4(This story is set just before ROTJ)
Many tales surround the life of the Trianii trader, Ganfar Sarris. This is one of his many tales. At this time, Ganfar was a middle-aged Trianii, which in Trianii terms is about 60 standard years old.
Whilst travelling one of the more unusual trade routes, through the Outer Rim of the galaxy, Ganfar's thoughts were of home - a place now weeks of travel behind him on Trianii within the Corporate sector.
At this stage the journey, cargo was running low but from the modest profit he made at the last port, he was certain to get new cargo of quality from his next destination. Looking for some adventure during this run, he decided to forget about the routine delivery to Sullust since this has never proven to be a profitable destination in the past.
His aging light freighter, was a YT-1000 a model of freighter which was rather rare and antique, as far as this class of freighter was concerned. His ship, Old Battler had been a faithful companion and despite the need for a new freighter with a larger capacity for cargo, Ganfar was happy with the way things were falling into place so far. For all its practical faults, Ganfar had grown to love the Old Battler and deep down inside, he knew he would never part with it.
Turning towards the hyperspace beacon (a reliable point of navigation), he flicked his way around the charts to find a place to visit next. Tatooine might be worth looking at for a change, considering that it was just within the range of Old Battler's capacities. Having set the coordinates and jumped into hyperspace, Ganfar decided to work on that old, run down droid he had kicking around in the Cargo Bay. The droid was a green R1-Z3 tri-legged maintenance droid. He was happy with his progress of his repairs as the droid's motivators were not likely to last a day (if luck was with him) and that had been two days ago. Fortune seemed to be on his side. The voyage was going to take him a few days anyway.
On the third day of hyperspace, he had just about given up on repairing the optical circuits of the droid when the alarm went off to alert him that the jump was nearing completion. Going through the standard drop from hyperspace, he found that he was still a long distance from Tatooine. A quick glance of the scanners showed an Interdictor class of cruiser off the starboard side, at a medium distance. It seems strange that the Empire would bother to patrol a little used trade route like this one. Turning his attention to the scanners, he could see smaller ships surrounding the cruiser. The scanner showed an array TIE Fighters, shuttles, and transports, all formed in a circular fashion away from the cruiser.
The TIEs' were performing some highly impressive manoeuvres. The agility of the fighters was incredible, as was their speed. Ganfar quickly attempted to get an identification of these "wonder" TIEs. He discovered that his records did not recognise this new configuration, so Ganfar set the scanners to record and proceeded quietly away from the area.
Unfortunately, his intrusion did not go unnoticed, as one of the officers on board the cruiser noticed the new blip on his scanner. He quickly called this new arrival to the attention of the captain.
"Sir, a freighter has just dropped from hyperspace in sector 3,1,8."
"Dispatch a transport to capture it." the Captain ordered. He went over to Admiral Harkov to report this news.
"Admiral, an unidentified freighter has just dropped from hyperspace. I have dispatched a transport to capture it."
"Good, send two Defenders with it. It will be a good test of their capabilities against a free target." replied the Admiral.
Ganfar quickly turned his ship back on course for Tatooine as he attempted to jump back into hyperspace, the hyperspace safety alarm went off, he was still too close to the Interdictor Cruiser. He glanced at the scanners and noticed that there was two of the 'wonder' TIE's gaining faster than anticipated and he still had some distance to travel before he was out of the range of the Interdiction field. He boosted the power to the maximum allowable speed, but kept enough in reserve to charge the shields should they fall. The strength of the shields wasn't that great but they should keep him safe until he makes the jump.
Suddenly the comlink burst into life.
"Stand down! and prepare to be boarded," The voice ordered. "By the Emperor's will, comply or we will fire on you."
Noticing that there was a troop transport central to the formation of TIE's he realised he had definitely stumbled onto a major undercover operation. He tried once again to make the jump to hyperspace and this time he succeeded just as the TIE's opened fire on the old freighter. As the star lines surrounded the star lines surrounded the ship he knew he was safe, for now.
Relieved to have made the escape from the TIEs Ganfar slumped into his seat and slept.
Back at the Imperial Interdiction Cruiser all was not well for the captain in charge of testing the new TIEs, if any knowledge got to the Rebels' about their secret, his service career would come to an abrupt end. From the darkness came a glimmer of hope, they had at least recorded the heading of the freighter before it jumped, from these the only planet on that heading was Tatooine.
