Chapter 1: New Situations

[Cracken's Office, Independence, Sluis Van System, 0112 Hours]

Airen Cracken sat at his desk with a pile of datapads in front of him containing reports from operatives and agents in the field all over Imperial-held and neutral space. Anyone else would have delegated the work to an assistant or a secretary, but Cracken preferred to do things on his own, to give it more of a personal touch so that his subordinates would know that he actually cared.

As he looked through one of the reports from an agent assigned to the Bakura System -- keeping an eye on the provisional government that was running things following the Ssi-ruuk threat -- his intercom buzzed and he clicked the button out of second nature. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Sir, we're receiving a class-one ultra transmission from Team Red Claw." Cracken set down the datapad and got up, heading for the two-dimensional video screen on the wall behind him. "Patch it through, Lieutenant, and make sure all protocols and procedures are being used to cover the signal."

A moment later the image of a man with downy-blonde hair appeared, his face covered in blood and grim. "Sir."

"Status?" Cracken said, his voice even. Inwardly he was wondering what would have prompted this emergency call; the last report from Team Red Claw didn't show any signs of problems or potential problems. "We've been busted wide open, sir. I'm not sure how they found us, but they hit us hard and captured the Lieutenant. I don't know where she is, but I do know that it wasn't a direct government operation; there's been no announcement of her capture from the central offices or agencies responsible for this kind of action. It could be a-AHHH!!!" A blue bolt sizzled across the man's face and he went limp just before the signal stopped transmitting.

Cracken ran back to his desk and flipped the intercom. "Lieutenant, what happened to the transmission?"

"It's been stopped at the source, sir. Should I try to reestablish?"

He looked back at the blank screen and just sighed. "Yes, but use the coded frequency and signal scrambler. Do not use the same method that was transmitted to us." He clicked off the intercom again and sat back in his chair, sighing deeply. He became lost in thought and was startled by the buzz of his intercom again. "Yes?"

"We've been unable to reestablish communications, sir."

"Very well. Go to bed, Lieutenant, I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Very well, sir." The intercom clicked off again and Cracken became alone with his thoughts once more. He checked the chrono-clock on the wall and noticed that it was almost 0400 hours, more than an hour and a half after initial contact. They had exactly twenty-two and a half hours more to try and reestablish communication or else the mission would be considered a failure and extraction would be needed.

The problem was that there were no available extraction teams, and all NRI agents and operatives with the skills needed to do a solo extraction were on assignment. That left him with only one choice and he was not sure that it was the best.

[Briefing Room, Morning Star, Gyndine System, 0300 Hours]

Rob Baden walked into the large room and looked at the small group of people at the front of the rows of seats near the podium. He casually walked over to them and gave a smart salute-as best as he could manage at this early hour-to the senior officer present and stifled a yawn threatening to escape his mouth.

"At ease, Lieutenant," stated Captain Ru'kaart. "Now that everyone is present, listen up and pay close attention." He turned to the technician operating the holo-projector and gave a curt nod.

Rob turned his attention to the projector and blinked as the image came into focus. He had never actually seen the man before, but he knew who he was from reports and news articles about the man and his department. Almost at once all six people in the room snapped to attention despite their obvious signs of exhaustion.

"As you were," came the calm voice of General Cracken. "Captain Sooli Kitz?"

The purple-skinned woman dressed in army fatigues next to Rob snapped to a parade rest position. Despite her military demeanor, Rob knew her to be a very kind and intelligent woman, and the surprise at having learned she was part of the Star was a very pleasant one. They were very good friends. "Sir!"

"Good to see that you're settling in; I had a feeling that the Morning Star would have been the right choice for you."

She gave a wan smile and then a small laugh. "Well, there are a few people aboard who make it worthwhile." She gave a small wink in the direction of Rob, which prompted him to flush a little and turn slightly away.

Cracken's image nodded slightly, pretending that he didn't see the small exchange, and then turned his attention back to Ru'kaart. "I see the other three have been assembled as per my request. Thank you, Captain, that will be all."

Ru'kaart gave a small salute and turned on his heal, the technician following behind him. A moment later the doors to the briefing room were opened and closed almost immediately after and Rob could hear the distinct sound of the locks being activated, keeping them inside.

"Captain Sweet?" Paul Sweet, one of the pilots from Blue Squadron, stepped forward and saluted, despite what Cracken had said earlier. "Yes, sir."

"Lieutenant Murshid?"

"Sir," said Sazril Murshid, one of the long-standing members of Red Squadron, as he stepped forward. He had a look about him that Rob was all too familiar with. It was the kind of look that he himself held most of the time; the look of despair and pain, of one who had been through a personal struggle and had obviously lost something because of it. Several times Trixel had suggested to Rob that he talk to Sazril, to learn more about him in order to help himself, but he never got around to it.

The truth of the matter was that he didn't want to talk to Sazril about his experience, because it would mean that he would have to face his own inner demons. After the loss of Bree three weeks ago he was not sure he was able to talk about his own experiences.

"And Lieutenant Baden?"

Rob blinked himself back into the here-and-now and as he stepped forward. "Sir."

"The four of you have been selected for a very delicate assignment," continued Cracken, giving no real preamble. "We've recently lost communication with two of our operatives on Corellia and are going to extract them. All necessary information pertaining to the specifics of this assignment has been uploaded to the main computer aboard the Pride of Alderaan."

Rob blinked and, despite the presence of flag officer, stepped forward even further. "Sir? The Pride?"

"Yes, Lieutenant, I believe that is the name of your YT-2400 Corellian Transport, unless my information is mistaken." Rob stepped back, his face a little flushed, and Cracken continued on. "All of you have experience as on the ground, and, with the exception of Lieutenant Baden, experience in special ops." He focused his attention back on Rob and gave a curt nod. "Lieutenant, because of your place of birth, and also because you have a ready transport available, you will be an intricate part of this mission. The mechanic chief, I believe you call him 'Pappy,' has the Pride all ready to go and my 'friends' aboard the Star has made sure that CorSec will not know the real identity of the transport. Its IFF transponder has been changed to show that you come from Nar Shadda-fitting, I think, considering that's where you last were before joining the New Republic-and the markings have been changed to show no relation to the actual Pride's identifying details."

Rob could feel the anger swelling up inside of him. Someone, several someones, had been touching his ship, the last actual possession that he had in the galaxy aside from the small trinkets and personal weapons in his quarters. He knew that in order to maintain security all of the details had to be done without his foreknowledge, but that still didn't change that someone had touched, even worked on, his ship without his permission!

Rob was about to open his mouth to say something, but Cracken beat him to the punch. "Captain Kitz will be in overall command of the mission, so she runs the show. Lieutenant Baden," he said, looking Rob right in the eyes, "as it is your ship, you will be in charge of whatever happens aboard the Pride. Everything else you need to know is within the computer of the transport. Cracken out." The image blinked out and the projector shut off automatically leaving the four officers alone in the briefing room.

"Well," commented Paul in his casual manner, "that was interesting."

[Port Flight Deck, Morning Star, Gyndine System, 0400 Hours]

Paul whistled softly as he walked up the ramp of the Pride, or rather, the Shaddian Crystal as it was named for the mission. He had never seen what the ship looked like before, so he had no basis on which to compare the makeover, but Baden was a different story all together.

