Chapter Six

"Cypryn Approach Control, this is free trader Wandering Bantha. Request docking instructions. Over." Carek said and hoped that he had managed to keep his voice professionally neutral.

"Bantha this is Control. If you don't mind me asking, what happened to you?"

"We ran into a problem getting past Tosca."

"Problem? "What problem?"

"We ran into Tosca."

"Hyperspace misjump?"

"That's it in a Grandel nut shell."

"Understood Bantha. You're not the first. You are cleared to dock in repair bay twelve. Control out."

"Copy bay twelve, but, we will require a tractor as our repulsors are offline."

"Frankly Bantha, I'm amazed that you're moving at all. Stand by for tractor."

"Roger Control."

"Well that sure went a lot easier than I would have guessed." Said Rex. "I guess we must look worse than I thought."

"Let's just count our blessings for once and get her docked. The starboard lateral thrusters are not responding, and the primary heat exchanger is about to shut down from trying to compensate for the reactor's power fluctuations." Said Leland, who was obviously weary from struggling with the barely functioning flight controls.

"Roger that." Rex replied.

The battered ship gave a slight lurch.

"There's the tractor. We've made it." Rex could not hide the joy he felt at the prospect of reaching a place that could restore his beloved ship to its former glory.

The flight from Tosca had taken eighteen hours to complete the three hour trip. The take off from Tosca had been far uglier than Leland had dreamed possible. Rex and he had had to use every piloting trick that they knew to get the crippled Bantha into orbit.

The worse moment had been when the port sunlight engine had imploded from the strain. For a moment Leland was certain that they were all going to die. However, in a brilliant piece of improvisational flying, Rex fired all the starboard thrusters and wrenched the Bantha into a tight corkscrewing turn, using the ship's centrifugal force to sling shot the faltering Bantha out of Tosca's gravitational field. Once she broke orbit, the Bantha had, more or less, cooperated and had limped slowly towards Cypryn four.

The Bantha gave a final shudder and landed with a heavy thud in the cavernous repair bay. Carek looked at his chronometer, did a quick calculation, and realized that it had been twelve days and six hours since they fled from the Alderaan system. He unbuckled his safety harness and stole a glance at Dalen, who leapt to his feet and clapped Lazarus on the back. The rest of the rebels joined in on the round of

backslapping and bear hugs that their deliverance had engendered. Carek used the celebration as a cover to grab Dalen in a bear hug and while they were slapping each other on the back, He reached out with his rudimentary abilities with the Force to try and find a reason why Dalen made him so uneasy. Carek was not normally the suspicious type, but there was just something about how Dalen carried himself that had put him on his guard.

"The Force has not been kind enough to show me a solid premonition, and I just can't sense anything substantial, all I've got is a hunch and that's not enough. I'll keep my theory to myself for now, but, I'm not letting Dalen out of my sight."

Rex had burst out of cockpit and was the first one off the ship. He raced over to the group of techs that had gathered around outside, and were staring at the Bantha with open mouthed disbelief.

"I would not have believed it possible for a ship in that condition to be capable of getting the reactor to stay online, let alone fly." Said a tall, thin man wearing a set of coveralls with the sleeves cut off.

"I'm seeing it. But I'm not believing it." Replied an older stooped man with an unlit cigarra clamped between his teeth.

"Well sir, seeing is believing. I'm Rex, owner of the Wandering Bantha.

"What she 'wander' into. A partially operational trash compactor?" One of the other techs shouted, causing the rest of the techs to burst out laughing.

"Yes she's seen better days, but I'm certain that among you esteemed gentlemen, that I can find someone capable of restoring my Bantha to showroom condition." Rex insisted.

This was met with silence, until the man with the sleeveless cover-alls spoke up. "I can fix your Bantha, but it's going to cost you."

"And you would be...Mister?"

"Saldane."

"Ah yes, Mister Saldane. Just what would your fee be?"

"Twenty thousand."

Rex blinked not quite sure he had heard correctly. "I could buy a ship for that."

"You're absolutely correct Mister Rex. I know I speak for all the rest of the local techs. You have pulled off the closest thing to a miracle that I've ever personally witnessed by getting here in that thing. I know how attached to your ships you free traders get, but you have to face facts, your ship will never fly again."

