Chapter 3        Escape From Rordak

Despite the fact that there was a tree root somehow digging into her back, it was the best sleep Andromeda had had in what felt like a long time. She could hear the native birds chirping and she could tell that it was morning. She was feeling a chilly draft next to her and was aware that Tolian was already up. When she looked about for him she found him bent over Zaron with another medpac. Gorr was still asleep as was Edmund, sleeping quite soundly.

"Will Zaron be okay?" she asked quietly.

"I think so. He still won’t be feeling well, but at least he’ll be able to move today," Tolian replied. "What time do you think it is?" Andromeda smiled as she got the comlink out.

"According to this, it’s well past eight. I’ve never felt better! That sleep did us all a world of good I think," she stood up and stretched. "Shall I wake them up, or shall we let them sleep?"

"Let ‘em sleep. They deserve it," Tolian said with a smile. "It’s been a while since they’ve had sleep like that, I’ll bet." Zaron groaned and painfully raised himself to a sitting position.

"Did we make it? Did we get ’em?" he asked.

"Just fine," Andromeda knelt down beside him and began to rummage through the backpack for the rations. "How are you feeling?"

"Lousy. I can walk, I think, but I won’t be of much help otherwise until I can get better," he replied. "How long have I been out?"

"Since yesterday," she replied and handed him his breakfast. "We’ve got a long day ahead of us. We’ve got to look into sneaking back inside the prison and then getting us a shuttle and blasting out of here. We’re looking to hike around this mountain to get within radio range. We’ve got to find out what’s going on. There hasn’t been any pursuit so far, so I’m going to assume that the guards died and they’re assuming we all drowned in the flood or else became Visca bait."

"Sounds good to me, but just what do you have in mind? There’d better not be any running involved. I’ll be just happy if I can manage to stand upright, let alone walk," Zaron winced as he gently placed his hand over his side.

"We can’t stay here. If we stay here, we’ll be Visca bait," Tolian muttered. Andromeda was suddenly silent as she sat down again under the tree. She gently nudged Gorr, who groggily sat up and yawned big. He in turn nudged Edmund, who took a minute or two to return to the land of the living. When they were coherent, Andromeda told them about the hike and they wearily got up.

"Any ideas as to how we’re leaving?" Edmund asked as he helped Zaron to stand.

"Oh, we’re going to march right through the front gate!" Andromeda said with a smile and that strange glint had returned to her eyes. Edmund threw her a look as if she were crazy. After letting them eat from their rations they set off for the other side of the mountain.

The going was slow and Andromeda was getting impatient. To her it seemed that they were stopping every few feet for Zaron. When she thought about it, she had no idea why she was in such a hurry. If anything, she was secretly worrying as to how they would actually get back inside the compound again without actually getting caught.

According to the chronometer attached to the comlink, it was nearly five in the afternoon when they had finally reached a cliff that was overlooking the compound.

"Guys, I really haven’t done much complaining all day, but I really and truly do mean it when I say I can’t go on another step," Zaron protested weakly. His face was a mask of pain as he lowered himself down to the ground and leaned against a large rock, his hand over his side.

"We’ll camp out here and worry about getting in tomorrow," Tolian announced. Andromeda wanted to protest, but with one look at Zaron and with both Edmund and Gorr worn out from practically carrying him all day, she understood and made a real effort to keep herself silent.

Zaron was completely worn out and was asleep nearly the instant he had set himself down to rest. Gorr and Edmund weren’t talking much and Andromeda seemed to be lost in her own thoughts and began to pace.

Her thoughts were racing in anticipation. She was imagining herself at the helm of a ship—any ship. Oh, but how she was missing it so terribly! The thrill of flying solo, the heat of battle, the sensation of a throttle beneath her hands! The adrenaline rush of light speed—

"Llellandra," Tolian’s voice seemed to yank her out of her thoughts. She suddenly snapped to attention and looked up in his direction.

"Stop pacing already! You’re beginning to make even me nervous!" It was only then that she realized that she had been pacing furiously and had created a little trail where she had trampled down the grasses.

