Chapter 2
When the Falcons' Nest undocked from the station, Flynn was already in the armory together with quartermaster Jones.
"So, what did we get?"
"A few old helmets, that aren't really up to snuff. Never seen that design before if I'm honest, could be something the separatists used in the clone wars."
"No, the Separatists relied mostly on droids with only few regular officers in between. They had better armor than this. But that was almost twenty years ago. What else?"
"Some blaster rifles and pistols, mostly stuff you could buy on the black market on Tatooine or Hutta. Not worth our while carrying it there to sell it, if you ask me. They were also nice enough to leave us with some encrypted data pads."
"Kinda disappointing. Are the men still loading the pirates' loot?"
"Yes, our port cargo bay is going to be completely full until we return to Siskeen. Some space is still available in the starboard bay."
"I'll talk to Jamie then, maybe we find something to fill it with. What were our casualties?"
"Three dead, eight more wounded. Doc said they should be up again in few days She should be in the engine room, that hit to our hyperdrive was really bad."
"I'll be on my way then."

Flynn made his way into the ships' engine room. Two men worked on the generator, with a third silhouette visible. He marched over and aw a woman, her upper body stuck under some kind of machinery. He walked up to her and gently tapped her knee.
"Jamie. Got a moment."
"Hang on, cap'n" came a muffled response. She had her torso resting on a rolling board or similar contraption, as she moved her body downwards so she could see the mercenary and talk to him. He offered a hand, which she gladly took and pulled her to her feet.
"So, what can I do for you?"
"I'm just here because I want to know about hyperdrive and shields, how long till they are running again?"
"Hm, I'd say maybe twenty hours. Less if I can pull any useful parts from the pirates' remaining starfighters."
"Anything of value in them? I can't imagine the empire would be interested in 'slightly used' X- or Y-Wing parts. In fact, I haven't seen those craft since the end of the clone wars."
"No, they don't buy these things. But I have seen a buyer last time we went to Nar Shadaa, scooping up pretty much anything that can fly. They may be interested in those starfighters, or at least as many parts as we can carry."
"Sounds good. Since it hasn't come up before, how computer savvy are you?"
She gave him an are-you-kidding-me look. "Being computer savvy is a job requirement for a mechanic these days. If it talks in ones and zeroes, I can make it do my bidding. Why are you asking?"
"The pirates left us with some encrypted data pads that I want you to crack. Maybe we'll find something else that we can sell off."
"Sure, just leave 'em here and I'll look at it as soon as I have our Old Lady patched up again. What were they shooting at us out there?"
"Photon Torpedoes."
"Torpedoes?" She almost grasped. "Where in all the stars did they get those? That kind of hardware doesn't get sold on the streets of Hutta, and even if, it is clearly outside the price range some pirate scum can afford."
"I was thinking about that." Flynn replied. "Maybe they are a lot richer than I thought they would be, or they have a rich patron who has a grudge with the empire and believes that funding pirates is the best way to settle it. Either way, this little operation is shut down now. While we are at it, did you go to the range last night and train with your pistol?"
"Uhm, yes. Yes I did." Jamie didn't look him in the eyes when she said that.
"Be honest with me."
She sighed. "Alright, I didn't. Are you happy now? Why do you want me to waste my time?"
"Because" he replied "you never know when you might need that skill. You are chief engineer of my company, one of the most gifted mechanics I've ever met. And yet here you are, calling yourself a mercenary barely knowing which end of a blaster to point at the bad guy." Even though they've had this conversation before, she was still uncomfortable. With her hands behind her back, she had her eyes clearly fixed at his feet. Her hair was short, brown and in a functional pony tail so it would not get in front of her eyes. She was shorter than most of the company and her lean figure meant she could crawl into the tight spaces around the ship. Together with an unparalleled gift for tools and spaceships, she was the perfect stellar mechanic.
And her stubborn refusal about learning how to shoot was what Flynn tried to get out of her now.
"Training area, as soon as your shift ends. I'll be waiting for you Jamie, so don't be late. You WILL learn to shoot."
She sighed, but gave in. "Fine. I guess the night shift can finish the hyperdrive repairs."
"See you at the range then. And don't worry, it's easier than it looks."

