Date: Wed, 02 Sep 1992 13:16:45 +0000 (GMT)
From: Colin Ford <Phoenix@chdpf.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Liberator Four. (I think I got mail sorted now)
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Right then Here's Liberator chapter four. A little background filler
I think. Anyway the usual, Any critisim is welcome plus if you've
missed a couple of chapters then if you mail me (not the mailing 
list) I'll happily sent it to you.

Liberator - Chapter Four.

	"Luke !"
	Luke Skywalker woke with a start. Waking twice like that in 
two days is not good when you have to catch up on your sleep, he 
decided. The voice sounded  like Leia's. He slowly got up and put on 
his bed robe. He walked over to the drink dispenser and ordered his 
usual hot chocolate and turned to pick up his lightsabre.
 	He stopped. Next to his bed stood a woman. She was dressed 
in old jedi robes that were similar to Ben's and she had a gentle blue 
glow surrounding her. She was about Leia`s height but there the 
similarity ended. She had very sharp features, with long silver hair,  but 
her green eyes and seemed to bore straight into him.
	Luke didn't get any feelings of dark side power but then again 
he hadn't felt any from C'baoth, or the Emperor's resurrection until it 
was almost too late.  
	"Luke, You must listen. I haven't got much time." She said 
urgently, "To stop Trake, Find Liberator."
	"Liberator? I don't understand. " replied Luke, "Who are you 
?"
	But she'd faded before his eyes. Luke sat down on the bed. 
Another cryptic message and he wondered if some kind of force 
answering machine would be helpful to catch all this confusing 
communication. 
	"Luke ?" said a voice from the door. Luke stretched out with 
his feelings and was very relieved at who it was.
	"Hello Leia." He said without looking up.
	"You haven't had one of your bad dreams again ?"
	"You didn't see her ?" he said looking up.
	"Who ? "  Leia looked slightly worried.
	"I saw a woman who told be to find Liberator. She said it was 
the only way to stop Trake."
	Leia studied her brother. He hadn't been this upset since before 
the Jacen and Jania had been born. She'd seen the trouble he'd been 
through since and felt completely at a loss.  She couldn't understand 
what was worrying about this Trake person. He was supposed to be 
dead. She walked over and sat next to him.
	"Luke, Trake is supposed to be dead." Leia said, " Your 
pushing yourself over nothing. Even if this Trake is alive, we've 
handled the Emperor, Thawn and everyone else they've thrown at us. 
We can handle him"
	"I suppose so." Luke sighed, he turned to look at his sister,  "I 
just can't get over to you how urgent this feels. The Empire is blind and 
leaderless and as long as it stays that way we win. But if  Trake does 
turn up and take's over what's left of the Empire, then it'll be Grand 
Admiral Thawn all over again."
	"Luke, it's an If." Leia said, standing up, "If he turns up. If he 
rejoins the Empire."
	"Leia, Can't you feel it. He's out there. I made the mistake of 
not sensing the Emperor after Thawn and look what it cost us. I don't 
want that to happen again."
	Luke sounded angry. Leia looked shocked, he was angry at 
himself.  She hadn't realised that Luke was driving himself this hard. 
This wasn't a small time Moff that Luke was worried about, but another 
Emperor or Thawn. She didn't know, until now,  how much guilt that 
Luke felt about the Emperor's return. Even though it wasn't his fault, 
that guilt seemed to crush his spirit at times. Han had often admitted 
that he felt Luke was distant these days, that the honest farm boy that he 
knew, had been replaced by some distant shadow.
	"Luke please." Leia crouching down so there eyes where level. 
"You can't take this much responsibility. If you put the Galaxy on your 
shoulders, it'll crush you. I'm supposed to help run this republic but I 
still can't change things overnight. I still take time away. Relax."
	"Are you suggesting that I go on Vacation ? " Luke asked.
	Leia smiled. "No, All I was saying was you can't help a 
situation by worrying about it. You'll make it worse."
	Luke smiled back. "I know, it's just ..."
	He trailed off. 
	"Luke, get some sleep." Leia stood up again. "General Madine 
is back tomorrow. You'll probably get your answers then."
	"I'll see you tomorrow." She said as she walked to the door. 
She turned back to look at him still sat on the bed. "Please get some 
sleep. You almost look as bad as you where on Hoth."
	"But without the bruises." He said, "I'll be fine."
	She nodded and left. Luke felt a sense of deja vu. Last time he 
felt this was just before Grand Admiral Thawn had appeared out of 
nowhere. Only Leia had sent 3PO to see if he was all right. He felt so 
tired as if he had been pushing a big rock all his life and he just found 
out he'd been pushing it in circles. He sat down and thought. He 
enjoyed teaching the students at the academy, he enjoyed the peace and 
quiet there. He enjoyed visiting his family here. Why was he so tired?  
Had Yoda felt the same way ? Maybe he did need a vacation. 
	The memory of his old teacher suddenly caused a revelation in 
Luke's mind. Yoda once said that patience is one of the most important 
and difficult disciplines to learn. He found it was true. He also found he 
was impatient again. He wanted all the problems solved overnight. He 
was having to relearn the most basic lesson again. 
He then decided to have a vacation, after he looked into this 
Trake thing. He pulled the covers over himself and let himself drift off 
to sleep.

