XXX

Magnus Iscander

The sun dipped down, behind the giant ringing mountains. Everyone was huddled in the little hut, in the main room. Waiting, just waiting. It would be tonight, so suddenly happening. To break into Vash's encampment, and find the ship they were hiding.

Or find out if there wasn't one.

He could hardly blame Gallis for the awkwardness he had had. It had been just as well they had both been able to feel what the other was thinking; a strange tendency they had developed, over the years. But that mystery dwarfed in comparison now.

What had been like a fantasy was going to become reality. He turned the grappling gun over in his hand. He would be the one to fire it, into the Tip itself, and they would swing themselves into the mine under the cover of darkness. That was the working theory, at any rate. He was certain Vash or one of his troops would spot them, a group of children swinging like fools in the night? It was too much like a dream.

Cecilia could hardly contain her excitement. She had tried several times to talk to him about it; she liked him the most of the group, he felt. Maybe it was the reassurance in his calm demeanor. But he had no words for her this time, and because of this she had become almost as eccentric as Lysander during one of their normal robberies, in contrast to Lysander himself who seemed oddly subdued. He twisted his lip, then watched as the light faded away above them.

It's time. Clearly, they were all thinking the same thing. Kennex cleared his throat. "Well… well this is it. Let's start heading out, unless we have a consensus to wait this out?"

Cecilia snorted. "Can't put this off any longer, Kennex. Let's go!"

The young man winced. "Alright, then. This is just another robbery, guys, remember that." His words sounded forced and artificial; he seemed to be speaking more to himself than them, and Magnus frowned. Kennex had been, after all, the only other one to vote against going today. No doubt he felt the same anxiety Magnus had buried below.

It's one thing to break into the market, or some home. This is basically breaking into Vash's compound, this is attacking the military! We'll be lucky if we don't get arrested… or worse.

The exited the hovel, beginning the walk towards the mine. They knew the way well enough even without the light. But even with that knowledge, the mine was like a glowstick in the darkness; the town shined with its tiny lights in the distance, but the garrison's bright searchlights was a candle.

"How are you feeling?" Magnus murmured to his brother.

Gallis shrugged. "Okay. Just… a little nervous."

"That's fine. Perfectly fine. We'll be fine."

"Why do we keep lying to them?" His voice had dropped, and Magnus could tell that the real tension in his voice was not from the robbery after all. Maybe his little brother hadn't grasped what this all meant yet. Instead, he was focused on something trivial like this? He felt so surprised he laughed, making the other's turn around to look in confusion.

"Shut up, back there," Kennex hissed. "Sound travels around here, you know that."

"Sorry, sorry," he said back, then dropped his voice so that only Gallis could hear him again. "Really? This is what you're so worried about?"

"We shouldn't have to keep the truth from them. What's the point, anyways? They'll find out eventually if- when we do it."

Magnus ran a hand through his neat hair, exhaling hard. "Gallis, you worry too much."

"You don't trust them."

"No, I just don't think it's necessary they know."

"Yeah… well, I do."

"And we said I would make all the big decisions for us. Just relax, this is hardly the time for this. Besides, this is our chance to actually make it happen!"

His younger brother, even in the darkness, continued to look disturbed. "I know we said that, but… it just feels wrong. We've been with them for almost ten years, we've done everything, told them everything except what we really want to do when we get to the stars. Come on, it's not even that bad, Cecilia wants to do pirating-"

"She wants to adventure, not pirate. No one else is even close to what we want to do. Drop the subject, we'll tell them when it's the right time."

"But-"

"Enough." His voice though quiet ringed with harsh authority, enough to make him recoil towards himself. Gallis certainly turned away quickly, stuffing his hands out of sight. Magnus could almost feel the frustrated attitude coming off him, but this wasn't the time for it.

"I know you want to do it, and maybe we can tonight. But to do it, we have to give it our all. We've never done something this big before… it'll take all our concentration to get in there. And when we do find the ship, when we do take to the stars… we can tell our comrades what we're going to do."

"They're our family," he sniffed impotently, but in a much more obedient tone. "Let's just get this done so I can get this off my chest."

Magnus fumbled with his thoughts a for a bit. "I'm sorry for sounding so angry," he said at last. "You know I'm just doing what's best for us."

"You say that every time you get upset with me."

"I get upset because you don't let me do what I need to do."

"Well, maybe that's the problem," he said in the same defeated tone, then shut his lips no matter what else Magnus said.

