The sound of air rushing over the junk-encrusted hull of Gundark's Dream fills the cargo hold with a low whistling sound, and announces to those inside that the ship is descending into the atmosphere of a planet.  Hopefully it's Mothessh and Karja has not decided to betray the rebels.

Given her strong connection to Colonel Kourene that seems unlikely.  But it wouldn't be the first time that the victims of treachery were surprised by it.

Which, of course, recalls to mind the Colonel's problem with somebody passing information to the Imperials.

The ship lands, and the cargo hatch rolls open, admitting the heat, the humidity, and the jungle stench which all point to this being Mothessh.  As if to confirm it, Karja's voice sounds over an address system in the hold.

"Right, we're there.  Everybody off, I have business on Erithe and I'd like to be getting on with it as soon as possible."

Beyond the hatch, the entrance to the base can be seen a short distance away...

The familiar sights (and smells) eased a tension that Rhijans hadn't really noticed he'd been carrying, though he still didn't fully relax.  "Right, then...step smartly, all, don't wander off the path because we're not sure what might reach out and grab you.  This way..."  He gestured with a jerk of his head and started down the ramp.

As he did, he pulled out his commlink, calling Kourene.  "Colonel, we're back, with our intended cargo intact.  Don't know what kind of security measures you want to take as far as limiting exposure to the base and personnel, but whatever you intend to do, it needs to happen quickly.  We're on our way to the front door..."

Juragga did his bit to act as friendly tour guide, at least insofar as it came to guiding the slaves off the ship.  He stood, he pointed, he growled.  That was about all he did.

But there was a gleam of pride in his eyes whenever he glanced at his teammates.

Haarmon still has his doubts about this whole end of the operation. But he'd been outvoted. And while normally he'd just assume that the big kids knew what they were doing. And maybe that was the case here.

It just didn't feel like it this time.

He stuck close to Juragga. The wookie's presence was comforting. "You make a good tour guide, Rags," he said, "Maybe you missed your calling, yeah?"

Shard slowly moves off the ship.  She wishes she felt as confident as Juragga and Rhijans.  Maybe it was the traitor, nestled in somewhere amidst the Rebels.  Maybe it was so many things going wrong with saving the former slaves until now.  Maybe it was just...the pressure.

Not just her life on the line, or that of her teammates, but the former slaves as well, all of them.

Either way it put tension in her gut, and one hand remained hidden in the sleeve of her robe.  She'd use the cursed murderstick if she had to, now, to protect these people, and she wouldn't trust anything until she got them on transports heading home.

Rhijans has called up the Colonel, so she doesn't need to step in there.  Juragga and Haarmon are chatting, with the big fellow helping guide the former slaves - no help needed.  Lips thin, Shard shadows the large group, keeping an eye out for any possible issues.

Kourene's instructions are simple enough.  There are some unused storage bays just off from the main hanger, conveniently away from anything too sensitive.  They can be easily converted into temporary accommodations for the guests.  Only a single entrance, so keeping an eye on them should be easy enough.

"Drop them off and go get yourselves cleaned up, and something to eat, I'll send some people down to help them get settled in.  Debrief in an hour in my office.  Just for your information, we still have an ongoing security situation."

Rhijans nodded, to no one in particular, and answered, "Roger that..."

He put the commlink away, and turned to the ones leading the group down the ramp.  "Right this way.  I'm afraid our arrival is ahead of schedule, so your quarters aren't anywhere close to ready.  And they'll be a bit...spare...we didn't exactly anticipate or plan on so many people arriving unexpectedly.  But you'll be safe and secure and we'll get you on your way to wherever you're going to head from here as soon as we safely can."

It didn't escape him that his invitation could easily be transplanted into the mouth of a slaver trying to lure unsuspecting people into slave pens.  He hoped it wasn't something some of them had heard before...and he hoped that the generosity they'd shown thus far (if it could be called such) was enough to allay any suspicions that might be aroused.  The last thing they needed was a big scene in the hangar area that would call lots of attention to the new arrivals.

But, really, he was pushing the limits of his diplomacy as it was.  Which reminds me...  He looked around for the protocol droid.

"You-Why, can you pass that along to any of them that need translations?"  He stepped over to the droid and added, quietly, "And if you can do something to smooth off the rough edges of it...I'm no tour guide, and definitely no orator."  The droid had programming for that.  Theoretically.

You-Why takes over from Rhijans, apparently happy in the knowledge that he is being asked to do exactly what he's programmed for, and better than any organic could manage.  The protocol droid knows how to say anything, and in the politest possible manner.  The major issue is that sometimes he chooses not to...

On this occasion, though, he chooses to exercise his programming to its fullest, and in no time at all is explaining everything to the former slaves.

Leaving the organics to their own business.  Whatever that might be.

The refugees start towards their temporary living quarters, where a number of Alliance teams are gathering to help them settle in...

Juragga leaned down to Haarmon and muttered a soft growl in his own language.

I hope this is going to work out for them.  But we still have a spy to catch, he said.

"Cleanup," Shard mumbles, watching the slaves leave.  "I could do with some of that.  Food, as well."  She touches her hair, grimacing.  "I'll be in the mess hall in about a half hour, if anyone wants to meet there."

She shakes her head.  Ongoing security situation.  Lovely.

The woman dithers a moment, considering advising people to check their gear, then abandons that idea.  They know their business, this group.

"Good luck," she calls after the former slaves.  "Gonna go get washed up," she reiterates to the group before heading for her quarters.  After the dealing with the Hutt, the sight of the slave quarters and torture chamber, the tension of their escape -

- using the cursed murderstick -

- she really could use about a quarter hour under hot water.

The droid took over directing the...refugees, Rhijans decided was the best term for them...and he had a moment where it seemed no one was paying attention to him.  He heaved a sigh of relief, and his whole frame relaxed, almost imperceptibly.  They were hardly what he would consider secure, considering the fact that the Alliance operations had been compromised.

But they were back, and the Hutt was in their wake and for the moment, out of range as a threat.  And the Empire hadn't come crashing down on their little expedition.  Mentally, he checked off Kourene as a possible leak.  If the Colonel had been selling out Alliance operatives, he could easily have thrown them to the Empire and NOBODY would have known, since the circle of people involved in the mission was so small.

He wasn't completely certain, yet...but at this point, the only person he was completely certain wasn't selling them out was himself.  The rest of his team, he was almost completely certain about...their close calls with the Empire didn't feel, to him, like the kind of events that would be contrived by an Imperial spy.  The Colonel, he was now relatively certain about.

That just left everyone else still at the Alliance base.

His relaxed moment, such as it was, ceased abruptly, as he began surveying everyone around them with veiled suspicion, watching for any tell-tales that would give him a hint as to the identity of their spy.

Shard heads off to her own quarters while the former slaves are starting to get settled in to their new quarters, ably assisted by UY-3PO.  Other members of the team have their own agendas, and set out on their own "missions".

Eventually, feeling less worn (or, at least, less dirty) they find themselves outside Colonel Kourene's office, ready for a debriefing.  Security seems to have been tightened up in the area immediately around the office, with armed guards on duty in pairs in the nearby corridors.  Techs and droids also seem to be common, all opening up inspection panels and checking the interiors.  Then they close them up, seal them, and move on to the next one...

The Colonel, when they meet him, looks a little more haggard than at their last meeting, and appears to have undergone recent dermal regeneration.

"Come in." he says, calling the team into his office.  "Sit down, and give me a full report.  I take it from the overcrowded guest quarters that the mission went well?"  While this should, ostensibly, be a good result, the Colonel looks less than happy...

