Kyra rubbed her tired eyes as the timer for the hyperspace jump slowly ticked down. The entire group had been trying to sync their sleep schedules to Thacarro over the five-day journey. For her, it wasn't going very well. Based off the Courageous shipboard time, it was about one in the morning for her.

"How much longer do we have Hollis?" The Captain spoke up from behind her, prompting her to look over her shoulder. He was lounging in one of the other bridge seats in his bright orange flight suit, life support rig already on his chest. His helmet was resting between his feet, the black helmet with a solitary red stripe over the ridge almost blending into his boots. In his hand was a steaming stimcaf cup, its aroma filling most of the ship.

"Twenty minutes. What's the plan when we get there?" she was quite curious on that, as she had yet to hear anything about a plan on arrival. Part of that being she was having so much trouble switching her sleep schedule that she had yet to ask anyone.

"There isn't really much of one right now. When we drop out, Stodel and I are going to disconnect, and we'll fly down to the observation post already set up down there. After that, switch into civvies and check out the nearby village. Should give us a clue as to what the local populace is like. Plus, way I hear it, the base is low on supplies, so we gotta see what's locally available."

"So, I guess I'm going to be running maintenance on the ship while you guys do that?"

"No, you're coming with us. None of us know what kind of parts we can even use for the ships."

Kyra's gut lurched slightly, having not expected to be going out with the team at all. Though that reasoning did make sense to her.

"Anyway, I'm going to go get strapped in. And make sure Stodel does the same." He stood and left with that, leaving her alone in the cockpit of the old ship.

After only moments of him leaving, she began flicking through the maintenance diagnostics and readouts, both to pass the time and keep her alert. To her surprise, she found the ship hadn't developed a single fault over the multi-day journey. Unless something happened on re-entry, the ship was going to not need even a drop of maintenance on the ground.

Still gotta do a manual check once we're on the ground. The sensors could be bad. She let out a sigh, having gone through all of the readouts in a matter of moments.

"Heard we are only a few minutes out." Roy's voice caused her to jump, seeing him sinking into the co-pilots seat with a pair of steaming mugs, holding one out to her. Despite the stimcaf cup in hand, he looked like he was wide awake. He was already wearing civilian clothes, some old ratty cargo pants with a shirt and leather jacket. On his thigh was the same blocky blaster she was used to seeing him carry, looking like he simply carried the weapon for self-defense.

"Yeah. And thanks." She accepted the mug from him, taking a small sip of the black drink.

While she continued to sip on the beverage, Roy was flicking through the different readouts, powering up the ship's weapons and shields, even performing communications checks with the two X-wings. The whole time, he never spared her even a glance.

It's kind of weird seeing him again… I know the last time we met, he said he grew up in the same town as me but… I still can't recall him from there. He also doesn't actually seem like he has an interest in talking about home. She let out a small sigh as she finished her drink, setting the mug down on a section of empty console space.

Of course, I can't blame him after what happened… her inadvertent thought of home brought far too many memories to mind. As old as they were, the smell of ozone and burnt flesh still seemed real to her, as well as the bright red flashes from the blasters. It wasn't a series of memories she ever enjoyed seeing, but always seemed to be lurking in the corners of her mind. Those memories were part of the reason she tended to stick to herself, as she didn't want to make new ones like them.

A warning bleep sounded through the cockpit, breaking her still groggy mind from her memories as she was reminded that their hyperspace jump was about to come to an end. As such, she gripped the control wheel and the lever that controlled the hyperdrive as the timer ticked closer to zero on her main screen.

"Dropping in three…"

With Roy's words into the intercom, she began easing the lever back, the blue and black hyperspace tunnel falling away into elongated stars.

"Two" here, she had the lever all the way back, the streaks of stars rapidly shrinking back into dots.

"One" almost in sync with him saying one, the stars snapped back into orbs, a moment before a massive green gas giant overtook the entire canopy. Ahead of them was a single small moon, no more than a speck against the gas giant. Though, at this range, the polar ice caps were already visible, alongside the vast golden color of most of the land mass. Small lakes and streams could be seen snaking across the moon, with about half the moon being overtaken by a crisp blue ocean.