The rest of the techs nodded their heads in agreement to what Saldane said, and several of them started to leave.

"Wait! It is not hopeless. The Bantha will fly again!"

"Only if you've got twenty kay. Otherwise, I'd suggest that you sell her for scrap and book passage back to wherever you call home and try starting all over again." Saldane looked at the Bantha again and shook his head. "I don't mean to sound cruel, but it is over." Saldane and the other techs then turned and left.

Rex stood in silent rage until, the rest of the crew joined him.

"They said she was done for. They want almost as much as she cost when I first bought her to put her back together." He said softly.

"We obviously don't have that kind of money with us," Said Lazarus. "so I suggest that we pool what money we do have and book a flight to Her-"

"To see our wealthy aunt." Carek interrupted, mindful that Dalen was with them. "She may be a tough customer to bargain with, but I think that she'll front us the money."

Lazarus gave Carek a funny look, then nodded his head in slow comprehension. "Yes our wealthy aunt might just do that. Does anyone else have a better idea?"

"I think you've hit on the best course of action." Said Kyle.

"So where do we book passage?" Asked Leland.

"I think I may be of help there." Dalen replied. "I can look up the pilot that flew me out to Tosca. He should know if there's a ship for hire. I can also find a subspace transmitter and send a message to my wife."

"It seems that we owe you another debt of gratitude. Mister Nolu." Carek smiled gravely.

"You don't owe me anything, I'm just glad to be able to help."

"Where will we meet you?" Said Leland.

"As I recall, I met my pilot friend in a nice little place called the Vinos' tavern. It's in Atnos, that's the capitol city, on Melbar Road. I suggest we meet there at eighteen hundred, that should be plenty of time for me to locate a ship."

"Excellent. See you at eighteen hundred." Carek smiled again.

The rebels waited until Dalen was well out of earshot before anyone spoke.

"Okay Carek what gives?" Said Lazarus.

"I don't trust Dalen."

"What? You saw how hard he worked to get us here. What makes you think you can't trust him?" Lazarus snapped, having worked with Dalen more than anyone, Lazarus had gotten fairly close to him and didn't like the way the conversation was going at all.

"I'm with Carek." Kyle answered. "I can't put my finger on it, but I don't trust him either."

"Very well. What's the plan?" Lazarus replied, still unconvinced.

"We book our own passage out of here." Said Carek.

"I'm staying with the Bantha." Said Rex, coming out of his revelry.

"Are you sure? I don't know if that's a good idea."

"I don't care what you think Carek. This is my ship and I will not abandon her." Rex all but snarled.

"What about Dalen? Are we going to meet him?" Said Leland.

"If he's not to be trusted, then, we will almost certainly be walking into a trap." Said Ardent, speaking for the first time since they had left the ship.

"I agree. I think we should book a ship and slip out before Dalen even knows we're gone." Said Carek after a moments thought.

"I disagree with the last part." Kyle added. "I think it will be a trap too, but I want to see who Dalen is working for."

In the end, after hours of, at times, vocal arguments, it was decided that, Rex would indeed stay with the Bantha. The others would book their passage independent of Dalen, and they would meet with Dalen.

Booking passage turned out to be easier than they thought. Lazarus tapped into the local newsnet and found a ship that was for hire. The six rebels then caught the shuttle ferry down to the Atnos starport. There they met with and paid the captain of the free trader Carthesian Hawk a fifty percent deposit to insure that the ship would be available for immediate departure. After securing their escape, the crew of the Wandering Bantha caught a robohack and headed for Melbar Road.

"Message from Cypryn four sir." The communications officer said to Maldamon.

"Go ahead."

"Approach Control confirms that the target has just docked. Their ship is a hopeless cripple and is not hyperspace capable."

"Excellent. Dismissed. Commander Thelnek, have my shuttle and the capture team shuttles prepared for immediate launch."

"Aye sir." The Predator's acting commander spoke softly into his comm pickup issuing the necessary orders.

"Lieutenant Rahos."

"Sir!"

"I want you to remain here on the bridge. You are to execute your hyperjump into the Kiosk system in exactly two hours. I want you on the ground with the interrogation teams within ten minutes of exiting

hyperspace."

