Meet and Greet

"Speech"

"Radio or calls"

'Thoughts'

The Vagabond

Feldt and Setsuna entered the ship, Feldt's bags in hand. Feldt marveled at the design; the clearly beatup and older ship was well maintained, though she did note that she would have to do a serious scan and inspection after they left and when she had the time. She had an urge to know how this beast worked. And as they passed the T-junction in calm silence, she could hear the hum and rattle of the engines through the doors at the top of the T, only increasing her excitement.

Setsuna saw her and gave her a curious look, "Do you like ships?" Her eyes had been wide and there was a growing smile on the woman's face, which had his heart race slightly. 'She is kind of…cute.' The two stopped, the question causing Feldt to think.

Feldt blushed, embarrassed that she had been caught, "Ever since I was a little girl. I always liked tech and space. Just never found the time till I…" She trailed off, realizing she would have to explain her history to a stranger, the pain from the memories dull, but there.

She shook her head, keeping a smile on her face, though Setsuna could hear a tenseness to her voice, "I just like ships and space, and can't wait to work with this crew."

He nodded at her, "I think you will fit in well."

As the two began to approach the bunk room, the door opening, the redhead called out to Setsuna, "So Lyle and Christina. How are they as people? Do you trust them?" She pulled her neck in slightly, hoping she didn't offend him.

Setsuna just nodded, a hint of a smile on his face, "I trust them with my life. Lyle is a bit loose in terms of command and arrogant at times when piloting, but he does mean well for the alliance. He can certainly back up said skills. Just don't take any of his advances too seriously." He took in a breath, "And Christina is very intelligent and very helpful, though she likes to flirt with everything. She says Zeltrons are just like that. But I wouldn't know." He shrugged, "But if you need to talk with someone about emotional stuff, she is probably the best person at that, along with her computer skills."

Feldt couldn't help but giggle at that, a hint of embarrassment in his eyes as he looked at the ground. Feldt had seen a few Zeltrons in her dangerous travels, and the species did believe in more open love. The ones she had seen and met had been rather…cavalier about their love lives. She was honestly surprised the pink woman wasn't already sleeping with Lyle and Setsuna. 'Maybe both at the same time.' She mentally slapped herself, shame going through her. 'That's not fair. I barely know her.' Though she did feel a tremor of jealousy at the thought of her with Setsuna, which she mentally shook off.

"So you like them?" She focused, getting thoughts about that topic back in line.

"We certainly have our issues at times, but Lyle and I make a good team, and Christina is good at keeping us informed and organized." Feldt couldn't helped but catch the slight softness in his voice as he talked about the team, causing her to begin to smile.

But in front of the two was the crew quarters, with three sets of bunkbeds, built into the walls and bulkheads of the ship, an opening allowing maybe one person to fit in it, two if they were close together. To the side of each bunk was lockers for the crew, enough for some personal gear and hanging clothes, but not much else. And below the bottom bed looked to be two side-by-side rollout drawers for clothing. Only two of the beds looked lived in, but she did remember this type of ship had captain's quarters right off the bridge. There was a fairly basic and functional table in the middle of the room, chairs placed around it.

The beds didn't look like the most comfortable, but Feldt would probably be in engineering a lot, the sound of humming engines helping her fall asleep. They were rather plain, though one of the top beds nearest to the door had pinup images of men and women, along with a poster of a hacker holofilm.

The bottom beds to the right of the previous set of beds had a few anti-imperial and anti-CIS propaganda posters and what looked to be a green and purple planet, water covering it, the view looking from space.

Setsuna nodded at her, "These are the living quarters. Only Christina and I sleep down here, so pick a bunk and locker of your choice." He chuckled, "You have first pick of it. The rest of the ship will be shown to you after this meeting, something about having to be explained about things twice. We do laundry in shifts and bedding is done every two weeks."

She swallowed and nodded, looking around again before looking at the Kiffar, "Is the bed with the posters yours?" He nodded and she continued, nervous all the sudden, "Do you mind if I…take the one above you?" Feldt couldn't explain why, but she just felt…safer looking at the spot. And just instinctively said it. 'Is this the Force?'

