[Jamie Wetherill's X-wing, Imperial Space, Esseles System, 1340 Hours]

Bolts of deadly green light hissed against the rear shields of Shadow's X-wing, slowly but surely reducing the barrier of energy keeping him safe from harm.

"Sithspit! Chance, see if you can shore up those shields a little more, I already have them at full recharge!"

The little droid behind him warbled nervously as it transferred energy from the laser cannons into the rear shields. Another all too accurate shot caused him to let out an electrical shriek of terror.

"Ok, hold on tight… lets see if we can lose him."

Pushing hard on the stick gripped tightly in his hand and blinking against the sweat dripping into his eyes Shadow threw his fighter into a sharp dive, rolling and twisting in an attempt to shake his pursuer, who was still relentlessly on his six.

"Just my luck… I get a good one on my tail."

"Four, where are you?"

"I'm having some trouble shaking this TIE on my tail!"

"Same here. You remember that manoeuver they told us never to attempt? Let's do it."

"The kill exchange? That could get messy, I might end up hitting you."

"Well, there's a simple solution to that."

"What's that?"

"Don't shoot me, if you do, I'll make you clean the refreshers… without any instruments."

"Ooooh, the evil is strong with this XO."

He grinned widely at the exchange; Vape had just been promoted and this was Red's first mission with the new command structure. He was looking forward to things to come despite missing both Ranger and Zoom.

He evened out his shields as much as he could and winced as his rear continued to take hits, bringing himself into position he prepared for one of the riskiest stunts a pilot could do.

"On my first mark, head relative up while I head relative down, then quickly head relative down and fire at my TIE; this way you won't hit me."

"Your faith in me is overwhelming, Twelve. Here we go."

He headed towards Vape's X-wing as fast as he could, using all his skill to avoid taking any further hits and was relived to see his shields actually getting a chance to recharge. A smile spread across his face as it looked like this was actually going to work.

Unfortunately, the Law of the Universe stated that if something can go wrong, it will.

As the two X-wings came within meters of one another, Chelsey yelled a "now!" into her headset, prompting Shadow to break hard upwards and just as quickly switched his orientation to head down, the maneuver pressing him into his seat. As expected, one of the TIEs was in his sights; what was unexpected was the presence of the second one.

Biting back a curse, Shadow gritted his teeth and threw himself into a series of evasive manoeuvers, but despite his best efforts the Imperial starfighters ate away at his shields until they collapsed, causing something to spark and catch fire in the cockpit. The battered X-wing shuddered as a shot tore through his hull and something lit up on the damage report but he could barely see through the thick black smoke that was choking him.

"Jamie!" He could hear Vape shout out over the screaming of his astromech and his heart filled with sadness that he wouldn't be there for her, Biggs, or anyone else again.

"At least I didn't hit you," said Jamie briefly, and then half a second later his fighter blew apart as the engines overheated and imploded.

Darkness… soon followed by a tiny sliver of light. The light began to become brighter as Shadow slowly opened his eyes. He felt weightless and was partially aware of something attached to his face. The world before him seemed to be an unusual pinkish colour.

Slowly the realization dawned upon him that he was in a bacta tank. He smiled widely beneath the rebreather mask; he was safe and his friends were able to rescue him. The last thing he remembered was fire, smoke, pain, and a sudden sensation of freezing cold.

How long have I been floating in this stuff? I don't care though, I'm home again!

There was a tug on the oxygen pipe attached to his mask; in response he kicked his legs and swam to the tank's exit. Once he was out he staggered slightly under his own weight and a young woman dressed in a medical orderly's uniform caught him and put a towel over his shoulders with a smile.

"Thanks…" he said removing the mask, "guess I'm still not one hundred percent yet. Not that it matters though, feels great to be back. I'll bet Biggs had a fit when he was told I lost my fighter. Him and Vape will be down soon right? I can't wait to see everyone and get to the Fishtank."

