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aswe-fanfiction · 5 years

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4 - Blockade

Neera felt her heart pounding as she looked out the bridge window. They’d just pulled out of hyperspace and were slowly trying to make their way towards Ione’s surface. Before her were two massive Star Destroyers. They flew slowly towards each other, like the jaws of a Krayt Dragon, swallowing whatever came too close. The crackle of an incoming transmission brought her back.

“Simiyar Class Light Freighter, Identify yourself.” The harsh voice of an Imperial Officer sent a chill down Neera’s spine. Before she could reply, Darak stepped in.

“This is the Freighter Solar Fire, requesting access to Ione for repairs and resupply.”

“System of Origin.”

“Burnin Konn.”

“Purpose for departure.”

“We’re are returning from a delivery.”

“Standby for scan.” Neera shuddered. She knew it was all in her mind, but she felt as though the Imperial scanners could see right through her. The delay before any more transmissions came felt like hours, the seconds crept by and Neera felt her heart speeding up. Then the ship lurched. A voice came back over the comms.

“Craft Solar Fire, you are being brought aboard the Admonitor for further questioning. Do not resist.” Desperately, Neera looked at Darak. His face was ghostly white and his confidence gone. Neera felt her rapid heart sink as she watched in horror as the nearest Star Destroyer grew larger. She felt a hand on hers and looked to see Bok holding it.

“Be calm Neera, we’ll get through this. We always do.” He said grinning. As the Solar Fire was brought through the hangar doors, all that was running through Neera’s mind was what Darak had told them would be their story. Pirates had attacked them, crippled their ship and they needed parts to repair the ship. She hadn’t been told who hired them or who they delivered to as she was just a mechanic and backup pilot. It wasn’t a hard story, just the essentials. Easy.

The freighter shuddered as it landed in the Star Destroyer’s hangar bay. Neera looked at her team again. They all wore heavy sullen expressions now, betraying their own fears, but Neera saw how they all stood. Heads held high and waiting solemnly. She took a breath and looked towards the gangplank. The ship opened and she watched as Imperial Navy troopers came in with raised blasters.

“Move!” One said as he grabbed Darak by the arm and jerked him forward. The troopers grabbed each one of the rebels individually and began to offload them. Another team split off to check the crew quarters. As her arms were grabbed, Neera looked around desperately for her friends, but she’d already lost them amongst the greys and blacks of engineers, Tie fighter wings and Navy troopers. She closed her eyes. As she was dragged away, she silently prayed; May the force be with us.

Senior Agent Val Salem stepped out of her office into the polished hallway of the Admonitor’s administration deck. The Imperial career woman had just received word that a suspected Rebel craft had been quarantined after pulling out of hyperspace not 10 minutes prior. Salem was scrolling the profiles recorded of the crew and making notes to herself. 2 Humans, a Mirialan and a Mon Calamar. It was an odd crew, but not anything she hadn’t seen before from fringers. As she scrolled through them, she felt her commlink begin to buzz on her hip. The agent rolled her eyes as she pulled out the comm.

“Yes?” She asked of the comm.

“Pardon me, Ma’am.” The voice apologised. “But I believe that we may have a confirmed ID code for the ship.” Salem raised her eyebrows. She had always known that there are times when the Imperial Navy brought gifted individuals into positions of authority, but rarely were they more efficient than ISB computer technicians.

“I see. Can you transmit that data to me, Captain?” Salem asked. She already knew that Niriz would do what she wanted, but he had been most helpful so far, and no sense antagonizing someone useful.

“Of course, ma’am. Right away.” Niriz said. A moment later, Salem arrived at a terminal and patched her data pad into the ship's computer. The new data file arrived and Salem noted the ID tag. It seemed familiar to her. Quickly she pulled up her reports from other logged transport ships that had been recorded from the Rebel computers on Hoth. In the wake of the attack, General Veers had been gracious enough to salvage whatever data he could from the computers. Including several ships that had been labelled as out of commission. She cross referenced the ID and found a match. She smirked at the sight of the flashing ID. Now, all that remained was to determine who was the leader. 5 minutes later, she was striding down the detention center hall towards holding cell E44. The holding cell of one of the suspected rebels. Considered a threat to security. As she arrived at the cell door she sighed. Straightened her off-white cap and looked down the hall.

“Come along boy, we have to get this done.” She called back. As she did she heard the heavy foot falls of someone who realised they had fallen behind.

“Sorry, ma’am, Was reading the report notes.” The junior officer apologized frantically. “I won’t fall behind again.”

“See that you don’t.” Salem said curtly. “You will be taking lead on this interrogation. You must stay ahead of the suspect.”

“Yes, Ma’am. Of course.” The boy straightened into a salute. She dismissed it and looked back at the cell door.

“You have 20 minutes to get a confession.” She said, leaning towards the door panel. “Do not fail.” The Junior officer nodded and looked down at his datapad. As he did, Salem opened the door.

As the durasteel door slid open, Neera looked up. She felt as though her stomach would explode, letting loose an army of mynocks. Standing at the entrance were two imperial officers, one middle aged woman and a much younger man, who was about Neera’s age, perhaps a little older. This wasn’t good. She’d been separated from the others for the past… she’d lost track, an hour, maybe? As her thoughts raced, the older woman turned away and the younger officer stepped down into the holding cell.

As he entered, Neera saw the older officer utter something the younger one. She couldn’t quite make out all the words, but she thought she saw… confession?

