John Jackson Miller - Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View

W hat is it theyve sent us?

Captain Raymus Antilles watched as Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan turned away from him, holding the data card he had handed to her. The data card for which almost the entire military might of the Rebel Alliance, both on the ground and in orbit above the planet Scarif, had just risked everything to steal from one of the most secure Imperial strongholds in the galaxy. The grand, all-or-nothing gambit had led to the single largest combat engagement in the long history of conflict between the Rebellion and the Empire, and one that despite heavy losses had resulted seemingly in a victory: The card, and whatever highly prized data it held, had been delivered safely into the hands of one of the Alliances most capable covert operatives. The rest was up to her.

Hope, she replied as she looked ahead, through the forward viewport of the Tantive IVs cockpit, to the limitless ocean of stars beyond.

Always so damn enigmatic, thought Raymus. Leia never told you more than you needed to know. That was for the protection of others as much as her own. She had learned that lesson well, the princess who had become a galactic senator, the senator who had secretly risked her life countless times to help nurture a fledgling Rebellion from a handful of squabbling, disgruntled star systems into the organized and dedicated Alliance it had become. Still no direct match for the awesome war power of the Empire, but enough to capture their most closely guarded secrets in a mission that even Raymus thought breathless in its audacity. Enoughmaybe, just enoughto give the oppressed peoples of the galaxy a fighting chance at freedom.

Raymus watched the stars outside stretch into a kaleidoscopic tunnel of light as the ship jumped into hyperspace. Then Leia turned back to him and they both stepped through the cockpit door, into the hallway.

Will we make it? she asked. Before departure, Raymus had warned her that her ship was not yet capable of even the routine flight to Tatooine, which had, until recently, been its assignment. It had not even been able to travel to Scarif under its own power, carried instead in the belly of the rebel flagship Profundity as mechanical crews worked hurriedly to repair its overworked and malfunctioning hyperdrive. By the time they arrived at Scarif, Raymus was able only to assure her that the Tantive IV could perform a hyperspace jump, not that it could sustain lightspeed travel long enough to reliably get them to any given destination.

Ill be able to give you a better answer in operations, he told her.

Then lets go, she said, leading the way. Raymus followed, forced to quicken his step in order to keep pace with her.

They arrived at the ships operations center to find several senior officers working frantically at their control stations.

Status, Raymus requested as the door slid closed behind him.

Were maintaining lightspeed, for now, the nearest officer informed him. Remains to be seen how long the engines can keep this up. Maintenance crews are doing all they can. If we can hold this speed, well be at Tatooine within the hour. But the drives still in bad shape; motivator could go at any time.

Raymus nodded. All this he knew. After the damage sustained on its last mission, the Tantive IV was in no shape for a desperate flight from the Empire. For years he had carefully steered this shiphis shipthrough countless Imperial blockades and checkpoints, always able to avoid detection or suspicion. But now it had been spotted fleeing the scene of the most daring military assault in the history of the Rebellion, carrying stolen goods that the Empire would go to any lengths to recover. Suddenly, the Tantive IV was the most wanted ship in the galaxy, and it was in sorry shape. For the task of ferrying the most critical Imperial secrets ever captured, they could scarcely have picked a worse vessel at a worse time. But that was the hand they had been dealt, and Raymus had no option now but to play it as best he could.

The real problem is what were leaving behind us, the officer continued. We cant exactly run quiet with a hyperdrive thats barely holding together. If the Empire detected any trace of an abnormal hyperspace wake when we jumped to lightspeed, it wont take them long to use it to track us.

Raymus sighed; he had dreaded this possibility and had warned Leia of it prior to their setting their escape course from Scarif. Typically a jump to hyperspace meant a clean getaway, a ships lightspeed trajectory impossible to track. But the Tantive IVs impaired hyperdrive was like a leaky oil pan, leaving behind it a residual energy signature that was uniqueand traceable. He wondered now how long it would take the Empire, with all their resources no doubt already diverted to finding them, to pick up their trail and follow it. For that reason, Leia had thought it too great a risk to return to the rebel headquarters at Yavin 4. Faced with no good options, she had ordered Raymus to instead set course for Tatooine, their planned destination before the hurried redirection to Scarif. She hoped still to fulfill the vital mission that her father had entrusted to her earlier that same day, knowing that even if the Empire pursued them to that barren desert outworld they would find nothing there but endless wastes of sand.

Raymus saw the grim expression on the face of the ships bosun, who was examining new readouts at his station. Dont tell me it gets worse, he said.

The Profundity took heavy damage when she was disabled, the bosun reported. Her electrical systems overloaded, and since we were still docked, the overload fried half our grid, too. We barely have deflectors or weapons. If it comes to a fight, we wont be able to put up much of one.

So there it was. Surely only a matter of time before the Empire found them, and little chance of defending themselves once they did. Raymus tried to think of a time during all their many high-risk missions and close escapes when they had faced a situation as dire as this, and came up wanting. What about the escape pods? he asked.