The rebel squad and freed slaves load up into the freighter with needed supplies, and their own personal effects. Once everyone's inside, the ship takes off, warping towards their destination. In the makeshift mess hall the rebels made for the other passengers, the commander eats with Tharan and company along with Ki'Wul En.
After their meal the commander speaks up to Tharan and the others, "We should be there any minute now. And it goes without saying…" He pauses for a bit, "This is one of those hidden bases. Unlike Yaven, we actually don't want people to know we're out here. Like I said before, high command are very impressed with you four, and them wanting you here means that there'll be more important tasks ahead of you."
He looks over to Lana and has this look of complete understanding etched on his face. "I want you to know that this is a huge responsibility, and if you're not ready for it – if you just want your payment and go – no one's gonna hold it against you." Lana doesn't say anything to Po Har but scrunches up at his words, insulted at what he said.
She looks over to Tharan and motions for him to say something. Tharan smiles, looking at her and then at the commander before saying, "I have a feeling she'll stick around, sir." The commander decides not to pry and just nods, "That's good. We need as many of you as we can get."
After the commander's sentence an explosive, crackling sound tells everyone they've just exited out of hyperspace. The crew go to the freighter's plasteel side windows and see a large asteroid field. The system's white colored sun helps them catch a glimpse of an asteroid that looks to have been hollowed out. Buildings can be seen on its surface. Their view of the station is cut short by the freighter turning right and heading towards the base. Everybody in the freighter form a lineup and wait for the ship to dock.
Once the entry ramp is down, 11 rebel troops and 35 freed slaves pour out, meeting the deafening cheers of a large group of New Republic soldiers. The commander waves and nods; but goes about the whole thing modestly. Tharan does the exact opposite of what the commander's doing, and even blows off kisses to the crowd.
Otto isn't affected by any of it; he looks straight ahead stone faced, but occasionally looks around the station's port, taking every little detail into account. B'el Sah tunes all of it out, focusing squarely on her datapad; making new notes, proofreading while adding some final touches to the report, assessing the state of the crew, etc.
And Lana tries hiding from it all: pulling up her half mask, putting her goggles back on, forcing the hood down even more, holding her head low, and staying behind Tharan. She just appears uncomfortable being in this crowd. Captain Killian, meanwhile, goes around high fiving the troops and is beaming with joy as are most of the others.
Medical teams soon come rushing in to take the freed slaves into protective care. The commander turns his attention to Ki'Wul En who's completely awe struck by the whole experience. "High command will want to know we have you as soon as possible." He gestures to the left side of the hanger, "If you'll come with me to my office."
The Twi'lek nods, "Yeah, of course." The two start to head off, away from the port and the crowd. Tharan manages to escape to crowd and catches them before they got too far. "Oh, commander, sir! If it's not too much trouble – being a public relations representative – I would like to oversee this meeting. Using what I can to help boost morale throughout Republic space, and bring more people and systems to our cause."
The commander nods while smiling at his friend and comrade, "Absolutely, Officer Tallon. In fact, I'd love to introduce you to some of the high command. I'd think they would like to meet the man who helped make this possible." Lana looks through the crowd to see where Tharan went, and once she sees him, she hurries towards his direction.
Tharan looks over his shoulder, and as he expected, sees Lana following him. He shakes his head at her and points to where B'el Sah and Otto are. Lana nods and jogs back to the others who've finally exited from the now dispersing crowd.
B'el Sah soon wanders off from Otto and Lana, putting down her datapad as she strolls away. Otto walks to the nearest protocol droid he can find. An olive green painted protocol droid catches his attention and he walks over to it. "Ah, greetings visitors! This is asteroid base 6564; I am so pleased to have you!
"I am M4-3T, New Republic military liaison. If there is anything I can do for you I am happy to help." The droid begins listing off various functions and services it can provide. Otto interrupts, "Droid, do you have any ships available?" The droid responds in its annoyingly chipper tone, "Why yes, sir! We have many combat vessels! I believe we have 60…" Otto interrupts it again, "Transport vessels."
The droid stops and processes this new bit of information, "What kind of transport ship do you need, sir?" "One that can fit a small team," Otto answers. The droid says, "One moment please," and starts going through its data banks to see what they have. The droid answers, "Why yes, we have four ships that would fit you definition."
It then starts to list off the jargon, mechanics and terminologies for each ship. Lana understands everything the droid's saying perfectly, but Otto looks completely uninterested and annoyed. "Just take us to them," he orders. "Oh, of course, sir! Right this way," the droid directs them to the far end of the port where four ships reside.
