[Adventure Journal] - A Glimar of Hope (Charlene Newcomb), Star Wars - Books And Short Stories
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STAR WARSA GLIMMER OF HOPEby Charlene Newcomb PUBLISHED AS PART OF WEST END GAMES'S STAR WARS ADVENTURE JOURNAL #1; FEB. 1994Illustrations by Mike VilardiAlex Winger squatted behind a maze of boulders overlooking the roadway that led up to the mining center complex. These jobs didn't make her nervous normally, but something gnawed at the back of her mind. Something just didn't feel right tonight. The number of Imperial personnel in Ariana had nearly tripled in the last few weeks. And all their energies seemed to be focused on the mines of Garos IV. Something deep inside her told Alex that whatever the Imperials were doing with these ore shipments was going to have a profound effect on her life."Look, Doro, they're loading a second cargo skiff." she said, peering through the macrobinoculars. Last night, they'd observed one sled being transported from the mines to the spaceport outside Ariana. Tonight, it looked like the Imperials were doubling their load. But these two skiffs would never make it to the spaceport."What in the worlds are they doing with all that ore?" her companion wondered. Doro was 28 years old and this was only his second mission in the field. Alex had been involved with the underground for two years, but her experiences made her feel a lot older than her 18 years."I count a dozen scout troopers on speeder bikes," she told Doro. "Plus the two man crew on each sled." Alex pulled her comlink off her belt and sent a signal to her comrades who were waiting in ambush about a kilometer to the north. "C'mon, let's move out," she said.Suddenly, blaster fire punctuated the stillness of the forest. "What's going on," Doro whispered."Team Two, come in," Alex called into her comlink as she headed for the wooded hillside."They found us," the voice on the other end of the comlink calmly reported over the static. "AT-STs! And some --"There was more blaster fire, then the comlink went dead."C'mon, Doro, move it," Alex yelled to her companion as another round of blaster fire rang out through the woods. They were definitely getting closer.Alex and Doro turned westward toward the Tahika Cliffs. The terrain here was too rugged for the AT-STs. Even the Imperial speeder bikes would have a difficult time traversing the area, especially during the middle of the night.Several shots whipped past Alex's head, igniting a nearby tree. Then she noticed she didn't hear Doro's footsteps behind her. Alex slowed her pace for a few seconds and looked to see his prone body 10 meters back. She could hear the speeder bikes moving closer.Alex took a deep breath, turned around, and reached Doro in 10 seconds. He'd been hit in the shoulder by a blaster and had fallen, cracking his skull on a rock. Alex could find no pulse. Another shot rang out to Alex's left. She touched Doro's forehead to wish him well wherever death had taken him, then headed farther up the hillside.Alex could hear footsteps coming up behind her and searchlights lit the side of the mountain. She felt confident that she could outwit these scout troopers. She was much more familiar with the terrain than they.But at the top of the crest, Alex took a misstep, and tripped over some fallen branches. She went careening down the hill. Every rock and every fallen tree branch seemed to find a mark on her body. She came to a stop, bruised and aching, a bright light shining in her eyes. She squinted and could just make out the uniform of a scout trooper."Get up!" he yelled at her. "Slowly, now!"Alex had no problem following that order. Ever so slowly she rose, first to her knees, her hand shielding her eyes from the bright light."Over here!" the scout trooper called to his comrade who was hidden from view by the dense underbrush. His light pointed away from Alex for no more than a second. That second was all she needed to grab a fallen limb and send it crashing into the trooper with every bit of strength that she could muster. Alex grabbed the trooper's blaster as he tumbled to the ground and she sprinted the three meters to his speeder bike. Another blast shot past Alex's head and she returned fire as the scout trooper's companion came into view. Two shots from her blaster and the man had crumpled to the forest floor.Alex jumped on the speeder bike and took off toward the Cliffs. The going was slow, the darkness hampering her vision, but she decided to stick with the speeder bike to put as much distance as possible between the pursuing scout troopers and herself. She finally deserted the bike about one kilometer south of the landspeeder she and Doro had come in.It was right where they'd left it, fairly close to the cliffs that overlooked the most gorgeous, yet deadly, view