With a hiss of impatience, he looked forward. The mine was much closer; ten minutes they would be to the perimeter, dodging the patrols, avoiding the searchlights, to finally get to the stars.

Despite himself, he curled his lips into a sneer. Ready or not, Vash, here we come.

XXX

Cecilia

The Imperials had been busy since yesterday. Two perimeter kiosk's had been set up, each with what looked like four stormtroopers and a military grade speeder for each. Under the cover of the moonless night, they crept towards the rear of one of the kiosks, to which the high barbed fencing was the closest. Around the fence, three patrols marched tirelessly, the beams of AT-ST walkers occasionally flashing and making her heart race.

"When the walker comes by, you two know what to do," Kennex whispered throatily, his eyes trained on the approaching vehicle before turning to her and Gallis. "You only have a few moments, so make it snappy. We can't afford to get caught doing this."

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. "We know," Cecilia said as loudly as she could over the stamping. She felt sweaty despite the cold of night. Pressure? Desire to impress Magnus? Both, probably. She brushed her hair from her eyes. Just stay focused.

They could hear the kiosk's contingent talking amongst themselves inside, though it was muffled and incomprehensible. She wondered what stormtroopers talked about. They always seemed like such faceless, robotic like figures it was difficult to see them as conscripted people from throughout the Alignment.

Clunk. Clunk. CLUNK.

Show time! She pulled out her tool; Gallis held one as well. Simple tools: heavy wire cutters. Designed, Seron had explained, for cutting through thick circuitry in terrorist bombs. It would cut through the metal links of the fence fairly easily, if loudly, which was why they needed the walker's sound coverage so the kiosk wouldn't hear them. The other's flattened themselves against the outpost's shadow as they knelt beside the fencing.

Snip, snap. Snip, snap. She went as quickly as she could as the walker stamped past, it's searchlight washing over the ground in front of it-

"Down," Gallis suddenly hissed, pushing her to the floor. She tried to get up but his arm wrapped around her back, pinning her. They were suddenly bathed in the beam. It washed over them a second, then went to the fence, where they luckily hadn't made a lot of progress, before focusing back on the ground and continuing it's way.

"Thanks," she whispered. "How do you know these things?"

"Hell if I know. Come on, we need to hurry." The wire-cutters snapped through more of the metal until they had finally broken enough pieces to take out a small hole even Kennex's tall figure could fit through.

Gallis motioned for her. "Ladies first."

"Coward," she said with her tongue stuck out, then slipped through. Her hair caught on the ripped metal for a moment, then came free painfully. They were not inside the mine yet, but past the fence. They were at the opposite end of where the elevator was; they would certainly not be able to use it, not with the garrison HQ right next to it. Which was where Magnus would fit in.

The others quietly slipped through, with Kennex and Adelia awkwardly managing to fit the detached fence back into place. Cecilia watched the outline of their shadows move, and then the muscular arm of Magnus lashed out. "Wait," he said quietly. "Standard layout would be to have their motion detectors around the rim of the mouth. Look for smoothed earth, they'll need to have made it totally flat for the sensor lasers to not be interfered with."

She bent down onto her knees, her eyes straining in the dark. She was beginning to think she noticed some strangely flattened area when a low, distant whine snatched all their attention. "The devil is that?" Adelia whispered, her orange eyes glowing dimly at the direction of the HQ.

"Sounds like Commander Vash's speeder," Lysander said cautiously. "Yeah, there, look. And two of the larger transport ones" His hand pointed towards a light-green shape exiting the hangar in the direction of Legio, along with two larger gray speeders. She couldn't see who was inside the small green one, but there was no point in arguing.

"Bet you got used to the sound of it," Kennex said sardonically. "You'd recognize it a mile away, wouldn't you you little scumbag-"

"Now is hardly the time," Magnus cut him off fiercely. "Focus, keep looking."

She couldn't see his reaction, but she imagined the anger on it. However, she had again found the spot Vash's speeder had distracted her from. "Over here," she whispered to Magnus. "This looks purposefully flat."

The older Iscander crawled over, inspecting it tensely. Though he touched nothing, his frown turned into a triumphant look. "Yeah, I can sort of feel it there. Good find."

"Feel?" There he went with that sort of sixth sense premonition he always talked about. Him and Gallis just seemed abnormally lucky sometimes. However, this time she was grateful for it, and merely had curiosity in her voice.

