Talon carefully lifted Shada into his arms, her body hanging limply, pressed to his where he clutched her against his chest, head cushioned against his shoulder as gently as he could manage. He took two faltering steps towards a still gaping Booster and spoke, words soft, not commanding, but a rare pleading. "Booster, if there's any chance you can disable that ship without destroying, please do so." He turned to the turbolifts, faltered, spun and looked Booster in the eye, "If not, I understand."

Booster took a moment to watch as his good friend carried his wife into the turbolift and the doors could be heard in the dead silence of the stunned bridge crew as they swished shut. Drawing himself back to the battle, he focused on decisions at hand and knew something went over his head and wondered who the human was that caused such a reaction in the top smuggler, but didn't have time to give it more than a fleeting glimmer of interest as fighters poured from the four attack frigates.

On the Kaagan, the Admiral looked at his human prisoner and laughed. "Having your niece onboard was a bonus. Her knowing you are alive and most likely will be destroyed will haunt her dreams, and if we are destroyed, the rift between Karrde and Terrik will be irreconcilable. However, there is a small chance; they will allow us our victory."

The human kept his face emotionless as he replied, "I hope not."


Talon gently placed Shada on a medical bed and sank into the chair at its head, the droid physician immediately in attendance.

"She's been stunned," the doctor stated unnecessarily.

"And the baby?" Talon's quiet tone demanded an answer, as he reached for her hand and clutched it tightly, drawing it to his lips.

"The baby is fine. Should patient D'ukal have taken a direct hit to the abdomen, the baby would have been lost. The hit between her shoulder blades is the best location for a pregnant woman in case she has to be shot," the droid impassively stated.

Talon winced and squeezed her fingers tightly. "Keep her unconscious."

The metallic eyes trained on him, "For how long?"

"Until this battle has ended or we are floating atoms."

Talon knew he should return to the bridge and help Booster, but his legs couldn't support his weight after he sank into the chair and for once, the thrill of combat held no interest. His one attempt to rise dispelled all doubt in his mind that he was functioning well enough to be of help to anyone. So he sat, holding her hand and replaying in his mind how a dead man got onto the Bothan vessel and newly commissioned Bothan flagship at that. His mind filtered possibilities of a clone or lookalike….or the real person. Finally, he started putting pieces together as to his who his spies most likely were and he didn't like what his intuition told him. Looking at his sleeping wife, doubts surfaced as to her innocence. He rubbed a hand over his face, gripping his goatee harder than necessary, desperately trying to feel…anything at all and was relieved to sense the shock wearing off and let go. Making a decision, he pulled his comlink and made a call to the bridge. Solmari was taking a turn on an auxiliary station. "I need you to patch me through to Shirlee Faughn on Aphran."

Solmari looked surprised, "Right now?" she questioned. "You know these stations are for emergency use during a battle?"

"I see a ryll den in your future," Talon snarled.

"Hold on, Sir," she paused the link. Knowing proper protocol, she decided to absolve herself of responsibility by asking higher powers. She approached Mirax Horn. "Excuse me, Mrs. Horn." She waited until Mirax acknowledged her with a look, "Talon Karrde wants to place a personal call to Aphran. Protocol says no unauthorized transmissions during a battle."

Mirax had witnessed the shooting, as she happened to be looking at the Karrde's when Shada bolted to the door saw Talon react just as swiftly, drawing and firing. She didn't know why it happened, but knew if Corran ever did that to her, she would be long in forgiving him, and felt for her friends. "Let him make his call."


Nawara and Wedge watched in horror as the massive rear door of the Kaagan slid open; each meter spilling iridescent red into the blackness of space. The vessel positioned so the back had a clear shot to the planet. Booster gave the all clear to engage and Wedge ordered his fighters to mix it up with the B-Wings Bothans preferred to use.

Nawara watched with pride as the Rylothean fighters broke off and raced to intercept the Bothans, following their mostly ex-Rogue leaders. His chosen group stayed with him and wondered why their leader stayed put, not engaging. He answered their unspoken questions almost as swiftly as they were formulated, "White Two and Three, strafe the port side of the Kaagan." "White Four, you're my wing. We're going in after that weapon before it has a chance to fire. We'll probably only get one chance, follow my lead to the letter."

"Copy," the young Twi'lek's response was mixed with fear and awe. He willed his hands to remain steady and his thoughts flashed to his parents and siblings, wondering if he would live to tell his heroic tale.

