Private The Rescue

[Laira Darkhold]

Gul D’razi sat reading quietly in his dormitory aboard the RNS Lightbringer, flipping through pages on the datapad. A set of readouts fed him information from the planet he was set to visit, on its history, customs, and language. It was important for him to commit them to memory before meeting with the representatives of Ord Cantrell if he expected to gain any support from them. The Resistance desperately needed credits in order to compensate the freedom fighters that made up their ranks, as though they fought and served voluntarily for the cause, they had needs and many had families that required credits in order to survive.

There was a knock on his door.

“Enter,” the duros sat down the datapad and rose from his bunk. He was fully dressed in his red robe and greenish tunic. Tall and proud he stood as the door slid open to reveal the black-armored Venom Trooper that was his Chief of Security.

“Chief D’razi, there seems to be a problem. Sensors showed a distress beacon from an escape pod in our redirect system.” The man’s voice was distorted, but Gul knew that he wanted to leave the escape pod for the next passerby. They were passing through in secret, as secrecy kept them safe. The only beings that knew when and where he was going were aboard the ship, the Supreme Commander, and the Cantrellian delegation he was set to meet.

“What has the captain said?” The chief asked quietly, straightening his robes.

“Nothing. Escape pod isn’t broadcasting comms. Might be out.” His posture indicated it might be something else, but then the Presidential bodyguards were trained to be as paranoid as possible.

“Well, withdraw all Resistance personnel to this cargo bay, and have the Captain pick up the stragglers. They can think this is a transport ship, just like everyone else. It wouldn’t work well for our cover if we didn’t follow interstellar regulations.” In truth, the Chief knew it was very unlikely anything would come of passing the escape pod over, but if they were going to deserve a galaxy free of Sith and tyranny, they would have to hold true to their values.

The soldier nodded, saluted, and left the dormitory while the Chief settled back down to continue reading, grateful for the few extra minutes he would gain to read over the material once more. A few moments passed when the door slid open abruptly, without a knock or request. Captain Cadrain was standing in his full gear, followed by thirty Venom Troopers locked and loaded. “Already-” The chief began, cut off by the captain.

“Secure the Chief.” The captain said without a word. “Deck six. Move.” Two troopers stepped forward, taking the chief between them as they swiftly ushered him along without a word.

“What is happening?”

“Intruder. Red Lightsaber.” That was all the soldiers said as they moved him through the corridors in the hidden compartments in the ship. The captain and four in the front, four surrounding the chief, and the rest following behind in perfect sync with one another. The first doors slid open into a large armored chamber with no exit. Gul looked to each of the soldiers as the captain began pressing buttons on the lock pad, the doors sealing slowly with a large hiss. He continued pressing numbers, a greenlight flashed and then the lights within the room turned red.

“What happened?” One of the troopers asked the captain.

“Safe room didn’t launch. Controls are fused or cut or we got locked out.” They heard the flash of a Lightsaber outside, the door began to glow hot.

“That’s six inches of beskar steel?” One of the troopers said, the fear in his distorted voice clear enough for the chief to register.

“Trooper, your side arm.” Gul ordered, holding his hand to the closest officer. He would not be taken unarmed and afraid, no. If this was his end he would have it be with a blaster in hand.

“Negative.” The captain snapped. “Take the captain to the emergency pod.”

“Through which door captain?” A trooper pressed their hand to a blank wall and it slid away to reveal a small, cramped corridor with connections every five meters. Though reluctant, the Chief did cooperate with the troopers, hoping that if he followed their directions and let them do what they had trained for, everything would work out even if he wanted to stand tall and proud. Four troopers ushered Gul away once more, the door closing behind them as they hustled him down the maintenance corridors hidden in the design of the vessel. The sound of blasterfire and lightsaber buzzing erupted from behind them. “How many of them are there?” Gul asked the closest trooper as they guided him through the maze.

“Just one.”

The corridor ended with a single open pod door, barely enough space for a single being to sit in the cramped device. “Inside Chief D’razi.” The trooper said, “Supplies for ten days, air for twenty. Ghostwave distress call will be sent upon completion of the emergency hyperspace jump.”

“And what about you, the others? The ship’s crew? We will find another escape pod we can all take or not at all.”

“Stun him.” Before the troopers could act on the order, they heard the lightsaber slash through the hidden door and the sound of boots on durasteel moving their direction, steady and calm. There was no haste in the being’s stride, simple purpose drove him forward.

“In you go.” One trooper said, shoving Gul into the pod and closing the door. He pulled the launch lever, and nodded to the chief as the countdown began. Five seconds.

The being turned to see the length of the corridor and immediately blaster bolts rang out from the four troopers. Most of them zipped past the black robed humanoid, but any that would have impacted him stopped frozen in place and then pressed backwards along their original flightpaths at the Venom troopers. One trooper died, his helmet pierced five times in rapid succession while the rest reloaded their weapons or drew secondaries.

Two seconds.

