Chapter 5
Location: Nubian Star Drives Dealership, Planet Nubia
"Thanks for the help," Poe said to the man allowing them into the dealership operated by Nubian Star Drives for their not-yet-sold yachts.
"Anything for the Resistance Commander," the young security guard nodded with a bright smile, "Go for the T-Type 484, it's got enough space for a speeder and she is fast."
"Thanks for the tip," Poe said back, "Know where the anti-theft beacon on it would be?"
"Usually they're attached under the control panel, tied in with the comms system. You don't take it off right it fries the whole board," the guard replied in a whisper.
"We've got a BB unit hiding back there in the bushes, he can take care of it," Poe replied.
"Good call sir," the young man nodded, "I'll let him in."
"Thanks," Poe said in thanks, "You might be lose your job for this."
"Gonna lose it anyway when the First Order takes over the company, might as well go out swinging and help the good guys."
The security guard had apparently been a fervent follower of the Resistance and their fight against the First Order. He'd recognized Poe when he'd come in, trying to pass himself and Zay off as clients for a new yacht. So despite the fact the place was closed to your average individual he let them in, turning a blind eye to their lack of legitimate social and economic status. And just like that Poe and Zay were walking into the finely decorated and large building filled with some of the most expensive and beautiful ships in the galaxy.
"Can't believe we're reduced to stealing a space yacht," Zay growled indignantly.
She'd been shifting uncomfortably in her new outfit, a dark blue and white loose-fitting one-shoulder dress tied with a black sash around her waist and midriff and flapped lightly around her legs, disguising the hold-out blaster she had strapped to her thigh. She'd even had to put on heels, stockings, and makeup on top of the black feathers stuck in her hair which was the worst part of all of this. Zay and her mother had never been much for doing her hair up pretty save for one or two dates when she thirteen or fourteen. That was at least her mother, having General Organa do her hair while teaching Poe how to do it himself made it the most awkward experience of her life. They'd had to do it three times before Poe and her could get the loose bun and bouncy curled strands of hair just right. However Leia had explicitly told them that it was part of their cover and that they'd have to learn how to be self-sufficient in all regards as a well-to-do couple, that included the finer points of fashion.
Seeing as Zay was only twenty-three, this wasn't as bad as she made it out to be. Fashion and pretty things had some limited appeal, but in a group like the Resistance affinity for those things could be considered soft, so some of the discomfort with the frilly and kind of revealing dress and fine heels made for an awkward time especially when she'd never had such things growing up. Not only that the knowledge they were here to do something that could end up going very badly made the clicking sounds of her heels and Poe's shoes that much louder in her own ears, which were also pierced for some diamond earrings.
"Wow, now this is what I'm talking about," Poe smiled brightly, holding his arms out as if basking in the glory of engineering perfection in front of him.
A protocol droid came up to them, holding a tray of champagne glasses with freshly bubbling liquid inside. Poe took one with a 'thank you' and Zay did likewise.
"A sales representative will be with you shortly," the silver and shiny blue droid informed them in a proper female accent, "Please enjoy yourselves."
"Oh I shall…" Poe smirked, winking to Zay who rolled her eyes.
"Let's just find the T-Type and get BB-8 working so we can go," Zay whispered to him.
"We will, but we've gotta look at some of these others first," Poe said as he went over to the first and largest one in what was essentially a plushed-up hangar.
"Ah, our flagship line," a prim and proper Bith man said, walking over to him and straightening his tuxedo with the NSD pin on the lapels, "Welcome to Nubian Stardrives, I am Ar'k Cheef, our leading sales representative here."
"Luuk, Luuk Lecane," Poe responded, making sure his own bright blue jacket was tight before shaking the Bith sales rep's hand, "This is my fiancé Frianne."
"A pleasure," the Bith said with a polite bow, "Do you have a specific model you are looking for or are we simply browsing at the moment?"
"We've got an idea what we're looking for. But…" Poe sighed appreciatively, motioning with a hand to the eighty-meter-long and forty-meter-wide X-Type 500 before them, "Why not enjoy some quality ships before that right?"