*	*	*	

	Chewbacca had just come back from getting some new spare's 
for the Falcon and was growling under his breath at quality of them 
when he saw Han knocking on Luke's door for the second time. He 
growled a greeting.
	"Hiya Chewie. Got those parts yet ?"
	Chewbacca repeated his opinion of the new parts.
	"OK, OK, I'll get Lando to get some new ones. Those last ones 
he sent through weren't up to much."
	Chewbacca growled a question.
	"I'd thought I'd call for Luke. He wanted to know when 
General Madine was back."
	At that point the door slid open and Luke looked out from the 
doorway, fully dressed and  looked fully refreshed. 
	"Bright eyed and bushy tailed. Huh ?"  Said Han.
	The wookie barked an agreement.
	"It's amazing what a good night's sleep can do!" said Luke, 
"Anyway, I've got an appointment. You want to see this?"
	"All right. It'll be good for a history lesson." mused Han.
	Chewbacca barked an excuse.
	"Right then Fuzzball, But the port side stabiliser needs 
adjustment." Called Han as he and Luke moved off.
	Luke and Han arrived at the Military wing of the Palace. Both 
showed their Id and went through the body scans, and followed their 
guide mouse droid back to new set of offices. Admiral Ackbar was not 
in his Office, he was out in one of the remote systems, doing a spot 
check. Next door General Madine worked away with two of his aides. 
They knocked and entered.
	"Luke, So good to see you !" He offered his hand, which Luke 
shook, "And Captain Solo. Please take a Seat."
	Both aids nodded at them and left the room. 
	"Right what can I do for you ?" Madine asked.
	"I was wondering if you could tell me anything about this 
person." Said Luke handing over the datapad.
	Madine looked at the datapad and raised his eyebrows in 
supprise. He tapped in a few keys into his personal terminal, and hit the 
intercom. 
	"Adin, I have a new assignment. Can you go to the vault and 
retrieve files 10045 - 10074 inclusive please."
	He turned back to Luke and Han.
	"I can tell you about this character all right. Supreme Inquisitor 
Trake, Vader`s Deputy we used to nick name him."
	"Vader's Apprentice ? " asked Han.
	"Oh, No much worse. " said Madine, "Intelligence couldn't 
pick out an exact place for him but as far as we could gather he was the 
third most powerful person in the Empire after Vader and Palpatine. He 
had a fleet similar to Vader`s and had similar orders. Destroy the us 
where ever we stood."
	"It's a good job we didn't go after him then eh ? Luke." Said 
Han.
	"No, a Special Operation Team had the job of keeping him 
away from us, and they succeeded quite well apart from their 
casualties." Said Madine.
	"Does the phrase "Liberator" have anything to do with this ? " 
asked Luke. 
	"Oh Yes!" said Madine smiling, "That's what their ship was 
called and I don't know where they found it, but hell, I'd never seen 
anything like it. Anyway I'm in the middle of the new Brigham defence 
, so all I can do is let you have copies of the files and if you've got any 
questions I should be here for the next couple of days."
	The aide arrived with four datapads and handed them to Luke 
and Han. 
	"Talk about heavy reading !" said Han.
	"Thank you General." Said Luke.
	"One last thing, don't let those datapads get connected to the 
Palace Computer system. Security have discovered some worm 
programs in the Palace Computer system which have become active 
recently." Said Madine.
	"Well we don't need to cross reference things anyway" said 
Han, "Bye General"
	They left general Madine alone in the office. He wondered 
why would Jedi Skywalker be interested in a dead nightmare that 
happened ten years ago but turned back to work.
 
