Chapter Text
“I promise you, my friends, this job will give you so much loot, you will be thanking your faithful pirate friend, Hondo Ohnaka!”
“We aren’t friends. We just met you.” His new business partners carried a certain… stature of intimidation. The one who’d spoken to him, with a soft-spoken but firm voice, was a Mandalorian woman covered head to toe in pitch-black armor plates. The only exception was the long, red piece of fabric wrapped around her neck. She also had more armor than he’d seen on most Mandalorians, and Hondo had met many in his day. Shoulder pauldrons, vambraces, elbow guards, a stomach plate, back plates, knee guards, shin plates, and even armor over her black boots. She had a design that looked like it’d been carved into the right side of her breastplate, three blades crossing to form a triangle.
Next to her was a human male, also sporting beskar plates, though no helmet and significantly less armor than his compatriot. He had rich brown hair, tied back into a loose bun, with tanned skin and vibrant, piercing green eyes. His breastplate was colored a deep green, one shoulder pauldron the same black as his partner and the other, from what Hondo had seen earlier, was gray with a white wing-pattern and a blue wing-pattern crossing each other. He couldn’t tell if this man was a Mandalorian, but it would be strange if a Mandalorian tolerated a non-Mando wearing beskar armor. The other detail, interesting to his long-lived eyes, was the kamas each wore at their waists; he’d only ever seen Clones use them.
“Ah don’t worry about that small detail, my friends. I even have some other friends who will assist with securing the riches of the station. This is as safe as it can get! From what I remember of it…”
“Say, hypothetically, we accept. You haven’t even said what is in it for us? And for that matter, why do you need both our crew and another group?” The man leaned forward and interrogated.
The wily pirate had his answers, “I owe a favor to the other crew, but Hondo always likes extra hands to overcome the odds! And, my friends, you are salvagers, no? This job will give you weapons you can easily sell. My other friends will only need some of the things, the rest can be all yours for the taking!”
The pair looked at each other and communicated with their eyes. Hondo wasn’t entirely sure how that was even possible when one had a helmet on, but they seemed to reach an agreement quickly. The Mandalorian was the one who spoke, “Fine, we accept. But: you don’t give me or my crew any orders. You get us to where we need to go, we help you get what you want, we get what we came for. No cheating us, or else.”
Hondo, motivated by his impeccable self-preservation skills, agreed. “Now then, my friends, I believe introductions should be in order. Neither of us know our names!” The Mandalorian simply said, “We already know yours. Hondo Ohnaka, self-described faithful pirate.”
The Weequay pirate faltered at the deflation of his grand introduction, but he continued anyway, “Indeed, I am Hondo Ohnaka! Pirate extraordinaire! And your names?”
The Mandalorian sighed, “Mikasa.” The other man looked over the pirate before finally saying, “Name’s Eren.”
“Wonderful my new friends! I feel that this will be a very profitable partnership! I will send you the coordinates to our meetup with my other friends. You will dock with my ship after we arrive.”
—
Eren and Mikasa left to return to their ship, pausing in their airlock to discuss the job. “We’re never accepting a job opportunity that Connie found while drinking. Never again,” Mikasa said roughly, her frustration with their “business partner” completely undisguised.
Eren sighed, “Agreed, but in this case it might be okay. We need the money, and that pirate’s going with us and has another crew he’s bringing in. He’s gotta be confident there’s good salvage to be found and he’s willing to claim it personally.”
“Fine, fine. You’re right, we need the money.” She pressed on her commlink, “Jean, has Ohnaka sent you the meetup coordinates?”
The pilot responded immediately, “Just did, we’re heading to grid L-7, planet called ‘Wynkahthu’. I don’t know it by name.”
Responding, Mikasa said, “Neither do I, but it doesn’t matter too much to me. Let’s just head over there. Ohnaka instructed us to dock with his ship when we arrive, so Eren and I will go back over to meet that other crew of his.” The response crackled through the comm, “Understood.”
A short trip in hyperspace later, and they felt the shifting of the ship as they returned to regular space. A few minutes later, the clicking of the docking mechanism let them know they were docked with Hondo’s ship once again. Eren and Mikasa returned to his ship, and the pirate was waiting for them, rubbing his hands together. “Ah hello my new friends! The other crew has also arrived, so we shall undock and go join them to discuss the job.”
They waved him along with a grunt, turning to talk amongst themselves. Eren leaned in, “You noticed the ship right? Standard Imperial transport ship. I bet he’s stolen it, what are the odds the Empire can track it?”
