At the Evac point, Wex readies an outer comms device and puts the earpiece on. "Yeah, we're done. Yeah… yeah, send in the transport," he says to whoever's on the other line. Minutes after, an interplanetary shuttle comes into their sight and prepares landing procedures. Lieutenant Mateen smirks in satisfaction of a mission accomplished.
The two troopers that were with him talk ecstatically to the others about their success against the AT-ST, and about how the lieutenant handled the situation. Constantly referring to his first shot and how he risked being shot to pieces by the walker in order to get said shot.
"If these are the kind of soldiers we have, the Empire doesn't stand a chance!" One of them shouts out and the others cheer in agreement. Lieutenant Mateen sighs when hearing their commotion, his hand combing through his hair one more time before he grabs his things and walks towards the shuttle.
The ship lands without any complications and everyone starts loading in. The rebel pilot exits out of the cockpit and calls for a head count. He finds one out of the 12 missing. One of the troops go to him and place a hand on the pilot's shoulder, shaking his head. "Vorgoth Mish'wor'Goth (goddamn it Jesse) died saving us from a concussion grenade launched by the AT-ST." The pilot looks down and sighs, "Damn… at least his sacrifice wasn't in vain." All the other troopers agree except for Lieutenant Mateen.
He bluntly states, "Death is inevitable; every one of you should expect it." Officer Tallon coughs at the unexpected response from the lieutenant, but says and does nothing. Lana scowls and glares daggers at him, not caring that her face is exposed and everyone can see. B'el Sah keeps her eyes glued to her datapad and doesn't even seem to be paying attention to what they're saying.
After a long pause, one of the troopers speaks up, "Yeah. Dying in the service of the New Republic is a glorious death. We aren't cowards like the Empire. We shouldn't be afraid of them, they should be fearing us!" The other troopers; minus Tharan, the commander, and company, agree with him and give a hearty, "Hooah!" The lieutenant remains unfazed by them. He closes his eyes and begins to fall asleep.
As the shuttle takes off and everyone is buckled in, the commander moves through the shuttle to talk to Officers Tallon and Sah. "When we get to Junket's Crossing, I'll arrange a meeting with an old friend of mine. She'll get us to the main base." Officer Tallon looks at him shocked, "Commander, are you saying what I think you're saying?"
Po Har nods and pats both of their shoulders, "Congratulations officers. The higher ups have been impressed with your work towards the cause, and wish to debrief you at our base of operations." Officers Tallon and Sah salute to the commander and give an ardent, "Sir!"
The shuttle's entry ramp opens and the squad is greeted by the mining town of Junket's Crossing. As well as its near blinding sunlight and fast moving, hot winds. The ground itself is red with black splotches and various cracks within it. The buildings hang so low that it doesn't even look like you can stand in the houses.
The sky is a calm blue against the ash ridden, black and red backdrop of the planet's surface. The wind starts to pick up and ash and dust soon follow it. The mining droids work diligently to transport the last bit of ore before going to shelter themselves. The town's ash catchers and processors beginning to fill up nicely by the coming storm. Everyone covers up, step outside, and hurriedly move to the nearest public building to escape the oppressive heat.
The troops make it to a local cantina buried beneath the ground. They're welcomed in by its calm, cool lighting. The generator for the establishment's environmental controls works overtime to keep the interior at a pleasant room temperature. The local Jizz band plays a slower, more relaxed melody than what's normally used for this type of environment. A collective sigh of relief emanates from the squad.
As they take their cloaks, goggles and scarves off; Commander Po Har whispers to Officer Tallon. "We just need to lay low now. I got a ship coming – the 'Coruscant Dream.' The pilot's a smuggler but she's reliable. Should be in oh" – Po Har takes a brief look at his chrono-meter – "should only be a few hours now." The PR officer nods, but before he can go to the bar, the commander places a hand on his shoulder.
Po Har looks over at the men then at the ground for a brief moment, "I'm a little worried, Tharan." He then fixes his gaze on the lieutenant and then looks back at Tharan. "What Otto said on board… I mean, it was the truth, but I…" Po Har thinks his words over, "Well, they're just boys. We can't have them thinking that a 'glorious death' is what the New Republic stands for."
Po Har inches in closer, "Listen. Can… can you talk to them? Can you do something about this – you're more capable than I am with this sort of thing. I mean I don't want… it's good to have heroes, but…" Lana overhears this and just leans back at a wall next to the troops to see how this plays out. Tharan nods to Po Har, "The troops need their occasional hero, but I understand. Let me handle this."