"Huh… looks like a surprisingly nice place to live…" she spoke without thinking, as the planet seemed almost tranquil. They had popped out on the day side of the world, just a sliver at the edge of the world being dark.

"Alright, disconnecting now. See you two on the ground!" The speaker buzzed with the captain's voice as she pushed the throttle forward. Despite accelerating, two sets of four bright red engines appeared in front of them, slowly shrinking in her vision as she followed them toward the moon.

Holden gently banked his fighter around a snow-capped mountain in a spiraling decent, following the flight path on his nav-computer. They already got in touch with the local observation post on the way down and were simply following landing instructions. As much as he wanted to try and focus on flying, the views around him were absolutely breathtaking as they were guided through a mountain range to this once active volcano. The post had been hidden in one of the massive lava tubes, large enough to land a Gallofree medium transport more than comfortably within. Their X-wings and the Redeemer had plenty of parking space inside because of it.

Their slow decent lasted only a few moments as the mouth to the tube they wanted came into view, Holden guiding his fighter into it as he flicked his landing lights on and switched over to repulser flight. The tube was extremely dark, only able to see because of the powerful spotlights on his wings. They were in the tunnel for almost a minute before he spotted an alcove ahead, light spilling forth from it.

Once closer, he could see the 'alcove' was in fact a hangar space large enough for a whole squadron of fighters, cut perfectly level into the side of the lava tube. The floor was carved smooth, the walls left rough and raw. The area was brightly lit by a series of strip lights hung from the ceiling, allowing Holden to flick his landing lights off as he eased back on the throttle. Only moments after, he was gently setting his fighter down on the rock, someone already pushing a ladder up to his fighter to meet him. To his left, he could see a tech doing the same with Stodel's X-wing, the Redeemer beyond her only just settling to its landing struts.

He quickly shut his fighter down and opened the canopy, allowing him to clamber out down the ladder. Once free from the craft, he slipped his helmet off. Several techs were already going over the ships, but he wasn't concerned about any of them. Both X-Wings were in top condition, thanks to the maintenance crew back on the Courageous and that they had about thirty minutes of flight time on this mission so far.

Now clear of his fighter, he began to make his way across the hanger, headed for the Redeemer to change into his civilian clothes, a brown Bothan officer trotting up beside him.

"Lieutenant Gim Hendon sir." He was holding his hand out to Holden in greeting, his muzzle like face utterly expressionless.

"Pleased to meet you lieutenant. Anything changed from the reports?" he accepted the man's handshake, the pair still moving toward the Redeemer.

"No sir. Base is operational at the moment, but virtually unmanned. I'm under orders to support your team for intelligence purposes only. I have a few recon teams spread across the planet, their latest reports didn't have anything new from the reports I sent a few weeks ago." He spoke calmly and plainly, almost to the point of boredom.

"Alright, I'm taking my team out to do a scouting of the local populace. Anything I should know about?" he came to a stop as he spoke, only a few meters from the ramp of the Redeemer.

"Imperial presence should be non-existent in the towns and villages around here. Most of them are just farming towns, empire just sends a token patrol every few months. Next one should be sometime next month. We don't really monitor the villages around her because of that."

"Alright. Thanks for the info, carry on Lieutenant." Holden gave the Bothan a crisp salute, the Bothan returning it before heading off.

"Any change of plans sir?" The Staff Sergeant's voice drew his attention up the ramp of the freighter beside him. Roy currently had one of the two speeder bikes floating beside him as he eased it down the ramp.

"Not yet. Speeders good to go?" he moved to the base of the ramp as he spoke, meeting Roy there.

"Yes sir. We only have the two though so we will have to double up on them sir." His face was utterly expressionless, every aspect of his demeanor so far being to the point and professional. If Holden was honest, it was unsettling to him.

"Not an issue. And cut the sir yes sir crap, please. It bugs the snot out of me."

"I'll try sir." Despite his agreement, he remained as stoic as ever anyway.