Setsuna shook his head, his expression even, "Go ahead." He felt warmth pass through his chest as she asked, happy she wanted to be near him, though he still couldn't identify why.

The two then moved her stuff next to the left locker on the bunk unit and on her bed. Setsuna looked at her, the urge to ask her what had happened earlier to her growing in his mind. This was so strange to him. Normally Christina and Lyle did all the talking, but right now he was alone with a woman he had just met, and he had to soothe some of his nerves at being alone with her. But it wasn't his nerves like in combat, or when he had a bad feeling about something. It was more friendly than that. He wanted to be around her, wanted to be close. He had never felt this before, their staring contest having done something to him.

But her voice appeared as he saw her jump down from the top of the bunk, a light bounce in her step, "I think that's everything. Thank you!" A wide smile formed on her lips.

Setsuna couldn't help but blush at the attention, scratching the back of his neck, "No problem. You are part of the crew now." He took a deep breath, "So when we matched eyes, I…felt something. Like we…connected. What was that?" There was a yearning in his voice, begging for an understanding, which caused Feldt to choke for a second before she could find the words.

"It's…I think it's the force. It's telling us something." Feldt had a little more understanding, her people having a more innate understanding of the force, as they relied on it to see. But even she had never felt that before, that urge, those feelings when she saw the dusky skinned Kiffar.

Setsuna quirked his head, "The force? How do you know?" Setsuna knew the force existed. It must have for the Jedi to exist. As much as the imperials tried to bury them, people talked about them. They were the ones his resistance group had used as heroes of old. They always heard stories of jedi helping other groups across the galaxy, but most of those had been fake, ghosts in the reign of the empire. 'What did she mean?'

Feldt could see and lightly detect the confusion going through Setsuna, which she completely understood. She gently approached him, placing a hand on his arm, "My people, we see through the force. And when I saw you, when I look at you, I see a bright beacon in the darkness." She took a deep breath, "I think you are force sensitive." Her voice trembled, "I just…have never found someone like me for so long. It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't feel." She resisted the urge to open up completely, not wanting to scare him. If he didn't know then this would be harder than she thought.

Setsuna could hear the turmoil in her voice, which stirred his heart. He tentatively put a hand over hers, "So I can feel the force?" He had heard stories of the Jedi from an old leader of his. They were faster, could sense things without seeing them, and do great physical feats beyond most people, among other things. He even said they could feel or predict things before they were going to happen, like if someone was about to attack them or the like. Claimed he worked with a few jedi in his time, though no one was sure how true that was.

He pursed his lips at the thought as he asked her a question, "How do I know for sure?"

She paused, taking a second to think before responding, "Have you ever had a weird sixth sense about things? Maybe reacted faster than other people? Felt weird around certain people?"

Setsuna took in her words, thinking back on his past. His old friends had always said he had supernatural luck, beating people he shouldn't have in a fight, or doing a miraculous dodge in time. And sometimes he had been able to get out of a scrape with speed he hadn't expected. At first it had been odd, but it kept happening. Back then he thought it was just desperation or adrenaline, but the way she explained this whole force thing, along with the tales of the Jedi he had heard, made more and more sense.

He looked at his hands, not knowing what to think. Feldt looked at him, eyes wide as she unintentionally squeezed his arm, "I'm sorry if this is too much! I just wanted to speak and now I'm stressing you out and-"

"It's alright. I just…" He paused, the words coming slowly to him, "It makes sense, and never had anyone explain this to me." He looked at her eye wrap, "What do we do? And is the force how you see?" He had seen she wore something covered her eyes, but she had no trouble finding anything.

Feldt was stunned silent, never really having thought about it. She had been worried about finding someone she hadn't planned for what to do after. Pulling her hand off of him, she leaned on the bunk, "I guess we can…learn from each other? I don't know much myself." And putting a hand on her blindfold, she nodded, "And it's how we see. The blindfold is for everyone else. We don't even have eyes anymore."

He took in her answer, the training issues coming to his mind first, "But where do we start?"

