-Sadie-

By the time we exited hyperspace, Darin had shut off almost all life support to the whole ship. To say that morale was low would be an understatement. I couldn't blame them. Everyone was encroaching on everybody else's space. The air was stale. The food was stale. Everything sucked.

I barely got to see Darin, but I got it. He was single-handedly keeping everyone alive. I asked him once how much stuff was going haywire, and regretted it immediately. He used a lot of words and I understood about twelve of them.

I grumbled as I squeezed past a crate of rations and walked into the training room. Bunks were crammed together, some even stacked on top of each other.

I made my way to the window and looked at the planet before me. Garfanza. I knew nothing of it, but it looked nice. Green and blue with some white clouds floating about.

"Commander?"

I turned and saw Evan standing behind me, occasionally peeking at the planet.

"What's the play?"

"Great question." I started to the middle of the room with Evan in tow, and sent an alert to everyone through my comm to either join our main frequency or to come into the main area I was in.

After most of the wandering people had crammed themselves into the crowded room or the hallway, I started the meeting.

"Alright everyone, we have just arrived at Garfanza. Darin, how long do we have until you shut off life support to everything except the medbay?"

Silence followed.

"Darin?"

Nothing. I groaned. Darin!

What?

Get your comm.

A few moments of silence followed before Darin said "Sorry. What?"

"How long do we have until you do the thing?"

"Uhm… about two hours before I shut it off and can start complete systematic repairs."

"Perfect. Than, any more information on the planet?"

"Nothing other than a sparse local population. Lots of wilderness."

"Sounds good. Now. We are going to separate into several groups. Two groups will stay on this ship, the other two will set up a base camp on the surface. First group is the easiest. M5 and all the injured stay here for now. Second group performs ship repairs."

"I don't need a group to help," Darin said.

"You are getting a group and you are going to like it. This job will get done quicker that way. Now, who here knows anything about ship engineering?"

A few hands went up, and a few people mumbled "aye", the most surprising of which was Than.

"Than, you know ships?"

"A little bit. I had a classic MandalMotor Nessier 167 I put together in a garage back on the Ascension."

"Okay great. You guys are group two. Darin, you got a team of… 16, I believe. Mainly maintenance crew and bridge crew, as well as Than Valum and Chef Eddie."

"Can't wait," he grumbled.

"So. That leaves everyone else for teams 3 and 4. I am leading team 4. Team 4 is landing on the surface first, finding a sufficient camp location, getting a feel for the planet, etc. Team 3 is bringing down the major supplies and such once we give you a location so a camp can actually be set up. Now, I know everyone is eager to get on the ground first, but I need people who know how to do this and who are familiar with nature. I've already selected several of you for this that I know can excel. Brick, Mouse, Evan, Jekhs, Lilpon, Jet, all of you are team 4. Now, anyone here extremely familiar with wilderness?"

A green arm rose timidly into the air.

"Bree?"

"I… I lived in a village in the wilderness all my life. I'm very familiar with it."

"Great. You're coming. Who else we got?" A few Seyley raised their arms, and I jotted their names down.

"Stroh," Than said. "Stroh is more than capable."

"Great. I'd say this is a solid group. The rest of you are team 3. Come on people, let's get moving!"

Darin called me a few times on the comm, but I never picked up. I was busy. I had to prepare the ship. I had to prepare for anything and everything.

However, that never stopped him. I was sitting in the pilots seat of the Midnight Dove going over my preflight routine when he spoke to me through the Force.

Can you please stop ignoring me?

I would love to, but I'm really busy here.

Is this because I don't answer my comm when I'm working?

Maybe.

Look, I'm sorry, but I told you. I get focused and-

Yea, I know. You completely tune out everyone and everything.

Not by choice!

I know, hun. I know. I'm just teasing you.

A pause. Hun?

You don't like it? I'm sorry. I just-

No no, I like it. I just wasn't expecting it.

Okay good. I'm sorry, I've just been stressing about this. I've gotta make sure I bring everything we need and be prepared for anything and it's just a bit overwhelming.

I know. Listen, you're gonna do great. I know it.

I couldn't help but grin. Thank you.

Anytime.

My comm beeped. The men had packed the ship up and were in the ship. My heart raced, whether from fear or excitement I did not know.

I'm gonna be going down to the surface now.

Yea yea. I get it. I'll be up here if you need me.

Finish up quickly so you can come down and see me.

I'll do my best. May the Force be with you.

And with you.

We landed without any excitement. I'd found a small opening in the trees of the forest and landed there. I thought I spotted a small village off in the distance, but I wasn't sure if people still lived there or if it was abandoned. I left the cockpit and nodded at Mouse.

"Alright gentlemen. We're gonna leave a small group here. Jet, Tress, Jekhs, you guys are staying back with the ship. If you have any issues, let us know and we'll be here quick as can be. The rest of us are going out to scout the area and try to find somewhere we can set up a camp for everyone to come down. Everyone understand?"

Nods all around.

"Fantastic. Let's get going."

We started through the foliage. My heart was racing. This was exciting. A new place to explore, a new world to see. No battles to fight. It was almost relaxing.

