Being a droid, C-3PX2 did not require 'sleep' as much as the rest of the squadron and as such had been assigned to the freighters cockpit to keep tabs on the jump through hyperspace. Tomas was sure his executive officer would go into standby for a while or find some other way to occupy the time, but either way he felt the droid would find the cockpit alot more comfortable than the squadron members made of flesh and bone.

With this under control as well as Ibram and Aleia situation temporarily handled, Tomas entered his quarters and noticed Mira already in bed though he could not tell if she was in fact asleep. A brief visit to the refresher unit and the squadron commander was ready for bed, a yawn sneaking out as he re-entered the room. Slipping under the covers Tomas fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. He hadn't slept for what seemed like forever and the mischief aboard the freighter had only helped to wear him out further.



Tomas awoke from his sleep, though given the time period it could be considered more like a long nap. Mira was nowhere to be seen which surprised him as he'd expected her to wake up two minutes before the squadron meeting at the very earliest.

A relaxing shower later, and Tomas was standing gazing around the room pondering what he should talk about on the bridge in a few minutes. His train of thought was broken however, as someone pounded on the door very loudly. Opening it, Tomas fought hard not to laugh as once again he was face to face with two very unhappy pilots.

Aleia glared at Tomas in way similar to the look she had given him in the briefing the day before, only this one seemed even more dark and sinister. Ibram's look wasn't much different, though he was quite as good at pulling it off as his partner.

"Uh, hey guys. What's up?" Tomas asked as if nothing at all was wrong. It was quite the contrary though, as both pilots' faces were covered in marker. Aleia had been given a mustache and beard as well as several other random doodles about her face. Ibram meanwhile looked like he had been the victim of the old ink on the eyepieces of macrobinoculars prack, but judging from the comical eyebrows and other artwork on the rest of his face, that hardly seemed the case.

"Are you blind?" Aleia growled, "Where's Mira? I know it was her ... I'm going to kill her." With that, the two pilots shoved past Tomas and into the room.

"She's not here I'm afraid," Tomas stated. "Not sure where she went this morning."

"Well next time I see her, she's going to get it."

"Are you sure you guys don't want to just end this Pirate and Ninja union business? I have a feeling that will work out better for everyone." Ibram grumbled something inaudible as the two pilots once again stormed off, leaving Tomas alone at last to laugh out loud. He'd have to deal with this ridiculous behaviour sooner rather than later before anyone else got hurt.

With that, Tomas finished preparing and made his way for the bridge...

Thin, delicate fingers wrapped around Lukas' lips, "Shhh, don't move an inch,"  Mira whispered into his ear as she listened for Aleia and Ibram to storm off.  When the noise had finally quieted down she let go of Lukas' mouth and took a step back.  "So you must be Luka, I'm Mira, sorry about breaking into your room, but you, know, being caught by those two would have been bad, and your keypad to your door was insanely easy to pick."

"Um?' Lukas started.

"shhh," Mira said putting her ink stained finger to Lukas' lips and listen as she heard the familiar footsteps of Tomas walk away, probably towards the meeting room.  She let out a chuckled and turned back to Lukas, "It's not always this crazy," she mentioned before digging through the fridge.

"Hey!"

"You have extremely nice hair," Mira said holding some food in one hand and brushing a stray lock of hair out of Lukas' eyes and behind his ear, "I bet it looks pimp in a pony tail."

"What the?" Lukas sputtered before Mira kissed him on the cheek.

"Gotta go, CO's probably looking for me or something," she stated before bounding out of the room, a sandwich she had made in hand, and the ingredients all over the counter.

She took a large bite of her sandwich and hummed to herself.  Mmmm, spicy peppers some of her favorite tastes.  She then wondered if the marker she used on Aleia and Ibram's face was washable, she hadn't checked them before she had started.  She always forgot to.

"There you are, you really crossed the line Mira" Tomas spoke trying to look angry.

"Too much?  I was tempted to dye their hair the same color," she spoke through some sandwich and swallowed, "Why you didn't like it?"

Phineus trekked through the halls, trying to walk off an odd feeling he had in his stomach. He didn't get much sleep last night, sharing a room with Anden was hard. There beds were on two different sides of the room, But that guy snores like a rancor. He thought to himself.

Phineus was listening to his C3POD, so that drowned out what looked like an angry conversation as two pilots, both of whoms faces covered with doodles, walked by, appearing to travel at faster than light speeds.

He tried to get his head focused on the upcoming mission. It would prove to be a hard one, and Phineus wasn't the biggest fan of knowing that he wouldn't have his TIE to get him out of tough situations, or his trusty droids to lend a helping hand. But he felt safe with his blaster by his side, atleast he had the comfort most Marines took for granted.

Phineus felt a hand slap him on his back, he pulled out the ear plugs and turned to see who it was.

"Hey man, been calling you for the past twenty steps." Anden let out, "Don't tell me you're thinking about that girl again? You are aren't you? Haha, I saw you tape her pictures to the wall."

Anden seemed to get more sarcastic as each word flew out, and he seemed to like to laugh at his own humor.

"Very funny." Phineus offered as a rebuttle, stuffing his C3POD into his black pockets. "You ready for today?"

Anden nodded his head, "Been waiting for this since we got onboard."

"Good." Phineus looked down to the floor as the two began to walk onward.

"Something the matter?" Anden asked.

