Chapter 6
The proximity warning went off in the cockpit of the No Remorse and Rydell pulled back on the hyperdrive levers. In a second or two he was back in realspace, Makazu's white X-wing was out ahead and off to port.
"Do you think we're safe Rydell?" Makazu's voice came through the speaker.
"Safe enough to wait for Xan." He answered. "He shouldn't be to far behind us."
"What if he got nabbed by that Star Destroyer?"
"Xan wouldn't have gotten caught. We'll give him a couple of minutes."
The two ships held position, Rydell watching his long-range scanners for any movement from the planet or ships in the area. Five standard minutes ticked off of Rydell's chrono. Something had gone wrong.
"Mak, you'd better brake off and head for home. Stick to the route that Xan laid out."
"That's going to take forever. What about you?"
"I'm staying put for an other few minutes to see if he turns up. Go on, like you said it's going to take forever."
"Yeah, right. Good luck."
With a flicker of psuedomotion the white X-wing was gone. In no more than a handful of seconds later the droid began to hoot uncontrollably
"What?" Rydell snapped as he spun the pilot's chair around to face the comm monitor. "You picked up a transmission from Xan? Put it through."
"Rydell can you hear me?" Xan's voice, strained and weary, but still Xan's voice. Rydell glanced at the scanners before he responded.
"Where are you Xan, you don't show up on my scanners, and you know how good they are."
"Um, yeah about that. We're nowhere." Xan said. "We can't be more than a couple of lightyears away from Carida."
"What happened?" Rydell asked, beginning to get worried.
"The Star Destroyer got us in a tractor lock, we got free but I fried the primary and backup hyperdrive motivators. Mar got hurt while we were getting free of the tractor beam. She's unconscious right now. We need a tow home."
"Give me the coordinates and I'll be there as fast as this bucket will take me."
"And Rydell, remind me to order an extra set of hyperdrive motivators for the Wolf."
"Alright, you guys just sit tight."
•••
Captain Parck gulped down an other cup of water. Xan had managed to make it away from Carida in the Whistling Comet. He had out maneuvered Thrawn again. Now if only he would come willingly the Unknown Regions would belong solely to the Empire.
A huge part of the Captain was proud. His son was finding ways to stay free, to fend for himself. Of course though, Thrawn had pointed out that the Star Destroyer had been crewed with a large number of men right out of the Academy. He had still gotten away.
Even though serving under Thrawn was Parck's chosen privilege, part of him was beginning to hope that Xan would at least continue to elude them until he was through IPEC training.
•••
The primary hyperdrive motivator disintegrated in Xan's hands. Perfect. And there was no chance the backup was going to be any better. At least the tracking bug had been easy to find. A5 had marked the location when the Imperials had impounded the ship.
Once the tracker was detached it was easy enough to take care of. Hopefully leaving it active out in dead space would lead the Imps there. Just not until Xan and everybody were on there way home to Katal.
"Xan." Someone croaked from the other room. "Xan where are you?" The same weak voice.
Mar! She's awake! Xan dropped the useless hyperdrive motivator and sprinted through the lounge to his quarters. When he got there he saw Marnist sitting up in bed with both hands clasped around her head.
"Are you alright?" Xan asked.
"No." She whimpered. "My head hurts."
"It should. You got hit by a good-sized electrical conduit, cut you open, probably gave you a concussion too. Other than that, how do you feel?"
"My neck, my arms. . .My whole body hurts."
"Don't worry, Rydell is on his way."
"What, why is 'Rydell on his way?' Where are we?"
"These are my quarters, we're still on the Comet but we're dead in space right now. I had to do something to get us away from that Star Destroyer that blew out the hyperdrive motivators. So right now we're in the middle of empty space waiting for Rydell to give us a tow home."
"Oh, no we're going to die out here." Marnist began to cry with her face buried in the palms of her hands, her whole body seemed to convulse.
"No we're not Mar, there's enough supplies to last us two and a half weeks. And Rydell is on his way right now." Xan said as he sat on the edge of the bed. His reassuring words seemed to have no effect. "Don't cry, Mar, we're going to be alright." Nothing happened, just more crying.
Not knowing what else to do Xan threw his arm around her and slowly pulled her closer, so he wouldn't put her in any more pain. She threw her arms around his waist and squeezed, glad to have something solid to hold on to.
"It's alright Mar. Don't worry we're going to be alright." Xan said in a soothing voice and dimmed the lights knowing it would help her headache. Finally she looked up at him, tears streaming from bloodshot eyes. Xan yanked the covers up and wiped the tears away. "Now don't worry we're going to be alright."
