by Rob "Biggs" Baden

Chapter 1: False Situations

[Registration Office, New Republic Academy Central Dormitory, Coruscant System, 2209 Hours]

Vos Nive turned off the lights as he closed the door behind him, slinging his sack over his right shoulder. Because of his scholarship restrictions, Nive had to take on a job at the main Registration Office in order to help pay for room & board, as well as have any sort of spending money at all. In the old days, before the New Republic had taken control of the main Core Worlds, training to be a naval officer didn't take a full four years. Now, however, because of their victories over Daala, Thrawn, and the other major threats to sovereignty, tactics have become just as important as resources.

That's where the Academy came in. After the Second Battle of Coruscant, when the New Republic retook the world from the Imperial factions fighting on it, the Senate proposed and approved to set up a military academy in which to train troops, pilots, and naval personnel. Up until that point all of the training had taken place on hidden bases or on training vessels, thus guarding against the possibility of a centralized strike against one area.

Nive was actually quite proud of knowing all of that. His mother, Uvenia Nive, was one of the Senators from Coruscant and had been the spearhead of the proposal. She was scared to death when he informed her that he had been accepted to train at the Academy, but supported him politically because of how bad it would look if she didn't.

Walking down the corridor he smiled to himself and whistled. He had always dreamed of becoming a pilot, but was a little sad that he couldn't do so due to a low-level reaction time that put him in the red. However, he was still eligible to be a helmsman, and that made him very happy. It also made his mother not worry so much, which really took a lot of pressure off him whenever he would visit her office. She still didn't fully approve of him entering the military, but he was now starting his third year and she knew that he could not be stopped.

As he walked he noticed off to his right that there was a small, blinking red light down a side corridor. He looked around to see if there was anyone present and then went over to the light to investigate it. What he saw was a small, rectangular object attached to the bulkhead of the corridor and the light speeding up the blinking. By the time he finally made sense of what it was, the blinking had turned into a steady pulse of light and a moment later he was thrown back by the force of an explosion.

He regained himself after a brief moment, just in time to see a wall of flame rush at him mere meters in front of him. Swallowing hard he just looked down as he knew there would be no way he could get away in time.

[Situation Room, Imperial Palace, Coruscant System, 0100 Hours]

"You have something for me?"

Cracken waited until Leia Organa Solo had seated herself in the chair at the head of the round table to sit down himself. "Yes, Madam President." He went over the datapad in his hand and punched up some of the information on the holo-projector in the middle of the table. "We've confirmed that the explosive device was of New Republic origin, and, in fact, it was being used recently by our cadets to train them in explosive ordinance disposal. It came from the stockpile at the Academy and we've been tracking the people who had access to that area."

"You have a name." It was said with an assurance of fact, not a question. "You obviously already have one, or else you would not have brought me in here."

Cracken swallowed roughly and gave a nod in her direction. "Yes, Madam President. We haven't been able to gather all of the information, though, so accusing him of a crime that we are not one hundred percent sure of could be-"

"General," said Organa Solo, leaning forward in her chair. "I do not care if this person is one hundred percent guilty or if he is one percent guilty. You have a name, you obviously have motive of some sort or else you wouldn't even be here telling me this, and you have opportunity, which, again, relates to us being here at this moment." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Now, who is the main suspect that you have identified, why, and where is he?"

Cracken hit a button on the datapad and an image of a man with average height and brown hair wearing New Republic Dress Uniform appeared in the middle of the table.

"You're accusing him?"

Everyone in the room turned to look at the Ackbar as he sat forward, for the first time speaking at the meeting. Cracken cleared his throat and looked at the Mon Calamari with all seriousness in his expression. "Yes, sir, I am. There is ample evidence to show that he was the person who planted the device, or at the very least planned the operation. He had opportunity. And there is motive for him doing so."

"Begging your pardon, General, but just what motive could an Academy instructor have to blow up his own cadets?"

Cracken hit another button on the datapad and a financial report popped up. "He was being blackmailed by a group of cadets-the very same who died in the explosion. One in particular seemed to be the son of a prominent Senator.and I have no doubt that she will be upset to learn about his death."

"I have met him," said Ackbar, pointing to the holo image, "many times since he joined the military. He's a hero and has served in one of the best units there ever was. I just cannot conceive of the possibility of him being so treacherous as to blow up a whole wing just to get back at some students."

"I realize your feelings, dear friend, but General Cracken has evidence to make an arrest at the very least." Organa Solo sat back in her chair and rested her arms across her lower abdomen. "General, I have heard of this man, though I have not met him. Isn't one of your agents his wife?"

He nodded slowly. "Yes, Madam President, she's my Director of Operations."

"Will this relationship between you and her, and her and him, cause you any problems in your investigation?"

He shook his head, a sense of sorrow in him. "No, Ma'am. I will be completely professional."

"Then, General, pick him up, depose him-and her, if necessary-and find out if we can still make the accusation stick or if someone else is playing a game."

[Intelligence Interrogation Room "B", Imperial Palace, Coruscant System, 0328 Hours]

"I'll ask you again, Major.where did you get the device?"

Steve Michadick looked up from the table and saw the fire in the Twi'lek's eyes. He'd been in this room for the past hour and a half, ever since elements of the New Republic Security Force broke into his house and arrested him. He had heard about the problem at the Academy, but was wholly unprepared for the prospect of being accused of the one who did it.

"I didn't do anything, I didn't get anything from anywhere, and I didn't plant some device." He breathed out slowly. "I want to see my wife, right now."

"I'm sorry, Major, but you are not allowed any visitors at this time." He stepped back and cross his arms over his chest, the brain tails dancing a little behind his body. "I don't think you seem to understand the seriousness of the charges against you. You're being charged with murder, espionage, and treason; all of which are punishable by death if given a solid conviction."

"I know that," snarled Steve. "I am well aware of what a conviction will mean for me, but I don't think you're aware of the fact that I... DIDN'T... DO IT!!"

"It's not my place to be jury or judge, that's for the courts to decide."

Steve just slapped his forehead with his hand and made a low groan. "Don't you understand? I didn't do anything, this is a frame up. Check your history; it's not exactly the first time something like this has happened. Colonel Celchu was accused of something similar a few years ago and it was all a set up by Isard."

"You're not Celchu, this isn't about the ersatz murder of Horn, and Isard is dead this time!" His brain tails twitched with rage and Steve was sure he could see them doing some type of dance behind him. "Major Michadick, you're being accused of killing not one, but thirty-eight people."

"I have done no such thing. I want my wife right now, the two of us alone. You can't take away my rights on this matter."

"Are you demanding something from me? Do you think that you are some civilian who has the kind of rights that a citizen gets? You are in the military, you will answer to the military, and you will be tried via the military structure."

"If I am to be tried in a military court, as befits my situation, then why did the SecFor arrest me and not the military security?"

"The SecFor was working in conjunction with the NRI and the military security division," said a new voice from behind him.

Steve turned and looked up to see the familiar face of a man he'd known for years. "General."

The Twi'lek snapped to attention and saluted when he noticed the other man. "Sir!"

The older man, dressed in a class "a" uniform that showed no signs of ware, returned the salute in a casual fashion. "Be at ease, Lieutenant, and please leave us alone."

"Begging your pardon, sir, but I'm under strict orders not to leave the prisoner alone without an authorized security guard being present, or in the presence of his legal liaison."

"And that is just what I am." The man handed a datapad to the Twi'lek and then cleared his throat. "I'm here as his legal liaison, so you can leave me with him. Now."

"Y-yes, sir!" The Lieutenant stumbled out of the room, taking his own datapad with him and closing the doors behind him. Steve couldn't be sure, but he could have sworn her heard a loud "thud" just after the doors closed and guess that the Twi'lek, still nervous from being dressed down by a superior, had walked into a wall.

"Major..." said the other man as he sat down in front of Steve. "Of all the places I would expect to see you again, this was no where near ninety-five percent of them."

"Nor I, sir." Despite his situation, he couldn't help but give a grin in the direction of the other man. "It's been a very long time, General Magill, and I'll admit that I'm more than just a little surprised to see you here. This isn't exactly your field of work, sir, and I haven't been your responsibility for well over eight years."

"Michadick, once you've been a pilot under me, you will always be my responsibility."

"That's very reassuring to know, sir, but it still doesn't answer the question as to why you are here."

There was a brief moment of silence and the grim, hardened look of a solider returned to Magill's face. "I have certain people tagged, mainly ex-pilots of mine, so that if something happened to them I would know. And since I was here on Coruscant to address the Senate, the information came to me fairly quickly." He folded his hands on the table and stared right into Steve's eyes. "You're in a lot of trouble, Steve, so much in fact that I don't know if anything can help you."

"But I didn't do anything, sir, I can prove it!"

Magill just shook his head. "That's one of the main problems, you can't prove it." He hit a button on the datapad in his hand and then gave it to Steve. "This is an analysis of the debris left from the explosion, as well as a forensics finding of the explosive device used. Notice anything unusual?"

Steve took the datapad and eyed the text carefully for a few moments. Most of the terminology he didn't recognize right off, but one word caught his attention. "'A shaped charge with a thermal detonator on a timer was discovered as being the device used in the explosion. The specifics of the shaped charge was a hybrid of spice-dust and proton emissions.' Wait a second, we were training with this exact style a few days ago."

"Exactly. Scroll down a page and look at the second paragraph."

Steve returned his attention to the datapad and scrolled the text down. When he started reading the paragraph he paid it no mind, but when he noticed his name he immediately focused completely on it. "'The specific signature of the device was made from the materials that Major Michadick had registered to his inventory.' Now hold on, just because it came from the inventory I was given doesn't mean it was I who planted the explosive."

"Scroll down to page five, paragraph four."

After a moment Steve noticed his name again. "'Upon inspecting the inventory within Michadick's residence it is noted that a substantial amount of the afore-mentioned explosive device was absent from the weapons locker in his possession. The amount missing is enough to make a bomb equal to the one that was used in the explosion.'" He looked up from the datapad and stared at Magill. "I have an amount in my weapons locker, yes, but I haven't opened it for the past few days due to exams coming up. We haven't been training in the past few days because it wasn't going to be on the exams."

"According to those reports you have opened the locker, and used the missing amount to construct the bomb used in the incident. Forensics has come to the conclusion that it was you and no one else."

"That doesn't mean it wasn't someone else, and we both know just how easy it is to frame someone." Steve hit the table with his fist and caused the datapad to rattle around a little. "Stag, Ranger, you know better than anyone else that I would never do such a thing."

"I realize that, Steve, and I'm going to do all that I can to help you out. But I've got to be honest, it's not looking good." He sighed a little and checked his chrono. "I've got a meeting with General Cracken in a few minutes, to look into some of these reports. We've been allowed to have various persons within the NRI help us look into these and will be assigned to our case for the duration of it."

"Sooli?" asked Steve with a glimmer of hope in his tone. He knew that if anyone could help him, it would be her.

Magill nodded. "She's more than willing to help, for obvious reasons. She's one hell of an Intelligence agent, and an even better operations director, and she's devoted to you."

"Wouldn't it be a problem, though, to have her work on my case given the fact that we're married?"

"There were some reservations, but Cracken assured the President and Admiral Ackbar that she would do everything in a professional fashion. I have known her just as long as you have, and she has always been professional, even when it involves people she cares about. Case-in-point would be that mission on Endor with Rob a few years ago."

Steve smiled for a moment and then let the expression die out. "He was a good man; I still wish he was around."

"Steve, it's been years since that dogfight, you have to let it go. Rob's gone, there's nothing you can do to change that." Magill patted him on the back as he rose from his seat. "Rob was every bit a fighter until the end, and he went down in battle defending people. You need to let it go, or it's going to continue to eat away at you."

"I realize that, General, but Rob was... well... he was a good pilot and an even better person. Only rarely did he let his personal feelings interfere with how he performed, and during those times it helped him fly and fight better." He gave a heavy sigh. "Rob was my closest friend and a great person to spend time with. After my brother went M.I.A. he was there for me. I just still can't believe that he's been dead for six years."

[Director's Office, Imperial Palace, Coruscant System, 0400 Hours]

"General, thank you for taking the time to see me."

