"This shouldn't be this easy."

"Hurry up, Vixen Two, we don't have time for your bragging. If they catch you-" Commander Verlaine started.

"Oh relax, I've got Fahili watching my back. Besides I'm not bragging." The young Mirialan said as her fingers tapped madly on the screen of her datapad like the legs a probe killer spider droid. Given the gravity of the mission, Adara was hardly portraying the level of tension that gripped her fellow teammates. She liked to believe that was more confidence than conceit.

"Codenames on the comms..." Fahili's voice came through the encrypted channel. She maintained her usual cool, but Adara could sense the hint of annoyance in the way she dragged the last word out.

Adara grinned to herself. She couldn't help prodding at Fahili's nerves more, just for the fun of it. "Oh please," she said as she finished inputting the data at the panel, and sealing it up as she found it. "You act as if anyone would know the difference between Adara and Vixen. Nobody here knows who we are." She turned to face two men in all white imperial armor. Bucket-like helmets that seemed to draw a suppressed frown at the ventilation openings for their mouths, sat on their heads. They each held the standard issue E-11 automatic blaster rifles.

"Who are you?" the first Stormtrooper asked, his voice altered by the masks filter.

"Yeah, what's your business over here?" said the other.

Adara was stunned for a moment. Based on their prior recon there shouldn't have been another guard patrol in this sector for another 3 minutes at the least. She put on her most stunning smile. "Manifest maintenance," she said cheerfully. That... may not have been the best approach. Regardless of being dressed the part, no non-imperial contract hires were ever happy to work at Kuat Drive Yards. Most of them either had no choice or were forced to work here to fulfill Imperial legislated indentured obligations. And though Mirialan's looked mostly human, her green skin and the tattoo markings on her face were enough to stir the Empire's prejudices.

One of the white armored soldiers angled his head at the other. "I don't think contract hires are authorized shipping and receiving positions." He turned back to her. "Let me see your identification."

"Oh, yes I've got it just right..." she patted down her engineering suit as if looking for it as she mumbled, "any second now, Fahili..."

The sound of two blaster bolts filled the air, and the two Stormtroopers clattered in heap piles, a singed black hole smoking from each of their backs. Adara sighed "Oh thank the f-"

"Go." Fahili interrupted over her communicator, even as she shouldered her sniper blaster. From her perch up high, she watched Adara run. The mission was supposed to be relatively easy. With a mining freighter and authorization codes provided by friendly contacts within the Imperial Senate, Vixen Squadron was tasked to gain clearance to the Kuat Drive Yards where Adara, the team's best slicer, could slice in and steal information containing the locations of various Imperial manufacturing operations, all which fall under Kuat's engineering business. Given their disguises as contract engineers, all would have gone well... if the troopers hadn't caught Adara at a panel that no worker had any businesses being near. The fact that Fahili had to shoot them further complicated things.

"Vixen Two, Vixen Three, what is going on in there?" Commander Verlaine spoke over the comm. Her voice was calm, but they could still sense the tension beneath her thick Alderaanian accent.

Fahili climbed down from the perch that she'd been watching over Adara from as she accessed her comm. "Vixen Leader, Vixen Two ran into some troopers. I took them. I recommend you take off. We'll find our own way off this station."

"That is a negative, both of you get your hippabore loving butts back here on the double!"

Fahili smiled. As if she truly thought Verlaine would accept that. "Roger, Vixen Leader."

Fahili had skulked her way through the manufacturing facility earlier. That was her specialty. Stealth and quiet assassinations. She usually had no problem not being seen. Never mind the fact that she was a fully armed Nautalon with a head of long dreadlock-like lekku, large dark eyes, and smooth beautiful blue skin.

But now she was on the run, and didn't have time to be careful. Even if she had been wearing contract worker's engineering coveralls, there was no way to explain the Ion-X Sniper Blaster strapped to her back. She would be fighting her way out of this one.

She could see Adara her several meters ahead, making quick stride- trying to move fast without looking like she was trying to move fast. "I'm right behind you Vixen Two. Keep moving."