Feldt tapped the side of her jaw, before it hit her, "I think I have a-" She was interrupted by the sounds of beeping as an R4 unit with an orange head entered the living quarters, beeping dramatically. Feldt's eyes were immediately drawn to him, a surprised smile coming to her face, "Who is this?"

Setsuna just looked at the astromech unit, "That's H4-R0, our repair and navigation droid. He's been the one maintaining the ship. Lyle calls him Haro." Setsuna admittedly never really interacted with him that much. Lyle and Christina seemed to understand him and said he was a bit…questioning to them. Chris found it cute while Lyle found it annoying, though he still treated the droid well.

Feldt got on her haunches and began to examine the droid in front of her. It was certainly beat up and modified, but everything appeared intact and working properly. The white paint of the main body was flaky at times, the metal beneath showing. She patted the head of the droid, smiling at it, "You are a remarkable little guy. You do a good job taking care of the ship, Haro?"

Haro responded happily, a series of beeps telling Feldt it was only him keeping the ship up. It was strange to Setsuna to see him so friendly. The two continued to talk their strange conversation, Setsuna watching it in fascination. But he then noticed the time and called out to Feldt, "We have to get to the briefing. You two can talk later."

Haro let out a sad beep, but Feldt just rubbed the top of his cylindrical head, "I'll be back before you know it!" Haro then let out a happier beep this time. Setsuna looked at the sight with a slight smile. 'This is going to be one interesting team.'

Main Settlement of Mestare

Feldt and Setsuna, having left the ship, Feldt longingly looking at the engines before she was pulled along by Setsuna. The two began a steady pace through the smuggling port, taking note of their surroundings. The architecture was very standard, made of pre-made colonization materials from one of the major companies. Very square and basic, years of habitation here by rebels and smugglers had given it a colorful look, various decorations at stores and other living spaces where people were. It certainly wasn't the safest place, but Setsuna knew there were more untrustworthy places to try to live and meet at.

Various people called out to look their goods as they crossed the bazaar of the settlement, a mix of small vendors and more legit looking stores, though some vendors looked to be of the very suspicious and shadowy type, hiding in corners. There was a small crowd of people moving throughout the area, voices echoing throughout the area, though not deafening. Setsuna's lips became a thin line. 'The faster we get out of here, the better. Too many people.' He looked at Feldt, who was more obvious nervous, and gave her a comforting smile, which she returned, mouthing him a thank you.

The two swiftly made their way out of the bazaar after working their way through the crowd, reaching a sliding door which led to a similar set of corridors labeled administration. This was their objective and as they opened the door, they saw a tall man with black hair looking at a map on the wall, looking around his early thirties. He had a digital pattern coat over a tight shirt, pants the same pattern as the jacket. He was pale and what stood out was his heterochromatic eyes, one gold, one gray.

Feldt and Setsuna could easily tell he was a rebel soldier why his uniform, the smugglers and mercenaries tending to be more diverse in their outfits, many of them very colorful. The man was intently looking at the map, clearly a bit lost. Putting a small smile on, Feldt approached, seeing Setsuna wasn't exactly wanting to engage. Walking up to him, she spoke evenly, "Do you need any help? I have been here for a while and know my way around."

The man jumped, not expecting her to approach him, but recovered and gave her a pensive look, his voice a calm and smoothing, with a hint of shyness, "I'm a bit lost here is all. I just showed up here and was supposed to be at a meeting in room 3C." His eyes then widened, "I'm Allelujah, by the way. Allelujah Haptism."

Feldt just nodded at that, Setsuna taking in the man as he turned to face the pair. He was closer to Lyle's height, but his body language read like he was on edge. 'Remarkably good at hiding it.' Setsuna had been trained to read body language as a scout and infiltrator, so he admittedly found it easier.

But Feldt was having a different experience entirely. Normally when she looked at people through the force, they had minor connections and webs through them. All people had the force flowing through them, force sensitives just shining brighter, their soul sometimes reflected if they were strong enough. But this man was a mess. It looked like his connections were…bent? Thin at some parts and thicker at others? He didn't read as strongly force sensitive, so this was extra strange.