Wedge heard Ven's order and issued one of his own, "Red Group, break off. Concentrate all firepower on the Kaagan's starboard side." He broke off from his group and made a direct run to assist Nawara. "Ven, you are still a crazy Rogue at heart, and here I thought marriage, kits and a respectable job would make you not commit to suicidal runs like this."

"I can't let them kill my wife and kids. I'm replaceable. Just ask any Twi'lek if they'd like to do my wife if I bite the dust," Ven joked back, lining up his run.

"I've got the list from when you were in the Bright Lands," Wedge joked.

"You got a B-wing on your tail, White One," Corran cut in.

"Take care of it White Four," Ven ordered.

His wingman looped and caught the B-wing in a side shot, leaving debris showering Wedge as he plowed through.

"I'm your new wingman, White One," Wedge informed Nawara. "White Four keep them off us."

"Yes, Sir," the young Twi'lek circled and took aim at another target, his mind racing. General Antilles gave him a direct order.

As they closed on the opening, the flashing red beacon welcomed them to their doom. The strobes increased in frequency and both knew most likely their X-wings would take the brunt of the blast and there would be nothing to recover or bury. Without hesitation, they flew in tandem into the rear of the large Bothan assault frigate, the prototype latest design the Bothan's tried to hide from the New Republic, until they finally had to admit its existence with an unveiling ceremony only five months prior.

Nawara let loose with one proton torpedo and flipped on his side and fired a second torpedo into the outer side of the frigate, blowing a hole large enough for an escape, and clear the way for Wedge to have a clear line of fire to punch a second shot into Hammertong. Wedge, with precision, fired into the killer weapon and followed Nawara through the gaping hole as the rear of the ship exploded, the shock ripple pushing him ahead of the actual explosion. Molten chunks of flaming metal the size of his X-wing, now transformed into missiles, took out anything caught near the back of the warship. To Wedge's dismay, he witnessed two Rylothean fighters disintegrate and also one B-wing, as they couldn't evacuate the area swiftly enough, but most of the projectiles were caught in the pull of the planet's gravity and burned out against the planetary shields. He had flashbacks from the time he followed the Millennium Falcon at Endor. He tracked Nawara until he was clear and smiled in relief as the red X-wing performed a victory roll and straightened up with his crosshairs on soon to be debris from a B-wing who couldn't summarily escape an ex-Rogue.

The old Rogue fighters of the Rebellion led their pilots into the fray and gave spectacular demonstrations of why they were good enough to be Rogues, as they racked up ace kills and all but eliminated the Bothan fighters.

By the following day, footage of the battle was on all holonews outlets. Hobbie and Gavin sat in a bar and watched the replay loop of the battle.

"You can sure pick the Rogues out just by watching them fly," Gavin commented and took a swig of Corellian whiskey.

"That and Horn already has his new X-wing painted green. And we all have had the tour of Ven's brightly painted red fighter. He said it's the same paint as on the Errant Venture. Did he show you the colors he chose for his X-wing fleet?" Hobbie asked, never removing his eyes from the action. Each time the battle replayed, new details emerged and their critiquing and commentaries didn't let up either.

"I know Booster set an X-wing aside for Antilles for when he visits. That's the black with red wings. Janson is in the red fuselage with black wings, and all other pilots not Rogues are flying the red bodies with yellow and green wings. Still haven't figured out why Booster doesn't have them all painted alike. Who thought of the paint job for Tycho's X-wing," Gavin commented and both men focused momentarily on the red, black and yellow camouflage painted craft.

"I think he wants to know which pilot is in a certain craft, and with the ex-Rogues popping in and out, he knows who is leading his lesser trained pilots. If I'd gone with them instead of working, I would be in the all black X-wing with red flames," Hobbie lamented and downed his whiskey, motioning the service droid for a refill.

"Ahh, here's the part where Karrde's ship joins the fray." Gavin focused on the firepower coming from a Corellian freighter, not originally designed as a battle frigate.

"I'm glad Karrde's on our side with that souped up ship of his." Hobbie took a sip of his refreshed libation.


Dankin reversed the Wild Karrde out of hyperspace after a ryll run to the nearby Arkanis Sector and performed evasive maneuvers immediately, while Chin called all hands to battle stations. Chin climbed into one of the gun turrets and saw the Errant Venture taking a pounding and starfighters mixing it up everyplace. Dankin gave them their orders. "Just talked with Mirax, and she would appreciate if we would take the frigate targeting their engines out."

