Chapter 16
It was impossible she was there too. On Katal, how did she get to Katal? Mar's heart had dropped to her feet when she saw the older girl wrapped in Xan's IPEC dress jacket. She just couldn't win. Xan was supposed to be hers once they left Carida, and they returned to Katal only to find that she was waiting for them.
At least she was still Xan's co-pilot. Of course Xan would get to a point when he realized that having her around all the time was what he wanted. What could he possibly see in Haara? She was the complete opposite of Xan in every way, she couldn't handle a blaster let alone a quadgun, she didn't know a hatch release from a hyperdrive motivator, and she wasn't even from Katal. She still had a chance; she was going to win Xan somehow.
Of course the answer was really only a blaster bolt away. It always was.
"This place is worse off then when we left for the Academy." Rydell exclaimed. "It's like the Vigo wants us to fail." He flung his arms out and let them drop to his side in an expression of hopelessness.
"So where do we start." Makazu asked. The freight warehouse was almost void of life. There was not a being to be seen anywhere except for the IPEC group that had just shown up. Shipping crates were piled high, and there were no ships.
"Where do we start?" Rydell turned around and looked at Makazu dumbfounded. "What does it look like we do? We get this stuff delivered where it's supposed to be delivered and then we go after who ever it was that pushed the former owner out."
"What do we do when we find them?" Makazu asked again.
"What we were trained to do." Xan answered, knowing that Rydell was thinking the same thing.
"Alright, start checking these crates, and make sure we know where they need to go." Rydell pulled on Xan's elbow and pulled him aside. "Hey, I'm gonna go and round up a couple of good crews, you get the Comet ready to fly cuz you're going to lead them while me and Noo-gin stay behind to slice into records of the other smuggling operations around here."
"Will they respect me?" Xan wondered. "We've always been taking orders from you or the brain-dead idiot back on Carida."
"I think most of them respect you more than me. They know you're mostly sane and won't put them into any more risk than they have to be." Rydell cocked a wry grin at Xan.
"What about these guys you're going to dig up in the cantinas?"
"They'll listen to you because if they don't they don't get paid."
"Who do you think shut this place down?" Xan asked, if only to confirm his suspicion.
"They're mostly Rebel supplies. This is broadcasting Imperial better than a Star Destroyer."
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Are you seriously thinking of going after the garrison?"
"Your not?" Rydell answered like it was the only option open to them. "There's only about a hundred of them, we can do it."
"And I'm a skinny Hutt." Xan retorted.
"If we do it right we can get out without any casualties." Rydell said, looking back to his training from the Academy.
"You know our training was supposed to be used against smaller Rebel garrisons and noncivlized worlds where we stand a better chance with smaller numbers. Our training didn't include taking out Imperial garrisons with all the associated equipment. Not to mention the fact that we're not at full strength, we're not even at half strength."
"Yeah, but think about all the stuff we're going to come away with when we pull it off. They've got speeder bikes, and AT-STs AT-ATs. We can probably sell it to mercenaries or we can use it for ourselves, and I'm sure Noo-gin wants to get into the Imperial computers again." That was always the thing with Rydell it was never if they could do it but when.
"Alright then. When do you want the first shipment out?"
"Tomorrow morning. We have to get on top of all this or we're going to loose a lot of customers. And that means a lot of credits, and loosing lots of creds means the Vigo won't be happy."
"Right." Xan answered. "Good luck getting a couple of crews together."
"I don't need luck." Rydell answered and turned for the door.
Haara felt around in the bed for where Xan was supposed to be, but he wasn't there. Once the sleepy haze had left her eyes she could see Xan standing silhouetted against the mirror. He usually wasn't up before she was.
"Where are you going Xan?" She asked voice groggy with sleep.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Xan apologized.
"You didn't." Haara said sitting up in bed. "So where are you going?"
"To work." And that was all he said. Haara could feel the tension lurking just below the surface of Xan's calm demeanor. Somehow it didn't seem like work was going to be simple today.
"Doing what?"
"The same thing I was doing before I met you. Moving freight."
Now that didn't fit. They'd met when Xan was at the Academy the first time. And when she'd first come to Katal he was working in a repair shop.
