Star Wars - Constant Spirit Read online

  “We really must leave, Your Highness.” The dance music being played by the distractingly attractive Zeltron band in the cantina nearly drowned out Gorhan’s words, but even if Leia hadn’t been able to hear him, the solemn expression on his tanned and weathered face would have gotten the message across.

  The young Senator Organa checked the time yet again, the gnawing feeling in her stomach worsening. “Rafe Ballon is one of our most reliable agents.” And a friend of Father’s, she added silently. Not that it could afford him special treatment. “If he isn’t here, it has to mean something happened to him. Can’t we give him a few more minutes?”

  Gorhan appeared uncomfortable about his answer, but resolute nonetheless. His determination to give her bad news even when he knew she wouldn’t like it was one reason she kept him around. That and the fact that he was practically the size of a Wookiee. “I’m afraid not, Princess,” he said. “We’ve already stayed too long. If anyone were to find you here…”

  “I know, I know.” Leia shook her head. She wasn’t supposed to be in this sector at all; her ship’s official flightplan listed only a diplomatic visit to Duro, keeping this side trip to the nearby planet Quellor a secret. They had landed here under false names with a forged manifest. She was still new to solo missions, and the plan was to be planetside just long enough to rendezvous with Rafe and retrieve the tactical information he had for her. Anything longer than that was dangerous, especially for a still-inexperienced operative. Gorhan was right.

  But that didn’t mean she had to like it.

  “Fine,” she said, trying not to sound like a sulky teenager — even if she was one. She pulled the hood attached to her pale blue gown back up over her head. “Let’s go.”

  They left the cantina and made their way through the twisting streets of Quellor City in the direction of the spaceport, an alert Gorhan leading the way, looking from side to side with small, precise movements that contrasted with his hulking build. It was minutes past dusk, the dark of night just beginning to settle on the city’s ornately spired buildings, and the temperate air smelled sweetly of the katella flowers that were famous in this region. Despite the Imperial presence that hung over the place like an oppressive fog, it was a lovely setting, and for a moment Leia wished she could simply appreciate her surroundings.

  But only for a moment. She wasn’t one for wishes.

  Her senses twinged and she whirled around just as a hand reached out and grabbed her upper arm. Gorhan’s blaster was already in the other man’s face when they both realized it was Rafe, huddled in the doorway of what appeared to be a residential building, the collar of his jacket pulled up to hide his features as much as possible.

  Gorhan muttered a curse and lowered his sidearm.

  “Rafe!” Leia said. “What —”

  “Princess.” Rafe’s gray eyes darted from side to side; the short, slim man was as nervous as Leia had ever seen him. “Moff Toggan is onto me. Somehow he found out that I’m the one who’s been slicing into his systems.” He held out a datacube in a shaking palm. “Everything I’ve collected to date is on here. Troop movement schedules, security protocols, everything you need from this sector. Take it and go.”

  “But what about you?” Leia protested. “If they catch you, they’ll kill you.” Or worse, she thought queasily.

  “I’m already dead.” Rafe said it with a shrug, but Leia could see that his effort at nonchalance was failing. “Leia,” he said more seriously, and she had a sudden flashback to him discussing strategy in her father’s study, his expression increasingly somber with each new glass of brandy. “I’ve always known this was a possibility. Take the cube and don’t worry about me.”

  Leia’s mind reeled, refusing to accept what he was saying. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re coming with us.”

  “Your Highness —” both Rafe and Gorhan began at once. Gorhan glared at the small, wiry Rafe, who subsided. “We can’t take him onboard,” Gorhan continued. “If they know he’s with the Rebellion, and he gets connected to you… It’s too much of a risk.”

  Leia knew, at least intellectually, that her escort was right again. But she couldn’t bring herself to agree this time, while Rafe looked at her with death in his eyes. “I know all about the risks,” she said, summoning her best tone of royal command. “My entire life is a risk. And I’m not going to let anyone die who I doesn’t need to.” She looked at her father’s friend reassuringly and repeated, “You’re coming with us.”

  Out of the corner of her eye she could see Gorhan shaking his head; she ignored him, keeping her gaze on Rafe.

  The spy swallowed hard, then sighed. “Thank you,” he whispered. “But if there’s even a hint this is going to go wrong…”

  “How about we quit talking about it and move,” she said. The three rebels took off in the direction of the Constant Spirit, none of them noticing the smell of katella blossoms or the stars beginning to appear in the night sky.