Haarmon was all the way in favour of the increased security protocols. The more stuff you were keeping track of, the easy it would be to track down when something went sideways. Maybe he would spend some time beefing up their network security too. Couldn't hurt. And it would give the IT guys something to do beside play video games and download holo-porn on duty.

He noticed that the Colonel wasn't looking too excited about things. I guess knowing that someone you trusted was a void-cursed filth-merchant spy would do that to a guy.

He grimaced at the Colonel's question. "Well, we did it. And we're all alive. But we had to go through some... things... to get there. But no more than we deserve, I guess, trusting that Ubese."

He then started to tell the Colonel about his and Shard's half of the mission. But he spoke slowly, and carefully, and precisely, pausing frequently in case anyone else had anything else to add.

It seemed that 'being a team-player' was sneaking up on him.

Rhijans listened to Haarmon recount the adventures (at least they weren't misadventures) that he and Shard had experienced in the Hutt's dungeons...and while he didn't comment, on more than one occasion, his eyebrows raised in an expression that could have been either surprise or skepticism...it was hard to tell.

"From my end of things...as far as Oomba knows, we represent some wide-spread cartel with operations in various corners of the galaxy, but the cartel doesn't want people knowing much about their operations or their location, origins, headquarters, etc.  So, basically, I told him the truth and just left out all the names.  He thinks we bought slaves to start up a mining operation here in the sector, since the demise of the Imperial mine created a new demand.  No mention of where or how soon we'd be shipping...or even who we were shipping to."  His tone was cold, crisp...summarizing the facts as he recalled them.

"If we ever have to cross paths with him again, we've got a cover story in place.  Of course, if he pieces together who worked over his interrogator and freed Wakuda, it won't matter, because he'll want us dead."

"RRrruuuhNHHnmmm," Juragga rumbled.  The beer in Oomba's palace was terrible.

Shard listens in silence as Haarmon starts his report.  Leave him to it - he made the first move, the ball's all his.  And he does a fine job, really.  Pays attention.  Has a good eye for detail.  Rhijans has his own thoughts on the matter, and ends on a dark note.  She can't fault his logic, and nods.  The nod dissolves into a coughing fit after Juragga's own report.

"I didn't get to the beer," she adds, "but I'll take Juragga's word that it stank."  She mulls over the report for a long moment.  "I don't think it'll take Oomba much thought to realize who burned his droid and stole his two playtoys.  We're going to have bounties on our heads."  She sighs; it won't be the first time for her, but she hates having dragged the others into this.

"You could probably make some good money turning me in," she quips at Rhijans.

Back to the colonel.  "Other than that, we fixed our bloody mistake with that Ubese, we've freed a ton of slaves and rescued a maybe-philanthropist's-agent from a Hutt, and saved someone who was being tortured to death, criminal or not." Her mouth twists into a slight moue as she considers, then Shard shrugs.  "Sounds like mission accomplished."

Kourene listens to the reports in silence, and when they are finished he says nothing, as he stands to inspect some display screens mounted on the wall behind his desk.  He runs a finger along the top edge of one, then inspects the digit briefly.

Without turning, he finally speaks, "It does sound as if you were successful, yes.  And I'll have to meet this woman you mentioned.  We've tried, unsuccessfully, to find these people in the past.  Hoped to share resources and information with them.  Not surprisingly, though, they've tended to keep a low profile and not publicise their presence."

"With any luck she'll prove to be a useful contact. Good work."

At last he faces towards the group.  "There is still, however, the issue of the spy in the base.  Indeed, the situation has escalated.  While you were away, somebody planted an explosive device in the cafeteria.  A number of personnel, including myself, were injured, and one tech is still in the infirmary...  She is, unfortunately, allergic to bacta treatments, so the medics are having to patch her up without it."

"This needs to be stopped."

"Effective immediately, I'm removing you from all other duties and assigning you to track down whoever is behind this."

Rhijans gave Shard a tight-lipped smile that showed no teeth at the mention of turning her in for a bounty.  Odds were extremely high, if the Hutt put out a bounty on her, Rhijans would have a price on his head, as well.  As far as Oomba knew, the whole expedition had been under Rhijans' direction...it would be only natural for the Hutt to assume that anything Shard and Haarmon had done was at his behest.

Then Kourene mentioned the spy, and any semblance of humor faded from Rhijans' face, leaving only a hard, emotionless mask in front of dark, glittering eyes that hinted at his displeasure in finding the spy was still at large.

"Is there anyone on the base that you can vouch for?" he asked.  "We don't want to waste time watching someone who's already cleared.  And do we have, or can we get, a list of personnel who arrived AFTER the spy problem began?  A list of personnel who arrived shortly before it began would also help, as well."

If nothing else, it gave them a place to start looking.  As the situation currently stood, they had nothing at all to go on...everyone on the base was a suspect.

Kourene nods, "I thought you might want that information."  He slides a datapad across the desk, "Lists of new personnel, both before and since the issue began, plus a list of people who have already been investigated and deemed clear.  And a list that cross-references the others, to give names of new people who haven't been cleared with certainty yet."

He pauses, and then adds, "One of the names on the 'not cleared' list is a Kedra Ashaine.  She's the injured tech I mentioned, and you'll find her in the infirmary.  She might not be able to answer many questions for a day or two, and I'd rather you didn't try to ask her any until at least a day or two after that.  Give her some time to recover, she deserves it.  She was close to the device when it detonated.  Tried to warn other people about it and got caught in the blast."

Rhijans nodded.  "For the sak of making sure there's someone to ask...can you assign someone you trust to covertly keep an eye on her until we're ready to ask some questions?  There's a chance she may have seen something useful...and a chance that whoever planted the device noticed her attention.  If the spy thinks she can incriminate him, I'm guessing she's at pretty extreme risk."

He glanced down at the lists...he'd share them around with the others, but for now, he was curious to see if there were any names that jumped out at him for some reason.

"Maybe I'm being paranoid, but we should be taking a long look at Kedra as well." Shard taps a forefinger on her lip.  "We've bumped into her before, she's new, she has a lot of questions, and she was close to the blast when it went off.  Maybe she warned people because she was going to be caught setting it up, and it seemed like a good way to avoid suspicion.  Maybe she had a change of heart; she didn't seem like a bad person."

Her lips twist into a grimace.  "Maybe I'm just cynical.  I'm not saying it's likely, just something we need to keep in mind as we investigate.  Anyone could be a suspect."

There comes a small pause.  "Present company excepted," Shard clarifies.  She's not figuring on implicating the Colonel - if he were the spy, this place would be shut down already - and she trusts her team.

Void, she wishes she were better at probing minds.

"I've assigned guards to the infirmary already." Kourene confirms, "Four men in the room, for two reasons.  One, to make sure nobody can get to Kedra.  And two, just in case, to keep Kedra from escaping if it turns out that she is a spy.  I did consider that possibility myself."

"The guards have orders to only allow a few listed medics near her, and nobody else.  Both medics and guards are people that I trust."

The Colonel scowls, "I hate having to send you to question our own people, but i don't see any other choice.  If you need more people to help you, I can assign a few more - you might find you want extra fire-power in case of trouble."

"Sounds fair," Shard agrees.  It's good to see the Colonel is on the ball himself - steps ahead of them, in fact. "So...we're going to be the people questioning everyone?"  A slow nod follows.  "I didn't get involved in this to be popular anyway," the long-time rebel sighs.  "And people will probably understand the necessity, given what has happened."

Even so, there will be those who are angry about their loyalties seemingly being questioned.

"What do we think?  More people?" Shard inquires of the others.  "Or are we good?  I suppose it depends if we're splitting up."

