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Harbinger	By : prophecygirl Category: Star Wars (All) > General Views: 5961 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Star Wars movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Author�s Ramblings: EU referenced in this section is the 1980 Marvel illustrated story, �The Day After the Death Star�. The extreme cheesiness of some of the dialogue should be blamed on Marvel, not me. ;)

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~ �Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace,

Shall ne�er look back, ne�er ebb to humble love,

Till that a capable and wide revenge

Swallow them up.�~

-Othello

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YAVIN SYSTEM, GORDIN REACH, OUTER RIM

Preitha stared at her nav-computer and frowned. She cursed under her breath silently, before looking up at the seemingly endless expanse of galaxy around her. She cursed again, this time aloud, with an impressive, colorful string of Abyssinian profanity that she�d picked up from a fellow student at the Academy whose parents had been smugglers on the Outer Rim. She�d never learned the complete translation of the phrases, but did know that they referenced several unflattering orifices, a bantha, someone�s mother, and a cannok with something akin to herpes. Her father had heard her use it once, and had smacked her so hard that her ears had rung for days afterward.
Her father.
Had he, by some twist of fate, made it safely off the Death Star before its� destruction? Was he out here, lost and desperate, just as she was? Was he too reliving their final confrontation? Preitha had not seen any shuttles or small crafts depart from the station before it exploded, but it had all happened so fast. It was impossible to know if anyone else had survived. Still, something inside her �knew� that her father was dead.
She could still see the brilliant flash of light as the station had shattered; it had been such a quiet, simple thing. Watching, horrified, through the transparisteel windows of the small fighter craft, she�d expected to hear the screams of the countless soldiers still inside. She�d expected something� more.
Her anger at Motti�s behavior had evaporated to be replaced by a deep-seated, searing regret. His last words to her had been to call her a whore. He was the only family she�d ever known; and he�d died hating her. She knew, at that moment, how Princess Leia had felt to watch Alderaan�s obliteration.
Now, Lord Vader was her only hope of discovering who she was, and who her mother had been. Whatever secrets her father had kept had died with him.
She didn�t know if Vader had survived the blast. She�d seen his craft thrown clear of the fuel trench prior to the explosion, but had he been flung far enough away to be safe? She�d barely been out of range to avoid serious damage herself. As soon as Preitha had realized that the rebels were going to succeed, she�d angled her craft away from the Death Star, racing away from the station with a desperation that nearly transformed into blind panic.
She assumed the Emperor had a contingency plan now that his most effective weapon was destroyed, but still, the loss of the Death Star was a major blow to the Empire�s power structure. Tarkin�s vision of ruling the galaxy through fear of the massive weapon would never be realized. If the rebels were as clever as they seemed to be, and if they moved swiftly, they had the chance to mount a serious attack against the Empire.
But Preitha had other, more immediate concerns than the security of the Empire. Sooner or later she would run out of both fuel and oxygen. Unlike Lord Vader�s starcraft, the TIE fighter in which she now sat lacked a hyperdrive, limiting her destination options to planets in system. And to top it all off, her port steering rocket was misfiring, no doubt damaged in the shock-wave after the Death Star exploded.
She was, quite simply, fucked.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and counted to ten. Panicking would only worsen her situation. Whether she liked it or not, Preitha was on her own. She opened her eyes again and looked back to the nav-computer. There weren�t many options. In fact, she seemed to have just one - land on Yavin 4. It was a suicidal maneuver, but she had no other choice.
�There has to be another way,� she said aloud.
�You�re out of options, you idiot girl,� she answered herself, sounding very much like her father.
If she wanted to survive, she could not waste time on inner debate. She�d already spent nearly half a day drifting out here, trying to flesh out a plan.
And she did want to survive, if only to see the Rebel Alliance destroyed. She felt the anger and hate well up within her at the thought of the rebels. Preitha wondered what they were doing now. Were they celebrating on Yavin 4, passing out awards of valor and bravery? Were they smiling and laughing while the wreckage of the Death Star floated silently above them? Had they cheered when her father died?
More than ever, Preitha hated the Alliance. All of her rage and despair had to go somewhere, and it was going to go to them.
The fighter�s proximity sensors chimed shrilly, breaking her reverie. She glanced at the radar screen and swore again. A rebel X-Wing was approaching at breakneck speed. What the hell was an X-Wing doing out here?
The craft drew closer and Preitha reached for the control yoke, thumbs hovering over the laser cannon buttons.
The X-Wing blew past her without any acknowledgement. He had to have seen her. She looped upward and kicked her thrusters into gear, intending to drop down behind the enemy ship, dogfight style. It was a risky maneuver given the TIE�s current malfunctions.
Halfway through the downward loop, she fired. Preitha just might be able to take him by surprise; he�d given no indication that he knew, or cared, about her presence thus far.
She missed.
�Shit!� she breathed, resisting the urge to punch her display screen.
The X-Wing reacted instantly, snap-rolling into a dive and then a twist, avoiding the second blast from Preitha�s weaponry. She held the control yoke in a white-knuckled grip and stayed on the rebel�s tail, firing repeatedly. Again the other ship evaded her, but it slowed its� pace, allowing her to close some of the distance between them, before banking hard to the left.
The TIE�s damaged steering rockets preventing her from following the X-Wing�s path.
�You son of a bitch!� she yelled with desperation. He was going to fire now, shoot her down, and it would be finished.
But the other craft didn�t fire. Preitha took advantage of the pilot�s hesitation and looped around to the right; she didn�t understand why the rebel hadn�t fired on her, but she wasn�t about to give him a second chance.
It wasn�t until the right wing of the rebel craft connected with the solar panels of her TIE that she realized the other pilot had to be insane. He�d connected with her �deliberately�.
The impact of the crash pushed the two ships apart and sent them both spiraling into the gravitational pull of Yavin 4.

