Chapter Eleven

A distress signal.

A distress signal.

What the hell?

Mara stared at the control panel, her eyes wide as she considered the possibilities. Who knew about them? Why were they sending for help? What were they playing at, endangering the lives of everyone at Anchorhead Base? Mara began drumming her fingers against the desk, pondering her decision. Should she engage, should she reply?

Most, if not all, of the pilots were around her, in an uncomfortable silence, save for the mocking beep coming from the screen. They looked at her, probably thankful that they didn't have to make the decision.

But she did.

Mara chewed her bottom lip and looked around, finding Dak. "Ralter, use someone's binocs and see if you can see anything up there."

"Yes commander."

Mara didn't bother correcting him, but as Roger was away meeting Ezra Bridger for supplies, Mara was now back in charge. Plus she had much more experience when it came to this kind of thing. Dak left the room, and Mara, with a little help from her fellow pilots, began trying to probe the system, to see if she could find out the name of the ship, or anything, about who had sent the transmission.

"Commander? You should see this."

Mara nodded, leaving her post and following Dak outside. He pointed in the direction he wanted her to look at, Mara taking the binocs and aiming them in the right direction. She swallowed heavily at the sight of what was clearly firing between a couple of ships. Something was going on, alright.

She returned the binoculars to Dak, thanking him quietly. She hurried back into the base, returning to her spot - one of the pilots had decoded who sent the message.

And it made her heart stop - It was the Tantive IV. Leia was supposed to be on that ship. With stolen Death Star plans, no less.

"The Tantive IV?" asked a pilot aloud from behind her somewhere.

"Princess Leia of Alderaan is supposed to be on that ship," Mara explained to them. "She is...or was supposed to receive a couple of transmissions...Death Star plans. What she's doing coming to Tatooine, I don't know. If the Imperials are here, then we can't send any messages to the Alliance. It's at a big risk of being intercepted. We're on our own." Murmurs spread around the room, as they all realised what this meant. "I'm willing to bet that Leia is under attack from a Star Destroyer, or something as bad. We can't help her, we only have three starfighters suitable...we only have mainly skyhoppers, and as repulsor crafts space flight is impossible."

Dak ran breathlessly back into the room. "The firing has stopped," he reported to them. "Now they're just...sort of sitting there."

Mara dreaded to think what that meant for everyone on board the Tantive IV, but her thoughts were cut short as another transmission came in. Mara and everybody else turned back around to the screen slowly.

It was Imperial. It was an order from an Imperial agent, calling from the Star Destroyer Devastator.

"Shut it down! Mara yelled, not even bothering to read the orders. "Shut it ALL OFF NOW!" She threw herself at the screen, disabling everything and anything. The other pilots were turning off all of their signals and anything transmission-based, until the room was left with just the lights hanging from the ceilings.

It was at that moment that the new commander Roger Stern hurried into the room, probably hearing the commotion from the entrance to the base. "What is going on?"

"Roger," Mara said breathlessly, hurrying over to him and putting her hands on his shoulders. "Order the evacuation, now. Our position has been compromised. It won't take them long to find us."

"Who? What are you talking about?"

"I'll explain everything," Mara assured him, "but we need to start the evacuation now."

Roger looked at her with all the trust in the world, and shouted for everybody to start evacuating the base, starting with the important equipment and ships they can take back to Alliance headquarters. Mara nodded in content at his orders, and soon all personnel were running to and from rooms, loading their main cargo ship with as much as possible. She even urged everyone to make sure they had their personal effects with them, such as holograms of loved ones and the like. Those sorts of things cannot be replaced, but equipment can be, someone had once told her wisely.

Mara explained to Roger what had happened, and they both assigned themselves to permanently deleting data and files from their computers. "I could do with blowing this room up," Mara admitted to Roger, half-joking - it would save a hell of a lot of time. "But we haven't got the power, and it'll draw attention to ourselves anyway."

A little while later, whilst evacuation was well underway, Biggs Darklighter arrived and headed straight for Mara, who was helping with the stowing away of their hoppers. "Mara," he greeted darkly.

"Oh good you're back," she said breathlessly, wiping her forehead. Judging by the look on his face, Mara guessed he knew, or had seen the ships firing in the sky at least.

Biggs nodded to confirm the guesses in her mind. "Luke saw the firing earlier, actually," he explained. "So it was a rebel ship then?"

Luke. Mara stopped suddenly, realising she had completely forgotten about him amidst the panic; she was supposed to be seeing him that night...well, that certainly wasn't happening now. "Oh yeah, Leia bloody Organa's ship. We're pretty sure that their ship fell under attack, and the Star Destroyer Devastator saw their distress signal they sent us. Or they were the ones that sent it in the first place, I don't know, but we have no choice but to get out of here."