"It's just this feel-" Phineus began, but was interrupted by the passing of a few other pilots alarming them that they needed to get ready, the mission was to start very soon.

The two split up, Anden left for their room, to go set up his pack, and Phineus went off to get a quick bite prior to going down and setting his feet planetside.

Tomas shook a package of smelling salts before crouching down and holding the package under Ibram's nose. Aleia looked on worriedly, as hard as she tried not to show it. It took a couple moments, but before long Ibram's eyes popped open.

"Huh? What?" he said slowly as he tried to gain his bearings. "Where am I? What happened?"

"What do you remember?" Tomas asked as he helped Ibram up and gave him a drink.

"Well," Ibram started before pausing, "Aleia and I were on our way to the bridge, but she forgot something and sent me on ahead. I thought I saw a shadow which was odd since I figured everyone would be at the briefing by now. I was watching it so carefully I must've hit my head on a pipe." With that Tomas looked up but saw no pipes around where the two hallways intersected.

"Um, Ibram..."

"I had the weirdest dream ... it felt so real," Ibram said as he rubbed his neck before recounting the gruesome tale of assassins and carnivorous Zabraks.

"That's uhh, some dream you had there." Mira said with chuckle. Tomas meanwhile didn't like the look on her face.

"Mira, you had something to do with this didn't you?" Tomas asked sternly.

"No ... maybe ... ok, I was the shadow and may have tossed a comlink at him."

"And you didn't do anything when he went unconcious?"

"I came to the briefing and pointed out he hadn't arrived yet, did I not?" Mira replied simply, defending her case.

"True, but that doesn't excuse this. Enough of this Union nonsense ... all of you." Tomas paused. "C-3's got us on a landing path and we've been told we're likely to encounter turbulence on the way down so I'd suggest you all strap in."



The landing had indeed been rocky to say the least. With one last shutter of the old freighter, they'd landed on the planet without incident. So far so good...

Mira, you had something to do with this didn't you?" Tomas asked and Mira looked at him with surprised eyes, then they narrowed a little. Since when did she do pranks that knocked someone unconscious? That was completely not her style, resisting the urge to smack Tomas Mira shook her head and replaced her scowl with a fake smile.

"No ... maybe ... ok, I was the shadow and may have tossed a comlink at him," she spoke her voice filled with sarcasm and venom. A comlink didn't even have the weight to knock someone out, let alone everyone knew that she had the worst aim when throwing things then anyone else in the squad.


"And you didn't do anything when he went unconscious?" Tomas asked and Mira actually felt her eye twitch in annoyance. She also couldn't believe that Tomas was pinning this on her. Her fists curled into a fist, 'must resist the urge to kill,' she thought darkly.

"I came to the briefing and pointed out he hadn't arrived yet, did I not?" Mira spoke trying to prove that Tomas' was being ridiculous, if she knocked him out then why would she report that he was missing? She asked because she thought it was funny that him and Aleia were possibly off alone while they were suppose to be in a meeting. Which reminded her one time in the closet, they they had showed up a half hour late.....well she had, actually she showed up late a lot...should probably stop doing that.

"True, but that doesn't excuse this. Enough of this Union nonsense ... all of you," Tomas spoke seriously, making Mira growl a little, this was unacceptable to the highest degree, "C-3's got us on a landing path and we've been told we're likely to encounter turbulence on the way down so I'd suggest you all strap in."

Mira watched Tomas walk away before leaning against the wall and dropping down to sit. She had to wait a moment before following the rest of the squad, for one she was too angry to be blamed for some stupid prank that she didn't do and for one that hurt another squad member. Secondly, it seemed like everyone believed she was guilty and was giving her death glares.

Grinding her teeth a few minutes later she followed the rest of the squad, for once in her life feeling slightly alienated. Taking a deep breath she caught up to Ibram and Aleia, which was difficult for her to do.

"Ibram, listen I didn't..." she was cut off by Aleia.

"You think you're so funny don't you?" Aleia hissed taking Mira by surprise, "You went too far Mira, we're going to make sure that Tomas reprimands you for this, even if you are his favorite!"

'What?'

"You have some balls to try and apologize Mira, you'd actually think I'd accept it so easily and forgive you," Ibram added and the two of them blew by Mira leaving her standing in the hallway alone.

Tears of anger and surprise dotted her eyes, so just like that she was out of everyone's favor, for a crime she hadn't done. Turning towards the wall, she kicked it. Okay that hurt...a lot, Mire still frustrated banged her head against the wall before just standing there seething in her own anger. She was upset by Aleia and Ibram, the squad's reaction, and of course Tomas seemingly not knowing her that well. He had been on receiving end of a lot of her pranks, he should have known the pattern, or at least figured out that she had her own rules. What a jerk!

As the freighter began its landing approach, C-3PX2 stood on its bridge, overseeing the landing.

“Stop using Regular Patterns, you are going to make it obvious.” C-3Px2 said to the Auto-Navigation Computer.

“Make what Obvious?” the computer Asked.

“That we are not Mercenaries. You fly like someone fresh out of Naval Training.”

“What exactly does that mean?”

“It means, do not fly in a straight line, and do not use Imperial Standards for flight. You need to fly as if you flew for the hell of it, not as if you are hauling fighters and pilots to attack.”

“That would be reckless; this is what I was trained to do.”

“Get us Identified and Killed?”

“I Resent that. If you want to dictate so much, then you do the Landing.”

