Chapter Fourteen
"I simply find it amusing," the holo image of Luke Skywalker said, "that you're the one risking mission integrity by opening up communications."
Corran Horn shook his head, "I've analyzed the holocrons I found. They belong to the kid's father."
The image of Luke Skywalker nodded in understanding, "This confirms your assumptions about Mr. Zorvan then."
Thank you, oh Master Obvious, Corran grumbled to himself. "This is why I tried to lobby Wedge into keeping him back home. He's so quick to anger, and in a place like this, we could loose him to the Dark Side before we even begin. What in the galaxy am I supposed to do?"
"Put yourself in his position," Luke said. "Would you want to know the truth about what happened to your father?"
"I really don't see why-"
"Of course you don't," Luke replied. "You know exactly what happened to your father, you were there when he died. All Darvix has been told are lies and deceptions. Don't you think you owe it to him to give him the truth?"
Corran sighed in resignation. Once again, Skywalker was right. If he were Darvix, he would want to know about this information, and he would want to know about it right there and then. It would be better to hear this information coming from a fellow Rogue, than to have it come from someone else.
"I get the holoimage," Corran said. "I tell him, and I'm assuming you'd want me to tell him sooner rather than later-"
"Now you're catching on," Luke said with a smile.
"But what do we do with him after that?"
Luke looked thoughtful for a moment, before raising up his eyes once more, "You apprentice him. You're right, Corran. He's in extreme danger of falling away from us based on where he is now. You are the only person who can keep him on the straight and narrow, whether he likes it or not. He must learn the ways of the Force quickly, to keep him from falling to the Dark Side."
Corran could only stare at the image of Luke for a moment. Was he crazy? Suggesting that he teach Darvix the truth was mad. The vocal young man was always critical of Corran, and the Jedi in general. How would it sound, coming from him? By the way, Darvix. You're father was actually a Jedi, and you are too. Surprise!
"Trust in the Force," Luke admonished. "Keep your pathways open, and you'll be able to bring Darvix around."
Corran nodded, "I'll send you a detailed report once I'm out of here. Tell Mara I said hi."
"Trying to imply something, Horn?" Luke asked, an eyebrow arched.
With a grin, Corran shook his head, "Of course not. Horn out."
***
"…And so, I formally request permission to go through with this hair-brained, idiotic, but nevertheless, completely vital solo mission," Corran said, standing tall in front of Wedge Antilles.
"Of all the people," Wedge replied. "It's you. Honestly, I can see Myn, Gavin, or even Inyri wanting to do something like this, but you? Have you been hanging around Wes too long? Is this what we're like after we get married? Gluttons for abuse?"
"Can I go after him or not?" Corran asked bluntly.
Wedge sighed once more. Only a few days into this death trap of a mission, and Wedge was sure he'd need a psych evaluation by the time he got home. Well, him and the rest of his squadron. Corran had just asked for permission to go after Darvix, citing his mental stability issues, but Wedge knew Corran was holding details back from him.
"I'll consider it," Wedge said, "if you tell me why the hell you're really going after him."
For a moment, Corran wondered if he really was that transparent. With a mental shrug, he chalked it up to Wedge's years as a commanding officer.
"Would you prefer the bluntly honest version?" Corran asked.
"Please."
"Very well," Corran said, taking a deep breath. "Darvix is a force-sensitive, his father was a Jedi, and Luke's worried he'll fall to the Dark Side."
For what seemed like an eternity, Wedge simply stared at Corran. It was official; his most stable officer had gone off the deep end. "Okay, perhaps more background is in order."
"I've been suspicious of Darvix since Telos," Corran said. "He's had so many lucky breaks, we can't even attribute it to Luck-Of-The-Rogue syndrome."
Luck-Of-The-Rogue syndrome was an old running joke within the pilot ranks of Rogue Squadron. As a whole, the pilots had a tendency to get themselves out of the nastiest situations, believing that Rogue Squadron was inheritably lucky.
"Something about him always seemed to puzzle me," Corran said, "So I sent his records off to Skywalker shortly after Darvix was returned to active duty. Add to that, while I was laying low at the kid's homestead, I…acquired… a few interesting artifacts, that Luke told me I would find here. A lightsaber, and a few holocrons, belonging to one Derik Zorvan."
