Happy Birthday PT Barnum! That's right, July 5th is the birthday of the Greatest Showman. It's almost a national holiday for circus folk. So in between painting posters for the show, watching circus movies, and gorging ourselves on fried sugar, I'm giving you all the chapter I promised. I hope you enjoy this one!

"You need to eat, Thorne…" Zala said, watching the red-haired young woman pick at her food listlessly. "You think Drakken'd want you starving yourself?" The lieutenant looked up through tired, red-rimmed eyes.

"An' Drakken's not here now, is he?" Thorne sighed. "Wish I couldae doon…I dunno…"

"See? Stop that, Freya. It's so not your fault." Zala offered.

"Isn't it?!" She returned emotionally. "We're s'posed tae be watchin' each other's' backs, an' I let some rebel best me in a stick fight whilst me love was getin' 'imself shot t' pieces." She sniffed and poked at her bantha steak with a fork. "I'm sech a screwup…"

"You're seriously trippin, girl." Veruna said, pointing her fork at the younger woman. "You are anything and everything but a screwup, Freya. Stop blaming yourself. You said it earlier, man…" Zala's face became a little more solemn. "He gets in the zone…and nothing can stop him. I think…I seriously think Drak would fight and fight until he got wasted." The left side of her pink-painted lips turned up a moment. "Should've seen him on Coruscant. It was like watching like…a one-man army, the way he tore through that turncoat's thugs…" She sighed dramatically. "Honey, I was only along for the ride."

"He said you saved 'im." Freya muttered.

"It was a team effort." Zala replied. "Yeah, I had my awesome moments, but nothing compared to him." She took a small bite of her own meat and swallowed. "How'd it happen? I haven't gotten the report yet."

"We were guardin' the transports." Thorne began. "The rebels attacked us, and knocked out mine and Drakken's vehicle. I was up again' this rebel woman with soom fancy energy staff thing, an' Drakken…"

"Took on the rest of them by himself, right?" Zala said.

"Aye. 'Bout ten o'em."

"And you two won."

"Aye."

"So it was a good day." Veruna commented. "You're here, and Drakken's going to be alright. It could have been worse." She took a drink of her iced caf.

"It keeps on gettin' worse…" Thorne muttered. "That's the whole a' the problem, ain't it?"

"Straight." Veruna mumbled.

"Huh?"

"I mean, you're not wrong, sweetie." Zala said in a whisper. She leaned in close. "Only diff between you guys and all the casualties mounting right now is that you're all the best. You stay alive." Freya looked at her a moment.

"It's really that bad, mate?"

"It's really that bad." The ISB officer admitted. "You should totally hear what happened a couple days ago in the Mid-Rim."

"Wot 'appened?" Freya asked with wide eyes.

"You don't need to hear it." Zala answered. "You're too young and pretty for that. Hear me when I say that it was bad."

"We…we gonna win this war?" Thorne asked in a low voice.

"Oh yeah. No prob." Veruna answered. "Unless somebody does something absolutely stupid, or the rebels build themselves a Death Star or something. We're taking casualties like mad, but they are too. There's like ten thousand of us to every one of them, so it's a numbers game, like you know?" Freya finally took a bite of her steak, and chewed it thoughtfully. She washed the meat down with a drink of tea.

"Wait…them numbers dunnae add up…" She commented. "Idn't there wot, millions an' millions of us in the milit'ry? Stars End, I ne'er thought there'd be that many rebels." Zala shrugged, her mouth full. "A lotta folk out there dunnae like the Empire…"

"Idiots…" Veruna said bitterly. "You can't just decide you don't like the government. I mean it's there whether you…" She trailed off, and Freya saw her eyes drop to the table. Zala stirred her food absentmindedly a moment. They ate in silence for a couple of minutes. Finally, the older woman spoke again. "Hey…let's bone out. Can we talk in your office?"

"Right, sure. What aboot?"

