You know I just felt like writing this another quick chapter because I just a muse and decided to at least use it to be productive. So yeah, here's the next part. And yes this one will be a predominantly comedy, plot-driven chapter with some good ole-fashioned fun.
Chapter 7
Zeltros, Capital City of Planet Zeltros (Weird I know)
The Ghost flew through the thick clouds of the warm sunrise lit sky of the most beautiful planet in the Mid-Rim. In the cockpit was the entire crew, who were all excited about being here, ready to settle down for a little while on a planet renowned for its relaxing atmosphere and planet-wide parties. As the ship passed through the cloud layer they saw the capital city of Zeltros, for which the planet was named, appear off in the near distance. The group could make out the large towers of the city and domed spaceport building on a separate island with a tall tower with a bulge of windows and comms and sensor equipment on the top, all of it surrounded by large coral reefs coloring the sea a rainbow of reds, oranges, and greens off a few hundred meters from the white sandy beaches. A constant rhythmic pulsing was completely enveloping the sides of the building, letting everyone know that there was a party going on.
"Whoa, never thought we'd ever come here," Sabine whistled in appreciation.
"Me neither," Kanan responded, turning around to face everyone, "Remember something everyone, we're not here on vacation. We've got jobs, do them well, stay under the radar. This isn't the Outer Rim, the Imperials here may be more numerous but they're not nearly as quick on the gun or as experienced as the troops we're used to."
"They get easier?" Ezra said half-jokingly.
"The Imperials deploy their best troops to the Outer Rim and cycle them back to the Core Worlds, so the Mid Rim is a soft spot for us. But it can also be a hard nut to crack within a day due to its proximity to the fortress worlds scattered within the Mid Rim and the Core," Hera replied with years of experience behind her.
"What about here?" Sabine asked.
"Fulcrum says only a handful of troops are here, guarding and operating a sensor station and a communications hub," Hera replied.
"I'd imagine they've got the best job in the Empire," Zeb chuckled.
"They're nowhere near us I'd imagine?" Sabine asked.
"Actually they're right across the archipelago from the hotel we're working at."
"That's not good," Ezra mused.
"No, but it will give us a way to keep an eye on what's going on with the Empire's search for us," Sabine noted, "We can probably patch into their comms and listen in."
"Fulcrum already gave us a code that will listen in on their transmissions," Kanan said matter-of-factly.
Sabine seemed bummed out at that fact. Ever since her traumatic capture on Davenport Gateway she'd been itching for a fight, willing to do almost anything to prove to not only her team but herself that she was the same girl they'd always known. It was a shake-up for her confidence, and that meant she needed to find some way to get it back. But with all the heat around them they would need to take it easy for a little while. Her need to get back at the Imperials would have to wait, and she understood that. But if opportunity presented itself she was more likely to seize it than pass it up.
"Tower this is Follower, arriving to dock as scheduled," Hera said into the comms, letting the control tower of the space port they were coming in. But of course they were using a prearranged fake name for the Ghost.
"Welcome to Zeltros Follower, proceed to gate four and a tug will guide you to hangar eight," the tower controller responded with a friendly greeting and directions.
"Thank you Tower, we're coming in," Hera said, guiding the Ghost, or Follower as the people of Zeltros would know it as, straight towards the opening in the large white dome.
The Ghost flew straight and true clean through the large opening meant for ships of their size. And once inside the Ghost was immediately met by a large tug hovered over to them, latching onto them with a tractor beam and dragged them gently towards a hole in the floor and began descending into the pit that made up the majority of the hangar's space. The ship descended down quite far until it got to a larger hangar for long term storage and there a Zeltron in an orange and blue jumpsuit with glowing batons guided them in. The hangar inside was large, well lit, and seemed to be rather quiet. A huge variety of ships the same size as the Ghost were lined up row upon row, all of them belonging to either natives or people there for a long while who didn't want to pay the steep prices of the more luxurious hangars closer to the surface.
"Well, we're here, make sure you've got everything because we won't be coming back for a while," Kanan ordered, standing up from his seat.
The group did likewise, making their way to their rooms, making sure the bags they'd packed. By the time they'd gotten this done the Ghost was landed in its new home for the next few weeks at best, a few months at worst. But this was Zeltros, a few months working at the most renowned hotel on the most renowned pleasure planet in the galaxy wouldn't kill them. The group had no problem with that, and in fact wouldn't mind an elongated stay on the planet.
Everyone quickly made their way to the cargo bay with their bags, wearing different warm weather clothes to avoid attracting attention with their usual clothes which the Empire would be looking out for. Hera was the last to enter the bay after shutting down and locking up the ship. And when she got there she opened the bay, and the group got a whiff of the famous relaxing atmosphere of Zeltros. There was a famous saying that the air itself was so heavy with relaxing pheromones that even planetary invasions would bog down and turn into parties. Much of it was just good marketing by the incredibly clever Zeltron native hotel owners and their travel agents who kept the rich and famous coming to their five star hotels and retreats.
