Finding Bonds

"Speech"

"Radio or calls"

'Thoughts'

Dock of Mestare

As Lyle reached the dock, he saw his new team standing in front of the Vagabond, Christina happily chatting up the crew, though no one seemed to be really biting besides Feldt and Setsuna. Allelujah looked nervous while Tieria looked judgmentally at the ship, frowning heavily. Lyle sighed at that and walked over the group, a clearly overwhelmed Christina desperately happy Lyle was here.

He gave the group a casual smile, nodding at Christina before focusing on everyone else, "Welcome to your new home. Hope you'll like it, because you'll have no choice."

Tieria scowled, before putting on an even face, "It would be nice to be a ship that doesn't look like dinged transport."

Both Feldt and Lyle looked offended at that, though both had different reasons for that. Feldt's voice raised, "It's not what's on the outside that counts, its what's on the inside!"

Lyle added to it, though had a cooler attitude, "And the imperials will be less suspicious of a battered ship than a nice, clean one." He then walked up to Tieria, putting a hand on the purple-haired man's shoulder, his voice a narrowly hiding his anger, "Pro-tip, don't insult a Coreallian's ship. That will turn out badly."

He then laughed as he looked at Feldt, "I like you. Good attitude in an engineer." Feldt just blushed and looked down at her feet, enjoying the praise.

Tieria shook off his hand, glaring at the man, "Fine. Let's just get on the ship. The sooner I get on the ship, the sooner I can settle in and get off this planet." Everyone in the group looked at him warily, but Christina just gestured for the group to follow her.

The group entered the ship, greeted with the sight of the T-shaped hallway, Christina and Lyle at the head of the group. Allelujah looked around, nodding, while Tieria just kept an even look. The first sight was the engine room, and Lyle opened it to show a cluttered room, a large, wide, glowing central engine surrounded by two connectors on each side of the room. There also was another console on the north wall of the room, the button shifting in and out.

The new crew members looked on with interest as Lyle began to explain, "This is our engine room. She's been upgraded quite a bit. Faster hyperdrive, increased speed and larger power supply." He then gestured to the console on the north wall, "Most importantly the stealth drive. Can't use our shields with it on, but it keeps the imperials blind to us."

Feldt's eyes widened with excitement, "It looks so cool!" She unintentionally grabbed onto Setsuna's arm, but he didn't stop her. Feldt looked at Lyle, eyes begging, "Do you mind if I take Setsuna here to help me with the engine?"

Lyle laughed and nodded, "Sure. All the important info should be in here. I'll send you what I have from the bridge when I can." She nodded and Lyle continued, "Also if you can try to start figuring out how to make the stealth drive actually reliable, that would be great. Thing's super finicky."

She nodded, challenge in her eyes, and pulled Setsuna along. Lyle called out to him, "I'll leave it to you to give her the tour. And keep an eye on your girlfriend!"

Setsuna blushed and began to respond, "She's not my-" but the door shut, leaving the rest of the crew to continue.

Allelujah spoke up, a question on his lips, "So are they dating or…"

Lyle just shook his head, "They literally just met, though they seem to get along well. Just messing with the kid. It's the friendliest I've seen him be with a woman since I met him."

Christina chipped in, "And they do look cute together!" Lyle just laughed, Tieria not finding the humor in it. A relationship like that could risk bad fallout, even if it wasn't strictly against the rules. But he continued to follow his new commander, grumbling under his breath.

He opened the door across from the engine room, showing the bunk room, "This is where most of you will be living. It's comfortable enough, and there's enough space for you stuff, as long as you aren't a pack rat. You can leave your clothes and personal effects in the lockers and under the beds." He looked at the stairs, "There's two rooms next to the bridge, but I already claimed one."

Allelujah entered room, looking around and began to ask Christina questions as Tieria looked at Lyle, crossing his arms over his chest, "I'm not sleeping down here. I'm taking one of the rooms upstairs."

Lyle rolled his eyes, "You think you are better than the rest of us?"

Tieria stepped up to the Corellian, the two men inches apart, "I am the second in command by rank. I think I deserve to have something a bit higher than a common bunk room." Lyle couldn't help but be annoyed the purple-haired man wasn't completely wrong. He was the second highest rank in the group and that usually meant they got higher quarters.

With a grunt, Lyle nodded his head, "Fine. I'll show you them after we finish the tour." Tieria just smirked annoyingly and Lyle was about to say something when the other two walked up to them.

