned his attention back to the battle raging outside.

Shade gave a short series of whistles to get Paul’s attention. Pulling the flight stick full back, the laser bolts from the pursuing TIE Interceptor passed underneath his fighter. Checking his rear scanner, he saw that he had three enemy fighters after him, the TIE Interceptor and two TIE Fighters.

Putting his X-Wing through a stomach churning series of maneuvers, Paul tried his best to shake the three Imperials from his tail. It didn’t work. They doggedly clung to him. A few of their shots hit the X-Wing’s shields, sending a hiss of static through his comms.

Noticing the Defiant directly ahead of him, he headed in its direction. Someone on board the Defiant must have seen the situation he was in, as all of the Defiant’s port guns opened up on the pursuing Imperials. The two TIE Fighters were both reduced to debris. Only the TIE Interceptor managed to avoid the gunship’s weapons fire. The Imperial pilot had little choice. He stopped pursuing Paul’s X-Wing and took evasive action, trying to dodge the fire from the Defiant. But, it wasn’t enough. A bolt shot the port wing off the Interceptor, sending it spiraling away, only to explode seconds later.

“Your six is clear, Blue Three.”

“Cheers, Defiant. That’s one I owe you guys.”

“Any time, Blue Three. Good hunting.”

Paul headed back to what seemed to be the center of the combat area, near the Morning Star. There were dozens of fighters, all darting back and fourth, laser and ion bolts shot at targets that were there one second and gone the next.

Despite being outnumbered more than two to one, the New Republic fighter pilots were holding their own against the Imperial pilots. That wasn’t to say that the New Republic pilots had everything going their way. Red had to eject from her B-Wing and was waiting to be picked up by the SAR team. Ranger’s A-Wing had been hit, the right engine destroyed, though he had managed to get his battered A-Wing back to the Morning Star and was getting ready to come back out in a spare fighter as soon as it was prepped.

Paul saw the SAR ATR on its way to pick up Red, the shuttle’s gunners engaging TIE’s that came within range. He decided to go and cover the rescue operation as best as he could.

He spotted a TIE Interceptor going in for an attack run on the ATR. Setting his lasers to single fire mode, Paul didn’t wait for his H.U.D. to go green. He pressed his trigger, sending a steady stream of laser fire towards the Interceptor. Two of the shots glanced off the TIE’s solar panel, making the pilot abort his attack run. Switching his lasers back to quad firing mode, Paul took a snap shot at the fleeing TIE and was rewarded with a kill.

He headed back towards the ATR to see what else he could do.

Bridge of the Imperial Harrow Destroyer Feudal

Captain Reakor raised his hand to his temple and winced. He looked at his hand. It came away covered in blood, his blood! The Feudal was about to die and there was nothing he could do to save his ship. There was only one course of action left.

Reakor staggered over to the helm officer, it was one of the few work stations that was still operable. “Koru, set engines to full and head straight for the Morning Star, we’re going to ram that Rebel bastard straight to hell.”

Ensign Koru looked up at his captain. He was a fearsome sight with the blood running down his face, and now he had the look of a wild cornered animal in his eyes. It was an image that Koru would have with him for some time. “But, sir, what about the crew…us?”

Reakor looked at Koru, “Lock the course into the navigation computer; and then get to your escape pod.” Reakor took the headset that Koru had on and keyed the ship’s intercom system. “This is the captain. All hands, abandon ship. The Feudal is on a collision course with the Morning Star, impact in sixty seconds!”

Reakor put the headset down. He took one last look around his bridge, then headed off to find an escape capsule.

C & C, Morning Star

Ensign Wraw’s snout twitched as he realized what the Harrow destroyer was going to do. “Captain, the Feudal is on an intercept course! She’s going to ram us!”

“What’s the status of their shields?”

“They’re down, sir.”

“Concentrate all fire on her and hope that she goes up before she hits us.”

“Yes, sir. Her hull is down to forty seven percent, and falling fast.” The tension on the bridge grew as the Feudal came ever closer. If the Morning Star lost this race it would be all over. “Sir, the Feudal is going critical!”

The Harrow destroyer started exploding all along its hull. Huge gouts of flame escaped the stricken destroyer as it was ripped apart by explosions. “This is the captain. All hands brace for impact.”

The shockwave of the exploding destroyer washed over the Morning Star, overloading the internal stabilizers for a moment. Once the shockwave passed, Ru’kaart asked the obvious question. “Damage report?”

The officer at the tactical station looked up, “None, sir. Just a few reports of light casualties.”

Captain Ru’kaart allowed himself to relax a little, “Thank the Force for small miracles. Ensign Wraw, what is the status of the Eidolon Frigate?”

“The Widow Maker’s shields are at fifty two percent. She has disengaged form us and is now concentrating on the Pride of Yavin. The Regis and Pride are still attacking her.”

“Ok, all guns target the Predator. Contact the Reef and tell them to do the same. What’s the status of their bombers?”

“Just enemy fighters left, sir. All of their bombers have been destroyed.”