The being yanked away the automatic blaster carbines with the Force, continuing to advance without a word. One trooper rushed forward a step before being telekinetically flung to the ceiling, being crushed slowly inside his own armor, the blood refusing to fall from the ceiling as it dripped from the collapsing armored plates. No doubt the meaty sounds of bones cracking would have filled the corridor if not for the firefight. Another trooper drew his pistol and rattled off two rounds, both deflected by the blazing red lightsaber. His helmet collapsed in on itself, blood and grey matter leaking from the small ball sized remnants.

One second.

One trooper was slashed through the stomach as he finished reloading and then bisected entirely by the second sweep of the blade. The final trooper, Gul believed his name was Thom held a sonic disruptor in his hand, depressing the button the instant the pod launched from the ship.

The detonation pulsed outward, only to be trapped within a small bubble, taking the troopers hand but nothing else. The lightsaber impaled Thom and he collapsed.

Gul put his hand on the transparisteel, sighing with regret as the ship automatically calculated the jump to hyperspace. “Calculations complete.” The stars started to elongate and then, the ship rocked, throwing the chief to around. He looked up, a few hundred meters away the being was standing at the launch door with his hand outstretched, as though grasping for the escape pod.

“Accelerate to enter hyperspace.” The computer advised impassively.

The escape pod slowly began to retreat, back towards the dark sider. Closer and closer it edged.

“Accelerate to enter hyperspace.”

Now Gul could see the masked figure clearly as he and the pod inched nearer and nearer to him. Thom, wounded and down held up his side arm just as the pod came within lightsaber reach. One blast, catching the dark sider in the mask. Concentration broke and the pod jerked again, engines blazing.

“Entering Hyperspace.” Gul saw the stars elongate, and just before the blue tunnel of hyperspace appeared he watched the figure decapitate Thom.

He was safe for the time being, but now came the waiting for rescue. Trapped alone with his regret and his sorrow.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Laira shuffled about the galley, mixing powdered chocolate into her mug of hot water with a contented smile. Even though Saeza and Leo had decided not to participate in pajama day, the redhead had resolved to follow through with her ‘morale boosting’ technique by donning a brown ewok onesie complete with little round ears on the hood up over her head. Mostly it was an excuse to be lazy around the ship since they were in the middle of a long, meaningless patrol through no-man’s zone between the two Sith regimes currently slugging it out for dominance. Faljinn was napping and there was little to do around the ship, luckily they had been in for repairs not too long ago.

She stirred the drink vigorously with the spoon before blowing on the steaming mug and shuffling off towards the cockpit. Laira took a sip from the mug as she entered, moving past Saeza in the copilot’s chair to her captain’s seat at the front of the cockpit. “Ahh, yall are missing out.” She said, placing the mug in the cupholder and pressing a few buttons on the dash.

“I do not own such an outfit.”

“When I bought this one, I offered to buy you a cute little tiger one.” Laira retorted with a grin, taking another sip of hot chocolate.

“You did.” The yuuzhan vong girl nodded her head, “I apologize. At the time I did not see the usefulness of a cloth masquer. I still do not see the usefulness outside adhering to intergalactic holidays.”

“Yup, now you’re a jerk and everyone we see today will say, ‘oh, look there is that girl who hates pajama day’.” Laira smiled roguishly, uncertain if Saeza could tell if she was joking or not. However she continued reading the dataterminal absentmindedly. “Hmm, we have a message coming in over the ShadowNet.” The redhead clicked the intercom button, “Leo, I need you in the cockpit.”

It took a moment, but eventually the tall, dark-haired man arrived in the cockpit sliding his knife into his boot. “What is it?”

“Please decrypt this message.” Laira tapped on the screen, letting Leo look over her shoulder to read it, his eyes glancing down at her from time to time, much to her amusement.

“Uh, okay miss fuzzybritches. Saeza I need the copilot’s terminal.” The vong girl nodded and stood without a word, letting Leo flop down into the chair and began typing on the pad, working through a few memorized ghostwave encryptions. “I hate when they do this. Let’s see, code bluenet alpha seven sierra is a poem, code rednet gamma nine hotel is coordinates to an urgent distress call, and code purplenet alpha one oscar is a resupply ping out in the unknown regions.”

“Ugh, RESINT is so paranoid they use actual codes to put in fake messages so the Imps don’t know which is real on the hidden, hand encrypted, untraceable network.” Laira groaned, setting her hot chocolate down again. “You know, you could have at least participated in pajama day.”

“I could have, but you know I don’t wear pajamas. Didn’t feel like walking around in boxers all day.” He said, typing in the coordinates on his terminal.

“Maybe I wanted that.” The redhead grumbled quietly to herself, pulling her legs up into the chair with a pout.

“The coordinates are close by. If its the resupply we requested they sent us one way way off. Poem will take some time to figure out if its a hidden message.” Leo said, standing from the copilot’s chair so Saeza could take a seat. “I’ll remember that next pajama day, I swear.”