"Well, here we are," Hera said with a big smile on her face as the crew walked down the ramp of the Ghost.
"Zeltros, kinda like a dream come true isn't it?" Sabine said happily as she was the second one out behind Hera.
"We're not here on vacation remember? We're not guests, we're employees," Zeb responded.
"Still better than running and hiding from the Imperials in some backwater," Ezra chuckled, "It'll be my first job actually."
"Why am I not surprised?" Zeb noted, giving Ezra a shove and received a shove in return.
"It's tough to get a job when you're on the streets Zeb," Kanan responded.
"Thank you Kanan," Ezra replied, looking at Zeb as the crew walked towards an elevator.
Around them were workers and security personnel walking around, doing their jobs in the crisp clean and welcoming hangar that was a stark contrast to any other hangar or port that any of them had ever seen. As they made their way out the Zeltron port employees waved to them in a friendly manner that spoke highly of the native reputation for genuine hospitality. They entered one of the many elevators that would take them up to the surface.
They had some fake ID's on them, just to keep suspicion from being attracted to their entrance on the planet and the payroll of the hotel. Yet they'd never really needed to use them, the Outer Rim worlds rarely had anywhere that they needed, but this was the Mid-Rim, things were a bit more…civilized here. And that meant they needed to act like it in order to blend in, although that was way easier done than said due to the wide variety of people who came here to vacation and party.
The elevator made it to their destination quite quickly, not even allowing any of them to say anything on the trip to the surface. The group stepped out immediately, eager to see what all there was to see. They were not disappointed in the least. Their first view of the space port was the main atrium crowded with tourists making their way to and from. Many were dragging oversized bags behind them barely managing to move anywhere. Some of the departing tourists were badly sunburned or well-tanned, and not very pleased to be leaving. After all, who out there is ready to go back to work from a vacation?
The atrium itself was a sight to behold. It's glass ceiling let in loads of natural light, water features intertwined with repulsorlift gardens orbiting around the enormous space let everyone see what it was they were in for the moment that they got a look at Zeltros. Welcome desks were located in a ring around a central fountain which was the epicenter of a large mural painted on the floor of an the sun that the planet orbited.
The crew made their way to one of these pavilions where a female Zeltron with smooth purple skin, light purple flowing hair and a flower necklace around her neck was responsible for making sure all was well with people's travel papers and to point new arrivals in the directions that they intended to go.
"Hello friends, how are we this afternoon?" the young Zeltron asked them, a genuine smile painted on her face.
"Very well thank you," Hera replied, passing over her identification.
"Well then, let's see here…" the young worker said as she ran the ID and nodded with a smile once she was done, "Miss Hera Aldulli, welcome to Zeltron, I see you have been hired at the Blue Palm Hotel and Resort congratulations."
Hera sighed in relief that the fake ID's had worked. She'd initially been worried that the fact they used the same first names would be troublesome but not so much here.
"Thank you very much, my crew and I happen to know have a common fiend with the someone who works there," Hera replied truthfully. The key to a good lie was to use as much truth as possible.
"That's always good isn't it?" she replied with a good natured laugh as Kanan handed her his ID, "Kanan Rein, oh you must be excited. A valet driver at the Blue Palm, my last boyfriend worked that job and he got a lot of tips."
"Really? Well then, can't wait to get started," Kanan said with no small amount pleasant surprise.
Zeb handed his own ID over after yanking Ezra back like he usually did in such circumstances.
"Well then aren't you a big fellow?" the Zeltron said as she looked at Zeb with a marveling eye, "I've never met a Lasat before."
"There aren't many of us left," Zeb responded, getting a sad look from her.
"Oh I'm sorry if I," she immediately began apologizing.
"No it's alright, no need for you to apologize," Zeb responded, taking his own ID back.
"Well, you won't have any trouble here. Especially since you're a…oh security. That seems like just your speed."
"Oh yeah, not many people are going to mess with this," Zeb replied with a wink.
"I sure wouldn't," she chuckled as Ezra and Sabine handed their ID's over.
"Ezra Ridge, hmm…just barely old enough I see," she said, which immediately worried the rest of the crew, but not for long, "But you've got to start working at some point right?"
"Yeah, right," Ezra said with a half-hearted laugh.
"And Sabine Quinn. Oh you're in for a good stay here, a beach waitress, quite a bit of tips are in your future my dear."
"I won't complain about that," Sabine said with a shrug, hiding the fact she still didn't like a lot of what that job entailed.
"Well, that should do it my friends. You're all set, the Blue Palm shuttle is set to leave in about ten minutes from landing pad twelve."