"You guys were supposed to have a mission the day after tomorrow." Zala said. "Drakken's probably gonna be out of it for a week." Freya gulped, remembering the last time she headed up an assignment on her own.

"Feck."

"Aw maaaan…" Gallen complained. "Don't go jinxing it, Lago. The old man's gonna be fine. You'll see. He's probably gonna get patched up, and come in here yelling at us for sacking off instead of killing all the rebs like he did." Lago sighed and shook his head.

"Yeah…I mean maybe…" The young stormtrooper said. "He just looked pretty bad's all."

"One or the other of them is always getting jacked up." Ekks remarked. "Almost without fail." Mets and Coleth nodded in confused agreement. "They always come out of it alright, little buddy. The LT, I understand, but how the Boss does it…"

"He's the avatar of war, remember?" Mets offered. "The commander is like the soldier all of us wanna grow up to be." Gallen and Coleth chuckled. Dall walked out of the bunk rooms and across the commons room to the water cooler in the middle of the conversation. He poured himself a cup of water, took a drink and turned to the others.

"Well, I can say this much…" He began. "He had a concussion that would've killed me, broken ribs, lacerations…Hell, I put three packs of ringers into the commander to keep him from bleeding out. If that's what makes a good officer, I'll be happy to be a corporal from here till doomsday."

"Kriff's sake…I'll second that." Gallen said. "I can't keep up with the Old Man."

"Maybe we don't have to." Coleth interjected. "He leads, we follow, we kick major rebel behind. With him up top and us here, there isn't a reb battalion that can beat us."

"For real, bro." Mets agreed. "Any other unit would be laying dead on those transports. Dumb-ass regs couldn't survive a minute doing what we do." He laughed. "They gotta be thinkin' we're immortal at this point!"

"Hey, hey…" Coleth chimed in again. "That should be our unit's name, guys…The Immortals."

"Has a nice ring to it…" Lago agreed.

"Hell yes, it does." Mets returned. "And how do you think the rebels would feel knowing that THE Commander and His Immortals was coming to get 'em?" Dall rolled his eyes and left the room. The five troopers laughed loudly.

"Dead of fright before we even pull the trigger." Mets boasted, making an invisible blaster with his hands. They heard someone clear their throat loudly, and all turned to the hatchway to see Thorne standing there, looking very cross. What was worse was the fact that there was an ISB officer standing just behind her. The quartet of bragging troopers all went dead silent, stood and came to attention.

"Hey LT!" Gallen stated nervously. "We were uh…just…talking about the mission…" Freya walked into the room with her arms folded behind her.

"So I heared, Gallen." She said in a no-nonsense tone. "What was I overheared? Somethin' bout us bein' immortal now, was it?" Her eyes flicked from the sniper to the other four men in the room.

"We were just kidding around, ma'am." Mets explained. "You know, making fun of how trash the rebels are."

"Oh…" Freya replied. "An' whilst ye were jokin' about being invincible, C'mander Tharcourt's fightin' fer 'is bloody life in the medbay." Lago winced. "He probably woudae been o'er the shady side if we'd got back another minute later, fellas." She frowned. "Then ye'd a' had to deal with a very feckin' scunnered me. That sounds like a reg'lar laugh riot, dun it men?"

"No, ma'am." They all barked. She nodded.

"Right. You lot sort yer kits out. I wanna see ev'ry weapon an scrap a' uniform clean by twenty-hundred. You read?"

"Perfectly, ma'am." Gallen stated.

"Aye aye, LT." Ekks said.

"Immortal…" She growled. "…Och me gods…C'mon Major Veruna, this way." With that, Thorne marched into the office with Zala in tow.

"Dank Farrik…" Ekks muttered. "Never seen her that Pee-Oh'd before."

"Didn't know the Old Man was that bad…" Gallen added. "Geez…that sucks."

"Come on, guys." Lago said, motioning with his head. "We'd better get to work."