*	*	*

	Luke and Han sat in Luke's room, with the four datapads set 
up. Luke was scanning through looking for the details on Trake's 
record. Every entry was horrific. Each entry described an incident that 
was detrimental to the Alliance. A near entrapment of the entire Rebel 
Fleet, the conception to the Nebulon-B frigate, which almost killed the 
alliance by stopping raids on supply convoys. The recruitment of  a 
promising jedi to the dark side. Genocide of Natranins. Luke could see 
why Palpatine had so much faith in him.
	"You really think he's alive." Said Han.
	"I hope not." Said Luke, "But I know he is."
	Han turned back to the datapad he was reading.
	"Found it." He said. "The Liberator files."
	"Right Let's see then."
	The ship's image appeared on the datapad.
	"Oh Nice, " crooned Han, "She's a looker."
	The image on the screen was that of a giant bird of prey, red, 
orange and gold in colour. It's wing span was a massive 300 meters and 
it's claws looked like a giant pair of guns.
	"Yep, " said Han, "Those claws are capital ion cannons, and 
look at this weapon list, two anti starfighter turrets, two Capital 
torpedoes launchers, Wing Assault ? "
	" A What ?" said Luke.
	"Doesn't say." Replied Han.
	"Full Sensor cloaking, " he continued, "it's as fast as the 
Falcon and very manoverable for a capital ship."
	"Do I detect a shade of jealously here ? " teased Luke.
	"Nah, The Falcon can still fly where this thing can't."
	"Maybe, but look at this, It's got landing bays, a small Dorsal 
bay to hold a Scout ship and a Larger one at the rear of the ship to hold 
a small freighter. They had an X-wing in the Dorsal Bay, and a Yt-1300 
in the freighter bay. "
	"Same type as the Falcon, huh? " said Han, "Well at least 
they've got taste. 
	"Oh! It's name was the Silver Bucket." said Luke.
	"I take back the taste bit." commented Han
	Han Looked at the ship statistics, impressed but trying not to 
show it. Here's the personnel files. 
	"Right here we go. Commander Bob Sledgehammer  MIA 
(missing in action) - Commander and has been seen using a lightsabre?" 
Said Han.
	Luke studied the Image of Sledge and something clicked in 
the mind.
	"We've met them before. " He exclaimed, "Our return trip to 
Alderran! They're the one's who warned us."
	Han thought back to six months after the battle of Yavin. 
They'd returned due to rumours of Bail Organa, Leia`a adoptive father, 
being still alive in the asteroid field that was Alderran. It was an 
Imperial trap that they would have fallen into, but for a warning from an 
Alliance Special Operations team aboard an Old Alderranian War 
frigate, that dated back to the clone wars.
	"That' s them." agreed Han remembering the meal afterwards, 
"I remember the Wookie the most, Him and Chewie got on like a house 
on fire. "
	"I thought they were having some kind of belching 
competition." said Luke, trying not to laugh. "Wookie Table manner's 
eh? Who's next ?"
	"Commander Darrian Schedik - Defected to the Empire - Ex-
Commander, also used a Lightsabre. He turned into Trake's second in 
command."
	"Wonder How they got him ? " Han mused and switched the 
next entry.
	"Lt Cmder Cossiecan. Retired - he owns a Bar on a Ithorian 
Trade Ship. That's the wookie.
	 Lt Cmder Onia Bakian MIA - She's the X-wing pilot .
 	Lt Cmder Tafflarian Starchaser  MIA- A scout. 
 	Lt Cmder Tor Sharok MIA- an engineer and a history of 
	mishaps. 
 	Lt Sash Quash -MIA- husseler  - more like Lando`s type of 
	person. 
 	Lt Kyle	KIA - Urban Terrorist ??
 	Lt Flach MIA - Another Wookie.
 	Lt Polgara MIA - Ex-pirate."
 "Not what you call a usual typical platoon are they ?" said 
Luke.
"Well, Special Operation Teams have strange personnel line 
ups, they have to have the widest range of skills for in the smallest 
group of people." replied Han still reading the datapad, "Hell ! Look at 
their record."
He showed the datapad to Luke. " They have more 
commendations than any other SO team in six months. They helped 
Ackbar escape with the B wings at Shantipole, Rescued Adar Tallon, 
and Wessix Blissex amongst others." continued Han. 
"Impressive, " said Luke, "The Liberator went missing on a 
raid on a convoy. It says here that it was a trap set by Trake, but Trake 
and his entire fleet never reported back after that and were missing 
presumed destroyed."
"What did they do to wipe out a fleet that big? Carry a mini 
death-star with them ?" Han was astonished. 
"I doesn't say - just missing presumed destroyed." exclaimed 
Luke. "Oh My ! They really are out there. They're only presumed 
destroyed."
"Luke Calm down. " ordered Han. "There's no proof, they're 
out there. They've been missing for ten years."
The door chimed and opened.
"Master Luke, Captain Solo." Called See -Threepio , "Thank 
the maker, Mistress Leia has been looking for you. Can you see her in 
the War Room ?"
"The War Room ?" Han and Luke looked at each other?
"She was very insistence." Persisted Threepio.
"OK." Said Luke, picking up the datapads and turning to Han, 
"I bet this is where I get my proof !"
"I got a bad feeling about this." He said to Luke.


Too be continued ....

--
Quote of the Year 

"I plan to Live forever or die trying"
Phoenix D'fire