It's been a while since I've updated, but I've been busy writing a lot of things, so I hope my updates will start picking up. Thank you all that are reading this piece.

Eleh: Well thank you for reading and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I'm glad you like their relationship, especially since it's pretty platonic in this piece.

Guest: Don't be surprised if Megan doesn't make an appearance in this piece, but the idea of Toplin, who I assume was the cut guest appearance that Nathan was meant to be in, I hadn't thought of. A daughter thinking Freddie is her dad would really blow his mind.

ajk2: You never know.

Fanfic-Reader-88: Beck is unfortunately a man caught in bad circumstances instead of being a villain. Mister Vega on the show didn't really care about Trina and in this, she's just a means to an end.

Finally, this is chapter is dedicated to the great Carrie Fisher, someone great that couldn't have made Star Wars what it is without her.

Rating: T, Sci-fi Violence

Chapter 14: Dinosaurs and Reunions

Officer's Briefing Room
ISD Justifier
Imperial I-class Star Destroyer
Geslok System
Sector 4001
Imperial Occupied Space (Gorn Territory)

Rear Admiral Francine Briggs wore a deep frown as she looked over the status reports coming in about the rest of the Imperial campaign of trying to tame this side of the galaxy that at the moment she was not an active participate.

The Imperials were making impressive headway in securing the Gorn and High Admiral Thornesmith was cutting the Klingon beasts to pieces, but after Howard's death and her defeat at Skoleos, the drive into the Federation had stalled.

Her defeat by the 'other' Lizards and Star Fleet was why she was sitting here doing paperwork instead of continuing her campaign. She was now in command of a fleet of around one hundred and twenty vessels, the remnants of her fleet and the late Admiral Howard's fleet. They had been reorganized into a new assault fleet after his death and her attack on Skoleos. She had barely been able to hold on to her command after the disastrous rout over the planet and was now taking her punishment of holding the rear element of the drive towards the Gorn homeworlds.

Her fleet was currently holding the Geslok System and lending support to the Imperial Army as they continued fighting to take control the planet below. The Gorn were putting up a considerable fight to hold on to the minor industrial world and making the Imperials pay for every square kilometer. The green, brown and grey creatures that people could make to Earth dinosaurs in humanoid form may have been slow, but they could take pounding and return it in good order.

She hoped once they had secured the planet below and the Superiority fleet took control of the space around the Gorn triple homeworlds, she would be allowed to launch a second attack on the Skoleosian system and restart the drive against the Federation. Every moment she sat here was another moment the Federation could fortify against her and keeping her from getting the recognition she rightly deserved.

Her wish wasn't exactly granted, but the campaign had come back to her as the alarms started blaring throughout the ship and over the intercom shouted, "Battle Stations! Battle Stations! All hands, man your Battle Stations!"

Briggs jumped up from her seat and dashed out of the office. She scrambled down the short corridor to the bridge in the most dignified manner possible along with several officers making it to the bridge. As soon as she stepped onto the command walkway, she shouted, "Report!"

The captain of the ship shouted, "The Lizards have counterattacked! They dropped out of their superluminal speeds nearly on top of us! We couldn't see them coming! We've already lost the Pulsar!"

The engineers and technicians were still trying to adapt the hyperwave signal interceptors to detect ships traveling at warp speed, but it was slow progress, so they were unable to detect when ships were approaching them at faster than light in realspace and they had just paid for it dearly with the lost of one of her prized Imperial I-class Star Destroyers.

She glanced out of the viewport and saw the fading nova of once was the Pulsar. Two dozen Gorn vessels had dropped out of warp at nearly point blank range of the destroyer and unleashed double that number in combination of heavy and medium plasma torpedoes into her.

The point was hammered home when a Venator-class Star Destroyer went up a moment later as another dozen Gorn vessels and dozen Skoleosian vessels did the same thing, robbing her of her second fleet leader and much needed fighter support.

The admiral shouted, "Launch everything at them!"

The neighboring ships started returning fire at the Lizard cousins, but the next moment they pulled away and jumped to low warp and out of firing range.

She was about to shout the order for her Interdictor cruisers to start initiating their gravity wells and fleet to reform as they were strung out at various orbits of the planet and further out at the mobile stations for repair and re-supply, but over the next few moments all of her precious Interdictor cruisers were sent into oblivion from mass torpedo strikes hit them from underneath and overwhelming shields and armor.

Half a minute later one of the established Golan Space Defense SpaceGun platforms placed in orbit for security was torn apart from over a hundred warp missiles striking the underside of it.

ISD Justifier

Briggs snapped at the captain, "Where is the fire coming from?!"

He glared down at one of the pit crews and a sensor operator immediately shouted, "From Federation ships! Two hundred ninety thousand kilometers at mark two-seventy to the fleet!"

Her jaw dropped for a moment in processing his words then shouted, "They're right under us?"

"Yes, ma'am."

USS Star League (NCC-2101)
Federation-class Dreadnaught
Taskforce 4, Fifth Fleet

Rear Admiral Roger Morgan calmly sat in his command chair as the viewscreen showed the tactical situation. The Imperials had deployed their fleet in various orbits over and out from the planet to lend orbital support for ground operations and secure the immediate area of the planet. His taskforce was underneath them from the southern pole direction of the planet and he was taking advantage of his taskforce's placement and the advantage of the range of photon torpedoes and warp capable antimatter enhanced nuclear missiles.

His Miranda-class Heavy Cruisers and Loknar-class frigates with their extensive torpedo bays (thanks to Andorian insistence within ship design) were letting lose devastating salvos of the matter/antimatter warheads and engaging at long range bombardment of the enemy fleet and installations. Usually firing photons at this range was practically useless for ship-to-ship combat due to combat speeds between vessels and electronic countermeasures, but due to the sheer size of the vessels they were targeting and the relatively low speeds they were traveling, they were practically stationary targets.

