We brainstormed for a while before coming up with four main ideas for getting of Foless. One was we bought a ship. There were no doubt a few ships worth buying here, and not only could we offload it to the Rebellion when we were done, but this was probably one of the stealthier ways we could try and leave. Unfortunately, in the grand scheme of things, all that stealth probably wasn't going to do us any good. Any ship trying to leave the planet, especially one that had just changed hands recently, is going to be scanned and boarded immediately.

Not only that, but any attempt to do business under the table would likely make the seller suspicious, running the risk of someone trying to cash in the thirty thousand credit bounty on Sheora and the two twenty-five thousand credit bounty on the kids. The bottom line was that stealth wasn't exactly worth much once we tried to leave.

Our second option was stealing a ship. While, for obvious reasons, this had a chance of being a lot less stealthy, it would have the benefit of speed. A quick strike against a random civilian, we get in, take the ship, and blast off minutes later. If we did it right, we could completely avoid any warning to the Empire. They would immediately know something was wrong when we refused to follow their boarding and search demands, so we would need to time it right, or else we would get blown out of the sky. Luckily, we only needed to look up to see where the Star Destroyers were.

The third option was to steal an Imperial ship.

By far, this was the riskiest plan. On the other hand, it also gave us the most significant edge if we managed to do it right. An Imperial ship would look normal flying around and would provide us with precious seconds to make a break for it. Not only that, but depending on what ship we snagged, we would stand a better chance in a military ship. It was almost inevitable that we would end up targeted by TIE fighters at least, probably more, since our main goal would be avoiding the Star Destroyers. Still, if we fucked up, the Empire would be on our ass within seconds. We would likely only get one shot at that.

Well, we were unlikely to get second chances for any of these ideas, but attempting to steal an Imperial ship would most likely ensure that.

Our final plan was to sneak or bribe our way aboard a large freighter. The Empire, even with all its power and control, would unlikely be able to scan and explore every massive freighter that was coming in and out of the system. Foless was a trade world, so a lot of cargo came through on a daily basis. This plan had a few holes in it, such as how we would find someone willing to accept our bribe, and who wouldn't then immediately turn around and sell us out. Bribes and backstabs seemed like they would be in the same wheelhouse, so it was likely someone who took one would be capable of the other, especially for ninety thousand credits.

After some discussion, we cut the bribe idea from the list. Hiding on a large ship would be putting a lot of people in danger, and relying on pure chance for the Empire to pass us over didn't sit well with any of us. We also cut off buying a ship, as the process would likely take too long and leave us unreasonably vulnerable for very little benefit.

After working our list down to two ideas, we put them to the side, for now, because our first priority was getting out of this city. There were several large cities on Foless, and while our current location was the biggest, it was also under the harshest lockdown. Managing to make our way to another city would make it a lot easier to move around and get things done.

Not only that, but none of the Empire's larger ships were landing in the city. Instead, they refueled and resupplied at the surrounding cities to avoid breaking the lockdown. If we wanted to take one of them to escape, we wouldn't be able to do it here. It would also make our eventual escape a lot more likely. Our current city had two Star Destroyers stationed above it at all times, with the third patrolling around the remainder.

We stood a much better chance, planning around the patrolling one and then trying to sneak past the two stationary ones.

"I might have a contact that should help us get out of the city," Shea said. "But it's risky. It is a hauler, one working for the factory I was observing. With a little blackmail, I could convince him to let us ride in the back of his speeder truck, which would be empty from his delivery."

"Would that make it through the border, though?" I asked. "Ignoring how blackmail is unwieldy, surely they will be inspecting stuff like that?"

"They will be," Ahsoka confirmed, shaking her head. "I think we need to lean into the fact that we aren't wanted yet. If we rent a few vehicles, we could split you three up, which they won't be looking for. After that-"

"Wait… we are missing something even bigger," Julus said, cutting off Ahsoka. "I mean… couldn't we just change everyone's faces? Like we did ours?"

"That's… a bit drastic for the kids," I pointed out, chewing the inside of my lip. "Sheora, any idea how common those kinds of droids are here? Any idea where we could get our hand on one?"

