Garm didn't know what was going on, but he was running with it. He'd been shuffled between prisons with identical walls and views for years. There had been other Corellians with him when he'd started, but by the time he reached- he didn't even know the name of the planet he'd been on.

"Lommel Six." The man, the Jedi, piloting the shuttle didn't look back as he answered. "Its main exports are smashball players and orthopedic surgeons, who are also smashball players."

His partner, who was stripping off an awe-inspiring amount of weapons from her armorweave jumpsuit, raised an eyebrow. "They're going to need them all when Vader's through with his interrogations."

It was a struggle to get back to where he'd been going before his thought had been plucked out of his head. The two had rescued him, long after he'd given up any hope of seeing the stars again, or even anyone he knew, and he couldn't guess why. He'd commanded Corellia's third fleet in the war, and he'd done well, but there were hundreds of admirals who'd been just as decorated and skilled. Ultimately the reason was less important than that they'd done it.

"Thank you!" It was heartfelt, but the two of them merely looked awkward.

"It wasn't too much." The pilot kept his eyes on the controls. "I've gone to much more trouble for less result on several occasions."

"You don't have to downplay it that much Farmboy." The woman seemed to finally be fully disarmed as she slumped down in a seat across from him, but he wasn't willing to bet on it. "So that's Luke, I'm Mara, and we've got some questions Garm."

"We can wait until we reach orbit, by then we'll know if your codes work."

"I'd prefer not to waste our time."

"And you can tell me how you told me so with your customary grace and tact once we clear the planet without trouble."

"Are you saying that I'm ever anything less than the soul of politeness?"

"Of course not, that would be stupid." The pilot hadn't looked back at all, and now that Garm was watching he could see that he was handling two of the three stations at once, the shuttle they were in wasn't meant for only two crew members. There wasn't any sign of strain in his motions though, which indicated either ignorance, arrogance, or a somewhat terrifying level of proficiency. "Now strap in, if things are going to get exciting it will be now."

"Do you need help with the navigation?" Mara hadn't joined him in following instructions and strapping in, instead leaning over the back of Luke's chair. "These old shuttles-"

"I've got it, but sit down."

She moved sinuously to the copilot's chair, her remaining armor not weighing her down at all. "You're transmitting the codes?"

"You do know I'm generally thought of as a decent pilot and somewhat competent, right?"

"Yes, but I know the real you."

Garm wasn't quite sure what to make of the banter, the Jedi he'd met during and before the war had generally been stoic. He'd never doubted they cared, but they had avoided much levity. Granted it was mostly during the war, when thousands were dying every hour or minute, but he'd expected a bit more solemnity.

The buffeting of the atmosphere ceased as they rose into space. Lommel Six didn't seem to have much orbital infrastructure, there was usually something visible as opposed to just other planets, stars, and the inky blackness of deep space.

"The Irresistible is about to rise, assuming they haven't made another unannounced change in altitude." There was nothing on the sensors that he could see to show that, but he followed the Jedi's vague wave to look out the porthole.

A spear head was just piercing the haze of the horizon. Without any sense of distance he couldn't grasp the scale, but it followed the same general plan of an Victory class. It lacked the red of the Republic Navy, instead the ship was bone white.

"Right on schedule, we'll know if your codes work in just a second."

"They'll work."

"I'll just fly casual then."

Mara's head turned to him. "Is that supposed to mean something? More of your Rogue in jokes?"

"Something like that."

There was no challenge from the Irresistible, and Luke kept them on course until he turned to his jump vector. The stars stretched, and Garm felt the familiar lurch into hyperspace once again. It hadn't really sunk in until then, but he was free.

Mara immediately unbuckled, returning to the seat she'd initially claimed. The Jedi punched a few commands into the flight computer, then came back to join them.

"You can say it you know."

She shook her head. "Your chastised expression takes all the fun out of it. Next time."

"Alright then." The pilot rubbed his face on his sleeve, and what Garm had taken for a dark tan turned into a mess of dust and sweat. "If you can hold yourself back for just a minute I'm going to hit the fresher, even my right hand feels grimy."

He vanished towards the stern, leaving him with only the woman. There was a moment of silence, before he decided that a few years of prison was enough time without taking the initiative. "You said you had questions?"

"One or two, sure."

"Well," he glanced around the empty shuttle, "I'm not really doing much now."

"Point taken." She raised a hand and a datapad shot into it, to be briefly met with an incandescent smile. The visible joy was gone nearly instantly as she switched it on and flipped through several files. "Right, so before we start here's a bit of background. Luke and I have been out of touch with the galaxy for a while, and only recently returned. It's a bit different than how we remembered, and we'd like to do something about it. Any interest?"

Garm didn't know what to think, what the woman said was laughable. What could two people, even two Jedi, do against the might of the Empire?

"What are you proposing?" He didn't recognize the voice that spoke for an instant, but something about it made Mara grin.

"In a word? Rebellion."