But she realized she had been staring and responded, "I'm Feldt Grace." She gestured to Setsuna, "This is Setsuna." The man looked curiously at both, his eyes hiding his true feelings. There was a smile on his face, but to both Feldt and Setsuna, it clearly wasn't reaching his eyes.

Setsuna stepped forward, "We are headed to 3C ourselves. You don't happen to be joining the crew of the Vagabond?"

Allelujah's eyes widened, not expecting that. He nodded, "Yeah. Don't know what, but I was dropped here with another platoon of soldiers." He looked Setsuna in the eye, taking in the man's intense look, which he could admit was a bit intimidating.

Feldt was curious to him though. She was a bit nervous and drifted close to Setsuna, and he couldn't see her eyes, but she was clearly the more outwardly friendly of the two. She offered her hand as she stepped forward, "We are also assigned to the ship. It's nice to meet another crew member."

Allelujah looked at the hand, before he shook it, chuckling, "It's good to meet you too." He looked at Setsuna, "You as well."

Setsuna just nodded in agreement, before asking, "You know anything about our mission?"

Allelujah shook his head, "No idea. Just told to meet here. What do you guys do?" He had a guess for Feldt, who had a hydro spanner on her belt, but Setsuna was a mystery, having no obvious signs except for a blaster and vibrodagger on his belt, both which told him nothing.

Feldt spoke first, "Computers and engineering."

"Infiltration and explosives. You?" Setsuna's low voice rumbled out of him. Allelujah had to admit he would be scared if this guy snuck up on him.

The tall man responded evenly, "Soldier I supposed. Not particularly skilled in one area, but I'm a good shot." A hint of pride entered his eyes, though it quickly disappeared as he laughed nervously, "But we do need to get to this meeting. Lead on?"

Tieria tapped his foot impatiently as he sat down at the long conference table, waiting this new team of his to show up. It was a few minutes past when the meeting was supposed to start, and neither Sumeragi nor his teammates had shown up. A strand of purple hair entered his vision, which he just brushed back with his hand, wanting to strangle someone. He had planned all of this and had even been here fifteen minutes early. 'I thought my team would at least be respectful enough to be here on time.'

His impatient thoughts were interrupted with laughter as the door opened and a Corellian man and Zeltron woman entered, Lyle and Christina both with smiles on their face. The pair saw the dour and serious man glaring at the both of them, his rebel soldier uniform looking very standard to them. Dark undershirt, urban camo jacket and pants, and a belt with blaster pistol on it.

Tieria was the first to speak, harshness pervading his tone, "Finally at least you arrived. It would have been nice to see our team actually on time. Where is the rest of the crew?"

Lyle grunted in annoyance, already not liking the guts on this guy. Tieira's expression was pure judgement and condescension, his red eyes narrowed at Lyle and Christina, sitting like he had a pole up his ass. Trying to hide his annoyance, the Corellian spoke, "Just showing a crew member the ship. They should be here any minute now."

Lyle then took in the room, which was rather plain, containing a simple screen on one end in the wall and a projector in the center of the table, though fancier than the rest of the colony. Whoever created this colony clearly put more effort here than the rest of it. He then quirked his lip as he continued, "Besides, Sumeragi isn't here yet, so we aren't exactly late, are we?"

Tieria's voice picked up, "It's the principle of the matter. You need to be on time for meetings. When I'm team leader, I will not be tolerating this."

Lyle was about to respond when Christina cut in, a hint of desperation in her voice, "Guys, we are going to be a team! No need to fight!" She could feel the atmosphere of the room going downhill, so she needed to stop this before it went worse. She put on a smile, looking between the two men, focusing on Tieria, "We never got your name. I'm Christina Sierra."

"Tieria Erde." He had turned his head away from the two of them, already not liking this team. 'How can I rely on someone who is late to a simple meeting?'

Lyle shoved down his annoyance, detecting that Christina was attempting her best to try to soothe the situation, "I'm Lyle Dylandy."

Tieria's eyes widened for a split second, the name triggering a memory. His mind screamed, but he shook it off, now even more annoyed at the man in front of him. A scowl came to his face, which just confused Lyle. 'What did I say? Was it because I was late?'

