Re: Treason: A Rogue Squadron Tale

Admiral Rafe Telarna looked pale and tired out as he walked into the meeting room, where his clients were waiting already.   

Corran stopped pacing through the small windowless room. Forcing himself, he sat down next to his half-sister, whose behaviour was the opposite of his. Sam looked calm, controlled, her anger about the situation just a slight fire in her blue eyes as she waited for Telarna to speak. Her brother wasn’t that patient.

“You have the footage?” Corran asked without greeting, forgetting his manners.

Telarna sat down on a chair opposite theirs. A small smile appeared on his face as he put a datacard on the table between them.

“Sorry that I’m late, but I was in an endless meeting with your commanding officers, some politicians and the Force knows how many other important people.” The Admiral leant back, tapping with his index finger on the card. “This is explosive material. Sam, your droid recorded quite some evidence. It will cause the downfall of Tarsk Mal’fey and his shipping business empire.” Talerna took a deep breath. “And with him he’ll drag a lot of known names in the New Republic. If he is the Vigo of Black Sun, there will be a lot people he bribed.”

Sam frowned. “If..? He is. There is no doubt about it.” Corran could see, that Sam was almost about to lose her coolness.

“The Admiral knows that. As a lawyer he has to talk like that.” Corran placed a hand on her arm, showing an encouraging smile.  She glanced sidelong at his touch, but didn't resist.  Then he looked at Talerna. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

Rafe Talerna nodded. “Yes, the officers and the politicians were in complete agreement for once, that some subject tried to discredit you, and with that Rogue Squadron, to weaken the defence of the Republic. News arrived that Imperial troops took over Tatooine. So they decided that you are free to leave this place. No entry in your record, Captain. They also discuss a financial compensation for you, Sam, for your days spending here. But you know: The machinery of the law can be slow.”

Corran almost jumped up from his chair. “What are we waiting for?” The Admiral chuckled. “Well, I guess, first you should get rid of your friends.” He called in one of the guards, showing him a datapad with new orders. “The Ysalamiri aren’t needed anymore.”

As the animals were brought out of the room and range, Corran’s knee felt wobbly as the Force with all its power washed over him. Grabbing the table with one hand to stabilise himself, he took some deep breathes. Being able to use and control all of his senses again was overwhelming. Closing his eyes, he enjoyed the moment of being complete.

“You okay?” There was concern in Sam’s voice. Even when she tried to never show it, she cared for him. With a smile Corran opened his eyes again.

“Never felt better. Let’s go home. There is work to do.”

And somebody was waiting for him.

Nethiiel's Revelation

The afternoon light of Coruscant's sun fell slanted across the bare surface of the table. Jelt sat silently, only her fingers soaking up the scant warmth that penetrated the panoramic transparisteel window. Her hand rested unmoving, she hadn't shifted in her chair for more than half an hour. There was simply nothing for her to do here. Tyanni would have spent her days off shopping, or being seen at high society events, mingling with the beautiful and powerful and taking what little piece of fame that was her's by right. Jelt would have spent such idle moments going through information, sorting it into files, and prepping it for transmission to the Planet, or perhaps tinkering with the Graystar. That would have been her first priority now; poor ship hadn't had a day of decent maintenance since Dathomir. Instead she was stuck here, stewing. Blasted bureaucracy… A low tone sounded and she looked up quickly, stood and touched the keypad for the hall camera by the door. He was here, just when he said he would be. Dependable. A rare quality these days. She keyed the door open and Agent Hian Nethiiel stepped in. The door slid shut quickly behind him and another tone sounded, signaling that the apartment was free of any surveillance devices.

"Thank you for coming."

"You said it was urgent?"

"I need my ship to send a few transmissions."

He didn't ask how she planned to leave the building undetected, or how she intended to go about the city unnoticed. Another reason she liked him. Instead he simply nodded and motioned for her to lead the way. The personal landing platform solved the first problem. A stop in one of the busiest shopping districts to change clothes and vehicles solved the other. From there Nethiiel piloted the nondescript aircar to an industrial area four hours away. By the time they reached their destination the sun had fallen and the storage block beneath them lay shrouded in the gray light of dusk. Jelt jumped out of the aircar and looked around. There was nothing here to mark this part of the storage field as different from any other. Enormous containers stretched away in every direction, all unmarked, all covered in the layers of dust and debris that indicated they had been all but forgotten for years, stranded on this barren plain where the smallest of atmospheric adjusters kept the wind to a minimum. Far away on the horizon tall towers belched out smoke and other fumes that were quickly funneled out of the atmosphere.