The man had been positively flaming with anger when he saw his ship. Obviously he was very mad about the changes that had been done-whatever they were-and was not too keen on the idea of playing taxi-driver to a team of special op Gro-Pos.

Paul himself was still wondering why he was here. It had been years since his last mission and he swore he would do everything he could to prevent being in another situation like the last one. One of the key reasons for leaving the Empire and joining the Alliance's pilot corps was because in the cockpit he knew clearly who and who wasn't his enemy, where as in the work of special ops and undercover assignments he had trouble really trusting anyone and sometimes that lead to "acceptable" civilian losses.

How anyone, Imperial or Rebel, could justify the loss of civilian life as "acceptable" was beyond him. He was lucky, in most respects, to get out of the business before it started to consume him like it did so many Intelligence operatives. He'd seen reports where a lot of said agents and others in the same type of field got to the point where they couldn't stand the loss of life and ended up committing suicide or breaking down. It was a very stressful job, one that had a high fatality rate. Of course, being a starfighter pilot doesn't exactly have longevity in mind.

He walked to the back of the main hold where the passenger bunks were and set his bad down beside the lower one. Because of the small size of the transport ship, the only people who got private quarters were the captain and the copilot, both of them sharing a small cabin. Since Baden didn't spend that much time in the transport ship, there was not a lot of occupied space and thus Paul didn't have to worry about disturbing anything when he settled into his bunk.

A moment later Sooli Kitz walked up to him and stored her stuff on the top bunk. "Captain," she said politely, though her voice sounded like she would rather be setting off a charge instead of being a passenger aboard a transport bound for Corellia. "I've read your dossier; very impressive, to say the least. Why did you ever get out of the field?"

Paul gave a small grin as he stuffed his bag inside of the bunk's small storage compartment. "I started to outgrow the work. Besides," he said, standing up and dusting his jacket off, "I had always wanted to be a pilot."

"You're being evasive, Captain."

He grinned again and turned to look at her over his shoulder. "Habit of being a pilot, Captain." He turned his head back to the path in front of him and walked towards the cockpit just in time to see a hydrospanner fly through the air out of the hatch, a score of obscenities being shouted in its wake.

"Why in the name of the Force did you let these people do this to my ship, Pappy! How did they even get in here in the first place? No one outside of me, you, and Torch know the hatch access code, it's not even on file!"

Paul peeked around the corner to see that Baden was having a bit of an argument with Pappy, the ship's chief mechanic. Pappy was looking very agitated and not too keen to being talked to in that fashion while Baden's face looked like it was about to explode from fury. Paul, deciding that he wanted to remain alive, pulled back from the hatch and just stood outside, listening. "It's not like I had a choice in the matter. The Captain ordered me to do it, Biggs."

"You... you gave them the access code? How could you do that! How could you allow someone onto my ship!"

"Calm down, Biggs. It can be changed back after the mission-whatever it is-that you're going on. We made sure that nothing we did couldn't be reversed when you got back."

"It better be, Pappy, or else I'm going to tear apart someone by their limbs; and believe you me, my way will be a lot less surgical than that of a Wookiee's." There was a brief pause until Paul heard the sound of someone sitting down in one of the gravity acceleration chairs of the cockpit. "Now you better get out of here, we're about to leave."

Paul saw Pappy as he walked past him, not even bothering to say anything to the pilot, and disappeared around the corner as he headed down the ramp. A moment later Paul noticed Murshid, the last person to come aboard, scurried up the boarding ramp as it began to rise. Once inside the ramp clamped shut and Murshid's face twisted into a frustration expression. "Hey, watch it!"

"Sorry about that, Murshid," came Baden's response from behind Paul. Paul decided that now would be the best time to make his presence known and stepped into through the hatch. Baden was sitting in the pilot's seat going over some figures on one of the monitors. Probably checking to make sure that all things are in order before we lift off. Paul eased himself into the vacant copilot's seat and started to run through his own checklist.

Baden had asked him to take on the job as copilot while Murshid and Kitz would be the gunners should they run into any trouble. Paul was uncertain as to exactly why Baden didn't ask Murshid to copilot, given that they were both in the same unit together and knew each other a little better than himself, but he didn't question a chance to help out.

"Excellent!" came Baden's voice. "They didn't take out the secondary weapons array. That will give us some advantage should we face off with someone."

"What exactly does the secondary array have?" asked Paul with a grin, knowing full well that he wasn't going to get a straight answer. Every ship's captain, whether it's of a private ship or a starship, never gave away the secrets that made their ship great.

"You'll just have to wait and see what it is, Captain." Baden settled back into his chair and touched the controls, one of which was the intercom system. "Captain, Lieutenant, make sure you're buckled up back there." He switched off the internal communication system and flipped the next switch over. "Morning Star Flight Control, this is the Shaddian Crystal," his face frowning at the use of the name, "requesting permission for departure." There was a momentary pause of silent static before the low voice of Frosk Yak`ney, came back over the cockpit speakers. "Acknowledged, Crystal, you are clear for departure. Bring us back something good, Biggsy."

"Don't worry, Chief, I'll make sure to shop around. Crystal out." He flipped the switch and turned to look at Paul. "Captain, if you would be so kind?"

Paul just nodded and let his fingers dance over the controls until the unmistakable sound of the repulsorlift engines hummed through the ship. He grinned a little at Baden and then hit the maneuvering thrusters control with a slam, jolting the ship through the MagCon field and out into the blackness of space.

"Hey, watch it, I want to bring this thing back in one piece!"

"Keep your jacket on, Lieutenant, I know what I'm doing." Paul punched in the security code for the first jump coordinates readout and then feed them into the computer. "Sit back and enjoy the ride." He pulled back on the jump engines lever, forcing the small ship to shoot into the void of hyperspace.

[Cockpit, Pride of Alderaan, Hyperspace, 1200 Hours]

Rob settled back in the pilot's chair and continued looking over the mission requirements on his datapad. He had gone over it several times before, of course, but he kept feeling as though he was missing something, something very important to just how well they handled this assignment. He wasn't exactly sure why he was worrying so much; he wasn't the one in command, just the pilot. But that didn't shake the feeling that something was there that he couldn't really see, that it would remain unseen until he was able to recognize it for its importance.

He was startled when Sweet sat down next to him, a hot cup of caf in his hand. "Where'd you find that? I don't keep caf aboard the ship."

"Well," the other man said, taking a small sip of his drink. "Apparently Intelligence believes that it's important, because it's here." He motioned to the open hatchway leading to the rest of the ship. "I found it in one of the cupboards, tons of it. It seems as though they expect us to be spending a lot of nights awake."

"Not likely," was all Rob said. He attempted to return to his datapad but the continuous stare of the other man made him a bit uncomfortable. "Captain, is there a point to your staring, or should I apply first aid?"

"Sorry, Lieutenant. I've just been wondering about a few things."

Sighing inwardly Rob laid the datapad in his lap and looked at his comrade. "Go ahead and ask what you want."

"Well, I'm aware of Kitz's reason for being here-she's the Intelligence Officer, after all-but I am still not sure as to why you or Lieutenant Murshid are part of the 'team'. Just what kind of background do you have that qualifies you to be here?"

