STEALTH and TRACK: BOOK ONE

C H A P T E R T H I R T E E N

THIRD PERSON POV

"Fern, you be happy to hear we'll finally be landing on a planet." Tech monotonously announced.

"Woo hoo! Finally!" The female pumped her fist and joined Hunter, Omega, and Wrecker at the main console, propping her elbow on the latter's large shoulder. "So where are we stopping?"

"Idaflor." Hunter pointed at the blue-hued screen. "That's where we'll go."

"Wait, wait," Fern shook her head. "Idaflor's inhabited."

"Which makes it the perfect place to hide out." Hunter's tone informed her that she better get on his side.

"Hide?" Omega whined, slumping back into her chair. "But I've been stuck on Kamino my whole life. Can't we explore?"

"Kid, you are, what, eleven? Twelve?" Fern scoffed. "You've hardly lived a life to make that argument." Omega made a face up at the female clone, who in return stuck her tongue out.

"We can't explore. Not right now." Hunter said. "We have to wait for things to settle down."

"We won't be doing either." Tech popped in from the cockpit with his datapad in hand. "We don't have enough fuel, and we are also entirely out of rations. Without the—"

"So what you're saying is," Fern interrupted. "we'll have to land on a habited planet to gather supplies? Like civilians? Heh, I guess it slipped my mind that the Republic doesn't exist anymore and therefore can't provide us supplies, and therefore—"

"We'll have to acquire these necessities on our own." Tech finished the deduction, and he and Fern exchanged a harmless glare.

"Well," Echo suddenly appeared with his own tablet. "we have a bigger problem. Comm chatter has our ship's signature on a wanted list."

"So we scramble it." Tech and Fern shrugged in unison.

"You can both do that?" Wrecker awed.

"Of course, I can do it." Fern smirked. "On my solo missions, the best way to sneak through Separatists' fleets and security was to do so. Quite simple, actually."

"Yes, but we'll need to land in order to perform those modifications." Tech added, and clicked in on the console panel. "By my calculations, the closest planet is...Pantora."

"Well, Pantora it is." Hunter decided, and the boys departed away from the computer as Omega leaned onto her crossed arms with an exhale, "Pantora, it is."

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FERN'S POV

After we landed on Pantora in a spaceport, Wrecker was already whining about how he was starving, knowing full well there were no more rations. However, Tech had other priorities. I myself stood next to Wired-Brain with my arms crossed, attempting to ignore the rumbling in my own stomach.

"Huh, your priority." Wrecker grumbled.

A series of coughs came from behind me and Tech and we turned to find a short Pantora local approaching us, clearing his throat. "You lot here for repairs?"

"I got this." I lightly shoved aside Tech to speak with the manager one-on-one. "Just a minor calibration and fuel, is all."

"Have at it." The manager permitted, and then pulled out his tablet from his belt. "Just need to scan your ship in." 

He tried to walk by me, but I side-stepped to prevent that. "There's no need for that." I smiled with one hand on my hip. I could see Wrecker's shadow looming over me, as if to add a bit of intimidation. I did not require it, but it helped, regardless.