The strong magnetic field at their position over the south pole meant that they were hidden from scans - but only if they stayed exactly where they were. The Nest was, essentially, stuck in a trap of their own making.
'Next window is in four minutes,' Luna spoke into the comm. 'Final checks, Three.'
'Copy that, Five,' Kai replied. the line crackled with interference, but at this proximity - with Kai and the other Uglies hovering literal metres from the Nest - that didn't so much matter.
Luna looked behind her to look at Face, who was hunched over the multi comm station. It was a piece of relic equipment from back before the Empire, before even the Clone Wars, when comm signals hadn't yet been standardised, and since the Nest had been upgraded multiple times since then, most communications needs could be handled from the main cockpit control panels. Given their current situation, however, the old comm station had come into its own, able to receive signals outside of the main spectrum. And it was using this that Face and Luna hoped to gain some intel on what was happening on the rest of the planet. Maybe pick up something that would give them an edge. 'Any luck?'
'Not yet,' Face replied without turning round. 'But there's this really good audio drama being played on an old radio station. I suspect the best friend is sleeping with his friend's husband.'
'Riveting,' Luna said sardonically. The control station beeped and she swivelled her chair back around. 'Five, you are go.'
'Keep my place warm,' Kai shook his Ugly in a gesture of goodbye, then flew off, northwards. 17 minutes. If all went well, that's when Kai would be back. The three star destroyers orbited the planet at the equator, equidistant from each other. This was standard operating procedure. But it wasn't perfect. Three ships couldn't keep each other in visual range and, crucially, couldn't keep the entirety of the planet within their sensor range. This meant that large parts of the planet were free of First Order scanners for 17 minutes at a time. So Luna and Face sent Mara out on a 17 minute sortie, just to confirm that the place that she had marked as the base's location was still there. The first one confirmed that there was little more than a building there, still in use. The second one, Vix's sortie, confirmed that it was a military installation. The third, Twitch's, confirmed that it was heavily defended. The fourth, Kai's first, confirmed that it was heavily fortified. Piece by piece, they gathered clues that it was, indeed, their target. But there was only so much that they could do in 17 minutes, only so much they could gather from visual and passive scanning, from miles above. Cora - Hoshi, Luna mentally corrected herself. Hoshi had surveiled the closest civilian cities, though that was even more limited. The military installation had a small air exclusion zone around it, meaning that they only had to stay out of a few square miles above it. Ten miles in any direction and they were safe from being pinged and marked as a hostile ship. Civilian air space had no such exclusion zone, since anyone with a license could fly, but flying with a transponder was a huge red flag, and there were more air towers to query such a ship, so Hoshi in her Z-95 and even Mara in her slightly more stealth-inclined Arrow had even less time, and operated at a much further distance, and as a result their scans were sparse on details, so Luna had them fly sorties to map the surrounding area, give them a more accurate tactical map with which to plan their next steps.
'Look who's come to see you,' Tarrik said from the top of the steps. Luna turned, felt a wide grin blossoming on her face, and jumped out of her seat.
'Fenn!' she bounded over to them and almost, in her excitement, wrapped them up in a tight squeaze, but stopped short just in time. She stood awkwardly in front of them, holding their hand so gently that her touch might as well be a breeze.
Fenn looked so thin, their clothes hanging off them as if Fenn was a clothes hangar in a store window, just there to model the wares inside. Their hair was thin and haggard. Fenn was staring at the floor, as was their usual habit, but from what Luna could tell, they seemed dazed - but there was a sparkle there, just a little life that made her heart swell.
Face came to stand beside her. He patted Fenn warmly on the shoulder, his eyes glistening. 'It's so good to see you up, kid. How are you feeling?'
Fenn turned to Tarrik, who nodded encouragingly, then back to Face. 'Where's your parrot?'
'Uh,' said Face. Which beat what Luna had to say, as she had no words at all.
'This is common for people who've been in a coma,' Tarrik clarified. 'They're known nothing but dreams for so long, they believe dreams are actual memories. This is normal, nothing to be concerned about.'
'You should get a parrot,' Fenn suggested. 'You two had a lot of fun.'
Luna struggled. On the one hand, it was alarming to see her friend not quite have a complete grasp on reality. On the other hand, she firmly believed, Face should get a parrot.
'Maybe not a parrot,' Face said delicately, then brightened. 'Although, back in my Wraith Squadron days, we did pretend to have an Ewok on the team. If I ever get the chance to introduce you to him, just go up to him and say, very serious, "yub nub, commander". Watch his face. It'll be priceless.'
'We'll be sure to do that,' Tarrik laughed. 'But for now, we have to get Fenn back to bed. This was just a small trip to get some muscle back.'
Luna nodded in understanding. Fenn's arms were like twigs, and they were breathing deeply as if they'd just run a mile. 'So happy to see you back, Fenn. We've missed you.'
Fenn frowned, on the verge of saying something, but settled for a nod. For Fenn, that was plenty.
As the two slowly made their way down the stairs, Face and Luna resumed their positions. Kai made it back safely, no trouble to report. A bit more knowledge about their defences.
Though they couldn't see the star destroyers, they were confident in their timing, and at the next window Mara flew out to see if she could spot any potential places of ingress. No luck. All entrances were seemed to have strong security. Twitch reported that they were also heavily defended.
More sorties. More scraps of intel. Slowly, piece by piece, they developed a full map of the installation, which they had discovered was called Hastaati base: a large, squat but otherwise nondescript military base halfway up a mountain, which overlooked Anaxe, the nearest city several miles away, nestled between two mountain ranges. Hastaati base had a commanding position over the valley, with a mountain at its back, protecting it from three sides. With only one road leading up to it, and the entirety of it easily visible from the base itself, and with a strong sensor presence meaning they'd be able to spot ships the moment they entered the exclusion zone quickly ruled out any sort of military raid.
'We'll just have to sneak in,' Face said confidently, sitting in his captain's chair.
'But how?' Luna wondered how he could be so confident. She could think of nothing. The place screamed hostile paranoia. Any movement towards it would be met with the utmost scrutiny at best, laser cannons at worst.
Face shrugged. 'We'll think of something,' he said confidently again, though Luna thought he sounded a bit hollow. 'We always do.'
Luna looked out the cockpit window, looking at the idling Uglies. They had been flying for hours, docking with the Nest only for bathroom breaks. They must all be tired. One more run each, perhaps, she thought, try to squeaze just a bit more intel out. Maybe they'd see something they'd missed earlier.
Something clattered on the console between them, startling Luna out of her thoughts. It was her ration box - her empty ration box. She frowned, then looked about her. First she saw feet on the console dashboard behind her, then the scrawny owner, munching happily on the last of Luna's rations.
'I know how you can get in,' said Amoya.
