The Garden of Truth

Forward

Having come of age into manhood 8 months ago Rebel Alliance Academy Cadet Sean Layne-callsign "Vapor"--sets out into space piloting his own A-Wing away from his homeworld Vindali Prime. After his encounter with the now inactive FRS squadron and the 51st fleet he sets out on a quest of his own. Over the past several weeks he had been seeing something odd in his dreams. All he could make out was a planet near a vast nebula in a system that consisted of only one large gas giant and several M and B class moons.

It was a binary system. He could make out the huge blue giant and small white dwarf that orbited around each other in the distance. The dreams had stopped until lately when they suddenly started again. He knew he had to find this place and discover why it was so persistent in his thoughts. Also, he had a feeling of connection to this place. He could never bring himself to ask his parents about where he came from. He didn't have the distinctive neck ridges Vindali were known for.

Vapor lands at Drellek station on Drellek 2, a station once controlled by Airam pirates now working fully toward the prosperity of the Rebel Alliance. He receives clearance and touches down on pad Seven. He climbs out of the cockpit and got on a ground transport that leads to the main facility.

On his way to the Ardaine City business district he pulls the incomplete digital map of the expanse out of his jacket. He sees a nebula only designated with an E-421Xc next to a huge void of uncharted space-nearly an entire sector. He immediately decides to investigate but there was the small problem of an Imperial listening-post one thousand clicks from the rim of the nebula. He marks the area off and continues to leaf through pages of data on the sector. The tone sounds to signal the transport will arive at the station shortly. Vapor slides the pad back into his jacket and begins to gaze at the vast green landscape and rolling hills on Drellek.

Vapor stands on the platform lost in a sea of people. He sees a large sign with an arrow saying Mavek's Pub He decides it would be a good chance to get some R&R before heading out. He slides through the small mechanical door. Vapor heads toward the bar and orders the house special. The barkeep turns slowly with a sigh as if to say "Tourists." Vapor hardly pays attention as the bartender replies aloud. "We're all out of alcoholic drinks-got cleaned out last night with the locals during the Harvest festivals." Vapor thinks for a moment and then orders an Ardainian root freeze. He takes the drink to a table and stirs the bluish-gray drink. Before he can start the drink someone sits down across from him. "You look lonely." Comes a female voice across the table from him.

"Why do you say that?" Vape asks looking up. He realizes she's about his age.

"I can tell.What's your name?" she asks.

"Look I'm not interested in any business your gonna offer me" He replies coolly.

"What?" she says with a shocked expression, "What? Oh you think I'm a.No way"

"Well then what are you after?" He asks.

"What do you mean? Just a little friendly conversation to pass the time." She says.

Vapors eyes return to his drink, which he takes a sip of and then says, "My name's Sean but my friends call me Vapor. Now it's your turn."

"My names Rebecca" she replies.

"Well Rebecca" he starts, "What's a pretty girl like you doing in a dive like this?"

She didn't laugh at his comment, which surprised him, but instead she simply said. "My father is a trader in this sector and he's delivering goods to the market in the Industrial District. He should be back soon."

He quietly thought to himself for a moment of how her father might know the lay of the area a little better than he did. "Well does he have a map of section E-421?"

"I don't know" she said, "I think I've been there before though. Isn't a nebula near there?"

"Absolutely!" He cheered with a smile. "Hmm you'll have to point him ou-" Vapor became incredibly dizzy for a moment followed by a sharp pain.

"What's wrong?!?!" was the last thing he heard Rebecca say before blacking out.

He had the dream again except this time his view panned through all the thick atmosphere of one of the moons and he saw a small village being attacked by Imperial Stormtroopers. He saw a child standing outside a burning home screaming for his mother before he jumped awake.

Chapter 1

Vapor awoke in a daze lying on a table. Frustrated and confused he tried to sit up but a hand held him down. "Veeshok Malushdok!" arose a voice in Drellek tongue. Which Vapor translated to mean "Lay still!". Vapor's eyes focused and they found two individuals looking down on him. One he recognized was Rebecca and the other one a Drellek native.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You're at a clinic here in Ardaine." Rebecca replied. "This is Doctor Rithal"

"How did I get here?" Vapor wondered.

"Ver issh veerak ka nolshtoph, irrivak ver needaklow," the doctor said. ~Translated~ "You hit your head pretty bad, It's a good thing the female brought you here fast"

Vapor sat up slowly, looked at her and said, "You saved my life."

"Well it was the least I could do." She replied.

"What happened?" He asked checking out his cut on a mirror.

"You went out cold and cracked your head on the floor when you went down." Rebecca said still a little shaken up.

"Am I good to go?" Vapor questioned beginning to slide off the clinic bed.

"You in a hurry?" Rebecca asked.

"Not really." He began, stopping halfway to the door.

"Why do you want to find this place so bad?" she cut in. The doctor quietly walked to his office and closed the door behind him.

"How did you." He started, turning around quickly.

"I can sense your emotions. Your eager to find something."

"Oh great.another Jedi." Vape said hesitantly.

"Nope," She replied quickly, "all of our kind possess the ability to sense what other people are feeling. Jedi use The Force to read other peoples minds and manipulate them occasionally. "

"So you can't change peoples minds only pick up what they're feeling. Are you born with it?" Vapor asked struggling to keep up.

"No, most of us are trained at the age of adolescence how to use our minds this way. But some of the more gifted ones begin even earlier."

She said as the door hissed open behind him. A short stout man entered carrying a bagful of exotic fruits. "Dad!" she ran over to him. The man set the bag down and hugged her while Vapor pretended to be a fly on the wall.

"Sweetheart I thought you were in trouble. When I returned to the pub all the bartender would say is that you went to the clinic." Her father said.

"I'm fine," she replied beginning to point to Vapor, "Dad, this is an friend of mine. His name is Vapor."

"Armin Gething the 3rd" he said holding out his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you Mr. Gething," Vapor said shaking his hand.

"What manners this boy has, and a pilot too!" He said finding the insignia on Vapor's bomber jacket.

Vapor smiled and said "Well sir I was wondering if you had a map of section E-420 in this sector."

"That's close to the Havaraki Nebula. Why do you want to go there?" He asked suspiciously.

"I can't really explain why but there's something I must find there." Vapor replied hoping it was a good enough excuse.

"Well why don't you come down to my shuttle with me and we can look through what I have," the father stated motioning toward the door. "It's on pad 4"

"Sure" Vapor said heading out. Vapor and Rebecca's father exited through the hissing door.

"Section E-420.Delta Serpentis." Rebecca said to herself in a now empty room. "Could he be one of us?" she exited following the two of them.

Vapor stared at the beautiful silver-gray Delta Class JV-7 Escort Shuttle as he rode the lift down to pad 4. It appeared as if it had just flown out of space-dock for the first time. It had an unusual bird logo on the side with the sky-blue letters/number "AF3" painted on it. "Nice vessel. What's AF3 stand for?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Assault Flyer 3" I have two other modified Shuttle Lambdas they aren't nearly as heavily armed as this beast." Armin said very content with himself stepping off the lift.

"I see," Vapor said rather impressed. He nodded to show approval and followed him to the large craft.

Armin opened the door on the ship and said, "I had the interior custom made, make yourself at home."

Vapor wasn't sure where he'd find any more enthusiasm toward the amazement of how nice the ship looked but he tried hard anyway. He smiled ear to ear walking through the door admiring the leather trim.

"Right this way." Mr. Gething strolled over to the stack of drawers along the port wall of the craft and opened one. He leafed through several charts before pulling out the correct one. "E-421, the Havaraki Nebula and the system, Delta Serpentis." He quickly made a copy and handed it to Vapor. "You know it would be a whole lot easier if we could give you a lift there." Mr. Gething said with a generous smile.

"Oh no I couldn't oblige you like that. I think I'll just take my own fighter there." Vapor said as Rebecca walked on the ship.

"Alright but take this with you," Mr. Gething said handing him a large glowing apparatus. "This will render your ship invisible to aspect scans and mask your engines output so you should make it past the listening post. However, It won't render your radio transmissions or electrical systems invisible to scans. It's not much but it's the best I can do. A resourceful pilot like yourself should find a way through there."

"I can't thank you enough sir." Vape said. "I appreciate all you've done for me." Vape turned and walked back toward the lift. A hand tugged at his elbow as soon as he was nearly to the lift and he turned to see what it was.

Rebecca was standing there and said to him "Be careful out there. There's no telling what you might run into."

Vapor smiled and said, "Hey you know me, my middle name is 'careful!'"

She smiled which Vapor noticed was the first time he ever saw her do so and said back, "Alright hot shot just don't get yourself killed I already saved your life once I don't want to have to again." Vapor laughed and said, "I'm gonna pay you back you know," before turning and stepping on the lift.

Vapor's A-Wing cleared the fighterbay and headed toward the hyperpoint. He decided to test out his new toy and flicked a newly added gray switch on the panel to his left. From outside, the ship becomes one with its starfield background. Vapor settles into the cockpit and enters in a flight plan to his navigational computer. He finds a small disc sitting on his keypad. He inserts it into the data deck and an image appears on his targeting screen. "Hello Vapor this is a recording" It's an image of Mr. Gething. Vapor wonders when he had an opportunity to place this disc. "This is recorded data to help you maneuver around the listening post. The structure itself sits between two hyperpoints, which you must successfully navigate to make it to sector E-421. The structure is composed of several tough alloys, which you will find impenetrable by your blasters." Vapor skipped past the whole part about warheads since he realized attempting to destroy the LP would cause it to put out a distress signal. A cross-section image of the satellite appeared on the screen. Its operation system is based on a network of several small heavily shielded relays, which orbit around the center post. The main relay sends out beams of light to the relays, which bounce back tactual information to the main structure. The time it takes to return to the post is logged. There is a 1.5-second allowance for small space debris but, when a radio impulse is not received in 1.5 seconds, several long-range warheads are fired at the abnormality. After 10 kilometers the light begins to fluctuate so the back side of the relays sends out a static field of radio emissions which are gauged at the relays as to how far they go before they hit something. Once you get past this web of emissions your home free. Best of luck on your mission and good hunting" The image faded into the navy blue the screen normally produced. Vapor popped the disk out and stuck it in the data disc storage slot.

The ship plunged into hyperspace as Vapor prepared a plan for maneuvering post. The disc inputted targeting data for the listening post and its relays including the path the impulses took. He carefully studied the netting for a moment and found a loophole of sorts in the system. "It will be like flying through the spokes of a bicycle," he said as the ship automatically slowed to a stop. He scoped the system for a moment on his targeting computer when it caught a ship. He slowly gazed at the convoy of Imperial Stormtrooper transports, Assault Transports, and Escort Transports followed by what appeared to be a captured Rebel corvette. The convoy was not yet within range of the listening post. They were 5 clicks away and hadn't spotted him on account of his partial cloaking device. He decided quickly to fly into the convoy and act as a piece of the corvette. Since his hull was very similar in composition, the radio impulses would be fooled. Vapor very smoothly piloted his A-W past four waves of Imperial craft and hovered no more than 2 feet away from the aft section of the corvette. The convoy proceeded toward the listening post and Vapor crossed his fingers gripping the flight stick tightly with the other hand. The convoy (Vapor and all) flew past the listening post as he detected six X-Wings and eight Y-Wings hypering in behind them. Some of them were heavily damaged and left huge trails of yellow gas leaking from their engines. He heard over the radio. "This is Rogue 1! Relinquish your hold on the Corvette or you will be fired upon!"

