Landing

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Face and Garan made their way down the Nest's boarding ramp and surveyed the starport. Or rather, what little they could see. They had chosen to land on the night side of the planet, thinking that the night shift would be crewed by less alert individuals and so face less scrutiny. That had often been Face's experience, but then again his experience was with a somewhat different military power, thirty years ago. Perhaps these First Order officials would prove to be a different kind of monster.

Face noted that only a few in house mechanics were at work, and even then they seemed to be more hardly working than working hard. The other ships, however, and there were a good few in this open plan hangar, seemed to be just as alive now as they probably were in the day. That was often the way with freight crews - from hauling cargo one side of the galaxy to the other, spacers rarely bothered to sync up their time to the local system and instead preferred to operate on their own schedule. Face just had time to notice one of the other crews nearby eyeing them up before a jovial looking man in First Order uniform came trotting up to them.

'ID, manifest and passport,' he said to Face, by way of greeting. He smiled politely.

'Ah,' Face coughed politely. 'You'll be wanting to talk to cap'n' Garan about that, sir,' he said, waving towards Garan, who stood rigidly to attention beside him.

'Ah,' said the official, who didn't smile at Garan. 'ID, manifest and passport, spacer,' the official hefted a datapad, stylus poised at the ready.

Garan handed over documents for the first two, then added, 'Captain D'morr of the Star Destroyer Terror didn't give us a passport, but ordered us to come here immediately, with a cargo of droids and flight boxes, as well as scrap from a battle, to give them to,' he paused. 'What was the office called, Larry?' he asked Face. From his slightly widened eyes Face knew he'd forgotten that part of their cover story. Unfortunately, so had Face.

'Ah, yes,' said Face, 'the office of...naval...intelligence?'

The port official frowned. 'There's no such place in Berris City.'

'Ah, said Face quickly, 'so we were told, but we were also told to come here because Naval Intelligence has outsourced work to a droid manufacturer?'

'Oh yes, I'd heard that,' nodded the port official, who'd heard no such thing. 'Probably want Lypex's Wares. Old droids, I'd expect?'

'Certainly,' said Face coolly, 'the New Republic is too cheap to buy new,' he laughed, and the port official joined him. Even Garan chuckled a bit.

'Well this is a pain,' said the port official, settling down from his laugh and into a grumble. 'Bloody Navy can't be bothered to fill out the paperwork so I have to.'

'I'm more than happy to follow up on that, personally,' Garan offered, who didn't sound at all happy. 'I can file the proper papers first thing tomorrow morning and have the office forwarded to you. I'm used to dealing with this sort of thing.'

'Yes, I expect you are,' said the official in a tone that didn't sit well with Face. He glanced at Garan, and was relieved to see the Duros maintaining his sabacc face, just standing there patiently. The official scrawled something on his datapad and handed the documents to Face. 'Be sure that you do,' he said, and left without another word.

The two waited until the were back at the top of the ramp before heaving a sigh of relief. 'Didn't even bother to inspect the merchandise,' Face noted.

'So sloppy,' replied Garan. 'How are they winning?'

'Beats me,' said Face and waved to Vix, who was sat in the centre of the cargo hold. Vix nodded and ambled over to Tarrik's hiding space. No sooner had the large Devaronian hauled up the grate than Tarrik leapt out, eyes wild, breathing hard. He looked around frantically and, upon seeing the open ramp, made a mad dash for it. Vix dropped the grate to the floor with a loud clatter and lunged after the doctor, grabbing him about the chest.

'I have to go,' Tarrik said urgently, fighting Vix's hold. 'I have to go. I need to get out of here. Let go!'

Face saw, out of the corner of his eye, that the port official had turned around to look at them. Face studiously ignored him as he pointed into the hold and said in a voice that he hoped would carry, 'get another bolt on that loose droid, there, you dumb oaf!'

Vix placed a large hand over Tarrik's mouth and pulled the human to the ground. That seemed to make Tarrik struggle harder, but he couldn't escape Vix's powerful hold. Face made sure to walk slowly while he was still in view of inquisitive eyes outside, and made his way over and knelt down beside Tarrik. 'Hush, Tarrik, hush,' he said softly. 'Just breathe. Breathe and remember that we need you to stay hidden. Tarrik fixed widened eyes on him, but after a moment he started to breathe deeply, slowly, until he seemed to calm. At last, he looked to Vix and nodded. Vix looked at Face, who nodded in turn, and only then did the hulking Devaronian release the doctor.

'You doing okay, love?' said Vix, his voice a soft purr.

'Better, thank you,' he blushed as he met Face's gaze. 'Sorry, Face.'

'That's perfectly fine,' said Face, 'I'm just sorry that we had to resort to that,' as Tarrik took a moment for himself, Vix jumped in and collected Fenn in their stretcher, as Face and Garan hovered by the edge, holding on to Fenn's life support equipment, as Vix gently placed on the floor beside the compartment, jumped out, picked Fenn up again and carried them to the medbay. As Ka'iulani, Kai and Twitch came up from the salon, Face turned to them all. 'Get some rest. We leave first thing in the morning.'

It was an uneasy night's rest. Even with the ship locked up and external security sensors set to sound out at anything larger than a rat to come knocking on their door, Face had difficulty sleeping. That old energy had come back to him, the kind that told him that action was coming, and it was a relief when his alarm told him it was time to get out of bed. Dressed in his most inconspicuous clothes and with a blaster holstered on the small of his back, he stepped out and found everyone else up and ready, bounding around with the same nervous energy, ready to finally get to work. Ready to help Fenn. Ready to bash heads.

Face divided the crew up into four teams. Tarrik would stay aboard with Fenn, making sure to stay unseen for now. Ka'iulani, Ro'vena and Vix, along with Kinipōpō, Ka'iulani's BB unit to act as cover, while they reconnoitred the city, while Face would do the same with Garan and Twitch, as well as Ton, Face's droid. Kai would head out on his own, at a moment he judged best. They all huddled by the top of the ramp as the morning sun spilled up and into the ship. Face nodded to Vix, who then stepped out boldly into the light, followed by the other three. Face waited another ten minutes before he, too, left the relative safety of the Nest and headed into the heart of the First Order city.


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