"And what quality is the X-Type, all the usual refinements of course, a Class-1 Hyperdrive, our own copyrighted hyperdrive and navicomputer that is exclusive to the X-Type, a spa for six, a steambath for a dozen, fully equipped gym, office, and comfortable quarters for owners and a dozen guests and crew bedding for eight and separate facilities for crew and guests."
"Very nice," Poe responded, "It doesn't…appear to be a pilot's ship though is it?"
"Ah…you're one of those customers, a pilot-my-own-yacht type of man. Well I have just the ship for you then," Cheef noted, and walked them past the large yacht to one that was much slimmer and much more fighter-like.
"The T-Type," Poe grinned.
"Built for the experience of piloting, we tend to sell these ships to our thrill junky customers. I've seen ships of this type outpace blockade runners and even Incom T-70 X-Wings," the sales rep proudly declared.
"Well, she certainly looks capable enough," Poe admired it, stepping closer for a full inspection.
The ship they were looking at was black, polished heavily to a mirror finish. It had two wings that aggressively angled back halfway down the length that went down the bent back up to finish and turn inwards at rounded edges. This gave its main hull a rounded arrowhead shape with a pointed rear section that was a viewscreen for the semi-spacious main cabin. It had two rather massive pointed engine pods on both sides that were coned up front and ended in long points aft of a low tailfin that bisected cleanly the back half of the ship and ended over the bridge's tinted windows, giving the ship an aggressive and fast look. It was classically Nubian with rounded edges and a squashed profile with a deployed storage lift big enough to fit a speeder within the nose and a ramp that led into the forty-meter-long ship. It had only one deck, but this was fine for Poe.
"She's the latest of your 'Night' Edition I see," Zay pointed out, seeing the holographic ship ID card and price tag, "Two hundred grand?"
"Yes madam, a fair bargain for true piloting pleasure and thrill."
"Well," Zay said as he saw BB-8 quietly rolling through, underneath tablecloths stealthily towards them, "If we're going to even consider spending that kind of money I'll need more than a visual inspection."
"A test flight perhaps?" the Bith responded, "You are…capable of handling this ship?"
"I fly fast for a living," Poe said without thought or hesitation.
"Is that so? Might I ask what it is you do for a living Mr. Lecane?"
"You might say I've made a living being able to fly faster and turn better than my opponents," Poe honestly said, flashing a smile to both the sales rep and his 'fiance'.
"I see, well, due to obvious risks we shall require some paperwork and a safety deposit of thirty thousand credits," the man said in reply as Poe got off the display platform and stood in front of him.
"How about…" Poe sighed, not necessarily wanting to do this, but he had little choice in the matter, orders were orders, he drew his hidden Glie-44 and held it stealthily to the surprised Bith's chest, "No…"
"H-how?" the Bith sputtered helplessly as Zay held a hand forcefully to his back to keep them close as he attempted to back away.
"I'm sorry. If we could purchase this legally we would, in a heartbeat," Poe whispered.
"How dare you!"
"Keep your voice down," Poe snapped quietly, jabbing his blaster up into the fleshy chin of the individual.
BB-8 rolled right on through and up the open ramp of the ship, the sales rep had an idea then what was going on. They pushed him towards the ship and they all got up into the fine living room of the ship which had a side-room for a kitchen and another one for a dining room and a guest cabin to the front and engine rooms on both sides between them. BB-8 started to use his upgraded hardware to hack into the thin security of the NDS link to the ship in its fine control surfaces and started fueling it.
"Get the beacon out first buddy," Poe ordered.
"That's impossible, only-," the Bith started but a click and a chip ejecting from the data drive slot answered that.
"Upgrades," Zay said, waving the chip to him and the Bith gently took it in shock.
"You're not going to kill me are you?"
"Tell you the truth," Poe smirked as the ship's engines started to glow blue as BB-8 started it up, "This thing's set to stun."
"And we're also sorry about what we're about to do," Zay said as she sat down in the co-pilot's chair and flipped the speeder bay to shut and then ejected the thin attached hoses with an emergency release.
"What?! Security!" the sales rep called out, and Poe just shrugged as he sprinted out of the ship down its ramp and he just downed his glass of champagne and tossed it out and then shut the carpeted ramp which became a seamless part of the rug in the center of the room behind the door to the cockpit.
