Let Trouble Find You

(4 ABY)

After they had dropped off Dara at the school in Marhead early the next day, it took them only a little more than an hour to travel to Pandath. The capital of Taanab sported several smaller berthing facilities on its outskirts besides the two main spaceports located on opposite sides of the sprawling city. Once Serina had paid the berthing fees for the rest of the day, they hired a hovertaxi to take them downtown.

The first signs of the end of the long Taanabian night were not yet visible on the horizon when they arrived at the main administrative buildings of the planetary government. The traffic was just slowing down from the early half-day rush hour. The small tapcafs at the main street leading away from the city center to the two main spaceports were just starting to empty as the administrative employees left to head for their places of work. Since most of the larger stores in the nearby shopping mile would not open until sunrise, Serina and Caaroq settled down at an outside table of one of the tapcafs with a good view of the main governmental building.

The situation brought back memories of another tapcaf on another planet many, many years prior. "Have I ever told you how I met Lord Vader?" Serina asked the woman sitting across from her, who had become her closest friend during the course of the past fifteen years.

Caaroq shook her head. Serina had always been quite secretive about anything outside of her official service to her master.

Sunrise was still a few hours away, enough time to recount the events leading up to her first encounter with the Dark Lord on Circarpous IV, an encounter that had become the pivotal point of the rest of her life. "You have to know, with fifteen I hired onto a freighter to leave Taanab. A few weeks later ..."

"... and so, he offered to train me. Of course, I knew what he was offering me. But I was absolutely certain - and I never regretted that decision either - that this had been my destiny all along."

The longing expression on Serina's face was absolute proof to Caaroq, how valuable these memories were for the woman across from her. For many years, she had wondered about what kind of relationship her friend truly had with their mutual employer. She had always suspected that her involvement had been to a much greater extent than she had ever let on.

And although Serina had been avoiding the issue during the past months, she strongly suspected who had fathered both of her children. The name she had mentioned to her daughter, Anakin, had that been Vader's name before he had turned into a Sith Lord? Who had he been? Perhaps a Jedi? She still remembered a famous Jedi Knight from the Clone Wars by the name of Anakin. Anakin Skywalker, if she was not mistaken. Had not the pilot's name, who destroyed the first Death Star, been Skywalker as well? Had they been related?

Before Caaroq could use the intimate moment to ask her friend that crucial question, Serina called her attention to the entrance of the administrative building. "Would you agree: those two guys over there look kind of out of place?" The two men, she was referring to, had just exited the building and were walking on the other side of the main street in the direction of the eastern spaceport.

Most native Taanabians favored light-colored, loose, and voluminous clothing, perhaps due to the always mild climate with much sunshine and the strong dislike for sunburns that had developed through the past centuries. But unlike the other pedestrians, those two were dressed in tight yet comfortable looking dark pants, light-colored shirts, and spacer's jackets. Every now and then, they would cast a furtive glance behind them as if they were wary of somebody following them.

Soon they had passed the small tapcaf and had disappeared among the slowly moving throng of people. Suddenly, Caaroq grabbed Serina's arm. "Look over there. Apparently, somebody is really following them." Although they were wearing typical Taanabian outfits, the two men Caaroq had indicated had "Imperial officer" written all over their appearance. And it was more than obvious that they tried to stay out of sight of the two men they were shadowing.

Placing a few credits on the table to cover their tab, Serina got up in a fluid motion despite the large bulge of her belly and beckoned Caaroq to follow her. Mingling into the crowd on their side of the street, they quickly took up the pursuit. "Keep an eye on those two officers, I'll concentrate on the two rebels," Serina advised her friend. Then she opened herself to the Force and reached for the presence of the two men already more than two blocks ahead of them.

When she finally found them, she involuntarily grabbed Caaroq's arm. "They are in trouble. They have stopped some blocks ahead. There seem to be more Imperials approaching from the direction of the spaceport." Then she quickened her steps, dragging her friend along. As soon as they were ahead of the two Imperials, they used a break in the slow stream of vessels to cross to the other side of the street. Serina's mind was frantically searching for a way to aid the two rebels without drawing undue attention to herself or her abilities.