Admiral Harkov who had taken charge of the Cruiser alerted the Prefect on Tatooine to be on the lookout for the old freighter and to detain the occupants. Harkov also dispatched a transport to Tatooine to pick-up the fugitives from the hands of the Prefect, with instructions to find the freighter and return with it so that the sensor logs can be erased and scoured for any additional copies. Also on board was a team of officers to intensely review the Prefect's command if the Prefect failed to capture the occupants.
His sleep was brief as the alarm sounded off again, not being sure of what to expect, he powered up his shields the second he fell into normal space. Thankfully he was coming into orbit of Tatooine, the bright yellow planet was engulfing a third of his cockpit with the dual suns behind him adding to the glare. A customs ship was orbiting the desert planet. To Ganfar's fortune it was presently on the other side of Tatooine dealing with a fire fight between two smaller craft. Upon receiving clearance to land in Mos Eisley at Docking Bay 87, he commenced landing procedures as instructed, however the tone of the officer's voice put Ganfar on edge. He was sure that something was wrong.
Ganfar followed the docking instructions to the letter and landed without incident. After the shutdown procedures were complete, he went to the cargo hold to gather up the remaining parts of the droid onto a small trolley, and proceeded to lock up Old Battler .
When he had finished he went and saw the docking bay's owner to organise payment and some restocking of foodstuffs. After organising the necessities Ganfar asked Drie (the owner).
"Where is the best place in town to sell information ?" asked Ganfar
"The Cantina would be the best place in Mos Eisley, but you should be careful." replied Drie
"How about a good droid repair shop ?"
"You could try the Jawa Traders lot but they mainly sell, or Frack's Repairs, it's a small shop east of the crash site."
"Which is better ?"
"Frack's is much better but she does few repairs for people off the street, but well worth a try."
With that helpful information Ganfar left with his semi-operational droid for Frack's Repairs. Ganfar's journey across town with the semi-assembled droid seemed to draw the Jawa's in from every direction wanting to remove R1-Z3 from his possession. Ganfar was fortunate that Carissa the owner of Frack's was having a slow day and was able to fit R1-Z3 into today's repairs. Ganfar was informed that it would take a day to complete the final repairs, so Ganfar went to the Cantina to relax and to seek out anyone who would be interested in his new find. Obviously the Prefect didn't take Admiral Harkov's order's seriously, or took it as trying to muscle in on his command, as Ganfar proceeded without intervention by the local troops.
He sat alone in one of the booths in the Cantina drinking a local ale, not an ale worth what he paid for, but at least it soothed his thirst. The Cantina was rather empty for this time of day, which was coming onto lunch (local time), yet there was enough locals and regulars in the joint to create some kind of atmosphere.
An hour passed before some Stormtroopers entered, looking for some bounty hunter named Skoll who was apparently involved in the fire-fight earlier that day. News had it that some important person survived the attack and gave evidence that pointed in the bounty hunter's direction as being the culprit.
Upon the departure of the troops, Ganfar ordered a shot of Corellian Gin to once again soothe his nerves. Wuher (the bar man) noticed the reaction of Ganfar towards the Stormtroopers, and asked.
"Are you in some Imperial trouble ?"
"I stumbled onto something, I believe important enough to impair my lifespan." was the reply. "Do you know anyone in the information business ?" he blurted out before he could stop.
"There's a few I know," replied Wuher "Is there any target for the information in mind ?"
"There is..." Ganfar said glancing around to see if anyone was listening in "the Rebellion." He finally whispered
"Oh." Was the reply as Wuher went to serve a customer.
The bar started to fill as the locals came in from the hot desert sun. Ganfar stayed until Wuher returned.
"Come back before closing tonight."
With that Ganfar left and returned to Docking Bay 87, and the Old Battler to do some much needed repairs to the aging communications dish and the shields' power regulators. Whilst he was working on the Communications dish in the centre of the upper hull, Ganfar noticed that there was a visitor entering the hanger. A tall Ithorian strode in with all the intense and purpose of a Grand Admiral.
"Afternoon." called out Ganfar across the hanger "anything I can help you with ?"
"Possibly, can we speak inside ?" replied the Ithorian
"Wait there, I'll be down in a second."
