Title: A New Path
Summary: Tycho Celchu's journey from the Empire to the Alliance.
Disclaimer: Star Wars is, quite clearly, not mine, and no copyright infringement is intended. This story is not written for profit.
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Chapter 12: Trouble
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"Let's get something straight, Celchu," Janson said, approaching his wingman.
"What, Janson?" Tycho asked wearily. They'd spent more than fourteen hours in the sims today – for the third day in a row – and he was dead on his feet. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "What, Janson?" he asked again. "Because if I don't get to my quarters in the next few minutes I'm going to fall asleep right here." It normally wasn't the type of thing he'd say to a man he couldn't stand but right now he was too tired to care.
"I don't like you, and I don't trust you. I'll fly with you because Narra ordered it. But if you so much as look at me the wrong way, I have no problem with using this." He patted his blaster.
"You know something, Janson? I don't care. I don't expect you to like me. I don't expect you to talk to me any more than you have to. And I don't care." He turned to go. "I'm going now. I need sleep."
But he barely made it around the corner before he ran into Hobbie. Groaning, he sagged against the wall, holding his head in his hands.
Hobbie looked bewildered. "Are you alright?"
"No. I'm exhausted. Janson just accosted me to tell me he won't hesitate to shoot me if he feels the need, which was good, because flying with him wasn't bad enough. I haven't heard from Jes since she left and I know there's something she wasn't telling me."
"If it's any consolation, Narra just gave us tomorrow off. I was heading to your quarters to tell you."
"Huh?"
"Tomorrow. Off. I was coming to tell you."
"Where were you going?"
"To your quarters." Hobbie frowned at his friend. "Where were you going?"
"My quarters."
Hobbie stifled a laugh. "You are tired."
"Huh?"
"Your quarters are that way." Hobbie pointed back the way Tycho had come.
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"Jesina Dreis." She held out her hand.
"Daxon Coe." The man looked her over. "Nice."
She arched an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?" She wasn't sure if she liked this man.
"Blaster, vibroblade, holdout. Very nice."
She liked him. "You're good." She lowered herself into a chair.
"I try." He paused. "Ex-smuggler?"
"Impressive." She paused. This was an interesting conversation – and getting them exactly nowhere. "Feel like telling me why I'm here?"
"To find someone."
"Oh, that's helpful."
He smiled. "Isn't it, though? Welcome to Intelligence."
Jesina let her head hit the desk in front of her.
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Alarm klaxons jerked Tycho to consciousness early the following morning. Grabbing his uniform pants off the back of the chair, he pulled them on as he slapped at the door switch. As the door slid open he saw people running back and forth past his door. Reaching out, he grabbed the arm of the first person who passed within reach. "What's going on?"
"Star Destroyer in system, sir," the man replied breathlessly. "Victory-class."
Tycho had a bad feeling. "Which star destroyer?"
"Don't know, sir."
Just then the outdated intercom system crackled to life. "All pilots to their fighters. Repeat, all pilots to their fighters."
Tycho swore and let go of the man's arm. As he ran down the hall, Tycho ducked back into his room. He dressed quickly, grabbed the gear he needed, and headed to the hangar. After a couple of wrong turns, he made it there right behind Hobbie and Janson. Janson saw him and glared. Hobbie saw him and looked away.
Something about this really wasn't good. "Hobbie, what's wrong?"
"It's the Inhibitor," Hobbie told him quietly. "Narra just told us."
Tycho felt sick. "Are…are you sure?"
"I'm sure." Hobbie paused. "Are you okay?"
He shook himself. "Yeah, I'm all right." He started to climb up to the cockpit but almost fell off the ladder when he was startled by the sudden silence when the klaxons stopped.
"All fighters stand down. Repeat, all fighters stand down," the same voice from earlier could be heard overhead.
From his position a meter and a half off the floor, Tycho glanced around. There were two other squadrons there in addition to Rogue, which was still considered to be in training, and every one of those pilots looked just as confused as he felt. Slowly, he descended the ladder. Turning around at the bottom he found himself face to face with Commander Narra. "Lieutenant, please come with me."
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"Lieutenant," the base commander, Colonel Enta Waro, a female Rodian, addressed Tycho, "Do you have any idea how your ship found us?"
He shook his head. "No, ma'am. I would say that they might have had a tracer on Captain Dreis' ship – if they suspected her, they had plenty of opportunity on Thyferra and Nar Shaddaa, provided they could get onto the moon. But she's too good to let something like that get by her." He exhaled. "They aren't even supposed to be in this region. They're supposed to be patrolling the Expansion Region, heading toward Tynna and then Gyndine."
The Colonel folded her hands on the desk. She knew little about this man. But she, too, had known Garven Dreis and trusted his judgment and he'd often spoken highly of his niece. And she herself had a sense about this young man. "Lieutenant, sit down." After he was sitting she asked him, "Lieutenant, do you have anything with you that you had during your Imperial service?"
"My flight suit." He gestured to the black uniform. "Oh, and my blaster."
She turned to the commander. "Have his flight suit and blaster scanned for tracking devices."
She then turned her attention back to Tycho. "Lieutenant, there was no need to fight this time, because the Inhibitor left the system. But what would you have done had you been forced to fly against your former friends?"
"I'd have done what I had to." Tycho looked down. "I wouldn't have enjoyed it. But I knew it could happen when I left."
She studied him for a moment. He struck her as a man who was honest to a fault. She'd spoke to him at length when he'd arrived. The pain in his eyes – fresh from Alderaan no doubt – was still there now. She didn't think that anyone could fake that. Of course, there was always the possibility that the Imperials could have convinced him that the Alliance had been responsible for Alderaan. But she doubted that.
Besides, Commander Narra had spoken to her about the man he'd assigned Celchu to fly with, Lieutenant Janson. He'd done it for two reasons. One was because Janson had taken an instant dislike to Celchu. The other was because he was so suspicious of Celchu that Narra couldn't believe Celchu could get anything by him. It had been nearly a week since his release and Janson had come up with nothing.
"Lieutenant, I'm going to take a chance and trust you. If I'm making a mistake in this, you'll pay dearly." She turned to Narra. "Commander, scan his flightsuit and blaster. And then prepare your people to become an active-duty squadron. I want to be ready to begin evacuation as soon as transports can arrive."
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Tycho had barely made it back to his quarters – this time wearing New Republic orange, since Narra had taken his – before running into Janson. The Tanaabian pilot came out of nowhere, shoving him up against the wall, arm across Tycho's throat. "You sold us out."
"I—" Tycho gasped out. He wrenched his hands between Janson's arm and his throat. Pushing hard, he managed to get loose enough to breathe. And to speak. "I didn't."
"The hell you didn't." Janson shoved back hard, and Tycho had no doubt that he wasn't going to back off. With no other option, he hooked his foot around Janson's leg and jerked, hard, knocking the other man off balance. Together, they crashed to the floor.
This time, though, Tycho had the upper hand. He landed slightly on top of Janson, pinning him in a hold he'd been taught in hand-to-hand at the academy. Then he poised his fist to connect squarely with Janson's jaw. He might end up with a broken hand out of it, but it'd be worth it for the satisfaction.
Before he could actually hit the other man, though, he felt hands pulling him off of Janson. Then he heard Narra bellow, "Attention!"
He drew to his full height, saluting. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Janson scramble to his feet. "What the hell is going on here?" Narra snapped. Neither of them responded and he must have sensed he wouldn't get anything out of either of them right now. "Both of you are confined to quarters until further notice."