Chapter1            Andromeda

The sound of her own running footsteps were ringing in her ears. The air was burning within her lungs, her mouth was dry. She zigged, zagged and darted down alleyways, trying to throw them off the trail. As she ran she silently cursed herself for going into that bar and silently prayed for a swoop bike.

This running-thing was not her forte. She was much better at driving and flying things, she decided as she ducked around a corner to quickly catch her breath and listen for signs of pursuit—she almost couldn’t tell since she was breathing so hard.

"Down this way! Split up and cut her off! She’s not getting away from us this time!" a voice yelled. It sounded awfully close. With a quick breath she took off running again, but didn’t get very far. She wasn’t watching where she was going, so she tripped over a stone and went careening into a garbage can that loudly went over, scaring the daylights out of some poor cat-creature that yowled as it went. She froze and waited to get her bearings, but she knew that to try and run anymore was futile. She could see the storm troopers coming in behind her and panic began to grip her from all sides. Would they shoot her on sight?

She forced herself up and headed for the opposite end of the alley, but was blocked off by more storm troopers coming in. She thought about climbing out, but there was nowhere to climb to. She didn’t raise her hands, but stood at the ready to take on any trooper that would try to manhandle her.

Just let them try it.

Her hand went to brush her blaster, just to make sure that it was there just in case. To her horror, all that met her touch was an empty holster. That didn’t phase her, but she silently cursed herself for her carelessness. She slowly backed up against the wall, well aware of the blasters trained on her. Her green eyes sparked fire of resentment; her jet-black hair was tumbled wildly about her shoulders from the chase. Her bosom was heaving from trying to catch her breath and every breath felt like her throat was on fire.

"Halt! Stay where you are!" a voice commanded. She wildly glanced about for an escape route, but there were no other doors, the walls were smooth, they had her covered and quickly surrounded her.

"Lieutenant Andromeda Llellandra Gossamer, you are hereby under arrest for high treason and desertion to the Galactic Empire!" the commander’s voice sounded loudly within her ears. A trooper was advancing with a pair of restraints to put around her wrists, but Andromeda would have none of it.

With a well-aimed kick, she sent the binders flying into some nearby garbage heap, which instantly sent two troopers looking for them. Two more advanced to try and restrain her, but she still had the wind to take them out and sent them both flying in opposite directions. She seemed to be a little more jazzed about the brawl and hand-to-hand combat, but she didn’t count on the commander joining in with his blaster.

He obviously held no reservations about letting his blaster fire upon her. He had it on the stun setting and at practically point-blank range, had no problem in taking care of this rowdy prisoner.

Andromeda felt the stun bolt hit her on the right side of her chest and sent her stumbling backward into the wall. Gritting her teeth, she fought the impulse to give in to the blackness swirling all about her threatening to swallow her whole. She straightened herself up and surprisingly lunged for the commander, who let go another stun bolt, which hit her square this time. Andromeda felt herself hitting the ground hard in an unceremonious crash at the commander’s feet as her sight fuzzed and everything went black.

"Get her out of here. Put her on the transport. We can add disturbing the peace and resisting arrest to her rap sheet. Whatever it is she’s done, Moff Maricson wants her pretty badly. Ah, I see a definite bonus in my pay check!"

Before this whole entanglement even happened, Lt. Andromeda Llellandra Gossamer was an up and coming hotshot pilot in the Imperial Navy. Her older brother, Col. Nicholas Gossamer, was serving in the army, happily married and living out his life somewhere on Alderaan and she knew that he could just about care less about her. If there were a substantial bounty on her head, she wouldn’t have been surprised if he tried to turn her in himself. Her parents also were serving in Imperial military service of some sort. Her mother held the rank of commander on a star destroyer called Dragon’s Fly. Her father was the TIE Fighter Captain for the same ship and when they weren’t on the ship, they were living peaceful lives on Alderaan. It was as if once she had joined the military, her family ceased to exist and the military became her family.

Andromeda took after her father in her piloting and had graduated at the top of her class from the Imperial Naval Academy by the time she was seventeen. She had already risen quickly to the rank of lieutenant only after three years of service and was showing great promise of a brilliant military career.