Nethiiel dropped down into the maze and proceeded forward confidently, descending several levels and walking for about twenty minutes before coming to an area that appeared to be yet another storage pit covered with many years worth of dust. He then produced a small transmitter and Jelt watched closely as he pressed a sequence of buttons. Without a sound the dust began quivering slightly as the entire top section of the storage pit moved aside to reveal her ship hidden securely below. Nethiiel gestured toward a ladder with a flourish. She smiled.

"An excellent hiding spot. However did you find it?"

"It's one of Rancor's. Being in his position, he knows hundreds of these places."

"Very convenient."

"Quite. After you?"

The ship appeared to be in exactly the same condition as she had left it so many weeks ago. A quick update from the ship itself confirmed this and she wasted no more time in making her transmission. Hopefully this would end her stint as a member of Rogue squadron and free to her to do the things she really had an interest in, like restoring her ship to its former functionality. Nethiiel was standing watch at the bottom of the Graystar's boarding ramp, she had resumed her mask and traditional black jumpsuit. All was ready. The transmission went through quickly and to her satisfaction he was available. She was lucky to catch him so; she had been prepared to wait here several hours or even an entire day.

Sythis' face appeared on the screen before her, appearing a bit distracted. Her calm mood elevated to slight annoyance at that, then only grew at his brusque greeting.

"What?"

"Have you heard the news of the release of Corran Antilles and his associates?"

That got the Sith's attention. And an immediate display of displeasure. "Of course. I do hope you are not suggesting that you had something to do with it."

"Of course not. That would be the incompetence of your would-be ally Mal'fey. I merely wish to discuss my compensation."

"Ceveir is still at large and you think it is time I pay you?"

Jelt let an edge creep into her voice. "He was sitting very conveniently in a cell for a good long while, and you failed to take advantage of that, or give me any orders. Upon his release I see no point in returning him to a similar state as current events would most likely only repeat themselves. I have fulfilled the points of our arrangement, I wished to be paid."

Sythis' gaze now turned cold. "Your employment is not yet terminated. I have several more tasks for you."

"My effectiveness is currently limited by my man inside Rogue Squadron. He is only my man as long as he gets paid, and he is growing impatient for that," she growled. "Furthermore, I have other, more lucrative business to attend to. I get paid now, and then I no longer work for you."

"Your mistake–"

"No. I'm through, Sythis." She ended the signal before he could respond, then sat back in the pilot's chair and frowned at the blank screen. After a long moment she stood and joined Nethiiel at the base of the ramp.

"How did it go?"

"Not well. I doubt I'll get paid."

The agent frowned, but before he could reply the ground several feet behind them spat dust in response to a cracking sound. Both of them immediately dove for the shelter of the ship as another invisible bolt of energy hit the ground where they had been standing.

"I was sure we weren't followed," hissed Nethiiel. Jelt ignored him for the moment and peered out at the marks on the duracrete, then opened herself to the Force for the first time in weeks. The rush was instant, the gratification enormous. Her sight seemed to double as she took in all of the new information available to her. There were only three humans in this vicinity: herself, Nethiiel, and whoever else was out there. She isolated him quickly, feeling the cold focus of his mind and the weight of the rifle in his hands. This would be child's play now.

"I'm going up. You draw his fire once more." Nethiiel nodded and she headed for the dorsal hatch, grabbing her own rifle on the way. The hatch slid open and she slid out on her stomach, trusting in the blackness of night to hide her silhouette. The Force guided the tip of her weapon and she signaled Nethiiel with a click of her comm. There was slight movement below at the foot of the ramp and another shot lanced out toward the ship. Thanks to her eyepiece and her watchfulness she could see it this time. And there was the target… Two shots, neither fatal. One destroyed the firing mechanism of his rifle and burned his hands badly. The other took him in the knee. She wasted no time with the hatch but instead jumped lightly to the ground.

"Come on."

They found the sniper limping hurriedly away from his nest several storage blocks up. Nethiiel leveled him with a blow to the back and easily slapped aside the pistol he tried to bring to bear. The man gasped, all calm gone and eyes wide with fear. Jelt brought her own rifle up to cover him and snapped a question.

"Which of us were you aiming for?"

He only stared, eyes wide. Nethiiel shoved his pistol against the man's unwounded knee as she repeated the question. He gasped hoarsely and looked at her as he answered, "You."

"Who hired you?"

"He'll kill me–"

"You're dead anyway."

"No–" He broke off in a strangled gasp as she forced her way into his thoughts and dragged the answer from his mind. It wasn't difficult, it was practically screaming at her, and at this point all she was looking for was confirmation.

"Sythis. I suspected as much."

Nethiiel glanced at her. "You're a loose end, it seems."