…..

"Ye want us to go take doon a buildin' full a' rebels without Drakken?!" Freya exclaimed. "Neu…uh-uh, I can't do that! It can wait till he's all better, right? Right?!" Zala cringed.

"Thorne, sweetheart…you say that in front of Vader or the ISB, and you'd be dead before you hit the ground. This comes from like, the tip-top, and I can't put it off. They're going to assault the perimeter, and they want Delta-7 to like go in up top and clear the building floor-by-floor. I mean, should be a cinch, right? Isn't this the kind of brutal-cool stuff you guys do?" Freya had tears in her eyes, and let out a loud, anguished groan as she buried her head in her arms on top of her desk.

"Ee hate it…" She moaned. "I hate this feckin' joob." Veruna sighed and rolled Drakken's chair over to her. She gently stroked Freya's tangle of bright red hair.

"I'm sorry, sweetie…" She whispered. "I know you feel like absolute bantha crap right now." Thorne raised her head up and glowered at the woman.

"Ye ain't bloody kidding!"

"You're in charge till Drak gets out of treatment. It falls to you."

"I know." Freya said sadly. "I jes…I'm scared to do this again, Zala." She huffed. "Last time I had a mission all by meself, I blew up a buildin', a lil' girl got killed, Vader almost choked me t' death, an' I got promoted." Veruna's eyebrows shot up.

"Holy farkle."

"Aye. It was an even wash with the notion a' mucked up." Thorne commented. Zala sighed and thought for a moment.

"Okay…" She breathed. "Let's chill out a sec. You gotta do this assignment, and there's no way out. I'm the one that's responsible for the intel for this ship…" She nodded. "I'll go with."

"What?"

"Yeah, I'll go with as an ISB liaison. Part of like the mission parameters is to find a rebel named Skywalker and/or this pirate named Solo. ISB has top-tier warrants for both of them. I can totally justify tagging along. You get into trouble girl, I'll be there with you to have your back."

"Really?" Thorne said, unsure of whether having Veruna along would actually be a good thing or a bad thing.

"Really-really." Zala grinned. "And it's an excuse for me to get into my super-cute field uniform. I look so totally badass in it." Freya groaned again, and her head dropped back into her arms.

Freya stood on the ramp of The Huntsman as the team boarded, a stern look on her face. The mission had officially begun, and Thorne was still not at all enthused about it. Under her watchful eye, Mets and Coleth lugged a large container on board; more blasters, power cells, rations and medical equipment, as a hedge against unforeseen calamity. Gallen entered next, followed by Glitch. The astromech/sentry droid hybrid paused and spoke a few lines of electronic jargon. Freya huffed and nodded.

"I know, lil man…I feel the same way…" She reached out and patted his insect-like metal head. He beeped again, and shook his head before speeding up the ramp. "Aye…I think so too." She sighed. Freya looked back into the shuttle, then out at the hangar bay impatiently.

"Wait up!" A feminine voice called. Zala came jogging across the bay, leaving the Lieutenant momentarily baffled at how the ISB Major could so successfully run in boots with such thin, high heels. She sighed yet again as Zala, dressed in her two-tone grey field uniform, cuirass, helmet and knee boots hopped up onto the ramp, grabbing hold of the hydraulic strut. "Hold the lift, sweetie…I'm here." Freya scoffed, a small grin on her face.

"Crivens, ye almost didnae make it." She said. Zala stuck her tongue out.

"Nah. I just wanted to be fashionably late, like you know?" The older woman returned. Freya narrowed her eyes and stared at Veruna's face.

"Wot in…ye wearin' makeup?!" She said incredulously.

"Don't you?" Veruna asked. "C'mon. Babe gotta look good while she's taking out the bad guys. I brought my stuff. I bet I could…"

"Ekks!" Freya shouted into the ship. "Take us up!" She walked up the ramp as it began to close, Veruna close behind. Freya found her seat on the bench, and the ISB officer plopped down next to her. Zala looked about the vessel, her russet eyes scanning every nook and corner of the shuttle, along with every grease smear, pile of spare parts, food tin and graffiti. Her nose wrinkled.

