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Synopsis:
An attempted smash-and-grab of an Imperial cargo carrier
goes terribly wrong, and the remains of an X-Wing
squadron flies back to Karatha empty-handed. The
squadron leader, Stevan “Mak” Makintay is burning
with rage over the defeat, one pilot killed. He is going
nuts over how the Empire’s winning everywhere lately
– and his day does not get any better when a tech
named Merinda suggests finding an expert to build
replacement parts for X-Wings rather than going to steal
them. He has just such an expert in mind - his
ex-girlfriend, Ketrian Altronel, the reason his father
stripped him of his noble title and sent him to a penal
colony for a year. On Hargeeva, Ketrian is in the
process of presenting now-Imperial Governor Makintay a
new version of a mineral called ostrine. He likes what
he sees, and declares it all top secret. Ketrian is
escorted back to her hotel, where she meets with Mak.
She does not want to listen at first, but Mak manages to
persuade her to. However, he cannot persuade her to
help. It soon becomes academic when the Imperials attack
the hotel and captures them both, as well as a friend of
hers named Alikka Nolan. She wakes up in a prison
hospital, furious at Mak for getting her into this mess.
She learns from Major Niall Pedrin just how ruthless the
Empire can be – they are torturing and drugging Mak,
trying to get the location of the Rebels from him. He
plans to ship her to Coruscant tomorrow with her osirine
to continue research. She begs Pedrin to let her talk to
Mak, to try to find the base’s location herself. In
return, they will let Alikka go. He agrees.
Mak does not give her the location, and coldly tells her
Alikka was tortured to death in front of him. The
Imperial transport they are on is suddenly jumped by
pirates, and the Imperials jump ship – leaving them
stranded. They find themselves at a pirate enclave, with
Ketrian growing sick from a slow -acting poison
administered earlier by Pedrin. The two find their way
to the Rebels, where Ketrian is cured. Now the two
former lovers are lovers again – and Ketrian’s alloy
can now be used to improve the firepower of X-Wings. |