"Let's go," Poe smirked and sat down into the pilot's seat and took the chrome and black metal controls and the nimble ship lifted off.
The room was filled with the powerful gusts caused by the ship's immensely powerful engines and Poe rotated them around and faced the glass face of the hangar/dealership and waited for the ship's three landing struts were brought back into their craft and the streamlined vessel was fully prepared.
"This is going to be so much fun…" Poe grinned broadly and hit the throttle.
The T-Type 484 shot out the hangar glass like it was fired from a blaster. It broke the sound barrier within a few miles of its starting point with a sharp crack as Poe started pulling up on the craft and aiming spaceward, whooping all the way in sheer joy. The inertial dampeners completely took the shock of acceleration so that all they felt was a light push back into their soft but encompassing seats. The surface of the green world dropped away as Poe pushed them through the clouds, and the blue of sky faded and replaced by the black of space and the twinkling of stars.
"That guard has a great taste for ships!" Poe said proudly as he laughed at their new prize.
"Seemed like it was too easy doesn't it?" Zay asked curiously.
"Yeah, yeah maybe," Poe shrugged indifferently, "But NDS has one of the lowest crime rates in the galaxy, no one thinks that anyone is crazy enough to walk into a luxury dealership and pull a blaster on you."
"And the guard being sympathetic helps our cause?"
"Oh yeah," Poe grumbled, "I guess we can't really take all the credit," but had to scoff at BB-8 chirping at him angrily, "And you get a lot of it as well pal. Nice job on that chip."
"Still, those ships were going to be taken over by the First Order's bureaucrats," Zay sighed, "I guess we can also be sure to pay them back later on."
"We'll try, in the meantime, let's check this ship out," Poe said as he stood up.
"And I can take these stupid heels off," Zay remembered, reaching down and started undoing her heels and took them off, getting a sigh of relief.
"We've got a full wine cabinet," Poe called out from the back, shifting around.
"No, we're not making it that kind of mission Commander," Zay said as she walked in, undoing her hair.
"Ya sure? This stuff combined is as expensive as a fighter," Poe countered, looking at the labels one by one in the cabinet that encompassed the wall by the main cabin door.
Zay rolled her eyes and walked to the cabin, seeing that it had an office chair and table and a closet with a bathroom. The bed was quite large, and faced the zooming of hyperspace that was the big viewscreen of the rear of the ship. The whole ship was carpeted, with only the bathroom being the exception. The bedroom was white carpet, and the main rec room was red with plush couches and a round table of dark wood from Kashyyyk and a holographic entertainment system.
"No, and good night, Commander. I'm tired."
"Alright, I guess I'll take the couch," Poe shrugged.
Location: Resistance Headquarters, Planet Dantooine
Leia could now walk out of her new office and be greeted by a pair of armed soldiers wearing helmets and dark green uniforms guarding her person. The command center was the same way, the troops preferred to keep watch with their gear on at all times, except for their helmets. They'd recovered a great deal of equipment when they'd about salvaged the equipment from Lah'mu, among it was military tactical vests, real uniforms, and quality backpacks along with full-faced helmets with yellow blast goggles. The real Republic troops wore these well, standing or walking around with their rifles in their hands, and their faces visible thanks to their gas-mask section of their helmets being left in their packs.
Leia had seen many personalizing their gear, and allowed it, as each man and woman was their own person and felt more comfortable doing things just a little differently than regulation. Her officers on the other hand were still rather stuck in their ways, and the command center was awash with the dozen officers that they had now, all in the same uniform as they went about their jobs. Leia too traded her dresses out for something more utilitarian now that she was healing properly, and was currently going over some plans when Finn entered the room.
"General? May I have a word ma'am?" the former Stormtrooper asked, fighting the urge to stand at crisp attention as his training told him to do when in the presence of a commanding officer.
"Relax Finn, you're in the inner circle now. What's on your mind?" Leia responded, waving him down.
"We're starting to grow again, that's great, we need to. But don't you think we'll need to find a new base soon? Dantooine's done its job, it saved us. It's time we moved further towards reestablishing a main base of operations."