"And this was as good as he could do on short notice." She drilled the sniper with another stare. "Did you follow us?"

"No…ship…"

"Seems it's not as great a hiding spot as you and Rancor thought."

The agent's eyes narrowed. "I'll have it moved immediately."

She shifted the rifle slightly and shot the whimpering man through the head. Nethiiel stood as the body went limp and turned to find the rifle now aimed in his direction. The pistol went spinning off into the darkness as the blaster at his hip flew into Jelt's hand. "Not immediately, Nethiiel. First, you'll explain some things." She kicked the body of the sniper.

"Rancor's security is apparently lacking in some way. He probably told the wrong person." The man's voice was surprisingly calm. Jelt lowered hers to a growl and held up the blaster. "And this?" The weapon was identical to the one she sometimes carried, the one that fired nothing at all but who's sole purpose was to hide her lightsaber. And by its weight, this one held a lightsaber as well.

Nethiiel sighed. "There are some things it is time you were aware of. But I'd prefer we speak in the security of your ship. You wouldn't happen to have any yezzer on you would you?"

"Now where would I have gotten something like that?"

"Comes standard to you Fringers, I hear."

Jelt glared at him for one more moment before slinging the rifle over her shoulder, holstering the pistol, and extracting a small vial from the pouch on her belt. She turned this over the body below them and a few moments later nothing remained but a sticky spot on the duracrete. Despite his suggestion, Nethiiel looked rather sick.

"Horrible stuff."

"I agree. Get moving."


"Now, explain." Jelt held up the lightsaber she had retrieved from inside the blaster. "This cannot be yours. I've seen your file, and you're not Force-sensitive. Where did you get this?"

"Falcon gave it to me, just before he died."

"Falcon? The agent assigned to Freighter Base before me?"

"Yes, you took over his assignment. Are you aware of the circumstances of his death?"

She shook her head.

"Let me put it this way, Jelt. Right now you have more than the Sith out for your blood. Those closer will be coming after you as well."

Her eyes narrowed. "Who would that be?"

"The Planet."

"Not likely." Never, had she ever heard of the Planet turning on an agent. There was simply no reason to.

"Think about it. You have been missing from your assigned sector for months now. You have transmitted no information. They know you are somewhere near Coruscant, meddling in things clearly outside your Assignment. This combined with your history…they think you've gone rogue."

"How would you know this?"

"A kill-on-sight order just came through this morning."

She went cold. "Ridiculous."

He stayed silent, allowing her to think. "If this is true," she said eventually, "why didn't you shoot me then?"

"Because I didn't see you. I saw Tyanni Ventyra."

She smirked slightly. "Don't play with me. You said because of my history. What history?"

"Your connection to Dalve Karlike."

"What?"

"Perhaps I ought to start at the beginning."

"Do."

He took a deep breath. "There is a very small faction of agents who believe that the Planet is, well, a dead end venture. At the rate they're going, they'll be no help at all when and if this "extra-galactic invasion" ever occurs. Their isolationist policy does no one any good. Our faction is prepared to expose the Planet and all of its agents whenever it is deemed necessary."

"Such as the aforementioned invasion."

"Yes. The Planet has been attempting to discover our identities and eliminate us for quite some time now. Thus far they have killed two."

"You're saying our own people had Falcon murdered."

"Yes."

"And the other?"

"Karlike."

"What? No, that's impossible. He was the most loyal. It was a pirate attack…"

"Think, Jelt. As intelligent as Karlike was, it was inevitable that he should see the shortcomings of the Planet. And when else did one of our stealth cruiser's missions fail so spectacularly? The pirates were given the coordinates. You were supposed to die in that attack as well, by the way. But you did well in their eyes, destroying the pirates, the only witnesses to the hit."

"What about the survivors of the Aetherfox?"

"There were none."

"But we jettisoned the bridge. I was told they were found safely…"

"They were destroyed as well by the backup stealth cruiser posted there. Jelt, you need to understand that your position now is very fragile. It would be best if you joined us."

She looked at him sharply. "Remind me again why I believe any of this?"

He nodded at her hands. "Did Karlike give you a ring?"

Her left fist closed involuntarily. "Yes."

"Give it a listen. He said he'd left a message for you there, in case anything happened."

She sat for a long moment in silence. "How many are you?"

"With you, four."

"So few."

"As I said, we've taken losses."

"Is Rancor one of you?"

"Yes."

She thought a moment longer. "So I have a death sentence on my head. Two, in fact. What would you have me do?"

"Stay alive. You'd be useful. If you have a way of moving your base, I would. Other than that, stay hidden."

"Where?"

"In plain sight. Remain in Rogue Squadron a little longer."

