The first ship laden with personnel, supplies and equipment was already leaving orbit as the X-wing dropped into normal space. Alarms chimed, warning Luke that the freighter had a weapons lock on him. He keyed the mike, "Mitre Base, this is Sandman."

"Sandman, Mitre Base. Go ahead."

"Cruising in on your dark side, requesting landing instructions?"

"Sandman, route towards the North Entrance. Hold clear at three miles. Traffic: two freighters plus escort, report when you have them in sight."

"North Entrance to hold. Traffic copied."

The Controller turned to one of the assistants who was trying to dismantle a position board, "Worron, go find Rieekan or the Princess. Or Solo. Tell them that Colonel Skywalker is inbound. ETA twenty minutes."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Control, Freighter Yarkius, stowed and ready to lift."

The Controller turned back to the job in hand, "Yarkius, standby. Yarkius consort, Control?"

"Control, Yarkius consort, ready to go."

"Roger consort. Your freighter lifting shortly, follow her out."

"Roger that, Control."

"Control this is freighter Sperrin III."

"Sperrin III, Control, hold position and standby. Break. Freighter Yarkius clear to lift. Depart initially to the North, inbound T-65 holding to the east."

Luke listened to the crackle of voices over the radio as more ships called for clearance to lift or to move position. If he didn't know better he would have said that this was an evacuation. That could mean that at least some of his suspicions were founded. Leia was still in the base, he could sense her presence. Which meant that Han and Chewie were most likely still there as well... Han wouldn't evacuate without Leia, assuming, of course, that everyone leaving. Luke knew better than to interrupt the steady flow of calls and incur the wrath of the Controller by asking spurious questions... Still he was tempted to find out if Wedge or the Falcon crew were still there.

Slowing his descent, he glided in towards the base, bringing the X-wing into a hover just over three miles from the entrance. The beetle-like form of a freighter was sliding ponderously into view, accelerating upwards; followed moments later by her fighter escort. Then another freighter floated out. "Control, Sandman has traffic in sight."

"Roger, Sandman. After fighter escort; four-ship T-65; you are cleared in."

"After the escort, I'm cleared in." He yielded to temptation, asking, "Control, is Red Leader still there?"

It may have been that she didn't hear the last part if his transmission, the air was so busy he could have crossed signals with someone else, but she didn't answer the question. Instead she told him, "Sandman, be advised, General Solo will meet you on landing."

"Copied." The X-wings appeared, racing after the freighter and Luke pushed his fighter forward, heading for the entrance.

Anjouk sat back in the chair, regarding the Major as he strode into the office. "Well?"

"Lieutenant-Colonel Antilles is being particularly stubborn, Sir. It may be some time before we can learn anything from him."

"Even using the woman?" Anjouk asked, baiting the trap.

"The other pilot is dead, Sir. Her injuries were too severe, she died after the first session."

Anjouk schooled his expression into mild surprise, "Really, Major Daevith? Unusual, then, that my other sources seem to believe that the only reason she died was because you killed her.... in retaliation for Antilles attacking you!"

The man visibly squirmed. Anjouk leant forward, leaning on his desk, "Your previous Commanding Officer may have accepted your lies Daevith, but I am not so gullible. You have two days. Then Antilles will be given into someone else's care. Dismissed!"

The Major saluted, turning sharply on his heel and marched out of the door. Anjouk leant back in his chair again, turning to look out at the starfield. He could, of course, order the use of the mind probe instead of letting his officers have some fun. But there was no hurry. No hurry at all. Yet.

Han watched Luke's fighter settle slowly onto the ground, the technicians flooding in towards it as the engines wound down. He felt movement at his left and looked round to see Leia. He accepted, even if he couldn't truly understand, the Jedi/twin thing that bonded Luke to her and seeing the expression on her face he asked, "Does he know?"

She looked up at him, "He knows that there's something wrong, but I can't be sure of what exactly brought him here."

Luke jumped the last few rungs to the ground, talking briefly with the Chief Tech before walking across to them. Leia hugged him, Han gave him a quick grin, "What brings you to this neck of the woods, Kid?"

"Sort of had a feeling that you guys were in trouble. Again!"

Leia couldn't bring herself to join in the pretence. "We are," she told him, softly, "Deep trouble."

The laughter faded abruptly from his face and he shot a look at Han, who nodded grimly. "Wedge?" Luke asked.

"Not here," Leia warned quietly.

 But Han told him, "He's been taken by the Empire."

Luke sighed, closing his eyes, the Corellian's words confirming what he already believed. Han dropped a hand, briefly, onto his shoulder, saying, "Let's get out of here to somewhere we can talk."

