While the others began to congregate and formulate a plan, Larce lingered a bit longer. Eyes to the sky watching as the prison ship became smaller and smaller until it was nothing more than a spec in the clouds. His concentration was finally broken by a chuckle. “Guess the coast is clear.”

His hands dug into his pockets, and quietly produced a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Neither object had been in his possession previously, but after a ‘stumble’ into one of the guards who was in such a rush to get them off, both had found their way into his jumpsuit. Not wasting anymore time, he gave the pack a gentle tap then placed one of the cigarettes between his lips. A quick flick from the lighter and the smell of nicotine joined whatever other odors were permeating around the former inmates. 

Some might not have appreciated the secondhand smoke, but for Larce, that first drag meant everything. No more cramped metal cages. No more 24/7 monitoring to ensure strict rules were being followed. The miserable restricted lifetime of imprisonment that awaited them had vanished with the ship. And while the blazing desert of Caldera-3 might not have been the ideal starting point, the path before them was now open to be whatever they wanted. 

Larce let out a single puff of smoke before admiring the lit embers of the cigarette in his fingers. ”That right there. That’s the taste of freedom.“ he smirked to himself.

“Anyone else want to celebrate our early release?” The dhasath raised the pack of smokes high, pointing at each person as he scanned for interested reactions. When his gaze was drawn to Molybdenum, Larce jumped back slightly at the ghastly image inside the helmet. “Whoa. Maybe not you, spacesuit. Looks like you’ve had too many already.”

A skeleton operating in a spacesuit was already a strange sight to behold, but just as Larce had started to process the being before him, the sounds of mechanical whirring pulled his attention to the tarp behind him. An android emerged from beneath, and once again Larce was taken aback by the new face. Not because it was replaced with something disturbing, but because it lacked one entirely. Yet despite missing an entire head, the machine effortlessly spoke. A lot. 

Larce wasn’t usually one to get tongue tied, but at the moment, his entire vocabulary had escaped him. As the two odd beings introduced themselves and joined the rest of the inmates, Larce simply stood still. Struggling to find any words, he instead took another drag from his cigarette, then looked back to the sky and muttered to himself, “What in the maker’s name was on that ship?”

In time the shock wore off. After enough eavesdropping on the conversations, at long last he strolled over to others. Leaning against one of the rocks, he casually dropped his two cents on the matter. 

“As much as I love this ‘snatch and grab clothes’ plan, Castleton here is on to something. There’s not exactly a small number of us. We’re either gonna be swiping someone’s entire wardrobe, or making several stops across the place. Either one is probably going to raise suspicion. Tack on a bunch of outsiders rolling up after a republic prison ship made a sudden detour here, and it won’t be long before the locals put two and two together.”

“However,” the thief pushed himself away from the rock and began pacing around as he explained his idea. “If a couple of us wander into town as down on their luck vagrants asking for clothing donations and work, I’m sure some kind souls would be happy to hand over a few outfits. Then if those of us who stayed behind just happen to come into possession of some other outfits, well who’s to say they weren’t accidentally donated as well? Gives us an excuse to play ignorant to any claims of theft, and worst case we just give anything back as an ‘honest mistake’. It’s not a perfect plan, but I’d say it’s our best shot at this ‘mining’ operation.”
 
By the time he finished laying out his suggestion, Larce had made a full circle back to where he had stood at the beginning. Reassuming his shoulder lean against the rock, it dawned on him that he had failed to give a proper introduction. “Name’s Larce Feru, by the way. No ranks or fancy titles, just Larce.”