So how did it all go so wrong?

Rumors were flying rampant once the Emperor dissolved the senate and assumed control. Senator Leia Organa was found out as a Rebel Sympathizer and she along with the crew of the ship she was on were all killed—or so the story went. Andromeda never quite bought it and was sure that the Emperor’s new protégée, Darth Vader, had everything to do with that and the fact that the Order of Jedi Knights were suddenly extinct. Word was spreading that there was rebellion happening. Little by little, Andromeda was becoming more and more disenchanted with the Empire and all it was standing for. When she was getting wind of all the Imperial atrocities, crimes and what really happened to the Jedi, she was leaning more and more toward the Alliance.

But she never told anyone—not even her best friend who would fly alongside of her wherever the navy went. Being a Rebel Sympathizer was a crime all in itself. A person could get arrested for that—killed even. So instead she secretly found contacts and made a tidy little nest egg for herself by selling a few military secrets—her "early retirement fund", as she liked to put it. She wasn’t officially working for the Rebels—or so she would have argued. She was just making a few little extra credits for herself.

Unfortunately for her, Admiral Telaire Maricson caught wind that there was a leak of secrets getting to the Rebels and with a little detective work uncovered Andromeda’s little scheme. As it turns out, another pilot in her squad, a rival by the name of Brendan Ghostryder ratted her out for some extra credits. (He never could handle being second best to me all the time, she figured.) But her best friend and boyfriend, Ken, found out about Brendan and was able to warn Andromeda in time and she was able to get away.

Before she knew it, she was wanted by the Empire. She was a Rebel Sympathizer, wanted for high treason against the Galactic Empire and for desertion to the Imperial Navy. Admiral Maricson was overseeing her capture himself. He put a ten thousand credit bounty on her head for her live capture.

Live capture. That meant that he wanted to interrogate her. That meant torture of some kind. What if that meant having her turned over to Grand Admiral Thrawn? Or what if that meant he wanted to execute her himself?

Andromeda suddenly had no one to turn to. Her parents had disowned her to save face and family honor once they found out, she guessed. How could they not know? She didn’t blame them if they did. But she was suddenly very lost and very alone. For the first time she was not surrounded by familiar faces, she had nowhere to go and no one to turn to. To the Alliance she was a nobody, just a little money-grubber out for herself. To the Empire she was a dangerous monster, a wanted criminal-turned-fugitive.

She fled the base on Alderaan and with her "savings" she managed to get herself to a little dust-ball of a planet called Tatooine and landed in a seedy spaceport called Mos Eisley. Parched, exhausted and running scared, she found herself a room at some little hotel and headed for the Mos Eisley Cantina. Something deep inside her gut told her not to go, but the need for a drink and some relaxation with recreation was too great and it overpowered her will and common sense.

As she entered the bar she took note of the diverse clientele. There were pilots, spacers and a rich variety of aliens. The band was playing off to one side, oblivious to the occasional fistfight or the occasional shooting. No one in particular seemed to notice her as she strode up to the bar and placed her order with the gruff-looking bartender.

She had barely sat down with her drink at some little table in a secluded corner when some Storm Troopers entered the bar. Andromeda had her blaster ready, just in case. They didn’t seem to notice her sitting there in the corner, half concealed by the darkness and smoky haze. She quietly watched them with hooded eyes while sipping on her drink.

"Do pardon me, Miss. Is the seat taken?" a deep voice addressed her and she looked up to see a burly, seedy-looking Twi’lek standing beside her with his blaster drawn. Andromeda rolled her eyes skyward and silently cursed at herself. Bad news traveled faster than she could possibly imagine. She had been so involved with keeping a close eye on the Storm Troopers that she hadn’t noticed him come right up to her. It was obvious to her by the way he was dressed that he was a bounty hunter of some sort. He was wearing a crude suit of all-terrain armor and had a few weapons tucked into his belt as well as a couple of vibro-blades. It was more than clear that he was after the money.

"Have a seat," she invited coolly.

"And if you summon the trooper’s attention, you’re a dead woman, Andromeda Gossamer," he snarled as he did so, not wavering with the blaster.

"Very well," Andromeda said through clenched teeth and did not panic. She had no intentions of bringing unwanted attention to herself.

