Been a time guys! Wi-Fi woes again, so without much ado, here's another chapter!

The Strider, Outer Rim

15BBY

Mera was sat in the communal area, twisting the utensils around the flecks of burned meat in the blue stew. At least… she thought it was meat- it almost definitely had been meat at some point.

Opposite Mera was Helio, the astromech, that slid another bowl opposite her. The heavy clunking footsteps announced Ziv's arrival, as he took his place at the table, glancing down at the bowl and pushing it away out of disgust.

"So," Ziv said, "a couple of rules here…"

"What?"

"Don't mention the Imperials coming after you. Or the helmet person…" Ziv gestured to his face. "You know."

"Mention to who?"

"No, don't mention it, I said. Second, you don't leave the ship. We aren't sticking around long enough for an adventure, so if you ain't here when I'm back, I'm leaving."

"Where are we-"

"Third rule. Probably the most important," Ziv leaned across the table, "try to steal my ship or my droid, and I'll gut you," he growled, glaring at her bright green eyes that reflected the red glow from his cybernetic one. "I don't care that you're a kid, I don't care that you're in trouble – rob me, I'll put you down."

"Noted," Mera said stiffly, unable to look away from his eye – as if she were caught in a tractor beam.

Ziv's remaining eye narrowed. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," Mera said quickly, looking back down to her stew.

Ziv leant back into the seat as Helio rolled over again, swivelling its head around to face Ziv and beeping inquisitively. "Of course I'm not – look at it," Ziv nodded to the bowl. Helio whined, bowing forward in shame before giving a hopeful beep. "Yes, all of it!" Ziv hissed before standing up and walking towards the cockpit. "Now come in here before I part you out and sell you to the Jawas…"

Mera chewed her lip as she watched the pilot leave the cockpit, threading his arms into the sleeves of his brown leather jacket. He stared at her for a moment, pulling at the fastenings. "I won't be long," Ziv said finally.

Mera didn't know how long Ziv intended on being, but it had been long enough for her to fully explore the ship. She had found the shower and was enjoying hot water when she heard distant voices growing closer. Though she recognized Ziv's usual husky grunts, it was the responding voice she did not know.

"… And you knew?" A woman snapped.

"Of course I knew, I was there-" Ziv responded.

"No, you knew that everyone thought- that I thought you were dead, and decided to take the scenic route back?" There was a pause, interrupted by Ziv clearing his throat. "Is there someone else in here?" She asked loudly.

"No- not like that-"

"Like what?" Footsteps thundered towards the door to the refresher. Mera frantically went to turn the shower off. There was a familiar hiss of the door opening and Mera turned to see the silhouette at the shower door.

"Awin, what're-"

The glass door to the shower opened and a violet-skinned Twi'lek woman stood at Mera's height. What surprised and scared Mera was the Twi'lek's lekku – one was tattooed in geometric shapes, falling to her waist. The other was misshapen – as if it had been brutally hacked short or torn. Her lilac eyes glared at Mera, who then remembered where she was.

"I'm M- I'm Mera," she introduced herself, while also turning away from the Twi'lek and Ziv, who kept his gaze firmly set away from Mera and on the woman.

"Awin-"

"What? Going to explain the naked child aboard?"

"I'm seventeen…" Mera began.

"You- shut it!"

"For the love of-" Ziv took off his leather jacket and handed it to Mera. "She's a passenger, Awin."

The Twi'lek scoffed. "Pull the other one – it has bells on it."

Ziv responded by pulling on Awin's arm and tugging her away from the shower door, closing it fully so Mera could only make out the shapes of them behind the door, though they still sounded just as clear.

"I'm serious."

"You don't take passengers, Ziv – you hate people."

"I do," Ziv agreed, "but she paid."

"How much?"

"Enough."

The Twi'lek's head turned towards the door before facing Ziv again. "Just a passenger?"

"Just a passenger."

"You swear?"

"Awin…"

"You swear?"

Ziv nodded. "I swear."

The Twi'lek sighed and turned back towards the door. There was a gentle knock. "Hey, girl?" Her voice was lighter, soft even. "I'm, erm…" she cleared her throat. "I overreacted."

Mera swallowed the lump in her throat. "It's okay, I just… can I have my clothes please?"

Ziv's metal hand appeared at the top of the door, holding Mera's blue pants and white shirt. She took them from him, pulling on the clothes as she saw the silhouette of the Twi'lek leave.

"She's got a temper," Ziv said with a long sigh. "But… she's not always like that, this is just…" he shook his head. "You might want to get strapped in, we're taking a detour."

"A detour to where?"

"Cantonica System," Ziv called as he left the refresher.

Mera took the moment to pull on her shirt and shuddered from the fabric sticking to her wet skin. Pulling her hair out from under her clothes, she grabbed a thick towel and began to pat herself dry.

Exiting the refresher, Mera slung the towel over one shoulder as she made her way to the cockpit. Ziv was sat in his usual seat, but this time, the Twi'lek sat in the other. Mera cleared her throat, but the two pilots seemed focused on flying the ship.

"Hey," Mera said, a little louder.

"Oh, hey, girl," she gave a bright smile – nothing like the tempestuous glare that had greeted Mera mere minutes ago. "Sorry, I didn't catch your…"

"Mera."

"Awinvari- Awin." She extended a hand which Mera shook. "Ziv must've told you we're heading to Canto Bight."

"No – well, he told me we're going to the Cantonica System-"

"Girl won't even know where it is."

"She might. Right, Mera?" Awin turned to face Mera again, giving her a wink.

"Sure…" Mera said, trying to sound convincing. She read the mouthing of Awin's lips. "Outer Rim, right?"

"That's the one," Ziv said. "Make yourself useful, see that screen to your left?"

Mera turned to her left and saw three screens all cobbled together. "Yeah?"

"That's the long-range scanner modulator," Ziv explained.

Awin turned back to point at the biggest screen on the right.

"Okay?" Mera looked back to Ziv.

"We're going to be hailed as soon as we enter the Salient System, so, when I tell you, you keep us above 16,744- we should just blend into the background, then…"

Mera nodded. "How do I do that?"

Ziv groaned. "Awin, would you just- please?"

Awin grabbed onto a handle at the top of the cockpit and lifted herself out of the pilot seat. She approached Mera and pointed at the corner of the screen.

"This is us now," she explained, moving her finger to the fluctuating lines, "to make that number higher, press this up," she gestured to a toggle, "and down for lower."

"Higher: up, lower: down." Mera nodded.

"The longer you hold it, the faster the number will change."

"Yeah, so don't hold it down for too long," Ziv called over.

"Don't give her too much – keep it simple," Awin chastised him.

"Okay, simple – that number goes below 15,800/15,700, Imperial scanners are going to realize we're not registered with them."

Mera audibly gulped. "Imperials?"

"Yeah, we've got a client who wants something smuggled off Cantonica, so we don't want to raise any attention." He turned back from his seat. "Think you can handle it, Mera?"

Mera looked to Awin, who smiled warmly. Mera took a breath and nodded to Ziv. "I've got this."

"Well, alright then…" Ziv said. Awin climbed back into her seat and began flipping switches. "Hold onto something, we're jumping to hyperspace in three, two…"

Ziv pushed on a handle and the ship whirred and lurched forward, the stars racing past the ship as all of space transformed into a swirling vortex.

I know, ending abruptly, but I figured it'd be best to get this out now so I can start on the next chapter tomorrow. We'll be going back to see Ving in the next chapter and I'll try to get it out ASAP.

Review and the like…

R.