"No problem at all." Cracken shook the hand of General Magill and then gestured to the empty chair in front of his desk. "Please, be seated."

Magill took the empty seat and settled himself in. "I've never been here before, this is a very nice office."

"The only time you would have been here, General, would be if one of your people were a security risk. Thus far I haven't seen any problems that would require you to be here before today. But, for obvious reasons, you are here. I believe you already know Colonel Kitz Michadick," he said, gesturing towards the Zeltron/Human woman sitting in the other chair.

"Of course. Sooli, it's been a long time, and I'm very sorry for what's going on."

"Thank you, General, and I'm happy to know that Steve has someone to help him through this since I can't be there with him like you can."

Cracken cleared his throat and looked at the two of them with a serious expression on his face. "General Magill, you're here on Coruscant to address the Senate on something when this happened. How will your agreeing to take on this case interfere with your duties? The High Command can see fit to discourage you from helping out Major Michadick if it will take you away from your duties."

"My exec can take over the matters back at Folor Base for me; I still have to address the Senate, though, so that will take some time away from me being able to help Steve."

"Just what is going on at Folor Base, General?" asked Sooli.

"After the attack by Zsinj's forces five and a half years ago, the moon base was basically unusable, and Commenor itself was still not a part of our government. The only reason we had a base there to begin with is because the General here made a deal with the Commenor central government in that so long as it was not attacked we could have a training facility there."

"Right, but Commenor's since then joined the New Republic."

"Correct." Magill gestured with his hands a bit as he spoke. "After the decimation of our forces by first Thrawn and then the Emperor-Reborn, we had few places to go for training, which is one of the main reasons why there is now a centralized Academy here on Coruscant. Commenor, having joined the New Republic, offered Folor Base for our use again, except this time it's more of a staging ground and defensive outpost. It's no longer a training facility."

"And that's why you're here," interrupted Cracken, "to ask the Senate for more funds."

"Very astute of you, sir. Yes, I'm here to address the Senate in need of funds; due to the recent rise of pro-Imperial activity my forces need better equipment. There's no telling when Pellaeon will attack, or even where. And thanks to his and Daala's doing away with discrimination in the Imperial Forces, their power base is even stronger than before."

"I still find it hard to believe that there are other species other than humans to whom we will come up against in our fight against the Empire."

"Well, that is beside the point." Magill shifted in his seat a little. "I came here for another reason completely. I believe you said you had some resources that you can lend me in order to investigate things."

Cracken cleared his throat again and turned towards Sooli. "Yes, yes. Colonel, you'll be working closely with General Magill throughout his time here and will provide him with any materials he needs. If he has stumbled across something big, something that requires the authorization of a mission per se, then please inform me immediately and I will come take a look. General, I assume you have Clearance Level Seven?"

"Level Eight, actually."

"Good, that means there won't be any problems concerning your access to sensitive materials. I am sure you are aware of the repercussions of passing on sensitive materials, General."

"I am."

"Good. Now, if you could excuse me and the colonel for a few minutes, we have an important matter to discuss." He gestured to the door and rose slightly as he opened the door with a button on his desk. "She'll be along shortly, don't worry, but I can't discuss this matter in front of you, you understand."

"Yes, of course. Colonel," he said and gave a small bow, then left, the door shutting behind him.

"Opinion?" he asked.

"He's dedicated to Steve and would do almost anything to help him. He's loyal and capable, and has a very high profile. He also has is own contacts which could be of some help if we need some outside help."

Cracken sat in his chair and rested his chin on his hands. He remained this way for a few minutes and then spoke without a preamble. "Contact `Black Eye' and put them on stand-by alert."

"'Black Eye'? But, General, won't that be a bit risky? `Black Eye' a top-notch unit used for extreme measures, this is a simple military case. Besides, the thought of using `Black Eye' for this particular mission is a bit unnerving."

"I understand your concerns, Sooli, and I share them, but this is necessary. This is in no way a `simple military case'; if anything, it is a highly thought-out plan to frame your husband to deflect our attention away from something. It's a classic ploy, and sometimes the classics are the best." He hit his hand on the desk at such a force that the noise of the impact filled the room. "I know why you don't want to use `Black Eye', but it is necessary for this investigation. If my instincts are anything as reliable as I make them out to be, we're going to find the trail of this case leading to someone bigger than your husband."

[Training Room, NRI Facility "Catalyst", System: Classified, 0430 Hours]

Jamie Wetherill watched as two of his people practiced a tumble & roll combination. They were getting much better at it, which was a pleasant result to Jamie. Every single one of the people in his unit were top of their rating from the NRI central training facility on Coruscant-before and after the exodus from the city-planet following Thrawn's defeat-and had been in combat for years.

"Captain?"

Jamie turned and saw a steward holding a personal datapad. "Yes, Corporal?"

"There's an emergency message from the Director of Operations." She handed him the datapad. "It's priority one, sir."

He took the datapad in his left hand and dug into his pocket until he pulled out a small ear-piece. It only took him a moment to connect the ear-piece to the datapad and to put the receiving end in his right ear, but there was a small squeal of noise as he did so. Tapping the datapad the face of Sooli Kitz Michadick appeared. "Good morning, Colonel. To what do I owe this pleasure at such an early hour?"

"As if you weren't up earlier than this, Captain," her voice rang in his ear. "I have important information that I am downloading into your datapad concerning a serious situation that has developed. Also, because of the situation, I'm putting your team on stand-by alert."

"This has to be serious if you're putting us into the field. But with something so big happening back on the capital, shouldn't one of your home-guard units be more up to the task? We're a bit far from Coruscant, Colonel."

"I think when you see what the information is you'll understand why we're putting you on alert." She took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. "It's very important, Jamie, especially to me."

"Should I go and get Maj-"

"No," she said, cutting him off. "There's no need. Just be sure to inform him immediately after you have reviewed the information I have sent you. I will contact you again when I have more orders for you. NRI out."

The screen went blank and was replaced with scrolling text. Jamie looked over it carefully and tried to hide his surprise but couldn't do so without looking like he was sick. He turned to the young woman and cleared his throat. "Go wake him up."

"Sir? It's not even Oh-Five Hundred. He was up late last night, he's going to be mad if I wake him up now."

"He'll be madder if he finds out we kept him asleep after receiving this information," said Jamie, patting the datapad in his hand. "Now go wake him up. Now."

[Senatorial Chambers, New Republic Senate Building, Coruscant System, 1102 Hours]

Neill looked around at the large Senatorial Chambers with a sense of awe. This had been the first time he had actually been to the Senate, let alone address it, and while the Imperial Palace was large and much more majestic, none of the beauty and inspiring sensation that the Senate Building was made for was lost on him.

He cleared his throat and keyed the comm system for the Chambers. "Beings of the Senate, I came before you to address the need for additional funds for our armed forces. In our ever vigilant guard against the forces that prey upon the weak we need constant rearming and replacement personnel. Without these supplies and needed personnel, the ability to keep alert will drop to the point where a Hutt crime syndicate can steal plans for a Death Star-class construction project. Oh, I'm sorry, that already took place."

There was some murmuring from the Senators and Organa Solo pounded on the gavel. "Order, order!" She looked right at Neill and he saw in her the fire that had made her the hero of the Rebellion. "General Magill, your stating the obvious brings little to help your case. I will remind you not to waver from the reason you are here."

"Of course, Madam President." He turned back to the center of the Chambers and cleared his throat once again. "I hope that I have made my point clearly. If it were not for an emergency covert operations unit, of which the late General Madine was in command of, I think we can all assume that some of our worlds would have gone the way of Alderaan." He let that statement sink in for a moment before he continued on with his speech. "We need arms, supplies, personnel, and above all else, relief pilots and ground forces. Folor Base has recently been rebuilt, thanks to the help of the Commenor Planetary Defense Force's corps of engineers, and has been upgraded from a training facility to that of a staging outpost for defense against the various systems around Commenor. To do away with the necessary life blood of our military is to leave us open to further attacks by Pellaeon's newly rebuilt Empire, as well as the extremists out there who have their own private forces."

"General Magill," called out a voice from up in the back, "just how can we be sure that the extra funds that you are asking us for will be used strictly for the operations of your base? What if the credits ear-marked for your base somehow find their way into some `Black Project', such as with the rebuilding of the Lusankya? Many of us were not happy to find out about that machine of death being repaired after it took so much to bring it down." Murmuring accompanied the statement.

Neill turned and looked up in the baffles, the camera on his podium zooming in to take a look at who spoke. "Senator Yar, I believe, of Oolidi?" There was a brief nod from the Oolid. "I understand your concerns, but I can assure you, with my word, as well as a signed statement, that the funds will not be used for anything else other than their intended, outlined expenditures for which I have given. We desperately need the credits, Mr. Senator."

"Why are we," spoke a low, feminine voice to the extreme front of the Chambers, "hearing this from you and not from Admiral Ackbar? He is the Commander-in-Chief of the military, shouldn't he be here instead of you?"

"I was asked by the Admiral because he, as well as most of his staff, is busy dealing with the newly unified threat from Pellaeon, as well as a possible reprisal from some of the Hutts over the death of Durga." Neill cleared his throat again. "Also, another, immediate matter has taken up some of his attention."

"Yes, I am aware of this `immediate matter' that you speak of, General. It concerns the murder of my son."

A small spread of whispers passed through the Chambers and Neill found himself staring hard at the woman with graying hair and a stern build sitting almost directly in front of him at the center of the first row. He couldn't be sure who she was, but after such admittance as that he had a very good idea. "Senator Uvenia Nive?"

"Yes, General. And I personally do not think that there need to be funds released so that already overzealous pilots and instructors such as your friend Michadick will have the chance to blow up people that cross their paths."

He bit back the response growing inside of him and let a small, slow breath pass out of him. "I sincerely am sorry for your loss, Madam Senator."

"It is I who am sorry for you, General, having to defend a murderer such as your friend."

An outburst of voices erupted throughout the Senatorial Chambers and nearly made Neill deaf. He stared straight at Nive and the sound around him started to fade away as he met her dark eyes. They sent a shiver through him that he hadn't felt since his last EV ejection. He physically shuddered slightly before returning to his professional model, just in time to hear President Organa Solo rap the gavel.

"Order! The Senate will be in order!"

The large group of politicians quieted down once again and Neill cleared his throat again. "With the reunification of the Imperial war machine, our abilities to effectively defend ourselves are greatly dwindled. Since the defeat of the Emperor and his World Devastators, the surviving Imperial leaders have fought amongst themselves. We have, for the most part, left them alone and let our own power to wage war decrease. Last week Admiral Daala, successful in doing away with all of the individual warlords and condensing the military might of the Empire, launched an attack on various points across the New Republic and was very close to destroying the Jedi academy on Yavin IV. It was only through the quick action of a single Jedi Knight that sabotaged Daala's Super Star Destroyer which allowed for our fleet to stop the Imperial attack from doing too much damage." He leaned forward and pounded his fist on the podium. "We must rearm ourselves on a massive scale, least we fall to this kind of surprise attack again."

"Why not let the Jedi do this job," said a Senator in the back. "Is that not what they are for?"

"The days of old in which the Jedi were the guardians of the Republic are long past, Mr. Senator. There are not enough trained Jedi Knights to protect even a half a dozen worlds, let alone the entire New Republic. No, the military is our means of protection. Our first line of defense, and hopefully, our only necessary line off defense. So I plead with you, give us funding to be able to protect your worlds. Thank you." He stepped down from the podium and moved back to his seat behind the president, a slew of applauding accompanying him. Well, at least they liked my speech.

[Commander-in-Chief's Office, Imperial Palace, Coruscant System, 1253 Hours]

Cracken looked about the room with a curious expression. Several times had he been in Ackbar's office, and each time he was amazed by the simplicity of it. The room had a sense of flow to it that matched that of the aquatic admiral himself; it was obviously done to make Ackbar feel more at home when he was away from Mon Calamari, much like how Twi'lek personnel kept their offices and quarters an aired, dry heat to simulate Ryloth.

Seated next to him were a half a dozen admirals and generals, comprising most of the top commanders of the military. And for all of the years of combat experience and knowledge between them they couldn't come up with one comprehensive plan in how to battle the enemy.

