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

[Aboard the renegade frigate Trailblazer]

He'd known Nathan Garil since he was a junior officer. Nathan was older than he was - in fact when they'd first met he'd been something of a mentor to the young Lieutenant Louyan, as he had indeed been to all the men and women that served under his command. In Louyan's case, though, it had been a little different, and the two men had formed a friendship that transcended rank and branch service. The often seen rivalry between pilots and naval personnel didn't exist between Nathan Garil and Ilyich Louyan. The two respected the other, both knew their own stations and limitations, and both were happy with those. And now, Louyan thought to himself as his face hardened, I'm following Nathan Garil, even if it means death. Both men had lived long enough lives, and were happy enough - as happy as could be expected under the Empire. Louyan didn't fear death, then. He feared death only for the young, those who hadn't yet had the chance to see all that life had to offer and be satisfied. Still, in order to see justice served, Commander Ilyich Louyan was prepared to die, and to order others to die with him. We took an oath when we joined the Alliance, Louyan reminded himself silently. These kids all knew what they were getting into, they knew they might have to sacrifice themselves for the cause. Now, they're being called upon to do that. And already, one has betrayed us. Louyan shook his head with a mix of anger and sadness, then straightened reflexively as the silent Admiral finally turned to face him. Louyan saluted crisply, and Garil returned the gesture without hesitation or expression. At other times he might have smiled faintly, but not today.

"Your report, Commander," Nathan Garil prompted. Louyan nodded.

"Yes, sir. Admiral, Flight Officer Daken Teel and I engaged two Alliance starfighters, apparently from White Squadron. We drove them off, and Teel went with them."

Garil's eyes narrowed and he folded his arms.  "What?"

"I'm afraid so, sir. Teel betrayed us and has defected to White Squadron."

Admiral Garil nodded and sighed, rubbing the stubble on his cheek thoughtfully. For an instant he seemed hesitant, perhaps about what he was doing, but it quickly passed and his face hardened with resolve.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now. We certainly can't spare the resources to hunt this kid down, and even if we could, any information he knows would already be in the hands of this squadron. White Squadron, eh? I'm just trying to remember who's in charge of that outfit...ah, it's a certain Commander Krenzel, I believe. I don't know anything about her beyond the name, but I do know they're on Ralne Orris' ship. I'll have to watch Orris, he's a damn good captain, and if his mission is to stop us, then we won't get away easily. What's your assessment of this White Squadron, then?"

Louyan frowned for a moment while considering. "I think they're pretty good, from what I've seen. The wingleader we met nearly matched me, and I've got quite a few years of flying behind me. I don't think it was the CO, either... looked like a male, from what I could see. If that's their regular standard of pilot, then I'd be interested to see what their hotshots can do." That brought the faintest ghost of a smile to Garil's lips, but the smile quickly faded.

"Very well. I want Amber and the other squadrons on full alert. We're going to have to respond quickly if they move against us. Meanwhile, Ilyich, go freshen up and get something to eat. Dismissed."

"Aye, aye, sir." Louyan couldn't help a smile as he saluted. In private he would've addressed the Admiral by his first name, but the bridge wasn't an appropriate place for that. The Admiral saluted, nodded curtly, and turned back to stare intently out the window. Commander Ilyich Louyan marched out, leaving the Admiral to his thoughts and the quiet but tense state of calm on the bridge.

We are being hunted by our own people. Orris has been sent to force us to return. They don't understand. They can't.
 

His mind returned to that fatal moment in the withdrawal from Sindar II, almost three weeks ago. The alarms sounded again in his memory with the same tone of urgency, the sound he had learned to associate with immediate danger and death. The Imperials had reacted even faster than he'd feared. At the second jump point they found enemy ships not too far from them. This time two Star Destroyers were blocking their route, and six Frigates were racing towards them at their top speed. A group of Corvettes seemed to be their reserves, and kept positions between the Frigates and the Destroyers. When the first warning of TIE Bombers was heard on the bridge, Admiral Garil knew that their worst suspicions were true. They would have to fight their way home.

"Have Hornet Squadron attack the Star Destroyers with all their fighters," he ordered while the communications officer transmitted his instructions to the fighter commanders. "Tell them to use everything, even the reserves, I need all the B-Wings launching their torpedoes against the Star Destroyer at left." If we can take one of them out of combat we'll have a chance of escaping.  Without waiting for acknowledgement he continued giving orders, his mind designing the plan as he spoke. "Amber will cover Hornet's ships while Banshee attacks the Frigates. Corvettes Mireia and Nur'tal will help too. Hunter and Tideria will protect our back. Our three Frigates will engage theirs."

