After ✔️

The Ship Job

H y p e r s p a c e

Sabine hadn't given her crew much time to prepare. She was antsy to get off to the prison so she admit she was rushing them.

Tristan, Ketsu, and Vyi were sitting on the floor, still going over codes. Ahsoka was piloting the ship towards their destination, while Jai was going over prison schematics. 

Sabine had to admit that her plan was messy and sloppy and could go wrong in a million ways. But if by some chance they pulled it off...

Ezra.

She held onto that thought with all her willpower and was determined not to let go.

The biggest part of their plan was riding on Tristan, Ketsu, and Vyi pulling off the Imperial act. From then on, there would be no way out if things went bad.

Sabine shook her head, then was jolted as the ship emerged from Hyperspace. Ketsu was on her feet in an instant, easily abandoning her little crew in favor of joining Sabine.

"So where are we now?" Ketsu asked.

Sabine looked over the planet before them. "Corellia," she said after a moment.

"The Imperial shipyards," Sabine hadn't even noticed Vyi had joined them. She nodded.

"Corellia is home of one of the still active Imperial shipyards," Sabine filled in the rest of the crew. "If you're going to be of a remnant, you're going to need a ship."

"A heist already? I'm game," Ketsu rocked back and forth on her heels. Vyi looked less enthusiastic, but Tristan nodded.

"Makes sense," he nodded. "So how do we steal a ship? Rebellion style?"

"The Rebellion can't be involved with this job," Sabine shook her head. "If anything connects the Rebellion with the heist-"

"-the ships will be identified as rebellion property and will be fired on at sight," Vyi finished.

"However," Jai said slowly. "If, say, a band of mercenaries just doing a simple job managed to steal a simple ship..."

"By the time the ship would be registered across known Imperial networks, it would be too late," Sabine felt a smile crawl onto her face. "Of course, we're going to have to help stall that, so we'll be in two teams."

"First team will be stealing a ship?" Tristan guessed.

"I call leading," Ketsu raised a hand.

"Ketsu, Jai, and me will be stealing the ship," Sabine nodded. "Tristan and Vyi will be uploading a virus into their computer system to shut it down in order to stall the ship being registered as stolen."

"And I'll be your getaway," Ahsoka said from where she was bringing the ship down towards Corellia.

"Seems simple enough," Ketsu grinned, mischievous and ready for action as Sabine remembered. "Lets get to it."

*

C o r r e l i a ,  I m p e r i a l  S h i p y a r d  4 9 7 

Tristan secured his helmet over his head and it fit into place. He watched as Vyi donned his own, a cadet helmet loaned to him by Sabine. Facial discretion was important for this job, so they'd all be masked.

Ahsoka landed the ship far enough away from the shipyard that the scanners wouldn't detect them. Corellia was split in two pieces, half New Republic owned and half Imperial controlled. Even so, the planet was fairly peace, since both sides were concentrating their firepower on winning other planets.

Sabine came out with him onto the ramp as the whole crew minus Ahsoka stepped off the ship. Tristan's boots made an odd squelch sound as they came into contact with the mud of the surface.

He looked at his sister, who was pulling her helmet onto her head. This meant a lot to her. He couldn't let her down.

"K'oyacyi," he said, and Sabine looked over at him. He could almost see her smile under her helmet.

"Stay alive," she echoed. Then she was gone, following Ketsu and Jai ahead.

Tristan and Vyi headed off in another way. Their entry point would be different than Sabine's crew's easy break in. They would have to scale one of the watchtowers and get to the main computer room to install the virus.

Speaking of the virus, it was hand programmed by Vyi himself and currently was imputed into his code cylinder around his neck. Tristan couldn't see the boy's expression from under the helmet but he was fiddling with it again as they walked through the quiet terrain.

"Ever been out here?" Tristan tried to break the eerie silence. It was night, the darkness only adding Tristan's unsettlement. 

Vyi's head moved up, seeming startled out of thought. "To Correlia? No."

"You knew about the shipyards."

"I know about a lot of Imperial things," the boy kept messing with his code cylinder. 

"Where'd you work?" Tristan was curious, and hey, they had time to kill.

"Under my father. Office job," Vyi picked up his pace a bit, as if trying to outpace the memories. "We should walk faster. We might need extra time to get the virus in."

So not one for conversation. "Mirsh'kyramud," Tristan mumbled, slipping back into Mando'a.

"A boring person," Vyi startled him by translating.

"You speak Mando'a?" Tristan asked, surprised.

"I learned it," Vyi mumbled. Tristan was about to reply when Vyi said, "Look, up ahead."

Tristan squinted to see a compound taking shape in the darkness. "Here we are," he mumbled.

"Its big," Vyi shifted, looking uneasy.

"Haatyc or'arue jate'shya ori'sol aru'ike nuhaatyc ," Tristan replied, a slip of habit, falling back into his native language. Vyi didn't bother to translate.

Better one big enemy that you can see than many small ones you can't. But the Empire had become both. A huge enemy, blocking out the stars, but also a small, scattered force that hid in the nooks and crannies of the galaxy.

"Lets go," Tristan hefted his pack up his shoulders and sped up, Vyi following. Soon they reached the foot of the closest watchtower and Tristan dropped his pack onto the ground.

"Grapple," he took it out. "You can climb?"

Vyi nodded, so Tristan quickly secured the wire and fired the grappling hook. It skidded along the top of the watchtower before latching onto something. Tristan gave it a pull and it held firm.

He stepped back and allowed Vyi to get to the wire. The skinny boy fastened his hands onto the wire and shimmied up easily. Tristan watched until he had disappeared over the ledge.

Then Tristan followed, with more difficulty. The wire felt slippery on his gloves but he managed to pull himself up. He kicked the grapple down and it thudded softly onto the floor down below. He left it there, it would only be excess weight from here on out.

"Which way?" Tristan whispered. He heard no fighting, Sabine and the others must not be here yet.

Vyi headed off along the walls and Tristan followed until they came to another tower holding a lift. They both filed in and the doors shut behind them. The lift rumbled as it brought them downwards.

Then they opened and Tristan and Vyi came face to face with a patrol of Stormtroopers.