Chapter 3

Luke looked suspiciously at the man. He couldn't have done this all himself. At most, he was seventeen years old. His youth was evident.

"Who are you?" they all asked at once.

"Andover Casimir. "

Just then, two corporals came from the guard posts near the hangar door. They pushed Andover away from the small group. Knowing what would happen next, Luke, Leia, and Han followed.

-Five minutes later-

"Why am I in an interrogation chamber?" the Andover asked.

"Standard procedure," beeped the interrogation droid hovering nearby.

"So let me get this straight. I defect from my home planet with arguably the most advanced craft in the galaxy. I bring hordes of information, and I offer to join depleted squadrons as an electronic countermeasures flier. Instead, I get hooked to a chair with electrodes taped to my head."

"Confirmed," beeped the droid.

Luke, Leia and Han were standing on the other side of a glass window that allowed a view into the chamber. Sighing, Leia pressed the button on the microphone.

"We just have to ask a few questions."

"Here's a question. WHY?"

"To confirm if you have a connection to the Empire."

At the word "empire," the droid went wild. "Confirmed threat," it beeped, literally (electrically) shocking the captor.

"Hey people!" the Andover exclaimed. "Your droids aren't getting any smarter."

Leia pulled her finger off of the button, cutting off the audio transfer.

"He seems suspicious," Han stated coolly.

"Han, this could be our big break," Luke countered. "We're short on pilots and engineers. We'll take anyone we can get."

Leia activated the microphone again. "We're just going to ask you some baseline questions, to see if you're lying."

She perused through all the information they could find about him.

"Is your full name Andover Casimir?"

"Yes." The droid's screen showed no spike in his heart rate.

"Are you seventeen years old?"

"Yes. And four days and three hours."

Han and Luke shared confused looks.

"Are you from the Chandrillian town of Liezden?"

"Yes." Again, no spike.

"How did you hear about us?" Leia inquired.

"I met Mon Mothma on Chandrilla."

"How'd you meet her?" Luke asked.

Andover looked down. "I-uh…" The heartbeat sensor jumped.

"See," Han exclaimed, quick to judge. "An Imperial liar."

"He didn't answer our question," Leia chided.

"Andover?" Luke prompted, tapping the glass.

Meekly, Andover replied, " I may have helped her out of her burning beach house after I shot a fighter into the second floor."

Leia ran a hand through her hair, and reread the results.

"Truthful, Probability-99.8 percent," the droid's printout read.

"Would you look at this," Leia mused, calling Han and Luke back over.

Luke scanned through the recorded answers. "I didn't know Mothma had a beach house."

"It's a nice place," Leia confirmed. "But it said on the Holonet that the house had been hit by an Imperial TIE."

"It was," Andover stated, appearing at the group's left.

"How did you get out of the chamber?" Leia asked, rather angrily.

"I built a 40-million credit plane. I think I could beat a 5-credit lock."

"Tell us more about the TIE incident," Luke prompted.

"Basically," Andover stated, "two TIEs and one TIE-Advanced came out of the clouds on an overcast day and dove at her house. Just then, I was flying along the beach shooting stun lasers at a large flock of birds for fun."

"And you shot down a TIE?" Leia squeaked.

"No," Andover sighed. "Long story short, the birds flew up into the wings of both TIEs and damaged the -Advanced too. One of the three collided with her house."

"So you accidentally killed three TIEs?" Han asked.

"Yup," Andover laughed. "I gave them the bird…"

"Did you hear about the Mothma fiasco?" someone asked from the doorway.

Mara looked up. Her friend, Corporal Lyudmila Trut, walked into her study.

"No," Mara said, intrigued.

Lyudmila sighed. "Three TIEs were secretly going to attack her house but instead hit a large flock of birds."

Mara set down her paperwork. "Oh, I heard something about that. Didn't one of the fuselages smash the roof?"

"Other than a large hole and a small fire, it left no damage whatsoever. Intelligence has confirmed Mon Mothma is alive and in hiding."

"So, we're still going to be fighting for a while?"

"It's likely."

Mara groaned inwardly.

"Something wrong?" Lyudmila asked, noting her unease.

Mara really couldn't put her finger on it. "I guess," she finally said, "that I don't feel that this is a rewarding line of work."

"I'm confused," Lyudmila stated bluntly. "You are highly regarded by the Emperor himself as his his favorite assassin-"

"Shh! Shh! Shhhh!" hushed Mara. "Can't you say that any louder?"

"-And you get your own personal Super Star Destroyer…"

"Lyudmila, the only part of this ship I own is this apartment-sized set of rooms. If I worked this hard on Coruscant, I'd have my own mansion by now."

"And yet you don't like the fact that the Emperor is pleased by your 'work'."

"Not if I have to kill whoever he says for the rest of my life."

Lyudmila frowned, and stood up. "You are starting to sound like a Rebel sympathizer," she accused.

"Maybe, maybe not."

"Honestly," Lyudmila said, "You need a vacation."

REVIEW! Suggestions/plot ideas always help.

Expect an update next week.

-ClaptonJr.