"Dammit! Rogue Squadron!" Vapor exclaimed as the listening post began launching warheads. The Y-Wings began firing ion cannons at the Corvette and the X-Wings launched warheads at the rest of the convoy. Not wanting to be disabled, Vapor broke away from the corvette and maneuvered his invisible ship through the fray. He deactivated the cloaking device and got on the comm. "You bastards I really shouldn't do this for you!" He tracked down the warheads and destroyed most of them before they could impact the flight group. Several Y-Wings were hit and destroyed as three new ships entered the area. One was an IPV-1 System Patrol Craft one was a light Escort Carrier and one was an Escort Shuttle marked AF3. The SPC and The ESC were both Imperial and headed for the fray. He saw there was only one thing to do to give the rebels a fighting chance. He turned toward the SPC and armed up several Proton Torpedoes. He swayed in and out of Turbo Laser fire taking a shot every now and then. He cut hard directly overhead the craft and unloaded his arsenal bringing the SPC to 20% shields. He then turned toward the large vessel and plotted a collision course. The A-W took shot after shot as his course held true. He lost his hyperdrive, then the lasers went, and finally at .1 kilometers he pulled the eject cord.

His eyes took focus as he heard a loud bang. He identified it as something clamping onto his escape pod. He glanced through the window to see what it was but it was too dark. The cockpit canopy opened and a bright light shone in. Vapor squinted to see an arm reaching down to pull him out. Vapor drew his blaster and pointed it at whatever was at the other end of that arm. "Hold your fire!" a voice screamed. Vapor recognized the voice.

"Mr. Gething. What a pleasant surprise." He uttered as he tried to climb out. Vapor tried to reach up with his right arm but it wouldn't move. He then realized he couldn't feel it. Doctor Gething grabbed him under the left arm and pulled him out. Vapor collapsed on the floor and looked at his right shoulder. A piece of shrapnel was lodged in it and it looked bad. Rebecca ran to his side and knelt down.

"Oh my God! Look at all the blood!" She said shakily.

"Now's not the time to spectate gorgeous just go grab the medkit." Vapor said trying to stay awake.

Rebecca disappeared into the back and returned carrying a bunch of towels and a first aid kit.

"Mr. Gething your gonna have to pull the piece of metal out of my arm and Rebecca your going to have to quickly apply pressure to the wound." Vape spouted.

"Ready?" Armin asked, "one, two, THREE!" on three he ripped the piece of metal out of his arm and almost immediately a blue towel came down on top of the wound.

"Keep holding that towel there and don't let up the pressure!" Vapor shouted to Rebecca. She nodded. 'I have to stay awake; I have to stay awake,' he repeated over and over in his mind as everything began to fade back into a solid gray haze.

Chapter 2

Vapor felt the resuscitant bring him back awake and he saw Rebecca still there holding an air needle as he opened his eyes. "Deja vu" Vapor said checking his arm.

"It looks like your gonna be okay." Rebecca said with a relieved look.

"My arm?" Vapor asked.

"You wont lose it but your gonna have to go easy on it now. Which means no more colliding with Imperial ships." She said harshly.

"Fine, fine. What happened?" Vapor asked getting to his feet.

"You destroyed the SPC and Rogue Squadron took out the Listening post with a handful of fighters before retreating back into Rebel Territory. The Escort Carrier is still there with a full squadron of TIE Advanced and TIE Defenders. They are awaiting reinforcements."

"Where are we now?" Vapor questioned sitting down in a chair.

"We're hiding in the gravitational field of a large planetoid about 50 kilometers away." Rebecca replied uneasily.

"Well what are we waiting for? Now's the time to strike!" Vape exclaimed heading for the cockpit. She didn't have time to answer as he was already through the door.

"Ah your awake. I see those robotic cells did the trick." Armin stated.

"Robotic cells? You mean like nanobes?" Vape asked recalling his training in the field of robotic engineering. Nanobes were experimental miniature robots that repaired a ship's hull in battle. "It's a breakthrough in the field of medicine. Microscopic robots repair dead tissue inside the wounded limb. Once they've finished they disintegrate in your bloodstream back to their basic chemical components. It can't be used on torso wounds though." Armin said very proudly.

"Hmm." Vape said, "You must be a very resourceful trader."

"Who said I was a trader, my daughter?" Armin asked. Vapor nodded. He continued, "Oh she always says that. I am actually more of an apprentice to an inventor and part time smuggler."

"Well, I know I must get there now because where there's Imps there's trouble." Vapor said to himself mostly.

"Your ship was destroyed. Now do you want us to take you there?"

Armin said rhetorically. "You have to man the tailgunner turret while I pilot this bird. Rebecca will take main gunner."

Vapor nodded as Rebecca entered the cockpit. "Alright, let's go!" he said heading out the cockpit door.

Vapor settled into the tiny tailgunner seat and recalled his combat tactics in dealing with TIE Advanced-Run! Before he could change his mind and decide to take main gunner instead the first wave closed in. Four modified TIE Interceptors circled around the tail of the shuttle. Vapor smiled briefly and exclaimed "Suck on Plasma IMP Scum!" He almost completely drained the turret batteries taking out two of them on their first pass. The other two fell back to regroup with the T/As. Wave two came hard and fast taking the shuttles shields down to 125%.

"Hit the orange button on the floor with your foot!" he heard over his radio speaker. It was Mr. Gething. Vapor did so. A computerized voice came from all around him "Chain Gun Mode" as the turret transformed into a large bulky chain gun. The turret recharged twice as fast and now fired chain-style. Vapor smiled big this time as the second wave circled around the tail of the shuttle. Vapor leaned on the trigger. Rizza zoo Rizza zoo the cannons flared as they sawed four TIEs in half.

"Whoa!" Vapor shouted as they circled for another pass. The loud shudder of the cannons recharging brought a calm to him as he waited for the next wave. Riiiizuzuzuzuzuzu Riiiizuzuzuzuzu There was little accuracy with his shots but they covered six times the area in a spray of laser blasts. This time he only got one TIE.

"Press the green button over your head." Came Gething's voice again.

Vapor did so muttering to himself "How could this get any better?" A computerized voice filled the gunner pit. "Hornet mode." And the gun again transformed into what seemed like a warhead launcher. The next round blew past the front of the ship spraying laser fire as Vapor got a target lock. "That was fast." Vapor stated flipping over a cover on the top of the gun marked "Live" He pressed the button underneath and a large missile shot out of the barrel. The projectile split into a dozen tiny warheads, which followed their target with lightning precision. Vapor watched the ship explode in a large cloud of bright light. "Baptism by Fire!" he exclaimed as he looked around for more buttons to press. He found a yellow button on his right armrest. He pressed it.

"Push the yellow button on your righ-" Armin started.

"I already have!" Vapor shouted back. The gun transformed into something he'd never seen before. He did recognize that it used an aspect lock as a single TIE Advanced flew past. He pulled the trigger and a long harpoon-like hook shot out of the gun followed by a long metallic cable. The hook grabbed the TIE stopping it dead in its tracks and sent a powerful charge along the cable. The charge disabled the craft and knocked the pilot out but did not damage the ship. "Oh my God. I just stole a TIE!" Vapor screamed with excitement. There did not appear to be any more craft coming so he climbed out of his gunner pit and made his way to the front of the ship. He entered the cockpit.

"Nice shooting!" Armin exclaimed.

"It was nothing with that bag of tricks you had in there." Vapor replied.

"We can now go to hyperspace we're at the hyperpoint." Armin noted.

"I'd like to capture that TIE if I can." Vapor said anxiously.

"Sure thing" Mr. Gething said, "We'll go grab it now."

"Great," he said. The ship turned to face the TIE and docked with it. Vapor stared down at the hatch with blaster drawn. The doors hissed open showing the pilot sitting in the cockpit. Vapor knelt down, removed his helmet and put his hand on his forehead. "Out cold!" he cheered.

The unconscious Imperial pilot laid on the floor and did not move. Mr. Gething gave him a sedative. "That should keep him under until we turn him over to RA security," he said turning to Vapor, "So you're taking this IMP craft ahead right?"

"Yeah." Vapor said. He turned to Rebecca. "So this is good-bye again eh?" She nodded. Her eyes wandered. He wondered why she didn't seem to be paying him any attention. "What's wrong?"

"I-It's nothing" she replied, "My minds just been on something else lately." Her eyes drifted again from him to out the window. Vapor shrugged and climbed down into the cockpit.

"Hey sir, you wouldn't happen to have any toys for this baby would ya?" he called up through the hatch.

"None of my technology is adaptable to Imperial craft. I can give you this though." Mr. Gething dropped a small gray device down into his hand. Vapor examined it. It was a small metallic disk no bigger around than a quarter but 3 times as thick. It had a concave back on it with a gray button.

"What is it?" Vapor asked

"If you're ever in trouble press the button. And here, take this lightsaber and this blaster." He flipped the safeties on both 'On' and dropped them down to Vapor. He clipped them to his belt and looked up at Mr. Gething.

"It seems I'm getting in a habit of thanking you sir." Vapor said.

"There's a reason for everything kid." He replied turning to close the hatch.

"Be careful" he heard Rebecca say as the hatch hissed closed. "Save us all." she said staring down at the closed hatch.

The TIE was extremely agile and banked left and right similarly to his A-Wing and the captured TIE Interceptor he trained with back in his days with the 51st. Vapor settled in the small seat and noticed the registration of the craft-'Avenger 1'. "Damn. Those guys were Avenger squadron huh?" he remarked to himself as he prepared to jump to hyperspace. He saluted to the shuttle as it disappeared into the black void behind him. Vapor looked at the extensive data in the TIE's computer of the system he was headed for and gasped when he saw the two stars. Many of the moons were either uninhabitable or appeared to be abandoned when the Imps began to attack. There were 7 of them. They were designated in order by size: 'Alpha' 'Beta' 'Gamma' 'Kappa' 'Pi' 'Sigma' 'Zeta' and 'Omega'. Vapor deduced that once there were dozens of moons but they were destroyed because they were used for military purposes only. The ship began to slow and return to normal space. Vapor switched off the resource display and flipped on the tactical. His jaw dropped as the purple fog of the nebula faded to dark and the triangular shadow of an Imperial Star Destroyer covered his canopy. In the background lay the large silver-blue planet 'Delta Serpentis prime', and four of its moons 'Beta', 'Gamma', 'Pi', and 'Omega'. The glint off the blue giant sun reflected off the hull of several much smaller ships that were attacking the ISD Wrath as it was designated by his target display. It was Rogue Squadron-again, and this time the Wrath was without the mainstay of her starfighter support, which the Escort Carrier normally provided. He realized being the only Imperial starfighter in the area eventually someone was gonna try to take him down. Almost instantly, a series of A-Wings from Red Viper Squad broke from the fighter group and headed for Vapor. Red Viper Squadron was a universally recognized squadron of cadets who excelled in their piloting skills and were students of the force. Most of the elite Rogue Squadron pilots originated there. He accelerated through the first band of cadets leaving them confused from his chaff bursts. Vapor dumped power to the engines and went full throttle. Vapor headed for a large mass of rock he believed to be a piece of a destroyed moon. He watched the battle unfold from inside a crevasse on the rock's surface. Rogue Squadron took heavy losses from turbolaser fire and fell back to the hyperpoint before jumping. RVS was close behind. The mammoth rock turned and faced one of the huge moons 'Beta'. Vapor read tactical data on the area: "The great Imperial Star Destroyer 'Rage' arrived in sector E-421x thirteen years ago after successfully establishing a hyperspace path through the previously uncharted nebula. They discovered an extensive pre-hyperspace civilization living on the surface of the many moons that orbited the planet in the Delta Serpentis system, a system blocked to long-range probes and sensors by the immense Havaraki Nebula and feared by most reconnaissance pilots. It was ordered that this civilization be brought to its knees so we could harvest the plentiful supply of minerals on their moons. A full-scale attack insued and few Imperial casualties were sustained due to the peaceful nature of the civilization. A faction of militant Serpentians broke through the space barricade on the now destroyed moon 'Theta' and hijacked two Modified Corvettes. They then proceeded to load several Serpentian slaves onto them and headed for the hyperspace point. One Corvette was met head-on by the ISD Rage and Avenger squadron and destroyed before it could go to hyperspace. The other escaped and turned up months later abandoned in sector-grid 104.15.239"

