It's been two weeks since Mark and Zyra were meant to make contact.  While they hadn't supplied an exact date of return, Devon knew that Mark was not one to exaggerate times.  If he said he'd contact you in a week, he'd contact you in 7 Coruscant days.  Even allowing for delays, something was wrong.

Cor's M4 is hovering by Devon, acting as a virtual presence for its mistress.  Although it projects no holographic image at this point in time Cor's voice can be heard coming through it.

"I see this as being a very significant problem, Devon, as I am certain you do as well.  If nothing else I am certain Ms Jax would have responded to my messages if she was able - they were going radio-silent for a set time only."  Her normally calm voice is tinged with a very real concern.  "I have already begun attempting to trace their likely destination from the path they were taking through the hyperlanes, where we last heard from them and where reports of their vessel - or one like it, has been seen."  She gives a sigh.  "It is slow work.  If we cannot find them on our own we may need to find more specifically skilled help - a bounty hunter, perhaps.

"I think we should discuss this with the whole team but I wished to talk to you about it first, obtain your opinion on what we should do."

Devon pulled himself out from under his swoop bike, where he'd been entertaining himself with some totally unnecessary tinkering; Zen and the art of Swoopbike Maintenance.  He was smeared with grease and sweating.  Sev hovered nearby, projecting a hologram of a circuit diagram.
Wiping his brow, Devon selected another hydrospanner and glanced up at Cors M4.

"Frakkin right its a problem - maybe they got captured.  Best case is something has made them stay radio silent.  Um."
Devon stared blankly at the circuit diagram for a few moments before dismissing it with a wave of his hand.  Freed from its duties, Sev drifted away chirping and whistling to itself.

"Um." he repeated.  "OK.  Assume for a second they got captured.  That means they'll be interrogated.  Assume they'll break.  They were told where we are - they know the ID of our ship.  I think we gotta get off Nar Shaddaa right frakkin NOW."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:21, Sat 08 Nov 2014.

"If anyone bothers interrogating them, perhaps.  Considering how small our organisation is they may simply have been executed."  The M4 hovers about a little as if restless.  "I think we have little need to get off Nar Shaddaa immediately - the Hutts have no desire to have their trade interrupted so it is perhaps one of the more nondescript places to go to ground.  Though we will certainly need to leave soon."  She makes a thoughtful sound.  "Another small neutral world like Det Akari, perhaps, but without the civil war and falling masonry."

"Yeah, lets hope they dont get interrogated." muttered Devon as he started shoving hydrospanners back into his toolkit.
"OUR organization is small, but they were attending as part of the military, remember?  An' they're both officers - that makes them bigger fish."

Having finished returning all his tools to their designated homes, Devon looks round the bay.
"OK, so're going to be leaving Nar Shaddaa... and going some place else - break our trail. Just in case they get interrogated.  Then we can plan our next move."

Devon turned and looked directly into the hovering M4s lens.
"I think its time we got the others in here - even the recruits.  This'll effect them too - if they come with us now, then its gonna be no take-backs.  If they're in, they're in all the way.  An can you get A9 up to the bridge and plotting courses for... lets say Tattooine for the moment.  I want to have options ready in case we have to run at a moments notice."

"I suggest we talk to the Talons first," Cor offers, "and work out where exactly we wish to head so that we can present a firm decision to the recruits, rather than say 'If you are with us, best decide that now, even though we do not quite yet know what we are doing.'"

"Right." said Devon, deep in thought.  "We better get em in here."
Blinking, he looked around the Ghtrocs cargo bay.
"Nah, the lounge will work better.  I'll call 'em in."

Switching his Talon comm over to a squadron-wide frequency, Devon thought for a moment before he began talking.  He had no idea where half of the squad was, checking the time he figured that two hours would give them plenty of time to return.
"Seven to all Talons - we need to have a council of war about our situation.  Please report back to the Ghtroc tonight - I wanna be sitting down round a table with you guys by 1900."

The call made, Devon finished putting his tools away and ambled off to get the lounge ready.
Drinks... caf... something stronger for Heigren...

Moving his tools and the swoop bike over to the Firespray would have to wait.  At least the R2 was already aboard...
This message was last edited by the player at 00:32, Mon 10 Nov 2014.

Receiving the summons, Cor and Devon are soon joined by Heigren, Flash, Sheila and Mika.  All the current serving Talon are in attendance, but not the potential recruits (i.e. Idaya, Dohr, Fiarr and Kyvarr are not present).

Flash arrived promptly on Devon's summons.  "So has the boss finally shown up?  Eager to get back to work and kick some Imp butt!"

He looked around the room at the drinks.  "Caf and drinks.  Looks like a mission planning session.  Clearly not an actual mission or you'd have put out food too!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:50, Mon 10 Nov 2014.

"Things are unfortunately going to require some discussion, Flash," Cor notes via her droid.  Her hologram flickers into life in a nearby chair as the dutiful M4 begins projecting it.  "Best wait until everyone else is settled in."

Heigren sauntered in and stopped, slightly surprised he had beaten several of the Talons to the meeting.  He was tempted to walk out and try again to be 'fashionably late'.  Seeing the serious looks from Devon and Cor, he thought better of it, helped himself to a drink and dropped into a seat.

Devon smiles at Flashs comment - the Duros' enthusiasm was infectious - he wondered how much longer it would last once he broke the news.
"Cor's right, buddy - lets wait till everyone else is here; I dont wanna have to say all this twice."
Nodding a greeting to Heigren, Devon said:
"Since you helped me out with the ship - I'm callin' her Moonshadow - I figure I owed you.  So to start with I managed to lay my hands on some of that whisky you had last time - it's on me, enjoy."

Sheila came in, she had changed into her new clothes, the equivalent of jeans and a blouse, no one had seen her in anything other than exercise or sims gear otherwise this week.

She dropped into a seat.  "They back yet?  I'm sick of being Janine."

Flash shrugged.  "Since it's just us regulars here we can go by our real names.  As soons as we decide who's coming and who's stayin' we can use real names too."  He personally wasn't phased.  'Flash' obviously wasn't his real name and he doubted anyone believed it was.

Mika hadn't been four from the ship in days, save for helping Devon with his new pet project, so she arrived quickly.  She'd recently been in the fresher, as had her clothes, she hardly had any engine grease anywhere in evidence, a near unknown event.  At least her hair was still in disarray.

"Glad we got things moving along.  It's been nice to have some time to rest up, what with our shore leave and all, but I guess it's time to do a bit of work.". Picking up that things are not all peaches and cream, she grabs up a fizz pop and looks to Devon, her eyes narrowing as she realizes the undercurrent of seriousness in his light-hearted words to Flash and Heigren.

"Yes.  It is time."  Cor glanced over at Devon. "I believe you had best begin, Commander."

"Alright." said Devon, pushing his fingers through his hair.
"Easy stuff first: Idaya wont be joining us.  She found a 'help wanted' ad or somethin' at the training centre an signed on with some private security firm that apparantly wanted experienced cap ship officers."  He shrugged.   "So thats one thing we can cross off our 'crap to worry about' list.  Moving on." Devon turned to look at his M4 droid which was happily investigating a pile of boxes in the corner.
"Sev - get over here an gimmie the calender view."

Whistling its understanding, Sev hovered above Devon and projected a hologram calender into air above the array of drinks cluttering the table.
"Ok - down to business.  So none of us have heard a squeak from Mark or Zyra." said Devon.  "This is today, right here." he jabbed a finger at the calender, and Sev obligingly caused that section to glow bright blue.
"That" - green glow - "Is when they left to go to that meeting.  An' one week later is when we expected them to get back in contact."  Orange glow.

"So they're now... a week overdue to get back in contact with us." The entire section between the orange and blue high lights turned deep red.
"The way me and Cor figure it, if they were planning to extend their radio silence... they would have told us if they could have.  If the boss says he's gonna call you in one week, then you can expect your commlink to chirp exactly seven days later.  Which means this silence is somethin' they got no choice about."

Devon sat back and looked round the table to gauge peoples reactions.
"Now maybe this mission of theirs is just takin' longer than planned. Or maybe they're on the run.  Or maybe things went really bad and they got captured.  or killed.  Now I figure the worst possibility for the Talons is that they got captured - if they got captured... then they might get interrogated.  An' right now they know exactly where we are an what ship we're flying."

"I'm thinkin' we assume the worst for now.  So we gotta get ready to leave - we gotta break our trail.  Once we're clear of Nar Shaddaa we can plan our next move."

Cor says nothing for the moment, tapping on keyboards that her hologram doesn't show, sorting through data of her own.  Her gaze flicks briefly around the group; it's obvious, despite her typically unflappable countenance, that she's very worried.

Mika gives a sigh.  She'd known that Mark and Zyra were late in getting back in touch, but somehow it hadn't clicked for her until Devon summed it up.  "Then we're in a damage control mode.  We need to pull whatever assets we have within reach, we need to change command codes, Talon comm frequencies and with Devon being the boss in a longer term, maybe we need to make some mods to our individual areas of responsibility, stuff like that."

"Maybe we do.  On the bright side," Cor mentions evenly, "we have an uncommonly large amount of living space, considering Devon and I have recently acquired ships that Commander Shepard and Ms Jax cannot possibly know about.  We will have a solid - and mobile - base of operations.  That will assist in searching datatrails, space lanes, the like - but it will also help address a problem that is perhaps just as urgent."

She turns a little more fully to face the team.  "We need jobs.  Nothing will kill our search for our missing teammates faster than running out of fuel and supplies.  Those things costs money.  Historically Ms Jax has managed those matters but now we must fend for ourselves - which means a feasible balance between searching and working.  We have no idea yet how long this search will take or where it will take us.

"I am looking for suitable opportunities, of course, but everyone will need to keep their collective eyes open."

Flash stood up.  "If we're worried about security we should get back to the Nest and clear our gear out.  The Nightshrike and our fighters are there, along with our equipment.  Then we should be out hunting for the commander.  We should go now!"

"An that's what we are gonna go." Devon quickly countered, before Flash could go charging out the door and power up the Ghtrocs engines.  He motioned for his friend to sit down.
"But we gotta do this RIGHT.  We are not gonna charge off half-cocked."

Devon held Flashs gaze till the Duros sat, then continued.
"First up we gotta decide if we are taking the recruits with us.  In a moment I'm calling them in here and telling them that we're leaving and this is their last chance to back out.  So if anyones got a real good reason for me to not call them in here, then lets hear it now.  Cor - please get CC9 to round them up."

"Taking the recruits with us, yes," Cor answers.  "Taking them to the Talon Nest?  I would suggest not.  Not yet.  That could endanger both them and ourselves - the more people know its location, the more that can be forcibly convinced to disclose it."  She taps a few buttons and says something in her natural Umbaran.  Switching back to Basic, she continues.  "I suggest we confirm a rendezvous location - a planet or moon a system or so away from the Nest, perhaps - and have them assist us in datasearches and maintaining security until Talon Nest can be evacuated.  The team can then assemble at that rendezvous location and the searching can commence in earnest.

"There is a problem here, however.  We cannot simply evacuate the Nest.  Perhaps we can work out rapidly what we should take and what we should leave behind.  Perhaps we have enough manpower to manage this quickly.  Perhaps we even, thanks to some recent purchases, have enough space to store most of it - but this matter is not simple and it requires thought." She taps a keyboard a few times.

"If we abandon the Nest we will need somewhere else to dry-dock our ships for repairs and refits.  We can hire a shipyard, perhaps, but for how long?  Our funds will soon dry up if we do that.  The more costs we heap upon ourselves the more mundane work we will need to do to fund it - and, therefore, the longer the search will take.  Another option is to locate a similar base, perhaps one already in use by pirates, head in, terminate the tenants and take over.  These are possibilities but they need to be decided upon before we commit ourselves to the hunt."

Mika counters Cor's comment, "But if we're assuming that Talon's Nest is compromised, then it's already out in the open and we're going to need the added manpower to help gather up as much as possible.  And, if there's a warm welcome, then we'll need all the help we can get."

Mika's voice trails off as some other thought seems to hit her....

"You don't think any of them could be spies for who ever might have snagged Mark or Zyra, do you?"

Heigren shook his head.  "What could they say?  Even we didn't know where Mark and Zyra were going.  I don't even know what transport they left on.  Do any of you?  I suppose Fiarr could have found out but I don't see the percentage."

"I agree with Mika about needing extra hands to relocate.  I have had to relocate my community a lot of times in the past and the more manpower you have the better.  I've never been to this 'nest' of yours but I do know that you own a lot of fighters and a cruiser.  Given Devon here will probably want to stay in space covering us with his new toy, that doesn't leave a lot of hands on the ground, droids included."

"They don't have to know the location of the Nest.  Hell, neither do I.  Secure us in staterooms away from nav and sensors until we land and while we take off.  Then your secrets are safe and we can all help in rescuing Flash's prized teddy bear collection."

"I think you underestimate how many droids we now have," Cor says, "but I see your points.  However, if Talon Nest has been actively compromised then we will not be obtaining access.  These are not pirates we are considering, they are Imperials.  If we are important enough to them to capture and they know the location of the Nest then they will have our fighters and the Nightshrike already."  She shakes her head.  "We will need to scout the Nest out before approaching, obviously, or we may be walking into a trap.  Nonetheless I have left my medical droid at the Nest and it has not alerted me to any attacks there - it may have been overwhelmed and destroyed before being able to contact me, but I have sent it a message requesting a ful report of the status of the Nest.  I expect to hear back from it soon."

To Mika she says, "I do not know if any of them might be spies but I doubt it.  We encountered them some time before the Commander and Ms Jax would have been captured.  However it is a valid concern.  How precisely to confirm their allegiances is something I am open to suggestion on."

Devon shook his head too.
"I had considered it, but... put it this way:  snatching the boss and Zyra and NOT snatching us too makes no sense.  It can't be so that we would lead them back to the Nest - they could have the location of that out of Mark!"

"As to taking them to the Nest?  I agree they dont need to know its location; but like Heigren said, thats easily solved.  And I think he's gonna be right about the manpower too.  The good news on that front is that Cor an' me recently bought ten DUM droids between us.  Between them, Cor's PK droids and us we should be OK."

"But planning how we're gonna raid the nest is the sorta stuff we will plan once we're on the way there.  For now we need to plan gettin' off Nar Shaddaa.  An the first step of that is the recruits - anyone got any objections on bringin' them in?"

"No objections as long as we explain the kind of danger they might be getting into I have no objections.  If they've been captured by Imperials you'll only get them back by attacking a prison colony and that's serious business."