A harassed looking older man rushed across, stopping them. "Governor Rieekan would like to see you before he leaves, Sirs, Ma'am. General Solo you're booked out at fourteen-oh-six." He turned to Luke, "Colonel, will you be available as fighter escort for the Falcon? We're two birds down."

Luke glanced at Leia, who looked away. Two fighters? One was most probably Wedge... who was the other one? He nodded to the man, "I'll be there, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, Sir! Ma'am, your transport leaves in point four-five."

"If Governor Rieekan wants to see me I doubt I'll make that.."

"I'll take the Princess out, Lieutenant," Han offered.

"Then assign my place to someone else," Leia told the man with a smile.

"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you, Sir," he said, turning away, mind already on another problem.

As they walked towards the corridor exit, Luke said, "I need to know what happened. Before we see Rieekan."

Leia stopped, pulling Luke against the hanger wall, Han following. Softly, the Corellian began, "We went out to rendezvous with a food freighter, the Falcon and four X©wings. We made it to the second jump off point, then half way across the Crevan system all hell let loose. Something yanked us out of hyperspace... and we found ourselves running directly in towards," he dropped his voice even further, "a Death Star."

The details of the image in Luke's mind fell into place: the cell, almost the same as the one Leia had been in... "Wedge is on it?"

 Han was nodding, his face unreadable, "He got caught in a tractor beam."

"What about the other one? The Lieutenant said you were two fighters down."

"A Rookie. Her T-65 was taken out as she tried to jump into hyperspace," Han told him, his voice bitter.

Luke thought for a moment, trying to remember the details of the vision. There had been someone else there, another pilot.... but what he had seen was only one of many possible futures. And yet he still had a strong impression that it was the present he had seen... He looked at Han and Leia, accepting, for the moment, what they had told him. "We've got to get Wedge out," he said, flatly.

 Han laughed. Leia regarded him aghast, "Oh, Luke, be serious!"

Her brother took her hands, his eyes flashing, "I will not leave him on that thing to die!"

She jerked her hands free, glaring at him, "Don't you think that I want to get him out of there? Don't you think that I know what he's going through? I know better than anyone else here, damn it! But what you're suggesting is sheer stupidity...."

Han could hear the edge creeping back into her voice and slipped his arm round her waist, drawing her to him, interrupting, "And how the hell do you plan to get him out?"

 Luke shrugged in exasperation, "I don't know.... yet."

"Luke," Leia began again, calming down a little, "I understand, I honestly do! He's your friend and you want to help him, but you have to be realistic...." She hated herself for what she was about to say, but it had to be said, "He might already be dead, Luke."

Her brother looked at her for a long moment, then said gently, "But what if he's not... Can you see? I have to try."

"A lightsabre doesn't make you invincible," she countered, softly.

“We have the advantage this time, Leia. The Jedi are on our side! I have to do this, Leia. For exactly the same reasons as I had to go to Bespin..."

While they talked, Han had stood in silence, an idea slowly taking shape in the back of his mind. "Assuming," he began. Leia recognised the tone in his voice. Wide eyed, she pulled away from him as he continued, "Assuming that we could pull this rescue mission off. Say we could get in and get Antilles out... then what's to stop us leaving a little parting gift. You know, the sort that goes BOOM!" He animated the explosion with a flick of his fingers.

"You're as crazy as he is!" Leia accused, unable to miss the glint in his eyes, mirrored almost exactly in Luke's.

Han turned to her, "We’re crazy? You're the one that called Chewie a walking carpet!" Despite herself a smile tugged at her lips. "He still hasn't forgiven you, you know," Han went on, "Keeps bringing it up every now and then."

"Don't change the subject!" She turned to her brother, "Luke, please? We only got off the Death Star before Yavin because they let us go!"

"Agreed," he accepted, "But those circumstances were completely different. They took us by surprise, we didn't know what we were up against. This time we know exactly!"

She didn't look convinced. "Leia," Luke tried again, not having considered before this, that they might also destroy the Death Star when they tried to get Wedge out. But if they could.... the possibilities were racing through his mind, "If we could come up with something... something involving only us, if we even have the slightest chance of destroying this Death Star, think of the lives that we could be saving."

"Boom," Han added, quirking an eyebrow at her.

Leia looked from her brother to her lover and back. Han had made a valid suggestion, a very valid suggestion she was admitting to herself. And Luke was, of course, right. With her meagre training, and his full Jedi power they might just be able to pull something off... But she also knew the two of them well enough to know that they would go rushing off without thinking through the full implications of their attempt. Camouflaging her true feelings with infuriated exasperation, knowing that Luke could sense her emotion, she said, "It doesn't matter what I think, does it? It doesn't matter what I say. If you two come up with a plan, you'll go for it anyway, won't you?"