Vapor looked up from his display at the yellowish-brown moon in front of him. "Oh no.Sector-grid 104.15.239.The Vindali system is in that sector!" he said to himself. The data-stream continued, "Slavery has been in effect since the civilization fell thirteen years ago but several instances of sabotage toward Imperial operations has occurred in recent history. The slaves are becoming too hostile. It is believed that a plan to terminate the rest of the Serpentians will go into effect soon. After the conquering of the inferior civilization, most of the moons became a barren wasteland, but we have found a large majority of the resources lie beneath the surface. The moons themselves are uninhabitable for an extended amount of time. The air is breathable but there is no source of water or food anywhere to be found leaving them vast desert planets with frequent sandstorms. It is rumored that there was once a mythical crystal on 'Alpha' that controls the climate of all the moons but such a crystal has never been found and is believed by Imperial intelligence not to exist. Several search parties have been sent out to search for this crystal and their findings have returned inconclusive or haven't returned at all."

He reached across the control panel and pulled back on the throttle. "Now is the time." He said to himself as he turned his craft toward the Wrath.

He carefully piloted his craft through an array of starfighter debris, which is scattered lightly around the mammoth ISD. He flinched as a piece of hull cracked off of his forward shields in front of his canopy. He was wearing the pilot's uniform and helmet of the Imperial pilot as he figured before it would decrease the likelihood of him being caught. His TIE hooked onto the loading crane and it dragged him over a huge fighterbay swarming with repair crews. It set him down four rows in from the personnel door. Several questions quickly raced through his mind; 'Why am I here?' 'What am I doing here?' 'How did I get myself into this' he shook his head as the canopy hatch opened wide. He thought 'I'm going to collect as much data as I can on the slave colonies and maybe do a little sabotaging'. He grinned mischievously sliding out of the cockpit and onto the deck. Repair crews scurried past him in all directions. It was difficult to know what was going on but Vapor believed it was a result of the rebel attack. He made it past the first row of ships undetected, and then it happened."Hey Travis!" came a voice from behind him. Vapor turned around slowly to see the Imperial Stormtrooper gazing down on him. "Sneakin' around to make sure she doesn't see you eh?" Vape nodded his head. "Man, I'm tellin' you. You can't fool that girl."

Vape shrugged his shoulders then muttered very softly, "Can't blame a guy for tryin'"

"Say man, you sick? You don't sound very well. You should head to the infirmary." The troop stated. Vape nodded. The Stormtrooper gave a hard pat on the back and said "Good luck man." Then turned and continued his patrol. Vapor wiped where his brow would be on his helmet and let out an enthusiastic sigh of relief. He continued to tiptoe between the rows of parked ships. His eyes finally spotted the door to the briefing room and the door to the corridor reflected off the solar panel of a TIE Defender. He sneaked around the end of the last row of ships when something startled him from behind. "There you are!" came a shrill cry. "I have been waiting 6 hours for you Travis!" Vape shook his head and turned around slowly weighing the possibility of throwing his helmet off right then and there. Through his solar visor his eyes met a red-haired woman who was slightly taller than all of his own 6 feet. She had a large widow's peak and fiery green eyes. "We Had a DATE!" she exclaimed. Vape thought to himself 'Man, this guy had it rough if he was seeing this girl. Hah, I'm taking the fall for him and he's taking the fall for me, go figure.' "I Don't Ever Want To Speak To You Again!!!" she boomed. Vapor let out a silent chuckle behind his helmet and thought to himself 'I'm doing this guy a favor.' She stormed out through the door into the main corridor. Vape exclaimed quietly to himself 'Finally!' He turned and walked casually into the briefing room. Vapor gasped as he saw himself sitting across the room in a briefing chair. Or rather it wasn't him. Either he was hallucinating or he saw someone with an identical face to his sitting in a chair reading something on a datapad and laughing hysterically. "Ahh Vapor I knew you'd come." The man said setting the pad down on the table. He was wearing an Alliance uniform identical to the one that was now stored in the overhead compartment on the Assault Flyer. He could not speak. He now stood just inside the doorway to the briefing room frozen in primal fear. "Please have a seat." The man offered pulling out a chair. Vapor slowly took the seat for fear that his knees would buckle if he remained standing.

"W-Wha-What a-ar." Vapor began stuttering.

"Now, now" the man said, "Let's get that helmet off before you deprive yourself of oxygen." His likeness approached him in his chair. Vapor stood quickly and backed away from his chair turning fright to flight and drawing his lightsaber. Vapor removed his helmet and stared at the ultraviolet glow that resonated from the blade. "That's some blade you got there. Mind if I check it out?" the man said with a sinister grin. He drew a blaster from his holster and shot the saber out of Vapor's hands. The blade sparked and retracted back into its handle as it flew across the room into a pile of mangled bulkhead. Vapor reached to draw his blaster but the man said "Ahh, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Vapor looked up and saw the man had his blaster trained on him and figured if he could do that to a saber, his head was a much larger target for him. The man walked over to the area where the saber landed and picked it up with his blaster still trained on Vapor. The man eyed the saber and flicked it on and off. "Ahh, this is the work of Gethco" The man nodded as two light storm troopers entered and stood behind Vapor. Vapor turned and sized up the two guards. They were lightly armed but he was no match for them by himself. "Before your carried away for questioning allow me to introduce myself. People call me 'Lodestone' but you may not remember me as your twin brother." This was too much for Vapor to absorb. His family on Vindali Prime was his only recollection of his past growing up. It was everything; there was nothing else.

"You are not my brother, I have no brother!" he spouted uneasily. 'Lodestone', as he called himself, walked out of sight for a moment and returned back into view wearing an Imperial uniform, a highly decorated one at that. "Guards, take him away" Lode stated. The guards grabbed Vape by the shoulders. Vape struggled as they began to take him away. "Wait," Lode called approaching Vapor, "I knew you'd come and now there will be only one!" Lode let out a sinister laugh then returned to a sinister grin.

Vapor spat in his face and said, "As far as I'm concerned, There IS only one."

Lode wiped his face and growled very quietly, "You will regret that, dear brother take him!" He ordered, ".The Force will break you." The troops turned and dragged a struggling Vapor out of the briefing room.

Vapor hit the floor of the cell with a crash. The two guards turned and exited as the door hissed closed with a bang, which he assumed, was the magnetic lock engaging. Vapor got up, and checked his pockets; everything was gone as he expected and his blaster was not there. He could still feel the small disc Mr. Gething had given him inside his boot. He circled the cell running his fingers along the walls. He was along the back wall when he kicked over a metal plate with a very large spider in it. It lay there and Vapor prodded it with his boot. It didn't move. He built up some courage and knelt down to get a closer look. It was dead. He had been deathly afraid of spiders ever since he was a boy on Vindali when he stepped on a nest full of them. "It must be dinner." he said to himself. Vapor looked down at the large carcass with a frown. He closed his eyes and broke the abdomen open on the giant arachnid. He snapped one of the legs off and submerged it in the fluidic interior. He raised it to his mouth and stared at it for a few seconds before sucking it dry. 'Not too bad at all.' He thought reaching down to snap off another leg.

Moments later the door to the cell banged and slid open with a mechanical grinding noise. Lodestone stood in the doorway and said, "It's time brother." Two stormtroopers stepped through the door and grabbed Vapor under the arms and carried him out of the cell. The four of them walked down the corridor to a room marked 'Interrogation Chamber'. Lode waved his hand and signaled the guards to carry Vapor inside. Once inside he was strapped to a chair as a pacing identical interrogator circled him. "As you may have already gathered brother. I can sense your presence but cannot read your mind. Not even the most powerful of Jedi or Lords of the Sith can read it because of our anatomy. I am however partly trained in the dark side of the force." Vapor was lost. He had no clue what this imposter was saying. He spoke anyway, "What do you want with me!" Vapor turned to face the replica.

"I will ask the questions here." came a third voice unheard until now. Vapor turned to see who said it but all he could see was a blurry image out of the corner of his eye. His eyes jumped to directly overhead on the chair. A large mechanical arm lowered in front of him. Lodestone folded his arms. The end of the arm buzzed as a small arc of electricity shot between two poles on either end. "Now," the voice said. "What is your name and rank?"

He said nothing for a moment then spouted, "Layne, Sean; Ensign-ID #33571509 Callsign: Vapor." Lodestone smirked. "Well Layne Sean, what are you doing here?" The voice stated.

Vapor smiled, "Getting interrogated!" he shouted almost wanting to laugh hysterically.

"Oh no Layne Sean, You've screwed up. I can't have that." The voice boomed.

The arc jabbed into his left arm sending a current of electricity through his body. He blacked out. He heard screaming down the hall. 'Poor sucker,' he thought to himself.

When he awoke he was still sitting in the chair and felt like he was on fire. He was shaking like a leaf on a tree. The restraints were gone but he couldn't move a muscle. Lodestone towered over him. Vapor stuttered to say, "E-Enjoying yourself?" He looked up into Lode's eyes and noticed they were a different color, gray in fact.

"You have no idea," the identical being replied with an evil silver grin. Lodestone whirled around quickly and faced the door. "Who's this?" he murmured. Vape could now move his head and turned to see that the voice he heard earlier was computer generated from a console across the room.

There was a large explosion and a blinding light broke through the door. Lode dropped to the floor blinded by the light. Simultaneously, Vapor, who had his eyes covered, was tossed a pair of goggles, which he put on. They blocked out most of the glare. Vapor stood from the chair shakily and limped over to Lodestone taking back his blaster and lightsaber. He looked at the two people standing in the doorway. They both had helmets and facemasks on. They motioned him to follow. Vapor ran behind them out of the room into the corridor. Vapor heard shouting coming from down the hall behind him and he hurried to keep up with his rescuers. Blaster fire whizzed over his head and he turned and saw the dozen stormtroopers running after him. Vapor dived through the fighterbay door and it closed behind him. The two rescuers sealed the door with blaster fire. He got to his feet and looked around. The fighterbay was covered in blasterbolt burns along the back wall and the floor was littered with dead troops. In the opening of the bay, there sat a Corellian Transport. It was surrounded by several heavily armed Rebel troops. Vapor stopped in middle of the bay. "It's okay we're friends," one of them said to him. He was confused.