"This is getting us nowhere," said the Corellian next to him. "We've spent the last few hours doing nothing more than wasting time. There are people out there who are being oppressed and we need to do something about it."

Ackbar cleared his throat loudly. "That very well may be, General Antilles, but we can't do anything about it until we come up with a specific plan in which exactly how to accomplish it."

"Sir," said a small Twi'lek woman seated right next to Ackbar. "We could always use the task force we've been assembling at Bilbringi for an aggressive attack against Imperial strongholds. It would be an effective response to last week's assault against us. I've been out there and most of the ships are done."

"The new task force has yet to be fully staffed, and we haven't heard anything out of Imperial space since the attacks originated," piped in Cracken. "NRI has been unable to track the location of Pellaeon since his departure from Yavin. We haven't been able to locate Admiral Daala, either, but we've seen a good deal of activity in the Braxant Sector. This is unusual, given how little the sector is worth, but it is deep within Imperial-held territory. There's a good chance that admiralty is setting up a new head base there." He turned to the Twi'lek and leaned forward in his chair. "If indeed, Admiral Ohsion, the seat of the Empire is there, any attack we make would have little effect unless we attacked a major facility-and the sector is too widely dispersed to pinpoint the exact location of the base, should it, in fact, exist there." He turned back to Ackbar and opened his arms. "We don't even have the resources to mount such an offensive; we're still reeling from the devastation inflicted."

"And unless that bill passes," muttered Antilles, "the chances of ever improving our military might to that point is slim to nonexistent." He moved around in his seat and leaned on his arm. "Just why is the task force build up being pushed back? Surely we have enough people for even a skeleton crew on each ship."

Ackbar shot a glance at Cracken before answering. "The command ship will not be ready for a week at least-it's being transferred from a secure dry-dock for final refitting-and even then we're still going to have problems finding enough people."

"As ludicrous as this sounds, I long for the days when the warlords were around."

All eyes turned to look on the young Bothan general sitting to the left of Ackbar. His black fur, highlighted with traces of gold and red, ruffled with all of the attention. "I know, I know, but we were able to focus on more internal matters when they were around."

Antilles leaned forward again. "General Uev`fon, might I remind you that myself, General Cracken, and Admiral Ackbar have fought against the warlords? Those wars of attrition, the battles that we had to fight against Krennel and Zsinj, drained our military forces. What's worse is that immediately following the war with Zsinj we end up in an escalated war with the Empire under Thrawn; after that, we took on Krennel, and after that, we had to fight the Emperor-Reborn!" The young man waved his right hand about and softly pounded it against the armrest of his chair. "And if we had to do it all over again, we would, for the simple fact that we were there to fight for the rights of the oppressed. That has always been what we were about."

The room was a silent for a while in response to what Antilles said. Finally, Ackbar looked at Cracken. "General?"

Cracken cleared his throat. "Due to statements taken from Kyp Durron as well as intelligence gathered from independent sources, the unity that the Empire is now employing seems to no longer support a HuMan doctrine. Civilian personnel, support staff, even officers are filled with not just human men, but with human women and other species. It is no longer considered an act of rebelling against an oppressive government, but a conventional, equal war."

The room again filled with silence. It was, again, broken by Ackbar. "I think that's as much as we can do for today. We'll meet back here again tomorrow at Zero Nine Hundred. That is all."

[The Steakhouse, NRI Facility "Catalyst", System: Classified, 1736 Hours]

Jamie walked up to the stainless steel bar and sat himself down on one of the stools. Groaning as he shifted his weight he grinned at the blue eyed woman walking towards him. "Give me some caf, please, I'm in danger of falling asleep."

"Caf won't keep you awake, at least not the stuff that they let me serve." She reached under the counter and produced a small steaming pot and a cup. "That's why I always blend my own."

Jamie took the pot and poured its contents into the cup. "You never cease to amaze me, Trix. You always find some way to make me comfortable, even back on the Regis. It was a shame you couldn't have been on the Star as the bartender, it sure would have made us feel a bit more at home."

"Didn't stop some of you from flying over to visit The Mug, now did it?" She grinned at him and poured herself a cup of the hot, steamy liquid. "Of course, I almost never saw you coming over. What's the matter, had things to do?"

"I'm not the type to go out of my way for things, Triz. Of course, I do believe I saw quite a bit of you coming over to the Star while you were off your shift. And I know just what for," commented Jamie, giving a sly smile in her direction. "You always thought you were being discreet, but the two of you were far from it. Everyone knew, and I do mean everyone."

"It's all his fault, you know. He didn't want to publicly brag about it, you know how he is." She gave a sad smile as she sipped some of her caf. "It was hard, thinking that he was dead for those two weeks after the assault of Coruscant. It must have been harder for you, spending an entire year thinking he was gone."

Jamie nodded a little. "He was a good pilot, so the thought of him dying was a bit much for us. At least you and I know the truth, but everyone else-with the exception of Kitz-thinks he is dead. And now," sighed the captain, "he's going to want to come out of seclusion, even though he can't."

"Why?"

He reached into his pocked and produced a small datapad and gave it her. It took only a few moments for Trixel to read the information before she realized what it meant. "I can see why. Steve was his closest friend, wingmate, and even roommate. He was the first friend that he made when he came aboard the Regis eight years ago. But he has to know that if he came out in the open it would jeopardize his position within NRI, if not for NRI operations itself."

"You try telling that to him." He sipped his caf again. "I've already talked to him about this, but he's not listening to me. I'm his XO and he won't listen to a word I say. Do you know how frustrating that is?"

"Yeah, but you're not his wife, I am. And he still doesn't listen to me!"

"That's what you get for marrying the guy, Trixel Narmi Baden."

[Michadick Residence, Military Housing District, Coruscant System, 1226 Hours]

"I'm afraid it looks bad."

Steve looked over at Neill Magill in the chair across from him. Earlier today Steve had been released under orders not to leave his house and Sooli had come to take him home. She herself had to return to NRI central offices for her work, but not before making sure he was comfortable.

How could he be comfortable, however, with a military arrest on his record and the reality of people dead, people he knew and was training?

"How bad?" asked Steve, rubbing his forehead.

"They have enough evidence and testimony to move ahead to a court marshal. The Advocate General's office has already assigned two officers to persecute your case and has staffed out a military protocol droid to help me for your defense." Magill shifted slightly in his chair and tugged at his uniform. "It's a bit unusual for someone of my pay grade to be defending a person in a court marshal. I think the highest that has ever been recorded was that of a lieutenant colonel. I'll understand if you want to find someone else for your defense, Steve."

The older man shook his head slowly. "I trust you, General. I trust you with my defense." He sighed and looked over into the other room where his two year old daughter was playing with her toys. She had been a pleasant little gift for him and Sooli, born just after the defeat of the Emperor-Reborn. That had been the last time he flew; once C'erra was part of his life he felt it was safer, for him and his family, if he took up an offer to teach at the newly built Academy.

And now it looked as if his attempt to protect her had come back and slapped him in the face. How would she react to her father being put through a court marshal; and one that had the concept of treason within it? He shook his head again and looked back at Magill. "It seems as though I have little choice in the matter."

"You seem to be having a very hard time dealing with it."

"Well, of course I am!" He tapped his hand on the coffee table in front of him frantically. "I'm facing a trail for treason; do you know what that could mean if I lose?" He looked over at Ashli again and lowered his voice. "Do you have any idea how that will affect her? Because I don't, and I'm her father."

"We've got some of the best NRI agents digging through the rubble to try and find something useful for our defense. And Cracken himself said he was behind you. Hell, Steve, I've got a deposition from Admiral Ackbar for a character reference. I mean, how many people have the C-in-C for a character reference!"

"Yeah, and Celchu had the best pilot in the history of the New Republic for his character reference and he still was about to receive a guilty verdict." He sighed and brushed his hand over his head. "Character references mean nothing; actual, tangible testimony and evidence does. Or at the very least in our favor. There seems to be quite enough for our opposition."

"Would it help if I contacted Colonel Celchu and have him come talk to you?"

Steve shook his head. "I'm sure the colonel has enough to do with Rogue Squadron. This is seemingly trivial in comparison to the operations of a squadron; besides which, he doesn't know me, so it would be a bit awkward for him to come and talk to me about this."

"Well," said Magill, his voice a little tired sounding. "If nothing else you've got me, and you've defiantly got Sooli."

"Yeah, I only hope that she can find something to work with."

Chapter 2: Investigations

[Director of Operations Office, Imperial Palace, Coruscant System, 1237 Hours]

"Colonel! I think we've got something."

Sooli looked up from her desk as her Mon Calamari aide shuffled into the office in an excited state. "Yes? What is it, Lieutenant?"

"You remember the initial analysis of the forensic team's findings? About the compound used in explosion was a hybrid spice/proton emission?" His burbles twitched in the Mon Calamari equivalent of a sly smile. "I found some specific readings that the preliminary investigation wasn't able to find." He handed her the datapad and pointed to a chart that was highlighted. "Right there."

Sooli looked at the chart and reviewed the data for a few moments. Her eyes widened slightly when she found the specific line that he was referring to. "You sure this is accurate?"

"Checked it five times and made sure I had the general's personal analyst review it. It's accurate."

She got up from her desk and walked around it, her hands behind her back. "Any indication of where the origin was?"

"Only one other place I know of that legalizes the use of spice; Kessel."

"Point." She brushed a lock of her hair back and just stood there for a moment. "Get me the general, immediately."

"Ma'am!" He rushed out of the office and a few moments later a quarter-sized holo image of Cracken appeared in on the desk. "Colonel."

"Sir, we've found some evidence that suggests the explosion was a frame."

"Elaborate."

She sighed a little and let her breath out slowly. "The device used in the explosion utilized a shaped charge consisting of a spice/proton hybrid. Proton emissions are easy to come by on any world, but since the occupation of Kessel last year the only people who can come by spice is the New Republic military. That and those who pay off the local garrison to get spice out illegally." She took the datapad into her hand and started sending the data into a secondary transmission line. "The data shows that the spice in the explosion wasn't fed through a processor, which is what the military does to make the explosion more efficient and less likely to be stolen by military personnel. This means that the explosives removed from my home were not the ones used in the bombing."

"How is that?"

"To activate the explosive compound into a bomb an ID check is required. Steve has the clearance, due to his being an instructor, but whoever planted the bomb did not. So, they removed the amount from my home to set him up, but had to use spice that was not processed."

"Very clever."

She nodded. "Indeed. However, it's not admissible. The prosecution would just come up with a way to use it against Steve. We need more if we're going to get him acquitted."

"I agree." He looked off to the side for a moment before returning to look at her. "Which members of `Black Eye' are able to move about freely without suspicion?"

"Captain Wetherill. He's logged in the database as being a special investigator for NRI and we've used him in some of those fashions often."

"Very will. Contact them and have the major move his unit out to Kessel. Wetherill will act as a special investigator while the rest of the team provides back up in case of a problem."

"Do you think the entire unit is required for that?"

"I hope not, but history has shown that my hopes almost never come true."

[Senator Nive's Office, New Republic Senate Building, Coruscant System, 1600 Hours]

"It appears as though not everyone in the NRI is ready to back the evidence."

Uvenia Nive looked up from her datapad as the stranger clad in black strolled into her inner office. "Excuse me? Who are you?"

The man walked over to a side table and picked up a small spherical object, studying it intently. "A friend. Someone who is on your side."

"I don't care who you are, get out of my office." She stood up and reached towards her com-link when she noticed it was gone. "Give me my com-link back."

"Oh. You mean this?" He started tossing it in his hand with a stern look on his face. "I don't think you appreciate the fact that the lack of full backing by the NRI might hurt the case against Major Michadick." He placed the com-link down on the desk as well as a data file. "His wife is sending some sort of team to investigate a discrepancy in the evidence. It could be very damaging in bringing this man to justice should the investigation go unnoticed."

The man turned and walked towards the outer office. Uvenia cleared her throat for a second before speaking. "Why are you telling me all of this? Do you expect me to try and sabotage the investigation?"

"Read the file, Madam Senator. I am sure you will know what to do with it."

