3

3

The frigate leading the medical convoy came out of hyperspace only to detect small objects coming towards them. As the other ships of the relief convoy arrived near the planet of Argoon, they were surprised to see TIE Bombers coming at them, followed by Assault Gunboats.

X-Wings and A-Wings from the frigate began to launch. TIE Interceptors immediately pounced on them as the Star Destroyer Ravage arrived at the scene of the battle. The Star Destroyer began firing on the frigate, as the transports in the convoy were hit by waves of heavy space bombs.

Isel watched the battle, knowing that his TIE pilots were getting great experience. His prisoner was still in the early stages of interrogation, and wasn’t revealing anything important. Bysal approached and Isel motioned for him to release the last ship in the Star Destroyer’s hangar. A single rare TIE Advanced launched from the Star Destroyer and streaked towards the weakening frigate. The starfighter had an open path to the ship. It launched two bombs and then pulled up and caught an X-Wing with a deadly burst of fire.

Another wave of TIE Bombers and gunboats headed for the transports, most of which were already in their death throes. The valiant New Republic starfighter pilots were able to destroy a few of the bombers, but the large numbers of TIE fighters kept them too busy. The TIE Advanced tore through the ranks of the New Republic ships as the Star Destroyer fired one last salvo at the frigate and tore it to pieces.

Admidst the chaos, a single shuttle was warming up on one of the dying transports. The pilot quickly computed the hyperspace jump as the shuttle was launched. The shuttle swerved to the left to avoid an oncoming TIE Bomber and then it went into hyperspace. As the shuttle entered hyperspace, the last transport was destroyed. The five remaining New Republic fighters were destroyed and the Imperial craft went back to their mothership. The attack had been swift and brutal, and Isel knew that he had now sent a clear message to the Rebels.

Leia rushed into the Command Center in the Imperial Palace. She immediately found Mon Mothma standing at one of the computer consoles. “Hello, Leia. I’m sorry that you had to leave on such short notice, but there is a new threat to the New Republic,” Mon Mothma proclaimed softly.

“What’s wrong?” Leia asked.

“The station being constructed near the Outer Rims was destroyed...by a Star Destroyer.”

“But I thought that the Imperials had fled to the Core Worlds to regroup.”

“Obviously this Star Destroyer has gone elsewhere. As long as this threat remains it will greatly disrupt our attempts to assure perspective allies that the New Republic can protect them. I need your help to reassure them. I have already ordered General Bel Iblis to lead a task force to the area of the attack. We are going to rebuild the station. Admiral Ackbar is also hunting for the rogue Star Destroyer now, but there is still much work to be done. Many ambassadors are coming here to get my reassurance that we can handle the Imperial threat. I’ll need you to help me handle them. I know that I’ve asked so much of you already, but until we get this fledgling republic on its feet I will need all of your help.”

“I understand, Mon Mothma,” Leia said humbly and silently fumed that she would lose more time that could be spent with Han and the twins. But she knew that until the Imperials were vanquished she would have to give her all to help secure the New Republic’s relationship with its allies. It was then that Leia heard a shout at the door and turned to see a haggered man in a flight suit pushing his way through the guards.

“I have a important message for Mon Mothma!” The pilot shouted. Guards with blasters looked at their leader. Mon Mothma waved them away.

“Let him speak,” she commanded.

“I was with the medical fleet going to Argoon. When we came out of hyperspace there were Imperials waiting for us. A Star Destroyer and its starfighters overwhelmed our defenses and disabled the communitcation systems on all of our ships. I was able to sneak a shuttle out to tell you the fate of the relief convoy. Why would anyone attack a relief column?” The pilot shouted. As his question echoed across the room he was roughly pushed out of the room. Leia looked at Mon Mothma in shock.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Leia mumbled to herself.

Luke and Threepio watched the final blue panels on Artoo with fascination. Then it was time to see if the hours of work and worry had finally gotten the astromech to work again. Luke crossed his fingers and Threepio mumbled an alien prayer. The mechanics working on the droid plugged a cord into the droid and then into a generator. The power switch was turned on and power began to flow into Artoo. Luke could see the droid light up as his systems began running again. The light died down when the power was cut off and then Artoo began to move. He beeped and chirped and moved towards Luke and Threepio as fast as his tiny wheels could move him.

Luke was glad that the droid was all right, but then he snuck a look out a window and saw his X-Wing sitting, silent and still crippled by the ion blasts. Though he wasn’t anxious to get back in space, the X-Wing had served him for many years and it was almost a part of him. Almost as much a part of him as his friends. Luke and Threepio led Artoo out of the maintainence room and back towards Han and Leia’s quarters. On the way there, Luke could sense that something was wrong.

And indeed something was wrong. Chewie roared and looked at the broken vase on the floor. He had poked his head in the doorway of the living room and seeing the vase, he eased himself back into the twin’s room.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t take this anymore! The twins are growing up without you! Winter’s more of a mother to them than you have been!” Han released frustration that had been mounting for months.

“I’m sorry, but my job is important! Someone’s got to help keep this government together and the Imperials aren’t making my job any easier!” Leia resisted the urge to cry, she wished that she could pass her job onto someone else, but no one else could handle it. She felt guilty every minute she was away from Han and the twins, but it wouldn’t last much longer, it couldn’t.

Han could tell that yelling wasn’t going to help, and breaking the vase had gotten rid of some of the frustration he had been feeling, almost never being able to see his wife. “I know, I’m sorry,” he said gently and held Leia’s head to his chest.

“No, you have every right to be angry. It’s not easy, but we’ve got to make it work. I don’t want to lose you or the twins to my work,” she moaned.

“You won’t, I promise. I’ll clean up this mess and we can make the most of our time.” Han let Leia go and went to clean up the vase. Luke could feel the tensions ease and then opened the door. The droids shuffled in after him, and Leia looked in surprise at her brother.

“They got Artoo working again. That’s great,” she said with all of the enthusiasm she could muster.

“I just thought that I’d come up to show you and see the twins,” Luke looked at Han, who looked up with a nasty look on his face. “Or we could come back later. I’ll see you later.” Luke hurried the droids out of the door and knew that he had unknowingly intruded on something private.

“Why did we leave in such a hurry, Master Luke? That seemed rather rude to me,” Threepio grumbled, being a protocol droid he hated to see rudeness.

“I’ll tell you some other time. Artoo, how about we go and see what we can do with my X-Wing?” Artoo beeped an affirmative and they headed towards maintenance.

“Wait for me!” Threepio called and hurried to catch up. “I’m not letting you out of my sight again R2D2. Everytime I’m not with you, you get into some kind of mischief.”

“You said that you had valuable information. So far we have found nothing but trivial facts,” Isel growled at Aster.

“Unhook these blasted machines and I’ll tell you!” Aster shouted through his pain as the interrogation droid worked him over. Isel signaled that the droid be removed and then let Aster rest for a few moments. He was tired of trifling with the foolish smuggler. If he didn’t yield any important information soon, then he would soon know the wrath of the Imperial Navy.

“What is it?”

“I know of a meeting...a really big meeting. All of the galaxies biggest smugglers, even Talon Karrde are going to be there!”

“Where is it? Tell me or you will die.”

“It’s on...Tatooine! Five days from now the biggest smuggler meeting ever will take place in Mos Eisley,” Aster said quickly.

“You had better be right, smuggler. I want him detained until we reach Tatooine. But first we have one last stop to make,” Isel commanded and left the detention cell. Isel knew that this next target would be very satisfying to destroy.