by Laurie Burns
Great, she thought grimly even as the comm light flashed, indicating the starfighter was hailing them. She flipped it on as Del arrived, noting the engines were only up to point three-five power. They wouldn’t be able to run, just yet.
A cool female voice came over the comm speaker. “Unidentified freighter, do you need assistance?” it asked, as the Skipray slanted to the side a bit, putting it just out of line with the Messenger’s laser cannon. Taryn kept the freighter turning to face the potential threat as she answered.
“This is Captain Clancy of the Messenger, and thanks, but no, we’re fine,” she said quickly, before Bremen could jump in. He got out of Del’s seat and stood in the small space between them, frowning out at the blastboat.
“Captain Clancy? You’re just who I’m looking for,” the voice said as Taryn took another look at her displays. Up to point six-five power; at least they could start moving. She started the ship sidling away as the Skipray’s pilot asked. “I wonder if I might speak with your guest?”
An unexpected request, and there was a slight inflection on the last word that made Taryn glance up at Bremen. To her surprise, he appeared to be gritting his teeth. “This is Bremen,” he said shortly.
“Ah, Colonel. This is Mara Jade,” the pilot identified herself. “I see made it off Coruscant in one piece.” She sounded vaguely amused.
“Get to the point,” Bremen snapped. Taryn and Del looked at him in astonishment. Even at his most supercilious with them, he’d never been downright rude.
“The point is that your rendezvous with the Borderlands fleet is off,” she said, clearly unruffled. “They took a detour, and won’t be through here for days. High Command’s already sent a new courier out to their location, so you’re off the hook.”
“I wasn’t notified of any change,” Bremen said.
“You’re being notified.”
“Why’d they send you?” he shot back.
“Because word of the fleet’s location came through one of my contacts in the smuggler’s coalition,” she said. “Information is what we’re getting paid for.”
Now Taryn thought she understood Bremen’s animosity. If this Mara Jade were a smuggler, Bremen’s law-and-order stance wouldn’t allow him much in the way of tolerance. “Do you have any confirmation of that?” he was asking.
“Just the fleet’s new location,” she answered coolly. “If you’re ready, I’ll transmit it to you.” A data feed light on the panel lit up, and a series of numbers scrolled past on the display. “Not that you need it,” she added. “High Command said you could go on home.”
“Thanks, but maybe we’ll just stick around here a while longer,” Bremen said, clearly still suspicious.
There was a pause from the Skipray. “Suit yourself,” Mara finally said. The comm light winked out as the ship swung around and started heading away. Before Taryn could ask Bremen how long he planned to wait, another ship suddenly dropped into space ahead of them.
Bremen swore viciously even as Taryn recognized the distinctive shape of a Carrack-class cruiser. “Go, go!” he barked at her as the comm light lit up again and a harsh voice ordered them to stop or be destroyed. Taryn turned the freighter away from the cruiser’s ominous bulk and slapped at the thrust. She and Del were slammed back in their seats as the Messenger leapt forward. Bremen somehow managing to hang on as they drove for deep space. Out of the corner of her eye, Taryn saw the Skipray had turned and was coming back to their position, and a moment later, the sensors told her why.
The cruiser had launched TIE fighters.
“Oh blast it, not again,” she muttered. Luck had seen the Messenger through its first encounter with TIE fighters; she doubted it would be any match for them this time. “Del, get us a course out of here,” she snapped, trying to gauge how soon the two fighters would overtake them.
“I can’t — I don’t even know where we are!” he snapped back.
“What about those?” Taryn indicated the coordinates Mara Jade had transmitted, still displayed on the console.
“No!” Bremen objected. “She could have set a trap. That cruiser didn’t just show up by chance.” He lurched as a thump to the Messenger’s rear indicated that the TIE fighters had caught up. “Now she’s back to finish the job,” he added bitterly, glaring at the Skipray as it headed towards them.
Lasers flashed as it neared, and Taryn wondered if he were right. But the Skipray zipped past overhead, and a moment later one of the dots on the sensor scopes blinked out. “I wouldn’t hang around, if I were you,” Mara Jade advised, and Taryn decided it was time for one of those split-second command decisions Bremen thought beyond her.