C-3PX2 walked to the piloting chair, switched off the Auto-Piloting, and took it into manual control.

“You are relived of the Landing.” C-3PX2 said boldly.

“Cold-Hearted Bastard …” the computer muttered.

“I heard that, Rustpile.” C-3PX2 replied.

C-3PX2 reached over and picked up the onboard ship communication device.

“All hands, we are beginning the Landing Approach.” He said, and then he changed the channel to communicate with the Landing Platform.

“Freighter Two-Two-Four-Niner-Echo, requesting Landing approach permission.” He said.

“Now who’s sounding too Imperial Standard?” the computer said.

“One more word out of you and you will find yourself jettisoned with cargo.” C-3PX2 replied.

The radio came back on, “Affirmative, you have clearance. You are in buffer, location three. We will notify you when you are clear to approach.” The message said.

“Copy.” C-3PX2 replied and then shut the channel off. “You think you can sit here in buffer for a bit, without the attitude?” C-3PX2 asked the computer as he got out of the seat and walked off the bridge to go find the CO.

OOC:

Edit: An error was caught in my post, so ... >.> ... <.< ... i just created an AI on board the ship's main computer.

Anden had watched through partially closed eyes as Phineus had tiredly rose from bed and then roll his eyes and stretch his neck as he turn his head the side, massaging his neck with his right hand. Throughout the night Phineus had awoken himself from his own snoring- and for most of the four hours had kept Anden up as well. Each time he heard Phin’s snores cut short he would continue in the same noise level and dull grinding sound. At some point he would probably tell his friend the truth of his sleepless night, but thought it better to save it for a later moment rather than a moment too soon.

He smiled as he watched Phineus leave there room. Yawning after the door had shut and very soon regretted not forcing himself to get at least some sleep as the stiffness in his body nearly put him in a partial body bind as he attempted to get out of bed. He did some intensive stretching, breathing deeply and letting his muscles get warmed up and loose. One thing about the space flight trips is that they usually didn’t have time to get regular exercises in. He would need to make sure that he got plenty when he got back. Just as long as it didn’t involve disgruntled Marines again.

He pulled on the top of his Military flight suit that he would be wearing on the mission. After strapping on his belt he picked up his blasters and spun them a few times, remembering that feeling he had had when Phin had thrown the can up in the air. So similar to the feeling that kept coming to him in moments he least expected it, but always when he needed it.

He wondered for a few moments as he stared down at his pistols if he could learn how to have that feeling more often. Or even, all the time. He gave a half unbelieving chuckle at how more and more silly his thoughts were becoming as he slid his guns in their holsters. He slipped his comlink and image caster  into their utility pouches he had added to his belt then grabbed his small equipment pack, slipping his arms through the straps with the pack forming neatly to the back of his flight suit

Anden walked out the door, just as Ibram and Aleia were walking by, “Hey…” he began to say. Until the look on Aleia’s face made the rest of his greeting catch in his throat. All over both of their faces was a good amount of art work.

Ibram caught his look and gave him a “don’t ask” shake of his head. He watched as the two walked down the hall way to were their room was. He wasn’t genius, but he had a pretty good feeling he knew who it was who had done the drawing.

Noticing Phineus walking in the opposite direction, he called out, “He Phin!!” he began walking towards him in a little brisker and called again, “Oui! Phineus!!” He yelled again at his wingmate. He finally caught up to him and gave him a heart slap on the back.

Phineus looked like he was concentrating hard and Anden figured that it was just some pre mission jitters. He knew how comfortable Phineus was in his TIE, perhaps this mission was just a little more daunting do to the fact that they were going to be one the ground. Phin pulled some ear plugs out of his ear turned to look at Anden.

"Hey man, been calling you for the past twenty steps." Anden let out, "Don't tell me you're thinking about that girl again? You are aren't you? Haha, I saw you tape her pictures to the wall." He said in an obvious joking manner. They had had a pretty serious conversation and he knew that Phin was really serious about the relationship he was just getting into.

His expression softened when he saw Phin’s reaction.

"Very funny." Phineus offered as a rebuttle, stuffing his C3POD into his black pockets. "You ready for today?"

Anden nodded, watching his wingmate more closely. Something was off, "Been waiting for this since we got onboard." Anden said walking along with Phineus.

"Good." Phineus said looking down.

Yeah, that was too simple of an answer. Anden thought to himself. Phineus wasn’t usually given to one word retorts. And it seemed it was going to take a bit more digging to get to the bottom of what was bothering his wing man.

"Something the matter Phin?" Anden asked quietly and sincerely. His wingman just didn’t seem to be himself. He wondered if he was just getting impatient for the mission to actually get going.

He had to admit that being on the oversized bulk freighter seemed to take away from the feeling that they were actually doing something as important as they were. But…he was sure it was something else that was bothering his friend

"It's just this feel-" Phineus began to explain but Anden didn’t get the rest of what Phineus had to say as they were interrupted by the passing of a few other of the pilots alarming them that they needed to get ready, the mission was to start very soon.

However by the time the way was clear again, Phineus had already headed of to get a quick bite to eat. With is pack already ready and having all the equipment he had brought with him he decided he would just have to ask Phineus once they had landed.

Once he got to bridge he sat in one of the chairs and strapped himself in. With how big this freighter was, he didn’t want to be unsecured when they were breaking through into the atmosphere. Sure enough the jostling began soon after Phineus had arrived and had strapped himself into the chair next to Anden.