"I know, it's something I've been thinking a lot about too," Leia nodded thoughtfully, "With contact potentially being made with the Republic bases at Serenno and Rhen Var we could get more than six or seven hundred people in our ranks within mere days. Plus, we're simply out of room to store ships and equipment," Leia added.
"That's why I've been doing some research, ever heard of Rugosa?"
"Yes I have, and yes, I am considering it given the right circumstances," Leia replied.
"Such as?"
"Well, we need ships and fuel to get us there, it's an awful long way to go for starfighters and shuttles Finn," Leia reminded him, it was directly across the galaxy from them, "And that very much depends on our pilots' missions to Rhen Var and Serenno. There may or there may not be elements of the Republic Fleet still alive out there."
"I thought that the fleet was destroyed at the Hosnian System and in subsequent battles?" Finn asked.
"We thought we'd destroyed the Imperial fleet at Endor and Jakku, but we still kept finding star destroyers," Leia reminded Finn, "The same will hopefully apply to us as it did to the Empire as it scrambled to regroup and reorganize."
"Find the strays and scoop them up," Finn nodded in understanding.
"That's the general idea yes. In relation to that inevitability I have a change of mission for you."
"A change? I thought you were sending Rose and me to Canto Bight?" Finn asked, leaning with both hands on the command table.
"You and Rose will take a shuttle and a fireteam to Rugosa, see what kind of facilities and resources are there and check how much the trip drains your tanks," Leia informed him, "We'll leave a token group here under Lieutenant Connix if can be determined we are able to make things work at Rugosa."
"When do you want us to leave?" Finn asked.
"As soon as a shuttle is prepared. Which should be…" Leia looked around Finn's shoulder and saw a Montura-Class Shuttle already sitting on the ready position in the hangar, "Now."
Finn looked over his shoulder, and saw Rose there, smiling softly with a backpack over her shoulder. Four Resistance troops were also there, helmets on, EL-16HFE's held in their hands and packs over their shoulders. These weren't the Resistance veterans who had survived Crait, these were some of the former Republic troops from Chandrila, trained professionals. It seemed as though there were made of granite, no expressions, no laughter, just business.
"Ready to find a new base?" Rose asked, offering Finn an EL-16.
"Always, you sure you're good to go?"
"Yeah, of course."
Leia watched the group introduce themselves to one another, and then started boarding their shuttle and she watched it take off and accelerate away. The sensors station tracked the shuttle into orbit and past the two X-Wings that were on rotating CAP over the planet, and then jumped into hyperspace. It would take a day and a half to get to Rugosa through the Mid-Rim. Things actually appeared like they were coming together, the Resistance was recovering from the brink of collapse and annihilation. It appeared that way just judging from the fact that everywhere she looked there were people now. The hangar no longer had its devastating quiet, instead it was a cacophony of noise, and the halls were filled with troops, pilots, and technicians going about their business. The intercom system was calling out every so often, filling the base with noise to make certain important matters were attended to.
"General," the comms officer, a new man, called out, "Captain Wexley is making contact from Rhen Var."
"Put him on," Leia ordered, standing up and facing the comms station and the scratchy holographic image of the orange uniformed pilot came across as a light blue, "Captain, tell me you have some good news for me."
"Yes General I do, the Rhen Var garrison is intact and all personnel here are willing to fight. I got a count, three hundred and eleven personnel, including an MP platoon, an infantry company, and a pair of A-Wing squadrons with accompanying support personnel, droids, and assets for them and the relay outpost. They've even got a dozen shuttles. But there's more ma'am."
"Really?" Leia asked, her heart fluttering.
"They've got three derelict ships here, Vakbeor-Class, they're not much for combat and don't have crews, but they're a helluva lot better than nothing."
"Do their ships have any fuel captain?"
"Yes ma'am, but…they have issues. They say that they've been working on repairing them, all three ships haven't flown in years, the Republic had used them to transport the original building materials for the base and hadn't bothered to fix and fly them out when they'd finished," Temmin sighed, rubbing the back of his head.
Leia couldn't help but smirk. Bureaucratic waste at its most ridiculous, but ironically it could be turned to helping them out here.
"What sort of repairs do they require?"