YAVIN 4, YAVIN SYSTEM, GORDIN REACH
There wasn�t much Preitha could do to control her descent into the moon�s atmosphere. She was able to engage her reverse thrusters, but that slowed the craft down only slightly. The jungle-like landscape of Yavin 4 rushed towards her, and she yanked the control yoke to the right, angling towards what appeared to be a lake. If she could cushion her landing, she �might� survive.
She managed to level out the craft just enough to avoid slamming head-first into the water. The TIE skimmed across the surface for several yards before dropping into murky blackness.
Preitha fumbled clumsily at the dials to the left of the control yoke for the emergency ejection knob. When she finally found it, she yanked the knob. The pilot�s seat launched out of the cockpit, arcing up out of the water before dropping back in. She pressed the release buttons on the chair, pulling herself free of the bulky contraption.
The shoreline was, fortunately, not far, and Preitha kicked her way towards it wearily, pulling herself through the mud onto the foggy bank. She closed her eyes and took a moment to rest before shakily standing, and surveying her surroundings. It was then that she saw the X-Wing suspended in the trees far to her right.
It was impossible to tell, at that distance, if the other pilot was still inside the craft, if he had survived. She decided to approach with caution and investigate. Preitha moved through the trees, concentrating on her footing, trying to avoid as many twigs and branches as she could.
Several meters away from the downed rebel ship stood its� pilot, a young man with sandy-blond hair. She watched him throw his flight helmet at the ground angrily, and begin to walk away from the craft.
Preitha drew her blaster and aimed an unsteady shot at the rebel. She wasn�t excellent with a blaster on a good day, and she was currently seeing double from the impact of the crash. Regardless, if she didn�t take him out now, the rebel might get away and report her presence to his friends back at base. That would definitely not help her situation.
She brought her free hand up to steady her grip on the weapon and fired. Dirt and rock erupted in a dusty haze, obscuring her vision of the enemy, making it difficult to tell if she�d dropped the man or not.
She began to move towards the dust cloud. If she was lucky, she�d at least wounded him. That being the case, she�d finish him off now, slowly � she�d treat this rebel as if �he� was the one who�d destroyed the Death Star, even though chances were good that he wasn�t.
Preitha kept her weapon drawn, her finger hovering alertly over the trigger As the dust settled slightly, she saw the tattered remains of an orange flight suit on the ground.
�I got you, you fucker�, she thought triumphantly, moving in closer still.
The attack caught her off guard � the rebel pilot swung out of the tree and planted a hard, two-footed kick in the square of her back, cracking the oxygen tanks against her spine. The air flew out of her and she let out a strangled cry, pitching forward face-first into the dirt.
Preitha struggled to flip onto her back, still clutching her blaster. The man was on her before she could take aim, pinning her down with his left hand while reaching for her blaster with his right.
Her enemy let out a triumphant whoop as he got a firm grip on her weapon and pulled it out of her grasp. In doing so, however, he�d taken his weight off of her body. She took advantage of the opportunity and launched herself at him, relying on the sheer bulk of her suited form to knock her opponent down.
It worked. The rebel was knocked off his feet and sent flying backwards into the filth of the lake, with Preitha not far behind. The pair went head-first into the water; the blaster tumbled out of the man�s hand and sank down into the mud, useless. Preitha�s helmet and oxygen tanks were still operating, and she smiled when the idea came to her.
She locked her arms around her adversary, clinging to him, and waited. Eventually the rebel would run out of air and drown. No blasters involved. Vader would be proud of her, she thought.