Rob blinked a bit and gave a somber look at Sweet. "Captain, if I didn't know any better, I'd think I was just insulted." He held up his hand to stall any talk from the older man. "Forget it, it's not as if I am really offended." He set the datapad aside and folded his arms across his chest. "You want to know just why I am here, hmm? Well, it's for a few reasons that I can surmise." He held out his right hand and started counting on his fingers. "One, I have a ship that is not only space worthy but Corellian in design as well. Two, I'm from Corellia and will not have to fake an accent or use a map to find my way around. Three, the specific area of Corellia where we're going is where I was born and raised. Four, I've been to the depths of Nar Shadda, a place that makes the darkest holes of Corellia look like Alderaan in comparison and can talk my way through almost any situation that we are to encounter with the local crime syndicates. And five, I have outside information sources that don't funnel through the places Intelligence deals with."

There was a long pause of silence before Sweet cleared his throat and sat back in his seat. "Okay. Point taken." He started to get up when Rob stopped him with his hand again. "What about you?" He glared at him with burning eyes. "It only seems fair that you answer the same question."

There was an even longer pause and Rob could tell that he was about to take a glimpse into the soul of this person. He wasn't really sure that he wanted to take any more glimpses given the recent changes he'd been through, but before he had a chance to recant his statement, Sweet spoke.

"I was part of a Special Ops unit in the Imperial Army," he said in a low and soft voice, the bitterness filling his words. "The things I saw and did would have knocked you out of a T-47 airspeeder and made you want the Jedi to come back to power." He looked right at Rob, right into his eyes and Rob could feel the pain that was flowing from him. "It was horrible, Baden, worse than I could have thought possible." Sweet ran a hand through his hair, mussing it a bit before returning to his story. "At first it wasn't really that bad; we were given small missions such as infiltrating a cell network or going undercover for to help some local constabulary bust a smuggling operation. But as time went on and we got better at it we were given some high profile jobs."

"What kind of jobs?"

"The kind that come back to haunt you in your dreams. The kind that makes you see the faces of those who have died by your hands every time you close your eyes. The kind that made the Empire thrive." He took a long breath and let it out slowly. "Assassinations, setting rebel cell groups up for elimination, and misinforming enemy Intelligence units so we could take them out in the midst of one of their operations." He looked off in the distance for a moment, his eyes becoming dark and looming. "One such mission -- the last one before I defected -- took place on Ghorman, a small industrial world that supplied the Fleet with minor things. Imperial Intelligence set it up so that Madine's forces would think that the Empire was using it for a possible Stanging ground for an assault on a Rebel outpost. They sent in a team to try and delay the fictitious operation and our unit was the one who helped take control of the situation." He took another long pause before continuing, most likely gathering his thoughts and putting them order. "We were ordered to open fire on the civilian population that was running away from a Stanged explosion because we knew with a good degree of certainty that there were Rebel operatives masquerading as workers. I was in command of the unit as our CO had been out sick, so I was the one who was responsible for the actions my troopers took."

"Captain...Paul," said Rob softly, "if you don't want to finish this..."

"No, no, it's good to get things out." He gave a wan smile and sighed again. "It wasn't a very big unit, just a platoon of men, three squads. Second and Third Squads were the ones firing on the civilians, while First Squad and myself were undercover as scout troopers. We had tracked the Rebels to their fallback position and let loose on them -- there were only two of them -- and chased them before they lost us. We didn't kill them, at least I don't think we did, but we did end up wounding one of them, a woman. I'm not sure if she--" "You Sithspawn!"

Rob and Sweet both turned to see the form of Murshid rushing towards them. He didn't know what was going on but was very surprised when Murshid jumped onto Sweet and started strangling him with his bare hands. Rob jumped up from his seat and pried his squadmate off Sweet, desperately trying to hold him back. "Sazril! Calm the hell down!"

"Let go of me, Rob! Let me go so I can kick his sorry rear back to the Imperial Palace!" Sweet struggled to his feet and looked at Rob trying to hold back the frantic man in his arms. "Just what was that for?"

"You killed my fiancé! You shot her, to let her die on that horrible planet in a mission that wasn't even real! It's all your fault, you pathetic excuse for a man!" He tried to get free from Rob's grasp, but the younger man had a firm grip on his arms. "Stang, Rob, let me go!"

"Not until I can be sure you won't hit him, Sazril!"

"What in the name of the Force is going on out here!?" Everyone turned to look at Sooli who wondered in looking groggy. She must have been sleeping in the main hold because she looked as though she had been through a whirlwind.

"This Imperial slime killed my fiancé!" Murshid snarled and almost broke free from Rob's grip. "You should die for what you did!"

A dawn of understanding passed over Sweet's face and suddenly he fell to his knees. "Oh Lieutenant, I'm sorry. I didn't realize... you were part of that team?"

"Part of the team?! I was their commander, their leader, and I led them into an ambush that you and your friends set up! Do you know what it's like to see, and feel, the woman you love die in your arms? And it's all because of you!"

Sweet's face was full of sorrow and Rob could tell that he actually meant it. He wished that he could find some way to set this, but he couldn't risk the chance that something in the cockpit would be hit. So far they were lucky that the little encounter hadn't involved some critical control circuit to be hit by accident.

"All right, now just calm down, Sazril, before I have to lock you up in my quarters and keep you there."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, better believe I would! Now let's get one thing straight; this is my ship and on my ship you will behave yourself, all of you, or I will toss you inside my quarters and lock you in there until we arrive at Corellia." He looked at each of them and lingered on Murshid's glare. "Is that clear?"

Murshid nodded reluctantly and Rob felt his resistance fade away. Rob released his grip on him and was glad when Murshid didn't take the opportunity to jump on Sweet. "Good. Now, we all have to work together, and while I am the most junior officer here I will not stand by and watch this team break apart when we are about to arrive in Corellian space in two hours." "You're absolutely right, Rob," said Sooli, running a hand through her hair. "We should take the time we have left to make sure that we have all our papers in order and practice our false identities. Agreed?"

Everyone nodded and Sooli turned on her heel. "Then let's go to the main hold and talk this out."

Chapter 2: Complications

Richard Vogel sipped his Corellian Ale while sitting at a small table in the back of the cantina, a view port to his right, and the rest of his band to his left. He really didn't expect to be on Corellia, it was just something that sort of happened. He would later make sure to blame Forpe for setting a gig up on this pro-Imperial world, however beautiful it looked from orbit, but he then remembered that he was the manager and he didn't want to be blamed by himself.

He saw a flash of light to his left and looked out the view port to see yet another transport ship coming out of hyperspace. But, unlike the others that he noticed during his time at the table, he lingered on the ship and actually stared at it. He wasn't exactly sure why he did so until he recognized the class of ship, a YT-2400 freighter.

He'd seen a few of them before-after all, he was in the Corellian system-but for some reason he had the feeling that he actually knew this ship personally. He couldn't quite figure out why until he saw the ship do a spin-roll as it came into dock with the checkpoint station.

I don't believe it. That's Rob's ship! He set his drink down and stared out of the view port, his eyes glued on the ship. But he still didn't understand what he was seeing. Rob Baden's ship, the Pride of Alderaan, was painted solid black with gold stripes around the cockpit, laser turrets, and engine exhaust panels, but the ship that he was seeing was painted a dark gray with splotches of bright blue in the shape of crystals.

But Richard knew, as well as any pilot worth his salt, that someone could identify a person by observing their piloting style. And that style of the pilot who did that spin-roll was defiantly Rob's.

He set his drink down and climbed to his feet, surveying the faces of his fellow band members. "You're going to have to excuse me for a bit," he said, checking out the view port to double check which docking port the ship was birthed at. "I have to investigate something."