The next block of buildings consisted of a few small stores with a midsized cantina wedged in between them. From the impressions she was picking up from the two men, they had entered the bar just a few moments prior. But their hope of escaping through a back exit toward the next street had been frustrated when they had found a small group of stormtroopers blocking the alley behind the building. Now they were boxed in at the cantina and had to prepare for a confrontation that seemed unavoidable.

When the two women arrived at the corner of the block, Serina pulled her friend to a stop at the displays of the store next to the bar. After whispering some instructions into Caaroq's ear, she slipped around the corner toward the backside of the complex, pulling her light-colored robe tightly around her body.

After a few sharp strides, she arrived at the mouth of the small alley separating the structure with the cantina from the next block of buildings. She stopped and cast a glance around the corner. The space to both sides of the back entrance was cluttered with stacks of large crates, old storage boxes, and other trash. Against the wall across from the rear door, a man-sized garbage compactor stood with its large upper throw-in hatch gaping open.

Two stormtroopers had taken up position behind the crates with their backs to Serina. Two more white helmets peeked out behind the boxes on the far side of the entrance, blaster rifles trained at the back door. One of the closer ones had just lifted his wrist comlink toward his helmet. "Yes, Sir, we are in position," he informed whoever had just contacted him. Then he resumed his former position of guarding the exit from the bar.

As Serina grabbed her lightsaber and detached it from her belt, she reached again for the minds of the two rebels. But nothing had happened so far. Apparently, the Imperials had not entered the cantina yet. Then she got ready to apply what she had been practicing since the destruction of the second Death Star five months prior. Vader had always urged her to allow strong, dark emotions - whether they had been pain, hate, anger or even consuming lust, whether she had experienced them herself or drawn on what she had sensed in others, foremost her own master - to fill her soul and grant her access to the dark side.

But she was no longer willing to walk that path, a path that could so easily lead to an all-consuming desire for power and, in the end, even to her destruction. Her master's life had been the ultimate proof of that fate. So she had developed an alternative, not necessarily in line with the Jedi teachings of old, but her own method, replacing the dark emotions with those born of love, dedication, or the strong desire to help those in need. Concentrating on those feelings, especially the love she felt for her children, she allowed them to fill her soul. Then she opened herself up to the Force and stepped around the corner.

Lifting her gaze to the crates at the top of the left stack, she used the Force to lift them up and let them hover in the air above the first pair of troopers. Then she released them out of her control. The warning outcry from one of the other men came just seconds too late. The crates landed with a loud thud on the helmeted heads and broke apart. Their contents spilled out and bottles of oil, jars of jelly and diverse cans of other cooking supplies buried the two men under them.

As the remaining troopers veered their weapons around to address the new, unexpected threat, Serina activated her lightsaber. Immersed completely into the Force, deflecting the blaster bolts one-handed became an act of instinct, freeing her conscious mind to reach for the blaster of one of the men. Ripping it from his grasp, she flung the weapon with a flick of her left hand into the open hatch of the garbage compactor.

Then she reached for the second stack of crates on the far side of the entrance. A powerful pull through the Force caused the stack to teeter toward the last trooper still firing at her. The topmost crate started to slide. Then, with a loud crash, the whole stack tumbled over, burying the man underneath.

Following Serina's whispered instructions, Caaroq had waited for the two Imperials dressed in Taanabian outfits to walk past her and be joined in front of the cantina by two more officers dressed in regular military uniforms. After checking per comlink if the stormtroopers were in place to prevent an escape of the two rebels into the alley behind the building, the commanding officer had ordered his two men in uniform to take up position beside the entrance. Then he had ascended the steps into the bar followed closely by his similarly dressed subordinate. Caaroq had waited a few more seconds. Then she had followed the men inside.

The cantina was dimly lit, thick smoke hiding most of the customers. A small band was playing contemporary music from a stage set in the left corner beside the entrance. A triangular bar filled the center of the large room. Most of the barstools around it were occupied by workers from the night shifts of the various companies operating out of the capital. From the stage to the back as well as along the opposite side of the room, small booths lined the walls, providing sitting spaces for three to four patrons each. Most were occupied as well, but the dim lighting did not allow the officers to discern the faces or the clothing of the customers inside of them. Therefore, the two men split up, moving from one booth to the next, checking out each niche in search of their quarry.

