"Right.  Gambit needs some fixes before she can go anywhere." Lund states, "She just about made it here, and I'd hate for her to die half way to Anobis.  I'd say six hours' work, tops.  But that'd mean putting a lot of pressure on the team, so eight or nine is probably more reasonable."

"I have time to get the Gambit unloaded, then get cleaned up and grab something to eat.  After that I can plot a course to Anobis.  It also gives you time to collect whatever you need to take with you, feed the tooka, and get back here."

Nodding at Shard and Rhijans, Colonel Kourene agrees with their assessment of the risks inherent in taking You-Why on this mission.  "Imperials have their own droids, and none of them look or sound like You-Why.  He can wait here."

The slightest hint of a smile flickered across Rhijans' face.  "Ironic, that, considering where we picked him up..." he commented drily.

"Okay, nine hours.  We need IDs, an officer's uniform, two tech uniforms, a stormtrooper uniform, whatever spike we're taking in with us, food would be advisable.  Sleep, if you need it...Lund's ship is going to be cozy with this many of us on board and depending on how well you sleep, might be tough to get rested while we're en route.  Anything else come to mind?"

"Only a cover story, but that can wait until we're on our way." Lund suggests, "And the condition of the ship we'll take to Ord Mantell might play into that.  If it's in bad shape, that would give us a reason to land there.  If not... we'll need another story."

"Tools." interjects Karra Hedine, "I mean, if we're going to be techs we might as well look like we're there to work on something."

Kourene confirms the requirements for uniforms and IDs, and goes to check the how the arrangements are progressing...

Shard helplessly raises both hands.  "Don't look at me for more ideas - I think you've got it all covered.  I wear what people put me in, and do some of the talking." Her lips purse for an instant.  "Was thinking that we could have some kind of lock-box cargo that nobody could access, maybe use that in the story.  Problem would be if we bumped into someone with high enough rank to force the issue; showing them an empty box probably wouldn't help, and they probably wouldn't buy the 'it's invisible' story, either."

"Otherwise, I'm good moving on."

Juragga, for his part, sat near the back, nursing a hangover...

"Tell them it's a top secret delivery from our sector Moff.  They HAVE been working on shield technology and projection, after all.  And if they get pushy about it, use the ISB ID and tell them to mind their own department."

Rhijans shrugged minutely and added, "Unless they make it a confrontation in a quiet hall.  Then we just make them go away in the most expeditious manner available.  I mean, our secondary objective is to create disarray in their operations...a few missing officers should serve that end well."

Karra Hedine clears her throat, "I can come up with some technical specs that won't sound too bad if we need to answer questions, and I know where we can find a case that suits the specs.  Maybe even one with hazard markings to discourage inspections."

And then she stops, looking embarrassed, "If you don't mind my input.  I mean, you people have done this sort of thing before, right?"

Rhijans looked at Hedine for a moment.  "Infiltrating Imperial installations?  Yes, we've done that before.  A few times.  But input is always welcome, especially when it solves a problem before it becomes problematic."
He considered, briefly, explained that this wasn't even the first time they'd gone in to extract somebody...but he didn't feel like explaining their rescue of Kourene.

"Works for me," Shard mutters, rubbing her forehead.  "As long as I DO have a tech to whom I can refer for the complex explanations, I'm fine with that.  Otherwise, any cover story coming from me is going to be light on details and heavy on intimidation..."  She grimaces.  "And there's always the chance we'll bump into an Imperial officer of sufficient rank and ego to decide to press the issue, regardless."

Rhijans nodded.  "That's where the secondary ISB ID comes in.  That opens up some options for us...even if the other officer also turns out to be ISB."  The tone of his voice indicated he already had contingencies in mind...

Six and a half hours it takes.  Kourene assigns everybody capable of telling one end of a macrofuser from the other end of a hydrospanner to work on Bold Gambit, meaning the ship is flight ready somewhat earlier than planned.