[Cargo Hold, Ulicia, Hyperspace, 0328 Hours]

Rob Baden looked around at the men and women positioned in the hold, made up of humans, Bothans, Twi'lek, Cathars, Devaronians, and even a Bith. A group of over forty soldiers with unique abilities in their own way, all well trained and members of the NRI.

And almost all of them are believed to be dead, just like me.

Leaving Red Squadron was the hardest thing he had done since leaving Nar Shadda eight years ago, perhaps even more so. On Nar Shadda he had a business, his brother, and a beautiful woman he loved. But in Red he had friends, people who actually cared about him, and a career that was going places. Unfortunately, the place he ended up was not exactly where he wanted to go.

He shoved the thought aside and cleared his throat, drawing the attention of his unit. "Okay, listen up." He clicked on a small, portable holo-projector and the image of Kessel appeared. "We've just entered hyperspace on the way to the Kessel system. Now all of you have been briefed on the official situation of our forces in the area, but you're going to learn the real status of deployment." He hit a button and a series of small ships appeared above the northern hemisphere of the planet. "Kessel is protected-guarded being more of the case-by a small, but sizable in comparison to the importance of this world, task force. The command ship," he said as he zoomed the image in, "is a first generation heavy Mon Calamari cruiser, the Mon Alexandra. As you can see by the make of it, it has been retrofitted from its original design as a luxury liner. This ship-as a military vessel-is older than the New Republic, and was first built three years before the Battle of Yavin.

"The rest of the task force," continued Rob as the image moved in slightly more to focus on the smaller ships, "is comprised of a Nebulon-B2-class Escort Frigate, a retrofitted Assault-class Frigate, two Corellian Gunships, and three Corvettes, two Corellian and one Marauder-class. There is also six full squadrons stationed aboard the ships, three on the cruiser, two on the escort frigate, and one scattered throughout the remaining ships in terms of piece-meal. Now, most of these are made up of older versions of the Y-wing, X-wing, and even the Z-95 Headhunter."

"Major," commented one of Rob's squad leaders, a young first lieutenant with a face full of freckles and bleach-blonde hair. "Why do we need to know this? These are our own forces; it's not as if we're going to end up going against them... right?"

"The D-of-O believes that someone or a group of someones operating on Kessel are allowing the black-market selling of spice to resume. Captain Wetherill and First Sergeant Brok`iere will be covering as NRI investigators; in a sense, this is the truth. They'll be using their real names and won't have to come up with a cover story." He changed the image of the holo-projector and the task force disappeared to be replaced by a series of buildings. "This is the main spice-cataloging facility on Kessel, where ninty-one percent of all of the spice is sent to be registered and shipped out to the central processing facility on Coruscant. We're pretty sure that this facility is not the one to worry about, but we could be wrong." Again the image changed, this time showing two small, almost identical buildings. "These are the two facilities where the remaining ten percent are registered and shipped from. They mainly go to other worlds to allocate the need for our weapons instead of going straight to Coruscant and then being funneled through the red-tape. Since they're small, and aren't sent directly to Coruscant, they're considered to be of lesser importance to the security around here and are a good place to start our investigation."

Rob shut the projector off and pocketed the small transmitter. "Now, just because Wetherill and Brok`iere don't have to hide doesn't mean the rest of us do. Squad Two, you'll be covering as the technicians, assistant investigators, and so forth for our point men. See me afterwards to find out about your covers, but don't worry too much, we're not breaking into the Galactic Bank. Squad Three, you'll be covering as relief troops for the space port's security unit. Don't get to comfortable, you'll be monitoring all of the security transmissions. Everyone else except myself, Junsey, Oloth, and Usev, will be stationed throughout the main facility, but not within groups of more than two. Don't get distracted by everything that's going on; keep an eye on the movements of the security and administrative personnel. See if you spot someone acting suspiciously, someone who shouldn't be there, anything out of the ordinary."

"What will you and the others be doing, sir?" asked a corporal in the back.

"We're recognizable on sight. And, seeing as how we're reported to be dead, seeing us alive would be a bit of a problem. We're due to arrive in four days time, so be sure you go over your covers, train a little, and get some rest."

[Military Courtroom "C", Imperial Palace, Coruscant System, 0855 Hours]

Steve sighed impatiently as he pulled at the collar of his uniform. It wasn't so much the actual uniform that annoyed him but rather the reason why he was wearing it. Here he was, almost forty years old, with a wife and a child, and about to face a court marshal for treason and murder. Oh, how far I've come in life, he thought, sarcastically, to himself.

"All rise," shouted the bailiff, a young staff sergeant with a scar across her face. Everyone rose from their seats and in walked a tall, thin woman with fire-red hair cut short and eyes to match. She took her seat behind the slightly-elevated bench and then pounded on the gavel once.

"Be seated, please." Everyone sat down almost in uniform precision. The woman, whose shoulder badge showed she was a full colonel in Starfighter Command, cleared her throat and took out a datapad. "This court is now in session. The case of Starfighter Command v. Major Steve Michadick, charged with treason, murder, theft, and espionage. Major, how do you plead?"

Steve and Magill both stood up. Steve cleared his throat and spoke slowly. "Not guilty."

"So noted and entered into the record. Prosecution, you may begin."

A short Bothan woman rose and smoothed her uniform. "Thank you, ma'am." She turned towards the twelve people seated to the right of the courtroom. "Gentlebeings of the jury, the prosecution is prepared to show that not only was Major Michadick in possession of the explosives used in the Academy bombing, but was the one who created the bomb. You will see evidence that the Major, disgruntled after being blackmailed by his students, decided to take revenge on them by murdering them in an inferno of explosives. And you will also see how the Major, not stopping with just wanting to take revenge on those blackmailing him, has been acting on a pro-Imperialistic agenda."

There was some slight murmuring and Steve looked over at Magill. "What's she talking about?" he whispered.

"I figured they would try something like this." He looked over at Steve and gave a serious expression. "They're going to try and connect your background to the reason for the bombing."

The colonel banged her gavel once. "Order. Thank you, counsel." She turned her attention towards Magill. "Sir, if you would."

"Thank you, Colonel Imasle." Magill stood up and cleared his throat. "People of the jury, the prosecution is correct in that Major Michadick had the explosives used, but as testimony and evidence will show, he was not the person responsible for arming, creating, or even planting the bomb. The Major is a very peaceful person, who has a reputation of being a hero of the New Republic and serving with distinction on several occasions. He is a key instructor at the Academy and would never hurt his students, even those who would blackmail him. He is also a caring father and husband, and loyal friend to those he has been in battle with. He could not have done this, even if he had the opportunity to." He gave a slight nod in the direction of the prosecution and settled back down in his chair, his datapad out and the droid he had been staffed mumbling to his right.

"The prosecution may call its first witness."

The woman rose again and cleared her throat. "We call Senator Uvenia Nive to the stand."

In the back, a tall woman with raven-black hair and dark, almost empty eyes, stood and headed towards the front of the courtroom.

Magill rose. "Objection. The Senator was not present during the incident, nor was she even in contact with Major Michadick prior to this occasion. What could she possibly have to add to this case besides that of a grieving mother?"

"Ranger!" whispered Steve hesitantly.

"I know what I'm doing," he said back.

"Colonel, the Senator's testimony will give an understanding about her son, one of the Major's students and a victim of the incident."

"Was the Senator's son believed to have been part of the blackmailing?"

"No, Ma'am."

She turned to Magill and gave a hesitant nod. "I'm sorry, General, but the testimony might be important. Overruled. Continue, Lieutenant Colonel Uve`oney."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

The staff sergeant moved towards the witness stand and put a datapad containing the charter of the New Republic on it in front of the Senator. Placing her left hand on the datapad and raising her right, Senator Nive straightened herself up. "Do you swear to tell the truth, the entire truth, and nothing but said truth, so help your health?"

She nodded and spoke in an even, almost forced tone. "I so do."

The bailiff went back to her place and nodded towards the prosecution. The Bothan, sure of herself, walked towards the stand, her hands behind her back. "Senator, what was Cadet Nive like?"

"He was a bit of a quiet person, always kept to himself, but he was a hard worker and never liked anything being handed to him. He worked to achieve what he wanted and didn't like trying to curry the favor of people above him. Likewise, he didn't mock those people who were below him."

"He was near the top of his class, wasn't he?"

"Yes. He had always prided himself on excelling in his studies. He tried as hard as he could to be the best that he could be."

Steve looked at her as she gave her testimony. She seemed almost emotionless, as if she was reading from a statistics report rather then talking about her now-dead child. It was almost like she was so traumatized by her son's death that she had turned cold, dark, fierce inside. If such are the emotions of a Senator, he thought, I fear for said Senator's sanity.

"And how did you feel when it was reported that your son had died?"

She turned and looked straight at Steve and he felt his heart shiver from her dark eyes. "I was stricken with such a deep sense of grief that I started breaking things in my residence. I've had to replace almost half of my breakable possessions within the last few days. I am... not happy."

"Thank you, Senator." The Bothan nodded slightly at Magill before she sat back down at her table.

The redheaded colonel turned to him as well. "General, wish to cross?"

"Thank you, Colonel." He stood and walked over to the witness stand slowly. "Madam Senator, your son worked to help with his tuition payment, correct?"

She moved a little uneasily in her chair. "Yes. He worked at the registration office in the main dormitory."

"You're a prominent senator, and one of the people responsible for founding the Academy. Your son must have been asked if he wanted a waiver, a free ride through the Academy. Why didn't he take it?"

"He never wanted anything handed to him. He felt that it would somehow cheapen his education."

"Had he taken the offers, would you have supported his being in the Academy, or would you have continued to have been upset at his joining the military against your wishes?"

Uve`oney rose abruptly. "Objection, badgering."

"Sustianed. Please rephrase."

Magill nodded. "Why were you opposed to your son entering the military?"

"I didn't feel that it was right for him, that he was putting himself in unnecessary danger. The life-expectancy of a military officer is less than that of a bounty hunter's target."

"But there have been several people who have been in the military for years and have survived. Case-in-point, the current Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Ackbar. As well as General Wedge Antilles. Both have been around since the near beginning of the Rebellion." Steve watched as he pointed back towards him. "Myself and Major Michadick included; we both joined the pilot corps, which is known for the life-expectancy to be somewhat small. And here we are, both alive and well."

"I would like to think that my son would never have turned out to be like either of you two; a murderer, or an incompetent defender of a murderer."

Magill turned towards the bench. "Colonel, permission to treat this as a hostile witness?"

"You have permission."

Steve heard a grunting noise from Uve`oney and looked over to see her place a hand to her forehead. She obviously was not happy at the way this was progressing.

"Thank you, Colonel. Now, Senator, how did you feel when you learned that your son was entering the Academy, as well as hoping to take up a slot as a pilot?"

"I was worried. As I said, the military is a dangerous place for anyone, even more-so for those who wish to become pilots. Having been a pilot yourself, I am sure you have watched many die in your career."

Magill nodded a little. "But that didn't stop him from pursuing his goal, did it? In fact, he was entering his third year and had transferred out of the pilot program and into the helm school. And still you were upset at him for being in the Academy, weren't you?"

She looked at him with cold, dark eyes. "Yes."

"So, because you were upset at him, how much of his time was spent at home, or with you?"

"Very little."

"Then how is it possible that you are able to give a cohesive, appropriate evaluation of your son if you have spent very little time with him in the last two years? How is it that you know anything about his situation with Major Michadick as his instructor?"

"I... I don't know."

Magill looked over at Uve`oney and said slowly, "no further questions." He walked back over and sat down beside Steve, giving him a small smile. "Told you I knew what I was doing."

"I believe you."

"Counselor, you may call your second witness."

"Thank you, ma'am. The prosecution calls Chief Petty Officer Erike Ohines."

[Cargo Hold, Ulicia, Kessel System, 0945 Hours]

Jamie, dressed in his full duty uniform, tugged at the collar. It had been so long since he had worn this that the material had become almost foreign and irritating to him. Due to the fact that his and Rob's unit has been training and stationed in a classified base, the attire has always been that of combat fatigues and minor duty uniforms. But, for him to play the roll of special investigator, he had to wear it.

I just wish it would stop itching!

His com-link beeped and he flicked it on. "Captain Wetherill."