Christina spoke cheerfully, "Ready to go." She then giggled, "Also Feldt put her stuff above Setsuna's. It's cute." Christina had a good feeling about those two and would push them if needed.

Lyle chuckled, pushing the annoyance at Setsuna in the back of his mind. He took a mental note of that but continued to guide everyone, leading them to the door on the other end of the hallway. Inside the room was several lockers and a few weapon racks, one full of generic weapons while the other was labeled personal, the names above parts on the rack. There also was a seal shelving unit full of supplies for cleaning and maintaining weapons.

Allelujah in particular noticed the folding table on the wall below the tools, realizing that was the workbench. 'Probably going to be here a bunch, aren't I?'

The only weapon sitting on the personal rack was a vibroblade, labeled Setsuna. Christina took the lead, "This is the equipment room. You can leave all your mission gear here. Any questions?" The group shook their head, continuing to move on. The tour became fairly mundane, the two new crew members not asking any questions as they continued.

He shows the group the medbay next, which was the first door in the right as the turned down the long line of the T. Two beds with what looks like containers of Bacta in a closet, along with relevant medical tech scattered throughout the room. A simple medical droid sat in the room, which Lyle explained was their main doctor on the ship.

Next they passed by the brig on the left, which was made of a basic bed, toilet and sink. There also was a small table, with a slot near the bottom to insert food and a moderately sized window that can be opened, bars across the space. It looked fairly standard, and Allelujah hoped they wouldn't have to use it too much.

The bathroom and fresher were next on the right, near the bottom of the T. A cupboard of towels sat below the sink, the simple fresher on the back right wall and a toilet near the top back corner of the room. Lyle explained to not take too long showers, as hot water can be scarce at times, especially because Christina. She pouted at that and stuck her tongue out at him. Allelujah laughed but Tieria was stone faced.

Across from that was the galley, where the food was stored and a small kitchen was set up. It was nothing fancy, but had all the necessary supplies, though the crew would have to restock every few months. Tieria was annoyed to find alcohol there as well, but all three of the crew said they won't do it on duty, so he dropped the issue.

And at last they came to the bottom of the T, the door sliding open. In the room was a long table with a projector on it, like in the meeting room. There were eight chairs around it, and a window that showed the dense terrain of the plane they were on. In the corner was a console on a desk attached to the wall.

Lyle looked around the room before addressing his audience, "This is our meeting and planning room. The table has a hologram projector, so we can get a full 3d view on anything we need to study. We also tend to use it to eat and relax when we aren't on active missions or in transit. Just make sure to cleanup your mess."

Allelujah spoke up, a little more at ease, "Is the window an issue? What happens if it breaks?"

Lyle just gave him a confident grin, "The area is armored and our shields will keep it safe. Besides, there are easier targets to hit." He then pointed to a switch on the wall near the door, "But during combat, we can lower an armor plate over the window, from that switch or the bridge."

Allelujah let out a sigh of relief, "That's good to know at least."

Tieria's spoke in his most agreeable voice yet, "At least they thought about that. My standards for rebel command are still being met."

Christina spoke cheerfully, "They have been really good to us with this ship, so I'm not complaining." The rest of the group just didn't respond, not wanting to create an issue, but Tieria didn't speak up again, just tapping his foot.

Lyle spoke again, "So, what do you guys think so far?"

Allelujah smiled, "She seems like a good ship. And well maintained. She good in a fight?" Allelujah could see the silent hope of complimenting the ship, which the rebel soldier had no reason not to.

"We got two suped up Quad laser turrets, and two missile launchers. Command decided to give us some proton torpedoes on top of the regular concussion ones, so she's armed to the teeth." He wrapped his hand on the wall, "Her armor plating is pretty good, on top of our shields. And I can pilot her like a breeze."

Allelujah whistled, impressed. There was probably some exaggeration in his piloting claims, but he sounded confident enough. Tieria, however, just scoffed, "I'll have to see it to believe it."

Lyle took some deep breaths, wanting to strangle the man, "Don't worry, you'll see." His hands became a tight fist. Both Christina and Allelujah could see the tension between the two men, and wished they were with their remaining crew members in the engine room right now.

They were both expecting a fight, each man taking a step towards each other, but Lyle just loosened his grip, taking a last deep breath as he stopped, "Back off. That is an order. I don't want to hear anything from you right now unless it's a question."

