ABOARD THE CRYSTILIUM, 40 YEARS ABE:

No one aboard the Crystilium breathed freely until they'd cleared the gravity well of Yaga Minor and the latent threat of its lurking Star Destroyers, TIE fighters, and Golan Defense Station. Three sets of black-clad shoulders-Bail in the co-pilot's chair, Stella piloting, and Finn in the jumpseat behind her-sagged in relief as the danger faded into the distance behind them. They were traveling towards still more danger yet, of course-but for a brief moment's respite, they could relax.

"I think we'll have better luck if you two go in as stormies and I play officer," Stella said as she guided their shuttle towards the edge of the system and their next hyperspace jump. "That way you can 'report to barracks' or whatever and slip away, use the anonymity of that armor to go wherever you need to, while I keep any attention or suspicion on me."

"You sure?" Finn asked. "That sounds pretty risky for you."

"You know a way to infiltrate a Super Star Destroy without taking stupid risks?" Stella asked mildly.

"Well, no," Finn admitted.

"Still," Bail said, frowning, "that could put you under a lot of scrutiny, especially if we trip any alarms or alerts getting Breha out of the brig…"

"All the more reason to have someone standing by with an exit strategy," Stella said firmly. "Besides, didn't you say you had a plan to deflect their suspicions?"

"Maybe," Bail said. He pulled his toolbag into his lap and started fishing through it for his commlink. "No better way to convince somebody you're on their side than to get the other side to try and kill you where they can see it, right?"

Stella laughed, winced, and nodded. Finn just winced, but nodded as well.

"But what about once we're on the ship?" Bail continued. "I doubt they'll let us just go wandering off without a debriefing or an identity check or anything, even if we have a whole New Republic fleet gunning for us…"

"Unlikely," Finn confirmed. "There's not a lot of 'wandering' on a Star Destroyer."

Stella smirked. "Not unless you're Imperial Intelligence."

Bail blinked, startled and then visibly impressed. "Nice. Everybody's so scared of Imp Intel, they won't want to risk being close enough to us to get in our way...if you can convince them to buy it in the first place."

Stella nodded. "I can be pretty convincing."

Bail grinned. "That you can," he said. His respectful nod was at odds with his crooked grin. "All right, I'm going to see if I can bounce a hyperwave transmission through an old relay network to a friend, see if she can help make our story more convincing…" He ducked out of the cabin with his short-range comm, leaving Finn gaping at Stella.

"Hopefully not too convincing," she muttered. "My dad'll kill me if I get myself blown-up by the good guys…"

"You're going to convince them you're with Imperial Intelligence?" Finn yelped. "How're you going to pull that off?"

"One of the oldest and best cons there is: I'll let the mark do the work for me." Stella's smile was toothy. "If I give them just enough information to be believable, their fear will fill in the rest." She swung back around and started punching in coordinates on the ship's controls.

Behind her, Finn's expression settled into dubious disbelief. "And how're you getting that information?" he asked. He smirked sarcastically. "Another mom?"

Stella's eyes narrowed. "Actually, yes," she said crisply.

"That's convenient." Finn was still smirking, his voice dry.

Stella spun to face him, her pretty face suddenly stern. "You don't know me, so I'm going to explain. Once. Okay?"

Finn's eyes darted sideways, as though seeking an escape. Finding none, he nodded fearfully.

"People say my dad's a flirt, but it's more than that. He likes people, and he likes for people to like him. He has a talent for it, too. But he also has a talent for making people cease to like him." Stella raised a cool eyebrow. "Following along so far?" At Finn's second, faster nod, she continued: "Good. Thus over my thirty-two years of being in this galaxy, my dad has gone through a lot of partners. About half of them he's still on speaking terms with, about half of them would as soon stab him as spit on him." She shrugged. "So goes romance, right?" Finn's sideways glance was wilder, more panicked; this time he didn't nod, but Stella kept talking anyway. "Difference between him and me is, all his exes-all those moms and dads and assorted non- and multi-gendered parentals I've acquired?" Her lips spread wide in a proud smile. "They all still love their little girl."

Realization began to dawn in Finn's eyes. "Ohhhh…" he said.

Stella nodded, her smile widening. "Exactly," she said. "So just about anywhere I go in the galaxy, I'm pretty much guaranteed to have a doting parent within a few dozen parsecs. Including…"

Finn's confusion gave way to a broad grin of his own. "Including the Imperial Remnant!"

Stella shrugged, the modesty of her gesture demonstrably false. "Not so many as in Republic space, sure-but yep. Including the Imperial Remnant. Which means that if I need a favor in Imp territory…"

"You call a mom."

Stella beamed. "I call a mom," she agreed. Then she shrugged and said, "Although in this case, I won't be calling-just name-dropping. General Vensell is highly-placed enough that using her name should give me the clout I need but she's been on diplomatic duty for years, not active military. If she didn't accompany Pellaeon to Coruscant for the peace-treaty...or whatever really happened there, then she'll still be on Bastion. So even if they summon her…"

"We'll be gone before she arrives. And the Empire will just think you picked a random officer for your cover story, and even if they do investigate her, they won't find anything, because you aren't actually calling her..."

"Exactly," said Stella. She grinned. "Everybody wins."

Finn's smile was thin. "Except for Revan."

"Except for Revan," Stella agreed.