"Captain, this is the bridge. We're receiving an incoming transmission for you, office of the D-of-O."

Jamie walked over to a nearby communications console and turned it on. "Run it through down here, please, station two." His com-link beeped off and in a moment the serene face of Sooli Kitz Michadick appeared on the monitor in front of him. "Colonel."

"Glad to see you arrived safely, Captain. Is the Major with you?"

"Yes," came a voice from behind him.

Jamie turned around and saw Rob standing over him, his hands at his back in a military rest. "Uh, I'm guessing yes, since he just said so."

"Good. Is your team ready to move out?"

"Yes," said Rob, in a short voice. "What's going on back home with Steve?"

"Major, this isn't a-"

"What is going on back home with Steve?"

Jamie just looked at them both, his eyes moving back and forth. He didn't dare say anything.

"From what I've been told, General Magill is doing well. They've just taken a brief recess but will probably reconvene in a few minutes. He made the starting witness for the prosecution look like nothing than a sympathy case to try and drum up a sympathetic jury in their favor. He's actually quite good, at least that's what I've been told."

"Told? You weren't there personally?"

She just looked at him and Jamie could have sworn he saw some sort of personified glare pass through the screen.

"I have a job to do, in case you forgot, Rob." She crossed her arms and leaned back a little. "And so do you, Major Baden."

"I don't see why I even have to be here," snapped Rob. Mr. Wetherill is more than capable of running this operation without my input. I could put my talents to use elsewhere."

"We've been through this, Rob, you cannot talk to Steve."

"How many times have you told me that he hated the thought of me being dead?" He hit his palm on console. "Sith, I want to see him! Do you know how hard it is being out here for six years and not getting to tell him I'm not dead?!"

"You can't see him and you know perfectly well why not! Coming out in the open, even to just him, will put you at risk at the very least, and could put the very security of the NRI at risk. Now I suggest you drop it before I drop you back down to captain!"

Rob just glared for a moment and walked off, leaving Jamie alone with Sooli again.

"Well.that could have gone better," muttered Jamie under his breath.

"Captain, how are things going?"

"Good, we're all ready to move out as soon as we land. All teams have been prepped and ready to go."

"Very well. Please keep me informed if you find anything. And, take care of Rob, will you? He's very upset about this."

"I can't blame him, ma'am," he said, tugging at his collar. "I don't know as much about him as you or your husband knows, but I do know that seeing one of his friends in trouble is making him go crazy."

"I know. Just keep an eye on him."

"Yes, ma'am. Wetherill out."

[Commander-in-Chief's Office, Imperial Palace, Coruscant System, 1409 Hours]

Ackbar looked at the four people assembled in his office, standing in front of his desk, and at parade rest. Each one of them had an excellent record, and each were very good at what they did, but about the only one that did anything "by-the-book" was the one man who could have gotten away with doing more unorthodox things.

He cleared his throat and looked up at the elderly man to his extreme right. "General Cracken, how goes the investigation?"

"Colonel Kitz Michadick believes that the materials used in the bomb might not have been from her husband's inventory, yet the same amount needed was removed from their residence. She sent a team to investigate the possible substitution, but there is nothing else."

"Hmmm. And what of the Hutts, or Admiral Pellaeon? Two weeks have now passed and yet there seems to be no indication of retaliation."

"Sources on Nar Shadda and Nal Hutta have informed me that the Hutts are not about to try anything against us. We're scattered and are in the process of rebuilding the forces we lost due to Daala's attacks, but we're still more than a match for the Hutts, and that they know." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "However, information about Pellaeon is almost nonexistent. We have been able to confirm that he has pulled back his forces and is fortifying his positions in what remains of Imperial space. He seems more concerned with rebuilding what forces he lost and to bind the former warlord systems into a central power once again. It's a bit of a waiting game."

"Any news of Daala?"

Cracken shook his head slowly. "She apparently left the Imperial fleet and just disappeared. It seems as if she took the loss of that Super-class Star Destroyer personally and just didn't want to fight anymore.

"Well, not having her around will be good, but we better not let our guard down." He turned towards the furred person in front of him. "General Uev`fon, due to recent complications concerning the appropriations bill and Michadick's trial, Magill is unable to return to Folor Base in the near future. Because of that, I'm transferring you over to take temporary command."

"But, sir, Magill's executive officer, won't he be a bit upset at this?"

"Let him. It's only temporary. I'm also sending a small flotilla to provide area security for the base. They'll arrive probably before you will."

"Yes, sir."

He turned towards the last two people in the room. "Admiral Ohsion, you will head over to Bilbringi. As I said earlier in the week, there are still a couple of ships that need to be worked on as well as crewing issues, but the task force is almost ready. You will be in command of the task force, for now. I'm sending General Antilles here along with you as your executive officer."

"Excuse me, Admiral," asked the Corellian. "Why am I being sent? I'm not the best at tactics, and, Sith, I'm not even in Fleet Command."

"You have a very keen mind and observation tactics, General. Least you forget the mock combat near Nal Hutta a few weeks ago, you bested me. And I think that once you see the task force's command ship you'll understand why I want you to go."

"I don't think I understand, sir."

"You will, General."

[Military Courtroom "C", Imperial Palace, Coruscant System, 1505 Hours]

"Thank you, General." Imasle looked at her chrono and then hit the gavel once. "The hour is late; we'll adjourn for the day."

Neill gathered up his datapads and looked over at Steve. "That went pretty good for the first day. But this case is a long ways from being won."

"Oh, my, yes, General Magill. You are quite right."

Neill looked over at the black protocol droid and frowned. "Eney, for once, please shut up unless I ask for something." He turned back to Steve. "The next few days are going to be spent presenting evidence and questioning those who were at the Academy directly. After that it's going to be a bit more involved and personal."

"When am I going to be needed to testify?"

Neill looked at him with a sharp glare. "Hopefully, never. If you do have to testify, they'll go after you like there's no tomorrow, especially concerning your past. Some things might come up that I'm not sure you should deal with."

"But testifying might be the only way of telling them what really happened."

"Perhaps, but it's not the best way to go about it. They'll tear you apart up on that witness stand, and I can't allow that."

Steve just looked at him with a deep focus and drive that Neill had never seen before. "And I can't allow my family to see this happen to me. If it comes to it, then I will testify."

Chapter 3: Unknown Enemy

[Berthing Bay 2, Spice Registration Facility 1, Kessel System, 1701 Hours]

Jamie walked up the boarding ramp of the Medium Transport Ulicia, his "inspection" crew trailing him. Their investigation had been nothing but a dead end. For two full days he'd been to all three facilities and each didn't have a problem with it. None of the teams that were stationed reported anything unusual either, which meant that they were back at square one.

He sat down in the chair right by the ramp controls and sighed. "I have got to get a better job."

"You and me both, Mr. Wetherill."

Jamie looked up and saw Rob standing in front of him, clad in his black jump suit and two medium sized swords attached to his back. "We met a dead end like you wouldn't believe. Nothing, not even at the smaller facilities where we thought it would be more likely to happen. The Colonel's theories seem to be wrong."

"I wouldn't say that." Rob pulled out a datapad and gave it to Jamie. "Take a look at what Squad Two picked up."

Jamie took the datapad and looked at its contents. He whistled a little and started undoing his duty uniform. "This is certainly good for us. How soon before they move out?"

"Only a matter of minutes." He nodded towards the men and women running up the ramp. "We're taking off in a few minutes after they leave."

"What about those who are still on the ground?"

"They've made their way back here. And Squad Two was able to place a tracer on the hull."

Jamie grinned and broke out into a half-job towards the lift. I guess her hunch was right, then.

[Cargo Hold, Ulicia, Kessel System, 1710 Hours]

Rob walked over to the communications terminal and sat down. Punching in his pass code he brought up the log of all the commands being issued on the bridge. Switching on the microphone he cleared his throat. "This is Black Eye One to Ulicia Command, over."

It took a few moments for the sounds of a husky, female voice to return. "Go ahead, One."

"All forces are locked in and ready for go. Initiate take-off sequence."

"Acknowledged. Verify command, Skywalker Omega Five."

"I verify command; response is Solo Ultra Red One."

"Confirmed. Lunching now, One. Course?"

Rob started punching in the frequency of the tracer. "Follow that tracer, and be sure to attain fully angle and degree information before they enter hyperspace."

"Understood. Command out."

Rob shut off the terminal and just sat back in the chair. He absolutely hated going through these codes and verifications; it took way too long to get anything done, and when something did happen it was usually something of a bad result.

Oh, how I long for the days of being a pilot.

He looked out the viewport and saw the black air of Kessel bleed into the void black of space. He felt himself sigh as the pinpoints of light started to sparkle, showing the individual stars. Now-a-days this was as close as he got to feeling space beneath and around him. He missed it... but he didn't miss the death that came with it.

A little over six years ago, just a couple of months before the invasion of Coruscant, Red Squadron had been ordered to escort a small convoy of refugees through the Cron Drift. During the escort mission, an Imperial flotilla ambushed them and made an assault on the convoy ships itself. Rob and Jamie, as wingmates, went after a flight of TIE Bombers making a run on the lead ship. Jamie took out two dupes with a pair of concussion missiles, but Rob's quarry was a bit different.

He could still remember it now; the two dupes had moved in close to the ship and were pounding away at it with lasers. Rob had fired a missile at each bomber and was moving in to ensure their destruction when the two bombers pulled away at the last minute, allowing the missiles to impact on the hull of the convoy ship. The resulting explosion was enough to tear the ship apart and kill all of the people aboard.

Rob did end up taking out the two bombers, but the death of the convoy ship set heavy with him. There was an investigation conducted, as all such incidents have one for official purposes, but Rob was found innocent of any wrong doing. However, that still didn't set his mind at ease. It was the first time he had responsible, either in part or in whole, for the death of a civilian, let alone a civilian who was considered a citizen of the New Republic. Steve and Sooli tried their hardest to help him get over it, but he just couldn't, and so his faith in his flying began to diminish.

About a month later, a month before the invasion of Coruscant, Rob contacted the NRI and set things in motion. Working directly with General Cracken, he set it up so that during the actual Battle of Coruscant he would punch out as soon as he was even remotely hit by a stray laser shot. And the plan worked perfectly; his X-wing blew apart in a blazing inferno while a nearby Gamma-class assault shuttle picked him up, and he disabled his emergency homing beacon so that none of the other Reds would believe him to be alive. First Lieutenant Rob Baden of Starfighter Command died at the Battle of Coruscant; First Lieutenant Rob Baden of New Republic Intelligence was born that same day.

He often wondered if he had made the right choice, but a strong part of him believed that he had made the correct decision. He didn't like killing that much, but he liked killing the innocent even less. His only demand with Cracken was that he not be put in a position in which he would have to kill innocent people ever again. And thus far, for the past six years, he had kept his word. During his piloting career he had shot down countless Imperial and pirate starfighters, several medium sized cargo ships, and a few heavy starships. That alone counted for hundreds of thousands of deaths.

However, during his time in the NRI he had only killed a total of three hundred individuals in person, and was responsible for perhaps about a thousand all-together. That was over a total of six years, whereas his piloting career was only a little over two. However, while he had been very good in keeping Rob away from missions that involved civilians, Cracken had put him on some fairly dangerous missions that ended in a good deal of bloodshed. Rob may have experienced less death as an operative, but it was on a more personal scale, and sometimes that got to him.

Thankfully he had Trixel to help him through it.

She surprised him by seeing exactly what he was going through. Before he had even contacted Cracken she came to him and told him that she was sensing something in her, that she was changing and that she was worried about him. A little skittish, mostly afraid that she would try to stop him, he didn't tell her what was going on at first. However, a couple of weeks later, when he was ready to contact the NRI, he told her all about it in hopes that she would understand that he had to leave. What she did next was something that still amazed him to this day; she left it alone and Rob thought that was going to be the end of it.

However, she surprised him yet again when she showed up at his NRI facility and started tending bar. He was a bit mad and upset at her at first, but was very much happy to see her, more so to keep someone form his past in his new life than because he loved her. In any event, he was very happy to see her and she brought to him a sense of joy that he was unable to experience in any other part of his new life. He was so lucky to have had her say yes to when he proposed, though he silently thought it was just to keep him from making bad-tasting caf.