It had been a bad fight. Admiral Garil remembered too well the screams coming over the communications.
 

That was the hardest part of being in command, to hear and see how others died following your orders. The veteran soldier knew that there was nothing more he could have done then, that all those deaths were necessary to give the rest of his fleet a chance to survive and escape, but still he clenched his hands at his at the sound of those cries. You will be avenged. All of you will be avenged, I swear it.

He remembered looking at the main display with concern half an hour later. They had survived the first attack, but now the things were becoming even harder. The frigate Gaudeamus was mortally wounded and wouldn't survive when the next wave of Bombers launched their torpedoes against the battered ship. The worst of all was that her engines had suffered serious damage, losing almost all her manuevering capabilities.  There was no chance of jumping to hyperspace for the crippled frigate.  Their second frigate, Gladiant, was not that much better, but at least its hyperdrive was still intact. They had lost two corvettes too, the ones that had been ordered to attack the enemy frigates, and half of the fighters from the three squadrons, especially Hornet's B-Wings. On the other side, the New Republic's forces had destroyed two of the Imperial frigates and a Star Destroyer, the Pressis, had been forced to withdraw after losing its shields and suffering some structural damage under the Hornet fighters' fierce attack. The Imperials had lost a great amount of fighters, too, especially TIE Bombers. The space was full of the debris from dozens of them. Comparing the respective losses, it could be considered that the Rebels were winning the battle. The remaining Imperial Frigates had retired some klicks away when the Imperial commanding the fleet had understood that the New Republic's ships were going to fight to the death. Now they seemed to be waiting for something, only their fighters were keeping an intense fight against Amber and Cheetah's X-Wings. Garil knew that reinforcements were expected. The situation was desperate and the Imperials knew it. They could have used those moments to escape, but not leaving a crippled Frigate and her crew behind.

"This is Admiral Garil." He said to the intercom. "Evacuate the Gaudeamus immediately, Captain Sera." A little hologram showed the Captain's exhausted face, and Garil wondered how he looked himself. "Activate the auto-destruction device, but transfer the control to this ship. Perhaps Gaudeamus can win a fight even in her last moments."

Captain Sera smiled slightly and nodded.

"All right, Admiral, let's hope so." He turned to a young female officer at his back. "Lieutenant Shillis, order immediate evacuation and run to a shuttle."

"Aye, sir."

"Gaudeamus out." Captain Sera said and the hologram disappeared.

Before he closed the contact, Garil caught a glimpse of the Lieutenant's face. She was scared, and she couldn't be blamed for that, not with an order to evacuate coming over the comms. At sixty-two years old, Garil didn't fear death for himself. He had seen a lot of combats, from the Clone Wars to the struggle against the Empire, he had been in many battles and stared death in the face more than once. But he could remember how it was when he was younger, when he had a life to live and hopes for the future. Navy had been his life and he had never had a family out of it. As he was growing older all those plans and hopes had been forgotten one after another, and now he had nothing to lose if death finally came. But there was a time when he had felt as frightened as that woman undoubtedly was, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. That was what courage was, to feel the fear but to fight against it, not to allow it to become panic and to do what you must do. He admired the young woman and the rest of the sentients under his command. Many of them had died during all these years, but he swore to himself that this Lieutenant wouldn't be joining them.

Don't worry, I'll bring you home safely.

"Two new contacts,sir!"  His head snapped up at the warning he had been waiting for.  "Star Destroyers, sir,  launching Bombers and TIE Fighters!"

He only delayed his answer for a second.  "Amber Squadron, intercept any Bomber that those Star Destroyers launch.  Cheetah and Hornet, take positions close to Gaudeamus and cover the transports evacuating the crew.:

"Sir, Frigates identified as Tennef and Saitell, and four supporting Corvettes have started a new approach toward the transports... They are trying to intercept their escape route!" the Rodian officer behind the nearest console exclaimed.

"I see them, Lieutenant Deeggo. Captain Dimb'ura, try to stop those ships for a few more minutes," he ordered Gladiant's Captain. "We'll try to cover all you from the Star Destroyers and the remaining Frigates."

"At once, Admiral." The Twi'lek's voice didn't betray his own fear and only a pale color in his brain tentacles showed what he felt. Garil saw him nodding in the hologram and immediately the Gladiant started to maneuver to intercept the incoming ships.

