9:34 P.M. Same day. Crystal Star Freighter Dooliir

Kenny Ferdan sat dead.

Or at least, that's how he felt as he sat in his chair, hands placed normally on the armrests.

His teary eyes were glued to the large screen. The rest of his body was motionless, feeling empty and weightless and cold, like space. The face was pale, and it was apparent that all life had been sucked out of him.

The pictures that the news station was broadcasting of what remained of Sloman Colony, from the Alliance Cruiser Urenstad, were almost impossible to take in. Millions of pieces of debris were still flying in all directions, away from where the mighty colony once stood. Pockets of frozen liquids and gases drifted colorfully along with everything else; and together the image painted a dreadful picture in Kenny's mind, one he knew he would never forget for the rest of his life.

D..., he thought as his eyes searched the debris field for any sigh of–of—of anything positive; optimistic. Danielle.

"Again," said the voice of the Bingin anchorwoman, "No survivors have been found as of yet. The Empire—hold on here, folks, I'm getting more information on...okay; ladies and gentlemen we're going to now cut to a broadcast about to be made by Rebel Alliance President Gillia...from an anonymous location—President Gillia."

The broadcast of the debris field switched over to one of a sturdy Caldoran, seated upright in a black leather armchair placed in front of a solid wall. The wall had on it the red, winged insignia of the Rebel Alliance.

Kenny guessed it was the President's actual office, and not the press room he always used when making statements. What planet or station it was a mystery though.

The President's crimson-red eyes twinkled sadly as he began his speech. "Citizens of the galaxy, I speak to you now as a mourner to the Sloman Massacre; as the officer of justice that will punish the criminals behind this unprovoked and murderous attack. I say to you today that the Rebel Alliance will–not–let–this–stand! The Empire has gone too far this time, my friends."

"Eh," Kenny groaned in annoyance.

"The slaughter of twelve million—"

"Turn him off," Kenny said somewhat angrily.

"—innocent lives is–is–is inexcusable and absolutely outrageous, even for the Empire."

Kenny tapped two commands into his armchair console, and the screen went blank as Gillia finished his sentence. "The Alliance'll end up getting blamed for this anyway," he said coldly. "It was their fault for sending D there."

"Don't blame the Alliance for this," Rax said intellectually. "They couldn't have possibly known that the Empire knew where she was."

"That's not the way the people are going to see this," said Fark Vinher, staring over at the Captain. He gestured to Kenny. "They're going to see it like he does. And he may be right."

"Sloman Colony wasn't an Alliance—outpost," said a Crewman to Kenny's left. "It was neutral."

"But it agreed to host Ambassador Bonard," Rax pointed out, "when it didn't have to. The Alliance didn't force them to do that."

The Crewman thought about this for a moment. Then she shrugged in agreement.

"But the Alliance knew the danger," Kenny argued, "they knew the risk. I can't believe why they would take a risk like that."

"To—" Fark started.

But Kenny continued. "Especially with one of their own Ambassadors."

"To promote peace probably," Fark suggested. "Them being the Rebel Alliance, ya know."

"Hmm," Kenny huffed. "That's why I didn't join either one of the sides. They're both stupid."

An awkward silence proceeded after that comment.

Until Kenny broke it. "Can we go there, Rax?"

"Where? Sloman?"

"Yeah, the debris field."

Rax exchanged glances with Fark. "Why do you want to go?"

"To find out what happened."

Rax hesitated. "Wha–what do you mean?"

Kenny stood up and stepped down from the small command terrace. "Every station has black boxes; recorders and...junk like that. I wanna see if we can find those, so we can find out what happened exactly." He paused and let them all take in his request. "I want to know exactly what happened to my wife, how she—died and–and what not; and I also want to try and—naw nevermind. But we still have to go. Please Rax?"

The Renevan Captain stared back at his Commander with sympathy and thought. "I'll have to think about it. You know it's out of the way right? We need to be at the Yorun system in one day."

"Yeah," Kenny replied. "But she's my wife, Rax. I love her, and I want to know what happened to her."

"There's a slim chance that we'll find anything, black box or no black box, that tells us what happened to her, Kenny," Fark commented.

Kenny rolled his eyes in frustration. "Can we just go and see for ourselves? Please? It's only five hours away."

"What if that Alliance ship is still there?" Rax asked. "It may attack us, and I doubt they'll believe that your Ambassador Bonard's husband; a Crystal Star."

"I can prove it," Kenny insisted. "After all, I do have a copy of the marriage license."

"Those can be forged easily nowadays—"

"And a lotta pictures too, or did you forget that WE'RE MARRIED!" He shouted. "It doesn't take much to prove that."

"Pictures can be artificially created and changed easily too," Rax retorted. "Unfortunately for you, we live in a very sophisticated time."

Kenny didn't break though. "Could we just go and see? Rax, I have to know. I'm her husband; Crystal Star or no Crystal Star."

Rax sighed quizzically at his Commander. "Okay," he said at last. "But I'm still going to run it by Mandla first. Okay?"

"That's fine."

