"This is Queen of Spades, returning from recon" Salya said into her comms unit as her X-wing returned to the Palatine system, the blue lines of hyperspace fading from view.
"We hear you Queen, clear to land at the Spire." Came the response. She looked out of the cockpit and over to Maila's fighter as it came in close on her right wing. "Welcome home Spades."
The week had gone by slowly ever since the base had gone on alert. Every day was the same. Small groups of fighters sent out to nearby systems to check for any Imperial activity. So far nothing had come up on their scanners and they were beginning to think the Empire was just going to ignore their recent escapades.
"I'm getting so tired of these little missions, I want to shoot something." Maila grumbled into Salya's helmet.
"I'm sure we will get that chance but I can understand why command wants to be careful. We covered our tracks well but the Havoc could come at any second." Salya responded, her fighter blazing orange as she reentered the atmosphere.
The first few days had been tense. The whole base, including the Spire, had undergone a series of drills in case a fleet entered the system. No word had come back yet about the data they recovered, and command was being fairly quiet about the mission since they put in their reports.
Lindmon had spent a fair amount of time with a Mandalorian who showed up recently. They sat in the conference room on the Spire discussing plans and reviewing holotapes and records. Lindmon had put Salya in charge of maintaining the Spade's readiness and schedule while he was focused on the needs of the base and whatever it was he and the girl were discussing.
"I just wish they would come already, I'm sick of all this waiting." Maila grumbled, her fighter evening out over the crashing waves of the planet as the Spire came into view. "I think even Seger is getting itchy. He's been more quiet than usual, which is saying something."
The pair floated their fighters down into the crest of the base and touched down inside, the technicians rushing to connect the wires and pipes to resupply the X-wings. Lugo and Seger sat on a stack of crates near the north wall. Seger had been reviewing technical data from his last recon mission to see how he could improve his systems. He looked up as the pair exited the cockpits on their fighters and pulled off their flight gear.
"Took you long enough!" Lugo shouted over to the pair as he hopped off the crates. "Anything entertaining?"
Salya shook her head. "Just open space"
"Well damn, it's like the Imps don't even care that we ransacked them." Lugo replied, snapping his fingers.
"That's what I'm saying!" Maila shouted, dumping her helmet down on a table near her fighter.
Maila stepped over to her wing mate and pushed a data chip to his chest. Records of their flight path and hyperspace jumps contained within. "See? I didn't forget your precious data." She admonished.
Normally, even the quiet Seger would have given some kind of response. A chide remark about how Maila neglected to keep records of their scout patrols the last three times or how he shouldn't have to ask her to carry out such simple procedures. Instead he simply took the chip and signaled for Lugo to gear up.
The Spade's Gambit was on a rotating scout schedule. Maila and Salya together, Seger and Lugo made up the secondary flight group while Indigo squadron was on constant standby to protect against any base assault.
"What's with him?" Salya asked. "He's hardly said a word all week."
"Nothing, he's just focused is all." Maila shrugged, disregarding the notion that Seger would even have moods.
They had fallen into a comfortable silence, and Maila had become more accustomed to Seger's subtle mannerisms. He was like a droid with a busted modulator, once you knew their directive it wasn't hard to figure out what they wanted. Maila wondered if there was a way to alter his droid brain, maybe make him a bit more interesting...
Salya continued down the hall, eager to get some rest before Lugo and Seger came back. Just before she was able to press the panel into her sanctuary Maila beckoned from the end of the hall. She was mischievous and nosy as ever, her body pressed stealthily against the rock wall as she peaked into the command room. Salya sighed and resigned herself to losing a couple minutes of shut eye.
She came up behind her squad mate and rested her chin on Maila's shoulder. "What is it?" Salya asked lazily. There couldn't possibly be a good reason for all this subterfuge. The Spire was as secure as a fortress, and Maila could have won an award as a comically bad spy.
"...was able to compile a route...chhk...sing the comm traffic loaded in the encryptions." A staticky holo image of a Twi'lek spoke from inside the command room. Long distance communication was a challenge, interference caused by nebulas and other anomalies disrupted nearly any transmission to the core galaxy. The absence of a transmitting station in the sector made it even worse.
The Mandalorian woman that had arrived earlier in the week was there. Adjusting the comms frequency as she spoke intermittently, questioning the route and viable approaches. The holo table had a star chart projected to the side of the Twi'lek, several dots spread across the region. All points connected by sweeping lines, hyperlanes flowing through and around the Unknown Region.
Maila gestured at the saber hilt dangling at her belt. "It's the same weapon that the Lieutenant has...You think she's one of them?" She kept her voice quiet, trying not to be heard, but Salya still heard a sourness in Maila's tone.
Salya shrugged, peeking in with her. "She's a friend of the Lieutenant's. He said he had a teacher so maybe?" She mused.
"The data shows that the Chimera came out here though, could be a good place to start." Lindmon said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "If he broke off from them when they got out he may have gone there."
"You think they're discussing that Jedi kid?" Salya whispered.
Maila didn't respond immediately. She was busy pressing her ear into the door to try and catch a word or two of the conversation.
"It's a lot further than I thought it would have gone." Sabine replied, "We would have spent years before we got that far. And he certainly got away, Ezra is as slippery as they come."