"Yeah, please. I'm gonna get changed, should be out in a minute." He gestured to the ramp as he spoke, Roy just nodding to him as a response. With their conversation ended, he trotted up the ramp and made his way to his room, only taking a few minutes to change into some of his old C-Sec gear and come back out. Once he was back on the ramp, he found the second bike was already offloaded, both speeders engines running and ready to go. The tech and the sergeant were standing between the two vehicles. With the bike engines running, there was no way he could hear whatever conversation they were having. Not that it seemed much of a 'conversation'.

Hollis was clearly asking him something, but the sergeant was curt in what ever response he gave. The thing that made Holden stop for a moment to just watch though was the difference in the man's expression. It was subtle, but his normal stoic expression was almost… Soft for lack of another way to describe it. Almost as though he feels pity for her? Maybe. But they definitely know each other already.

He watched for a bit longer, the Sergeant seeming to deflect most if not all of Hollis' questions. The conversation dragged on for several more minutes before the Sergeant turned away from her, opening a panel on the bike over its engine. Hollis let out a visible sigh, shaking her head as she turned to do the same with the other bike.

Alright, let's see what's up. Garrett marched his way down the ramp, stopping roughly halfway down it. "Hey Hollis, come here for a moment!"

Both of the pair looked up at his call, the sergeant almost immediately returning to his work as Hollis trotted up the ramp to meet him. "Yes sir?" she had a look of mild confusion on her face, her meek voice barely audible in the currently noisy hanger.

"What's the status on the Redeemer? She take the journey well?" he gestured for her to follow him up the ramp.

"Oh… Um I would say spectacularly if the sensors are working right. Nothing came up in any of my checks on the way down but… I still need to give her a manual once over." She bit her lip as the pair came to a stop in the cargo hold, far enough removed from the speeders that it was much easier to hear her.

Stodel slipped by the pair wordlessly, simply exchanging a nod with the captain before heading down the ramp. Holden waited for her to be gone before he asked his next question. "Alright, level with me, you and the Sergeant know each other. Anything there I need to know about?" he tried to keep his question as level and reasonable as he could for a commander but not sound harsh or angry with her.

"Well… we come from the same town… I never knew him back then, but we ran into each other on an old station. I sorta helped him with his mission there." She was fiddling with her hands as she responded, cracking a few of her knuckles.

Holden simply raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to say more.

"It was nothing violent. Or… I didn't take part in any violence. I just helped him get into a few warehouses. I ended up joining the Alliance afterward."

"Alright, good to know you two have worked together. Thanks."

"Of course, sir! And just so you know… I know he tends to be a bit rigid about things, but he get's the job done. He's the most reliable person I know." She was biting her lip again.

Holden glanced out of the ship, watching the Sergeant for several moments. "I get that you came from the same town, but… he seems a bit… like he doesn't want to talk to you."

She let out a small chuckle, a smile lighting up on her face. "Oh… he's always been like that. There's… there's a reason for it."

"Alright. I'll take your word for it there. Make sure you have a blaster tucked away on you and get some sort of long sleeves on. It's a good hour or so ride out to the closest village. Once you're ready, we'll move out." He gave her a smile as he stepped away down the ramp, letting her do what she needed to do.

I'm going to need to keep an eye on them. Something doesn't add up to me...

Madelyn shivered as the wind whipped by, her thin jacket being nowhere near enough to stave it off while riding on the back of the speeder bike. It had taken them the better part of an hour to navigate down out of the mountains and onto the plains. And though the air was a good twenty degrees warmer, she still would have called it cool.

"How much farther!?" she shouted that toward the ear of her driver, the Captain, who was one of her two only sources of warmth right now. The other was the bike between her legs, the engine producing heat as they blasted over the dry grass that made up most of the plain's foliage.

"Just a few more clicks! I can see the buildings ahead!" he shouted that back to her, his voice almost lost to the wind.

His words prompted her to lean around him enough to see what was ahead of him. Sure enough, buildings were easily visible ahead, the simple stone structures made with local materials. Within minutes, they were reaching the structures, Holden slowing the bike down from the high cruising speed to something more manageable in a small town, aiming for what appeared to be the main street.