"Who are you?!" Vapor blurted out hastily.

"He's delirious we have to get him on the ship! Sedate him!" one of the figures urged.

Vapor looked up. He recognized both of them were in Rebel Alliance flight suits.

"No! Let me try." The other figure cried taking off his helmet.

He recognized the second voice. "Corran!?!?!" Vape called beginning to stagger toward them.

"Vapor! We gotta flight to catch bro!" came one of his former wingmen in the 51st fleet: FRS_Corranhorn. Vapor stumbled to them and they assisted him onto a Corellian Transport, which was sitting nearby. As the ramp retracted Vapor turned and saw a group of stormtroopers followed by Lodestone who loomed ominously behind them. The troopers drew their blasters but Lode ordered them to hold their fire. Vapor threw a weak salute as if to say, 'Until next time,' and boarded the freighter. The surprisingly quick transport lifted off the bay floor and darted out into the black curtain. Vapor watched the ISD disappear behind an enormous red moon through the gun turret window. A hand settled on his shoulder.

Vape did not turn but said "What are you doing here Corran?"

"I could ask you the same question bro." He began, "But I'll go first anyway, our squad was about to strike the ISD covertly after Rogue squadron's initial attack. We were on the way to sabotage the main shield generator when I heard you screaming down the corridor." 'So it was me,' Vapor thought. Corran continued, "So now it's your turn bro."

Vapor turned and faced Corran to say, "I'm looking for something.Something that calls me by name from my dreams. I'm not exactly sure what it is yet but I know it's here. That may seem like a stupid but-"

Corran cut in "Nah, it doesn't sound stupid. Look, were almost to the rendezvous point. We're meeting up with a Nebulon Frigate. We're going to mount a large offensive against the Wrath. So, you feelin' up to a little full-scale attack? We could use a pilot with good experience."

Vape turned and simply nodded.

Chapter 3

"Good" CorranHorn said nodding his head. A crewman entered into the aft compartment from the forward section and saluted Corran.

"Sir," he said, "We are now 15 clicks from the rendezvous point. The FRG Courageous is waiting for us. The Alliance has also sent the CRS Freedom."

"Zara!" Corran exclaimed. "Thank you private. Dismissed." Corran saluted the crewman and turned back to Vapor. The crewman saluted and turned to exit back into the forward compartment. Vapor faced Corran and said, "Zarathos is here?" Corran nodded. Vapor grinned and returned his eyes to the field of stars that drifted past out the window.

Minutes later, Vapor stepped off of the CORT's loading ramp and onto the deck of the frigate's vast main fighterbay. His eyes circled the perimeter. Several dozen X-Wings, B-Wings, Y wings, and A-Wings lined the back wall, but his eyes stopped when they met three ships covered in dark brown tarps, completely covered. CorranHorn preceded him off the transport and was looking down at a datapad evaluating the attack objectives and Intel. Vapor walked over to the covered ships. Each appeared to be X-Wings but they had larger engines and wings that were swept slightly forward. Vapor began to lift the tarp near the nose. Corran hurried over. "Don't touch that!" he exclaimed, "Highly sensitive equipment from INCOM. Don't worry bro, you'll get a shot at flying her soon enough." Vape dropped the corner of the tarp. Corran returned to his pad. The Transport that brought them there lifted off the pad, turned, and exited the bay as half a dozen X-Wings circled and landed in the bay. Vapor turned and tapped Corran on the shoulder. "What is it bro?" Corran asked. Vapor pointed to the flight group. "Cool, RBL squad is here." Corran hurried over to one of the X-Wings that led the group in. Vape followed. The canopy on the fighter opened and the pilot pulled his helmet off. "Captain Zarathos!" Corran spouted. "Or should I call you Admiral now!"

"Corran!" Zara called, "It's good to see you again man." Zara slid down the ladder and shook Corran's hand.

"Hey Zara," Vapor said, "How's it goin'?" Vapor shook Zara's hand

.

"Not too bad bro," Zara said. The group of pilots that followed him in now stood behind him and chattered. "Gentlemen, I'd like you to meet a few of my fellow pilots that will wing you in this battle. To my left stand Caramon, Crysania, and Ordyh, and to my right, Wolverine, Chknhawk, and Steeltoe." Salutes went all around. They were all about to head down to the galley when another X screamed into the bay. It set down next the RBL fighters. Everyone headed over to the X to see whom it was. The canopy opened. "Hey Jughead!" Zara shouted, "You're late!" Vapor smiled as his former commander climbed down to the deck.

"I ran into traffic crossing the nebula." The group saluted Jughead and gathered to share stories and brag a little of their achievements. A while later, Corran broke from the group and announced, "The briefing is in ten hours people, in the meantime I suggest that we all get some sleep. The group disbanded and headed for the door to retire.

Vapor settled in his temporary home. He pulled his boots off and the small disc rolled across the floor. Vapor picked it up and set it on the nightstand. He now felt terrible exhaustion, laid down on the bed, and fell asleep. In his dream he saw a large moon in the system and his viewpoint panned through all the clouds to see the child again and stormtroopers everywhere. He them riding ton-tons through vast desert fields. He saw specters of walkers, ATATs, and ATSTs looming overhead. Beyond it all he could see a cave. A voice called him in the background "Save us all," it said. "Break the cycle of destruction, End the suffering." His view entered the cave and winded through several narrow shafts before entering a chamber. The voices proceeded to call him louder and louder. Vapor jumped awake. It was 0230 hours. The briefing was in 3 hours. He could not get back to sleep. Vapors eyes searched the dimly lit room. He decided to go for a walk. He climbed into his flight suit, walked out into the hallway and locked the door behind him.

Vapor circled the long corridors of the immense frigate. He didn't know how he did it but he reached a ladder that lead up through a hatch. He climbed the ladder and proceeded down several narrow walkways to a small, unmarked door. He walked through the door and found himself in a large cylindrical room with completely blank gray walls and white lines painted in circles on the floor-the forward engine compartment. He could tell because he could hear the powerful engines roaring off to his right. He strolled over to the far wall of the room, sat down and began to write a letter to his folks.

"Dear Mom and Dad," it read, "It's been 3 weeks since I left home and I realize you must be worried sick about me." He paused. He didn't know whether to ask about his doppelganger, whether he was really his brother. "Well I thought I'd write you to let you know that everything is good here and I hope to be home as soon as I finish what I came to do. I hope you und-" He cut off there. He fell asleep, pen still in hand, and engines still rushing loudly behind him. He awoke to a man's voice calling "Sir! Sir! Please wake up." Vapor opened up and looked at the crewman who was carrying a large load of equipment. "Sir the panel behind you."

"What's the time crewman." Vapor cut in.

"Why it's 0540 hours sir."

"Oh crap, I'm late for the briefing!" Vapor shouted flying to his feet. He ran through the door and wound through narrow corridors knocking people over. "Sorry!" he shouted behind him. Vapor slid down the ladder and started sprinting down the long halls in the aft section of the frigate. "Why do they have to make these things so long?" he shouted to no one in particular. A cart full of R4 parts rolled out in front of him. He attempted to dive over it but caught his ankle on the top rack. The rack spilled. The engineers shouted at him. "My bad man I'll cover the damages" he shouted getting to his feet. He weaved in and out of droids and people that cluttered the main corridor. He saw a highly decorated officer headed his way coming the other direction down the corridor. Vapor slowed down to a walk and saluted him as he went past then went back to a sprint. He finally reached the briefing room, exhausted. He dreaded this moment. He looked around the room and met all the eyes gazing back at him.

"Ahh, now we can begin. Take a seat Vapor" Corran said to him. Vapor saluted, turned and found a much-needed chair. He picked a pad up off the conference table and began to read.

Corran began, "We will divide into two groups. Silver Wing will be with me. That will be Jughead, Vapor, and me. We will be the main strike group. ReBeL Squadron will lead the attack and provide fighter cover while we commence our bombing run on the ISD Wrath. Ordinarily, three measly X-Wings would not be enough to take on an Imperial Star destroyer. But, these aren't any ordinary X-Wings." The moving map of the battlefield converted into a tactical overlay of the fighters. "These fighters are advanced state-of-the-art space-superiority ships from INCOM. They are the best the Rebel Alliance has to offer. They were designed after the attack on Aldebraan to take down the Death Star had the original plan failed. Fortunately we never had to use them. Now, only the highest levels of fleet personnel have clearance to view this information gentlemen. They've been looking for an opportunity to test them, and this is it. These X-Wings are unlike anything you've ever flown, so immediately after this briefing we will conduct several test flights to help you get acquainted. First of all, the swept wing design and vectored thrust nearly triple maneuverability to make it a viable tactical unit in any dogfight. Second, ablative armor has been installed around the engines and main hull, should your shields fail, they still can take quite a punch. Third, engine output has been nearly doubled when you close the S-Foils. The ship's power plant has also been improved and transferring power is now nearly four times as efficient. Finally, these new ships have double the payload of your ordinary X-Wing."

Corran returned the tactical overlay to the moving map. "If you need backup, call in Gold squadron. They are heavily armed Y-Wings, but don't count on them to bail you out. If you need to be rearmed, call in our rearming craft. Any questions?" Vapor raised his hand. "Yea, go ahead."

"Sir, while were attacking the Wrath who will stay and defend the Courageous and the Freedom."

"We have two full squadrons of Z-95s to defend our command ships while we're running the strike. Wings Zenith and Raven will stand watch. Good question, any others.Good, then lets get crackin'." All the pilots rose and exited into the bay anticipating the battle.

Vapor strolled to the bay and was not really paying attention until a large crane lifted the tarp off of Silver 3-his ship for the mission. The shiny chrome finish gleamed in the huge spotlight that shone down upon it. ReBeL squadron charged engines across the bay. Vapor stood staring at the craft. "Hey, Jughead to Vapor.Come in Vapor you're breaking up." Jughead spouted climbing his ladder into his silver X. Vapor became aware of his situation again.

"Man, what a ship." Vapor commented.

"Well let's go then," Corran said settling into his fighter. "We've got no time to lose."

Chapter 4

Vapor got clearance and cruised out through the huge bay doors. Vapor signaled he was ready, "This is Vapor, I'm good here."

"Okay Silver, stay sharp." He heard Corran's voice crackle over the radio. "Task one will be to destroy the twelve mines we've set up roughly 6 kilometers away. We will then inspect the cargo in the containers and finally proceed to battle in mock engagements. This is only to get you used to your wings so don't goof around."

He then heard Jughead's voice; "This sucker's touchy. Vapor do a Split-S!"

"Roger" Vapor turned his head to face the other two X's before shakily breaking formation and performing the maneuver. His craft shot up like a dart. He pulled out of the climb so he was looking down on the other two (or up from his position) and finished with a barrel roll. "Touchy as hell!" Vapor exclaimed as he rejoined the group.