"I would suggest that planning on how to occupy the Nest would be something to plan after it has been scouted," Cor offers.  "I have no objection to bringing in the recruits and they should be here shortly but I stress again that our focus needs initially - as well as securing the Nest - to be on gathering intelligence and obtaining funds.  We cannot search the entire galaxy, we need to narrow the field.  We cannot run the ships on good will and rainbows; the Nightshrike alone costs, by my estimation, between 150,000 and 200,000 credits for a month of continuous operation if it sees no combat."  She lets that sink in for a beat before adding, "The smaller ships add to that, of course, coming to roughly 2,000 credits a month each if they see no combat."

She shakes her head slightly.  "That Ms Jax has run finances on this operation as consistently as she has demands our respect.  We are no longer operating on a military-style budget; she would probably argue that we never have been."

"Then let's scout it."  Flash growled impatiently.  "Give me a ship the cathar, the doombot, the doc and whatever heavy ordanance we have and I'll clear that place out for you."

"Flash."  Cor leans forward a little.  "I understand you are eager to get moving.  I am not exactly advocating we sit around and do nothing.  But as the Acting-Commander said we must do this right.  For that you are going to need to focus your energy on making sure our on-planet security is suitable; we do not wish anyone to follow us when we leave Nar Shaddaa.

"I would recommend you do a brief tour of our newly-acquired ships - a Maka-Eekai L4000 I have purchased and a Wayfarer-class transport that Devon and I have bought - in order to make certain they are secure.  If anyone has anti-surveillance equipment then I would ask you take them with you to sweep for tracking devices and bugs.  Examining the Ghtroc and Devon's new Firespray would also not go amiss.  Are you able and willing to do that?"

"I'll help with sweeping the ships." SHeila volunteered.  Heigren was right, they would need everyone to help with the Nest, if they had to fight their way in or just to evacuate stuff.   "SHould we head off now for the checking, or wait till the others have come in?"

"I think we'd rather you waited for us."  Kyvarr said to Sheila as she walked in wiping her hands on a rag.  She looked to Devon.  "CC9 said you wanted to see us sir.  Was just tinkering with Nijel in the cargo bay."

Flash grunted but bit back the retort he had been preparing.  "Lend me your astromech and I can have the work done in half an hour.  By then you guys better have a plan."

The Duros stormed out.

Sheila ignored Kyvarr and looked at Devon. Any positive sign from him, and she was going to help Flash.  Kyvarr had no idea what was going on at the moment, so her comment really had nothing to do with anything.  "Sir?"

"Yeah, go help him."  Devon told Sheila And maybe stop him from happening to someone he added in the privacy of his own head.  "Pick up Catch from my ship - he can help."
Devon quickly comm called his ship and told his freshly bought astromech to assist Sheila and Flash.

OOC:  In the interests of moving things along before Flash starts setting fire to things, I am going to assume that Fiarr and Dohr have arrived too. :)


"Siddown, you guys." Devon told the three new arrivals.  "I'll keep this as brief as possible."

"Long story short - we're leaving Nar Shaddaa as soon as we can be ready to do so.  Our boss and XO were supposed to have been back in contact a week ago, an' we dont know whats happened to them.  Worst case scenario is they've been captured by someone who wont have our best interests at heart.  So we're breakin' trail by getting off Nar Shaddaa soon as we can.  After that, we're gonna check if our main base is still secure, grab various supplies an' go looking for our buddies - might be they need rescuing."

Devon paused for a moment, eyeing the three.
"I'm tellin' you all this because this is your last chance to back out.  One way or another we're gonna find out whats happened to our friends - an get them back if we can.  Don't matter whos holding them."

Devon watched the three expectantly.  It was decision time.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:15, Thu 13 Nov 2014.

Fiarr was dressed in greasy overalls and looked messier than Mika after a 3-day non-stop maintenance bender.  "Any ideas on what they were doing?  I could do some digging if I had more specifics.  Otherwise I'm ready to go when you are."

Dohr was having what had become his customary lunch at a quiet cafe near the docking bay the merc ship was at. Things had been very quiet for a few days now, but that was fine by him. Busy times for the doctor more often than not meant that someone was hurt and probably in a bad way too. Had someone asked the good Kel Dorian, he would've replied he was doing just fine.

But when the familiar figure of a battledroid walked in the door and gave everyone else a fright, the Doc found himself smiling behind his mask. Since CC9 was clearly looking for him, something was happening. The mercs had his comlink code, so they would've called in case of an emergency. No. No one was hurt. This was something else. Maybe they have made up their minds about Kyvarr, Fiarr and me.

Before the droid could reach him, Dohr had already stood up and nodded a greeting. He knew Idaya would not be coming. She'd called him and let him know she would be trying her luck with another group who seemed to (in her words) understand her better. The Doc shrugged at the thought. Probably best for them all. He'd kind of grown to like her, but would not call the Chiss a friend. Perhaps their paths would cross again... perhaps not.

Being the last to arrive to the Ghtroc, Dohr bowed apologetically and took his spot by the wall and sat down to listen. He nodded at Fiarr's words, stood up and looked Devon in the eye.: "I will gladly accept your offer. I feel honored that you would consider taking me along even in such a dire situation. I am sure the decision must not have been an easy one to take, but I will do my best to be worthy of your trust. And I will certainly do everything I can to help you unravel the situation."

Kyvarr ignored Sheila's slight, she wasn't even sure it was one.  She reflexively came to attention as she responded to Devon.  "Sir, as long as you do not serve the Imperials or commit similar acts of atrocity as them I will fight for you."

Devon was silent for a moment, looking from one 'recruit' to the others.  Then he nodded slightly.
"Well, OK then."

"I'll explain the situation more once we're away from here.  For now, lets get moving."
Turning, he point to Cor - or rather her hologram.
"Everyone - I'm promoting Sola to co-command.  I'll lead on the ground, her job is oversight and co-ordination if we have multiple independant teams operating.  When we're in the thick of it, she'll be watching the bigger picture and making sure we have the data we need to keep moving in the right directions. Got it?  For you new guys, Sola is also our droid expert."

"Fiarr: Forim and Janine are checking our latest purchases over to make sure theres no unexpected surprises - go help 'em out.  You got four ships to inspect and I want their pilots in them starting pre-flight as soon as possible."

Crew assignments:  I'll be flying Moonshadow out of here - she's the smallest ship we got so it'll just be me and an R2 in her.  I already loaded all my crap, so no worries there.  She's ready to fly once Forim says she's clean."
Devon consulted a datapad strapped to his wrist as he read off peoples assignments.
"The Wayfarer - she's called Nebula Drifter - will be flown by Kimy with Janine as co-pilot; Dohr and Vyn will also be aboard.  Dohr - get any medical gear we got and move it to the Wayfarer, set yourself up a medbay.  Vyn - help the Doc.  Once thats done, move anything Kimy and Janine want taken aboard too."

"The Ghtroc will be flown by Forim.  Kyvarr: you an' Fiarr will be aboard.  Get your stuff loaded.  All those guns we looted on Det Akari are aboard, so I'm puttin' you in charge of our armoury, such as it is.  Keep it organized." The Corellian grinned suddenly. "An' one additional duty for you 'an the Bothan - Forim may not give a damn but I'm sick of constantly callin' that ship 'The Ghtroc'.  Come up with a name for it."

Devon looked round the room.
"Anyone find themselves with nothing to do, comm Sola for new instructions.
Everyone know what they're doing?  OK, lets go."

Mika digests the rapid changes stoically.  She obviously doen't like something about Devon's orders, but she keeps it to herself.  To Dohr and Heigren, she adds.  "I've got to gather up my gear, won't take too long and then I'm off to the 'Drifter on my swoop.  Once there, I'll start on systems checks and per-flight.  What about you guys?"

As soon as Devon told her to go, Sheila was up and out of there.  She listened to the conversation as Devon explained everything to the new ones and as she chased down Catch and found Flash.  "I'll take that one." she said to him,  Indicating one of the ships that Flash had not started on.  "We can meet in the middle.  Or better, we can each check each ship, just in case."

Fiarr listened and watched with interest.  She was surprised Sola had been listed as co-commander.  Not because she thought her incapable, far from it.  The Bothan had actually assumed Cor was the true 'power behind the throne' and Rian merely the public face.  For Sola to openly share power suggested either her theory was wrong or things were more dire then had been explained.

She hadn't missed Kimy's obvious dislike for some component of Rian's instructions.  Fiarr had her suspicions but it bore watching.  But now was not the time, seeing Janine running out the door she followed after her, calling over her shoulder.

"Kyvarr, since you're not busy could you grab my stuff from the Golden Nebula Sleep 'n Go?  Fifth Floor, Cubicle 39E.  Here's the code."  She tossed the Cathar a code cylinder then followed out the door.

"If people need any assistance with packing or hauling, I have multiple PK and DUM droids at your disposal.  They have been given orders to follow your commands."  She taps a few more keys.  "I am already installed aboard my Make-Eekai L4000 and have no more gear to stow.  Ready when you are, Commander."

"We'll do all four together."  Flash said firmly when asked by Sheila.  "It won't take much longer and if we're going to do this we should do it properly.  Janine and Catch can scan while Fiarr and I do the physical search.  Let's get this done."
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:05, Sat 15 Nov 2014.

Hooting what could possibly have been a greeting, the R2 rolled over to Flash and looked around, its dome spinning to focus its sensors on the various people present.

When Flash gave his orders, Catch immediately warbled its understanding and tailed Flash towards the first ship - almost bumping into the back of the Duros' legs when Flash stopped moving.  The droid certainly seemed eager to get to work - even by the standards of R2 units in general.

Perhaps it came from being factory-new...

Heigren secured the services of two labour droids to help him move his gear from the hotel to his assigned ship. He'd purchased a fair - sized wardrobe on planet and needed help to move it. Once moved he found Dohr and assisted him with whatever he needed him to do.

It took less then two hours for the crews to perform their tasks.  Flash's security team found nothing amiss on the four transports.  The mechanics and pilots pre-flighted all the ships while droids moved around moving cargo and stowing it.  Finally, everyone was aboard their ships and the ships were warmed-up and ready to go.  Now they just need to know what to do.



OOC:  So following Devon's instructions, the ship outlay is as follows:

Moonshadow (Firepsray 31) - Devon and Catch
Nebula Drifter (Wayfarer class transport) - Mika, Sheila, Dohr and Heigren
'The Ghtroc' (Ghtroc 720) - Flash, Fiarr and Kyvarr
Unnamed (Make-Eekai L4000) - Cor, CC9 and R2-A9

Up to each character where on their ship they are located.

Kyvarr busied herself with cataloguing, cleaning and storing the weapons in the armoury and left the flying to Flash and Fiarr.

Flash checked his system then flicked on his Talon comm.  "This is Two.  My team is prepped and ready to go.  What's the plan?"

Fiarr sat in the co-pilot seat next to Forim quietly.  Having heard him asking for instructions there was no point in asking what was next.  She couldn't plot a course she didn't know or assist with flying, not that she thought the Duros would need or want her help.  So she sat back and tried to come up with good names for the ship.

Having stowed her gear and securing her swoop in the cargo deck, Mika had plopped herself down in the pilots station and ran the pre-flight.  That done, she brings the engines to standby.  She keys on the intros hip comms, "You guys got everything ready?"

She'd wait to hear back from Sheila, Heigrin and Dohr before reporting in.  Hell, with all of the stuff that Heigrin had bought, it'd probably take him another three days just to get it all loaded and they'd be lucky to lift ship under the weight.

Devon waited till the other three ships had all checked in before sending the next batch of instructions.

Switching over to Talon commlink, Devon looked at the information Catch was sending to his main display.
"OK pilots, listen up.  Catch is going to be sending you jump details, so you're going to need to brief your co-pilots.  The course is set up to make it look like we're jumping to Tattooine, but an interrupt will drop us back into realspace about an hour out from Nar Shaddaa.  Then we'll organize for our jump to the Nest.  If something goes wrong with your jump and you end up in the wrong place, then we'll regroup in the Tattooine system."

As an afterthought, Devon added.  "And yes, that jump is plotted for an x3 jumpdrive.  I know some of you got faster drives than that, but any smart-ass comments about toy ships that cant do the job, and Two gets latrines duty for the next year."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:43, Sun 16 Nov 2014.

"Acknowledged Seven, see in space."  Flash looked over to Fiarr.  "We're heading for Tatooine, at least partway.  Should be getting nav data in a moment."

He switched to regular comms.  "Transport control, this is docking bay thirty-five requesting clearance to launch."

As soon as he gained clearance he would launch.  They could rendezvous in space.

He switched to ship comms.  "Strap in everyone.  We'll be launching as soon as we get the go ahead."

Hearing Flash's announcement, Kyvarr quickly secures any remaining armament and moves to the cockpit where she straps into the system operator's chair so she can watch the launch.  She says nothing so Flash and Fiarr can focus on what they're doing.

Completing his pre-flight sequence, Devon looked around whilst he waited for Flash to finish talking to the control tower.  Around him, the ship - his ship hummed gently with the power of its engines waiting to launch.  Just behind and to one side of his seat, Catch was plugged into the SCOMP link that gave the droid access to most of the ships systems.  The droid watched Devon steadily.

"Well buddy, you ready for your first ever flight?" he asked the R2.
Catch whistled a response and Devon glanced at the text scrolling up a corner of his main display.
***R2-B7:  I am fully functional and ready to assist.***
Devon regarded the message with a puzzled look.  From time spent working with R2-A9 and CC9 he'd expected this droid to have a lot more personality than it did.  Perhaps it was something to do with being factory new - after all, Catch had only been switched on for the first time a day or so earlier.  He made a mental note to ask Cor about it.

For now he followed Flashs example and called Transport Control.
"Control - this is Moonshadow in bay thirty-four.  Request launch clearance."
Once clearance was given, Devon waited for Flash to launch first and then followed his friend up into orbit.

Heigren sat in an unused cockpit seat and watched and waited excitedly for the ship to launch.  He'd lived most of his life on Phindar Prime and it was only since the Talons had rescued him that he'd flown on a spaceship.  It was still exciting and he didn't want to miss a minute of it.

With the help of Vyn, Dohr fairly quickly gathered up all medical gear from aboard the Ghtroc and lifted it in the back of a rental hover truck. There really weren't proper facilities or operating theater tools or equipment on the transport, so their job was an easy one.