But the other pilot was clever as well. He reached up and wrapped a fist around one of her air tubes. The fierce yank tore the synthesized material in half. It happened too swiftly for Preitha to react, and murky water quickly filled her helmet, rushing down her throat before she could close her mouth.
The shock of water in her lungs paralyzed her. She went limp, drifting slowly towards the soothing blackness of unconsciousness. Preitha was vaguely aware of the rebel pilot grasping the back of her flight suit and dragging her upward, out of the lake.
The man pulled her towards the shore, shouting angrily about people whose names she didn�t recognize, yelling at her about the deaths caused by the Empire.
�You Imperials know all about killing!� he raged. �You and your kind did in Aunt Beru, Uncle Owen, and Ben!�
She choked, forcing water out of her body and sucking hungrily at the air.
�Well, I�ll show you �I� know all about it too!� the rebel continued, dropping her unceremoniously onto the bank of the lake. With one eye slitted open, she watched the rebel reach for a large branch, brandishing it like a club.
Preitha let out an involuntary moan, and her helmet slipped off into the grass, revealing her face to her enemy. The young man paused, looking at her with shock. He dropped the branch and bent to study her.
�No�� he stated softly. �I� never thought beyond the glory, the adventure.� He cupped her cheek. �But �this� is part of it, too! The enemy�s not just armor or a spacecraft. They live, they breathe� like you! Kill when it can be avoided� and you�re no better than �them� at their worst!�
�Just finish it,� she spat, breathing hard.
�No,� the blond-haired man decided, standing. �There�s been enough killing today.�
�So you�d kill an entire station of people, but you can�t stomach it face to face? Coward,� she seethed, regaining some of her strength through anger.
�I� had to,� he said. �If I hadn�t, they would have killed us.�
�You want to talk about family?� she asked, pushing herself up onto her elbows. �My father was on that station. He was the only family I�ve ever had! If you�re looking for vengeance for your family, you�ve already taken it - from me.�
�I guess we�re even, then.�
�Somehow I don�t find that comforting,� she responded.
�No,� he agreed. �Neither do I.�
A loud, whistle-like beep interrupted their conversation, and they directed their attentions towards the approaching airspeeder. Preitha counted four passengers � two droids, one male, and one petite, brown-haired female�
Princess Leia.
�There, gang,� the man said, pointing towards the soiled pair, �� one slightly soiled medal winner! Heat sensors led us to Artoo, kid... the sound of fighting got us to you!�
The protocol droid chimed in, �When you didn�t return I alerted the Princess, sir. Thank the Maker you aren�t seriously harmed.�
The craft slowed to a stop just short of the pair, and its� passengers piled out, moving towards them.
Leia�s eyes widened when she looked down at Preitha, recognizing her immediately.
�You!� she exclaimed, drawing her blaster and leveling it at the downed Lieutenant.
�Leia, what are you doing?� the pilot asked.
�Do you know who this is, Luke?� Leia asked with a scowl. �This is Vader�s personal lapdog! She was there when he interrogated me, and there when they put me into the execution chamber!�
The one called Luke considered this. After a pause he shook his head. �She�s an unarmed opponent. The Empire would kill her without hesitation if she were one of us, but if we do the same, we�re no better than what we�re fighting.�

�She stood there and watched my home planet be destroyed; she watched my father die!�
�And you watched the death of hers,� Luke stated calmly.
�What?� Leia asked.
�Her father was on the Death Star,� he explained. �There�s been enough killing for one day.�
The Princess�s scowl deepened, then her features relaxed and she sighed, holstering her blaster.
�What do you propose we do with her, Luke?� Leia�s companion asked.
�I guess we take her back to the base with us, Han. What other choice do we have?�
- 6
- 7
- 8
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Harbinger