He shrugged. "Yeah. Everyone, come over. Adelia-"

"Do you have the scrambler," Kennex said irritably. "I think we agreed I was leading here."

"Whatever." Magnus gestured for Adelia to come forward, and the Duro reached into her pocket to pull out the electronics scrambler. She held it experimentally in one blue-tinged hand, pressing some buttons here, swiping a finger there-

The screen came to life, a deep red. Gallis quickly moved to shield her from the garrison's view. "Picking up high energy electronics," she confirmed, turning uncertainly from Kennex to Magnus. "The motions sensors?"

"Undoubtedly," Kennex said before Magnus could respond. "Turn that thing on."

Adelia pressed her index finger on the screen, and it went from red to blue. It released two low-pitched beeps, and then flashed green. "Okay, it says everything in a ten foot radius is down," the Duro said. "Let's move, quickly. The sensor's range will end in two feet."

Their feet slapped gently on the cracked stone. Again she brushed her hair from her face; it was becoming matted with the sweat now. The excitement was getting to her. From here, at the mouth of the mine, they would see inside, see the ship!

"Alright, everyone keep low, and creep towards the edge," Kennex said after a moment's thought. "Doesn't look like they posted any guards around the lip…"

Cecilia snorted despite herself. "Why would they? Who are they expecting to break in, the miners?"

"Poor management," Magnus grumbled.

"Who cares?" Adelia whispered. "Let's get a look at what sort of ship crashed in there!"

Thanks, Adelia, Cecilia thought to herself. Voicing the desperation she herself was feeling. The rock gave way feet in front of them. Her elbows pulled her closer, closer, closer-

And finally, they saw… well, nothing. A dark, empty abyss hung below them. None of the usual lighting was there that often showed the miner's path down into the mine. It was simply a dark hole that they could see nothing into.

"Well, that's disappointing," Lysander commented. "But guess this shows it really is necessary we get our way into the mine, to see for ourselves."

She felt disappointment, and then anger at Vash and Chief Folen for hiding it away from her. Holding it back, until the very last moment! Just let us have it, take it off your hands!

"I'm not sure we should be going in there," Kennex said, sounding slightly fearful. "We can't see shit if we go down. We could fall, trip-"

"Are you kidding me?" Cecilia said, barely remembering to keep her voice down. "When we're right here? We'll never get closer than this, especially on our first time!"

"Cecilia's right," Adelia put in more patiently. "Once they find the hole in the fence, they'll strengthen their perimeter. This is our only chance." Lysander nodded his consent, to Cecilia's gratification. She turned to Gallis and Magnus, but they were staring into the pit, twin perpetual frowns on their faces. "Gallis, Magnus?" Adelia asked. "What do you guys think?"

"Don't you think we'd see the outline of the ship?" Gallis said cautiously. "I mean… I just don't see anything out of the ordinary. I have a weird feeling about this…"

You've got to be kidding. You're going to bail out now, after voting to come tonight?! "It's the darkness," she said with thinly veiled contempt. "We're going in, tonight, we all agreed!"

Magnus sighed. "We did vote to that," he said in the same disconnected voice. "But there's just… something wrong here. I don't think this is going right."

She just couldn't get mad at Magnus, even if he was making her as furious as Kennex and Gallis. Putting a cold hand on his shoulder, she said, "Then let's make it right by getting down there and into that ship, no matter what!"

"Yeah," he murmured, drawing the grappling hook launcher. "That's what worries me."

XXX

Gallis Iscander

He watched as his brother rested the grappling gun on the lip of the mine's crater, aiming for one of the protruding rocks to their left that had a walkable path down. Every minute that ticked by seemed to be making the pit of anxiety in his stomach increase. What if Vash found them? If one of them fell in? He had only been inside the mine once, and he had never heard any of the other's talk about its innards either. What if they got lost in the darkness?

The grappling hook shot out with thwunk and shot out towards a rock midway down the steep slope, like a nightbird slicing through the air.

Thwick! He released the breath he'd been holding, looked to Magnus. He had a satisfied look on his face. "It's in," he said loudly enough for the others to hear. He hit a switch in the gun, and it released four long stakes. He held it the ground and they instantly began to drill into the ground. Gallis watched in fascination, having never seen such advanced technology before. It's a good thing Magnus read all those manuals. Looks like he knows how it works.

"And here I was thinking I might have to remember how those things work," Lysander whispered with respect. "You're good with this stuff, Magnus."