"Rob!"

He shook his head and looked up to see Jamie standing in front of him. "What?"

"You dazed out, Rob, I've been trying to get your attention for the past thirty seconds."

"Oh, sorry, was just thinking about some things. What's up?"

"The transport just jumped to hyperspace. We'll be doing a roundabout course to track them from a distance so that they can't track us."

"Good. Let me know when we get a fix on their final destination. And send a quick update to Kitz Michadick before we hit hyperspace to let her know what's going on."

"Yes, sir." He walked off, leaving Rob to his thoughts once more. Oh, Trix, how I wish you were here.

[Bridge, Morning Star, Commenor System, 1750 Hours]

Jack Uoart looked out at the moon of Commenor and saw the glistening lights of Folor base. He himself had never been to this facility, but it was renowned for being a place where some of the best pilots were trained. Some of the previous transfer pilots aboard the Star had been trained here, but that was a very long time ago.

To the port was the Assault-class Frigate Storm Chaser, and just beyond it was a corvette, the Summer. To the starboard was a Corellian Gunship, the Alverion. They made up the flotilla that he had been put in charge of a year and a half ago, following the Second Battle of Coruscant. He was quite proud of it, in fact, having finally achieved not just the command of a starship, but overall command of four starships.

The sound of the lift doors opening up drew his attention and he looked back to see a man in his late twenties. Moving his way towards Jack he was dressed in his duty fatigues. "Captain Uoart," he said when he stopped next to Jack.

Jack returned his gaze to the moon of Folor. "Amazing, isn't it, Colonel. A place that was ravaged by weapons of destruction almost to the point of complete molecular breakdown is now the advanced staging ground for the defense of the surrounding systems. And yet, it still looks pathetically undermanned and equipped."

"Yes, sir."

Jack turned to him and lowered his voice. "How was your leave? First time I remember you taking a leave is almost three years."

"Things have kept us a bit busy in the past three years, Captain. Running a wing is not exactly the easiest thing to do."

"And you do it quite well, Colonel Healey." He looked up to check the time and saw that 1800 Hours had come and gone. Turning back towards the helmsman he raised his voice again. "Helm, all stop. Comm, instruct the flotilla to do likewise then raise Folor Base."

"Aye, sir, all stop."

"Yes, sir."

Looking over at Healey he took a small breath. "Colonel, hopefully we'll have some peace and quiet for a few days while we're here. Inform your squadrons that the possibility of limited shore leave is available, but stress the limited part."

He gave a sharp salute and a "yes, sir" before turning around and walking back through the lift doors.

[Cockpit, Charter, Bilbringi System, 2002 Hours]

Wedge looked out as the white, blinding wall of hyperspace shattered back to the single stars. The shipyards of Bilbringi, one of the largest and most productive in the New Republic, filled the small view port of the shuttle that he and Admiral Ohsion shared along with most of their staff. A full squadron of E-wings took up an escort position around them and led them towards a secondary dry-dock structure several klicks past the main facility, where most of the new strike fleet was being worked on.

He gave a low whistle as he noticed the amount of money that must had been put into creating this fleet. There were several corvettes and gunships, as well as a couple of Mon Calamari heavy cruisers and frigates of various types. But none of that is what amazed him the most.

He held his breath slightly as the shuttle brought them around to the other side of the dry-dock, displaying the command ship for the fleet and perhaps the most terrifying vision he had seen in years. The light from the system's star illuminated half of the dark hull and Wedge saw a large Rebel Alliance crest pained over the port fuelsolodge. Despite the addition of the pait job, he was able to recognize it for just what it was and he was both joyful and angry at Admiral Ackbar for giving him this assignment.

"Emperor's Black Bones!" commented Ohsion to his right. "They actually repaired it, after all these years."

Wedge nodded silently as he couldn't take his eyes off the ship. He brought the shuttle closer to the bridge section and noticed just in front of the tower connecting it to the rest of the ship was the name of the ship and designation.

"Black Bones indeed, Admiral," whispered Wedge as he continued to look at the Super-class Star Destroyer. "Welcome to the Lusankya."

[Cargo Hold, Ulicia, Obroa-Saki System, 1228 Hours]

"We've got a final destination."

Rob looked up from his datapad. "Where?"

"Bilbringi."

"Bilbringi?" He put down the datapad and placed his hand on his forehead. "What could they possibly have to do with there?" He pushed the thought aside visibly with his hand. "Inform the Captain to make way for Bilbringi, all possible speed, and send another update to the Colonel, she'll want to know what's going on."

"On it."

[Director of Operations Office, Imperial Palace, Coruscant System, 1235 Hours]

Sooli rose to her immediately and practically ran over to the holo-projector. She clicked it on and a few moments later a young Bothan captain answered the line. "Director's Office."

"Ven`fer, quick, where's General Cracken?"

"He's in the courtroom; he's about to testify concerning the investigation of the Academy bombing."

Sooli mentally kicked herself for forgetting about that. "How soon before he's called?"

"It's not like a trail goes according to a schedule, Colonel. If it's important, I can page him, but the chances are he has his link off."

"Stag!" She turned off the projector and broke into a run, heading for the door of her office which opened just barely in time. She rushed as fast as she could to the lift car at the end of the hallway and cursed herself repeatedly while she waited for it to descend to the courtroom level.

Once the doors opened up she started to run again but stopped short when she saw the closed doors to the courtroom. Court was obviously in session, and if General Cracken was not outside waiting with the other witnesses it meant that he was most likely on the stand. Giving in and pledging to talk to him immediately following his testimony, Sooli softly opened the doors and walked in to the courtroom.

It was full of press and civilians, as well as a few military personnel, some of them friends and colleagues from the Academy. She took an empty seat in the back, not wanting to disrupt the proceedings. She saw the Bothan prosecutor walk towards Cracken on the stand and sighed, glad that she hadn't missed him.

"General, you said that you have tried to keep a personal interest in this investigation, correct?"

"Yes, that is correct."

She walked back and forth between the stand and prosecution table, a tactic that was widely used by lawyers as they tried to pick away at a witness's testimony. "You let the investigation fall to your Director of Operations, one Colonel Sooli Kitz Michadick, yes?"

Sooli felt her face flush and tried to hide herself from anyone who might be looking at her. She knew that she would have come into the trial eventually; this just wasn't the way that she had hoped for.

"Yes."

"And she's also the wife of the murderer, is she not?"

Magill rose up quickly. "Objection, it has not been proven that my client is a murderer."

"Sustained," chimed in the woman in the bench.

"Let me rephrase; Colonel Kitz Michadick is also the wife of the accused, is she not?"

"Yes, she is."

"Wouldn't that create a bit of an ethical problem concerning the validity of the investigation?"

"No; Colonel Kitz Michadick is a professional and would never let her personal feelings for the accused interfere in doing her job. I would place full faith in her abilities."

"Is it not the official finding of your department that the explosions used in the bombing were of a spice/proton hybrid?"

"It is."

"And is it not the official finding of your department that the explosions used in the bombing were equal to the amount that turned up missing from the residence of the Michadicks?"

"Yes, it is."

Sooli was afraid she could tell where this was going.

"And, General, is it not the official finding of your department that the explosions used in the bombing were the ones that had gone missing from the residence of the Michadicks?"

"Correct."

The Bothan walked back to the table and picked up a datapad and then walked back towards the witness stand. "General Cracken, just before the end of our lunch recess earlier today, the prosecution was given evidence that certain elements within the New Republic Intelligence department have been running their own investigation independent of the main one." She patted the datapad. "I have here evidence showing a team of NRI investigators, under official orders from Colonel Kitz Michadick, inspecting Spice Registration facilities on Kessel in an attempt to find evidence of someone framing Major Michadick. Does this coincide with the official standing of your department?"

The General, pained to be doing this, shook his head slowly. "No, it does not. But-"

"Thank you, General, that will be all." She walked over to her table and sat down again as Magill rose.

"Colonel, the Defense has not had an opportunity to examine this possibly evidence and I object to the presentation of such before I could have the chance to see it."

"Colonel," said the Bothan, "I did not enter evidence, I plainly said that I had evidence to the contrary of what the General's official report said."

"I'm sorry, General, but she has a point. Overruled." Magill sank back down into his seat while the Colonel turned to the Bothan. "But in the future, Lieutenant Colonel, don't pull that stunt again, you're on thin ice."

"Yes, ma'am."

"General, your witness."

Magill sat for a moment and then got back out of his seat. "General Cracken, why did Colonel Kitz Michadick send those investigators to Kessel to check up on the Spice Registration facilities?"

"It was believed that the spice used in the explosion was not fed through a processor, which is used to harness the quality of the spice and make it more efficient for resulting explosion."

Magill was silent for a moment and then shook his head slightly. "Thank you, General, that will be all."

Sooli sighed and just closed her eyes. Damnit!

[Military Courtroom "C", Imperial Palace, Coruscant System, 1348 Hours]

The courtroom was starting to empty with the end of the proceedings for the day. Steve looked over at Magill and lowered his voice. "Now what?"

"Well, that admittance by Cracken severely damaged any credibility that Sooli has with the jury and the media. I'm afraid that we're back to square one."

Steve frowned and lowered his voice even more so. "Call me."

"You can't be serious."

"Call me."

"Sith, Steve, she'll tear you apart in cross-examination, she'll go after you like a Wookiee after meal."

"It's the only way. Do it."

Magill sighed as he picked up his datapads. "Force help me."

[Commander-in-Chief's Office, Imperial Palace, Coruscant System, 1619 Hours]

"Admiral, we've received word from the Chairman of the Security Council."

Ackbar looked up from his datapad and put it aside as his human aide stood in his doorway. "And?"

"The Appropriations Bill passed! Overwhelming support. We'll be getting our increase like we wanted."

"That's good to hear." He cocked his head to the side. "How is the Michadick trail going?"

"Not good. It looks as though it might turn out badly for him in the end."

"That's too bad. He really is a hero to the New Republic."

[Ohsion's Quarters, Lusankya, Bilbringi System, 2002 Hours]

Admiral Eliv Oshion settled down at her desk, relaxing for the first time since she arrived in the system. Upon their arrival on the Lusankya, she had been busy with countless administrative duties, some of which she delegated to Antilles, but she took care of a great deal of them herself. After all, she was now in charge of the most powerful ship in the New Republic military; she wanted to be able to know how to run it.

She was about to allow herself a short nap when her com-link beeped, causing her to growl at it. Flicking it on she said in an irritated voice, "yes?"

"Sorry to bother you, Admiral," came the voice of Antilles. "There's a transport ship that just entered the system and its captain is requesting to talk to you."

"Who's the captain?"

"A human by the name of Markus Vansquel."

"Patch him through immediately and be sure the line is secure." She got out of her chair and walked over to the communications console and sat down, pulling on her uniform tunic. Shortly the ragged face of young man appeared before her. "Blast it, Vansquel, what are you doing here?"

"We've been found out, Admiral. A team of NRI agents were staking out the facility on Kessel. They were looking specifically at spice registration protocols and trying to find if there were any irregularities in the bookkeeping."

"Yes, I'm aware of them being sent to Kessel, you fool." She frowned a moment and then growled. "You panicked, didn't you? And fled the scene? Blast it!" She pounded her fist on the console a little and then looked up at him. "That still doesn't explain what you are doing here, you shouldn't even know where I am."

"I called the Fleet Command department and they told me you were on temporary assignment somewhere, but wouldn't tell me where. It didn't take long for me to search and figure out which spot recently got a new commanding officer."

"Very astute of you," said Eliv, giving a sense of mock appreciation. "But I told you never to contact me unless it was an emergency. This is not it at all." She moved in to cut the transmission when he started screaming a plea.

"Wait, wait, wait! I have valuable information for you to use."

She paused over the switch and looked at him. "Go on."

"They're well trained from the looks of it, and I am sure that there were more then just the few I spotted. They were using a Medium Transport as their ship and I'm sure it's set up as a mobile training ship for them."

"This tells me nothing of importance, Vansquel! You have wasted my time and I will be sure to show you how much I enjoy that.later!" She cut the transmission and settled back in her chair, thinking to herself. It's too soon, she thought, we're not ready to move. But it looks like there won't be a choice.