When the truck reached the bay where the Nebula Drifter was docked at, Dohr stepped outside and took a good, appreciative look at the freighter. Though he possibly had seen a Wayfarer -class ship before, the Doc couldn't remember such an occation. Therefore, to his surprise, the Drifter was far bigger than he had assumed. At well over 70 or even 80 meters or so in length, it was easily twice the size of the Ghtroc. A huge cargo space made up the bigger half the transport, but the main ship wasn't exactly small either. The four of them would fit in very nicely.

Once the medical stuff was in the sick bay and his own gear in one of the cabins, Dohr joined K, Janine and Vyn in the cockpit which unlike that of some smaller ships, was large enough to fit a small fighter in. There were plenty of seats for everyone, so Dohr decided to stay, sat down at a support station and buckled up. "Ready when you are, Captain"

Mika contacts Traffic Control and gives them a heads up that she'll be kicking in a request to depart presently.  She uses the ships sensors to see Dohr's rental van come up and watches as it's unloaded while she runs through the pre-flight.

When Dohr and Heigrin join them on the Bridge, the thumbs the comms again.  "Traffic Control, this is the Nebula Drifter, requesting to move launch time up to immediately."

In anticipation, she brings up the ships engines to standby and gets a thrill from the resulting thrum of power in the slight vibrations.

Meanwhile, she starts plotting the astrogation calcs to head towards Tatooine for an hour and then break out of hyperspace to reorient towards the base.

**HUTT SPACE - TWO HOURS LATER**

The four transports had quickly gained launch permission, which was little more than a courtesy as ships mostly came and went as they pleased.  After clearing the gravity well the four ships set a course for Tatooine, some using Catch's supplied data, others using their own calculations.  At high speed, the convoy quickly cleared the planer's mass shadow and jumped into hyperspace.

After the alotted time the ships reverted to realspace.  It took some time to regroup as jump computers weren't perfectly tuned and not everyone had used the same data.  Still it was less than two hours before the four ships hung in deep space together.  No other ships were on sensors.

Aboard Moonshadow Devon spent several long minutes checking over the sensors, with Catchs assistance.  There was no reason anyone would have followed them off Nar Shaddaa... and even if they had, their course made it look like they were headed to Tattooine - short of having a homing beacon on one of the ships, Devon couldnt see any way they could have been followed.  And Flash had assured him the ships wern't bugged.  Even still, he checked the sensors.  Just being paranoid.  He told himself.

He glanced round at Catch with raised eyebrows.  The droid must have correctly interpreted the gesture as a message popped up on his main display:

+++R2-B7:  I detect three ships in close proximity to our vessel:
   *  Nebula Drifter - Wayfarer class medium transport.
   *  ??? - Ghtroc class 720.
   *  ??? - Maka-Eekai L4000 Transport.

Other than that, I detect no significant objects within scanning range.+++


Devon nodded "Yeah, thats what I got too."  He activated his Talon commlink.

"OK boys and girls - unless anyone has something scary on sensors, I think its safe to say we're alone.  Planning time.  Eleven, by my count there should be at least one M4 droid aboard each ship - can we network them an' use their holoprojectors to set up a sorta conference mode?  Like how you usually join us, only with everyone involved.    I want everyone involved in this so that we can get done as fast as possible."

OOC:  Gonna assume that IS possible and keep things moving.  Worried Flash might beat me up if I dont.  ;)

Devon sat with his back to Moonshadows controls and looked at the collection of miniature holographic people that Sev was projecting into the air in front of him. He knew everyone one else would be looking at similar views.
"OK, we got a mission to plan here.  First up though I wanna clear something up:  Fiarr, Kyvarr, Doc - as you may have guessed we've been using fake IDs the entire time you've known us.  That was for our security whilst we were visible to the public.  For now though I think we can dispense with that.  I'm Devon Kismet." 
Devon went round the group, introducing everyone all the Talons, but not lying this time.  He waited a few moments for the inevitable chatter to die down.
"Moving on.  To remind everyone of the situation:  our CO and XO are overdue back from a mission and we're facing the possibility that they have been captured.  If they've been captured, then they may be interrogated.  And if that happens, we could be compromised.  So right now we're heading back to our base - we call it the Nest - as fast as we can.  If there's no-one there waiting for us, then we clear the place of some needed supplies, refuel and we run.  Once we're clear of the Nest, then we'll assemble a plan for tracking down our missing friends.


Cor is trying to make contact with a few of her droids that she left back at the Nest, they may be able to tell us what - if anything - is going on in there.  But I figure that when we arrive, we treat the place as potentially hostile.  I want to land a team in there to sweep and clear the place.  Once its clear, we land everyone else and take what we need.  CC9, Kyvarr - you'll be in charge of the sweep.  Tell me what you'll need."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:29, Tue 18 Nov 2014.

Cor, having no nickname for her ship, transmitted the docking codes for her new vessel instead when they left Nar Shaddaa.  She figures Traffic Control probably don't care about ship names, in any case.  Leaving without incident and letting her droids ready the ship for the jump, she had simply gone about the process of making her cabin - in many ways her new world - much more comfortable.  Stock freighter ships are nice and adaptable, of course, but they don't scream 'luxury!' right off the bat.

She'd confirmed the process of the M4s being able to transmit a conference call - "If everyone is comfortable meeting in such a manner, that is," - and set up the needed frequency settings for the space-Facetime.  After all, this kind of functionality was part of what the M4s were intended for.

Now she sits in the ergonomic chair that she's usually in during calls, dressed in the durable but comfortable clothes of a technician.

"I have received word," she notes, "that the droids at the Nest have noticed nothing untoward.  The Nest's sensors have noticed nothing in particular approaching; whether or not the Commander and Ms Jax have been captured, it seems the base has not yet been compromised."  She tilts her head slightly to one side.  "That may change, of course - or it may not."

Mika finds the virtual meeting less to her liking.  It's hard to get a read of someone from a miniature holo-vid, makes Mika feel like everyone's got something to hide.  She wonders briefly if others feel the same about her, since she's in their view as a miniature holo-vid.  But such thoughts never hold a place long in Mika's thoughts.

A paranoid little thought comes to mind and Mika chimes in, "Or maybe the bad guys are holding just out of sensor range waiting to pluck up whatever passer-byes happen to be in the neighborhood."

"Yes, Ms Trake," Cor replies after a very slight pause, "that is why we will be sending someone in to scout the Nest out before approaching it."

Kyvarr considered.  She hadn't spoken to CC9 of course but there was no doubt what they would need first.  "What we'll need is a full description of this 'Nest', surrounding buildings, layout of the structure, access points and such.  Then we can work out a plan what resources we'll need."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:56, Wed 19 Nov 2014.

"The Nest is a long defunct asteroid mining facility that we re-purposed.  So far as I know, everyone except us has forgotten about the place.  A9 can you give us the layout, please?"

Devons holographic image was replaced by an image of a fairly sparse asteroid belt.  The view zoomed in on one of the larger rocks.  A scale measure alongside showed the rock was almost 20 kilometers across at its longest point.

"From the outside it just looks like a rock - no external comms, sensor arrays or anything else to draw attention.  If you're passin' by, it just looks like one rock amongst a load of other rocks, unless you get in close and inspect it - an why would you do that unless you knew what you were looking for?  The only access point is through a concealed hanger entrance here - its big enough to pass small capital ships, so our diddy little freighters will have no problem.  If theres any sorta organized defence, I reckon it will be in the hanger - its the only entrance and the only choke point.  If the place is undisturbed, then the only vessels you should see in that hanger are our cruiser - yes we have a cruiser - and three starfighters.  Two Z-95s and an R-41 Starchaser.  You spot anything else, then someones bought it here without telling us."

In the image the asteroids surface vanished to reveal a floor plan of the rooms inside the rock.  As Devon talked about the bases various features, different portions of the image obligingly highlighted themselves.

"Crew quarters.  Life support.  Administration.  Med bay.  Engineering.  Its a big place.  Only inhabitants right now should be a bunch of droids performing various tasks.  All non-combat models.  There shouldn't be any living inhabitants at all.  If there is, I want them alive."

The image changed again to add in a massive warren of tunnels and caves branching off from the base proper - the image was heavily tagged with tunnels that blurred out into nothingness and annotated with ??? marks.

"This is our big problem - the mine workings.  You could hide a goddamn army in there.  We never bothered with the tunnels - no time to explore them properly, so we just marked off the entrances and stayed out."

Fiarr looked at the setup.  She was impressed with it's covert nature.  She'd seen many a secret base or pirate hideyhole given away by an overabundance of defensive weaponry, comm arrays or other signs of habitation.  This one looked like a rock amongst other rocks.

"Impressive design.  But I'm curious.  If this base has no external comm arrays or sensors how does Sola. . .I mean Cor mean to contact the droids there?"

Devon nodded to Fiarr before he remembered the others were looking at an asteroid, not him.
"The Nest has a short range antenna mount - only about a meter across, concealed and retractable.  Lets see you spot a hidden meter wide antenna mount on a 20 kilometre rock.  It just sits there passively listening - no transmissions or other energy emissions unless someone inside the Nest actually sends a message.

We broadcast to a nearby comm-relay satellite - any incoming message for the Nest is just broadcast as a blanket transmission with no specific target, our antenna picks that up just fine.  Since all our traffic is encrypted, anyone else just hears static in the background of legit messages."

OOC:  I had to ask the Gm what the answer was to Fiarrs question :)

Kyvarr considered the layout.  "Only one way in or out.  Limits our options."  She turned to Devon's image.  "Sir, I recommend that if the asteroid has any life support on it's turned off.  Drop temperatures to as low as your droids can tolerate.  Lower the gravity too.  Any droids without magnetic feet secure themselves.  If there is an enemy he should be uncomfortable."

"The size of this rock is the problem.  I would recommend CC9 and I go in with as many of these messenger droids and any other spy droids you have.  CC9 and I secure the hangar and sweep the ships.  The droids fan out and do a thorough search for us."

She straightened.  "Should you approve this I'd recommend only B2-CC9, R2-A9 and I go.  We take the Ghtroc, perhaps Moonshadow could provide an escort and patrol.  Once we dock, A9 remains on board to collect the droid data and to get the ship out if there is trouble.  I would need a full space suit and weapons rated for the cold of space.  Once we secure the asteroid, the rest of you could dock."

"Don't think for a second you're going in without me."  Flash butted in.  "I'll be damned if I sit on some old junker while you guys have all the fun."

Devon grinned, he couldn't help it - Flash volunteering himself had been utterly predictable.
But if Flashs contribution hadnt been surprising, CC9s lack of input definitely was...
"So far I'm only hearing from Kyvarr on how we sweep the place - CC9, you agree with her?"

The droid waits for a moment before responding to Devon.  "I calculate the likelihood is very high that the plan to sweep through the Nest is an excessive use of resources - what organics would call 'overkill.'  If the droids present at the Nest have not observed intruders - as my mistress has stated is the case - then it is highly unlikely that there are intruders.  Nonetheless it is a possibility, if a slim one.

"I have nothing to add to Talon Recruit Kyvarr Dulvan's plan otherwise; however I calculate that it would seem a more suitable use of resources to comb the local portion of the asteroid field before approaching.  Probability is higher that the Nest is being observed rather than occupied."  CC9's image turns its head slightly as if to stare at something.

"I would recommend that Talon designated 'Flash' be kept out of this mission.  Metrics show his skill as a pilot to be unsurpassed within the Talons; however, psychological profiling and observational data also indicate that his levels of raw hostility and impulsive action are also unsurpassed.  He is suited to ship combat rather than scouting."  Considering that this has been said by a droid built and designed for the express purpose of making organic beings die, that's saying something.

Flash would have rolled his eyes if such a movement was allowed by his Duros physiology.  "Two problems there Doombot.  Firstly, I have no ship to fly.  You wanna drop me in the nest and have me grab a fighter that's fine.  Second, according to our last range shoot, I'm not just the best pilot, I'm the best blaster shot too."

Fiarr listened to B2-CC9's words and nodded in agreement.  Though given Flash's quick response it was possible people would think she was nodding in agreement with the excitable Duros.

"I agree with B2-CC9 that the likelihood of an intrusion of your base is unlikely.  Given your layout there is only two possible entry points - the sealed hangar bay or the comm array when it's up.  Other then that you're drilling through rock which is going to be noticed by a droid."

"Add the fact isn't Cor in contact with her droids?  If they're as alert as CC9 and A9 they would notice if someone breached the hangar.  Unless you think the droids have been reprogrammed somehow.  I imagine you can't open your hangar doors without some sensor system or computer program knowing."

"Now I could probably design a mission which could infiltrate and take over the base, but given the resources I'd need I don't think someone would waste their time.  No offense but do you really think your small group would be worth such effort?"

"I find it more likely that if your base is being watched it will be something simpler.  A probe droid or spy satellite or something would be more sensible.  Though if you suspect Imperials I imagine they'd just blow the doors off, invade with a brigade of stormtroopers then set of explosives to blow the asteroid apart.  They don't do covert much and when they do it's for MUCH bigger fish."

"For the record, I don't think there's anyone in there waiting for us either.  But only a total idiot would land everyone without sending a scouting party in first.  An' when the boss asks you guys how I did, I dont want you saying I was a total idiot."  Devon grinned.  "I'll settle for being just an average idiot, thanks."

He sat back for a moment, thinking.
"OK, here's how I see this going - if you guys see a problem with this, then say so:  We jump in a nice inconspicuous distance from the Nest, eyes wide open as we approach.  If we don't see anything scary, Flash lands the boarding team in the Ghtroc and helps sweep the hanger.  If the hanger is secure, then Flash immediately launches in the R-41.  That way we got the R-41 and Moonshadow providing cover.  The sweep team move into the habitable areas of the base an' as soon as they say we're secure, Mika takes the Drifter in.  Then we can start a full evac of all the equipment we want."

Flash nodded.  "Works for me boss."

"My designation is B2-CC9, shortened colloquially to 'CC9'.  It is not 'Doombot'."  CC9's voice is entirely monotone and he shouldn't be able to express distaste at the moniker but somehow he manages it.  "I am aware of your metrics.  All of them.  I was not suggesting you fly a ship at all, only that you do not have the emotional clarity needed for a scouting mission.  However, to forestall the objection that is almost inevitably coming," he adds levelly, "the Acting Commander has given an order and I will not argue it."

Cor says nothing, rubbing her forehead with slender fingers before noticing something in front of her.  She types away at a keyboard that the hologram does not show.

Flash chuckled.  "I know your designation CC9, I just thought 'Doombot' made a good callsign, like 'Hammer' or 'Flash'."