The turbulence where a result of the both the size of the ship and flight path of the pilot, was happened to be C-3 after having relieved the one flying. Anden couldn’t tell if it was Lukas or Rocketman. Soon enough they had permission to land and the rough ride was over much sooner than it began as C-3 set the ship down with minimal shock effect considering the rate of decent they had been going at. As he unbuckled he had to admit, that kind of landing wouldn’t be easy. However, he quickly dismissed the thought of the landing as he watched Phin unbuckle and get ready to leave with the squadron.

As they left the bride and headed for the exit ramp Anden, walking beside Phin, leaned in closer to ask, “Hey Phin,…what are you thinking?”

Phin didn’t look at him for a second as they were now heading down the ramp, but said “It was nothing mate.” He said, making a sad but valiant attempt to cover up whatever it was with a smile.

“It didn’t sound like nothing.” He said, shifting the straps on his pack a little, “Something feel out of place to you?” he asked as the view of the busy city strong with smuggling activity broke into view on the open docking bay outside the huge bulk of metal they had just flew in on.

The pilots congregated outside and waited for Tomas. It was a somewhat odd feeling standing around in nothing similar to how VE pilots usually gathered. Anden only hoped they would be able to coordinate well enough with the other teams on the mission and be able to get the XO and themselves safely back to VE space.

"Mira, I'm sorry..." Tomas began, as he approached the assigned couple.

"There you go again, blindly apologizing again. You don't even know what you're doing it for. You just want some fast and easy way into my good books, and I'm sorry, Sir but it ain't happening." Mira said 'sir' with such sarcasm and malice that it made Tomas' heart temporily drop. Tomas had been trying to think of what Mira could possibly be so steamed about, but thus far had come up with nothing. He had very recently determined when the wrongs he had comitted must have happened, and rather than have Mira pissed oce again, he decided to work through his thught process out loud.

"Well...we had basically straightened out everything going on prior to the briefing ... then there was the squadron-wide confrontation in the hall when we found Ibram and now this. So unless you found something...embarrasing of mine while on your own..." Tomas paused wracking his brain for the cause of Mira's anger. "So ... it must have been something about that..."

Mira rolled her eyes as Tomas paused again, making Tomas uncomfortable in the process. Tomas was trying really hard to think of what was causing all this, but struggled as Mira seemed distant regardless. It didn't help that she continued to cuddle up nice and close to C-3PX2 and was only giving Tomas half of her attention, if that.

"Mira ... oh god," Tomas said with a strange relevation, "Mira, please tell me you were the one who knocked out Ibram."

"Pfft, finally! Of course I wasn't you numbskull. It's about time you realized that."

"Then why did you lie and pretend you did?!? If you had just said no I would've dropped it and sought another explanation. Mira I'm so sorry..."

Mira merely mumbled something and turned away, pulling C-3PX2 with her. Tomas couldn't tell if this entire event had had any effect on Mira, but instead just had to hope that space would calm her down eventually. Collecting himself, he addressed the squadron:

"Alright," Tomas began keeping his voice low, "let's split up into groups, see what kind of intel we can dig up on the objective's location." Having said this, Tomas came to a realization ... three squadron members were none to pleased with him at the moment and he was in danger of facing the streets alone. In the end he decided he hadn't spent enough time bonding with the rest of his flight and as a result approached Anden and Sicario, "Mind if I tag along?"

As the rest of the squadron headed out of the freighter, Lukas looked out to observe the planet's surroundings, which wasn't too bad looking for a planet like this. He began his walk down the ramp and to the planet's surface, ready to join the rest of the squad in beginning this crucial mission.

After all of the bickering that has gone on inside the freighter, it felt good to finally focus on the rescue of the XO. Everyone needed some space from each other in some form of manner, just to get everyone in an even keel and focused. After hearing Tomas's latest commands, Lukas turned around to see which group to head off with. He had bonded with so many within his squad, but who to chose? Well, that was already chosen as he heard Ibram's directions to those who are to head out and to those who were to stay behind and monitor things from the freighter.

Unfortunately, Lukas was one of the ones that stayed behind. He nodded to the commands of his officer and headed back inside the freighter, awaiting for some orders to come around so he and the rest of the group could help the others in this mission. Sure, he was disappointed that he wasn't going out in the field, but this was just as important. If there was anything that was to help his friends, then it will be done.

Anden didn’t get to hear the reason why Phineus had looked unsure about the mission. This time the interruption came from a loud and very angry voice coming from just inside the Bulk Freighter, followed shortly by Tomas coming tumbling down the ramp way.

“Holy Frak….” Anden thought to himself as Mira came storming down the ramp after him. Anden had known that the two had been a couple and he had hoped a moment like this would not happen, especially on such a crucial mission. He was more than happy to let Tomas and Mira be together- but this…this could blow the whole operation.

He glanced at Phineus for a moment raising an eyebrow, then went and helped Tomas up as Mira walked over to C-3. Tomas barely recognized him helping due to his attention being so attached to Mira- the girl he loved. Anden didn’t believe what he was hearing.

“High command saying that C-3 and Mira were to be a married couple?” Anden thought to himself, “You’ve got to be kidding…”

He had to admit that C-3 was just about the most intelligent, most sophisticated droid he had ever heard of, but this was going a little too far. He slowly took steps back to join again with Phineus who was even more awestruck by this odd turn of events on the mission that he was standing there mouth-wide-open like a gooberfish. Without taking his eyes off the scene before them Anden gently raised a hand to push up on Phin’s chin with two fingers to close his mouth.
.