[Main Hold, Pride of Alderaan, Corellian System, 1430 Hours]

Sooli Kitz stood at the front of the docking port hatch, her hand positioned just over the automated switch. "Now remember," she said, her blonde-dyed bangs falling down in front of her eyes. "Try not to speak unless you have to. Ondra--" That was Baden's false identity. "--is point. He knows this area and doesn't need us acting like a bunch of tourists." She looked right at Baden and gave a slight nod at the young man. He was wearing black trousers, a light gray shirt, and a matching black jacket-vest. His hair had been dyed red and optic enhancements had changed his eye color to blue.

And he did not look happy.

"You ready?"

"As ready as I can ever been," he said, the cheerful and perky voice of his identity responding. He took one final look at the monitor stations by the hatch controls and his face frowned considerably. "Oh, Sith!"

"What, what is it?"

He pointed to the monitor and Sooli turned around to see the picture. Outside the ship was the customs officer from CorSec and behind her, at a good distance away, a man in a light brown jacket. "Who is that? That's not a CorSec official." "It's one of my contacts. Remember back on Mon Calamari at the Ball?" He hit the bulkhead with his hand and Sooli involuntarily winced. She had done that same thing several times before in fits of frustration, but it never really felt good. "He was part of the band playing for the Ball, and he provided some useful information concerning Sate Pestage. Stang, how did he know this was my ship?"

"Great, now what do we...wait." She pointed to the monitor. "Look, look." On the monitor the customs officer was talking to the brown-jacketed man. After a few moments the man turned and walked away while the customs officer remained outside the hatch.

"She must have told him that official business was going on that he had to leave." She looked back over at Rob. "Now are you ready, or do I have to kick you and push you out the door?"

"Hit the switch and let's find out."

She tapped the control and the airlock began the procedure of opening. After a moment both the inner and outer locks released and depressurized air sizzled out. The doors opened and separated, Rob stepping forward towards the woman in a CorSec uniform. "Mr. Halven?" she asked. Baden nodded. "That's me, Ondra Halven."

"Welcome to Corellia, Mr. Halven. Do you have anything to declare for your visit?" "Just my crew." Rob pointed to the rest of the team and then handed identification cards to the CorSec officer. "Hans Jovel, my co-pilot," he said, referring to Murshid. "My wife, Yvette Halven." The CorSic officer just nodded towards Sooli, trying not to stare at her skin pigmentation. "And my business partner, Ulan Rasne." Sweet did a little bow and straightened himself upright. All of them looked very different than their original appearance, to help make the false identities stand up against a standard facial recognition scan. While the Corellian Sector was no longer part of the Empire-having recently broken away in protest of Isard's leadership-they did have a very sophisticated intelligence network that could possibly have the names of all of the Morning Star's current crew, pilots, and soldiers. The odds were not in the favor of such a thing, but Sooli knew never to take chances when dealing with an Intel op.

The woman scanned each of the cards and reviewed the information before handing them back to Rob. "Everything checks out. You're clear to land and berth in Coronet City Spaceport, but please try to make sure that you keep out of trouble, even minor things. The city is known for having its, um, hot spots. I'd keep clear of them if I were you."

Rob pocketed the cards and gave a slight smile. "Thank you, Officer. Good day." He turned around and walked back into the airlock, the doors closing behind him. "Now let's get out of here before Vogel shows up again. I do not want to have to explain myself to him at this time."

Sooli looked past him, her blonde hair blowing in her eyesight again. She didn't know what was going on in Rob's mind, and she didn't even know him beyond the small amount of time they have spent together, but she thought that she could detect a bit of nostalgia and pain about him. Making sure the airlock was sealed tight, she headed up to the cockpit and strapped herself in. If nothing else, it was going to be a very interesting assignment. All three of her team members seemed to be wild cards; Rob with his quietness and shadowed demeanor, Murshid with his pain and anger towards Sweet, and Sweet with his friendly attitude and general all-around helpfulness. She gave a small inner laugh as the ship undocked from the checkpoint pylon. Yes, it was going to be a very interesting assignment.

[Berthing Bay 237, Coronet City Spaceport, Corellian System, 1530 Hours]

Rob stood at the base of the boarding ramp and looked out at the spaceport. Off in the distance he could see the towers of the Coronet City industrial and corporate sectors, as well as the central government building in which the Diktat not only worked, but lived. Rob had never met the Diktat, but he had seen him on vids, and he was not impressed with the leader his world had. He took a deep breath and walked towards the landspeeder that they had rented. He hadn't been to Corellia in almost four years, when his father had died in a bar fight, and he found himself struggling to find some sense of belonging in the familiar setting. He was unable to really feel for this planet, for this world, like he used to; too many things had changed since he left for Nar Shadda. In fact, even Nar Shadda didn't really feel like home, at least, not until Lela came along.

He gave a heavy sigh at that thought as he threw the duffle bag he had into the cargo compartment of the speeder. When he started courting her, she brought him all sorts of Alderaanian fixtures and memorabilia to fix up the small shop that he and Jeff lived in. Even though he wasn't from Alderaan, his mother had been, so he enjoyed the atmosphere that she had made from him. It was one of the reasons why he named his ship after Alderaan, the other being in remembrance of her.

Climbing into the driver's seat he clicked on the engine. "Everyone fastened?" Everyone gave a simple answer and he cut the gear into drive, pushing them through the spaceport's birthing docks. Half of the docks were occupied and work crews were busy doing their jobs, while the other half were pretty much just for ships stopping over the next few days, much like what Rob's team was supposed to do. Of course, they had other plans in mind.

"How far are we going?" asked Sweet from behind Rob.

"You'll find out when we get there," was the only reply that he could give. He knew exactly where they would be setting up their command post at, but he couldn't talk about it. It was something he only found out about when Sooli informed him after they left the customs checkpoint. He was, to say the least, reluctant to step into that place again, but knew that he had to sooner or later. He was just glad that Jeff wasn't here or else he'd have to go through the same kind of pain. How he wished he had Lela, or Bree, to help comfort him.

He blinked when he realized the focus of his thoughts. He was used to thinking about Lela, but the idea of thinking about Bree was a bit unexpected to him. He had hardly known her, and didn't even have a chance to talk to her more than a couple of days before her death in battle. How he wanted to be her friend, and possibly more in time, but war was never much on giving people a chance to act out those wants and wishes.

He turned a bend and dodged another speeder with the markings of a transportation service. "Sithing Coronet City transit airspeeders." He made a sharp turn right and headed down a street that was fairly busy. "We're almost there, so make sure that everyone is ready to disembark. By the by, who's going to be paying the cost of me ferrying you all this way?"

"The way you drive," commented Murshid next to him, "I'd be surprised if we didn't end up dead." "Funny!" Rob made a really sharp turn and came into a shipping district that seemed pretty deserted. Even though some things had changed within the last few years, much of this area remained the same. After a few more minutes of driving he stopped in front of a rundown building with the words "Starline Shipping" on it. Stepping out of the speeder, Rob looked at the building closely and felt a lump in his throat as he placed a hand on the door. "Okay," he said in a very low, whispered voice. "We're here."

"'Starline Shipping.' How come I never heard of this company before?" asked Sweet.