Not hearing a response from Tieria, Lyle gestured to the Zeltron that they should sit down. But as Lyle studied the man across from them, he became more curious about what Tieria was. He had never seen someone that looked like a human have deep purple-hair and very red eyes. He searched his memories of all the races he had seen, but none triggered any resemblance.

Christina meanwhile could almost see the aura of unfriendliness around Tieria. He looked like he never relaxed, always on the lookout. She had seen a few of them in her time with the rebellion, and they were almost always a headache to deal with. Her people in particular did not usually choose to want to be around that type. 'Normally it's because they get all judgmental about our way of life.' If he was going to be a part of the team, this was going to be a bit more tense.

The door then opened again, Feldt and Setsuna entering with Allelujah on their heels. The three people in the room looked at the three, Lyle and Christina looking curiously at tall soldier while Tieria glared at all three of them. Feldt and Allelujah were taken aback by that look, while Setsuna ignored it, sitting down at the table, Feldt sitting next to him and the hetero-chromatic man kept his distance from everyone.

Lyle chuckled as she looked at Setsuna, "It seems you found another stray. Get Feldt all settled in?"

Feldt nodded, "As settled as I can for that. His name is Allelujah, by the way." Allelujah waved lightly at the two, Christina waving back and Lyle nodding.

Lastly the door opened and a woman about as tall as Feldt walked in, beige rebel officer uniform over her curvy frame. Long brown hair flowed down her back, her brown eyes showing experience and professionalism.

She nodded at the group, her tone even, "I'm sorry for being late. One of the Gran administrators was distracted by watching an Echani girl, and it took a while to resolve the issue. Let's get started." She cleared her throat, her eyes drifting to Feldt before moving around the group, "As you all can see, this is your new team. I'm certain you can do full introductions later. You all will be working as deep infiltration into imperial territory. Very little support unfortunately."

She turned the projector on, inserting a disk into it. The projection showed what looked to be a gas giant with an asteroid belt around it, labeled Indu. It then zoomed in on a large asteroid with a facility built into in. Sumeragi pointed to the facility, "This is a mining and refining facility in the asteroid belt around the planet Indu, in the Anoat Sector. It is currently being used for Tydirium production. Your first mission is to destroy all major equipment and get out. The secondary objective is to get any intel from the base you can, though the destruction of gear takes precedence. Our intel suggests lower than average security, the Empire not expecting any rebel operatives in this sector. We have old republic blueprints for the facility, but we aren't sure how much has changed since then. This will all be sent to your ship."

Another image popped up, showing a woman with short black hair, glasses and imperial officer uniform, "The commanding officer is Kati Mannequin, an old friend of mine from the Imperial Acacdemy and service." Tieria narrowed his eyes at that but stayed silent. The rest of the team looked on, absorbing the information, Lyle leaning back in his chair. Sumeragi had a look of regret in her eyes, but that passed as she continued, "She is an intelligent woman, so stealth will be needed to get in. We don't know the extent of the external defenses, but expect at least a squadron of Tie Fighters as well. After the mission is complete, you will report to me, but stay in the sector, as you will be there for several months. Any questions?"

Tieria spoke first, "Who is in charge of this team?" His arrogance reflected in his voice, the question seeming like a formality. A smirk came to his face, Lyle letting out an annoyed grunt. It wasn't that he cared to be leader, it was just that this man really assumed he was going to be in charge.

With an even tone, Sumeragi spoke, "Lyle will be team leader. He has shown his flexibility in previous missions, which will be needed in the upcoming months." Tieria's smirk disappeared, replaced by a deep scowl. He was a veteran rebel of three years. He had completed missions, followed his orders. He had even recently led a squad to successfully overrun an imperial outpost. 'And this lazy slacker is getting put in charge?!'

Christina gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder and Setsuna gave him a thumbs up, Lyle's eyes wide for a few seconds before he shrugged his shoulder and gave a half-smile. Allelujah sat back, not knowing how to react.

Tieria's voice was harsh, "Is that your decision?" The rest of crew in the room looked at him in surprise, shocked or narrowing their eyes at his aggressive tone.

Sumeragi matched his tone with a harsh glare, putting a hard edge on her voice, "Are you questioning my decision?"