  Despite the collective nervousness of everyone onboard, the Constant Spirit left Quellor’s airspace without difficulty. Seated in the cockpit of the compact light freighter with her pilot and navigator, Leia allowed herself a glimmer of hope that they would leave the planet as unobtrusively as they had arrived.

  But shortly after they left atmo behind for the vacuum of space, emergency klaxons started blaring. Should have known we wouldn’t get off so easy, Leia thought.

  “A single Imperial Customs corvette approaching,” reported the pilot, Minna. “They’re hailing us.”

  At least the Moff hadn’t had time to send more ships after them. Yet. “Let’s hear what they have to say,” Leia said.

  Minna nodded, and a moment later a clipped male voice filled the cabin. “Attention Constant Spirit, this is Captain Task aboard the Gatekeeper. You are transporting a known spy. Surrender him at once and we will spare your vessel.”

  Right. She was young, but she wasn’t stupid. “I’m afraid we don’t know what you’re talking about, Captain,” Leia said, keeping her voice as even as possible. Her heart pounded in her chest. “We’re shimmersilk merchants who were delivering a shipment to a loyal client in the capital.”

  “Whoever you are, you’re in league with the Rebellion,” Task said. Leia felt a pang of relief that he at least didn’t know her identity. Their aliases must have held up under inspection. “Turn over Rafe Ballon or we will fire on your ship. I will give you one minute to respond.” The communication ended.

  Rafe appeared in the opening to the cockpit. “Let me turn myself in,” he said. “You can’t allow one person to jeopardize the mission — not to mention the danger this puts you in.”

  “Minna, begin evasive maneuvers,” Leia said, not looking back at him. “Youk, how soon until we can jump to lightspeed?”

  The Mon Calamari navigator consulted his screen. “Six minutes, Your Highness.”

  That was at least five minutes longer than she’d like. “Gorhan?” she said into the comm.

  “Already in place, Princess.”

  Good. The Constant Spirit only had one gun, the better to make it appear a peaceful merchant vessel, but Gorhan would make the best of it. “Fire at will. And everybody hold on.”

  “I never should have come onboard,” Rafe said. He slammed his palm against a bulkhead in frustration.

  “You might want to sit down,” Leia told him. No sooner were the words out of her mouth than her stomach lurched as the ship went into a steep climb. Rafe stumbled and put his hands out to keep from slamming head-first into the cockpit’s opposing bulkhead.

  “Like I was saying…” Leia murmured. The ship rocked again, this time from a laser blast, snapping her head back. Rafe threw himself into the chair beside her
and strapped himself in.

  “How are we doing?” Leia asked Minna.

  “Hanging in for the moment, but I don’t know how long our deflector shields are going to hold up under their attack.” As if on cue, the ship shuddered ominously. Minna blew a black curl of hair out of her face as she checked her console. “Just what I was afraid of: shields are fading fast,” she said grimly. “Down fifty percent already.”

  “Gorhan?” Leia asked.

  “Doing what I can,” he responded. “Their shields seem to be holding better than expected.”

  “Naturally,” Leia said under her breath. “Youk, how are those calculations going?”

  “It’ll still be a few more minutes, Your High—” He ended with a yelp as another blast rocked the ship. “My apologies.”

  “It’s all right, Youk,” Leia said, trying to sound calm. “I know you’re doing what you can.” Despite her tone, her mind was racing. If this mission failed, it would reflect badly not only on her, but on her father. She was determined not to let that happen.

  Then again, if she wound up dead, it probably wouldn’t matter much to her either way.

  “Just got in a good hit!” Gorhan shouted. “We’ll have them on the run yet!”

  Leia grimaced. They must really be in trouble if Gorhan was pretending to be optimistic.

  With the next impact against the hull, Minna spat a curse. “Shields are gone,” she barked. “I’m doing what I can, but if something good doesn’t happen fast…” The ship banked hard again as the pilot tried her best to continue to evade the larger craft.

  Leia looked over at Rafe to solicit his advice, but the man was breathing loud and fast, almost as if he were having a panic attack. He looked back at her, and his gray eyes revealed his agony. “I can’t do this anymore,” he said.

  He pulled off his safety harness and ran out of the cockpit.

  “Where are you going? Rafe!” Leia considered going after him, but the ship shuddered again and she stayed put. She’d have to deal with him later.

  Another hit, and alarms started blaring. “That last blast took out the hyperdrive,” Youk said in dismay. “And disabled the alluvial dampers.”

