'More air ducts,' Vix grumbled. 'Why do we have to go crawling through more air ducts?'
'Because someone decided to start shooting at stormtroopers,' Luna said pointedly, letting our a sharp breath, feeling overwhelmed by the moist, sweaty air.
'That's what we're here to do,' Vix continued complaining. 'Cause a ruckus.'
'We didn't need to start that particular fight,' Luna stopped and moved to the side, both to catch her breath, and to wait for the others to crawl by her so she could have this conversation with Vix, face to face. But when they were level with each other, her harsh rebuke died in her throat. The big Devaronian was clearly struggling. She should have known something was amiss when the amiable, easy going hulk started complaining, but to look at him, watch him struggle to keep up, she realised that his wound, as ably as Tarrik had treated it, must still be serious - serious enough to sap his strength as their running blaster fight kept them moving through the nearly 3 kilometre capital ship. 'We're almost there,' she said, softening her tone. 'We'll take a break at the next juncture.'
Vix stiffened, clearly affronted by the thought of having to slow down the mission for his sake, and sped up, barging past the others to take point. she appreciated his renewed vigour, but she kept her word. Not least because he needed it, but they all did. She herself felt fatigued just from the aird ducts, the humidity sapping her of her strength. They rested, drinking from their personal canteens and eating what small rations they had on them. Hoshi only had some, preferring to meditate briefly. Luna was used to Hoshi's reliance on the Force to give her strength to continue, but she still left half the water in her canteen, should Hoshi decide that she'd want it. Only Twitch seemed to be in good health and spirits and Luna put that down to his pathfinger training, where he'd had to have regularl performed such feats of endurance.
'Where are we now?' Luna asked Bets, and for an answer the droid projected a holographic map in front of them, a glowing green dot telling them their location. 'Only about half a kilometre from the turbo shaft to take us up to the command bridge,' Luna nodded to herself. 'All right, one more minute and we'll continue.'
'Are you going to eat that?' Twitch asked, eyeing up the energy bar in her lap. She was, but she tossed the bar to Twitch, who unwrapped and all but inhaled it. 'Thanks,' he said, licking the wrapper. Despite their situation, Luna felt her lips twitching at the ludicrousness of the image.
They continued on, finally coming up to the turboshaft. The air vent itself was welded into the wall around it, since it was not meant for any living being to use as an entrance, but Hoshi's blade made quick work of the the durasteel bars that blocked their exit, and they tumbled down the shaft to land on top of the turbolift pod four levels below with loud, resonant clangs. Luna winced at the sound, but thought little of it. That is, until the trapdoor in the roof of the turbolift opened and a stormtrooper helmet peaked out and up at that. Panic filled her, but Twitch and Hoshi reacted faster - the first sending a single bolt downshaft, taking out the stormtrooper, while the latter jumped straight down through the now vacated hole. The sounds of scuffling and grunting emanated from the turbolift, and then silence. The pod suddenly shot up three levels, before coming to an abrupt halt, and the body of the first stormtrooper flew out of the roof trapdoor, followed by three unconscious bodies, and then Hoshi's face popped up. 'All good here!' she waved them down. Luna dropped down first, then Twitch, and the two helped Vix lower Bets down, before the big Devaronian himself slowly clambered down. Hoshi ducked back inside the pod, evidently to tap a button on the control panel, before she herself jumped up, out and onto the top of the pod, closing the trapdoor behind her. She dusted off her hands, looking around her happily. 'It's nice to get a lift,' she said brightly.
The turbolift pod zoomed up to the top of the capital ship, though even then it took nearly two minutes to reach the control room. As they heard the turbolift doors ping open below, they quickly scrambled up into an alcove above them, just beside an air duct. They waited for the turbolift to descend again; they couldn't risk someone entering and hearing them as they went about the slow job of quietly dismantling the vent cover, delicately slicing through and prying the bars away. The durasteel bars shrieked in protest, and Luna was sure they'd be discovered from that sound alone, but no new alarm was raised. Not then, and not when they began the slow crawl inside. They didn't have far to go before they found an opening in the vent that overlooked the bridge, and Luna, as silently as she could, sidled up close to it to get a sense of what was going on, and what she saw made her heart leap. Could it be so easy? There, in front of the large wide front window, stood Mara. She wasn't alone. To either side was an officer - an old captain, who she immediately recognised as D'Morr, and a younger officer, whose back was turned to her so she couldn't make out his rank. The two seemed to be arguing, with the younger clearly irritated by the older, though about what, she couldn't make out. She tore her eyes away from Mara to look around the rest of the bridge. There was the bridge crew, and several stormtroopers standing guard at the turbolift entrance, but not other guards that she could see. Why hadn't Mara tried to escape? It was certainly within her capabilities. Luna looked behind her. 'Hoshi,' she hissed. 'Can you try to let your mother know we're here?'
'She already knows,' Hoshi replied tensely. 'She doesn't want us to help.'
Luna frowned. This was not the plan. Nowhere near the plan. And yet - this simplified things immensely. A voice told her to walk away, but even as she thought that, her anxiety, her frustration, the temptation to rebel and be reckless, all boiled within her, and it was almost an unconscious act as her hands crept up to the grate - and pushed.
Luna jumped out and rolled as soon as her feet touched the floor, coming up with her blaster raised. 'Nobody move!' she yelled. 'First to move gets a blaster bolt through their head!' Impassive faces looked up at her over consoles, half raised datapads. Behind her, the others jumped out and lended their weapons to her threat. The stormtroopers reacted, but the younger officer - a major, Luna saw as he turned to face her - raised a hand, urging them to stand down.
'Welcome,' said the major. 'You must be Luna Tane. I've been expecting you.'