"Sorry," she mumbled and sat down. Her gaze was transfixed upon the base below, which was the only source of light to be seen. She could make out the perimeter of the base with its high walls and electrified fencing. She was able to make out the buildings and identified what they were—the cell blocks, the mess hall, the command center and the most beautiful sight to her eyes—as beautiful as any rare gem to her—was the landing pad and the small ship that sat parked upon it. Somehow they all had to reach it. That, she decided, was their ticket off this planet. The ideas were forming in her head and her eyes had an almost reckless glint to them.

"What’s going on inside of that little head of yours? Niece, I’m not sure I like the look in your eye," Tolian seemed wary as he caught the look in her eye.

"I know how we’re getting back inside!" Andromeda’s voice was barely above a whisper.

"Do you?" Edmund either wasn’t impressed or he didn’t care.

"We’ve got the uniforms. We have just become a Lost Patrol!" she declared. She seemed to wait for them to catch on to her meaning.

"Huh?" Gorr seemed the least bit impressed. "What about me? I’m a Barabel, or did you forget? There are no alien guards, so I couldn’t possibly pass for one, or did you forget about that, too?"

"You worry way too much! Besides that, there’s that great big bush and some rocks to hide behind," she waved at the nearby shrubbery.

"Hide?"

"I’ll get on this comlink here and have a little chat with Command. I’ll give them a hokey story about how we’re the few survivors of the flood and cave in back in the mine. I’ll say that everyone else had died, including the prisoners. I’ll mention that we’re out of rations and we need a transport to get back to base. If they buy that, then we’ll just cruise back to the base and if things go smoother than that, we’ll just walk onto that shuttlecraft and fly right out of here! —No problem!" Andromeda said excitedly. Gorr seemed to be mulling it over. Edmund looked down at the base, looked back at her and then looked over to Zaron.

"When?" was all he said.

"I definitely think it’s worth the shot," Tolian agreed quietly. "It’s the best and only idea I’ve heard so far."

"Only thing is, do we go for it right now, or do we wait it out another day?" Gorr jerked his head in Zaron’s direction. Andromeda also looked his direction.

"We wait it out until tomorrow morning," she said without having to think about it. "There’s a saying we pilots have and it’s "Never leave your wing man." No matter the mission, no matter the squad you’re on and no matter how sticky your situation gets, you never, ever leave your teammate high and dry." She proudly held her head high and secretly pushed away the memories of better days in the navy. Those memories were almost too painful to remember now. Her squadron was her extended family and although not all of them got along, they were a great team. With a stab of emotional pain she remembered her closest friends, her boyfriend Ken, who had refused to turn to the Alliance with her. At least he didn’t rat me out, she remembered bitterly.

"She’s right," Edmund agreed. "We don’t really know each other all that well, but we have all come together for a common cause. We’ve come this far and it would be wrong to leave anyone behind."

"So true," Tolian agreed quietly. "Gorr, you’ve got the first watch. We’ve got enough rations to last us the rest of the week. We’ll wait this thing out until Zaron is well enough."

"Uncle, we don’t have a week to wait," Andromeda fidgeted.

"Ground yourself child! We will get out of this! The one thing you pilots have a hard time with is patience!" Tolian admonished as he set himself down beside Zaron and checked on him. Edmund seemed to be already snoozing and Gorr seemed to be on the verge of dozing off. She sighed heavily.

"Gorr, get some rest. You and Edmund really worked hard today helping Zaron around. I couldn’t sleep if I wanted to anyway," Andromeda offered. Gorr seemed almost more than happy with her offer and settled himself down for a good sleep.

There seemed to be a chill to the night air, but Andromeda ignored it as she set herself down on the rock and returned to her gaze to the brightly-lit base below. She had way too much on her mind to try and sleep, despite how tired and exhausted she was really feeling. Over and over she could hear the inmate as clear as day saying, "Haven’t you heard? The Empire just blew up Alderaan!"