"How did you blow the primary and backup hyperdrives?"
"I'll overload you're concussed little brain if I tried to explain it to you right now." Xan paused. "Are you going to be alright for awhile? I have to go throw the motivator back together so we don't have stuff crashing all over the place. Haara's going to stay nearby, so if you need anything just call her."
"Right."
"Sorry I'm greasy." Xan kissed her on the forehead to reassure her. To young Xan thought.
Rydell found the Whistling Comet just as Xan was securing the nonfunctioning hyperdrive motivator. Within twenty minutes they were in hyperspace on the way home, the tracking bug still floating in the middle of nowhere.
Now they were safe, soon Xan could get back to work on the Nova Wolf, and repair the Comet.
•••
It had only taken a few days for the repairs to be complete on the Comet. The repairs had been easy and straight forward enough, and with Rydell's help Xan finished them after work, even patching those nasty laser cannons burns on the hull.
Marnist had gone into a bacta tank and had to stay a couple of nights at the hospital. Boss Kinkla had been furious, and that was when he believed that his daughter had been injured in a shock ball accident. He would have fried Xan if he knew how Mar had gotten the concussion, and he probably would have had it not been for Mar's idea. Everybody on Katal was looking for an easy way to make a quick credit; Xan could have been a dead man, or worse, in Imperial custody.
Almost as soon as Xan had the Comet ready to fly Rydell had been asking him to haul freight for him. Xan knew that eventually it would lead to smuggling, probably spice, and weapons, they never smuggled anything that could be of use to regular people, just dissidents and glitbitters. With all that was going on in Xan's life he didn't need to add more illegal activity to it.
Rydell was a good friend though, as close to a brother as he could be. What Xan didn't know was that was the only reason that he was trying to get Xan to haul freight for him, but he would not take no for an answer. Rydell had extended the offer because he hated seeing how worn out Xan was when he got home from a dead-end, go nowhere job that was paying him far less than he was worth. All Rydell wanted to do was give Xan a chance to make some good money, their really wouldn't be that much smuggling.
As far as Xan was concerned even taking the job would lead to smuggling, and unwanted attention from the Imps, and knowing that the Empire put resources into stopping smuggler like Star Destroyers was an other good reason not to get involved. Besides, his father spent so much of his career hunting down smugglers it would be an insult. With the Rebellion and all it was becoming even more difficult as the Empire tried to crack down on supplies getting to the Rebels.
In it's obscurity in the Outer Rim Katal and the whole of the Corbata system had become a smuggling hub since the beginning of the Civil War. It wasn't unusual for a freighter to leave Katal with a shipment for the Rebels, return to Katal and then sell the location to the local Imperial garrison. Xan had noticed that this was becoming more difficult as the Rebels tighten up on shipping procedures.
•••
Xan's commlink chirped as he was replacing an engine cowling on luxury airspeeder. There was nothing really wrong with it except for a small dent the size and shape of a ronpor nut.
"Hello?" Xan was expecting to hear Marnist, or Boss Kinkla on the other end.
"Xan, I need you to do me a favor." It was Rydell, with a hint of anxiousness in his voice.
"What?"
"I screwed up and I need an other ship and pilot to make a run for me. Can you do it?"
Xan didn't answer right away, he could tell by the tone of his voice that Rydell would be in trouble if this shipment didn't get out.
"Do I get a co-pilot?" Xan asked reluctantly. After all Rydell had done for him there was no way Xan could really say no.
"Only if you can scare one up yourself buddy. Thanks a lot Xan."
"I'm just going to get the Comet, I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Oh, and don't worry you'll be well paid." Rydell added. "Thanks Xan, I owe you one."
"No you don't." Xan scoffed and flipped the commlink over Mar's personal frequency.
"What do you want?" Mar's voice still carried its sarcasm even through the static.
"A co-pilot."
"I'll be right out."
"You mean you don't want to know where we're going?"
"Where are we going?"
"I don't know. Rydell didn't tell me yet."
"What are we hauling?"
"Don't know."
"Great Xan, you really do need me." Marnist sighed and cut off the transmission. In a few minutes Marnist was at his side as Xan readied the speederbike.
"Come on let's go it sounds like Rydell really needs our help. Don't you have to tell your dad where you're going?" Xan asked as he spun the speeder bike into air.
"Nah, he won't mind."
