Reading Room

The Trailblazer was fighting its last battle, and the ship appeared to know it. Some captains firmly believed their vessels had something like a soul, and often it seemed to be true. That was the origin of the old tradition of the Captain who dies with his vessel. You could hear hundreds of stories where a ship seemed to have saved its crew's lives, as if it had its own will. If Garil had asked Lieutenant Commander Schroeder, she would have sworn that her old Frigate, the Mantiss, had waited to shut down until it had brought what remained of its crew and Praying Mantis Squadron to safety. Admiral Garil had heard many of those tales, and he had survived a couple of his own during his long career. Now he had no problem understanding what his last vessel was telling him, with its flickering lights, its metallic creaks and its sluggish reactions to the controls.

The Trailblazer was dying.

Half of its engines had ceased working, and while the remaining power was still enough to maneuver, there was no way that the ship could outrun its pursuers, to say nothing of jumping to hyperspace. The warheads launcher had been destroyed - just as well, considering there were no more missiles to launch - and a great part of the laser turrets were no more than junk, still more or less attached to the tortured hull. The highest atmosphere layers of the dead planet of Muldron were diffusing the Imperial weapons just slightly, but Garil knew he could measure his time in seconds. Several breaches on the hull had killed already most of the scarce crew, and now the only two survivors were the ones occupying the bridge.

"Admiral, they've got us," Lieutenant Deeggo said. "I'd expect the usual call ordering us to give up, but I guess this time there won't be any."

"Not after what happened with the last one," Garil answered from the console where he was seated. From there, he was shooting with the last operative cannons on Trailblazer's bow. The main computer had stopped working thirty seconds ago, and with it the artificial intelligence called Cyclops. "Today they are looking for our blood."

"Let's make it expensive, sir."

"Well spoken, Lieutenant!" the Admiral replied proudly. "Turn towards that Cruiser, we'll see if we can't take them with us."

"At once, sir!" The Rodian officer wrestled the ship slowly in that direction, the shattered frame of the frigate shuddering under the stress.  The Carrack Cruiser they had selected as their last target had lost what remained of its shields between the entering into Muldron's atmosphere, and the "friendly" fire from the Star Destroyer Abyss, now very close to them. Garil didn't have the slightest hope of destroying it ship-to-ship, but Deeggo was right. If they had to die, they had to do it fighting.

The moment has come. I only wish I knew what is happening back there. There was no need for communications silence any more, but they had lost their capability to transmit anything, and probably to receive; Garil could hear nothing but static over the comm systems.  He looked sadly  to the unoperative console. I hate to die without knowing if we pulled the rescue off...
 
 
 

[Inside Corvette Harrier]

"Here they come, sir." the stormtrooper whispered. "Just two."

"All right. Don't shoot until they enter. No prisoners this time, I want them dead."

"Yes, sir."

It was not easy to understand what they were saying, because the stormtroopers' speakers were on their lowest volume, but in the silence of the infirmary their whispers came to the woman's ears, confirming she was not alone.  Cautiously, Lieutenant Shillis opened her eyes and saw them, hidden near the only door.

When she regained consciousness, some minutes ago, she'd discovered she was not inside the bacta tank any more. She had no way of knowing how much time she had been there, much less why they had kept her alive, but those questions could wait. After days without moving she felt clumsy, and it was hard to keep awake, her mind still affected by the analgesic drugs, but she knew she had to stay alert to help whoever was on the other side of that door. The enemy of my enemy...The room was scarcely illuminated, something unusual, and that should indicate the ship had some serious technical problem. Disabled, maybe... She forced her arms and legs to move, turning until she was lying on her stomach.  She heard steps at the other side of the open door. I have to hurry. The young woman struggled to descend from the floating stretcher she was on, her eyes fixed on the Imperial soldiers, but they were concentrating on the sounds from outside and none of them noticed she was moving.  A bit more, a bit more- Her foot touched the cold floor, giving her the reference she needed. With a last effort she managed to abandon the stretcher. Her knees gave way underneath her, but she caught the edge of the stretcher before she could hit the floor and alert the stormtroopers. On the other hand, a noise might not be so bad, if it managed to distract the stormtroopers' attention at the right moment.

Then she noticed the panel behind her hand - the motivator controls for the float stretcher. She struggled to read the labels over every button, until she found what she was looking for. She pressed the "unlock" button. Now she was able to move the stretcher, and she turned it until it pointed towards two of the stormtroopers hidden at the right side of the door. Then she pushed the "march" button and the stretcher started to float smoothly forward. She flattened herself on the floor and waited until the stretcher was about to reach the soldiers, and then she shouted as hard as she could.