--

5: 49 P.M. Next day: Dooliir

The durasteel doors opened and, for the seventh time in six hours, Captain Rax Hollafer walked into Kenny's quarters. "Anything new?"

"Only one thing since you last asked me," Kenny said in annoyance.

"Well sorry, but Captain Haulit is getting impatient. He wants us gone."

"Well then—" Kenny stopped in mid-sentence. "Can I talk to him for a minute? Is he free?"

Rax blinked in surprise. "Uh, mmmaybe. I don't know. I think the sooner we get out of here, the better, though."

"We'll leave," Kenny said plainly, looking over at him. "I just want to talk to him for a minute."

"I can't guarantee anything," Rax said. "But I'll ask him."

"Okay." He turned back to the monitor, which was showing a frozen image of Vader igniting his lightsaber in front of Danielle; one frame of the hours of film he had watched in the past day. Lucky for Kenny, the Empire hadn't known about these recorders, which made Kenny wonder exactly how much Rebel Alliance activity had gone on aboard Sloman Colony. Well no matter how much there was, it still doesn't justify what they did.

"Well," Rax said from over his shoulder. "That doesn't look good."

Kenny hmfff-ed. "Keep watching." He pressed the play button again, and looked down at the terminal top, as Rax watched the tape proceed, sound muted.

"Oh," Rax said in disbelief and horror. "Fala, I'm sorry Kenny. I—I don't know what to say."

"Nothing's fine," Kenny answered. He jabbed his finger into two separate buttons, and the monitor went blank. "She'd been withholding information from him. Secrets of the Knasians, the resistence cells that appeared after the Empire took the station, Rebel bases, Rebel codes; all the stuff an Alliance Ambassador should know plus a little more. That's the only reason he kept her alive for an entire week. But, her being D of course, she didn't give him anything." He stared up at Rax. "Nothing at all. So once the resistence cells were destroyed, he killed her and destroyed Sloman."

"Why'd he wait? I mean, simple way to get rid of resistence is to just knock them dead in one blow."

Kenny didn't answer at first. "I think he was hoping to attract some attention from the Alliance. Some sort of big retaliation. But he didn't get it. So he left, and used the excuse that Sloman was an Alliance base."

Rax chuckled. "That was smart. He doesn't actually expect the people to believe that all twelve million people were Alliance supporters?"

"He doesn't have to worry about that. He's Vader; they're the Empire. They don't have to worry about a damn thing."

"Well, he may soon," Rax replied. "News is sayin' that the swing planets aren't liking this, and neither are the neutral planets. The Empire's gonna have a serious problem on their hands soon."

"We can only hope," Kenny responded.

"Ohhhh, it will. They went too far this time."

"Hmm," Rax agreed. "So what are you planning on asking Haulit?"

Kenny was hesitant to respond.

"Nothing too controversial I hope."

"You sound scared, man. Are you scared?"

Rax narrowed his eyebrows. "Of what?"

"The Rebel Alliance; Haulit."

Rax look disgusted at first, then changed to a lighter expression. "Normally no. But that task force outnumbers us eight-to-one. Even with all those torpedoes we have, we'd still lose; and I'm not interested in fighting them."

"Neither am I. And we won't. I just want to ask Haulit a question."

"What question?"

Kenny took in a deep breath and thought, and then sighed at last. "If we could join forces." He stood up, a full head higher than the short Renevan. "And hunt down the bastards that did this."

Rax's thin lips parted wide and he laughed humorously, as if he thought Kenny was joking. "Are you crazy? They're never going to go for that. We're just as bad as the Empire to them—you–you blamed them for the Sloman Massacre remember, and now you want to join forces with them?"

"Now we both have a common enemy to fight."

"No no," Rax rambled. "You have a common enemy to fight. The Empire didn't kill my wife or anybody else's on this ship."

"You don't have a wife."

"That's not the point Kenny. The point is we're gonna get killed if we try to go after Vader. His ship is the Gatekeeper remember; a Super Star Destroyer?! I mean, we're no match for that thing and you know it; now why do you want to do this?"

Kenny glared at him. "She was killed in cold blood!" he exploded. "Stabbed through the heart and then decapitated in fucking cold blood!"

"She was an Rebel Ambassador," Rax replied calmly. "She's nothing to Vader but a Rebel."

"Shut up!" Kenny shouted, shoving him at the collar. The scrawny man barely managed to keep his balance as he was pushed several meters from Kenny. "You don't know anything about love or marriage!"

Rax braced himself against the window sill and slowly rose back to his full height. "Listen, I respect your trying to be a hero here Kenny, I really do. But I am not going to risk this ship or it's Crew just so you can try and satisfy your need for revenge. I'm sorry about Danielle. I'd bring her back to life if I could but I can't." He straightened out his shirt. "If you want to throw away your life, you can. But you will be alone."

Kenny shook his head at the Captain. "Fuck you then." He started for the exit. "I'll talk to Haulit anyway."

"What?! Kenny! Remember who's—!"

The doors closed, and Rax yelled his sentence to the walls. "—the Captain on this ship!"