Rob walked over to the key-code pad and started to punch in a command. After a few moments the door slid open and the light from behind him filled the darkened entrance. "It wasn't that large of a company, mostly did small to medium sized accounts." He stepped through and found the control panel covered with dust. Frowning he opened it up and started to rig it so the lights would come on. A minute later the floods turned on in sequence and the large, empty warehouse brightened.

"Just how do you know all this?"

Rob kneeled down and ran his hand over an old crest that had been knocked onto the floor. "Because this was my company." He got back up on his feet and clasped his hands together, shaking off the dust that had collected. "I'm sorry to say that there's very little left, the company was shut down a few years ago and most of the actual equipment was sold off. We kept the building, though, but..."

"Wait a minute," commented Murshid, walking around the vast warehouse. "I was under the impression, from your background file, that you sold this place off."

Rob gave a slight grin and walked over to a chair that had been tipped onto its side. He set it right up, patted the seat free of dust, and sat down. "Well, technically, I did, but I always figured that someday I would return to this place, so I only sold the principle off, while I kept a small amount in an assumed name." He let out a small, forced laugh as he looked around the warehouse. "I'm a stickler for nostalgia."

"Enough life stories," called out Sooli sternly, though she had a look of sympathy on her face. "We're here to do a job, and we are going to make sure that it gets done. "Ondra," she said, still keeping in character even though they were surely alone, "where is the main office? Our package should be there."

Rob pointed behind her to a small corner office behind her. "That is, of course, if my contacts got the message from your commanders. And if they decided not to ignore it. They don't normally like having to do things for me without me telling them directly, you know." His words were wasted as she walked into the office and brought out a large cache of military weapons. "I see they did, after all."

"Your friends have trust in you, Ondra." She pulled four BlasTech DL-44 pistols and handed one to each of them. Rob looked into the crate and did a small whistle. "They certainly do!" Inside was what looked like a miniature weapons depot; it was full of pistols, assault rifles, a couple of sniper rifles, night vision gear, explosives, datapads-most likely full of nasty computer viruses that could be downloaded into a computer network-an assortment of black clothing, CorSec uniforms, and battle armor. "We have enough here to start our own little war."

Murshid, his voice somber and his eyes burning with anger, whirling his pistol around on his index finger, spoke up. "Start? No, more like finish!"

Chapter 4: Contacts

Richard sat back in the small booth and sipped at his ale. He was certain, more so than ever before, that had, indeed, been Rob's ship, but because he didn't have the clearance to even get near the vessel he couldn't confirm it.

What is Rob doing here, anyways? The last thing that he knew, Rob was aboard the Regis and patrolling the area of the Ord Mantell System. The problem, however, was that with the recent reports coming out of Sluis Van has made it seem that the Alliance was part of a huge battle near there and that the Regis was supposedly reported to have been lost. While Richard did not believe such rumors unless he had confirmation, there was some credence to such a rumor when he saw the recent traffic reports. However, he couldn't confirm anything because New Republic Intelligence had put a blanket over the whole subject, especially any involvement with the Alliance Navy. He was not happy, however, with being in this dark and somewhat loathsome tavern. Forpe's managerial program had come up with picking this particular place for Richard's small band to perform for three nights, but as he looked out at the crowd gathered he didn't see anyone who would even remotely like the type of music that he played. He'd played tough houses before-the Emporium on Tatooine had offered a hostile audience-but this crowd looked like they'd take out carbines and fire at anyone who was playing something that they hadn't approved of. I really need to reprogram that silly droid.

The door to the tavern opened up and in walked Justen and Kayte, the look on their faces rather ominous and dark. The two siblings sat down right across from Richard and Kayte, whose demeanor was usually eclectic to the point where she would smile and make Stormtroopers quiver in fear, had a look that made his heart sink somewhat. "Should I even ask?"

"We can't find any information, but if that really was the Pride, then it's here under some sort of disguise. I can only guess that Baden is likewise under such a covert fashion. For what reasons," she said giving a slight shrug, "I cannot pinpoint."

"Not only that," quipped Justen, "but CorSec Inner Operatives recently did a mission within the last few days that was both costly in manpower and funds. They were after something, but we were unable to get an idea as to just what."

Richard frowned again and picked up his drink, holding it in his hand and he let various thoughts run amok in his mind. The CSIO was used against assassins and disgruntled citizens who tried to take on the power of the Diktat every so often, as well as being his own personal bodyguards and enforcement troops. Their relation to the Diktat and his power over them was not unlike the Emperor and his Imperial Guard. Their use in such a situation, coupled with the appearance of the Pride, meant that something had happened to either one of Rob's friends or someone who was important to the Alliance.

The former would have justified Rob's presence more so than the latter. If, indeed, someone important to the Alliance had been taken out by the CSIO, it would have been more feasible to send a commando unit or even a covert special ops team to break them out of whatever trouble they were in. The very idea that Rob would be involved in an operation that would fall under the guise of Intelligence made the whole word itself lose any relevance that it had. Rob is no more an Intelligence operative than I'm a Jedi Knight.

"Corellia to Richie, come in Richie."

Richard shook his head and looked over at Kayte. "Sorry, I was thinking."

"Try not to do that too often, it will cause brain damage. Apparently you didn't hear what I said, did you?"

"No, I didn't."

She jerked a thumb back towards the bar where Forpe was talking to a large, rotund man by the name of Julius Havn. "The owner says that we're supposed to go on in twenty minutes."

"Huh? When did he say that?"

"Forpe came over here and told us that about two minutes ago, while you were 'thinking'. You spaced out, Richie, and did so in a fashion that you blocked everything out."

"Argh, I hate it when I do that." He rubbed his head and then got up from his seat. "Okay, I better get up to the Stange and help set up. Not like you two are going to help me."

"Hey, we unloaded it into the back, didn't we?" snapped Kayte. "It's not as if we get paid for our work, you know."

[Havn's Tavern, Coronet City, Corellia System, 0146 Hours]

Sooli, her hair still giving her some problems, walked into the dark tavern with a hint of disgust and revulsion. While she had been in Coronet City several times before, she had never been in such a place as this; but because of her assignment she was required to be here. Behind her walked Sweet, his expression somber and dark, almost as if he could blend into the shadows around them. A very useful talent; he must have been a Sithing good operative.

Rob and Murshid had stayed behind at the old warehouse to work on their plan for how to get the operatives out. Intelligence had a mole inside the CSIO helping the resistance movement by supplying information and locations. So far the mole had been unable to locate the captured operatives, so Rob was working on his own contacts to get information. Sometimes I wonder if maybe he should be in Intelligence.

The hazed smoke around her kept swirling and she found it difficult to make out anything coherent and cursed herself for coming here. Rob had suggested that the local tavern would be a good place to gauge CorSec movements in the region. It was a good idea, but this spot made her wonder if her sanity had jumped ship.

There was some distant music playing and Sooli looked towards the Stange to see if the group was worth investigating. The crowd and smoke hid the band, but the music had a familiar sound to it. It wasn't until she caught a glimpse of the lead guitar player that she remember who they were and cursed herself for her luck.

"We've got to get out of here," she whispered to Sweet. Knowing better not to question her in the crowd Sweet followed her out of the bar... and right into the presence of the brown-jacketed man from earlier today, who was also the lead singer of the band.

"Why are you following me," he asked.

"I afraid I have no idea what you're referring to. Now could you please get out of our way, I'm in a bit of a hurry."

