Zeffo: 19 BBY
Imperial Excavation Site
Lesia Mirri

    The tracking beacon let out a soft beep every few seconds now. The red dot was a few feet away from her current location. Lesia switched off the holodisk and tucked it into her belt. She quickly painted a confused expression across her face and continued on.

    She entered an old hangar of sorts. Crates and broken ship parts littered the ground. Thunderous booms from the excavation site filled the air. Les glanced around but saw no sign of the droid.

    A metal part clanged against the floor. Les skidded around in time to see a silver astromech barreling towards her. He had a shocker extended. Lesia dodged and raised her hands.

    "Wait! I don't mean to harm you!" She exclaimed. The droid paused, somewhat disconcerted. He gave a low rumble. "I'm a cargo pilot. My crew and I were bringing in provisions for the troops here. We were going back to the ship but I got lost." The lie slid off her tongue with ease. It was a skill that she wasn't sure she wanted to keep. "Can you help me get to a transport landing pad?"

    The droid, Azie, she reminded herself, put his shocker away and chirped. He rolled out of the hangar and she followed him. The grass outside was still wet and muddy. The rain hadn't dissipated, but it hadn't grown worse either.

    They hadn't gotten very far when Lesia's comm went off. Oni's voice came through before she'd accepted the transmission. "Have you found the droid yet?"

     Blast! Les thought. I forgot to change the comm settings. She switched the comm off, but it was too late.

    Azie gave a shrill whistle and charged at her once more. Les somersaulted through a puddle of mud. She grimaced and flicked it off. Azie rammed into her legs, knocking her backwards. "Kriff!" Les cried out. She grabbed one of the restraining bolts and slapped it onto his cylindrical body, before rolling out of reach.

    Azie was struggling to move. Les grabbed the second bolt and prepared to plant it. Just before she did, Azie zapped the other bolt with his shocker. It fell off and he attacked her with renewed fervor.

    Lesia hit the mud again, her satchel flying free. She yanked a blaster out of her holster. Azie jabbed his shocker into her leg. She convulsed and her blaster fell from her grip. Les flipped onto her stomach. Her gaze landed on the satchel, where her lightsaber lay.

    She began crawling through the squelching mud towards it. Azie attempted to come closer, but his treads had sunken a bit. Les heaved herself to her feet. She heard the mud suction behind her and knew Azie had worked himself free. Les extended her hand towards her satchel.

    Just reach out, she reminded herself. You can do it. The Force surrounded her and moved towards her satchel. She grasped at her lightsaber and pulled it free. It flew into her hand and she whirled towards Azie, igniting the cyan blade.

    The droid halted in his tracks and gave a soft coo. Les angled the blade as she had learned when she was just a youngling. "I don't want to hurt you, but we can take you in dismantled or in one piece."

    Azie whistled again and put his shocker away. He extended a pronged appendage and gestured in another direction. Lesia's eyes widened as she listened to him speak. She deactivated her blade and shoved it into her satchel once more.

    "All right. Lead the way." She waited for Azie to start rolling away, before pulling the holodisk out of her belt. She typed up a quick transmission to Nakoa, then carried on.

Zeffo: 19 BBY
Plains
Nakoa Sen

    Nakoa ran his nails along the metal of his vibroblade thoughtfully. He and Oni had sat in silence since Les had left. Oni had sent her a transmission, but it had gone unanswered. He wasn't sure what that meant.

    "I don't trust her," Oni said once again.

    "Why? She seems trustworthy enough."

    Oni shook her head. "She shows up out of nowhere and decides to leave her job when she found out we were collecting a bounty on Baja? You offered to take her to another planet. She still hasn't given us a location. She heard the word beskar and immediately decided to come along on this bounty. I bet she already has the droid and is headed back to Lothal right now."

    Nakoa rolled his eyes. He sheathed his blade and held up his fingers, listing things off. "All right. One, Lesia was a slave when we met her. She left Hondo because he traded her for spice. Two, I offered to take her where she needs to go because she helped us get Baja. She'll tell me when she has an answer. Three, she doesn't know where she wants to go yet. Until she does, she can stay with us. Like I told you on the ship, she's a part of our team until she leaves. That means she helps on our missions and she gets a share of the bounty."

    Oni perked up at that. "What? No way. She doesn't get any of the beskar. That belongs to our people. We're doing this for the Clan."

    "I'll work it out with her," Nakoa sighed. "She can have some of the money from Baja's bounty." He fell silent as a holodisk buzzed in his belt. He pulled it out and opened the transmission. "It's from Les."

    "What did she say? Did she betray us?"

    Nakoa glared at Oni from beneath his helmet. "No. She said that she found the droid and she thinks she can gain his trust. He's taking her somewhere. Lesia wants us to follow them."

    "And how are we going to do that?"

    "Tracks in the mud." Nakoa held up the holodisk and revealed a homing beacon that Les had activated.

    "You are not funny." Oni snatched the holodisk from him and started walking. Nakoa smirked to himself and followed her. "What did you think about Lesia's accusation earlier? About being Children of the Watch?"