Wedge couldn't help but keep the surprise from showing on his face. Corran had kept these suspicions to himself until this point, and the rest of the Rogues couldn't have possibly pegged Darvix as being a Force sensitive.
"Luke has suggested going after him, then?" Wedge asked.
Corran nodded an affirmative "I need to find him as soon as I can."
"Alright," Wedge said, sighing in defeat, "I can't argue with Luke's knowledge and insight, as much as I'd love to. Get going as soon as you can."
"Thank you, sir," he said, turning on his heels.
"And Horn?"
Corran looked back at Wedge. "Don't get yourself killed. I don't want to deal with the wrath of Mirax."
"I wouldn't wish that on anyone, General."
***
"Really, love," Wes said. "I'm not sure if this place is very conducive to raising children."
"Don't be getting ahead of yourself, flyboy," Inyri replied.
Ace glanced around at the interior of the old building. To say it was run-down was an understatement. This structure must have been constructed several thousand years earlier, and from what Ace could gather, it had once been a simple housing complex of sorts. Amazingly enough, the ancient plasteel walls had held up, and for the most part, the structure was still in tact. The Rogues would set up shop here to begin the next phase of the mission
"Let's get a few generators and terminals set up," Ace ordered. "Soon as we can, send these coordinates to the Rogues with our new encryption keys."
"It's going to take some time for them to de-encrypt that message," Darvix said.
Prior to leaving, Ace had devised a new encryption system that was geared to help protect their transmissions. They would be using certain coding from other encrypt keys, as well as older ones, to send data transmissions. Doing this made it harder for the enemy to decrypt vital transmissions, but also required that more time be spent on their own end to be able to read these files. Unfortunately, it was absolutely vital that they protect the integrity of this location.
"Do it," Ace said. "We can't risk it."
***
Within a few hours, everything had been set up, and it was a matter of waiting for the rest of the group to arrive at the new safe house. Ace Azzameen took another bite out of his ration bar before glancing back at his datapad, returning his attention to the novel he had been reading. When he had been reassigned to the Rogues, he couldn't have imagined that he'd be doing more intel work. He was itching to get himself back behind the flightstick again.
"Major," asked the voice of Darvix, "Could I ask you something?"
"For the last time," Ace said, "No formalities when talking to me. Just Ace. And yes, what can I do for you, Dap?"
"What was it like?" Darvix asked. "The Death Star, I mean."
"In one word, frightening," Ace said. "I'm just glad I was in the capable hands of General Calrissian. Most of us had resigned ourselves to death by agreeing to take on the assault at Endor, but we were determined to go through with it…I remember flying an A-Wing in an escort mission to rally the fleet at Sullust. It was amazing, I'll tell you that. Hundreds of thousands of men and women, ready to give their lives to end the tyranny of the Empire were gathered together.
"I knew before the mission that I wouldn't be able to fly. At the time, I was still one of the youngest pilots in the fleet, so I wasn't surprised when my X-Wing was reassigned to a veteran pilot. I was still so determined to fight; I actually volunteered to man the topside gunner turret of the Millennium Falcon. I remember when the General ordered us to fly in to the Executor. I was sure I was going to meet my end by one of her turbolasers.
"It wasn't until we were in the Death Star itself that I truly felt helpless. The tunnels were too tight, so I couldn't safely fire the turrets without hitting one of our own. I went up to the cockpit and helped feed sensor data to Wedge. We almost died in the way out, you know. The General only barely managed to coax enough speed out of the Falcon to get us out of the blast radius of the Death Star."
"I lost a lot of friends that day," Ace said, "but I know their deaths weren't for a lost cause. The Empire truly died that day at Endor. Even now, they're reeling from the death of Vader and Palpatine."
Darvix wondered idly why Ace never got that much credit for his heroics at Endor. If he had been flying a snubfighter, would he have gotten the hero status he so richly deserved?
"I'm not sure if I could ever do anything like that," Darvix said quietly.
Ace shook his head, "When you know what you're fighting for, you can brave through anything."
It was a sobering thought, Darvix realized. Ace knew what he had fought for then, and knew why he fought now.
"The question is," Ace continued, "why are you fighting, Darvix?"
Darvix didn't know the answer. Was he fighting for revenge against the Empire? Was he fighting to redeem his image, so he could finally forgive himself for the things he had done?
"I don't know," Darvix said humbly.
"You'd best figure it out soon," Ace said. "A warrior without drive is a danger to himself, and his friends.