Chapter 8
Captain Parck sat in his quarters poring over the latest reports from the Katal garrison. They reported a large credit shift from Xan's personal account to an other that the Captain could not ID the name. It was a large credit shift, thirty-five thousand.
It wouldn't be long before he and Xan were together again, even if it was in the vast uncharted wilds of the Unknown Regions. Together though, they would could conquer incredible swaths of space. And defend the civilized parts before they ever knew they'd been threatened.
That was why Thrawn was out there.
Brining with him an increasing number of young Chiss volunteers to crew fighters and ships in Unity Fleet.
It wouldn't be long at all.
•••
Early morning Katal sunlight filtered in through the window to Xan's room. It was not until the golden light splashed over Xan's face that he woke up. Eyes closed he began to take in his surroundings. Something was wrong he thought. There was a small body snuggled up against his. It wasn't an animal, they had not pets and a bantha would crush him.
Finally, with all other ideas expended Xan opened his eyes, afraid of what he might find. He was holding Marnist. She snored quietly in his arms. Xan had to fight the impulse to pull away. What had happened last night? No way, nothing happened, there was no way it just felt so. . .wrong.
Xan didn't know it but Mar had been awake for a while, basking in the warmth of the sun and feeling as good as she could feel. Being held by Xan certainly helped. She felt safe in Xan's arms, she cared about him, and he cared too, she knew it. She loved him.
As soon as she felt Xan stir she began to snore. Any amount of time she could be held by Xan made her feel better about everything, life, her future. If Xan hadn't been the only thing she could count on life would have been perfect.
Xan began to nudge her: "Come on, get up. We have to see about getting you into the Academy." He sounded a little shaky but that had to be because he'd just woken up.
"What?" She asked, "The Academy, I'm to young."
"Not when I get through with you. Besides, I can't leave you here on Katal alone."
See how much he cares. She thought.
"Now let's get some food. I'll meet you downstairs."
Rydell was waiting, with two plates of food set out when Xan got downstairs. There was a look in Xan's eyes, and the way he was carrying himself, and Rydell knew something was wrong.
"You look like death."
"Yeah, well you would too if you'd let one more person in on the secret of who you really are."
"What! You've got to be kidding me." Xan shook his head in response. "And I thought you were sane."
"I'm all she's got. There is no way Mar will turn me in."
"Stang. You do realize that the bounty on your head is getting bigger by the week. All she has to do is alert a squad of Stormtroopers and walk you into an ambush."
"She wouldn't do that. Now let's focus on what we've got to do. You'll go and setup an account for me to put the credits into. Then I go in a day later and transfer the credits. A few days after that we empty it out."
"You just keep getting crazier by the second, don't you. It'll never work."
"It'll have to, or Mar will never get into the Academy."
"Alright." Rydell said skeptically.
"It's only crazy of I get caught, until then, it's just a gamble. How much do you think you can put up? I know you're going to say all of it, but I can't let you do that."
"Alright then. I'll put up twenty thousand. But you've gotta promise me something." Rydell stopped.
"What?" Xan asked, not sure he really wanted to know.
"You have to take out enough to finish the Nova Wolf." He paused. "I'm tired of that thing taking up space in my hangar and not making me any money."
"An extra twenty thousand, alright? Whatever is left over after we get Mar into the Academy will go towards the Wolf."
"It's only crazy if we get caught." Rydell offered.
•••
The day had started off good, with the news that Mar had been assigned to IPEC with Xan and Rydell, but that had been the high point. Rydell told Xan about a good smuggling run for the Rebels it just went downhill.
As was his custom Rydell gave Xan and Marnist a private almost briefing aboard the No Remorse. That was when Rydell had told them about one of the other smugglers who the Rebels were almost a hundred percent sure was selling their location to the Empire. So Rydell was going to solve the problem, after the suspect had made the delivery. The Vigo had been very clear on that.
Now Xan found himself at the controls of the Comet, engines thrumming gently behind him. He was alone in the cockpit, Mar stationed in the upper quadgun. Rydell wanted backup if it got out of hand.