Fake ID’s… It had been pretty obvious. The Talons (OOC: Assuming the group's name was out in the open too) had been very careful not to reveal too much about themselves earlier using numbered ID’s most of the time. When Dohr had met them (or most of them at least) for the first time, Mika had only been introduced as K. Hell, he hadn't even known what the group was called before today. He could well understand their need for hiding their true identities in their dealings with outsiders. And up till now, that was exactly what the Doc, Kyvarr and Fiarr had been…

Dohr had been slightly surprised at first to see Rian… Devon make the decision of accepting the three of them into the band of mercenaries. Earlier it had seemed obvious to him that although Devon and Cor were in charge of testing the candidates, they were expecting their Commander to make the final decision. But clearly things had changed now that they’d heard nothing about their number one man and his second in command. And Dohr liked it. Not only because the pretense was over and he had been accepted in. But it spoke tons about the team and their way of working. If the acting CO had enough guts to take over of the whole operation, he was the right man for the job.

The leader of the group had been gone for a week too long. In Dohr’s mind Devon and Cor were right to feel they had to assume the worst or second worst thing had happened to them, depending on the point of view: Either the two were dead or the Imperials had tortured them for information. If not, happy times. But as there was no way of knowing now, they had to play it right. The Nest as Devon called their BoO, could have been compromised and precautions had to be taken with that in mind.

Dohr kept silent listening to the discussion across the holo connection between the four ships. He considered Kyvarr’s plan a good one, but like the “Doombot” said, it was probably a bit too much. Cor’s droids would’ve picked up an intrusion in case of one, but they could’ve been reprogrammed or wiped clean. The Kel Dorian also agreed on her thoughts on the spying part. It was the more obvious approach unless the one in charge of the opposite side was a complete fool. If indeed something had happened to the Talon leaders and the Imperials were behind it, they’d want to get the whole group not just the top people.

Once the exchange between Flash and CC9 was over, Dohr spoke up: ”Plan sounds good to me too. But I would suggest, and I am sure you have thought about it already, that we calculate a route to some location we can regroup at in case there is an Imperial fleet waiting for us and we need to evacuate immediately. And preferably via at least two different routes or even four so they cannot follow us all.”

Fiarr listened as the various people, finally Dohr offered their ideals.  She was heartened that it was the three 'new guys' offering a lot of ideas.  She wasn't sure if it was deliberate or not.  Perhaps they were being given a chance to show their worth, even in such a situation.

"I agree with Dohr.  I'd also suggest Moonshadow does an initial area recon while the rest of the transports wait at a jump point.  Devon's ship is the fastest, is the only one armed and best suited to escape an armed response.  Once he secures the area, then the Ghtroc could go in while the other transports wait.  Then when the boarding group secure things the rest of us could come in while Devon and Flash protect us in their ships."

"And I'll stay nice and safe near the jump area on the Nebula Drifter.  You hero types can go and have all the "fun".  He accentuated the last word, suggesting he thought the proposed activity was anything but fun.

"Speaking of ships Commander, since B2-CC9 needs to come aboard the Ghtroc does that mean I should transfer to Cor's vessel and take over pilot duties?  An alternative is I stay here and launch a second fighter with Flash.  I'm happy either way."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:33, Sun 23 Nov 2014.

"I can grab the other z-95.  THat will cover the three fighters."   Either that or she could sit on this ship like a lump.

Devon shakes his head.
"No.  Every fighter we launch is another fighter we gotta recover before we leave.  I've seen how fast Flash can dock when he wants to.  We launch the R-41 and that's it.  Once the sweep team says we're clear I want everyone working on clearing the Nest as fast as possible."

Devon started indicating areas on the projected deck plan.
"Our armoury is here, all small arms.  Kyvarr - you'll be hitting that.  Take everything and add it to the armoury on the Ghtroc.
Medical - such as it is - here.  Doc, Sheila. That's yours.  Clear it and get everything to Docs medbay on the Drifter.
Mika, Fiarr - get Z-95 Alpha loaded into the Drifter.  Beta isnt hyperspace capable, so I'm seriously thinkin' about leaving it behind - there isnt room for three fighters inside Drifter, so we only take ships with us that can run if they have to...  Unless anyones got a spare hyperdrive they aint told me about?

Heigren, I'm trustin' you to get everyones personal stuff.  Our quarters are these rooms along this corridor here.  I think some of us - me included, also have gear stashed on the Shrike.  Just grab it all, shove it into boxes an' get it onboard the Drifter - we can sort out what belongs to who later.

CC9 - I want you an' the B1s ready to respond to threats.  If we run into something we dont like whilst we're busy loading, I figure everyone falls back to the hanger and meet them there."

Devon sat back, thinking.
"Cor will make sure all our other droids help you guys efficiently and are with us as we leave.  Which means there's only a couple more things I can think of that we'll need to worry about before we leave...  first up - Z-95 Beta and the Shrike.  The one aint got a hyperdrive an' I figure the other is too damn expensive for us to run for long.  Our choices then are either leave them here an' hope the place doesnt get found, or relocate them some place else and hide them."

The acting commander paused to think for a moment more.  Frak he told himself.  What idiot put me in charge?  oh wait, it was me.
"Any Talon computer systems we leave behind are going to need to need their memories backing up and the original wiping.  We'll have copies of everything but wont leave any data behind.  Same for navcoms on any ships."

"My R2 units can handle data management," Cor notes, "but I recommend we dock the Z-95 Beta to the Nightshrike and take both with Mika as pilot.  We can find a safe location for the capital ship and even if not we can find some location to hide it.  It is tremendously expensive to run, yes, but is a stable platform if we are not moving it, using only enough energy to maintain life support functions.  Parking it in the black space between systems far from any hyperspace lanes may be enough to keep anyone from stumbling across it.  Space is, after all, an awfully large place.

"Regarding my L4000, I will not require a pilot but thank you for the offer, Fiarr.  If you have no other duties as we leave then feel free to come aboard if you like, but I am confident in my droids' abilities to fly.

"Also, if more space is needed, my L4000's holds are quite... expansive."

Mika gives a nod.  "Yeah, Cor's right about the 'Shrike.  Hell, we can always sell it later on if we need the funding and can't manage the upkeep, but it's too valuable to just leave her be.  Plenty of storage space there to load up whatever we want and then some.

That leaves the 'Drifter without a pilot though.  Since Cor's got the L4000 covered, maybe Fiarr could cover the 'Drifter?"  Mika wonders for a minute about how to move her swoop from the 'Drifter to the 'Shrike, but she could always worry about that later too.

An unremarkable asteroid among a field of asteroids in a sector with nothing more to offer then proximity to the Hydian Way.  In all it was a hunk of rock in the middle of other lumps of rock that nobody had any reason to be interested in.  Seventy five years ago a mining corporation had extracted all the deuterium from it then abandoned it.  Now even those records had been erased by Zyra.  In all, Talon Nest was a great base of operations for the Black Talons, but now it was potentially compromised.

Into this area of blackness came four ships, reverting from hyperspace several hundred kilometers away from the asteroid field.  While three ships hung there, a solitary Firespray-31 known as Moonshadow flew in.  The asteroid field, while large, was not overly dense and the small patrol craft effortlessly flew through the sector.  Finding nothing of interest the Ghtroc was called in.

The boarding team consisting of Kyvarr, B2-CC9, Flash, a pair of B1 droids, a DRK-1 spy droid and nearly a dozen M4 droids flew in quickly.  As they neared, Flash triggered the code to open the hangar doors to the nest and flew in.

On landing the team unloaded quickly.  As nobody had okayed Kyvarr's plan to vent atmosphere, the hangar had minimal life support, but enough to prevent the need for vac suits.  Kyvarr wore her trooper armour while Flash settled for a flight suit.  They quickly found the hangar was free of hostiles.  The only beings present were a few maintenance droids doing routine maintenance on the ships then continuing work on a spare pod for the Nightshrike they were dismantling to convert into a hangar pod.

Finding the hangar clear, CC9 ordered the spy droids to commence reconnaissance while they held the hangar.  Flash ordered the hangar droids to get the R-41 Starchaser ready while he jumped into the cockpit.  Kyvarr signaled all clear to the other ships.

By the time the other two transports landed, the R-41 had powered up and taken to space to patrol.  With Flash taking over surveillance, Devon landed his ship in the hangar next to the other transports.  By this time, the droids had cleared the living and maintenance areas of the Nest and found no abnormalities.  The droids moved deeper into the mine shafts.  There was still many kilometres of unused tunnel to check which would take several hours.

---

OOC:  Well the 'lived-in' areas of Talon Nest are secure.  This means you can load the ships while the droids finish their sweep. Everybody has now landed in the hangar bay (except Flash who is on combat space patrol in the R-41).

Now you have loads of cargo space on each ship so you can load your personal effects/weapons on any ships.  Dohr/Sheila need to decide where they want to put the medical supplies, ditto Kyvarr with weapons.

The main issue is the fighters.  You have three - 2 x Z-95's and 1 x R-41.  You have the following options:

The Wayfarer can house two ships and even launch them in space like a mini-carrier.

The Nightshrike has docking clamps for two Z-95's

One Z-95 and one R-41 are hyperspace capable.

Additionally the Nightshrike needs a minimum of 2 crew to operate.

So need to decide what goes where and who flies what!  A complete list of gear is in the two threads dedicated to equipment - ('Current Inventory' and 'Equipped Gear')

This message was last edited by the GM at 11:06, Tue 25 Nov 2014.

The Nest... In all it's unremarkableness the place was most remarkable. When the Drifter dropped out of hyperspace and Dohr first lay his eyes on the cluster of asteroids, his initial thought was: This cannot be it. He did of course know better as Devon had already showed them the holovid of the area, but still he couldn't stop the feeling of doubt from surfacing. Not much of an actor, the astonisment probably was clearly written on Dohr's face even if he quickly forced it away.

As Mika guided the Wayfarer into the hangar and landed it softly, Dohr noted the size of the place. As a former mining colony it certainly had needed a large docking space, but even with the cruiser already in there the new ships all fit in nicely. (OOC: Assuming the Nightshrike is in there) Despite the fact that there were no enemies present and everything seemed to be as it should, the doctor knew they could not afford to stay for any longer than what was necessary. And he was slightly disappointed by the fact. He'd met a number of small underground movements and some bigger rebellious groups too, but already the Talons and the Nest had made a bigger impression on him than any of them.

Not wasting time, Dohr asked one of Cor's droids to join him and followed Sheila to the medbay. He was half expecting to see a fully equipped operating theatre with a bacta tank or two and wasn't disappointed by much. The tanks were missing, but otherwise the medical facilities were impressive. There wasn't anything resembling a sic bay on the Drifter, but there were plenty of large cabins available for turning into one.

Mika deftly nudges the 'Drifter into the docking bay at Talon's Nest.  As soon as it's secure, she clicks the internal comms.  "We've arrived.  I hope you had a pleasurable trip and thank you for flying Nebula Drifter freight."  She chuckles to herself.

She then keys in on the Talon comm channel.  "Boss, want me to stay with the 'Drifter or should I shift to the 'Shrike?"

Fiarr watched all the gear being moved to the hangar and quickly approached Devon.

"Just a thought, but do you and Cor plan to assign 'mission profiles' to your ships?  What I mean by that is that each ship should really have a purpose.  Your cruiser is a weapon of war, no doubt about it.  I'm assuming the Wayfarer will be converted into a 'pocket carrier' for you fighters.  That leaves the Ghtroc and L4000.

Now the problem with the other ships, including the Moonshadow is that in some ports they're going to gather far more attention then we'll want.  I suggest we set up one of the two remaining ships to be as inconspicuous as possible so we can move around covertly when needed.  I think a decision like that needs to be made before Kyvarr loads heavy weaponry and high explosives aboard a ship meant to be a civilian transport."

Kyvarr took some labour droids and quickly moved the Talon's armoury into the hangar.  She moved over to Devon while examining a grenade launcher she'd found.

"You have some nice gear sir.  Where do you want it all loaded?"

Apologies for the delay, spent most of the past couple of days being very ill... recovering now.

Almost as soon as Moonshadow had landed, the main ramp was lowering and Devon was hurrying down it, four cargo-handling droids and his R2 following.
"You three, report to Talon Eleven for your assignments," he was telling the cargo droids.  "You - head down to stores on level B and find a box of commlinks.  They look like this."  Unclipping his ear-piece commlink, Devon held it out for the droid to see.  "Bring the commlinks straight back to me.  Catch, see that lady there?  Go help her."
Chattering and whistling to each other, the R2 and DUM series droids hurried off to complete their tasks.

Nodding to Hammer and Fiarr, Devon clipped the commlink back into place and listened for a moment.
"huh?  Ten, leave all your stuff on the Drifter but prep the Shrike for launch.  We're gonna take her out of here and hide her some place else.  Need you to fly her out.  I'm sendin' Catch to help you.  We'll dock Beta to Shrikes external clamps, an' load Alpha into the Drifter along with the R-41."

"Eleven, three of my DUM droids will be reporting to you for orders - make 'em useful and..."
Devon paused and his lips moved silently as he counted the various droids moving through the hanger.
"Eleven... where did that DRK droid come fro- did you borrow Idayas droid, you sneaky little Umbaran?"

Shaking his head and grinning, Devon finally turned to Fiarr and Kyvarr.
"Hey, welcome to the Nest.  I got DUM-4 headed down to stores to grab encrypted commlinks for you guys.  Meanwhile, let get this armoury set up.  Fiarrs right - an since the Ghtrocs' got about five different transponders we can switch between, it'll be our primary 'legal' ship - maybe falling back on the L4000 when we have to.  So lets have some arms on the Ghtroc, but only stuff that wont blow her cover - civilian issue stuff.  Load the rest into the Drifter."

Devons R2 unit rolled over to Mika and chirped a greeting.
[Language unknown: Ma aralivtiel sa Redherect.  He ar staat prwiatonie wh heacar ioous.  Str osth ineit salopr?]
This message was last edited by the player at 19:54, Thu 27 Nov 2014.

Kyvarr nodded to Devon and simply responded.  "Yes sir."  She then directed the droids to load the majority of the gear on to the Drifter.  For the Ghtroc she prepared a small selection of blaster pistols, blaster rifles, stun batons and a single case of stun grenades.

"Not 'borrowed' as much as 'appropriated,' but yes," Cor responds, quite unruffled.  "When she left Idaya neglected to take her droid so I decided we might find a use for it."  She taps out instructions for droids from her private quarters on the L4000.  "As I have no need or desire for such a droid myself, for several reasons, I have programmed it to respond to the Talon command structure above all else.

"Regarding future hauling tasks, the Ghtroc's flexibility make it an ideal choice.  My L4000 is also an entirely legal ship; I would need to install new transponder codes before taking on freight jobs that step outside the realm of legality but it is still certainly quite possible."