Chin lined up his shots as the Wild Karrde maneuvered into position. Unleashing all the cannons at once caused Dankin to continuously reposition the Wild Karrde as it wasn't designed to carry the armament of a warship….but was. A B-wing with a Bothan logo prominently painted on the fuselage, made the mistake of taking them on. The fighter made its fatal run into four ion cannons, the hull colliding with its own mother ship and tearing a gap down the side and lodging in the hull for its final resting place. Just before impact, the Wild Karrde took the shields of the Bothan frigate, identified as the Kraf'tye, down.

They had the satisfaction of witnessing escape pods launch just before the Kraf'tye exploded.

Booster kept his eyes focused on the two X-wings, whose colors told him who was piloting and foolish enough to fly up the backside of the Kaagan, and their reckless exit out of the side. He was glad all his holocams were recording as those two would want to relive their flight of glory. His selective hearing filtered a constant stream of comlink chatter and picked up on Tycho ordering all small fighters to vacate the area immediately as the Kaagan started coming apart.

Explosions ripped the back of the Kaagan away and escape pods poured in all directions escaping the dying warship. Klaxon's on the bridge made talking impossible until Mirax muted them all at once.

"Thank you." Booster was at her side immediately, and leaning over her shoulder, he looked at the damage those klaxons were trying to tell him. The three remaining Bothan frigates were smaller, but pounded his ship relentlessly and he saw shields starting to fail, especially near his engines.

"Wild Karrde is here." Mirax pointed to another blip that just appeared on her screens. "Where do you want them, Dad?"

"Tell them to target the one trying to take my engines out." He went back to pacing the catwalk and watching the battle on the mainscreen.

After the destruction of the second Bothan warship, the two remaining ships broke off, limped out of reach of Booster's weapons and stopped. Soon a Bothan with piping of a captain was on the screen. "We wish to collect our people and will leave," he requested without offering terms of a surrender.

"I don't think so. Surrender your vessels to me or I'll have my fighters make sure you can't go to hyperspace." Booster couldn't believe these arrogant Bothan's thought they had leverage to negotiate.

"We need instructions from Bothawui," the officer finally admitted.

"You have fifteen minutes and I turn my people loose on you." Booster went to cut the link then remembered, "You have a human that may be in a pod from the Kaagan. We'll pick the pods up."

The Bothan looked miserable with his rippling fur and drooping ears, but nodded and cut the link on his end.

Booster ordered shields dropped and rescue craft to retrieve the pods and any pilot, Bothan or otherwise that had to jettison from their ship. Finally, he turned his attention to the Wild Karrde and knew Dankin was waiting. "Dankin," Booster greeted him when Cov linked the ships together via holofeed. "Can I enlist your services to help bring pods to my ship from the Kaagan? They should all contain Bothans and maybe one human. Everyone will be taken into custody so treat them as the enemy. Any humans are to be segregated."

Dankin held Booster's eyes for a moment and quietly asked, "Where is the boss?"

"Busy, he'll be in contact." Booster quickly severed the connection.


Dravis sent a message to Karrde's contact, Rysa. He met her for the first time on the Errant Venture at Ryloth a few days before, and was shocked to learn she was a Bothan. He didn't get to be head of one of the largest smuggler organizations by being obtuse. Sitting in a bar on the Venture, he saw this Rysa sitting with the Rogues, laughing and telling stories. Whoever she was, he didn't want to become her enemy and made a mental note to query Karrde about her. "Rysa," he smiled when she came on the holocom. "My boys are looking for a little fun and I've been told you run the best establishment on Bothawui."

Rysa nodded, "You got that right; do you want to come here?"

"Uhh, I can't land. I thought maybe you could bring your girls to my ship."

"It'll cost you extra."

"Credits are no problem. Keeping my men from jumping ship at the first port of call is."

"Where are you?"

He gave the location and she told him to give her an hour.

Rysa looked at the flimsiplast and Karrde's hand written location codes. Karrde's code told her Dravis was half hour hyperspace jump into the void towards Leritor. He told her he was holding between Geddes and Krant and gave specific coordinates. She made a public display of escorting her girls to where she parked her spacecraft. At the exact spot, she waited. No more than two minutes passed when a ship dropped out of hyperspace and an extension tube was extended without communication. She sent the girls to take care of the crew while laughingly stating someone had better keep an eye on their ride home. Once the girls were occupied, Dravis slipped unobtrusively through the docking tube and handed Rysa a flimsiplast and high denomination credit. With a ready smile and no words spoken between them, he retreated to his own ship. Rysa opened the folded note that gave the location of her targets. She planned the swiftest route to accomplish her assigned task while waiting for her girls to return.