"Listen, some of the locals were saying that Stormtroopers had been spotted out in the Jundland Wastes," Biggs said quietly, so as not to startle the others.

"Stormtroopers?" Mara hissed. "If they've defeated the Tantive IV then why are they sending troops down to the planet for? Not just to find us, surely..." She stood in thought for a moment, trying to piece all of the events together. "But you know what this means, don't you?"

"What?"

"If Stormtroopers have been ordered down here then it's likely this planet will be blockaded too. It'll be a lot harder for us to leave."

Biggs nodded solemnly, watching Mara with concern - she was looking very distressed, something very out of character for her. She was usually calm under pressure. "I'll take over from here," he said quietly, moving her hands away from the skyhopper she was currently moving.

Mara thanked her fellow pilot and hurried away to give out commands to the personnel. Doing a headcount, Mara was satisfied everyone was there - Dak Ralter was to fly the cargo ship, Nova Prince. Merrick Simms and Turland Hack, her two most experienced pilots, and in charge of the training, were to fly their only A-Wing's to help protect the cargo ship - they were provided by Bridger from the Black Market and Mara hoped they would actually work; they certainly looked battered. Nala Hetsime and Cinda Tarheel were to fly their only X-Wing's alongside Nova, Hack and Simms, and Mara told them that they have no choice but to be ready to make the transition from Hopper to X-Wing, even with no astromech droids to help manage its weapon systems. Everybody else, with the exception of Mara, Roger, and Biggs, will board the cargo ship and sit in the makeshift lounge area they had created away from the equipment and hoppers. Mara was to take her own ship that was still sat in a hangar in Mos Eisley.

Once everyone knew their own job and what equipment they were boarding onto Nova, Mara stood at the entrance to their base, relishing in the silence of the canyon. It was almost too quiet, and also getting very dark. Biggs approached and stood by her quietly, allowing Mara to continue thinking of her plan.

"We'll have to wait until morning to leave," she decided. "It's not worth it to try and navigate the canyon at night. I only hope we can last until then…" Mara sighed sadly, staring at the stars. "I sure hope Leia is alright."

"She's tough," Biggs said firmly. "It'll take a lot to break her."

Mara certainly agreed with that.

"I know this isn't the time," Biggs started slowly, "but are you going to see Luke?" Mara made a noise as she began to speak, but she closed her mouth and wondered whether she would have time. If all had gone to plan, Mara would have been with Luke right now, spending their last night together. "He's devastated you're leaving."

"I know."

"Commander!" Mara turned sharply at the sound of one of her distressed pilots. "We think there may be a problem with Nova's hyperdrive."

She swallowed heavily, feeling her heart drop into her stomach. "That's the last thing we need," she grumbled, trying to ignore the pang of hunger and sting of fatigue, following the rookie back inside.

It turned out that it took most of the night to finish the complete evac and fix the hyperdrive. Mara fiddled with one final control in the cockpit before feeling satisfied and confident that Nova would make the jump to hyperspace. Some light began to flood the entrance bay of their base - no more time could be wasted.

Rubbing her tired and sore eyes, Mara ran around the base for the last time, checking every room for anything they may have left behind, ushering every man and woman she saw onto the ship. Once all bodies were accounted for, Mara stepped up the ramp and faced her fellow rebels, Hack, Simms, Hetsime and Tarheel standing by her side.

"Dak and his co-pilots have been given coordinates for Yavin 4, one of the main rebel bases," Mara explained to them. "However if you are pursued then Dak will reroute you to a secondary location I have provided." She paused, looking around at all of the nervous faces. "Thank you all so much for your cooperation last night and this morning. I'm sorry our hard work has to end this way. Finally - good luck. I don't know what's waiting out there, if anything, but … may the Force be with you."

Mara headed back down the ramp, turning one last time and watching as the faces eventually disappeared behind the closing doors. The pilots jumped into their A and X-Wing's, waiting patiently for Nova to begin its ascent out of the base.

Suddenly, the three of them left standing were startled by shots being fired at them. Throwing themselves on the ground, Mara was relieved to see that nobody was hurt. Shots bounded off of Nova and Hack and Simms shot out of the base like bullets, straight for the source of the blasters, ready to defend their trainees, followed by Hetsime and Tarheel; the familiar red and yellow lights that made the Wing's distinguishable disappeared into the canyon.