"The Empire has a pretty strong anti-droid sentiment," she pointed out with a frown. "It comes out pretty hard in the medical field. Only the truly poor would be forced to use a medical droid, and that would only be if they're desperate. I… don't really know where you could go to get one."

"We would likely be able to find one with some effort," Nal pointed out. "But it would attract attention."

"So, we would have to steal one, or bribe someone to let us use it," I said with a frown. "Assuming we could find one. Also, how would we get the scan back to our droids so they could undo it? Does anyone know how to do that?"

When no one responded, I shook my head,

"Alright, it's an idea, but for now, it's not what we are going with. Too many risks, too much time," I said, shaking my head. "I'm also not super comfortable telling the kids that they need to do that."

We looked over at the two young kids, both of whom were sound asleep, snuggled under the covers. They looked peaceful, the stress and desperation of their situation gone from their faces.

"It's an idea, but let's keep brainstorming for now. If we can't think of anything else, we can revisit it... but until then, let's keep brainstorming," I said, getting a nod from Julus in understanding. "Splitting them up will certainly help, as long as we can convince them, I have a feeling they won't appreciate the idea."

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"What if we hired a few people to create a distraction nearby?" Sheora suggested. "I know a few people who would be willing to do some damage for some credits."

"Distractions are good, but why don't we just do it ourselves?" I pointed out. "We aren't wanted, which means we can leave whenever we want, as long as our identities aren't closely examined. If we split into groups, one group leaving and one group staying behind, we could cause an accident or two, draw attention away from the border, letting you cross. Then, we wait a few hours and leave on a rented airspeeder like normal people."

"The crossing team should be Sheora, Tatnia, and Julus. Sheora, you can go by yourself, while Tatnia and Julus will cross with one kid each," I explained. "We will have to come up with something that will hide the kids since they will have the hardest time blending in."

We discussed ideas for a few more hours, before finally settling on a seme-concrete plan. We then tried to get some rest, a difficult task considering the lack of beds or bedrolls. Sheora got the second bed since she clearly needed some quality rest, and the kids were peacefully sleeping in theirs already. That left the concrete floor for the rest of us, with a couple of thin blankets and our own jackets for pillows. It was rough, but eventually, I did manage to get some sleep, though the quality was dubious.

The next morning, after a round of healing spells and Respite to get everyone going again, we explained the plan to the kids and immediately ran into a predictable problem.

"No," Felia said, shaking her head. "We aren't splitting up."

As kids usually do, she refused to listen to reason, digging her heels in and stubbornly refusing to agree. I got the sense it was connected to some pretty deep trauma, so it wasn't entirely surprising. I tried to play the "it will make your brother safer" card, and luckily she took the hook.

Sort of.

"Fine, but I want you to guard him," She finally said, backing down from "No" for the first time. "You're clearly in charge. You have your… magic stuff. I'll convince him to go… if you're the one paired with him."

Claron looked up at his sister with wide eyes, not expecting her to agree, but Felia kept her eyes locked on me. She must have a spine of steel, which just pissed me off about what their lives must have been like to this point.

"We had planned on me staying behind to work on the distraction… but if that's the cost of getting you to agree…" I looked at Ahsoka and Tatnia, who nodded in agreement. "Fine. You will be with my second in command then, Tatnia. She will keep you safe, and I'll keep your brother safe."

She nodded before pulling her brother aside and talking to him calmly, explaining the situation. The poor kid was clearly terrified about the idea of being separated from his last family member, but still listened to his sister, the fear fading as she talked in quiet tones. As she did, I turned to focus on Tatnia, Julus, and Ahsoka.

"Alright, so who is taking my job?" I asked, before we quickly started making adjustments to our plan.

Julus, who I would be replacing, would have to take my role. Thankfully, my role wasn't mine because of a need for magic but because it was risky, and being able to do magic would have given me an edge in escaping. It was perfectly possible to perform the task without it. He just wouldn't have anything to fall back on. Still, I had faith in him, and I knew he could fight his way out if need be, especially with the rest of the team working around him.