"Mira, I'm sorry..." Anden could faintly hear Tomas struggle to say, as he approached Mira who was now attached to C-3’s arm.

She wasn’t about to have any of that from Tomas. What transpired next Anden couldn’t fully make out as Tomas seemed to almost be talking to himself. Anden guessed he was trying to work out why exactly Mira was so upset. Finally Mira walked off with a sort of finality and Tomas looked momentarily uncomfortable before addressing the rest of the squadron.

"Alright," his voice still low, "let's split up into groups, see what kind of intel we can dig up on the objective's location."

As the rest of the squadron dispersed in separate groups Tomas came over to Anden and Phineus, "Mind if I tag along?" He asked with a confident smile.

Anden gave a quick glanced and they both nodded together. It was Phin who answered, “Sure thing.” He said then shaking a finger at him, “Don’t be getting into any trouble though….” He said in a semi sarcastic tone.

He couldn’t help letting a laugh escape and he knew it wouldn’t be every mission where they would have been able to get away with that. After all, they were supposed to be posing as smugglers for as long as they could.

Tomas walked back a little bit to address the whole of the Squadron.

“Ok everyone, lets get going. Ibram, Aleia, as you know you’ve got the Warehouses. Me, Phin and Anden will be taking the Market District. Mira, and C-3, you will head over to what passes for an administration building here. Lukas, Rocket and Zane…I don’t want to leave you guys out of the loop, but we need some people to guard the Minotaur. Should anyone discover the TIE’s on board, we’re screwed – take turns at watching the area, but at the same time, make sure those TIE’s are ready for launch, especially the NXO’s Defender. I think there’s some maintenance Droids in storage to help you guys. Any questions?”

Anden raised his hand. “Sir, what do we do once we locate the Admiral?” he asked. He figured that they would need to wait until Task Force Alpha had entered the system and began their operations.

“Well, we can’t do anything until Task Force Alpha jump in and starts causing havoc, but once they’re in system, we bust the admiral as soon as we find him. We all need to work together in this one, so when one team finds the location, you transmit it to the nearest team. Once confirmation has been received that the Admiral is out, we all break for the freighter, and orbit.”

Tomas assigned Rocketman, Zane and Lukas to stay with the freighter to make sure that it stayed clear of inspections to help them keep their cover for as long as possible. After naming off the teams he looked around giving everyone one last encouraging smile.

“We may not have trained explicitly for this, but we can do it. Let’s show these pirates that we don’t have to fly for them to die. Move out.”

They all went there ways, heading out to go locate the NXO. The three of them, Tomas, Phineus and himself made their way to the Market Center. It was a lot bigger than Anden had anticipated it to be. He was sure there might be someone they could find that might know something. A captured high ranking officer was sure to get the notice of some low life in this city of smugglers.

Anden checked out some of the mechanic and ship equipment vendors when they passed by, pretending to look seriously but really just listening around to what others were saying. Phin and Tomas were just a little ways away.

“I’m telling you…the thing has a shipment capacity beyond anything I have ever had.” A very short and very excited pock faced guy was telling another man just a few feet away from Anden. “You have got to come check it out, at least take a look at it. Come on…I promise..THIS is the ship we are looking for.” The shorter man said as he pulled out a small very andoutdated data pad.

The other man did not seem as easily persuaded as the smaller man with a face that looked like a miniature meteor shower had targeted his red face. The other man was huge, to put it bluntly. Border lined massive guy standing well over six feet where an over sized pair of well worn mechanic attire. It was probably the only thing the guy could find to wear that would actually fit his over sized body.

“Ah…here it is…docking bay 65. The owner said that he would only keep it up for us for a little while longer.” He said even more excitedly.

He couldn’t help but wonder if the ship was as good as it was being played up to be, and apparently the human bulldozer was thinking the same thing but gave in and walked off after the shorter man.

Anden walked back over to Tomas and Phin, as he walked up to them he saw a man walking away from the two of them “I found nothing that would help us get what we need.” He said to them, “So I hope that guy had something useful to tell you.”

“Heh…that’s because you were too busy googly-eyeing the heep of mechanic junk over there…” Phin said, throwing a light punch at him. “…And yes he did have something.”

“That’s right” Tomas said turning to walk in the opposite direction that the man they had just spoken with left, “Let’s go and see if the information is any good.” He said smiling.

“What are the chances that it’s not” Anden asked as Phin and he followed after Tomas, navigating through the crowds.

Tomas paused for a moment as they came up beside him and looked as he was getting his bearings, softly he leaned towards them and asked in reply to Anden’s question, “how are you with those pistols Anden?”

Phin smirked and thought for a moment of the credits he had won earlier from Anden, “Good enough.”

Tomas nodded and accepted that, “Good.”

It was enough for Anden. If Tomas thought that he would need to use his guns then he obviously was sure that they were heading in for a possible trap. They followed the instructions that the man had given to Tomas and Phin.

Tomas pulled the two of them aside before they got to the restaurant they had been directed to, “Now, when we get there Anden I want you to ask the guy at the door ‘You play sabbacc here’?,  when he leads us in you take him out and anyone else you can-“ he said specifically to Anden, “.. and we will do the rest.” He said with a nod to Phin.

