Still, the Alliance needed pilots, and from the feeling he was getting from this crowd Redjed knew there was a fair amount of piloting talent in many of the individuals. Being sensitive to the Force a lot of the time he could just tell things about people.

The crowd gave a brief cheer as Captain T'Lem, who'd become a recruiter after an incident in the line of duty, finished his speech welcoming them to the Alliance. T'Lem stepped back from the improvised podium and quietly told him to plan for departure in an hour.

At the back of the room the door opened and a figure in a brown cloak slipped inside past the watchful lookout. She gently nudged a short man with a thick black mustache in the back and asked, "Am I too late to sign on?"

He turned his head back over his shoulder. "You're a little late for the formalities, but I'm sure they won't mind that too much."

"Thank you, sir," she whispered back to him, then started moving to the front of the meeting hall. Just as she came to the front of the crowd she froze in shock, staring at the young pilot talking with the recruiter. Then, with a somewhat impish smile, she closed her eyes and concentrated.

Leaning against the duraplast wall, Redjed suddenly felt his leg kicked out from under him and fell flat on his back against the hard wooden flooring. Since there was no one behind him, only T'Lem, he knew immediately what had happened. Blinking up at the ceiling, he said, "Sirah, you're going to break my neck one of these days doing that." He propped himself up on his elbows to see his adoptive sister stepping up onto the small stage with a grin.

"I'm sorry," she said as she helped him up. "I just couldn't help myself, it's been so long since I've had the chance to do that to you."

Grinning himself now, Redjed asked, "So to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"I'm going to join the Alliance, just like you."

"Very funny. Now, why are you really here? It's not any kind of occasion that I can think of."

"I'm serious, Mark," she said sternly. Her smile faded as she knew what would come next.

Redjed sucked in a breath. "Come on, let's go for a walk." His tone was light, but he grabbed her arm and almost dragged her along behind him.

"Hey take it easy, you're going to pull my arm off," she protested as they emerged from the back of the hall onto the streets.

Ignoring her comment, Redjed turned to her. "Sirah, why in the galaxy would want to join the Alliance? You've never been away from the colony your entire life."

"Well, that's one reason I want to. I can't stay on a backwater safeworld my entire life."

"Do you even realize what it's like having an Imperial bounty on your life, living in space for months at a time, seeing people die around you, knowing you may be next?"

"Of course I did," she retorted. "Did you when you joined up?"

Redjed blinked, caught off-guard by the reversal. "This isn't about me, it's about you."

"Come on now... calm down Mark," she said, her tone going from defensive to friendly. "I'm just as old and responsible as you are, and perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She started walking towards the tapcafe down the street. Redjed forced himself to calm down and follow. It wasn't very often that he got this worked up about something, but this was definitely an unusual occasion.

Sitting down at a table near the front glass window, they waited for a minute without saying anything to each other. Finally she broke the silence. "You know mom and dad thought it was a great idea."

"Well, what exactly are you planning on doing once you get in? I'm guessing it's not piloting starfighters, since you used to hate flying the speeder back home."

Just then the server droid appeared to take their order. Both asked for stim tea, then returned to their conversation, "Well, if you must know, I was thinking of going into Intelligence." She smiled again, a bit smugly.

Redjed's jaw dropped. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope, not at all. I figure the little talent I have with the Force could be useful in some situations." She continued to grin at him, amused by his surprise.

The droid returned with their order, but before it could place the tray on the table, Sirah concentrated and reached out through the Force. One of the teacups lifted a few inches off the tray, wobbled... and suddenly fell to the floor where it shattered. Heads turned as some of the other patrons looked toward the noise. Redjed shot Sirah a look that questioned her sanity.

The droid stood there a moment, uncertain what to do; then it put the tray with the teapot and remaining cup down and bowed. "Terribly sorry, Sir and Madam. I will be back in a moment with another cup." It hurried off again, while a small cleaning droid scuttled up and began vacuuming up the cup shards and spilled tea.

Redjed leaned across the table and hissed at her through clenched teeth, "In case you forgot, it isn't a good idea to show that off in public. This isn't home and the Empire isn't too thrilled about people who know about the Force."

Staring down into her cup of tea, Sirah whispered back, "I'm sorry I got carried away. I'll be more careful."

The server returned with a second cup for Redjed, pouring it for him. Neither spoke again as they finished their tea. Redjed was still thinking of how he could talk his foster sister out of sharing his dangerous and uncertain life.

Leaving some credits on the table to cover their bill, they left the cafe and headed back toward the meeting hall. It was now almost dark and the street was empty and not well-lit, but there was something else bothering Redjed. One of those hunches he sometimes got and had learned to trust...

"Hold it right there, witch!"

Redjed looked back. Standing behind them were three rough looking characters and the cafe's owner. One of the men was holding up an ID with the Imperial sextant on it; they all held blasters aimed and ready. Slowly, Mark and Sirah turned to face their assailants.

"Is there a problem, officer?" Redjed asked the Imperial politely. Now he could see the card clearly and knew it was bad news. His squadmate Yale had shown Redjed a card like that before and told him who carried it: the Imperial Security Bureau.

"Sure is. Harboring a Jedi is punishable by death. She's one, and you not reporting it make you both felons."

"But I'm not a Jedi!" Sirah protested. "I don't even know what a Jedi is."