"Aye sir."

"Commander Thelnek, you have the bridge."

"Aye sir."

The tall Dark Jedi swept the bridge with his huge yellow eyes, then strode into the turboshaft. When the doors closed, an almost audible sound whispered across the bridge as the crewers relaxed for the first time in nearly two weeks.

"Helmsman start your timer from Commander Maldamon's mark."

"Already started. Your course is plotted and laid in."

"Good. Well Lieutenant Rahos, this time the enemy is ours."

"And after the trouble they have caused us, I can't wait to introduce them to the interrogation droids."

The two men shared a smile at that thought, then turned to watch the timer's relentless countdown.

The rebels exited the robohack a few blocks from their destination. They cast an experienced eye all around the area looking for signs of an ambush. The pedestrian traffic was very heavy, but, the streets were otherwise clear.

Lazarus led off by taking point. Kyle, Ardent, and Roberts spread out; far enough to cover Lazarus, and to keep an eye on their flanks. Leland and Carek let the others move out, then took up rear guard.

Lazarus had taken point for the simple reason that he was convinced, that for once, the others were being paranoid. Dalen was okay. And he was going to prove it. "I can't believe the guys are letting a little pressure get to them like this." He thought, moving through the crowd. His eyes alert, even though the larger part of his consciousness was wrestling with trying to reconcile his own opinion of Dalen with that of his normally reliable best friends.

It was that small portion of his consciousness still keeping track of his progress, that caught the flash of white. The screaming alarm shut down the Dalen debate and caused his blood to run cold. "Great Deity! Stormtroopers!" He choked. He managed to send his fellow rebels

the hand signal for enemy in sight, but he took too long to find cover himself. "Oh I don't need this!" He thought, when he saw the troopers snap their weapons up into firing position. Lazarus rolled behind one of the plascrete planters that lined Melbar Road and began to return fire. The ionic charge from the blue concentric stun bolts making his hair stand on end.

The sudden exchange of fire caused a near stampede among the large group of pedestrians that found themselves caught in the crossfire. Roberts, Kyle, and Ardent each used the distraction to find cover and began hammering the trooper's left flank with a relentless stream of fire.

When Carek saw Lazarus' signal, he crouched low and circled to the left. The team's fire, had killed three troopers and forced the others to shift their positions, leaving the right flank unguarded and allowing Carek to slip past. Carek had felt a familiar tremor in the Force just as Lazarus signaled, and was determined to reach Vinos's tavern.

Leland made the most of the panic stricken crowd and found cover behind a row of parked land speeders. "Holy Hopping Horndogs! What a mess! Man what I wouldn't give to have my hands on a starfighter right now." He thought. "Carek's Force was right on the credits this time. Not that I would admit that to him."

Leland was as brave as any of the rebels assigned to the Bantha, but he knew all too well, just how limited his skills with a blaster were. He non-the-less popped up from behind the stylish Hyperfoil 1000 that he was using for cover and snapped off a quick shot, missing badly.

The shot was enough to draw the notice of the troopers and Leland was forced to take cover by the flurry of return fire.

The Stormtroopers were hampered by their orders to take the rebels alive, and by the rebels vastly superior skill. The two squads that had initiated the ambush had been decimated. The surviving lieutenant, stunned by how quickly the tables had been turned against him, lost the last of his professional demeanor and screamed for reinforcements.

The brief distraction caused by Leland, was all Carek needed to reach the door to Vinos' Tavern undetected by the harried troopers. As he approached, the door flew open and Carek found himself face to face with Dalen, four Stormtroopers, and, the familiar tremor in the Force that he had noticed moments ago, Maldamon the Dark Jedi.

"I knew you for what you were Dalen. A zebok can't change its spots. No matter how well groomed it is." Said Carek, his lightsaber at the ready.

Dalen deferring to Maldamon's presence, did not answer.

Maldamon leaned his head back and slightly turned towards the stormtrooper sergeant. "Stun only on this one."

Carek chose that moment to attack.

Maldamon, expecting the attack, ignited his lightsaber and parried. What he was unprepared for, was the speed and precision of the strike.

"Join the Dark Side young one." Maldamon crooned.

