Chapter #37
It took another month, after Admiral Ackbar gave his approval to the Intelligence team, to organize the multi-layered plan to destroy the Empire's secret weapon. It would take a highly coordinated effort by Vin, Thom and Tuer to destroy the navigational system on Billbringi at the same time that Saphi and Donovan laid waste to Dubrillion's steel yard. But the trickiest part was left to Mara and Lieutenant Rylan. They had to plant the Merr-Sonn proton grenades on the partially finished station and detonate them in the absence of any Geonosian workers at the exact same time. Challenging, as the Imperial factory was in operation 24/7.
If Mara and Rylan sabotaged the warehouse, it might cause suspicion and drugging or gassing an entire shift would only put the workers in the destruction zone. By a simple stroke of luck, four weeks after it was decided that Cracken's team would run lead on Project Wildfire, the twentieth anniversary of the observance of Empire Day arrived. All Imperial positions were to be given the day off in remembrance of that great day when the Emperor took control of the senate and freed the galaxy of the tyrannical efforts of the Jedi. It was a day of celebrations—from a certain point of view. The irony of the date for their clandestine project was not lost on the Alliance.
With less than three hours until the implementation of the project, Mara and Rylan sat at their kitchen table assembling and rechecking the proton grenades.
Mara frowned as she checked the wiring on her fifth grenade. "The ship is fueled and ready?"
"Yes, dear."
"What about the navigational coordinates? Did those come in from Vin?"
"A-huh. We'll be bouncing around the galaxy for a week and then meet up with the Alliance on Yavin 4."
"What time will Red Squadron be in place?"
Rylan glanced at his chrono. "Right…about….now."
Mara snorted. "Still think it's silly to have a bunch of flyboys hanging around in case we need help."
"They're far enough away that they won't trigger any Geonosian sensors, but easily capable of coming to our rescue by hyperspace if the need arises."
"Stupid."
Rylan raised a single brow. "You worried they'll steal our thunder?"
"Please." Mara placed the grenade in her new specially made backpack and picked up grenade number six.
"Then what?"
Mara glared at Ry and then returned her attention to the complex wiring of the grenade. "Nothing."
"Gotta be something."
Mara huffed. "You are such a Troydarian grandmother."
Rylan laughed, leaning into her line of sight.
"Okay! Geez, Ry." She placed the grenade on the table and folded her arms across her chest. "My brother is probably in one of those X-Wings out there."
"You have a brother?"
She picked up the weapon and snapped the access panel closed. "Technically, he's not my brother. No shared blood. We were both rescued and raised by Ben Kenobi. So he's like a brother."
"Wait, are you talking about that Naberrie kid?"
"You know him?"
Rylan leaned back in his chair. "Sure. General Dodonna is ga-ga over him. Supposed to be a phenom in the cockpit."
Mara snorted again and noticed the smile on Rylan's face. "Yeah, he's good. Probably the best they got. He's also an idiot."
"Great, I can't wait to be rescued by an idiot."
Mara frowned.
"I'm just teasing. We aren't even going to need their assistance." He placed the last of the grenades in another back pack and zipped it closed. The comm. unit chirped forcing him to cross the room. "Team one just signaled. They're in place."
"Now we need to hear from Saphi."
"We will." He padded back to the table and placed a kiss on top of Mara's head. "Oh, by the way…" he reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a small velvet box, handing it to her. "Happy Empire Day."
"You're not serious…"
He grinned and tucked his hands under his armpits. "Open it."
"Rylan. This is inappropriate on so many levels."
His eyes danced. "Open it."
Mara grimaced and placed a hand on top of the dark box. "Is this my very own detonator?" She opened it and gasped at the sight of a gorgeous oval-cut emerald surrounded by tiny diamonds. "Rylan? T-This looks like an engagement ring."
He smiled. "Only if you say yes."