"This is…um…quite the ship, Thorne." She commented. "It totally matches this unit."

"It doesn't look like much ma'am, but it's our home away from home." Gallen commented with a friendly smile. Veruna slowly looked at the sniper, and he sat up straight. "Ma'am." Freya snickered.

"Weapon racks is o'er there." She pointed out to the Major. "And first aid packs are there. Water supply is right there a'next t' the Gonk." She jabbed a thumb aft. "An refresher is in th' back. Take a left at the surface-air missile launcher, yeah?" Zala raised her eyebrows and cautiously leaned forward, looking past Thorne to the back of the ship. Sure enough, on a rear bulkhead was a launcher, complete with 'In case of Emergency' scrawled in red spray paint above it. She slowly leaned back and blinked.

"I…would be…so fired for doing this to a ship." She muttered. Zala snickered. "I totally dig your guys' style." They were silent a moment, then Freya leaned in close and whispered in Veruna's ear.

"Ye could come with us, ye know?" She said. Zala closed her eyes, trying not to show emotion. She leaned in next to Freya's ear.

"I know." She whispered. "Love you two, but I can't…and you know why." She drew back, and Thorne met eyes with her and nodded. She had to admit that Zala had grown on her. She'd hated and distrusted the woman at first, and found everything about her to be annoying and revolting. Now, after seeing that she really did care for Drakken in a real way, and genuinely wanted to be there for her too, Thorne accepted that maybe she'd been wrong about Zala. The loud and extravagant, and often vain woman was a true friend.

"You check on the commander before this little trip?" Veruna asked. Freya nodded.

"Aye…" She felt a wave of sadness wash over her. "He's stable. Still out, but they think he'll pro'ly make a full recov'ry in a few meur days." Zala put a hand on Freya's knee and squeezed gently, giving the young woman a hopeful smile.

"Now that's good news, isn't it?" She said.

"Best me poor heart's got in a while." Thorne returned. The motion of the shuttle bobbled her head as she stared out into nothingness a moment. "I wanna make it back to 'im." Veruna nodded.

"You will, Thorne." The ISB major said. "If I have to totally drag you back, you will." Freya gave her a confident nod, and held her hand up. Zala slapped her hand into Freya's grip.

"Am I uh…missing something?" Mets asked lowly, leaning toward Gallen. "I didn't know our Hellcat was…friends with an ISB agent." The marksman pursed his lips, his eyebrows raised. He tilted his head over.

"If you're missing something man, so am I." He replied. "They look awwwwwful cozy."

"Now c'mon hon…" Zala said, wiggling a finger toward Freya's lips. "I think a little matte velvet red would look amaaaaaziiing." Freya slapped her hand away. Then the two women looked at each other, and both let out a short giggle.

"Awful cozy, dude." Mets whispered. Gallen heard him gasp. "You don't think they…"

"Nah…" The sniper frowned. "No way…" He looked back at his Lieutenant and the ISB officer again, then back to the scout trooper beside him. "Like…Thorne, that hot ISB gal and…the Old Man?" Mets shrugged. Gallen's eyes widened momentarily, and he waved a hand. "Nah…"

"It's just blush, sweetie…" Zala was saying in a pouty voice. She was enjoying teasing Freya, and seeing how much it cheered the girl up. She leaned in seductively close and waggled her meticulously shaped eyebrows. "Oh why not? You wanna look cute for your little loverboy don't you?" Thorne shoved her off playfully.

"Like I could e'er be as pretty as you, ye posh lil' slag!" Freya giggled. Zala's cheeks turned a little pink.

"Told you." Mets said. "It's a thruple." Gallen blew out a breath.