"Okay, let's go get those mines." Corran called breaking off from them and going full throttle. "Close your S-Foils so we can get a quick approach"

"Roger, going postal!" Jug exclaimed. His craft's wings closed and retracted to half their original length. Vapor monitored his speed as he did the same. His own speed doubled to show that he was traveling at 200 MGLT. He couldn't believe his eyes. He decided to kick it up a notch and divert power from other systems. A light flashed on his HUD. 'Caution! Diverting too much energy will burn out the engines.' "Yea, yea" Vape muttered reaching for the power transfer control pad. He slid his finger across the laser pad. His head slammed back against the head of the seat as his craft sped up drastically. He looked down at the display. It read 235MGLT. "Wow! This could be a new speed record without hyperdrive." He shouted.

"Now's not the time to play around!" He heard Corran say. Vapor looked all around and did not see either Silver X anymore. BOOM! He caught a bright light out of the corner of his eye and turned to see one of the containers exploding. "You wanna help us out here Vapor?" Vapor eased back on the stick and banked toward the containers. He dropped a torpedo into the farthest one. It shattered into a brilliant display of red and orange. "Okay, That's the last of them" Corran said, "Vapor, engage-"

He was cut off. "This is ReBeL One! Prepare to intercept incoming hostiles."

"Copy that One, Okay gentlemen lets take care of business." Corran said.

"Four bandits at 7 o'clock." Jughead called opening his S-Foils and banking to meet the array of laser fire.

"Tally ho!" Vapor called, running his finger down the throttle bar. Four T/Ds swarmed in on the trio spraying laser fire. Vapor outmaneuvered the first defender and bagged it with the greatest of ease. He shot straight out of the first kill and pounced on the second. Vapor tailed the Defender dropping quad shot after quad shot right past it. Another Defender came up from behind and began to fire at him. "Whoa, I need assistance over here" Vapor called. As if on cue, the Defender behind him ripped open into a bright light, as he plugged the one he was chasing.

"Service with a smile." Jughead said maneuvering back into a delta slot formation. Corran finished off the last bandit the second ReBeL squad arrived on the scene.

"Ready to go?" Zarathos called.

"Say the word." Corran replied.

"Alright boys and girls. Let's go bag us a Star Destroyer!" Zara shouted.

Simultaneously the group went to hyperspace with the Freedom and the Courageous right behind. The ships dropped out of hyperspace and crossed the huge shadow of the ISD. 'Don't let its size intimidate you. It's only as strong as its worst gunner,' are the thoughts that ran through Vape's head. "Alright Silver, It's just as we discussed at the briefing, if you need to rearm, either return to the Courageous or call in a rearming craft." Corran stated as the huge frigate flew past Vapor's peripheral vision. "Silver, enter attack pattern Omega and target the Wrath." Corran gave the order.

"ReBeL, Split Bracket Left formation. Engage all enemy craft but do not engage the Wrath unless absolutely necessary. Call out bandits as you see em." Zara ordered.

The three silver X-Wings closed their S-Foils and screamed toward the Wrath. Surprisingly, there were no signs of any resistance. Silver dropped their torpedoes into the shield generators and crossed the nose of the huge craft switching shields to aft. Finally, green turbolaser bolts whizzed past them. "I was starting to get worried no one was home" Jughead said almost chuckling. Vapor looked left and right and saw no sign of any starfighter defense. "

Where's the welcome wagon?" Vapor asked. As if on cue, a whole wing a TIE Phantoms appeared out of nowhere. "Holy crap!" Vapor spouted as the swarm of ships decloaked and entered the fray. ReBeL Squadron engaged the Phantoms knocking off three in the first pass. Silver circled around for another pass and tossed six more protons at the Wrath. The Courageous approached the Wrath and the two starships engaged in battle. Vapor and the rest of Silver shot past the Courageous going stem to stern in three seconds. ReBeL had forced the Imps into a temporary stalemate. They circled the Phantoms and hit them with a few concussion missiles before falling back and regrouping. The Courageous blocked the Wrath's escape route and charged it with turbolasers.

Vapor then heard the order; "The Wrath's shields have gone down. Target the bridge!" Vapor did so and broke formation to attack at will. Nearly two dozen TIE Scimitars, Defenders, Interceptors, and Phantoms bolted out of the fighterbay. They were lead by a huge TIE the likes of which Vapor had never seen before. It had three solar panels like a phantom but an elongated tail with a blaster attached to the end. He neared the command inset at the back of the ship and rolled sideways with S-Foils closed to give the gunners a small target to shoot at. He launched a half dozen warheads at the bridge. The inset shattered in a brilliant light. Vapor pulled back on the stick all the way and shot across the port side of the mammoth vessel. Debris from the command section ricocheted off his tail. The Wrath now hung motionless in space but with cannons still firing away at the Courageous. The large group proceeded to attack the Freedom. Corran and Jughead centered in on the main hull of the craft and launched nearly a dozen warheads at the crippled ISD. What was left of the Wrath detonated and sent a large shock wave out rattling everything around it and sending out huge blasts of fire before becoming engulfed in a ring of gold. Two lights flashed on his HUD one said that he was being targeted in another fighter's reticule and the other meant a type of homing warhead was tracking him. Vapor flared and cut mildly to target the craft. His eyes met a huge TIE that he had only caught a glimpse of moments before. This ship was designated as a TIE Scorpion according to his cockpit monitor. For it's size it handled pretty well and juked behind him quickly. It occurred to Vapor that there were thrusters that circled the craft enabling it to move perpendicular and diagonally to its natural vector. Vapor was hit with a linked shot. His shields were already weakened from the blast and now they were at 50 percent. Vapor tried to outmaneuver the Scorpion but its vertical thrust made it nearly impossible. Three more shots impacted his hull-shields at five percent. His R7 unit let out a long wail before shooting sparks and becoming engulfed in a burst of smoke. There was only one thing he could do--run.

Vapor rolled his X-Wing and faced Alpha moon. He tried to raise Jughead and Corranhorn on the comm. but it was dead, so he made a beeline for the planetoid. The huge Scorpion tailed him dropping shots into his aft hull. Vapor closed the S-Foils but, in doing so, his upper-left wing was taken off by a shot. The X shook violently and spun out of control toward the surface of the massive moon. The large desert moon now hung very large in his cockpit windshield. Vapor knew he had to slow his descent to keep from breaking up in the atmosphere. The X rolled over and over. Green laser fire continued to shoot past his canopy. He clenched the stick tightly and straightened his attitude. The control was extremely touchy but he held the nose steady at a 4-degree pitch. Fire engulfed the structure and his R4 began to wail. Panels exploded shooting sparks all over the interior. Vapor took a quick look around but was unable to spot the TIE before the star field turned to a yellow-brown.

He broke through the upper atmosphere and found himself in a vortex of wind and sand. He heard his engines clog and sputter as they stalled. His craft began to drop like a brick. "Ejecting in this kind of atmosphere is tricky," he said to himself, but he figured, so is hitting the ground at 500MGLT. He made sure everything was secured and tugged the eject cord as hard as he could. Nothing happened. He pulled again, still nothing. "Oh great" he said looking at his altimeter. 20.6km it read. The craft was tossed around the huge funnel and was lifted higher and higher. He kept going upward, pushed by the turbulent winds of the storm. Finally, he was pushed so high that the winds tapered off and the storm dissipated. He now began to fall again, but the air was clear. Vapor frantically tried to start the engines. The turbines hissed as they tried to clear the sand from the injectors. Vapor looked left and right. He could see the red-orange sand dunes glaring around him. They stretched on endlessly without any sign of water. There were mountains, however, directly underneath him. The altimeter spun as the he began to pick up velocity. The starved engines roared. A large plume of red fluid streamed from one of the engines. The other started and began to run, coughing out long puffs of black smoke. He had partial control. Just enough to slow his descent and reduce his pitch angle. As he neared the surface, the dunes became outlined by tiny dots. He pulled a pair of binoculars out and they confirmed his biggest fear. Imperial ATAT and ATST Walkers dotted the surface. He couldn't level out for a safe landing so he prepared for the impact.

He hit the surface rather hard and his craft sank half-submerged in the red sand. At least he was alive though. The heat did not become apparent to him until he opened the canopy. The reflective covering on his X had protected him from most of the planet's high heat. Vapor scrambled out of the cockpit and sat on the nose of the craft surveying the area. A long mountain chain dotted the horizon. He figured someone must have seen him come down. Then he looked up. There was a long trail of red oxidized gas leading upward into the sky what appeared to be nearly a thousand meters. It lit up the crash site like a Christmas tree. He jumped back down into the cockpit and salvaged everything he could from the cockpit. He crawled out and began to dig away the access hatch to the forward compartment when. "Hands in the air!" called a voice from behind him. He could feel the blaster pointed at him, but more importantly he could hear the ton-ton growling off to his immediate left. Vapor remained crouched down on the sand and did not move. He glanced into the reflection of the X's nose and saw the Stormtrooper looming overhead with blaster in hand. The trooper now shouted, "Hands above your head NOW!" Vapor did not comply immediately but slowly raised his hands. A second Stormtrooper approached on a speederbike. The first troop turned to face the approaching bike. Vapor saw his chance, drew his blaster, and fired away. The careless troop fell to the sand having been shot in the ribs. The second trooper saw what happened and turned his speederbike to flee. Vapor fired three shots after the trooper but missed. The ton-ton sneered loudly. Vapor was hoping to pick off the second troop and take the bike but he would have to settle for the large creature. Vapor returned to the ship and took all the supplies he could carry. He looked down at the corpse of the Stormtrooper and considered posing as an Imperial, but then remembered what happened the last time.

Vapor mounted the ton-ton and headed toward the mountains. Soon after he set out, an ATST could be seen on the horizon headed his way. He tried to hurry the ton-ton but it soon slowed to a stop, and wouldn't move. It reared, throwing Vapor to the sand before turning and running away. Vapor now found himself alone in the middle of the desert with an ATST headed for him. He searched the horizon for something, anything that would give him shelter. Vapor pulled the small device out of his boot that Gething had given him earlier. He pushed the small gray button on the top. A long, glowing tube extended from the back side of the device and the whole thing unraveled like a scroll. There were words printed on it. It was titled 'The Water-Serpent Prophecy'. Vapor sat on the sands and began to read it.

"For 17 harvest seasons the land of all the serpent moons will lay barren for protection from invaders. And so it is written that in the third cycle of the 17th harvest, a savior bearing The Crystal of Water will return to the sol moon and restore life to the system alleviating the threat of." "Blah, Blah, blah." Vapor said shoving the scroll into his bag. "How does this help me?" he asked no one in particular, "Now what am I gonna." Before he could finish his sentence he heard a mechanical sound coming from behind him. Vapor turned slowly and saw the Imperial ATST walker standing tall over him. He stood and faced the towering menace. A trooper's helmet emerged from a hatch on top of the mechanical giant.

"You there!" a voice said from inside the walker, "What are you doing out of your respected zone?"