Alderaan. It just couldn’t be possible. Ever since the rumor reached her ears she had been doing everything within her power to keep her mind off of it. But here, out in the wilderness, the serene stillness and quiet cool of the evening, nothing prevented her mind from drifting back to Alderaan. What if it was true? And what if it weren’t? Not knowing was killing her inside.

For the last ten years, Alderaan had become home to her. It was peaceful and beautiful, abounding with plant life and wildlife. She closed her eyes for a moment and remembered her parents’ home where she would frequently visit whenever she had leave from her duties. She remembered how she would visit with her parents out in her mother’s garden, which was a beautiful thing to behold. It was her mother’s pride, she remembered. She and her mother would spend hours there either relaxing in the sun or doing a little gardening, or her father would join them and they would talk—not like a parent to child, but like real people—like friends. It was like they were good friends and her parents were very proud of her for all of her accomplishments in her up and coming military career.

A gentle breeze seemed to caress her face as it pushed its way by. She could almost swear that she could smell the sweet aroma of the garden and hear the beautiful, melodic tunes of the exotic birds. She remembered others she knew that had made their home on Alderaan. There were close friends she had as well. She couldn’t think of them as gone. Not knowing was pure torture. She was barely aware of the silent tears streaming down her face again.

She didn’t know how long she had been sitting there like that and was afraid that she had dozed off, for the next thing she was aware of was movement beside her as Gorr and Edmund sat up, yawned, stretched and got up. She quickly glanced down at the comlink’s chronometer and was surprised to find that it was nearly seven thirty in the morning.

"Good morning," she yawned and stretched herself. "Sleep good?" She carefully stood up, well aware that her joints were stiff and that there were muscles talking back at her that she had forgotten even existed.

"Slept fine. Have you been awake all night?" Gorr asked.

"Pretty much so," she answered as she began her morning workout to work the stiffness out of her joints from sitting that still for so long. When she felt as if she had gotten enough of the kinks out, she sat down again and gently nudged Tolian awake.

They let Zaron sleep as they made another meal with the rations. Edmund had then busied himself with cleaning the blaster carbine that he had obtained. Gorr followed suit. Much to Andromeda’s relief, Zaron seemed to wake up all on his own and Tolian immediately administered another medpac on him.

"And how are you feeling today?" Tolian asked.

"Better," Zaron said truthfully. "I think I can sit up without so much pain. Yes, I’m still feeling sore. I really got nailed didn’t I?"

"This should make you feel better. If anything, after this takes effect you should be very much healed up. All you have to do then is let the weariness wear off and you’ll feel as good as new," Tolian continued about his work.

"And about time, too!" Zaron agreed. "Have we figured out what we’re doing yet?"

"Yes. We’re doing what she said we were going to do to begin with. We’re going to practically saunter right through the front gate!" Tolian said with a confident smile and a look in Andromeda’s direction. Carefully, Zaron stood all on his own.

"Are you sure you’re at a hundred percent? Because if they do send a patrol after us and they don’t go for it, then we’ll have to fight again," Andromeda said.

"Now’s a good a time as any to give Command a little call," Tolian said. "You ready?"

"Uncle, I’m born ready!" Andromeda pulled out the comlink with a sigh of relief. Finally! They were getting off this planet. They were finally going home. "Quiet, now. Here goes." She expertly flipped the switch and extended the little antenna.

"Command, this is Guard Patrol Omega 3. This is a distress call. Can anybody read? Over!" she made her voice sound weak and weary. She remembered the guard captain’s call sign for the group from when they were back at the cave. Everyone was gathered around her, practically holding their breaths as they waited for a reply.

"Guard Patrol Omega 3. We read you. We had just about given up on you guys! Are you okay?" came the response. The group seemed to let their breath out just a little.

"We’re alright—barely, Command. There was that terrible flood and the cave-in. We’ve lost quite a few in our group. There were no surviving prisoners—repeat—no surviving prisoners. We’ve got wounded and our rations are pretty much gone. Request you send up a shuttle transport ASAP."

"Roger that, Omega 3. What’s the status of your party?"

"Only four of us left out of the original ten."

"Roger that. Keep the comlink turned on so we can pin point your location Omega 3. Help should be arriving within the next ten minutes. Good to know you guys made it out. See you when you get back. Command out."