The Imperial sneered. "Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"I'm sorry," Sirah said with sincere regret, then brought up her hand in a warding gesture at the lead ISB agent, knocking him back a few steps with a wave of the Force. Before the agents could react to this unexpected move, Redjed had drawn his lightsaber from his jacket sleeve and ignited the blade.

The Imperials fired off a pair of quick shots each. Redjed's mind seemed to go into remote as he reflexively deflected the bolts. One bounced back and caught the firer in the chest, charring his tunic. The Imperial dropped to his knees, dying, next to the cafe's owner who promptly turned and fled. With a quick stroke of his lightsaber, Redjed severed the lead Imperial's blaster muzzle from the rest of the weapon and followed through with a kick to the man's throat that crushed his windpipe.

The last ISB agent was frozen by seeing his comrades killed and shots deflected. Not wanting to kill anyone else if he could help it, Redjed hit the man in the temple with the hilt of his saber. The Imperial fell to the ground unconscious.

Now it was Sirah's turn to be shocked. "Look what you did! I can't believe what you just did! Where did you learn that?" she gasped.

Redjed thumbed off his saber and hid it again. "A friend in the squadron taught me a few things and I've been practicing with a remote. But can we talk about it later? We've got to get out of here right now." Redjed took off at a trot, once again dragging Sirah behind him.

Bursting back into the meeting hall, they found Captain T'Lem at the back of the hall speaking with a new enlistee. "Captain, uh, I don't know exactly how to tell you this but I think we should get going a little early," Redjed said, trying to catch his breath.

"I hope you have a good reason for this request Lieutenant," said T'Lem, still in his speaker's voice.

"How's three Imperial operatives attacking us in the street sound?" Redjed answered. "Plus I'm willing to bet there's still more of them out there. They're probably looking for this meeting, in fact."

T'Lem lowered his voice. "Good point. Bring the speeders around to the rear exit and I'll get the recruits ready to go."

Redjed turned back to Sirah, who he still held by the arm. "I know you hate having anything to do with speeders but I'll need you to bring one around to the back. OK?" She nodded silently.

The speeders were cargo models with enclosed rear compartments, with the faded logo of a local food packing company painted on the sides, parked at opposite ends of the block. By the time the two speeder trucks had pulled into the alley behind the meeting hall, T'Lem had already separated the recruits into two groups and they were anxious to get going. Quickly they all loaded into the two vehicles.

Just as they finished loading and started up, with T'Lem now at the controls of the second speeder truck, a flash of scarlet light filled the dark alley. An E-WEB repeating blaster set up in the back of one of the trucks, manned by the Rebel lookout, obliterated the pursuing Imperial speeder.

Together the two trucks safely arrived at their landing site outside the city, after dodging several Imperial patrols. A shuttle and an X-wing, both looking like they'd seen more then their fair share of action, waited for them. As the passengers poured out of the backs of the speeders and into the shuttle, the astromech droid in the X-wing began chirping a happy greeting.

"Hi Swive, it's good to see you too." Redjed sprinted over to the X-wing. Swive had already popped the hatch on the cargo compartment when he saw the trucks approach. Grabbing the orange flight suit out of the rest of the clutter and supplies, Redjed changed into the garment in what was probably record time for him, then climbed into the cockpit and sealed the canopy. He checked his board; Swive had also warmed up the X-wing and run through the preflight checklist. "Captain, I have four lit and in the green. Ready when you are."

"I copy, Red Ten. We're lifting off now. I don't think we'll have to worry about any more Imperial entanglements, but keep your eyes peeled for any TIEs."

With the X-wing flying point, both ships left the planet's atmosphere and made it to their hyperspace point without further incident. Redjed, who had been anxious all during that short eternity, breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the shuttle streak into hyperspace. He pulled his own lever to follow. The four engines of his fighter growled as the stars stretched toward him and melted into a swirling tunnel.

A few hours later both ships arrived at the Regis. Even a warship, if it was your home base, looked quite welcoming after having blasters stuck in your face. Zoom, Red Squadron's CO was there to meet the shuttle as the ramp dropped and people began disembarking. Captain T'Lem was first off the shuttle, followed by a small crowd that milled around and gawked at their first sight of a frigate's hangar.

"Looks like you did well, Captain, I see we have a lot of eager recruits."

"Yes sir, but you can thank your pilot and his friend over there for getting us out before the Imps got the drop on us," T'Lem replied.

"His friend, you say?" Zoom asked.

"Yes sir." T'Lem pointed over towards the two standing by the old X-wing. "Right over there talking with him."

"Thank you Captain. Congratulations again on the mission. I'll see you later."

Zoom approached the two youths conversing beside the battered fighter. Redjed turned and saluted his CO, a gesture the senior officer returned as he spoke. "Lieutenant, I hear you had a bit of excitement on this mission. Who's your friend?"

"Sir, I'd like to introduce you to my sister Sirah. And there was really nothing out of the ordinary on the mission."

Zoom studied the two of them for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, I think I see a family resemblance".

Redjed and Sirah just smiled at each other for a second before Sirah replied. "Thank you, it's an honor to meet you Commander. Would you happen to know of any openings in the Alliance for me?"

"Well as a matter of fact, a medical frigate we're meeting shortly is short on staff. I could put in a good word for you if you'd like," he offered.

Sirah looked at her adopted brother. Without a word, just their connection through the Force, she could sense that he would prefer her to be there than in Intelligence. She turned back to Zoom and replied with a big smile, "I'd love that if you could sir, thank you."