Vapor chuckled and didn't reply. He now knew they thought he was a native of the planet. He felt a light breeze and watched as a large cloud of sand headed for the walker and him. It crossed the horizon quickly and headed for them fast. There was little time to react before the winds became unbearable. The walker tipped and fell on its side. It was now difficult to stand. Vapor ran behind the fallen walker and laid down. It seemed like hours had passed and the storm had finally dissipated down to a breeze quicker than it had started. Vapor opened his eyes and brushed away the thin layer of sand that covered his face. He didn't see a clear yellow sky like he anticipated though. Instead, he only saw Rebecca's face illuminated by the orange clouds that swirled around her. He thought he was hallucinating but he rubbed his eyes. She was actually there standing over him with a ring of calm winds surrounding her in the midst of the immense storm. She reached down for his hand and helped him up. "How are you.How did you." Vapor began to ask, but the words didn't come immediately. Vapor looked down at his shirt--it was soaked. He looked down and saw a pool of clear water there where he was laying. Vapor knelt down and ran his fingers through the water. It was real, and it was clean. He cupped his hands and drank some of it. It seemed to taste fine so he drank it all. When there was no more he dug down into the sand but didn't find any. He looked up at Rebecca and said, "I've got a few questions, but don't know where to begin."

She smiled back at him and said, "You bear the water crystal." Vapor looked confused and suddenly it hit him. The pendant he had worn around his neck as long as he could remember was blue and cut in the shape of a diamond. He reached into his flight jacket, pulled out the pendant, and held it loosely in his palm. "My father told me that it had been in the family for generations," he said staring down at it.

"In a way it has, but not the family you remember," she said to him.

Chapter 5

"I will explain the rest to you later. Right now we must find shelter from this storm," she said reaching into her pocket. She pulled a clear, heart-shaped crystal out. It glowed intensely. She waved her hand, and a tunnel cut through the wall of swirling sand. Vapor didn't waste any time following her down the corridor and out of the storm. They had not walked very long before they arrived at a small town of loosely assembled shacks. They vividly resembled the small huts he had seen in his dream. His eyes crossed back and forth over the town as they approached it. There weren't any screaming children but more importantly, no Imperial scum lurking in the midst either. Vapor still kept one hand on his blaster, just in case.

They approached the edge of town when a small girl, maybe 3 or 4 came running from one of the huts. She had dark hair and was surprisingly fair complexion for living in the desert. She carried an old torn rag of a doll. "Kalo! Kalo!," she cried running back inside. A woman with equally fair complexion exited out of the hut carrying a crying infant cradled in her left arm. Rebecca walked up to the woman and said a few brief words in a tongue Vapor didn't recognize. The woman motioned for them to come inside. Vapor hurried to get out of the sun and stop to get the sand out of his boots. As he entered, he was shocked at how cold it was in the little hut. The woman holding the infant walked toward the back wall of the hut and turned over a piece of meat on a heating element. There were three young boys with them in the hut. The oldest looked about 14 and the youngest appeared 8. Rebecca said some more words in a foreign tongue. Or at least they seemed foreign, yet they had a tone of familiarity in them. There was a quick gasp around the hut as one of the young boys pointed to his lightsaber. Rebecca continued to talk in the familiar language to them.

"What are they saying?" Vapor asked finally.

"They think you're an Imperial. They want you to leave your weapons outside." Rebecca whispered to him.

"They think I'm an Imperial?" Vapor said not realizing how stupid he sounded.

"Vapor, these people have known nothing but hardship their entire lives. Just humor them," she said with a patronizing tone. Vapor threw a sharp, sarcastic salute, stepped outside, and dropped his blaster and lightsaber in the sand. He re-entered the hut as Rebecca was trying to explain something to them. The natives' eyes became like glass marbles and their jaws fell open. They rushed over to Vapor and started praising him as if he were some kind of god. Vapor looked at Rebecca and said, "What did you tell them?"

"Only who you are, the water bearer, the Aquarius serpent" Rebecca nodded showing some strange satisfaction in her glance.

"You haven't told me what that means yet," he said almost with a scoff.

Rebecca said something to the natives and they immediately made a circle around the cooling element in the center of the room. They motioned for him to join them. Rebecca knelt in the circle across the room from him. He approached them and completed the circle on the floor.

"Now you will learn all there is to know about the people of Delta Serpentis and your part in their future," Rebecca started, "Seventeen years ago, four years before the start of this occupation, the people of this system lived in harmony. Everything was green and beautiful as far as the eye could see. The dozen moons orbited the gas giant in this system and everything was in perfect balance. When the Imperials arrived, we had very little defenses against their siege. You were a toddler at that time Vapor, and you were put on the second Corvette to avoid the clutches of the Empire's conquest. I was put on the first one, which as you may know was destroyed by the Empire's blockade. But, our escape pods were recovered by wandering merchants that came with the Imperials. Doctor Gething is not my biological father, but he was the one who discovered my pod." Vape nodded, She continued. "Weeks before the occupation took hold, a group of elders from each of the planets assembled in a sacred place here on Alpha to focus all the vitality of the moons into a stone. The process destroyed several of the moons and decimated the rest. The stone was then broken into three parts. One, representing Water, is the one you have. The second represents Air, which is the one I carry. The third is the Fire crystal, but its holder was killed by Lodestone," she paused. There was a thick tension in the air. Vapor finally asked, "And this Lodestone, Is he my brother?"

"No, I do not know what he is; only that he is pure evil and will do whatever it takes to get the other two crystals. He is definitely not one of us though, or I'd be able to sense good in him somewhere." Vapor's eyes now burned with vengeance for his fallen Fire bearer. Rebecca continued, "We must retrieve the Fire stone from Lodestone and re-assemble the Great Stone in the Garden of Truth at the proper time to restore life to the system and rid the sector of the Imperial force. The Garden of Truth is the sacred place the elders gathered to divide the stone and also the place where it must be re-assembled."

Vapor pulled the water crystal off of his neck and held it in his hand. He poured sand into the top of his hand and out of the bottom flowed pure water. The natives were amazed at this. "Tell me more about the crystals," Vapor said, "How do they work?"

Rebecca marveled at the display for a moment and said "They focus our empathic abilities and convert matter telekinetically. You don't have to make the crystal do all the work though." She pulled the Air crystal out of her pocket and held it in her hand. She closed a fist tightly around the crystal and closed her eyes. Slowly a circle started to form in the sand around the cooling element. "Use your mind to fill the circle with water. Vapor closed his fist around the Water crystal and focused on the circle. The circle began to fill with water. The natives gasped. Vapor now became excited about this kind of power. He arose and said to Rebecca. "My parents from Vindali were on the Corvette too right?"

She shook her head and replied, "No, they were actual natives of the Vindali system. You're real parents are here on Alpha."

Vapor nodded with an unharnessed amount of excitement. "Well where are they? I would like to meet them."

Rebecca laughed and said something to the natives in the familiar tongue. The entire hut became engulfed in laughter. Vapor stood there confused. She looked at him with a reassuring, calming gaze and said, "Vapor, you're home. This is your family."

Vapor said nothing. But only remained standing there in the room with a dramatic pause that lingered.

His mother approached him and said something. "Aruzu avet."

"She wants your hand." Rebecca translated.

Vapor held out his hand and in it she put a cylindrical object about a decimeter in length and about 3 centimeters thick. "Dilohauti irrikara e arem."

"She says, 'This belonged." Rebecca started.

He cut in. "My father, yes I understand now" The translation suddenly was not necessary for him anymore. It was as if he could all of a sudden speak the language fluently, but not only that. Emotions rushed in on him like a tidal wave. These emotions were not of his own but from an outside source. He felt as if his mind were caught in a large storm. The emotions were so mixed it was impossible to distinguish between them but they surrounded him on all sides and were so captivating they overpowered his own. Love, hate, laughter and anguish: They all bombarded him with an overwhelming intensity. He could no longer stand and knelt to the floor to regain his balance. He didn't see it but Rebecca knelt down beside him. Chaos circulated through his mind laying waste to his own will and devouring his thoughts.

"Listen to my voice Vapor" He heard her voice cutting through all the internal devastation. "Allow it to be the only voice you hear. The emotions you are feeling are your natural abilities being channeled through the rod." Vapor cycled through the dream in his mind repeatedly. He struggled to hear her now faint whisper across the sea of emotions. "You must follow my voice up above it all!" Vapor singled her thought out of thousands. He envisioned in his mind an image of him rising above the cyclone. "That's it you're almost there. Keep rising." Vapor pushed everything out of his mind except for her as he broke free of the storm and rose into the peaceful serene environment that overlooked the mass chaos. Vapor didn't focus on the storm but instead only on her. She floated on a thin trail of smoke high above the raging storm. Vapor kept rising and rising until he met up with her. He reached out for her and mounted the plume of smoke with her. He knew everything she did and he figured the inverse was true for her. Together they were like one and through the stare of her intense blue eyes Vapor finally knew everything. She had fallen for him the moment she saw him in the bar but held back when she discovered he was the guardian. She didn't want emotions to run loose while the system laid in turmoil. She said to him, "You must stay above the storm to avoid falling into evil's hands." Vapor remained transfixed on her and the smoke cloud encompassed them both

.

Vapor opened his eyes and he was back in the hut. His mother and brothers stood around him in a circle. The emotions were there too. He could observe them deeply. His fist was clenched tightly around the rod. He stood uneasily. "Be careful." Rebecca advised. Vapor now felt the intense care she had for him. Her voice was void of all audible signs for that emotion but Vapor heard the thought run through his head. He imagined what things might have been left unsaid from before. He focused on the rod. A small current of instinct coursed through his head. He felt as if it was trying to communicate one word to him, 'extend'. Vapor redirected his thoughts into the rod and instantly it extended to the length of a quarterstaff. Now a few meters long, the staff sent out an aura of green highlight. Vapor pulled the stone out of his pocket and brought it near the staff. The green turned blue and the staff formed a diamond-shaped slot on the end. Vapor put the stone back into his pocket.

"We had better get some rest if were going to search for the garden in the morning," he advised. Vapor looked outside the hut. He hadn't noticed the suns were down. He settled down on the floor. His family found their usual spots on piled rags and space blankets scattered about the floor in the hut. Rebecca sat down next to him and rested her head against his shoulder. They didn't say anything but knew exactly what each other were thinking. Before long she dozed off. Vapor set a small tattered pillow on the ground and lowered her slowly to the floor.

Vapor stood and walked outside. The maroon evening sky buzzed with activity. He heard the roaring engines of Imperial ships fling overhead and the incessant droning of TIE Fighters faintly in the distance. They were not heading toward him. Just buzzing around on the horizon. Suddenly he realized how much bigger the picture was. It wasn't about territories which faction owned what star. The rise from the occupation this civilization would encounter could decide the fate of millions and possibly effect the balance of power throughout the galaxy. However, the fallout of failure could devastate the course of prosperity on a universal scale. If the power of the stones were to fall completely into the hands of the Empire, such an event could mean the downfall of the Rebellion and seal the fate of the galaxy. Vapor clenched the water crystal tightly in his hand and watched the second sunrise. The tiny white dwarf rose and illuminated his view shedding light on the buzzing of TIEs Vapor could sense were there. They cris-crossed the horizon like moths chasing a flame. Vapor knew he was headed for a challenge of epic proportions but knew little about how to prepare. Crystals that controlled the elements, telepathy, a new family; this was all too difficult to absorb in one day. He re-entered the hut and found a place to lay down and drift off, slowly, to sleep.