“Use ’em,” she ordered Del, who was already busy with the nav computer. Bremen protested, but before he could intervene another hit rocked the ship, sending him stumbling. By the time he’d clawed his way back up to position behind Taryn, the Messenger’s shield indicator flickered an ominous red again.
Hands tense on the controls, Taryn tried to avoid the laser fire which peppered their aft end. But the old freighter simply wasn’t a match for the faster starfighter. If it weren’t for the Skipray harassing the TIE and forcing it to split its attention between two targets, the Messenger would’ve already been blown to bits.
They still might be.
Another hard lurch threw Bremen against the back of Taryn’s chair. Clinging to the seat, he looked over her shoulder at the sensors and shouted something. Just as she glanced down at the displays and realized with a jolt that the cruiser’s remaining two TIE fighters were on their way to join the attack, the nav computer finally pinged.
She pulled back the levers, and they escaped into the blessed emptiness of hyperspace.
It turned out to be a rather short hop.
Barely an hour after their escape from the cruiser, the proximity alarm clanged, indicating a minute to breakout. Bremen had spent most of the trip threatening to abort the jump, but even he was unwilling to risk stressing the Messenger with a second unexpected emergence.
Despite Taryn pointing out that the Skipray had aided in their getaway, he remained convinced that Mara Jade had sold them out to the Imperials. He saw no other explanation for the cruiser’s appearance. “A panthac doesn’t change its stripes,” he said darkly but declined to explain the comment.
The console pinged again, and Taryn eased back the hyperdrive levers. Mottled sky became starlines, which became stars. They’d arrived.
There was nothing nearby, but the long-range sensors showed a number of ships some distance off their port side. Within moments, they were close enough to identify. It was, indeed, the New Republic fleet.
She let Bremen do the talking when the Mon Calamari cruiser Hope hailed them. Its captain confirmed a messenger from the New Republic had already arrived. “But we’re still glad to see you,” Captain Arboga added in his gravelly voice. “The datacard he brought us appears damaged, and we’d like to compare it with yours to fill in the blanks.”
The only thing left to do was drop Bremen and his datacard off. Greatly relieved at the prospect, Taryn headed for the Hope. They were still several kilometers out when Bremen stepped into the cockpit holding a small circular object.
Her eyes widened in horror when she saw it. “Where did that come from?”
“The hold,” Bremen told her grimly. “Ironically, in the same crate the datacard was hidden. The Imperials must have planted it when they restacked the crates.” The card in his other hand indicated that it, at least, had escaped Imperial treachery. “That must’ve been how they found us,” he added grudgingly, a half-hearted concession that the cruiser’s appearance hadn’t been Mara Jade’s fault, after all. Leaning past Taryn, he flipped on the comm. “Captain,” he reported, “we’ve found a homing beacon — ”
“And we’ve found who’s tracking it,” Arboga cut him off. “Take a look aft.”
Taryn glanced at the scopes and stifled a groan. The cruiser they’d so recently escaped had appeared behind them. J
abbing the drive up to full, she mentally cursed as the sudden thrust shoved her back in her seat. She and Del had been so close to going home. Now here they were, stuck in the middle of another battle between the Empire and the New Republic.
“It’s no match for the entire fleet,” Del said, sounding surprised the cruiser continued to follow them.
“But it’s more than a match for this scow, if we don’t get out of range,” Bremen added tightly. He glared at Taryn. “Can’t you get a little more speed out of this thing?”
She clenched her teeth. Enough was enough. “Just shut up,” she gritted. “If you’d done your job and found that damn beacon when they planted it, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Bremen opened his mouth, but a thunk to the rear cut off whatever he’d been about to say. The deflector indicator flickered weakly, and Taryn glanced down to see a diagnostic message scroll across the display. She looked at Del. His face was tense as he, too, summed up the shields’ sorry state. The Messenger shuddered with another hit, and the diagnostic message turned red and began to flash. Del looked grimly resigned.