The woman looked at him with a confused frown. "Biggs? Vape? I'm sorry but I don't understand what you mean."

"Ah right, you must be new." He smiled at her and wrapped the towel around his waist before trying to stand unaided again, "Don't worry, though, I'm sure you'll met everyone soon enough. What's your name?"

"Accalia… but I don't think you understand what's going on…"

Before she could finish speaking the sound of a door opening could be heard.

"This'll be everyone now! Can't wait to catch up about what happened, especially how things went for Hulk and Phantom… not often cadets are allowed in combat."

Around the corner marched four Stormtroopers led by an Imperial officer with a captain's rank bars. Shadow's expression turned from one of joy to pure horror as he looked back at Accalia who shuffled her feet and looked at the floor guiltily.

"Where am I?!" He demanded.

She looked up at him, sympathy within her blue eyes. "I'm so sorry, you didn't let me explain… your at the Castellen City Medical Facility on Esseles."

Shadow collapsed to the floor as if he'd been gutshot at the news.

I've been captured… the others must think I'm dead after what happened to Zoom.

He barely registered the two Stormtroopers hauling him to his feet and holding him in front of the Imperial captain.

"Now that your awake at last," said the officer, "I can begin to find out what you know. Hopefully you may actually be of some use to me."

He lifted his head and tried to glare defiantly at his captor, hoping that he couldn't see the pain and emptiness he felt at his situation. "You'll have to kill me before I become of any use to you!"

"We shall see about that, now, won't we?" He turnt to Accalia, who tried to stand at attention in the presence of the officer, "I want you to prepare an adequate rest room for the prisoner, I dare say he'll need further medical treatment before I'm done with him. Also do not mention his presence to anyone least you wish to share in his fate, understand?"

"Y..yes sir!"

"Excellent."

With that he turned sharply on his heel and marched off, the Stormtroopers dragging the struggling pilot after him.

[Castellen City Medical Facility, Castellen City, Esseles System, 2037 Hours]

Shadow felt himself shoved violently into a darkened room and managed to catch himself before crashing headfirst into the bunk that occupied the center. He slowly dragged himself onto the bunk and lay down, not even bothering to remove the grey prisoner jumpsuit he had been given.

Just as he closed his eyes to try and get some rest the door opened again and a light came on without warning. Sitting up with a groan he saw Accalia enter with a tray of food and drink, which she set down next to him.

"I thought you might want some real food after spending so long in the bacta."

"Not really sure I'm in the mood for eating after what I just went through, but thank you for offering. It reminds me there are still good people left trapped under the Empire's boot heel."

She frowned at him. "What do you mean, 'trapped?' The Empire protects us from pirates and others who would prey on a world like this. It's a miracle things are so good considering the Emperor was murdered." She smiled proudly. "My fiancé is a pilot for one of the local fighter squadrons. I hear you used to be a pilot, maybe you know him… he's called Kir Jaxon."

Jamie blinked in surprise. Could it be? She doesn't know I'm a rebel?

"I'm sorry I don't think I've met him. Probably flew with a different squadron."

He looked at her as she spoke about her husband to be for a while, the pride in her voice and joy in her eyes as she explained her plans for the future, he envied her slightly. She was happy and everything was perfect, even though she deluded herself about the nature of the Empire. He shifted slightly and winced.

"Oh I'm so sorry! I must be boring you to death."

"Boring me to death is the last thing you are doing, trust me. It's nice to hear a friendly voice after spending time with the good captain."

"What do you mean? Captain Miller said he just wanted to question you for a while."

"Well, let's just say that he has a very 'hands on' approach to his questioning and there is a very good reason I'm being kept near the bacta tanks."

She gasped loudly and covered her mouth with her hands. "You don't mean to say he's using physical force on you? That can't be right, you must be lying… I should go now."

With that she got and rushed out of the door, her long dark hair flowing behind her.

With a sigh Jamie lay back down and closed his eyes. Well, I think I just blew my only chance to have a friend here. Just as well, really, as I can't afford to get attached to people if I'm going to escape… if only this Captain Miller would give me a chance to heal properly.

