Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Imperial Centre, Triadon, Mid Rim

Maija walked quickly down the corridor of the Imperial Headquarters on Triadon, anxious to finish her shift. This was an industrialised world, grey and dreary. One couldn't go outside without a breath mask in place owing to the high level of pollutants in the atmosphere. The planet was being sucked dry of all its natural resources by an Empire who cared nothing for the planet or its people. Once they had squeezed every drop of life, they would leave and the planet and the people would die. Triadon was one of the biggest producers of durasteel in the galaxy and, therefore, vitally important to the success of the Imperial War Machine.

Squashing an uncomfortable feeling of pity for the unfortunate human and alien natives who mined the raw materials, Maija entered the turbolift. "Floor six," she muttered and slumped wearily against its walls as it made a rapid ascent. The doors swished open and she left, striding along the brightly lit corridors to find her quarters. She couldn't help the Triadii people by going on a personal crusade, much as she wanted to free them all from the degrading conditions in which they slaved for the right to remain alive. She had other things to think about. She would help them but in a different way. A small grim smile flickered across her normally expressionless face. Food rations at one of the biggest factories would be mysteriously doubled tonight because of a small computer glitch.

The walls of the Imperial complex on Triadon were grey; the employees were grey. The people were colourless and drably tired of a harsh existence. How she hated this place, this job. Nonetheless, she had no choice. She'd only been here for six months - the people who lived and worked here had a life sentence. What was even worse - their world was dying because of the Empire. How long would that sentence be?

She had been employed as a Junior Assistant in the Triadon administrative office. Nearly three years had passed since she'd been recruited to spy for the Alliance. She'd not been in a position to be much help, but she'd sent one or two snippets their way when she could - the occasional computer code and sliced programme. However, something was happening out here. She could almost feel it. She'd tried to stretch out with her feelings just like her father had once told her to but she'd felt nothing. Maija didn't want the force. It hadn't done her or her family any good. Perhaps this strange gift she'd been either blessed or cursed with had gone from her. But deep down she knew it was still there, ready to torment her senses and haunt her dreams - biding its time.

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After graduating from the Academy she'd spent the first six months setting up the computer systems of the greatest Imperial ship ever to be built. Rumour had it Darth Vader himself would be in command. It was to be his ship.

Maija never forgot her first jaw dropping view of the 'Executor' as her transport shuttle had glided slowly into one of the many docking bays. This was no ordinary ship; this was a Super Star Destroyer. It hung next to Fondor's immense orbital star dock, its pointed prow stabbing dagger-like into the blackness of space. Her primary emotion was one of utter dread and her second… How could the Rebellion ever compete with this?

Maija had kept her head down and worked, avoiding attracting attention. She felt lost in the battle cruiser - lost and emotionally cold. She felt nothing and sensed nothing. This was probably for the best. The worst thing that could happen to her was discovery by Lord Vader. He was a Sith and a powerful Force user. If her presence was ever pinpointed, she would be dead and she knew it. But perhaps being one in a crew of nearly forty thousand might help although if a Sith Lord wanted you and you were that close - she didn't hold out much hope.

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"Officer! Prepare holo equipment to record a message."

"Yes, Admiral Griff," Maija murmured meekly and set the holo recording equipment ready for use. Maija gave the Admiral a surreptitious glance from the corner of her eye. He was a cold man and, she sensed, a ruthlessly ambitious one. Why was he setting up the equipment for use in his office when there was a more secure and better-equipped com centre just along the hall?

Maija wondered how much was known about this super ship. If she could just access the message, discovering its contents, then she might be able to learn some information vital to the rebellion. Admiral Griff was up to something. He'd been having meetings with the Dark Lord and with the other Admirals. Maija had discovered that much but not why. The wily Admiral Griff was not one to do things without a reason, usually resulting in his own advancement.

"You may leave, Lieutenant." His voice was curt and Maija had no choice but to do what he asked. Still, there was something very strange about all of this.