Leaning forward, Taryn tapped a button and a previously dark section of the board lit up. “The backup shield generator,” she said shortly at Del’s astonished expression. “I finished it while fixing the main after we got away from Coruscant.”
“But, we didn’t have all the parts,” he said.
“You just have to know where to look,” Taryn said, thinking of how she’d cannibalized the main generator to jury-rig the backup. Redundant shields were a precaution she’d learned from her father, and she’d installed a backup generator in every ship she’d worked on. Seldom needed, she hadn’t hurried to get the Messenger’s up and running. But the retreat from Coruscant had changed her mind. “It won’t hold up for long,” she added, as another hit rocked the ship. “But maybe it’ll last long enough.”
Nursing all the speed out of the freighter she could, but still painfully aware it wasn’t enough, Taryn drove for the distant safety of the Hope’s bulbous bulk. Lured into finishing off the tempting target, the cruiser followed.
It followed too far.
Just when the shields’ diagnostic message was scrolling past in red again and Taryn despaired of lasting much longer, suddenly, they were there.
The Hope’s turbolaser punch was joined by two other Mon Cal cruisers, and the Carrack cruiser abruptly gave up the chase as its commander realized they’d strayed within firing range of the New Republic fleet. Flames danced along scorched sections of its port side, and small explosion briefly illuminated the hull above one of its dorsal exhaust ports. Apparently deciding retreat was the prudent course of action, the cruiser banked away, its powerful sublight engines driving for deep space.
But it wasn’t fast enough.
The brilliant flare from the exploding cruiser lit up The Messenger’s canopy. Out her port window, Taryn caught a glimpse of fast-moving specks — X-wings, returning to escort formation around the fleet after pumping deadly proton torpedoes into the ship’s damaged areas. The fireball began to fade as she approached the Hope’s hangar bay.
Behind her, Bremen was silent. Cycling back the repulsors and gently setting the ship down on the deck, Taryn waited expectantly for a critique.
“You didn’t tell me we had extra shields,” he said instead.
“You didn’t ask.”
“Yes, well — ” He hesitated so long that Taryn half-turned to look up at him. The habitual frown was still there, but his eyes were direct as he admitted. “When the main generator went, I figured we were done for.”
“We almost were,” she said. “Credit my father — he’s the one who taught me how to get things up and running on practically nothing but hope and air. After Coruscant, I thought we could use an extra set of shields.”
“They certainly came in handy,” Bremen agreed. He paused again, even longer this time. “Look,” he finally said. “I know I objected to you two being on this mission, but… all in all. it’s worked out okay.”
Okay? Taryn stared at him, disconcerted. They’d been shot at, yanked out of hyperspace and boarded, and had eluded an Imperial ctuiser to successfully deliver the datacard. Was this his idea of a compliment?
Bremen flushed slightly at her expression, but added, “We’re always looking for good pilots, and if you’ve a mind for a career change, the New Republic could use someone like you.”
She didn’t know what to say.
“Think about it,” he said. “I’ll leave you some contacts to get in touch with, if you’re interested. You, too,” he told Del.
“Not me,” Del said. “I’m retirin’.”
Taryn glanced at him in surprise. That’s right; after 30 years of hauling mail to the same old ports along the same old route, once they finished this run his piloting days were done.
Was that really what she wanted to look forward to?
“Thanks for the offer,” she told Bremen. “I’ll think about it. But right now, I’ve got a route to finish. Not to mention, figure a course back to Coriallis.”
Bremen leaned over Del’s shoulder. “This ought to help,” he said, punching up a chart on the nav computer. Before leaving, he handed her a datacard and urged again, “Think about it.”
As Taryn cleared the Hope’s hangar bay and headed toward the first of a short series of hyperspace hops that would take them back to the Core, she tried to imagine what her father would say if she gave up delivering mail and started flying for the New Republic instead.
Would he say something patronizing — or would he be pleased? She considered it a minute, then shrugged. Gazing out at the stars, she realized she no longer cared what he said.
Taryn smiled as she pulled back the levers and the stars streaked, then faded to the swirling sky of hyperspace. She was back on course.