When Caaroq caught a glimpse of the officer commanding the operation, she rushed toward him and stepped into his path as he got ready to move to the next booth in line. Then she raised her fist and started yelling into his face, "Roger, I knew it was you. I saw you out there. Don't try to evade me. And don't try to act like nothing is wrong. I saw you with that other woman …"

The man looked at her with a confused expression on his face. He raised his hands to calm her down, but his "I think, you are mixing me up, my name is not Roger …" was drowned by the loud rantings of the enraged woman in front of him. His subordinate stepped up to them and cast him a questioning look but decided to stay out of the confrontation when the officer shrugged his shoulders and looked at him with an exasperated expression.

Other customers started to turn their attention toward the enraged woman, some making snide remarks, others laughing rudely. "Yeah, you tell him!" "That's right, give it to him!" "Hey man, you really deserve that!" Some even got up and formed a loose circle around the threesome. A loud crash from the direction of the backdoor informed Caaroq that her diversion should slowly come to an end. She allowed her rantings to falter, drawing even closer to the officer as if she wanted to get a second look at him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the rebels cast a glance out of the back door. When he motioned to his comrade and both of them slipped out into the alley, Caaroq put on an apologetic expression as if she had just realized that she had ranted on the wrong guy. As she grabbed his hand and pumped it, she followed the previous accusations with a gush of apologies. After another rumble from the back door, she let go of his hand and took a step back into the crowd behind her.

Pushing their way through the slowly dissolving circle of spectators, the two officers made their way toward the back of the cantina. Finally, they arrived at the last booth next to the rear exit. But it was empty. The door to the back alley proved to be a dead-end as well. It would not budge. Something was blocking it from outside. And the detail of stormtroopers did not answer their call, either. Their quarry had escaped. When the officer turned around to locate the woman who had so effectively delayed him only moments earlier, he had to realize that she had vanished as well. He had been played for a fool. Steaming with anger he stormed from the cantina.

When the stack had buried the last stormtrooper still firing, Serina turned her attention back to the two men she had disposed of first. While one of them was still put out of the action for good, the other had managed to raise himself to his knees and was just getting ready to open fire at her. With a few large strides, she covered the distance between them and knocked the weapon out of his hands with her lightsaber. Then she used the Force to slam him against the front of the garbage compactor.

A flicker at the edge of her perception warned her just an instant before a bolt from the last standing trooper could hit her. Twisting away from the high-energy beam with lightning speed, she followed the movement into a full 360 and threw her lightsaber at the rifle the man had retrieved from underneath the broken-up crates that had buried his comrade. Her blade sliced the weapon neatly in half before returning into her outstretched hand. Then she gave the man a powerful push through the Force, flinging his flailing form into another pile of boxes and trash several meters further down the alley.

With a press of her thumb, she deactivated her blade and reattached the hilt to her belt. A gaze toward the back door confirmed what she had sensed already moments earlier. The noise of the crashing boxes had drawn the attention of the two rebels. Apparently, they had slipped out of the cantina and had watched her dispatch the last of the stormtroopers. With an urgent gesture, she motioned them to move away from the back exit. Then she used the Force to push the remaining stack of crates left of the entrance in front of the door. With a loud rumble, they slammed against the wall of the cantina.

Convinced that nobody would be able to follow them through that particular exit, she pulled her robe tightly around her body and motioned the two men to follow her down the side street. Together they headed straight for the shopping mile adjacent to the government buildings just a few blocks away.

Half an hour and some convoluted trips through various kinds of stores, cantinas, and other questionable establishments later, Serina was finally convinced that they had managed to shake off any Imperial pursuit. She flagged down one of the droid-operated hovertaxis and had it take them to the berthing facility where she had parked the StarLady several hours prior.

Caaroq had arrived a few minutes ahead of them and was already prepping the ship for take-off.

"Port control," Serina contacted the local spaceport authority, "this is Nighthawk, registration number DV1904, requesting take-off clearance for twelve-fifteen."

"Nighthawk, this is port control. Flight destination?"

"Just a short trip to Orbital One," Serina informed them.

"Clearance granted for twelve-fifteen. Have a good flight."