"Just as long as you're home in one piece. He seemed pretty mad when we got home from Carida."
"Guess I can't get hurt then."
Xan didn't think there could be a more disreputable part of Kalin than where Triple S was located, but surprisingly, the freight complex that Rydell was working out of far and away surpassed Triple S. Down every alley seemed to be empty blackness, the type of blackness that you would walk into and not walk out of again. As casually as possible Xan spun the power selectors on his blasters to their maximums, subconsciously clutching the grip of one when he spotted a wall with numerous blaster scars.
When Xan finally set the Comet down, he and Mar found themselves facing a crumbling ferrocrette structure with bloodstains clearly visible on some parts of the walls, along with hydraulic, and other various fluids involved with interplanetary travel. Almost before they knew what was happening there was a group of beings and droids converging on the Comet, all holding crates of some sort.
"Nice of you to finally show up." Rydell said voice resonated sardonically through Xan's commlink. "All those droids and workers are going to load up the Comet. Why don't you and your co-pilot come inside, I'll meet you inside." Some of the strain had left his voice, but it was still all too evident to Xan that something was wrong.
"We'll be right there." Xan said into his commlink. With his foot Xan pressed the release for the secret compartment in the console. By his left thigh a panel slid back and Xan reached in and grabbed the DL-44 he'd hidden there. "Here, take this." He said handing it over his back to Marnist. "We'll get you a holster when we get back, just find someplace to keep it for now.
Without hesitation the young women took the blaster and stuck the barrel down the back of her pants. Xan and Mar walked side by side to where they would meet Rydell, both kept hands in reach of blasters at all times. Xan was ready for anything as they walked among the droids and dregs. Anyone of the sentient beings could have seen the wanted holos for Xan. He didn't feel safe anywhere, accept the Comet and the Artell ranch.
Just like he'd said Rydell was waiting inside the door. He smiled at Xan and motioned for the pair to follow him. After weaving between crates that were stacked taller than Xan and Rydell combined they came to the No Remorse.
"It's the only secure place to talk." Rydell said, once the hatch was sealed. "Ok, so here's what's going to happen. I need you two to help me move these supplies for the Rebels to Pzob."
"The Rebels!" Xan exclaimed. "We're moving supplies for the Rebels!"
"Listen Xan, it's good money and they need the help. It's not like you'll be trading shots with a squadron of Imperial TIEs. Why do you see them as so evil. If my father hadn't been killed he would be one of them."
"Your father died in a speeder crash, he wasn't killed." Xan shot back.
"Oh, but isn't it convenient that my father, who along with Senator Organa was one of the loudest voices against the abolition of the Senate, just so happens to die in a speeder, and the fire the crash caused burned his body so that nothing else could be found if anyone had bothered to look? No Xan, he didn't die in that crash.
"Is that what you want Xan. Do you really want the Empire, or are you just afraid that daddy's going to crawl out of the Unknown Regions and you'll wind up shooting at him!" Xan's face went red with anger. Mar was smart enough to figure everything out now that Rydell had given her enough of the pieces. But Rydell was right, Xan didn't really approve of the Empire but. . . "Anyway," Rydell said gaining control of himself again. "I've herd you talk about the terrible things that the Empire does that don't make the news because the propaganda sensors won't let it. . ."
"Alright, enough, I'll do it." Xan interrupted. Rydell paused for a moment surprised in Xan's sudden change, but he recovered quickly.
"Good, here are the codes they've sent us. Wait for them to hail you twice before responding." Rydell handed over a datacard.
"Right, we're going together."
"Of course." Rydell said, "We'll leave as soon as the Comet is loaded."
"Alright." Xan said and stood and headed back to the Comet, where a crew of humans and aliens were loading the cargo holds with plain unmarked containers. Xan did his best trying to avoid contact with his co-pilot, busying himself with the simple astrogation that would get them from Katal to Pzob. He sent Mar to run a diagnostics check on the sublight and hyperdrive systems so he could hide longer. Xan knew as soon as she was given the chance Mar would be brining up what Rydell had said, and it would have been impossible to cover up what his friend had meant. And Mar wouldn't stop until Xan had told her the truth.
As Xan had expected Mar was quick with the diagnostics check. She came up behind Xan as he sat at the navigation computer. Just as she opened her mouth to ask what Rydell had meant by all that Xan began to speak.
