Where they are now:
In the time of the Empire, and the Old Republic before that, Bastion was a thriving industrial powerhouse on the far end of the Braxant Run hyperspace route, which meant it had direct access to the Mid Rim and Core Worlds for trade, but distant enough that it could resist serious oversight from distant regional powers, and for the most part was only nominally a part of both the Old Republic and the Empire. This fact was helped by several space anomalies made it difficult to traverse through that sector, if you didn't have good local knowledge, and the planet's own geography, its access to rich ore deposits and small but steady supply of tibana gas meant that it was more than capable of defending itself, earning itself the name of Bastion. In the years after the fall of the Empire, it had fallen silent, all contact and trades ceasing practically overnight. The New Republic had sent envoys to discover the cause of this - both to answer a mystery, and to perhaps coax the planet into joining the fledgling union. Those envoys had disappeared. The military had wanted to follow up with a more forceful investigation, but the New Republic, in its infancy, had bigger fish to fry, and ones far closer to home. In time, it was forgotten by most, but every so often some would wonder what had happened.
'The First Order,' said Face simply. 'The First Order happened.'
'I can see that,' supplied Ro'vena, looking at the salon's holomap. 'Goddess,' she cursed.
Face was tempted to join her swearing - adding to the numerous bouts of cursing he had already done, and not just because of the Zatt situation. Ka'iulani could have chosen a better target. The Nexu's tentative long range investigations had told them that the planet had an entire network of orbital weapons platforms, a planetary shield with heavily fortified shield gates, as well as several space docks where at least half a dozen star destroyers were stationed. Some, Face noted with grim satisfaction, had severe battle damage. But others, unfortunately, seemed fully operational with not even a scratch. He hoped that suggested the ships were as yet untested in battle and thus had a lack of experience that could be exploited, and not because they had won their battles so overwhelmingly that the enemy had died before even getting a shot off. The former. Definitely the former, he decided suddenly, not caring if he was right. He knew how doubt could cripple you before you even began, and so decided tobe optimistic and just believe in the more forgiving option. He looked around the table, at the rest of his Nexus, and it was hard to maintain that optimism.
'It'll be fine,' he said cheerfully. 'We're not going to be going in, guns blazing. We'll be sneaking in, no engaging at all.'
'No boom,' Kai said sadly, resting his chin on the table.
'Maybe some boom,' Face said gently, and Kai's ears perked up. 'But only as a cover.'
'Twitch doesn't like this,' said Twitch, in Rodian.
'Got to say I agree, Face,' said Vix. 'They're not exactly welcoming of my kind - of any of ours. Walking in there is just asking to get enslaved.'
'Yeah,' Face said slowly. He had heard, as had the others, General Hux's screeds and diatribes, sent almost daily on all radio frequencies, bemoaning the New Republic's 'depravity' of daring to be welcoming to other species, of treating them equally to humans and with respect. Face almost expected this Hux boy to finish his speeches with 'icky icky awiens', and then throwing his toys at the screen, Face found Hux's worldview to be that immature and self-centred. But he had heard, too, thanks to their time at the listening station, of the First Order enslaving entire populations of non humans, sending them to concentration and forced labour camps. 'I have no idea what it's like to fear being targeted because of my species,' he said to them, 'And I'm just asking myself, how could I ask them to walk, willingly, into that place? And the only answer is - I can't. We need to ditch our fighters for this mission, and if anyone wants to sit this one out to keep an eye on them then I completely understand. No hard feelings.'
'Now hold on,' said Vix quickly, 'I'm not saying I'm not going. I signed up to go into dangerous situations. It's where I'm most comfy,' he looked sideways to Tarrik, and gave him a wink. 'Well, second place I'm most comfy.' Tarrik blushed. 'It's just,' he pointed to the holomap. 'Yikes.'
Ro'vena leaned forward and punched a few buttons at the base of the holoprojector. The map zoomed in on the long line of ship flying through space towards Bastion. A few more taps on the controls brought up the ships' registries. Ro'vena frowned. 'I thought so,' she murmured, and then louder, 'look at these freight ships. They're from all over the place. Corellia, Coruscant, Cato Neimoidia, Duro-'
'Figures,' Garan interrupted. 'They hate us but they can't function without us. Big surprise.'
Ro'vena nodded. 'Precisely. It may not be so strange to see non-humans on Bastion. If we're lucky, we might go unnoticed.'
'So then it looks like Ka'iulani's plan is a go?' Face made it into a question because he wanted to be sure he has everyone's full support.
The others looked at the holomap, no doubt trying to think of any other issues that might pop up. There were still plenty of unanswered questions, Face knew: without foreknowledge of how things are, planetside, it was almost impossible to sign on completely to a vague, brush-stroked plan. But the finer details, he knew, would come later, once they had made landfall. Besides, there was a certain flare to Ka'iulani's plan that appealed to him. Slowly, one by one, the others nodded their ascent.
'That's settled, then,' said Face, keying off the holoprojector. 'The plan is a go.'
Where they will be:
The Nexu's Nest drifted slowly up to the star destroyer, the capital ship's tractor beam bringing it into its massive hangar. Beside it, the First Order command shuttle that was being flown by Garan and Kai struggled, trying to break free of the tractor beam's hold, but it was just too strong and eventually it, too, yielded and began floating up.
Face turned to Ka'iulani, sat in the co-pilot's seat beside him. 'Do you have a plan B?' he asked weakly.
