Reading Room The Price By Avery "Foxfire" Schroeder, Daniel "Drake" Sutherland, and Dario "Ibero" Pozo Pictures by Dario "Ibero" Pozo

[Near the hangar deck on board the Joan d'Arc]

"Sorry, Hammer," Vyper apologised as he disentangled himself. "You heading for the hangar deck?"

"That's right. I just wanted to see how the techs were doing on my B-Wing."

Vyper nodded.  "I haven't got much to do, either, not with all these tiny hyperspace jumps we're performing, so I figured I'd make myself useful and check on my ship, too. After all, you just can't trust those techs too much, can you?" The two pilots chuckled as they made their way to the hangar.
 

On the bridge, Captain Ralne Orris frowned. Beside him, Lieutenant Commander Avery "Foxfire" Schroeder and Captain Lewis "Moose" Gregory both gazed intently through the main window at the stars, as if by staring hard enough they might be able to spot Admiral Garil's renegade Frigate. Orris walked over to communications and bent over the panel.

"Flight Officer! How long before you're able to begin sending us data?" he asked sharply.

"Relax, Captain," came the cool, deliberately casual reply. "It's going to take a little time - these are really faint readings, and I need to calibrate the sensors correctly to get the best results. Is Ledner ready?" In answer came an affirmative beep and whistle from the Captain's side. Moose and Foxfire traded looks as they glanced over at Ralne Orris. Psycho and Ibero moved aside after completing the last checks, not desiring to be any more as close to Captain Orris if there was any possibility of him becoming mad. The Captain wouldn't take kindly to Drake's casual tone, but then the young man was probably enjoying the fact that the senior officer needed him and he was out in the cockpit of an A-Wing anyway, in his own domain.

"Captain... the sensors are ready, sir. I'm transmitting the data now." From beyond the visual range of the Frigate, Drake's A-Wing began to transmit the data its sensors found. Drake's R2 unit, Ledner, was finally plugged into the Joan d'Arc's communications and sensor equipment so that he could amplify and analyse the data coming in. Setting up the whole super-sensor system had taken hours (and some cajoling on Drake's part), but, Foxfire reflected to herself, they'd had little choice if they wanted to have any hope at all of finding Garil. She glanced over at Captain Orris, who stood stiffly at ease a little way from the comm. panel. His cool eyes swept the bridge and came to meet Avery's own. He acknowledged her with a slight nod, then returned his gaze to the squat droid near him.

"Wow, eye contact!  I think he likes you," Moose whispered.

"Quit it,"  Foxfire whispered back, elbowing him lightly in the ribs.  "He tolerates me because I don't yell as loudly."

"I would never have noticed." Moose smiled but he didn't add anything more. It was obvious for him that Captain Orris tolerated Foxfire better than Shok'wave, although that wasn't saying much. He had never fully understood why the Captain and White Squadron's Commander had that mutual dislike, but ever since Shok'wave had been swamped with bureaucreatic stuff far from the Joan d'Arc, that bridge hadn't heard the same amount of daily shouts as it used to.

In that moment, Ledner let out a shrill whistle.  Orris beat Moose and Foxfire to the panel by a whisker.

"What is it?" he snapped. The communications officer's fingers were busy as they danced over her board and she tried to interpret Ledner's excited beeps and whistles.

"Sir, I think he's found trace drive gases from a Nebulon-B Frigate and a few starfighters. Rebel starfighters." Orris nodded once, decisively.

"I'm getting to know how Admiral Garil thinks," he said briskly. "Helm, lay in a course along the projected trajectory of the ship that emitted those gases. Recall Flight Officer Sutherland. We're going to make a very short hyperspace jump, and then I want a new recon flight ready to go. You've got five minutes, Lieutenant Commander," he finished with a quick glance at Foxfire. She glared back at him. A recon flight, ready to go in five minutes...just like that.  Right.

"Aye, sir." She answered. Turning on her heel, she left the bridge with a final scowl at the air in general.
 
 

[Joan d'Arc's flight deck]

"Don't bother getting out," she said without preliminaries. "You and Hammer, thanks to your strange wishes to be on the hangar deck, have just earned a recon detail. Sorry about the notice," and her expression softened a little, "but Orris, as usual, wants everything done yesterday. Drake managed to pick up some traces, so we're off after them like Jawas after a one-legged droid." Vyper raised an eyebrow at the analogy, but he said nothing and nodded.

"Okay. We'll be back shortly then."

Foxfire finally smiled and nodded in return.  "I hope so. Good luck - and take care of yourselves, OK?"

 Vyper pulled his helmet and gloves on as the cockpit canopy hissed shut. Great - another recon flight. That's the last time I amble on the hangar deck without a good reason. Having already thoroughly checked his fighter, he didn't need pre-flight checks, and he immediately wound the engines up in preparation for takeoff.
 

Hammer's B-Wing shot out of the Joan d'Arc's hangar a few seconds after Vyper's A-Wing had. Normally a two man recon patrol flight would consist of the same type of ship, but one as hastily thrown together as this couldn't afford to be so precise. Vyper keyed his intercom.

"Twelve, this is Three," he began. "Lay in the course that we're receiving via download from the Joan, then prepare for a quick hyperspace jump on my mark."

"Acknowledged, Three. Course laid in."

"Three, two, one...mark!" The two ships of White Squadron leapt forward and then burst into hyperspace.
 
 

[Open space not far from the renegade Frigate Trailblazer]

"Where in Sith did they come from-"

"Cut the chatter, Amber Nine," Louyan's voice broke in. "Break and attack," he finished coolly. Inside his cockpit, Daken Teel squirmed uncomfortably.

"Ahhh, Lead...my scope shows all green," he said nervously. The reply came back sharply.