Mika notes the approach of the droid smiling as it chirps.  "Let's head over to the 'Shrike and get her pre-flighted.  Have you been programmed with cap ship operations?"

She leads the way to the 'Shrike and ushers the droid with her up to the bridge.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:47, Fri 28 Nov 2014.

Pre-flirted?  Sounds like something I would do!  ;)

Following Mika towards the Shrike, Catch warbled in response to her query.
[Language unknown: "Whiccein k staiom ive hasencstrand le ame neeenedipr wawi-saolac all di, t latio infor to antverhis romla ll haticheraoul pe moevof ca ofoun verreserapre ectousyinrutfor thi eserch p ac utnang.
Stwapo, ce allectday redesseentheter n evehouortare en esie i ei olforoal nene-ekni o tinsonsan ma niwite."]

Mika smirks as the droids warbles and chirps for beyond a simple yes or no.  "Sounds like a yes to me, or near enough.  Don't worry your processors, we'll get the 'Shrike up to speed in no time.". Boarding the 'Shrike, she continues forward towards the control room.

Sheila will grab a repulsirlift one the way to sick bay.  "Let's get the most critical stuff over first.  i presume we want the droids and the drugs.  Anything we don't need to take?"

As she'd been instructed Fiarr carefully flew the Z-95 Headhunter designated 'Alpha' into the Nebula Drifter then went about making sure she was secure.  She would then check if he wanted "Beta" secured to the Nightshrike, doing so if required.  Else she helped wherever she was needed.

Working together the breakdown operation works smoothly.  As Devon does not order the breakdown of the primary base operating equipment, the process is done with light, gravity and atmosphere.  Labour droids moved about everywhere with Talons following.

Mika and Catch work quickly to pre-flight the Nightshrike.  The Talon Nest droids had done a good job of keeping her serviced and they found no problems with any systems.

Heigren works quickly with the droids to move everyone's personal possessions from the Nightshrike and the base to the Nebula Drifter.  Ignoring Devon's orders, he takes the time to sort the various possessions into individually named crates that the labour droids working with him delivered.  He tried to avoid bumping into Sheila, Dohr and their team of droids who worked to create a new medical bay on board the Drifter as well as Kyvarr and her droids loading heavy munitions into a makeshift armoury on the Drifter.

Fiarr had an easier time.  Firstly she performed the delicate maneuver of loading Z-95 Beta to the docking clamps on the Nightshrike.  She'd heard at least a dozen times now how Flash had performed the maneuver at high speed.  Still, performing it in a hangar bay with full gravity and people running everywhere was a challenge in itself.  After successfully performing the task, she coordinated with Cor on the search patterns the scout droids were using before loading Z-95 Alpha into the Nebula Drifter once all other loading was complete.

Through the chaos, Cor and Devon worked together coordinating everything.  Cor kept her usual calm demeanour, communicating via comm and droid to keep the operation running smoothly.  Devon moved from post to post, fixing any specific problems and lending a hand when needed.

Flash had the easiest time.  On combat space patrol he zoomed through the asteroids, performing stunts and essentially joyriding whilst watching for any uninvited guests.

Less than an hour later everything was loaded.  All the gear was aboard it's respective ships.  The only thing not secured was the R-41 Flash continued to patrol with.

All the team, bar Flash, met in the largely empty mess hall of Talon Nest.  It was time to plan their next move.  The autochef was still there and a COO cook droid still worked in the kitchen preparing meals.

---

OOC:  Well the Next is packed up and your ships are loaded and ready to fly.  What next?

Leaning against a table with his arms folded, Devon looked round at the assembled Talons and nodded slowly.  One of his diminutive cargo droids waited just inside the door.
"Looks to me like we're ready to leave any time. Good work, everyone."  Shifting position, Devon continued.
"Now we're packed and all the ships are ready to fly, we can get everything out of here in under ten minutes.  Even if a damn Star Destroyer jumps in right now we'd still be able to launch and go to lightspeed before they could get into a firing position.  Which means we can afford to think about our next moves before we make them."

The shipjacker stood up and opened a box that was on the table.
"First things first though - I need to hand some of these out." He produced a handful of earpiece-commlinks identical to the ones some of the Talons were wearing.  He handed one to Heigren.
"Encrypted commlinks.  Our XO gets us all the best toys.  Also, you new guys are gonna need callsigns."  Devon tossed a commlink to Kyvarr, then Fiarr and finally Dohr.  "Talon 5, Talon 6 and Talon 8." 
Whilst the others fiddled with their new toys, Devon resealed the box and handed it to the waiting cargo droid.
"Get these loaded aboard the L4000, then return to Moonshadow." he told it.  Returning to his perch against the edge of the table, Devon consulted a datapad strapped to his wrist for a moment.

"OK, so our next move is to get the Shrike some place safe.  Cor tells me she's got something lined up, so she's gonna brief us on that and what we know about the bosses disappearance."


OOC:  There was some confusion between myself and the GM as to whether or not heigren had a Talon commlink yet.  I decided to play safe.  If he DID already have one, ignore the bit about Devon giving him one handing him one.  ;) 
This message was last edited by the player at 00:59, Mon 01 Dec 2014.

"Indeed," Cor confirms, "I have located a suitable safe harbour - an independent spaceport that is willing to securely store the Nightshrike for a... workable fee."  She, like Flash, is not physically present; her M4 droid projects a hologram of her.  "Of the starfighters we currently command only one of them has no hyperdrive capability; whilst I would like our ship engineers to have the chance to outfit it so, the fact is we do not have the resources currently.  I recommend it be left with the capital ship.  If we can pick up sufficient work to upgrade it as well as keep our current fleet running, we will be well-placed to do so.

"Ms Trake, you will be piloting the Nightshrike to her temporary home; you may choose your own co-pilot.  R2-A9 has the coordinates and will transfer them to the ship's navigation systems.  Once there the shipyard owner will require payment, which I will transfer to a neutral account and provide you the details of.  My L4000 will accompany you so as to be there to bring you back to the Talon Fleet.

"Regarding the Commander and XO, we unfortunately know extremely little.  They were to leave on a transport from Det Akari to travel to an unknown location.  As our XO is a master of misdirection I doubt it would be feasible to simply extrapolate the course from records at the spaceport - and considering the situation on Det Akari I think it highly likely those records no longer exist."  She doesn't sound particularly impressed.  "We may be able to collate data gathered from destinations around the sector - independent spaceports would have records of traffic coming from Det Akari, after all - but this is not necessarily information we can rely on being freely available.  As a result we will, if we take that route, need to buy or steal the data in question.

"However it is managed, this will not be an easy task.  Ms Melan'nel, your contacts may well be vital to our efforts.  Let the Acting-Commander or myself know what you need from us, if anything."

Mika nods as she hears about the 'Shrike's temporary home.  "What's the expected risks?  I'm thinking it should be pretty safe, else we wouldn't be leaving the 'Shrike there, so anyone, or any droid, who's got skills with cap ship operations would be fine.  On the other hand, if there's going to be trouble, I'll need someone with some skills.  Anyone interested in coming along?"

"I would like to say there are no risks, of course," Cor allows, "but I do not believe that to be true of anywhere.  There should be no more appreciable risk than there would be in most starports around the civilised Galaxy."

Fiarr considered the dilemma of the missing personnel.  "Normally I'd suggest talking to dock workers at the shipyard and getting someone to slice their records but as Cor said, there is probably little left.  We need another angle."

"Do any of you know anything more about the plans of your commander and executive officer?  You said they were to be gone for two weeks but did they say anything else?  How long they'd be at their destination or how long the hyperspace would be?  Was this a job?  A business meeting?  A lover's tryst?  Did any of you see the actual transport they left on?  Did they expect to swap ships?"

"If the decision is made to go back to Det Akari, I volunteer to go.  I got to know quite a few people there.  Also while my party wasn't a hit with this group, I generated a lot of goodwill with people.  I might be able to find someone to talk to me."

Sheila made a face, pushing a bad memory out of her mind, then volunteered.  "I'll come with. depending on what you want."

She thought a bit more.  "Would there be anything in our computers here about where they went or what they were doing?  Unlikely, I know, given they left from shore leave with us, but is it possible?"

Mika shrugs as her query seems to go unheeded (OOC:  Not sure who Sheila meant with the "I'll come with.").  It'd sort itself out.

"They were supposed to meet with some folk.  Cor, when they locked us out of the hanger, was there something going on then that might be of use?"

"They were intending to meet with leaders of other groups such as ours.  No, we did not see the transport they left in - I attempted to monitor that but our XO is a very cunning woman.  Doubtless they avoided giving us too much information because it might endanger both us and them to have it.

"Heigren, I deeply hope that returning to Det Akari is not something we need to do...  But if we must then we must.

"Sheila, yes, the data here may hold some clues.  I intend to examine it and may need your slicing expertise to assist at some point.

"Ms Trake, no.  That was an unrelated matter."

Devon had been stood with his arms folded, frowning, deep in thought whilst the debate carried on around him.
"I'm thinkin' back to when we last saw them." he said eventually.
"Something the boss said..." Devon stared at the ceiling for a few moments, trying to recall the exact words used.  His lips moved silently as he tried things out.
"Several of the largest companies in our industry are getting together.  Thats why they left - they'd been recalled.  Put back on active duty in the PHA.  The Permelian-Hydian Alliance.  So what I'm thinkin' is someone approached the PHA about this 'get together' and they recalled Mark and Zyra.  Maybe we should chase that up.  Also - the transport they had arranged to come and collect them, we might want to try and track that down."

Devon made a quick note on his datapad.
"There was something else he said - a fixer who was supposed to be gettin' supplies for us.  Heigren said this guy was trying to dig up dirt on us.  Boss told us to make sure he wasnt a risk, buy the supplies if they were up to standard.  And shut the guy up if he was a threat.  Maybe if we can track him down, anything he's found out might benefit us.  Plus we still need to deal with him anyways."

"The PHA?"  Despite the static of his comm, the scorn in his voice was unmistakable.  "They're the useless bunch of a-holes who scrapped Black Talon Squadron because they didn't see the point.  Why would the boss go back to them?  He's the one who quit because they couldn't see a good thing when it slammed them in their idiot faces!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:30, Wed 03 Dec 2014.

"Yeah, thats them." Devon agreed easily.
"And I think he'd go back to them because he's not stupid enough to make the same mistake they did.  If they've seen the light, if they're getting organized and asked for him.  He'd go back.  Maybe he wouldnt stay, but he'd at least go and see what the situation was."

Dohr had been busy setting up a full medbay onboard his new home, the Drifter. Thanks to the droids at the Nest, the doctor and Sheila even managed to move a proper operating table on the freighter. (OOC: Taking some liberties here. Ignore this bit if it can't be done) It was not the easiest of things to do in such a short time with such a short notice, but the Kel Dor insisted on it. It would make his and her work a lot easier and saving the patients more probable. Not that he was looking forward to patching up his new teammates, but it was more a question of when than if for it to happen.

With the droids' help the setting up of the sickbay was mostly complete when Devon called everyone in for another meeting. Dohr was not happy to hear the team had no idea where their leaders could be, but with the galaxy being as big it was, it was no wonder. And them being very secretive about their little organization didn't help either. The Doc knew they had to start somewhere, but heading back to Akari was not something Dohr was looking forward to. The gangs were in power (or someone buying their services) and the whole world was probably under a lock down. No flights coming in or going out... He knew it could be done, but it would not be easy.

Dohr listened for a little longer before speaking up: "I would imagine we will find nothing on Akari. If your Commander and XO were as careful as you are and as you expect them to be, then wiping their tracks on my last home would have been the first thing on their list. But of course, if everything else comes up as a blank, then Det Akari it is."

Dohr  thought about what Devon had said about "Several of the largest companies in our industry are getting together." The Talons were not the first "company" he gotten to know during his long, long trip around the galaxy. And most of the other groups were probably in the same line of business as this one was. They appeared to be and acted like mercenaries, but behind the scenes they were rebellious organizations fighting the Empire from and in the shadows. Perhaps that was what the Talons CO had been talking about... But Dohr said nothing about his thoughts out aloud yet.

Instead he said: "Fixer? On Det Akari? We are not talking about my good old friend Jit are we? For if we are, then I believe that is a dead end. Jitt'quin 'Shak was, and hopefully still is, a skilled individual in finding the right stuff for the right people, be that stuff information or weapons or people. But I seriously doubt he would know anything at all about your... our leaders. Of course, in case we are not talking about Jit, you can ignore everything I just said."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:21, Wed 03 Dec 2014.

"Ah Jit, I remember him.  He was the Twi'lek with the rather. . .unique method of trying to impress women.  Ripping off his clothes and pouring alcohol on himself then shaking his head and dousing other partygoers.  Got one poor woman in the eye as I recall.  Never tried that move myself.  It certainly didn't work for him that night!

I remember him saying he could acquire us equipment and that he wanted to join us.  I also remember thinking he was a terrible liar.  I reported my concerns to Mark and Zyra about him.  He seemed harmless enough though."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:03, Thu 04 Dec 2014.

Kyvarr volunteered herself when Mika spoke of extra crew for the Nightshrike.  "I don't know anything about capital ships, but I know plenty about heavy guns and am happy to control one for you if you see the need."

She kept mostly quiet through the rest of the conversation.  She'd never even heard of the PHA and hadn't met this Jit character either.

Sheila commented.  "Trying to dig up dirt on us.  Lord knows we've pissed off at least a couple people who actually know something about us, and that's just since I joined."  She was thinking of the pilot and the other guy who'd lost his money.

Fiarr became interested at Sheila's comments.  "These people you allude to, do they hold a large enough grudge and resources to seek revenge on your commanders?  If so, tell me their names and information you have.  I might be able to source information on them."

"Mr Shak sounds as if he is either no threat, or exceedingly cunning and skilled at appearing as if he is no threat."  Cor's hologram turns to Dohr.  "Do you have any insight into the likelihood of him being a dangerously cunning man who may simply be appearing as no threat?"

Dohr let’s out a dry chuckle as he hears Cor’s question.

”No. Calling Jit devious might be fairly accurate, or greedy. But dangerously cunning… That is just not him. He probably thinks he is cunning and he is in fact a fairly skilled lier, even if not good enough to fool good Vy., Heigren here. Jitt’quin ‘Shak is a capable actor too, definitely far better than I could ever be, mask or no mask. But having known him for a year and half, I seriously doubt he could be of any threat to your organization. Unless of course my ability to assess people was just not good enough to read him right. I would say the Twi’lek is simply after a quick and easy profit and if he can help it, some pretty women along the way.”