Splitting up leaves two choices - Haarmon and Juragga, or herself and Juragga.  She bet Rhijans would do well working with the Wookie...but there's a language barrier.

"I'd rather not split up," she murmurs.  "I figure this kind of thing is going to take all of us - together - to ferret out."

The Colonel returns to his chair and sits back as the team starts to discuss the best way to deal with the situation.  After all, it's up to them now, and he has confidence in their ability to do the job, which is why he assigned them to it.

OOC: Knock yourselves out on the planning.  Kourene can answer any questions that you think of.  :)

Rhijans nodded.  "On some levels, we'll have to operate independently, I think, at first.  I'd suggest we each select a few individuals on the list and pay them an extremely informal visit...the moment it gets out that we're actively searching for a spy, I think we're going to need to stick close to each other to watch each others' backs.  The more information we can gather before we start turning up the heat and asking some direct and intensive questions, the more ground we can cover before someone starts trying to figure out how to take us out of the picture before we find them."

He looked up from the list, a rarely-seen expression of intense dissatisfaction on his features for just a moment.  "Make no mistake...we may be able to question two or three people before the rumor mill starts outrunning us.  I'd like to make those two or three people count as much as possible before I start worrying about being in someone's crosshairs or checking my quarters for booby-traps."

And at that precise moment, the office door opens.

"Excuse me, it seems that I have not received a copy the memo regarding this meeting."  You-Why stands there, trying to give an accusatory stare, which doesn't quite work with his lack of facial expressions.

"I would think that, as an important member of the team - one who has played a vital role in recent missions - I should be included in important meetings and debriefings.  After all, I do have an eidetic memory, and can recite, verbatim, anything which has been said in my presence.  No matter what language it was spoken in."

The protocol droid shuffles into the office...

"But apparently you can't remember not to end a sentence in a preposition," Haarmon says, somewhat sourly. In truth, he was feeling more than a little out of his element. He was trying to look at this thing like a big program, like a debugging routine. But no matter how he went over it, people were more complicated than computers. And you couldn't just turn them off and on again when they acted up.

He eyed the driod. Most of the time anyway.

"What we need," he said to the group, "Is a honeypot. A way to narrow the field, like. We figure out something that the spy would want, want real, real bad. And then give it to them, or give it out to various information pathways, just different enough each time to figure out where the leak came from once they pounce."

He thought a bit. "And one thing a spy would really want a piece of is someone who might know who they are. Which is us. Once people figure out what we're up to."

Rhijans grimaced slightly.  "I'd prefer to limit the field of potential suspects a bit before we start teasing them with notions that we have the spy's identity.  You think it's hard dealing with a spy?  Try dealing with the thought that any person you encounter may be trying to kill you.  A certain level of paranoia is healthy in this business...but that goes way beyond the event horizon."

He looked over at You-Why.  "Sorry...I had assumed you were still busy coordinating things with the refugees we brought back from Oomba's."  Remarkably enough, there actually seemed to be some real contrition in his usually-emotionless voice.

"Toss my apologies on as well, You-Why," Shard mutters, rubbing her forehead.  This is getting complicated.  "But...since we're on the subject, your opinion.  Did you see anyone with those refugees who might be considered suspicious?  Other than Oomba's former guard?"

It's a shot.  Not that it would explain the situation here - the refugees just arrived - but one never knows if the Empire is seeding more and more spies into the area.

"I like your plan, Haarmon.  Rhijans has a point as well."  Pursing her lips, she leans forward. "What if we start with questioning, then once word gets around we leak a little information.  Not 'we know', but that we've narrowed it down.  If we knew we'd act on it." Her eyes narrow.  "If it was just a spy, I'd say they'd run.  But it's not.  It's someone planting bombs.  A killer.  They might just take a shot at us."

The older woman leans back, massaging her forehead.  "Until then, Rhijans wants us to split up.  Fair enough - ferreting out people isn't exactly my speciality.  But who?  I'd like to hit up the Quartermaster.  I'm not convinced at all it's him; I figure a spy would like to be less obviously antisocial.  And he would have plenty of opportunity to seriously mess up missions.  But it's just that - I'd like to eliminate him from the running ASAP because if it IS him, he has the gear, access to explosives, capacity to really cause harm to missions, etc."

Juragga hooted a greeting at You-Why.  Not entirely friendly, but not a hostile one either.  The droid was irrascible as ever.

Turning to the others, he asked, "rrrRRRRHHhhhhhNNNN?"  Where do you want me?

Subtly, he tapped Haarmon on the tricep.  A simple tap, to let his partner know he wanted to talk privately... later.

Rhijans scowled slightly for a moment, speaking before glancing down at his list from the Colonel.  "I think the QM's been on the job long enough that if it was him, the problem would have started earlier," he mused aloud, but he looked for the name, just in case.  He'd been looking before for easily identified prospects, not looking to rule out specific individuals.

"I'll start at the infirmary.  She stepped up...it may be that she just happened to get in the way of the blast, but she may have seen something that got her moving.  Hopefully, she's in a condition to talk about it..."

Haarmon nodded at his Wookie friend. Juragga had pulled his niblets from the fire enough times that, if the big ragdoll wanted to talk, then that's how it was going to be.

Try dealing with the thought that any person you encounter may be trying to kill you.

That sobered him up in a hurry. He'd been shot at more than once in the last little while. Explosions. Laser-fire. But this was a whole 'nother level. All of a sudden Rhijans made a little more sense to the young slicer. That deadpan reserve, the aloof distance. The clipped, precise speech. This is what his life is like, all the time, every day, Haarmon thought, While you're happy-assing around on the Nets like a clown. Every day.

He took a breath.

"Colonal? Maybe I could have a look at all the reports on all the attacks so far? I know you guys have gone over it. And I'm not convinced I'll be able to add anything, but maybe I crunch it all through a terminal, throw some code at it, like, you know? Maybe I can squeak something out. Something we haven't seen."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:38, Fri 28 Nov 2014.

Rhijans nodded at the suggestion.  "Don't think we can afford to ignore any approach to the problem.  And given your background, you may look at it from angles that the Colonel's people didn't...might just shed a little new light on things and give us something more to go on than, 'we know it's not them because they've been here too long...and we know it's not them, because they haven't been here long enough.  But everyone else is a definite maybe.'"

He glanced at the list again.  "A good place to start, Shard, might be asking questions with people who are working in the Command and Communications sections.  They're the ones most likely to have access to the kind of information the Empire's been getting about where operations have been happening."  That narrowed the list considerably...but it still meant an awful lot of interviews, especially if they wanted them to seem informal.

"Sounds good," Shard sighs.  "The Quartermaster stuff, that is.  Also your idea, Haarmon - if you can ferret out more info, narrow things down more, it makes this a whole lot easier." Thinking with his strengths; now that's good sense in Shard's eyes.

"If Haarmon's going to be working on a computer, you'll be with me, Juragga.  I could use a little bit of your perspective," she noted.  "Should have figured the Quartermaster was out right at the start.  I guess we'll figure out if anyone is new in Command and Comm...start with them.  If not, then it's still a good place to begin, see if anyone has been poking around, trying to get access to the comms."

Juragga canted his head and nodded.  If a Wookiee could frown, he would; he wanted to do two things at once.  Watch Haarmon's back, and escort the Jedi.  But since both were going to be in two places, he couldn't.

"WaaaaaaaaRRRRRgggh," he commented.  Will do.  Give me just a minute. He signaled Haarmon aside, actually leaving the room and going into the hall.