Captain Taryn Clancy
Type: Courier Freighter Captain
DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 4D
KNOWLEDGE 3D
Planetary systems: Core Worlds 5D
MECHANICAL 4D
Astrogation 4D, repulsorlift operation 4D, sensors 5D, space transports 5D+2, starship gunnery 4D+2, starship shields 5D
PERCEPTION 3D
Command 4D
STRENGTH 2D
TECHNICAL 3D
Repulsorlift repair 3D+2, space transports 6D
Force Points: 1
Character Points: 5
Move: 10
Equipment: Ghtroc freighter (Messenger), Core Courier Service uniform, comlink, blaster pistol (4D)
Capsule: At 26, Taryn Clancy is one of the youngest captains in the Core Courier Service, fulfilling a childhood dream when she recently took command of the Messenger. As a youngster, she repeatedly begged to accompany her freetrader father on his travels, once even going so far as to stow away in the hold, only to be returned home in humiliation after being discovered by a load lifter before they’d even made hyperspace.
When Taryn was 16, Kal Clancy finally relented and let her join him on board the Lassen. Being both the captain’s daughter and pilot’s apprentice wasn’t easy, but Taryn grit her teeth and learned a lot, eventually acting as the Lassen’s copilot. Unfortunately, while she loved the work, it only seemed to worsen the father/daughter relationship. Kal only spoke to her when he had some criticism of her performance, and she dreaded that sigh which signaled she’d fallen short of his expectations — again.
One day after a particularly scathing critique, Taryn went for a walk around the port and somehow ended up in front of the Core Courier Service’s local office. Two exams and one flight test later, she emerged clad in a new uniform. In the five years since, her skills and dedication have garnered praise and promotions from her superiors, but her father’s approval remains frustratingly elusive. Taryn doesn’t realize that Kal is proud of her, but thinks flying a mail freighter too tame to truly challenge her. His continuing censure covers a hope she’ll learn to trust her instincts and take chances, and w
ill step out of her safe little job delivering mail to live up to the potential he glimpsed on the Lassen. After her part in the retreat from Coruscant, Taryn is considering doing just that.
Colonel Jak Bremen
Type: New Republic Security Officer
DEXTERITY 3D+1
Blaster 7D+2, dodge 6D+2, melee combat 7D
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Bureaucracy: New Republic 6D+2, intimidation 6D+2, law enforcement 9D, planetary systems 5D+1, survival 6D
MECHANICAL 3D+2
Repulsorlift operation 5D
PERCEPTION 3D
Bargain 4D+2, command 7D+2, persuasion 4D+1, search 8D, sneak 5D+2
STRENGTH 4D
Brawling 7D, stamina 6D+1
TECHNICAL 2D
Computer programming/repair 7D, security 9D
Force Points: 1
Character Points: 11
Move: 10
Equipment: Heavy blaster pistol (5D)
Capsule: While some might consider unrelenting suspicion to be a character flaw, Colonel Jak Bremen figures it’s just part of his job. The New Republic council’s Director of Security for Coruscant’s Imperial Palace, Bremen took it personally a few months ago when an Imperial strike team got past his forces and penetrated the Imperial Palace with the intent of kidnapping Councilor Leia Organa Solo and her newborn twins. The team’s leader implicated the involvement of Mara Jade, a member of Talon Karrde’s smuggling organization who was convalescing in the palace, and who has since been revealed as a former agent of the Empire known as the “Emperor’s Hand.”
Bremen wasn’t able to prove Mara’s alleged involvement, and his investigation was called off by the Council after Mara’s subsequent actions helped New Republic heroes destroy the Imperial cloning facility on Wayland. However, Bremen remains unconvinced of her loyalties. A dogged, “by-the-book” kind of officer, he dislikes deviating from proper procedure — or taking chances on people. He can be brusque to the point of rudeness, and while this doesn’t endear him to those he works with, he’s also dedicated and efficient, which helps excuse it. Anyway, as he often points out, his job is to save New Republic lives, not “be popular.”