The only thing on this world that can stop us from getting out of here are four TIE starfighters. Is that a problem?"

The Duros rubbed at his wrists as his driver tinkered with the binders on the starpilot's ankles. "We are matched for speed. We have hyperdrive, they do not. We have a blaster cannon, they have lasers.

We have shields, they do not. I think we are not far from freedom."

"Dynba, you did it!" A Twi'lek woman came running down the gangplank of the long CorelliSpace Gymsnor-3 Freighter. With her head tails twitching excitedly, she brandished her datapad. "No alarms, no traces. We're clear.

"Good." Dynba looked past Arali Dil's shoulder, then frowned.

"Are Eamon or Xeno here?"

Arali shook her head. "No one has been here except Sihha and me."

Dynba frowned. Prior to departing for the prison, Dynba had left a message with Eamon telling him when they planned to leave, and another to Xeno inviting him to reunite with his crew and escape. She had expected both of them to be present when she returned and she had especially wanted to see the look on Eamon's face when he realized his plan had worked perfectly.

"Arali, link into the comnet and see if you have anything from Xeno or Eamon."

"Right."

The Twi'lek and a Bothan had turned out to be the only non-Humans in Xeno's circle. The circle itself only had seven members, not counting Xeno, and all of them had thought it funny that even being so few in number, they had caused enough trouble for the Empire to send an Intelligence agent out from the Core to Garqi to deal with them.

Dynba had briefed everyone on their role in the Great Evacuation.

Because of the Empire's xenophobic bias, neither Arali nor Sihha, the Bothan, would pass for Imperial officers, so they had remained with the ship while the five Humans used the speeders to get the prisoners. Now back in the hangar, everyone hurried aboard the Delight and prepared for departure.

"Interesting."

Dynba glanced away from the hangar opening and toward Arali.

"What is?"

"Message to all of us from Xeno. He says his work here isn't done.

He'll catch up with us later and we will all laugh about this."

"I'd prefer it if he came with us. I hope they don't need him to run the ship."

"Sihha can fill in-he was an astrogation student here."

"Right." Dynba felt a heavy darkness begin to spread from her stomach out to her limbs and stab straight up into her heart. "Nothing from Eamon."

"By the foul hearts of the Sith!"

Dynba whirled at the sound of Arali's voice. "What?"

The Twi'lek held her datapad out and Dynba snatched it from her trembling hands. "By order of Prefect Mosh Barris, at the conclusion and in resolution of his personal investigation into the actions of Eamon Yzalli, ordered and carried out the discreation of an enemy of the state."

Her voice dropped to a whisper as she read. "He's dead."

The datapad slipped from her hands, but the Twi'lek deftly caught it, then started pulling on Dynba's arm.

"Come on, we have to go."

Dynba pointed back toward the doorway. "Maybe it's a trick."

"The Empire doesn't play jokes, Dynba. Eamon's dead." Arali pulled her friend up the gangplank. "Let's get out of here. We'll mourn Eamon on the trip, then when we get to the New Republic, we'll find a way to get even with the Empire."

Barris felt the comlink clipped to his belt vibrate like the Warning scales on a Gorgarian buzzadder. He opened his arms to take in the whole of the crowd in his reception room, then pointed them toWard the eastern balcony.

"My friends, I have just been informed that the Rebels have taken the bait in the trap that had been set for them.

If you will join me outside, I think you will find their end a spectacular disaster."

Pulling the comlink from his belt, he thumbed it on.

"Garqi Eagles, you are clear to intercept and destroy your target."

Arali got Dynba into one of the jumpseats in the cockpit and strapped her in. "Barris got our last passenger, Captain.

You better move now."

The Duros nodded to his mouse-eared pilot. The Sullustan chittered her way through a checklist. The low hum of the repulsorlift drives filled the ship, then a gentle tremble ran through it as the sublight drives began to push it forward, up and out of the hangar.

The nose of the ship came around to the east, facing the ship away from the sun and on a course that meant they would be moving away from the star's mass as they left the planet.

That would permit them to enter hyperspace faster, and everyone on the ship knew speed was a virtue when escape was the object of the exercise.

Through the forward viewport Dynba got a spectacular look at the lights of Pesktda. She found the city where she grew up quaint and even beautiful, with lights winking on and off as gentle breezes stirred the dark, leafy canopy that covered everything. Part of her felt the loss of leaving the place of her birth, but that regret was nothing compared to the pain she felt over Eamon's murder.

The Star's Delight picked up speed and shot out of the spaceport.

The Sullustan pilot kept the ship at a steady angle of ascent. As they broke above the shadow of the world, sunlight lit the sky. It passed quickly as the atmosphere thinned, then the stars above stopped shimmering and just hung there like distant jeweled sparks on the inside of a vast black bowl.

Captain Nootka hunched forward over a screen. "We have four starfighters in our wake. Shields to full in the left arc."

The Sullustan hit a button on the console, but it remained dark.

She hit it again, then shrieked.

Nootka reached over and hit the button himself. "Saricia, we have no shields."

"Invert and give me a shot." The Devaronian's bass voice came from above the companionway that led into the cockpit. Dynba looked back and saw an open hatchway that allowed access beyond the passage's ceiling.

Arali tightened down her restraining straps. "The blaster cannon turret is up top. We have to invert for him to shoot at targets coming from behind and below, otherwise he'll hit the cargo pods."

"Not a good design, is it?"

Nootka turned around and gave Dynba a hard stare.

"This is a freighter, not a warship. Saricia is good."

"How good? Good enough to stop them?"

"Are you sure?"