anywhere on the planet. The Tahika Cliffs -- for over one hundred kilometers they stretched the coastline, steep and forbidding. From this point they dropped vertically almost 200 meters. Few had attempted to climb them. Of those, fewer than half had survived. Alex had never attempted the climb, but in her dreams she saw herself scaling the sides of the Cliffs. It was a most unusual dream. She was always in the company of a man with sandy brown hair and blue eyes. He was there every time. He seemed familiar to her, yet she'd never met anyone like him. So she waited for the day he would come into her life.It was quiet now except for the call of the crupas that dwelt in the trees. Alex heard no speeder bikes, no footsteps on the forest floor. She revved up the landspeeder and turned north, heading back toward Ariana.She avoided the main roads and followed the paths that hugged the Cliffs -- no need to risk running into the heightened patrols in the area.Thoughts of Team Two came to her mind -- she wondered if they'd been killed, or captured. She wasn't worried that they'd identify her. No one knew her real name. That's how the underground cells were set up. Mostly nameless faces, usually four to six people in each cell. If one were captured, they'd never be able to betray more than a handful of people.Normally they worked efficiently. Tonight was the first time in months something had gone wrong. Alex wondered if the Imperials had been tipped off somehow. Or if the increased activities at the mines, which meant increased patrols, had just caused their bad luck this evening. She'd have to discuss it with her cell leader in the morning.For now, she made her way up to the governor's mansion and parked the landspeeder. Fortunately, her stepfather hadn't felt the need to have security guards patrol the grounds around their home. So Alex was able to slip in through the back door unnoticed. The house was quiet. She tiptoed upstairs past the darkened wing where Tork Winger slept. Safely behind the doors of her own room, she stared at herself in the mirror, shaking her head. "What a mess you are, Alex!" she told the reflection. Her face was smeared with dirt, her clothes were ripped and filthy from her tumble down the mountain. She'd have to get rid of them tomorrow. She chuckled to herself, glancing at her chrono. Not tomorrow, she thought, today, as she cleaned the grime from her face.Five minutes later, Alex fell into her comfortable bed, exhausted. Within minutes, she slept but her sleep was restless. A disturbing dream intruded into her thoughts -- Explosions ripped through a building -- everything was so hazy -- it looked like a barracks. A man lay wounded in the corridor, stunned by a blast -- a woman bent over him, cradling his head in her arms...Alex awoke with a start, as light streamed in through the window. Who are these people? Something seemed vaguely familiar about the man, but she couldn't really place his face. And who was that woman?She nearly jumped out of bed when her servant droid entered the room. "Good morning Mistress Alexandra," he chirped cheerily. "Your father would like you to join him for breakfast in the solarium in one-half hour."She groaned as she sat up in bed. "Is it time to get up already?""Yes, indeed, Mistress. You don't want to keep the Governor waiting."Alex rolled her eyes, and glanced at the chrono. 0700. Time to get up. It was going to be a busy day.<<<>>>"Good morning, Father," she greeted Tork Winger with a kiss on the cheek."Alexandra," he said, noticing the dark circles under her eyes. "Didn't you get any sleep last night?"Alex rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up, and took a sip of tea. "Big exam today, Father. Chemistry. I was up until after one studying."He shook his head. "Six hours' sleep? That's not too bad. But I imagine you dreamed of formulas all night long. That would be enough to keep me from a restful sleep."Alex nodded in agreement.They ate breakfast in silence. Typical, Alex thought, smiling to herself. Her stepfather always wanted to dine with her, but he saved most of the conversation for the end of the meal. Winger reviewed his schedule for the day, and read the morning updates. Alex could tell he was disturbed by something -- it had to be a report of the underground's unsuccessful activity. He finally spoke just as Alex took the last bite of her meal."Alexandra, I'd like you to help me host dinner this evening.""Special company tonight, Father?" she asked. "The Imperial Star Destroyer Judicator is making orbit this afternoon," Winger told her. "You remember my old friend Captain Brandei, don't you?"Alex felt her heart skip several beats. An Imperial Star Destroyer at Garos."Yes, of course. He was here about three years ago, ...
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