Later that night after the Admiral had retired to his quarters, Maija returned to the office and broke into his files, but found nothing of value - only notification of another meeting arranged with the Admirals based on Fondor. He was clever and was covering his tracks well. Whatever he was up to, something stank of treachery. Maija pushed her cap further back on her head with frustration. There was nothing here. Time to go back to what she was supposed to be doing - programming a glitch deep into the systems. It needed to be one that wouldn't be found for a while, maybe even years. Still, it might save some of her people at some point.

Maija firmed her lips and switched off the Admiral's desk lamp. Time to get of here - she'd been here long enough. After all the care she'd taken over the years it wouldn't do to be caught now. Suddenly a shadow appeared at the door. "Sithspit!" she whispered and after a moment of frozen panic, she forced her heavy legs into hiding behind a grey sofa in the corner of the office. If he put all the lights on, she would be seen. Maija closed her eyes and prayed to whatever deity was listening. She could hardly hear what he was saying for the thumping of her heart.

"Code blue. Operation loyalty."

Maija craned her neck to see if the holo viewer was showing the recipient of the message, but all she could hear was a vague, low, menacing rumble that sent chills through her body.

"Rebel spy on board?"

"Yes, the spy is in place," Griff answered.

Had she really heard that? The words came to her from the sinister voice. Maija froze in her hiding place. She'd been found out. She could hardly hear the next part of the conversation for the dread in her mind and the deafening pounding of her heart.

"They've sent a boy." Griff's tone was dismissive. "This should be all too easy."

'A boy!' Maija frowned. The Rebels had sent a boy?

"All too easy? Never assume anything is easy when the rebels are involved. Fanaticism for a doomed cause is a powerful incentive."

"Of course, my Lord."

Maija gulped back a strangled cry. 'Vader!' This was some scheme between Griff and Darth Vader. She slumped back against the wall and held her breath, silently willing her panic to go away until she finally heard Admiral Griff leave his office. She waited a further quarter of an hour, her pulse still running too quickly and then slipped silently to the relative safety of her tiny room. Whoever the 'boy' was, he was walking into a trap.

Two days later she saw him. It took a while but the face, a face from a past life in the place that still held the title of 'home' in her heart, was eerily familiar. She'd been monitoring screens in the command centre when a detail of the civilian workforce crossed in front of a holocam. A forgotten face from her brief childhood. It was the Skywalker boy and a couple of droids. So he was still alive - she'd known it all along. He'd grown a bit, but his eyes were still as blue under untidy, overlong hair. She watched as the R2 unit plugged himself into a computer socket and things became all too clear. The Dark Lord and the Admiral were setting a trap for a rebel spy and other enemies closer to home. The young man who'd been her cousin Biggs' greatest friend was spying for the Rebellion. Skywalker seemed ill at ease in his role - all too obvious to those who were looking out for such as he. Yet he was allowed to go about his work with a greater freedom than was normally possible for a worker in his situation. It screamed trap. It was a trap - surely he knew it. Maybe she could send some schematics of the ship to the R2 droid and a warning. Quickly she tapped in the relevant commands and watched as the droid's head whirled in surprise. He'd got more information than he'd bargained for. She could do nothing more for the present.

Maija had learned later that Darth Vader and Admiral Griff had been weeding out so called traitors in the Imperial High command. Some of the other admirals had escaped, but more importantly, so had the boy. Her lip curled disdainfully. Darth Vader was minding his own career. Skywalker had escaped and made it off Fondor with the relevant information. She hoped he got to where he was heading. She could do nothing more for him. If he survived perhaps one day they might meet again.

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Maija pulled her uniform from her aching body and wandered tiredly into the fresher. The water beat down on her throbbing head, soothing her tired muscles. Why she was rehashing her life tonight she had no idea, but the memories kept coming.

Once she'd finished her six months on the ship she found herself assigned to the diplomatic training school on Coruscant. Maija transformed herself into the perfect assistant - discreet, reliable and unobtrusive. She'd sat in the front of a speeder car while her boss tried to seduce a lady friend. Sat in on meetings and they hadn't realised she was there. Heard more treason talked over by the petty Moffs and beaurocrats living safe and smug on the Core World than a Wookiee had hairs on his body. Coruscant was the jewel of the Empire, but it was cracked and flawed. Whereas, out on the rim, the cracks had split wide open allowing the rebel Alliance to emerge from within.