The team, including Karra Hedine, are summoned to the hangar, where they witness their disguises being loaded, along with a large shielded crate prominently marked with radiation warnings.

Hedine nods towards the crate.  "That's ours... the reason we're going to Ord Mantell. or at least it's the cover story.  I thought we could claim that we're delivering a new prototype torpedo warhead.  Very unstable.  Needs an experienced tech team to install it."

Haarmon came running, slightly out of breath. He'd been down in provisioning, picking up equipment, and then over to IT, grabbing the computer spike. He tried to find a few minutes to scour the local nets of any information they might find useful, but he didn't.

"Unstable sounds good," he said, just catching the tail end of the discussion, "Assuming we sell the con, it should be good for a little privacy anyway."

Bold Gambit exits the hangar and rises, swinging through a wide arc to avoid a gathering thunderstorm.  Rain pelts, briefly, against the cockpit canopy as the YT-1300 climbs, but stops as the ship moves above the cloud layer and into clear air.  The sky here is blue, but soon shifts to black.

Leaving the atmosphere, the ship accelerates.  Lund checks his nav data, and begins laying in a course for Anobis.

A short while later, Bold Gambit makes the jump to lightspeed, leaving Mothessh behind.

Vekkis Lund relaxes, but keeps an eye on the instrument panel as he sips at a mug of spice tea.

"Shouldn't take too long to get to Anobis.  So, apart from the fact that we're picking up a shuttle for the trip to Ord Mantell, and we're going in disguised as an Imperial tech team with some sort of prototype weaponry, is there anything else I should know about this?"

Hedine clears her throat.  "The crate... there's a real proton torpedo warhead in there, a MG7-A, and some mining charges."  She smiles, "And I've rigged a remote detonator for the torpedo."

Rhijans nodded at the question, and at Hedine's answer.  "Good information to have," he commented, before turning back to Lund.  "Nominally, the mission is to retrieve a tech that's been conscripted by the Empire.  Kind of a medical emergency mission...he should know how to correct the problem that's befallen the droid who's been working with us.  While we're in there, we also plan to install a computer spike in their system...the idea being to cause enough chaos to give us a chance to make an escape and for them to be stuck cleaning up for a while before they realize who's missing."

He shrugged, and added, "If it goes like most of our other forays into Imperial bases, they'll have several dead and missing personnel to sort through, as well, but the initial plan is to go in quiet and get out without creating too much fuss until after we're gone."

All that sounds pretty good.  Shard sits quietly, listening to the others discuss possibilities regarding the technical aspects - ie, the explosives.  She doesn't like the sound of it - explosives are too undirected, too...random.  Too much collateral.  They're not her idea of a good thing, though the others have used them to great effect in the past.  And proton torpedo warheads?

Void.

"One thing," she muses aloud.  "I'm not up for 'suicide before capture'.  As long as we're alive, there's the chance of getting out, even if it takes years."  It has, in the past. "So...let's go with NOT having a last-stand full of despair that ends in a white flash."

Her eye catches Haaromn's.  "You okay for this, Haarmon?  As always, if the persuasion doesn't go according to plan, we're going to need you to step in and baffle them with Banthacrap."

He certainly has a real talent with the fast-talking.

Her eyes narrow slightly.  "And how are those exercises I gave you coming along?"

Rhijans gave a look in response to Shard's comment about possibly spending years to regain freedom that left little doubt of his distaste for that prospect.  "The plan has been and will always be getting out alive."  But sometimes plans change...

Given their history, and the amount of Alliance activity in which they'd been a part, he had no doubt that, if they were captured, they would not have years of captivity...more likely, a few days of intense interrogation, followed by summary execution.  And he wasn't going to go out like that.  But he wasn't going to debate the issue at this point, either.  He'd worry about making the case in the event that capture became an imminent and unavoidable reality.

Lund nods.  "The Ord Mantell part of this sounds straightforward enough.  The explosives could probably be used as a diversion, if you really need it.  Extra options, just in case, are good."