His brother pulled on the sunken grappling gun experimentally: it didn't even twitch. "I know. "I'll go first, we should go one at a time, since I don't know the strength of the cord. When I get to the other end, I'll shake the cord to let you know to come across."

His hands wrapped around the coord, then hugged his knees tightly to it. He began to inch along cautiously, sometimes looking back. Gallis gave him a sincere thumbs up, though he wasn't sure if the other saw it in the darkness. Either way, Magnus picked up the pace, and he became indiscernible in the pitch black.

Kennex had his hands in his pocket: Gallis had noticed that happened since they first left their hovel. He seemed to be playing with something in his pockets, although he alone had opted to not carry one of Seron's useful tools. Gallis touched him on the shoulder, and he flinched. "Hey, you okay?" Gallis asked hesitantly.

The Firerreo nodded slowly, bit his pale bottom lip. "I'm fine," he said shortly. "Just a little nervous… about climbing the rope."

"It's just like that time we crawled across the clothesline into Deputy Asinus's house. Nothing to it!"

"You're right," Kennex said, and even flashed his famous smile. However, Gallis thought it was a little too forced, his tone fake. He had known the other long enough to tell between when he was being truthful and acting. However, he wasn't about to press point when he himself was feeling the pressure.

"Magnus made it, he's jiggling the line!" Adelia said softly. "Who wants to go next?"

"I'll do it," Cecilia said instantly, her eyes alive with anticipation. Her hands delicately closed around the rope, and she tossed her hair out of her face, making Gallis's heart flutter. Keep it calm, Casanova, he reprimanded himself. This isn't date night.

The blueberry-haired girl faded out of sight just like Magnus had, and two minutes later the line shook again. Lysander volunteered next, since he held their light sources. Unlike the eagerness of Magnus and Cecilia, he looked downright terrified of crawling over the maw of the darkness.

"You'll be fine," Adelia said encouragingly, though Gallis was more certain her impatience was speaking rather than the motherly thoughts. "Just don't look down-"

"You can even see down," Lysander moaned. However, he steeled himself and began to inch across.

"Don't slip," Kennex said with soft malice. Gallis gave the other a sidelong look: he was staring at Lysander's form with more dislike than normal.

By contrast, this seemed to fill Lysander with courage, and his speed increased. Three minutes later, the line tugged again. Adelia looked between them: Gallis gestured. He was still feeling quite ill about the whole situation, but felt if Vash and his troops were to come now, better he was caught with Kennex while the other's could get away.

She gave a friendly wave before moving along the line, just leaving him and their Firerreo leader. Kennex was again fingering whatever it was in his pocket, and Gallis couldn't hold the curiosity in any longer. "What do you have?"

"Huh?" Oh…" Kennex's hands came out, empty, and he straightened his shirt. "Just a good luck token I brought with me. Make sure we succeeded in finding the ship, y'know."

Again, the actor's talk. "You know you can tell me," Gallis said, his voice sounding strange in his ears. In the back of his mind, a voice sounding very much like his own said disapprovingly: "If you can't tell him Magnus and your secret, why should he tell you his?"

Clearly, Kennex felt the same. "We all have things to hide from each other," he said a little tensely. "Just because we're a family doesn't mean we have to be entirely open books. Looks like Adelia's made it," he said before Gallis could reply. "I'll go next."

Gallis blinked, having expected for his leader to allow himself to be the last member. You messed up, he's upset with you, he thought sadly. "You got it," he said dully.

"See you on the other side." Kennex disappeared quickly, apparently his fear of crossing the line gone. He was entirely alone, sitting in the darkness. The distant lights of the walker's swished back and forth, the only sign of light around.

The line jiggled again, and he put his cold hands around it. Instantly, a sort of electrical feeling went through him, like he was being live shocked. He flinched, but it wasn't a external source. His mind was going haywire, a headache pounding in his head…

He looked down at the grappling hook, suddenly suspicious of it. Something's wrong with it. Another unexplainable premonition? He smacked himself on the head. Cut it out. What's up with me lately?

Tentatively he put his other hand on it, gently easing his whole body onto the tick line. It was cold to touch, burning his hands. He moved a little long, reminding himself this was no difference than the clothesline he had crossed years ago.

You idiot, go back! The grappling hook's come loose!