"I'm sure it does. They're Alliance ships, an A-Wing and a B-Wing, Nine. Now, do as you're ordered. Break and attack - they're after the Trailblazer!" Already Teel could see Louyan's X-Wing streaking ahead as its S-foils blossomed into the cross shape that gave the craft its name.

"They're after us - but aren't we-" Again, Louyan's angry bark cut Teel off.

"Nine, think of it this way," he grated. "Either you get court martialled for coming with the Admiral and disobeying orders, or you get court martialled and killed for not obeying my orders. Now," he finished with a roar, "break and attack, Flight Officer!" Teel was stunned into action at the Commander's outburst and his own S-foils unfolded as he surged forward to meet the oncoming ships.
 

"Umm, Three, they're Rebel, but I really don't think they're friendly," Hammer observed as casually as possible.

"You don't say, Twelve. The wingman seems a bit slow - let's stay on the leader."

"Affirmative, Three." The two White fighters swung around to attack the enemy wingleader from either side, but Commander Louyan had already guessed their intent. His X-Wing curved sharply upward and shot out of the trap, then looped and came back at Hammer, hitting the White pilot several times before breaking off again and going after Vyper.
 

Daken Teel burst into the fray and he immediately squeezed off a burst at Hammer's desperately weaving B-Wing. The White pilot was glued to Louyan's tail, but at Teel's volley he sheered off and slowly began to come around. Meanwhile, Louyan and the White A-Wing were fighting a twisting, spiralling melee, but Louyan actually seemed to be gaining the advantage. Teel couldn't believe he was seeing it - an Alliance X-Wing dogfighting with an Alliance A-Wing, to the death.

This isn't right - I'm going to have to put a stop to this, he thought, but before he could do anything his rear shields seemed to crunch under a sudden hail of laser shots. Cursing, Teel threw his X-Wing over onto its side and spun out of the B-Wing's range of fire.
 

Commander Ilyich Louyan fought with his stick. Damn, this guy is no rookie at this, he thought to himself. Still, even veterans make mistakes sometimes. They'd been turning like this for what seemed like an eternity - the starfield outside the canopy seemed to spin endlessly. Louyan decided to try and force the enemy pilot into making a mistake. Setting his lasers on quad fire, he suddenly cut his throttle to a third power. The A-Wing shot ahead suddenly, its velocity still constant. In a flash, Louyan had flung his X-Wing around and snapped off a shot, catching the smaller craft on the beam. Go for it, Louyan willed the other pilot silently. Make a veteran's mistake. As if to satisfy him, the A-Wing pilot jerked his craft away, straightening it for the barest second so as to make a clean breakaway. Quicker than thought, Louyan's thumb flicked the weapon selector and his finger found the trigger.  A concussion missile streaked ahead on an orange tongue of flame and slammed into the aft section of the A-wing as it tried to dive out of the way. It exploded on impact, scattering shrapnel and A-Wing debris as it did so.
 

"Vyper!" Hammer's B-wing spat an ineffectual torpedo at Teel's craft. He knew the shot would miss, but it would hopefully distract the X-wing pilot enough so that Hammer could get across and help his damaged wingleader.

"I'm here," came Vyper's reply a second later, and Hammer sighed in relief. "It's a little tight here, though." Vyper's A-Wing juked and corkscrewed, the other X- Wing staying perfectly on its tail, but just unable to squeeze a shot off. Hammer glanced down at his targeting display as he bracketed Vyper's fighter and squeezed the button. The A-Wing's shields were down, and its hull had also begun to take damage. One shot from that X-Wing would spell Captain Stauber's death. Hammer's eyes widened in horror, anger and helplessness. And that shot is about to come, he thought.

 

Commander Ilyich Louyan was thinking those exact same thoughts as he edged his throttle back and allowed the A-Wing to slip ahead a little. The A-Wing pilot noticed the change in speed and attempted to weave wildly and slow at the same time, but it was too late. Louyan's gloved finger closed around the trigger.
 

Flight Officer Daken Teel shoved his throttle hard against the stops, outdistancing the B-Wing as he redirected his shield energy over to the engines. Hopefully he won't catch me and I'll come out of this alive, the young man thought grimly. Louyan's fighter seemed about to line up for a shot on the Alliance A-wing. Teel stabbed the trigger.
 

Commander Louyan's finger tightened even as his R2 unit screamed and his rear shields and half his hull crunched away into nothing. WHAT?! His head snapped around even as he instinctively jerked his X-Wing up and away. Behind him, unbelievably, Teel's X-Wing still spat bursts of quad fire at him as it attempted to follow. Furious at the disloyalty, Louyan was about to go after the young traitor when a shrill warning from his R2 unit reminded him of the A- and B-Wings, both of which were lining up to attack him too. Louyan redirected all his energy to his engines and shot back in the direction of the Trailblazer as he keyed his comm.

"You'll die for this, traitor. I'll see that the Admiral hears of it." The reply came, somewhat scratchy over Louyan's damaged comm.

"I'm no traitor, Commander. I'm doing what is right - I won't follow the Admiral down on some death wish, and I won't let you just shoot down people that are on our side!" Louyan cut his comm. off and closed his S-foils. The A-Wing was pursuing and would catch him at sublight speeds, but the renegade Commander pulled a lever and his battered X-Wing leapt into hyperspace.

"Unidentified X-Wing, this is Captain Michael Stauber of White Squadron," Vyper intoned. "Please fall in with us so we can escort you back to the Frigate Joan d'Arc." Please, Vyper added as an afterthought. I don't want to have to fight you, too.

"Gladly, sir," came the reply at length. "I'm Flight Officer Daken Teel, formerly known as Amber Nine." The three ships streaked back towards the Joan d'Arc.