"Thank you very much," Hera replied as the team filed out and took their first step into the open, clean air of Zeltros.
The atmospheric shuttle was right where it was supposed to be, and the six of them got on to see that no one else was aboard and that no one else joined them. The pilot was a droid, the same kind that flew the interplanetary shuttles at Lothal's local space port, and to Hera this was an oddity, especially since she was "hired" as the new tour pilot.
"Everyone buckle up, we are now departing for the Blue Palm Hotel and Resort," the droid said out loud, turning around from its stationary post.
"Nobody's here," Ezra noted, pointing out something that had the team somewhat worried.
"Yeah I noticed that," Kanan replied.
"I did some research," Hera piped up, "this place is extremely exclusive, guests arrive at their own smaller space port on an island off of the resort's archipelago. It's connected with a bridge that guests take their own speeders or rented ones to cross over."
"It's that exclusive huh?" Zeb asked.
"Oh yeah, it's got a reputation for being the place to be go to be pampered," Sabine replied, adding her own say, "Even the employee quarters are ranked as four stars and have their own beach front placement."
"How are they able to afford that?" Zeb asked, quite dumbfounded at such comfort for mere hired help.
"The owner is supposed to be an extraordinarily rich resort tycoon. His theory is that the happier the workers are the better they'll perform. And the combine the untouched scenery, fine food, and state of the art rooms and entertainment and you can see how the galaxy's rich and famous have come to love it here," Sabine reiterated, getting some odd looks from her comrades, "What? I like to watch the travel channels on the holonet."
"Now approaching Blue Palm Resort and Hotel," the pilot droid called out as the form of the archipelago came into sight.
They could definitely tell why it was called the Blue Palm. The hotel was actually a series of large buildings scattered around the sheltered islands with a system of bridges and roads connecting them to parking lots and garages where guests could valet their vehicles while they went to the several beaches, restaurants, night clubs, or their own hotel rooms. But each of these buildings seemed to have a common theme going on.
Each of the main buildings was an eighty story tall leaning monolith with four hanging "leaves" that held open air gardens and open air massage parlors on the large wide terraces. Beneath them are glass domes holding in upside-down terraces where clubs and pulsing neon lights and bars kept parties going all night long with an outstanding view in all directions. And there were at least three of these buildings of various sizes scattered around the circular system of islands. Dispersed amongst them were small beach-side huts for walk-up bars, grills, gazebos, and massage parlors with several thousand people walking around.
"Whoa, now that's a resort," Ezra whistled.
"And we're working there remember?" Sabine said, looking out of the window for the local employee housing, finding them in a secluded bay in the form of a group of five and six story apartments with balconies facing a small white beach.
"Oh it won't be too bad, our hours are pretty good," Kanan sounded off as the shuttle started coming in for a landing at the private space port for the Blue Palm which was just like the one they'd landed at not too long ago.
"And I'm gonna enjoy every minute of it," Zeb chuckled.
"Speak for yourself, I've gotta work with Chopper," Ezra groaned, remembering his window washing duties.
"Well I don't get tips either," Zeb replied, "So you're nothing special."
"You and I are in the same boat big guy," Ezra chuckled.
"Well at least no one's gonna be undressing you with your eyes," Sabine rolled her eyes as she grumbled under her breath.
"Oh yeah, our lovely waitress got a plush job on the beach," Kanan laughed.
"I thought it was plush before I realized what I was going to be wearing," Sabine responded.
"Which is…"
"A bikini top and a tropical dress bottom," Hera sounded off slyly.
"Hera!" Sabine gasped, "I thought we weren't telling anyone!"
"Oh really?" Ezra said, and Sabine narrowed her eyes at Ezra as she read his teenage mind.
"Listen trouncing around in a bikini is not my idea of a great job," Sabine responded.
"Oh it can't be that bad," Zeb said as he rolled his eyes.
"You try it then," Sabine responded.
"How'd they put you at that job anyway? I thought there was an age minimum," Kanan asked.
"I just make the cut on Zeltros," Sabine growled, "On Mandalore or any other mostly human planet I wouldn't have this problem."
"Who says it has to be a problem?" Ezra suggested.
"You are going to get the best tips out of all of us," Hera pointed out.
"Depends if she doesn't kill someone for checking her out first."
That does it for the new chapter. I just had a muse for it and managed to get a chapter cranked out within a few hours after finishing my last exam. So yeah here it is, and I'm going to get to work on the next story on my list, An Odd Semester. And after that I'll get the two updates to A Brutal Reality and then I'll have a surprise for my fellow Star Wars fans.
Next Chapter Preview: Ezra and Chopper on a window washing platform, Zeb as a bouncer, Hera as a charter pilot, Kanan as a valet, and Sabine as a cocktail waitress. Boy I can work with that.