Mara couldn't believe their luck at that timing - they had been found, but for the Empire it was too late. Nova was disappearing out of Mara's sight, and despite the incoming fire she crawled to the edge of the opening in the canyon wall, gripping the rock and watching with relief her crew fly away from the stormtroopers below. Her starfighters had easily taken out some of the enemy below, but now had no choice but to retreat and follow Nova, as after all that is their mission, not protecting the three of them who had chosen to wait behind.

She could now see the familiar white uniform far down below where they were standing, shooting upwards from their speeders or from their Dewbacks. "Come on! Quickly now, hurry!"

Mara ran into her landspeeder, Biggs and Roger jumping into their own, zooming out of the base and towards the town of Anchorhead. Her heart pounded as a couple of stormtroopers who had their own speeders followed them, seeing bright shots from their blasters fly past her. They knew the canyon better than the troopers, and so the three of them separated, turning sharply this way and that until eventually they were free - Mara felt the heat of an explosion which ended the life of one stormtrooper, and the other must have gotten lost. Thank God for Beggar's Canyon.

"We need to hide our transports," Mara called as she spotted the other two; they slowed down and approached Anchorhead. "They'll be looking for the three of us now."

They parked up in Mara's garage and she locked up, knowing it could be blasted open easily but it seemed more logical than leaving them outside the cafe. "I'm going to my apartment to pick up my things," Mara explained as they hurried away.

"Mara I'm going to see my father, he's got business in Anchorhead today," said Biggs, but already walking away from them. "I'll be back soon I promise, I'll meet you back at the cafe!"

"We need to be quick," Mara muttered to Roger as they entered the cafe, greeting Kay and Windy and disappearing downstairs. "It can't be too long before stormtroopers arrive and search the town."

She grabbed everything and shoved it into the bag she arrived with, then shutting the power down and taking one last look around the place.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

She sighed heavily, running upstairs back to her old cafe and straight to Kay, who frowned at Mara's dishevelled appearance. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Mara replied breathlessly. "Listen I've got to go, today. The apartment downstairs is yours if you want it, as is my speeder. It's in the garage." Kay was stunned by Mara's many goodwill gestures. Well, like Luke and his family, Kay was one of the good ones on this planet and she deserved it.

She also heard Mara's tummy rumble, and so, as a concerned grandparent would do, Kay sat her and Roger down, not taking no for an answer, and gave them some fresh stew and juice, on the house. For which the Rebels were very grateful - it had been a long time since they had eaten.

"I should leave a message for Bridger when we get to Mos Eisley," said Roger, in between mouthfuls. Mara nodded eagerly; she hadn't even thought about him. "And when we get there, I need to head to my place and get my things too."

"Sure." Mara gulped down some refreshing juice, starting to feel slightly better now that she had some food inside her. Even though eating too quickly gave her indigestion. "I hope Nova Prince and the Wing's got out alright." It was all she could think about - it consumed her thoughts.

"They would have," Roger assured her. "Dak is an excellent pilot, and Nova also has some great pilots protecting it. Have faith."

"I just don't know what I would do if anything happened to them..." Mara trailed off, not even bearing to say anymore aloud. Roger squeezed her hand, knowing there was nothing he could say until they found out its fate on their return to Yavin 4.

Mara looked up automatically at the sound of the door opening, sighing in relief to see Luke Skywalker walk in. He, too, looked relived to see her.

She rushed up out of her seat to embrace him. "Mara!" he greeted enthusiastically. "I'm so glad you're OK. When I didn't see you last night, I was worried...I saw a load of firing yesterday, and wondered if you were involved somehow, and-"

Mara, despite it all, couldn't help herself. She grinned. "Luke, slow down." She caressed his cheek, lowering her voice. "I'm fine, but the base has been evacuated. Our location was discovered."

He nodded sadly. "So you're leaving today, then?"

"Yes. I didn't think I would have time to see you, I'm so glad you came to find me."

"I shouldn't even be looking for you at all," Luke admitted, sheepishly. "I'm supposed to be cleaning these two droids Uncle Owen bought from the Jawa's this morning. I sneaked out." Mara chuckled. "If these droids work out fine then I think I can finally talk to them about leaving. Only when they won't need my help, of course."

"I know," Mara said softly. "Your family need you. That's something I admire about you. Will you say goodbye to them for me?"

"Of course."

"Mara?" called Roger, who was getting up from the table. "I'll wait outside for you."

"Ok. Just give me another minute, will you?"

Roger and Luke greeted each other and the former left the cafe, leaving just the young couple. Kay must have been in the back. There was an uneasy silence for a few seconds.

"I guess this is goodbye." Mara paused after saying those words, feeling a huge knot twist inside her stomach. She felt so sick at the thought of not seeing him again for a long time.

"Yeah..."

