When the Cavalry Comes.

XXX

Cav had only been in the presence of the General a few times. She had heard that he was terrifying and deadly, but an amazing commander.

She knew what she had heard was true, it was another thing entirely to experience what that meant. He radiated power. Didn't need the force to feel that. Fives sat next to her in the back of the shuttle as the General insisted on piloting.

"So how are we going to do this?" Fives asked her, a slight smile on his lips. Cav glanced at the General and back.

"You're asking me?" She asked.

"Why not?" Fives shrugged, leaning back in his seat and resting an ankle on his knee.

"Lemme think. Oh wait. You're an ARC and General Kriffing Skywalker is right there. Literally anybody else in this ship would be better than me!" She said, nervously checking over her pack once again.

"You gotta learn somehow. If you can't think of the whole plan at once break it down." Fives fiddled with his own pack idly. "What's our target?"

"Rako Hardeen and his compatriots." Cav said. Fives nodded.

"Good. And who is that?"

"Moralo Eval and Cad Bane." She checked that her blaster was loaded and her two main knives were sharp.

"Where are they going?"

"We have reason to think they'll go to Nal Hutta because of several mutual contacts there, and leaving from Corascant puts them in the general area of only one major city when they come out of hyperspace. We'll probably look there first." Cav said, frowning and pulling out her datapad to review her notes and research from the briefing and afterwards.

"So you did check the hyperspace lanes. Good girl. So we have the city, then what?" Fives leaned forward to see her notes as well, despite them being upside down for him.

"Well... we'll have to lock down the ships in the area temporarily and-"

"Whoaaa whoa whoa whoa. This is hutt space, Vod'ika. We have no jurisdiction here from the republic. We can't just order a lockdown and inbound flight tracking like we could on Corascant." Fives held up a hand.

"Oh." Cav's shoulders fell a bit. Fives moved to sit next to her.

"Don't 'Oh' yourself, it was a good thought. This is just an unusual mission." Fives smiled warmly.

"What are we going to do then?" She asked. Fives shrugged.

"You're giving the orders here Cav'ika." He smiled as she groaned and pouted. "If you were Rako Hardeen, where would you go in a city?"

Cav was quiet for a long moment. "I...hmm. I think I would land on the outskirts of the city and try to sell my ship for enough to buy a new one. Probably supplies as well." She stared off into space before lighting up.

"Hold on, Nal Hutta is a neutral planet, correct? Because it's owned by the Hutts?" Fives nodded, expression guarded. He let her continue. "So the Statute of Stollen Property still applies here, right? Well, parts of it. Including the right to recapture stollen property?"

Fives grinned. "Very good. What now?"

"Republic ships all have a beacon that can be activated only by the owner and the military, and jedi if they have permissions. We can activate the beacon and find the ship! Then because of the Statute of Stollen Property we are allowed to recapture the ship so long as we don't make too big a mess while doing it." Cav looked at Fives for affirmation. Fives smiled and patted her on the head.

"Hey General, still picking up the signal?" He called up into the cockpit.

"Loud and clear. Taking us down on the outer reaches of the city." He manipulated the controls and they started their decent into atmo.

"Wait, but this is also a republic ship. Won't they recognize us if we landed right by them? We don't want to scare them off." Cav said to Fives.

"Don't worry, Cavalry. The Twilight wasn't always a republic ship. They won't be able to recognize it unless they've faced us before." The general called back.

"With all do respect, sir," Fives gave Cav a fleeting smile, "I think we should do as she suggests. Cad Bane is one of the escapees in cahoots with Hardeen. If anybody knows the Twilight, he would. Especially with the last attack where we almost lost the Resolute."

Cav was open mouthed in shock. A, Fives had just made a suggestion to the general on something that he had just said wasn't necessary, and B, Cad Bane had been part of the attack on the Resolute? The one that killed Neon?

She waited anxiously for the general to yell at Fives, or put him on toilet duty for a week or something for disrespectful conduct.

Instead, the General smiled.

"Good thinking, Fives. I'll set us down out of sight just to be safe."

Cav looked between Fives and the General a couple times, confused.

"Skywalker is different." Fives just said, leaning back in his seat as the ship shuddered a few times from the decent before leveling out.

They landed close to the beacon but out of sight of the other ship. Cav left her kit in the Twilight and followed the other two out the door.

"Cav." Fives motioned her over, pointing at the stollen ship. "Go talk to the shop owner over there and see if they can tell you where the owners of the ship went."

Cav nodded, keeping her helmet off. She walked over to the small stall owner. He did a double take and whistled.

"Nice armor little lady. Who'd you kill for it?" He leered, giving her a once over. Cav resisted the urge to shift uncomfortably.

"Nobody important. I need to know where the owners of the ship behind me are." She said, keeping her expression neutral and voice cold.

"Sorry sweetheart, I got nothing for you. Information costs around here." He snickered. Cav tilted her head and fiddled with one of the knives sheathed at her forearms.

"Let me rephrase that." She said, drawing her knife and stabbing the table with it between his fingers. Her own voice surprised her, cool and slightly raspy but so calm at the same time. A part of her relished the flicker of panic that crossed the stall owner's face.

"You've got some nice fingers. I would hate to have to take them. Where are the owners of the ship behind me." She smiled thinly, flicking her knife so it just nicked one of his fingers.

"They've been gone two hours, went to that storekeeper over there to buy a ship off of this planet! Long gone!" The poor guy rambled, looking at the small cut on his finger with panic setting in.

Cav didn't move. "Anything else we need to know?"

"Uh, the person selling the ship they uh... they only sell the ships with enough fuel to reach the small moon where there's a refueling station. They'll have to stop there!" She store owner babbled. Cav smiled and removed her knife.

"Thank you." She felt cold and unreachable. Like no one could hurt her. Cav shook herself out of it.

The General was waiting for her by the Twilight. Fives was nowhere to be seen. Cav relayed what the stall owner had told her, and the general sighed before keying up his comm.

"Fives, return to the ship. Cavalry got everything we need right now."

"Understood, General."

Cav could hear the smile in his voice.