“If we check the wrong one, they will change the encryption codes again.” Saeza added, letting Leo stand over Laira’s shoulder even though it blocked her view of space.

“Aye, but, we’ll hit up the urgent distress call first since we aren’t sure. It’s only about two or three minutes from here if we step on it.” Laira clicked in numbers into the navicomputer, angling the ship in the correct direction and began accelerating towards lightspeed. As the navicomputer pinged they disappeared into hyperspace. A few moments passed and they returned, Laira sipping from her hot chocolate once more. “Oh snap, we guessed right.”

She pointed and off in the distance was a small individual escape pod listing lifelessly in space. Its single hyperspace jump had already been completed and its fuel had burnt out leaving it helpless, but capable of sustaining a passenger for almost three weeks.

“The Force guided our decision.” Leo laughed, turning to walk towards the hatch.

“Grab it with the tractor beam.”

“Shouldn’t you get changed?”

“I’m not quitting pajama day just because some RESINT operative wants to hitch a ride with us.” The redhead’s voice feigned indignance, though in truth she didn’t intend on speaking to the hitchhiker unless she had to. They were only a few minutes from Ord Cantrell and that would be as good a place as any to drop off the operative.

The tractor beam caught the little pod and drew it towards the hatch, magnetic coils flaring to catch the pod in the perfect vacuum seal against the ship once it was close enough. Saeza stood and went to join Leo in welcoming their guest and getting them settled in the galley while Laira shifted the ship around towards Ord Cantrell and began making hyperspace calculations. As she plugged in a course she heard footsteps on the deck, “Jeez, that was quick.” she said over her shoulder.

“Laira, stand up.” It was Leo’s voice, more footsteps followed him closely, so she did, twisting in the chair to stand and look at Leo. A second later Saeza along with their hitchhiker appeared in the cockpit’s bulkhead. The tall, lean green-skinned duros wore a red robe over a purple tunic with a red sash as a belt. Laira recognized him instantly, but instead of addressing him, she gulped and reached to zip her onesie all the way up from her bosom to her throat.

“Good evening, ma’am.” He said, his voice slightly metallic, commanding and authoritative. His eyes clearly measured up the redheaded pilot in the ewok onesie with judgmental eyes. “Thank you for assisting me.”

“Um, Chief of State, its nice to finally meet you.” She managed to stammer. Saeza looked as though she was worried and confused, gold eyes filled with concern. They were not even aware the Chief of State was off the Solemn Purpose, much less in an escape pod. “What happened?”

“I was on my way to Ord Cantrell, but my transport was identified and boarded.” His voice ached with some sorrow as he spoke, “Unfortunately I fear the worst for the crew, though I would like to confirm their fates.”

“I’m sorry to hear that Chief D’razi,” Saeza said quietly, once again the shy Yuuzhan Vong.

“Thank you. I will have much to do on my return trip to the Purpose writing letters to their loved ones. Is there a spare room where I may bunk?” He asked patiently.

“Oh, no. But you can stay in the captain’s quarters for now. I can just bunk elsewhere.” Laira began taking a step away from the console, “I just have to move Faljinn’s crib out. Leo, could you help me with that.”

“No, no need to move a crib. I’ll stay elsewhere ma’am. I wouldn’t want to uproot your family from their space.”

“The Chief can stay in my room. I’ll stay with you.” Saeza interjected, nodding and gesturing for the Duros to follow her. Warning klaxon’s flared.

“Chit, one second. Hyperspace detection.” Laira nodded to Saeza and jumped into her seat. “Oh, um. I’m guessing the Chief had followers.” She pointed to the TIE fighters dropping out of hyperspace around a small First Order light cruiser. “Shields up. Rowdy, get up here.” The redhead pulled her crash-webbing over he shoulders. “Crew hit the guns, um, Chief. There is a baby in my room, could you get him and strap him in. He’s gonna be fussy you woke him from his nap!” Laira snapped orders to the crew and their guest as the TIE fighters zipped towards the Rebel Outcast.

“Everybody hang on to your butts!”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Laira strapped herself into the captain’s chair, flicking the locks on so it wouldn’t swivel while she was flying. Behind her Rowdy pulled up, the astromech patching into the ship’s computer via its scomplink and twittering binary to the redhead. “Chief, you got Faljinn yet?” Laira yelled over her shoulder.

The droid buzzed angrily, twisting his scomplink this way and that. “I know, see if you can keep them from making a connection.” Laira pulled her headset on and began flicking through systems on the navicomputer. “What do you mean they’ve interdicted us? On a ship that small?”

“Looks like they dropped a pulse-mass mine upon reversion, red.” Leo’s voice had some static in the comm-channel.

“Sithspit.”

A holoscreen activated, the First Order crew having forced their way into securing a comm-signal connection with an interrogator-module. “Unidentified vessel, surrender your passenger-” The officer paused for a moment, “Why are you wearing a bear onesie?”