  A pit opened in Leia’s stomach. “I think we’re in trouble.” She bit her lip, wondering what her father would do in this situation. Not get himself into it in the first place, most likely. “For now just keep trying your best to outfly them, Minna. And Gorhan, keep barraging them with gunfire.” And I’ll try to come up with something brilliant.

  “Guess now we find out if my best is good enough,” Minna said. She was gripping the yoke so tightly that the brown skin on her knuckles was turning white. Leia reached over to squeeze the other woman’s shoulder.

  “Senator, something’s happening… We’ve lost our escape pod,” Minna said in confusion. “It just launched by itself. Youk, check to see if it’s a malfunction.”

  The Mon Calamari pressed a few keys. “It doesn’t appear to be, no.”

  “Rafe,” Leia said with a gasp. “It has to be. But what is he doing? Turning himself in?”

  A moment later, the pod came into view, headed directly for the Imperial ship — more specifically, the Gatekeeper’s bridge — and as they waited, the pod made no indication of changing course.

  “I don’t believe it. He’s going to ram them,” Minna said breathlessly.

  “Can you open up a comm channel to the pod?” Leia asked.

  “I’m trying, but he isn’t responding,” Youk informed her.

  Leia moaned. How would she ever explain this to her father?

  “It’s as crazy a plan as I’ve ever seen, but if it works, he just might save our skins,” she heard Gorhan say.

  Everyone in the cockpit seemed to be holding their breath as they watched the pod make its way toward the larger ship. The Gatekeeper, presumably intent on finishing off its more important quarry, didn’t take action against the pod until it was too late. The ship began to turn and fired its main gun, but both last-ditch efforts failed. Rafe’s pod found its target well enough, ramming into the bridge in a spectacular conflagration.

  A death bier, Leia thought.

  Completely disabled, the Gatekeeper listed to one side aimlessly, looking almost pitiful as it floated in space like a ghost ship. But there was only one lost soul for which Leia grieved.

  Gorhan appeared in the cockpit opening, his bulk blocking out all light behind him. “Whoever’s left onboard is going to have bigger problems than us to deal with now. We owe Rafe a debt.”

  “Yes,” Leia said, her voice rough. She closed her eyes, willing herself not to cry. She couldn’t let her crew see her that way, like a lost little girl.

  After a long moment, Minna cleared her throat. “What are your orders, Senator?”

  “Take us to the closest non-occupied planet,” Leia said wearily. “We’ll arrange for either repairs or transport.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  The crew of the Constant Spirit was quiet for the remainder of the trip.

  Leia told her father about it when she returned to Alderaan, wanting to deliver the news in person. She sat in his plush, expansive office, where she had spent so many hours while she was growing up, and haltingly explained what had happened. She expected Bail Organa to be angry, or frustrated, but instead he was just sad.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, not for the first time since she’d sat down. “I can’t help but feel that this is my fault.”

  “Rafe knew the risks of his mission,” her father said. He stood in front of the picture window, his back to her as he stared out at rolling green hills and a bright blue lake that twinkled in the sunlight. “He was prepared to die for the Alliance, and he did. As a hero. There are worse ways for a man to die.”

  “But he didn’t have to,” Leia said stubbornly, wincing at how young she sounded even to her own ears.

  “He didn’t?” He turned to look at her. “What could have gone differently?” he asked, more gently than she expected. “What would have saved both the intelligence we needed and the rest of your crew?”

  “I don’t know,” she said, bowing her head. “But there must have been something. I didn’t think fast enough…”

  “You can’t save everyone, Leia,” Bail said. He sat down next to her on the couch and took her hand in his. “Your feelings do you credit, but war requires sacrifice. A sacrifice we all must be willing to make.” He squeezed her hand. “You can’t save everyone,” he repeated.

  She squeezed back, glad he was there, taking comfort in the familiar warmth of his skin. But his words nagged at her. “Maybe I can’t always save everyone,” she conceded. “That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try.” She raised her chin defiantly.

  His dark eyes showed his doubts, but he smiled at her anyway. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t,” he said.

  They sat together until a servant called them to dinner, heralding the end of another day. There was always tomorrow.

  EXPANDED UNIVERSE

  Follow Jennifer Heddle on twitter @jenheddle

  Have a look at Magali’s art at

  http://magali-villeneuve.blogspot.co.uk

  And don’t miss Empire and Rebellion: Razor’s Edge by Martha Wells — in stores now!

  From

  Insider 145

  (11-12-2013)

  11.6.18.15.14.5-1

 

 

  Jennifer Heddle, Star Wars - Constant Spirit

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