"They need to de-ice their entire hulls and engine bays to know for sure. But they've got several feet of snow and ice on them right now, it'll take some time and we'll need those ships for transporting the equipment and supplies in the base," Temmin informed her.
"Very well, assist them in any way you can."
"Roger that General, any word on Niv and C'ai on Serenno?"
"Nothing yet, we should be hearing from them soon though Captain. Do what you can there. We've got a scouting team going out to find a new base to act as a new headquarters as we speak. The Rhen Var garrison will be sent there to secure it."
"Roger that general, I'll alert you when they've gotten this base fully prepped for movement to wherever we're going."
"Very good captain," Leia nodded to him with a smile, and the call ended and she looked to Lieutenant Connix with a smile.
"Three hundred people, two fighter squadrons, and three cargo frigates," the young officer listed, "And all the equipment, supplies, experience, and leadership that they come with. If Serenno has even half of that we'll be in business."
"We already are Lieutenant," Leia responded.
"Well, we still haven't had a single raid against the First Order. The troops and pilots are itching to fight ma'am," the blonde lieutenant whispered.
"We fought them once, understrength and under-supported. Look what happened then Kaydel, I'm not making that mistake again, not until we've gained enough strength that we won't risk the same kind of annihilation that we just escaped."
"So we don't fight back? We sit here and watch the galaxy get swallowed up by the First Order?"
"Not even the Empire was able to swallow the whole galaxy, the First Order is not the Empire. We'll have enough time to gather strength before the First Order is fully established. I know because the New Republic was in a very similar situation after Endor and Jakku, the Empire was collapsing, we were taking world after world, but we couldn't move fast enough and were having logistical administrative and political nightmares occur one after another as we pushed further and further. No one can be prepared for that. Especially with a new leadership that may be in flux right now."
Lieutenant Connix nodded slightly, understanding, but not exactly pleased with their situation. A hundred troops and pilots and a pair of X-Wing squadrons and half of a third did not make for much of a galaxy-liberation movement. That was the problem with the Resistance before, it was a counter to the First Order, its objective was to get the Republic to see to the danger of the First Order and react to it. And when the might of the First Order was dropped upon their heads they didn't have the ability to withstand it, now they would have to rebirth the Rebellion of old. Leia knew just how to do it.
"General," an engineering warrant officer newly recruited from Chandrila interrupted her thoughts, "We've gotten the driller working ma'am. Permission to begin excavations for new facilities?"
"Oh, yes, it was an emergency escape tunnel you were wanting?" Leia asked, getting an affirmative nod in reply, "Proceed. But, Mr. Taggen we may not be here much longer. Focus your efforts on the escape tunnel for now."
"Yes ma'am, we'll begin immediately."
The man snapped off a crisp salute and Leia simply nodded back at him. This was her way of returning the increasing number of salutes she was getting from her former-military personnel, who now made up the majority of her force. This fact too would change given time. But right now after spending the better part of a day here in the command center organizing her new command stations staff she decided it would be best to get some fresh air.
"Kaydel, I'm going to go get some air," she told her current duty officer.
"Yes ma'am."
She stood up and with her cane started walking to where she knew the surface exit was, tucked into a cave that looked out over the savanna where wild nerf grazed by the thousands as far as the eye could see. Leia reached this cave, and saw that a group of soldiers were there just outside the cave, doing some fairly dirty work mixing water, mud, and dried grass to form a kind of clay that they were stacking into two foot thick walls as others continued to arrive with long lengths of wood. Leia saw Rey out here as well, bare-footed and mixing the building materials in a three foot deep hole alongside two other Resistance soldiers as their comrades were working on forming the stuff into chunks and dropping them along a pair of holes that were being dug down to lessen the workload and provide a lower target to what they were building.
"What's this?" Leia asked, taking them all by surprise.
"General," a sergeant there with them said, and everyone snapped to attention, "Making pillboxes ma'am. This is an excellent field of fire, seemed right to might as well take advantage."
"These won't do much against even a repeating blaster y'know," Leia pointed out.
"It's not done yet," Rey pointed out, getting out of the hole, having completed her batch, "We're going to add more layers, like a slope, and we'll put dirt and plant some grasses, covering it over to keep it hidden."
Leia nodded, liking their work ethic.