They stood there, like two little boys who'd been caught raiding their neighbour's fruit trees. She shook her head, pushing between them, walking away from them down the corridor, already beginning to think about how they could get on board the most heavily armed station in the galaxy.

Han watched her for a moment, then began to follow, Luke dropping into step beside him. "So, Kid," he asked, quietly, glancing at the blond pilot, "how do you propose to get us onto the station?"

Rieekan stood towards the back of the operations room, arms folded, answering any questions directed at him, giving advice when it was requested, signing authorisations, but otherwise staying well out of the way of his people and letting them get on with their jobs. His way of overseeing the evacuation: they had rehearsed this numerous times, they knew exactly what they were doing and the last thing they needed was for him to get in their way. And keeping out of the way meant he could see an over-all picture of what was going on.

He glanced across at the door as Leia came in, followed by Solo and Skywalker. Then turned his attention back to the departure board. Two freighters were running behind, one with loading problems, the other slight technical ones. It was building delays into subsequent departures, but all in all....

The Lieutenant in front of him swore, then asked, "How long until they get it back on-line?" She stood, one hand on her hip, the other rubbing her forehead as she listened to the reply on her headset. "Okay, standby!" Turning, she shouted, "Kamler, I need a listing of the fighters still here. And their postings! We just lost an A-wing, we'll have to shuffle the roster!"

"On its way.."

 Rieekan turned as the trio approached, "Princess. Gentlemen."

"How are we doing, Governor?"

"Not bad. Things could be a lot worse...." He looked at Luke, "Most of us appear to be trying to get out of here, Colonel Skywalker, yet you've just arrived. Do you mind if I ask what, exactly, you're doing here?"

"Wedge Antilles is a close friend, Sir," Luke answered honestly. "I knew that he could be in trouble, if not now then in the near future. This is where he's based, it was easier just to come here than try to explain it long distance. Unfortunately I appear to have arrived too late..."

Rieekan nodded slowly, having forgotten how hard the Empire had openly searched for this young man, in an attempt to eradicate the last of the Jedi. Jedi heritage was something mysterious that he'd never really thought about. But now he realised that it had to be as much of a curse as it was a gift. How did you cope, he thought, to know that your friends and family could be in danger and, as in this case, be unable to help them?

"Kamler! Where's that damned schedule?"

The Lieutenant's voice broke his train of thought, turning him back to the matter at hand. "I think we should let them get on with it, don't you? Follow me." He led them across to a small partitioned office, ushering them inside before closing the door behind him. "Thank you for taking the time. I know you must have other things to do..." As if he didn't, Leia thought as the Governor offered, "Please, sit down." She dropped into one of the chairs beside Han. Rieekan walked round to the other side of the desk. Luke perched on the edge of a work station.

"What have you been told about the current situation, Colonel?" Rieekan asked him.

"I've explained that Wedge Antilles is being held prisoner, Governor. And that we're evacuating," Leia answered, quickly. Rieekan had, after all, asked them not to tell any-one about the Death Star. Luke wasn't just any-one, but she respected the Governor too much to let him think that they had undermined his orders.

"There wasn't really all that much time to talk..." Luke added instinctively.

"Then I'll fill you in, briefly, Colonel. It appears that the Empire is far stronger than we anticipated after Endor. In fact, things could hardly look worse for the Rebel Alliance. A new, military Senate has been convened.... and we have just discovered that there is a third Death Star."

Luke looked suitably shocked, having heard nothing about the forming of the Senate, "Has this information been verified?"

"The Death Star has. By General Solo."

Luke turned to Han, who said simply, "I'll fill you in on all the details later."

"But Wedge is on the Death Star?" Luke asked, covering again for Leia, knowing that it wouldn't look right if he didn't ask.

 Han nodded, saying nothing.

Rieekan waited for a moment, giving the young man time to recover himself. It was difficult, at times, to remember just how young most of the people he was involved with were. Skywalker may be a Colonel, but he wasn't even in his thirties. Neither was the Princess Leia, and yet they'd seen so much. More than anyone their age should. This war was necessary, he accepted that. But it was a damnable thing!

Finally he began, "I've spoken with Mon Mothma, and as you can appreciate, she's more than a little concerned about the situation. Therefore, General Solo, you have new orders. You and your co-pilot are to go to Che'Lan, as have the other two pilots who made it back with you. Mon Mothma wants to debrief you all personally. I've had the Lieutenant out there re-organise their detail to join you."

