No longer feeling the need to run every time the wind changed Eris took up her role as their permanently hired gun. She was stealthy and deadly, Poe was quick on his feet, Finn was good at planning, and Rey was all in one in the body of a naive girl that often pushed too far. Whatever job it was they always got it done, usually in the hardest way possible and with as much bickering as Eris could handle, but they were good.

"Out of all of us how is she the best at charming people?" Finn hissed quietly to Poe as they followed Eris who walked with her hand in the crook of a grotesquely blubbery man's arm. "That's supposed to be your job."

Poe turned from Eris' long back curving with the swing of her hips and shrugged at Finn. "He wasn't into me," was his simple reply. He'd given his best smile but Eris bat her eyes and grinned and that'd been the end of that.

Music seeped into the hall they walked down the closer they got to the cantina. Eris and Rey wore lavish dresses that showed more than Rey cared for while Finn and Poe were dressed in rich shirts tucked in smooth sleek trousers.

The handsy crolute let Eris go and she smiled at him with hooded eyes, but the moment he turned his back she dropped the act and scanned the underground joint locking onto their target. "See, no Jedi tricks needed."

"Yeah yeah," Rey said raising a hand to wave Eris away. She turned to the boys who really did look handsome and got down to business. "We'll get the target you watch for any sign of trouble. Eris," she turned to their pretty troublemaker, "don't kill anyone without my say."

Eris rolled her eyes but she nodded relenting. Being one of the good guys, she found, quite frankly sucked. "Yes dear," Eris teased heavily as she hooked her arm with Rey's and sauntered off.

The boys watched them briefly cut through the crowd passing the betting tables and the writhing dance floors as they made their way to the bar. Eris was the more noticeable of them in a stark white dress that hung from her tall frame like a waterfall. Their target, Lorne Blitz, had an eye for uncommon species he collected like trophies to decorate his lavish home. Poe watched the greedy well dressed man notice Eris almost immediately.

Feeling his chest flush Poe turned to see Finn glancing around them with a muted sense of awe. There was still so much he hadn't seen, hadn't done. His eyes stopped on the gently moving bodies in the middle of the floor, not the dancing barely clothed holos but the ones who moved together.

"May I have this dance?"

Finn turned at Poe's warm voice and blinked finding his mouth suddenly dry from his heavy stare. "Sure," he mumbled before remembering he didn't know how to dance.

Across the room Rey stood alone at the bar unhappily watching Eris being led away. It happened so fast Rey didn't know Eris was leaving until her hand slipped from hers. Lorne had come up whispering something sweet about going somewhere quieter, he didn't want anything sweet from Eris. Rey could feel it. He didn't just steal for the First Order, he stole people who'd be turned to slaves. But he wanted something else from Eris, something dark that made his blood feel like poison.

She looked for Finn and Poe wanting to tell them something felt wrong, that they needed to get Eris out of there. But her eyes landed on where they swayed gently with their arms around each other and Rey scowled at how quickly they'd given up look out. If he'd been paying attention Poe wouldn't have liked the way Lorne had been looking at Eris.

...

Finn was just starting to get the hang of the beat the nautolan was pounding when Poe pulled away. "What happened, where's the guy?" Poe asked seeing Eris and Rey pushing through the crowd.

"We gotta go, someone got trigger happy," Eris answered casting a pointed look to Rey.

She scoffed fixing the torn sleeve to Eris' dress so it didn't fall down her arm. "He wasn't into you, Eris, he was trying to take your dress off so he could kill you and put you back in it." Rey had gotten that out of the man guarding the door they'd been behind, she still needed work on the mind tricks because he'd fallen out of it easily. Lorne collected women like one might collect bugs - posing their beautiful corpses behind glass.

"He what?" Poe demand turning to Eris with a sudden fury.

"I know what he wanted," Eris hissed grabbing his arm and dragging him to the exit. "We don't have time for this, I have the datachip we need to leave." She stopped short holding Poe beside her feeling Finn run into her back. She looked at the noghri gathering on the balcony to their only exit knowing the time for running had run out. She turned to Poe and raised a hand to the trouble they now had. "you wanna take 'em or should I?"