Tieria just glared, but nodded in acknowledgement, "Understood." With the tension reducing, though not completely disappearing, the three made their way up to the bridge. As they reached the stairs, Feldt came out excitedly, badgering Setsuna as Haro came out with them.

Lyle looked at the pair, smiling, "Have fun in there?" He then looked at Haro, "Made a new friend, little buddy?" The droid beeped at him excited then annoyed, telling the Corellian, Christina and Feldt that the astromech droid liked the Miralukan better. Lyle just glared at the droid and Christina laughed. Haro just stared back at him with his optics, not backing down.

Feldt nodded excitedly, missing what the droid said, "The engine is so cool. I've never had to work with something so powerful. And I have an idea on how to work on the stealth drive."

Setsuna nodded, putting a hand on her shoulder, "She was very happy in there. She was basically skipping."

Feldt blushed, "I just find it all cool." She looked down at her shoes, Setsuna softly smiling at her. He couldn't help but find her embarrassment cute.

Christina laughed, "It's better our engineer is excited than surly and annoyed."

Allelujah, who had been just watching the group mood pick up, took notice of the droid rolling past them, "What is that?" The droid didn't stop, moving down the T.

Lyle just shrugged, "That's our astromech droid, Haro. Useful at fixing and navigating, but can have an attitude, as you saw." An angry beep echoed from the hall, Allelujah not able to help but laugh at it. Tieria felt out of place. 'This was supposed to be a team? We are supposed to fight the empire? This is a joke.'

But no words came to him as the mood settled, the purple-haired man frowning. The group made their way up the bridge, one side of the stairs able to retract into a ramp. The large group reached the top of the stairs, making their way into the bridge, Lyle pointing to the controls to the north of the stairs, "Welcome to the brains of the operation." The consoles showed relevant ship data and other important data, lights blinking. One chair stood out, a larger screen with flight controls sticking out. Lyle continued, "To our right you will see our sensor banks and navigation systems. The sensors were added since we are supposed to deep in enemy territory, and would need as much warning as possible."

A bank of computers and displays were directly next to the stairs. Most screens were black, but the navigation and what looked like a row of internal security cameras were on, showing the hallways and meeting room. An astromech socket near the base of the nav computer. Feldt and Allelujah looked impressed and Tieria for once looked like he was content.

Lyle then pointed to a door to the right of the stairs, "That is the backup gunnery station for the guns. The main ones are on the main part of the bridge, but you never know when we might lose systems." He opened the door, showing two swivel chairs in front of a set of controls on opposite sides of the room, a screen that linked to the gun sensors. The room was fairly plain otherwise.

Tieria put his hands on his hips, "Anything else?"

Christina shook her head, "Nope. The only thing really to show is the other room up here, but Lyle can show you that." She looked to Lyle, "Are we good?" He nodded and she smiled at the group, "You should all get your gear and personal stuff. Once everyone is moved in, we will gather in the meeting room to organize our actual mission plan."

Everyone nodded, Lyle showing Tieria his room, which was decently spacious but plain, having more space for personal gear, a bed on the left wall and two lockers on the wall, along with a small bureau for clothing. A silent glare passed between both men, but neither was willing to say anything. Lyle internally sighed. 'God, I hope he gets that pole out of his ass. I don't want to deal with this the whole time.'

After a little under an hour, everyone had moved their stuff into the ship. Allelujah had taken a bed on the empty bunk, only really having his soldier gear, along with a duffle bag that he didn't seem to want to show anyone what was inside. No one wanted to press him on it, and it wasn't a breach of privacy that anyone wanted to do, so it was left mysterious.

Tieria also lacked variety, mostly having military uniforms and casual clothing. Christina was excited they would have to buy clothes, for the new crew as well as herself, and only Allelujah seemed to be happy to do it, Tieria annoyed at the idea and Feldt nervous at Christina looking at her like a doll.

But all the crew was assembled in the meeting room, sitting around the table, the Zelton having loaded up all the data they had been given. The asteroid facility was floating above the center of the table, the hologram occasionally flickering. Tieria was leaning forward, intently focused, his hands folded together. Allelujah looked at the image pensively, Setsuna had an even look on his face and Feldt didn't know what to do, looking down at the table. Lyle was craning is head studying the image and Christina was at the controls at the end of the table, looking between the data and the hologram.

