Investigation
After four days of Hyperspace travel, the shuttle landed in a small clearing while the four Starfighters landed in a clearing not that far away as there was not enough room to fit all of them in one small clearing amongst the heavily forested area of the planet's surface. The group set up camp as quickly and quietly as possible as they had not had a chance to scout the area yet so they did not want to draw any attention to themselves.
"Jania, Mia and Stret," Daly called out, "I need you three to scout the area and place sensors to alert us if anyone is close by," he ordered. Then Raven, Kai and Serin were set on unloading the supplies while Ashlyn, Gav and Daly set up the campsite together. Soon everyone was back at the camp together sitting around the fire as darkness quickly fell and Stret was setting up the table that they would be using for the holo map display of the area.
"Gav, can you run this back to the shuttle and plug it into a power socket?" Stret requested which the other teen did immediately. In a few minutes, the map appeared on the table and Daly started pointing out the major points of interest.
"Alright, we are here and according to the information you gave us earlier Mia, the Bounty Hunters have taken up residency over there," Daly said as he pointed to the two separate locations on the map, "Did you manage to take a look at the location today?" he asked.
"No but I will go out early tomorrow morning," Mia answered.
"I'll come with you," Raven quickly volunteered which caused Mia to frown.
"I don't need anyone to go with me," Mia growled in annoyance.
"It's better for everyone to not go anywhere on our own but I would rather either Jania or I go with you Mia as we can hide our presence as well as yours," Daly stated.
"I'm up for that," Jania volunteered, "If it's okay with you, Mia?" she asked permission.
Mia nodded, "I'm fine with that."
"Very well, now everyone should get some rest," Daly said, "I'll take the first watch," he added as he went to sit with his back leaned against a tree. Raven unclipped a nutrients capsule from his belt, unscrewed it and then swallowed the substance. Then after clipping it back onto his belt Raven curled up in his robe and tried to fall asleep. Jania and Gav stayed up to talk quietly for a few minutes while Kai and Serin went straight to sleep. Stret put himself to work powering down all the machinery and putting the droids on charge for the night before falling asleep next to Gav. Ashlyn, however, sat down next to Daly, "What are you thinking?" Ashlyn asked softly.
"That this is starting to seem like our Masters are trying to get us out of their hair," Daly whispered causing Ashlyn to laugh lightly.
The two teenagers talked quietly with each other for a few minutes until Ashlyn yawned, "Wake me up for the next shift okay?" Ashlyn asked before wrapping her robe around her tightly and fell asleep quickly.
The next morning Jania was up and ready before dawn, waiting patiently for Mia to wake up so they could go check out the location. The Jedi Padawan was meditating quietly when she sensed the Agent stirring and then heard her stand up.
"How long have you been awake for?" Mia asked incredulously as she looked over to see Jania awake.
"About an hour or so, pretty much every one of us wakes up before dawn because our Masters expect it. I'm not surprised that most of them are sleeping in," Jania explained.
"But you're not sleeping in-," Mia trailed off trying to figure out why Jania was not also sleeping in like her peers.
"I automatically wake up at this time now," Jania revealed, "Ash is up because she took the second shift for night watch," she added nodding over to the only other girl in the group.
After a day of reconnaissance and observing the Bounty Hunters from afar found the group of Jedi and one SIS Agent stalking in the shadows in the vicinity of the forest inhabited by the individuals of interest to them.
"Okay remember the plan guys," Daly reminded them softly as he stalked through the trees towards the lone building in the clearing ahead which they had found earlier that day. It was dusk, so as long as they all stayed low and out of sight no one would know they were there listening and watching. Daly turned to Jania and gave her the signal to go further to his left which she responded to with a nod of acknowledgement before heading to a point a few feet away from him. The densely packed forest was silent and it was almost eerie but Daly decided to ignore that so as to focus on the voices inside the building ahead of him.
"Don't make a sound," a deep voice growled from behind him and Daly froze when he felt the end of a barrel that no doubt belonged to a blaster pistol was placed against his back, "Or I shoot."
Daly raised his hands above his head and after his lightsaber had been taken off his belt he turned around slowly to face the man behind him.
"Well…well…the Empress has put a nice bounty on your head," the man said as he compared Daly's face to a picture he had on his datapad, "Where are your friends?" he inquired curiously.
Daly gulped nervously and was about to call out for others to run when another man appeared behind the man in front of him. This second man held Gav in a firm headlock and the only thing stopping the younger Padawan from yelling out to the others was the almost choking hold his captor had around his neck.
"I found another one but I checked and he isn't even worth a single credit," he said.
"Shoot him then."
"No!" Daly exclaimed in a soft voice, "Please, I'll come with you willingly if you don't hurt any of the others. I give my word, please?" he begged in a hushed tone.
"And why would we do that?"
"Yeah, he will just go and tell your other friends and they'll come after us."
"No, I promise they won't and if they do you can shoot me," Daly promised them.
"Alright then but to make sure he doesn't go running off," the second man said as walked over to one of the trees and tied Gav to the trunk. After his mouth had been taped shut the first man punched Gav in the head knocking him out instantly, his world going black. The first man then turned to Daly and punched him in the face and then the gut, knocking the wind out of him. The teen dropped to his knees from the two blows but before he had managed to catch his breath the Bounty Hunters were dragging him away.