Carek ignored that and continued his attack. The angry humming of his lightsaber offering his only commentary.

Dalen's expression rapidly changed, from smugness, to fear, to raw agony as the blade struck him, then finally going blank as his bisected heart, beat for the last time.

The Dark Side Adept struck back. Carek parried easily and used the momentum of Maldamon's attack to spin out of the Dark Jedi's reach, and cut down two of the Stormtroopers. He feinted to the left, leapt over Maldamon's counter attack, rolled past the Imperials, springing to his feet behind them. The troopers pivoted desperately, but neither man completed his turn before Carek cut them down as well.

"Very impressive young one." Said Maldamon. "I am gladdened by your progress, but now it time for you to embrace the Dark Side and join in the service of the Emperor."

"I will not serve evil." Carek shot back, his voice utterly calm.

"Then I will kill you."

"You're going to have to work for that!" Carek then launched into a complicated series of attacks.

Maldamon parried each attack, but, he knew he was only just barely turning the attacks. "Sith Darkness! This young one has improved!" And for the first time, he began to know fear.

"You have improved, young one." Said Maldamon, frantically trying to distract Carek's timing.

Carek remained completely focused. "The better to fight evil with." He replied through clenched teeth.

Carek felt completely at one with the Force. He remembered his failure on Alderaan and, in an instant, he knew how that mistake had prepared him for this moment. Reaching deeper into the Force than he ever had before, he slashed low, feinted lower, and then reversed his strike in mid-swing and struck upwards.

"Foolish young one, I have you now!" Maldamon hissed, after seeing the classic double low strike. He readied a riposte that would end this fight in one blow. So intent on his counterstrike, that he failed to see the second half of the double low strike curve upwards until it was too late. His parry was a fraction of a second too slow in coming. He felt the blade slice deeply into his side, just above his left hip flexor joint.

Maldamon's world exploded into a multicolored kaleidoscope of blinding agony. He crumpled to the ground and tried to focus his rage in a desperate attempt to remain conscious, but there was too much pain. He felt his primary heart loop shut down and then every thing went black.

When Maldamon dropped to the ground, the only thought that crossed Carek's mind was pity. He looked down at the being that had dogged his trail for so long, and could only feel sorry that the Emperor had managed to cause the death of yet another Jedi.

The lightsaber duel had taken all the concentration that Carek could muster. As the adrenalin from the battle drained away, He became aware of the sounds of the battle raging around him. Carek looked around and saw that only a half a dozen of the original troopers still remained. He took one more at the body at his feet and saw Maldamon's lightsaber roll free from the Tauntaran's grasp. He reached down and clipped the Dark Jedi's lightsaber to his belt. As he did, he realized that his failure at the Jedi cave on Alderaan, had come full circle.

A flash of motion in the corner of this eye caught his attention. He saw a squad of reinforcement Stormtroopers, approaching in two groups of four racing in behind his comrades. He wasn't worried until he saw how heavily armed the troopers were. Each of the new troopers carried a light repeat blaster mounted in a stabilized harness.

"I know trouble when I see it, and these guys are major trouble." He muttered. He broke into a sprint, in the hope of cutting the troopers off before they could reach his friends.

The reinforcements spotted him and opened fire. Carek soon found himself pinned down, dodging wildly and deflecting the bolts that he was unable to dodge.

Leland had also seen the troopers approaching. "Burning stars! Look at the size of those blasters. I'm not going to try and draw that kind of fire. This Hyperfoil 1000 wouldn't withstand two hits from..." His voice trailed off as he got an idea. "I know the Hyperfoil won't stand up to them, I wonder if they can stand up to the Hyperfoil?" He fished through his pockets for something to over ride the speeder's security. Finding nothing, he used the only tool he had. He shot the lock off with his blaster. "Not exactly the way a booster would do it, but I don't have the time to be delicate."

Leland slid in, ran the speeder through it's power up sequence, and soon had the engine just below redline. It turned out that the Hyperfoil 1000 relied entirely on the complexity of the door locks. The main ignition was unguarded.

"I'll have to drop a line to the good people of Tion Industries and let them know about a serious flaw in the 1000's anti-theft package." He grinned and punched full power to the hover engine lifters.