"I'll get you the reports and statements." Kourene says with a nod to Haarmon, "They'll be with you ASAP."

"As for talking to Kedra Ashaine, go ahead, but take it easy on her.  I'm pretty sure that she's a hero, but treatment without bacta can be rough, and I hear she's having a hard time of it."

The other talk does bring one more comment from him, "You'll still end up dealing with the stores anyway.  The QM himself has been cleared, but he does have a clerk who is on the "not cleared" list - Barsh Dahgo."

Something seems to be going on between Juragga and Haarmon.  The Colonel eyes the pair curiously as they step out of the room...

Haarmon narrowed his eyes and gave the wookie a hard look as he growled and left the room. What's that all about? He asked himself. He took a quick look around the room, nodded his thanks to Kourene and followed his friend out into the hall.

"What's happenin' Rags?"

He was concerned. Juragga was, among other things, his best friend. And whatever it was that eating the guy up, he wanted to help.

Rhijans smiled, mirthlessly.  "I said I was going to go talk to her, not interrogate her.  The fact that she saved you gets her a little grace...but not a free pass.  And if she specifically warned you away from whatever-it-was that blew up, there has to be a reason why...and that reason could be a big factor in figuring this whole mess out."

If he had concerns about Haarmon and Juragga, he didn't show them.  Espionage wasn't his strong point, though he wasn't totally ignorant of the concept of covert action.  But this was beyond the realm of his experience, really.  He scowled slightly at the list again, trying to dissect the situation into pieces that did make sense to him, and figure out some way to proceed that didn't make him feel like he was juggling thermal detonators.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:25, Tue 02 Dec 2014.

Juragga shuffled out into the hall with Haarmon.  He warbled some quick placations in Wookiee, then leaned down low to the kid's ear.

"RuhrRuhrRuhrRahrWuhrRaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh," he muttered.

Juragga and Haarmon consider their private conversation outside the office.

Inside, Kourene nods slowly, thoughtfully.  Then growls, "It's not just the fact that somebody is reporting our activities to the Imperials.  It feels more like a personal insult.  I helped vet most of the people on the base myself, before they ever set foot on Mothessh.  I feel betrayed, let down.  It's annoying, to say the least.  Not just on a professional level."

You-Why replies, "I am sure that, with my help, my friends will find your traitor Colonel.  Always assuming that none of them are the traitor.  I will, of course, investigate that possibility too."

Rhijans turned a querying eye to the droid.  "I appreciate your thoroughness on this, You Why.  You'll understand, of course, if we return the favor, I hope.  After all, your arrival at the base does fall in the time frame of suspicion."  It was entirely possible the droid could be passing information along...and not entirely implausible that it would be doing it unknowingly.  Add a couple of components here and there...or a programmed routine that had it report its information without any recollection of having done so...

Given the fact that the protocol droid had been with them on missions while the leak was occurring, however, and the lack of Imperial intervention in those missions, it wasn't likely.  But it did have to be clarified.

Haarmon was stunned. Not that the big lug was necessarily right, but that he very could be, and the possibility hadn't occurred to any of them up until this minute.

"Sweet-crispy-starcicles, Rags! You might have something there. We should get on this right away. Mock up some kind of screening process. In fact, we should get it done for every protocol droid on the whole base. Hot void. You gotta bring this to the Colonal as soon as whassisface-Y is out of the office."

And he paused. And smirked. It was a very Haarmon smirk.

"Anti-social? Please. Everyone knows you're the Face of this outfit. Shard's the tank. Rhijans the skillmonkey. And I'm comic relief. Everyone's got a calling, you know what I'm saying?"

"I understand personal, Colonel.  I do."  Shard sighs.  "Perspective is hard, sometimes." She snorts a laugh when You-Why indicates his willingness to investigate. "Feel free to check into us, You-Why.  I'm good for that, and it's good to have your help."  But there's an interesting thought on Rhijans' part.  That's why he's the professional, Shard.  Someone without that kind of thorough paranoia doesn't live long in his business, I expect.

She studies the door for a moment.  Haarmon and Juragga are up to something.  It could be as innocent as 'not wanting to interrupt the conversation with an extended discussion in Wookie'.  Or...not.  Whatever it is, she trusts them.

Finally she shrugs.  "I guess I'd better get in and see that clerk.  Colonel."  A nod to their commander. "You coming, Rhijans?"  A faint smile appears.  "Or you want to talk behind my back about how suspicious I've been?"

A ghost of a smile crept onto Rhijans' face.  "We're both in the clear, as far as I can tell.  We started on Mothessh well in advance of the security leak."  He nodded in the direction of the protocol droid.

"I'm sure that won't prevent You Why from checking into us, anyway.  But you're one of the few people here I'm pretty certain is NOT an Imperial spy."  He gave a snort that might have been a chuckle, and shrugged.

"If you want me to come with you, I can.  I was going to go talk with Kedra...try and cover as much ground as possible while we can still get away with walking around solo.  Once word starts getting around that we're looking for the spy, going around the base alone could get pretty hazardous."

Rhijans and Shard, accompanied by You-Why exit the office, to find haarmon and Juragga in the middle of a quiet conversation... well, as quiet as a conversation gets when one of the participants is a Wookiee.

The protocol droid suddenly asks, "Would anybody like me to come along with them to record whatever statements are given?"  He looks from face to face, as if assessing their expressions, even though he is incapable of making any of his own.  "I can also assist with questioning - I can memorise what you ask, and ensure that you ask the same questions for subsequent interviewees."

"Thanks, Rhijans," Shard shoots back as they leave the office.  "Was more thinking 'getting out of the Colonel's face'; I understand we have to split up right now, cover more ground.  Better you see to Kendra."  She frowns, wincing slightly as one of Juragga's hoots surprises her. "But we're going to need to pair up sooner or later to start watching each others' backs, once it gets around we're investigating."

Pausing, she studies You Why.  "Good idea, You Why," she decides.  "You have any preferences?  If not, I'll take you along.  You'll help keep me focused."

Also, help keep her away from the drink.  Since arriving at the base, she's been finding it hard.  On a mission, it's easy; focus on the job, realize everyone's counting on each other.  Here?  This is 'home' right now, a place where she's supposed to destress.  And suddenly her body and mind want that cursed stuff.  Dull the stress, numb the memories, fog up those feelings of inadequacy.

You've got to quit that stuff for good, Shard.  And maybe having the droid with her will help.  If I take a sip of anything with him around, he'll make sure everyone knows about it.

She eyes the dynamic duo before her.  "Anything we ought to know about, you two?"  It comes to Shard that there are few reasons Juragga would need to leave the room to make a point, and those reasons boil down to two people: her and You Why.

Maybe he was just worried You Why would blurt something out.  Maybe.

Juragga hooted at Haarmon's summary.  "WuuuuUUUUUURGggh," he chimed.  You're the brains. Rhijans is the cunning.  Shard is the soul.  And I'm the one to rip arms out of their sockets, was the gist.

He turned as You-Why, Rhijans and Shard came upon them.

"GrAAAAAAAAAAhr," he commented.  Nothing important.  What next?

Haarmon pulled a face at Juragga's revision. "Pfft. How wrong are you?" But inwardly, he was pretty pleased. He didn't think of himself as all the smart, not compared to Shard and Rhijans and Rags anyway. But it's always nice to hear.

He did, however, give You-Why a good long searching look when he heard offers going around to accompany people places.

"Hey, Tin-skin," he said, "What's with the lisp?"

He did his best to give his team a significant follow my lead kind of look.

"Lisp?" You-Why sounds puzzled, "A lisp... a speech impediment in which a person cannot articulate sibilants.  I was not aware that I have a lisp."