“It looks cute!” Laira retorted with indignation, tired of the constant judging of her adherence to pajama day. “Besides, it's my ship. I can wear whatever I want.”

On the other side, a second officer could be seen observing the screen for a moment as the Chief of State ran in carrying a crying Faljinn. The dark haired toddler was very upset at having been woken up. “Ma’am, surrender your duros passenger or be fired upon. I’m sure you wouldn’t want anything to happen to your child.”

“Screw you! I’m not his mom! I’m way too young to have a baby that age! Now, say my onesie looks cute.”

“What? No-” The redhead flicked on the comm jammer and twisted the ship around in a wide bank. Chief D’razi strapped the toddler into the emergency chair in the back of the cockpit and then took a seat in the copilot’s chair, struggling against the g-forces the ship suddenly began to pull.

“Incoming. Four TIE’s.” Saeza’s voice crackled over the ship intercom.

“Captain, anything I can do to help?” Gul’s voice was uncertain, but still commanding despite asking a question. Laira could understand why the other Resistance leaders had elected him.

“I don’t know, can you copilot?” She asked, rolling the ship over as the TIE’s came on in attack formation. Green laser blasts sailed bast the view port, Faljinn crying loudly as the ship spun.

“I used to be a courier back in the Republic.” He answered, flicking on screens. “Shields evened out. All systems green.” Gul began pressing buttons waiting to be given instructions from the captain. It had been a good many years since he had flown anything however, but hopefully it was like riding a bike.

“Good.” Laira pitched the ship upwards, and twisted it again, pulling away from the Light Cruiser as its weapon systems cycled up, stuttering fire in the direction of the fleeing freighter. The TIE fighters had paired off with two to either side of the vessel, trying to stay in its blind spots. “They are going to slash us.” The redhead called out over the ship comm, flexing her feet on the pedals. Just as the first TIE began to twist towards the freighter, she pressed it to twist the vessel on its side relative to the TIEs so her crewmates could line up more accurate fire with the dorsal and ventral guns. Blue laser blasts zipped out from the ship for an instant as Laira twisted the ship around and into a dive to avoid heavy laser cannon fire from the light cruiser again, green bolts chasing the vessel through space. The ship shuddered under a few impacts that managed to catch them as Laira pulled the ship out of its dive.

“Shield impacts. Shields to ninety- make that eighty eight percent.” Gul called out.

“Give me full power to engines.”

“On it. One second.” The duros pressed keys on the data terminal, “alright, power rerouting. Five seconds. Three.”

When the booster turned green Laira kicked the accelerator hard, letting the engine burn and pull away, creating distance between the Rebel Outcast and the Light Cruiser. The TIE fighters weren’t falling behind, but were struggling to keep up as the freighter continued to accelerate. One TIE flared and then turned to atoms strewn across the cosmos as Saeza’s cannons strafed the cockpit.

“We should be out of interdiction range in sixty seconds.”

“They’ll just drop another one. We gotta outrun that cruiser or disable it.” Laira pushed the ship in an inclining spiral as the TIE fighters began lining up on her rear, drawing in a large upward arc away from them. She was going fast enough that they struggled to snap shots into the rear shields, but not enough to lose them.

“Shields at sixty one percent.” The Chief read aloud after a few sustained shots impacted the vessel.

“Cycle my ordinance, Chief. One intruder, two cluster missile.”

“Yes ma’am. And, alright.” He said, still tapping buttons.

“Come on!”

“There. Intruder in tube one, cluster in tube two.”

Laira snapped the vessel into a looping turn, hammering the engine boosters as she slipped around the TIEs and angled back towards the pursuing light cruiser. More blue laser bolts whipped through the blackness of space towards the TIE’s, another being struck in the solar panels, warding it off but not disabling it entirely. “Here we go.” The redhead muttered to herself, juking the ship to the left as the first laser cannon blasts from the cruiser were belted her way. They trailed for a second but as they caught up to her maneuvers, the girl cut the thrust, letting the bolts dance over her shields and continue past her vessel. Once clear, she nailed the boosters once more and continued her attack run.

“TIEs on our eight and six.” Gul called, the pilot nodding her head and biting her lip as she worked to avoid the more powerful cannons from the cruiser. Her shields flickered a bit more and then the ship shuddered hard. “Impact, running diagnostics. Shields at forty three percent. Thirty seven.”

“It’s gotta be close. Lion be ready to hit that mine.” Double clicks on the comms confirmed her orders. Laira realigned the freighter on its attack run, pulling into a collision course with the cruiser. With only seconds to impact, the cruiser began maneuvering away from her course almost immediately. Laira depressed the second launch button, then an instant later the first as she banked hard to the side.

The first missile scattered into dozens of small micro-rockets scattering across the cruiser’s shields and occupying its limited point-defense cannons. The second missile struck the shields and immediately barreled into the hull as sparks and static echoed across the hull of the vessel just as the explosive detonated into the spine of the light cruiser.