"Anything else you're planning on sergeant?" Leia asked.
"Uh…we're thinking of a line of trenches and more pillboxes up there to the left under those trees. Just enough to make this entrance defensible."
"Well, let's not get ambitious, just finish what you have and your commanders will see where you go with that next. And do you mind if I borrow Rey?" Leia asked.
"Yes ma'am she's all yours."
"C'mon, there's something I wanted to talk with you about," Leia said to Rey.
"Sure," Rey responded, and started following her, her feet and calves completely caked with drying mud and bits of dried grass.
Leia and Rey walked up the hill, towards a secluded stand of nutting trees where Leia knew it would be quiet, but at least shaded. She motioned Rey to sit down on a flat stone and she sat across from her on another smaller one. Rey appeared a mess, her face sweaty and coated with dust and her hands and feet were drying in a layer of dark tannish gray from the mud that they had been working with.
"You received a little bit of training from Luke didn't you?"
"A few…lessons he called them. Not really training I guess," she shrugged.
"They didn't include political strategy?" Leia asked, getting a shake of the head, "Galactic law?" another shake of the head, "Languages and cultures?"
"Nothing like that. It all had to do with the Force."
"Of course it did, Luke was never one for book learning," Leia smiled softly, "But, according to the Jedi training of the past and the regimen that Luke developed there was quite a bit of the stuff I just listed to you. You'll need to do your due diligence if you want to become a Jedi and bring peace to the galaxy."
"So…I have to learn about politics?" Rey asked, not entirely excited about it.
"If you want to be useful in a negotiation, yes. The Jedi way, ideally, isn't to pull out a lightsaber and started waving it around when things don't go their own way. You must be able to use logic and reason and negotiate compromises and peace so that they don't have to draw a lightsaber. And I think I am right to assume there wasn't much in the way of politics on Jakku?"
Rey shrugged and shook her head.
"So, we will start with the basics of politics, what kind of system are you dealing with? Is it a democracy, a dictatorship, a monarchy, a theocracy, patriarchy, monarchy, or even a corporate hegemony. You see, all of those operate differently day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, and even year-to-year. To work peacefully with them you must understand what they are and what you will need to do for each individual case."
"Sounds confusing," Rey furrowed her brow.
"Well, it quite often can be and it's why politics can be such a tricky thing."
"So…what exactly am I to do as a Jedi, with politics I mean?" Rey asked.
"As a Jedi your duty would be to keep the peace. This is done through negotiations. You must be able to sit down with people and listen to what it is they want and how badly they want it. From there you talk out how both parties can get enough of what they both want to keep that peace."
"How do I get them to even listen to me in the first place? It seems like if two groups are fighting one person asking for a moment to talk won't even get a second look," Rey replied, bringing up a good point.
"Direct appeals Rey, direct appeals. You must use the tools at your disposal to get their leaders' attention."
"Like a lightsaber and the Force?" Rey responded.
"If need-be. But I've always found that if they're men you can tend to get their attention with a confident entrance and a nice outfit."
"Ugh, men are pigs," Rey rolled her eyes.
"But they can be manipulated and reasoned with. Anyone can so long as you provide them reason to come to the table."
"How?"
"You'll learn given time."
"General. Commander Dameron and Lieutenant Meeko have arrived from Nubia," Leia heard on her comm, and sighed in disappointment before giving a parting word to her.
"I've got some textbooks in the Falcon on a pad somewhere, I'll assign some reading for you," Leia whispered and pulled up her comm, "Very well, bring him in and prepare that new superspeeder and the cash for transport aboard their yacht. They depart immediately upon being made ready. Let's go."
Location: Canto Casino, Planet Catonica
"Finn wasn't kidding, this place is unbelievable," Poe declared as he and Zay walked into the large casino parlor, witnessing the amassing of extreme wealth and class around them. Thankfully they blended in enough to be able to get away with what they were here for, straight-up casing out the joint.
"Unbelievable is right," Zay said as both of them moved along, her holding a jeweled purse and a tight black dress that went to her knees and had a tail and a thick feathered boa around her neck to accent her dark makeup and her long wavy hair, "Look at 'em all."