That Twi'lek was brave, too. The Imperials despise those who are aliens to them, but I would prefer a Corvette and a crew only composed by aliens like Captain Dimb'ura than an entire fleet full of cowards like those Imperials. Dimb'ura knew that I might be sending him to death, but he didn't hesitate. No, I was actually sending him to death, now I see it, but, what else could I do? I just couldn't abandon the other Frigate's crew... But I sacrificed two Frigates instead. I should have thought of something better. I was responsible for the two crews. Dimb'ura and his men did it well though. They destroyed one of the enemy Frigates and two Corvettes before to fall. And why I didn't order Trailblazer to attack them too? Perhaps Dimb'ura would be alive now... But no, I had to keep this ship out of that engagement and offer the evacuation vessels a place to land. But they were too far, that was my failure, they just couldn't do it, and I had to watch those damned Corvettes capture the transports one after another...
 

"I'm sorry, Admiral..." His first officer's voice startled him and interrupted his thoughts. "Are you all right, sir?" He realized that his hands were so tightly clenched they trembled. He breathed deeply once before turning to face the young captain.

"Yes, Captain Collins, continue with your duties."

"Yes, sir." He noticed the concern in the man's eyes, but didn't comment on it. Garil observed him for some seconds, while the young captain appeared to be very busy watching a console, but he caught him taking a short glance back and turning his attention to the monitor quickly when he noticed that the Admiral was looking.  There were any number of reasons for that concern, anything from the strain he was clearly under to the things he'd done since Gaudeamus' destruction.

It's not my fault, he thought, turning back to the main view screen. The Empire bears the guilt for this. I hope that the Emperor is writhing in pain wherever he is now. I always knew Palpatine was a bad beast, but nobody wanted to hear me until it was too late. Bastard. He and all those who follow him, even now after his death. None of them is innocent, not even those who are supposedly civilians, they are accomplices with their silence, pretending there is no war, that they have nothing to do with all the suffering... They call us Rebel scum. Rebel scum... Well, this Rebel scum is going to take them from their comfortable beds and will make them pay. The Galaxy will be a better place when we finish our job. It's not my fault, no, not at all, but the Empire will pay...
 
 
 

[Onboard Frigate Joan d'Arc]

She could see why, when she looked at the young pilot sitting nervously at the table. Dressed in a rumpled flightsuit, it was hard to tell much about him past the edgy, exhausted look in his eyes - then again, Foxfire thought, she'd be pretty edgy as well if she'd been forced to turn on her own wingleader.

"Lieutenant Commander Avery Schroeder," she said, holding out a hand in greeting. "I hear we owe you one."

"I couldn't just let him - aah, Flight Officer Daken Teel, ma'am," the other pilot said, changing subjects midstream.

"Glad to meet you, although the circumstances could be better." Foxfire took a seat across from Teel. "For what it's worth, Captain Stauber's sensors show that your wingleader made it back into hyperspace."

"That's no help," Teel said bitterly. "He's as far gone as the Admiral by now."

"What do you mean?" Foxfire held herself in her seat by sheer force of will, when what she really wanted was to pounce on any chance of a lead.

"The Admiral, he's, ah, something's wrong with him. When we were ambushed after Sindar II he just went crazy to kill Imperials, any Imperials he could find. All the pilots were in space when it happened, but..." He fell silent for a moment. "One of our frigates was destroyed, and the Imps took most of the crew prisoner as they evacuated. As I've said, none of us could see what happened them, but some of the bridge's officers have been telling some things..."

"What kind of things?"

"Well I don't know how much of it is true, but I've been told that they started to...they...might have tortured someone. The Admiral told us to keep up the fight..." Teel trailed off, shaking his head. "We might have had a chance to escape by turning back and entering again into Imperial space. But it turned out that we weren't escaping at all. Admiral Garil ordered us all back aboard to track down the prison ship. But we could only guess where it might be heading to. Then..." The young pilot hesitated. He looked at his hands as he twisted them nervously on the table.

"I know it's not easy, Lieutenant, but I have to know the whole story."

He glanced at her, but it was only for an instant before he lowered his head in silence.  By the time the XO was wondering if the haunted pilot had understood what she had said, he nodded once and started to talk in a low voice.  "The Admiral selected the spots where that ship could be re-fuelled, or receive any kind of assistance. And we were ordered to attack all those places. Many of them were not military installations..."

Then it's true, Foxfire thought.

"There was no trace of our people in any of those places, but we destroyed them anyway. We have intercepted several convoys, too... The Admiral interrogated the Captains and then the Trailblazer blew their ships apart. We shot down disabled ships!" His voice was about to break."Most of the times, the crews had no chance to evacuate their vessels. I thought that all that made a little sense if we were able to find that Corvette and rescue our people.  But now...nobody knows where they are and he still won't stop."

