The Knave's Crusade

Spadework: 11

Tels fiddled with the panels of the modified Nu ship, the tarnished window protected them from the vastness of space, it was dull. No planets, nebulas, or anything were in view as they floated around. Kulan sat by Tels with a concerned look, he tapped his foot the whole time while they waited. Bankole impatiently paced behind the two, swearing under her breath.

"This is Tech, we're finally come through the hyperspace jump," informed the clone over the comm.

Tels replied, "That's perfect. Do we need to connect ships to give you more food?"

"That might be a good thing. Wrecker accidently lost some of the supplies on Anaxes," Tech answered, you could hear him roll his eyes.

The ships were lined up carefully, then the entries were connected through the sliding metal contraption. Hunter was the first to enter with Omega and Wrecker on his heels, and finally Tech and Echo came through. Bankole stared Hunter down as he shuffled in to find a place to sit with Omega on his hip.

Hunter looked up from his spot while Omega sat comfortably next to him "What do you want to talk about?"

"Why are you working with you, traitors?" demanded Bankole.

Echo defended them, "First of all we're not traitors. The Empire tried to kill us first, so it was self-defense."

Bankole folded her arms. "Doesn't matter now. What's the mission, Hunter?"

"So, you know my name." Hunter replied with amusement in his voice, "Essentially, we're going to gather resources for Sid."

"First of all, whose Sid and how does this affect the Tempest?" inquired Bankole.

"Sid will pay us currency and you will receive weapons that will be given to the Tempest from Sid," explained Hunter, Omega nodded with each word.

Tels interrupted while she stood up, "Whose Sid, don't avoid it?"

"She's an informant like Tempest," riposted Tech, irritation laced his voice.

"This droid won't leave me alone," complained Wrecker as Frank ran into him.

Tels ran over and moved Frank away. "I'm so sorry about that! Frank can be a little aggressive with strangers."

Wrecker scratched the back of his head. "It's alright, I was trying to play with him."

"Frank is off his rocker," added in Kulan, humor glimmered in his eyes.

Wrecker pushed back the droid playfully, so Franks cooed in a series of beeps. Then, Frank ran into Wrecker who went "boo" to him. Frank zoomed behind Tels, hiding in her shadow and peered from behind her legs.

Kulan approached Hunter and Tech to give them the extra black container of dried food. It was scentless and weighed almost nothing when Kulan brought it from the back of the ship. Omega hopped off of Hunter's lap to help Kulan.

"Thank you, Mr. Kulan. This will help a lot," gratefully said Omega.

Kulan went to stand by Echo who gave Jal a nod. The two spoke to each other in hushed voices, waiting for Bankole to stop interrogating Hunter. In the chaos Tels shook her head with Tech agreeing with her.

Hunter reluctantly accepted, "Okay, Bankole. We'll travel behind you till we get to Alderaan."

"We're going there?!" Tels almost shouted in disbelief, "The Empire is most certainly there."

Tech adjusted his goggles atop his head. "You'll be surprised since their presence is minimal. It's mostly marketing and non-violent branches of the Empire."

"We need to set course as soon as possible," dictated Bankole, who went to the cockpit.

Hunter declared, "We should depart then. Thank you for the food."

"No problem," called out Tels while she tried to shoo away Frank.

Echo, Tech, Wrecker, and Omega left the ship leaving Kulan to close the door and to detach the Marauder. Tels wiped off the seat as she sat to pilot the ship with Bankole pulling up a map. Tels politely thanked her and knew where they were going.

"Kulan, I owe you one," called out Tels, "Tell me what stars we'll be passing by."

Kulan argued, "Is this really the time to be going over the material for my exam."

"Anytime is." proclaimed Tels, her eyes glued to the void before her, "We've been lacking in your study time."

"Yes, ma'am," Kulan returned and recounted the stars that they would pass by and not hit.

Bankole leaned back and folded her arms. "What's your relationship to Jal?"

"I'm his private tutor. I see him more as a friend though," acknowledged Tels.

"That's nice," quietly said Bankole.

In the noise of Kulan, Tels questioned, "Do you prefer to be called Bankole or Pascal? I didn't know your first name until now, so I wasn't sure."

"Bankole."

Tels gave Bankole a knowing dip of her chin and kept guiding the ship through the darkness. Tech flew their ship close behind to not lose them. In the back row of seats Kulan settled down with a book he found with Frank in the seat next to him. They kept traveling to Alderaan with their goal in mind.