Tieria swore under his breath, looking down, but after several seconds, he replied quietly, "No…Ma'am." There was still hesitation in his voice and a growl under his breath as he spoke, seeing the others look at him, worried and annoyed. 'It appears no one approves of me. So be it.'

"Good." She looked at the rest of the group, "Any relevant questions?"

Christina was the first of the group to go, a serious look on her face, "In terms of credits, how are we getting funded if we are on our own? Do we have any safehouses to run to?"

Sumeragi's expression became even again, "Good question. We will be providing you with money for supplies and bribes here, and will be giving you dead drops to pick up more as stuff is needed. Just send us requisition requests for specific goods and we will see what we can do." She let out a sigh, "However, we can't always be there, so you will have to use the black markets in the area to help supplement yourselves."

"And for safehouses, we have a few friendly ports and places to stay, but you have to be careful. We can't afford to lose them." The rebel officer's attention was focused on Lyle as she said that, nodding reluctantly, understanding her concern.

Christina nodded in acceptance, knowing requisitions would fall on her. Tieria scowled even harder, the term black market like a curse to him. 'More unreliable people.' The next to speak was Allelujah, who furrowed his brow as he spoke, "What numbers are we facing?"

Sumeragi simply responded, "Around one hundred or so stormtroopers, with civilian staff and workers."

Setsuna responded confidently to that, "So not that bad then." Alle's eyes widened at that, looking at the six of the team in the room, weighing the numbers in his mind. 'They really are sending us into the deep end.'

Feldt also looked down nervously at that. That would leave them heavily outnumbered, but Lyle, Christina and Setsuna didn't look too worried, so maybe she was overthinking this. Her eyes were drawn to Setsuna, who just caught her look for a split second, smiling, before he looked back at the woman at the head of the table. She blushed at that, surprised he had smiled at her when he had been so unemotive in pubic before.

The group was quiet for a minute before Sumeragi spoke up again, "If there are no more questions, you all are free for the rest of the day. You launch tomorrow, so be ready. Get settled in, because you will all be stuck together for a while. I am relying on you guys." She then looked at Lyle, "I do want to have a few private words with you, so stay behind please."

Lyle just grinned, "Got it." He looked at Christina, "Please hold off on the tour till I get there. Get them settled in if need be, till I get back to the ship."

Christina saluted him, "Understood!" Christina couldn't help but lick her lips. She now had two more attractive men and another attractive woman on the ship. 'This should be fun.'

As the group filtered out, Tieria basically stomping behind them, Sumeragi narrowed her eyes, scanning Lyle, "Tieria is a good soldier. But he is not ready to lead."

Lyle laughed, "I could tell. But why me?"

"Despite your looser control, you know how to motivate Setsuna and Christina, which I hope you can do for the others. And your reports showed your ability to improvise. Tieria is a soldier but is inflexible. He's never done this sort of deep infiltration, unlike you three. He gets his objectives done but lacks in subtlety."

Lyle looked over to the chair, his stomach turning over at the thought of being the formal commander of this team, "I'll try my best. But how do I deal with him?"

Sumeragi frowned, "He should follow orders, even if he will complain. Despite his attitude, he won't try to overthrow you or anything. And you have my backing at the moment, so don't worry about him complaining to command. All contact to higher ups goes through me, so worst case the three of us have a conversation."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Lyle then saw a scary look come to her face, "Uh, ma'am? Is everything ok?"

"You make sure Feldt stays safe. She is my daughter in all but blood and if she gets hurt, there will be a hell to pay." A bead of sweat rolled down Lyle's face, not expecting that intensity. 'Remember to tell Setsuna this info if Feldt doesn't do it herself. Then he can keep her safe.'

Author Note

Chapter 2! We now have the team, ages below like the others. I won't be doing this anymore, just wanted this for our MCs. Tieria will be a treat, so good luck Lyle. Also Feldt and Setsuna bonding, which was really fun to write! And of course I had to bring in Haro. What would a gundam thing be without one?

Thank you for reading and I'll see you guys next time! I love to hear what you think, so review or comment!

Alle- 35

Tieria- 28