Salem turned and hit the door panel as she stepped back. The heavy cell door closed and she walked over to a small view screen next to the cell. A waste of her time, she thought, but necessary. Junior officers had to gain experience somehow. At least these interviews were always simple and straightforward in their conclusion. The Rebels were arrested, any leaders were executed, the rest sent to labour camps on outer rim planets. All he had to do was not make a mess of this, she thought. Then she chuckled.

“Yes Junior Officer Cordé, Let’s see what you can do.”

Junior officer Ran Cordé looked at the young Mirialan in front of him. He’d been told that he’d be interviewing a non-human to make sure he knew how to conduct the empire’s work regardless of the subject. What he hadn’t been prepared for was her age. She couldn’t have been any older than him, he guessed. Then again, he thought, apparently this was the Modus Opparande of the Rebel Alliance. Apparently it was a teenager who had destroyed the Death Star. He composed himself then, looked down at the report on his datapad and then back up at the girl.

“I am Agent Cordé, please state your name for the record.” He looked at her expectantly.

“My name is Neera.” The girl replied. Ran waited, but she said nothing else.

“Full name please.” He insisted.

“That is my name.” She replied. Ran looked at her with an expression he hoped conveyed he wasn’t impressed.

“Very well, you are hereby suspected of being Rebel sympathizer. What were you doing in this sector?”

“We were on a return journey from Burnin Konn.”

“What was your business there?”

“We were making a delivery.”

“What were you delivering?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t check the cargo.”

“Who were you delivering to?”

“I don’t know, I’m just support crew for the ship.”

“Who else knew your flight plan?”

“What?” Ran looked up at her. He’d been entering her responses on his data pad as she’d said them, but the question made him look up. She looked confused and little more nervous.

“Your flight plan, did you register it with anyone? Or tell anyone where you were going?”

“Umm… no, we didn’t.” The girl stuttered. An opening.

“Why not? What if something had happened to you? Pirates or something worse.” He asked. “That seems like a foolish lack of foresight wouldn’t you say?”

“I wasn’t the one who made the plan!” The girl retorted. Ran could see she was getting agitated. He checked the data pad. Only 3 minutes in. He was getting better.

“Then perhaps you can tell me which of your crew did.” He said bluntly. “I need to know who can tell me answers girl. Who is the ship’s commander?”

“We don’t have one, we’re a collective.”

“That’s nonsense. A ship has a commander. Someone who knows what’s going on. Someone who knew the cargo, the client and the route.” He listed. “Who was it?” At this last question the girl paused. Ran stepped forward now. He towered over her in the cell and he could see her shrink at his approach.

“Who is the ship’s commander?”

“I am.” The girl breathed back. Ran froze. He looked down at his data pad. No, this couldn’t be. The other crew members had all confirmed differently. He looked back and cleared his throat.

“Don’t make me laugh.” He said, sneering. “You can’t possibly be. Now stop lying and tell me who the ship’s commander is at once.”

“I did.” The girl responded. “It’s me! I’m the commander of Solar Fire.” Ran stepped back slightly. The Mirialan was standing now. She was actually closer to him in height than he’d realized and she looked stronger. He tried to recompose himself.

“Well then, ‘Commander,’” He let the word drawl out, dripping with disbelief. “Perhaps you can enlighten me as to the nature of your crew’s visit to Burnin Konn and the reason the ship, for which you are responsible, is in such disrepair.”

“We were making a-”

“Yes yes, a delivery. I want specifics.” Ran was beginning to feel annoyed by this child. “What were you delivering? Where’s your ship manifest?”

“It was stolen when we were attacked.” The girl was now inching closer to Ran. She was almost chest to chest. “We were attacked by pirates as we were plotting our route to Denon. Our backup hyperdrive let us limp here.”

“Seems odd that you’d have made your jump despite a lack of primary hyperdrive wouldn’t you say?” Ran saw her take a step back. “The way I see it, you either came here in a very fortunate escape, or you’re Rebels using whatever pathetic excuses for a transport you had available from your hidey hole on Hoth.” Ran watched carefully to her response. He noted her shoulders slump slightly, the additional step back and the fall of her confidence in her eyes. “Tell me the truth.” Ran demanded. “Are you rebels?”

“No!” She screamed at him.

“You are! Don’t lie!”

“We’re not Rebels!”

“No, you are worse. You are Rebels and you are ashamed of it!” Ran felt his own confidence building. He had beaten her, and he could tell, she knew it too. But as he readied himself for the final blow, he heard the cell door slide open and Agent Salem step inside.

“That’s enough Cordé, time’s up.” She said as she stood by the open door. “The Rebel cell commander confessed. She’s to be sent to a labour camp.” Ran felt his mouth drop open.

“But Ma’am-” He started to protest.

“Dismissed, Cordé.” Salem gave him the darkest of looks as he realized what he was doing. Ran closed his mouth and straightened up.

“Yes Ma’am.” He saluted and stepped out into the hall. Shortly after, Agent Salem followed him.

“With all due respect, Ma’am.” Ran began. “Why did you interrupt? I had her ready to confess.”

“Your time was up, Cordé.” She said plainly. “I said 20 minutes. Your exchange ran over time and you didn’t get her to confess.”

“But how could that be?” He said protesting still. “I had…” he then checked his datapad. He noted the time. He had exceeded the time limit his superior had set. He swallowed.

“Is there a problem, Junior Officer Cordé?” Salem said looking at him. Ran felt his face flush and he turned away quickly to compose himself.

“No, Ma’am.”

“Have your report on my desk in 5 hours.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Ran didn’t look back until he heard his superior’s boots round the corner. He then dashed after her and mentally prepared his report. He hadn’t much time.

#star wars #fan fiction #original characters #AnStWaEn #fanfic

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