They all let out a huge sigh of relief then. Andromeda set the comlink down on the rock and moved everyone else well away from it.

"They bought it!" Andromeda whispered with a triumphant smile upon her face. "Look!" She pointed down at the base and with a tingle that went down her spine, she could see the transport coming out of the front gate.

"Then I suppose we should look wounded," Edmund whispered with a look at Zaron. "That shouldn’t be too hard." Zaron rolled his eyes skyward and seemed to mutter something under his breath.

"I’ll just be back here," Gorr indicated the big bush nearby. Andromeda was so excited that she was on the verge of giddiness.

It only took about ten minutes for the transport to get there. Edmund was bent over Zaron while Andromeda and Tolian huddled nearby the rock. The transport came to a gentle stop and the back opened up with a ramp extending to the ground. Four officers rushed out. Andromeda could feel the tenseness return as she moved a hand over her carbine.

"Hey! You guys okay? We nearly gave you guys up for dead! Boy, you must’ve really had it rough!" the lead officer said as the others began to unload medpacs. Andromeda and Tolian forced smiles of relief but didn’t say anything.

"Hey. Wait a minute. Those aren’t officers! I know who they are! They’re the escaped prisoners!" another officer piped up.

"No we’re not!" Andromeda tried to sound indignant in her "How dare you!" tone of voice.

"Then explain the scorch marks on your uniforms! Besides that, you’re that female prisoner that had kicked Bubba’s butt!" he said smugly and made a move to draw his carbine but he jumped back a few feet as did all of them as a shot rang out from the bushes. Andromeda quickly reached over and hit the jamming switch on the comlink she had left on the rock. Zaron quickly gained his feet and let off a round, striking the officer closest to him. Gorr came out of hiding then, the secret of his hiding place revealed.

The four officers didn’t stand much of a chance. Hell knoweth no fury like prisoners with their minds set on escaping! Gorr had made it to the ramp first, ready to take out any remaining crewmembers. Zaron and Edmund were close behind him ready to storm the ship.

Something that no one really counted on was that there were two gunners aboard the transport, one manning a light laser cannon and the other manning a heavy laser cannon. Precautions were obviously taken in case of nay run-ins with the Viscas. Andromeda was taken by surprise as the light laser cannon swung over in her direction and fired. She felt the full force of it hit her in the arm and sent her flying a good five feet back. Gritting her teeth, she tried her best to ignore the pain as she sought to regain her footing. She ignored the pain, picked herself up as best she could and followed the others to the ramp.

Inside the transport, the gunners had come out of their turrets and had engaged Edmund and Gorr in a real knockdown drag-out fight. Zaron was headed for the cockpit as was Andromeda, but yet another officer blocked their way. Zaron swung with his fist and made contact, but it didn’t do much.

"Out of the way!" Andromeda barked at Zaron who was in the way of her carbine that was trained on the officer. He instantly ducked, but before Andromeda could drill the hapless officer, he sank his teeth in to the officer’s leg. The officer howled in real pain and Andromeda seemed to pause for a brief moment, giving Zaron a look that seemed to say, "I can’t believe you just did that!" before she knocked the officer unconscious with the butt of her gun. She made a motion to have someone remove the unconscious man so she could storm the cockpit.

Tolian took care of that. With the pilot out of the way, Andromeda jumped into the pilot’s seat and took over the controls. As she looked out the view port, she was aware that the transport had begun to drift to the edge of the cliff and go over. She managed to bring the transport to a slight standstill, just long enough for the last body to be dumped out the back and for everyone to take a hold of something.

"Hang on!" she hollered as the transport went over the edge. She gritted her teeth and pulled at the controls. It barely made a difference as it began a nosedive for the valley floor. Again ignoring the pain in her arm, she pulled with all that her strength would allow and successfully brought it out of its dive.

"Andromeda, maybe you ought to keep your mind on your mind focused on flying and off of Alderaan?!" Zaron squeaked.