The Duros shook his head. "If I am wrong, I will not live long in regret. " He hit some more switches on the console. "You said the ship was in working order."

"That's what I was told. Eamon said..." Dynba's jaw dropped open.

"He's not here."

The tips of the Twi'lek's head tails shook with a start.

"We were set up, Dynba, set up to die by Eamon Yzalli."

She flashed sharp peg-teeth. "I hope part of Xeno's work on Garqi is killing him."

Nootka glanced at his screen, then shook his head. "I would have hoped the situation would not get worse. We have a fifth ship closing fast."

The ship shook violently and sparks shot through the companionway, while the thrummed rumble of Saricia's return-fire filled the cockpit.

"Our armor will hold them back for a little while, but not long."

"Can we make the jump to lightspeed?"

"In the time we have left?" Nootka asked. "Not even if I knew where we were going and had the course already plotted into the nav computer.

It looks now that where we are going is to the grave."

Corran Horn eased the X-wing's throtde forward and his speed started to climb faster as he left Garqi's atmosphere." You should have told me sooner, Whistler, that's all I'm saying. It doesn't matter now, though. We can talk about it later. Now we have to get those TIEs."

The droid replied in a muted whistle that Corran found almost as depressing as the four-to-one odds on the fight. Not how I wanted to do this, but I have no choice.

Corran hit the thumb-switch on the X-wing's stick. The proton torpedo targeting system came up and painted a big yellow box around the slowest of the TIE starfighters.

"That's target one. Give me the next closest one and mark it as target two."

Whistler complied instantly, then keened a question.

"Yes, if they're in range, get me comlink contact." Cor ran heard the hiss of static from the speakers in his helmet, then a clear channel opened up. "Star's Delight, the key-code for your shields is 349XER34, repeat 349XER34."

"Who is this?"

"Someone who just gave you your shields back. Eamon Yzalli sold you out. He's dead. What he knew, I know."

In the background he heard a voice excitedly shout, "It's Xeno!"

The deeper voice, the one he decided belonged to Lai Nootka, overrode the shout. "349XER34 is the code."

"Exactly." corran smiled. "Tell your gunner not to shoot the X-wing and I'll make his life easier. X-wing Ollt."

Whistler tooted triumphantly.

"Not yet, buddy, not yet. Give me target one and lighten my acceleration compensator. I want to feel it when I move around."

Nudging the stick over and back, he settled the box around the lagging TIE. The droid beeped intermittently as he tried to get a target lock.

The target box went from yellow to red at the same moment Whistler's tone went solid and Corran hit the trigger.

The proton torpedo shot away from the X-wing and curved only slightly to port before it slammed into the TIE's ball-cockpit. The explosion shattered the star-fighter's hexagonal solar panels. It sent their shards spinning away from the roiling, red-gold plasma ball spreading out from where the cockpit had once been.

"Acquire two."

Brief beeps melded into an uninterrupted tone as Corran hit a pedal and the etheric rudder brought the X-wing's nose around to port.

He hit the trigger again and saw a proton torpedo burn into and through the second TIE. The torpedo hit it solidly on one of the solar panels and blasted through. The projectile glanced down, crushing the fighter's ion engine exhaust port and clipped the far side solar panel before exploding. The TIE whirled off on a wobbly course before exhaust pressure from the engines tore the ship apart from the inside.

"Two down." Corran flipped his weapons control over to laser fire and linked the lasers for dual-fire. "Whistler, even out the shields."

The droid complied with the order as Corran brought the X-wing up in a quarter snap-roll. The maneuver stood the fighter on its port stabilizer foils. Tugging back on the stick, he brought the nose up and cruised onto the tail of one of the two remaining TIEs. It had broken left while its wing man had gone right-a strategy that was usually discouraged and went a long way toward confirming Corran's opinion of the Garqi garrison.

Whistler's excited hooting made Corran look up at his rear sensor monitor. Coming in behind me. Not as bad as I thought. "I see him, Whistler. Now you know why I didn't want to fight them at all."

The TIE in front of him began a slow loop to starboard.

The move was slow enough that Corran was tempted to follow and light the ship up, but he knew giving in to temptation would have a price.

In this case it will be the TIE back there shortening the loop and melting my ship's tail. Not for me.

Corran chopped his thrust back and pulled the stick to his breastbone.

He looped the X-wing, then punched the throttle full forward and rolled out to port. That dropped him in on an attack vector to the TIE that had been following him. Tightening up on the trigger, he tracked ruby laser bolts across one solar panel, through the cockpit and into the other solar panel.

The TIE didn't explode. It rolled slowly to port, little blue tendrils of energy playing over its myriad surfaces.

The X-wing overshot the ship, so Corran rolled and dove down through a loop to keep an eye on it. The TIE did not react and just continued spiraling along on its previous course, bound for a fiery collision with Garqi's atmosphere.

Pilot's gone, ship's running on momentum. Corran shiv ered, imagining for one second what it was like to spend your last seconds of life in pain, in a breached cockpit with all the atmosphere leaking out while cold poured in. Not the way I want to go.

Whistler's indignant yowl and the hiss of laser fire splashing against his aft shields shocked Corran. He immediately hit the right rudder pedal, whipping the X-wing's tail to port and out of the line of fire.

Pushing the stick hard left, he rolled out to port, then pulled back a nd brought the ship's nose up and around in a loop.

Halfway through that he rolled right and dove, but his sensors showed the TIE was still with him.

Why are the best guys always the last? Corran smiled at his own question. "Because the pilots who are bad die first.

They were all probably daydreaming just like you." He sideslipped the X- wing to the right and the TIE followed him.