"WATCH OUT!" The words were almost intelligible, after weeks of forced silence, but the effect was what she'd wanted. The three soldiers looked in her direction at the same time the stretcher impacted slowly against two of them. The stormtroopers opened fire and dozens of laser bolts passed inches over her head, rebounding in all directions. And suddenly they ceased. She felt arms holding her and a known voice beside her.

"Shillis, you're alive!"

"Captain-"

"Sssshhh, don't speak, we're going to take you out of here."

"I don't want to discourage you, sir," Sergeant Agueda said, "but the transport's already gone."

"Don't give up while there is hope. Five minutes ago all my crew were condemned and now they are flying home."

"All right, all right, you win again. Let's get the stretcher, it will be easier to transport her."

They moved as fast as they could across the same path they had followed in the opposite direction from the commandos' entrance point. When they got there they only found the same corpses and the two closed security rings on the ceiling.

"Don't say I didn't warn you-" Sergeant Agueda started to say, when a laser burst forced them to launch themselves to the floor. Sera dragged Lieutenant Shillis with him. Only when they reached the floor did he notice he had been hit on his right arm. Sergeant Agueda shot back in the direction the shots had came from, but Sera couldn't help him. He had lost his weapon.
 
 
 

[Frigate Saitell's bridge]

"This is useless, Horax," Captain Jader said angrily. "They are going to escape. If you had called for reinforcements when you started, we would have caught them between two fires!"

Through the main viewscreen, the figure of the Rebel Frigate could be seen for an instant, illuminated by its own engines in the moment of jumping to hyperspace and momentary safety. Captain Horax didn't reply.

"There must be always some stupid glory hunter, this has been the Empire's cancer since the beginning." Jader cursed. "Let's see what Grand Admiral Thrawn thinks of all this-"

"Sir, a Rebel shuttle is docking with Harrier!"

"Move in that direction at top speed and sweep them out of there! At least those ones won't go anywhere."
 
 
 

[Space around Corvette Harrier]

"Do you know what you're doing, Barris?" Grizzly asked occupying the co-pilot's seat. He had been the last rescued one. A total of seven pilots amongst White and Amber Squadrons had been recovered by Joan d'Arc's search and rescue ship.

"My job, Flight Officer, just my job." Shuttle Anubis' pilot answered. Around them, units from both squadrons were trying to keep the enemy fighters away. "Although I prefer it when the only job is recovering nav buoys.

"What?"

"It doesn't matter. Make yourself useful and take the laser cannons' controls. We're going to be very vulnerable now-"
 
 

"Foxy, have you seen that Frigate turning in this direction?" Hardrive asked in a casual tone. The more distant Imperial ship was starting to turn too.

"Yeah, Nik, I kinda noticed.  I was just waiting for more good news." The rest of White Squadron had jumped with the transports some moments ago. Only she and Hardrive had stayed behind with what remained of Amber Squadron, fiercely engaging the last handful of TIE Advanced.  The fighters were close to evenly matched, but they never would be able to stop those Frigates.

"White Leader, this is Amber Leader." Commander Louyan's voice came through. "Run away with your shuttle. We'll deal with the Frigates."

"But your fighters can't make it against those ships!"

"You've done enough here, White Leader. Those are our people, and if someone must die for them it'll be us."

"Great sentiment, Commander, but while Anubis is docked here, we've got to stay."

"All right, but not a second later. Amber Eight and Twelve, stay here under White Leader's command. The rest of you follow me-"

Foxfire saw how seven X-Wings turned towards the incoming Frigates, followed by part of the remaining TIE Advanced. There were still some TIE Fighters and Interceptors covering the Imperial capital ships, all of them moving forward now to engage Louyan's group, but they wouldn't be the worst threat. The Nebulon-A's cannons would be.
 
 

[Inside Corvette Harrier]

Sera had put himself over Lieutenant Shillis' unconscious body, trying to protect her from the laser bolts coming from the bridge. They had nothing to cover with, and the Captain was sure that his luck had run dry. Just when we had found Shillis- Another laser bolt rebounded over his head.

"Keep your head low, Captain," Sergeant Agueda said, "or you won't have to worry about your haircut any more!" The commando rose his blaster and shot a random burst towards the gloom, but it sounded multiplied by three. He was about to made a comment about the echo, when he noticed that suddenly the shots had completely ceased.

A voice was heard from the other side.

"Don't shoot! I'm Captain Collins, from Trailblazer, everything is clear here!"

"Collins!" Captain Sera exclaimed in astonishment. "Where is the Admiral?"

"Attacking Muldron's base on his own. He is trying to give us enough time to rescue you."

Collins reached them while Captain Sera rose holding Lieutenant Shillis. "Let me help you- but... It's her!" He recognized the woman's face easily - he had seen it in his nightmares every night over the last weeks. The young Lieutenant was unconscious again, but her breath and pulse were firm when Collins checked it out. "I just can't believe it, sir." he said. "After what they did to her, she's still alive?"