One of them appears to be an old mining transport. Another that's shaped more like a bird and has a large hull breach on its side. "Oh no, that won't do at all. Not at all," the droid mutters. Then there's an older model of the freighter they just came in, and lastly, a Lambda shuttle that looks like its seen combat multiple times.
M4-3T turns around to face Otto and Lana, "Aside from the damaged one, any of these ships would be suitable for transportation across the asteroid belt, and three of the four have hyper drives for your convenience." Otto nods, "You're done here." M4-3T bows to Otto and says, "Yes sir, of course sir! Happy to have been of help, sir." As the droid shuffles away Otto turns to Lana and asks, "Do you have a preference?"
Lana doesn't answer and just moves towards each shuttle, measuring their worth. She naturally ignores the damaged one out of the four. 'We want speed, decent plating, some defensive capabilities…' She mentally lists off things that the ship should have to get her approval. Each of them appear to be in rough shape but still functional.
'It doesn't have to be pretty to fly,' she inwardly reminds herself. The mining vessel and freighter are too bulky and possibly too slow for what they need, and they don't even have cannons outfitted. Her list of options was quickly narrowed down to the Lambda shuttle.
She goes back to it and places her hand on it. The ship's history floods into her mind. After a long pause, she opens the hatch and walks inside to prepare. Otto shrugs and mutters to himself, "Guess that settles it."
As Tharan keeps pace with the commander and Ki'Wul En as they go down the halls. The comm-link still latched to his fatigues starts buzzing. Tharan he instantly presses it in response and the vibrations stop. The commander opens the doors to a large communications room.
Only a round table with a holo-projector in the middle can be seen. The projector currently shows a display of the local system they're in. Tharan looks at it and can actually see which system and asteroid belt they're in. Commander Po Har pulls out a chair for Ki'Wul En next to his. Once she's situated he sits down and starts typing in on the main console.
He motions to the seat on the right, "Feel free to have a seat, Officer Tallon." Tharan gives a small smirk and replies, "Thank you, sir, but if it's all right, I prefer to stand." "Hmm, very well then," the commander absentmindedly answers. Tharan walks up behind the commander and keeps his gaze on display, waiting for any changes in it. "If you don't mind me asking, sir, who is it we're going to be talking to?" Commander Po Har looks over his shoulder, "I'm trying to get in touch with General Madin. He's the one who put me on this mission in the first place, but he's become a very busy man as of late so we'll see."
Tharan, for the first time in the time the commander has known him, angrily sighs. "So this could take a while, then?" The commander's surprised by the change in attitude but says nothing about it, and nods in Tharan's general direction. "Unfortunately we're spread pretty thin and the Outer Rim isn't a huge priority. Politics and such, you know?" The commander sighs when mentioning the political side of their situation to the PR officer.
While Commander Po Har was talking, Tharan takes a step back from him and methodically puts on a pair of black gloves. Once he has them on he flexes his hands. His accent also changes drastically when replying to the commander, "Well… so much for that idea." The commander stops mid typing and Ki'Wul En's head jerks up. Before the commander could react, Tharan drew out his blaster pistol and shot him in the back of his head.
Commander Po Har's body crashes onto the table. Ki'Wul En screams in shock and falls out of her chair. Before she could regain her footing; Tharan rushes towards her, grabs her by the throat and raises her up. "You would do well in shutting up, dear," Tharan politely threatens. The Twi'lek desperately tries to breathe and only feels Tharan's grip tighten before he slams her down on the table. "You're coming with me one way or another. So do yourself a favor and don't resist."
Tharan's comm-link buzzes again and when it does the display on the holo-projector flickers out, and is soon replaced by a transparent imperial cog with a bluish hue. It fades out and out comes a crackling, static image with the shape of a man wearing a stiff collared, white naval uniform (same blue hue present).
Tharan wrings Ki'Wul En back up, places his left hand on her mouth instead of her throat; and points his blaster pistol's barrel at her temple. "Agent Tallon, report," the image says with great authority. Tharan moves to where the image can see his hostage and stands in attention. "We have her, Grand Admiral. You may commence your run." The image lags when giving nod towards Tharan and says, "Affirmative, agent," before disappearing.
The imperial cog reappears and starts beeping and blinking red. Tharan forcefully directs Ki'Wul En towards the door. All while she shouts through his hand, hoping her words will break through. She also pitifully tries to shake herself free. Whenever she tries using her arms, Tharan applies more pressure to her temple with the blaster's barrel. "Come along dear. We have a ship to catch," Tharan says in his more familiar, positive tone. But it's slightly altered and sounds more sinister by his true accent.