[Shadow's Quarters, Castellen City Medical Facility, Esseles System, 0926 Hours]

Shadow sat up slowly with a groan and reached for the light. Blinking, he pulled himself to his feet and staggered to where he assumed the refresher was.

At least I have a room with all the luxuries… I hurt in places I didn't think I had; those stormies could have at least taken off their gauntlets before hitting me. Hope nothing is broken.

After a few minutes he got out and pulled on some pants and began to dry his hair as he wondered into the main room. Accalia, who had just set down some food for him, looked up and smiled before looking away quickly.

Considering I'm a POW I get pretty well fed; guess I shouldn't complain.

"Morning, Accalia. They're making you work this early after you had to do the late shift? I know you're the only one who knows I'm here and all but they could give you a break."

"Oh it's alright; besides, the officers don't know I'm here. It seems they forgot that you would need to eat in the morning so I thought I'd bring some food for you."

That's more like it…. Forgot, yeah sure. Jamie smiled at her. "Thank you, but you didn't have to put yourself out. They probably don't want me eating too much."

"Why not? I don't think I understand."

He sighed and sat on his bed and looked at her through the towel over his head.

"The Empire likes to starve their prisoners, that way when it comes to the interrogation the chances of me breaking are higher. Now I'm really grateful that you've done this but I can't get you into trouble as well."

"You keep saying stuff like that, as if you don't like the Empire… I don't understand it."

"Accalia… I don't like the Empire, I hate it. I get the feeling you haven't been told who I am but you probably deserve to know. I'm a pilot for the New Republic, I fly to help protect people from the evil things that the Empire does. That's how I ended up here, my luck ran out and now my friends think I'm dead, and I've lost my droid who has been my closest ally for longer then I care to remember."

She stared at him in silence for what seemed like an eternity. He didn't know why he was telling her this, it wasn't anything really important, but on the other hand how could he know he could trust her.

"I… I'm sorry; it must be hard to have lost all your friends like that."

"It is… not the first time for me though, but it still cuts deep. Funny, really, I miss my droid the most; can't help but feel he activated my eject systems as I blacked out. He probably didn't have time to get himself out of there… once again I owe the bucket of bolts my life."

"Was he a blue and red astromech droid? Because I remember one was put into storage at the same time you were brought in… didn't think anything of it at first, but it sort of makes sense now."

Shadow looked up at her, hope flowing through him. Chance made it! Maybe with his help I can get out of here, I hope they didn't memory wipe him.

"I don't think the techs had much luck with him, though, he appeared to be shut down. Maybe damaged."

His heart sunk briefly but he shook his head, as the droid was probably playing dead for safety.

"Thank you, knowing he's ok helps me out a bit. You should get going before the Stormtroopers get here. Besides, I need to eat and get dressed properly."

She blushed slightly and waved as she left the room.

All I need now is a commlink and I can start making plans to get back to the Morning Star.

He quickly ate his food, finishing up just in time to meet the white armoured guards who were to take him to Captain Miller's interrogation room.

[Captain Miller's Interrogation Room, Castellen City Medical Facility, Esseles System, 1015 Hours]

The Stormtroopers marched him into the center of the empty room and began to attach chains to his wrist binders to hold his arms above his head.

After a few minutes of being left to dangle with nothing but the blank helmets of his escorts to look at, Captain Miller entered the room. He looked like he could pose for an Imperial recruiting poster; his uniform was spotless as always and his blonde hair was cut in a perfect military fashion. Some people probably considered him quite handsome, but they obviously had never seen the look in his eye when he stood in front of Shadow. It was the look of someone who took pleasure from pulling wings off of insects; Jamie doubted he was totally sane.

"Ah Mr. Wetherill, how nice of you to join me again. Perhaps you'll be more helpful today."

"And perhaps you'd like to let me go as well… I doubt either is likely though."