He goes over to the tables at one of the corners of the cantina where his squadmates are conversing with one another. As he gets closer, Tharan hears what the men are plotting, "Yeah, but this place used to be controlled by the imperials. Don't you think there could be spies everywhere? We should root them out while we still can." Each of them continue in suggesting extremely risky, if not foolhardy, ideas about how they should go about their missions and the sector itself.
"What if there's more imperials to kill," one of them questions before Tharan catches their attention a hearty laugh. "Ah, there's never enough imperials to kill, lads." The group explodes in laughter at Tharan's comment, accompanied by several shouting, "Here here!"
He brings them back down shortly after, "But in all seriousness, our job here is done. There's no need to root out imperials who aren't there. We don't need to do anything else but relax and wait. Afterwards, we'll be home, enjoying real meals in how knows how long. Maybe some sleep, finally."
Tharan moves to one of the privates and places his left hand on his shoulder. He looks down at him with a knowing smirk, "I know there's that girl you're hot for, Gunther. And I bet she's waiting for you too." Tharan wiggles his eyebrows in emphasis while the trooper turns red and tries hiding in his own uniform. "N-n-no," he shyly protests. One of the troopers currently laughing at Gunther's expense gives him a playful shove.
Tharan then addresses them all, "It's okay, it's okay. The battle's over, we've mourned for our dead, and now we unwind. So come! Have another drink, hell why not 10 more?" He merrily says lightly chucking a handful of credits at them. "Kick your legs up; enjoy the music; enjoy the galaxy's splendors; sing to your heart's content! Just be glad, you lived to see another day."
The group of troopers join in and cheer just as enthusiastically as Tharan. They start to do their own celebration within the cantina; singing, laughing, drinking, playing sabak, chatting up some of the dancers, etc. The Jizz band matches with the crowd's new atmosphere with an upbeat and almost frantic sounding tune.
The mood of the place becomes far less tense. Po Har sits back, happy to see his men enjoy themselves. "You've earned it, boys," he says to himself. He shifts his attention back to the Twi'lek girl they rescued and continues talking with her.
As the impromptu party commences, Tharan goes over to Otto, glaring at him the whole time. He whispers to his side, "Don't you dare compromise this squad, 'lieutenant'." Otto whispers back, "Apologies, sir. Didn't know I was compromising 'our team'." Otto stares back at his squadmate with a knowing look.
Tharan keeps his gaze on him and vice versa. They stay like this for a solid minute before the PR officer leaves the lieutenant's side, and makes his way to the bar. After Tharan gets his drinks, he motions for the others to come sit and have a drink with him. Po Har looks to where Tharan, Lana, B'el Sah and Otto are sitting and motions them over. Tharan nods and moves his companions to where their commander is.
"Tharan, this is Ki'Wul En. She's a… well, um…" Po Har scratches his balding head, trying to find the best words to describe her. The Twi'lek interjects, "Well, until recently I was a slave. Now I'm a friend," she says extending her hand out to Tharan. He takes her hand and shakes, looking her up and down; and says matter-of-factly, "So you're the important one." She nods, "That's what the commander keeps telling me." She says with uncertainty in her voice and doubt written all over her face.
"I-I mean…" She breaks into a small chuckle and looks down on the ground. "I mean it's kind of embarrassing, but I was captured for…" she hesitates and looks away. "Well… let's just say I told an officer no and he didn't like hearing no. After that… well… I've been in that prison for a long time – longer than I can remember. But, um, I'm free now and I guess I've got an appointment with somebody important." She says ending it with a smile and a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"The commander told me that there's a warehouse we're going to hide in and a ship coming. I can finally get off this rock. Not like I've seen any other rock but…" Tharan says to her with a winning smile, "Oh, there are many rocks out there, my dear. Many far more beautiful than this one." The Twi'lek laughs and says, "Well that shouldn't be too hard."
She then looks inquisitively at the group, "Are we going to the imperial center?" Tharan looks at her shocked, "The imperial center? My dear, this is the New Republic! The Empire's fallen: the Emperor and his right hand, dead. The Death Star – one and two…" He chuckles and mutters, "The fools," before continuing. "Gone. You'd think they would've learned their lesson after the first one."
Ki'Wul En bursts out laughing at Tharan's remark, "There was a second Death Star?" Tharan lets out an embarrassingly loud laugh that makes Otto and Lana roll their eyes, and B'el Sah pinches the bridge of her nose. "I know! Hard to believe," he says. The Twi'lek sighs, "I've got a lot to learn. Well, wherever we're going" – she stops to spit at the ground – "It'll be better than this dump."
