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

[Advanced patrol near Joan d'Arc's location]

"Have you found anything, Tzad?" Flight Officer Charbel "Solo" Tengroth asked using the intercom. He had checked the navigational data at least a dozen of times. Their position was correct, but his A-Wing's sensors had still caught no trace of what they were looking for.

"Nothing yet," Flight Officer Daniel "Tzadkiel" Steinberg answered. Their on-board computers had been fed with the data about the traces Ledner, Drake's R2 unit, had identified as a Nebulon B hyperengine's radiation pattern, but after two hours of unproductive searching the two pilots were starting to think they were going to return empty-handed.

"I hope that little droid hasn't been playing with us. I'd hate to be here looking for nothing when our comrades are fighting elsewhere..."

"Yes, I know how you feel, it's the same over here." Tzadkiel didn't mention that his own brother, Torpedo, was one of the pilots participating in the attack against the Imperial station - just cursed under his breath and took another look at his screens. The search routine was working, but it hadn't produced any results so far.

He switched to the wide area scan one more time, as he  had been doing every minute since they left the Joan d'Arc. Even so, it took a few seconds before he realized that there was a weak signal timidly blinking near the upper right corner. "Hey, Solo, look and see if you've got something in the wide scan..."

"Have you found them?" Solo exclaimed more than asked.

"No, it's something else. It may be just debris, but..."

"...It has a trace of heat on it, yes, now I can see it."

Without bothering with further discussion, both pilots pushed their throttle forward and launched their fighters towards the dying signal. When they were close enough their computers started to emit more accurate reports, but soon after that their eyes were enough to confirm them.

"Oh, boy... Can you see any escape pod, Solo?"

"Negative." The pilot's voice showed he was not happy with what he was seeing. "But my computer says it has found that hyperdrive pattern..."

"Let me see... Yes, I've got it, too. It matches up to 98 percent." Tzadkiel sighed and activated the long range comms. "Joan d'Arc, this is T-Five. We have a positive identification, I repeat, positive identification."
 
 
 

[Space around Imperial Comm. Station]

Foxfire jumped as her comm-link chimed shrilly, a note signalling a transmission from the Joan d'Arc. "Lt. Commander, we've got them," the comm officer said in great satisfaction. "I'm downloading coordinates now - a patrol sweep found traces, we fed them to that R2, and we've got the area narrowed down to a clear location."

"Is that a fact," Foxfire said softly. The timing wasn't the best, with a significant number of the squadron's pilots involved in this attack, but at least they had a fix on the renegade admiral. And maybe they wouldn't need the whole wing... She could hope, anyway.

She transferred some coordinates of her own back to the d'Arc. "Lieutenant, would you have Flight Officer Teel's X-Wing readied for launch? Tell him to meet me at these coordinates. And let me talk to Captain Orris."

"Yes, ma'am. Actually, he's asking the same thing - here you go." Foxfire didn't wait for Orris to start talking.

"Captain, your communications officer has told me that you have found the trace of Admiral Garil's ships," she said quickly. "I think we could convince the Admiral to cooperate with us."

"We have found something more, Lieutenant Commander... What remains from at least three cargo ships. No survivors."

"Do you think that-"

"Yes. The junk is still hot. This is very recent, and it's a clear indication that Admiral Garil won't allow us to stop him. At least not peacefully."

"Sir, if we explain to him we have chance to rescue the prisoners..." Foxfire was still stunned by the news about the transports, but she refused to admit there was nothing they could do.

"I think Flight Officer Teel was of the same opinion," Captain Orris replied. "Our security team caught him trying to take off with his X-Wing."

The kid has guts, she thought.  I'm not too sure about brains, but he's got guts.  "All right, then let him take off, and have him escorted to meet me at these coordinates."

"I'm not sure that's advisable.  We'll need all pilots available if we have to launch an attack."

"Captain, it has to be one or the other of us. And I'm a bit more expendable than you are just at the moment." Foxfire glared at the comm-link, glad that an A-Wing couldn't support visual communications. The look on her face alone would probably get her bumped down a rank or two.