Miller began to walk around him in circles shaking his head. "I really wish you would cooperate, it pains me to have to use such heavy handed means."

With a click of his fingers one of the Stormtroopers smashed the butt of his carbine into Shadow's face. His vision flashed as the blow connected and his face warmed as blood splashed from a large cut now curving around his right eye. Biting back a shout of pain he glared defiantly at the Imperial captain.

"What was that for!? You haven't even asked me anything yet!"

"Would you have given me the answer I seek? I doubt it, so I am merely punishing you in advance for your choice to not assist me."

"Then you may as well call in the firing squad now as I'd rather die then help you reach your twisted goals! To think that people like Accalia believe the Empire can be trusted to keep them safe when it gives power to the likes of you is ridiculous!"

Miller smiled cruelly. "You've become fond of her, haven't you? Can't say I blame you, such innocence is quite rare these days. Pity she is engaged to an Imperial TIE pilot really… of course," he pulled out a datapad, "I have here the casualty report from the incursion of your forces into our space. One of the dead is Kir Jaxon, your little nurse's fiancé I believe. It would be tragic for her to find out you and your friends killed him, wouldn't it? So how do you feel about my questions now?"

Shadow sighed and hung his head, just waiting for Miller to speak again.

[Shadow's Quarters, Castellen City Medical Facility, Esseles System, 1400 Hours]

Darkness again… this time he wished that the darkness would keep him, so that he didn't need to feel the pain anymore. The sting of betrayal ate at him.

He opened his eyes and continued to apply bandages and bacta patches to his injured body. Not good, I think there is at least one broken rib. Normally I'd get it treated but I don't think I have much time left here.

He smiled slightly; nearly four hours of question and pain was worth it, though. During the march back to his quarters he stumbled into an army private and was able to palm the young man's commlink without getting noticed, so now he could put into motion his escape plan.

Activating the commlink and setting it to a frequency he and Chance had agreed on long ago to only be used as a last resort, he sent the signal hoping it would wake the droid up from hibernation.

He waited for a response, minutes slowed down and felt like hours before a single quiet beep came that signaled that the message had been received and the line was secure. Jamie nearly cheered with joy but didn't want to alert the troopers outside.

Heading into the 'fresher he spoke quietly, "Okay Chance, good to hear you all in one piece. Are you able to get out of where you are?"

The droid beeped an affirmative.

"Good, this is what I need you to do… I have two guards outside my room which need to be sent elsewhere for me to sneak out. Then we need to have a route to the garage so we can hijack ourselves a speeder and get to the spaceport. Can you do that?"

A series of confident sounding whistles came over the channel which brought a smile to Shadow's face.

"I'm not doubting you; I just need to make sure this goes perfectly. I'm not ready for the final jump just yet. Let me know when my door is clear."

With that Shadow returned to his bunk and just waited for the little droid to give the all clear.

[Shadow's Quarters, Castellen City Medical Facility, Esseles System, 1849 Hours]

Shadow awoke with a start at the sound of his door opening. Carefully climbing out of bed he spotted the familiar form of Chance rotating in the doorway. The little droid's body looked pretty beat up, but then he was fairly certain the astromech would think the same of him. Chance gave an impatient whistle and began to roll off with Shadow following as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself. Lucky for him it was late and there weren't many people around at this time, so no one wondered at the badly injured prisoner sneaking down the corridors.

They eventually reached the garage without incident and Chance plugged himself into the main door control to get it open, leaving Shadow to acquire a suitable speeder. There were several choices, but he eventually settled on a large vehicle that looked well used by a family. Better to not have something fast and flashy for the trip to the spaceport, wouldn't want to draw attention to myself now.

After a few minutes of trying to hot-wire, and a large amount of curses being muttered under his breath, Shadow got the engine running and was about to call Chance over when he felt the muzzle of a blaster press against his back.

"Don't move," said Accalia, "I… I can't let you leave. Turn around!"