"Going anyplace good?" She asked as Xan clasped his belt, his belt holding two blaster pistols.
"No not really. Just the same old stuff." She could tell that Xan didn't want to talk about what he was doing with her, but she needed to know.
"Are you smuggling Xan?" She asked. Haara had no reason to believe Xan was smuggling, but that seemed like the only thing that could make him avoid the questions the way he was. It almost felt as if Xan had slapped her, or pushed her back down onto the bed, even though he hadn't moved from his spot two meters away, she knew she'd hit the mark.
"Yeah." He ground out reluctantly. "I knew you wouldn't like it, but it's what I have to do."
"No you don't." Haara answered all too quickly. "You could go to work at a repair shop again."
"And not make any money. There's no shop out there would hire me because I don't have the credentials from the Academy or any other place, hauling freight and smuggling is the only way I can make any money. That's who I am. You get all of me if you want me, but you don't get to pick and choose the parts that suite you best. You get the freight hauler, the smuggler, the bounty hunter, the mechanic. You take it all or you get nothing." Xan was facing her now. She could feel how it hurt him to say those things, and it told her just how much she cared about her.
"It's just that's its dangerous, and I don't want to loose you." Haara offered, and it was the truth.
"No, that's not it. You don't want me doing anything illegal. And it's not even wrong." Xan fired back. "Listen, I can't stay and argue this with you. I have to go."
"I'm sorry Xan." Haara said getting out of bed. "Have a safe trip." She enfolded him in a hug. "You'd better come back."
"I always come back."
Rydell was waiting in the warehouse when Xan and Marnist arrived in the Comet. There were four other ships in the yard being loaded with crates.
"Good morning. Nice of you two to finally show up." Rydell greeted.
"Lover boy here got into a fight with you know who." Mar spat out with contempt. "Apparently she has some moral reservations about smuggling."
"You didn't tell her what or who we're smuggling for, did you?" Rydell glared at him with narrow eyes.
"No of course not. Show me these pilots you gathered from the Cantinas." Xan said. What had happened had happened; all that mattered at the moment was the success of the mission.
"Right. Fordulo, Beneb, get over here." Rydell shouted. A Dug and a Duros came walking over. "This is Fordulo, expert pilot and smuggler." Rydell said indicating the Dug. Like all Dugs he was short with dark grayish skin. What struck Xan was what seemed to be a massive tattoo on the side of his head that tracked all the way down beneath his cloths. "And the same goes for Beneb." Rydell said. To Xan this Duros looked just like every other Duros he'd ever seen, even dressed in the same pilot's jumpsuit. "I also managed to locate a couple of ships. Makazu will be piloting one, and Vors and Olsaa will take the other. Good luck and get going." Rydell said. "Hey, Fordulo, where's that Verpine you spoke about?" Rydell questioned. The Dug shrugged. They were in hyperspace in a half a standard hour.
It seemed like Xan hadn't slept in a week, because it had been closer to five days of constant shipping. The only thing that saved him was having Mar for a co-pilot; he couldn't fathom how the solo pilots were able to stay awake. They probably had good piloting programs installed in their astromech droids.
The problem with the constant flying was that the lack of sleep was taxing on their patience. Xan rubbed his eyes and reflected on the situation as the Comet hurtled through hyperspace. They were all so tired that if they were jumped by Imperials they would all be turbolaser fodder in a matter of seconds. The thought of death clouded Xan's emotions, not to mention that the lack of sleep was trying on every body's patience.
Mar was asleep in her bunk, while Xan tried to monitor the in flight systems. Every time he was about to dose off A5 trilled loudly to wake him up. Xan would have enough time to sleep when they were on the way back to Katal. Almost all of the supplies they were hauling were for the Rebellion, and it wasn't an issue weather or not the Imperials were going to attack, but when Xan and his band got caught in the crosshairs of a Star Destroyers turbolasers.
Like all the other drop offs before this one went off without a problem. And Xan was able to sleep for twelve hours as the Comet rocketed back towards Katal. He'd forgotten the datapack until it fell out of his jacket pocket.