"Get out!" Andromeda growled. "Get out of the cockpit!" If it wasn’t for the fact she was trying to pilot the shuttle she would have jumped up, tackled him to the ground and start pounding on him for that crack. If looks could kill he would have been dead and all the power of a bacta tank couldn’t have saved him.

"Leave the lady alone," Edmund pushed him up against the wall. Meekly after being let down again Zaron said nothing further and quickly retreated to the back of the shuttle with Gorr.

When it was stable again she confidently drove it right through the front gate and headed straight for the landing pad.

"Transport! You’re going the wrong way!" the radio crackled. "Stop and turn around immediately. You are instructed to land by the medical quadrant!"

"I don’t think so!" Andromeda grunted as she shut the radio off and brought the transport down neatly right next to a shuttle.

"Ah! The Warden’s own personal shuttle," Zaron pointed out from the door of the cockpit.

"Don’t worry about gunfire. It’s not that far. Just run for all you’re worth!" Tolian instructed and herded everyone to the back. As soon as the door opened, they didn’t even wait for the ramp to extend as they jumped down and made a sprint for it. Andromeda took over the cockpit controls and fired up the shuttle while Zaron secured the door after the last person got in.

"I was servicing his shuttle last week," Zaron explained as he quickly changed the security access code. "They won’t be getting in!" The shuttle began to lift off the ground.

"Shuttle, this is the Warden. Land immediately or else be fired upon!" his voice crackled with rage. Andromeda scowled and made a sniff of contempt, muttering something inaudible under her breath, seeming to look around for something.

"Allow me," Edmund made his way to the console and opened the com-channel himself. "Bite me, Monkey Boy!" And with a biggest smile of satisfaction he shut it off again, bringing a broad smile to everyone’s face.

Despite the pain and virtual uselessness of her arm, Andromeda suddenly felt more alive than she had in over three weeks. Just the fact that she was in the pilot’s seat made her feel invincible. The shuttle lifted off and she put it into gear as it blasted into the sky. She flew just below the night-cloak and when there was the first sign of a break, she flew right through it and out into outer space.

"Somebody astrogate and get us out of here!" she said through clenched teeth.

"I’ve got it," Tolian was bent over the computer. "Here goes nothing!" He punched the button and the starscape around them suddenly changed. The pinpoints of light suddenly elongated and the hyperdrive suddenly engaged. It wasn’t until they had hit light speed that Andromeda really allowed herself to notice the pain in her arm. She sat back and let out an exhausted sigh of relief, sank down further into the seat, threw her head back and fell to cradling her injured arm, not crying out and slowly rocking back and forth with the pain.

"Good job, Llellandra," he said quietly.

"See? You did well to sponsor me for the academy, Uncle," she replied.

"Sponsor? Academy?" Edmund raised an eyebrow. "So you’re some Imperial Naval rookie?" He glared at her with a menacing look in his eye. He looked as though he wanted to strangle her. Andromeda didn’t say anything further and threw him a warning look. He sat back and relaxed a little, but the look in his eye had remained.

"Just where are we headed, anyway?" Gorr asked.

"I’m taking a little deviation to the Jenaab System. There’s a secret package I had left behind there shortly before I was captured. I wanted to go pick it up," Tolian replied as he administered to Andromeda’s wound. "We should be there in about four hours, I should say."

"Did you notice how they didn’t send anyone after us? I’m surprised that there wasn’t hot pursuit," Andromeda said wearily.

"What do you think this was—a maximum security prison? Didn’t you ever notice how lackadaisical they were with everything and everyone? It’s a penal colony out in the middle of nowhere! They could go tell you to do something, give you a time limit, and you could take longer that and they could care less. Remember your fight with Bubba? They shipped him off and left you alone. Any other high security place would have brought you up on discipline charges of some sort or else they would have shipped you out as well. Notice that they don’t send the hardened criminals there. They only send troublemakers, sympathizers and uppity political types they want to keep quiet there. Do you think that prison worries about protocol out in the middle of nowhere? The place would have been much worse if they sent the deserters and criminals wanted for high treason!" Zaron explained. No one really paid notice except for Tolian as to how Andromeda had suddenly paled and seemed almost faint at the realization of how lucky she really was. He made no mention of it and kept his ideas to himself. She glanced over at Edmund who seemed to be shifting nervously, but she said nothing about it and kept her guesses to herself. She wanted to keep her reasons a secret, as she was sure no one else wanted their secret made public, either.