These skills would be useful for the Rebel Alliance she hoped one day to join for real. She also spent time in the gym increasing her fitness and time in the cockpit of various craft honing her flying skills. When the time came to move, she had to be ready. She could not be complacent. If she was caught tapping into classified material or it was ever discovered how many codes had gone to the rebellion there would be no leniency for such traitorous acts.

When her first proper posting had materialised, Maija had been a little disappointed. What on earth was she to do on Triadon? She'd hoped for somewhere she might have been able to really damage the Empire. But a mid rim Imperial durasteel producing colony!

She wandered from the diplomatic centre and had sat in the Imperial gardens watching as other humans laughed and joked. There were no non-humans in view. None of them would dare show their faces in this sector of the city. Moving into a deserted part of the gardens she subsided onto a wooden bench. Drawing her knees up to her chest Maija rested her chin on them. There was no choice - she had to go unless she defected to the Rebellion now. But what good would that do? She couldn't very well spy for them against the Empire if she were no longer working for the Empire.

Before Yavin the Rebels had been viewed as annoying but unorganised and easily squashed - seen as no more threat than a morrt to a gamorrean. Now it was a completely different story. These victories had stung the Emperor's pride and viciously he sought to crush any opposition to his rule.

"May I join you?"

Maija peered up, but the sun was at the wrong angle and the man's facial features were indistinct.

"What?" Her dark eyes asked in confusion.

He took a step forward, but she held up her hands as if to guard her own personal space.

"May I join you?" he repeated politely.

The man was dressed in the uniform of an Imperial commander. Medium build and height and as he moved, Maija could see he had a nondescript face with average features and grey eyes. She looked at him blankly for a second. Had she seen him before? She closed her eyes and located a memory - the face, even in its ordinariness was familiar, but it was over two years since she had seen it.

"Page?" she whispered in shock.

He grinned, his grey eyes warming making him recognisable. "Rumbled," he murmured good naturedly. He sat down next to her. "You have a good memory for faces, Lieutenant."

"No, it took me a minute or two." She closed her eyes again for a second and when they opened there was anger in them. "What in the name of a krayt dragon are you doing here? It's dangerous. There could be open air surveillance."

"So keep your voice down." He still smiled but a cold hard glint in his eyes told her that he was well aware of the risks. "Everything up to scratch?"

"You mean - have I passed all the exams and improved my fitness?"

He smiled inwardly at her abruptness. There was no nonsense about this young lady. Straight to the target like a true blaster bolt. "Yes. If you are going to move up in the imperial regime, your importance to us will increase and you need to be at the peak of your efficiency. There is no room for slovenliness here. It could mean your own destruction and we need you."

"I know."

The look the two shared was grim. Page wondered about her. 'How much did she know?'

"Things aren't good for us, are they?"

Page sighed. "No, they're not. We need everything and everyone we can get. Those codes you sent us helped quite a bit."

"A pity they change them every few days."

"Yes, but to be expected. Still for those few days we knew what they were. It saved many lives."

"I'm sorry I couldn't do it more often."

"It has to be random otherwise your identity would be compromised."

"Give me time and I'll do it again."

"Good, we appreciate it." He smoothed his hand over his jaw and Maija could suddenly see how tired he was. The pronounced cheekbones were thinner than they had been and there were tired circles around his eyes. She'd been right. Things were not going well for the Rebel Alliance. The Empire really had them on the rack. She had no choice after all.

"I've been given a posting."

Page's face revealed no expression but Maija sensed his mind working furiously. "Where?"

"Triadon."

Page leant back in the seat and tapped his chin. "Aah! Interesting."

"I don't know if it is."

"You sound unsure."

"I am. What would you say if I told you I wanted to defect now?"

"I would say you were welcome, of course…"

Maija frowned - she was getting vibes off the Intel man and not through the Force either. She hadn't felt anything through that channel of communication since her parents had died. "Why do I sense there's a big 'but' at the end of your sentence?"

"I always thought you were a smart youngster."