He put his heads over his head and slowly turned to face her. "Well, I must say this is a bit of a shock, but then I thought everything was going too well for me."

"Be quiet, you monster! How dare you try to be nice to me! You said you tried to protect people from getting hurt! But instead I find out that you killed my fiancé! How can you claim to be doing the right thing when because of you my future has been ruined?"

For the second time since he had met her, her expression and the emotions she projected took the wind out of him and he just stood there speechless and at a loss for what to do now.

She has a point… not everyone in the Empire is evil, just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Well done, Accalia… You've found Kir's murderer, now pull the trigger and show him true Imperial justice!"

Captain Miller swaggered in full of confidence and glee at the thought of Shadow's impending death.

"What are you waiting for? Kill him, just like he killed your lover!"

"Don't… I'm so sorry I hurt you, nothing I can do will make my actions right. Its part of being a soldier, we kill so others won't have to. Kir's death was in combat, it was a risk he agreed to when be became a soldier during the war. Yes, his death hurts, but he died for what he thought was right and to try and keep you safe… you kill me now, like this, and you'll become the monster you hate me for being… the monster he wants you to be!"

"Rebel scum!" Miller reached for his blaster. "I'll kill you both myself!"

Accalia swung her aim towards Miller and fired, in the same moment his blaster cleared its holster and he pulled the trigger. It was all over in seconds.

Miller, being a trained soldier and a man that took great pride in his killing, was able to target his shot with deadly accuracy, while Accalia, a simple nurse who had never held a blaster until now, merely clipped her target.

The blaster bolt burnt through her torso leaving behind the sickly smell of ozone. She fell to the ground and stopped moving while Miller merely dropped to his knees, cursing as he clutched the wound in his leg and made ready to finish Shadow with his next shot.

Jamie never even gave him a chance by landing a heavy kick to the man's head. Miller crumpled to the floor, twitching slightly. Shadow walked over to Accalia to find her pulse was already gone.

"Such a waste… I never even got to say goodbye."

He could feel tears of regret and anger well up in his eyes as he looked at the prone form of Captain Miller and reached for Accalia's blaster.

"I hope part of you can hear me… I want you to know that I'm not going to kill you, death is too good for someone like you and I won't kill a defenseless man in cold blood. Just know that if we ever cross paths again I will make sure it's on the battlefield, and on that day death will take you to pay for your sins."

With a final kick to the gut, Shadow turned and climbed into the speeder. He waited for Chance to arrive before driving off to the spaceport, leaving behind ghosts and memories.

[Main Spaceport, Castellen City, Esseles System, 1935 Hours]

The journey to the spaceport was pretty uneventful; it would seem Captain Miller hadn't sounded the alert yet, though it probably wouldn't be long now.

Sneaking into one of the hangers furthest away from the main control tower, Shadow found a beat up looking YT-1300 with just a pair of what looked like down on their luck smugglers.

A YT-1300? Don't smugglers these days have any sense of originality? Ah well, beggars can't be choosers and I'll no doubt be doing them a favor by taking that piece of junk off their hands.

Gripping his blaster firmly in hand and setting it to stun, he skulked around the edge of the hanger bay, using large, randomly placed crates to get as close as possible before he found a suitable firing spot. Now concentrate; the last thing I need right now is a light fight with people that don't need to be mixed up in this. I already have one person dead because of me, don't want any more today.

Lining up his sights he fired two quick shots into the nearest smuggler who hit the ground before he knew what happened. His partner wasn't much luckier as he dived for cover in response to being shot at, straight into the ship's landing gear, promptly rendering himself unconscious as his head connected with metal.

Walking out from hiding with a shrug Shadow waved Chance over to the main ramp and they both entered their new freighter.

Sitting in the pilot's chair, Jamie frowned in disgust at the mess. "Who would treat a ship like this? What is she called?... The Dirty Diamond? Now that's an understatement… I'm so changing the name when I can. You all set back there?"

Chance whistled happily from behind him.