The village itself was closer to a small town, with what Madelyn would have guessed to be around a hundred of so buildings in total. The main street was clearly set up to be some sort of open-air market, with storefronts, stalls and awnings lining either side of the street. But, for being a market street, the only other people they saw was their companions on the other speeder bike beside them.

"Intel did say this village was populated, right?" the Staff Sergeant on the other bike kept his voice quiet enough that she could barely hear him, his eyes scanning every roof, store front, nook, and alleyway they passed.

"Yeah… supposed to be. Let's stop here." The Captain pulled the bike up to a set of magnetic locks arrayed on the ground, lowering the bike to the ground before shutting it down on one of the locks. The Staff Sergeant pulled the second bike up beside them, doing the same.

Madelyn took that as her chance to slip off the bike and stretch out her stiff muscles. Now that she had stopped moving, the air felt considerably warmer, her thin jacket really being too much for the weather. So she slipped it off and dropped it into the saddlebag of the bike she had been on, leaving her in the mid-sleeved soft green shirt she was wearing beneath, a black sleeveless vest on over her chest, completely unbuttoned of course. This went with her dark blue baggy pants and brown pistol belt rather well, or so she believed.

The captain was wearing his old Corellian Security uniform, the brown pants with a blood red stripe down the legs matching his unbuttoned jacket, also having a blood red stripe down the sleeves. His belt had a small blaster hanging on one hip, and what looked like miscellaneous rifle parts hanging off the left. The realty being he was carrying a rather interesting convertible weapon he acquired during his C-sec days, the parts being a barrel extension, stock, and power amplifier for the pistol that allowed him to convert it into a mid-ranged marksmen's rifle on the fly.

Roy was dressed much as he had been when she first saw him that morning, still on the Redeemer. Simple faded and ragged camouflaged cargo pants, almost whitewashed with age, a crisp, clean black equipment belt with various pouches of equipment, his blaster hanging off to his thigh, and his mid weight worn brown leather jacket. He probably was never much one for subtlety as he looked more than ready to get into a fight at a moments notice. Not that the captain was much better in an old C-Sec uniform.

Kyra was the only one who looked reasonable, still in her grey mechanics overalls, a tool bag over her shoulder. Of course, Madelyn knew she was carrying a holdout blaster in the bag alongside her tools, but an onlooker wouldn't know that. She had added a thin dark blue field jacket over her tank top, her hair being let out of its usual bun. Of course, after riding for almost an hour, her hair was entirely floofed up to a comical degree.

"Alright, we'll leave the bikes here and split up. Roy, Kyra, see what sorts of parts and supplies you can sniff out. Food, ammo, weapons, whatever you can find. Madelyn, we'll see if we can't interact with some of the locals. See what the hell's up here. Sound like a plan?" the captain spoke quickly and calmly to the group as they stood between the two bikes.

"Sounds good. How long sir?" Roy had his usual stoic and unchanging expression on his face, completely unsurprising for him at this point.

"Just keep in touch with your com-links. Oh… and first names. Remember, we gotta seem like civilians."

"Easy enough Gary!" Madelyn spoke before anyone else could, a smirk on her face as her use of 'Gary' immediately got on the Captain's nerves. She had discovered that fun fact shortly after joining his squadron.

"Don't call me Gary. It's Garret. Use my real name thank you."

"Nah, Gary's better. I'll let you know if we find anything." Roy actually smirked as he said that, gesturing for Kyra to follow him as he began to leave.

"Damn it, now you have him calling me that Madelyn!"

"Good. Anyway, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"If it begins with a B and rhymes with Ooze, then yeah. Best spot to find locals in any town."

"So great minds do think alike, Gary." She stuck her tongue out at him, intentionally trying to egg him on even further.

"Stop it. Remember, I control your review's little lady." He rolled his eyes at her as he gestured for her to follow him, moving away from the bikes as well.

"Awwl, and here I was thinking you were fun!" she playfully stomped after him, crossing her arms in mock annoyance to add to the effect.

"Gahll this is going to be a long one isn't it?" he spoke that to the blue sky, as though it could even respond to his exasperated question.