With that Ganfar disappeared inside the ship, only to appear at the loading ramp with a blaster rifle at his side.
"You won't be needing that, I don't believe in violence, as you know." said the Ithorian
Recognition struck Ganfar like a Proton Torpedo
"Momaw,? Momaw Nadon ?" said Ganfar, as the Ithorian nodded slightly, "It's been too long, come on in."
With that they went into the Old Battler and sealed the door. Ganfar lead the way to the small lounge, and they both sat down.
"Word is out that you have some information to sell," Started Momaw, "Be careful, the Cantina is not a safe place to exchange knowledge, but to reveal the buyer as you did you should be even more wary."
"How did you know about this ?" asked Ganfar
"The whole town has ears, some good, most bad. A suggestion is for you to leave town soon, before trouble finds you." was the reply "but I have a favour to ask of you,"
"I'll do my best ..." Ganfar began before being cut off.
"I need transportation off world, can you take me ?"
"Sure, as soon as I pick up my droid from the mechanics' we can leave." looking at his timepiece, "I should be picking it up in an hour, does that give you enough time ?"
"I'd prefer sooner." replied Momaw
"Well, I'll go and see if it is ready now, do you want to wait here, or come with me ?"
"I'll wait here, if you don't mind. I think it would be safer."
With that, Ganfar left to pick up the droid. Momaw had already been to Frack's' (he was well informed), knowing that the droid would not be ready for another 2 hours, he called Dom Atyll at Docking Bay 92, the best starship mechanic in Mos Eisley to finish the repairs to the communications. dish, and give a quick check over the rest of the ships major systems. Momaw's ploy worked and Dom was gone well before Ganfar returned. Momaw preset the ships hyperspace coordinates, and confirmed departure for that afternoon.
When Ganfar returned a few credits short, he found the Old Battler was prepared for take-off . Ganfar took the droid to the cargo bay, and went forward to find Momaw. He found Momaw in the cockpit in the co-pilots seat ready.
"We have clearance for take-off, and the co-ordinates have been set." said Momaw
"Ready for take-off, eh ?" said Ganfar "I've still got to fix the connections to the communications dish."
"Already fixed, good as new, well as good as it's going to get."
"Prepared as always, Momaw, are you going to tell me where we are going ?"
"No. For security reasons, It would be safer you didn't know."
"Well I've got one more thing to do before we leave, I won't be long." said Ganfar.
Ganfar then left the Old Battler and went to the office of the Docking Bay and said his goodbye's to Drie, paid some additional fees due, and returned locking the ramp once inside.
While Ganfar was in with Drie a small red droid entered the ship without being noticed, and made it's way to the cargo bay.
They took off without incident, and exited the planet's atmosphere when Momaw said "Do you mind if I sleep during hyperspace ?"
"No, go ahead, you'll have to use my bunk." replies Ganfar "I'll go back and program the droid, So I don't disturb your sleep until it's time to drop to normal space"
Ganfar and Momaw had known each other for about twenty standard years now, in fact it was Momaw that taught Ganfar the finer points of garden management during one stay on Momaw's herd ship floating across Ithor. Since the excommunication of Momaw from Ithor, he and Ganfar hadn't seen each other, until today.
Ganfar went down to the cargo bay to start work, and noticed another droid with his merrily making conversation to each other. Puzzled he returned to the cabin where Momaw was caught going through Ganfar's belongings. Ganfar could see what was going on because the cabin door's activators weren't working so Ganfar had sealed it open. As Ganfar entered Momaw looked round.
"What are you doing going through my belongings ?" demanded Ganfar
A startled Momaw said "Checking for Imperial connections." as he stopped rummaging through Ganfar's personnel possessions.
"What made you think I had Imperial connections ?"
"That droid of yours, you took it to the only contracted workshop for the Imperials on Tatooine. They could of had a tracking device installed."
"Well, talking of droids as we are," Ganfar began in defence "since when have you needed a droid, I thought you hated droids because of the damage they caused you all those years ago."
"I don't have a droid, what droid?" questioned Momaw
"That red droid in the cargo bay."
"Show me, quickly."
They both went down to the cargo hold, the two droids were still conversing with each other. Momaw looked shocked (if an Ithorian could ever look shocked to another species.) but Ganfar noticed the reaction.
"What's wrong ?" he asked "Who's is it?"
