Jedi Fugitive (The Bad Batch)

67:

Astera:

From space, Pabu didn't look like much, just a little waterlogged planet with nothing to offer. No wonder it had flown under the Empire's radar. But judging how happy Phee was to see it, there was something that made it special for her.

Phee directed us to one island in particular, the only inhabited one according to her. The entire island was covered in what looked to be large shells from a distance, but the closer we got, I realised they were sculpted houses, made of bleached white stone. It was almost like some kind of resort.

"Welcome to Pabu," Phee announced as she stepped off the Marauder's landing ramp, "my home away from home. It's a hidden sanctuary of sorts."

Hidden sanctuary sounded about right. Even the architecture in the courtyard where we'd landed the ship was beautiful, delicately shaped archways and intricate tiled patterns making up floors and walls. I inhaled deeply, relishing in the crisp ocean air that was a welcome change from the stale recycled oxygen on the Marauder. I could see why she'd call it home.

"That's the Archium." She gestured grandly towards the large building in front of us, all elegant sloping curves and smooth edges. "It's where the artefact will be stored. It holds treasures from all over the galaxy."

"My analysis indicates that this so-called artefact you recovered is of little to no monetary value," Tech, as usual, was entirely engrossed in his datapad, reading some scan of the statue he'd taken when Phee was distracted.

"Treasure can mean many things," Phee shrugged. "Most of the villagers on Pabu are refugees. Many of the items I recover are remnants of their cultures, and that's worth preserving. After all, I am a-"

"Liberator of ancient wonders," another, unfamiliar, voice finished for her. I turned automatically, registering only a tall, balding human male and a young girl beside him before he chuckled and opened his arms. "About time you showed your face around here."

Phee went to him, hugging the other man with probably the realest smile I'd ever seen on her. "Miss me, Shep?"

"You got some competition," Wrecker punched Tech in the shoulder with a snicker, his brother only looking mildly affronted and somewhat confused at his words.

"Auntie Phee!" The girl beside Shep jumped at Phee, throwing her arms around her waist and squeezing her tightly. "What did you bring this time?" Phee knelt in front of her and pulled out the tree statue, the girl reaching out to touch it with reverent fingers. "Looks like one of a kind."

"Good eye," she told her with another grin. I tilted my head at Phee, considering her again. She was a lot better than we'd given her credit for - at the very least, we'd definitely been wrong when we'd called her a pirate. No wonder she'd been so good with Omega, when she had this girl here looking up at her like she was her idol. She'd had practice.

"That's not all you brought, I see." Shep had finally noticed us, turning to us with a welcoming smile that shocked me - it'd been a while since anyone new had treated us so warmly.

"This is Shep Hazard, Mayor of Pabu," Phee told us, standing and making her way back to us with Shep at her shoulder," and his daughter Lyana. Shep, Lyana, meet Omega, Hunter, Wrecker, Tech and Astera."

"Welcome." He held his hand out to Hunter first, graciously shaking his hand and repeating it with the rest of us, even Omega.

"Put her there!" Wrecker cackled and grabbed hold of Shep's hand with a little too much enthusiasm, only for the other man to meet it with a similar laugh, pulling him a little closer while Lyana approached Omega with a curious look in her eyes.