    "I don't know, honestly. I'm going to ask Ketei about it when we get home."

    "How does Les know so much anyway?"

    "She did say Hondo knows everything that's happening in the galaxy."

    "I think there's more to it than that." Oni sighed. "I can't explain it. I just don't like her. I feel like she's hiding something."

    "We all have our secrets. You should know that." Nakoa elbowed her suggestively.

    "You want me to talk about my family, don't you?"

    "I thought I might change the subject."

    Oni faced him. "Fine. I'll tell you one thing and you tell me one thing."

    "Deal. What do you want to know?"

    "What were you and Lesia talking about when I walked in on you?"

    Nakoa threw his head back for a moment, then straightened. "Of course you would ask that. I had a nightmare. I wouldn't tell Les what it was about, so she simply told me that she has nightmares a lot."

    "What was your nightmare about?" Oni prompted.

    "If I tell you, you have to tell me two things."

    "All right. Now tell me."

    "It was about my mother. Now, it's your turn. Where are you from and who made up your family?"

    Oni was silent for a few moments. Finally, she spoke. "I was born on Naboo. I had both of my parents and two older brothers. My father's name was Jasiel. My mother was Risa. My brothers were twins and their names were Aldar and Lowsin."

    "Thank you for telling me."

    Oni merely nodded and continued walking. Nakoa bit his lip, thinking. He hurried after her when he realized he'd fallen behind.

Zeffo: 19 BBY
Venator Wreckage
Lesia Mirri

    Azie whistled and rolled towards the wrecked ship. Les swallowed and followed him. Several creatures were nearby, but made no move towards them. Azie entered the Venator through one of its partially buried thrusters.

    Wires and shredded metal filled the ship. It smelled rank and wet. Les grimaced, spying a clone helmet on the floor. The stench of death was still strong, but she could tell most of them had been dead a while.

    Azie chirped and fell back beside her. "You knew the Jedi on this ship?" Lesia asked. He whistled, then cooed sadly. "It wasn't just these clones. It was every clone in the galaxy. The same thing happened to my master and I. I was lucky and escaped. My master was killed."

    Azie chirped another question. "My master was Ki Adi Mundi. Did you ever meet him?" He shook his domed head. "Which Jedi were here?" She waited while he replied. "I never met Master Chiata. Marseph sounds familiar, but I don't quite remember." Lesia furrowed her brows. "Why are you gathering Imperial information?"

    He whistled a brief explanation. "I see. So you hope that Bail Organa will help you if you give him the intel?" Azie rumbled. "Well," Lesia raised a hand to her chin. "Maybe I can help you with that."

    Azie began to reply, then broke off. He gave a warning whistle and whipped several appendages into view. Lesia's mouth dropped open as Nakoa and Oni jetted into the tunnel. They landed and Azie launched himself at them.

    Nakoa gave a shout of surprise and drew a blaster. Oni wrapped her fibercord around Azie. He rumbled angrily. "No, wait!" Les shouted. Nakoa froze, holding a restraining bolt in his palm.

    "Wait? Wait for what? Wait for this menace of a droid to dismember one of us?" Oni exclaimed.

    Lesia darted forward and removed the fibercord from Azie. Oni retracted it into her vambrace. "We have an...understanding. We can't give him to the Empire."

    "Why not?" Nakoa demanded.

    "We just can't," Lesia replied, unwilling to reveal what Azie had told her. "He needs to get to Bail Organa."

    "Who is that?" Oni sneered.

    "He's the senator of Alderaan," Les explained. "Azie has business with him."

    "We need that beskar," Nakoa said.

    Lesia wracked her brain for an idea. "We can still get it. The Imperial officer said we could bring him back dismantled. We just need to find a droid head like Azie's and take that to him." Azie gave an excited whistle. "He knows where we can find one."

    Nakoa glanced at Oni. She was shaking her head vigorously. His shoulders relaxed and he holstered his blaster. "Fine. Where can we get a droid head?" Azie gave a mumbled reply. "We can't waste anymore time here. We'll get the head and leave."

    Nakoa held a hand towards Les. She took it, somewhat confused. He wrapped his arm around her waist and activated his jetpack. Les gave a quiet gasp of surprise and tightened her grip around his neck. Oni and Azie soared into the air beside them.

    "You know, there are other ways to get to know me," Les laughed nervously.

    "You don't like flying?" Nakoa sounded rather skeptical.

    "Not when I'm not the one in control."

    "Would you prefer to fly with Oni? She's looking for an excuse to drop you from a good height."

    Lesia squeezed her eyes shut. "No, I'm fine." Nakoa chuckled and made sure to hold onto her firmly.

    They landed at an old warehouse. Azie rolled inside and chirped. Nakoa knelt down beside a crate full of spare droid parts. He rummaged around until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a silver astromech dome and inspected it.

    "Well, I hope the Empire will buy it," he said.

    Lesia dropped a hand onto Azie's dome as they walked the rest of the way back to the Mythos. "Don't worry. I'll make sure you get to Senator Organa." He chirped his thanks and boarded the ship.