"As far as I am aware, my vocalisation is perfect.

Even so, the droid starts articulating various random words.  "Stormtrooper.  Starship.  Space slug.  Coruscant.  Sentient.  All of those sibilants sound perfect.  At least they did to me."

Haarmon plastered a smug, slightly amused smile across his face. It wasn't too hard. It was almost his default expression anyway. Haarmon, despite his many virtues, had a bad case of RSF (Resting Smarm Face). He even shone the look around at his companions, hopeful they'd back him up.

"You can't hear that? Seriously? You're sloshing those sibilants like an Alterian dockboy."

"I am?  Oh dear.  They all sounded perfectly clear to me."  The droid starts to become flusterd, "What am I to do?  If I am unable to articulate properly, then I am unable to perform one of my primary functions.  I might be consigned to a recycling facility.  And I am only fifty seven years old.  It would be a tragedy."

Haarmon came close (very close) to jumping up in the air and doing a little dance on the way down. Anyone paying attention would have noticed his lips twitch up at both corners as though he were holding down a smile.

What he did do was force a concerned, concentrated frown. He had a good frown. Learned it when he was young.

"Hot void, that's a rough one there, Tin-skin. Did you... umm... did you know I used to write debugging routines for Droids? Few years ago. Freelance, like. Not on anything as complicated as you, of course. But if you wanted... you know... I could take you down to the techs. Take a look. I'm not going anywhere fun anyway."

Rhijans turned a slightly mystified look at Haarmon's statement, but didn't say anything.  Once he got the look from Haarmon, he definitely didn't say anything, and schooled his expression back to its default inscrutable look.

Inwardly, however, he grinned and nodded as he realized what Haarmon was doing.  Not bad, kid.  Not bad at all...  Haarmon was the only one in the group, except for possibly Juragga, who'd be able to look the droid over and figure out if anything out-of-sorts in some way.

"Good idea," he commented simply.  "Some of the beings we're talking to will need translation...best make sure we're not risking any misunderstandings in the process.  Especially given the gravity of the task at hand."

"This is terrible.  Not only do I have a faulty voder, but my auditory sensors are clearly malfunctioning too."  If the droids arms were to wave about any more frantically, he would probably take flight.

"If my speech and my hearing are both unreliable, how can I translate with any certainty?  Oh no... " You-Why stops flapping his arms and raises his right hand, "Do you suppose my other systems might also be affected?  What if I am going blind?  How many fingers am I holding up?  Somebody please help me before it is too late."

Rhijans stepped toward the droid, all the appropriate gravitas in his face and voice.  "Haarmon, why don't you take You Why down to maintenance and get a diagnostic run on him...see if you can track down what's glitching his systems and clean it up.  Shard and I will go make our initial inquiries..."

He put a hand on You Why's shoulder and turned the droid to look at him.  "We'll have you back in proper running order in no time," he assured the droid.  "We're going to need you to translate for some of the beings we need to talk to, and there's nobody else I'd trust with the job."

Once Haarmon's determined that you aren't a data leak, that is...  He looked over at the kid and the Wookiee and gave a nod.  "Get him taken care of."

It takes Shard a few moments to clue into what's transpiring; then, behind You-Why's back, she rolls her eyes in comprehension.  Think, Shard.  That's what they must have been talking about.  "All right, then, You-Why.  When Haarmon has that minor issue corrected -" there's likely no more sure way to focus the droid on an imaginary problem than to downplay it "- you can send me a message, and I'll tell you where to join us."

Still behind the droid's back, she offers Haarmon a fast thumbs up.  Nice.

"Rhijans?"  With an elaborate bow, she indicates the corridor.  "We'd better get on this."  Slipping her hands in her cloak, she does a quick check on her gear.  Mostly useless blaster pistol?  Check.  Murder stick?  Check.  No flask?  Check.

"Good luck with that issue," she offers to Haarmon and Juragga.  "Let us know when you're finished."

Haarmon practically puffed up with warm-fuzzies when Rhijans and Shard both gave their tacit approval of his plan. But the excitement was quickly washed away when he realized that now he was going to have to make good on it.

He was was really glad Juragga was coming with him. Rags knew droids really well. And betwene the two of them, they'd find what there was to find.

"Yeah, thanks," he tried to mumble around a mouthful of WOOOOT. "Rags? Let's get Shiny-pants here fixed up, yeah?"

And down to the droid repair station they went.

Harmon and Juragga move away, escorting a panic-stricken UY-3PO further into the base, and down a couple of levels.  The droid talks the whole way - questions about how noticeable his lisp has become, whether anybody else had heard some noise from the ventilation system or the heat exchangers, or were they seeing the walls in the same colours as he was.  All interspersed with rambling laments about how little maintenance the droid had received in recent months...

Eventually they reach the droid workshop, where a couple of techs have three, or possibly four, droids stripped down for work.  At the sight of the disassembled droids, You-Why stops, and turns towards the door, only to be stopped by Juragga, who pushes him back into the room.

One of the techs, his eyes seemingly enormous behind a set of high power magnifiers regards Haarmon and Juragga with some interest.  "Hello.  What can I do for you?  Problem with the droid?"

Shard and Rhijans, meanwhile, head for the Quartermaster's Stores, where they find the Quartermaster himself doing an inventory check.  The old man looks at them as they enter, carefully marks his position on the datapad, and asks, "Can I help you?"

There is currently no sign of his assistant, Barsh Dahgo.

"Good day.  Your favourite people, I know." Shard wanders up and puts her elbows on the desk, staring down the row of shelves and studying the quartermaster. "So.  Looking for some help.  Namely your assistant.  Do you happen to know where Barsh got himself?"

She shrugs, a small, lopsided smile on her face. "We need to make a few inquiries."

Juragga trundled along with Haarmon and You-Why, a slight smirk on his features.  He was impressed with how the kid was handling this.

He hooted in affirmation at the tech, but indicated they could handle it.

"Barsh?" the Quartermaster scowls, "That's what I'd like to know.  He said he was going to get something to eat a couple of hours ago, and I haven't seen him since, nor been able to get hold of him.  Probably moping round the infirmary again... don't think he's been away from the place for more than an hour since his girlfriend got hurt."

"There's a diagnostic rig already set up on the bench there.  It's calibrated for R series astromechs just now, but I can help you adjust it for your protocol droid if you need it doing."  The magnifiers swing towards You-Why, who flinches away from them,  "What's wrong with him?  He looks to be in good shape from here."

Rhijans' eyes narrowed minutely, but he played it off as though there was nothing noteworthy.  "Well...my next stop was the infirmary, anyway...maybe we should go look for him there..."

And have Kourene pass along to the base security personnel that he trusts to keep an eye open, if Barsh isn't there...

He raised a quizzical eyebrow and looked at Shard, waiting for her response.

"Thanks," Shui adds.  It's always smart to thank the quartermaster. "We'll ferret him out."  She shrugs to Rhijans.  "Feel bad for the guy, his sweetheart hurt like that.  Shall we go have a word?"


"If we see him, I'll let him know you're looking for him as well," she fires over her shoulder as she heads off.  Once clear of the quartermaster, she raises an eyebrow to her companion.  "So.  Really close to her?  Or feeling a lot of guilt?"  Another shrug follows.  "Could be both.  Hope he's there."  And as she strides down the hallway, a question burns in her mind.

What is a ferret, anyway?

Another, more important query dislodges it.  "Rhijans, stupid question, but just checking.  We hit some kind of trouble, you're ready.  Right?"

