"Any news?"
"No, sir. The reconnaissance fighters haven't found anything."
"Very well. When they are all aboard make ready for the next micro jump."
"Yes, sir."
Palan felt a little proud inside, but he didn't smile. His crew had by now gotten used to making these micro jumps through hyperspace. It was always the same procedure; micro jump, deploy the reconnaissance fighters, wait for them to make their scans and report back, make a new micro jump. It was a tactic he knew some of the Empire's best tacticians had enjoyed using and Palan always enjoyed learning the tactics of the best. Of course there was a downside to all this. The only reason for the crew's familiarity with the procedure was his failure. He hadn't found so much as a trace of Skywalker or a battle ground. Not even a lost nut or flak of paint. Nothing. And they had been at it for three days now, constantly searching.
"Making ready for the jump, sir."
Palan nodded. He didn't even need to give the specific order anymore. The stars elongated and just as quickly turned back to normal. They had made the jump. "Deploy the fighters, and start the scan."
"Yes, sir."
The crew set about their tasks without question, but still with respect for his position as Captain. Palan wished he felt better about all this. The crew believed they were searching for signs that the Empire had foul dealings on New Republic territory, and it was mostly true. What they didn't know was that they were more specifically searching for signs that the Empire had killed or might kill Luke Skywalker. It wasn't a pleasant thought.
"Sir?"
"Yes?"
"One of the fighters have found a weak signal."
Palan felt his hopes rise suddenly, but he kept his voice in check. "What kind of signal?"
"Relaying it now, sir."
Palan listened as the weak signal came through, boosted by the reconnaissance fighter's array. His brow furrowed. There was a pattern to it. It seemed to be a message on repeat.
"Sir, we have a translation."
"Speak out." His heart had started to hammer. Could it be ...?
"'SOS. Help needed. Stranded after attack. SOS.' It is the same message repeating itself, sir."
"Triangulate the signal and find the source of it!" He couldn't keep the sudden urgency out of his voice. If Skywalker was stranded in space he had been there for a long time. In a damaged X-wing you couldn't survive for long. X-wings weren't even made for staying in them this long in the first place, let alone when they were damaged. They might find him already dead simply from being stranded in space. No. I will not think that way. If this is Skywalker then there is a chance he is still alive.
"Yes, sir!" The crew had come out of their routine induced stupor, and was busy triangulating the signal. "Got a vector, sir!"
"Take us there and have the fighters scout the area."
"Yes, sir!"
"Open a communication channel and see if you can get in touch with the pilot."
"Yes, sir." The officer tapped quickly on his keyboard. "No response yet, sir."
"Keep trying."
The communications relay came alive with the pilots reporting directly to him. "Sir, the signal is moving."
"Away or towards us? Can you calculate its drift?"
"That's the thing, sir. At first it was moving perpendicular to us, but it has shifted direction now, and is moving in our direction. Not very fast, but it has definitely changed direction."
Palan felt his hopes rise even further. If it was changing direction then the pilot must be conscious.
"We should have a visual in 10 seconds."
It was the longest 10 seconds of Palan's life. Knowing what was at stake he held his breath while the seconds ticked away.
"Sir, it's a fighter! An X-wing!" The pilot sounded surprised and shocked. "It is even broadcasting a New Republic signal now!"
Palan let the air out of his lungs and allowed himself to breathe again. "Can you see the pilot?"
"No, sir. Just the fighter." There was a slight pause. "The astromech is still there, but ..."
"But?" Palan inquired.
"Sir, the fighter is badly damaged."
"How bad?" Palan felt cold sweat form on his forehead.
"One wing is completely missing, two others are chipped. It only has one canon left. The nose has taken what looks like a direct hit as well, and the canopy ... the canopy is gone."
Palan's heart sank all the way to the floor.
"And the pilot?" His voice was close to quivering.
"No sign of him. The cockpit is empty."
Palan felt his knees turn to jelly. He grabbed the bar in front of him tightly to steady himself. "Bring it in," he managed, before he turned and walked the few steps to his captain's chair, where he almost collapsed. No, this couldn't be it. They couldn't be too late like this. He wouldn't have this failure.
"Yes, sir," came the response.
Palan closed his eyes. He didn't look forward to the conversation with Admiral Ackbar.
§
The console bipped. Ackbar looked at the screen and noted a new message; it was coded. Upon clicking on it he noticed it was from Captain Palan. Suddenly he felt far more alert and he quickly opened it. It read: Found an X-wing. Waiting to get it onboard and examine it.
Ackbar read it again. The message contained nothing else, but those two sentences. He closed the message again and turned to his com.
"Yes?"
"We've got news. Waiting for a further update."
"Meet me in 10 minutes," came the reply.
Ackbar merely nodded and ended the conversation. This might be it.