Not dead, but damaged and limping without shields, the Light Cruiser didn’t pull around to pursue the fleeing freighter. Leo’s cannons struck the mine a few seconds later.

“Alright, hit it.” Laira said, letting the Chief of State push them into hyperspace.

“Well… That was exciting.” The chief said, Faljinn crying and making grasping hands for Laira as she unbuckled and stood from her chair.

“I hear you, honey. Laira’s coming.” She said soothingly, “Did the green man wake you up? Do you want a bottle?” The baby nodded his head as she hoisted him from the emergency seat and patted his back, holding him up above her hip. As soon as he was in her arms he stopped crying and held against her tightly, rubbing his face against her shoulder.

“For the record, Captain, the onesie is cute. Not very professional, but I’m sure there is a story behind it you’ll have to tell me.”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

“Well that’s good.” Laira retorted with a smile, “I try to avoid professionalism wherever possible.” The squirming toddler in her hands mumbled something incomprehensible, but nevertheless Laira responded to him as though she understood him perfectly. “That’s right! This is more fun.”

“I suppose, Captain. Where are we going?” The Chief asked, unstrapping himself from the crash-webbing in the seat.

“Off towards the Unknown Regions, rally point zeta nine is where your pod said to take you. Which ship is waiting for you there?” Laira led the Chief from the cockpit, Leo and Saeza descending from the gun turrets as she passed them in the galley.

“None I believe. I was travelling secretly to meet a group of dignitaries so I do not know what protocol the Resistance has activated until I can re-establish connection with the Solemn Purpose.”

“Then, what happened, Sir?” Leo asked, finding a seat while Laira fixed Faljinn a bottle of formula with one hand, the other clutching the toddler to herself. “Why are you out here on your own?”

“I’m not sure. We picked up an escape pod, and the Dark Sider inside it carved through my protection detail while we were reorienting for our last jump to the system.” The Chief’s tone turned somber, recognizing all those who had been lost defending him against the threat. “I’m not sure if it was a trap or just unfortunate coincidences. It seemed as though he knew what he was after though, so one must conclude he was aware of my schedule.”

“There are no coincidences. So, who all knew you’d be travelling and to where, sir?” Leo asked, pulling out his datapad, “Even your distress signal didn’t specify it was you sir and those Imperials knew exactly who they were looking for.”

“Well, myself and my protection detail. The Supreme Commander, Madam Secretary of Logistics, and the Ord Cantrellian dignitaries. I think we can rule out the Supreme Commander, he’s a good man, despite our disagreements. The Secretary does have ambitions, but she is a loyal soldier as well.” The Chief sighed, his hands clutching his head for a moment as he breathed. “I don’t see why the Cantrellians would betray us, but they would be the most likely candidates. Unless our security was compromised.”

“Money? Intimidation. Could be a dozen reasons, sir, but if it isn’t anyone else. It must be them.”

Laira twisted around as she finished preparing the bottle for the toddler, sliding into the booth at the table. “Here you go little man, drink up.” The baby shook its head, rejecting the bottle while grasping at Laira, eliciting a laugh from the redhead, “No, no. Bottle or bed. Laira doesn’t have anything else for you.” Reluctantly, and with a little fussing, Faljinn finally accepted the body and cozied up in Laira’s arms. “Sorry, his mother was still feeding him when I got him and he hasn’t quite gotten used to the bottle.”

“Adoption? Surrogate?” The chief’s pupil-less eyes didn’t noticeably flick between Leo and Laira, but he was clearly observing them and trying to make sense of the little group that had picked him up now that the immediate danger had passed.

“Not exactly. His mother didn’t make it, and she asked me to make sure he found a nice home before she died.” Laira frowned, remembering the serpent working to burst through the woman’s sternum as she passed the infant off to the redhead aboard the Dona Carlotta. Laira had unfortunately never learned the woman’s name, but she had stayed behind to overload the reactor once they realized what fate awaited her while the Jedi and crew managed to escape with a handful of survivors. “He’s Force-Sensitive, so I don’t feel comfortable just leaving him. How many children have been taken and indoctrinated by Force Cults over the years, ya know?”

“I see. And the Remnant?” The Chief asked.

“They don’t exactly have a daycare, much less an adoption agency. Plus, I don’t want him brought up as a Jedi. I’d rather him get to make his own decision once he’s older.”

Saeza nodded her head, “Aye, even the Remnant can fall into poor practices from time to time. Until we find a place for him, we can care for him though.”

“I can see he is cared for. Unfortunately, the last several decades of war have made a great many orphans, not all of whom are as fortunate as Faljinn.” The toddler sat quietly in the crook of Laira’s arm, holding his bottle tightly as he drank, slowly emptying it of its contents.

“What about you? Any family?” Laira asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m afraid not. Remember what I said about professionalism earlier?” He responded, sitting back in his chair and letting his shoulders relax somewhat.

