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Chapter Twenty: A Mission of the Heart

Marney and his family followed Qualle and TT2 into one of Kelmoon's many meeting areas. As soon as they entered, Rallen and Quille embraced their sons whole-heartedly, and did the same to Marney's family members as well. Lyna, Sal, and Rixxi had come with them in order to stand by Marney in case his father became irate at him for not following the original mission plan. Admiral Raddus was standing behind the two matrons with Commander Ackbar and a tired-looking quarren that Marney assumed was Qualle's father Quorr.

"Qualle," Quorr greeted his son in a somber fashion, "I am pleased that you were not served as seafood to The Emperor."

Qualle walked over to his father and the two entwined their chin-tentacles together. Qualle's mother Quille was not as serene as her mate.

"I would have pulverized Palpatine," she snarled, "Come along, my TT2, and tell me everything else that I have missed...when I knew that Qualle was in danger, I stopped looking at the transmissions, contacted Marney's Mama, and flew to Kelmoon as fast as I could drag Rallen and her three ewoks along."

Qualle left with TT2 and his parents in order to have some private family time with them.

"I should be getting back to my ship," Ackbar said to them in a slightly awkward fashion, retreating towards the door, "I was just checking in with the Admiral and speaking to him about...er...future possibilities for you and your crew, Captain Raddek."

"Thanks, Gial—for everything," Marney mumbled.

Gial nodded, and bowed to his Aunt Rallen before he departed, leaving the family alone together.

"Radka," Rallen said to him, "Your father was extremely agitated when Tarkin issued his threat to feed you to Mokk's men. I was upset as well, but I felt that I needed to be with Charcorr in order to calm his fears. I hope you aren't embarrassed about my coming out here...I truly hate outer space, and I would never have come with Quille if I didn't think it was necessary."

"I know, Mama," Marney reassured her, "Of course I'm not embarrassed, because I know how much you love me. I don't say it much, but I love you, too."

"Us too, Grandmama," Rixxi added, as she and Sal gave her an extra embrace, "I hope the ewoks didn't give you too much trouble."

"Uh...well, dear," Rallen stammered, "I'm afraid that ewoks don't take well to marine environments. I've got so many bites from them that I almost ended up as a meal myself. As soon as the wookiees began to arrive here at Kelmoon I surrendered them to one of the females, who assured me that she would give them to Yabecca."

Lyna glanced at the Admiral, who was standing off to one side looking rather uncomfortable.

"Why don't we go and see how the ewoks are doing, Mother Rallen?" Lyna suggested, "We'll protect you from them, I promise."

Rallen nodded, taking Lyna by the arm.

"Yes," she agreed, "I'd like to spend some time with my daughter-in-law and grandchildren...and it will give Rad a chance to speak with his Papa."

His family left him alone with his father as Marney stared after them like a lost orphan. The two of them stood silently, until he began to feel uncomfortable himself.

"Well, Papa," he finally stammered, "I...I guess I should say that I'm sorry for nearly messing up the mission..."

Charcorr walked over to him and stared into his golden eyes for a moment.

"Radka," he said, "or perhaps it's time that I called you by your chosen name, Marney. No matter what name you choose for yourself, it's me who needs to be sorry, not you. I function well as Admiral Raddus, but you must know that as your father I'm a complete idiot. I always thought that I had to be extra tough on you because you were so much like me; but this stupid mission that I sent you on made me realize how much I value your life and who you are as an individual. I'm proud of you, and always have been...even when you were screwing up. I knew that you inherited that particular tendency from me."

Marney blinked in surprise, unable to speak. He felt a mixture of emotions welling up within him, particularly grief for his lost bond with his father. Together with his grief there was also an odd sense of joy at the possibility of having discovered that the bond still existed. For the first time in many years, he felt as though he could look his father in the eye as an adult rather than as a frightened child.

"I forgive you, Papa, for all the crap you put our family through," he admitted at last, "and I think that maybe I can even start to forgive myself for lugging around my own garbage all these years."

"Okay, kid, but let's not hug," Raddus replied, a certain wry sense of humor returning to his voice, "because I have another job for you."

Marney's bulging eyes opened even wider than they did normally.

"I hope it's not another spy mission, Papa," he retorted cautiously, "One thing that I learned from the last one is that battles and shooting people are just not my thing. Besides, I need to consider my family's needs as well."

"No, not a spy mission," Raddus responded, "because your cover with the Empire has been blown to bits. The Rebel Alliance doesn't need you to lug our trash, either...we have droids to deal with that. Ackbar suggested to me that you ask your Engineer to re-fit the Polar Carp as an Emergency Rescue vessel. We were thinking that you could deliver medical supplies to various Rebel bases and rescue those fleeing war zones, of which there are many these days."

For the first time since they had embarked on the mission to Rondirak 12, Marney felt a surge of excitement and hope for the future.

"I think that's very possible, Papa," he agreed, "and I'll ask Jalleck about a re-fit."

"Good," Raddus replied briskly, "I'll consider that as a 'yes' answer, but I'm afraid that you won't have time for a re-fit quite yet. We can't risk the flagship Profundity on a fly-by-night operation like Rondirak 12, but I'm sending Ackbar back to help secure it while we still can. You'll accompany him with your first load of medical supplies, because there are reports of injuries near the explosion site. Any questions?"

Marney felt his head swim. He was still in a hover-chair and the Carp no doubt needed repairs, but he nonetheless felt ready to go. He touched a button on his wrist-band in order to contact Jalleck.

"Hey, Jal," he inquired, "How soon can you have the Carp ready for action?"

"It's already done, Cap'n," Jal reported, "with the help of the new crew member who's replacing Yab. It's our adopted son, Woolonn! Little Chakreech wants to stay with Yab and help her with the ewoks Tob, Mika, and Tinu; but Wooly decided that it was time for him to take his traditional test of wookiee manhood and take a chance on working with me. He's my assistant now—I hope that meets with your approval, Captain Marney?"

"Absolutely," Marney concurred, glad that at least one wookiee would be staying on as a crew member, "now listen, Jal—you order Woolonn to grab Qualle and TT2 from their parents, and I'll round up Lyna and the kids. We need to load the Carp full of medical supplies and go back to Rondirak 12."

Jalleck affirmed the order and set to work while Marney turned to his father to bid him farewell.

"Good-bye, Papa," the former scow captain said to the admiral, "tell Mama that I hope to see both of you again soon."

"Go on," Raddus answered with an impatient wave of his webbed hand, "Get out of here, son, and don't screw up this time. I've got a date with your mother, seeing as how she came all the way out here to join us. For the first time ever, I'm going to bring her on board The Profundity and show her what I do for a living...maybe I'll even take her on a ride in one of my Hammerhead Corvettes, if there's time."

"She'll appreciate it," Marney told him mischievously, "and I sure hope the date goes well, Charc-the-Shark Raddus!"

Before his father could respond to that bit of impudence, the captain of the emergency rescue ship Polar Carp gunned his hover-chair into high power and flew off to do his duty with his heart fully loaded.