Lyle began, clearing his throat, "So we all know the mission, but we need to at least discuss preliminary plans. Christina did some analysis, and we have target locations." The hologram zoomed in, showing a large room next to a room with a giant airlock door leading to space on a lower level of the facility, "This is the room where the equipment is being stored. There are three entrances, so it will be risky due to reinforcements able to come in from three sides."

He then nodded at Christina, "The next objective." She nodded and zoomed in on three ray shielded hangers a few levels up from the equipment, one larger than the other, "This is the vehicle bays. Two of them are for mining vehicles and transports, but the largest one is most likely where they launch Tie Fighters from." Tieria was annoyed at the lack of detail at the hologram, but even he knew they only had limited info.

Allelujah spoke up, "Do we know how many civilians are there?"

Christina shook her head, "We know they have civilian contractors, but the number we have no idea. If I had to guess, it would be hundreds. We have reports of a shuttles going in and out of the station each week, so they probably get swapped out every week or so." The hologram then moved to a lower level, a few large rooms getting highlighted in red, "These look like the living quarters of contractors, the imperial barracks and officer quarters on an upper level."

Tieria nodded at the information and asked his own question, "So how are we getting in? I can't see us using the main hangers?"

Feldt let out a breath and responded to him, "Christina and I looked at this, and I think I found something." The Zeltron smiled, knowing exactly where to go. The focus moved on a small section of the lower asteroid. Everyone looked at it curiously, not knowing what she meant.

Setsuna narrowed his eyes, not seeing anything, "What is so special about it?"

The Miraluka just hummed and used her finger to point at a particular spot, "That's a hanger. Christina and I found out this type of place would have smuggling hangers for corrupt businesspeople to make secret deals or to escape in case of a riot or mutiny." It took a minute, the cycling of the hologram making it obvious that there was a small cutout in it.

Lyle smiled at her, "Good work Feldt. That certainly makes our job easier." The Corellian had been worried how they were going to get in, but it appeared the women really pulled their weight already.

The redhead just blushed and nodded, sitting down. Christina continued for her, "We have no plans for where that leads to, but their either must be smuggling tunnels or an elevator. There are also probably more maintenance tunnels, which we should use. It will keep us out of easy detection."

Lyle took the lead again, "And we have two paths we need to follow, so two groups." An internal map of the hallways appeared, "We need to destroy the gear, but we need security disabled. They can seal us in if we get caught and we need to make sure they can't do it." He looked at Setsuna, "I need you to find the security room and take control of it, avoiding detection if possible. Christina laid out a route." A red line guided through the base, following the hallways, running next to the officer quarters. Setsuna studied it intently, trying to memorize it.

The Kiffar responded with a nod, "I'll memorize this. Should I destroy it or stay there?"

The team leader let out a breath, "Stay as long as you can, but destroy it before you leave. There also should be intel in there, so get as much as you can. I will stay in contact and will give you instructions from there. Just be ready to either join us or make your own way back to the ship if needed."

Setsuna nodded, "Got it." He leaned back in his chair, eyes still glancing at the hologram.

Tieria then spoke calmly, "So that leaves the rest of us, sans Christina and Feldt, to place explosives on our target?"

Lyle nodded and Allelujah looked at the two men, the numbers that opposed them running through his head. He had never run a mission with so little numbers. Usually they had several squads, but it was only three of them and dozens of imperials.

Lyle then shrugged his shoulders, "It's not going to be easy, but if we can find those maintenance tunnels, then we should be safe, especially if Setsuna succeeds. Christina and Feldt will keep us informed over comms." A red line began to run through the base, going through the equipment room and to the hanger, Lyle back at it, "Us three should follow this route best case. If it all goes well, the objectives should go up in flames. We need to be ready to improvise. We are going to have to be flexible."

His attention turned to Tieria, "Can you do that?" Tieria scowled, but nodded, not liking the tone of his voice. 'I'm a soldier, damnit! I can follow orders!' He didn't need to be questioned by this slacker.

Lyle let out a deep breath, "Good. Because this isn't going to be easy. And if we get in over our head, we need to fall back. Survival is more important than success. I'd rather be alive than be a dead hero." He let out a chuckle at that, which no one responded to. He placed a hand on the table, "But until we get closer to the place, we can't do much more. So everyone take the rest of the day before we leave. It might be the last time we are in a truly safe place for a while."

Author Note

Chapter 3 is done! Very plot and exposition heavy, but was a necessary evil. Next time we get to more interpersonal scenes, and those will be fun! Please review and comment and I'll see you next time!