"It seems that she got some medical attention - apparently Veedar believed me when I started lying to him. Talking about that bastard-"

"I'm sorry, sir, those were just a pair of Navy officers." Collins said, anticipating Sera's question. "If he's still on board, he must be hidden on the bridge."

"The damned coward! We won't lose anything if we go there and-"

"Shut up a moment, you two!" Sergeant Agueda exclaimed, forgetting he was talking with two higher officers. "There's a ship docking with us!"

"Imperial or ours?" Sera asked.

"I've got no idea - you think I'm a Jedi or something? It will be better to move a bit further from the ring, in case they're the bad guys-"

The two Captains held the woman's body while the commando sergeant aimed his blaster towards the ring.

"Anybody down there?"  A man's head poked through the entrance, wearing a pilot's helmet with an Alliance crest.

"I thought this only happened in holo-movies...!" Agueda finished. He shrugged and went to help Sera and Collins to pass Lieutenant Shillis' body through the security ring.
 
 

[Space around Corvette Harrier]

"All right, Nik, we're out of here!" Foxfire said. It was not a moment too soon, because Frigate Saitell was starting to shoot at the shuttle Anubis. But Barris was probably the best shuttle's pilot Foxfire had ever known. After taking off from Harrier, he was using the Imperial ship as shelter from the powerful laser bolts, and the Corvette was taking most of the damage.

"Yeah, Foxy, we better move away from this junk-" Hardrive replied.  The two A-Wings abandoned the Imperial fighters they were engaging and raced after the escaping shuttle at full speed. The Frigate had ceased to shoot, her Captain must have realized they were going to destroy the Corvette without hitting the Rebel shuttle, but it was too late. The last burst had reached a very damaged spot on the engines section, exactly where two of the proton torpedoes had impacted, and a violent explosion shattered the hull. A terrified Captain Veedar was sucked out of what remained of the hammer-shaped bridge. He was dead before his body was disintegrated by the secondary explosions.
 

Commander Louyan saw the detonations and checked his scanners looking for the New Republic ships. Five green dots signalled the position of Anubis and the four fighters escorting them. Only two red dots delated the presence of two TIE Advanced, but Louyan was sure that they couldn't prevent the shuttle from escaping.

"Amber pilots, break off and jump towards the meeting point as soon as you can!" The five surviving X-Wings maneuvered away from Frigate Saitell looking for clear space. They had to be out of the Imperial capital ships' range before trying the jump safely.

Louyan took a look at the screen, where increasing digits indicated the distance from the closest Imperial Frigate. The readings showed how low Saitell's shields were, after the combat against Joan d'Arc and White's B-Wings. Two minutes more, and a few proton torpedoes and we would turn you into spatial debris, he thought with a smile. He kept jinking his X-wing in random directions to avoid being hit by his pursuers. Then he noticed one of his men was about to be shot down by a TIE Interceptor. It was Amber Nine.

"Teel, what is it about you!" he exclaimed as he targeted the Interceptor. He was fully aware that this would put him in the sights of the TIE Advanced on his tail, but he couldn't watch one of his pilots die, not even Teel, without doing anything to prevent it. He still was angry with him, but although he didn't care to admit it, he understood the young pilot's reasons for doing what he had done. He is just a kid, Louyan thought as he opened fire on the Imperial fighter. There are things he only will learn with time.

"Commander-?" Flight Officer's voice was heard for a second, and then the comm. unit exploded. Louyan's X-Wing trembled when it was mortally hit. The TIE Interceptor pursuiding Teel abandoned his victim, seriously damaged, but Louyan's own ship was about to disintegrate. Louyan reached the ejection lever. For a second he was tempted not to use it, but then he thought better.

Somewhere out there is an Imperial prison commander who doesn't know the problems he's about to have... he thought as the seat launched him out of  his exploding fighter.
 
 

[Frigate Trailblazer's bridge]

Admiral Garil clutched the console in front of him to avoid falling when something exploded on the bridge. He reached again the weapons controls to keep shooting until the very last moment. Deego was trying to keep the ship advancing towards the enemy Cruiser, but the shoots from the Star Destroyer were about to break the Trailblazer's engine section from the rest of the hull. Suddenly the intercom crackled with something that seemed different from the static.

"Admir--.. -- got it!" Garil recognized his Second Officer's voice. He had missed most of his words in the interference, but the tone was unmistakable. We've got it, that had to be what Collins had said.

"Well done!" he shouted, although he knew Collins couldn't hear him. He waited expecting to hear something more, and he did.

"--..nant Shillis is alive, I repeat, -.." The communication broke again, but this time he had heard the essential part.