"Main problem I can see might be Anobis.  Its a backwater agri and mining world, with its own private little civil war going on.  One faction supports the Alliance, while the other supports the Empire.  Big chunks of the terrain are booby trapped - hologram concealed pits with durasteel spikes, monofilament wire strung between trees, autoturrets, land mines, and worse."

"The Colonel gave me a set of coordinate to land at, where the shuttle is hidden, and the area should be safe - not claimed by either faction - but I wouldn't go wandering too far away from the landing site."

Juragga seemed subdued, even pensive.  As the others talked plans, the only thing that perked his ears was the mention of a proton torpedo warhead and a glorious death in lieu of capture.

Of course, The Jedi didn't favor that.  And if it were anyone else, he might have argued, or been resentful.  Instead, he simply sighed and slumped his shoulders.  His thoughts were on his search for info on his enslaved family.

Instead, he let out a soft woof to Shard.

What do you need me to do?

"The area where we will land is lowland forest, with a large number of scattered farms.  The farmers are poor, but mostly support the Rebellion.  The miners in the uplands get rich selling ore and minerals to the Empire, so they lean towards the Impies." Lund explains.

"There's been a civil war going on since the rise of the Empire, but nobody wants to jump in and stop it.  Alliance is too busy, and the Empire doesn't care about a few deaths per year on an unimportant planet."

Rhijans shrugged.  "I'm all for us minding our own business while we're there.  We're racing a deadline on this and we don't know what it is, so side action has risks beyond just us."

He shrugged, and added dismissively, "Hopefully, the locals see it our way..."

Stepping aside, Shard moves to stand close to Juragga.  "I'm sorry, Juragga - I'm afraid we're going to need you to take on the same role you did before."  Slave-soldier, indentured muscle, second-class Imperial servant.  Disgust sickens her for a moment.

"This is why we're fighting them," she reminds herself out loud.  This and many other reasons.  She clutches Juragga's forearm...well, part of it in any case, there's no way her fingers come close to getting a grip on the huge muscle. "I'm sorry," she repeats.  "But we need you close, which means you've got to be in a disguise they expect to see."

As for the farmers?  The mission isn't everything to Shard; if she sees a bunch of innocents getting abused, it's going to be that cursed ice-planet all over again, because Shard can't walk past atrocities.

Haarmon frowned. "Can't say I'm super excited about the whole Civil-War part. Dirt farmers aren't known for having the most robust computer systems. So I'll be little more than baggage and water-boy until we hit town."

He smirked at Rhijans' comment, "Yea, we always try to mind our own business. Trouble is, everywhere we go other people seem to want to mind it too."

He pointedly avoided Shard's question about exercises. Getting into Jedi Action Hero Star shape was hard.

"Well, with any luck we won't even see any of the locals.  Forest with scattered farms means the shuttle could be half way between Nowhere and Nowhere Else, with plenty of cover.  Was maybe planning to get in, grab the shuttle, and get out before anybody notices."

Lund chuckles.  "I hope I didn't just jinx us."

"Hard to be certain until we get a real look at the terrain.  And I'm really hoping that wherever the shuttle is, there'll be enough room to drop the Gambit in beside it."

Haarmon looked and Lund, "Yeah, no kidding. Never start a sentence 'with any luck.' Have you ever even seen a holovid? We might as well say things can't get any worse. Or say we're one day from retirement."

Lund looks around as an alarm chirps.  "We're coming up on Anobis."

Not long after, Bold Gambit drops out of hyperspace close to a world, and the nav-comp confirms that they are, in fact, at the right place...

Anobis is a grey-green sphere, dotted with smallish seas and large lakes that reflect the light of the reddish sun.

"We're in luck.  The landing site is on the night side just now, according to the data I'm seeing, so we should be able to get down there without being spotted.  Nothing much in orbit, as far as I can see, at least nothing that would give us trouble.  Just two moons."

Gambit moves in closer, adopting a long curved course that will sweep around the planet and terminate at the desired point on the dark side...