[Adventure Journal] - Rendezvous with Destiny (Charlene Newcomb), Star Wars - Books And Short Stories
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STAR WARSAdventure Journal #6Rendezvous with Destinyby Charlene NewcombThe walls were a weary shade of gray and bare of ornamentation. Stale air whistled through ancient ventilation systems. This place had not seen the light of day in more than a millennia.Alex Winger propped her elbows on the table, resting her head in her hands. How long had she been here? Four hours? Eight?Her blue eyes shifted to the vid monitors suspended from the ceiling. She wondered who had been watching the earlier interrogation and her reaction to this isolation. Would they believe her story?The door slid open. Two men, dressed in uniforms of the New Republic military, entered the room and sat down across from her. The lieutenant fidgeted slightly in his chair, obviously inexperienced in these matters. The major was expressionless, his eyes transfixed on Alex. She could sense that he remained skeptical of her story."All right, Miss Winger," the major said, slowly enunciating each word. "Tell me about this secret Imperial research facility one more time."Alex met his gaze, trying to bury her growing impatience. She calmly explained - - it had to be at least the fourth time - - that her comrade, a research scientist named Carl Barzon, had been taken to the secret base. And that ore, mined on her homeworld of Garos IV, was being shipped there. The location of the base remained shrouded behind a veil of Imperial secrecy that her friends in the Garosian resistance had been unable to penetrate.The major's voice was as cold as his icy stare. "And you expect us to believe that the daughter of an Imperial governor works for the resistance on Garos IV?""It's true," she said, slapping her hand down on the table in frustration. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice call out to her. "Alex?"Looking around the room, Alex rubbed her eyes. Computers, communications equipment, and displays of all sorts blinked a rainbow of colors in the dimly lit room. The tap-tap of fingers across a keyboard were the only sounds she heard. She was in the underground operations center - - on Garos IV - - worlds away from that interrogation room she envisioned on Coruscant.Her friend, a comm operator by the name of Wink Tasion, frowned as he transcribed an incoming message. The concern on his face couldn't have been more obvious. But he wasn't looking at his display. He was staring at Alex."Are you okay?" he asked her even before he finished typing the transmission he'd received. "You looked like you were somewhere else."Alex sighed, smiling gently at him. "You could say that," she said, removing her headset. "You won't believe this, but I dreamt I was being interrogated by someone from New Republic Intelligence!" She shook her head and a broad grin swept across her face. "They were having a hard time with the concept of an Imperial governor's daughter working for the good guys."Chuckling, Wink remembered his own introduction to freedom fighter Alex Winger in the ops center. He'd held a blaster on her until his comrades convinced him that Governor Tork Winger's daughter was indeed a member of the resistance movement on Garos. They'd had a lot of laughs over it since then. "Well," he teased her, "you have to admit it does sound a little far-fetched."Alex's smile faded and she stared blankly at the display on her screen. "How will I ever convince them I'm telling the truth?" she said, ignoring his taunt."You're not in this alone, Alex," he reminded her.But Alex didn't seem to hear him. "There's just not that much time," she said quietly. Thoughts of a snow-covered mountainside crashed in upon her senses - - two figures, one hand reaching out to another, wind whipping around their bodies, hands ripped apart, falling - - No!"Huh? What do you mean?" Wink asked. He saw that far-off look in her eyes.She sighed, shaking her head. "It's just a feeling that I've had."Wink turned back to his monitor, his forehead creased with furrows. "Maybe that daydream of yours is a sign, Alex. Look at this message I just got."Alex leaned toward him to read the display. Her senses tingled with anticipation. One of their operatives at Chado's Pub was reporting an interesting conversation with a freighter captain whose ship was taking on supplies at the spaceport. "Hmm. Captain of the Star Quest - - is that the Suwantek light freighter that's in docking bay three?" she asked Wink."That's the one," he told her.Free-traders had been a more frequent sight at Ariana's spaceport in the weeks since Grand Admiral Thrawn's defeat. With the Imperial fleet in disarray, these independents had been hired to transport supplies to the Empire's secret research facility. Alex and her friends in the underground were hopeful that word of this operation would finally reach the