The Hydrofoil 1000 was a mixed drive speeder, using standard repulsors and hover generators. The hover drives allowed for silent operation, and enabled Leland to catch the nearest quartet of troopers completely by surprise.

The Leland plowed though the troopers at a hundred and fifty KPH, killing three troopers outright and shattering both legs of the one trooper that came closest to dodging. The impact caused the speeder's nose to dig in and flip over in a bone jarring stop. Leland shook his head for a moment to clear the ringing and crawled out the shattered windscreen of the now thoroughly ruined sports speeder.

The spectacular crash of the speeder gave Carek the chance he needed to close in on the remaining fire team. Once in contact, he felled two of the troopers before they could react. The two survivors motivated by a higher than normal self preservation instinct, and blessed by an extra four meters of distance from their fallen comrades, swung their repeat blasters around and fired point blank at the young Jedi. Carek managed to deflect one of the bolts, with a last ditch desperate parry. The second bolt however, struck him squarely in his lower right side. Carek fell backwards into absolute blackness. "By the Force, I'm still alive." Was his last clear thought, before the darkness engulfed him.

Ardent saw Carek fall and was consumed by anger. In a blind rage, he broke cover and charged, firing with the same blind rage. The troopers stood their ground and returned fire. Unclouded by raw emotion, the two Imperials began covering each other. One kept the remaining rebels pinned down, and the second, calmly hit Ardent with a well aimed burst of blaster bolts.

"NOOOOOOO!" Leland raged from beside the speeder wreck. "Laz, Kyle, Roberts! Cover me!" He yelled.

"You got it! You get Ardent! I'll take care of the Jedi!" Kyle yelled back.

Roberts opened up with a furious barrage at the last three of the initial ambushers. Lazarus did the same at the two troopers with the repeat blasters. The Stormtroopers, who had been emboldened by felling of two the rebels, were not ready for the sudden volley of fire. The two rebels firing in perfect counter point, sent fire scything through the troopers. killing three of the five remaining almost instantly. By the time the Kyle and Leland reached the two downed rebels, the last of the troopers were dead.

As soon as he heard the coving fire, Leland started his sprint. He covered the twenty meters of open ground, snatched up the crumpled Ardent and dashed back to cover, his face choked with grief. He had gotten a good look at the extent of Ardent's injuries and he knew that his friend was going to die.

Likewise, when Roberts and Lazarus began firing, Kyle ignited his jet pack. Kyle flew in a graceful arc and landed next Carek. "Don't you even think about dying on me Carek!" He said, quickly checking for a pulse. Finding a thready heartbeat, he turned to fire his jet pack again. Just before he lifted, he noticed his friend's lightsaber.

"I've been meaning to learn how to use one of these," He said to himself. "I don't think the Jedi will mind."

Leland was only seventy meters away, but he might as well have been back on Tosca. He had seen a pair of scout walkers in the distance, and he knew he could never reach Kyle and the others before the walkers arrived. The last thing he wanted was to be caught in the open carrying a grievously wounded man. The approaching walkers had forced him to take Ardent back to the shelter of the twisted speeder.

"Come on you tattooed freak. Stay with me." Leland said, placing the medpac on the worst of Ardent's wounds, but the damage was severe, too severe for one medpac to handle. The LEDs all strobed red, as the auto injectors worked overtime cycling and firing dose after dose of pain killers, coagulants, and stimulants.

Leland glanced at the patient status LEDs again and saw them all indicate a steady red.

"No. No. No. NO! NO! NO! You won't die! I WON'T LET YOU! I WON'T LET YOU." Leland gathered up his friend's mangled body and ran to find help. Any help.

When Kyle was at the top of his return arc, his mouth dropped open in shock, when he caught sight of the scout walkers. He landed next to Lazarus and passed him the wounded Jedi.

"We got trouble" Said Kyle.

"Tell me something I don't know!" Lazarus snapped back, applying his medpac to Carek's still smoking wound.

"I am telling you something you don't know. There's two AT-STs headed this way. We've got to clear out!"

"Scout walkers! We've got more than trouble, we got no chance." Roberts wailed.

"We've got a chance, because, I'm going to make us a chance. Get the Jedi to cover and stand by. Wait for me to make my move, then I need you to hit the walkers with everything you can." Kyle said with grim determination.