She leaned forward again and hit the button on the console. "General Antilles."

A moment later the clean shaven, almost babyish face of Wedge Antilles appeared on her screen. "Yes, Admiral?"

"Give me a line to the Mystique, I want to talk to her captain, again on a secure transmission."

[Birdge, Ulicia, Hyperspace, 0758 Hours]

Rob looked around at the cramped bridge and was thankful that he didn't have to spend that much time on it. Having owned his own transport he knew that transport vessels, small or large, allocated as much space as they could for cargo, leaving the remains of the ship somewhat condensed and overly populated.

Making his way over to the small command chair he leaded against the back of it. "Status, Captain?"

The old man turned around slightly before returning to his gaze at the monitors. "We're about to drop out of hyperspace in Bilbringi, assuming, of course, that the tracer was working correctly."

"It is. It's a new type, has never been unsuccessfully tested or removed from the object that it has been attached to, nor discovered."

The elder turned towards him again with a cynical expression on his face and then turned back once again. "This had better work."

"Captain, we're entering Bilbringi space," called the helmsman.

"Very good. Take us out of lightspeed and start scanning the system."

The illuminated tunnel of hyperspace collapsed around them and Rob saw the familiar reversion to real space through the monitors. He found himself wishing he could be on the outside of the hull with just an environmental suit on, knowing full well he'd die from it, just to feel that once again.

"Sir," called out the tactical officer. "We can't find the tracer anywhere, but there are indications that it was here."

"Elaborate," said Rob.

"Wake emissions from the entry point that we just came through. A ship was here about ten hours ago, which would have put it on the same course entry and vector that our tracking device showed. We're here, but I don't know if the transport stayed here or went on somewhere else."

"Sir," called out the communications officer, "we're receiving a signal from Admiral Oshion, commanding officer of the forces stationed here."

"It's your ship," said Rob.

The old man mumbled under his breath. "Patch her through, Lieutenant." A moment later the image of a Twi'lek woman appeared before him. "This is Captain Tomaas Ilic of the Ulicia, what seems to be the problem, Admiral?"

"You are entering a restricted area without proper authorization. What are you doing here?"

"We're tracking a ship that has something of vital importance to us," answered Ilic, glancing to Rob a brief moment, who remained out of sight of the projector. "It is of vital importance that we take the owners and operators of this particular ship into our custody so that we might question them about a rather delicate situation."

"Concerning Major Michadick?"

Rob unfolded his arms and took a step back, taken off-guard by the answer. Ilic didn't seem to be in any condition.

"Uh, I am not at liberty to discuss the particulars of our investigation."

"Your investigation has just turned up dead in the water, Captain, along with your NRI units aboard." She gave him a toothy smile and moved in closer to her projector. "You should not have come here, Captain, and you shouldn't have gone to Kessel, either." The image shut off with the slight sound of laughing.

"Captain!" shouted out the tactical officer. "Twenty degrees to port, thirty klicks, an Interdictor cruiser has just appeared out of hyperspace!"

"Imps? Here?"

"Negative. Registration shows it to be the Lightsaber, one of our own, assigned to guard Bilbringi."

"One of ours?" chimed in Rob.

"Sir, we've got ships all over powering up and leaving dock! They're heading this way, and it doesn't look like they have friendly intentions."

"Send an emergency distress signal, fast!"

"Sending now, sir... they just jammed our communications."

Rob mumbled under his breath and hit his fist in his other palm. "Can you trace where Oshion made her transmission? If we take her out fast we can survive the rest of what is going on around here."

"I'll try sir," came the tactical officer. A few moments later he looked back up at Rob. "Well, uh, we found where she was transmitting from, sir, but, I don't think we'll be able to do much about it."

"Why is that, Ensign?"

He touched a control on his console and a image of a Super-class Star Destroyer appeared. "It came from there."

Rob just opened his mouth in disbelief. This... is not good.

[Base Commander's Office, Folor Base, Commenor System, 0809 Hours]

Javor Uev`fon looked over the agenda for the day and grinned. Thanks to the approval of the Senate, the military was getting that large increase of funds and Magill's executive officer had already begun ordering the equipment that the base needed the most.

"General," chimed his intercom. "We're picking up a distress signal from a transport in the Bilbringi system, specifics are unknown; the transmission was cut short due to jamming."

Javor hit the button on the desk and spoke slowly. "Bilbringi? They have a full shipyard there, someone should investigate from there."

"We've been unable to raise them to find out what the problem is. All communications seems to have been jammed, not just in a specific area."

He frowned slightly and leaned back in his chair. "Patch me through to the Morning Star, I want to speak to Captain Uoart at once." It only took a few moments before the elderly looking man appeared on a screen in front of Javor. "Captain, we've received a distress signal from Bilbringi, and now we can't raise them due to jamming interference. How many of your personnel are currently on shore leave?"

"Not that many, sir, a handful at most, and all are non-essential personnel."

"Excellent. I'm ordering your flotilla to Bilbringi at once. Move out immediately."

"Yes, sir. But, we're a bit far away; it will be a couple of hours before we arrive. Shouldn't we contact someone who is closer?"

"Whatever it attacking the system is enough to blanket everything in a communications blackout. When something can do that it usually means it's a big something. Other units might be on the way, which will make your stand against whatever it is you will be facing that much more effective. Now get moving!"

"At once, sir!" The image faded and outside the window to his office Javor could see the ion engines of the four starships power up and move forward.

"Oh, Force, why did he have to give me this command?" he asked himself.

[Military Courtroom "C", Imperial Palace, Coruscant System, 0831 Hours]

Steve looked over at Magill and nodded his head slightly, indicating that he was ready to do it. Magill's response was somewhat hesitant, but Steve knew that he would call him, it was his only chance.

Imasle banged her gavel once and then turned towards Magill. "General, is the defense prepared to begin?"

"We are, Colonel."

"You may proceed."

"Thank you, Colonel." Magill cleared his throat a little and then, with a slight hesitation, spoke. "The defense calls Major Steve Michadick."

There was some slight murmuring throughout the courtroom and Imasle banged the gavel once. "Order!"

Steve rose from his seat and headed towards the witness stand. It only took a few moments to swear him in and then suddenly the fate of the trail-at least in his eyes-came crashing down upon him.

"Major Michadick," said Magill slowly, "you're an instructor at the New Republic Academy, are you not?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you teach cadets how to create and dispose of explosives in the field, correct?"

"Yes, sir, E.O.D."

"For those of us who do not know what that is, could you please tell us?"

"Explosive Ordinance Disposal."

"And you were once a pilot in Starfighter Command, correct?"

"Yes, sir, for almost seven full years, which in pilot terms is a lifetime."

"Why did you switch to being an instructor?"

Uve`oney rose from her seat in a blurr. "Objection, what relevance is the person's decision to be an instructor have on this case?"

"I'm trying to show the Major's life as being that of someone who could not murder another person."

"Overruled, but please speed it up, General."

"Yes, Colonel."

"My wife, at the time, had recently given birth to our daughter. I wanted to be closer to both of them, and so I took an offer to be an instructor at the Academy."

"And what qualifications do you have to teach E.O.D. to the cadets?"

"Throughout my career I've been in situations in which I had to disarm or even dispose of explosive devices. Eventually, I decided to take it up as my secondary specialty, my first being that of aerospace combat tactics."

"And how did you feel when you learned of the bombing at the Academy?"

"I was very concerned about the people who were there, especially my students."

"Including the students who were blackmailing you?"

Steve stiffened a little in his chair and then nodded. "No matter what they do they're still my students and I am responsible for them. Yes, I was concerned about them, too."

“Why were you being blackmailed?”

Steve paused slightly and looked down. “The Academy has a policy of using only specific explosives for teaching purposes. I was trying to show how the differences in various explosives could make different explosions using the same physical amount of material. Some of the materials I used were not licensed to be used in a teaching capacity and some of the students found out about it. They threatened to go to the commandant unless I ‘eased up’ on their tests.”

“And you were going to allow it to happen?” asked Magill.

“No; I had prepared to go to the commandant myself, I had an appointment to meet with her two days after the bombing.”

How did you react when you found out that you were being accused of the bombing?"

"I was mad and very distraught. I would never do anything to hurt my students, and the accusation that I did was making me very upset."

"So you never, not even when those students blackmailed you, thought of getting back at them by planting a bomb in the dormitory?"

"Never."

"Thank you, Major."

Steve gave a low breath, hoping that people wouldn't notice it and braced himself for the storm he knew was about to hit.

"Lieutenant Colonel, cross-examination?"

"Thank you, Colonel." Uve`oney walked up to Steve and just stood there for a moment, staring at him intently. "Major, where were you born?"

"Carida."

"Ah, Carida, home of the famous Imperial Academy, correct?"

"Yes."

"And your parents, what did they do for a living?"

Steve stiffened a little in his chair, but resisted the impulse to give a growl. Magill had been right in that the prosecution would go after his background, and now Steve was paying for his mistake in believing he could take it on. "They were instructors at the Academy."

"And in fact you attended the Academy for a brief while yourself, yes?"

"Yes. And then I joined the Rebellion."

"Which I am sure we are all thankful for." There was momentary silence and she turned her back on him. "What were your reasons for leaving Carida?"

"I found out that my parents had gone missing during a trip to Coruscant."

"So, if they had come back to Carida, chances are good that you would be out flying a TIE Fighter right now, aren't they?"

"Objection!" shouted Magill. "Badgering."

"Sustianed. Watch it, Lieutenant Colonel."

"Yes, ma'am. Major, what were your feelings concerning last year's destruction of Carida by Kyp Durron?"

Steve felt his cheeks flush and tried as best as he could to control himself. "I felt very conflicted. Carida was my homeworld, but it was also the center of a plot to assassinate then-President Mothma. I was both relieved and heartbroken to hear about its destruction."

"So you were a bit upset that you home had been destroyed?"

"Yes."

"And a bit upset that the Imperial Academy was destroyed?"

He hesitated then nodded. "Yes."

"So, in retaliation of the destruction of the Imperial Academy you decided to destroy the New Republic Academy."

"No."

Magill rose. "Objection!"

The Bothan woman was no longer listening to him or anyone else. "And you did so in a way to get back at the students who were causing you problems."

"Colonel, do something," shouted Magill"

"No!" answered Steve.

"Lieutenant Colonel," piped in Iamsle, banging her gavel several time, but still being ignored by the Bothan.

"And you did it in a way that would be sure to use a device that was illegal under the Empire, creating a bit of poetic justice."

"NO! I didn't kill those backstabbing cadets!" shouted Steve without thinking. When he realized what he had answered with he knew that it was too late and that his last chance of getting out of this mess had just sunk beyond all hope. He slumped in the witness stand chair while he heard the banging of the gavel next to him.

"Order! Order!" shouted Imasle, desperately trying to get the muttering in the courtroom to come under control. "Lieutenant Colonel, you try a stunt like that again and I'll hold you in contempt, do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am." She looked over at Magill and Steve saw the back of her fur stand on end. "No further questions, Colonel."

"You may step down, Major."

Steve silently walked back to the defense table and sat down in his seat. This is not good.

Chapter 4: Civil Disturbance

[Bridge, Ulicia, Bilbringi System, 0901 Hours]

Rob watched the sensor screens and knew that they would never get out of the interdiction field in time.

Since the enemy forces had not yet launched fighters, Rob and Ilic had decided to make a run for it in an attempt to get out of the range of the interdiction field, or at the very least the communications blackout. Several medium sized ships had started moving towards them, and a few of them, such as two Corellian Corvettes and a gunship, were almost upon them.

The Ulicia had been modified from its original specifications to carry extra laser guns and defensive systems, but it was still not a match for a gunship, let alone the heavy starships once they were able to reach it. And they did not have any escort fighters in which to draw support from, so they were out here all alone.

"Distance?" he asked.

"Nine klicks and closing fast," answered the tactical officer

"Distance to edge of interdiction field?"

"Too far."

Rob slammed his palm on the console and growled a little. "How many ships are there that have powered up?"

"At least ten, sir."

Rob turned to Ilic and gave him a glare. "We should have known about this. We should have been ready to deal with Oshion before this."