“Contact Blue and Legion Squadrons and have them target the Predator as well. Red, Defender, and the Defiant are to continue targeting enemy fighters.”

Paul stayed with the ATR until he was sure Red was safe on board and the ATR could cope by itself. Once he was, he rejoined the fire fight against the enemy fighters when the call to attack the Predator had come in. The two bomber squadrons headed towards the ISD Predator. Twenty one fighter-bombers were now on an attack course for the Predator and meeting little resistance. The Predator was concentrating its fire on the Morning Star.

Sean spoke to his pilots, “Target the Predator’s weapons and shield systems. Let’s see if we can cut the Star some slack.”

Paul targeted a turbo laser battery and switched to his torpedoes. As soon as he got a solid tone, indicating that he had a lock on his target, he squeezed the trigger, sending the two torpedoes on their way. The torpedoes hit the Predator’s shields, but, even though they were more or less fully charged, the torpedoes still did some damage. The laser battery was left with a huge scorch mark. It also looked as if one of the turbo laser guns was inoperable.

The Predator was being hit from all sides now as the fighter bombers swarmed all over the ISD. Torpedoes even started to pass through weakened shields, hitting the Predator’s hull, destroying gun emplacements and critical systems. The constant fire that the Predator was receiving from the Morning Star and the Reef was taking its toll on the Imperial capital ship.

After completing a strafing run the length of the ship, Paul pulled back on his flight stick until he was inverted and heading back towards the ship. Selecting torpedoes again, he targeted a shield generator. As soon as he got tone, he fired two more torpedoes. The generator blew apart in a huge fireball. A B-Wing from Legion squadron killed the remaining shield generator, leaving the Predator with no shields covering her hull.

Laser bolts from the

Morning Star and the Reef tore through the Imperial warship. Explosions and gouts of fire erupted when the bolts hit the Predator. Paul could see that the bridge had taken several hits and there was now a large hole where once there had been hull plating. Escape pods were being launched and it looked like the Predator was out of the fight too.

Looking at his H.U.D., Paul located the one remaining Imperial warship, the Widow Maker. Targeting the large craft, Paul looked down at his display to see its status. The shields were at fifteen percent and dropping. With weapons still set to torpedoes, he targeted one of the Frigate’s engines. He was going to make sure they couldn’t run. Waiting for the firing tone once more, he squeezed the trigger when he heard the familiar solid tone of a target lock. The shields didn’t stop the torpedoes at all. The pair flew straight into the main cone of the engine and detonated, blowing the engine apart.

As he lined himself up for a strafing run on the Widow Maker, Captain Ru’kaart spoke to the Imperials on an open channel. “Attention, Imperials. Surrender now or be destroyed. Power down your weapons, shields, and engines. If you do not comply, there will be no second chance to surrender!”

With his lasers set to single fire mode, Paul left a line of burn marks down side of the Widow Maker. If the Imperials were having doubts about surrendering, then Paul was going to make sure they had plenty of encouragement to help them make up their minds.

A few Imperial fighters chose to fight on rather than surrender, but they were quickly dismissed. The Widow Maker did as was ordered, and powered everything down. It was a smart move by her captain, as another minute of fighting would probably have been more than the ship could handle. The battle was over.

The Fishtank, four hours later

Laughter and loud conversation greeted Sean as he entered the Fish Tank. He stood in the doorway, taking the scene in. The doubt that he had earlier was replaced with a feeling of relief and pride. Pilots from Blue and Red Squadrons were together. There were also a large number of Ordinance Experts here. Captain Benq was surrounded by people and it looked like the soldier that came up with the E.M.P. mine idea was seated at Talia’s table as well. Neither of them would be buying drinks tonight, Sean thought as he looked at the drinks that the pair of them had in front them.

Sean saw that Red was also the center of attention. She had two reasons to celebrate tonight: the first, that she survived her ejection with no injuries and, the second, that, before she had been shot down, she had shot down two fighters, making her an official Ace.

Spotting Andrew and Paul at the bar, Sean headed over.

“There you go, Chief.” Paul handed Sean a mug of Corellian Ale.

Taking a deep swig of the Ale, Sean wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, “Cheers.”

Andrew waited for Sean to have another drink before he spoke to him. “So what’s the damage?”

“Three pilots, one from Defender Squadron and two from Legion. One’s their CO though. But that’s it. We lost no one. There are seventeen injured crew from when the rockets hit the Star, but they are all expected to make a full recovery.”

“You’re kidding, right? How the hell did we manage that? I thought we were going to be looking at a real high casualty count.”

“You’re complaining, Paul?”

“Hell no, Chief. I just can’t believe how lucky we got this time. Those Imp fighter pukes couldn’t have been top of the line then for us to get off so lightly.”

“It would seem so, wouldn’t it?”

“Having the Defiant there didn’t hurt either,” Andrew pointed out.

“Yeah, that’s one tough little ship,” Paul agreed.