She didn't respond, but she complied. Kuat Drive Yards was a large space station that wrapped around the planet of Kuat like a ring. Its primary task was manufacturing ships and other war machines. The facility was walls, floors, and ceilings of sleek metal and full of production equipment all around. Workers, mostly contract, moved to and fro, pushing power generators, hyperdrives, manufactured doonium and more via grav lifts. To the left and right, actuating arms worked on the heads of walkers, and the engines of TIE Fighters, or the various components of the massive Imperial Star Destroyers. Whenever possible Fahili used this equipment as cover, however, she knew that in trying to keep up with Adara, she would soon be caught.

They had almost arrived and though they were only two corridors away, unlike the engineering bays, in the corridors, there was nowhere to hide. As expected, in the first corridor Adara passed up a patrol of four storm troopers who double timed down the hall. They paid her no mind, but upon seeing Fahili and her weapons, they wasted no time to start firing.

Fahili took cover behind the corner as the blaster fire flashed by. Adara kicked at the back of the leg of the last Stormtrooper who passed her and snatched his blaster rifle. She swung it hard like a bat, cracking next closest one in the head. Before the other two could respond, she fired. They dropped, unmoving. "You'd think they'd make their armor strong enough to stop small arms fire." Adara said as she held the blaster rifle up at her side.

Fahili glanced around the corner to see her teammates handiwork and smiled. "Well done."

"Yeah, I know. I'm pretty amazing. What can I say?" The two of them sprinted into the next corridor. Fahili retrieved a dual set of automatic blaster pistols from their harnesses and aimed forward. She knew more Stormtroopers were coming. Their heavy armored foot falls betrayed them. As soon as they came around the corner, she was firing, taking them down before they even had a chance to attack. Adara didn't even have to fire a shot.

The next corner opened up into the docking bay where Stormtroopers were scrambling for positions. A few of them had arrived close enough for Fahili to make melee contact. Big mistake. The Nautolan leaped off the nearest wall, her lekku spinning wildly around her head like long locks of hair as her foot found purchase in a Stormtrooper's face. Pushing off his head she used that momentum to spin and fire at the others with both her blaster pistols. Adara assisted with her own blaster fire, keeping as close as possible to the wall for cover

"Vixen Two, Vixen Three, get down now!" another voice shouted. Both Fahili and Adara hit the deck. In the next moment, nearly every Stormtrooper on the ground level was mowed down from their rear as a dark skinned human woman with a heavy repeater blaster swung the large two-handed weapon from left to right in a wide, sweeping arch. The impact of its bolts sending the white armored imperials careening with every hit.

"Woo! Assata!" Adara cheered as her and Fahili got to their feet and sprinted toward the ramp of their ship where Assata was standing, the tip of her multi barrel gun, smoking.

The woman smiled as she hefted it. "Vixen Four at your service." As each of them piled onto the already lifting ship, Assata held off the enemy with suppressive fire until the ramp closed.

In the cock pit, everyone strapped into their seats. "We aren't out of the woods yet." Evaan Verlaine said as she swept a lock of her bright blonde hair from her face and flipped the switches to engage the Hyper Drive. They could hear the scream of TIE fighters just behind them. It didn't matter. She hit it, and in an instant the stars around them turned to blindingly bright lines as they entered hyperspace. "Now we're out of the woods."

Evaan exhaled, which seemed to give the rest of the crew permission to do the same. She swiveled around to them in her chair. At first no one said anything. Evaan wasn't a scary or cruel woman, but her very presence held a natural air of command around it. Adara bowed her head slightly and averted her eyes, allowing her short dark, partially blue-dyed hair to hide them.

Finally, Adara decided to speak. "I-"

Evaan interrupted her. "Well done, Vixens." She said in her far more relaxed but ever prevalent Alderaanian accent. Adara looked up to find her smiling. Evaan had a knack for being very pedantic when it came to any missions, but she was so beautiful that when she smiled, everyone else couldn't help but smile too. And so, Adara also smiled.

Assata chuckled. "Evaan had to keep me from running in there after you two, just so you're aware."

"I would say that you did your job well." Fahili said.

"And Adara, you got what we need?" Evaan asked.

Adara smiled and lifted her data pad. "All right here."