The man probably has wo different blasters hidden on him right now, as well as a brace of grenades, but it's always good to clarify.

So Shard and Rhijans head for the infirmary, which isn't a short walk.

The base infirmary is located at the end of a tunnel which places it some distance from the rest of the facility.  Even for patients who aren't allergic to bacta, peace and quiet can help considerably in a quick recovery.

In any case, a long, straight-ish tunnel gives the two investigators plenty of time for a discussion...

"'Ready' is a debatable state of existence.  If we're prepared for something, it never seems to happen."

There was no smile on his face...not even a joke in his voice...but something in his eyes seemed to gleam with humor.  Warped, dark, gallows humor, perhaps...

"But I won't be caught totally flat-footed if things go sideways, no."  Those eyes that had seemed to gleam with humor a moment before narrowed dangerously.

"We haven't been around much to observe, but I don't buy the 'he's grown very close to her' explanation.  Although she did seem to mention something about him, before, as I recall...that first time we met her.  Didn't she?"  With all the fixation on getting to and from Oomba's with all the refugees, details of a passing conversation with someone who seemed to be trying too hard to appear inept had grown hazy.

Haarmon nodded at Juragga's hoot. He looked back at the tech. "No, man thanks. You better let us do it. He's a special unit and requires special attention. And he's got a... ummm.. small issue. Certainly nothing that would require him to be scrapped if people found out." He gave You-Why a significant look. "But all the same, it prevents him from talking. Right?" He gave You-Why a second significant look. Just in case.

"Come on over here, Mute." And he went and sat down at the diagnostic equipment. He looked to make sure Rags was there too. The wookie was really good at this stuff.

"Okay. Let's get to it."

"Good to hear," Shard replies in an easy tone.  It's a good thing Rhijans is on their side, she muses.  Dangerous, dangerous man, and he doesn't seem to have an 'off' switch.  But the fact is that he is on their side, so it doesn't unnerve her.  It's upsetting, and a little sad; Shard wouldn't want anyone to live that way, and can only imagine what sort of terrible life has produced this constant hyper-acuity in the man.  But it doesn't unnerve her.

"She mentioned something about having a boyfriend, if I recall." The long-time rebel purses her lips. "'Course, my memory is shot these days."  My own cursed fault.  "I guess we'll find out shortly - if he really IS her boyfriend, it shouldn't be hard to spot.  If he's on a guilt trip, or..."  She purses her lips.  "Or if he's trying to get close to her because she saw something, and he needs to keep her quiet, we'll be able to figure that out."

 

Juragga rumbled an assent, and then followed Haarmon and You-Why to where the kid led them.  He had been working on his droid repair skills ever since they'd come across You-Why, but he was letting the kid lead the play here.  After all, aside from potentially being an Imperial spy, there was nothing wrong with the droid...

After a walk along the corridor, Shard and Rhijans turn a corner at the far end and enter the infirmary.  There are a handful of patients, being attended by a medical droid and two humans in uniform.  At the far end of the room, a screen has been pulled across, concealing something, and off to one side are two bacta tanks, currently unoccupied, and drained.

The droid swivels its head, briefly, towards the newcomers, and says something in Binary, which causes one of the humans to move across to intercept them.  "Is there something I can help you with?" she asks, both her face and her voice stern.

You-Why catches on quickly, and says nothing.  After all, Haarmon has just implied that any indication of a severe flaw in his programming, or his systems, will almost certainly see him scrapped.  Or even sent to work somewhere unpleasant... which makes him realise that maybe there was a reason he ended up working on that wretched ice-bound mining colony.

The tech watches for a moment as the protocol droid follows the other two across to the diagnostic set-up.  Then, with a shrug, he goes back to his own work.  If these people can handle the diagnostics themselves, that's fine by him, he has plenty to do already.

The droid stands next to the bench, and asks quietly, "What should we do first?"  There are a number of cables, with assorted connectors on the ends running from ports on the testing equipment, just waiting to be plugged in to something...

"Yes," Rhijans answered brusquely...or, at least, matching the med-tech's stern voice with one of his own.

"The Colonel sent me down here to check on Kedra...the woman injured in the blast in the mess area.  And she's here looking for Barsh," he said, indicating Shard.

"We were told he was down here, as well, visiting her."  His voice, like his expression, betrayed little, if anything...cold, detached, clinical...business-like.

In the end, it was all just business, really...

Haarmon nodded. Somewhat to the droid, party to Juragga, mostly to himself. He had the same look on his face that he did when he put the virus into the Imperial Network. The same look as when he destroyed that ice-moon's shipping schedule. The same look as when he mapped their escape from that same moon. All the twitchy smarm vanished from him in an instant. The look on this Haarmon's face never asked anyone if he was right, or if they knew what he was saying.

This was Haarmon, about to Take Care of Business.

"First thing," he said in a low, even, quiet voice, "Is we get into your head, Platinum Pants. And we see if there's anything in there what needs seeing. Rags, you wanna get in on this action?"

Haarmon was familiar enough with the ones and zeroes inside of a droid's head, but Juragga had a lot more experience with everything else

With experienced digits, Juragga began to hook the droid up to the various diagnostics.  He bobbed his head at Haarmon's query, agreeing.  He was only hooking up diagnostics to the droid's frame, at first, letting the kid take the lead.

"Over there." the woman says, waving a hand in the direction of the screen, then to Shard, "I hope that damned clerk is needed somewhere else.  He just keeps getting in the way."

"As for the injured woman, she's healing slowly, but satisfactorily, considering we're forced to use stone knives and bloodworms to treat her.  Well, it seems like that."  Her face actually smiles, without cracking in two.

Then she turns away, almost before she's finished talking, and hurries back to help her colleague attend to one of the patients, who seems to have a badly injured arm...

Juragga leans in, his large hands suprisingly dextrous as he assists Haarmon in connecting the leads to the correct ports.  "Oh my." You-Why says suddenly, "Was that right?  I cannot see!  And now I can.  Good.  Please do not do that again."

A display on the diagnostic console starts to build a three dimensional graphic of the droid's systems.  The patient himself regards the image with some interest, "Is that me?"

Perfect.  "Not to worry.  I've a few questions for him.  Thank you...doc...all right," Shard finishes as the doctor vanishes.  A shrug follows, the older woman perfectly understanding 'more important things to do'.  "I'm off to check in on Barsh," she continues to Rhijans.  "I'll probably be pretty direct about some stuff; subtlty isn't my strong suit.  Luck."

With that, she slips her hands beneath her cloak and heads off in search of the quartermaster's assistant.

"It's some of you, anyway," Haarmon mutters, mostly under his breath, focused on the task at hand. "Gonna have to turn your eyes and ears off for a minute. And speech. Don't panic."

His fingers tapped out a series of commands that shut off the driod's hearing modules.

He leaned back and took a breath. He gave the driod a sour look and thought a moment. Grabbed a datapad and typed a but and then showed it to the wookie:

I'm worried about his being monitored. If he's even the spy. So while I'm in here you're going to want to make sure there's nothing hardware-related that we should be worried about. All kinds of things could be hanging around that won't show up in the programming.

The sheer number of ways that a driod could be turned into a spying device made Haarmon feel tired. And the thoughts of what might happen if the wrong person noticed that they were messing with it, what that could mean for the base, for his friends, just made him want to curl  up in a ball and have a nap.

But he channeled his inner Rhijans and got back to work. Checking anything out of the ordinary. And even the stuff that was ordinary.

Juragga hooted an affirmative, then tapped on the screen:

He may not be the spy, but he could be bugged.  Will check.