"How much time do we have? I've got to get Carek stable before we try to move him." Said Lazarus, adjusting the medpac, so that the auto injectors could work more efficiently.

"Less than a minute."

"We've got to move." Said Roberts.

"Not until I say so!" Lazarus snarled. "I've...almost...There!" The status LEDs all blinked green. "He's ready!"

Lazarus and Roberts each grabbed an arm and lifted the Jedi in a smooth motion. They placed Carek out of the line of fire, then found decent cover for themselves and waited for Kyle's signal.

Leland ran through the streets of Atnos, eyes wildly searching for any sign of a medical facility. He could hear the faint sounds of blaster fire and the heavier, deep throated reports that marked the walker's weapons, fading in the distance.

"Help me! This man was a bystander wounded in the fighting. Please help me!" He shouted to a stunned group of pedestrians.

The citizens of Atnos had lived under the shadow of the Empire for far too long. They all kept their distance, or closed and locked their doors as he approached.

Leland had stopped at an intersection, when he heard the medpac give a strident warble, then shut off. "No, Ardent No." He half whispered.

Leland stopped and lowered his comrade to the street. He didn't need to see the readouts to know it was over. Ardent's rib cage was damaged enough for Leland to see that his friend's heart had stopped beating.

"Ardent...I...I..." Words failed Leland and he could only weep at the passing of his friend.

When the walkers reached the small city square, they stopped at the edge of the trees that lined Melbar Road. It was that hesitation before entering the open, that Kyle had bet on and was waiting for.

"That's it my little pretties, come to papa Kyle." He leered as he applied full power to his jetpack and flew at the closest walker.

The covering fire from his fellow rebels was right on time, allowing him to land on the top of the walker unharmed.

"Like I said. I don't think the Jedi will mind if I borrow this for a minute or two." Said Kyle, activating the fallen Jedi's lightsaber. The coruscating blade sliced through the lock and hinges of the walker's access hatch, before the occupants had a clue what was going on. Shorn of their protection, like an oyster out of its shell, Kyle calmly blasted both of them, then dropped inside of the walker.

"Now lets see, this should be a breeze." Said Kyle, unstrapping the body of the driver and taking his place at the controls.

The second walker had been so distracted by the storm of fire that Lazarus and Roberts had laid down, that it's operators didn't know something was amiss with their partner, until Kyle opened fire.

Lamed by that first shot, it was never a contest. Kyle fired twice more and blasted the second walker to pieces. Kyle moved over to where the other rebels had taken cover and waited for them to board.

"Where's Leland and Ardent?" Asked Kyle.

"I'm over here." Leland replied as he boarded the walker.

"Great Deity!" Gasped Lazarus. "Look at all that blood!"

As soon as Leland had climbed aboard the now very crowded walker, Kyle got the walker moving for the spaceport.

"Ardent is dead." Leland rasped. "I tried to save him, but I just didn't know what to do. He was hit so bad." He then buried his face in his hands and wouldn't say anything more.

The rest of the rebels were too stunned to say anything either.

An Imperial walker, even an otherwise lowly scout walker, demanded respect. Enough respect, that the lone walker went unchallenged by local authorities. It wasn't until the AT-ST strode on the flight line of the Atnos starport, that someone made an inquiry.

"Sir, I've got a perimeter violation in sector four." Said the lead sensor officer in departure control.

"What kind of violation?" The tower director Kennian Tosk replied.

"An AT-ST sir."

"Oh now that's just too much. get me the Imperial ground commander."

"Yes sir. Colonel Helpac is on the line."

"Colonel. I understand that your security requirements supersede my own sir, but I protest this detaining freighters right on my active flight line."

"What are you talking about Tosk? I'm very busy right now." The Imperial colonel snapped.

"One of your scout walkers has just come across my security perimeter, strolled onto my flight line and has started an impromptu inspection of a stock light freighter. Have you initiated a new policy without tell-"

"Listen to me closely Tosk." Kennian interrupted. "Both our careers depend on this. Stop them! Do anything within your powers to stop them now!" The base commander shouted, but it was too late for ground based forces to do anything for the stock light freighter in question, had just lifted without authorization.