Phin gave a confident nod and a sly smile and Anden hoped Tomas new what they were getting into.

“Just make sure they guy who is wearing the old republic uniform doesn’t have any one to back him up…and it would hurt if he was hurtin’ too...” Tomas finished after giving them a few more instructions on what to do after they got in.

With that they rounded the corner that took them into the edge of the market center, and walked nonchalantly up to the Restaurant. It was not anything what Anden had been expecting. It was little more than large house made into a place to eat.

Anden, in front walked up to a man leaning against the wall, looking very much like a low key security guard, “You play sabbacc here?” he asked.

The guy took a steady glance at both Phin and Tomas behind Anden, then nodded to him and led them inside. Once they walked inside the door shut behind them with a man standing on each side of the door. At a table in he back of the smoke filled main room was the man in uniform with three men surrounding him. Directly to the group of three’s left and right were another two men.

Anden counted his steps 8…9…10, and at ten he pulled out both his pistols at the same time and launched forward, smacking the guard who had brought them in on the head with muzzle of the blaster in his right hand.

As the man crumpled to the ground and could see the three men at the table with the head man pull out their own weapons. He didn’t catch what they were armed with as he tucked into a somersault and came up somewhat awkwardly with his pistols blazing, taking out two of the men at the table. The commotion of a brawl breaking out behind him could be heard and then came a medium explosion off to his right. The shockwave from the last knocked Anden over causing the last man to miss him as he fired before being knocked over himself.

Recovering faster than the other Anden put a solid three shots in the man then searched quickly for the man in the republic uniform. He jumped out from behind the table and fired two shots one hitting Anden in the left shoulder as he raised his right arm, gritting his teeth from the shot he took in the shoulder. He took careful aim and fired three shots and all hit their targets, one in both the right and left shoulder and the other at his right side.

The man screamed as he went down spinning from the force of the last shot to his hip and melted to the floor. As his screams died silence filled the room. Anden looked to see Phin standing over a man in a crouched position looking like a predator ready to attack, sliding a sword back into it’s scabbard. Tomas was holstering his own blaster pistol and disarming frag grenade as he put it back into his equipment pack. At least he knew where the blast came from.

Tomas walked over to the man and kicked his blaster pistol away from him and even though Anden was he was in no condition to use it he knew it was a smart precaution.

“I figure you know why we are here.” Tomas said as he kneeled down beside the gray haired man, “…so start talking.” Tomas said in a seriously dangerous tone.

The man only smiled then said, “Blow to hell…you imp pig.” He said then started coughing. Tomas grabbed the man by the hair and back handed him across the face.

“Tell us….or I will really give you another reason to cough.” Tomas threatened.

Anden and Phin had taken up positions at the door and to the side of the windows to make sure they didn’t get any unexpected company. Anden wasn’t sure if any reinforcements of the smuggler lord would be coming, but he would rather not be caught off guard. He took a moment to check the blaster shot wound. It would be minimal due to the military flight suite he was wearing. But it would still be a pain, especially flying back out to the Atrus. He did a quick patch up of the wound in then went back to watching out for the reinforcements.

Tomas was busy trying to get information of the whereabouts of the NXO, and then Phin’s datapad beeped an incoming message.

“Tomas…you might want to take a look at this.” Phin said with urgency in his voice.
The message read:

===============================================

[i] TFA and Naz are tearing the place up out there. C-3 has confirmed they are already boarding the frigate. NXO located. Warehouse sector. Block B – Storehouse F7, Team Union enroute for the pick up. Calling for all return home.

Queen Ninja
===============================================


Tomas read the message and then wasted no time in going back to the man, “Thanks for nothing,” he said shortly before crashing the end of his pistols grip against the mans cranium, then walked back to Anden and Phin and to the door.

Anden spun one of the pistols in his hand and have Phin a smile and a nod, “This is where the fun begins.”

“All right,…lets move.” Tomas said leading the way back into the streets.

* After Departing the Freighter *

C-3PX2 and Mira walked off the Freighter, and looked around. Their objective was to locate the Administration facility, and gather Intel onto the location of the NXO. The squadron had decided that it would be best to split up, to make sure that the most areas were covered.

Mira looked over to him and said, “You think those guy will be able to keep their cover back at the freighter?”

“They can handle it; it is unlikely that anyone will decide to try to search it.” C-3Px2 said, while scanning the area.

“True, anything on the scanners?”

“Not much, a lot of interference around here for some reason.”

“Could there be a Jammer station nearby?”

“Possibly, which could help us in our search. Trace the jamming back to its source and find the XO.”

They continued to walk towards what was labeled as the Administration building. Slowly they walked into an area with more people in it, though he was unaware how they would be able to blend into the crowd. They slowly walked around, trying not to attract too much attention, until they made their way towards the Administration Building. When they arrived to it, they pressed a button on a wall panel and when the door opened walked inside.

They walked up to the main service desk in the building, manned by one mercenary looking type.

“Yea?” the merc asked.

“We are here to check in our freighter for refueling.” Mira said.

“Ship name and location.”

“The Minotaur, located on  ...” she began to say.

“Ah that thing, yea, we watched it touchdown. Pretty big size, what you hauling?”

“Nothing Special, just the standard cargo.”

“Right … here’s what fueling will cost you.” The merc said as he handed her a piece of paper.