"Will Jomanock and Gabhaan be on board the Falcon, or flying out?"

"They'll be your fighter support."

Han nodded, "Fine by me. Except, the Princess was gonna miss her flight out and I've arranged to take her. And the Colonel here was asked to go with me as fighter escort when he arrived..."

"That's not a problem..." Rieekan said, turning to Leia, "I can find you a place on my launch, if you wish, Your Highness. But I see no reason why you shouldn't go with General Solo."

Leia smiled, "Thank you, Governor. I'd like to speak with Mon Mothma, so I'll stay with the Falcon."

Rieekan nodded, then turned his attention back to Solo and Skywalker, "Leave at the time already assigned to the Falcon. The people out there are busy enough without throwing an unnecessary departure re-allocation at them. Also, ground ops are, as you can appreciate, engaged elsewhere at the moment, so I'm afraid you will have to work out your own routing and distribute it to Jomanock and Gabhaan. They have only been told they've been re-assigned, Colonel Skywalker. I'll leave it to you to inform them of their orders."

 Luke nodded, "Sir."

"Well, General Solo, Colonel Skywalker, you have your orders. Now," Rieekan finished, rising to his feet, "if you'll excuse me, your Highness, Gentlemen, I've got an evacuation to co-ordinate..."

"Em... Governor, I was thinking..." Han began.

 Rieekan fixed him with a look, "Yes?"

"...About the Death Star.. I've got sort of an idea..."

 Rieekan sat back down, looking interested, "Yes?"

"Well, it's not exactly and idea, more of a...."

"The General and I were thinking," Leia interrupted, "if we come up with a workable plan for, say, a small assault force to get inside the Death Star..."

Luke managed to hide his surprise, but Han glanced at her, incredulous, then added, "Sort of a rescue mission, but with the main idea to destroy the station from the inside..."

"...and if Lieutenant-Colonel Antilles is still alive and we can get him out at the same time, then all the better..."

"Do you think Mon Mothma would go for it?"

Rieekan looked from Leia to Han as they interrupted one another, outlining their idea. Luke saw his expression and hid a smile by pretending to scratch his nose. Leia, Luke admitted, would never cease to amaze him: first she'd chewed him out for even suggesting it, now this! Rieekan sat for a moment, trying to collate what they had said. "An assault team...?"

"That's perhaps not quite the right explanation..."

"If we could work something out, Governor," Luke explained, "it could save a lot of lives. You know yourself what it's cost us the last twice the Rebel Alliance has gone up against these stations. Only a handful survived at Yavin. And we paid a high price at Endor, even although it was destroyed relatively quickly. And that was only because Wedge and Lando Calrissian were able to attack it from the inside. What would we have paid if the station had been complete?"

Rieekan considered for a moment, choosing his words carefully. "I agree, Colonel Skywalker, that at this time the Rebel Alliance may want for the personnel and the hardware to go up against such opposition. But I am not the one you will have to convince."

"But if you were," Han asked, "would you at least entertain the idea?"

Rieekan sighed, leaning back in his chair. "In all honesty, General, and strictly between the four of us: quote me and I will deny ever having discussed it: I would entertain any idea that I thought would wipe that thing off the face of this galaxy. Because if it lives... the Rebel Alliance is dead, the freedom of this galaxy is dead. And I can't abide the thought of my grandchildren growing up as slaves to the Empire. Now I may be wrong, but I've a pretty fair idea that Mon Mothma feels exactly the same way. Present her with a watertight option to sending hundreds more pilots to their death, and I'm sure she'll consider it."

They sat for a moment in silence. Then Rieekan pushed himself to his feet, "Now, as I said before, I have an evacuation to oversee. And by the looks of it we're having problems with another freighter." They stood as he walked across to the door. He pulled it open, then paused. "May the Force be with you!" he said, not looking at them, then disappeared into the Ops. room.

 Han looked at Leia. "I thought you hated the idea, your Highnessness?"

"I do," she said, moving close to him, placing a hand on his chest, gazing up at him. "But do you really think I'm going to let the two of you rush off on your own and get yourself killed?"

 Han grinned at her, "I guess we'd better come up with something, then."

Luke walked through the rapidly emptying hanger areas towards where he thought he'd left his fighter, scanning the area, looking for the Deck Officer. Finally he found him beside a mini-freighter, helping to stack crates, ready to be loaded inside. "I'm looking for Pilot Gabhaan and Lieutenant Jomanock. They've been re-assigned as fighter escort for the Millennium Falcon."