"It should not be here," Momaw said to Ganfar, turning to the droid.
"Why are you here, your absence will be detected ?"
The droid just warbled something incomprehensible to everyone except R1-Z3, then rolled over to a s-comp lick and plugged itself in. On the display the droid made its' response clear.
"If I had a vocal synthesiser this would not be such a slow process. I'm here because of this droid (motioning with it's head) had been bugged by the Imperials when word got around that Ganfar had some information for sale, and the Prefect was contacted by Admiral Harkov to capture this ship and its' contents including crew and passengers."
"Word got around awfully quick." mumbled Ganfar
The droid continued oblivious to the comment.
"I have deactivated the bug with R1-Z3's help, and the homing beacon that the Imperials inserted into the mainframe. I won't be discovered, thank you for the concern, as the Prefect and his staff have just been placed into custody by Admiral Harkov because this ship, along with Ganfar were not detained as per his orders. The new staff had brought their own droids. Why you managed to escape Tatooine is that I changed the transponder logs to show this ship's code as a different one to that which they were looking for."
"But how did you get aboard ?" asked Momaw (Ganfar was mildly sulking at this time)
"The ship's loading ramp was left open and I entered. The next question is obviously why. I found out that you Momaw were planning to leave, the central computer had been monitoring your movements and showed that you made a trip to the docking bay and didn't leave. So I started digging around and found that you were friends. Knowing that Ganfar had some information to sell, and your desire to attain knowledge due to your position. Adding to the fact that you have organised for Camille to take up looking after your garden for a couple of months. I worked out that a leave of absence was about to occur on your part. So there is nothing to worry about, unless you haven't changed course since you entered hyperspace."
"Red's correct, we should change course, especially if the beacon was running when we jumped to hyperspace." stated Momaw "We must inform our friends of the situation."
They proceeded to the cockpit. Ganfar dropped the ship to sub-light, when they had ascertained their safety, Momaw contacted the Rebellion and informed them on the recent events, and that the security of the meeting point may have been jeopardised. A Captain Antilles was in charge of the security for the meeting. Momaw suggested that Dantooine would be a possible alternative meeting place, but Captain Antilles informed them that Dantooine was rather "hot" at the moment, and Hoth was about as busy as it was warm. The decision was made they would meet in the old hanger of the Rebels old base, as it would provide them with some cover from the elements.
Instead of them both arriving at the same time the Rebel escort would fly in first to secure the area, and The Old Battler would arrive after (due mainly to it's age). The trip to Hoth was a slow one but it gave Ganfar and Momaw a chance to catch up on what has been happening since they last met on Ithor.
After they had reached the Hoth system and were approaching the planet Hoth itself, the scanners picked up new blips. Ganfar turned to Momaw.
"Aren't we meeting them on the ground ?"
"Yes"
"They're supposed to be there already, right ?"
"Yes, Why ?" Momaw asked nervously
"Get on the com. and tell them we've got company."
Momaw leaned over to the com, a small red light started to flash, while Ganfar charged the shields.
"What's this light flashing for ?" Momaw asked
"Stang! Hit it a couple of times, the wiring has a bad contact in there somewhere."
The company was a wing of 3 Assault Gunboats, enough to cause a flight of X-Wings a bit of bother, but the X-Wings present would shame any of the Empire's fighters. You see the Alliance heads must have believed that this information was important because they sent part of the Rogue Squadron to fly cover for this motley group of adventurers.
The call from Momaw was rushed, garbled and not understood clearly by the crew of the squadron until their own scanners picked up the extra ships. They scrambled. Five ships, 4 X-Wings and a shuttle screeched through the atmosphere.
The leader of this flight was Rogue 4.
"Old Battler this is Rogue 4, follow the shuttle " he ordered
" Acknowledged, Rogue 4." replied Ganfar
Ganfar turned Old Battler to follow the shuttle now emerging from the atmosphere of Hoth half a planet away, out of the system at top sub-light speed. The gunboats were closing on the freighter. 2 X-Wings flashed by the old ship's cockpit.
"4 to 6, take the second boat. 7 take the third. 5 cover the shuttle, I've got the leader."
With that Rogue 4 switched to the quad-fire setting of his cannons. Lined up a head-on pass. Set the shields to double front. Fired twice. Eight lasers pulsed from the cannons. The gunboat's pilot saw the fiery blast coming in and broke hard left. Narrowly missed the first barrage. The second sent a shuddering through the ship.
