Yerbol smiled at the affirmation.
"And you're still mine as long as you'll have me." 

______

The shuttle rocked gently as it dropped out of hyperspace, Yerbol's brow furrowing as he spoke to Kilik, one of the newer pilots that had joined up from Imperial command("And good riddance to them!" He had announced upon meeting the main contingent): 
"That's a small convoy." True to the Knight's words, there were three smaller shuttles that surrounded a trapezoid shaped transport vessel that was maybe bigger than Neta's ship by a foot or two length wise. 
"Neta did say there were only five prisoners, yeah? Might as well not waste resources when you can do it for cheap." 
"But they're Force users. Even with the restraints, I would think they would want to beef up security around the ship at least." 
"And you're complaining about this because...?" Yerbol chuckled lightly.
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, yeah, I get it, but it just..." He sighed. 
"Just doesn't feel right. Something's off." 
"Well, it's just the two of you on this one, so if things get hot, shouldn't be too hard to get back to the ship in one piece." 
"Easy for you to say."
"And even easier to do!" Chuckling, Yerbol rose from the co-pilot's chair to the rear of the shuttle, planting himself across from Aria. 
"Am I crazy? You feel it, don't you? That weird sense of...well, I don't know, dread? Fear?" He leaned against the cold metal, the ebony colored durasteel mesh overlay clinking softly as he settled into the seat. 
"Maybe it's nerves, but I'm not so willing to discount the idea that we're going to find something onboard that we aren't going to like." 
"Five minutes! No tracking beam, no pings on their end. Brace for potential impact if those shuttles have hidden guns." 

Nothing came. 

___

After boarding the transport via a loading dock that Kilik found with onboard radar, the duo found themselves in a desolate hangar with only a couple of dull metallic crates shoved up against the lower left hand corner. 
"Comm unit transmitting on frequency now."
"You're coming in. Any resistance?" Abbeth was normally in charge of communicating with field units along with a few others for support, his expertise with demolitions coming in second to his skill at deftly managing multiple squadrons with different objectives seamlessly. 
"None." A muffled grunt.
"Odd."
"That's what I said." 
"Keep your channel open and update us on progress when it happens." The line went dead, prompting Yerbol to move forward towards a set of bay doors that opened suddenly when the duo were within a few feet, revealing off-black colored walls and floors that were dotted with dull white lights every couple of feet. Three hallways branches from where they stood, one ahead, one left and one right. 
"Ahead is a dead end from the looks of it." About thirty yards north of where they stood was a solid wall, a doorway entrenched to the left of the barricade. 
"Or..." Both hallways that extended in either direction turned the corner north, presumably linking up again. 
"I chose last time and we got shot at. How about you do the honors this time?" On their last operation together, they had stormed a supply ship and Yerbol was rather confident that a hallway was THE way to the bridge. It had been the right way, but they were greeted by three heavy blaster turrets, hence his deferring. 

________

"They really are THAT stupid?" Soto rose from her chair, placing the holocron on her desk as the Major followed up her briefing on the situation:
"Lord Bracknell requests that we hold position until the Jedi are off the shuttle." 
"Did he now?" Soto purred, running a hand through her curls. 
"His patience is much more refined than mine...as well as his wisdom." She spoke to herself before directing an order at the Major: 
"Get the rest of the fleet in attack formation, get Saresh on the comm system. We move when the Jedi hit hyperspace." 
"Of course." The Major left, leaving Soto to run her tongue over her lips in anticipation. 
"So close...so very close."