"Go to the cockpit and get the ship ready to fly, I'm going to check the magclamps on the containers." Before Mar had a chance to ask a question Xan was past her on his way to the cargo holds. She let out a sigh, as Xan's green and white R2 trundled by. Whatever Rydell had meant Xan was not ready to talk about it. Just the fact that he had her run a diagnostics on the sublights and the hyperdrive, and now he was checking the magclamps told her that he was avoiding her. She cared about him, wanted to help her as much as she could, and now when he obviously needed her most, he was shutting himself off to the worlds. Sometimes she just didn't understand men.
Xan's commlink chirped as he knelt down to check the first magclamp.
"Yeah." Xan said into the mic slightly irritated.
"Are you ready to go?" Rydell asked.
"Yeah it looks like it." Xan responded glancing around the first cargo hold. "Give me five minutes."
"In the air in five minutes. Follow me out."
Xan went back to the cockpit and sat down in front of Marnist. To Xan's almost delight she said nothing that didn't pertain to flying the ship. In close formation with two other ships the No Remorse and Whistling Comet rose from Katal and headed for the rendezvous at Pzob.
As soon as hyperspace enveloped the Comet Xan knew it wouldn't be long before Marnist would start to ask questions that he didn't want to answer. There were only so many things he could do to avoid her and there were only so many things that he could make her do before she was out of things to do. Even if he decided to lock himself in his quarters he would still have to come out to bring the ship out of hyperspace, and then to docking with the Rebel ship. So with nothing else to do Xan sat back and began to think of plausible excuses for when Mar finally asked.
To Xan's surprise Mar didn't ask anything right away, instead she took a look at the hyperdrive readouts and went to the auotchef for some food. Leaving Xan alone in the cockpit facing the swirling blackness of hyperspace.
Maybe Rydell was right, it was very possible that the Empire had his father killed in the way Rydell had described. They certainly had the resources, and the accident did provide the perfect cover. Rydell talked so much about the Rebellion that Xan began to wonder why he hadn't joined yet, who knew besides him though. Perhaps Rydell was planning on joining after they graduated from the Academy, so he would stand a better chance of getting placed where he wanted, although with who his father was it would not have been a problem. Eventually Xan would have to ask all these questions.
Marnist came back with a sandwich and two drinks. She handed Xan a hot cup of caf, Xan glowered back at her.
"If you broke into my rum. . ." Xan shook his fist menacingly.
"No, its just milk."
"Alright then." Xan sipped the caf cautiously. For a while the two talked about regular everyday things that they would normally talk about at the shop. The hardest question that Xan had to answer was when Mar had asked him why he finally decided to smuggle with Rydell. There was no fooling Mar, she knew that Xan could make far more money working with Rydell than her father was ever going to pay him. He had said that this was a one time only thing, but she still didn't like the idea of Xan leaving her.
The whole time Mar watched the chrono, hoping that Xan would fall out his secluded self and be ready to answer her questions about what Rydell had meant. She waited as long as she could but almost at the last moment she opened her mouth. The proximity warning sounded and she knew Xan wouldn't answer anything until after they were through with the Rebels.
"Alright, let's get ready to take this thing out of hyperspace."
"Right." Mar answered.
"Get ready to cut in the sublights." Xan hauled back on the hyperdrive levers. "Now." Xan said, and he was pleased to hear the sublights thrum to life.
The Comet came out of hyperpsace just off to the portside of the No Remorse. In the distance was Pzob, in orbit around the planet were a group of warships. A pair of Corellian Corvettes, a Nebulon-B frigate and two older Dreadnaught class ships. No doubt they were the Rebels.
"Did you key in the transponder?" Xan asked.
"Of course. Do you think I want to get vaped by a bunch of Rebels. Oh, there was the first hailing signal."
"Where's it coming from?" Xan asked.
"The Dreadnaught that's closest to us. It ID's as the Vendetta."
"Encrypt ready?"
"Gees, you sound like this is the first time I've done this."
"It is the first time you've done this." Xan shot back "Transmit the code as soon as we receive the hailing signal."
"Yeah, yeah here it comes." She paused. "Its away, landing instructions will be here soon."
Xan said nothing, he knew that for whatever reason they could come up with they had enough firepower on just one of those ships to obliterate all the ships that were approaching with the Comet. "That one." Mar pointed over Xan's shoulder at one of the Corellian Corvettes. "Port side docking collar."
Xan angled the Comet towards the ship and sped up. Rydell cut across their vector on his way to rendezvous with one of the ancient Dreadnaughts.
"Why's Rydell headed for that Dreadnaught?"