Rogue 7 was having an easier time, when he received the target, it was still some distance away. Switching to the Proton Torpedoes it wasn't long before he had a lock. Fired 3 torpedoes at the luckless gunboat. The first hit, removing the shields. The second hit doing massive structural damage, the gunboat kept coming. Finally the third hit shattering the gunboat.
Rogue 6 was under heavy fire, wherever she turned the X-Wing the gunboat struck, her shields were almost gone.
"6 this is 5, turn to 418 I'll get him with a lock."
"Well don't just sit there, get him already." she remarked
"This is 4 I've got it."
Rogue 4 turned his X-Wing inside the turn of the gunboat he was chasing locked onto the gunboat hassling Rogue 6 fired 4 rounds of lasers at it, as Rogue 6 broke into a spiralling dive for the planet. All sixteen bolts hit the gunboat as it slowed so it would not over shoot the now diving X-Wing. The gunboat's pilot was surprised by this attack and as he started evasive manoeuvres Rogue 5 hit him with a torpedo, shattering the gunboat.
In the heat of this battle the Old Battler was proceeding out of the planets outermost gravity pull, following the shuttle, when an alarm started. This was one of the few modifications Ganfar made to the Old Battler the alarm notified the crew that a missile was being locked. Now Ganfar knowing that the shields couldn't withstand such an impact, started evasive manoeuvres. Momaw was lucky the inertial dampeners were operating or he would've been thrown from one side of the cabin to the other.
Rogue 5 noticed the freighter's apparent trouble and quickly doubled back. The first gunboat had slipped away from Rogue 4 while Rogue 4 saved Rogue 6, long enough to start an attack run on the freighter. Ganfar's manoeuvres were not only disrupting the gunboat's lock, it was making the reprisal attacks for the X-Wings twice as hard.
"Rogue 4 to Old Battler"
"Yes" replied Momaw, as Ganfar was busy with his manoeuvring.
"Break of the erratic manoeuvres and we'll be able to take him off your hands."
"The shields won't last if it launches it's missiles."
"4 to shuttle" Rogue 4 started on a different channel " Can you paint the gunboat with a lock from there."
"Roger 4"
The shuttle's electronic package was able to 'paint' the gunboat with a lock tone which was redirected to the X-Wings. Rogue's 4 and 5 received the shuttle's tone and fired 3 torpedoes each. When the gunboat's pilot noticed the incoming swarm of missiles, he decided to bail (not all Imperial pilots are die hards). This victory celebration was short lived.
"Shuttle this is 4, return and pick up that pilot for interrogation."
"Roger 4, we had better return soon, before reinforcements arrive."
"Rogue 4 to all ships set destination as the Corellian system."
After acknowledgements came in from all the ships Rogue 4 made one more communication before they all jumped to hyperspace.
"Rogue 4 to Independence"
"Independence Communications Centre, to whom do you wish to speak?"
"Captain Antilles"
"One moment please."
"Captain Antilles, yes?" a familiar voice responded
"Wedge this is Janson, we've got a small problem." Rogue 4 started
"What is it " replied Wedge
"The Imps knew about the change in the meeting place. I think that there is a homing device on the freighter, but they've assured me that they got rid of it."
"Go on"
"I've just ordered the ships to set destination for Corellia, is it possible for a Frigate to meet us there and sweep the ship for a beacon?"
"The escort frigate Rebel Star is close by the Corellian system I'll see if they can assist you."
"Thanks Wedge. Janson out."
"Okay let's go." Rogue 4 ordered
With that the six ships leapt into hyperspace. Destination Corellia.
The Captain of the Rebel Star, a Sullustian Captain Neva was glad to assist with the predicament as it would offer his crew a change to the usual patrol.
The Rebel Star arrived in the Corellian system before the X-Wings. A small welcoming party was waiting for the arrival of the Rebels. 1 Carrack class light cruiser and its' wing of four TIE fighters. The party crashing frigate sent a shiver through the command crew of the light cruiser.
"Sir, an Nebulon-B Frigate has just arrived."
"Is it one of ours?" asked the commander
"No sir."
"So much for the light opposition." said the commander to himself "How many fighters is it deploying?"