Devon raised his eyebrows.
"So in your estimation... he's unlikely to be a threat to us?"

The shipjacker paused and rubbed his hands over his face, stared blankly at the wall for a moment.
"Look, we're flying blind here.  We aint got enough data about anything.  We've only got a couple of half-solid leads and we dont even know enough to follow up on those.  We need to know way more than we do.  For a start we need to at least try an' break into Zyras files."


"First things first though, Mika's gonna fly the Shrike to its new home.  Take Catch along if you want.  Sheila, you helping with that too?   Once you guys have get the Shrike parked, Cor will bring you all back in the L4000.  Take a copy of Zyras files with you - try to crack them 'em. Those files might answer all our questions if we can get into them."

Devon stood up.
"The rest of us?  Our mission is a bit more vague.  We've got from now till the ladies return to get our ears to the ground, pick up any useful data we can and most importantly, we gotta find a way to get some money coming in.  Even if we are just hauling cargo.  Without the funds to keep flying, this whole thing is gonna grind to a halt damn fast.  If anyone has any suggestions on how we might do that, dont hold back."

Mika stands up, "You got it, boss.  I'm good to leave right away.  Kyvarr, Sheila, you got anything keeping us from heading out?  And yea, I'll take Catch just in case."

"Cor, feed me the coordinates once I got on board the 'Shrike.  You gonna handle the locals or you want to give me the details and I do it?"

"Oh, and if push comes to shove, we've made some good money taking out Imperial convoys.  Maybe not the safest way to earn a cred or to stay under the radar, but it's an option."

"Necessary details of the coordinates and the temporary account I have put in place for the payment have already been forwarded to the Nightshrike, Ms Trake," Cor responds.  She taps a couple of buttons.  "They have now been forwarded to Catch, as well.  The relevant staff at the hangar have been contacted and will be expecting your arrival.  You will merely need to make contact, authorise payment and then report to my L4000 which, the Acting Commander will no doubt be disappointed to note, I still have not named."  She spares a smile for Devon, fairly reserved but with a distinct hint of amusement.

"As for Imperial convoys," she adds, "I think perhaps that we have many options before we pursue that avenue, particularly as it would necessitate removing the Nightshrike from its temporary home once more.  Though that is, of course, a possibility - should it come to that."

Kyvarr nodded to Mika.  "If you wish me to join your crew I will.  Can't imagine I will be much use sitting around here.  Intelligence gathering is not something I'm good at."

Fiarr looked to Cor and Devon.  "Perhaps we are going about this backwards.  If Devon's team is going to be searching for information and jobs we should be out there surely, on a planet or at least tapping into communications grids.  Heigren no doubt best serves working face to face, rather than a comm.  I'd have assumed you'd want to maintain this place's covert nature and not have a lot of traffic streaming in and out."

"Cor and Sheila meanwhile can decrypt data from anywhere.  So I'd suggest that Mika and Catch drop off the Nightshrike with Devon and his team in support while Cor and Sheila stay here or somewhere else working on Zyra's computer."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:43, Thu 11 Dec 2014.

"What about the fighters?" came Flash's voice on the comm.  "Did we decide if any of 'em are going into storage with the 'Shrike?"

Mika rolls her eyes at Cor's comment.  "I sure would appreciate it if you could remember that's it's Mika, Cor, not Ms. Trake.  You make me feel positively ancient when you say it like that."

To Kyvarr, "Well, since I don't really have much idea of the details of where we're going or what we'll be finding at the end of it, I'd appreciate having a little armed backup with me."

To Sheila, "You coming or staying?"

She gives a whistle to Catch.  "Come along, we're burning daylight."  See if the droids circuits could untangle that bit of colloquialism.

And lastly to the droid Cor was so nice enough to provide, "Com on 'bot, stop dragging your heels"

"Then I apologise for making you feel uncomfortable, Mika," Cor responds in a light tone.  "Yes, Flash, the starfighter that lacks hyperdrive will be placed in storage along with the Nightshrike.  You can be certain the owners of the hangar took the time to... raise the price accordingly.  Nonetheless I have transferred sufficient to cover it."

"Sure. Let me grab my pack."  SHe stood.  "Cor, can you transfer a copy of the files to my padd, or do I need more storage space?"

She waited long enough to get an affirmative or negative from Cor, then followed Mika out of the room.

"Huh?" Devon looks up at Fiarr and blinks a few times. "Yeah, no idea why I didnt mention that."

OOC:  possibly because the controlling player thought he already had? Apologies :D

"We aint staying here. We're gonna need some place we wont attact unwanted attention, and has everything we need - good communication links, opportunities to make some credits...  Nar Shaddaa fits the bill, but I sorta dont wanna head back there - let that part of our trail go cold for a bit.  Nal Hutta?  Bespin?  I dunno.  Any preferences?"
This message was last edited by the player at 12:57, Fri 12 Dec 2014.

Catch whistles uncertainly, and spins its sensor dome to focus on Devon.
When its master nods and gestures for the droid to follow Mika, Catch rolls after the engineer.

Cor, letting Devon handle Fiarr's question, shakes her head to Sheila.  "Far too much for a single datapad, I'm afraid, but I will forward what I can of the priority files to you."

Sheila hesitated, "Maybe then,  I should stay with the files?"  Mika would be okay, she shouldn't need anything forged, and the files were important.

"I will have full copies aboard my L4000 and a terminal you can use," Cor assures.  "It makes little difference either way; a few hours out is small change.  It is very likely that this hunt will take weeks.  If you start with the information I will transfer to your pad, it is likely you will still be working on that by the time the trip to the hangar is done."

"SOunds good."  She headed out, found her pack to take with her with a blaster inside it, just in case and joined mika and Fiarr on the outgoing ship.

With the ships already on standby it took only a few minutes to get ready.  While Mika and Catch did their final pre-flight checks, Sheila maneuvered Z-95 Beta into one of the docking clamps on the Nightshrike.  Then she climbed down to the side and entered the Nightshrike just as Mika was ready to lift off.  Kyvarr had already gone aboard.

On the L4000, B2-CC9 had already completed his pre-flights and was waiting in typical droid fashion for everyone else to be ready.

Soon the Nightshrike lifted off and departed Talon Nest, Cor's ship following close behind.  Flash took the liberty of escorting them to the hyperdrive point then watched as the two ship flickered into nothingness.  Then he turned back

Back at the nest Fiarr, Dohr and Heigren waited for Devon to lay out their plan.

Cor, from her place on the L4000, coordinates her droids to maximum efficiency.  Most of them, of course, will remain on the Drifter.  CC9 pilots the L4000 while Cor herself works on the files she's pulled from the Nest.  Setting aside some to allocate to Sheila she readies herself with caffeine and her comfy chair, settling in to the long and extended process of decryption that always seems so fast and easy on the holovids.  Now and then she checks in with her droids to see how the different vessels are getting along, as well as keeping herself available to anyone who might need to talk to her.

It's going to be a long few days.

"Safe journey, ladies.  Stay in touch, an' unless you hear otherwise, we'll see you back on Nar Shaddaa. OK?" Devon listened for any response from Shrike or Cors L4000 and then closed down the comms circuit and looked round at the remaining Talons.

"Which means we got two tasks to be keepin' us busy.  First up we're headin' back to Nar Shaddaa - that place is just perfect for our needs.  Me an' Flash will be piecing together everythin' we can remember about the PHA, then taking Moonshadow out to chase down any leads that are worth chasing."

Devon looked at Dohr, Fiarr and Heigren.
"You guys?  Your brief is a little vague.  Find us some ways to make money.  Cargo.  Smuggling.  Merc work.  Bounty hunting. Shipjacking.  Whatever you can find.  Get us options, don't commit us to anything."

Fiarr nodded.  "I made some contacts when we were on Nar Shadaa last time, I'll look them up again.  However, if there was to be any shipjacking jobs to be considered I would leave them for you to set up.  That is your expertise after all isn't it?"

Dohr nodded too. "I can ask around as well. However I fear my contacts may not be able to offer us much. There might be a favor or two I could collect though." The doctor had been trying to think of a better world to fly to than Nar Shaddaa, but hadn't really come up with anything. It wasn't his most favorite place, but Devon was right about it fitting their situation perfectly right now.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:55, Mon 15 Dec 2014.

Flash grunted.  "Someone get that Headhunter loaded on the Drifter.  By the time I land Moonshadow needs to be in space to cover us."

**TWO DAYS LATER**

It has been an uneventful flight for the Nightshrike.  Making only one extra jump to throw off their start point, Mika plotted a straight course to the coordinates Cor had provided.  Things had been quiet.  Catch had proven more then capable managing the ship in hyperspace leaving Mika time to tinker around with the engines while Kyvarr worked on the gunnery stations.

Sheila spent most of her time focused on the data packet Cor had sent her.  It seemed to be data the XO's computer had been recording from a hyperspace comm bouy located near the nest.  Clearly Zyra had tapped it to collect the data.

Seeing how much irrelevant data there was, Sheila spent much of her time developing an algorithm to sort useful data.  The program worked smoothly and by the end of the trip Sheila had a synopsis of most of the data.  While some may prove useful for other purposes, none of it gave any clue as to where Mark and Zyra might have been going.

Cor meanwhile had spent most of her time trying to break the encryption on Zyra's computer.  It was good, very good.  Whomever Zyra had got to prepare her security (the Umbaran didn't believe for a second the Zabrak had done it herself) had been top of their game.  To date Cor had determined that Zyra hadn't accessed any of her numerous accounts in a week.  This was unthinkable for an information broker unless they were in trouble.

Everyone gathered on their respective bridges as they approached the destination.  Dropping out of hyperspace they were treated to an impressive site.  Fxz'et's Ship Storage was a large shipyard that contained hundreds of ships, many of which made the Nightshrike look insignificant.  Passing between two Acclamator-class assault ships and even a Venator Class Star Destroyer, the Nightshrike knew that nothing smaller than an Imperial Battle Group could give this place any challenge.  Given it's location well outside Imperial space it was unlikely the Imps would commit the resources necessary for so little gain.

The storage of the ships was smooth and efficient.  Nothing less was expected given the shipyard was run primarily by Verpine.  Mika quickly moved the Nightshrike to its assigned berth, Cor handled the payments electronically while continually receiving offers for various 'upgrades' on the Nightshrike.  One offer that seemed a possibility was a hyperdrive upgrade for the Z-95.


OOC:  The Verpines offer to install a Class 1 Hyperdrive in the Z-95 for 5000 credits.  They'll offer perform other modifications that you request while the Nightshrike is in storage.  If you have any work you want done I can provide a quote.  Verpine aren't big on haggling so what they charge is final.

So once aboard the L-4000 where to?  Join up with Dohr and co on Nar Shadaa?  Or do you guys have other plans?

---

For the three ships making up Devon's fleet, the trip was equally uneventful, arriving at Nar Shaddaa a little over a day after leaving the nest.  Landing on the opposite side of the planet to last time, nothing looked vastly different to the groups.

Devon quickly arranged to pay hangar fees, leaving Dohr, Fiarr and Heigren to plan.  Flash transferred his gear to the Moonshadow, determined to go with Devon to hunt for the PHA.

Keeping the 'Shrike moving slowly, Mika looks at the other ships about.  She gives a whistle as they pass the pair of Acclamators.  "Now those are some big ships.  I'd like to have 'em, but too big for me to handle without a whole mess of crewers."

Mika leads her crew off the ship to meet with the Verpine."Hi.". "Hiello."  "Greetins."  "No thanks, maybe next time."  "Thank you, no.". And so on.  But she perks up at the mention of a hyperdrive for the snub.  "Well, now, hat does sound interesting.". It doesn't take long to convince her to pony up the 5000 creds for the upgrade.

All that done, she looks to Sheila and Kyvarr.  "Doesn't seem to be much trouble around here, ready to catch our ride?"
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 04:40, Wed 17 Dec 2014.

"Sounds good to me." THe last two days had been frustrating, given that she hadn't gotten anything good on where the "administration" had been going.  Although the hyperdrive did seem like a good idea, all the ships they had should be hyperdrive capable.

OOC, any thing in that mess good for finding a job with?"

Catch rolled along behind the three Talons, quietly warbling to itself as it it took in the sight of the massive storage yard.  The droids quiet vocalizations rose to an alarmed squeal when one of the Verpine offered to fit the R2 with various 'minor' upgrades like extra retractable limbs, refrigerated storage compartments, a flame thrower or a full brain transplant.  The fact that the Verpine in question was already holding the tools it would need to saw Catchs head off probably didnt help either.

Hurriedly accelerating, Catch rapidly closed the distance between itself and the others, almost bumping into Kyvarr in its rush to keep away from the Verpine droid engineer that was eyeing it.

Lurking behind the Cathar, the R2 hooted in response to Mikas question.
"[Language unknown: N estho i undoreand ant.  Ne ichhi loti thati niro-icof nc.]"

Sprawled in Moonshadows single cockpit seat, Devon tapped away at his datapad as he finalized the payments for docking fees for the Talons other ships.  Somewhere below him, Devon could hear Flash swearing as the Duros tried to stow all his gear in Moonshadows compact passenger quarters.

Switching on his Talon-comm, Devon opened a general channel.
"OK guys, your hanger fees are paid up for the next week.  And you got more than enough room to live onboard ship.  You know what to do - find us work so we can keep this little man-hunt funded.  Remember - our most profitable job to date was a convoy hijack... so you might want to look into finding us something to steal.  Even a single medium freighter could keep us flying for a while, once we find a buyer.  An' dont forget we want to target Imperial assets or Imperial supporters."

Devon paused for a moment, listening to the noises coming from the passenger quarters.  Sounded like Flash had just bumped his head.  Again.

"Look - dont get into any trouble you cant get yourselves out of, OK?  Chase down leads, locate potential targets, crunch numbers, plan stuff.  Plot.  Scheme.  Cor and her crew should be here in a couple more days - give her your results when they arrive."

After Devon left, Fiarr gathered with Dohr and Heigren.  "I'm going to try and make contact with the Spynet.  See what I can learn.  With luck I might find us work or learn something that might help the search for the commanders.  Maybe both.  I may be gone a day or two and there will be times my comms will be off.  Leave a message if I don't answer."

She left quickly and melted into the crowds.

Cor has been rather quiet for the trip to the hangar.  Closed off in her little world she nonetheless has many eyes and ears, watching the proceedings carefully and yet glad that her own (not inconsiderable) dealings with the Verpine are strictly remote.  The majority of her time has been spent attempting to decrypt files - and what she has found (or rather, not found) does little to please her.