His science officer called out, "They're vectoring fighters towards us."

"ETA?"

"Just under two minutes."

Morgan glanced over his shoulder to his communications officer and ordered, "Signal to Miranda and Loknar wings to maintain bombardment on their lighter elements. Let the Gorn take care of their heavier assets. Order our CAP to keep our line of fire clear from those fighters."

"Aye sir."

Imperial fighters, a mix of ARC-170s fighter/bombers, V-19 Torrent, Nimbus-Class V-wing and first generation T.I.E. fighters, roared towards the Federation vessels at full throttle. However, due to the sheer distance the Federation starships here firing, it would still take them almost ten minutes to reach them.

The Federation fighters weren't limited to sublight speeds with their short-range warp drives and were able to cover the distances in mere moments. The delta triangle shaped hammerhead forward seated fighters and softly concaved sided triangle center seated fighters practically jumped on them and started blasting away with phasers and dogfighting missiles before they realized they were on top of them.

A free-for-all melee ensued with fighters breaking formation and maneuvering for dear life as the surrounding space filled with phaser steams of blue and 'laser' bolts of a variety of colors. It was a pretty even fight, perhaps a slight edge remained with the Imperial forces with their experience from the war, but the Star Fleet fighters negated they're superior numbers with scattering them and having the edge protection of heavier shielding meant to take glancing blows from starship weapons.

The Star Fleet pilots over the next few minutes did their job of turning it into a running fight to keep path clear of the squadrons of ships to continue to harass the Imperials at long range.

The Imperial vessels started reforming into a crescent formation and started wildly firing at the surrounding area, hoping to put up a wall of flack to keep the attacking vessels at bay as they were trapped between the planet and the attacking elements.

ISD Justifier

Briggs desperately shouted, "Order fighter patrols to attack the Federation ships! Break orbit and saturate fire the area. Let them fly right into a—"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as twenty or so Gorn strafed from behind the Justifier and unloaded their full battery of plasma torpedoes into the rear of the destroyer. The shields of the mighty vessel overloaded with such concentrated fire and struck the engine section with the weakest armor. The explosions rippled down the spine right into the hypermatter reactor and engulfing the ship in a hellish explosion.

The Gorn ships jumped to low warp again before the surrounding vessels could get an effective firing solution on them.

The Imperial commanders realized they were sitting ducks trapped between the planet and the enemy vessels able to use their FTL drives to determine when and how they engaged the fleet.

The next senior commander issued the same order Briggs was unable to give, to break orbit of the planet.

The ships out on the furthest orbits broke first, followed by the next line and so on, forming a cone or almost whirl pool of water going down the drain. The Imperials maintained their discipline with an orderly break and heading in the same direction, allowing each other to cover one another with wild firing and the planet protecting their rear for the moment.

That moment wasn't long enough as elements of the Federation and Gorn fleets rounded the opposite side of the planet in a longitude manner over the North Pole and got behind the Imperials. They opened up with ranging phaser and torpedo shots, focusing on only a handful of the heavier ships at a time to make up for their lack of firepower compared to the Imperials.

A few Victory and Venator-class Star Destroyers were crippled as their engines were knocked out, only drifting forward with their momentum that would eventually slow being caught in the planet's gravity well, but were left alone as the pursuing ships switched to other targets.

Once the bulk of the fleet was far enough from the planet and stations, the ships started turning outward with some rolling one hundred and eighty degrees to form a defensive sphere. They knew they were in a defensive position with the native vessels in not only wanting to hold the system, but them now having the speed advantage without the Interdiction cruisers disrupting their normal space FTL drives. They let loose a staggering amount of fire in all direction to prevent any form of strafing run against them, not caring of some was directed towards the planet and randomly striking the surface.

The Gorn and Skoleosian fleets with the handful of Star Fleet vessels that were attached in the pursuit squadrons reformed in a loose formation several tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Imperial vessels. Once reformed into a whole fighting unit, they turned towards the Imperials with the planet on their starboard bow side for a pinpoint focus for their attack. They were smaller in number than the spherical hundred or so vessels, but they weren't fighting them all at once but only half due to their formation.

The allied vessels concentrated their fire on a handful of vessels at a time, able to hit them even through the heavy electronic interference due to how packed tight they were and sheer size while the Imperials returned fire in a mass volley in the general direction of them due to their looser formation. They were able to hit a number of the combined fleet's ships that were unlucky enough not to maneuver out of the way.

As the fighting was raging between the fleets, the crews of the ships that were in the repair dock were scrambling to put enough pieces together to get them to leave. They weren't fortunate enough as a squadron of Federation destroyers and frigates started hammering the docking facilities shields with photon torpedo volleys.

Once the shields were down, Federation fighter/bombers, a rare sight for an organization that stressed their exploration and scientific research, made their strafing runs against the station and the vessels attempting to leave. The station's defensive batteries intending to exchange fire with vessels were too slow to track the smaller vessels, so they were able to hit anything vital and the fleeing ships' engines before they could get their shields up.

The battle raged over the next two hours, the Federation and Gorn ships warping in and out to whittle away at the Imperials. The native forces were hurt with return fire while getting into weapons range with several ships destroyed, but the Imperials suffered far worst with ship after ship being methodically destroyed.

After half the fleet had been lost, the senior surviving commander ordered the fleet to jump away with the hope of hooking up with the fleet attacking the Gorn homeworlds. Those ships that could obey jumped out with a string of light to infinity and those that couldn't retreat fired to cover their retreat until they were crippled or outright destroyed.

After the last Imperial vessel was neutralized, the combined fleets took up strategic positions to hold the system in preparation for a counterattack while others inserted themselves into orbit to start lending aerial support to besieged forces on the ground.

Unknown Location, Deep Space

The Falcon dropped out of hyperspace in the cold dark space between the stars, the place where even the most hardened space traveler was loathed to stop and spend any time as it was nothingness. If anything happened to your ship, there wasn't a safe place to land to make any kind of repair or hope of living off the land until help arrived.