The look on Tosk's face told Kennian what had happened.

"We can only pray that the Predator stops them before they reach hyperspace." Kennian muttered and blanked the comlink.

Chapter Seven

"...pain...pain...and more...pain." The tortured entity groaned. "There used to be...some...thing...I used to do at...at...AHHHH!" The man, he remembered that much, had moved slightly and the resultant wave of pain had broken off all other thoughts.

"Lets try this...again." The pain wracked man breathed deeply and gathered his thoughts. "There is no emotion...there is...there is...

peace? Where do I know that from?" He took a deeper breath and concentrated on a half formed memory. "A Jedi knows no fear! I am a Jedi! No wait. No, no I'm not. I'm a Jedi in training. A Jedi can find strength in the Force. The Force is with me and I am its servant."

The pain was just as intense as it was when consciousness found him, but, now that he remembered his powerful ally, the pain began to fade. His breathing evened out, as he no longer had to fight to breathe. He began to remember recent events and his eyes snapped open. He was in a cabin on a starship in hyperspace, but not the cabin he remembered. He sat up and saw his lightsaber on the room's small counter and the rest of his memory flooded back.

"I am Carek of the House of Argonaut!"

The door to the tiny cabin opened. "Well, look who's finally rejoined us." Said Lazarus, grinning from ear to ear.

"How long?"

"Thirty-two hours."

"What ship is this? Where's the Bantha?"

"We're aboard the ship we chartered, the Carthesian Hawk. As to the Bantha...you need to follow me."

Carek rose slowly and followed his friend out into the hallway and to the ship's small lounge. Kyle, Roberts, and Leland, all jumped up and all tried to embrace him at once.

"Whoa fellows, one at a time." He smiled and hugged each of his comrades in turn. "Where's Ardent and Rex?"

The silence that followed answered his question for him. Carek felt the room spin for a moment, as the shock caused him to lose control of that portion of the Force that held his pain in check.

"Carek..." Leland started, but stopped when the young Jedi waved him off.

It took him a few moments to regain control, of both the Force, and of his feelings. "There is no emotion, there is peace. There...is...no...emotion, ...there...is...peace." He said aloud, focusing the Force and reestablishing his center. "How?"

"When you were hit," Leland said softly, agony in every word. "he charged the troopers that shot you. He...He couldn't have been thinking clearly. He didn't tell anybody what he was doing, or even wait to get any covering fire..."

"He didn't make it twenty meters." Kyle added, shaking his head. "He took an autofire burst right across the chest."

"I...tried, Carek. I tried..." Leland choked and couldn't continue.

"This is all my fault." Carek said almost inaudibly.

"It was the Empire's fault, Carek. Never forget that!" Lazarus hissed.

"No it is my fault. I have a confession to make." Carek said slowly, searching for the words that would somehow convey what he had to say, and yet, not cost him his best friends in the entire galaxy. No test that his master Havsoltek had ever given him, had been harder than the task before him now. "When I said that Commander Challis had told me to deliver information to Alderaan, I wasn't telling the truth."

"What exactly do you mean Carek?" Said Lazarus, steel edging his voice.

"When the Bantha was hijacked, we got enough of a fix on your course that we were able figure out that you were enroute to Tatooine. We met with Dag Caltare to see if he had any information on the Bantha, or the loan shark that Rex owed." When Carek said Rex's name, his blood suddenly ran cold. "Wait a minute you never told me what happened to Rex. Please don't tell me he's dead too."

"We don't know." Said Leland, his eyes boring into Carek's. "When we blasted out of Atnos, our original intent was to head for the orbital platform, grab Rex and jump to hyperspace. But, when we broke orbit, we were intercepted by our old friend the Predator and a flight of TIE fighters. Captain Hawk wouldn't risk his ship any more than he already had. He could have just shut it down, turned us over, and claimed that we hijacked him. The bounties on us are enough to make anyone at least think about turning us in, but he didn't do that. He just dodged the TIEs and got us out of there."

"So we don't know what happened to Rex. He may have been killed, or may the Force spare him, he may have been captured." Carek said, hanging his head in abject sorrow.

"Right. And we've lost the Bantha for good." Said Lazarus. "Now if you don't mind, would you go back to the point that you lied to us."