§ §
Palan stood in the hangar tripping impatiently. Regardless of what the X-wing would reveal he wanted it onboard so he could look at it. He had sent the message to Admiral Ackbar, and would need to have more for him soon. He could see the X-wing now; it was slowly being drawn in by the ship's tractorbeams.
As it glided into the light from the hangar and through the magnetic field, the damage to it became even more pronounced; the missing wing and the two others that were clipped, the damage to the nose, and the missing canopy that looked liked it had been blown off. It was clear it was the droid that had been transmitting the message and was now deploying the landing struts.
Finally. The X-wing had touched down and the crew rushed to it to examine it. So did Palan. He walked with long strides towards it.
"Get the droid out so it can be debriefed and get full stats on the X-wing! I want to know everything about what happened to it ASAP!"
"Yes, sir!"
As he came up to the nose he ran a glove covered hand over it and down the side. He noticed the markings on the side; red and multiple kill drawings. A war veteran and a Rogue. Not many possibilities here. His heart sank. This was most definitely Skywalker's X-wing. The droid looked to be his astromech, which he had seen with him on holograms. The moment the droid was safely on the floor it started rolling towards him whistling and bipping with urgency.
"Hey, wait!" The mechanics ran after the droid to attach the cables to it.
Palan waved him away. "It's okay. I think the droid wants to report as fast as possible. Get me a station to hook it up to."
While the mechanic went to comply with Palan's order, Artoo took matters into his own hands and changed direction to the nearest terminal. Palan followed it. He had heard rumors that Skywalker's droid was very independent, and it was probably best just to see what it had in mind.
He wasn't the only one who followed the droid; a couple of mechanics and another officer were intrigued by its actions. Palan looked on as the droid plucked itself into the terminal, and the screen came alive.
You have to help my master!
"What happened?" Palan asked. "And who are your master?"
We were attacked. We were on our way to visit my master's friend on Folor, when a bomb planted on the X-wing exploded, and we were ripped out of hyperspace. We were attacked by another craft seven point two seconds later. It completely disabled the X-wing, before blowing the cockpit canopy open, and connecting with the X-wing.
"Wait," Palan interjected. "The canopy was blown apart before the other ship connected with it? No air corridor?"
None. My master had to go into hibernation very quickly not to die. After the air corridor had connected another person came through it and took my master with them. You must help my master!
"And who is your master?"
Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker.
Palan's heart sank all the way to the bottom. It was confirmed. Skywalker had been taken prisoner by unknown parties, most likely the Empire, and was either dead or injured by the sound of it. "Do you know who took him? Anything?"
No.
Palan grabbed the terminal to keep from trembling with both rage and despair. He had failed.
But I recorded it.
His head jerked back up. "Show me!" He stared intently at the screen as the air corridor attached itself to the cockpit and a humanoid person clad in a full body suit came through it. He or she, he couldn't tell, cut Skywalker loose from the harness and grabbing hold of his robes jumped off the hull of the X-wing back through the air corridor taking Skywalker with him. A few moments later the air corridor detached from the X-wing leaving it were it was, and flew off with Skywalker. It was not a big ship; no larger than a typical freight ship used by many small companies, and fairly nondescript. Perfect for undercover use. "Get a reading on that ship!" he ordered. "And see if you can get an exact location on where the battle took place from this recording," he told the officer next to him.
"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!"
The crew hurried to their tasks as Artoo detached himself from the terminal. Palan looked at the droid. "I've got to report to Admiral Ackbar now. You give all the information you can to help the technicians and analysts figure this out, so we can find your master."
Artoo bipped a reply Palan didn't understand. It wasn't important. He was already thinking about how to tell their findings to Admiral Ackbar and so didn't notice that Artoo was following him out of the hangar.
§ §
The comlink bibbed. Leia jumped in her seat when the long silence was suddenly broken, but just as quickly grabbed her comlink. "Councilor Organa here."
"Leia," Ackbar replied from the other end. "We have an update coming in."
Leia felt a surge of adrenaline. "What have you found?"
"We don't exactly know yet, but Captain Palan has found an X-wing and a full update should come in shortly. We thought you might like to be here for it."
Leia nodded. "Very much, yes. I'll be along right away."
"You know where to find us."
Leia heard the little click meaning Ackbar had closed his end of the conversation, and put her comlink away again. She took one glance at the work she had been doing then packed it away quickly before rising and walking towards the door. Her work wasn't important right now. Her brother was far more important than any of the work she had to do.
Leia hurried down the corridor; she didn't want to miss any of the news, good or bad.
§
"Am I late?" Leia walked with short, quick steps into the room.
"No, not at all. Palan hasn't called yet," Cracken replied.
Leia sighed with relief. "Good." She walked over to the table and took a seat next to Ackbar, nodding at him, before turning her attention to the still dark screen. "Do you know anything about Captain Palan's findings?" Leia asked.
