Face jumped out of the hidden compartment and fell several metres onto the hangar floor, the other Nexus following quickly behind. Regaining his feet, he took a moment to gather his bearings.
The hangar was an utterly huge, nearly empty space, the only markers of life were the several hundred metre long carrier above them, now resting on its port side, its nose pointing nearly back the way they came in, back to the hangar entrance. The flooring between here and there was charred and chewed up, great scars gouged into the metal hull, marking the course of the crash.
As the last Nexu dropped down, he led them to the nearby exit. It was locked, as they had expected, but Zatt made quick work of it, overriding the security. They rushed in and locked the door behind them. As it shut, Face just saw the first emergency responders rushing towards the ship, ready to put out the fires.
'So,' said Face casually, 'anyone need the refresher before we start?' he grinned as they groaned. He looked at them, one by one. It was strange, and somewhat alarming, to see them all in First Order uniforms and stormtrooper armour - ones they had pilfered from the carrier. And aside from looking uncomfortable in their new clothing, they all looked like he felt: very shaken and relieved. He didn't have the luxury of being honest about that, though. Had to set an example. There was a nervous energy there, too. An anticipation of what was to come. 'Everyone check your supplies, make sure you have everything.'
As they did so, he laid out the plan. He knew they knew, but he knew how much it helped to ground soldiers by reminding them of what they did know, in the face of the unknown that lay ahead. 'Kai, Rana, Vix, Twitch, you're on distraction duty.'
'Boom?' said Kai enthusiastically, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
'Boom duty,' agreed Face somberly. Send them every which way you can, keep them on their feet and away from our asses.'
'They should be so lucky to be following mine,' grinned Vix.
Ka'iulani leaned towards him, rested a hand on his large arm. 'Just so you know,' she said kindly, 'I requested to be on whatever team you weren't.'
'Is that so that you could watch me walk away?' Vix retorted, undaunted, 'can't blame you for wanting the view.' Ka'iulani shook her head and sighed.
'Settle down, you two,' said Face patiently. He had known both a long time, knew they were not being entirely serious, but he couldn't afford things to take a wrong turn. Desperate situations tended to do put pressure on you, make you react differently than you normally would. 'We meet back here on my signal,' he continued. He nodded to the others. 'Zatt, Fenn, Ka'iulani, you're with me. All ready?' when he received nods from each one, he said to them, 'you know the music. Time to dance.'
And with that, he led his team down the corridor. The other followed for a while, before taking a path that branched off, heading deeper into the core of the station. Face, for his part, led his team up, always up, heading to the command levels.
For a station of that size, it felt strangely empty. The few that they did run into, for the most part ignored them. Some gave Zatt odd glances. Face was sure that there were non-humans serving in the ranks of the First Order, but he doubted there were many, and he had had the twins scale down some stormtrooper armour for her. He supposed those passing crew had never seen a stormtrooper as short as her before. That reminded him of a story Luke had told him once, and he made a mental note to tell Luna about it. She'd get such a kick out of another story about her hero.
In their exploration, they had found a data hub, and Zatt spend no time downloading the schematics to the station, which made this part of the job that much quicker, and after she was done he had her send a copy to Vix's datapad, too.