"Lt. Commander, the Admiral's already proven himself to be a loose cannon. And I can't spare an A-Wing pilot."

"Thanks loads," Foxfire muttered to herself, then raised her voice a little. "Sir, if worst comes to worst, I can outrun anything they've got." She omitted the fact that her A-Wing was not precisely in perfect condition at the moment. "And if they let me land and talk to the Admiral, then he's ours."

Orris was unimpressed - she could tell that much even without benefit of visual comms. "Sorry, Commander, but I'll need a more specific plan than 'land and talk' before I'll consider authorizing this...venture...of yours."

Foxfire bit back an irritated response about how the Captain planned to stop her, and took a deep breath instead. "All right, my specific plan is to tell the Admiral we've got a chance to rescue his people, and tell him we need his help to do it. From what Teel's told me, I think he'll take the bait."

"I thought you would never reach that point, Lieutenant Commander." Foxfire didn't know what to say. The Captain had known all the time what she had in mind, and apparently had about the same plan himself. Perhaps that is what annoys Shok'wave so much, she thought with the beginning of a smile on her lips.

"All right, Lieutenant Commander," Orris said. "Teel will join you at the coordinates you have just sent us, but there is something more."

"Yes, sir?"

"If you don't have a positive answer in one hour, I'll order plan B.  I'm sure you can figure out what that will be."

"Yes, sir."
 
 
 

[Twenty five minutes later, onboard renegade Frigate Trailblazer]

"Admiral."

Nathan Garil was gazing at space beyond the viewscreen, focusing on nothing in particular and wondering how long he had before the Empire dragged him down. At least he could avenge the Lieutenant and the other prisoners before he...

"Admiral." Captain Collins moved a hand to catch his attention, standing uneasily in front of him. "Admiral, there's two fighters on approach. Flight Officer Teel's X-Wing and one unknown A-Wing."

Garil ran mentally over the composition of the squadron the Alliance had sent after him - B-Wings and A-Wings with a specialty in heavy assault. As battered as his ships were, they couldn't last too long against Imperial or Alliance forces. "They've found us. Have our batteries ready to shoot at them, but don't open fire until I order it. I want to know what is important enough to make Teel dare to return."
 

Foxfire tensed in her cockpit, one hand hovering over the keys that would shunt power to her engines. She and Teel were approaching at half-throttle with weapons powered down, and it was making her more than a bit nervous. She knew when she was approaching a hostile ship, even when it wasn't shooting at her. In that same moment, her threat indicator started to blink...

Oh, shit, that's definitely a hostile ship...

"Teel, listen in on my channel, please. I may need you to help talk us into landing." She keyed her comm to the Trailblazer's frequency, biting her lip uneasily.
 
"This is Lieutenant Commander Schroeder of White Squadron, requesting permission to land."

There was a slightly startled pause on the other side of the transmission. "Lieutenant Commander, we're not - I haven't been-" The transmission went scratchy and muffled as the landing officer called for a Commander Louyan. A moment later the transmission cleared, with a different voice speaking.

"You ran out once already, Teel," the man growled. "Should've stayed gone-"

"Commander, I have to talk to you." Foxfire cut across Louyan's beginning tirade and the start of Teel's defense. "In person, if you please. This is important."

"I'm sure." Louyan's voice was tinged with sarcasm - and just a little curiosity.

"What is it you want?"

"Well, mostly I want to land, Commander."

There was a pause. "Permission denied. At least until I hear your story. I'll think about it after that."

Foxfire released her ELS controls and crossed her fingers instead. "It's not a story, it's a suggestion. We can give you a chance to get your prisoners back..."
 

"I won't let them stop us," Garil said flatly. He had been listening to the conversation between Louyan and that Schroeder since the first moment, and his impression was that this woman was trying to buy some time to allow the rest of her unit to get here. "Not after all this time - all these deaths. Captain, what is the status of the starboard gunnery turrets?"

"Active, sir," his first officer answered hesitantly.

Garil's fist clenched slowly. To attack Alliance ships was not the end he would have chosen for himself, but... A chance to get your prisoners back, the woman had said.