Just a few minutes later, the sleek black vessel left the funnel-shaped berth and headed into the early morning rays of Tive, Taanab's just risen sun. After announcing their imminent arrival at the space station, Serina turned to the two men standing in the entrance to the cockpit. "You won't be able to get to your ship. I'm sure the Imperials have it under tight observation. And yet, it's kind of strange they showed up in such small numbers."

The slightly older rebel cast a meaningful glance at his comrade. "We were just talking about that. Our visit was sort of unofficial. We were to find out how the heads of the agricultural conglomerates had decided regarding our offer from a few weeks back. They had ensured us that the Imperials were not informed about our visit. I guess, somebody ratted on us. So perhaps, the Imperials tried to avoid the conglomerates finding out about their interfering. But never mind the ship. It was just a transporter and can be replaced. By the way, I am Blount, and this is Derk. And thanks for the help." If he had any questions regarding her methods, he refrained from asking.

"Never mind. I just don't like ill-matched fights," Serina replied. Then she introduced herself, "I am Serina and my friend's name is Caaroq. We'll be taking you to the space station. What will your next step be or is that classified?"

"Not classified," Blount informed her, "but we have to wait for new orders from Operations Command. So, we might be around a little while longer yet."

"Then we'll perhaps see you around." A hail from the space station drew Serina's attention back to her controls. "Nighthawk, you are cleared for landing in hangar five. Nice to have you back on station. Is Caaroq with you as well?"

Caaroq answered the call in Serina's stead. "Hi there, Rover. Guess I won't need the whole day off after all. Would you tell Nilc that I'll relieve him at 1300?"

"Sure thing. Rover out."

A few minutes later, the StarLady settled down in one of the smaller hangers reserved for traders and the station personnel. After shutting down the engines, Serina turned to the two rebels. "I'll accompany you to the onboard entertainment area. I'm sure you will find some of your comrades there." Blount only nodded in agreement not bothering to ask where she had attained this information.

At the large blast doors leading into the station from the hangar bay, Caaroq gave her friend a quick hug. Then she bid the two men goodbye and departed toward her duty station. As Serina led the way toward the area with the onboard cantina and the other establishments for the visiting crewmen of the freight companies, she pondered how quickly her decision to not get involved had been twisted to the exact opposite. And yet, all of her Force-enhanced perceptions told her that she was exactly where she was meant to be.

"So, your friend works here at the station?" Blount tried to engage their guide into some small talk. But Serina was not about to reveal more than absolutely necessary. She just nodded and continued down the wide, gray hallways until they opened onto a large oval plaza bordered with shops, small restaurants, and other establishments. One of them was the cantina Caaroq had mentioned to Serina as the place where she had observed several of the rebels on the previous day.

The sliding doors opened into a dimly lit room that could have been located at any spaceport on any number of planets. Both sides were lined with small booths. The middle of the room was taken up by a large oblong bar. Nearly all stools around the counter were occupied. The bar hid a small stage at the far end of the room with some nameless band playing jazzy renderings of familiar hits from the last decade. Billows of smoke hung low above the heads of the clientele.

Although most of the customers were human, Serina spotted several nonhumans as well, among them some Sullustans, a blue-skinned Duros, two Rodians, and even a Mon Calamari. Besides the off-shift personnel from the station in their beige overalls and some members of the Taanabian fleet in their khaki-colored flight suits, most of them were crewmembers of the grain freighters or independent traders.

As the two rebels split up and moved along the booths in search of their comrades, Serina was drawn into a conversation by two members of Station Ops where she had helped out several times in the past months as a communications operator. Suddenly, somebody tapped her on the shoulder. Instinctively, she reached out with her mind to sense the persons around her. There were Blount and Derk, familiar presences in the Force from the events in Pandath, as well as the two guys she had talked to. And then there was a presence that caused her to draw up short. It was familiar and yet completely out of place. Trying frantically to pull up the face belonging to that particular sensation, she slowly turned around.

As expected, Blount had approached her with Derk by his side and the third man in tow. "I would like to introduce you to our special ops coordinator." At her approving nod, the rebel stepped to the side and motioned the man behind him forward. "May I introduce: the lady that helped us escape the Imperials in Pandath, Serina, and this is our mission coordinator, Marc."