Flynn departed with a smile and left his chief engineer, who looked saddened by the perspective of practicing her marksmanship over finishing the hyperdrive. He headed into the cargo bay, where where quartermaster Jones was directing heavy crates moved in and stacked neatly.
"Is that the crates the governor wants delivered?" Flynn asked.
"Yes, that's them. Six in total, four of them metals and two with focusing crystals in a very good quality. I think Jamie would kill for getting her hands on those and tinkering with the Old Ladies' teeth."
"Don't tell her then. Remember, our reputation is almost as important as our weaponry. We can't afford an imperial governor with a grudge because he finds out we kept a crate of his focusing crystals."
"Will do. You know she'll be pissed if she finds out about it?"
"Send her my way then, I'll handle it."
"Alright captain. Back to loading our cargo then. We should be ready here in one, maybe two hours. As soon as the night shift starts I think we'll be ready to go."

Flynn gave his quartermaster an approving nod, then made his way into the infirmary. Doctor Frederick Gunther was no longer operating himself but rather directing personnel doing minor tasks like applying bandages. Seven mercenaries were wounded, he could see two of them floating in bacta tanks in the back of the station. The others were just lying in beds, letting the medical staff do their thing and enduring what was happening.
"Captain! I was expecting you. Do you want to know the medical state of the company?"
"Certainly."
"Well we lost three in the assault. Every help was too late for them, they took Blaster shots straight in the head. Two are still in the tank, one is already discharged. Body armor prevented most serious injuries, everyone should be back on their feet by the time we reach Siskeen again."
"Well, keep going. Any new hires who need a talk?"
"Nothing really, first platoon got reinforced a bit. But the new guys held up just fine."
"Expected him to, if you grow up on the streets of Hutta a little firefights' not going to break you."
Especially people from civilian backgrounds with little to no combat experience could always have it a bit rough on their first deployment into an actual fight. The platoon and squad leaders did what they could to ease the new recruits in, but when the first real shots were fired, some people just broke.
"Well, keep it up doc. If anything comes up, you know where to find me."

Flynn returned to the bridge. "Set course back to Siskeen. We have payment to collect. I want us out of this system as soon as the hyperdrive comes back online."
The ships' internal clock gave the signal to switch into the night shift, just a few minutes later.
He made his way down into the training range, where a slightly less enthusiastic chief engineer was waiting for him.
"Jamie. Good to see you. Let's get started, shall we?"
"I hate you captain."
"I know, you'll still learn to shoot. Take this."
He handed her a training blaster the company used. Then he took his comlink.
"Range 2, ready for live fire training. Basic marksmanship. WOW!" He pushed her hand away.
"First rule of handling a blaster: Do not point at at anything you are not intending to shoot."

Flynn realized, he'd have to start training her from scratch. Complete civilian, she only ever saw a weapon on Holonet movies. But he knew what he was getting into after hiring Jamie on the company's last trip to Coruscant, or Imperial Center as it was known now.
"Alright, take a stance. Feet apart, shoulder wide. Both hands on your weapon. Breathe, focus, fire. Range two, target ready!"
The voice programmed computer controlling the range reacted immediately and a roughly humanoid silhouette raised out of the ground. Flynn patted his chief engineer on the shoulder. "Whenever you're ready."
Jamie entered the stance the captain had described to her, took aim, and fired.
"WOW! That thing has one hell of a recoil."
Her shot had hit the target straight in the center.
"It does, but you'll get used to it. Shoot again." She took another shot, this one off target. He adjusted her stance ever so slightly. "Again. I want you to keep practicing until those" - he pointed to two crates of ammunition deposited on the range, to the right of them - "are empty. Or until you can hit every stationary target on the first shot. Tomorrow, we progress to moving targets."

Jamie kept practicing under Flynn's direction and she was smart enough to figure it out using only one crate of ammunition.

The next morning, or rather after the night shift, he returned to the bridge after a breakfast of just basic rations. Satisfying, but tasteless. Not the best food and he knew that he needed to restock the food lockers as soon as they got back to a more civilized area of the galaxy. Nothing destroyed morale faster than bad food, as he knew from his own experience.
He reached the bridge together with Jamie.
"Captain! I just wanted to talk to you. Hyperdrive and shields are back up to full capacity."
"Good. Let's go." He took his seat on the bridge, while the chief engineer made her way to the engine room.
"This is the captain. All hands, prepare for jump to lightspeed." The internal communication system was connected to all major and minor stations. To the bridge crew Flynn said this: "Course to Siskeen, jump when ready."
"All stations, ready for jump." The helmsman replied.
"Jump." The stars outside turned into stripes as the Falcon's Nest jumped to hyperspace. A day later, the ship returned to realspace above Siskeen.
"Well, here we are." Flynn said. "Radio the imperial governor." Comms did as he asked, and he was talking to to governor Jameson quickly.
"This is Imperial governor Jameson. You have a delivery for me I assume?"
"That I do sir and rest assured, the pirates won't bother you again. We were able to recover six crates worth of materials they must have stolen from your mines and processing plans."
Flynn was met with about ten seconds of silence. "That is only a third of the materials that went missing. Any idea where the remainders ended up?"
"I think the pirates already sold your materials. I can look into who the buyers were, for a price."