"But we didn't. Obviously she has kept herself well hidden from NRI's eyes."

"How many Assault Transports do we have aboard?"

Ilic glared at him. "Four, each able to hold a full squad of drop troops." He was silent for a moment then cocked his head to the side. "You can't be serious."

"Give me another option and I'll gladly take it, Captain." He straightened himself up and turned towards the lift. "Unless we can get some support, and fast, we've got no other choice but to use those ATRs."

"Sir!" shouted the tactical officer, his voice excited. "We're picked up new ships powering up; several medium ships along with heavy starships."

"Great," muttered Rob. "More traitors."

"I don't think so, sir. Look!"

Rob walked over to the tactical station and saw the monitors. One of the ships, a brand new Mon Calamari heavy cruiser, started blinking its operating lights to get their attention. Suddenly a bright, red laser light shot out from its hull and connected to the Ulicia's. The ship didn't shake at all from impact and Rob knew that it wasn't firing at them. "Line of Sight signal?"

"Confirmed. Decoding now." His fingers danced over the console and suddenly the image of a Bothan male in his early forties appeared on the monitor.

"This is the Oboran, Lieutenant Uesn`jov in temporary command. We're sorry we couldn't contact you sooner, but we've been fighting seditious personnel on our ship. Hang on, Ulicia, we're on our way."

Rob grinned and turned to Ilic. "I knew there was no way she could get to everyone on each ship. Coordinate with all loyal starships and inform that we need fighters and troops, as much as can be spared, to head for the Lusankya." He started for the lift again but was interrupted by Ilic.

"Troops?"

"You think the Senate's going to like us destroying that Star Destroyer, or worse yet, letting it get away while we could easily just disable it?" He walked through the lift doors and gave a wry grin as they shut behind him.

[Pilot's Briefing Room, Morning Star, Hyperspace, 0923 Hours]

Sean Healey looked out at the thirty-three pilots gathered and cleared his throat a little to draw their attention. The scattered conversations died out as everyone focused on him at the podium. "By now most of you know we're on our way to the Bilbringi system, home of one of the largest military shipyards in the New Republic. A distress signal was received about an hour and a half ago and then was suddenly cut off due to jamming. All attempts to reestablish communication with the system has failed and we are left to believe that a hostile force of unknown strength is within the system. Once we arrive we will launch and assess the situation. Now, I want to be clear, we don't know what we'll be facing at all; this is an recon and aid mission, so don't take any unnecessary risks out there, got it?" Everyone nodded their heads slowly and Sean turned to look at the blond-haired woman to his right and then the raven-haired, scar-faced man to his left. "Final mission briefing will be done on deck by your squadron commanders in fifteen minutes. Dismissed!"

Everyone got out of their seats and headed for the doors at the back of the room while the two figures to either side of Sean lingered. He turned slightly to his right and gave a sly smile. "I still can't get the hang of this."

"Nonsense," answered Chelsey Maxfield, her bright smile shining throughout the dark illumination of the podium. "You're a good wing commander, and a very good pilot."

"Vape's right," said Paul Sweet, slapping his hand on the back of Sean's flight suit. "Command made a very wise decision in putting you in command of a wing, let alone a wing where you already have a lot of history rooted throughout. Besides, at least you still get to fly, and even lead your own squadron."

"I know that," said Sean. He looked around to see if anyone else was still nearby. "Eclipse is a good unit, but it's not Blue." He then turned to Chelsey again. "Or Red."

"You've been in charge of it for over a year, Sean. And I've been in charge of Blue for the same amount of time, and I've been able to do well since your promotion."

"Yes, but you were in Blue even before I transferred in, Rogue. You have a deep history with it." He sighed and checked the chrono. "We better get going. See you out there. And may the Force be with us."

[Bridge, Morning Star, Bilbringi System, 1009 Hours]

Jack felt the ship lurch as it hit the edge of the interdiction field and dropped out of hyperspace on the far end of the Bilbringi system. Gripping hard on his chair he noticed a series of flashing lights off to port. "Tactical, scan that area."

The young woman, no more than perhaps twenty-one, took a few moments on her console and then turned back to Jack. "There's a battle going on between several starships within the confines of the shipyards, Captain."

"Imperial?"

"Negative, all ships are registered to the New Republic."

"What?!"

"Sir," came the voice of Kristy McCall. "I'm picking up something from one of the ships."

"Put it through." He walked up to the holo-projector and saw the image of an elderly man about the same age as him appear.

"This is Captain Tomaas Ilic of the Ulicia. We are the ones who sent the distress signal, and we are in desperate need of aid. Several starships have broken off and are pursuing us as we make way for the interdiction field's edge. They are almost upon us and we have no fighter cover whatsoever."

"Captain Ilic, this is Jack Uoart of the Morning Star flotilla. I am sending aid immediately." He turned to McCall. "Commander, launch all squadrons, have Red and Eclipse make for the starships attacking the Ulicia while Blue finds the location of this interdiction field. Contact the captains of the Alverion and the Summer, inform them to make all possible speed for the battle."

"Aye, sir."

Jack turned back to the holo image. "Just what is this about, Ilic?"

"We've stumbled upon a coup d'tat being orchestrated under Admiral Oshion. She's been planning this for a while it seems and our investigation made her nervous." He looked over his shoulder and then back at the projector. "Captain, do you have any troops you could spare?"

"Troops?"

"That Super-class Star Destroyer out there is where her transmission originated from. Capturing her, and the Star Destroyer, is preferable to destroying either. And besides," he said, "I think I know someone who would give your people a pat on the back if you helped him out."

Jack thought to himself for a moment then nodded. "We'll do our best, Captain. Uoart out." He turned back to his chair and settled in. "Commander McCall, you better inform Colonel Nosnern of the situation."

"Yes, sir."

[Army Briefing Room, Morning Star, Bilbringi System, 1020 Hours]

Colonel Elise Nosnern looked over the company commanders of her regiment and frowned. Most were tired, roused out of their bed by the alert sounds of battle, and not having any way to contribute. This was the way of many ship-based ground units; they hardly ever saw battle, and when they did, it was usually too much at once.

"Okay, listen up! First and Second Battalions will head in to the main hanger bay and unload there. Don't linger once you're out of your transport, though; that destroyer may be big, but it can still be bottle-necked in key places and when caught off-guard. Once you've secured the area around the hanger bay move outwards toward the auxiliary control center; from there you can countermand any order given by the bridge." She turned her attention to the remaining people. "Third Battalion, your job will be to neutralize this starship." She hit a button on the podium and an image of an Interdictor cruiser appeared on the large monitor behind her. "The Lightsaber. This is what is causing our ships to remain out here and not advance in to the battlefield. We want this ship captured if possible, destroyed if not. You will split into two specific forces; First Company will move down toward the gravity well generator control room while Second and Third Companies advance towards the bridge." She shut off the monitor and clasped both hands on the podium. "This will not be an easy job, and there is a good chance that a lot of us won't be coming back, but I do not want you to seek out death when it can be avoided, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" yelled the people in the room in perfect unison.

"Good, then head to the hanger decks and get aboard your transports. Now move!"

[Paul Sweet's B-wing, Space, Bilbringi System, 1040 Hours]

"There it is, Lead!"

Paul checked his sensors and gave a nod to himself. "I see it, Two, straight ahead at twelve o'clock low, nine klicks out." He checked over his shoulder to make sure all of his systems were running right. "All Blues, this is Lead, we have confirmed target on the Lightsaber. Blues Two through Six, target the shield generator just below the gravity wells and synchronize launch time. Seven through Eleven, fire a single warhead at the gravity wells on my mark." He heard a series of double-clicks over his headset and then switched the frequency over to Fleet Tac One. "Attention all ships and transports; the interdiction field will down for a short while, a matter of seconds, soon. I suggest to all units who wish to advance to the field of battle prepare to micro-jump as soon as it goes down; Ulicia and any other vessels wishing to withdraw, head for the closest edge of the interdiction field and you might be able to get out before the field goes back up. Blue One out." He switched back to the squadron frequency.

"Sir, we're all ready to go and within range," came Hans Allen voice.

"Acknowledged. On my mark... fire!"

Six pairs of blue tails streaked out of B-wings and headed towards the Interdictor cruiser. "Blues Seven through Eleven... fire!" Another five pairs streaked out and headed in towards the cruiser. Defensive fire started to strike out at them and most of the Blues pulled away but Paul didn't.

"Don't break off! As long as they're firing at you they can't fire at the warheads and destroy them." He pulled back on the stick and swung his bomber around to port and then back to starboard, weaving in and out of a course so that the gunners had trouble locking onto him with their laser fire.

Glancing up he saw the first spread splash against the shields and the last pair punch through and damage the shield generator. The next spread contacted the gravity wells and Paul could see flames begin to sprout on various spots. Turning back to his computer he saw the light indicating the interdiction field go off. "Field's down, repeat, interdiction field is down, all ships commence your jumps!"

On his sensor board reports of one starship jumping into hyperspace appeared as well as a report of two ships micro-jumping to the previous ship's location. Several assault transports and shuttles micro-jumped into the system and Paul whistled a little. Micro-jumping for a starship was risky, but doing so in a transport was extremely dangerous. Desperate times.

He looked up and saw several small transport craft appear around him. They quickly oriented themselves and moved in towards the cruiser. Clicking the headset mike he cleared his throat. "Alright, Blues, we bought us some time. Now help protect those transports as they board the cruiser."

[Bridge, Morning Star, Bilbringi System, 1045]

"All batteries, open fire!"

Outside the viewport sever laser and turbo-laser stations began firing on the nearby corvette and gunships. The micro-jump had taken them straight to the point where the Ulicia had been under attack, and right in front of its pursuers. The Morning Star and the Storm Chaser were more then enough to take out the smaller ships, but that did nothing to dampen the loss that they had taken.

The corvette Summer, a long-time ship of the New Republic and the Alliance before it, had been destroyed while protecting the transport ship. Its companion, the Corellian Gunship Alverion, had suffered heavy moderate, but significant damage during the defense.

The three ships made short work of the small, battered vessels, destroying two and disabling one. Jack ordered the support personnel aboard the Star to send some shuttles over to help stabilize the surviving gunship and to keep it from spiraling out of control.

"Sir," came the voice of the tactical officer. "I'm picking up something strange on sensors."

He walked over to her and looked at the monitor. "What is it?"

"A single X-wing, an older model, in fact. Bearing the markings of Red Squadron."

"Is it one of ours?"

"Negative. Its transponder is fairly old, at least year. But that's not the strange thing; it arrived out of hyperspace the second the interdiction field went down and is heading straight for the Lusankya."

Jack looked at the monitor and shook his head slightly. "How can that be? No one can match that precision so closely, especially if they weren't even in the system when Sweet made the attack."

[Squad One's Assault Transport, Space, Bilbringi System, 1055 Hours]

Rob watched the pilot of the ATR dodge the defensive fire from the star destroyer and pick off the few fighters that Oshion had some how gotten pilots for. He checked his gear and made sure that it was good to go then headed back to the end of the transport. "Okay, listen up! I've just been informed that we finally have some troops to help us out, so don't get in their way, and try if you can to avoid giving them your name and where you're friend. Remember, we're not supposed to be here so let's not give our friends any reason to look too closely at us. We'll be moving towards the brig to free any prisoners who might be held captive; there is no way Oshion was able to turn everyone under her command to her side, so there is a good chance that whatever troublemakers are alive are in that area. And one last thing, injury if possible, but if you have to, take them out. We're here to stop this coup from happening and that's what we're going to be doing. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good, now check your gear and get ready to move out!" He turned back to the front and noticed that they were now entering the hanger bay. He glanced to the right and noticed other transports and shuttles landing nearby and grinned to himself. You underestimated us, Oshion, and that is your fatal flaw.

He walked back to the end of the transport and checked again to make sure his gear was ready. Feeling the transport settle down on the deck and the loud thud that accompanied it, Rob pulled out one of his two kadochi swords and bore it at the ready in his right hand, drawing his BlasTech DL-44 carbine in his left. The ramp descended and he charged out, the rest of Squad One following him. They made it to the end of the hanger bay before any hostile forces came out, but as soon as they turned into the main corri