A flood of emotions welled up in her as she reached out and grabbed the proffered hand of the slender, well-trained man with short-cropped black hair already quite gray at the temples. For long moments, they just stared at each other. Joy and excitement jockeyed for dominance with embarrassment and shame in Serina's soul.

And there was a certain dread as well. Had her past finally caught up with her? She had tried so hard to delete her existence from all Imperial databanks. But the memories of those she had had her dealings with during her years at Vader's side were another story. Many of them had died during the recent events along with her master and the Emperor. And those, who had survived, she had hoped to avoid by returning to her home planet.

But destiny had a way of foiling the best of schemes, a lesson even Vader and his own master had had to learn. Already the events in Pandath had been proof enough that she was not meant to stay out of trouble: if she didn't find it herself, it was bound to find her.

"Serina, is that really you?" With incredulity in his voice, Marc Camon was straining in the dim lighting to get a closer look at the woman in front of him. "It is!" he finally exclaimed and drew her into a fierce hug, only to let go of her a couple of seconds later. As he took a step backward and stared at the large bulge of her belly that had interfered with their embrace, he added, "You are pregnant?"

"You know each other?" Blount interrupted his surprise quite evident.

"It's a long story," and from the tone of his voice, Marc was not about to start into it at this location nor at this time. "Is there a place where we can talk in private?" he questioned his one-time student.

For a moment, Serina considered her options. Then she nodded. "We can return to my ship. And if you want to, we can fly to my aunt's farm. That should be as safe a place as any."

It did not take long for Marc to arrive at a decision. "Blount: inform the rest of the team, that I will return in a few hours. Send your report to Operations Command. Contact me when we have new instructions." Then he turned back to Serina, "Your aunt's farm would be just perfect. Where is your ship?"

As Serina led the way toward hangar five, Marc thought back to their last encounter. At that time his former student had been an agent of Lord Vader's, at least, according to what she had told him. But so much had happened since. The Emperor was dead and, according to the reports received from the leaders of the Alliance, Vader himself had killed him. Had she still been with him at that time? Who was the father of the child she was carrying? And he was already quite curious about how she had managed to help his comrades escape the Imperials. The short account Blount had given him, had thrown up more questions than it had answered.

The farm was deserted when the StarLady touched down in front of the two-story building. The trip had been spent in silence, each of them preoccupied with their own thoughts. But once they had settled down in the living room, glasses with strongly diluted Cashok nectar on the small table between them, Marc could not refrain himself any longer. "When did you return to Taanab? And you must tell me how you managed to get rid of those stormtroopers. What Blount told me sounded quite confusing. And why did you never contact me in the past years?"

Serina held up a hand and smiled. "One thing after another. I returned about five months ago, just a few weeks after the second Death Star blew to pieces. I never contacted you because there were enough others I could contact instead. And I preferred it that way. For the past four years, I was kept quite busy by Lord Vader. The search for Luke Skywalker took up much of that time, then trying to locate the various rebel bases and the location of your fleet, finding traitors among the Imperials, hunting smugglers that aided the rebellion, and so on. As I said, I was kept pretty busy.

And regarding those stormtroopers: well, I didn't kill them. I just put them out of commission for a while. It's amazing what you can achieve with the Force and a few heavy crates." She smiled at him warmly as she reached with her mind for her glass on the table. His gaze followed it slide toward her. Then it started to hover above the table and landed in her outstretched hand. "I did not only learn to invade people's minds. My master taught me a lot of other ways of using the Force as well."

"So, you did stay with him until the end?" Marc desired confirmation of what he had already assumed.

Serina nodded. "As a matter of fact, I was there when he died. And I saw how he plunged the Emperor to his death a few moments prior."

"But the reports never mentioned …" Marc started to object.

"I asked Luke not to, and I am thankful that he didn't," his one-time student interrupted him. "But believe me, I was there." A painful memory flitted across her face. "I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else. Say, how detailed were the reports anyway? Did they say why Vader killed the Emperor?"

Marc took a moment to consider what he had heard. "That he did it to save Luke. And that he had once been Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker before he had become a Sith Lord. At least, that is what I heard."