"Four X-Wings, sir."
"Get Admiral Harkov on the com."
"Yes sir."
Captain Neva had deployed the wing of X-Wings to hold back the TIE/rc fighters already launched from the cruiser, by acting on a buffer of about 5 clicks. Neva knowing that the cruiser had a limited complement of fighters believed that they would not be risked unnecessarily.
"Do not fire unless fired upon, our job is to deter , not destroy." ordered Grey leader, "Create a perimeter half way between the two ships."
Confirmation came in from the wing of four X-Wings.
About half an hour later Ganfar and the six Rogues' arrived on the wrong side of the cruiser.
"All craft pull up!" ordered Rogue 4 as the starlines receded noticing the cruiser sitting in their path.
Fortunately they all missed the cruiser and climbed out of range before the gunners knew what had passed them. "Rogue 4 this is Grey leader, you could've pick a better place to stop you know, come to 725 to round for the Frigate."
"Roger, Grey leader" switching to the group frequency "Set heading to 725 and head for the frigate, Rogue group stay on the cruiser side of the freighter and shuttle, and watch for incoming fire."
"Rebel Star this is Rogue group, we're coming round"
"Copy that Rogue group, head for the main bay."
"Roger."
The commander of the cruiser had the ship on full alert when the small fleet came charging in from hyperspace, and had started evasive manoeuvres. Since the manoeuvrability of this class of cruiser is about the same as a Y-Wing it wasn't in any danger when the flight pulled up.
"Fire control, fire under local control, make sure you get that freighter." ordered the commander "Fire when ready."
The fifteen of the thirty turbolasers opened up on the group, sending them scattering.
"Captain Neva the Cruiser has opened fire on the group" reported the sensor operator
"Move within range & open fire" Captain Neva ordered "and scramble the remaining fighters"
Moving to his communications panel
"Grey group, force that cruiser to change it's mind, White group is scrambling loaded heavy, Rogue group get clear."
On the command Grey Group started its' retaliation by destroying the fighter escort, White Group consisting of four Y-Wings, exited the Frigate and commenced the attack with their heavy load of torpedoes. The Y-Wings were instantly within their 5 kilometre targeting range, so the Cruiser had four Y-Wings targeting a combined 8 Proton Torpedoes. The X-Wings were running straight strafing runs along the Cruiser's length, and because of their speed the Cruiser wasn't making very many hits even though the turret gunners were battle hardened.
The Cruiser was receiving a complete barrage from the smaller frigate draining the power from the shields, by the time the Y-Wings released their entire complement of torpedoes a total of 48 torpedoes dispersed around the Cruiser.
"Torpedoes, incoming!" reported the sensor operator
"Target those Y-Wings" ordered the Commander into his internal com
Some of gunners that noticed the in coming threat had already started pounding in the Y-wings direction in a vain hope to throw of their targeting, when the order came rest of the facing cannons came to bear.
The battle was almost won when an Imperial Class Star Destroyer dropped from hyperspace.
"Captain, an Imperial Class Star Destroyer has just entered the system" reported the sensor operator
"Sound retreat, and get those other ships on board." commanded Captain Neva
"Rogue group, enter the main bay. White & Grey groups return to the hanger." ordered the communications officer
"How long before it's in range?" asked Captain Neva
"Ten minutes sir." replied the sensor operator
"Set coordinates for Valla Brosa, and jump when those ships get in."
As the ships entered the Frigate the last few torpedoes hit the Cruiser totally decimating the engine compartment. Due to the compartmentalisation on the Cruiser few lives were lost. Rebel Star leapt into hyperspace, safe.
There was a scanning crew waiting as the old freighter touched down in the main bay. When the ship was secured and the Frigate was in hyperspace Old Battler was swamped by technical staff carrying all kinds of electrical sensors. Ganfar who wasn't told of this was extremely annoyed.
"Where's the Captain? I demand to know the reason for this outrage!"
"Calm down" suggested Janson "We're just making sure there isn't anymore beacons attached to your ship that can be traced by the Imperials."
"Why wasn't I told about this before it happened?"
"I didn't inform you because I thought if someone was controlling it they could shut it off. Now your two droids are undergoing the same thing."
"Sir, we've found it." reported one of the scanning team
"Where was it?" asked Janson
"Attached to the Communications dish"
"Why couldn't we find it before?"
