The Adventures of Nomi Darklighter

Chapter 11 - Back on Base

After a long uneventful travel back from the mission on Nar Shaddaa, Nomi landed her
X-wing smoothly in the hangar of Echo Base. She cut the engine, unbuckled, opened the hatch and jumped down. Looking over she saw Wedge approaching her. She removed her helmet and held it in her hands casually. The commander frowned at her.
"Come in the briefing room, Nomi," he said tersely and left the hangar. The almost failed mission bothered him. If he would have known about the bounty on her head he wouldn't have had her taking part.
Nomi looked after her commander as Fuzzy engaged his thrusters and left his socket. The droid was beeping happily and rolled toward the small hallway which led to the pilot's quarters. Nomi sighed and went in the opposite direction toward the briefing room. She wasn't sure why Wedge asked her to come there, but something told her that it was because of the encounter with the bounty hunter.

The young woman entered the room where Wedge was waiting for her.
"Why haven't you told me about the bounty on your head?" He asked and folded his arms over his chest.
"I didn't know about it, Wedge," she answered reluctantly, feeling embarrassed.
"Do you have any idea why the Empire is after you?" Wedge continued with a stern expression. He was well aware that there were bounties on the heads of some Alliance leaders like Mon Mothma who was the heart and soul of the resistance movement. Mon Mothma and those who had opposed openly the man who was the Emperor now, in signing the Petition of 2000, which asked Palpatine to give up the emergency powers he had assumed since the end of the Separatist Crisis. Of course he refused and declared not long after the First Galactic Empire and its New Order. Nomi interrupted the commander's musing.
"There was an incident a few months before I joined the Alliance," she finally said. "But I doubt that they put a bounty on my head because of this."
Wedge raised an eyebrow.
"An incident? Do you care to explain?"
"The bounty hunter who confronted me on Nar Shaddaa had someone in custody who was rumored to be a rebel. I got wind of it and managed to free the man. It might be that the bounty hunter reported me to the authorities."
Her commander gave a low whistle.
"This was brave of you, but not a smart move when he managed to find out who you are. So it might be that there are more of his kin looking for you. The next missions we'll have planet side you must be in disguise. I don't want to lose another Darklighter to the Imps."
There was sadness to be heard in his voice, when he said this.
Nomi didn't know what to say and kept silent.

At this moment a trooper entered the room and walked over to Wedge.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but we could need some hands. The speeders still aren't working, but there are creatures which might qualify as riding animals. We want to catch and tame some of them," the woman said, turned on her heels and left the room.
Nomi looked slightly irritated at her superior after the trooper had left. Wedge shrugged.
"To catch some animals, she said," his response came with a hint of irritation in his voice. "What do they think we are; Nerf herders? I have no experience if it comes to this, being born and raised on Corellia."
The young woman standing in front of him had difficulties suppressing a grin as she heard Wedge's complaint.
"I could show you. Back on Tatooine I helped neighbors with their Banthas. It isn't this hard to catch an animal. We only need to herd them in a corral, stun them and then we shackle our future riding animals with a rope," she explained. "When they regain consciousness, we can begin to tame them. Food will do the trick." Nomi looked expectantly at her commander, who nodded thoughtfully.
"Maybe it works, but we know neither how fast they are nor what their diet is," he finally said.
Nomi chuckled about her commander's remark.
"We will see soon, Wedge," she said and turned to leave. "Let's help our comrades."
Antilles followed her, still not sure if they would be able to pull this off. On the way outside the young woman picked up what they would need for their task.

When they came outside there were already many gathered. It was very cold and a heavy wind was blowing over the plains and the North Ridge. Nomi wrapped the scarf around her head and donned the goggles to protect her eyes. Not far away from the base there were some creatures to be seen. The creatures they wanted to catch and make their riding animals for those going on patrol. It seemed that there were more than Nomi who knew how to handle such a task, since a makeshift corral was erected already. After a quick briefing they took up their positions encircling the animals, which someone had named Tauntauns. It was a small herd, but it would do. Slowly they made the circle tighter and tighter, forcing the five animals to retreat toward the corral. Everything happened in silence so the Tauntauns wouldn't panic. The animals were fast on their two legs and had no difficulties walking, other than those who wanted to catch them. Nomi swore under her breath in Huttese when she sank waist deep into the snow. Hearing this, Tarik looked over to her and gave a chirping laugh.
Finally they had managed to herd the Tauntauns in the corral and closed the gate. As soon as the gate was closed they fired at the animals with stun shots. When the last of them went down, it was time to shackle them. Nomi entered the corral with some others for this task. It didn't take long and the Tauntauns' legs were bonded. Their work was done. Now others would take over to tame their future riding animals. The young pilot and the others were glad that they were able to go back to the relative warmth of the base. All of them hoped that their work wasn't in vain.