"There's probably more credits in this room right now than there ever was in the Resistance's coffers," Poe agreed, "And we're gonna nab it. Let's head to the bar, we can get a feel for from there."
Poe pulled out a few loose credits to pay for a couple of short glasses of Bestine Bourbon and toasted to Zay with a wink.
"Well honey," Poe stated, deciding to dive into their cover, "Here's to our honeymoon."
"To us," Zay nodded with a bright but rehearsed smile and she brought the glass to her lips she didn't even allow it into her mouth. Bourbon is supposed to be sipped and savored, and not drinking any could easily be confused for sipping to the casual observer.
Poe did likewise, and pulled out a camera, and started scanning across the busy atrium, sweeping left, and then sweeping right. To his left he caught sight of their main target, the chips and credits exchange booth built into the wall and protected by a finely decorated fence of gold-encrusted durasteel bars with multi-armed droids behind, doing incredibly rapid dispensing and counting of both credits and chips. The chips had a simple chart saying what each color was and how much each was worth. There was nothing smaller than a hundred credits, and the big ones went to twenty thousand credits. And Poe was seeing hundreds of them being moved in and out.
"There's millions of credits being moved in and out of those windows," Poe leaned over and whispered in Zay's ear.
"Did you see the guards? Don't narrow your eyes, smile and take a drink, darling," Zay replied lowly.
"Guards?" Poe asked, eyes darting around, and saw them, and this time took a real drink, "Got 'em, four of them, two on both sides of the windows and two behind the columns watching the line."
"I've got two more pairs walking the inner perimeter on both sides. Those red suits and collar plates make 'em easy to pick out," Zay motioned with her chin.
"They're armed, Relby K-25's," Poe agreed, "Same as the cops…"
"Finn and Rose didn't say anything about armed guards except for cops," Zay narrowed her eyes.
"Must've hired 'em on when they wrecked the place."
"Must have."
"They won't be it, no way a casino this wealthy only has eight guards," Poe shook his head, "C'mon, let's see what else is around."
Outside, at the main commercial spaceport the Millennium Falcon sat idly as Shriv sat at the small holo table playing Dejarik against R2D2, who'd tagged along. He was having a bugger of a time against the droid, and it looked at the board and at him and back at the board rapidly, focusing and looking back and forth, and chirping at him occasionally as he took his time.
"Oh, I've got ya now," Shriv said and confidently tapped the control, "Forked! Haha, not so logical now are ya?"
The droid squealed at him in joy, and subsequently moved one his holographic creatures into a new spot, this time, Shriv found himself forked. It basically meant no matter what he did he would lose a piece. He'd been so sure of this move and had contemplated it so long that the holographic monsters on the board had turned to appearing bored as per their programming.
"No, no, no, hold on a second, I thought of every move that can possibly be made! You pulled something Artoo, better not be cheating," a nasty chirp came from the droid along with a few snaps and a twirl of its mechanical appendages aimed at Shriv, "Oh I'm the one playing dirty? Last I checked these meat sticks can't override a computer's programming," he said defensively holding up his hands.
A growl from Chewbacca in the engine bay came back at him. The large Wookiee had been busying himself doing some long-awaited maintenance on some minor systems and annoyances, like the changing out the filters on the air scrubbers for life support to fix a stuffy smell starting to develop, fixing a leak in the auxiliary pump by replacing all the old worn-out gaskets, and tightening a few bolts below the floor plates to get them to stop jiggling around any time anything put pressure on them. Time was not a friend of an old ship like the Falcon, but she was as good as anything in the galaxy for speed, maneuverability, and sheer character. And Chewbacca was not about to let his oldest friend's ship come anywhere near the ranks of the ships who'd just fallen to pieces from lack of maintenance. The problem he faced was that he'd had Han to give him a hand before all this, and right now Shriv was not being much of a help.
"Hey, I got those nests out of the walls like you said and I rewired through the bulkhead supports, again like you told me. But they're only going to get worse if you don't get new wall panels or at least keep your door shut so critters like that don't get in in the first place!"
Chewie grunted and shook his head as he continued his own work. But he perked up when he heard a beeping that got his and Shriv's attention.