They wouldn't have to worry about such a possibility as the sensor board lit up with multiple contacts ranging from heavy warships down to dozens of fighters flying patrol thousands of kilometers ahead of them.

Since the ship was filled with additional passengers than when they first started, only the most essential people were in the cockpit: Dusty, Sinjin, Freddie and Tori, however, that didn't prevent Jade from standing at the door and behind Freddie's left shoulder. Sinjin pointed out as his eyes were focused on his sensor display, "We have a dozen fighters inbound, Eta-Two interceptors. They're offering challenge."

Dusty looked over his shoulder to their VIP passenger and asked with a borderline sarcastic manner, "I would appreciate if you got on the comm."

Tori slipped between the master-of-the-ship and the first mate and pressed the control to open up communications. "This is Princess Tori Ablingada. I've made my escape from Imperial forces and request immediate landing for a medical emergency."

There was the expected pause at the other end as the people on the other end contemplated a response to the unexpected hail.

Jade leaned over and whispered into Freddie's ear, "They may not believe her."

Dusty spoke up before they received an answer, "If they don't we'll have to get out of here real quick."

Tori interrupted with her voice laced with mild offense, "Even if they don't, they're not just going to blow us out of the sky if that's what you're thinking."

A voice answered on the comms, "Maintain your current flight path and standby for instructions.

Dusty didn't bother having to look at the HUD to see that their current flight path would take them directly towards the flotilla of warships and support vessels. The sensors indicated that the fighters approaching his ship had split off into three groups, one maintaining a direct intercept while the other two groups took an arced approached towards their flanks.

A voice that sounded almost identical to Tori's voice called out, "Tori is that you?"

The others in the cockpit shared curious and surprised glances with one another, but Tori ignored them and answered, "Yeah Shelby, it's me. We ran into some problems. We need to dock immediately. Trina's hurt and she needs a doctor."

Jade frowned and Tori could sense that the Star Fleet doctor was directing an offended stare on the back of her head. "I mean, we need a more extensive medical care than what we have here."

"What happened? Who's hurt?"

"Trina's hurts."

"Trina? She's with you? We lost her when we jumped out. We thought…"

"She ah…" Tori passed glances to the others then finished answering, "She came looking for me. She knew I was in trouble… that whole 'Force' sensing."

There was a pause on the other end then a quiet response, "Okay…"

Dusty tapped the mute on their end of the communication and stated, "She has her doubts."

Tori knotted her brow and asked, "What?"

"It's in her voice. She has her concerns that it isn't you."

"She heard my voice. She knows it's me."

"She has nearly an identical voice for some reason. Maybe you're a clone? Maybe you were brainwashed and now a double agent willing to sell them out?"

Tori snorted out and shook her head. "Are you always that suspicious?"

Dusty slightly shifted his seat to the left and glanced up at her with an incredulous expression. "For a leader of a rebel group fighting against the entire Empire, you're not?"

The brunette was going to fire off some sharp retort, but stopped herself.

The near identical voice came back on the comlink and instructed, "Head for the Coruscant Sky. We'll meet you onboard."

Dusty froze at hearing the name.

Sinjin glanced over to his friend with a concerned gaze and Benson saw the same tension. He carefully asked, "Is there a problem?"

The freighter captain took a breath and focused back on the controls. "No, not a problem." He spoke towards the comlink and answered, "This Dusty Hale, master of this vessel. Roger that. Waiting for space traffic control's instructions for landing."

Benson glanced to Sinjin for an explanation, but he remained quiet and focused on keeping his attention on the controls.

Shelby courteously answered, "Understood. The fighters will escort you and I'll turn you over to flight control."

Conference Room 1
Starbase Fifteen-Zero-Nine
Klingon Space

Inside one of the conference rooms of the massive starbase, a gathering of the surviving senior officers of the various Klingon fleet units that had engaged the Empire were discussing their next move while the Military High Command thousands of light years away debating in circles what to do as they were caught completely ill-prepared in facing such an enemy.

The discussion was dominated by three almost universally respected officers and the others deferred to their lead around the large briefing table.

Captain Kang, the much respected Klingon starship commander and skilled diplomat standing well over 6 feet tall standing at the 'head' of the circular table with the massive viewscreen behind him, slammed his fist down on the table and demanded, "We need to counterattack as soon as possible before they can consolidate their hold on our territory. Throw those targs back over the border."

Standing cross from him stood the recently promoted Captain Kor, the former military governor of Organia during the Four Day War with the Federation, let a devilish smile play on his face and calmly retorted, "There is a question of logistics. We may have the numbers, but they've been mauled badly and are still in the process of repairing and re-supplying and of course… the capital is reluctant to release the Home and Southern Reserve Fleets to support us."

Koloth, another senior captain stationed on the Federation border that bore a striking resemblance to a petulant godlike child that the Enterprise had previously encountered and had a lighter skin tone compared to his compatriots, "Despite their cowardliness in wanting to fortify behind the fleets, we do still have the advantage. We can concentrate our forces while they are strung across most of the galaxy… if we are to believe the Federation's propaganda… and strike hard. We can pause their advance and perhaps awaken their victorious spirit and push this human empire completely out of our space."

At the mentioning of the Empire's greatest rival, Kor took the opportunity to express an opinion that he knew wouldn't necessarily go over well with his fellow officers, "What about contacting the Federation? They're at war with them. We could propose coordinating our efforts. Force them to fight a two front war."

Koloth laughed with good cheer, finding the suggestion genuinely amusing. "Those humans will sell us out to their brothers faster than an Orion merchant. There are plenty of those targs that are just as furious with the Organians for stopping our fight as we are and would rather just let them bleed us without lifting a finger. I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped fighting and unified against us."

Kang remained quiet, letting the points hang in the air and study the current strategic map where the Imperial forces had occupied just over two million square light years of their space.