"You heard correctly. That was his name a long time ago. But at the end, he finally cast off the chains of the dark side and returned to being what he had once been: The Chosen One, the Jedi had always believed him to be." A melancholic smile softened Serina's features.

"I've always wondered what he was to you if you allow me that question. You seem to know so much more about him than anybody else."

Serina hesitated. Should she tell him the truth? What would his reaction be? But there was an unexplainable urge in her to tell somebody. Caaroq suspected the truth, but she had never asked for confirmation in the past five months. And her aunt and uncle? Perhaps a few years from now when the memory of the evil deeds of her master had a chance to fade a little from public perception, when the truth of how he had rid the galaxy of its most evil ruler since the foundation of the Old Republic had a chance to become public knowledge. And her daughter? She would tell her as soon as she perceived her mature enough to deal with it.

Once, so many years ago, Marc had been so much more than a teacher. He had become a fatherly friend, an older brother of sorts. Actually, he was about the same age as her master had been. Therefore, it might have even developed into more than just a friendship once she had grown up. If anybody could accept what she had been so diligent to hide from those around her it would be him.

"He was my teacher, my master, and my commanding officer. And" she placed her hand protectively on the large bulge of her midsection, "sometimes a lot more than that. Even so he, for most of those years, could not allow himself to return my feelings in like manner he was the love of my life. He still is. And will always be. Despite all the evil he has done and ordered me to do." Tears had welled up in her eyes as the memory of what she had lost overcame her again. But she blinked them away as she waited for Marc's reaction.

For long moments he just gazed at her quietly, considering her revelation. Then he nodded in wary acceptance. "Thank you for your honesty. Although I can't imagine how he could have deserved your love. But I know what love can make you willing to do. And now, what are you planning to do with the rest of your life?"

"I don't really know yet. Raise my children, mainly. But beyond that, who knows?"

"Children?" Marc's surprise was palpable.

"I have a daughter, Dara. She is ten and grew up with my aunt and uncle. But that is another story for another time." Serina was not about to start into that subject just yet. "Now we should talk about your mission. Actually, I didn't want to get involved, but I guess, I really don't have a choice in the matter. The Force brought you across my path. I am supposed to help you. And I will."

When Marisa and Kayv returned from their supply run, Marc and Serina had just started to develop a rudimentary scheme for getting rid of the Imperials. Her aunt and uncle were more than pleasantly surprised at discovering their niece's former teacher at their home and welcomed him gladly. Soon the four of them were sitting around the dining table enjoying a copious meal while discussing the changes that had taken place in the Empire during the past months and the current situation on Taanab.

"Don't expect much help from our people," Kayv informed Marc. "For decades they lived with the attacks of the Norulac Pirates. They complained about the damage to the space stations and the farms, but they never put up any resistance except by trying to protect their own farms like Serina's parents did. And most of them did even that only once and usually with little success. When the Empire came and gave the conglomerates the choice to either conduct their business according to the provisions of the Imperial government or be disbanded and swallowed up by some governmental institution, they had little choice but to comply. They fared pretty well that way, but I doubt they really care whom they sell their crops to, as long as their profit stays the same."

"That's just about what they told us as well: You get rid of the Imperials we'll sell to the Alliance. If you don't, we'll sell to the Empire. Doesn't make a difference to us! But that's the conglomerates. I realize Imperial presence was never that pronounced on Taanab. But some people must have gotten in trouble with the garrisons, just like I did so many years ago. And I am sure they forced many of the young men to join the Imperial forces in the last decade just like everywhere else. That had to cause some resentment."

Serina nodded in agreement, but her uncle wagged his head. "There were some incidents throughout the years, but most people just want to be left alone, tend their farms, sell their crops, and not get involved. Those incidents were quickly forgotten. And like you said already, there never were that many Imperials on Taanab. In the past months, they apparently even closed down all of the smaller garrisons and relocated their troops to the two major ones, the main one outside of Pandath and the one close to Legath. And they never had any capital ships stationed in the system. That's why they never prevented the raids by those pirates. Only when Governor Sirak shows up - and that happens usually just once a month, at the most - there'll be a larger ship in the system, usually the Badger, a Victory-class Star Destroyer, from what I heard. His last visit was only a week ago, so he probably won't be back until next month."