"One minute, Sir, and I'll check." The Deck Officer rushed away, returning moments later with a hand held data pad. "They're over in section three-three.... and..." he continued before Luke could ask, "your fighter's been moved across there too, Sir. I'm sorry, Sir, we did try to notify you."

Luke thanked the man, turning, searching for the allocated area. Beyond the bustle of the remaining ships and personnel lay the bulk of the Millennium Falcon. And behind her he could see the open canopies of three X-wings. Section three-three. As he approached he saw two orange-clad figures helping Chewbacca to load up the Falcon.

"Got you working, then," he commented as he approached the trio. Chewbacca turned, roaring at him. Luke laughed. "Hey, don't shout at me! It's not my fault!" He looked round, "Where is Han?"

The Wookiee roared again, shaking his fist in the air, then stepped across to Luke, enfolding him in an embrace. Jomanock glanced at Gabhaan, grinning as the Colonel all but disappeared in fur. Luke eventually broke free, slapping the Wookiee on the chest, "It's good to see you too, Chewie." Then he turned to the pilots. "You must be Jomanock and Gabhaan? I'm Skywalker," he introduced, proffering a hand.

 One of the men grasped it, "Lieutenant Jomanock, Sir."

 The other, younger man, stepped forward, "Pilot Gabhaan, Sir."

Luke shook his hand, "The Princess Leia tells me that you haven't yet been issued with your new orders."

"No, Sir."

"Only that we'd been re-assigned to the Falcon."

Luke nodded, "We're running escort for the Falcon to Che'Lan. It must be pretty obvious that you're being kept together for a reason and I'm not going to pull any punches, I'd rather tell you the way it is. Mon Mothma has asked to see both you and the Falcon crew, to try and get as much first hand information as possible about the threat you encountered on your last mission."

"Mon Mothma..." Jomanock sounded slightly stunned. Gabhaan said nothing, but his face had gone very pale. Luke smiled, trying to reassure them.

"I know it sounds like a big deal, but believe me, she just wants to get an accurate profile from the people that were there, rather than third hand by report. So tell it as you saw it. If you don't know, or you can't remember, don't worry. Okay?"

Both pilots nodded, "Then go get your Artoo units and get them into the Falcon. General Solo will down load the navigation data from the mainframe here. The ground guys have their hands full at the moment."

"Yes, Sir."

"Sir.."

They turned away towards the fighters, calling for their respective droids. Luke stepped over towards Chewbacca, "How they doing?" The Wookiee nodded his head, growling an answer. Luke smiled, slapping him affectionately on the arm, then disappeared into the Falcon.

Groggily, awareness returned. Lying still, keeping his breath even, he hoped that he hadn't betrayed the fact that he was awake; knowing that they'd be back the moment they realised. And as long as he lay still he didn't hurt too much. And the burn only threatened.

Standard Imperial interrogation practice - slow burn from a blaster. Somehow he'd thought that they'd have had something more sophisticated on a Death Star... all the horror stories he'd heard about pain droids... Still, he'd surprised himself at how much he'd actually taken before he started screaming.

The door opened, three sets of footsteps thudding down the stairs. He hadn't fooled them after all. Fear welled up into his throat clogging his ability to breath. As they dragged him to his feet and the torn muscles and bruised ribs protested in a wave of agony. He tried to think of Luke, JhavraH, anyone: but it was difficult, so difficult.... Then the sweet, lovely image of Karrik, the woman who had so briefly graced his life before Hoth, pressed into his thoughts. And he found a small well of renewed strength.

He was being pushed against the wall, the restraints locking in. Someone tugged at his other sleeve.

"Let's try again shall we, Lieutenant-Colonel Antilles. We were talking about Yavin. You were going to tell me how the space station was destroyed."

Wedge said simply, "Lieutenant-Colonel Wedge Antilles, Rebel Alliance Forces."

Daevith sighed, shaking his head, "Do we have to go through all this again, Lieutenant-Colonel? It's such a waste of time, and energy on your part. It's quite simple, really. Tell us what we want to know and I won't be forced to make your life so painful."

The Rebel remained silent for a moment, then repeated, "Lieutenant-Colonel Wedge Antilles, Rebel Alliance Forces."

Daevith was beginning to lose his patience with the man. "Is the question too difficult, Lieutenant-Colonel? Should we perhaps start with an easier one? Like the details of the mission you were on... or the location of your home base?"

Antilles lifted his head, looking at Daevith for a moment. Daevith stepped forward. The Rebel smiled, "Lieutenant-Colonel Wedge..."

The Major backhanded him across the face, slamming the back of his head off the wall. "Very well, Lieutenant-Colonel. We'll try it your way. Again."