Lying on her belly in the long grass atop the ridge, Colonel Solasta Dinn readied the rifle and began watching the opening in the brush where they expected their guests to approach from. After nearly three quarters of an hour, the subtle hiss of the open comm relay broke the silence and a voice said, "They're here."
"Everyone into position," replied Solasta, Commanding Officer of Havoc Squad,the Republic's freshly estranged Elite Special Forces team, "They may claim to be a part of the resistance, but we've seen enough turncoats in the Republic to know better than to trust anyone without verifying first."
Days earlier she had received an encrypted message from one of her few remaining trusted contacts in the Republic asking if Havoc Squad would be interested in meeting with representatives from a resistance group fighting Arcann and the Eternal Empire. Her first instinct was to decline it, but she quickly reconsidered when the names of who she was to meet with were familiar - Colonel Maura and Major Aric Jorgan, husband and wife, and both previous members of Havoc Squad themselves.
The Jorgan's had retired from the Republic Forces and gone to work in the private Security Sector years before Solasta had even been promoted and assigned into Havoc Squad as an Assault Specialists. The scarce information that she had learned regarding them came from the instructors at the Carida Military Academy where she trained, the limited information that had been declassified; even to someone of her current rank, and the stories her CO had told her from the days when he served as part of Havoc under Colonel and Major Jorgan.
Releasing the safety on her Ehm-Kay-Fifteen Plasma Core rifle and settling herself lower to peer through the scope, she thought to herself, Please be the soldiers we learned about at the Academy. Please still be the same heroes that saved the Republic and renewed the honour of Havoc Squad.
Sweeping the approach through the scope of the rifle Solasta made out the two forms moving through the overgrown Zakuul brush. Opening the relay on her comm she said, "Look alive, we have two incoming by foot on the."
As she laid there motionless watching through her scope she could see that both were dressed in combat armor, a tall male Cathar with a Sniper Rifle over his shoulder and a human female carrying an Assault Cannon. This made Solasta smile and wish she had her cannon, but the rifle and scope was more elegant for what she was doing at that moment.
When Aric and Maura, stepped from the path into the clearing where the meeting was agreed to take place, Solasta called out to them, "I have an Anti-Mat rifle trained on you, so don't make any sudden moves!"
In one quick fluid motion Aric had swung his rifle from his shoulder and was immediately waving it at Solasta's direction while he and Maura looked at each other.
No fooling those Cathar ears, thought Solasta as she smirked.
As they slowly approached Solasta's position Maura raised an open hand, palm outwards, and said, "Easy there, you knew we were coming right?"
Solasta's earpiece clicked and the voice over her headset said, "Facial and ID scans confirmed. No holo field signatures, cybernetic implants, or surgical modifications beyond the impressive list of field injuries from their files. Looks like they're the real deal, Colonel."
"Understood," Solasta whispered back into her headset and stood to greet her guests.
Lowering her rifle they exchanged introductions, and Solasta found herself captivated by Aric's bright blue eyes as she said to Maura, "You were the leader of Havoc, Colonel Jorgan. You destroyed the super-weapon..." and her voice trailed off as Maura began to downplay her part in stopping the Imperial super-weapon several years prior.
Listening to Maura, Solasta found herself glancing repeatedly at Aric, at his blue eyes, and feeling a long buried memory surface of a young male Cathar with the same piercing blue eyes whom she had loved long ago. Solasta burned with embarrassment when she realized she had begun to stare at Aric, and at some point she had stopped actively listening to Maura and was simply nodding agreements. Both woman's attention slowly changed to Aric as they watched him looked sharply skyward.
"Our landing didn't go unnoticed," Aric growled, as he pointed his rifle at a probe that passed overhead and took it out clean with a single shot.
Solasta opened the relay to her headset and shouted, "Incoming!"
This brought her squad from their positions to set up a defensive perimeter with Solasta, Maura, and Aric. As Solasta put down the rifle and began to run towards the Lieutenant that had her assault cannon she chided herself for possibly risking all of their lives if the Jorgan's had in fact set them up for capture by either Arcann's forces or by the Republic as deserters.
The soldiers all formed up and executed a perfect assault on the waves of Skytroopers that were pouring out of the Drop Ships and two Walkers that advanced on their position, almost as though they had trained together for years, and any suspicion Solasta had quickly faded. Although Maura didn't have Solasta's size or strength she handled her assault cannon with a deadly efficiency that impressed Solasta, and had her making mental notes on ways she could tighten her own form.