They stared at each other sadly, not knowing what to say to make the situation any better. "Luke, no matter what happens to me, I'll always be glad I met you." Mara realised in that moment that he had taught her so much, maybe even made her a better person. "Thank you for everything. My time on Tatooine would have been very different if I hadn't known you."

Luke nodded to agree. "Thank you for making my life bearable on this rock," he whispered, as he reached out to her. He pecked her softly on the lips. "Kriff, I'll miss you." She smiled at his curse. "You have no idea how much you have changed everything in my life."

Mara kissed him deeply, feeling Luke sink into her arms. Eventually, she pulled away and tapped her nose against his. She stepped backwards, their arms still stretched out and fingers still entwined as both were reluctant to let go.

"Mara, I...I..." Luke stuttered and paused. "I - er..."

Mara was absolutely sure that she knew what he was trying to say. She didn't want to hear it because it would make it so much harder than it already was. For the first time in her life, she felt something so intense for somebody else, and they couldn't be together. That was definitely hard enough to deal with.

So, she nodded and turned away to the door, letting go of him. "I know," she whispered. "Goodbye, Luke." She raised her voice as she stepped outside. "See you, Kay."

She left quickly, breathing heavily so she wouldn't start crying, bumping into Biggs who was skulking around the corner with Roger. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just...please don't ask me." If anyone else asked her if she was OK or did something like hug her she was sure she would burst into tears.

Biggs understood, and silently the three of them rushed to the garage. Mara jumped in next to Biggs in his speeder; then, they followed Roger out and into the dusty wasteland, not knowing what, if anything, awaited them.

80 kilometers later, she and Biggs looked at each other nervously at the sight of an Imperial checkpoint at the main entrance into Mos Eisley. There was a queue of transports waiting for some kind of inspection. They certainly couldn't turn around as that would look suspicious, and the only way they could get off the planet was this spaceport anyway.

Mara nodded at Roger. He was still inside his own speeder, in front of her and Biggs. He had turned around, and she could tell from his facial expression that he wasn't sure what to do. But Mara had indicated that they were going to have to risk it.

All too soon they pulled up next to some stormtroopers; they could see Roger being interrogated by others at the same time. To their surprise, the troopers quickly searched the small speeder, and when satisifed motioned for them to move along.

"Mind telling us what you're looking for?" Mara had asked during the search, but she recieved no response.

"Wait." Mara cursed when Biggs halted. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

The trooper was looking directly at Mara. "No," she replied calmly. "I've never met a stormtrooper before."

"Give me your identification."

Mara fumbled inside her jacket pocket, pulling out her papers that Roger had made for her when she first arrived. She would be sure to thank him for that later - it showed she was related to someone who lived in Anchorhead and she had moved here upon his death.

"Maybe you've seen her in Avalatan's Cafe," Biggs said confidently, giving the trooper one of his wide, dashing smiles. "After all, the Eopie cream pies they make there are absolutely delicious."

The Imperial shoved the documents back into Mara's hands, scoffing as he did so. "Get out of here, scum."

As Biggs did not hesitate in leaving quickly, Mara caught sight of some troopers interrogating some locals about their droids. "What is going on around here?" asked an exasperated Biggs.

"I have no idea," Mara replied, biting her lip. "But there is definitely something else going on."

They caught up with Roger, who had also got through the checkpoint successfully, and followed him to his home, luckily in the New Quarter. Which, though still a place full of crime, was a little more tourist friendly than the Old Quarter. Every now and then they passed small garrisons of stormtroopers, some resistance to the increased Imperial presence, more droids being inspected.

"I overheard the stormtroopers talking about looking for two droids," Roger said breathlessly when they had stopped. He ushered them inside his house.

Mara nodded, Roger confirming what she had suspected. Something else had happened, as looking for some Rebels on the run was no longer a priority it seemed, and it involved droids. What happened with the Tantive IV?

"I was thinking..." Mara started slowly, as Roger began packing his things in a hurry. "We should stay. For one more day, max. See if we can find out what's going on."

"I knew you were going to say that," Biggs said, sighing, though with a cheeky look on his face. "I'm in. Stern?"

"Sure. It gives me more time to sort my affairs out. Like figuring out what to do with this place." He gestured around his home.

Mara looked at Biggs, returning his smile. "Let's relax here for a while, it's been a mad few hours. And then we'll do what we do best."

"And what is that?"

"Snooping."

Author's Note: I'll confess, I've had most of this written for ages now. But I only got around to uploading it today - oops! I did something crazy and moved to Vietnam, so these last few weeks have been mental. I hope you enjoyed :-) Hanoi has some awesome coffee shop places so I can get lots of writing done now I've bought a keyboard for my tablet. See you soon!