"What?!"

"The only other person who knows that you and Tyanni Ventyra are one and the same is me. Right now, she is your safest place."

"That identity wasn't meant to hold forever. Eventually it'll break."

"It's your best option."

"But not my only option."

"I admit, you are adept at disappearing. But right now your ship is running on fumes and crash tape, and your base may be compromised."

She moved to stand up. "That, at least, I can take care of."

"How?"

"I've made friends outside the Planet's Agents, Nethiiel."

He put a hand out to stay her movement toward the cockpit. "Where's the ring?"

She hesitated. "Transmission first, then I'll get it." Once her base was out of harm's way, she would feel free to take other steps. The conversation she had was short, and as she left the cockpit she felt a great sinking deep inside. Her life was sliding dangerously towards the edge of the cliff, and there were now two men holding the slender ropes that she clung to. Three, if she counted Rancor. If they kept their words, all would be well, but she was so unaccustomed to trusting anyone that this was enough to disorient her. She shook her head to clear it and focused on a good memory, Dalve, to help stabilize her thoughts. She brought the ring back to Nethiiel in the common room of the ship and sat down across the small table from him, the look on her face a clear request for instructions.

"There's a bit in the middle there that spins."

"Yes, I know."

"Put it on and spin it all the way around three times, you'll hear it click. Then press that spot where all the etching comes together."

She did so and felt a sudden pain in her finger. With a hiss she removed the ring and set it on the table, then pressed a fingertip to the small spot of blood that welled up. "DNA sampler."

"He wanted to make sure you were the one to receive the message."

She nodded and eyed the ring on the table, unsure whether or not she had just seen it flicker. Then, as she watched, there was a sudden spark of light and a hologram sprung from the circle, immediately coalescing into a human form. She recognized him immediately and Nethiiel and the Graystar vanished from her field of vision. But this Dalve seemed different. The wavering lines were not the best for seeing emotion, but his face was drawn tighter than she ever remembered, and when he spoke, his voice gave him away completely.

"I am hoping that you never, ever have to watch this, but if you are, what's done is done."

She leaned forward, eyes unblinking. The words seemed to fly by and she struggled to focus on them as the years seemed to melt away and she found herself back on the Aetherfox, on that horrible day…

"There are things you must know. I'm sorry I haven't told you, but you have enough trouble in your life without this. By the time you see this I suppose you will have been dragged into trouble one way or another. If so, there are four people you can trust." His voice grew harder. "Keep this secret. They are called Risp, Katarn, Rancor, and Falcon. We believe in coming back from the Unknown Regions, in allying ourselves with those who can actually make a difference. We also believe that danger is inevitable with such a place as the Planet, isolated and completely under the control of a select few who think to use the Force as a tool, with no regard to its innate moral nature. One, or more of them, is bound to go dark, and if that happens…well I don't need to tell you. We are branded traitors for this. It is not a fate I wished for you. But treason in some eyes is only loyalty shifted in others. We are loyal to the People still."

The hologram-Dalve took a deep breath. "However you came to see this message, I want you to know that I trust you with the future I was attempting to create for us, and for all our people. Many of us were stolen from our families. Many are stuck out there, unable to come search for them. But whatever happens, whatever you choose to do with this information, and whatever you choose to believe, I want you to be certain of one thing at least, that I love you. I love you, Jelt. You cannot even imagine how much."

The hologram flickered and vanished. Jelt reached out slowly and took the ring in hand as Nethiiel watched her carefully. She glanced up and looked him in the eye.

"Because I trusted him, I will trust you." She stood. "Now I have to get back. Be sure you hide this ship somewhere a little better."

"Jelt."

She turned. Nethiiel tapped his cheekbone and she reached up to feel the metal mask still on her face. She nodded shortly and pressed the release. A popping sound accompanied the retraction of the small staples that had imbedded themselves in her skin and when she lowered the skull piece it left a bright red line down her face. She carefully wiped the traces of blood off the edges and returned it to its case in her cabin, then traced the line of broken skin with a special creme that came from a small tube. By the time she walked down the boarding ramp all traces of the wound had nearly disappeared.

The four hour flight back to the shopping district was spent in a haze. Loyalties shifting, he had said. She was branded for treason now by the Planet and the Sith. But treason was only loyalty moving in a new direction. Nethiiel was right. Rogue squadron was the safest place for her right now, though the Ventyra persona would only last so long, even with a cessation of her sabotage and spying. But such thoughts had no place now. Now her mind had to go back to the heiress, to her great charade. Now, she thought, everything begins anew. Deep inside her, Tyanni seemed to smile. And, with a visible shudder, Jelt let her.