Chapter 6

Vapor awoke in the pale twilight to find the entire hut deserted. He glanced around to see where they had gone but only found their rags cluttered in a ball on the floor. He ducked out through the door and looked around for them. Only the red dust curled upward in a sandy curtain that encompassed the limits of the town. Rebecca came running up the road toward him.

She screamed to him, "He took them! He took them!"

Vapor didn't need the staff to read what was going on. Lode had come for them in the night to hold them hostage. Vapor calmed her down and went into the tent to get the staff. He said to her, "Which way did he go?" but before she could answer he glimpsed a polished trail leading through the sands. He knelt down and touched it.

"Glass."

He followed the thin trail with his eyes as far out as he could until nearly at the horizon he could make out a glowing yellow light on the surface and moving away, fast.

Momentarily two stormtroopers on speederbikes were heading up the road from the other direction approaching with haste. Vapor expected them to stop but instead they roared past them heading down the glass trail. He scrambled to the door of the hut, grabbed his blaster, and fired two rounds at them. One nailed the far stormtrooper in the back throwing him from the bike and the second shot soared several meters off target. The unmanned speederbike went nose-up flipping over in the sand. Vapor ran up to the injured troop and questioned him.

"Where were you guys going in such a hurry! Talk!" Vapor pointed the blaster at the troop's head.

"You're going to have to shoot me Rebel scum!"

Rebecca called to him "They're getting away!" Vapor holstered the blaster and sprinted over to the speederbike.

"Here put this on!" he shouted to Rebecca tossing her a helmet. "And hang on!" They climbed on the bike and Vapor went full throttle.

Before long the second bike and the fire column became clearly visible. The swirls of flame gave off no smoke but dissipated at their peak as if there was no top and no bottom. The blue giant sun now crested the horizon and dawn broke through the dark maroon clouds. Vapor's lightsaber crackled in its hand as he flicked it on. He swung past the other bike and sliced through the arm of the second stormtrooper. The bike flipped over dozens of times and dropped behind them as Vapor pressed on toward the fiery abyss. A figure inside the column became visible, then two, and then nearly a half dozen. It was Lodestone and his family. Vapor twirled the lightsaber through his fingers as he veered around the flame pit to cut him off. Vapor clenched the water crystal tightly in his fist and skidded around the tower. He dropped his foot in the sand, stopped. The fire swirled around him and Vapor's eyes met his nemesis. The flames arched toward his face but were instantaneously deflected by a shield of water, neutralizing the threat. The column came to a halt, fire swirling in an upward helix.

Vapor got off the bike and raised his fist to the sky holding the crystal tightly. A similar column of water swirled upward off of his shoulders and stood parallel to Lode's display. "Let go of my family! Or I will destroy you!" Vapor called.

Lode laughed with a bitter intensity anyone could hate. "You? Destroy me? AHAHA! You give yourself too much credit. To think one with as little power as yourself could consume the fire!" A pause, it lingered undesirably. Then finally he added, "Dear brother," with a sneer. Vapor coiled with rage until finally he burst with anger. He summoned all his power and tried to force an inconceivable amount of water in his direction. The water met the barrier and exploded into a mass of steam that billowed upward and into the heavens. Vapor kept trying; the fire still met the water producing the same results. Finally, he gave up and Lode laughed seemingly uncontrollably. Vapor attempted to harness his temper and stood half-sunk in the sand, soaking wet. "Well, when you're ready to give the stones to me, meet me in the Garden, I'll be waiting." Lode said. The column of fire burned brighter and brighter until he disappeared. Rebecca looked at him in disbelief.

"You saw I gave him everything I had and it still wasn't enough!" Vapor shouted.

"I know,"

"Well what do we do now?"

"We go find the Garden and face him,"

"What? You saw that didn't you? He's too powerful!"

"Yes, I saw, but he is not too powerful."

"I don't know, maybe I'm not cut out for this superhero crap," Vapor said kicking a wad of sand into the air.

"What do you mean you don't know? You remember when you overcame the wall of emotions in the hut. If you weren't the one, it would have killed you." Her voice burned with urgent energy.

Vapor knelt down and rolled grains of sand over and over between his fingers. "Maybe you're right, but how can I fight something that cancels everything I throw at it. We're complete equals!"

"You are not complete equals, he is much weaker than you are. You just have to find his weak spot and exploit it."

"Weakness," he muttered to himself. "So where is this Garden at?"

She chuckled briefly and then said, "Didn't my father give you the map?"

"Map." he paused in thought, "Oh yeah! Map!" He pulled the scroll out of his pocket and unrolled it on the sand. Sure enough a transparent overlay of a map settled in the paper. "Well, what are we waiting for then?" Vapor said to her returning to the bike.

The speederbike flew over the rolling sand dunes weaving in-between the legs of a huge ATAT patrol. She called to him; "The canyon is approximately one kilometer due West!"

Vapor cut hard to avoid a giant ATAT leg. "Hold on this is going to be close!" He cut between two more legs.

Six speederbikes roared over the edge of a small ridge and darted across in front of them. Vapor hit the brakes and swerved around the last troop with mere inches of clearance. Three of the six broke off and started to pursue them. Vapor handed Rebecca his blaster and said "Here! You have to pick them off while I drive!"

She spun around quickly holding the blaster with one end and the seat back with the other. Green bolts hissed past Vapor's head. He saw the canyon in the distance. Rebecca called up to him "I got one!"

Vapor nodded "Alright! One down, two to go! Hang on!" Vapor veered the speeder along a giant embankment to make a sharp turn. One of the bikes pulled up along side while one stayed back. Vapor called, "Get the back one! This ones mine!" She nodded firing six shots off toward the third speeder. Vapor keenly reached down to his belt and grabbed his lightsaber. He twirled the flickering ultraviolet blade back and forth in his hand before slicing into the stabilizer of the other bike. The troop flew a few meters in the air before drifting back behind and rejoining the speeder in a ball of fire. The third bike pulled up closer. Vapor shouted "Can you get him?!"

She fired three rounds into the stormtrooper's torso before shouting back, "Yeah!"

Vapor was impressed, and let a smile cross his face before returning his eyes to the red horizon. "I see the canyon!" he called.

"We need to stop so I can determine what to do next!"

"Okay!" Vapor cut the throttle and coasted to a stop along the edge of the giant rift.

She climbed off the bike and walked over to the edge of the chasm with the map in hand. "There's a cave on the far face that we need to enter." She scanned the far side with her eyes.

"Here, use these." Vapor pulled a pair of binoculars out of the emergency pack from his X-Wing. "Standard issue. Never leave home without it," he said with a smirk.

She took them from him and started scanning the cliff face. "There, I see it."

She passed him the binoculars. "Yeah, that's it alright!" he exclaimed, "How are we going to get there? Were fresh out of absail gear." Rebecca said something softly but he wasn't paying attention. He looked at the cave and judged some distance and plotted some vectors. Finally he reached a conclusion.

"Hop on, I have a plan." He said to her.

"Or we could do it your way." She said sarcastically.

"Come on! Once this daylight is gone were gonna be screwed." He said half laughing.

She climbed on and Vapor turned the bike around to get some distance. He stopped and revved the engine of the bike. Vapor unclipped his fighter helmet from his backpack and handed it to Rebecca. "Put this on! You may need it! Oh and if you don't like heights, put the blast shield down now!"

She nodded and said back to him calmly, "You're crazy."

"I know," he said lining up on the cave. He slammed on the throttle. The bike reached full speed as it neared the edge. Sand kicked up behind the bike as it took flight. Vapor's entire life flashed before his eyes as the canyon's features became more pronounced. The cave opening was dead ahead and it seemed as though they would make it. Then, all of a sudden, they began to sink. They dropped too low to make it across. The wall of the canyon drew nearer. The nose pitched downwards. Vapor cursed as they began to plummet. All he could see was the canyon wall rushing upward. He was done for, he knew it, until suddenly, the canyon wall slowed down. "Let's get off the bike!" Rebecca called to him; "It's too heavy!" Vapor didn't question but instead let go of the speederbike. The canyon wall in front of him stopped and then quickly began to move downward. A large explosion shot shards of metal upward past him as the arced back downwards. His entire body was forced upward with a large gust of wind and carried up to the mouth of the tunnel. The air pushed him over the ledge of the tunnel's mouth and dropped him, hard. Vapor sat up and tried to catch his breath. His heart pounded sending mass amounts of adrenaline into his system. Vapor glanced over at Rebecca, who floated down to the ledge of the cave's mouth and stepped onto the ground like it was the end of a people mover. Vapor slowly stood and moved over towards her.

She smiled innocently. "Or we could do it my way," she said walking past him into the tunnel carrying the map. Vapor shouldered the backpack and followed behind shaking his head.

Chapter 7

Together they walked down the large tunnel until they came to a "Y". The room was dimly lit and Rebecca held the map in the light. "The map says this way." She said pointing down the left tunnel. "Okay," Vapor said beginning to follow her down the narrow pass. "Wait!" he called grabbing her shoulder. "There's danger ahead. This is the wrong way." He said sensing the impending doom if they continued in that direction. Vapor grabbed a rock and tossed it down the tunnel. The entire floor gave way leaving a vast chasm too far to jump.

"I could use my air--," she started.

"Too unstable, the whole thing might collapse in on us." Vapor thought for a moment and suddenly arrived at an idea. "What would happen if only two stones were combined?"

Rebecca speculated for a second and then said, "I don't think they would fuse together."

"Okay, but what If I just held them together in one hand and summoned both their energies?" Vapor paced back in forth and then said, "Let me have your air crystal, I've got an idea."

She handed him the crystal and Vapor brought them together in his right hand. His hand felt extremely cold. Summoning the power within the crystals, Vapor waved his left arm and ice shot from his fingertips. The floor and walls froze, making a makeshift bridge across the chasm. Vapor smiled and slid across the bridge. He tossed the crystal back to Rebecca as she crossed behind him. They continued to follow the tunnel until it seemed like it opened up into a huge chamber. Vapor crossed the cove of the tunnel into the large chamber. It was pitch black. He lit a rescue flare from the pack and illumination spilled into the room.

"Wow!" he exclaimed.

The chamber was entirely crystalline and shone with a brilliant radiance. The rock that made up the chamber reflected the red-orange light from the flare in all directions. Vapor admired the formations in the walls of the cave before proceeding onward.

Suddenly, the flare illuminated four stone columns, then eight, and then sixteen until dozens of columns were visible. They all were diagonally aligned on a stone gate. Which had several inscriptions along the archway. The symbols were unmistakable. This was the Garden of Truth.

Vapor pulled back the hood on his cloak and stared up at the massive gate. "Only the bearers may enter," he read aloud, "I guess that's us," he said turning to Rebecca who was marveling in this spectacular view.

In a flash, Lodestone jumped out from behind one of the stone columns, grabbed Rebecca by the arm and kicked open the Iron Gate. He turned and faced Vapor slowly throwing up a fire shield. "Don't move, or the girl gets it!" he shouted.