"And just how much are you making for this? A mere ten thousand? And would you mind saying my name just a little louder next time so everyone could hear?" She began to casually finger the blaster that hung off her hip.

"He’s raised the price to twenty five thousand. You are a hot commodity right now. Now while their backs are turned, slowly get up and start heading for the door," he ordered, ignoring her sass. Slowly, Andromeda rose from her seat. Her drink was still in her hand and with no warning whatsoever she kicked the blaster from the bounty hunter’s surprised hand and brought her drink glass crashing over his head, knocking him out cold. Unfortunately, it attracted the attention of the Storm Troopers and without hesitation, Andromeda fled.

As she was fleeing she was sure she heard "Halt!" "Hey you!" "Wait a minute! Wasn’t that—" "That’s Lt. Gossamer! Stop her!" "You’re under arrest!" She took off running through the streets of Mos Eisley and then wound up in her present state of trouble.

As Andromeda came to, she was aware of the cold steel binders against her wrists and was aware that she was not alone in this transport that was now making a jump into light speed. She felt her head go light and her stomach squelched hard at not being ready for it. She moaned quietly as she raised her head and got her bearings. Yes, this was the prison transport and there were about a hundred poor souls aboard, having done all sorts of crimes.

"Where are we going?" Andromeda asked the person next to her.

"We’re headed for the penal colony on Rordak. It’s a mining facility," the man said quietly with finality. Andromeda shivered. She had heard of various camps and colonies for Imperial criminals. The mines in her opinion were the worst forms of punishment.

"You look as if you’ll do well. They need young, fit prisoners like you. How’d you wind up here?" the man asked with almost a hint of laughter behind his voice. "Kill a man because you were having such a bad hair day?"

"I’d rather not discuss it," Andromeda clenched her teeth. If it weren’t for the binders she would have hit him just for his insolence. She was a pilot, after all. Pilots were reserved some kind of respect since they went places. She was feeling bad enough that she had landed herself in that situation. What killed her on the inside was the thought of her parents who were at one time so proud of her. They wouldn’t be after they’d heard what she had done. They were a close-knit family at one point, she remembered back on happier times. She just wanted to break down into tears and feel sorry for herself, but she stopped herself. There was no point. The more she mulled over it, the more she realized at how much she truly hated the Empire. She gave the man a stony glare.

"Not your fault, right? What’d you do? Seriously. A femme fatale like you. Espionage? Workin’ for the rebels? Tradin’ secrets? C’mon. I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours," the man kept up.

The transport came out of hyperspace with an unsuspecting jolt that made the majority of the passengers suddenly jump and become more alert. The pesky man was suddenly quiet. To Andromeda, the jolt wasn’t even noticeable. From the little view port by her seat she could see Rordak, an almost brown planet with a strange dark patch over most of its Northern Hemisphere.

"What is that?" Andromeda heard herself breathe aloud.

"That’s where we’re headed. There’s an orbital night cloak over the place, so by the time we get there, it will be dark. It’s eternally night over there. Don’t you know anything? Were you asleep when the judge read you the riot act?" the man looked at her as if she were brain-dead. Andromeda had a puzzled look about her face but said nothing.

"Okay. Lemme spell this out for you. We’re going to prison on Rordak to work in the mines. This is a place where there is no daylight—ever. The air is bad, too. It’s acidic, from what I’m told. You can’t do more than three hours of hard labor before you feel the side effects from the bad air. You’d think we’d get breath masks, but they keep those for themselves. Yup. This is the point of no return, lady. We won’t be leaving here alive. A real shame, too. Good, strong girl like you. A real waste," he turned away from her indicating that he was through speaking and wanted nothing more to do with her.

Andromeda gave an exasperated little sigh and rolled her eyes before staring out the window again, alone with her thoughts as the transport came down for a landing. She felt a sense of panic threatening to take her in its grip. As she clearly recalled, there was no trial and no judge handing down a sentence. Just an arrest and being loaded onto the transport. Was it clerical error that she was here? What was going on?