Ackbar and Cracken both shook their heads.
"Not really. As I said on the comlink he has found an X-wing. That is all he sent."
"Can I see the message?" It wasn't that Leia didn't believe Ackbar, but she really needed to see for herself, to have all the information.
"Of course," Ackbar replied. He pushed his datapad over to her.
Leia looked at the message there: Found an X-wing. Waiting to get it onboard and examine it. It wasn't much; Palan certainly hadn't given too much information out. She pushed the datapad back to Ackbar. "You're right; not much information there."
"I suspect he didn't want to say too much until he had a chance to look at the X-wing," Cracken said. Ackbar nodded his agreement.
Leia understood where they were coming from, but that didn't mean that she agreed with it. Her nerves were already on edge and she didn't like having to wait around. She wanted to be out there looking for her brother, but everyone else had convinced her that it was better she stayed here. And sitting around while others did all the work had never really been her style.
The communication console bibbed with an incoming transmission. Ackbar flipped it on with one hand. "Admiral Ackbar here."
"Admiral," Captain Palan replied. His eyes went from one side to the other taking in the other two persons. "General, Councilor."
Leia and Cracken nodded in greeting.
"As reported we have found a New Republic X-wing. We are currently running full diagnostics on it, but we already know a few things from the astromech. Firstly it has been confirmed that the X-wing belong to Jedi Skywalker." Leia felt another surge run through her and settling in her stomach. "Secondly we know it was disabled by a bomb planted on it, and then further dismantled by an unknown small freight type craft that attacked it right after it was torn out of hyperspace." Palan took a deep breath.
"Do you know what happened to my brother?" Leia asked urgently. She knew it was pointless since she already knew what had happened to him; he had been taken prisoner and was being tortured by an insane woman.
Palan shook his head. "I only know very little, I'm afraid. The astromech did record the ship and its pilot, but not much can be gleamed from it."
"I want a copy of that recording sent immediately," Cracken said.
"Yes, sir. I'll find the –" Palan was interrupted by Artoo's bips and whistles, and looked somewhat startled to find Artoo in the room with him. "What – How – Why are you here?"
Artoo whistled something and just rolled forward forcing Palan to take a step to the side.
"Relax, Captain," Ackbar said. "I think Artoo is merely complying with General Cracken's request." Leia noticed that Ackbar was stifling a smile at the captain's bewilderment. Not everyone knew how to respond to Artoo's way of doing things. In Leia's opinion it would be much easier if others just treated Artoo the way they would treat people.
"Right, sir."
As guessed the console bipped to alert them to the fact they had received a file.
"Is this the full recording?" Cracken asked Artoo.
Palan opened his mouth to respond, but Artoo beat him to it. His bips and whistles came over the line and a translation appeared on the screen. Yes. I recorded from the moment we were ripped out of hyperspace to the other ship went into hyperspace. I have also sent all the information about the X-wing's condition along to you. As said the console made them aware of another incoming file. You have to find my master.
Leia nodded. "We will find him, Artoo. We have to."
"Captain," Ackbar said. "I want the X-wing and Artoo back on Coruscant as fast as possible. The sooner we get all the information collected the better."
"Yes, sir," Palan responded.
"Unless, " Leia interjected, a thought occurring to her. "Do you have a vector to pursue?"
Palan shook his head. "Sorry Councilor, but we are still analyzing the data. So far we do not have any direction."
Leia felt her hopes fall. If they didn't have any clue of where the other ship went then there really was little else Captain Palan could do at this point.
"Return to Coruscant, Captain. Your mission is done."
"Yes, sir, right away, sir." Palan didn't look too happy with the outcome of his mission. Neither did any of the other people in the room.
Artoo bipped something. The technicians have found a possible vector and destination for the other ship.
Leia's heart started hammering. "Where?" She couldn't keep the urgency out of her voice.
Artoo sent them the data and it appeared in the air above the table. All four people studied it intently.
"It's not too far from here ..." Palan noted. "Sir, with your permission I could go there first and see what can be found?"
"Do it," Ackbar said. "Finding Skywalker is our number one priority right now."
"I'll have a team meet up with you there. Make sure you share all your information with them before you return here."
Palan nodded. "Yes, sir. Anything else, sirs?"
Ackbar looked at Leia and Cracken in turn. They both shook their heads. "No, Captain, that would be it. "
"Very well, Admiral."
"Oh, and Captain?" Leia said.
"Yes, Councilor?"
"Be sure to listen to Artoo and follow his lead. He usually knows what he's doing."
Palan smiled tightly. "Right, Councilor. I don't think it will let me leave it out of this anyway."
Leia smiled just as tightly back at him. "Not a chance, Captain."
"May the Force be with you, Captain."
"And with you." Palan nodded at them before closing the link.