I couldn't get too relaxed though. Not yet. Not until we set up a base and established a perimeter. Not until we knew enough to survive.

I glanced at Evan, marching next to me. I felt terrible about burning him earlier, but the man seemed to have recovered well. Joked about it, said when he got the dye he was gonna add the new scar to his armor.

I wish I could Force heal. Or, knew how to do it without hurting others. Darin made it seem so easy.

Not always though. I thought back to Coruscant, to Darin getting attacked by my grandfather. After he healed himself and my grandfather, he could hardly stand. He looked as pale as a ghost. Now though? It was nothing to him.

As the memory of my grandfather crossed my mind, I felt sadness and a twinge of pain, but it didn't linger. My memories of my grandfather never haunted me. Never overwhelmed me. They hurt, and his memory, his passing was upsetting, but it was different than with my parents. Or with what Sylvia did.

Is this what normal grief felt like? Is this what normal people felt? This lack of trauma?

So much has changed since then. Since Mandalore. Since Coruscant. Everything was different. I was different. The whole world was different. Never had I pictured that I would be where I am now. Not just the planet, but the state of being. I belonged. I mattered to people. I had a family. Darin as a… well, I'm not sure right now. Troopers, as brothers. Catherine, as a sister.

Catherine.

God, I wanted to be there for her. She looked so… broken. Darin said nothing about what happened, and I wasn't about to ask her either. I had some horrible suspicions, but I prayed they weren't true. She didn't deserve whatever had happened. She was a great person.

Tag.

What a damned animal.

He organized a mutiny over pride. Ego. I never saw it coming. That kriffing suit of armor. The man donned one supersuit and thought he was invincible. How could he just turn? And why would so many people follow? Why did so many troopers support him? Turn on us? Turn on their families? It didn't make sense.

"You are quiet," Bree said softly, bringing me back from my thoughts.

"Yea. I'm just… thinking."

She nodded. We walked side by side for a little while. Bree was… I don't know what to think of her. She's nice. Quiet. Reserved. Force-sensitive apparently? Though I haven't seen any of it. And why was she even with the Seyley on Tatooine to begin with? She was oddly out of place any way you looked at it.

"Do you think that Q will be alright?" She asked.

"One hundred percent. Darin patched him up. He's floating in bacta. He's gonna be in top shape in no time, joining us to kick some butt." I hoped everything I just told her was true. It hurt me to see Q like that. He'd become one of my best friends here.

Bree nodded. We walked a little further before she said "I like your armor."

"Oh, thank you. It's been in my family for a long time."

"Were you close with your family?"

"Very. Family is… everything to me."

We walked forward in silence for a few seconds. She was trying to get to know me. Okay. Guess it's my turn to ask questions.

"What about you? Close with your family?"

Her face darkened and she said "I would prefer not to talk about family right now."

Okay. Great work, Sadie. Way to go.

"Sorry. Uh, new topics. How did you get to be with Than and Ster and their bunch?"

"I would prefer not to talk about that either right now."

Alright then, two for two.

"Sorry. Uhh. Where are you from?"

"A small village on Mirial."

"Did it have a name?"

"It is… umm… I do not know how to say it in Basic. It is like… well in Mirialan it is Tun-jee-tah, but I do not know a direct translation. It is like… I do not know how to describe it."

"Hmm. Tun-jee-tah. Did I say it right?"

"Perfectly."

"Tun-jee-tah. It's like… kind of like the morning dew on a spiderweb, but abstract?"

"Yes! Exactly! Do you know Mirialan?"

"No. Not at all. But if I say the word right, your brain automatically creates a concept to understand the word. I can just… look at the concept."

"You can read minds?"

"I… not really? Maybe? I never learned to, but I recently found out I could even do this and have been practicing with the Seyley and the Burhaj. Language is easy for me. Not sure why. I've been picking it up really quickly. The Force works in mysterious ways, I guess."

"That sounds amazing. Can all Force users do this?"

"I… don't think so? Darin never mentioned it, he's been using the Force for ages, but he still uses a translator. Which, to be fair, is far easier and more effective than what I'm messing with. But learning things in new languages is fun."

"And this is something you just discovered? No training?"

"I mean I trained how to use the Force and to have it be a part of me, to be in tune with it. After that, you can train, experiment, whatever. It's like a muscle or something."

"Than told me that I am Force-sensitive. And that I need training."

"Oh, yea. You'll definitely need training. Life gets weird after you learn about it."

"Can you train me?"

I faltered. I was not expecting that. "I'm not the person you need to talk to about that. I'm still training. Darin is the one you'll want to talk to."

She shrank a little. "He scares me," she said quietly.

"Darin isn't scary. Intense. But not scary."

"You have never been scared of him?"

"I…" I stopped. I don't know. I've been scared of losing him. Been scared of him turning. Been scared of certain things he was involved in. But is that fear of him specifically, or the situations? The potential loss? "No," I decided. "Never has his presence filled me with fear."

"Commander! Found a small hiking trail!" Stroh called from the front of the group.

"Perfect!" I called back. "We follow it!"