K'André was one of the junior captains was in attendance of the meeting and spoke up, "With respect sir, I concur with Captain Kor. If we learned anything with our brief war with the Federation is that they can fight and are fierce in protecting what belongs to them. They have been fighting this 'empire' the longest and have been making them pay for every parsec. As much as they are our rival to test our mantel against, it's that reason they could make a valuable ally against a greater enemy."

Kang passed a glance to the junior captain then to Kor, seeing a prideful smile at being able to sway the youth of the Fleet. He straightened his posture and answered, "It is a consideration regardless of my personal feelings about involving the Federation or not in any sort of an alliance, that is a consideration that the Military Council and the Emperor will have to debate, but in the meantime we are simply co-belligerents and will honor the Organian peace treaty with them and prepare a counter assault to strike at the Imperial commander."

He turned to the direction of the strategic projection on the monitor and began, "Now, we'll gather our forces to strike…"

Coruscant Sky
Rebel Alliance 7th Fleet

The Corellian freighter made its approached to the Old Republic Attack Ship. The centerline of the wedge shape vessel parted to reveal hanger doors that ran nearly the entire length of the ship.

Robbie muttered, "Woah… that's impressive."

Dusty cracked a grin and commented with praise in his voice, "Thanks, she always was."

Freddie raised an eyebrow; his curiosity peaked as he recognized the pride of ship in the voice of her captain. He glanced over his shoulder and wondered if the others picked up on the statement.

Robbie was too busy watching the ship line up to the landing strip with a series of open hangers, but Jade raised an eyebrow and caught the shift in voice.

The freighter slipped down the lane then came to a stop relative to the ship then turned to the right and slipped through the magnetic field and into one of the hanger slips. The large hanger doors finished closing several seconds later, forgoing the need for the force fields over the hangers.

Dusty and Sinjin went through the shutdown procedures while he rest began heading to the corridor and to the exit. The freighter captain jokingly called, "Thank you for flying Millennium Falcon spaceliners and remember to tip your stewardess… now everyone off my ship."

The others wore various levels of amused expressions as the gathered to leave the ship. A minute or so later, the ramp lowered and Tori was the first one out, looking over her shoulder with a worried expression at Trina right behind her with Josh supporting most of her weight while walking with her and Jade on the other side of the injured fighter pilot. They were welcomed by a number of medical staff and security personnel with the flight crews milling about doing their jobs.

Shelby and Melanie stood behind the medical personnel and clone troopers, but quickly maneuvered between them to meet up with Tori and Trina.

The Star Fleeters paused at seeing a double of Tori while Melanie gave Trina a hug then turned to take Josh's place in walking with her to the anti-grav skiff to help her lay down on it. Tori walked past Shelby to continue with the trio and after Trina lay back on the stretcher, Tori leaned down and whispered to Trina, "You're going to be okay." She placed a kiss on her forehead as a mother to a child to reassure her. She stood up and allowed the medical personnel to swarm over her and begin taking her through the hanger towards the medical bay.

Jade asserted with an acerbated voice, "I'm going with her to make sure they don't screw up."

Melanie looked dubious to the pale new arrival.

Tori gently smiled and spoke, "It's alright. She's a doctor."

The blonde nodded her understanding and allowed Jade to go with them.

Tori turned back to Shelby and was met with a hug. The commander whispered out in relief, "Thank the Lord you're alright. We were so worried when we heard the news that your ship was capture."

The Princess patiently smiled and returned with a pat on her doppelganger's back. "Yeah, it's ah… been an exciting few days." She pulled away and motioned to Freddie and Robbie, about to make introductions, but the gold droid interrupted, "Thank the Maker you're safe Princess. I've been so terribly worried for your safety."

Tori looked to the protocol droid and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you Threepio." She leaned back while holding onto his back. "It's good to be back and to see you. Have you've been keeping the others out of trouble?"

The droid stepped back and answered with an acerbated tone, "I've tried my best Princess, but it seems that my advice is always ignored."

Tori looked to Shelby and met with a roll of her eyes, wondering why her physical twin had so little consideration for the droid's opinion. "It's alright. I know you do your best."

"Thank you Princess for your…" Threepio looked past her to see Artoo rolling down the ramp and shouted, "Artoo!"

The astrometric whistled and rolled to his counterpart.

As she let the droids catch up, Tori began her introductions again, "Shelby, this is Captain Benson and Commander Shapiro, the brave Federation Star Fleet officers I was planning to meet, but they turned out to rescue me… twice for Darth Vega."

Shelby looked to the new arrivals, quickly taking an assessment of them. The glasses wearing science officer looked kind of lanky and not all that impressive, but the starship captain certainly caught her attention with his rugged good looks and his stature just screamed command presence.

Captain Benson joked with a good humored smile as his eyes darted back and forth between Tori and Shelby, "Twins or clones?"

Tori softly laughed, "Neither, we just happened to look this much alike. It's just one of those amazing coincidences."

Dusty closed his eyes and shook his head, muttering under his breath, "Yes… coincidences…"

Sinjin rolled his eyes and muttered loud enough for the others to hear him, "Never any credit…"

Tori looked to the freighter crew and apologetically smiled to them and continued, "And the brave crew of the Millennium Falcon. This is Shipmaster Dusty Hale and his first mate, Sinjin Van Cleef."

The freighter captain's name instantly peaked a number of the personnel on the deck, confirming their suspicions of the visual recognition. One deckhand out of years of duty instantly raised his hand in salute. The gesture sent a wave through the deck as the crew and security started raising a salute to him. About three-quarters of the deckhands followed suit with nearly all the soldiers giving a salute to him. The rest of the crew was confused as to why their crewmates were doing such a thing.

Dusty embarrassingly smiled brought his hand up and returned with a sharp salute.

Shelby looked around, clearly concern with the sudden respect given to the stranger even if he did help save Tori. The others shared the confusion and the body-double to Tori looked to Dusty and gently demanded, "Why are they saluting you?"