Five to their four weren't bad odds, but these odds were stacked against them. If a noghri got their arms around any of them they could break their spine with one cruel squeeze, and that was if it didn't pop their head off first. Needless to say Poe sighed in dismay "As a gentleman I suppose I should," he trailed off following Eris as she darted through the mass of bodies and launched herself off a table so she could grab the ledge to the balcony and pull herself up, "let you take lead," he finished both annoyed and relieved.

Eris pulled the vibrosword from where it was strapped down the length of her back and swung taking one noghri's arm and the other's head with it. She stood holding her breath and the weapon eyeing the other three, who now turned on her bellowing with rage. The guards behind them were yelling now as they pulled their blasters, Finn and Poe could deal with them.

The object was speed, taking as many out as they could to clear the hall to make their escape. They couldn't have the noghri and the guards after them at the same time. And Eris couldn't take the remaining three alone. They were waiting her out knowing her only way was down and there was no exit down. They were waiting for her to move first, and Eris was waiting for her number two.

Hearing a whisper of an answered prayer Eris lunged left going after the two hearing Rey grunt behind her as she lept over the balcony. They'd done this dance once already on Jakku, but they were better now.

Rey slid under its legs and jumped up grabbing her saber and cutting her target from middle to shoulder. He slumped awkwardly and hit his knees before the top half of his body fell leaving his lower half still in a position of kneeling. She looked up seeing Eris had unhooked the double bladed sword and held a half in each hand. She cut the arm and legs of one and turned at a sick crunch to see Rey with her hand outstretched and the other noghri crushed through the wall.

"I had it covered," Eris told her out of breath as she turned looking for their boys. Slinging the sword back over her shoulder she pulled out the blaster rifle hidden under the dress that ran down the span of her thigh.

Rey hummed her disagreement and pulled out a blaster pistol. They covered the boys as they hastily scaled the stairs and they threw themselves down the hall. Seeing the guard from before Eris raised her rifle but a high pitch whine sounded in her ear and a plasma beam shot past her and hit him in the chest.

"You're welcome," Poe reminder her as they flew out of the hall and into the night.

"I had it." Eris scanned the area faster than she felt comfortable with but she grabbed as much of the three of them as she could and shoved them left, away from the cluster of light behind a hill and the clamor of running footsteps behind them. The whole planet was about to be on their ass if they didn't get out of there.

They hurried back to their ship tucked in the shadow of the night and while Poe and Rey darted up the ramp to get it started Eris and Finn held back each wielding a rifle. It's loud roar garnered unwanted attention and the two crouched on either side of the door ducking as the beam from a blaster rifle shot past before Finn leaned out letting loose a stream of shots to cover Eris as she lined up a target in her scope and dropped them.

"Any day now," Finn yelled to the two sitting in the cockpit arguing as they both fought for control.

Poe unhappily seethed in the copilot's seat after Rey forcibly took the pilot's chair because she'd 'flown the Falcon more and knew it best.' which he called bull. "I'm just saying, captain's chair should go to the more experienced pilot, and this case also the better one."

Rey whirled on him, her face screwed up in a rush of fury. "Do you honestly think you're the better pilot? After what happened la-"

"Do I need to come up there?"

They both flinched at Eris' shrill cry knowing the exact amount of rage burning in her eyes. "Shut the door," Rey told him and he quickly complied. It usually went over a little better when Finn was in the gun chair and Eris was behind it yelling at him instead of them.

When the pair had gotten them off the planet and into a still empty part of space where they could plan their next steps, Poe and Rey stood and deflated at finding Finn and Eris standing behind them; one with her arms crossed and the other with his hands on his hips.

"You two done or would you like to continue?" Finn asked looking between their guilty faces. Their silence was a last attempt at being stubborn but Finn waited them out and reluctantly they both shook their heads.

With a sigh Finn turned to Eris who was just as fed up as he was. "Just get dressed and meet in the galley," she said following Finn to the quarters where they slept and kept their things. Rey and Poe both moved to the doorway and they knocked shoulders and shoved each other til Rey squeezed through first, with an irritable sigh Poe followed her after the others.

