(/\) LIBERTY WING (/\)
Blackstone Cell of the Alliance
"Testing the waters..."
PART ONE
Danen woke to the dark. The thrum of the hyperdrive pulsed through the thinly padded pull-out cot that held his weight off of the cabin floor, and as his eyes focused he made out a constellation of gently pulsing status lights that brought him back to where he was, tucked away in the auxiliary sleeping cabin of the
Sullust Star. It was where he was most used to waking up these days. It seemed that since the disaster at Hoth, his nights were spent in transit between the dispersed cells of the Alliance's fighting wing. Together with his wife, Vreel, they had scraped together credits, parts, techs and fighting men and women to fulfill their mandate from Mon Mothma and open their own small front against the Empire.
The days blurred together now in his memory, and he had been in and out of Blackstone's headquarters so quickly that he hardly recalled what it looked like, even doubted that it existed. As trying as it had been, though, they had done it, and he could already take consolation in the small, rag-tag group's success. The day before his arrival at Blackstone, a group of their Y-Wings had happened upon an Imperial ore shipment several systems beyond their own and captured the entire haul intact. Their first small victory. And there would be others.
Reaching out he touched a light display that ran along the bulkhead beside him. It showed that they were already five standard hours out of Blackstone. It felt like he had just closed his eyes. He didn't feel at all rested. It was as though he had only drifted from abstract thoughts into concrete and conscious thinking, a continuous river of worries and planning that was impossible to turn off.
The cabin's intercom clicked, <Everything all right back there?>
Danen smiled. "Yes, Vreel. Just waking up."
<There's no need for you to do that, dear. Why don't you try to sleep a little longer?>
But Danen was already up from the cot, fixing himself in the refresher's mirror and stepping down the entry ramp into the shuttle's cockpit. Vreel was laid back in the pilot station, her long legs folded one over the other. Her white-blond hair was long--it went nearly to her knees--but now it was tied up in a winding sequence on the top and back of her head. She was wearing her emerald and black jumpsuit. Across from her sat Nepb, a Sullustan that had joined them just after the battle at Hoth and was an expert pilot and sensor technician. Danen sunk into the auxiliary station seat beside them and stared out the viewports at the streaks of blue and white light.
"Or you could just come up here and join us," Vreel said.
"Why don't one of you get some sleep? I'll be up now for a while," Danen said.
"Actually Nepb was just about to make us something to eat -- hungry?"
Nepb stood. [I brought some Kappa Numps along to mix with the MRE's.]
"Sounds delicious," Danen said wryly. Nepb chuckled and walked to the back cabin.
"You really ought to have slept more," Vreel said, taking her legs from the dash she stood and walked over to Dane, touching his face with her hands.
"I wanted to, but I can't stop thinking about what happened back on Contruum."
"You have to let it go, Danen. We have to expect that the money is going to dry up after Hoth."
"I know, but without Emorili's support we're going to be hard pressed unloading."
"Jessica is on her way to Tatooine."
Danen frowned. "Forgive me for not being enthused about crawling back to Jabba. I've had another idea."
"And?"
"What if we hit the depot at Ralltiir?"
"In a single shuttle?" Vreel teased.
"We can gather intel while we're on the surface. It isn't in our regular range of operations, but maybe Demon Base could commit some space forces. They're very well developed."
"It's not impossible. I suppose we might as well gather what information we can while we're on the surface."
"We need something high profile to show that we aren't retreating, just reorganizing. To show them that the Alliance is still committed, and far from defeat," Danen said.
"Well I suppose it's a start?"
UNIT SUMMARY
A/LSHU Sullust Star --[100%]--[HS]
ACTION SUMMARY
1. A/LSHU Sullust Star entered HS for <classified>.