The man kept where he was, not budging even a bit. Slowly he gave a small grin and lowered his voice enough so that no one else could overhear him. "Why, is our Corellian friend anxious for you to return to his homestead?"

This rocked Sooli's brain. So he knows. She motioned to the other side of the street, a dark, sparsely occupied sidewalk with little welcoming atmosphere. He let her go by him and followed closely behind until they got far enough away not to worry about risking their security. "Just who are you, anyways? You know of our arrival, you know information about Pestage and Imperial movements. And you know enough to spot me, even though you've never even seen me before."

"Not true, not true. You were wearing a very elegant dress a little over a month ago, and your heritage, while common throughout the New Republic, is still rare on large Pro-Imperial worlds such as Corellia." He extended his hand to her. "Richard Vogel."

Sooli shook his hand with a scrutinized look on her face. "Yvette Halven."

Vogel gave a knowing grin. "Ah, yes, Halven. Hang on for a second, could you?" He started reaching into his pocket when Sooli produced her hold-out blaster and jabbed it against his ribs.

"Slowly take out what you were reaching for."

Vogel slowly took out the small comlink in his pocket and gave a small smile. "I was just going to place a call in to 'Starline Shipping.' I thought perhaps our 'friend' would like to know we've run into each other."

"Just who are you? And don't give me the 'Richard Vogel' line." Behind her Sweet was taking up a guarding position, keeping the scene out of the eyes of passers-by. "You better talk now." He looked around briefly and returned to her gaze. "If you are indeed who I think you are, than you know who I am and just what my relationship is to the New Republic. And in particular to a certain starfighter pilot of the Rebel persuasion."

Sooli took the small comlink and glanced at the frequency it was operating on. Indeed, it had the communications router for the "Starline Shipping" main office, at least the emergency number that Rob had given her. Flipping it on she hit the "send" option and a moment later Rob's voice came over the small speaker.

"Vogel? Why are you calling me, and how did you get this router?"

"It's me, Ondra," said Sooli calmly. "I seem to have run into an old friend of yours."

There was a very loud sigh over the speaker. "Are all of them there?"

Vogel nodded to her and she relayed it to the comlink. "Yes, the entire group."

"Bring them back with you. But be discreet."

"Is that wise?"

"They're safe people. I trust them with my life."

Clicking off the comlink she lowered the blaster and handed the small device back to Vogel. Turning around she gave a glare in the direction of Sweet and muttered under her breath "they better be safe, because you're trusting them with our lives, too."

[Starline Shipping, Coronet City, Corellia System, 0348 Hours]

Sazril was watching the alley way when the large speeder carrier pulled up in front of the warehouse. His first impulse was to alert Rob and activate the personalized security field, but when he saw Kitz and Sweet he relaxed a bit. Then he noticed just who it was that was with them and sighed mentally.

Vogel came up to him and shook his hand with a pleasant smile. "Mr. Jovel, it's been such a long time, I almost didn't recognize you."

Sazril almost asked him how he knew his cover name, but assumed that Kitz had told him. Covering his surprise as fast as he could he returned the shake. "Yes, it's been a very long time. Won't you please come in so we can catch up?"

"Of course!"

With that the entourage poured out or the carrier, hefting their instruments and other belongings with them, and went right into the warehouse. Sazril gave a look at Kitz and a glare at Sweet as they went past him, then followed, making sure that no one was looking. Once inside he looked the door and turned the jamming device that scrambled anyone happening to listen in. He did a brief jog over to where the rest were and immediately yelled, "What in the name of the Sith is going on here!?"

"Settle down," said Kitz. "I brought them here."

"So you're trying to blow the mission by bringing in unnecessary civilians!?"

"I am the one who asked her to bring them with her, Mr. Jovel."

He turned and saw Rob standing a few feet behind him, just out of the main office's outer door.

"What were you thinking, huh? This could endanger the mission. Are you stupid!?"

"That is enough!" Kitz came over and put her hand on his shoulder. "You are way out of line and you better get your act together soon."

"Look, Hans," said Sweet, placing his own hand on Sazril's shoulder.

Feeling his anger rising in him he turned around and punched Sweet in the face, knocking him onto his back. Without hesitating, Sazril jumped onto the downed man and began to inflict hit after hit into the older man, each contact echoing with his words. "Don't. You. Ever. Put. Your. Hands. On. Me. You. Imperial. Murderer!"

Suddenly he felt arms pulling him back and found himself shoved against the wall. "Listen here! Knock it off, or I'll stun you and shove you in the storage locker!" To capitalize on her point, Kitz produced a blaster carbine and put it under his chin. "Now sit down and shut up!"

Sazril growled and sat down in a chair a good distance away from Sweet, who was being attended to by Rob and Vogel. "They shouldn't be here, and you know it! You're in charge here, but sure as Sith don't act like it!"

"You shut up, or you're taking a nap too," stated Rob in a calm voice. "We're here for a reason, and in order to achieve it we're going to require some help, outside of the channels. Now, we've worked with Vogel and his group before, remember? They're a good group and if they wanted to turn us in they could have done so back at the checkpost. You better get your act together, Mr. Jovel," said Rob, emphasizing on the cover name, "or else you're going to be the one who ends up endangering our mission."

[Starline Shipping, Coronet City, Corellia System, 1700 Hours]

Rob just kept looking outside the window, viewing the shimmering lights of Coronet City. He'd been thinking a lot over the past couple of days about just what he had left behind when he and Jeff fled Corellia years ago. Corellia had been his home, he had been born and raised on this world, but with the death of his father plaguing him he no longer felt that it was where he belonged.

Likewise, he didn't think Nar Shadda was where he belonged, either. The small planet, dubbed the Smuggler's Moon, had been nothing more than a hive of scum and confidence operators; not exactly the most appealing spot in the galaxy. He'd only really felt at home while aboard the Pride; even being aboard the Regis brought no real solace to his heart, thought it had been filled with those who care about him. But the Pride...it was his alone, something that he had that no one else could have access to.

He frowned. And now I don't even have that!

He was, to say the least, very upset when he saw the retrofitted Pride in the portside hanger bay of the Star. Part of him knew that it was necessary for the mission, as Imperial Intelligence and the Corellian counterpart of it no doubt knew of his involvement in the Alliance, but another, less rational part of him, felt that nothing warranted such a change. That same part of him was very angry at Sooli. She was the Intelligence Officer for the Star, and was in charge of this mission, so any decision to alter the Pride had to have at least gone past her. But his logic knew that she was only a messenger of Cracken and that their friendship was more important than that.

Friendship...if she had her way it would be more than just friendship.

When they met a month ago on Mon Calamari, Sooli had taken an immediate interest in Rob as more than a friend, and she had stated as such to his roommate, Steve. Steve, on the other had, was the one who had an intense interest in her as more than a friend, and getting the two together was impossible without Rob somehow being involved as a sort of buffer.

What made matters even more problematic was that Rob had finally found a woman that he was interested in. For several months, since the death of his fiancé, Rob had been putting his social life on the backburner in an attempt to lock himself away with his own problems. However, despite all of that, he finally found a woman of which he was fairly interested in and had been spending a good amount of his off hours thinking of her. Even know, in the heart of the Corellian Diktat's power, his life in danger, he couldn't stop thinking of her. But I don't even know if she feels the same way about me.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Sooli looking at him. "You okay?"

