Armed with only a makeshift pick fashioned out of a dull fork, a teen boy huddled against a far wall by himself, his back to the broad room that had become a group prison cell. He needed the dim light from a lofty glowpanel affixed to the ceiling above him, as the work he was so involved in required precise, minute movements on an object so small. He only glanced behind him occasionally to be sure that no one had taken any interest in him, and thankfully he remained unnoticed by the guards that patrolled the room's only exit, and by dozens of his fellow prisoners. He couldn't let anyone see what he was doing; after hours and hours of painstaking effort, he was so close to realigning the circuits...

In the opposite corner of the dim, rectangular room, a middle-aged woman was becoming audibly upset as she sat on the floor. Her increasing cries and wails above the normal silence of the crowd were earning everyone's attention despite some futile attempts by her friends to comfort her. The boy took notice, as well, worried enough to pocket his project and cross the room to help. He approached her with careful steps, meeting her gaze with warmth and concern as he knelt in front of her. She didn't turn him away, but neither did she calm, so he spoke as gently as he could, trying to keep her focus on him.

"Hello, ma'am. My name is Wil... What's yours?"

A number of choked sobs stalled her weak response. "...Neri."

Wil smiled. "Neri. Can you do something for me? I want you to take in a slow, deep breath, okay?"

After a few moments of short gasps, Neri finally nodded and calmed herself enough for one long breath, the result Wil wanted. No longer was she as upset, but he still had more to do to console her completely.

"That's really good," he continued, lightly gripping one of her hands. "Just keep doing that, keep breathing like that for me, okay? Listen... I know you're tired, and you're scared... We all are. But you know what? We are all still here. We're still together. We're not hurt, and they're still bringing us food and water. We can't give up hope yet, okay? Paneau and Salastryn are looking for us, I promise you. We just have to stay strong and conserve our strength. Do you think you can do that?"

Getting a shaky nod from Neri, Wil smiled again and squeezed her hand once more for support, standing from her as her friends resumed their efforts to comfort her. She seemed fatigued from her release of emotions, so Wil left her be, returning to his small corner of the room, separated from the seventy-one other Paneau and Salastryni captives. But he didn't notice that he hadn't retreated alone until his visitor spoke.

"That was quite a talk you gave that woman."

Wil turned to find that an older, graying man had followed him, looking on him with a curious expression on his face. They were mostly alone in the back end of the room, and though Wil didn't feel threatened by the man's tone, he remained guarded.

"I just told her what she needed to hear. It's in everyone's best interest that we all stay calm and collected in a situation like this."

The man's eyes narrowed as he studied Wil for a moment. "You're awfully calm yourself, you know, for being a kid. And you're much too young to have already trained with the Paneau or Salastryni forces."

Wil hesitated briefly. "No, sir. But...I have been trained."

Again a long silence hung between them as the man continued to puzzle over him.

"Wil, right?"

Wil nodded respectfully.

"If I didn't know any better, Wil, I'd say you were hiding something."

He knew he was caught, but unable to clear the man's suspicion without divulging his true identity, he remained silent. The man continued anyway.

"I'm not exactly sure what, though, because it looks like you've no interest in hiding that pendant that marks you as a member of the Rys'tihn Royal Family."

Ice froze in his veins as he reached up to his neck, finding his pendant exposed atop his shirt. He tucked it back under without hesitation, even though it was too late. He had already been outed.

"It must have slipped out when I knelt down earlier..."

The man shrugged. "Not many average Paneau would recognize it anymore, as few Rys'tihns as there have been in the recent past. We former Royal Navy officers could identify it anywhere, though." His voice quieted somewhat, seeming as uninterested in being overheard as Wil was. "I didn't know the High Commander had a third son."

Could he correct him without revealing too much? "He's not my father."

"Ah," the man nodded with clarity. "The son of a Ghost Heir, then. Hm." He considered Wil again, taking note of the concern on his face. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. We're even distantly related," he added with a weak grin, extending his hand. "Eger. Eger Jax."

