Chapter Text
“Where is the commander?” Lana asked in a severe tone, walking steadily into the alliance base. The whole room was nearly empty – besides a few soldiers, guards, and electricians to maintain the consoles and automatic doors. Everyone seemed occupied and they didn’t even hear her at first. While some of the personnel glanced at her and shrugged their shoulders at the question, most of them just went on with their work without reacting at all.
Lana now stood in the middle of the room. Fully grasping the atmosphere around her. There were flickering lights and sparking cables from the electrician’s work. A smell of wet stone and a humid climate was recognisable. Even if the alliance did a good job in building the base on Odessen, it still smelled like a cave sometimes. Especially on hot days.
-
“No one? No one knows where she is?” She rolled her eyes, now inpatient and hurried further into the base - into the hangar. In contrast to the main hall everyone seemed to be there. Not high-ranking soldiers or any of the commander’s allies of course. (They were occupied with a new lead on the missing Satele Shan and the other Jedi.) Instead a few dozen pilots, smugglers, and bounty hunters gathered in groups and discussed seemingly important missions. ‘It’s probably about provisions and cargo’ Lana thought, though interested in why there where so many task forces on mission.
“You!”, she picked out one pilot – knowing, that they have already worked with the alliance many times - “What is going on here?” she asked, scaring the shit out of them. A wrench fell out of their hand, onto the floor, while the pilot nearly stumbled into their machine, looking pale. “I- I’m sorry, I didn’t see you coming.” they stuttered, picking up the tool and straightening themselves. “No worries.” Lana encountered, starring expectantly into the pilot’s eyes. “W- we’re preparing for a big cargo from Dantooine” they said, now relaxing a bit. “I figured that much.” she stated with an annoyed but steady voice, looking around the hangar to other pilots and their ships. “But why so many pilots? And since when do we need mercenaries for simple cargo shipments?”
The pilot seemed confused; not nervous or afraid anymore but looked at Lana with a trace of suspiciousness. “You- you don’t know? The commander made a deal with some vendors on Mek-sha. As far as we know, we’re supposed to bring the cargo from Dantooine here to Odessen, while she sorts out the details. The mercenaries know the best routes to avoid any pirates or potential encounters with republic ships. They also have a few contacts on the marked.” The pilot explained.
“And where is the commander now?” Lana asked, after a few moments of disbelieve and wide yellow eyes, glaring in the pilot’s direction. “I-I guess she’s on her ship, getting ready to-“ but before they could end their sentence Lana darted into the lift and made her way down to the commanders ship, ready to speak out her mind.
-
‘Why didn’t she say anything? It’s not like she’s the only one, who runs this place..’ Lana thought, waiting impatiently for the lift to set on the sublevel. Arms crossed, leaning all her weight on one leg, she stood there while sounds of magnetic fields and metal surrounded her, leaving nothing but the feeling of enclosure. ‘If there was an official shipment incoming, I would know about that. – Unless it isn’t official’ further thoughts aggravated the tense situation. ‘Why would she risk our relation to the Empire like that?’
The lift stopped. ‘Stupid hunter’ were the final words echoing in her head before she exited onto the landing platform, to the commander’s ship.
The commander wasn’t there, at least not outside of the ship itself; though the engines weren’t on yet. Lana made her way over the bridge, that connected the sublevel of the alliance base with the landing platform, to the ship. Still tense and basically fuming with rage now.
The vessel was a D5-Mantis. An old and stolen ship from Dromund Kaas. Although the ship itself didn’t look like much, Lana knew, that it meant a lot to the commander. She had it since the beginning of the “Great Hunt”, accompanied her and her companions and served as shelter in the deep, cold darkness, that was space.
By the time she got there, the door opened. 2V-R8 exited the ship and nearly bumped into the Sith. “Oh! I-am-sorry-Lady-Beniko. I-hope-I-did-not-damage-any-important-parts. Please-do-not-deactivate-me!”, the ship droid panicked. He quickly stepped back and attempted a salutation. “What is it with you droids and the constant fear of deactivation?” Lana encountered, still tensed up and annoyed. “Is the commander here?”, she asked, pushing 2V-R8 aside to get a free path onto the ship.
“Oh-yes! I-did-not-realise-you-would-acompany-the-master-on-this-mission-Lady-Beniko.” he said, blocking the entrance yet again. “Yes, well- Me neither.” Lana answered, finally shoving the droid out of the way to enter the D5-Mantis.
-
The ship itself was packed with supplies, that would last for weeks. Food, clothing, amor and other cargo, that seemed exaggerated for a trading mission. No one else was on the ship – on the sublevel at least. It was pretty tidy for an old, stolen bounty hunter vessel. Regardless of her status as commander, Lac’ra wouldn’t want any unauthorised people on here, especially not that kind, that would misplace any of her equipment.
Lana rolled her eyes and made her way up the stairs to the upper level, assuming Lac’ra was in the cockpit, calibrating the star map for Mek-sha. And indeed. Arriving in the Holo-room she heard noises coming from the front of the ship. The peeping and sliding got louder as she entered, stopping behind the commander, who apparently hadn’t noticed her yet. Lana watched her, while her grumpy frown cracked into a little smirk – even if only for a second, before she got Lac’ra’s attention with a loud cough.
“SON OF A- “Lac’ra suddenly screamed, turning in horror to Lana and only then realising it was her. Bright yellow eyes starred in her direction and even if Lana’s scowl was everything other than calming, the commander quickly relaxed at her presence “-Hutt”.
“Lana. I wasn’t exactly expecting you to come here. At least not before-“– “Yeah no kidding Lac’ra”, Lana interrupted her, while the commander stood there, trying to look confident. She continued: “What did you think would happen, if you suddenly left to get on a secret trading mission, on a planet – that by the way is currently a very significant trading partner of the empire, with whom we have an allyship that depends on not getting caught, when dealing with personal interest.” Lac’ra tried to answer but as she was attempting to start talking, Lana further said: “It wouldn’t be an issue, if you would’ve talked to any of us. If you would’ve told at least me, so we could plan and discuss the details together to avoid getting in trouble with the empire. Don’t just depart -with apparently enough rations on the ship to get by several weeks- and me having to get notified by a terrified pilot.”
All of a sudden there was an uncomfortable silence between the two women. Lana finishing her little rant towards her commander made Lac’ra look unusually pale. She seemed indeed a little ashamed and turned her head towards the consoles on the right. After a few moments and a deep breath Lac’ra stood up and felt her blood rushing into her head again, straightening her back and looking Lana in her eyes. “To be honest, you do have an intimidating effect on people.”, she encountered with a smirk.
She slowly strolled into the Holo-room, brushing Lana’s crossed arms with her own. Lana in contrast, wasn’t so eased about the situation, closed her eyes for a brief moment, took a breath and followed suit.
“Don’t distract from the issue. You know that’s not how it’s supposed to be done.” Lac’ra now standing by the Holo-communicator, huffed at that statement. “Says the Sith of all people.” While she adjusted the coding on the Holo, Lana took a seat on one of the benches nearby. “Because a former Bounty Hunter is entitled to be judgmental.”, she now said in a relaxed and steady voice: “Look. I’m not here to discuss morals with you. I just want to know, what your plan is.” She looked in Lac’ra’s direction, waiting for an answer.