"While talking to Dag, he mentioned that he knew of a Jedi enclave on Alderaan and I figured-"

"-That you could get free Jedi training. I thought you were an honorable man Carek, but this is beyond contempt. If we hadn't suffered so much grief already, I'd kill you where you stand." Lazarus raged. His hands clenched tightly into fists.

The other rebels stepped back from Carek, the anger in their eyes smoldering at the betrayal.

"No wait! For the love justice, please hear me out!" Carek implored.

"Make this good Jedi." Leland said, twisting the word Jedi around as if it was the vilest epithet he knew.

"I admit that I desperately want to complete my training, but I did not just want to find those Jedi for selfish reasons only. We all know how badly the Alliance needs help, and I thought that nothing could be of more help, then a group of fully trained Jedi.

"I beg your forgiveness for having misled you. I was wrong not to have trusted you with what Dag told me. I can never repay, or atone enough, for what I have done."

Carek trailed off as words failed him. He looked to his friends, in the hope of finding a glint of something other than contempt. Lazarus' eyes were twin pits of blazing ice. Kyle's eyes held a deep sorrow and something akin to pity. Roberts, who hadn't known Carek as long as the others, couldn't meet his stare. Leland met Carek's gaze for a moment, then, he looked away.

"We can't blame Carek for everything, I'm the one who screwed up the jump out of Alderaan. If anyone's responsible for what happened to the Bantha, it's me." He rasped, joining the misery that was all too abundant at that moment.

"I think, the only person to benefit from all this fault finding is the Emperor." Kyle said gravely. "We have just suffered our worst set back ever. Emotions are running high and we all need a breather before something gets said that can't be unsaid."

"That's very profound for a bounty hunter." Said Carek.

"There's nothing in the bounty hunter's handbook that says a hunter has to limit his study to weaponry." Kyle replied. "I'm by no means a philosopher, but I do understand human nature. We're all shaken by the loss of two of our friends. We can either, pull together and become stronger from the experience, or we can pull ourselves apart and make the Empire stronger."

"I for one, do not wish to do anything that helps the Empire." Lazarus added. He turned to Carek and extended his hand. "Carek, I apologize."

"As do I my friend, as do I." Carek replied, first returning the handshake and then pulling his friend into a crushing bear hug.

The rebels reconciliation was interrupted by a man unknown to Carek. He was of medium height, with sandy brown hair, high cheekbones, and a friendly smile. He wore spacer's coveralls with a belt full of tools and an oversized datapad.

"It's good to see you vertical Mister Argonaut, I was beginning to wonder if you were going to sleep through the entire trip. You've been sleeping for almost two days." He said.

"Oh, I forgot that you two never had a chance to meet. Carek this is Rathbone Loegin, he's the engineer of the Hawk." Said Leland.

"From what I hear, we owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude." Said Carek shaking hands with Loegin and noting the firm grip.

"You don't owe me anything. It was the Captain's call."

"Well, I thank you anyway." Carek turned as he heard movement behind him. The master of the Carthesian Hawk and a young boy of about twelve standard years, entered the now crowded lounge. "Captain Hawk. I don't know how to thank you."

"My friends call me StJohn. And since my ship and crew are now wanted for aiding and abetting the Rebellion, I guess you and your friends are the only friends I have left."

"We've gone over this before Hawk," Leland started.

"I know, I know. You're going to set me up with a steady cargo run for your base. You'll have to forgive my lack of enthusiasm at having to run cargo for the most wanted people in the galaxy."

"Aw come on StJohn, it'll be a challenge, you're always complaining how bad business is." The young man said, he then noted Carek's attention. "Hi, I'm Andre Trelldouwegan."

"Nice to meet you Andre, I'm Carek."

"Is that really a Lightsaber?"

"Yes it is. I'm impressed that you could identify lightsaber, that's very unusual for someone so young."

"Andre is my ward," Said Hawk. "his parents were arrested for sedition. They were educators who refused to delete the history of the Jedi from their curriculum. Ernst Trelldouwegan and I went to first school together. When I heard he and his wife had been arrested, I managed to get to their home and escape with Andre, before COMPNOR could get hold of him and brainwash him. I'm no professor, but I