When the last of the Skytroopers had been dispatched Solasta called out to Havoc Squad, "Fall in!"
Introducing each member of her squad Solasta thought she caught a subtle grin on Maura's face, and had to admit to herself that it was an almost surreal experience given it was the Jorgan's who had saved Havoc Squad's reputation and rebuilt it many years ago, and now here she was presenting them with the current Havoc Squad.
When the last of the introductions were complete, Maura immediately spoke up and took charge with directing Aric and the others back to camp while she and Solasta would scout ahead. Solasta's XO waited until Maura had turned to speak to Aric before looking at Solasta to raise an eyebrow questioning the orders they were just given by this stranger, and in return Solasta simply nodded an affirmative and handed her the assault cannon. Collecting the rifle from where she had dropped it earlier Solasta turned and started walking in the direction Maura had motioned towards.
As she walked Solasta could hear the Jorgan's talking in low voices, and despite trying not to overhear what was said she could make out bits of the conversation with her own Cathar ears. It seemed separating wasn't a part of their plans and this was causing some genuine concern, which only helped put Solasta further at ease since their presence there was less likely to be a ruse if they hadn't plan to separate, and Solasta began to feel a little guilty with having distrusted them earlier.
They walked along not speaking to each other and taking turns thinning out the aggressive wildlife that didn't know better than to keep their distance before they reached an overhang to a shallow valley where Solasta sprawled out on her stomach and readied the rifle.
Scanning the distance through the scope she began explaining to Maura how Saresh's government had become corrupt and only sought profit for themselves instead of protecting the citizens of the Republic since the treaty with the Eternal Empire when she caught sight of some Skytroopers trying to corral a group of Zakuul refuges further up the valley.
Solasta pointed in the direction that her barrel was aimed towards and said, "We've got droids."
"Cover me," Maura said, and Solasta could hear the whine of Maura's assault cannon powering up before she jumped a short distance down to the valley floor where Maura flung herself into battle, mowing down the Skytroopers effortlessly.
When Solasta joined Maura, they convinced the refugees that it would be safer if they returned to Havoc Squad's camp with them, so Maura and Solasta headed off to carve a clear path while the refugees waited a safe distance behind.
As they walked Solasta griped about how the people of Zakuul lived without any free will of their own, and asked, "Is Arcann really invincible? Have you met him?"
Maura thought for a moment before saying, "My sister has, and she says that he's almost as invincible as he thinks he is."
"Your sister?" asked Solasta.
Maura simply said, "Miriah Chantalle Riggs, the Commander of the Alliance," and seeing the expression on Solasta's face rather matter-of-factly added, "What? She's just my litter sister, but she's also the Outlander that Arcann is hunting."
Stunned by this news, Solasta stopped to stare at Maura, and half muttered to herself, "She killed Valkorian, she can kill Arcann," while her mind drifted recalling all the tactics she had tried to plan for what she would do, if she could get close enough to Arcann. Every scenario ended with failure and Solasta's death.
Regaining her composure Solasta suggested they continue with getting the exiles back to camp. As they continued clearing the way Maura shared how the Alliance had been borne from the battle at Asylum, and as Solasta listened she realized that this wasn't a small resistance group fighting an oppressor, this was in fact an alliance that had done the unthinkable and brought both Republic and Empire - Sith and Jedi, together for a common goal of stopping Arcann.
As they reached the edge of Havoc Squad's camp Aric greeted them and they separated as he and Maura walked towards a spot where Aric had put their gear, and Solasta checked in with her XO at the comm's tent. When Solasta was finished updating, and being updated by her XO, she found the Jorgan's sitting by a small campfire at the edge of the camp and joined them.
They had sat there for a few minutes not saying anything before Solasta spoke and shared the encounter she had on Hoth with a Trandoshan who had opened Havoc Squad's eyes to lies and deceit, leading to the Squad's decision to turn rogue. The more Solasta shared, the more she began pacing unable to contain her anger, with how the Republic had portrayed the Outlander as some psychotic menace. When Major Kanner, Solasta's XO, approached to give her an update on the situation with the exiles she cooled herself before everyone was ordered to turn in for the night.
Lying in her bunk, Solasta was in awe of this alliance commander named Miriah. She wondered how powerful must she be to pull a very decidedly split galaxy together, and her prowess as a warrior to have killed Valkorian, and to now challenge Arcann.