Rob nodded. "Yes. Just thinking about some things that have to do with my life. The past few days have been a bit rough on me."

"I know. I still can't believe you threatened him. He's since then calmed down, but I doubt he's going to forget what you said."

"Or what you said, might I remind you." He gave her a wry grin. "However, the last two days have been full of training and going over what we should do. We're ready whenever you think we should go in."

"We've been able to attain a detailed blueprint of the building, as well as a schedule for the changing of the guard. But we still don't know where exactly inside the building they're being held."

"That's where you and our friend Kayte come in. Both of you have extensive abilities in slicing; once we're inside, you can jack into the computer system and get the information." She looked at him again. "Look, I know that you have a history with these people, but can you really trust them? They're outlaws." "And we're not?"

Chapter 4: Shadow's End

[Diktat's Palace, Coronet City, Corellia System, 2237 Hours]

Rob took the binocs and zoomed in to look at the setup before them. Ahead about half a klick were four heavily armed men wearing CorSec battle armor along with two E-Web cannons covering the entrance to the Diktat's Palace. He looked up and noticed some security scanners covering the entrance as well. Taking the binocs away he looked back at the nine companions all clad in black, CorSec uniforms or CorSec battle armor. "Just as we were told."

Sooli took the binocs and looked in briefly. "Good. Vogel, Nave, Hafnren, and Lasure, you ready to move?

Each of the four men in battle armor nodded and moved to the right slowly so as not to draw attention.

Sooli nodded to Rob. "Send the transmission."

Rob took out his comlink and flipped it on.

[Cockpit, Pride of Alderaan, Corellia System, 2244 Hours]

Justen Eyfert clicked on the flashing light. "Omega Here." The voice of Rob Baden filled the cockpit. "Omega, this is Alpha. Begin your run." Justen clicked off the communications link and revved the ion engines of the Pride, preparing for take off. I sure hope this works.

[Corellian Security Central Headquarters, Coronet City, Corellia System, 2250 Hours]

"Chief!"

Usk Yavns, Chief of Corellian Security, walked over to the tactical station and set his hand over the technician's chair. "What is it?"

"A YT-2400 just blasted its way out of the spaceport and is proceeding to fly an erratic course through the city."

Usk grumbled to himself. "Great, joyriders. Send a flight of fighters out after it. Try to force it down if you can, but take necessary action if deemed needed."

[Diktat's Palace, Coronet City, Corellia System, 2300 Hours]

Sooli listened in to her comlink, monitoring the various transmissions from the CorSec frequency. She gently touched Rob's shoulder and gave a nod when she heard the order to launch a flight of Z-95 Headhunters to engage the Pride. "It's time." Switching the frequency she spoke to Vogel and the others, who had by now gotten into position. "A group of Z-95s will be launching soon and will pass over. When that happens, the guards at the door will look upward. That's when you move in and take them out. Got it?"

There was a double click in answer and she shut off the link. Turning back to look at Eyfert she said, "Got the datapad hooked up?"

"It's ready to scramble the sensors the moment you tell me to," answered Kayte "Good, stand by."

A few moments later, with what seemed like a lifetime, the Pride flew overhead followed closely by a flight of Headhunters. "Go!" whispered Sooli to Eyfert as Vogel's group moved in. The lights showing the operation of the sensors went off and a moment later there were muffled screams and a light signal from Vogel.

"They're in, let's go."

Slowly Sooli and the other five people around her rushed in through the darkness and past Vogel and the others guarding the entrance. She again turned to Eyfert and gestured towards the doors. "Open it."

A few moments later the heavy blast doors separating the outside and the interior of the palace opened. Sooli turned back to Vogel once more. "Be sure to alert us if anything happens, but try not to go out and find trouble on your own." The doors closed behind them as they rushed in. She turned to Eyfert and Isen, both dressed in CorSec uniforms. "We've got to find a computer outlet to slice into. The only way to find out where they're keeping the operatives is by invading the data stream."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, give me a break already," said Kayte.

Sooli looked at Rob who just shrugged his shoulders. "I never said their personalities were sociable.

"And you'd be the expert on being anti-social, wouldn't you?" stated Kayte.

Sooli grinned. "She burned you, but good."

"Oh, be quiet!"

[Cockpit, Pride of Alderaan, Corellia System, 2318 Hours]

Justen weaved through the city skylanes as fast as he could in an attempt to evade his pursuers. While the transport looked to be a very old and unmanageable craft, the ship had speed that rivaled some starfighters and a very impressive shielding system. And this is with the modifications made to the ship to disguise it; I bet it would be even better without the modifications.

He checked the sensors and saw that one of the Headhunters was firing on him. "Oh, now that's a mistake." He'd wanted to avoid direct combat if he could help it. But that appeared to change as it became apparent that that CorSec wasn't taking any chances.

Justen hit the weapons control and heard the upper turret swivel around to track the Headhunter. "Bye-bye." Red light danced away from the Pride and hit the shields of the small fighter. In a matter of moments it exploded, debris scattering through the sky.

"Omega to Alpha, better hurry it, I'm starting to have a bit of a problem with my conversational skills."

[Diktat's Palace, Coronet City, Corellia System, 2325 Hours]

"We're on it, Omega; we've just found the prize," said Rob into the comlink. "Stand by for extraction, out." He shut it back off and put it into his pocket. "How far is the detention area from here?"

"Two levels down," said Kayte, her fingers dancing over a terminal. "It's guarded by a perimeter sensor system and an infrared detection system. Two guards are currently on station; apparently the operatives are the only ones being detained."

"That doesn't surprise me," commented Sooli. "The Diktat has a habit of executing anyone who goes against him that he doesn't deem necessary to keep alive. I suppose he wanted to keep the operatives alive to try and bargain with either the Alliance or the Empire for their release."

"That's the Diktat, alright," muttered Rob.

"Eyfert, Isen, stay here and make sure no one tampers with anything. Everyone else, let's move."

The four of them, all dressed in black, rushed down the stairwell to level "B-2" with a cautious attitude, their weapons raised and ready. Throughout the stairwell Sooli placed various explosive charges with a remote detonator, for after they were extracted.

"You really don't have to do that. The chances of the Diktat even being in this building are slim, he usually keeps it as a placebo, a diversion," whispered Rob.

"I know that; but this is also the CSIO's main headquarters and I don't see why we should keep it up." She gestured with her chin to the doors that they reached and clicked on her comlink. "This is Alpha to Beta, send the scramble code now."

A moment later the lights indicating the infrared and sensor systems shut off. They quartet moved in fast and entered into the detention area where two guards were sitting at table playing cards when they noticed the incursion. Before both of them could even get up Rob and Sweet fired two stun bolts, knocking the two of them back into their seats. "Area secure," said Rob calmly.

Sooli and Murshid moved swiftly over to the cells while Rob and Sweet maintained a stance at the entrance. A moment later, one of the cell doors opened and a moment after that Murshid was helping a young woman with red hair walk. Rob took a glance in her direction and noticed that she was bruised and looked as if she was going to fall over any moment. What did they do to her?

As if she was reading his mind she said slowly, with a slurred voice, "They tried to beat the access codes to the NRI security-net out of me. They somehow found out who we were and moved in to get us a few days ago."

"It's okay now, Lieutenant, we're here to get you out," said Sooli. "Where's your partner?"