The initial destination of the Chimera reached the edge of the galaxy. As close to Wild Space as it could get while still being inside one of the thin arms that spiraled around the core. From that point the hyperspace route wound back near the center of the Unknown Region. Close to the area marked as the Chiss Ascendency. At least a few dozen other locations were marked on the route scattered across the Unknown territories.
"Thanks Hera, this helps a lot."
"...chhk...know. Take care okay? There's been a lot of movement on the other side of the Galaxy." Hera warned.
"Moooooom! D'we have any Melu fruits left?" Jacen interrupted from outside of the holocam's recorder. "Who're you...chhk...king to?"
"Sabine and Lindmon, love. Come on, let's say goodbye," Hera bent down and picked up the young boy. "General Madine needs me to drop a...chhk...team on Jaemus. I hope those routes help. There's only a year's worth, after that the data was deleted."
"The data should be fine General, thank you for the help." Lindmon said as he pressed a button on the console and shut off the display. "One second Sabine." Lindmon looked over to the door. "You two know better than to slink around, come on in if you're that curious." He said with a hint of dissatisfaction.
A shiver ran down Salya's spine, these Jedi powers were something else. She pressed the button on the wall panel and the door slid open, revealing the pair of pilots on the other side. "Ah, apologies...Sir, we were just um..." she trailed off as she looked for the words.
"Coming to inform you about the scouting operations!" Maila interjected. "They're going great! Nothing so far Sir!"
Lindmon sighed, scratching the back of his neck. While he had gotten fairly used to the tingle that accompanied his Force senses, it was still uncomfortable from time to time. "It's fine you two. I was planning to inform you all of events soon anyways."
"Have we got a new assignment? Is it for that Jedi boy?" Maila asked fervently, the last week of empty patrols had gotten her frantic for something new. Without an opponent, there were only so many ways you could fly an X-Wing. If this was an opportunity to just get out of the sector, Maila wanted to take it.
She glanced at the Mandalorian woman, Sabine as the Lieutenant called her. Maila assumed her face would be laden with scars underneath the helmet, with a mouth full of rancor teeth, like all the cantina rumors say about the sect of notorious hunters. But she was surprisingly feminine, her tan skin and colored hair made her look like an exotic warrior. Maila wondered if Sabine really was the one to teach Lindmon his powers, and what her role was in this secret mission.
"Ezra, yes. Unfortunately though it seems like we won't be able to take you all along. Without a way to transport your X-wings anyways." Lindmon reactivated the holotable and the image of the outer reaches of the Unknown Region pulled into view. "The path the Chimera took brings it out to the very edge of the galaxy. The trip could take upwards of a week there and back, far too long for the X-wings to accompany us."
Salya's heart dropped in her chest. They had only been pulled into Spade's Gambit for a little while, was it already falling apart?
Maila clicked her tongue, dissatisfied at being left behind. "Well take me with you anyway. Hey! You can show me how to use Jedi powers," She looked at Sabine expectantly. If she had taught Lindmon to use his abilities there was a chance she could do the same for Maila.
Her thoughts were dashed however. Sabine responded, her eyebrows raised in confusion. "What are you talking about, kid? I can't teach you anything."
"But, you have a laser sword like the Lieutenant. It's certainly not a normal weapon."
"That doesn't make me a Jedi."
"So you killed a Jedi and took it from them?"
Sabine narrowed her eyes, this kid was nosy. "No, I didn't."
"Maila, you're stepping out of line." Lindmon warned "this isn't a mission I can take you all on. You will stay here and continue recon."
Salya looked nervously from Sabine to Maila. The glare from the mandalorian pierced daggers into her flight mate who sighed and dropped her shoulders before rolling her eyes.
"Whatever." Maila responded before turning and stomping out of the room.
Lindmon watched as she exited. "Get some rest Salya, you two are set to go back out soon if I recall."
Salya nodded awkwardly before turning and following Maila back towards their quarters.
Lindmon turned back to Sabine, the air in the room suddenly tense. "Sorry about her. She seems to have picked up a chip on her shoulder ever since finding out about my Force sensitivity."
Sabine huffed. Shifting her weight as the doors slid shut again. "She's lucky you were here. The nerve of that kid." She said sourly before turning on the holo projector again.
Lindmon motioned back at the image. "You can leave your A-wing here" he changed the subject. "We can take the Zephyr out to investigate the lead. Ahsoka hasn't contacted us yet so I doubt we will have her help on this."
"It's been a long time without hearing from her." Sabine said with a hint of worry in her voice. "She said she was just going back to meet with those elders, right?"
"I'm sure she's fine, whatever she is up to may just be taking longer. I can have Reed try and let her know what's going on. In the meantime..." Lindmon paused, thinking "I saw you teaching the kid saber forms. Ahsoka taught me some of form one, but not everything. Any chance you can teach me some more?" Lindmon smiled awkwardly. "It could pass the time while we wait for a response."
Sabine pulled a chip out of the holo terminal, containing a copy of the data that Hera sent. "Let's get going first," Sabine said resolutely, "I can walk you through the movements while we're in hyperspace." Now that she had a clear direction to Ezra's location, Sabine wanted to waste no more time on Palatine.
"Right." Lindmon pressed a button on the holotable and after a brief moment Sulahaan's voice broke into the room.
"Lieutenant?"
"Hey Sul, get the engines on the Zephyr running. Sabine and I are on the way. Get Giz on board as well. Reed is with us and will be meeting you soon."
"Aye Sssir." Sulahaan replied before the transmission cut out.