Guards with breath masks boarded and herded the passengers off. She seemed to numbly comply as she was herded down the ramp like a head of cattle. At the bottom of the ramp there was an officer who was removing binders. She had no reaction as she joined others, yet she kept her eyes peeled for any sign of Admiral Maricson. Maybe he was there waiting for her.

Wordlessly, she followed the herd of prisoners as they were ushered away to a separate building to be given their prison garb. She was oblivious to those around her, some staring, some pointing and whispering. She held her head high but said not a word throughout the entire ordeal as her identity was traded away for some number.

The prisoners had gathered out in the yard to hear further instruction. She had no other choice but to listen as the warden made his speech to them, giving them the rundown. Andromeda had a front row seat for this. She stood very still and made very sure that she wasn’t standing at attention, as was her habit. She tried to make her stance seem as casual as she could get it without standing "at ease". Her eyes were cast downward so as not to catch the eye of the commanding officer, but she did take time to take in the people around her at this point. This time she was standing beside a rather burley man, who seemed to have quite an attitude about him. He bared his teeth as a high ranking man in uniform walked by. It was almost as if he were about to growl and bite, just because it was in his nature.

"I’d like to welcome all of you to Rordak. This is a mining facility where you will labor to extract the mineral ore. This is how it goes, people. You are working in eternal night thanks to the orbital night cloak that’s directly overhead. The air here is highly acidic but breathable. You will be unable to labor for more than three hours at a time unless you have a breath mask—but since you’re the prisoners you don’t get one. Don’t bother on trying to escape. This is the only outpost with any kind of technology and even if you did manage to escape you will fall prey to the local natives known as the Viscas, who will very much enjoy feasting on your blood. Is that understood?" the officer blared. "Only acceptable behavior will be tolerated. That will mean no brawling of any kind. Any misconduct will mean an instant one way ticket to the Viscas.

"I’m the prison warden here. You will refer to me as Warden, is that clear?" he introduced himself. Andromeda could feel herself cringe at the man’s voice that had a tone of "Mightier-than-thou" in it and she had to consciously fight the urge to snap to attention every time the Warden barked. The burley man standing next to her seemed to mutter something under his breath, which sounded unmistakably to her as "Bite me, Monkey Boy!"

The Warden spun around and with finger pointing at him, "You there! What’s your name?" Andromeda backed away a step or two and kept her eyes down. She knew better than to challenge a superior. If anything, she wanted to keep the lowest profile as possible to keep from being recognized and taken to Admiral Maricson for interrogation.

"Edmund Blackadder," he spat, making himself huge and intimidating. "Bite me, Monkey Boy!" By the way the Warden stood, it looked to Andromeda as if he were about to verbally dress him down, like any other high ranking officer would, but instead lashed out with a fist to the gut, quickly bringing Edmund to his knees.

"Just for that, it’s solitary confinement for you! It’s only bread and water—once a day, for the next thirty days. And believe you me, Black-whatever your name is! You’ll come to find out that life will be better here in the colony rather than living as a slave to the Viscas! —If you’re allowed to live, that is. As for the rest of you, remember—you are in a mining camp. You’ve all become miners for the Galactic Empire as punishment for your crimes, and you’ll live out the remainder of your pitiful lives here! Tomorrow, your day begins at 04:00, whereas you will rise, shower, and eat—if you so choose. You will be given your mining group assignments and will report to the mines no later than 05:30. You will take turns working in three-hour shifts throughout the day. Dinner will be served in the mess hall at 17:30, and lights out will be at 22:00 sharp. You have the evening off, so you may go and eat if you so choose. That is all." He strutted away and the prisoners were led to the mess hall, where dinner was being served.

Andromeda jumped into the line with everyone else and it was then that she noticed how hungry she really was. While waiting she also noticed how quiet it was. There seemed to be an imposed silence upon the crowd of prisoners. There were literally hundreds of them! And from taking the glance about the hall, they all looked like rough characters of some sort of all races and species.

When she reached the front of the line she was handed a tray with a bowl and spoon with a slice of dry, hardened bread. The stuff in the bowl was almost not recognizable. She guessed that it was supposed to be a mix of vegetables and something else. By the looks of the gruel, she didn’t want to know what the other thing was.