When the ships dock at the hangar she makes no particular comment other than confirming with the shipyard's administration that her vessel is accompanying the Nightshrike, not looking for safe harbour herself.  All offers of 'upgrades' and 'tinkering' are politely but firmly refused.  She makes no attempt to manage the docking or electronic paperwork of the Nightshrike, trusting Mika and Sheila to perform that task with aplomb.

A couple of bleeps on a screen catch her attention, however, and she leans forward slightly to press a button.

"Mika," she asks, "I have just received an order confirmation to have the Z95 fitted with a hyperdrive.  That was you?"  After a moment's thoughtful pause she adds, "Would you be able to find out the cost and viability of having the Z95's fuel reserves expanded as well?"  Perhaps such a thing is possible, perhaps not; Cor's speciality is with droids, not starfighters.  Still, it doesn't hurt to ask.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:03, Sat 20 Dec 2014.

Cor's request is passed to the Verpine contact and the translator droid quickly responds.  It seems that installing a hyperdrive is a standard upgrade and can now be easily installed.  Increasing the fuel cells would involve creating extra space.  The tech suggests it can be done if something was removed, one of the missile lauchers being the obvious choice.

Heigren considered what he could do.  He knew a few ways to make money but he didn't think hitting the casino would be what Devon had in mind.  He'd played in many underground games and his winnings had usually exceeded his losses.  He'd have to think about it.

"I'll ask around the docks and watering holes.  See what kind of work might be going for a crew like us.  Should all hit the clubs later, we could interrogate all the attractive ladies."  He winked at Dohr knowingly then walked off.

Kyvarr, having no real experience with ships, played the role of bodyguard for Mika.  She kept close though not so close as to bother the mechanic and constantly scanned the area.  She didn't expect trouble but having a private bodyguard might give Mika more credence.  Besides, she had nothing else to do.

Sheila moves into Cor's ship as soon as she can.  SHe passes on the info she got, not any good for finding the missing team members, but possibly good for something else.  "What else can I work on?"

Mika continues to lead the way, though she rests a protective hand on Catch.  "No thank you....  Catch is fine the way he is....  We're not interested...." she responds to the many offerings of upgrading the droid, beginning to question Cor's choice of parking space for the 'Shrike.

As Cor contacts her, Mika reponds, "Yeah, I thought a hyperdrive for the snub would be a good idea....  Yeah, we'll check on the fuel reserves options."  Passing that on, Mika considers the options.

"No, we're not willing to trade combat options for the added fuel cells.  If you can't make use of the cargo space on the snub, then we'll pass on the fuel cell upgrade."

Mika moves to the office or other appropriate location to rubber stamp the 'Shrike's berthing and to transfer funds for work on the Z-95.

Finding a job… That was something Dohr had been doing for the last decade and more. But he had mostly been looking for a job for himself, not a group of professionals - a band of mercenaries. Hijacking or stealing stuff from people was something he had never done …or at least not from anyone who didn’t deserve it and even then only to help someone in need. Then again, the Talons were in need of credits, a transport full of them. And yet, the doctor didn’t feel too comfortable about the idea of taking something as large, important and expensive as a freighter from someone against his or her will. Not unless the target was a criminal, a slaver perhaps or… imperial.

Dohr didn’t really have any contacts on Nar Shaddaa who could help him find something worth stealing. But he was a good talker and an even better listener. Nervous people had loose tongues. And in his line of business customers had a tendency of being nervous and talkative. And there were certain individuals who owed him one…

**Three Days Later**

Location: Nar Shaddaa
Having completed their transactions at the shipyard, Kyvarr, Mika and Sheila and catch joined Cor and her droids aboard the L-4000.  With CC9 handling the ship and Cor keep to herself, the Talons were left to handle their own entertainment.  For Sheila this was no problem.  She was still wading through masses of comm data from the tapped hyperspace beacon, sifting it into potentially useful data.


After three days the L-4000 finally arrives at Nar Shadaa.  Cor had little trouble securing a hangar berth in the same facility as the other Talon transports.  Cor then sent out requests for the Talons to regroup at the ship so they could share what they had learned.



Location: Brentaal Sector - Imperial Space

After three days in hyperspace in cramped quarters, tensions were becoming a little heated between Flash and Devon.  So far they had been not able to agree on much except their initial destination though Devon still had concerns about flying so deep into Imperial space when he had yet to update his codes or modify his engine signatures.  But it was too late to change.

Reverting out of hyperspace, the Moonshadow was suddenly traversing busy spacelanes.  The Brentaal System was one of the busiest in the galaxy.  Serving as the one place in the galaxy where the Perlemian Trade Route and the Hydian Way bisected, making it a logical starting point for hunting the Perlemian Hydian Alliance.  This, combined with it's proximity to major star systems like Coruscant, Chandrila, even the Corellian Sector, the place was alive with traffic.

It was also awash with Imperials.  Devon's sensors read custom stations, patrol craft, even an Imperial sector fleet a few systems away.  He would need to be very careful.

Suddenly his comm crackled to life and a voice, clearly artificial asked, "Firespray FRX24143, please state your cargo and destination."

---

OOC:  I appreciate that people may have sporadic posting over the next few weeks.  I intend to push on but wont worry if people can't post.  We'll be mostly gathering info for jobs and the like so wont matter if people are quiet as they engage in Christmas fun and cheer.  Well except for Devon who may get blown up by Imps!  ;)

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Cor hasn't been idle, even though she's had frustratingly little success.  By the time the team arrives at her L4000 they find the galley on the middle deck set up to function as a small conference room.  No food is laid out but several forms of drinks are present, including some rather good caf and several different kinds of soft drink (nothing alcoholic, though).  Cor's personal M4 is present, hovering around the top of the room, though it isn't projecting an image currently; instead a monitor shows Cor's face opposite the galley's seating.  It isn't the best of briefing rooms but it's simple and functional, suited to the meeting if not grandiose comfort.

What little the crew can see if the room behind Cor, however, shows that her quarters are quite cozy.  Rather notoriously the blast shield over the window in the back wall appears not only to have been lowered, but permanently welded shut.

"Hello, everyone," Cor begins pleasantly when the team is assembled, "I trust things have been well for you all."  She looks tired - or, at least, she might look tired.  Umbarans often seem weary to humans.  "Devon and his team will be some way out still, perhaps four days to a week barring any unforeseen issues, so we have plenty of time to get a few things done."  Her long fingers tap a keyboard just below the view of the screen.  "I have had no success finding information from the files gathered from the Nest computers.  I have the suspicion that Sheila, likewise, will have had little to no success int hat regard - though do feel free to correct me if I am wrong," she adds, sparing Sheila a small but warm smile.

"The reason for this is because Ms Jax has not accessed any of her files more or less since she and the Commander left on their mission, perhaps a little before.  Not a check-in, not a data drop, nothing.  That means one of two things."  She holds up a finger.  "Firstly, that her position is dangerous enough that it requires no transmissions in or out.  That would not concern me if they were not late back."  She holds up another finger.  "Secondly, that she is in a position where she is incapable of transmitting or receiving information.  Currently I highly suspect the second option.  That means that the files we have are old news - as far as their disappearance goes.

"However, we already know something important: they were not the only group to vanish to a secret meeting.  Other groups around the Galaxy have done likewise.  As a result we have something potentially valuable - a pattern."

Cor stretches her neck from side to side.  The crack of resettling joints is audible even over the speakers.

"Fiarr, I would like you to contact your people in the Bothan network, if you have not done so already, to see if they know anything.  If you have already done so I would appreciate it if you could combine your efforts with Sheila.

"Sheila, I would like you to look through the Holonet for any and all patterns of anti-Empire strikes that have vanished or ceased for no readily available reason in the correct time frame - we are looking for cessation of hostilities at the same time that the Commander and Ms Jax left us.  Remember to be as thorough but stealthy as your slicing skills will permit to avoid data traces; the Empire may be monitoring communications specifically for people looking for vanished anti-Empire groups, so this task is not without dangers.  Our people may not have left a trail but someone across the groups meeting to discuss an alliance must have been sloppier."  She nods once to Sheila to confirm her request.  "I wish to know who they are.  If anyone - anyone - hits a dead end with their own tasks, spend some time helping Sheila if you can.  Even if we cannot follow Ms Jax and the Commander we may yet be able to follow someone else.

"Mika, I would like you and Heigren to talk to the local gangs - swoop gangs and so forth - to find out what local rumour says of anti-Empire sentiment but also, and more pertinently, to see if anyone is looking for work.  Use your knowledge of gangs as you best see fit.

"Speaking of which," she adds, "has anyone had any luck finding any potential employment as of yet?  Is there any other news?"

With that, Cor throws the meeting open to anyone who cares to speak.

Once aboard Cor's ship, Mika found herself with little to do.  Cor entrusted the piloting duties to her driods and the repair work to her droids and so foth.  She did what she could, helping with the data mining form the Talon records.  She wasn't quite the expert that Cor and Sheila might be, but she has some skills.

After the cnoference, Mika offloads her swoop.  Cor wanted her talking to swoop gangs, she'd do best having her swoop.  Aside frmo her swoop, she didn't have much to do to look like a swoop punk.  She'd put the buzzbot in the storage bin with instructinos to keep a log and sould things go poorly, push the logs ot Cor.  Otherwise, she'd just flit about and see what gangs she could find.

"OK.  We are concerned that whatever meeting they've gone to has been compromised.  Other groups have been doing antiempire strikes, I'm looking for those that ceased about 1-2 weeks ago.  Sneaky like. And I''m hoping that one of them left a breadcrumb trail to where they all are.  And hope the Imps haven't figured it out, or have left breadcrumbs of their own as to where they took everyone."  Sheila nodded.  "OK."

(OOc, do I have the time period right?, if not I'll fix it. )

Fiarr nodded.  "I have spent the last few days tapping a few sources but without a clear direction my success has been limited.  These new ideas about Imperial involvement might help.  I should warn you though that the Spynet is not in the habit of just giving out information, nor selling it without due consideration.  For valuable data they will need to be convinced we will act on it and will likely demand something equally valuable in return.  I won't commit us to such things without consultation of course."

"On my search for jobs, the Spynet doesn't post jobs as such but they are always willing to pay for good intelligence.  I'm keeping my ears open for anything."

"I've been hanging out around the port and local cantinas.  It's amazing who you can meet over a glass of whisky or at the poker table.  I've made a few inroads and if we want more 'questionable' work I think I could arrange some meetings with mid to high level crime bosses.  Smuggling, protection, that kind of thing.  Didn't really focus on swoop gangs, thought they were too small and local but happy to do that with Mika watching my tail!  She looks the part more than I."

Kyvarr straightened in her chair slightly, though her posture was already military-style erect.  "Any orders for me ma'am?"

Location: Brentaal Sector - Imperial Space


The comm crackled to life once more and the same droid spoke "Firespray FRX24143, please state your cargo and destination."

Flash imagined he could hear frustration in the droid's voice even though it was likely an autonomous unit.

Devon - who had been in the fresher when the first call came through - came scrambling up the ladder that linked Moonshadows compact living quarters with the flight deck.

"Typical, caught with my pants down..." he groused as he dropped into the pilots seat and activated the comms.

"Traffic control, this is Firespray FRX24143.  Apologies for the delay.  We are bound for Feriae Junction and are carrying no cargo.  Awaiting jump clearance."

Switching the comms back to receive mode,Devon turned to Flash.
"Well, that gets us headed in the right direction, so lets make use of the time we got before we jump - see if we can dig up anything useful."

Devon tapped several commands into the comms computer and it chimed as it started recording the local METOSP broadcast.  Meanwhile, he tuned over to the local general frequency and listened in on the civilian ship-to-ship chatter between the other vessels awaiting jump clearance for the Hydian Way.
During a lull in the chatter, he introduced himself.
"This is the Cloudrider - anyone else bound for Junction?"
With a little luck he would be able to get someone talking.  Never know what the rumour mill might turn up....

Location: Brentaal Sector - Imperial Space

"Firespray FRX24143 destination confirmed.  Proceed to egress point Fifty Four Alpha and await your exit vector.  Follow METOSP Channel Three for instructions."

Flash quickly moved into his position in the queue for the assigned Vector.  Given that the course would take them down the Hydian Way there was a lot of traffic and expected egress time was more than 30 minutes.

Devon used the time to talk to other spacers awaiting their turn.  They were a chatty lot and Devon still learned a lot of information about mundane things like sporting scores for half the sector and information on various holodramas and gossip on people's wives, partners and hatchlings.

It takes nearly 45 minutes to reach the egress point and jump into hyperspace.  As the starlanes elongate Devon goes over his notes and condenses them, separating definite fiction from possible fact..
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:25, Fri 02 Jan 2015.

Devon sat and stared at the various notes and recordings he'd taken whilst gossiping to other ships waiting for clearance.

He looked up in bewilderment at Flash.
"We have GOT to get Zyra back - I cant do this crap." he groused.  "I mean look at this - weather reports from Felucia?  What the hell do we care about that?  Wedding proposals in the Hapes Cluster? She'd see the patterns."

He pushed a datapad across to the Duros.
"Here - look at this.  I think Telos is our best bet.  Someone destroyed a pirate group, they disappeared without trace.  No-ones claiming responsibility.  Reckon that could be the PHA?"

When Cor’s call came through, Dohr had come to the conclusion that his approach would not get the Talons the job the dearly needed. He had made a good number of new contacts and befriended some locals. But they had either been the wrong people or not willing to part with the information Dohr had been trying to fish from them. His attempts had come up with nothing. Once others had given their reports, the Doc spoke up:

”I fear I have not been able to find us anything worthwhile.”
This message was last edited by the player at 21:26, Sun 04 Jan 2015.

"Very well," Cor acknowledges, nodding once.  "Are there any other concerns, or is everyone clear on our situation and what it expected from this point?"

"Still not clear on what you want me to do ma'am."

"I understand.  I will review my own sources for Imperial connections whilst assisting Sheila in her investigations."  She looked over at the slicer.  "Let me know how I can assist you and I'll balance my searches with yours."

"Gotcha.  I'll follow Mika's lead.  I'm sure she'll look the part in skintight nerfhide pants and jacket."

Flash shrugged.  He still felt chasing the PHA was a waste of time and had said so repeatedly the last 3 days.  He turned to his navicomp.

"Telos is gonna take is. . .TWELVE DAYS!"  Flash cursed [Language unknown: "Hofor omeaverut il Ngany mentichou ent."] before reverting to common.  "You seriously need to put a better hyperdrive in this hunk of junk."