Dusty licked his lips then bashfully grinned before answering, "Oh, I guess you don't know the history of the ship… my ship during the war."

Tori and Shelby shared practically identical expressions of shock.

Freddie didn't bother hiding a smirk and shaking his head.

Tori's eyes remained wide open and inquired, "You were the captain of this ship during the war?"

The freighter captain shrugged his shoulder and remarked, "I told you that I was in the service… the Grand Army of the Republic…"

The princess nodded her head as she tried to regain her wits while Shelby noticed the lightsaber hanging off Dusty's belt then glanced up and asked in almost reverence, "You're a Jedi?"

Dusty tight lipped grin and shook his head then answered, "Exiled Jedi… my views on the Force are heretical, so… they kicked me out."

Shelby's right hand slowly inched towards the butt of her blaster holstered on her right thigh. "So not a Jedi, that would make you a…"

Dusty chuckled and glanced to the deck, "Sweetheart, I'd cut you down before you finish pulling your blaster, so…" He looked and met her gaze, his voice dropping to a deadly tone, "…let's avoid making a gruesome mess on the deck that they would have to clean up. They have far more important things to do than that."

The Rebel commander turned a stern and perhaps offended expression to him.

Tori gently grabbed her elbow and calmly talked her down, "It's okay, he's… a bit rough around the edges, but he's saved me twice and saved Trina… and he doesn't even like me."

Shelby looked to her superior and questioned, "Why wouldn't he like you?"

Dusty's grin turned almost predatorily and answered, "Because she and the other elites got us in this mess in the first place and have the rest of you convinced that things would be so much better under them…" He took a long gaze around, trying to make eye contact with each one his eyes passed over, and finished with a solemn voice, "…you are all just cannon fodder for the elites battling for power."

The surrounding crew turned a number of stunned expressions to their former commander.

Shelby's brow knotted then snapped back full of anger, "How dare you?!"

Dusty cocked his head to the side and answered, "What? Tell the truth about what's happening. They're your little toy soldiers you're playing with because Nevel decided not to share his spoils with you. You know that's what this is all about. Elites fighting it out for power."

"Stop. I will not let you be an Imperial propaganda mouthpiece on this ship."

The former Jedi took another step towards the Rebel commander and answered with an impassive expression, "Why don't you make me?"

Shelby moved her hand onto the butt of her blaster, willing to draw it at a moment's notice while staring him in the eyes.

Tori interrupted them before anything could get out of hand, "Enough. Dusty, please don't do that. They've made their decision to be here. You of all people should understand how crew discipline must be maintained for their survival. You may not believe we are sincere, but don't take that away from them."

The pair kept their stare off going for another few seconds then Dusty turned to meet Tori's eyes. He dryly answered, "I think that's the most intelligent thing you've said since I've met you."

The princess frowned and slightly shook her head. She glanced over and realized she had failed to make one more introduction. She motioned to Josh and introduced, "This is Josh. He's a defector from the red skynaut troopers. He's eager to join the Alliance."

He wore a goofy grin and offered his hand to Shelby.

The Rebel commander cautiously eyed him and refused to shake his hand. She looked to Tori to double check.

Tori patted him on the upper arm and vouched for him, "He's alright. He helped save us."

"We'll still have to put him through a security check," she cautiously remarked, not trusting his goofy smile.

Dusty surprised them by coming to the former skynaut's defense, "To find out what? He's an Imperial soldier… how many of your people are that?"

The rebel commander crossed her arms and looked to the princess. "Has he been this way the entire time?"

Tori glanced to the freighter captain, returning with a smirk. "He's kept us on our toes."

She licked her lips then asked, "If we're done with the introductions and arguing, could we please go check on Trina?"

Freddie motioned behind her and answered, "Of course, lead the way."

Shelby turned and began leading the group out of the extensive hanger bay. After a few paces, she instinctively glanced over her shoulder to see that Dusty and Sinjin remained behind. She paused for a moment and 'ordered', "Don't wander off too far."

Dusty replied with a cocky eyebrow, "Why? Worried about where their loyalty would lie? The one that led them in multiple battles or the ones that want their beach houses back on the backs of the people?"

Shelby turned her head in disgust then followed the others to head out of the hanger bay.

Freddie passed a sympathetic gaze to the young man that had shared a few fire fights.

Dusty returned with an acknowledging nod of his head.

As the group continued on its way, Sinjin leaned closed to whisper to his captain in asking, "Do you have to antagonize them like that?"

The former Jedi turned his head to meet his first mate's eyes and answered, "I'm shining a light of truth onto them so the others aren't fighting for a useless cause. If they get upset… they get upset. I don't want them to throw their lives in useless gestures."

The first mate shook his head as one of the clone troopers approached Dusty and politely spoke, "It's good to see you sir."

The freighter captain couldn't identify him through the armor, but answered anyway, "Thank you sergeant."

"I'm sure the captain would want to see you sir."

"I'm sure he would…" Dusty answered and passed a glance to Sinjin. "I think it's only polite to thank the captain for letting us dock." He looked back to the trooper and lowered his voice, "I can trust that my ship will be secure?"

"Absolutely sir," he answered with a sharp tone and stood up straighter at attention.

"Thank you sergeant." He nodded his thanks

The trooper looked to the contingent of soldiers and ordered with the motion of his hand, "I want a security detail to the General's… to Shipmaster Hale's ship. No one is to enter it or any work done on it without authorization by him or his first mate."

A number of the troopers fell out to move to the entry of the ship and take up guard positions around the rest of the ship.

The sergeant motioned towards an end of the hanger and Dusty and Sinjin followed out in the same direction as the others.

Outside the hanger deck, Threepio caught up with the starship captain in the corridor on the group's way to the lift and politely introduced himself, "How do you do sir? I am C-Threepio, human/cyborg relations. I am at your service."