Without hesitation Xan followed Rydell out, taking up position aft and to his starboard side. That was the last thing that went according to plan.
"Stay sharp Mar, this is it." Xan said, referring to the target freighter.
"I know, I know." Mar complained. "You just concentrate on giving me a good shot."
Xan followed as Rydell brought them in behind the snitch. They were on their exit vector, so once the target was eliminated they would head home. That was when the Star Destroyer appeared in front of them. A gleaming white vibroblade ripping open the black void of space.
"Xan, Star Destroyer on our exit vector!"
"I saw it!" Xan retorted. "Shields up."
Two blue streaks shot out from Rydell's ship as he launched a pair of proton torpedoes at the freighter.
All the freighters broke separately, except for Xan who followed Rydell with ease. The well-armed pair of Dreadnaughts were lumbering to from an escape corridor for the smaller Rebel ships.
"Xan." Rydell's voice burst through the static. "The Rebels need cover. They want our firepower on that Star Destroyer or it's TIEs. Probably going to be a big bonus."
"Yeah, what about the others?" Xan asked as he noticed an other freighter jump to hyperspace.
"They run, no credits for them." Rydell responded as he looped back towards the Star Destroyer.
"I hate to interrupt the meeting of future Grand Admirals," It was Mar. "But we've got a squadron of TIEs inbound."
"Alright, first pass with torps." Rydell called.
Xan flicked fire control over torpedoes. "A5, separate targets, dual fire." Xan ordered, and hit the accelerator to keep up with Rydell as Rydell burned space for the TIEs. Xan waited for Rydell to fire, they were almost to close, but he knew they gave the Imps no time to react, and Xan noticed four blips wink out.
"We just have to keep them occupied long enough for the Rebels to get away." Rydell said as they pulled a tight turn to wade back in on the Imps.
Mar pumped shots of scarlet energy at anything that came within range of her quadgun, claiming one kill on the first pass. She saw the bolts pop the canopy off the TIE just before a missile hit it, no doubt that she was going to loose that kill.
Rydell brought them in behind one of the Imp fighters and Mar swiveled around to cover their rear. After all she couldn't shoot that close to Rydell's ship and Xan had a quadgun facing forward. The Comet banked hard beneath her, the feeling all but negated by the ships acceleration compensator. Stars fell way from her as Xan pulled a roll and followed a TIE to put them on a heading in the opposite direction and 180 degrees removed from where they'd started. By the end of this Xan had taken the lead position.
"You have the lead." Rydell called, and Xan saw the last of the Dreadnaughts hit hyperspace. "Right." Xan said through clenched teeth, focused on vaping the TIE before heading out. The Imp pilot was good, jinking left and right, while bobbing the ship up and down. There was a point that Xan didn't reach to often, but now was one of those times when frustration took control. He pulled the trigger and brought the lasers so they tattooed the Imp, melting away the lower part of the of the port wing, shearing off the stabilizer and tracking diagonally across the hull before the engines exploded.
"Let's get clear." Rydell said. "Follow me."
The No Remorse rolled over Xan and Mar in the Comet and they sped towards the ghost like Imperial Star Destroyer. And Rydell thought Xan was insane.
"Right up the ridgeline." Rydell again, and they pushed max power.
"Hey let's give a little gift. Say a couple of proton torpedoes across the bridge." Xan said.
Rydell laughed back, "You got it."
The crew fired ranging shots at the approaching pair of smugglers, almost to small to hit, in the next couple of minutes it would be impossible.
"A5, chart our hyperspace jump for just after we cross the bridge." Xan said and switched back over to torps.
Xan expertly followed Rydell as they skimmed along the hull of the Star Destroyer, meters from hitting the hull. No turbolaser crew could track them so close, and at such high speed, unless the pair headed straight for a battery. Rydell pulled into a climb close to the superstructure; he knew that no battery commander would shoot at them now, especially as a miss would result in damage to their own ship.
"Ready Xan?"
"Ready?"
"Fire!"
Four torps streaked for the bridge of the Star Destroyer, although Xan, Rydell, and Mar were safely in hyperspace when the last of the torpedoes shattered the bridge transparasteel and exploded among the crew.