He reviewed their route.  "At current speed we should make Feriar Junction in about eight days.  We can plot a course to Telos from there or I can drop out of hyperspace and do it now.  Then you could let the others know were going to be gone for at least three weeks!"

OOC:  I thought Mika had already left to seek out some swoop gangs, but....

Mika gives Heigren a snort.  "I'm supposed to look the part of a swoop punk, not a vacuum vamp.  You can't believe everything you see in the vids...."

"Yes, Kyvarr."  Cor muses for a few moments.  "Your particular skills are not precisely required at the moment, are they?  Perhaps you should try on some tight synthleather and accompany Mika and Heigren, masquerading as a street tough?  If you have a recommendation yourself I am happy to hear it."

Kyvarr grinned slightly.  "I'm rarely considered imposing on first glance."  She stood to empahsise her point as the Cathar stood just under five feet.  "Of course if someone pushes the issue they usually change their mind quickly."  Her grins turns predatory in nature as she says this.

Devon couldnt help a slightly malicious grin.  Flash was a hothead and his reaction had been totally predicable.
"Yeah - hope you bought a deck of cards."

He considered the plot on the navcomp screen for a few moments.
"Yeah.. drop us back to realspace once we're well clear of Brentaal... we'll send a message back to Cor.  I'm thinking we actually get the others to chase after us - their faster drives mean they shouldnt arrive at Telos too long after us."

Devon set to work assembling the message he would send to Cor.

"Well, then!"  Cor sounds quite pleased.  "You all have something to do so we'd best get busy.  Meeting over, I believe."  She sits back slightly on the screen but doesn't turn it off, just in case someone needs to talk to her still, and taps away at her keyboard.

Fiarr stood and moved for the door.  She called over her shoulder, "Call me when you need me Sheila."  Then she was gone.

Sheila makes a mock salute.  Responds, 'sure' to fiarr and prepares to spend as long as necessary in front of the computer.   She starts with making a list of every attack on the imps or on those who might support them that she can find, along with who did it, and sort by time, perp, spacing and place.  She'll go back a couple months to Get the time spacing right, Then she works on who has disappears, most recent sightings of them, any ships sighted with them, trace the ships used, or stolen in attacks.  she will also include imp attacks against known insurgent groups, and try things from that angle.  Also, imp sightings at unusual places or places that don't make sense, like there really isn't anything there in the maps, but that's where tap fleet is.  Oh yeah. And all of this sneaky like.  she will also try to identify any place that they might possibly be able to sneak into to steal information thy she can't reach otherwise, if it comes to that.

Heigren stood.  "Well I guess Kyvarr and I will need some new threads.  Mika, lead the way.  I've made quite a few fashion contacts onplanet but I doubt any do 'swoop ganger' at least not the way it probably needs to be done."

Location: Nar Shaddaa - One day later

After receiving their instructions and setting out to find information, everyone was suprised when Cor instructed an urgent recall less than a day later.  Without much ado, Cor instructed everyone to board their respective ships and get into orbit, clarifying she would explain as they headed for a jump point.

It took different amounts of time to clear customs and get into orbit but less than an hour later, the Ghtroc, Wayfarer and L-4000 were in orbit, heading outbound from Nar Shaddaa.

OOC:  Leaving Cor to take up the conversation.  Everyone needs to decide what ship they're on, 3 to choose from.  CC9 and Cor are obviously on the L-4000.  I'm also giving you all some information on what you discovered.  Between limited time and mostly low rolls, your efforts were limited.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:04, Sat 31 Jan 2015.

SHeila will stay with cor and the file copies on the L-4000.

Mika shrugs at the order.  Getting on the comms, she shares with the rest of the team....  "I guess I'll fly the Drifter (Wayfarer) unless someone else wants it."  She'd feel a bit more at ease with the 'Shrike, but since it's in mothballs, not much point to tripping down that direction.

(Assuming she does end up piloting the Wayfarer...)  Mika get clearance, then launches the ship into space.  It's got the maneuverability of a beached whaladon, but better than most cap ships, so that was okay by her.

Cor obtains clearance and has her pilot launch.  She, of course, is in her cabin.  She has not left it, except for the essentials of the fresher, since she boarded.

"Are we all present and correct?" she says, linking her comms through to all ships present.  "Excellent.  No need to stand on ceremony, then.

"I have received word from the acting Commander that we are to proceed at once to Telos.  We shall regroup there.  He appears to have obtained some kind of a lead, though of course his communication was necessarily vague in case it was intercepted.  No doubt he will inform us more fully when we arrive; as our team's hyperdrives are superior to the Acting Commander's team's we will arrive there approximately at the same time as they will.

"He has provided us with a number of rumours that he has uncovered.  Some seem... unlikely at best.  I am providing a full and complete copy to each of you; please refer to your datapads."

Everyone receives a datapad communication (complete with spelling errors) containing the following:

• So some pirate band out near Telos pissed off the wrong guys - somebody took out their entire base!  No-ones claiming credit so far, but pirates dont just vanish.  I figure it must be some other merc band or something - if the Imps had knocked off a pirate base they'd be shouting about it on the news, right?
• Apparantly the Emperor is getting hitched to Emperess Ta'a Chume from Hapes - I thought those guys still had their borders closed?  Either way, Palpatine never struck me as the marrying type...
• Theres been some crazy weather on Felucia - Meteorological survey was spotting this weird localized lightning storm - kept flaring up in the same spot over and over.  Guy I spoke to reckons the Empire sent an occupation force in.  Why would they care about the weather though?
• Speaking of the Empire, another guy I spoke to said he'd heard that the Devastator saw some kinda action near Corellia.  You DO know whos ship that is, right?  (if not, which rock you been hiding under?)
• You've seen your history vids - you know how the Jedi were all evil wizards who tried to murder Palpatine back before they got wiped out?  Well, maybe one of them survived - heard rumours of some guy going on a murder spree - nothing could stop him.  Killed a whole bunch of innocent people all over the place.  Gonna keep my eyes open  - any weird cult guy tries to put a curse on me and I'll shoot first and not ask questions at all.

Fiarr sat in the pilot seat of the Ghtroc and folded her arms.  She'd plotted the hyperspace course for Telos and now left the flying to her co-pilot Kyvarr.  The Cathar was proving suprisingly adept at flight and seemed eager to learn.  The Bothan happily turned over what was simple formation flying.  Normally she would have just turned on the autopilot but Kyvarr wanted to practice.

She read over Cor's reports then responded on the comms.  "Well celebrity trash mags aside, I don't think an Imperial wedding is in order.  Reports I received state that the Emperor left Coruscant a few days ago for an undisclosed location.  The spynet is abuzz with rumours, one claiming his right hand man captured a large number of high-level traitors and Palpatine has gone to personally oversee their execution."

Kyvarr focused on her flying which was more than enough to keep her attentioned occupied.  It reminded her of her first days piloting a walker.  Still she'd picked that up quickly enough so she was confident she could master flying.  For now that was her focus, Mika or Heigren could comment on their discoveries.

Mika chimes in, once she ensures the comms are secure.  "Well, it's not like we had much time to figure anything out.  We did hear something about an orbital Imperial snub factory above Nar Shaddaa that took the big plunge from orbit to suffer from deceleration disruption.  Heard some nut bar story about a guy who took a swan dive off the thing before it took the plunge, only to get plucked by a ship, but I think the guy was gassed.

Got another story about a spat between Imps, mercs and some guys with laser swords out at Bespin.  Word is they took out a bar and a few nearby city blocks.  Seems like the local gangers and the mercs don't want any part of it and are staying clear."

So, we're headed to Telos and the boss passed on a rumor about a pirate base got took out over there.  Sounds a bit too coincidental to me to be a coincidence."  Only those in the control room of the Drifter with Mika could see the smirk on her lips as she finishes her comment.

If the Commander and Zyra were there, that didn't sound none too good, but she wasn't going to start pinning things based on rumors just yet.

Heigren looked over at Mika from the co-pilot station.  He'd stretched out comfortably, his legs propped up on an inactive console.  Between their chairs he'd sat an ice bucket with an array of drinks including various fizzy pop flavours the Zeltron had seen Mika enjoy.  In his own hand was a glass of Corellian whisky, the ice bucket purely used for the ice.

His decision to board the Wayfarer had been an easy one.  All his stuff was on it!  He wasn't going to be caught for days in hyperspace without his essentials.

As the conversation moved on he looked towards Mika.  He aimed his question at her but with the comms on, all Talons could hear it.

"I don't get it.  Why Telos?  I get that a pirate base disappeared and that's the kind of things the Talons would do but Mark isn't with the Talons.  Didn't he say he was meeting some high-level bigwigs to plan some joint operations against the Imps?  Do we think he took time out for some 'pirate blowing-up fun'?  Just doesn't seem right.  Resistance groups don't meet just to take out a single pirate band in some far out sector surely?"

Dohr joined Mika and Heigren in the Wayfarer's cockpit sat down and watched the young woman do the preflight checks, helped her check the ship's systems and enjoyed the short flight to the orbit. Soon enough all of the three ships were gathered together and leaving the Hutt moon behind.

Reading the rumours sent in by Devon via Cor, he could see the makings of a patter in them. Something was going on in the shadows of the Empire and seemed like it was something the Imperials would not be happy about. Rebel groups were on the move... It could be a good thing. It could be turning into something bigger that might even start irritating the Emperor enough to draw his attention. If that was where the Talon leaders had gone to, to meet up with other rebels, Dohr could only hope the imps hadn't gotten a whiff of it yet.

It hadn't really been said out clearly before, but when the Zeltron wondered out aloud, Dohr nodded to himself. So he'd figured it out right after all. And his contact had pretty much confirmed it too. The Doc cleared his throat and said as much: "I called in a favor yesterday. My contact, a member of an underground movement on a fairly unknown world did not know much, but he too had heard of someone trying to unite various rebel groups in a large strike. I too seriously doubt they would be going against a pirate base instead of our friends in white. Makes one wonder if the rumour is for real or perhaps Imperial propaganda. They would not like to admit something has happened to one of their outposts. Then again if they really were pirates, then perhaps they were working for the Emperor too. Who knows..."

'High-Level bigwigs'  Fiarr muttered to herself, though her comms were still on so anyone with sharp ears may have heard it.  'High-Level bigwigs'

Heigren's words, especially the use of those words had sparked an idea, a crazy idea.  His comment had been so similar to her's of 'High-level traitors' that it made her look at an angle she hadn't considered before.

"This will probably sound crazy.  But how well connected was your Commander?  Did he know any groups big enough to cause major trouble for the Empire?  Think about it.  Heigren just said your Commander went for high-level talks about joint operations with other groups against the Empire, important groups I'm assuming.  Now we have my report that Lord Vader himself has caught some high level traitors, traitors so important that the Emperor himself has left Coruscant to oversee their executions."

Fiarr scratched her chin fur.  "I'm getting grandiose I think.  The timing and profile fit but surely your group doesn't know anyone big enough to warrant the personal attention of both the Emperor and the Supreme Commander of Imperial Forces?  They're not that important surely?"

"Still," she mused, her voice more contemplative, "as my old mentor used to tell me, if it looks like a Krak'jya and growls like a Krak'jya then odds are it's a Krak'jya."



OOC: Probably WAY right-field here.  Still someone has to mix conspiracy theory with delusions of grandeur!

Mika shrugs at Heigren's question, Dohr's and Fiarr's input.  "Why Telos?  You'll have to ask the boss on that one.  My thought, if the Imps took out a bunch of folks all together in some out of the way place, looking to put a rebellion together...  Well, Imperial propaganda might label it as taking down a pirate base.  Or, I don't think the a commander and Zyra would take down a pirate base, I just hope they didn't get shot down in a pirate base."

Dohr Veen felt an icy cold shadow cross his heart when Fiarr mentioned the name of the manifestation of all evil, Lord Vader. He hadn’t yet shared that part of his history with his new companions, the part from 15 years ago, the part in which the said murderous hunter had played a significant, albeit unwanted role. It was a dark part of his past he didn’t want to dwell on or even remember. But the two words had been enough to make sad feelings rise to the surface and bring back Dohr’s worst memories. The day he had heard the name of Lord Vader for the first time had been the day he had become an orphan...

---

OOC: Bloody autocorrection...
This message was last edited by the player at 10:42, Wed 28 Jan 2015.

"A good point Mika, Imperials may want to keep such a raid to themselves.  Still, there is one other point that puzzles me.  According to Devon's list of rumours, the Devastator was seen in the Corellian system in some kind of action.  If Vader's flagship was there, he couldn't be on Telos which would take an Imperial fleet a week to reach."

"Still there are many possibilities.  Maybe Vader wasn't  on the Devastator, maybe the local Telos fleet did the attack and Vader is merely claiming the credit.  Admirals do it all the time."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:07, Fri 30 Jan 2015.

Vader.  The mention of him had made Heigren's skin crawl and he was uncharacteristically silent.  He'd seen the Emperor's right-hand once on Phindar Prime.  He wasn't sure why he was there and he hadn't bothered to find out.  He'd merely gone to look out of curiosity.

He hadn't looked much at a distance, just like a giant black stormtrooper.  He remembered thinking the cape was a poor fashion touch.  I mean black on black?  Was he serious?

Then Vader had looked at him.  At least he thought he did, the man had turned his head in his direction and it felt like that mask was staring right through him.  The glance was only a second, but that second had felt like an eternity to Heigren.  The Zeltron had felt fear course his body, fear like he'd never felt before.  The mask itself wasn't anything, in fact Heigren had thought it was in poor taste, but the fear he felt had rooted him to the spot, left him there long after the enterouge of Imperials had moved on.  How had that man inspired such fear in him with a quick glance from hundreds of metres away.

Whatever the Talons did, he hoped it had nothing to do with that man.  Or anything within 5 sectors of that man.

"I guess we should meet with Devon. We can discuss all this then."

Fiarr mumbled an assent though she couldn't help feeling they were going the wrong way.  Still, they needed to regroup and Devon wanted them to go to Telos.  She prepared the ship for hyperspace, awaiting instructions.

Reaching the edge of the planet's gravity well, R2-A9 sent jump co-ordinates to the three navicomputers so that their arrivals should be reasonably well co-ordinated.  Then according to a countdown the three jumped.  First the Ghtroc, then the Wayfarer, finally Cor's L-4000.


OOC:  End of thread.  Please post in the Telos sector thread.  Remember you will have spent 8 days on your ship with only the people on your ship.  So if you want to discuss anything, work on a craft then let me know.