After an hour and a half, the commander gathers up: Ki'Wul En, Tharan, Otto, B'el Sah, Lana, and their troops to go to the warehouse – the only building in town that actually looks one story tall. The floor however, goes further down than one would expect, and spans out farther than the structure up top would suggest.
The freed slaves were moved here by the town's stationed garrison and have been given their fair share of: bedding, clothes, rations, etc. Commander Po Har looks at his chrono-meter and signals for one of the guards in the warehouse to crack open the dome ceiling. Once it opens a freighter flies in and lands at the center of the room. Its entry ramp opens and out comes a middle aged woman with heavily tanned skin and a leather pilot's jacket.
Po Har walks up the ship's ramp and the two hug each other. She chuckles and pats his back, "Po Har, you old dog! I'm so glad you survived." Po Har laughs, "Ah, you can't kill me that easily. You should know that better than anyone else." The woman walks off the ramp and looks around the warehouse, "Looks like you've picked up some space trash on the way." He shakes his head and motions her over, "Let me introduce you to the crew."
They walk over to B'el Sah first, who's currently working on a mission report to present to the higher ups. "Officer Sah, this is captain Killian, our escort." The commander gestures to the smuggler. Killian brings out her hand and says, "Hi." B'el Sah briefly looks up, quickly shakes her hand and says, "Pleasure," before refocusing on finishing up her report.
Killian looks at her confused and a bit offended. "Well you're a warm one," she mutters. B'el Sah doesn't give her a response. She puts her datapad away once she's finished and picks up her bags. As she walks towards the freighter Po Har comments, "She may be hard to warm up to, but I'm sure you'll come around like the rest of us. Beneath that cold exterior, she really does care."
The commander then guides the captain over to Lana. The bounty hunter is currently doing her best to ignore, and not punch, the guard sitting across from her. He's trying to impress her with how fast he can move his vibro-knife around his fingers on the table. She tries distracting herself by checking and doing maintenance on her weapons over and over.
As the commander and the captain come towards the table, the guard quickly stands at attention. He accidentally cuts the tip of his index finger in the process. "Ow! Shit!" He mutters and quickly shakes his hand around in response before hiding it behind him. Lana looks up to see the commander and the woman next to him. The smuggler gives the hunter an upward nod, eying her gear before stating, "You finally got some competent help for once, Po."
Lana keeps her face expressionless, but sheaths her vibro-longsword and holds out a hand. The captain shakes it and Lana greets her. "Hi. I'm Lana; Lana Jori. Nice to meet you." She turns her attention back to the guard across from her. Her face changes to an agitated look. "Idiot," she blurts out. The captain eyebrows raise up, "Wait… Jori? Why does that name sound so familiar?"
The commander assesses the situation and says while feign looking at his chrono-meter, "Killian come. Time's a wastin'." She nods and follows, but looks over her shoulder and narrows her eyes suspiciously at Lana. The hunter locks her gaze with the captain's but makes sure no emotion is shown. Once she's out of sight, Lana returns to what she was doing, this time putting her half mask up. She also shifts her attention back at the guard who's nursing his cut. He sees her looking at him and tries to act like it's nothing. She just gives an exasperated sigh returning to her vibro-longsword.
The commander brings Killian over to the last two. Otto sees them and signals to Tharan that someone's coming. Tharan turns his holobook off and folds up his reading glasses back into its case. The two stand in attention and the commander nods to them, "At ease." The two do so.
"Officer Tallon; Lieutenant Mateen. Let me introduce you to our pilot, Killian." Tharan grins ear to ear and offers his hand. The captain shakes it and he says with his usual, almost obnoxious, upbeat attitude, "So you're the smuggler friend the commander's been talking about. Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you Miss Killian. I am Public Relations Officer Tharan Tallon."
"A PR guy, huh? You got some stones for being right in the thick of it, or so Po tells me." Killian says somewhat surprised and a bit put off by how overly optimistic Tharan seems to be. Tharan chuckles, "Well, I wouldn't be worth my salt if I didn't sweat or bleed for the New Republic once in a while, Miss Killian." "Good to know," she politely says to exit out of the conversation before Tharan decides to throw some propaganda at her.
She turns her attention to the other man, "And this biggan's Mateen I assume?" Otto says nothing but takes her right hand, leans down and places a kiss on her knuckles. "Ma'am," he says before returning to his bags and carrying them off towards Killian's freighter.
The smuggler was completely caught off guard and her face must've shown it for Tharan chuckled a bit. "Ah, the lieutenant does have a flare for the dramatic, Miss Killian. And people nowadays say chivalry's dead." Tharan grabs his things as well and says to the captain and commander, "Shall we?"