Wil shook his hand firmly, relieved to hear a familiar name. "Nice to meet you, sir."

Thinking for a moment, Eger glanced briefly back at the others behind him before returning to Wil. "What you told that woman was true. They are keeping us together and feeding us, but I can't figure out why. Do you have any ideas?"

Releasing a slow breath, Wil shook his head. "I can't even tell who they are. There weren't any markings on their ships that I could see when they captured us, and their guards aren't wearing anything distinctive, either. I don't know what's going on."

"No one does. Two weeks of...nothing," Eger sighed. "This whole situation is so odd. It'll take its toll on some, and it looks like it already has. You were smart to calm her so quickly, though. Like you said, the longer we can all keep level heads, the better off we'll be as a group." Looking over Wil with a pause, he lowered his voice again. "What was it you were doing with your pendant earlier? You've been working on it all week."

Though he had tried to carefully conceal his efforts, he apparently hadn't done well enough. Hopefully the guards hadn't yet noticed. "It has a locator chip in it. My family is supposed to be able to find me by tracking it, but...after a week and no sign of a rescue, I figured there must be something wrong. Either we've been taken too far away from Paneau for the Rys'tihns to catch the signal...or our captors are blocking it. I've been trying to generate a power boost in the circuits inside my pendant, but it's been hard to do without the proper tools."

Eger nodded after a moment, although he looked almost...disappointed? "Well, keep at it. Anything to increase our chances of being found."

Wil didn't quite understand the sudden hopelessness in his tone. "Eger...the Paneau are looking for us."

"No, they're looking for you. All the rest of us can do is just hope that you don't get separated from us before they do." He seemed to momentarily regret the harshness in his words, and his expression softened as he stepped away.

"Let me know if you need any diversions while you work, kid."

Paneau Sector
Leveyn Asteroid Field
25.7 APC

Ethan Redgrave had to stifle a laugh as his astromech lit up the display panel in his cockpit with a snarky remark borne of another long day of boredom. He also had to mute his comm channel to respond.

"You know better than that, Zip. Leave Brock's droid alone, you've picked enough fights with him already. It's not his fault his pilot can't fly."

Zip gave a series of short beeps that sounded like the droid's equivalent of a snicker, but thankfully his mischievousness had abated as the chatter from Ethan's squadmates picked up.

"Last hauler to make the jump to hyperspace out here was almost an hour ago," Tegg Gedall observed aloud. "How much longer are we required to patrol this vacant perimeter, Commander?"

"Until our relief arrives, Five," Tidu returned firmly. "We're not abandoning our assignment just because it's been quiet."

"Almost two weeks without so much as a rogue blip on our scopes."

"Wouldn't we be of more use to the Paneau if we were helping them with their search for that missing transport?"

"They brought us out here to help them as they needed, not as we decide. We Rallyes will do as we're told."

Ethan grinned. Some of us will.

Zip read his mind and displayed a similar message, forcing him to roll his eyes as he nosed his T-65XJ X-wing into a diving turn. Had he become so predictable that even his own astromech could anticipate his jokes? He sighed lightly as he rounded the edge of the perimeter they had been protecting for days, with his partner Pallas Jax keeping up alongside him. The rest of the Rallyes were cruising around elsewhere nearby; every so often, Ethan spotted a flash of light reflecting off his squadmates' hulls as they darted about their positions some distance away. They were spread thin across the empty region, but together their sensors cast a large net and would pick up any incoming craft across the wide expanse.

Glancing toward his starboard side, Ethan noticed just how far his partner was drifting from him as they flew. Though he had an inkling that she was acting intentionally, he decided to poke at her over their short range comm.

"You're leaving a hole wide enough for a MonCal cruiser to slip through, Pallas."

Her voice was crisp and flat; she was wholly uninterested in his humor. "My position is acceptable."

"Come on, you're not still mad at me, are you? I told you I was sorry."

"Your apology means nothing when you continue to commit the same offense."