"You won't get away with this Lodestone!" Vapor yelled back.

"I already have!" he shouted snatching the air crystal from around her neck. He dragged her kicking through the gate and into the darkness. Vapor stood still for a moment as he heard his evil laugh penetrate the fathoms of the cave into his soul. He said aloud to himself, "First the family, now Rebecca. Oh! Are you gonna pay now." Vapor clenched his fists and sprinted after the evil laughter into the Garden.

The dark cave became lighter and lighter as he moved further into the Garden. Small shrubs and mosses cluttered the floor. The further he walked, more vines streamed down from the ceiling, wrapping themselves around the rocks and fissures of the walls. Eventually, trees, bushes, and flowers became more common as the cave widened and expanded in all directions. Though there was no sunlight, the plants seemed to irradiate their own light. Vapor cut through some dense brush with his lightsaber and fell upon a small trail, which had been used. Several branches were broken and footprints were set along the cavern floor. Vapor followed the trail for what seemed like hours until finally he arrived at an altar of some sort surrounded by a large triangle. The altar was a table carved out of rock that seemed to be just laying about the cavern. Vapor wished he had the map to tell exactly what it was that he should do.

Lodestone called to him from a cliff high overlooking the area. "Well, I must thank you for directing me here. I know you must have figured out by now that I didn't know how to find this place otherwise." Vapor drew his blaster. "Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you. You might accidentally hit someone." A silhouette swung in front of him. Lodestone shot three short bursts of flame past the silhouette. Rebecca hung upside-down from the ceiling over the altar, bound and gagged, but alive. "I thought you both should be here to watch me combine two of the crystals. More credit due to you, Vapor, for showing me that back at the frozen tunnel. As a matter of fact, why not all three of you be here to see it." Lodestone's skin began to melt. His body began to change shape into an amorphous blob, and then to the shape of a familiar form. The now dead fire bearing Serpentian now stood seemingly trapped; stuck to the surface of Lodestone.

"A shape shifter." Vapor said to himself.

"That's right. One metamorph, in the fluid," Lode responded.

"But you're telepathic."

"Indeed, my people are telepaths from birth."

"Then you're not really my brother. What have you done with my family!?!"

"Oh, your family!" he said with a sinister smile, "I sent them for a little ride up to the penal colony for correction, sorry kid," Lodestone laughed long and loud, "and now, for my disappearing act." Everything went dark. Vapor couldn't see anything but heard the slither of fluid flowing around the room.

'He has the air crystal and the fire crystal, what could that possibly make?' Vapor thought.

Blue ribbons of electricity arced through the air, lighting up the entire garden.

"Lightning!" he shouted sprinting for cover.

The arcs of lightning bolts that coursed through the room illuminated Lodestone's face. Rebecca's was too, but even though most of her head was wrapped in a thick cloth, he sensed her terror. Vapor affixed the water crystal to the top of the staff. The staff shone brightly with a blue light. Vapor walked to the center of the garden near the altar and knelt. The lightning bolts swarmed around him and struck the staff. The bolt ricocheted into the walls and filled the room with blue light. The neutralized charge dissipated into the staff splitting it in half. Vapor caught the water crystal in his hand. A thin cloud of water vapor rose from the floor as Vapor drew his blaster and fired at Lodestone. The shot hit him in the arm ripping it off. The two crystals flew out of his hands and cracked on the floor. Vapor dove at the air crystal while Lodestone went after his arm. Vapor grabbed the air crystal and swung his arm toward Lodestone in one motion freezing him solid. And so the immediate danger was no more.

Vapor set up the emergency flotation device on the floor, took careful aim, and shot the rope that she hung from. He ran over to her and helped her untie the binds. She looked at him and said, "What are you going to do with him now?"

"I'm going to make sure he never hurts anyone again." Vapor walked over to the frozen Lodestone and kicked him in the chest. His body shattered into what looked like a million frozen pieces. He let off a great victory yell, which dissolved into a laugh.

Rebecca walked up to him and handed him the fire crystal. "It's time," she said. Vapor nodded and together the entered the triangle with the three stones. The ground quaked. "Combine them on the altar!" she shouted. Vapor set the water crystal on the altar. He handed Rebecca the air crystal and she placed it on top of water. Together they placed the fire crystal on top of air and the room became filled with light. Vegetation from the garden bloomed in brilliant flowers before booming upwards to the roof of the cave. Water spilled out from the cracks of the floor like geysers. Rocks began to fall from the ceiling.

"Come on! We've got to get outta here, this whole room is gonna collapse!" he shouted to Rebecca. A huge gush of water sprang out of the wall and started spraying onto the floor of the cave. "Get in the raft! I have a plan!" More geysers sprang up and the floor of the cave began to flood. They climbed into the raft as the water continued to flood higher and higher. Suddenly, the wall broke and water freely ran into the room. The water pushed them down through the tunnel. "I sure hope I'm right about this," Vapor thought aloud. They picked up speed. Faster and faster they flew through the tunnel. "Hang On!" Vapor shouted as they neared the tunnel's mouth.

"What about the canyon!" Rebecca shouted.

"If I'm right, that shouldn't be a problem!" The raft flew over the edge of the opening and began to fall. Time stood still for a moment as they hit water with a splash. The rapids churned beneath them momentarily until it pacified into a cool running river. Water gushed from the walls of the canyon making it a natural fountain. The sky turned a remarkable blue and clouds formed overhead. It began to rain as they pulled the raft onto the shore.

The roar of X-Wings blazed overhead. Vapor cracked open flares and waved them over his head. An X spotted them and circled overhead. Before long a Corellian transport and a Corvette could be seen breaking the clouds overhead and approaching rapidly. The X threw them a line and they were carried to the top of the canyon. The sight of the land cresting the canyon walls was breathtaking. Trees seemed to stretch into the distance forever and streams and lakes of all kinds ran though them. The brilliant pair of suns broke through the clouds and illuminated the landscape. The X set them down along the cliff next to the Corellian Transport. The ramp extended and an exuberant CorranHorn sprinted down the ramp over to them.

"I thought you were dead man!"

"Well you thought wrong, it takes a lot more than a little Imp fire to keep me down. You should know that by now!" Vapor's eyes moved from Corran to Rebecca. "We should get going, this thing isn't over yet."

Red and green lasers blazed the orange sky as another ATAT exploded into a fiery plume. The transport skimmed the treetops as it went in for another kill. Suddenly, Vapor was blinded by a flash of light out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see what it was. "Guys my X is over there!" he said pointing. "four o'clock!" Vapor smiled as the Transport banked sharply toward the wreckage and cut between four very tall trees.

"There's no place to land!" Corran shouted to him.

He sprang from his seat and said "Slow to 1/8th throttle and open the side ramp!" He ducked through the door and moved quickly to the ramp. Trees whizzed by and wind whipped him through the opening as his craft drew nearer. Finally they were almost on top of it so Vapor strapped on a jetpack and dove out through the hatch. The X had been pushed upward from all the trees and now rested on a canopy of green. He coasted in to the treetops and landed on a massive tree nearly twice his height in diameter. He scrambled back up to the canopy and surveyed the damage. Most of it was salvageable. He worked hard at it, affixing clamps to anything that leaked. He opened the right service hatch and found that a group of red birds had made a little nest on the plasma-cooling duct. He reached in, pulled the nest clear and set it on a nearby branch. Finally, the work was complete, the sun was down and it had stopped raining but laser bolts still shot through the night sky. Vapor climbed into the X and started the engines. Master alarms flashed all across the dash but he ignored them. 'There's no reason why this should work,' he thought before kicking the engines to full throttle. He broke free of vines and branches as he shot upward into the atmosphere. Immediately the Corellian Transport and the Corvette were in plain sight. The X broke free of the clouds into space where the battle was more intense. A Rebel frigate and a Mon Calamari cruiser were now fighting what appeared to be two Imperial Star Destroyers. At first sight it seemed like a lost cause for the Rebels until he noticed that one ISDII was registering friendly. The "Intrepid" was charging down on the "Tormentor" with a full head of steam and all turbolasers blazing.

"ReBeL leader to Silver 3, Come in Silver 3." He heard over the radio.

"This is Silver 3, Am I dreaming or is that an ISD fighting for the Rebels?" Vapor asked.

"You aren't dreaming pilot. That's our command ship the 'Intrepid'"

"Amazing-" he was cut off as the Tormentor ruptured in a fiery explosion.

Together ReBeL wing and Vapor returned to the Cruiser. Vapor looked around as his canopy slid open. He spotted the Transport across the bay. He darted up from his seat and jumped down to the floor. He jogged over to the group that assembled there. Corran, Rebecca, and six ReBeL pilots he hadn't met before stood in a circle there. They were all telling stories of the battle.

"What is the status of the Imperials right now?" Vapor asked with immediate concern.

"Whatever was left of the Imperials on the moon's surface retreated back through the nebula after the Tormentor went up." One of the ReBeLs said.

"And the penal colonies?" He asked turning to Rebecca.

"All liberated, she answered with a smile."

"My parents--" he started.

She put her hand on his shoulder. "Vapor, I'm sorry. We never found them."

Vapor shrugged off the hand, turned from them and walked back to his X. He ran his hand across the glossy hull. He didn't need the staff to sense her eyes on him. She walked up behind him.

"Vapor, we will find them I know we will." Her hand settled on his shoulder again.

He said "I can't leave them like this but I know I have to continue my fight." He turned to face her. "I won't rest until the Rebellion is sovereign. I know that if I stop believing in my comrades and give up on it all-"

"It's not giving up, its searching for your family Vapor!" she said in a harsh tone.

"I can't quit fighting. Not yet." He thought for a moment. "You could come with me. We could fight this thing together!" His eyes fell to the floor as she shook her head.

"I can't do that. I belong here just as much as you belong there."

"Come on. There's gotta be some way we could have our cake and eat it too."

"Maybe there isn't."

"Then this is the way it has to end. We are just too different I suppose." Vapor said with a look of despair.

She didn't say anything but stood there; eyes fixed on the floor. Vapor turned to go. He began to walk across the fighterbay. He was nearly to the transport when a hand landed on his shoulder and spun him around. She kissed him abruptly.

"You will write won't you?" she asked.

"Of course I will." He replied. "This galaxy isn't big enough to keep me from it."

She smiled and waved to him as he boarded the transport. As the craft pulled out an Escort Shuttle marked "AF3" could be seen flying in to dock with the cruiser.

"Next stop RBL Intrepid" said a mechanical voice.

"You did a good job out there man." A voice said behind him.

Vapor turned to see who it was. "Zara. I was wondering if I'd see you again."

"You've come a long way since the 51st. I must say you impressed some of the ReBeLs with your bombing run."

Vapor was too shocked to reply.

"We could use talent like you've got you know?"

"Well-I uh." Vapor stammered his reply.

"Why don't you come aboard the Intrepid and I'll introduce you to some of the pilots." Zarathos offered.

"Sure thing! Uh.I mean I'd be glad to uh.sir."

Zara's allowed a smile to show on his face as the transport crossed over to meet the Intrepid. Vapor turned to face the window and watched the giant ship cross in front of them. He said low under his breath, "ReBeL Vapor".

 

THE END

 

RBL on BSC