Marc considered the information. "That's what Serina told me as well. We don't really want to start a major fight with them. They still have more TIE Fighters than we will be able to handle with our squadron of X-Wings. And if we have to fight them on the ground, that could lead to casualties among the civilians. We must avoid that at all costs. Therefore, we figured we need to somehow capture the Governor and the Imperial commander. With them at our mercy, we could force them to leave. Or we will have to trick them some other way into withdrawing on their own."

The next hours were spent with various ideas of how to solve their predicament, but when Serina and Marc finally bid farewell and returned to the space station, they still had not arrived at a feasible solution.

The orders from Operations Command were not very helpful either. There would be no reinforcements. The Alliance was just spread too thin to afford a major involvement of ships and troops in this effort. They were to avoid civilian casualties at all costs and if they had to first set up a working rebel cell in order to achieve their goal, they should do just that. And, of course, rally any local underground forces they could get in contact with.

The only positive aspect of the whole situation was that the Imperials obviously had no clue as to how many rebels had arrived. Caaroq had been careful to not leak her discovery to any of her men. There was a small contingent of stormtroopers stationed onboard but apparently, the rebels had managed to avoid their attention so far. Serina had hacked into their communications with the garrison at Pandath - keeping some of her equipment from her time as Vader's agent had proved helpful as well as her set of the Imperials access codes nobody had bothered to change since the destruction of the second Death Star - and, from what they had overheard, the search for the two rebels was still concentrated on the capitol.

The next step would be to set up a base planetside. And Serina had just the perfect location for it in mind.

The compound ahead of them was shrouded in darkness. Taanab's single moon had not risen yet, but their night vision goggles provided them with a clear view of the facility. It was apparently as deserted as the reports had indicated, but one could never be too careful.

As they crouched behind a low rise about two hundred meters west of the building complex, Serina scooted a few feet away from the men beside her. Then she closed her mind to the physical awareness of her surroundings and directed her perception through the Force toward the building ahead of them. It was just as void of lifeforms as they had expected. And yet, something was not at all as it appeared to be.

"It's deserted," she informed Marc, "but something feels wrong. I can't quite explain it. There might be some sort of trap. Do the sensors show any kind of energy readings?"

Her former teacher motioned to four of his men. "Circle the whole compound. Take sensor readings. And be careful." As they split up, each team equipped with a small sensor pack, and moved off along the fence surrounding the facility, Serina kept her perception trained on their presence in the Force.

But everything remained quiet. Suddenly, Serina doubled over as a wave of pain swept over her. Involuntarily, she grabbed Marc's arm to steady herself. But the pang was gone as quickly as it had come. His confused look made her realize that she had leaked some of her sensations into him through her touch, so she quickly pulled her hand away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that," she assured him.

"What was that?" he inquired. "And how did you do that?"

"One of my special talents," Serina pulled up her shoulder in apology, "but usually, it only happens when I want it to."

"But you were in pain. What's wrong?"

For a moment, Serina directed her attention inward. The pain felt quite familiar. But if she was correct, the last time had been some ten years prior. Perhaps, she could use the Force to delay the inevitable just a little bit longer. Once again, her timing left much to be desired.

When her gaze refocused on her former teacher, her expression grew even more apologetic than before. "I'm sorry, but we have to hurry up or I will have to leave." His quizzical expression visible through her night goggles made her chuckle. "Not what you might think. But remember: I'm pregnant ..."

"Oh no! Not now! How much time do we have?"

"Perhaps two hours, at the most," Serina was not really certain if she could delay it that long, but she would try.

When the teams returned, it became quickly obvious what had caused Serina's danger sense to go off earlier.

"Grav traps!" Marc agreed. "The roof?"

Serina just shook her head. "They'll have that rigged as well. Standard procedure. But there might be another way. Just follow me."

At least, the three-storied complex was not one of the prefabricated garrison bases that had come into use since the proclamation of the Empire some twenty-three years prior. The main building had originally been a storage facility for grain crops quite similar to the one her parents had once operated.