“Yes, but I’m a Jedi, not a soldier. Plus I’m the captain, so what I say goes.” Laira smiled broadly, causing the Chief and Leo to let out a laugh.

“Fair enough Captain.” The overhead lights turned red, a second later a klaxon in the cockpit began buzzing. Laira stood and hurried towards the cockpit, shuffling through the bare metal floors still wearing her onesie and now carrying a child in a bear onesie.

“Hyperspace warnings. Interdiction field coming up in ten.” She quickly strapped Faljinn back in his seat, leaving the child to whine and fuss while she slipped back into the pilots seat. This time Leo pulled up behind her in the copilot’s chair while Saeza and the Chief stood behind them in the cockpit. Laira began flicking switches, rocking the pedals and getting her hands on the controls. She pulled back on the hyperdrive, pulling it out before she struck the interdiction field. Before them loomed the massive triangle shape of a Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, a few flights of TIE fighters and a pair of light cruisers in patrol routes around it. "This is the right place, but that clearly has the red FO teeth on its wings."

“They’re hailing us.” Leo said, turning on the comms jammer. “They are trying to punch through again, I’ve got them locked out.”

“No, let them talk. I need as much time as I can get.”

“On screen.”

A moment passed and then the First Order officer appeared on her screen. “Identify yourself.”

“This is the Starfarer,” Laira slipped the appropriate identification card into its slot so the ship would register appropriately when its computer was pinged by the First Order. She was already reorienting the vessel away from the star destroy, hoping to fly past it just outside turbolaser range.

“You are in a quarantine zone.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know this was Imperial Space. It's not placed on my star charts. Advise on appropriate path to Ord Mantell?” Laira was being friendly, putting on her nice voice while speaking to the officer.

“One moment, prepare for scan.” The lieutenant looked away for a moment, “What are you carrying?” The star destroyer scanned the vessel, identifying the number of occupants aboard and their location on the ship. Likely it also recognized the freighter was recently damaged.

“Humanitarian supplies, its Ord Mantell, so they are always needing temp shelters, food, and medicine.” Laira flicked a few more switches, running processes on the navicomputer. She felt a cold shiver run up her spine, a familiar sensation she had felt before. Someone she had encountered before was on the ship.

“Come in for on board scanning.”

“Um, negative. I’m on a deadline for a bonus, but how about I promise to comeback and you can buy me a drink once I’ve gotten paid?” Laira’s voice tried to turn sultry and coquettish, “I do like a man in uniform.”

“Um,” the soldier blushed slightly, adjusting his collar. “Unacceptable. All vessels are required to be boarded by customs.”

Laira pouted, but nodded her head, flicking the screen off. “Alright, get me the power rerouted to engines. We’ve got a shot at getting past them, but its going to be close.”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Laira continued clicking buttons, Leo behind her priming shields, turrets, and cycling her ordinance while the redhead readied her engine boosters and hyperdrive. She also had one trick she was glad they had saved. The Rebel Outcast pulled in along the designated flight path which would take them right under the Resurgent-class. The First Order officers intended to hold the vessel there with tractor beams while a customs crew came aboard and scanned the ship for the passenger.

“Well, it's a bit too late to hide you in the smuggler’s compartment. What are the odds they buy that you're on my crew?” Laira asked sarcastically, though it seemed humorous with the round ears of her onesie’s hood seemingly twitching.

“I would guess zero.”

“Never tell me the odds.” The redhead let out a laugh, and continued eyeing her viewport. “We could try hiding stuff in my onesie, it’s baggy enough.”

“Nah, they’ll just strip search you.” Leo retorted, clicking up a diagnostics. “Looks like the FESP is glitching from hull damage. Not sure they believe we are who we say we are.”

“Ah, but I’m not wearing anything under it.” Laira smiled to herself, flexing the pedals as they entered Tractor Beam range and felt the soft shudder of a tractor beam locking onto them. “They’ve got a defense cannon locked on us in case we try anything.”

“If we were gonna try that, that wouldn’t work.” Leo quipped.

“I agree, that would not be a deterrent to such a search for those soldiers.”

“It would probably encourage them if nothing else. Why wouldn’t you wear something else?”

Only Saeza added anything helpful, “But they would be distracted, correct?” Though she likely didn’t realize why exactly they would be distracted, probably imagining them seeking out new clothes or averting their gaze.

“Alright, they’ve got us right under them. See, I told you I could get us half way for sure.” Laira said, waiting to deliver her retort. “Who wears clothes under pajamas? I didn’t plan my day around being searched by First Order customs, I planned for a nice relaxing pajama day that YOU screwed up.”

A small tube began to extend from the massive star destroyer, angled for their dorsal hatch which would inevitably allow the First Order scanning team aboard, if the Rebel Outcast planned on sitting around and letting them. “Alright, let’s get out of here.”