"Wait a minute, Collins. Comms. Officer, raise the volume!"

"Yes, sir." The man did as he had been ordered.

"...you've got to decide fast." Lieutenant Commander Schroeder's voice was hear high and clear on the bridge. "The Corvette can be diverted, but it'll make it back to safety soon. We've got a little window we can sneak through, but you're going to have to fight with us instead of against us."

The words seemed to trigger something in Garil, though Captain Collins couldn't tell whether it was rage or hope. Abruptly, he left his seat and headed for the nearest lift.

"Collins, the ship is yours." The young captain started to answer, but the Admiral was not there any more.
 
 
 

[Five minutes later, Frigate Trailblazer's flight deck]

Foxfire turned abruptly as the lift doors leading to the flight deck hissed open, a wiry, gray-haired man striding through.  He had enough energy to power a Cruiser on his own, but Foxfire hadn't seen eyes that wounded since the destruction of Alderaan.  So that's who we've been looking for...

"Now say again that about the prisoners," the Admiral ordered. Foxfire couldn't help but feel the several blasters pointing at her back, and had to struggle to appear unaffected. Teel couldn't do it. The young pilot looked nervously around, but looked quickly down when his eyes met Commander Louyan's.

"We have taken an Imperial comm station. half an hour ago" Foxfire explained very slowly. "One of my pilots has managed to hack the communication software, and we are able to send Corvette's Harrier group a set of jump coordinates as if they were being sent from Coruscant or wherever we want." She saw her words impact on the Admiral - just a split-second blink, but she knew she had his attention. "We can divert those ships to a different destination and try a rescue operation. Then we'll return to New Republic space together."

Admiral Garil stared at her. It was impossible to guess what was happening inside his head, but Foxfire returned his look, resisting the urge to look away. She could have cut the tension with a vibroblade.

"Follow me to the bridge," the admiral said at last. "Commander Louyan, come with us - but first put Flight Officer Teel under arrest."

"At once, sir." Foxfire couldn't say if there was a slight trace of pleasure in Louyan's voice. The young Lieutenant looked at her for an instant, as if he were expecting Foxfire to say something to defend him, but she shook her head slightly.  If the Admiral decided to cooperate, neither of them had anything to worry about - if not, both of them were dead.

The Admiral didn't look backward as they started toward the bridge.  Foxfire did, just to find an armed soldier half a meter behind her with his sidearm ready. She didn't doubt he would open fire if he received the order.

And I thought that Orris was rude...
 

There were other people on the bridge, but they appeared to be concentrated on their work. Nobody had said a word since they left from the hangar, and the silence was starting to be annoying. Or even scary. Foxfire was tempted to take the offensive, but reminded herself that Garil wasn't - quite - the enemy.

"You'll need to report to your ship." It was not a question, but she answered anyway.

"Yes, sir."

"Give Lieutenant Deeggo the frequency." A Rodian officer nodded in her direction when the Admiral pronounced his name. "He will open a secured link for you. I think Captain Orris should hear what we all have to say."

"Thanks, sir." I don't remember mentioning Orris' name. The Admiral is well informed, that's for sure.

The Joan d'Arc was expecting this message. A minute later the hologram projector attached to the communications console came to life and Captain Orris's image appeared in front of the small assembly. The slightly transparent hologram was smaller than the real image, presenting objects approximately at seventy percent of its original size. Foxfire thought that in different circumstances, she couldn't help but laugh seeing the Captain with the height of a kid, but she couldn't find anything funny as serious as the actual situation was.

"It's a honor to meet you, Admiral Garil." Orris said with a respectful nod.

"Thanks, Captain. I've heard a lot of you in the last ten years, so I guess the honor is mine."

"You're most kind, Admiral." Orris replied, somehow impressed.

"Enough of formalities. Lieutenant Commander Schroeder affirms that you could be in the situation of helping us to rescue our prisoners."

"That's right. We're now in direct communication with our men on board that Imperial station. I'm told that they have solved all the technical problems. But the Imperial crew called for help when they realized they were about to be boarded, so we have no time to lose. We have estimated that we have maybe fifty minutes from now to make the operation. If you agree, of course."