It was after dark in Drev'starn when Rysa landed and escorted her girls to their secure quarters. She changed into dark clothing and slipped through a tunnel that connected her building to the underground service tunnels. In her backpack were thermo detonators with remotes. Working quickly, she had all in place before light. Back in her home, she remotely set them all off at the same time and watched from her window as strategic buildings went up in flames. Sipping caf, she observed as homeland defense forces flew overhead and the city put in lockdown.

Dravis sent a recorded message to the Bothan military. "You want war with Ryloth. This is a small example of what you'll receive. Wars are expensive and loss of life devastating. For pride of being bested by a few small-time smugglers, you are willing to sacrifice the lives of your children and ruin your economy. The next explosives won't be in empty buildings, but hospitals and schools."


The military leaders met with the Regent and his cabinet in the heavily guarded government building. The senior Admiral shamefully gave his report. "Unfortunately, a copy was also posted on the holonet. We can't cover up or deny who was behind the attacks. The ships we sent to Ryloth were either destroyed or crippled. Our greatest blow came when we lost our Hammertong weapon when the Kaagan got destroyed. We also lost the Kraf'tye. Ryloth agreed to extend a short reprieve Captain Terrik of the Errant Venture issued to our surviving ships for surrender. His ship was in orbit as we knew it would be and to nobody's surprise he didn't stay neutral. With his two top officer's being Twi'lek, we discerned he wouldn't. Councilor Fey'lya instructed us not to attack and give him time to negotiate, and is busy distancing himself from our actions. As we meet, he is having a conference with the media on Coruscant with his usual rhetoric…." The admiral trailed off, leaving the room in silence for a moment as the information was absorbed, then talking started all at once and fingers were pointed.

The Regent and his cabinet quickly came to a decision and released a statement, stating they were withdrawing all complaints against Ryloth and the war was effectively over. "I'll contact Fey'lya and we'll spin the incident in such a manner that the next crisis, we'll be old news. For now, we have to be very quiet in the galaxy so they will forget. Admiral, you will find who planted those bombs and bring them before me." The Regent's fur was flat and ears back.

The Admiral nodded without retorting.


Dankin pulled in six escape pods and instructed those inside to stay put. He landed in an almost empty Docking Bay 15, as rescue craft were still out and the fighters patrolling. When pods were boarded, he instructed all to remain inside until opened. Now, he watched as each pod was moved with the assistance of hoverlifts and set on the deck before Booster's security force. The pods were crowded and one by one, Bothan's emerged, fingers interlocked on the back of their heads as instructed. They were instructed to kneel and applied stuncuffs insured cooperation. Dankin pulled the human male aside and instructed H'sishi, "Take him to our brig." He watched as the Togarian led the medium height human with iron gray hair up the ramp of the Wild Karrde.

After the pods were emptied, Dankin called Talon. "Boss, Booster wanted to know if we found a human male. We have and he's in our brig."

"Have Annowiskri pull DNA," Talon ordered. "Call me immediately with the results."

"You able to come this way?" Dankin asked, thinking it strange the boss was absent, unless Booster had him busy on the bridge.

"Soon." Talon cut the link.

A few minutes later Dankin opened the door to the Wild Karrde brig. "If you'll come with me, I can offer you a more comfortable place for your interrogation." He took him to the onboard cafeteria and offered him caf.

Talon entered, wearing a scowl, and sat across from the human.

The older man looked closely at him and spoke first, "Is my niece here?"

Dankin and the rest of the crew surreptitiously moved closer and all talking ceased.

"She's resting. Seeing you gave her quite a shock. The DNA doesn't lie. You are the real deal and not a clone." Talon accepted a cup of caf, wishing it were whiskey and vowed to imbibe in something stronger before this day ended. "Tell me how you came to be on a Bothan warship more than a year after being pronounced dead."

A sad look flickered across the man's face and he let out an audible sigh. Eyes focused on his hands holding the cup, he began, "I hardly know where to start. We were gathering at my apartment to meet a man who identified himself as Gillespee. He promised to get us off the planet. We never expected security forces or the carnage they would leave. I woke up in bacta and then was put in prison. The Mistryls gave me drugs and took the information they wanted. I tried to resist, but somehow I found myself telling everything I knew. I knew they were looking for Shada and was relieved Gillespee didn't share her exact whereabouts with me. They told me I was the only survivor, threw me in prison and put me under a suicide watch, or I wouldn't be here," he lifted his brown eyes to look into Talon's glacial blues. "I was delighted with the holorecording Shada made showing her husband and sons. It was the knowledge our family line wasn't going to be completely wiped out that kept me going."