"Did you hear that, Deeggo, did you hear that?" He asked, feeling that his eyes were filling with tears.

"Yes, sir, I did." Amazement and joy merged in the Rodian's voice. As the Admiral, he felt that everything had a sense, after all. A new explosion shook the entire structure of the ship. The space started to spin at the other side of the view screen. Garil realized that the middle section of the hull had broken. The rest of the ship would probably disintegrate in a pair of seconds. He turned to look at Deeggo, but the navigation officer was dead. His console had exploded, killing him instantly. Thank you, Deeggo, he thought. I'll  catch up with you in a moment. Sparks fountained everywhere, all the equipment exploding around him. In the middle of his sight, the Admiral saw an Imperial shuttle. He calculated that the cannons probably would have enough residual energy for a last shot, one more Imperial who would visit the hells. But then he wondered what a shuttle could be doing in a combat area like this.

Rescuing a pilot. The obvious answer appeared in his mind. Garil moved his finger from the trigger in astonishment. It was almost incredible, but he was completely sure that he had done the right thing. He saw how the small ship disappeared from the viewscreen as the Trailblazer kept spinning. Run, pilot, fly far away, before this ship explodes and trap you with it. The time seemed to elongate as the whole vessel started to disintegrate around him. But he didn't see his life running in front of his eyes, it was something different. His mind was jumping from Lieutenant Shillis and the rest of the prisoners to that shuttle he had seen an instant ago. The truth he had been looking for since this started was in some point in the middle of them.

I can't believe it. She is alive, she is alive, I don't know how it can be possible, but she is alive. Orris, Louyan, Collins, all of them made it, they rescued my people. That shuttle was rescuing someone, too. They have risked their lives to save a comrade, just as I've seen my men doing again and again. I've seen Imperials doing that but I had forgotten. Some of them are able to do things like that. Someone had to take care of Shillis to cure her after what they did to her. And now my crew is safe. All our efforts have been for something, and now, this joy, this relief I feel, this is the redemption. I was wrong, I've been blind all this time. I didn't want to finish with the Empire, what I wanted was to kill all the Imperials, every single  people living under its flag, but that was bad, very bad. The pilot of that shuttle, he doesn't deserve to die, and he won't be the only one, there will be others like him. I was like that Captain Horax, yes-Who knows if he ever had a reason to become what he is now, but no, there is no justification for that, as there is no justification for what I've done. I can't act as if my own point of view was all there is, I've heard that many times during my life, but only now I understand it. My crew is alive, young Shillis is alive and that pilot is alive, and maybe some day they will be able to live in peace-

The bridge was full of flames, entire panels of instruments falling from the walls, the screens exploding one after another, launching fragments of glass everywhere. Before the main viewscreen collapsed under the pressure of the twisted hull, the Admiral had a final view of the stars, those stars that had been his whole life since the first time he put his feet on a space ship's deck. The last remnants of sadness or regret disappeared from him, as if they were nothing compared with the wide universe, all his struggles just a scrap of a story. His soul was finally calm, ready to see whatever it was on the other side.
 

The Trailblazer exploded, pieces of its hull flying in all directions until nothing remained. But Admiral Garil didn't notice when it happened.
 
 
 

[Imperial base orbiting Muldron]

The damage caused by the Rebel attack was clearly visible throughout the docks. Captain Horax looked in silence at a Victory Class Star Destroyer, tangled with the structures and the containers it had crashed with. All this had been done by just a Frigate and two Corvettes.  But the mood on the Imperial installations was euphoric. They had killed the monster who had brought the terror almost to the Empire's heart, the man who had become the objective for the whole Imperial Navy. The previous failures would be forgotten, and there would be rewards and promotions. The Empire knew how to be generous with the people under its command.

But there wouldn't be any reward for him. The prisoners had escaped because of him, the reports that Captain Jader and his own subordinates would write wouldn't leave any doubt about his responsability. Horax didn't fear for his life. Not today, when what everybody would remember would be a great victory. But that didn't mean there wouldn't be consequences for him. Grand Admiral Thrawn - or whoever was ruling now the Empire, if the rumours about Thrawn's departure towards the Unknown Territories were true - wouldn't forgive his failure. His career was over. He would have to accept some remote destination, far from everything, and he would never get a promotion again. He might leave the Imperial Navy and look for a civilian job, perhaps commanding a transport or something like that, but this would be even more humiliating. Kaban was directing the docking operation. He could hear the pleasure in his Second Officer's voice. This was a great chance for him. There were witnesses who would testify that he gave his Captain the correct advice. Wrath consumed him, but he had to swallow it and keep from breaking Kaban's stupid face as he wanted to do. That would make the things worse.

"Damn you Garil, I hope you suffered when you died," he muttered.