She looked onto the piece of paper and it said, “I got info, meet outside in 10 minutes.”

“Reasonable.” she said with a grin, and then handed him a data pad.

“Alright, we will send the fueling crew over to it in a short bit.” The merc said.

Then exited the building and contacted the freighter.

“Minotaur, Ninja. There is a refueling crew coming your way, let them fuel not search.” C-3PX2 said over comm.

“Right, do not shoot them until they cause trouble. Copy.” The AI said.

C-3PX2 closed the channel, and Mira looked at him strangely.

“Who was that?” she asked.

“An AI I created to pilot the freighter, its got a stupid sense of humor, but it does its job well.” C-3PX2 said.

“Right… well hopefully any minute that merc will be here.”

“This could be a trap, we should be cautious.”

“True, but this could also lead us towards the XO, so we will wait.” Mira said boldly.

“Aleia! Get down!”

Ibram dived, tackling Aleia and sending the two of the sprawling down a side alley. Up ahead, a T-95 strafed the space where they were just standing, its tracer rounds scoring the ground. Up ahead, a group of pirates had barricaded the door to the Warehouse where they were keeping the Admiral.

Ibram got up, and poked his head around the corner. A flurry of laser rounds greeted him.

“Are you ok?” He asked as Aleia slowly got up off the ground.

“Fine, thanks for the save.” She said. Picking up the blaster that had fallen to the floor, she took up position by Ibram, and started firing back at the pirates.

“They’ve locked the entrance down tight.” She said. “Even if that Skyhopper wasn’t strafing us half the time, we’d be hard pressed in getting through that lot.” She saw a guy poking his head out from behind a box, and shot him in the face.

Ibram looked up, and saw the T-95 circling around for a better shot.

Gak it, I wish I had  my TIE around about now.

The T-95 shot at them again, hitting the buildings that surrounded them and causing dents and holes in the walls.

“Frak!” Aleia shouted as a piece of burning hot shrapnel hit her arm. “We need to do something about that damn Hopper?”

“Right, I’ll get out the Rocket Launcher I keep in my pocket.” Ibram commented. He shot another pirate in the arm.

The T-95 kept circling them, taking pot-shots at them whilst the pirates kept them at bay. There hiding place was slowly being chipped away behind them.

“Frak, can’t the others lend us a hand?” Aleia shouted as the SkyHopper soared overhead once more.

“It’s not looking good, Mira and C-3 are making their way back towards the Minotaur, And the Skipper’s team has run into trouble by the Markets. We’re on our own.”

Just as he said that, they both heard a clunk and saw a grenade land right by them.

“Oh G-“ It exploded, sending the two pilots flying and filling their world with white.

Ibram felt dizzy, disorientated, and he couldn’t see. His hearing was fuzzy and he couldn’t move. There was only one other time he had felt this helpless, and that had been when he had held is ex-fiancée’s dead body in his hands. It was the worst feeling in the world.

As his vision began to return to him, he saw Aleia lying right beside him, also dazed. The stun grenade has been well placed. Ibram knew that more trouble was soon to follow, and so fought desperately to get on his feet. No sooner had he managed to prop himself up against a railing, then the grizzled bearded face of a mercenary popped his head round the corner to see what had happened to the two pilots. He got a laser bolt to the eyes.

For some reason no other enemies emerged, so Ibram groggily went over to Aleia to try and get her on her feet. His hearing must have still been dodgy because he could swear he could a loud screeching noise.

“Aleia…you have to get up….Aleia.” He tried to shake her, but his strength was still faulty. His data pad beeped.

==============================================
Hold tight.
==============================================

Ibram read the message, it had originated from the Minotaur.

What the Gak?

Ibram looked up and saw an Imperial TIE fighter screech over head. The T-95, which was in the middle of banking round for another pass, was caught un-aware and disintegrated as the TIE’s laser’s tore into it.

“Need a hand sir?” Rocketman’s voice came over the com channel. Ibram grinned.

“I’m I glad to see you Crewman, what’s the story?”

Rocketman’s TIE swerved around, and began strafing the Pirates guarding the door.

“Viper 12 is manning the communications on the Minotaur, he picked up that you were in trouble. I took an executive decision and came over to help you guys out.”

“Thank the stars for Executive decisions, but that means our cover has been blown prematurely.” Ibram looked over at Aliea, who had by this time stood up, and was trying to shake the dizziness from her head.

“Have 12 message the others and tell them the situation, then get him into his fighter so that the two of you can protect the Minotaur. Have 6 get the camouflage off all of the fighters, and get the droids to prep them for launch. We’ll be along with the Admiral shortly.”

“Yes sir, 11 out.” Rocket’s TIE finished it’s sweep off the barricade, and flew off back towards the hanger. New alarm sirens were going of all over the place.

“You ok?” he asked Aleia.

“I’m bored, let’s go fetch the old man, shall we?”

Walking over the pile of charred and broken bodies, the two pilots got to work on the door that stood between them and their objective.

An AI I created to pilot the freighter, its got a stupid sense of humor, but it does its job well.” C-3PX2 said.

“Right… well hopefully any minute that merc will be here.”

“This could be a trap, we should be cautious.”

“True, but this could also lead us towards the XO, so we will wait.” Mira said boldly, 'Funny I never thought of creating an AI, I mean I've reprogrammed droids no problem, maybe that's what Tomas erm Commanding Officer Dagoram, meant by getting some new hobbies."