Jutting out in a somewhat right angle from the original squarish and curved central structure, which had been refitted to house the command offices, the central control unit as well as the communications center, two additions had been made to either side. The building to the left had accommodated the security center with the detention cells she remembered only too well and the barracks for the bases' personnel on the upper levels, the one on the right had obviously contained the storage and maintenance bays for the bases' vehicles. They had probably used the existing sub-levels for storage and the power generators just as the farmers before them. On top of the command center, a mid-sized air defense laser battery had been installed between the sensor and the communications arrays.

Although the 10-meter-high fence surrounding the compound only interrupted by the two gates and several 15-meter-tall towers was currently without power, any trespass would certainly cause it to come back to life immediately. But there was one major difference to the prefabricated bases: the walls of the main building could by no means sport the usual thickness of up to 10 meters and the remote location of the small outpost had hardly caused anybody to add layered armor or particle shielding to the originally used materials.

By the time they arrived at the smaller front gate used by the troops and visitors, her contractions had started to gain a certain amount of regularity. Removing the grappling spike launcher from her belt pocket, she aimed the small device at the top of the tower right next to the building housing the checkpoint. When she pressed the trigger, the spike shot upwards and implanted itself with a barely audible thud about a meter below the top of the tower, the liquid-cable now solidified into a line strong enough to carry her weight. Using the Force to aid her in a swift climb despite her bulging abdomen, she reached the flat roof of the gatehouse and crawled onto it. Marc and two of his men followed silently and crouched down beside her.

Slowly, they inched forward toward the main building. Just as their previous scans had indicated, the roof of the gatehouse had been extended to reach right up to the main structure. After confirming that it would carry their weight, they quickly moved across. So far, no alarm had sounded. When another contraction had finally passed, Serina placed her hands against the smooth duracrete surface. Then she reached out through the Force, testing the structure for wires and other hidden obstacles while Marc used one of the sensor packs to retrieve the same information.

By the time her next contraction started, she had already used her lightsaber to cut a hole through the duracrete just large enough to allow them to squeeze through. A forceful shove from Marc and one of his men caused the block to crash to the floor inside. Again, they froze in place, listening for any sound from within the building. But as before, everything remained quiet.

Marc led their advance into the structure with Serina bringing up the rear. The time between contractions was shortening notably. If they didn't hurry up, Ben would be able to call a quite unique place of birth his own. Moving along in the sparse light from their glowrods, they searched the room they had just entered and, when it became obvious that it had to be part of some officer's quarters, moved out into the hallway beyond.

Ten minutes and various rooms later, they had finally located the main control room on the level below. The heavy blast doors were locked, the control panel beside the door without power. Marc motioned to Serina's lightsaber. But his former student shook her head. Any forceful intrusion would certainly trigger an alarm, even if not perceivable in the outpost, yet certainly at the central base in Pandath. There had to be another way.

"We need to find the commander's office. It should not be far," Serina managed to inform him through clenched teeth as another contraction caused her to double over. Panting, she fought to regain control over her body as the men spread out.

"I think I found it," the younger one of them called to her just moments later. The door was secured only by a simple locking mechanism easily overcome by Serina's blade. As she slumped down in the oversized chair behind the desk in the middle of the room, the men started a diligent search of the office. Hidden from sight inside another cabinet, they finally discovered what Serina had been looking for: the commander's personal access terminal directly linked to the computers of the central base in Pandath and powered by a small standalone generator.

Forcing herself back to her feet, she made her way into the small alcove. After entering one of her cover IDs and the corresponding access codes into the terminal, she slumped against the wall as another wave of pain passed through her. Would it work? When she had purged her existence as Captain Serina Wanders from all Imperial databanks, she had diligently cut the connections to the various cover IDs she had used in the course of her activities for Lord Vader, preserving them in the various systems for later usage. It should work as long as nobody had purged the databanks in the months since the events above Endor.

"Access granted. Select action desired." A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she pulled out the prepared slicer chip and plugged it into the designated slot. When the overhead lights came on several minutes later, she removed the chip and staggered out of the alcove. Marc caught her and lowered her gently to the floor as another contraction caused her whole body to shiver uncontrollably.

"Go and find me some blankets and some water, hot, if at all possible." As his men headed out of the office to search for the required items, he gazed down into Serina's sweaty face and squeezed her hand tightly. "We've got this far. We'll get through this also, you hear?"

His former student nodded weakly and favored him with a thankful smile as he started to remove her boots.