"What would be your suggestion?"

"Basically, to divert the Imperial convoy to a place near to our present location and ambush them there. We would be two fully armed Frigates, two Corvettes and several fighter squadrons. Do you have any information about the composition of the convoy?"

"We have been hounding them for the last weeks, and I sincerely doubt they have been able to receive any reinforcementså" There was a prolonged silence. Foxfire realised that Garil was provoking Orris, challenging him to condemn what he had being doing, but Joan d'Arc's Captain ignored what was hidden behind that sentence and he simply waited for the Admiral to continue. Garil was staring at the other man eye to eye, as if with his look alone he could penetrate through the hologram and reach the Captain's mind, to guess if he was really offering help, or if all this was just a masquerade to capture him and his men. Orris didn't even blink, accepting the silent scrutiny he was being subjected to. Finally, there was an almost imperceptible change. The Admiral's expression was the same, still looking at Captain Orris, but the coldness in his eyes seemed to disappear slowly. When he spoke again, his voice showed no trace of his previous defiance, it was the voice of someone who is talking to an ally, if not a friend. Foxfire barely kept herself from sighing in relief.

"Two Nebulon A Frigates and the Corvette. That's all," he said. "Their fighter complement suffered serious losses during our last encounter. I calculate two full squadrons, TIE Fighters and Interceptors. No more than thirty fighters at any case. Of course, we can't be absolutely sure that they had not received any reinforcements. This is a supposition based on the fact we hadn't found any trace of a bigger fleet during our raids, although this doesn't mean that fleet doesn't exist." There wasn't any remark on the word raids, although Foxfire couldn't repress a shiver. He had noticed it, she thought, I'm not as good as Orris at hiding my thought.  The Joan d'Arc's Captain just nodded, considering only the practical side of the information.

"Well, if you're right we can overpower them," Orris said, with a very slight trace of enthusiasm in his voice. The Captain was starting to believe there could be a happy end to what had seemed nothing but disaster only an hour ago.

"It would be wonderful if they took the bait, Captain. but you know and I know that the Imperials are not so stupid as to not check the coordinates they receive. Any spot out of, let's say, an sphere of fifty or sixty klicks around Muldron's base would be considered as suspicious, and they would call for confirmation. That would be the end of our plan."

"You're right, Admiral, but If we make this so close to their base, they can call for reinforcements, and they will have them before we can rescue your people." The words seemed to keep floating on the air, killing the small hope they had started to consider. Admiral Garil's eyes narrowed for an instant, as if he was considering new possibilities in his mind, something that could make an exit for this dead street.

 "Not if those reinforcements have something more urgent to attend to."

Foxfire shivered. Suddenly, the coldness was still there, as if the Admiral's eyes were made of pure ice. Actually, she had never seen a look as cold as Garil's. Captain Orris understood what Garil had in mind and horror flickered in his eyes for an instant. Foxfire understood too. The Admiral didn't wait for any answer. His voice was full of determination when he spoke, his tone showing he wouldn't accept any argument.

"How much time would you need to take the Joan d'Arc here? I think you could host part of my crew in your ship, if you don't mind..."
 
 
 

[Inside the Imperial communication station]

"Captain Gregory," Captain Orris' voice came through the headphones installed in his helmet. "we are sending the set of coordinates your people must transmit to Harrier's group. Do it and get out of there. Joan d'Arc out." Moose heard a click, indicating Orris had broken the communication without waiting for his acknowledgement. Things are going to happen very fast now, he thought.

"Joker, Ibero, you should be receiving the coordinates right now."

"Yes, here I've got them." The Iberyan pilot replied. "I'll mark them on the holographic chart"

"But that's-"Joker started to say. There was no need to end the sentence. A blue spot started to blink in the middle of the chart displayed in front of them. It almost overlapped a bigger red dot, the one indicating Muldron's base location.

"Transmit them and blow away the console when you've finished." Moose ordered. "Transport, this is Captain Gregory, be ready for take-off in a minute."