Roy walked the quiet streets, his eyes scanning for any movement sources. Now that he wasn't controlling a bike, he could tell there were signs of people here, from the occasional piece of trash to active droids. But most of the stores were closed and locked tight, a few looking abandoned. Some of the abandoned ones had clear blaster burns on the walls, one storefront smelling of rotting meat. It wasn't one he wanted to investigate further as a sinking suspicion drifted through his mind.

This town looks like it's under someone's fist. Criminals I would suspect. And not particularly skilled ones I might add… he sighed with that thought, catching a glimpse of a window shutter being peeled back to watch them, just before it slipped closed again. Given the wind was non-existent, that meant someone had to have moved the shutter.

"I really have a bad feeling about this town… something bad is happening here." Kyra's voice beside him was even quieter than her norm, her face utterly pale as her eyes darted around the area.

"Me too. Just keep your eyes open for a shop that isn't closed." He curtly responded to her, wanting to keep their interactions to a minimum. The ride on the ship had been bad enough, trying to avoid her in that small, limited space. Being stuck working with her certainly didn't help now.

"I think I see one. Alleyway, right side." Her voice drew his eyes in that direction, spotting what she was talking about. Two men, a burly human and a Duros appeared to be speaking to a young woman manning a small fruit stall. By the lack of a door behind it and its slim selection, she was probably running it on a temporary basis.

What bugged him though, was that both men were armed with heavy blasters and were wearing heavy leather clothing. Clothing that would be fitting for someone spending a lot of time traveling while exposed to the elements.

"I see it. Too small for our needs. Just le- "

"I said no! Now scram you damned leeches, I have fruit to sell!" he didn't get to finish what he was saying as the young woman screamed that at the two males.

The pair of thugs for lack of another descriptor exchanged amused smirks before bellowing out laughter. The human of the pair cut his off first, his heavy voice audible from here. "Girl, you do what we say when we say." As he finished, he grabbed one of her fruit and chucked it at the wall behind her, splattering it into hundreds of slimy fragments. "And if ya don't, well, that fruit there is what your head's gonna look like after the boss is done with ya. But oh, will he take awhile to get to that point."

The thinly veiled threat on the young woman's life was painfully obvious. And, frankly poorly thought out as it meant the girl was more likely to fight back even more.

Hmph, make that really stupid criminals… It would be much more effective to threaten her livelihood and family. Then, she has to live with that destruction being on her. Damn it, the hell am I thinking?

"So, give us our money, and th- "

The man never finished, as while he was making his threat, Kyra had suddenly leapt into a sprint, too sudden for Roy to have noticed it before she was slamming into the human. Though small, the sudden impact slammed the man into the dust as she straddled over him, pinning his arms with her legs. She was screaming almost incoherently as she savagely beat his face, Roy going wide eyed as he watched.

Damn it Kyra! I was about to tell you to leave it be! He ran up as fast as he could safely move, opening his mouth to apologize for her actions as he reached to pull her off. That was when the brute's Duros companion began pulling his blaster, the muzzle aimed for Kyra's head.

Roy reacted as fast as his training and skill allowed him to, unclasping his bulky old clone war's blaster, bringing it straight into a two handed grip and firing a pair of rushed blue bolts at the Duros before his arms had even fully extended. Both struck the man in the chest, the first sending the blaster tumbling from his hand, the second pounding the soon to be dead alien into the dirt. As soon as the second bolt had struck, Roy swiveled his weapon sights to the human brute's head, ready to shoot the man the moment there was an opportunity and need to.

Kyra visibly recoiled from the sudden heat and light, her eyes turning to saucers as they flicked between the semi-lucid and likely concussed human beneath her, the blaster in Roy's hands, and the now smoking Duros.

"Wh-Wha… why…. Oh fuck…" her attention slipped to her hands as she realized what she was doing, several of her knuckles split open and bleeding.

"Kyra! Get clear! Now!" he shouted at her, not wanting to run any risk of hitting her. If she had been a member of his former squad, he would have been telling her to restrain the human, but in her panicked state, there was no way she was thinking clearly.

"W-why!? You're no-" She didn't get to finish speaking as the human seemed to gain at least some mental acuity back, using his shear strength to shove her off him.