"Oh please!" Maija groaned. "Spare me."

"What about your posting?"

"Triadon," she recited dully. "Third moon of the planet Adon in the system of the same name. It's an industrial Durasteel producing colony. Linked to the Kuat shipyard facilities and therefore of vital strategic importance to the Imperial war machine."

Page rubbed his eyes tiredly. "The words you should be focusing on are ' vital, strategic and importance.' Do you still want to defect?" He gave her a smile which almost reached his eyes. "Silly word if you ask me because you've worked for us since you were a baby. Still are in a lot of ways."

She flashed him a resentful glare. "Sometimes I feel very old."

"Sometimes we all do. Look Maija…."

"It's okay - I understand. At first I couldn't think what I could do on Triadon."

"But now you can?"

Maija nodded. "Yes. Now I can." She fixed him with an intense stare. "You need what I can do too much."

"Good. Because I always wanted to know more about Imperial Durasteel production facilities." The glint in the grey eyes hardened again.

"I'm not going to be producing it," she exclaimed hotly.

"'Course not. You're going to be aiding the garrison commander in his daily duties running the place. He has the unenviable task of protecting such a valuable commodity from theft or sabotage."

"Gravel maggot!!" Maija bit out, furious with him. "You knew all this already."

"Of course. Shouldn't you have expected that?" He held out his hands in supplication. "Guilty as charged, little Maija.

Maija gave a tiny reluctant smile, her small face lifting for a moment.

Page picked at a thread on his uniform before continuing. "We need to know the amount being produced, what it's for and where it goes once it's shipped out."

"So you want delays to production and the occasional shipment going astray."

"Not too afar astray."

"To the Rebel Alliance you mean?"

"That would be helpful." Page began to rise.

"Is there a rebel cell on Triadon?"

"Well…"

"You mean I'm it?"

"For the moment."

"Oh, for Sith's sake!"

Page's eyes narrowed. "Interesting terminology, Maija."

"It's just a phrase."

"Sure it is. Be careful."

"I'm always careful."

"I mean it." Surreptitiously, he passed her a data card. "Memorise this and then get rid of it. If you do get into trouble, these codes will get you to either an operative or a base. If things get too hot - get out. Don't pull too many heroics young lady."

"I'm eighteen - not eight. I'll be like a sandstorm in the desert."

"Is that supposed to reassure me?"

"You gave me the assignment. I know what to do."

"Fair enough…. Sandstorm." He gave her an unsmiling nod in farewell and quickly left wondering all the while if he was doing the right thing. She was so young and far too intense, but the Rebellion was full of people like that.

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Maija pulled her warm green robe securely around her shoulders and grabbed a mug of hot chocolate. The taste was pleasant and soothed her troubled mind a little. Wandering thoughtfully through to her sleeping chamber, she considered her circumstances. She'd been here six months already and not done nearly enough. Perhaps it was time to crank up the heat a little. She'd been patient for too long. Picking up her data reader, she slid a data card into the slot and perused the contents. The reports she read made her frown. She'd got these from the infonet and from classified Imperial sources. Things didn't look good for the Rebel Alliance. The war had deteriorated into a nasty hit and run kind of stalemate. That was as long as the Rebellion could keep running ahead of the Imperial search teams. They were only barely moving ahead - barely. So many had died.

Maija called up another document and stared at the defiant beautiful face of Leia Organa as it appeared before her. 'Empire's most Wanted.' Maija shook her head in admiration. What the woman had gone through was unimaginable and she was still fighting. Next on the list was the smuggler Solo. Attractive devil-may-care risk taker but a damn good pilot. He'd been living on his charm and wits for many a long year but he'd stayed with the Rebellion for longer than he'd stayed with anything even though there was an enormous price on his head. Solo had even eluded the bounty hunters. What made Solo stay, Maija couldn't be sure but it was likely either his link to the Princess, his Wookiee co-pilot or Luke Skywalker.

Skywalker was the ultimate Rebel hero and the rewards for his capture were for more wealth than she could imagine. He was just a boy from Tatooine as she was. Why she should dream of his blue eyes trying to tell her something important was more than she could fathom.