Ethan sighed. Were they really going to argue about this while they were out in open space? "It's not an 'offense', I just have other living arrangements when we're off duty. Commander Tidu doesn't care, so long as I make it in for morning call and answer my comm in the middle of the night."

She still sounded irritated. "You're really distancing yourself from the squadron, Ethan, when we should all be showing a united, solid front."

It was true, he had noticed his squadmates' attitudes towards him had shifted slightly in the past few days, but he had simply attributed it to fatigue and frustration at their lack of action. Since arriving on Paneau nearly two weeks prior, they had yet to encounter any kind of resistance, putting them all on edge while dulling their minds at the same time. Ethan had been keeping himself...occupied when they returned to Paneau for the evening, though, allowing him to maintain his daily focus, but apparently Pallas remained upset with him for it.

"What do you want me to say, Pallas? That I'm not enjoying myself when I'm not with you guys? Should I only sleep with you?"

"Yes - I mean - no, not with me, but - you know what I meant!" she stumbled over her words in embarrassment, becoming even more flustered. "You're third in command. You should be leading by example and promoting cohesion!"

Ethan had to laugh. "This isn't about 'cohesion', you're just flat out jealous. You could stay somewhere else, too, you know. I'm sure Malix wouldn't mind if you bunked with him at his family's estate. Not sure if you've noticed, but he's been after you for years - "

"Sensors are picking up a number of inbound craft, Sir."

Ethan immediately looked to the sensor display on his console, fully expecting it to be empty and ready to grill Leikam for being so easily excitable. But what he saw instead jumpstarted his pulse and put him on full alert; this was no drill.

"Did they come out of hyperspace?"

"Any identification?"

"Negative, and negative. I count twenty-seven - no, thirty-two incoming fighters, and three frigates."

According to their mission briefing several days ago, the last raiding party the Paneau had seen, the one that had taken their transport full of innocent citizens, consisted of similar numbers and ship types. Thirty-two fighters zipping about put the Rallyes down more than three to one. Add on three frigates that were equally hostile, and they would all have their hands full rather quickly.

"Four and Five, retreat further into the sector and turn back or eliminate any of those fighters that get through," Tidu ordered rapidly. "Seven, you're with me. Two and Eight, and Three and Six, we have permission to engage. S-foils in attack positions."

Pallas tightened the gap between them as Ethan rounded his fighter, bringing it about to face the incoming swarm. Behind him, Zip fired off a few whistles of warning, giving him an indication of just how close, and how incredibly fast, the pirates' fighters were without having to check his screen for confirmation.

"Forward shields at full, Zip. And keep a rolling target lock; I don't want to lose track of any of these fighters."

As soon as Zip had hooted his reply, the approaching fighters released a storm of turbolaser fire, turning the previously silent, empty pocket of space into a frantic battle. Ethan could hardly keep up with all the comm chatter as he weaved in and out of oncoming blasts.

"Valors and Edgepoints are on their way - "

"Two, you've got a pair on your tail - "

"Good shot, Three - "

"Shields holding - "

Ethan watched a number of his lasers hit the small, A-shaped fighters dead on, but it did little to slow any of them down. They were only mere seconds into the dogfight, and already it looked like the Rallyes were outmatched in everything - numbers, speed, firepower, shield strength - everything except for maybe skill.

"You've got a trio breathing down your neck, Three - "

"Six, swing out wide and take a cross path."

"On it," Pallas returned, familiar with his maneuvers. He turned a few corkscrews and dove away from the others slightly, stringing out his pursuers behind him just enough to give Pallas a clear line of sight -

Three bright flashes filled his cockpit from behind, and he watched his scope blank as the third fighter exploded in a spectacular fashion. Without hesitation, he banked hard to port and turned his cannons onto the two that had been chasing Pallas, dispensing with them just as quickly.

"Thanks," Pallas breathed with relief, but it was short lived as another handful arrived, wasting little time in boring down on them.

"Damn, these guys are fast - "

"That was too close - "

Zip whistled shrilly as Ethan's X-wing took a number of dangerous hits. "I know, Zip! I still need all the power you can spare to be feeding into the thrusters. Whatever the shields aren't using, give it to the engines."