With her clear, the human reached for the blaster on his hip, his eyes on Roy. The moment his hand touched the weapon, Roy squeezed the trigger, another blue bolt ripping from his weapon and coring a hole in the human's head. The moment the shot landed, the human fell still, dead.

"Damn it Kyra! We don't need to be getting into gunfights with the locals!" Roy shouted at her as he crossed the last few steps between them, seeing the Duros groan and reach for his wounded chest.

He could still be a threat. Without a second thought, he pounded another bolt into the Duros' head, ending what little life was left in the alien. Both women shrieked slightly with the energy discharge, clearly neither having expected it.

"Why did you shoot him!? He was wounded… and… dying…" her voice fell off as she stared at the two corpses, her face slowly paling. Just a moment later, her face had turned green as she puked out what little fluid was in her stomach.

"Kyra! What the in the name of the Sith was that!? You shouldn't have just charged off like that!" he blatantly ignored her question. Now that there wasn't a threat, his anger at her lack of restraint, or what ever it was that caused her to charge like that, was totally unrestrained. Under that anger, his mind was running through all the possibilities for what they now had to deal with the mess they were in.

"Th-the-they were threatening her! I couldn't just watch them do anything that would hurt her!" Kyra's voice was terrified and even meeker than her usual, a pleading quality in it that made her sound like no more than a child. She never looked up from her own bile pool, quivering as though it was frigid and she was naked.

"And!? Bad shit happens Kyra! That's just the way life is, and you know that! Who ever these guys work for are going to hear about this and probably send some sort of reprisal! What you just did is probably get a dozen people killed. All for what, one fruit girl!?" every word he shouted caused her to shy away, her fear almost palpable.

Wait… she's utterly terrified right now… I can't do this to her… He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself a little. Once he felt at least in control of himself, he slipped his blaster away and crouched beside her quivering form. "Listen, you need to think before you act. I told you not to sign up because of that. You act off emotion too much. I saw that on the station, and I still see that now. Now get up, we have a mess to clean up thanks to you." He started speaking as gently as he could manage but shifted his voice to a harder tone as he finished, standing back up.

"Now miss, are you alright?" he softened his voice again as he spoke to the fruit stand owner, only just really remembering about her.

"Ye-Yes. Who are you people!?" she sounded as terrified as she looked, barely peaking over the edge of the stall from where she had hidden behind it.

"We're with the alli- "

Roy nearly cursed as he reached over to physically cover Kyra's mouth, gaining a small urge to smack her right then. "The crew of a small freighter, just passing through ma-am"

Fuck, what freighter crew calls civilians ma-am? Damn it, now she's screwing me up! If you weren't just a friggan mechanic and if I hadn't… uh… well… his own angry thought melted away as he took his hands off Kyra, his anger for her evaporating again as his memories acted up once more. Almost to the point of being lost in them.

"Right… well… you weren't wrong… these two are a part of some new pirate gang that showed up a month or so back… they've been terrorizing the town, killin' folk, stealin food. Hell, most of the town is shut down and dying cause of them right now… as soon as they find out about this, they are not going to be gentle! Last time one of em was killed, they executed six people in the street!" the woman babbled along for several moments as she finally came out of hiding from behind the stall, wringing the fabric of her dress.

"She's not lying. They call themselves the Kell Hounds. Got a whole bunch of boys, took over the ol' Barnaby farm outside of town." A male voice joined them, Roy looking over his shoulder to see a middle-aged human male stepping from a doorway behind him. He had what looked to be his wife behind him, who was visibly shooing their children away from the door.

"Great. I gotta get in touch with Garret, he needs to know abo-" Roy didn't get to finish as his com-link bleeped at him, announcing an incoming signal.

"Hey uh, Roy, Kyra, you hearing me?" Garret's voice spilled from Roy's device on his waist.

He quickly scooped the device from his belt and keyed the microphone. "Loud and clear Garret. Whacha got?"

"We… may have a bit of a problem…"

Roy's shoulders slumped as he looked at the two corpses at his feet. "Welcome to the party then sir."