"Yeah, I know what you mean; it'll be good to see everyone again. Hopefully my time in the med bay will keep me out of Biggs's office for debriefing for a while. Well here we go, we're about to lose what few friends we had here."

Shadow activated the Diamond's repulsorlifts and then lifted her prow so she was pointing straight up before pushing the sublight engines up to full and hurtling towards the atmosphere at full speed.

From his position at the navigation console, Chance blatted harshly.

"Yes, I've seen those TIEs, but I don't think this ship can survive a real dogfight so I'm just running as fast as I can!"

Setting the freighter's ELS so that all power was being pushed into the engines, he flew straight as an arrow until the first TIE began to try and get a weapons lock. From that point out he pushed the clunky ship through a series of evasive maneuvers it was never designed to go through.

"What was that noise? Are we hit?"

A nervous series of whistles came from Chance.

"What do you mean something has broken? What's broken?"

Another beep.

"The seats in the passenger compartment have broken loose? Of all the ships I had to steal I pick one that's falling apart from the inside out…How long before we can jump to hyperspace?"

Chance protected an ETA onto the HUD.

"That long huh? Well I'm open to bets as to what kills us first, a TIE or a freefalling couch…"

[Main Bridge, Morning Star, Anaxes System, 2015 Hours]

It was another quiet late night shift on the Morning Star. In fact, things had been pretty quiet ever since Red Squadron returned from their last mission with a heavily reduced roster.

Lt. Commander Jack Uoart sighed as he scanned for any unusual comm frequencies. After a few minutes he was just about to give up and end his shift when he heard a bizarre electronic screeching sound. Tracking the source of the transmission he practically jumped out of his seat to get the captain's attention.

"Captain! I have something you need to see."

Captain Dave Ru'kaart moved over and looked at the transmission. "Why isn't there any audio?"

"There is, sir, but it seems to be transmitted by an astromech."

"A droid? What about the pilot?"

"Not sure, sir, apparently he's been incapacitated by a large loose object from within the ship. She looks pretty run down, they must have flown her through a star or something to get here."

"No matter, if that ship's IFF is reading correctly we need to get it on board. Commander Abodar! Alter course to intercept that freighter and inform Colonel Baden and Major Maxfeild, as I'm sure they'll went to be in the hanger for this."

[Portside Hanger Bay, Morning Star, Anaxes System, 2030 Hours]

The main ramp of the freighter that had been identified via IFF as Red Four lowered slowly and fitfully. Once it had touched down fully a blue and red astromech droid rolled down whistling triumphantly and rolling around in circles happy to be safely home.

Just behind the droid came Shadow, who was now sporting a makeshift sling over his left arm. He tried to walk down the ramp but staggered slightly every now and then until he made it to the bottom. He stood in front of his Squadron CO and saluted as sharply as he could.

"Red Four is home and safe, sorry I'm a little late."

"At ease… Good to have you back. Maybe you could explain what took you so long?" Rob grinned at him, glad to have one of his pilots back. One of their own returning from beyond the grave would help morale and maybe lend hope to the chances that one of the others is still out there waiting for a rescue or a chance to escape.

"I'd love to, Biggs, but I'm a little concussed right now and would like to get to the med bay."

"Concussed?"

"Yeah, don't ask…. Apparently irony is not my friend and neither is furniture."

"O...kay...get yourself patched up and we'll see you in the Fishtank, ASAP. Chelsey, keep an eye on him for me would you?"

"Sure thing."

Shadow half walked, half stumbled to the turbolift, every so often leaning on Vape for support. Once inside she set it to take them to the deck the med bay was on.

"I'm sorry…" she said quietly.

"What for?"

"For getting you blown up, it was my dumb idea and I should have covered you better."

"Don't be stupid, Vape, there was no way you could have known those pilots would figure out what we were doing. I just got unlucky, it happens sometimes, and thankfully I've made it back to see if the bank of luck owes me anything for that. Besides, it's good to be back."

"It's good to have you back."

The End