Almost cautiously, she picked her way through the crowd, looking for a seat. She felt small and insignificant since there was not one face she recognized or even looked remotely friendly, but they were all involved in their meal and didn’t give her any notice. She actually felt very out of place being here among the scum of society. They were here because they had committed crimes like murder, rape or grand theft or who knows what else! Finally, she found a seat at a table and sat down.

She looked up at those around her who seemed to eye her suspiciously, seeming to guess that she was a new arrival. Directly across from her a huge Barabel had looked up and seemed to growl at her, but kept on eating. She instantly dropped her eyes down onto her tray and tried to eat. Her mind was threatening to wander and she was trying her best to tune out her surroundings but she just couldn’t do it. Squelching her stomach, she dove into dinner and was barely two bites into that disgusting slop when she heard a familiar voice from beside the Barabel address her.

"Llellandra! Is that really you? Thank goodness I’ve found you!"

Andromeda’s head jerked up to see the face of her uncle-in-law, of whom she affectionately dubbed "Uncle" Tolian. Her face lit up like a candle to see a friendly face and hear the familiar voice that had always called her by her middle name. She was so happy to see him that she could have leaped across the table and hugged him right there but of course she restrained herself and was satisfied to flash him a grateful and happy smile.

"Uncle Tolian! How did you know I was here? I didn’t even know that you were here!" she began excitedly.

"Keep your eyes down and make like you’re eating. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw your name on the mining roster. I happen to be a mining group leader and hoping that it was you I requested that you be put in my group. They didn’t care where newbies went, so they let me take you on. I’m so glad that you’re all right! I can’t believe that you’re actually here!" he took a bite of his food. "Better eat up. You’ll be reprimanded if that bowl is still full. By the way, I’d like you to meet Gorr. He’s in my group as well."

The Barabel known as Gorr looked up and with something resembling a forced smile grunted a greeting and kept on eating. Andromeda did her best to smile and nodded in return.

"Uncle, I have so many questions. How long have you been here?" she asked as she continued to pick at the globs in her bowl, trying to decipher exactly what they were. She pushed it away from her with a disgusted sniff. It was immediately confiscated and devoured greedily by Gorr.

"I’ve been here for two months," he replied wearily as he finished up.

"I had heard that you were out on some covert operation and that you were to be assigned to it indefinitely," she said softly. "If that’s what they’re saying… What do you think they told my parents?" Tolian didn’t say anything for a moment. Andromeda knew that he was thinking of his family that he had left behind on Alderaan. The thought of family reminded her of hers again and how she suddenly wished she was in her mother’s gardens, basking in the sunlight, listening to the native birds sing so beautifully. If it wasn’t for the fact that Tolian had found her and taken her under his wing, the depression of the place and the situation would have been overwhelming to her.

Tolian and Gorr took their leave of her as soon as dinner was done, Tolian being confident that Andromeda was alright. He knew that she would be, or he wouldn’t have sponsored her for the Academy if she didn’t have any of that Gossamer family moxy.

Andromeda went her own way, getting her cell assignment and was going to spend the evening to herself when an officer stopped her.

"You there! I’ve got an errand for you. Go down to level 3C and get five proton packs. When you’ve got them, take them up to room 318 and get them to the officer in charge. You’ve got thirty minutes to do it in!" he snapped at her and pointed to an elevator shaft. Andromeda muttered a quick "Yessir," had to keep herself from saluting him and headed for the elevator.

She was surprised that there was no armed guard going with her, but she went down to level 3C and when the door opened, it was dark. She fumbled around for a light switch, found one and still, the lights didn’t come on immediately. Instead, the lights came on, dimmed and continued to flicker like fluorescent lights going bad. With a heavy sigh, she stepped off the elevator and began to look for the proton packs.

Her sigh gave way into a moan of near despair as she looked about to see that nothing was in its proper place. In fact, it looked as if anything and everything was just placed anywhere, making a proton pack seem like a needle in a haystack.

She had spent nearly twenty minutes looking for the stupid things and was not paying very much attention to her surroundings, assuming she was alone. She thought she suspected movement just out of the corner of her eye, but with the way the lights were flickering she wasn’t sure. She thought she heard heavy breathing behind her, but before she could turn to see who was there, she felt something strike the back of her neck and it sent her sprawling to the floor.