"The three of them…" He muttered. "Wow…" Zala heard the remarks, and straightened up in her seat.

"So…Reeso Gallen." She stated. The corporal sat up straight as the barrel of his blaster.

"Yes ma'am." He returned nervously, getting the attention of everyone in the compartment. Veruna grinned evilly.

"Isn't it about like…planting season on Saleucami, corporal?" She asked. There was a grave-like silence aboard the shuttle.

"Uh…y…yes ma'am…it would be…" Gallen stammered. "How…"

"Just wondering how your parents and your little sister Vanni are handling oh so much farming without you, sweetie. They doing alright?" Gallen's face was white as death.

"I…y…yes ma'am…they're doing really good. I wasn't much help on the farm, ma'am." Zala's grin turned into a knowing smirk.

"Tsk, tsk. You were always a dreamer, weren't you?" She turned to the antsy scout trooper next to the sniper. "So were you, Jashin Mets. Always out, totally tearing around on that old speeder bike your uncle bought you. I'm sure that was a mega-fun way to spend your teenage years on Navarro." Mets gulped.

"Y…yes ma'am…it was better than watching the sand blow, ma'am." Veruna giggled.

"It's good to know as much as you can about like…everyone around you, boys. Thinking you know more than you do…that'll get you in a whole lot of trouble. Right, XGZ-97?" Daraay slowly turned her helmeted head.

"I agree fully, ISB Internal Affairs Major Zala Veruna." The Death Trooper stated. Every trooper in the compartment had their mouths agape at the scene. There was a tense moment of silence, broken when Zala started laughing.

"Hey, I'm just kidding around with you guys!" She giggled. "Come on, lighten up." Thorne snorted in laughter, and Coleth punched Mets' pauldron. Gallen chuckled nervously, not sure whether the ISB agent was truly joking or not. Zala leaned in close to Freya.

"They think we're totally having a threesome." She whispered quickly, and watched Freya's cheeks turn red as the young woman started a coughing fit that made her hold a hand to her still-sore ribs.

"Three minutes!" Ekks called over the PA, and the lights in the compartment switched to a dim red color. Freya huffed and straightened up, thankful for the previous levity, but feeling the gravity of the situation kick in full-bore. She leapt to her feet.

"A'right." She said in a commanding voice. "Ye been briefed on what we're a doin'. We insert on the roof and take the buildin' down from top tae bottom. I want all a' ye movin; smart an' screamin' mean. Felian, Daraay, I needn't tell ye yer joobs. I cannae run as fast as ye on my gammie leg, so expect me in th' rear with the Major. We'll guard the pris'ners whilst ye kill an' capture everything in yer path." She took a few breaths and Zala looked up at her with a touch of awe. "No innocents or civvies. Ye know the score, me lads."

"Yes ma'am." They all barked.

"Right. Make ready. First squad off the ship an' set a perimeter. Second squad make us a door." She nodded. "Remember. All o' us go hame or none o' us go hame. Let's make C'mander Tharcourt proud, lads!"

"Huzzah!" The team shouted. The shuttle touched down on the roof of the six-story building as a battle raged below. A few green and red bolts arced up toward The Huntsman as they made their landing. The ramp lowered, and ten Imperial warriors surged out within seconds. The ship lifted quickly off, piloted by Glitch, and disappeared within moments into the dark sky.

As if running on pre-programmed commands, Daraay's squad formed a circle around the rest of the team while Mets and Coleth planted a ring of explosive rope on the roof of the building. In moments, they all stepped back from the two-meter circle, and Coleth held up a small remote-control device, his thumb over a glowing red button.

"Breeching! Breeching!" He called. With a loud but dull thud, a hole was blown in the roof. Felian immediately tossed two stun grenades into the opening. They had no sooner popped off than Daraay and Ekks had dropped into the hole, firing a short burst in both directions of the corridor with their full-auto weapons.