"Died during interrogation." She gave a half-laugh. "He was the lucky one, if you ask me." Sooli just nodded at Rob and he took out his comlink. "Alpha to Omega, we've got the prize. Contact Sigma and prepare for extraction in ten minutes."

[Cockpit, Pride of Alderaan, Corellia System, 2335 Hours]

"It's about time!" screamed Justen into the communications console. He clicked it off and then let a concussion missile fly out of the ship and slam into the Headhunter in front of him. A proximity alert flashed on the display and he looked straight ahead and saw that he was on a collision course with a building. Pulling up fast he scraped the lower hull against a skyscraper and heard the metal groan in agony with a light flashing indicating structural damage.

"Oh, blast, Baden's going to shoot me for sure!" He frowned and clicked on the communications console again. "Omega to Sigma, time for pick up. Move into position and await further orders."

Lynda's voice came back smooth. "Acknowledged, we're powering up now."

"Oh my," came Forpe's voice in the background, "are we leaving? My my, this is quite dangerous."

[Diktat's Palace, Coronet City, Corellia System, 2345 Hours]

Richard looked out at the darkness and noticed a flicker of light coming up the road. He turned to his companions and motioned at the flicker just before a red bolt flew past him and hit the blast doors.

"Down!"

All four of them hit the ground as a series of blaster shots raked up and down the blast doors. Nave scattered over to Vogel and yelled over the noise. "We've been found out!"

"You think!?" He scrambled over to the energy generator and activated the shielding field. "Man the E-Webs! Give us some covering fire while we wait for the others!" Both Nave and Lasure headed over to the cannons and Richard took out his comlink. "Epsilon to Alpha, we have company. Looks to be the size of a platoon of CSIO troops. How long until you get out here!?"

The blast doors opened and out came seven people, two of them supporting a third while the remaining four opened fire on the troops coming up the roadway. "Is 'now' a good answer, Mr. Vogel?" shouted Rob over the whine of blaster fire. He pulled out his comlink and clicked it on. "Omega, any time now would be good."

Two concussion missiles streaked down onto the pavement from above just short of the CSIO troops, duracrete chunks flying all around.

Richard watched as the Pride settled down on the pavement and the boarding ramp descended. "Nave, Lasure! Set those E-Webs up for continuous fire and then pull out!" He got to his feet and fired off a few more shots before he moved towards the Pride, the others following close behind him.

"By the Force!" screamed Rob a moment later. "What happened to my ship!? Eyfert!!"

"It's not my fault!" came Justen's voice from the cockpit.

"Watch out!" cried Sweet from behind him. Richard turned and saw a thermal detonator being tossed in their direction. It blew the duracrete apart and scattered everyone. Richard himself was blown into the ship whereas everyone else was blown in a different direction.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Sooli.

"Where's Sazril?" shouted Rob.

"Over here!"

Richard reclaimed his feet and walked back down the ramp to see Sweet pulling a large chunk of duracrete off Murshid's legs. Sooli and Rob rushed over to help him and all three helped the wounded man onto the ship. It wasn't long before everyone was finally aboard the ship; Murshid and the woman lying a couple of long crates in the main hold while Sooli and Sweet attended to them.

Rob himself rushed to the cockpit while Lasure and Nave headed to the turret stations. Vogel felt the ship rise off the ground again and sighed as he heard continuous insults being shouted from Rob to Justen.

[Main Hold, Freighter Starlight, Corellia System, 0002 Hours]

Rob looked up again at the huge gouge in the underside of the Pride and frowned deeply. "And just how did this happen?"

"Look, I said I was sorry!" snapped Eyfert. "I didn't pull up all the way as I should have."

"Damn straight you should have!" He waved his hand at the ship again. "Look what you did! Look, look!"

"Oh, give it a rest, Rob."

"Sooli, look what he did to my ship! Do you know how long it took me to get that ship up to the condition it was in?"

"Everyone brace for hyperspace entry," came the voice of Vogel over the speakers. "In three...two...one!"

Rob muttered under his breath, "and so the end finally comes; now I can go back home and," turning he glared at Eyfert and raised his voice, "start working on my ship again!"

"Oh boy!" shouted Sooli.

Rob just turned and looked at the woman coming down the ramp. "Lieutenant, I know that you've been through a lot, but can you tell us how CSIO tracked your location in the first place? Anything would help NRI find out why you were captured."

"Rob," said Sooli. "Let her be. She's been through a great deal. She'll have plenty of time to be debriefed later."

"Sure, sure, whatever." He frowned again. "I just want to know what was so important that it had to bring us four out here."

"Oh, stifle it, Rob!"

[Guest Quarters, Freighter Starlight, Hyperspace, 0128 Hours]

Sazril groaned and woke up slowly, his eyes adjusting to the light that was shining overhead. He felt his legs throb somewhat in pain and then noticed that they were half in a tub filled with bacta. "Where... where am I?"

"Aboard the Starlight on the way to meet with the Star."

Sazril looked up and saw Paul Sweet sitting in a chair beside him. What is he..., and them he remembered what happened during their escape. Oh, Force, no I owe him my life!. "Captain."

"Good morning, Lieutenant. Are you recovering well?"

"Yes... Thank you, Captain, for what you did back there." He looked down. "And I'm sorry for what I did back there, but I think you understand my reasons."

"Yes, I do. And I hope that someday I will be able to atone for what I did to you."

"Perhaps," said Sazril, his voice deep and meaningful. "But not just yet."

[Main Hold, Freighter Starlight, Gyndine System, 0829 Hours]

"Well, it seems as though I keep running into you, Rob," said Richard. "And every time I do it makes my life turn upside down."

"It's not like you have much of a life to begin with, Mr. Vogel." Rob shook his hand and gave a

smile in his direction. "It was good to see you again, even if it wasn't the best of times."

"Take care, Rob, and don't stop fighting." He waved as Rob ran up the ramp of the Pride.

A minute or so later the transport lifted off and flew through the magcon field and towards the small flotilla of Alliance ships a few klicks away. "Goodbye, my friend, may the Force be with you."

[The Mug, Regis, Gyndine System, 1202 Hours]

Rob walked up to the bar with his stomach doing summersaults inside of him, his nervousness rising in him. He had decided that when he got back he would finally tell her his feelings. Where that would lead him, however, he did not know.

Stepping up to the bar he sat down and waited to be served on. A few moments later a raven-haired woman in her mid twenties approached him. "Hey, Biggs! It's been almost a week since you've been here. You forget to come see your favorite bartender?"

"Ms. Narmi, don't you ever wonder why I come here at all? After all, I'm no longer aboard the Regis, so one would gather that I would rather be at the Fishtank than here."

"'Fishtank?' Is that what the bar on the Star is called? Doesn't sound that appealing to anyone other than Mon Calamari." She grinned a little. "And besides, why would you want to come to anywhere else other than here? I'm always on your mind, you know."

Rob took a deep sigh and looked down. "Truth be told... you have been on my mind quite a bit. I wonder, Trix... what are you doing tonight?"

The question obviously caught her off guard and stumbled for the words to answer him. "Are you asking me out?"

"Yes."

There was a very awkward moment of silence before she looked at him. "Yes...so long as you don't go bragging about it to anyone."

"Trix, remember who you're talking to."

"Oh, yes, you wouldn't brag to people if you had just been made Emperor." She smiled at him and gave a wink. "Tonight, then, yes?"

"Yes." He gave her a small smile in return. And so begins a new life...

The End