5:17 P.M. Sovereign Cruiser

"Hey Garkuk," Bryan greeted the bartender.

Garkuk Bos'leth's long pair of Zeverian lips curled into a bright smile of his own. The Lounge's manager's and bartender's pointy ears bent back, giving his milk-white face a Devil look. "Good afternoon Commander––oh wait: General." He grinned again. "What can I get you?"

"Nothing at all," Bryan answered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two 1/16 reb coins, and reached out to hand them to Bos'leth. "Just wanna give you my missed payments of the last four years."

The Zeverian craned his neck sharply. "Awww no, four years? No Comman–General. It's all right. Consider them free drinks."

Bryan kept his hand extended. "Nope, sorry, can't do that. I owe you money, there it is." He put the coins down on the bar and slid them across it. "I'm not taking it back, so..." He let the sentence trail off and just nodded to Bos'leth.

Bos'leth sighed passively, then scooped the two coins up with his chubby hand. "If you insist. You want anything anyway?"

Bryan held his hand in front of him. "No, no. I'm perfectly fine. That's all I came here to do."

Bos'leth curtly nodded. "Okay. I have a question though. You leadin' this attack, or did you finally get that break you wanted?"

"Nope," Bryan answered immediately. "I vouched for Molly to lead it, but she backed out of it; said I deserved it more, so they gave it to me."

Bos'leth chuckled. "Oh ho, didn't expect that did you?"

"Yes, actually, I did, but I figured I might as well try not to get it. So much for that idea."

He chuckled again.

At that moment, a new body stepped up to the bar and sat in the stool to Bryan's direct left. She swivelled her stool around to face the bar, and sat patiently, smiling her hello to Bryan.

Bryan stared into the brown eyes of his former childhood camper and friend Maya Ranadan, one of the few people he hadn't had the chance to talk to before or after the briefing. By his choice though. He hadn't felt like staying behind in the briefing room, especially since he had only two hours to burn before the attack. So he was glad to have a chance to talk to her before the attack(and possibly the last time he might ever be able to talk to her).

"Well hello," he started.

"Hey," she said energetically.

"I thought you were on the Liberty."

"No," she answered, pointing her thumb behind her. "I'm here with my friend Sammy."

Bryan nodded. "Cool, cool."

"Hello," Bos'leth came in. "What can I get you?"

"Hey, can I have two Drath Ales please,–"

Bryan eyed her with content.

–no alcohol please," Maya finished with a snooty tone and face at Bryan. "I don't drink."

"Sure you don't," Bryan teased.

"I don't!"

"Mmhmm," Bryan continued to tease. "Right, gotcha."

"Shut up!"

Bryan grinned delightfully. "Of course you don't."

"Yes."

"All right, all right...just kidding...don't need to bite my head off."

Maya giggled. "You bring it on yourself."

Bryan shrugged. "Yeah, but oh well. I don't mind it too much."

Bos'leth placed Maya's two Ales in front of her. "There you go ma'am."

The woman pulled out one 1/16 coin and dropped it in front of the Zeverian. "Thank you." She stood up to leave.

"Your welcome. Have a nice evening."

"You too," Maya answered. She turned her gaze to Bryan and smiled again. "I saw you up there doing that game. You guys were funny. Good job."

"Thanks. Yeah, we've got that game down I'd say."

Maya chuckled. "Yeah, you did a good job." She stepped down from the bar, still looking back at him. "I'll talk to you later."

I hope, Bryan thought. "Yep. Bye."

"Bye."

They exchanged one last smile.

Bryan watched her leave with a certain fear; a fear that he shared with just about every Rebel in the Lounge. That was, of course, as he had thought earlier, that he may never get another chance to speak with her ever again. And he still wasn't sure–even after all this time–if the bad history and bad feelings between them had mended...