When they'd changed back into their street clothes they gathered around Eris in the galley as she hooked up a datapad to the holotable. Connecting a small chip to the pad they watched it break through the encryption, and they gaped at the files she flipped through before pulling up the blueprint of the ship they were after.

"When did you get that off Blitz?" Rey asked knowing it hadn't been after she broke into the room.

Eris shrugged as her eyes darted over the layout memorizing the paths they'd each take and anything useful they might end up needing along the way. "Before he took my dress off," she answered too distracted to notice the way Poe straightened.

"He what?" Poe demanded again.

"D'you enjoy your dance?" Rey asked looking from him to Finn. "You were supposed to be watching her."

Poe opened his mouth to rudely correct her that it'd been Rey's job to watch her and their job to make sure no guards caught them, but a lavender finger stabbed the air level with his face. "Hush," Eris told him. And when he looked at her appalled that she was reprimanding him instead of Rey, again, she hissed once more, "hush."
When his mouth snapped shut she turned back to the blueprints and pointed at the docking bay. "This is where we come in, Finn," she turned to him for the rest of his plan.

He stepped forward and she moved aside letting him take lead. "Poe and Eris, you go left to get the slaves," they followed his finger as it trailed to the bottom of the ship where they were being kept. "Rey and I will go right to the captain's quarters, disable the collars, and bag him."

"Without setting off any alarms so they don't terminate every slave on the ship and then us," Poe filled in the rest looking at Eris. He didn't like their part of the plan. Handing her a slave collar he watched her fasten it around her slender neck, hearing it beep as it picked up the signal to the remote in Poe's pocket she'd gotten off Lorne Blitz. The collar they'd gotten off his guard after she and Rey had freed him.

Finn looked at the flashing red light on the collar with a sick twisting in his stomach. If any part of their plan fell through and the order was given to terminate the slaves she'd die with them. "We ready?" he asked looking between the three of them and their mirrored grave expressions.

Rey and Poe sat subdued as they flew into the space the Oberon occupied. Finn sat at the table as a message came through, on his chest he wore a First Order medallion, a captain's medallion. He conversed briefly with the captain who knew Blitz worked through other people rather than directly. Eris was the key to this one, the First Order had an absurd bounty on her head and through the holo Finn could see the dark gleam enter in the other man's eye at the thought of how many credits he'd get for her.

They landed their small ship in the docking bay and Poe marched Eris down the platform with her arm held tightly in her hand. "It only took three of you to get her?" a man with dark eyes asked as he looked her over knowing her reputation.

"She killed the rest of our crew," Poe told him and the man nodded his sympathies before he spit in Eris' face. Her elbow digging in his side kept Poe from retaliating.

He wouldn't take much more of that Finn knew as he turned to the other man who wore a familiar Imperial uniform. "We know the price for her; we'd like to discuss fair compensation."

They were split up as each man took a pair, the paler one led Rey and Finn the opposite direction to speak with the captain. While the dark eyed man grabbed Eris from Poe who stayed on his heels, a black look in his own eye.

The glob of spit that'd landed over Eris' left eye slid slowly down her cheek as she was pushed onto the lift. He had the kind of eyes that made her shoot first question later, but Poe had her weapons clipped to his belt for after they uncuffed her.

"Never seen your kind before," he said raking his eyes over her familiar features. Other than her coloring she didn't look so different than him, she was a little too thin her neck strangely long. "Then again I hear you're a half breed." He met her cold colorful eye and carved a smile over his almost handsome face. "Your dad was the human wasn't he? It's disgusting what he did, a traitor to his own," the doors to the lift opened revealing an empty hall, a high pitched whine sounded and he flew out hitting the floor with a loud thud.

"Poe," Eris exclaimed irritably as she turned to him. His face was screwed up in rage, she didn't think it was possible for him to be as angry as he looked then. Using his sleeve he first wiped the spit from her face then undid the metal cuffs linking her wrists. "I've heard worse."

"Yeah well you shouldn't have to," he said harsher than he meant. Everything he'd said made Poe's blood boil until he couldn't take it anymore. "Crap," he sighed realizing he had no idea what they were gonna do with him now or when he woke up.

She bent down grabbing his legs. "Come on, there's a small storage closet around the corner."