Freddie stopped for a moment and looked to the gold droid with utter fascination. He had

read Captain Kirk's logs about meeting a number of androids that were remarkable lifelike, but he never thought he'd have the opportunity to meet one. He found his voice a moment later and answered, taking the droid's right hand into a handshake and answering, "I'm doing alright. It's very nice to meet you too. How do you facilitate such relations?"

Threepio returned the handshake, glad someone was showing him such courtesy, and answered, "I function as interpreter, knowing six million forms of communications, and advisor on etiquette and various culture and custom norms."

The starship captain's smile grew and eagerly answered, "Mister Threepio, I believe I will need your assistance a great deal as I've been quite fortunate so far in not committing some unknown cultural taboo in the princess's presence. The translation has fortunately not been too bad with the universal translator."

"She already did that with Jade," Robbie joked with a suppressed snicker.

Tori tightened her smile and embarrassingly glanced to the deck.

Shelby curiously raised an eyebrow, wanting to know about such an incident.

The gold droid happily answered, "Oh, I would be very pleased to assist you sir. I can advise you on the simplest interactions to the most intricate and nuanced norms."

"Thank you."

Shelby wore an amusing smile and pointed out, "It's just a droid. You don't have to be that nice to it."

Freddie wore a diplomatic smile, but clearly didn't approve of the young woman's attitude with his tone, "Who is clearly intelligent enough to perhaps be a separate lifeform and deserves the respect of being one."

"Right…" She looked to Tori and asked in a hushed voice, "You had to find a 'droid advocate'?"

Tori shrugged her shoulders and bashfully smiled then lowered her voice, "They don't have droids on their side of the galaxy and they're an exploration service besides being their military. He's an explorer seeking out new life."

"A droid is not alive," Shelby pointed out with a smirk.

Tori cocked an eyebrow and teased, "Don't tell that to Trina about Artoo."

Shelby struggled with a smile, not wishing to make such a suggestion to her as they continued on their way to the medical bay.

Medical Bay

Tori, Shelby, Freddie, Robbie and Josh arrived at the Medical Bay that was buzzing with activity. The group could see the medical staff with a few droids surrounding Trina as they were helping her get off her uniform.

Freddie and Robbie turned away as the last of her clothing was pulled away and a medical gown was placed over her, one of the nurses tying it closed with the obvious lack of a hand.

They attempted to walk her to a bed, but she shook off two of the staff trying to hold her arms to help her.

Jade was by her side and took one of her arms, giving her a matching glare to show that she wouldn't be brushed off like the others.

Trina relented and let her walk her to an examination bed, something one would see in a twenty-first century dentist's room, and helped her have a seat. They whispered to one another and fighter pilot nodded and allowed the other medical personnel to examine her.

Jade turned away and approached the new arrivals with a tired smile.

Tori motioned to Jade and made a proper introduction to Shelby and Melanie, "This is Doctor Jade West."

Jade passed a look to Shelby, finally taking a good look at her and realized that she was identical to Tori. "Your side of the universe has a lot of twins walking around, doesn't it?"

Shelby cocked a curious eyebrow while Freddie was just as interested in the remark.

The princess continued, motioning to the brunette then to the blonde, "This is Commander Marx and Commander Puckett."

Jade playfully remarked, "A lot of commanders walking around…"

"Some are field commanders," she clearly referred to herself. "…others are staff officers," she indicated Melanie and others…" She looked to Trina and finished, "…are fighter squadron commanders."

The doctor accepted the explanation as Tori looked past Jade and asked, "Is she's going to be okay?

Melanie answered with a snort, "If she'll let them examine and take care of her." She glanced to Jade and asked, "What did you tell her?"

"I told her to let them check her out or I'd stun her with my phaser and they could check her out while she's unconscious."

Tori licked her lips, fighting a smile and commented, "The doctor here is quite stubborn. She threatened the same to check me over."

Shelby looked to the Star Fleet doctor with a curious and concerned gaze, seeing Jade grinned in satisfaction, always happy to get the last word.

As they finished introductions, the doctors were finishing their examination. One doctor approached the group and gave them an assuring smile. "She's banged up, but a trip to a bacta tank will take care of that then after that, we'll give her an artificial hand. She's quite lucky."

Melanie rolled her eyes and joked, "I'm sure she'll enjoy that again?"

The princess turned a look to the blonde and asked, "Again? What happened?"

The blonde glanced to the deck then answered, "She had a run-in with some of the native life out on Panthatar. It hit her pretty hard and she nearly froze to death out there."

Tori covered her hand with her hand and eyes went wide.

"I found her and brought her back, so she's already had one bath in bacta in the last few days."

The doctor spoke up, "Again, she'll be fine after a quick stay then we'll put the prosthetic hand on her."

Jade interrupted, "If we get her back to our ship or better yet, to a starbase or planetary facility, we can clone her a hand. She wouldn't even know she lost it."

The doctor and the Rebels looked to one another before he reluctantly answered, "Cloning for the most part is highly restrictive and frowned upon since the war, so we don't necessarily have the facilities to do it."

Jade passed a look over the rebels and laughed, "Yes, illegal… in an Empire that you're committing treason against. You're really concerned about that?"

Tori half smile and nodded to Shelby. "She's got a point."

Shelby followed up, "That might be a little difficult getting her there anytime soon with the Empire hunting us down. We can't necessarily spare a ship at the moment."

Jade deviously smiled as she answered, "We can do it and I know someone that might be willing to do that for us."

Tori instantly realized to whom she was referring. "Do you believe that Dusty would really do that? He was willing to give you ride after he wanted to just dump us off at Bespin?"

Jade crossed her arms and cocked a challenging eyebrow. "And who came charging into rescuing you?" She nodded back with her head towards Trina and asked, "Or rescued your friend?"

Tori frowned, seeing the doctor's point that the abrasive freighter captain had a knack to do the right thing when the occasion calls for it.