"No, not necessary. If you can assure me those pirates won't be a problem again and have some evidence to back it up, then the second half of your payment is waiting for you in my office."
"I'm on my way then. Tell your people to bring the money for your crates as well."
"Great. I'll see you on the ground."

Around two hours later, Flynn sat in the governor's office.
"So tell me, how did you deal with the pirates?
"Their starfighters gave us us a good run for our money, but in the end they were no match for our corvette. We took half of them down, before they performed an emergency landing. We were able to overrun the hangar before they closed it and used decompression to our advantage."
He laid out in detail how the falcons had taken the station, even showed the governor some holos from the inside.
"And that's the end of that story. Now, would you kindly hand over my payment as we agreed?"
"Certainly." The governor called his aide "Marcus, bring Mr Rayson's payment and sixtythousand extra." He turned back to the mercenary. "It was nice doing business with you. Happy hunting."

"Good luck with the mines, governor." Flynn said, as the aide entered and handed him two suitcases. "I sincerely hope you meet that imperial production target because I like doing business with you too."
He left the governor's office and returned aboard the Falcon's Nest, where he deposited the second half of their payment into the ship's vault.

"Set course for Tatooine" Flynn ordered. "And we should stop on Hutta, we need supplies and some new hands. Make all arrangements to have the dead buried on the way. It looks like we'll have some time on our hands before we reach Hutta. I want everyone to hit the range at least once before we get there."
The next morning, Jamie woke him up by knocking on his cabin door. "Captain! I gotta talk to you, it's urgent! There's something I need to show you."
"'Kay, gimme a minute or so." Flynn replied with a groggy voice. He used some of his water rations to sprinkle cold liquid on his face and wake up, before he put on his uniform and opened the door. "What do you have for me?"
"Do you remember those datapads you gave me, after we left Siskeen?
"I do. Did you crack them?"
She beamed a smile at him. "Indeed I did, but I fear you won't like what I found. We may have a real problem on our hands."
"Well, shoot then. No need to beat around the bush."
"Alright, so the pads we found were a crew and a cargo manifesto. The kind of documentation you need if you move stuff from place to place and don't want the imperials nosing through your cargo bay."
"Interesting. Where were they going? I'd expect Hutta or Tatooine, somewhere the Empire doesn't grip too tightly and a few tons of 'questionable' cargo don't attract any attention."
"So would I, but our expectations were subverted. No, their cargo went straight towards a core world: Alderaan."
"Alderaan? What do they want with military grade alloys and turbolaser parts?"
"Lost me on that one captain, but it seems they had connections to one of the noble houses: House Organa, with a liaison present at the station during our attack. A young noble by the name of Atilius Jovian Organa. Lieutenant Antilles is asking around if anyone can confirm his death, but it isn't looking good."
"Well damn it. If the Organas find out we killed one of theirs, we are in for a world of hurt any time we fly within fifty parsecs of Alderaan. they even have enough money and reach on the imperial senate to cause us pain anywhere in the empire."
"Can't we lay low in Hutt space?"
"Working for the Hutts is nowhere near as profitable as working for the Empire. Besides, no Hutt ever hires a full company like ours. One, maybe two mercs, sure. Occasionally the Hutts hire an entire squad of four or five for security on whatever operation they are running. But they simply don't need a full merc company because no pirate that has any sense ever lays a hand on Hutt stuff."

Flynn sighed and gestured for Jamie to follow him to the bridge, where he ordered the course to be changed to Nar Shaddaa.
"For now we might be fine, eventually we'll have to deal with the Organas' grudge against us. We have to resupply and recruit a bit." he said to his chief engineer. "Thanks for bringing this to my attention."
With that, she returned to her station in the engine room.