"That's Poe with the pictures," Shriv called out and went to the computer in the rec room, sitting down and pulled up the incoming message, "Got 'em, a full view of who's there and what sort of security we're dealing with…"
Chewie got up, and looked at the pictures himself from the deck plates where he held himself on his elbows looking curiously. He roared a question to Shriv as he scrolled through.
"No…those don't like Kashyyyk panels to me, the grain's too loose, don't your trees back home have a denser one?" Chewie just shrugged and nodded, "Anyway, it looks like we've got security, uniformed guards. No telling how many plainclothes ones are just roving around, listening and watching. Zay should be getting ready to send Dio to find the vault any moment now, I mean unless they're busy," he smirked.
Chewie growled in response, not exactly sure what he was getting at. But R2 gave a definite answer.
"Oh if Iden had heard you say that about her daughter you'd be disassembled so fast your head would be spinning blue one," Shriv answered, and Chewie asked another question, this time a bit more personal, "Zay and Poe? Hmm…I don't know, I mean I can see those two happening one day, maybe. But I just don't think Zay's really ready to commit to anyone yet," Chewie gave a cock of the head and a grunt of why, "Look the girl's lost both of her parents in the space of less than what, a month? You don't exactly feel like getting out into the singles' scene after something like that."
Chewie just nodded in understanding he'd lost someone close to him, someone he loved like a brother. Like Shriv said you don't really feel like committing again after that. But there are exceptions to every rule. Rey was one of them, speaking of whom, he hadn't seen her in a while and asked about her to Shriv as he downloaded the specs that he was now getting from Dio in the casino hotel.
"No I have not seen Rey, she said she was going to look around a bit. Once I get this finished downloading and sent to the General I'll go with you to look for her, y'know, make sure she's not lost or getting into trouble."
Chewie didn't feel like waiting, and left the ship after snatching his bowcaster, and decided to follow the directions given to them by Leia about meeting their contact on the planet who had made up their safehouse for the mission and was supposedly working on a way into the casino. He didn't have to go far, the route was a straight one, and no one dared bother an armed Wookiee unless they had numbers or were likewise armed. Chewie found himself at a stone shack on the outskirts of the city, and saw the light shining through the boarded up windows that indicated that someone was indeed home.
The area was sparse of much habitation. High grasses save for a trail trampled through it recently surrounded the house, and a broken down old speeder and a long-scavenged DUM droid on its side gave the only indication of its past residents' lives. Chewie could sense a safehouse when he saw one, and called out to Rey, to see if she had indeed made it. A moment went by, and he saw the now-blonde-haired girl scramble out under the board nailed across the door frame.
"Hello Chewie, already done on the repairs?" she asked, putting her hands in her pockets in her coat. He gave a negative response, stating he was worried and came to check on her, "Oh, right, sorry I've been busy too. These guys aren't really that good with droids. I figured I'd give 'em a hand fixing up their friend."
Chewie peaked inside, and saw that there were three human children, poor ones, all gathered around a tiny mouse droid painted yellow and white that spinning and beeping as they giggled at its antics. He could tell Rey was very happy to bring that kind of joy to these kids, and that was enough to lighten her spirits by a notable measure.
"Oh, they also said they know a way into the casino, a service tunnel that the staff uses for maintenance purposes behind the scenes," Rey told Chewie, "They say it's accessible through the sewer. This is it, this is our way in."
Chewie told her that Poe and Zay had already gotten inside, and were pushing intel to Shriv who was sending it to Leia who would be making their own plans in conjunction with their troops and pilots.
"They're okay?" Rey asked, concerned for her friends. Chewie nodded, and Rey now cocked her eyebrow, "Think they'll do what the General told them?"
This time Chewie shrugged, he had no idea how far the two undercover Resistance officers were willing to go to make their cover believable.
I think that's far enough, I'll pick up where we left off in the next chapter, things will start getting…steamy I would say. No lemons, I don't do lemons, I think they make people uncomfortable who aren't explicitly looking for them. And that's not something I wanna do to anyone. But if relationships get to that point in the course of the story I won't act like their Jesuit priests or anything, if things happen they'll happen, I just won't give a play-by-play. I will however give a play-by-play of coming battles, of which I have planned many.
Next Chapter Preview: Trouble undercover, and relics of the past are still to be found.