Freddie calmly spoke up, "At the moment, we're not going anywhere. We just got here and have far too much to discuss. The whole point of our mission…"

The dark haired doctor nodded her head, accepting his reasoning.

The starship captain sighed to not have to get into an argument with Jade then turned to the Rebel doctor and asked, "In the meantime, could you check out Jade here? That Darth Vega used his telekinetic powers on her throat and I want to make sure there is no lasting damage."

The Rebel doctor passed a glance to Freddie then to the Star Fleet doctor to ask in a stunned tone, "You survived going against Vega?"

Freddie answered for her in a clipped tone, "If I wasn't too busy trying to get Tori away from those troopers, I would have killed him."

Shelby wanted to laugh at such an absurd notion, but one look from Tori told her that he wasn't joking.

Tori spoke, "He's right. It was the second time he rescued me from Vega."

Jade thumbed towards Robbie and herself to snort out, "I think we had a hand in what happened."

"Yes you did and thank you… I'm sorry for what happened to you."

"You already said that," the doctor snorted out with a role of her eyes.

Tori looked to the Rebel doctor and asked, "Do all you need to do for her."

He nodded his head then motioned towards another end of the medical bay for her to walk with him.

Jade didn't bother to argue and allowed the fellow medical professional to lead her to an examination area. She looked over her shoulder to pass a smile to Freddie before they slipped into a neighboring compartment.

Tori turned her attention to Shelby and informed her, "Death's Hand squadron is now after us."

Shelby raised a concerned eyebrow, "Why?"

"After Captain Benson here rescued me from Vega the first time, they tracked us down to this little orbital facility in the Bespin system. He ah…" She looked to the captain and bashfully pointed out, "He rescued me again as I told you, but Vega was hot on our tails. They wanted me and Trina. He was going to use me as bait."

She glanced to Freddie and commented, "I hope you're worth all the extra trouble: the loss of a crew and Vega chasing you all over the galaxy."

"I believe it is. We agreed it would be them we would meet with."

"No, you agreed to meet with them over my objections."

Freddie quietly observed the internal disagreement among the leadership of the Rebellion. He wondered for the first time how strong the Princess position was in the Alliance and if her voice would be strong enough to maintain such an alliance with the Federation.

Melanie spoke up, "And it was the right call. They've been giving the Imperials a fight according to all the intercepted traffic. They've hit hard enough to stop their advance into Federation space. Heck, Howard was killed and his second, Briggs has taken command. They've had to stop their advancement in their tracks."

Tori looked on in shock and questioned, "Howard is dead?"

Freddie and Robbie were clearly pleased to hear the news of the Imperials finally being stopped in their tracks. The captain exchanged glances with Shapiro and asked, "I assume he's a military leader of some significance?"

Melanie answered with an eager nod of her head, "Yes, very. He's a decorated officer from the Clone War and from our intelligence, he was one of the leading fleet commanders invading Federation space. They're quite upset and there are unconfirmed reports that they put a bounty on the Admiral that killed him."

Freddie passed a look to Jade and Robbie before cautiously asking, "Who's the Admiral?"

"Ah…" the blonde began then the name came to her. "Vice Admiral Steven Shay."

The Star Fleet officers immediately started exchanging glances.

Shelby raised an eyebrow and questioned, "What? Do you know him?"

Jade could overhear them from the small enclave where she was being examined and called out with a proud tone, "He's my father."

Freddie followed up with a forced smile, "And the one that sent us on this mission to meet you to negotiate an alliance."

The Rebels were the ones exchanging various gazes, assessing how the new information changed the equation. Tori turned a sympathetic look to Jade and gave her condolences, "I'm sorry."

The starship captain passed a look of his own to Jade then continued, "Yeah… all the more reason we have to figure out a way to kick the Empire where it hurts before they can do anymore damage."

Tori turned a hopeful gaze and quickly asked, "Does that mean you're going to back our alliance? We never got a chance to really talk about it."

Freddie chuckled then let out a tired breath before answering with a smile, "After meeting Vega, was there any doubt at this point? It's just us working out the details about such an alliance—but no biological weapons. We're not agreeing to any use of them."

Tori threw her arms around Freddie and pulled him into a hug.

The Star Fleet captain raised an eyebrow and looked to Jade, surprised by the reaction.

Jade crossed her arms and struggled with a disapproving smirk. Her focus was turned when the Rebel doctor was turned her jaw and opened her mouth to get an old fashion examination of her throat.

Shelby and Melanie shared confused and concerned expressions, wondering how close their friend had gotten with the mysterious captain.

Tori released her embrace and gave him a bright and uplifting smile.

Freddie nodded his head in acknowledging her excitement then remarked, "We have to contact my ship or at least Star Fleet to give them an update. They may have written us off as dead."

Tori passed a look to Shelby and suggested, "I'm sure Shelby can have that taken care of that."

The field commander raised an eyebrow, wondering why she was saddled with such a job when Melanie would be better suited for such a task.

Jade reluctant brought up, "Since Beck was our contact, I assume he'd have a way to get in touch with my father's contacts."

The other doctor was becoming frustrated and asked, "Would you please let me examine you?"

Jade apologetically smiled and remained quiet to finish the examination.

The princess turned an incredulous expression to Jade and demanded, "After what he did, you trust him?"

"Not really, but what choice do we have?"

Robbie glanced around and noticed that Beck wasn't with them. He looked back to his captain and asked, "Speaking of him, where is he?"

Freddie glanced around and realized that he hadn't followed them to the medical bay. "Is he still on the Falcon? Anyone see him leave the ship?"

Once they realized that he wasn't with them, Tori looked to Shelby and order in a curt tone, "Find him."

The physical twin nodded her head and reached for a small communicator in her utility belt. She tapped a button on it and announced, "Bridge, this is Commander Marx. Security alert. We need you to find…" She covered the speaker with her hand and asked, "What's his name?"