It didn’t seem to take long before the buzzer was sounding for the Jenaab System. Tolian took over the pilot’s seat from Andromeda to let her rest. As the hyperdrive engines were cut, they were perched on the edge of an asteroid field. No one questioned Tolian as he took the shuttle in, carefully picking his way around. As they came around one of the bigger asteroids, they all saw it.

"That’s your package, Uncle?" Andromeda was giving it her full attention.

"Yep. That’s her. She’s the Redeemer. I confiscated her from some smugglers a while back, but I never reported it to the Empire. I’ve had her hidden out here all this time and I’ve been building her up and making special modifications to her." He maneuvered the shuttle so it could dock with Redeemer. "Now just what are we going to do about this shuttle?"

"Ditch it," Andromeda replied instantly. "If we need a little transportation emergency, we know right where to get it." Everyone seemed to agree with that. "Besides that, if Rordak reported our escape, they’ll be on the lookout for the shuttle." Tolian nodded in agreement and powered down the shuttle as they boarded the Redeemer.

Andromeda wasted no time in taking the controls with Tolian as the copilot and they made their way from the Jenaab System. They were all situated on the bridge trying to determine their next move.

"I think we should find out about Alderaan," Andromeda suggested quietly. Although her demeanor was far from excited or agitated, she was suddenly feeling as if she would come apart at the seams from suspense. Upon accessing the computer, their worst fears were realized. Alderaan was indeed gone. Gorr and Edmund remained silent out of respect.

"My parents," Andromeda moaned softly as she buried her head in her hands. "Gone. I can’t believe it!" They filed out, leaving Andromeda and Tolian alone on the bridge.

"Uncle, was there anyone else besides your daughter on Alderaan?" she asked softly.

"No," he replied in kind. "Aside from the ex-wife and we weren’t on speaking terms, anyway. I have no other family. My daughter was all I had."

"I’ve been orphaned. You’re the only family I’ve got now," she said. In this crazy, turned-upside-down galaxy, family was all she could really cling to and it had been suddenly torn away from her.

"We’re headed to Yavin," he said suddenly as if to get his mind off of Alderaan. There’s a Rebel base there."

"How do you know?" she asked. "If I were to go looking for the Alliance, I wouldn’t have the first clue as to where I should start looking!"

"My dear, I used to be a member of the Alliance," was all he said as he set the coordinates. Andromeda smiled admiringly as she turned to the controls and the Redeemer entered light speed. Edmund also gave a silent nod of approval and turned his attention back to his carbine. For the first time ever Andromeda could have sworn she saw something that resembled a smile on Gorr’s face.

When Redeemer had come out of light-speed and had safely landed at the base, there was a great celebration that had been going on for about three days beforehand. News was that the Death Star had been destroyed. Andromeda felt a little bit better about that, since that was what destroyed Alderaan to begin with, but not a whole lot.

The Alliance took the Redeemer and her crew with open arms and was more than happy to have such a talented team join up and they were just as happy that Tolian was back. They were given a change of clothes, a hot meal and a place to sleep.

"It may not be what you’re quite used to," the commanding officer apologized. "But it’s the best the Alliance can offer."

Andromeda was more than happy to accept. To her it meant that she would be flying again and making a whole new family with the Rebellion.

Upon their evaluation Andromeda was awarded the rank of Lieutenant with Tolian as her commanding officer. Zaron had been assigned as the Redeemer’s personal engineer. Gorr was also made an officer of the Alliance and assigned to Tolian’s team. Edmund, it was discovered, was a known Alliance Jump Commando.

Andromeda noticed with pleasant surprise at how different the Alliance was as compared to the Empire. Now she felt her life had purpose. For the first time in a long time she finally felt as if she really belonged.

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