And then he went about doing so, combing the droid for any signs of hardware that could be spying.  Most specifically, cameras, mics and transmitters/receivers.

Rhijans nodded as Shard set off on her part of their duty here.  He had other questions to ask...and was likely to be direct, himself, because he had little use for talking around a subject.  Talking about it in veiled terms, he could do...but verbally dancing around an issue had little appeal for him.

He made his way over to the screened-off bed the medic had indicated, not quite sure of what he was expecting...anything from Kedra being asleep, to missing, to getting dressed and trying to sneak out, to mysteriously comatose.  Each scenario flickered through his mind in the few steps it took to get there...and he mentally braced himself for all of them, before he slipped between the drapes to stand near her bed.

Shard and Rhijans head for the screen.  Behind it, Kedra is half asleep and mostly covered by dessings.  IV lines are feeding several different solutions into her from an assortment of pouches hanging above the bed.

Barsh is there too, sitting on a chair not too close to the bed.  His face is twisted into a mask of anguish as the pair push past the screen.  "Oh, they don't want me to stay here, but they let other people visit."

You-Why goes stiff, even for him, as his audio and optical modules are deactivated.  The diagnostic unit indicates three corrupted memory modules, apparently empty at the moment, having transferred the stored data elsewhere, exactly as they were designed to do.  Between them they represent an almost insignificant percentage of the droid's capacity, still well within his operating parameters.

Rhijans turned a withering look on Barsh.  "This isn't a social call.  Wipe your eyes and blow your nose.  The lady has questions for you.  The sooner we get it over with, the sooner you can get back to mooning over your girlfriend here."

He wasn't about to start asking Kedra questions with someone else hovering near her bed...

Shard makes a small moue, considering.  'The lady.'  It beats out 'her' or 'she', but there are unfortunate connotations.  Shard knows full-out she's no 'lady' of the classy variety.  That leaves age, which pains her.  It's possible, however, that Rhijans chose it to be complimentary rather than qualitative.

Best not to put much consideration into it.

I'm not exactly young any more, either way, she moodily considers, crooking a finger at Barsh.  Not the kind to turn Rhijans' head, not the kind to give Haarmon a goofy smile.  Not the kind of thoughts to be thinking about one's teammates, in any case.  Just your ego talking.

"I need to talk to you, Barsh.  Now."  Quietly stated, without iron; she wants his cooperation, not sullen agreement.  "Those are my orders, so c'mon."

Barsh looks from Rhijans, to Shard, and back again.  He's been in enough trouble to recognise when he's in it again.  But this feels different.  For one thing, everybody in the galaxy over the age of about eight knows the old "good officer, bad officer" routine.  Except these two.  Neither of them seems seems friendly.

Not that he cares.

"Okay... but do we have to talk here?  Kendra's tired, so I suppose we should let her rest for a while."

UY-3PO  watches the readouts on the diagnostic apparatus.  Not that he understands the displayed results, he'd be the first to admit it, but he does, apparently, have a firm conviction that he would recognise a bad result if he saw one.

Then, maybe, he could grab a blaster and kill every organic in the room before anybody could react.  That would, of course, be the first stage.  His plan would, eventually, culminate in the founding of a galaxy-spanning Droid Empire, under the benevolent rule of Emperor UY the First.  The droid gives a mechanical sigh.  His plan is, naturally, doomed to failure.  How could he hope to inspire loyalty and devotion with a flawed voder?

Haarmon watched the test results spin out on the screen. After a while he was pretty sure that there was nothing going on in the driod's head that shouldn't be. So he looked up at Juragga to make sure that the physical inspection was done.

He was going to have to turn him back on pretty soon. Or he was never going to hear the end of it.

"You and I, we can talk out there," Shard continues in the same quiet tone, motioning with her head. "Rhijans has a couple of questions for Kendra.  He won't keep her - he's efficient."  A crook of the finger and she slips out from behind the screen.  Already, she's seeking the centerpoint between ice and fire, hunting for that fuzzy grey area where she can balance the demands of her training and her instincts.

And her hands remain hidden beneath her cloak, one seated atop a scuffed, cold-metal cylinder.

Rhijans waited for Barsh to follow Shard out before he turned back to Kedra's bed and approached, looking to see if she was conscious before asking her anything.  "Colonel Kourene said you saved his life," Rhijans began...if she was asleep, or resting, that would hopefully get her attention.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:25, Thu 15 Jan 2015.

"He's... alive?  Nobody would tell me.  Said I need to worry 'bout me.  Thank you." The relief in Kedra's voice is noticeable, even through the fatigue, medication, and pain.  "We were lucky, you know.  I... I forgot... to turn off a hand scanner when I put it in my pocket and went on my break.  It found the bomb's energy signature, not me."

"Was behind an access panel on a... on a... a conduit.  And the Colonel was sitting close to it.  So I warned everybody, and they started to move away.  And that... that's when it blew."

Barsh leans up against the wall, his face a grim mask, "I hope your friend isn't threatening Kedra or anything.  She means... "  And then he stops, and stifles a sob...

Juragga makes a quiet huffing sound and shakes his head to confirm that his own results are as negative as Haarmon's own.  The droid does not appear to have had either its hardware or its software tampered with.

Apart from a little wear and tear, he's pretty much as he was when he was first activated...

Rhijans nodded.  He'd been curious to know why Kedra had warned the Colonel...the explanation made sense.  It was remotely possible that she'd worked out the whole story, that the whole thing had been staged to secure a cover for her...but the odds of that being the case were becoming more and more remote.

"Did you see anybody close to that panel?" Rhijans asked.  His voice was soft, low...and unexpectedly gentle.  "Or hear anything about someone who might have been working there?"  He could play the good cop, when it suited him.  In her state, a soft approach would probably get more answers than a harsh interrogation.  It would certainly attract less outside attention...

Of course, it might also have been the case that he did, actually, have a heart somewhere beneath all the professionalism...

Haarmon nods at Juragga. If Rags says it's so, then it's so. The young slicer didn't have faith in a lot of things. But that was certainly on the short list.

So he closed down all the diagnostics and booted the droid back up.

"Hey, Chainmail Bikini, we're all done. Lay some S's on me, see how we did."

"Nobody is threatening anyone, Barsh."  Sighing, Shard searches for a moment and comes out with a somewhat tattered kerchief.  Clean; she's particular about that.  "He's just clearing up some things.  Important things, and if you thought for a moment you'd understand why they can't wait."  She shoots a look at him out of the corner of her eyes.  "Same deal with you."

As she speaks, she's reaching for the balance, and once it's found, opens herself up.  Her focus remains on Barsh, but now Shard is hoping to take it a step further, much as she did with Wakuda.  She hopes to feel his thoughts directly, like a pressure against her own sensitive mind.

It's not easy, but it's her best shot for this.

You-Why seems startled as he powers up again, "Oh my!  That was certainly a strange sensation.  Do I still speak with a lisp?  Please, say that you have resolved the situation, and that I will not have to be scrapped."

Barsh nods, "I understand.  Ask me what you want to know."  He seems a littlemoody, though that could easily be attributed to his concern for Kedra.  "Just make it fast.  I have things I need to do." 

"I don't know." Kedra answers after a few seconds thinking, "I don't think there were any work assignments in the area."  She pauses for a moment, and her eyes shift in and out of focus.  "I... I think I was the closest assignment.  And I was... a level down.  Or was it two?  But it might have been there for weeks, and then triggered by a timer.  Or a remote."

"Where's Barsh?  Wasn't he here a second ago?"

Shard sighs again, rubbing her forehead.  "I know you have important things to do.  Everyone has important things to do.  This is important as well."  As he will no-doubt grasp, momentarily.