She looked from the ring to Rylan's cinnamon brown eyes. She loved how they were laced with golden shards and always seemed to glow. Especially when he looked at her. Did she love him? Mara bit her lower lip and swallowed hard. She did. But was she ready to make this kind of commitment. And was she completely free of any remaining romantic feelings towards Luke? Just the thought of her ersatz brother made her blood pressure rise.
"Yes."
Rylan's mouth fell open. "Yes?"
Mara laughed. "Yes, I'll marry you."
"You're serious? This isn't some kind of move to get my hopes up and then dash them into little pieces?"
"Well…"
"Mara!"
"Even I'm not that cruel."
"So… it's yes?"
"YES!"
He lifted her from the chair and whooped, whirling her around the room. Then he grabbed the ring and gently slipped it onto her left hand with a kiss.
"I love you, Mara."
She swallowed against the huge lump in her throat. "I love you, too. It's beautiful, Ry."
"Just like your eyes." He kissed her again and pulled her to him, whispering in her ear. "Mara?
"Hmmm?" She nestled into Rylan's strong arms and closed her eyes.
"I've never said this to a woman before…"
Mara opened one eye.
"… but, it's time to sneak into a secret Imperial warehouse and blow up a battle station."
XXXXX
Luke sat in the cockpit of his X-Wing, staring at the sensor array readout and yawned.
"Red squadron check."
"Red two standing by."
Luke snapped his mouth shut. "Red five standing by."
"Red three ready to rock."
"Red four standing by."
"Red six on the stick."
"Wedge, how much longer do you think we'll be hanging out here in no man's land? It's been at least two hours," Wes Janson grumbled.
"Red leader, check. As long as it takes, Red three."
Two hours hanging out in deep space waiting for any kind of communication. Luke stretched his hands out in front of him, trying to ease a kink in his shoulder. If they weren't on alert, he could use the time to meditate, but their orders had been specific—high alert until notified otherwise. Luke's stomach grumbled as he considered breaking into his stash of protein bars.
His thoughts wandered to the last training session he'd had with Nadya. The girl was coming along well in her Force training. Luke winced remembering how she'd landed on top of him during a Force shove activity and, out of the blue, locked lips with him. He'd be so surprised, he'd let the kiss go on for far too long. Was he ready for a relationship? It'd been over a year since Bree… Luke rolled his neck and sighed.
"I could use a massage," said Wes.
"At least they could tell us what we're doing out here," moaned Hobbie Klivan, Red four.
Wedge laughed. "Ours is not to reason why…"
"Ours is just to fly the sky!" recited the Red Squadron members in unison.
"Wedge, where is the other half of our squadron?" asked Luke.
"Don't know," said Wedge, "but I'm guessing they're hanging out somewhere in space like we are."
"Break out the protein bars, boys," said Wes. "It looks like it's gonna be a long one."
XXXXX
Mara angled her forehead so that her headlamp lit the final door panel leading into the main warehouse.
"Ready?" asked Rylan.
"Yes," she whispered back.
Rylan punched in the final key code and then sighed as the door whisked open. They darted into the large staging area and froze. "Stars, look at the size of that thing!"
Mara squatted behind a large crate and pulled Rylan down with her. She suppressed a shiver and unshouldered her pack. Rising to look around the large building, she paused, frowning at the silence surrounding them.
"What?" asked Rylan.
"Not sure. It's just…"
"What?"
"Something feels…off."
Rylan looked around and then fell back behind the crate. "Is it a: 'we're-in-the-middle-of-destroying-an-Imperial-battle-station'off or an 'I-sense-a-disturbance-in-the-Force off?"
Mara took a deep breath and blew out, pressing her palm against the engagement ring threaded through the chain under her shirt. It was foolish to wear it here, but she couldn't bear to leave it back at the apartment. "I'm not sure. It's almost like feeling a movement in the air around us."
"Is that a kind of Jedi thing?"
"It can be." She reached out, but sensed no sentient life in the building. The utility droids scattered around the building stood frozen in position, casting strange shadows on the wall. Could one of them have been left on by accident? No, they were all slaved to a central computer.
"Should we abort?"