Freddie was quick to answer, "Beck Oliver. He's about one point eight meters tall, just past shoulder length hair with tanned skin and thin mustache and chin hair."

Shelby turned to her communicator and relayed the message to the bridge. A few moments later after hearing their acknowledgment, she commented, "Okay, security and the troopers will find him."

Tori answered with a relieved smile, "Good, but in the meantime, are there some quarters for them? After everything they've been through, are there some nice ones that can be provided for them? They certainly are VIPs to me."

Shelby looked to Freddie then back at the princess, seeing that she had clearly made a connection to the handsome starship captain. She politely nodded her head. "Yeah, I'll talk with the captain to arrange for some quarters."

Jade politely smiled and informed them, "I think I'll stay here a little longer to keep an eye out on her."

"And let me treat you," the older doctor implored with his patience running thin.

Freddie faintly smiled and replied, "Listen to the doctor's orders… Doctor."

"Yes sir."

They were about to head out of the Medical Bay, but Josh cleared his throat and asked with a goofy smile, "What should I do princess?"

Tori bashfully smiled then answered, "Why don't you stick by me until we can figure out where you can be assigned?"

Josh snapped at attention and answered, "Yes ma'am."

Shelby clearly didn't like the security threat of the former skynaut, especially being that close to the Princess and remaining armed.

Tori looked to Melanie to inform her, "He doesn't have anything since joining us, so…"

Melanie answered, "I'll see about setting him with an Alliance account and get some basics issued to him."

"Thanks Mel."

Tori looked to the others and continued, "Now, I think we should grab something to eat… we didn't get to really enjoy dinner."

Freddie laughed and shook his head. He offered his arm to her and she gladly accepted with a warm smile.

Shelby didn't look too pleased with the Princess being so smitten with the Star Fleet captain, but she bit her tongue and led them out of the Medical Bay. j

Bridge
Coruscant Sky

The three arrived on the bridge, a place bustling with activity even if the circumstances wouldn't usually call for such a thing during normal cruising. However, they were a fleet on the run and would need to flee at a moment's notice if the Empire detected them.

The sergeant led the pair down the command platform to meet up with a number of officers conversing, still wearing their uniforms of being members of the Republic Navy without any badges or patches depicting being part of the Rebel Alliance.

They trio reached the gathering officers and the clone trooper politely called out, "Captain Burf?"

The dark skinned Republic officer turned away from speaking with a few of his offices and eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at the sight of the pair standing behind the trooper.

Dusty nodded his head to the side and politely asked, "Permission to come onto the bridge?"

"Dusty?! Sinjin!"

The fuzzy haired first mate opened his arms and brought Dusty into a quick hug. He patted him on the back then turned to Sinjin to share a quick hug with him.

It was a curious greeting to say the least for the commander of the ship, but nothing was said as the former crewmates greeted one another.

Burf looked to his former ship commander and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Dusty blew out a tired breath and shrugged his shoulders. "Dropping off your princess after inadvertently getting involved with your little war. I thought we had a simple passenger run and it turned out to be the Federation contacts your princess was meant to meet… and ran smack dab into Darth Vega's command ship. We got snatched up then had to make a jail break for her and the rest of us. That nerf herder tracked us down back to where I normally do business out of. We made a second miraculous escape… after Captain Benson knocked the sithspit out of Darth Vega while we fought out of his trap."

Burf and the surrounding officers took a few moments to process the story while the other bridge personnel stopped and turned to overhear them, not believing what they heard about someone successfully challenging the dark lord.

The destroyer captain found his voice and asked, "You're kidding?"

"Nope, that Star Fleet captain has a set on him. He took Vega head on and if they weren't running away with the princess, he probably would have killed him."

Burf's eyes went nearly saucer size and a few of the surrounding bridge crew looked on stunned, not initially believing the story. However, this was their former commander telling them such a story, so… they couldn't initially disregard the story out of hand."

Dusty smiled and looked around, feeling a sense of home being on the bridge then looked to Burf and continued, "It looks like they're going to be staying awhile, so could you keep an eye out on them? I've been in three firefights with them and they're good people… they deserve the respect and courtesy as fellow service personal and don't try to react when you see their doctor. It's just a coincidence like the princess and that rebel commander I met."

The ship's captain knotted his brow, unsure what he meant, but he was going to respect the request from his former commander. "Yes sir. We'll give them the utmost respect and courtesy."

Another officer approached the group and hastily spoke, "Sir, we have a security request from the Commander Shelby."

"Yes?"

"We're to find one of the travelers with the princess, Beck Oliver. He's seemed to have gone missing."

Dusty spoke up, failing to keep a smile off his face, "He's a business associate of mine… who had to sell us out to Vega. Captain Benson is not too happy with him and I'm sure you rebels aren't going to be too happy with him. I guess he ditched them."

"That's why the want him…" He turned to one of his assistants and ordered, "Security alert, all decks. Find him and bring him to the conference room immediately."

"Yes, Captain."

The former ship's commander brought up, "When you catch him… he'll be your responsibility to be treated well and not just let them have their way… I don't know how the Rebellion meets out 'justice'."

Burf took a moment to realize what his former commander was attempting to convey then stood up straighter and stated, "This is still a ship of the Republic and it'll be that way while I'm commanding."

Dusty gave a tired smile, feeling a bit less cynical with still seeing some semblance of the Republic.

Burf looked to the freighter crew and asked with a cheerful voice, "In the meantime, why don't we head for the officer's mess and catch up?"

Sinjin answered by rubbing his stomach. "Sounds good to me. We really didn't get to enjoy that dinner they gave us."

Burf threw his arms around each of his former comrades' shoulders and turned them to walk towards a lift. "Great! They got this great dish from…"

Author's Note: So our intrepid heroes finally found a true respite and the Federation/Gorns kicked the crap out of the Empire this round. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and catch you later.