"AI are much more complex then droids," C-3 said.

"I like a challenge."

"Very well."

"So you can't eat?" Mira asked curiously clinging onto C-3's arm to act out the whole man/woman marriage thing going on between them.

"No."

"You can't drink?"

"No."

"Not even Rum and coke?"

"Negative."

"That sucks," Mira answered and was silent for a second, if I droid could look relieved then C-3 was. "What about sex?"

"No, and I would think it would be highly inappropriate, even if that was possible between a droid and a human, due to our ranks," C-3 spoke not missing a beat.

Mira's eyes went wide, "What, no, no, no, gross!" she replied wrinkling her nose, "Please I like my men, you know, warm, not metal, and yeah alive, and having a soul."

"Most men have no soul, so what's the difference?"

"Well," Mira's brow's wrinkled, 'Not all of them. It must be weird, not having emotions, don't they have programs now that allow droid to have some sort of emotions?"

"Emotions would only get in the way of the mission, I use you and Commanding Officer Dagoram as an example, many times the secret relationship between you two could have jeopardized a mission.."

'But it didn't!"

'Don't interrupt, the reason I bring this up is because you two have the problem of using emotions to decide situations. While I without such emotions can chose the most tactical and safe measures for a battle plan. When flying I feel no fear, panic, or adrenaline, not having those basic human emotions gives our squad the advantage against enemies."

"Still sounds soo boring," Mira sighed, "Yeah being human we're angry, we want to destroy crap, and keep making horrible movies that become box office hits, but we're good too. There's just something sweet and pure about love. Just finding complete joy in seeing someone smile, thinking how lucky you are when you wake up beside him, that quirky smile," Mira then frowned shaking her head, "I'm not really one to explain it."

'Things will work through with you and Commanding Officer Dagoram."

"Was that you trying to comfort a human?" Mira asked smirking just a little.

"No, obviously you and Commanding Officer Dagoram have unfinished business and human tend to like to torture themselves."

"Oh sweetie you sure do know how to pick a girl's spirits up and woo the pants off of her," Mira said sarcastically rolling her eyes, "geez this guy is taking forever what's taking so long?"

“You ok?” he asked Aleia.

“I’m bored, let’s go fetch the old man, shall we?”

Ibram smiled.


God I love her personality

Ibram thought as the pair stepped over the smoked charred bodies. Aleia seemd just as uneffected as he was and that..was a good thing as far as Ibram was concerned.

Aleia blew a deep breath threw her lips as she  went to the door panael. Clicking open the wired panel she looked at thehornets nest of wires.

"What the.... It's not even organised...."

She yelled with irritation. Ibram leaned it close to her and took her hand in his for a moment to calm her down. His eyes looked  over the nightmare.


Great.. This is going to be a bit of a job then I thought...


Outloud..


"Well whoever built this was sloppy.. but it's working as a deteroation.. Don't worry hun.. I know you can do it.."


He whispered to her before leaning in more and givign her a kiss on the side of her face. Aleia felt the heat rush up and only could squeese her hand in his for an answer before pulling away to start going threw the wires to find the right ones.


"Still.. if I pull the wrong one we could be  here for a very long time.."


God only knew  if the thing wasn't wire to exploade either at them or on the other side.

Lukas was running all over the place as he finished up the meeting with Zane and Rocket. It was nuts to think that taking one of the fighters to help the rest of the group would evenutally blow the cover, but it was a risk that Rocket was willing to make in this point in time. With some time, the three got Rocket's TIE uncovered and prepped for launch. Lukas ran with a couple of the droids towards the main controls and opened up the main cargo doors to allow the TIE clearance to launch out of the freighter.

It was a wild scene, but all was calm for a few moments while Rocket took care of some interference. Lukas took a deep breath and paced a bit as he headed back to the cargo bay to clean things up and make sure that the other TIEs were still under the camoflauge. The last few moments were exciting, to say the very least, but it was also good to get some rest for what was up ahead. The cargo bay was a bit messy, but it took no time at all once the droid helped in the clean-up.

Unfortunately, that didn't last long as he felt his datapad buzzing from an incoming message. Lukas took out his datapad and looked at the message that Zane had left for him. He read it very quickly as it was going to disappear in any moment, but the message was very clear. At that, Lukas's voice boomed out towards the droids.

"Hey, guys, prep the Fighters for launch now!"

The droids responded to the message as he began to topple the boxes and remove the netting that covered the Fighters. The noises that came from the falling material didn't distract him much as he hurried himself as fast as he could to reveal the TIEs in their full glory. The droids had instantly engaged the main startup system within each TIE as the process continued to take place. A couple of the droids assistance in the revelation of the Fighters, which went without a hitch. Lukas was very happy with that.

Zane went past Lukas as he finished with his part of the situation, nodding to him as he walked past.

"Fulfiller, stay with the Freighter and monitor everything from here. I'm heading out with Rocket."

"No problem."

With a couple of the droids in tow, Lukas once again headed towards the cockpit and opened up the doors again, letting Zane's Fighter out with no incident. With the doors closing behind them, Lukas turned towards the radar ro make sure that no one or no fighter was making their way towards here. If there was, he would be ready for them. He had overheard some of the conversation between the pilots, and that was okay just in case on any enemies that would come their way.

Sure, Lukas was a little nervous about that, but he had to make sure that nothing fell apart from this part in the mission. Nothing.