Mikasa shook her head, “Don’t be too paranoid, Eren. He’s a pirate, but he’s only somewhat of an idiot. A rookie mistake like that would mean he’d already be in prison or dead. The Empire either doesn’t know or doesn’t care.”
Once again, the sound of the docking mechanism reverberated through the ship. Hondo dropped into the room and the two joined him at the airlock. The door to the other ship opened and Hondo walked in ahead of them, exclaiming to the other side, “My friends, my friends! It is I, Hondo!” The door closed before Mikasa or Eren could get a glimpse of the other crew, but opened just a second later as he ushered them in, as one of the other crew said, “Wait… what ‘new partners’?” His question was answered as Mikasa and Eren stepped into the airlock.
Mikasa analyzed the other crew quickly. A male human with dark brown hair tied back and a same-colored beard, with a mask covering his eyes, which she found interesting. Next to him was a tall male Lasat wearing a sleeveless jumpsuit. Then there was a female green Twi’lek, dressed in pilot’s garb with a cap and flight goggles over her head. Next to her was a younger human male, probably in his teens, with short dark hair and noticeably bright blue eyes. He also had two distinctive scars on his left cheek. The final person in the room was a human female Mandalorian, with brightly colored painted armor plates and dyed hair, white fading into a bright purple towards the ends. It was an interesting cast of characters.
“You know, Hondo, when you said you had a job, we figured you’d at least have decency to not promise the spoils to an entire second crew!” The Twi’lek woman exclaimed; her annoyance with the Weequay pirate was readily apparent.
Eren leveled him with a glare, “And you said you ‘had another crew ready to assist’ when you recruited us. Apparently that doesn’t mean they were on-board with the idea.”
“Now, now, do not worry, Hondo always delivers!” The pirate didn’t seem to recognize, or acknowledge, the fact that almost every other being in the room was a step away from choking him out.
The Twi’lek crossed her arms, “Well I won’t be moving my ship until you actually tell us what you’re offering. And it better be good.”
He leaned in, lowering his voice, “Weapons. I offer you weapons; unguarded, unprotected. All the weapons you can carry. And more than enough for both of you.”
She shook her head, “Not good enough for us, what else you got.”
Ohnaka smiled, “Not even if there were scores of… proton bombs?” The Twi’lek’s face shifted; she clearly was interested. And Mikasa was interested in knowing why. “Come on, you and I both know we need those bombs,” The male teenager added. “Fine. Show us, and we’ll consider it.”
She turned and led the assorted crews onboard her ship, up into the cockpit. Hondo keyed the holo display to show the nearby planet. “This is the planet Wynkahthu. When I was passing by it in my various travels and adventures, I detected an adrift Imperial freighter in the atmosphere. Escape pods already ejected, the ship entirely abandoned.”
The colorful Mandalorian stood and took over the display, “It must’ve drifted too close, it’s stuck in an atmospheric storm; it’s getting slowly pulled in.”
“Indeed, it will soon be lost, along with its cargo…” Hondo pulled up another graphic, “This is the ship’s manifest, the hold has a large number of proton bombs.”
The Twi’lek seemed appeased, but she asked, “So that explains why you recruited us, but what’s in it for you, Hondo. You’re no altruist. And for that matter, what’s in it for this other crew here.” She gestured towards Eren and Mikasa, who’d been quietly observing.
Eren said, “That manifest, what else does that ship have?”
“Yes, yes. There are a number of crates of standard-issue Imperial weaponry for you. And for me, well… there’s a lot of cargo you all would not be interested in. Rare metals, artifacts, untold riches, those sorts of things.” He sniffed as he finished speaking.
The Lasat asked, “So then we’ll split those treasures.”
Hondo had a long laugh at his question, “Oh split the treasure, classic. No my… big, purple friend. You get the bombs.”
Mikasa said, “So we do all the work, and you get the most valuable part of the haul? How about we get some of the metals. You can take the artifacts, Hondo. This crew gets the bombs and some of the metals, we get weapons and some of the metals, you get artifacts and the rest of the metals.” Mikasa folded her arms, her tone brokering no further negotiations.
Hondo deflated slightly, “Er… yes we will split the metals. Some for all of us. Now, come my friends! Our time is not unlimited, and if we are slow we will not profit!”
Eren stepped forward toward the other crew, “I think we have a few introductions to make, yeah? My name’s Eren, and this,” he gestured to her, “is Mikasa. And you guys are?”
The Twi’lek woman grinned, “I’m Hera, captain of this ship. You’ll be joined by Sabine,” the colorful Mandalorian, “Ezra,” the blue-eyed boy, “and Zeb,” the Lasat, Hera gesturing to each of them. “Zeb, you’re in charge for our end down there.” Mikasa saw Ezra’s brow furrow; the teen seemed to disagree but held his tongue in front of her and Eren. The Lasat, Zeb, led his crewmates down the hall, Hondo following right behind and striking up a conversation with Ezra.