"I understand."

"Then, when I was ordered to open fire against New Republic ships... I just couldn't handle it any more."

"You did the right thing, Flight Officer." The young pilot was struggling to keep his composure, but he was visibly relieved after having explained his story. "Do you have any idea where Admiral Garil's heading now?" Foxfire hated to press the man, exhausted as he was, but she had an ugly feeling that time was running out.

"Sort of. Look, you're not going to shoot him down or anything, are you?"

"No. Not if there's any way to avoid it - we're trying to get the Admiral and his crew safely back into Alliance space."

Something about Teel's expression suggested that he didn't have much faith in that possibility, but he didn't say so out loud. "I don't know much about where he's going, although it's evident we are closer to Coruscant every day..." Foxfire repressed a shudder.  She'd spent more time than she liked in Imperial space just before the formation of White Squadron, and the idea of voluntarily heading toward Coruscant was not a pleasant one. "I heard something about a place named Meldron, or something like that.  Does that make any sense?

She consulted her datapad and found a positive answer.  "Yes, there's an Imperial base named Meldron's World not far from here.  Apparently they use it to transfer prisoners to other destinations if they're not sent straight to Coruscant."

"From what the wing commander said, I think it's pretty heavily fortified... I don't think the Admiral's expecting us to make it out of there."

"A suicide run..." Foxfire said softly to herself. "Look, Teel, we're going to do our best to get your crew-mates out of trouble. Meanwhile, we've got to get you into sickbay for a while." She kept her voice as calm as she could, letting the two Security men usher Teel out of the room and toward Sickbay. She'd have to figure out what to do with him later - predictably, Orris was all for tossing him in the brig - but meanwhile she had to talk to the rest of the command wing. If losing the prisoners had driven Garil crazy, maybe a chance to get them back would drive him sane...
 

"Michael, we can pull it off."...I think, Foxfire added mentally. She, Moose, Vyper and Torpedo were squeezed into the XO's cramped office, along with too much caff to really be safe. "I've been talking to Daken Teel, the pilot who defected to us, and from what he says we have maybe one chance to intercept Garil before he suicides and takes his crew along with him."

"After that little encounter with his recon flight, I don't think he's likely to look at us as friends," Vyper warned.

"Neither do I, but I think we'll at least be able to get his attention." As quickly as possible, Foxfire outlined what Teel had told her about the Rebel prisoners. "He says the prison ship is a corvette named Harrier, and it was making tracks for the Core Worlds the last time it was seen. What we get to do is divert the Harrier from its destination and head it to Meldron's World instead - Garil is apparently planning to make his stand there."

Moose frowned. "Ambush I can understand, but how exactly are we planning to divert a corvette?"

"There are comm stations within striking distance of our position." Torpedo was grinning, having figured out where Foxfire was going a few minutes ago. "If we captured one, we might be able to get into the systems and start talking with the Harrier. Between Vyper, Joker and Psycho, we'd be able to sound convincing, at least."

"Don't forget Ibero." Vyper suggested. "He worked for a telecommunications company before joining us. If there is an easy way to hack one of those things, chances are he knows it."

"Of course! How could I forget that?" Foxfire thought for a moment. "Have Ibero in the group instead of Psycho. I don't want to have so many pilots inside those transports. "Furthermore, after seeing what happened when they tried to link Ledner to the Joan's tracking systems, I don't know if I want they both together again..." She suppressed a smile. "All right. Keep the Joan out of the picture, raid with some B-Wings and a couple of A's for cover, and throw a couple of transports full of boarding troops at them..."

"Plus Joker," Moose supplied. "She used to be in Imperial Intel, and she may be able to get some places we can't. Perhaps Ibero could manipulate the comms, but first we have to get in."

Torpedo shot him a disbelieving look. "You realize how much we'll have to hear about it afterwards?"

"And how loudly?"

"And how-"

"All right, all right." Moose held up his hands to forestall any more comments. "But as long as she gets the job done while she's out there, I'm happy."

"You and me both." Foxfire frowned in thought for a moment. "OK, we can go with me, Drake and Ladyfox flying cover and Moose, Iceman and Hammer taking B-Wings. Torpedo, I'll need you to pick out our likeliest target, and Vyper to scout it out. Moose, you've done infantry, can I get you to sort things out with the guys on the transports?"

"Sure. Put Blitz in my place and I'll go with the commandoes instead. What are you gonna be doing?"

"Just as rough of a job." She made a face and downed the last of her caff. "I've got to go convince Captain Orris that this is a good idea. Anybody want to trade?"