Chapter Three – Is Anyone Keeping Anything That Can Explode Away From Kell?

Kell Tainer had returned to base an hour ago. And since then, he had received nothing but bad news. They had lost Bilbringi and his sister Tyria had gone after Adra. And no one knew where the Sith either computer hacker was.

His head jerked up as a familiar looking x-wing landed. It was Tyria's. Jumping up, he hurried over, expecting his sister. But Adra Tallon climbed out, her face grim and her eyes filled with tears. Brushing away Kell and the others' questions, she headed inside, running into her best friend Nicola Afyon on her way. A quiet question from Nicola and a short answer from Adra sent both of them into tears. Bror, Nicola's husband, went over concerned, and Nicola threw herself at him sobbing. He talked quietly to her for a few moments before drawing her closer to him, talking soothingly and quietly to her, running his fingers through her red- gold hair,

At this moment, the squad leader, Face Loran came out. He took one look at the sobbing and hurried over to her, bringing her to him.

"Adra, what happened?" he asked. Adra wiped her face slightly and then said loud and clear,

"Face, I need to talk to you and Wedge, immediately."

* * * * *

Her eyes still red, Adra walked into Wedge Antilles' office, Face Loran with her. Wedge looked up at her.

"Adra, what's the matter? And where the Sith happened to Tyria?"

Adra smiled humorlessly. "Right now, she's probably being tortured by Admiral Daala. And it's all my fault," the two men exchanged glances and Adra rushed on. "I shouldn't have left without her and I shouldn't have let the eyeballs and squints take me away from my squad, and I should've out flown that lumbering Star Destroyer,"

Slowly, as if coming out of a dream, Wedge said, his voice incredulous, "You mean to say that Tyria Tainer's been captured by Admiral Daala?" Adra nodded. "Emperor's black bones. Tyria Tainer, a captive of Daala," Wedge said quietly half to himself. Then, becoming the General again, he asked, "Does Kell know yet?" Adra shook her head. Face sighed.

"This'll be hard. Let's keep all explosives away from him for awhile,"

* * * * *

Kell Tainer banged his fist against the wall. Without turning to face them, he said slowly, "Daala's got my sister? The computer expert who only killed when she had to? And they're torturing her now most likely?" He turned around at the last part. All three nodded, Wedge and Face's eyes were red rimmed and Adra had tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Excuse me," he stalked off towards the landing field. Not wanting to have to speak the words again, Face pulled out his datapad and sent a message to the other Wraiths. Half of the woman there began to openly cry, the other half had tears brimming in their eyes. The men just stood there, a bit unsure of what to do, their eyes redrimmed.

Gaeriel Captison's, the squad's "politician," head shot up suddenly. "Is anyone keeping anything that can explode away from Kell?"

"Not yet," Face answered.

Cloud Ritril stood up. He was one of Kell's good friends and a fellow demolitions expert. "I'll go. It'll give me something to do."

"Nicola broke away from Bror and went over towards Cloud. "I'll go too. My fighting skills might be needed. Though I hope, I hope that I won't have to hurt him," The rest of the squad merely nodded and the two hurried after Kell.

* * * * *

He was right where everyone had expected, in his room of highly dangerous explosives.

"Alright Kell, back away and out of the room," Nicola said simply, her lightsaber at his throat. Cloud went up and put an arm around his friend's shoulders.

"It'll be okay, we'll get her back," Nodding slightly, Kell started to leave the room, Cloud and Nicola with him, Nicola's lightsaber still on. Smiling slightly as they reentered the docking bay, Nicola shut down her lightsaber, returning it to her belt. Taking the opportunity, Kell darted away towards his X-wing. Cursing, Nicola darted after him, Cloud, Asyr Sei'lar, another Wraith, Gaeriel and Adra with her.

Before even Nicola could get there, Kell had powered up his XJ X-wing and was taking off.

"Just let him go," Face said quietly. "He'll just fly around for a bit, maybe go destroy some Imps, and then come back," Kell's oldest friend predicted.

* * * * *

Kell has what some call a one track mind. Vana Sage had once asked him if he ever thought about more than one thing, (explosives.) He had corrected her; he only thought about one thing at a time. And right now, it was getting his sister back.

Plotting a course in the nav computer to Cloud City, an Imperial stronghold, he pulled back the hyperspace lever and disappeared into what some called "the white tunnel."

Six standard hours later, he reemerged to realspace. Maintaining comm silence, he brought his X-wing to a touchdown in an unused landing pad, one the Wraiths had used many times. Jumping out of his X-wing, he went around and pulled open a hidden cargo hold. Smiling grimly, he surveyed the contents.

Dozens upon dozens of explosives greeted him. Reaching down, he pressed a hidden button, revealing dozens of highly dangerous and for the most part, highly illegal explosives. His callused fingers passed over the explosives, taking several out and rejecting the others. Pressing the button once more, he selected some lower voltage and legal explosives and placed them all in a bag by his feet. The hidden cache looked a bit emptier now; he'd have to remember to restock.

Closing the cache door, he picked up the bag, slung it over his shoulder, and headed off towards the nearest Imperial storehouse.

* * * * *

Two officer buildings, four storehouses, and nine ships later, Kell's comlink began to beep. Grinning slightly, he answered it.

"Explosion Boy. Start talking."

"What are you doing, Kell? Daala just contacted us and told us that unless you stop this immediately, she'll kill Tyria!" Face's voice came out over the comlink, loud and annoyed.

"I'm blowing up buildings, that's what. And knowing Daala, she wouldn't hurt Tyria right off the bat. Circuitry Girl's hacked in and stolen too many of Daala's secrets for that."

"Kell! She's like my sister! You want to risk her life just to have fun blowing up Imps?"

Kell's voice grew grim and hard. "She is my sister, Face. And I'm not going to let her be tortured."

Face's voice grew a bit curious. "Tell me, how many buildings have you blown up?"

"Let's see here. Two officer buildings, four storehouses, and nine ships," a loud boom went off behind him. "Actually, make that five storehouses."

"Alright Kell, you've had your fun. Now get back to Coruscant and that's an order. Poster Boy out."

Kell stared at the comlink. This was the first time in awhile Face had given him an order and pulled rank. And this would be the first time in even longer that he actually followed one.