The arrogance inherent in the reply almost stunned him.

"The Emperor and Vader must be destroyed." Luke had returned, looking far more put together. "Their cruelty knows no bounds, and even those who serve the Empire with the best of intentions will eventually be corrupted." The words were those of an ideologue, a dreamer, but the way the Jedi said them made them seem like holy writ. "Mara and I, and others like us, will be able to contend with the Sith. However, to bring down the entire edifice will take more."

"More? Just what do you have now?" He could recognize a sales pitch.

Mara had a sardonic grin. "Think of it as getting in on the ground floor."

"Just you two?"

Luke's smile looked more earnest. "Don't forget the Force, and a near suicidal willingness to go off on damn-fool idealistic crusades."

"Well that changes things." Garm looked between the two Jedi, already knowing what his answer would be. "I'm in. But first, why me?"

The two shared a glance before Luke answered. "Call it a hunch that you'll be pretty good at running a nearly unsupported war for years with limited resources."

Garm had the feeling he was missing a joke. "That's an awfully specific hunch."

"That's the Force for you."

They dropped out of hyperspace still in deep space. What looked like a modified yacht hung before them, although he couldn't quite pick out the underlying class. Mara had taken the co-pilot's seat once again and was entering in what seemed like an excessively long recognition code. At last the chime indicating an automatic docking system rang and the shuttle spun.

It was always a little disorienting to see other ships rotate as gravity stayed constant, but Garm had spent most of his adult life aboard ships. Prior to his incarceration he might have spent more than half his whole life, but four years on solid ground would surely hurt his ratio.

He followed Luke and Mara, both carrying hefty duffle bags through the umbilical and towards the cockpit of the yacht. "So you've recruited an admiral, but so far your fleet only has two ships?"

The two had switched roles with the new ship, something Mara was visibly pleased about. "Just one actually." There was a muffled thud, and then a wave of plasma washed over the shields. "We've actually got a few leads on a fleet for you."

"I'm not sure that sentence has ever been said before." Mara nodded, but she didn't reply as she continued to check over her ship. Luke entered the cockpit, he'd shed the bags somewhere, gave a quick scan, then beckoned Garm to come with him.

"So, our rescue of you was pretty impromptu, but we've got the necessities." Luke had led him to a cabin, it wasn't much but compared to a cell it looked like heaven. "I'll apologize in advance for the clothes, the last guy who stayed here thought he had taste."

"I'm sure I'll manage," Garm waved desultorily at his tatter prison jumpsuit. "It can hardly be worse than this."

"You say that." Luke turned, seemingly satisfied to let him settle in, but Garm wasn't quite ready to call it a day and followed him.

The Jedi didn't object to him following as he typed a password into the door of another cabin. The door hissed open to a dark room, with a tall figure, a droid, watching a little girl sleep. He could see Mara's shade of red on the pillow before Luke closed the door again.

"Is she-"

Luke cut him off. "The Empire has taken a lot from us."

The man clearly didn't want to share more as he headed back towards the front of the ship, not missing a step as they slid into hyperspace much more smoothly than the shuttle had.

"So, Mara said something about a fleet?"

He nodded, turning into a lounge which was dominated by a cutting edge console. Luke turned it on and flipped through a sea of locked files before selecting one which he opened with another bizarrely long password.

"Before we came for you we stopped at the ISB headquarters and let ourselves into their systems." From Luke's tone he could have been talking about an afternoon stroll. "We couldn't take all their data, not even a thousandth of a percentage, but we did get a few things. Our no questions asked clearance code was one of them." Luke manipulated the console and a hologram of hundreds of ships sprang into the air. "Another was the locations of the mothballed Separatist fleets."

Garm found himself standing, peering at the image. There were dreadnoughts, Lucrehulks, cruisers, logistic vessels, and landing craft. He forced himself to tamp down on his enthusiasm. "They must be guarded."

"Also shut down and nominally disabled, we can hardly just sweep in and snatch them you're correct." Luke didn't seem discouraged though, and he waited for the Jedi to continue. "However, their main defense is obscurity, and we've already gotten past that. With a little ingenuity I feel that three capable people," Mara had appeared silently, "can find a way to get past the comparatively small problem of a few frigates with skeleton crews."

Garm nodded, his mind already racing. The problem reminded him of the sort he'd seen at the Academy, the operations that young ensigns dreamed of leading. He wasn't so old that he didn't still want a taste of glory.

"How did you take out that cruiser when we escaped? The Force?" If Luke could knock out ships at will- no the Jedi was shaking his head, abashed.

"The force is capable of many things, but that was the result of a flaw in the shields. Carracks have an oscillating soft spot when they're in atmosphere, once you know it's there the trick is easy."

"If getting your missile to pass through the gap at the right time with no external clues is easy, then sure." Mara sounded almost as if she were bragging. "Don't get full of yourself Farmboy."

Luke rolled his eyes. "How could I ever?"