Eren joined at her side, whispering, “The other two are pretty young, but seem skilled to me. This crew isn’t a bunch of amateurs.” Mikasa didn’t verbally respond, but she had no reason to disagree with his snap assessment. She was curious to see their partners’ skills.
The ship pulled over the Imperial cargo ship, Hera’s voice ringing out over the intercom to announce they were pulling into position. Eren and Mikasa were the last two to reach the hold; right as Mikasa descended the ladder she heard Zeb growl, “You got a problem with me in charge, take it up with Hera when we get back.” Eren was right behind her and heard it too.
He nudged her side and said, grinning, “That remind you of someone?” She shot back, “Yeah, reminds me of you back in the day.” His grin grew, she knew him all too well.
An old orange astromech joined them in the storage bay. “Alright, let’s get this started. Chopper, you’ll get the power back on once we get in.” The droid saluted. “Sabine, get ‘er open.”
Sabine gave the group a lopsided grin, “Alright everyone, good luck down there, I’ll be here waiting for the cargo.” The group hopped down onto the top of the ship and opened it up, Zeb leading the way inside. They heard him give the all clear sign, Ezra leaping down first, without needing to use the ladder down. Chopper rocketed down after him, followed by Hondo and then Eren. Mikasa went down last, covering the rear. Zeb, Ezra and Mikasa each clicked on flashlights, looking around.
“Alright. Chopper, you head up to the bridge and see if you can turn the power on to the cargo hold.” Ezra questioned him, “You sure it’s a good idea to split up?” Zeb leveled him with a glare, “It’s a good order. Here’s another one, follow me, this way.”
The group wandered down a hallway, metal creaking and banging as they moved. One of them spooked Hondo, causing the old pirate to jump and look down a branching hallway. “You all heard those, yes?”
Zeb shook his head, “Probably just loose cargo. We should keep moving and not worry about it.”
Eren said, “Something’s getting on my nerves about this ship, we should stay alert regardless.” The big Lasat grunted an agreement. Mikasa was feeling something off as well, like they were missing a piece of the story.
Ezra said hurriedly, “Hold up, I think I saw something move. There! In the shadows!” Zeb lumbered back over, and Mikasa spotted the stout shadow rushing towards them, specifically at…
“Ah! I am under attack! What is this?!” The shadow had latched onto Hondo’s face, the unknown being squealing and trying to pummel the Weequay pirate. Ezra grabbed the creature off Hondo, the lights giving them all a better look.
“Hey, isn’t this one of the guys from your crew?” He asked, directed at Hondo. Mikasa saw it was an Ugnaught, wearing a red helmet with a tattoo on the left cheek.
“Heh… yes Melch. It is a long, boring story,” Hondo tried to dismiss it. Zeb and Mikasa stopped him, the Lasat saying, “Uh-uh, we’ve got time to hear this. Get started.”
Hondo deflated slightly, “Ah yes. Azmorigan came to me with a flight plan of an… unguarded and treasure-filled Imperial cargo ship. No escort. So… it sounded like an easy score.”
Mikasa said, “You attacked an Imperial ship directly?” Ezra smiled at her, “It’s not that big a deal, we do that all the time!”
Zeb flashed him a glare; Mikasa was surprised by that statement, and figured he wasn’t supposed to say something like that.
“Really? That is… Anyway, you should praise us for how easily we pulled it off!” Hondo said.
Zeb ran a big paw over his face, “Just get to the part where everything went wrong.”
“We used ion mines to disable the ship, but it then… it drifted into the planet’s gravitational well. My brave crew of Ugnaughts insisted on boarding and collecting the treasure’s anyway!” Melch said something to Hondo; Mikasa was not versed in his language.
“Left you to die! I would never abandon my crew, they are like family!”
That’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard , she thought to herself. “Alright, instead of the one percent you were promised, I will give you… two.” Melch mulled it over for a second before making a pleased sound and shaking Hondo’s hand.
Eren glared at the pirate, “That’s another lie you’ve told us now. Any others you want to reveal before they jump at us, Hondo?”
Ezra waved them off, “It wasn’t really a lie, just not the full truth. We got some extra hands to help us offload the cargo now!”
Hondo stood up, “Yes, yes, my friend Ezra! I used to tell none of the truth, but now you get some of the truth! I have grown!”
Zeb shined the light at him and angrily said, “We don’t have time for this. Cargo hold! Now! I can pull your limbs off later.”