Mara looked at Rylan. They'd planned this for so long and everything had gone off perfectly. Perhaps it was just a case of nerves. "No. We've got to do this. If this thing ever becomes operational the entire galaxy will be defenseless against it."
Rylan kissed her hand and smiled. "All right then, let's do this." He opened his bag and looped it onto one shoulder. "Six grenades each and then we are gone." He pressed a quick kiss to her lips and darted out toward the huge spherical starship.
Mara sprang forward and sprinted to the left side of the monstrosity, while Rylan ran to the right. They'd practiced the maneuver for weeks, timing it until it became rote. Mara lost sight of Rylan as she approached her first designated site and slapped the proton grenade against the hull. Flipping the switch and activating the timer, she ducked further to the left until she arrived at her next plant point. All by themselves, the grenades would not have done enough damage, but twelve specifically placed ones would destroy the weapon, by causing it to collapse upon itself.
Two down. Mara felt her breath become irregular as sweat dripped down her face, her lightsaber swinging at her side. Drawing on the Force, she steadied herself and ran to the next site.
Three down.
At the fourth point, she heard the sound of metal hitting metal and dropped to the floor. She listened for a moment and then pulled a grenade from her pack. They talked about different scenarios and what they would have to do. The mission came first. They, in essence, were dispensable. Mara felt her heart skip at the thought of Rylan being in some king of trouble. She toggled the switch and ran to the next site.
Glancing at her chrono, she noticed she was off by about fifteen seconds. Not bad, yet…
She heard blaster fire and then a deafening explosion and almost fell to the ground. What? Had one of Rylan's grenades gone off too soon? Was he injured? She fought the urge to run to the other side and grabbed her next grenade.
Five down.
With the last proton grenade, she rounded the curve of the huge weapon and raced to the last plant point. She should be able to see Rylan by now. Where was he? She pressed the grenade into the hull and flicked her thumb against the switch. Dodging a large scaffold, Mara rounded the circumference and ran right into a large figure. "Rylan!"
"We've got to get out of here."
"Are you all right?"
"No time—run!"
Hand in hand they raced back towards the exit.
"Faster, must go faster," gasped Rylan.
As they reached the door, Mara felt a blast sizzle just over her head and fell behind several sheets of steel leaning against the wall. "What in Hoth was that?"
Rylan landed beside her, trying to breath. "Some…kind…destroyer droid…"
"But intel said there weren't any weaponized droids in the warehouse." Mara peeked out from the other side of their impromptu hiding place and gasped. It was a droid, but none she had ever seen before. It rolled on some kind of wheel mechanism and was incredibly fast. It paused ten meters from them and unfurled, pointing twin blaster canons in their direction.
"Can't we just…blast the stupid thing?"
Rylan swallowed fighting for breath. "Tried that. Had…had to use…one of my grenades."
Not good. Would eleven be enough to topple the station? Mara looked at her chrono. "We've got less than three minutes before the grenades go off." She released her lightsaber and thumbed the switch. "Stay behind me. We'll see if I can deflect those blasts."
They jostled out from their barrier with Mara facing towards the droid. The machine fired a series of bone breaking blasts which she caught, but couldn't direct.
"Two minutes," shouted Rylan.
They backed away from the droid, edging closer to the exit.
Mara breathed in the Force and deflected two blasts right at the destroyer only to discover a shield protector engulfing the entire droid.
"It has a force field?" Mara cried.
"Forgot to tell you…"
"Sithspit!"
The droid crept closer as they finally reached the door. Rylan began to punch in the code as a second droid rolled up, flanking the first one.
"Hurry!"
"Trying!"
Mara sank deep into the Force, trying to intercept each blast as the droids advanced.
"Almost there," said Rylan.
The door whipped open as the timer on Mara's chrono sounded.
XXXXX
Luke bolted forward in his cockpit seat as a weird pain shot up his spine. What in Hutt space was that? He shuddered as an ear splitting alarm thundered through his headset.
...to be continued.