The three pilots chatted for a while until the conversation was interrupted by Veela coming over to the group. “Excuse me, Colonel Healey, but I’m afraid I must steal one of your pilots from you.”

“By all means, Major Orrs, steal away.”

“Thank you, sir!” Veela jabbed a finger in Paul’s direction, “Follow me.”

Paul did as he was ordered and followed Veela to a table that was empty except for two full mugs of Ale. “There you go flyboy, drink up.”

“Hold on a minute. I thought you said I was going to be buying the drinks?”

“I did, but you saved us out there today, so I guess I owe you.”

“Veela, as much as I would love to take the credit for what we did out there, it was a team effort today.”

“I know that, stupid. But, I was a gunner on the SAR ship today and you kept those Imps off our backs.”

Paul sat there for a moment or two, unable to speak. When he finally found his voice again, he asked, “Why didn’t you say something?”

“We were both busy, and, besides, I didn’t want you getting distracted worrying about me while you were doing your stuff.”

Paul took a drink from his Ale, “Well, aren’t we one for surprises, hmmm?”

“Yep, I need to keep you on your toes somehow don’t I!”

“Humph. Change of subject. You heard what’s going to happen to the Imp prisoners we’ve got?”

“As a matter of fact I have. Colonel Nosnern’s people are guarding them at the moment but a transport is on the way to take them into custody. Also there’s talk of the Predator and the Widow Maker being salvaged and put into service again after repairs and refit. It looks like we’ve managed to gain some ships out of all this. A bad situation made good, big time!”

The celebrations went on for several hours. Veela was one of the people that was drunk, with Paul being just a little less worse for wear. Paul managed to half carry, half drag Veela back to his quarters. After opening his door on the sixth attempt, he staggered in. Dropping her on his bed, he made sure that she was on her stomach before he stumbled back and sat in his chair. Getting his flight jacket, he covered himself as best he could and, placing both feet on his desk, he was soon asleep and snoring loudly.

The next morning he woke up when he heard someone moving about in his quarters. He opened an eye to a slit and saw Veela standing in front of him. In her hand was a steaming mug and some pills.

“Tea?” Paul managed to croak.

“Yes, and some headache pills as well.”

Paul groaned as he reached out to take the tea and pills. His neck was stiff as hell after sleeping in the chair all night. After swallowing the pills, he tried moving his neck around to get the circulation going again.

“Ok, I need to shower and then eat, in that order.”

“I hear you, flyboy. Thanks for looking after me last night, I appreciate it.”

“No worries. You’d have done the same. At least I bloody well hope so,” Paul said with a smile, just to let her know he was teasing. Taking the outstretched hand she offered, he pulled himself up and let her lead him to the showers.

Leo’s office, one hour later

Andrew and Paul were both in Sean’s office. They both had been called to the office a few minutes ago. Paul was feeling a lot better after cleaning up and getting some food.

Sean put the data pad he had been reading down. “I’ll get straight to the point. An opportunity has opened for a promotion. As you know the CO of Legion squadron was killed yesterday. The captain of the Reef has asked Captain Ru’kaart if either of you two would be interested in the job. Andrew I’m asking you first, since you’re the XO; interested?”

Andrew thought about the offer for a moment before answering. “Thanks for the offer, but no. I’m happy where I am at the moment.”

“Paul?”

Paul didn’t even need time to consider. “No thanks, Chief. This is my home. I just got back and there’s no way I’m going to up sticks and go just because of a chance for promotion. Thanks, but no thanks.”

“I thought as much, but I just wanted to be sure. Very well. Good effort out there yesterday. Dismissed.”

The two pilots saluted then left.

Paul went down to the hanger. Veela’s group was departing soon, so Paul wanted to make sure he got the chance to say goodbye and headed over to the ATR where Veela was standing.

“We’ll be headed to Mon Calamari in a day or two,” he said as he walked up to her. “The Star is going to be putting in for repairs, so if you, Bey, Gunny Ras’Kaart, and any of the old gang have any leave coming up, I can think of worse places to meet up and have a break. You?”

“You know what? Neither can I, and I’ll make sure that as many of us as possible will be there.”

“Until next time, flyboy.”

Veela and Paul hugged and gave each other a kiss goodbye. Veela entered the ATR and sealed the airlock. The ATR’s repulsors kicked in, lifting it off the hanger deck. Paul watched as the four shuttles headed through the mag con field and then jumped into hyperspace.

One week later, Coruscant, Director Isard’s Office

Ysanne Isard read the report again.

“From operative Beta Nine Two. Unable to get warning out of Rebel task force attached to Morning Star or of mine disposal. Ship under strict movement and comms emission control. Risk of detection too high. Risk now normal. Awaiting instructions.”

Isard’s red eye seemed to smolder. “I will defeat you Rebel scum; and I will have the ruined shell of the Morning Star in orbit around Coruscant as a trophy!”

Isard flung the data pad against the far wall. The pad shattered when it hit and dropped in pieces to the floor. The guards outside knew better than to go in for the next hour or so while “Iceheart” was in a mood.

The End