The first step in the plan, was getting a feel for the actual perimeter, specifically where we would be crossing through. Ahsoka, Julus, and Nal all left the safe house shelter together, making their way through the city to the nearest checkpoint, taking an air taxi to make the trip quicker. They were gone for a few hours, eventually returning and sharing what they learned.

The stormtroopers had shut down an entire side of the road, setting up their equipment in the closed lanes with concrete barriers in place for cover. They created a large kill zone where people were being stopped on both sides, letting people pass after inspections and scans.

They described people coming and going, shift changes, who was in charge, what they did while they were there, and how they reacted to stress. Quite a few people with kids attempted to leave the city, and every single child was stopped and scanned individually.

There was also a lot of firepower set up around the checkpoint. A pair of AT-ST's paced around the temporary checkpoint, as did dozens of stormtroopers. Gun emplacements were set up as well, four that the trio could spot. According to Nal, during the time they were there, four speeder patrols checked in and promptly left again, heading out to keep a watch on the surrounding area. They also finally revealed why there was a clear lack of air speeders flying in and out of the city. Several burned-out wrecks decorated the area, a pair of large Anti-Air turrets spinning to track any airspeeder that got close.

"So, it sounds like the good news is that there are plenty of targets for your distraction," I said. "Bad news is, it's going to need to be a big one."

"Perhaps we should forget about the checkpoint," Sheora suggested. "We still do the distraction, which draws their attention to a specific checkpoint. Meanwhile we sneak through the nearby empty space."

"Speeder groups were sweeping those spaces," I pointed out. "We won't have any way to predict their movements."

"We don't have a way to predict any of their movements," She responded. "But choosing to go through one of the spots they specifically fortified is only making it harder on ourselves."

Unable to deny her assertion, we pulled up a map to see our options. We quickly spotted something interesting.

"Here, along this pipeline… what is this?" I asked, the large projectile holo map zooming in to a large piece of city infrastructure.

"It's… the city's water pipeline," Sheora explained with a thoughtful frown. "It was an option for one of our strikes, but we determined that too many civilians would be affected, so we dropped it. It's above the surface to cool down, since most of their water comes from nearby hot water springs."

The large pipe started far outside the main city limits, and moved much deeper, only to disappear into the ground. Buildings were built on either side of it, but the main streets avoided it. A quick search through the local net showed some better angles of the large pipeline, which created an obvious sightline issue for anyone trying to find someone moving alongside it.

"What if we used to cover our movements?" I asked. "Then there is only a few blocks from where the primary patrol line would be. With a distraction, we could easily cover that. Once under we are it, they won't even be able to spot us from the sky. We travel like that for a few blocks before meeting up, borrowing an air speeder, and heading off. Once we are out of the city, we can start wondering about how we will get off the planet."

"With the right distraction to bring focus here," Ahsoka said, pointing to the checkpoint closest to the pipeline, but it also blocked its sightline. "They would have no idea we were there."

"And if a patrol stumbles on us?"

"They should be distracted by the… well, the distraction," I pointed out. "And we will still be separated at that point, so chances are they will overlook us."

"This is risky," Nal pointed out. "Too many points of failure, reliant on luck."

"I know. There's a large chance this is going to get messy," I accepted. "But this is a messy situation. Pretty soon, the Empire is going to start squeezing this city, trying to find us. We need to be gone before that happens. We are running on borrowed time already. We need to move before it runs out."

"Then let's stick with the original plan. Split up, cause a distraction, and work our way through the patrol line, then use the pipeline as cover," Ahsoka agreed with a nod. "I suggest we meet here, at this bridge, to re-group."

She gestured to a maintenance building that ran alongside the pipeline. It was a decent-sized structure but was obviously not currently being used. A quick check showed that recent automation had stopped a lot of activity around the pipeline, further cementing our plan.

"Let's start getting ready, I want to do this tonight," I said, clapping my hands. "The sooner we are out of the city, the sooner we can start planning our real escape."