The small shroud on the vessel erupted, several chaff canisters detonating alongside it, disrupting the tractor lock enough to get the freighter moving again. Laira kicked on the engine booster and spun the freighter in a tight roll to dodge the first snap shots fired by the defense cannon. “WHOOOOO!” She cried in excitement, pushing the engines to their limits as she zipped the vessel to the left, stutter fire erupting all around them.

“Shields up, impacts. Turbolasers are opening up.”

“No chit.” Laira gritted her teeth as she hauled the vessel upward, massive turbolaser beams passing underneath the vessel as laser cannon fire struggled to keep up with the freighter.

“Missile batteries firing. Eight sharks in the void.”

The redhead twisted the vessel, pitching it back down to level as she accelerated away from the Resurgent-class, the destroyer already pulling to pursue, though it was much slower than the freighter. The two light cruisers had no been in a pursuit position, but were attempting to come around and give chase.

“Eight TIEs, a flight to either side, closing in.”

The redhead pulled back on the engines, allowing the missiles to gain ground on her. The freighter’s cannons began their automated firing routines, trying to strafe across the large missiles while she banked around to cut off one of her pursuing flights, increasing the gap between the other flight.

“Shark one, three, and four are down. Deploying flares.” Leo worked to launch the flares and continue processing the dogfight as it progressed around him, though he was powerless to stop anything, he could at least help.

Laira twisted the ship into a roll just as she closed into a head to head with the TIE’s, pulling the trigger on her missile launcher, sending out a mag-pulse cluster missile to detonate between her and the TIEs. The blue electric explosion illuminated space between the four fighters and the Outcast, covering Laira’s sudden change of course to pitch beneath them and bank for outsystem yet again. It was a game of cat and mouse. The TIE’s shifted course to avoid the cluster of weapons, each pulling in a different direction around it. By the time the pilot Laira had pulled behind realized he was being pursued, she had already fired a concussion missile to chase him down. At such close range, he didn’t have much time to react.

The TIE turned to multicolored flames as it detonated, the pilot’s presence in the Force extinguishing just as quickly. The other fighters pulled around in pursuit patterns, being more careful to keep their distance now that their ally had been vanquished by their quarry. “Missile impact in, three. Two.”

“Chit,” Laira pulled around, hitting the chaff but not soon enough to beat the explosion caused by the enemy missile. The shields flared and the Outcast rocked, sparks cutting across the dashboard, screens flickering. Some of the support icons turned black and rebooted. Laira grunted, but kept her composure, flying by feel now. She rolled the vessel as green blaster fire opened up on her starboard side. “Lion, how’s the navicomputer?”

“Rebooting, shouldn’t take too long.”

The ship rocked with scattered laser impacts. “How far out are we?”

“Not far enough. The Resurgent is still pulling around. Need another few light seconds between us and it before we risk it.”

“Alright. We’re gonna lose some paint then.” Laira gritted again, though in her mind she was thrumming with excitement, thrilled to be testing her flying skills against such odds. The redhead kicked the vessel up, rolled and reduced speed to allow the TIE’s to close in. She pulled hard to port just as they began firing, dropping a cluster missile to occupy them for a moment. The dozen or so micro-rockets being disabled with chaff, flares, with only two striking the TIE’s causing only minor damage. The remaining one continued gaining on her until Laira cut the engines again, the sudden jerk leaving the TIE almost touching her rear nacelles. The pilot panicked and slowed his engines, cutting to starboard. Laira kicked the afterburners on, burning the transparisteel of his cockpit and scorching the durasteel of his solar panels while she pulled away from him.

“Two pulling back to regroup. One eject. Six bandits still in pursuit.”

“Time?”

“Thirty seconds.”

“Chit, Shields?”

“Out, recharging.”

Laira twisted the ship around again and picked back up her erratic zig-zag pattern, laser cannon shots dancing across her hull, but mitigated somewhat by distance. Distance that was slowly eroding.

The ship shuddered and warning klaxons flared. “Hull breach in engineering. We’re losing fuel. Hyperdrive coolant tank rupture. Locking it. Everyone get your rad badges on.”

Laira dove again, dodging a few errant shots taken at her vessel. “Screw it, I’m hitting it before they get a lucky shot on the hyperdrive.” Her hand hit the emergency override and in an instant the vessel pushed a few thousand meters through space as it attempted to enter hyperspace but was prevented by the interdiction field. “Feth!”

“Hyperdrive is recycling. Give it a sec.”

“We’re slowing down. Fuel tank one is empty. Switching to auxiliary. Kill the boosters, patch it back into the shields.”

“Working on it.”

The ship shuddered again as the TIE’s hustled to continue their pursuit, strafing the ship from top and bottom. “Oof, I’m sorry baby.” Laira pet the dashboard as the TIE’s pulled back around for another pass.

“One of the cannons is gone. Shield emitter is out.”

“Come on baby, come on.” Laira spoke softly to the ship in a sweet voice, in the back Faljinn threw his now empty bottle and began babbling and making grabby hands at Laira.

“Clear.”