"Clear!" Daraay called up. The troopers poured into the hallway from above. Veruna helped Freya down because of her injuries, then hopped down next to her.

"Thanks love." Thorne said, drawing her blaster. Zala did the same, and backed against a wall, scanning both directions as she held her weapon at high-ready. "Ye done this afore, ye 'ave?" Veruna watched the troopers kick open doors, clearing rooms, and relaxed a little.

"Raids? Oh yeah…Hell yeah." She answered. Thorne shrugged. "What?"

"Nothin'. Jes figured ye fer an indoor kinda lass."

"Hey, a gal's gotta work for her eats!" Zala protested, catching up to Thorne, who was limping down the hall.

"Contact!" Mets called, and there a short torrent of blaster fire. "Clear!"

"Moving!" Lago Yelled.

"Covering!" Ekks replied.

"They really got this down, don't they?" Veruna commented. Freya found a closet door, and nodded to Zala. She hit the access switch and the door whooshed open, both women instantly pointing their blasters at cleaning supplies and a charging MSE droid.

"Aye. They do." Thorne answered. "Thank th' stars."

"What do you do?" Veruna asked. "Really, I've never like, been on a mission with NavSpecFor before."

"Drakken and me give 'em the big orders an' hold it all t'gether." Thorne explained. "Then we're jes one a' the men in battle." She smiled a little. "This grand ol' officer uniform idn't nothin'. Jes looks pretty." Zala smirked at her.

"Oh sweetie, and you totally look pretty in it." Freya rolled her eyes.

"Dunnae ye get fresh with me, Mizz Zala." She stated. "I'm already taken."

"Floor secure!" Felian announced over the comms. "Ma'am. Two prisoners."

"Copy that." Freya returned. "Lago, bring me the prisoners. Everyone move to th' next floor. Move!"

Five minutes later found them halfway down the building. As the team cleared room after room, rebel dead and captured mounted, and Daraay had already accumulated a small bag of data disks. Thorne and Veruna were now leading six enemy prisoners at blaster point, the four men and two women walking along bitterly with ratcheting plastoid straps binding their hands behind them. Calls of 'Contact' and 'Clear' came over the net periodically as they moved along the corridors of the building. Preoccupied with the warzone outside, the rebels in the building weren't expecting a team of Imperial soldiers to be inside with them. They made their way down to the second floor, and Freya finally stopped halfway down a corridor.

"Och…fie an' Hell…" She complained, leaning against a wall. Zala stopped and put a hand on her shoulder. Freya shook her injured foot and bit her lower lip. "Nae, I'm alright, Zala. Jes gotta git off me leg a minute. Me ankle's killin' me." Veruna looked around and spied the black-armored stormtrooper with the red pauldron.

"Hey…medic." She called. Dall jogged over. "Can you move these rebel prisoners a sec? Thorne needs a break." He looked down at the Lieutenant's ankle.

"Yes ma'am." He nodded. "Not much for a medic to do in the rear anyhow. You need anything, LT?"

"Got a tab, mate?" She asked. Dall reached into a pouch on his belt and produced a small blue pill. Thorne took it and popped it in her mouth. "Cheers." She muttered, and washed it down with a swig of the canteen the medic offered her.

"Just take em down the hall a skosh. We'll catch up." Zala said. "They give you any lip, shoot one in the leg." She added loudly enough for the prisoners to hear.

"Roger that." Dall nodded. "Alright, get moving you pack of street rats." He growled, motioning with his E-11 carbine, and herded the small group down the corridor. Freya slumped down to a sitting position, and Zala knelt beside her.

"Makin' me do this whilst I'm all lame…" The Breohan woman griped. "Almost like they want me t' fail."

"I think they want us all to." Zala sighed. "Come on Freya, let's roll out, huh?"