Hondo chuckled, “Always with the jokes, this one. He… is joking right?” Ezra shrugged at the pirate as they continued down the halls. They reached the door to the cargo hold when Zeb’s comm link beeped.
“Zeb, status update. Sabine warned us the winds were getting stronger,” Hera’s voice came from the comm. Zeb answered, “We just got to the hangar, door’s sealed though.” He switched his frequency, “Chopper, need you to get the power back on and open this door.”
The droid responded with a series of wubbs in acknowledgement. Ezra walked in front of Zeb, “No need for that Zeb, I got this.” The teen ignited a green lightsaber, surprising Mikasa and Eren who were behind him. She looked over at her partner, his eyes locked on the blade.
“Ezra, wait! We don’t-” Zeb’s command was stopped short as Ezra thrust the saber into the door, beginning to cut it open. Just as he finished, power was restored to the ship. The hole Ezra cut through the door fell forward just as the door opened automatically, the boy giving a cheeky grin and shrug. Hondo pushed his way past, marveling at the treasures in the hold.
Zeb ordered, “Alright, let’s get moving quickly. Get the bombs up to the front and get ready for Sabine’s signal.” The group moved quickly, pairing off to move various containers up towards the hangar’s doors. Zeb received the signal and the doors opened, the Ghost fighting against the winds. Sabine informed them that the maglift wouldn’t be able to stay steady, so Zeb aligned and fired the magnetic winches, connecting just right with the ship. Sabine would offload their cargo manually.
They sent up two groups of bombs when Zeb’s comm went off. He relayed the information to everyone, “A surge of electricity hit the ship, Chopper’s lost the stabilizers. He also detected movement around the halls. I’ll go check it out and bring him here. Ezra, keep getting those bombs loaded.”
Zeb stalked off, Ezra looking disgruntled at being left in the cargo hold. Mikasa came over with another proton bomb. “You know, the time for being mad at regular orders is after missions, not during them,” she said to the boy.
He shook his head, “It’s not about that. I messed a few things up and I want to make up for it, but Zeb won’t even give me the chance.”
“You get those chances by proving you can listen and follow orders, not by being a malcontent,” she offered as she hooked the bombs up to the winch. Ezra turned his eyes towards the floor, considering her words. Before she could leave, Ezra’s comm activated.
“Ezra, come in! It’s Zeb. There’s security droids roaming the ship. I’m locked in the brig. Turns out Azmorigan was here too the whole time.” Ezra responded quickly, “I’ll come get you guys. Be there soon.”
Mikasa said, “I’ll come with. If there’s droids around, better to have some backup.” He nodded and she turned into the room, “Eren! Keep getting the bombs and weapons loaded. Zeb got captured by security droids.” Eren acknowledged her order and she and Ezra left the hangar.
Ezra continued talking on his commlink, another voice coming through. “I’m afraid I may have overlooked the sentry droid in my planning. The Empire uses them to guard their cargo ships. They must have reactivated when the power was restored. I advise you to not engage the droid, the consequences could be problematic.”
Hera gave the order to hurry up, the winds were getting too strong for their ship to withstand, so she and Ezra hustled to figure out where the brig was. They ran into Chopper along the way, who was able to escort them and they freed Zeb and the red blob of a creature that must have been Azmorigan. They spotted a sentry droid roaming the halls nearby, but the group was able to hide and let it pass undetected. Until Azmorigan panicked and stole Ezra’s blaster, shooting down the droid.
“See, I did it! It looked right at me, but I blasted it down! I’m a hero!” The red Jablogian celebrated. Ezra updated Hera on what was going on, but the droid on the other end of the line said, “When one sentry comes under attack, the others will activate in response.” They heard 4 more droids approach their location, while the one Azmorigan thought he’d destroyed stood back up.
Ezra said, “That’s… problematic.” Mikasa cursed under her breath, “Shavit!” and they ran quickly back to the hangar. Azmorigan ran toward Hondo while Zeb and Mikasa took position at the door, Ezra quickly sealing it. Unfortunately, since he had sliced a hole in it earlier, the door offered little cover. Taking cover behind some of the containers, Eren joining them as soon as he heard the blaster fire, they returned fire at the droids to buy enough time for the last shipment to get loaded onto the Ghost and for them to safely exfiltrate. Chopper announced the last set of bombs had been sent off, so the group slowly retreated toward the winches, one of the droids finally falling to the blaster fire.
