uncertain_dume | An Empire Outpost in the Bryx Sector, A Galaxy Far, Far Away, Thursday Evening

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An Empire Outpost in the Bryx Sector, A Galaxy Far, Far Away, Thursday Evening

It was supposed to be a milk run. In and out, no problem. Hera's sources had tipped her in on the location of a large shipment of bacta and other assorted medical supplies, which they were to come in, pick up, and then drop off on Wobani for a group of escapees from one of the Empire's labor camps. Hera would drop Kanan off, he'd make his way in on foot to secure the payload, and within an hour or two, the cargo would be on the ship, on the way to a group of people who could make far better use of it than the Imps could.

In theory. And Kanan had even managed to make it most of the way in, taking out a small trooper patrol and then helping himself to some of their gear. It was much easier to get in and out of an Empire's loading area when you were dressed for success, after all.

He... hadn't been banking on there being only one crate of cargo in the warehouse.

He extra hadn't been banking on it being accompanied by a half-dozen Rodians wearing shock collars, also awaiting transport to somewhere most certainly unpleasant.

After a quick, hushed conversation with the nervous captives, Kanan sighed and reached for his comm.

"Hey, Hera? How many people can we comfortably fit on the Ghost, anyway?"

[OOC: For she what is piloting the getaway vehicle!]

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Somewhere in the cargo hold, Kanan was pretty certain he could hear one of the Rodians praying.

Hell, he was tempted to start reciting the code, himself. One of the TIEs managed to get a lucky shot in, and Kanan regretted removing his stolen helmet as a rain of sparks flew up from his controls. He swore under his breath.

"Hera, I've lost my guns," and now he was sliding back down the ladder, hanging on to the rungs for dear life. "Chopper, how are you doing with that other one?"

Chopper yelled binary profanity at him, then pointedly told Hera how the repairs were going.

"Sixty percent back on that gun; looks like that's all we'll have until we land. Chopper, get on the other one!"

Hera flew deeper into the storm. One of the TIEs hit a rough patch, dropped abruptly, and snapped a vane, limping down to avoid a crash; two others peeled off.

"I'll take sixty," Kanan announced, making a bolt behind Hera en route to the other turret. "You, out. Help your friends secure that cargo. I have a feeling we really don't want that smashing around back there."

The Rodian threw off a quick salute before giving up his seat to Kanan.

"So, what's the plan from here, Hera? They're gonna know to look for us leaving the storm, and we can't stay in here forever."

"We don't need to," Hera said. "Just long enough to figure out where they are and plot a course where they're not."

Which she was doing now. As fast as she could.

"And will that happen before or after the storm tears us apart or whatever's in the cargo hold blows us to bits?" Kanan wondered, sliding in behind the other gun and frowning out at the scene before them. He squinted into the storm, and then shook his head and reached for the controls. "It's a good thing I trust you, Hera, because this is an extra level of crazy, even for me."

And he was the guy who had once told her to drive like a pilot possessed in a ship loaded with baradium explosives while he ranted about murdering everyone sharing their airspace on an open comm channel, just to stick it to the Empire.

"We've got half the ships after us now that we did a few minutes ago," Hera pointed out. She dropped and climbed, then took a sharp turn to starboard, putting enough distance between her and the rest that hopefully they'd lose her."

"And if we're lucky, we'll miss the break in the inevitable patrols they'll have flying above," Kanan replied, shaking his head. Something rocked the ship, and Kanan could only assume it was the storm, because he couldn't see any of the TIEs anymore. "On the plus side, I don't think we're being shot at anymore."

Just in time for him to take his seat at the gun. Of course.

"Want me to stay up here to be sure, or do you want me down there checking those readouts for Imperials?"

"I could use you checking if someone else can man the gun in case," Hera said. "Steering through this isn't fun."

Well, it kind of was. But only kind of.

"Come on, I've seen you steer through worse," Kanan said, peering back down from the turret and giving the Rodian who had been manning it a minute before an apologetic shrug. He could practually see the guy rolling his eyes at that one. Which was a neat trick, for a Rodian. "Okay, I've got this."