Poe grabbed his arms and they crept around the corner and squeezed into the small space barely wide enough to fit two people standing shoulder to shoulder. "Guess I should've paid more attention to the map," he huffed as they dropped their dead weight. Standing upright he found their chests flush against each other, and he looked at Eris to see her eyes on his mouth before they flicked to his. His face warmed instead of hers. "How long's that been going on?" he asked following her out of the closet.

"We have a job to do," she told him keeping her back to him.

"Hey," he said grabbing her hand to force her to turn back around to face him. Grabbing the remote from his pocket he deactivated the collar and slipped it off her neck before he knelt beside the unconscious jackass and clipped it around his neck. If he'd been awake Poe would've shocked him, as it were he hit the button to close the door and he raised his leg bringing his heel down on the pad shattering it so it wouldn't open again. When he was satisfied enough he turned back to Eris to see her watching him with an almost kind expression.

He could be very sweet. "You're a softie," she told him watching him roll his eyes.

"I have a reputation to uphold," he told her as they made their way down the hall to the engine room where the slaves were locked forced to keep the ship running if they wanted to be fed, most having not seen daylight in weeks.

Eris nodded as though she cared to agree. "Reputation for having the biggest mouth in the galaxy."

"I see you're still thinking about my mouth," he teased as if the same thought hadn't crossed his own mind. "There's nothing to be ashamed, I know how kissable I am." She rolled her eyes and he grinned having no plans of letting this go. But from behind her he saw her spine stiffen knowing she'd heard something too soft for his own ears to catch. He froze with her as she listened harder, letting her step against him forcing him back for the empty hall they'd just passed.

Someone was coming, she'd heard the soft whoosh of a door as someone stepped into the hall at the very end of the one they were walking. If she remembered the map correctly he'd come out of the holding they were after, he'd have the keycard they needed to get in now that their escort wasn't there to get them in. Standing just around the corner Eris listened behind Poe's breathing in her ear as he stepped into the hallway they'd been in.

A whisper of metal sliding against smooth fabric had the hair on the back of Eris' neck standing on end – she made the mistake of assuming this hallway was still empty, she hadn't looked. With no weapon Eris had enough time to slip under Poe's arm before the Imperial Agent pulled the trigger.

Poe knew Eris more than he knew what was happening. Grabbing the gun from around his back he raised it drawing quick aim and shot the man in the crisp black uniform, who flung backwards as Eris fell against him.

In the captain's chamber on the floor above them Rey waved her hand in front of the weathering man and his eyes glazed as he repeated what she'd told him: "I'm going with you willingly."
Finn was reaching for the commlink he and Poe both had to make sure they were in position – once they deactivated the chips in the collars they wouldn't have a lot of time before it sent every soldier on this ship into high alert. But he turned hearing Rey suck in a pained breath as she brought a hand to her chest. "What's going on, what happened?" he asked ducking to find Rey's wide eyes.

"Eris," Poe cried sinking with her to the ground as he cradled her against him. He held a hand over the gaping scorched hole in her chest. "It's okay, you're gonna be okay." Her chest jolted as she made a terrible gasping sound as she tried to breathe. "Finn," his voice broke as he spoke into the small walkie. Her blood was warm on his neck as she coughed it up, her lungs filling with it. She was drowning. "Hey," he said looking down at her wet pleading eyes hearing the gurgling in her lungs. "Stay with me," he begged her holding her closer.

An electrified prong hit him square in the back and his body stiffed as his eyes rolled back. Eris gaped at the cold white ceiling above her as Poe was dragged away. Her gasping turned to choking as blood filled her mouth, the edges of her vision darkening as her chest stilled. She felt her quivering heart slow to a languid beat, an afterthought.

The stark white ceiling above her grew faint as the dark edges spread closing in, and her eyes began to dim. A muffled cry so faint she thought she imagined it sounded in her ear as all that was left of her vision filled with a warm desperate brown.

In the far corner of her sluggish mind she heard a faint tearful plea. "Come back."

This is not where I planned to leave this chapter, but the beginning got away from me and ended up longer than I thought. So, um… see you next week for the next chapter.