She helped Thorne up, and the lieutenant limped down the hall in the direction the rest of Delta-7 had gone. They made it no more than seven meters when Freya had to pause again. She rolled her eyes angrily and leaned up against the wall. To her surprise, it seemed to give way as a hidden door disguised as a section of the corridor opened inward, dumping her onto the floor. Zala spun about to find herself looking at four rebels who looked as shocked to see her as she was to see them. They threw blasters up to their hips and started firing. Veruna yelped and fell to her back, firing at one rebel then another.

Freya was in a dangerous position. She had fallen to her back, her head pointed into the room. Immediately, green bolts began to streak over her head. Fearing for her friend's life, she cried out Zala's name, then rolled onto her stomach and fired six red bolts into the first rebel she saw. No sooner had he hit the floor than she noticed the other three in the room laying dead. Thorne hopped up to one foot, and turned to the hallway. Zala was laying on her back, her smoking blaster pointed into the doorway. She was panting like crazy, her eyes wide. Freya hopped over.

"Ye okay, Zala?" She asked. Veruna took a deep breath and slowly got to her feet.

"Holy kricking shaz, man…" She gasped. "Yeah…yeah I think I'm okay. You?"

"I'm a'right. Thorne breathed. "Stars end, t'was a close shave, weren't it?" Zala scoffed and clapped Freya on the back.

"We bad, honey." She grinned. They heard a sound from the room and both spun about with their blasters, Freya almost falling again. Both women stared in shock as a young boy and an unarmed woman stepped forward.

"Don't shoot." The woman pleaded. "Please don't shoot. We're not fighters." Thorne and Veruna gave each other a glance before entering the room. Against the far wall were at least a dozen civilians. All of them looked terrified of the two Imperial officers.

"Alright everyone…" Veruna announced. "Imperial Security Bureau. Let me see the hands!" All of the people, mostly humans, with a couple aliens, raised their hands slowly. "Good. Now don't try anything, and you might live."

"Zala." Thorne whispered harshly. "They're women and wee kids for pity's sake, love." She looked up at the civilians. "Wot are ye doin' here?" She asked. "Ye rebels or jes caught in the crossfire? Ye best speak now."

"We're hiding from you. What do you think we're doing?" An old woman answered crossly. "We aren't fighters, but I for one ain't no Imperial subject."

"Sounds rebel enough for me." Veruna snarled.

"Zala!" Thorne snapped. "Alright, listen tae me. Yer not in arms again' us, so I'm not takin' ye pris'ner. You lot bide here til the building's clear, an' I'll send a squad up t' escort ye out. I'm a' tellin' em yer innocent civilians, so ye best not make me a liar. You understand?" Several of them nodded, and the old woman's expression softened a little. Freya was far from finished though. "You people go hame. Ye got hames, donnae ye? Things ye stay in an' keep yer heids outta fights ye got no business in? Yeah, ye go there an' stay there." She regarded the six small children in the room. "An if yer bent on feckin' aboot a battlefield, ye leave yer bloody kids at hame! What're ye thinkin' puttin' these little 'uns in danger like this ye gobshites?! Kriff me!" She started to walk out of the room, then turned back.

"Any of ye seen a bloke called Skywalker around 'ere?" She asked. All of them nodded to the negative. "Wot about a mingin pirate named Solo? He hangin' about?" More headshakes. "Right. Stay here." With that, she walked out of the room and limped down the corridor.

"What was that, Thorne?" Zala demanded, coming up beside her. "You know you just like, let a bunch of rebel prisoners go, right?"

"Nae. They weren't rebels." Freya grumbled. "Jes a bunch of idiots. Shouldnae be a law gainst being a bawheid moron." Zala shook her head.

"You are totally just like Drakken." She said softly. "Dunno whether to kiss you or shoot you for treason, girl."

"Och. Well ye kissed Drakken, didnae ye?" Thorne huffed. Zala stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes the size of landing pads.

"Hold up, he told you that?!" She gasped. "I didn't…I mean, I…uh…" She stammered, but Freya kept hobbling down the corridor. "Freya, wait up!"