Back down he went, rushing to the cockpit to join Hera and settling into the copilot's seat.

"You can pretty much guarantee somebody up there is going to be thinking the same thing we are, you know. They're probably scanning for us, too."

And they were in much better shape, up there.

"There's only so far they can scan, though," Hera said. "Bring up the geographical scan - if there's a mountain range or something we can drop out over, we can head down out of this and make better time before heading back up."

"Works for me," Kanan said, leaning forward and bringing up the scans, and then reading over them thoughtfully. "How's a canyon sound? You might have to go at it sideways, it's a narrow one, but so long as the cargo's secure and everyone buckles their seatbelts, that shouldn't be a problem."

For some people it might be a problem. But guiding a large ship into a narrow canyon during a hellish storm seemed like just the sort of challenge Hera might appreciate.

"Really wondering what's in that cargo," Hera muttered. She looked at the canyon Kanan was pointing out and nodded. "That'll work."

"That cargo is trouble, whatever it is," Kanan replied, "that's enough for now. You need me to do anything else while you steer, or should I just focus on scanning for a way out of here clear of Imperials?"

"Just get me the dimensions on that canyon and keep scanning," Hera said. "It was supposed to be bacta. It even showed on their own manifest as bacta!"

"Then somebody really wanted people to believe it was bacta," Kanan replied, shaking his head as he narrowed his eyes at the readings. "Nobody worries about bacta. Nobody breaks into an Empire outpost for bacta."

A handful of Rodian prisoners, maybe. But no, they were the only idiots who went through this much nonsense for that much medication. Maybe. Maybe the Empire just really underestimated how desperate people were starting to become.

"They do when they want that much of it and to stick it to the Empire," Hera said.

She glanced over at Kanan. "I know you're still not completely committed. This was supposed to be a quick and easy run, I promise."

"I trust you well enough to know you aren't going to lie to me about something like this," Kanan said, as if it really wasn't that big a deal.

It kind of was. Sort of a lot. But he didn't figure it was Hera's fault exactly, either. Somebody gave her bad intel. It happened.

"Here, I've got an entire layout of the canyon up for you, you can navigate with that while I scan for openings up above. If we really luck out, the storm will linger, they'll lose our signal, and they'll figure we died down here and move on." He glanced her way. "Bet we could manage it if we landed and powered down, but I'm not sure there's anywhere down there wide enough to accomodate, unless your baby here can hug walls, too."

"Not unless the metal content's high enough for a magnetic lock." Hera went over the scans and headed for a likely place. "I'll keep an eye out, though; it's a good thought."

"It's our safest bet, at this point," Kanan noted, "but I'm guessing 'safe' isn't something we're going to be embracing much of today."

Today was for stupid, mostly.

"Well, we can always try," Hera said wryly. "Just because I need to avoid it sometimes doesn't mean I'm not a fan of safe."

"No kidding," Kanan replied, glancing at Hera. "Looks like they've got us pretty trapped unless we can disappear in here, at least for now."

He looked back at the readings.

"... You know, I'm not completely committed to this resistance thing, but that doesn't mean I'm not in this for the long haul."

"Hey, I don't take just anyone on as crew," Hera said. She gave him a smile, then took a moment to lower the Ghost enough to see the ground and headed for the canyon.

"No, I know," Kanan said, blowing out a breath. "And, I mean, I know you know I'd be lying if I said I wasn't exactly picky about my employment."

Even if he went out of his way to make it appear otherwise.

"But, I mean..." He pursed his lips as he stared at the controls. "I don't just commit to anything, if I can help it."

Hera shrugged, checked the scanners, then dropped down, canted the ship, and slid in past the canyon walls.

"It's a..." she glanced back toward where their visitors were. "part of your upbringing, and a freelancer thing. I can't say I blame you."

Kanan reached up a hand to scrub at his face for a moment, sighing.

"Yeah, yeah, nobody blames me," he muttered. "That's not... really what I'm saying, here."

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