"It was just sending out a pulse every 2 minutes, and it took a while to track it across the ship."
"How did it get there?" Janson asked Ganfar
"I don't know... Momaw might know he said he'd fixed it, back on Tatooine."
"Where is he anyway?" asked Janson
"I don't know, last I saw he was heading for the turbolift."
"You" referring to the officer who reported the finding "Alert security tell them to find and detain him for questioning. I'll inform Captain Neva."
The officer went to the security station and passed on the request. Janson went to a nearby communications panel.
"Captain, Janson here. We may have a spy on board we've found the beacon, it seems that it may have been placed by Momaw. I've got security looking for him."
"You can stop your search Commander, Momaw is here with me." replied the Captain "And it seems that he has some questions to answer. You may want to hear this, We'll be in my quarters, see you in a few minutes."
Janson went to the security station and called off the search. Then proceeded with Ganfar to the Captain's quarters. This was Ganfar first visit to a 'friendly' Frigate and was surprised by the cleanliness of it, all the freighter pilots commented on how the Rebellion were a bunch of rag-tag bunch of military hopefuls that had got lucky a couple of times. This was as clean as any Imperial starship he'd had the misfortune of entering.
The Captains quarters were very spacious furnished with a timber Ganfar had never seen before. Paintings hung around the room depicting a lush planet, presumably a planet Captain Neva visited and liked due to Sullust's volcanic nature.
"Come, take a seat" The Captain said gesturing to a lounge nearby "Momaw was just about to tell me how you two got into this mess."
"It all started about a months ago" Momaw started "I was relaying some information by the usual routine to my Case Officer, when I came across a file carrying my name, obviously I checked it out. It contained a full history on me from before my excommunication from Ithor through to that current day, showing all kinds of things from what I eat to cargo I receive and send. It also mentioned the repeated thoughts on my being part of the Rebellion but that they had no evidence to support the fact. I could tell that they were getting closer to finding some concrete evidence, so I contacted the Case Officer indirectly, and setup a meeting the meeting was to be on Tatooine in the Dune Sea. The Contact Officer never showed, about a week later I find out that she'd been arrested on Tatooine just after she departed the transport. So I started to look for a safe way to leave, I'd already been teaching a local how to look after my plants while I was away, so keeping them alive was no problem. When Ganfar arrived I saw my chance and went to meet him. I followed him for a while to find a place to talk to him alone, after he left the Cantina I entered and Wuher told me that some old pilot was selling information but he'd just left. I walked past the landing bay where Ganfar was working on the ships communication array. I continued to Docking Bay 92 to see if Dom Atyll was busy and if not if he could do some repairs of the freighter of Ganfar's. Fortunately he could, so I went back to Docking Bay 87 and saw Ganfar."
Momaw stopped for a few minutes, catching his breath and gaining some thoughts.
"The rest" he continued "is basically this, I called H.Q. and arranged a meeting deep space, but with the finding of a beacon on board that was changed to Hoth. The Imperials found out by the other beacon that was just found so then we came to Corellia and met you. That's about it."
"Very interesting," commented Captain Neva " Do you have a different story Ganfar?" Noticing the confused look on the old pilot
"Yes." Ganfar began "I thought we were being followed to prevent my passing on of the information stored in my recording systems of the Imperials new TIE Fighters."
Three Jaws fell to the ground, matching the stunned look on their faces. The Captain turned to his com. panel
"Navigation, drop from hyperspace, and set a course to intercept the Independence, full speed."
"Yes, sir. " came a distant reply
"Well it seems that we finally are getting to a good reason for the appearance of the Imperial forces." Captain Neva stated to the group "Please continue."
"Well I decided to travel from Krytoa straight to Tatooine, instead of going to Sullust. About a day maybe two into the trip my ship was pulled from hyperspace by the edge of an Interdiction field. It seems the Imperials were testing a new TIE fighter, much faster and manoeuvrable than the old ones. I managed to escape before being boarded, to Tatooine. The rest is pretty much as Momaw said." said Ganfar
"That does seem to be a good reason for all this rigmarole. Well you've all had a hard day, I'll let you rest and get something to eat, and we'll finish discussing this when your a bit less weary. Your quarters are on the 52nd floor the First officer has some prepared for you, just check in at the guard station near the turbolift."
The End (For now)