Laira kicked the hyperdrive again, the acrid aroma of burnt metal and heating fluid faint in the air processors as damaged systems struggled to respond as directed. After a moment, the stars elongated and the vessel disappeared into hyperspace, green cannon blasts zipping through space as TIE’s took their last shots at the fleeing freighter.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Laira was up and on her feet a second after they had cleared into hyperspace, darting past the onlookers to rush towards the engineering bay, Leo hot on her heels. The pair of them donned radiation badges and Laira climbed into a hatch to the overhead, hanging out of it as she reached into the wires and couplings obscured up there. “Oh, they hurt my baby so bad!” the girl cried out, kicking her feet. “Rowdy, I need my tools!”

“Laira, I gotta vent the coolant so I can get in there without dumping it in the ship.” Leo began, already pulling on a heavier anti-radiation suit as he spoke. Jester appeared behind him, beeping something in his low binary.

“If you vent it, we’re not going to make it to Ord Mantell.” Laira said, reaching a hand down to snatch a bag brought to her by a dusty astromech droid.

“Well it could be eating away at electronics in there.”

“You know what is eating away at electronics? The electrical fire up here.” She retorted, spraying an extinguisher with mist and smoke pluming from the small opening she was hanging from.

The chief of state and Saeza appeared behind them after a moment, the tall, proud Duros holding the squirming toddler in both hands while Laira and Leo fussed and worked trying to stabilize the ship and keep it from falling apart from the damage it had sustained. “Do you two need a hand.” The astromech tootled something offensive and vulgar in response.

“Three,” Saeza corrected.

“Just, see if you can vent it into something so we can dump it back in when the leak is patched.” Laira descended from the hatch with a little bit of oil staining her onesie. “Jester, get up there and see if you can piece those wires back together. I’ve got to get under that hyperdrive.”

Leo grunted, hotwiring a connection together and then heard the dull hiss of fluid being drained from the adjoining room. “I think I saved some of it.”

Once the doors opened, the redhead and Death Trooper managed to get into the engineering bay where they remained for about three hours. Laira came padding out of the bay with oil and grime all over her onesie, several smeared handprints on her chest and stomach, and soot on her face. “These are my favorite pajamas,” she muttered woefully, walking past the Chief who was still holding Faljinn, though the baby was now fast asleep in his arms, occasionally babbling softly.

“I’m sorry for your loss, what is the status of the ship?” Gul asked as he followed her to her room.

“It’s going to make it, but we are out of ordnance. I need fuel desperately, and a solid amount of supplies. You wouldn’t happen to have thirty thousand credits I could have?” The redhead was a little sarcastic in her tone, a little hopeful as well. “Turn.” She said.

The Chief furrowed his brow quizzically, “Hmm,” He muttered as she pulled the onesie off her bare shoulders and upper back. “Oh,” the duros spun on his heels and faced away from her, hearing bare feet pad against the metal deck a moment later. “No, but I can refer you to the Logistics department. They should be able to give you a voucher for the Hollow.”

Laira pulled on a pair of spandex trousers, and then donned a bra, “I’m decent.” she exclaimed peacefully, going about rummaging through her clothes for a good shirt as the Chief turned back to her. “Well, that might help. I’m not sure she’s gonna make it another jump after we get to the checkpoint.”

“Checkpoint?”

“Oh, no one knows the Solemn Purpose’s coordinates except for the checkpoints dispatched in nearby systems. That’s what the rest of us know, one of the checkpoints. When you get to one of those, they scan your ship, run you through a questionnaire, color of the day, word exchange, security code and all that, then they slave your navicomputer, black your canopies, and delete all data the hard way from your astrogation module and ferry you to the Purpose. You get your astrogation module back when you leave.” She pulled out a white button-up shirt and slipped her arms through it, leaving a few extra buttons undone when Laira knelt to pull on her boots.

“How long does that take?”

“Well, with you on board, probably not the usual four hours.” The redhead grunted as she finished lacing the boots, stamping her left foot to get her heel in the most comfortable spot. “They keep it four hours, no matter how far the jump or how fast they hyperdrive to keep it secret. With you, maybe fifteen minutes? I figure once they confirm its you they’ll haul us to the capital.”

“I’m afraid we cannot make a show of what you’ve done for the Resistance.” Gul was a bit sorrowful in his tone. “We need heroes, and you have risked your life for me, but I am just one man. There has been a great loss of life today, and my life is not worth celebrating in ignorance of their deaths.”

Laira laughed, “Honey, I don’t want a medal. I want my ship fixed so I can get back out there and pick up the next person who needs rescuing.”

“Thank you nonetheless. Our warriors deserve more than we can give them, but thanks and appreciation is what I can offer.” The Chief was doing his best to be humble and sincere.

“I don’t do it for that either.” Laira held out her arms for the sleeping baby, taking him from the tall duros. Faljinn snuggled against her as soon as she took hold of him. “I do it because everyone needs help sometimes, and if not me, who?”