"Oh come on Mar, you should know that." Xan looked back over his shoulder, and found his young co-pilot staring blankly back at him. "It's because the Blastboat doesn't have a docking port big enough to move the containers through." Xan nestled the Comet right up to the docking collar on the Corvette, and a soft thud confirmed that the two ships were locked together. In an other few minutes the Rebels would have set up an air seal. "Come on let's go meet the Rebels." Xan said and he got up and led the way back to the bulk freight hatch.
Within minutes a youngish looking man who wore the rank of a petty officer stood before Xan and Marnist. He looked, if he wasn't in fact younger than Xan, and there was no way he could have gone to the Academy long enough to obtain that rank. Xan doubted that he'd gone to the Academy at all. Around them the Corvette's crewers hustled to move the containers from the Comet to there ship. Every now and then there would be a groan from one of the crewers who had to bring something from the upper or lower cargo bays.
"Do you need us to help move anything?" Xan offered.
"No thank you Captain. My commander issued strict orders that smugglers are not to be allowed on the ship." The young officer said, looking proverbially down his nose at Xan.
"Then why is one of my companions aboard a Dreadnaught as we speak." Xan said as a verbal parry, showing that he was no uneducated thug.
"No offense Captain, but he's earned our trust. And I've been informed that this is your first run."
"Alright."
"How old are you?" The petty officer asked, turning his attention to Mar. "She your sister."
She scowled at him, blues eyes going a shade cooler as her anger mounted. "Old enough to know how to use a blaster." She waved her DL-44 under his nose. "Or do I need to give you a shooting lesson."
"Cute." He said and went to pinch her cheek. Mar slapped his hand away, and coolly walked back to the cockpit." She's a feisty one."
"You would be too if your mother had died before you ever got a chance to know her." Xan retorted, and headed for the cockpit thinking to himself, or if you father had been sent to the Unknown Regions.
The Rebels scurried around with a desperate sense of paranoia that came from being constantly hunted by the Empire. Through them Xan caught a glimpse of what his future would be if he got absorbed into smuggling with Rydell. The plus side was that it caused them to work fast, which meant both he and they were that much closer to being somewhere safe.
In the cockpit Xan could see Marnist frustration at how the Rebel had treated her. As long as she could remember everyone had talked about how cute she was, how she looked like a little girl, and they always completely forgot the fact that she was sixteen standard years old, and that she was a competent young women who could tear down and rebuild almost anything that flew or drove in the Galaxy.
Everyone that was except for Xan.
He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't let it bother you. It's a big galaxy not like you're ever going to see him again."
"It's not fair Xan." She moaned. "Everybody always thinks that I'm so cute and harmless. They don't even know me! Who the hell are they to say I'm so young, or I'm so cute, or that I'm your sister!" Mar pounded her fist into the armrest.
"Hey! Take it easy on the ship, she's expensive." Xan said in the hopes that Mar would laugh. "What you need is a way to make you taller. Maybe we could rig you up to one of the lifts at the shop, anchor your feet to the ground and pull you taller. Or maybe we can tie you between two of Rydell's nerfs and start them walking in opposite directions." Xan punched her arm playfully, this time getting the laugh he wanted. "You know Mar, I wouldn't change anything about you."
"Whistling Comet, you are cleared to leave." A voice crackled over the comm. Mar keyed for a response.
"Thank you and good luck." Xan said as he took the controls and headed for space. He checked his scanners and they showed Rydell's ship emerging from the Dreadnaughts landing bay. He should have left along time ago.
Xan brought the Comet in close to Rydell's port rear side, and they jumped to hyperspace together, headed back to Katal. It was up to the rest of the Captains what they would do after they completed the run. Eventually they would return to Katal.
•••
Haara sat in the park under a tree escaping Carida's summer sun. Her datapad had the scribbled beginnings of a message to Xan. Ever since she'd help him steel his ship back she'd been thinking about him, about the next time she would see him. But most of all she thought about how to get him back from Marnist, she was going to have to do something drastic to get him back.
The odds were so heavily stacked against her that most Corellians wouldn't take her in a bet. After all, they lived on the same planet, worked together, and Mar knew what a quadgun was, whatever they were.
Haara knew that her and Xan were destined to be together, somehow she knew. In the past she had thought that some other guy was the one. Xan was different though, she didn't think they were going to get married, she knew, she felt that they were going to get married.
There was always the possibility that she could go to Katal and find him. Xan was probably still working at the same place. And if he wasn't there she'd just have to go to the Artell Ranch and wait for him.