New Republic - - perhaps through a contact like this freighter captain."I'm going to check this out," Alex said."I'll inform Paca."Alex shook her head, cocking it toward the chronometer that read 0200. "No, don't bother him," she replied. "It's probably another false lead.""Okay," he said as she got up to leave. "Hey, Alex?""Yeah?" She saw him studying her face."Good luck," he said. "May the Force be with you."Alex wondered if Wink suspected that she planned to do more than just "check out" the crew of that freighter. She'd never told anyone about her visions of the snowy mountainside that harbored that secret Imperial base. Something, or someone, was drawing her to it. She had to go there. It was part of her destiny.Nodding to her comrade, Alex headed into the underground tunnel system. She had a feeling about that freighter in docking bay three. A feeling that it wasn't just another ship hired by the Empire to move supplies.* * *Pink eyes and perked antennae studied displays on a dozen different panels in the Star Quest's cockpit. Satisfied that they were at the correct location, Captain Tere Metallo pulled back on the hyperdrive levers and watched starlines form into distinct points of light. Three hours earlier their freighter had departed Garos IV loaded with supplies. With orders from the Imperials to proceed to these coordinates, their instructions were to wait for another contact.Picking up her datapad, Metallo quietly scanned the virus program she'd be releasing into the Imperial computer network on Sarahwiee - - her little contribution as backup to Page's Commandos. She smiled to herself, thoughtfully tracing the jagged scar that tore across her pasty gray face..Gil Crosear, Metallo's first mate, slipped unobtrusively into the cockpit. Metallo had decided long ago that his uncanny ability to move about unnoticed was a talent the wiry young man had acquired from nature. After four years of working with Gil, there were times even she could not spot him in a crowd.Scanning the emptiness all around them, Gil tapped impatiently on one of the ship's long range sensors. "Well, where are they?" he finally asked. His dark eyes shifted rapidly between the boards and the space beyond the viewport.Metallo settled back into her seat, calmly twirling slender fingers around the meter-length silver braid that protruded from her otherwise hairless head. Her "scantennae," as Gil called her stamen-like sensors, picked up his increased pulse rate. Patience was one virtue Gil still had not mastered. "Relax, Gilly," she gently chided him. "They'll be here."Gil took a deep breath and pushed a loose shock of dark hair from his eyes. "How far ahead is the other team?" he asked."One point three hours.""So," Gil pointed at the datapad in Metallo's hand, "you think this virus will wipe out whatever Page and his bombs don't take care of?"Metallo nodded. "No doubt about it.""This is one strange supply run, Cap'n," Gil said, skillfully punching keys on one board to modify his sensor scan. "Sittin' out here in the middle of nowhere."Eyeing her partner, Metallo's antennae twitched slightly. Though he tried to hide it, Gil was a bit more on edge than on their previous missions."According to reports Command briefed us on, this is standard procedure," she reassured him."Command?" a voice questioned from the rear of the cockpit. Metallo and Gil turned at the same instant. Two blasters came to bear on the young stowaway. Then all of a sudden, an alarm began to blare on the Star Quest."Is that who you're waiting for?" Alex asked calmly, pointing toward the Imperial Strike-class cruiser that emerged from hyperspace about 1,000 kilometers off their port bow."Who the krazsch are you!" Metallo demanded, falling back into her native Riileb tongue."I'm Alex," she told them. "Don't you think you'd better answer their hailing signal?"Gil stared wide-eyed, his blaster trained on Alex, as Metallo silenced the proximity alarm. Flicking a switch on her comm board, she called, "This is Tere Metallo, captain of the Star Quest.""Transmit the recognition signal, Star Quest," an authoritative voice responded over the comm channel."Transmitting now," Metallo replied, glancing back toward Alex. Her antennae moved imperceptibly, sizing up the young woman who peered intently over Gil's shoulder. She picked up no sign of distress, only a calm resolve. And it struck her as odd, that instead of feeling worried that their cover had been blown, she found herself thinking about that name - - Alex. She'd only heard it used one other time for a human female. Her former first mate, a man named Matt Turhaya, had talked of a young daughter he'd lost in an Imperial raid. Her name had been Alex, too."Stand by to receive new coordinates, Star Quest."The harsh voice interrupted Metallo's musings. "Ready when you are," she called."Transmission commencing....
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