Andromeda had turned over and raised herself to her elbow to see her attacker and with a gasp saw that this man was absolutely huge. He was a mountain of muscle and most of his teeth were missing.

"Hi, pretty lady. Bubba’s gonna have fun wit’ you," he leered down at her and moved to pin her to the ground, but Andromeda had enough presence of mind to roll out of his grasp. She wasted no time in gaining her feet. Her spine tingled with the onset of the coming fight and with a smile she wasted no time in letting a fist fly across his face. But the smile was short-lived as Bubba barely reacted to her punch and stood there for a moment, seeming to decide on what to do next.

Bubba, on the other hand, seemed a little surprised that she was even fighting back. Usually, most of his victims screamed or stayed riveted to the spot with terror as he easily had his way with them. He tried to swing his fist but she successfully blocked him and let fly with a fist to his gut, winding him only slightly. She had managed to bring him to his knees with a useful kick to his groin next, whereas he sank to the ground, holding himself, writhing with the pain. It was then that Andromeda noticed that someone was standing there simply watching.

Just some repair guy. Tall and wiry. He was staying out of it and Andromeda, not certain as to who he was stood defensively, her stance wordlessly warning him not to get involved. It was also then that an officer had rushed up on the scene.

"What’s going on here?" he demanded.

"Nothing," Andromeda replied in a tone that seemed to say "None of your damned business!" and out of habit snapped to attention without thinking about it. Luckily, the guard didn’t seem to notice.

"Nothing," Bubba squeaked from the ground, still holding himself and unable to get up.

"Spare me the Bantha fodder! What the heck happened?" the officer demanded.

"I was sent down here to look for some proton packs when Bubba here tried to help out. He suggested that direction and I was certain that they were the other direction. He disagreed, so I helped him to see things my way. Everything’s fine now," Andromeda said smoothly. The officer looked disbelievingly at her. He looked down at Bubba then back at her and then clapped some binders on Bubba.

"You’re not even supposed to be down here! It’s off to the Viscas for you!" and with no further incident the officer dragged Bubba away. The stranger who had been watching also seemed to lose interest and went back to what he was doing before someone told him to get back to work.

Andromeda was breathing a great sigh of relief that the guard had decided not to push the matter or to report it. After about another forty-five minutes of searching, she finally found the proton packs and took them back up. Although she was nearly an hour overdue, the officers didn’t seem to care, let alone take notice of her. The commander seemed to dismiss her with a wave of his hand and she was more than happy to leave.

Further down the corridor she ran into Uncle Tolian who seemed to have a concerned look about his face.

"Are you alright?" he demanded. "They just hauled Bubba off for being in a restricted area and for brawling. He’s being sent to the Viscas first thing in the morning. I heard that a woman had beaten him up and I could only guess that it was you—especially by the way you’re holding your hand. Did you hurt yourself? Are you alright?"

"I’m fine," she said quietly as they took off down the hall. "Bubba tried to attack me but I kicked his butt. I suppose I would have been the one who was hauled off if it had been the other way around."

"Llellandra, you really have to be more careful. You’re only twenty—" he began to lecture.

"And I can kick-ass with the best of them! Uncle, by kicking Bubba’s butt I have proven that yes, I can take care of myself," she snapped. "And could you not use my middle name? I’m more grown up now."

"I just worry, that’s all. You’re still a child. In this forsaken place, you’re the only family I’ve got. Humor an older man, will you? I know I shouldn’t worry. No one ever really seemed to worry about you. You’ve proven that. It’s reflected in your military career," he seemed to relax a little.

"What’s left of it," Andromeda muttered bitterly. "How much are you willing to bet that my parents don’t even know that I’m here? Maybe Admiral Maricson is looking to break me first or by some miracle it was a clerical blunder that I wound up here."

"Now you really ought to try and get some sleep," Tolian soothed, seeking to calm her. "Tomorrow’s going to be a very long day and you’ll need every bit of your strength. The first day is always the hardest if you’re not used to it."  He gave her a reassuring pat on her shoulder before taking off toward the men's barracks.

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