Talon relived those dark days and prayed he wasn't in for a repeat. "Shada had to be subdued when she saw you on the Kaagan. How did you manage to go from a prison cell on Emberline to the bridge of the Bothan flagship?"

Quinn D'ukal pressed his lips together as he recalled the sequence of events. "I spent several months in solitary. One day, a Mistryl Guard came for me. I was taken before the Eleven. Since they knew I didn't know anything, I figured I was being sentenced to death so the planet had one less mouth to feed. To my surprise, there were Bothan's in the room. One of the eleven told me I was being sold into slavery to the Bothan's. It was the first I'd ever heard of a citizen of Emberlene sold as a slave and then realized, girls that went into the Mistryl Shadow Guards never returned home. I'm sure not all of them cut the grade and the rest were sold. I flat out asked the eleven if that were so and they wouldn't meet my eyes, not ah one of them."

"I'll put out some feelers to see if that's the case." Talon was now intrigued himself and knew Shada would want to know.

Quinn gratefully nodded. "I was taken by the Bothan military to Bothawui. There they ran me through their own version of truth detection. I must have disappointed them, at least I hope so. I learned the Bothan language as I had nothing better to do. They weren't very careful around me and I overheard several secrets they would rather I didn't know."

Talon grimaced and finally pushed his cup away. "Anything Chief of State, Leia Solo needs to know?"

"I don't know. I can tell you and let you decide." Quinn also pushed his cup away.

"We'll talk more later. Right now, I need to get back to Shada." Talon rose and motioned Quinn to join him. He looked at his crew. "Keep this between us for now." He saw nods and knew his people wouldn't talk. Escorting Quinn down the ramp, he came to a surprised halt as Booster stood before him, a son held against each shoulder.

"Karrde," Booster thundered, "these two are starting to act like you."

"I'm sure they act more like their mother," Talon responded weakly, drawing mirth from his trailing crew. Talon looked around. "Where's Nana?"

Booster grinned. "According to them, they decided Nana needed a nap and was tired from taking care of them."

Talon looked at Quinn and with the hint of a smile stated, "Somehow I'll find a way to blame this on you."

For the first time in so long he couldn't remember, Quinn laughed, delighted to look upon his great nephews. They were larger and older than the holorecording, but he recognized them just the same.

Talon focused on his son's and decided to grill D'ukal first. "D'ukal, why aren't you with Nana?"

D'ukal looked at his brother for help and finding none, knew he better say something. "Daddy, where's Mommy?"

"Nice deflection, Son." He heard laughter from all quarters and somehow knew, grilling his sons in front of crew and uncles was just beginning and he had no doubt it would end at his funeral. Even Booster was sporting an 'I told you so' grin.

Staring into identical eyes, he ordered, "Answer me, D'ukal or no toys or stories for two days."

D'ukal's lower lip started quivering and tears filled his eyes. "We found how to make Nana go to sleep and wanted to find you and Mommy. The noise scared us and Nana wouldn't let us leave."

Talon couldn't stay mad as he watched a single tear escape and run down his son's cheek. Terrik looked ready to cry also. With a sigh, he reached for them. Soon both boys were cuddled against his chest and he was looking at an amused Booster. "Where did you find them?"

The grin slipped from Booster's face and he grew serious. "They were on the Black Level." He saw Talon shudder and squeeze his boys tighter. "Luckily, Plakhmirakh was skulking on the lower levels with Moranda. I asked what they were doing mingling with the dregs that inhabit my ship and never did get an honest answer. I will want to know," Booster ordered.

Talon shrugged. "I'll find out why they would want to leave Jari's shop during a battle. I'm sure business was slow and they were looking for a little excitement, that's all."

"Or taking the opportunity of me being distracted to be someplace they shouldn't." Booster mimicked Talon's evasive tone, then got back to the boys. "Moranda took them under her wing and I understand they had a little adventure; one of which is in bacta and another, the morgue. I'll let Savich fill you in on the details. They were brought to the bridge and I decided to personally oversee getting them back to you. Now I have to get back to said bridge." He started walking away and turned back. "You owe me, Karrde." His eyes finally fell on Quinn and he snorted, "The force spare us; another kriffin D'ukal by the looks of you."

Quinn's eyes widened. "What's that mean?"

Talon took control. "Quinn, meet Booster Terrik, captain and owner of this splendid ship that I wished I owned." He didn't wait for Booster to respond and pressed on. "Guilty as charged. I am in the possession of yet another D'ukal. This is the second oldest, Quinn D'ukal."

Booster flashed a smile. "When this is over, I want to meet properly and hear the incredible tale." With that, he hurried away as fast as his long legs could carry him.