With a weak series of beeps, Zip complied, though Ethan wasn't sure he could feel a difference as he continued to dodge incoming fire. He counted more than twenty enemy fighters remaining, and despite the odds improving somewhat, he still felt shorthanded. At least the pirates were staying engaged with the Rallyes and hadn't been given the chance to harass anyone else yet.

"I'm taking heavy fire, shields are almost gone - "

"Two, come back to the group, you're too far - "

"We'll help you - "

"I can't shake them!"

"I'm coming to you," Ethan replied, breaking from Pallas's side, but he didn't get far at all before another swarm latched onto him. He gripped his controls and spun into a rolling dive, getting some separation from the fighters so his squadmates could pick them off as they passed by. He pushed his engines to full power, demanding everything they could offer him, and it still wasn't fast enough -

"Just hold on, Chas - "

"Shields are out - "

Finally spotting Chas Aelley's doomed X-Wing up ahead of him, Ethan watched four fighters spin circles around his XO, mercilessly pelting him with turbolaser fire he was only just able to avoid. Glancing at his scope, Ethan swore under his breath as he discovered that he had earned himself a pair of particularly ambitious tails for his efforts, as well. As much as he knew Rallye Two needed his help, he couldn't do anything until he got rid of them, too -

"Perfect timing!"

"Wait, that's not one of ours - "

"Who is that?"

Pulling his X-wing into an arcing loop, Ethan looked over in Two's direction to see a crimson-hulled starfighter nimbly making quick work of a few of the pirates, chasing the rest off as though it had already intimidated them. It was extremely slight and swift, easily faster than any of the present craft, but powerful turbolaser cannons seemed to rip through the pirates' ships with ease, making a noticeable statement in the middle of the skirmish. The mysterious pilot skillfully darted about and took shots at each of the remaining enemy targets, even putting a few of the Rallyes to shame with such deft, fluid maneuvers. Without much fanfare, the pirates suddenly retreated to their frigates at the sector's edge and disappeared, making the jump to hyperspace in the direction of Wild Space. Ethan released a breath had hadn't realized he'd been holding as he stared out of his canopy at the sector that was empty once more.

"Still here, amazingly - "

"Recording and calculating their trajectory, Sir - "

"Unknown fighter, identify yourself!"

Chatter completely ceased as the Rallyes all focused their attention on the anonymous pilot that had joined them. He had saved their skins, arriving just in the nick of time, but Tidu wasn't impressed.

"Unknown fighter, identify!" Rallye One repeated forcefully. "You will be treated the same as those pirates if you do not comply!"

Ethan studied the crimson craft intently, trying to spot details that would give them any information on his identity. But just like the pirates, there was nothing unique: no logos, no decals, nothing but the deep red paint on the hull, an R2 unit behind the cockpit, and a pilot with a solid black helmet. The ship's design was even foreign to Ethan, despite his vast knowledge of the galaxy's starfighters. Who exactly was this valiant pilot?

Before Tidu could demand identification for a third time, though, the ship dove and sped away, jumping to hyperspace in a different direction than the pirates had taken. The Rallyes all sat in silence for a lengthy moment, processing what had just happened, and it was broken only by the arrival of reinforcements from Paneau and Salastryn just minutes later.

"Commander Tidu, Edgepoint One," came Commander Wip's voice over the comm. "Report."

"Rallye Squadron engaged enemy starfighters, Edgepoint One, and they retreated into hyperspace. We have quite a bit to discuss with the High Commander on Paneau."

"The Edgepoints and Valors are here to relieve you Rallyes, then. Return your squadron to Paneau for repairs and a debriefing."

"Copy that, Edgepoint One. Rallyes, form up. Return to base."

As Ethan navigated his fighter beside his partner's in their formation around the limping Rallye Two, they exchanged uneasy glances across the space between them. Neither he nor Pallas had ever heard Tidu so infuriated before, and he had a feeling it wasn't going to an isolated incident.