He pressed onward. A dim light shined ahead of him: Lysander had finally gotten his glowsticks going, now that Gallis was getting close. The light was bright enough to light the ground at their feet, and dim enough that unless the stormtroopers looked right into the mine it would be unnoticeable.

Go back! You won't need a glow rod if you fall to your death! Enough was enough of this weird sensation in his brain. Almost angrily, he slapped his hand forward on the cord, pulled himself forward-

It slackened in his grip. He heard a horrified gasp come somewhere in the darkness ahead of him; his hands reflexively closed around the cord in a death grip, his knees locking together on it. It did nothing; he was starting to swing forward as a loud clank came from behind as the grappling hook came loose and smashed itself against the rocky wall-

Gallis Iscander swung forward into the blank, dark face of the mine's wall.

XXX

Governor-General Gathoren Rellius

The hyperspace trip to Ommas was filled with delightful talk about this future deal to be made with the Centrists. Jabor smiled pleasantly throughout it all, laughed politely at his little jokes, made positive comments on the state of the Alignment.

It was delightful, but Rellius had been a politician for over forty years. His gray hair proved it. And he could that through this delightful chat that he had gained absolutely zero new information on the deal itself. Jabor was not even that old and was as great a master of words as the late Emperor, and he realized with disgust it would take more effort to weasel things out of the little representative.

So when the shuttle landed in the tiny spaceport in Legio, he was not in a good mood. He waited at Jabor's side as the ramp lowered, then descended down. Darkness had just fallen on the planet, but the waiting presentation of stormtroopers was easily discernable in the shuttle's landing lights.

Ever aging Commander Vash waited at the foot of the ramp itself, dressed strangely enough in officer combat armor. He bowed his head respectfully as they came down. "Governor Rellius, an honor as always."

"Indeed," Rellius said with a smile. Vash was a good man, which was why he had placed him in total control of Northern Hemisphere of Ommas. "Your presentation remains spotless."

Representative Jabor extended a hand to Vash, and the military commander took it hesitantly. "This must be the guest I was notified of," Vash said primly, if a little strained. "Welcome to Legio-"

"You don't seem very thrilled with us being here, Commander," Jabor commented breezily, not even looking at Vash but rather the lines of stormtroopers waiting in formation.

"When I asked for some supplies, I was not expecting the Governor-General of the Alignment or a representative from the New Republic," Vash replied with equal coolness. "My apologies if I'm 'less than thrilled.'"

Jabor looked at him. "Why do you need high level explosives, Commander?"

Vash's eyes flicked to Rellius, who shrugged with some embarrassment. He hadn't even asked Vash what they were for, had simply trusted they were for a good reason. How sloppy that must look now.

"There's been a… situation in the South Tip Mine at Cindra," Vash said after a moment. "We require the explosives to rectify it." He clasped his hands togther in front of him when Jabor said nothing except cock his head. "Now, I understand your visit was to explore the planet? My speeder has been fueled and readied for a journey of the seven towns in the Northern Hemisphere, if we can begin in Legio-"

"Why not begin at Cindra?"

Vash stopped. "I'm sorry?"

"Well, your transports are already heading there for this… 'rectification,'" Jabor said a little too innocently, his hand waving carelessly behind them as one of the proton warheads was unloaded. "Why not we accompany them? Cindra is the closest town to this port, anyways. Wouldn't it be a logical choice to begin there?"

The Commander shrugged, though Rellius's sharp eyes noticed a small bead of sweat go down his cheek in the cold air. "I have a pre-crafted plan," he protested. "Legio would be visited in only two hours-"

"And yet I wish to see it now," Jabor said inquisitively. "Unless you have a reasons for us not to be there?"

Vash bit his lip. "Perhaps Legio be explored, first?"

"No. I think I had quite a nice view of this… 'town' from the shuttle's landing. I wish to see Cindra. Now."

"I… cannot."

Stop embarrassing me, Vash, Rellius thought silently. You know how important it must be for the New Republic to legitimize us! If you knew of this deal Jabor could be offering…!

Jabor's eyes glittered. "Last chance, Commander."

And the garrison commander finally caved in. "Very well, Representative Jabor," he said with a deep sigh, as if he had just fought some great battle and lost. "If you would follow me and wait for the transports to load the explosives, we should arrive at Cindra within the hour. And you will have your look."

Jabor gave a small smile as he stepped forward with Rellius towards the waiting speeder. "Thank you for the hospitality, Commander. I look forward to this view, more than you know."

"Believe me," Vash said darkly. "I know you do."