“Hondo! Get going! Hey, where’s Melch?!” Hondo made some excuse of Melch falling off the ship before he connected a container and hooked a ride on it, Azmorigan doing the same with another container. Mikasa sent her SOS signal out, knowing Jean would hurry to their location. Chopper left quickly, rocketing himself off the ship. Ezra connected another set of bombs and started their process up the winch, Zeb hopping onto it and hitching a ride. The sentries continued to approach the winches though, and Ezra was forced to stick with Eren and Mikasa in fighting them off. The blaster fire damaged the winch and stopped Zeb’s progress, leaving him stranded halfway across. A couple of crates conveniently fell onto and in front of the droids, slowing their advance. Mikasa had a feeling it was Eren’s doing.
At just the right time, though, Jean signaled Mikasa’s comm, “Mikasa, I see you guys! You need a quick pickup?”
She hurriedly responded, “Yes! And catch Zeb, he’s halfway on the magnetic winch with a set of proton bombs!” She heard their ship swoop in, trusting that Connie and Sasha could reel Zeb in and keep him safe. Eren gave her and Ezra the heads up that the ship was in position. Mikasa quickly shot the winches to forcibly disconnect them from the Ghost , turning and darting toward the open ship, seeing Connie and Sasha firing behind them at the remaining droids. Ezra leapt on quickly, Mikasa and Eren right behind him. Jean received the notice everyone was on-board and they swiftly left the collapsing Imperial freighter, the bay door closing.
“Hera, it’s Zeb. Mikasa’s crew grabbed us, we’re safe.” He said over the comm. Hera responded.
“Oh thank the gods you two are okay. We’re gonna boot Hondo and Azmorigan back onto his ship, then regroup with you guys. See you in a bit.”
Ezra walked up next to Zeb, “Sorry for chafing at your orders today, Zeb. I just don’t like feeling sidelined when we’re on missions. I want to have your guys’ trust again.” Zeb reassured him there was no issue, patting the younger man on the back. Mikasa grinned to herself that Ezra seemed to have taken her advice. They docked with the Ghost a few minutes later, and Mikasa gathered the whole crew to head onto the other ship with their guests.
Hera was the first to greet her when they entered the cargo bay, holding out her hand. “Thank you, Mikasa, for rescuing my crew. It means a lot, friends are hard to come by.”
“Of course, I figure you’d do the same for my people. I am curious though, what do you guys do?” She asked, the other woman’s eyes solidifying as she stood up straighter.
“We’re part of the Rebellion against the Empire. If you’re interested… We’d love to have you join us.” Hera offered. Mikasa thought it over. She thought of her crew, each of whom had been hurt by the Empire. She looked at each of them, determination on all their faces. Connie, who’d lost his village; Sasha, whose family lost their farm; Jean, whose father was taken; Eren, who’d lost everything to the Empire.
There was only one answer. “We’ll join you.”
Hera smiled at her, “I suppose we should make some introductions then. I’m Hera Syndulla, General of the Rebellion and leader of Phoenix Squadron. Designation Spectre 2, Captain and pilot of my ship, the Ghost. Kanan Jarrus, Spectre 1; my astromech Chopper, Spectre 3; Garazeb Orrelios, Spectre 4; Sabine Wren, Spectre 5; and Ezra Bridger, Spectre 6.”
Mikasa reached up and triggered the seals of her helmet so she could pull it off. She shook her head as the helmet left her head, her short black hair laying as it normally did, with a single bang hanging between her steel-gray eyes and the others framing her eyes. She had a scar underneath her right eye, curling across her upper cheek. “Mikasa Ackerman, co-captain of the ship Freedom’s Wings. You’ve met my partner and co-captain, Eren Yeager.” She gestured one-by-one to the rest of her crew. “Jean Kirschtein, our pilot; Sasha Braus, our language expert, and Connie Springer, our slicer.” She gestured to each of them as she introduced them, letting the Spectres connect name to face.
Hera shook her hand once more, “Welcome aboard, and thank you again for the help. We’ll give you the coordinates to our base. Welcome to the Rebellion.”
After returning to their room on the ship, she sat down on the bed, thinking about what she just signed the team up for. Eren followed her not long after and said, “I wasn’t expecting you to take Hera up on the offer. You were always the one most opposed to antagonizing the Empire.”
Mikasa sighed, “In the past yeah. But… seeing a crew that was active against the Empire, it made me realize it was time for us to change. I’m the only one who hasn’t actively been hurt by it, even though I fundamentally disagree with what it stands for. Everyone seemed on board with the idea at least.”
He nodded, “Yeah, the others appreciate you making the choice. I suppose, moving forward, everything is going to change.” His tone was wistful. Mikasa had to agree.
“Yes. Yes it is.”