Fortunately, she seems to have an open pathway into his head.

"A few simple questions.  I'm going to ask them one at a time - answer them, and I'll move on.  Keep calm, don't get excited, and don't blurt anything out loudly."  Not only will that keep others from hearing, it'll make him think.

Her lips tighten, and she begins.  Unfortunately directly, but for her method to function, it has to be direct.

"What do you know about the explosion that hurt Kendra?"

"What do you know about the earlier explosion in the hanger?"

"Have you used the comm to send any messages in the last month?"

"Have you seen anyone acting...out of character for them?  Unwarrentedly nervous?  Edgy?  Drinking too much?"

For the final question, she leans a touch closer, her body relaxing.  "Do you have any contact with Imperials?" Shard quietly inquires.

Rhijans nodded.  "He's answering some questions, as well...unrelated issue," he said.  He honestly wasn't sure what Shard's line of questioning for the quartermaster's assistant might be, but even if it was the same set of questions, Kedra didn't need to know.

"You wouldn't happen to know if there's any way of tracking who may have accessed that particular panel, would you?  Either direct surveillance, or some kind of access log...even some kind of individual methods of doing things that might help us figure out who's accessed that area?"  He hated asking so directly...the secrecy of the whole project was compromised, to a degree.  He had to hope that his voice was low enough that she was the only one hearing him...and that nobody else had some kind of surveillance on her.

That thought sobered him a bit more than even his normal grim demeanor, and he forced himself to feign a casual air as he looked around her bed, trying to pick out any possible listening devices or cameras.

Haarmon nods. It was not in any way the satisfied nod of someone who has successfully resolved a problem. He had really gotten his hopes up that You-Why was the leak. That Rags had gotten it right, first try, and they'd gotten the whole thing wrapped up, on the first day.

But alas.

Well, maybe this is the part of the vid where things look their darkest?

Even that wasn't really enough to cheer him up.

"Yeah," he muttered to the droid, "You're tip-top. I'm sure you'll be gracing us with your cheerful insights and cunning wit for decades to come."

He looked over at the wookie.

"So what now, Rags? Off to find the others?"

Juragga frowned.  He should be relieved U-Y wasn't the spy, but it meant their problem was still unsolved.  He murmured something disgruntled along the lines of 'I got nuthin' and shrugged.

You-Why's relief is obvious, even with his inexpressive face.  The droid seems to straighten up, and he lifts his chin slightly.  "Oh, Sirs, you have no idea what this means to me.  I have the utmost confidence in your ability to detect and rectify any flaws in my systems.  Why, if I could be sure about your personal hygiene, I could almost be tempted to hug you both."

High praise indeed, from the organic hating protocol droid.

Kendra seems to slip into unconsciousness for a moment, then snaps out of it, "I... don't know if there are any surveillance systems in the area.  I haven't been here long, and they aren't my speciality.  There's a tech called Vochad who'd know about that."

"Just opening the access panel won't... won't have logged anything.  There was nothing that important in there.  If they did anything to the network itself, though, that would... would be recorded and they should have a copy of that in the admin office."

Barsh sighs, "You think I did it.  All right, I'll answer your questions, and I'll keep it quiet, so people won't know you're making a fool of yourself."

"I know nothing about the explosion that hurt Kendra.  And I thought the explosion in the hangar was  a freighter that came in with battle damage to its drives, at least that's the word going around the base.  No, I haven't used the comm systems to send any messages.  Ever."

"By, 'out of character', do you mean like a tired old drunk who's suddenly stopped drinking so much?  And that one brings a small, triumphant smile.

"Define Imperials.  These days, most people are Imperials, technically.  Everybody from shop owners, to street cleaners, to customs officials."

Rhijans nodded.  "Vochad..."  No answers here...at least, not any satisfactory ones.  But another thread to follow, even if it was a remote one.  He tried to recall Kourene's list...and whether Vochad's name was among those the Colonel had cleared.

"Thank you," he said, nodding to Kedra, even though she seemed to be less aware of his presence.  "Get some rest...anyone with the guts...or dumb luck...to keep the Colonel alive through that blast is someone we need up and helping the cause."  He gave her a thin-lipped smile that was about as close to warmth as he managed to get these days, and then stepped out, closing the curtains behind him.

His first look, of course, was to see where Shard was at and what her status was.  His next look was to analyze if anyone else in the medical area seemed to be paying too much attention to the fact that he'd just stepped out of Kedra's recovery area (he couldn't really call it a room.)

Shard sits quietly as Barsh rambles, slowly nodding her head, not overly disturbed by this bitter man's acidic assessment.  Finally he finishes and she waits a long beat, pursing her lips.  "So.  Let me get this straight.  Standard, straightforward series of questions I'd ask to anyone, and likely will end up so doing so with everyone.  And I receive..."

Up comes one hand (the other remains invisible) and fingers start to flick out: index, plus middle, plus thumb, refold thumb but add ring and little fingers, all in time with the following words...

"Defensiveness.  Mockery.  Personal attacks.  Evasiveness."  She pauses a moment, then sticks out her thumb, again, making five.  "Prevarication.  For example, I'm fully aware you know things about the explosion that hurt Kendra, yet you say you don't."

Her head cocks to the side.  "I'm going to ask you to come with me."  She raises her voice slightly, putting a slight edge to it.  "Rhijans?  Barsh will be accompanying us."

Rhijans didn't know for sure what was going on...but he was more than prepared to back Shard's play.  He let his hand drop significantly to the grip of his blaster, though he left the weapon holstered.

"You heard the lady," he said, his voice flat and emotionless.  "Get stepping."

Haarmon shrugged. "You and me both, Big Guy. Oh well."

He took the droid's praise with no more than a couple of sagacious nods. "It's all good. That's the kind of thing we do for team-mates 'round here. Shall we go hook up with the others? Full report on Aluminum Siding's full recovery and all that?"

"No, this isn't right." Barsh blurts out, a note of panic entering his voice "I didn't mean for anybody to get hurt.  Not the Colonel, and not Kendra.  It was an accident." 

"You have to believe me."  His shoulders slump and, resignedly, he starts to follow Shard.

You-Why follows Haarmon and Juragga, though he is much happier about it, "Oh, Sir, you have absolutely no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that.  'Team mates'.  That has a good ring to it.  We are team mates.  Members of the same team, who back each other up, through thick and thin, who trust each other, and would never do anything to damage that trust.  Sir, I have your back, just as you, both of you, have mine.  We are team mates, and we will never betray each other, because such betrayal would destroy the team."

"Where are we going to find the others?  I may know a shortcut.  Anything to help my team mates."

Rhijans didn't let himself relax with Barsh's apparent acquiescence.  'I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt' didn't sound like the words of a man who'd been passing along intel on Rebel operations to the Empire.  It sounded like someone who'd been blackmailed into doing something...

And if the blackmailer got word that they'd rounded up his fall-guy...well, there wasn't much time to arrange for an 'accident'.  They'd probably have to risk something more hands-on...and they couldn't just take out Barsh.  He and Shard had tracked down Shard, that meant that any targeting reticle that centered on Shard would be looking at them, as well.

So he followed, hand still close to his blaster (resting on it would draw too much attention...there was a chance that Barsh's contact didn't know yet and if they could get him secured without people talking, it would give them a jump on rounding the contact up, as well).  He said nothing...but his eyes never stopped moving.  They regularly returned to Barsh, watching him for signs of recognizing someone (and reacting in fear to them), but he sought out every side hall, every alcove, any overhead pipe or duct large enough to hide a shooter, and anyone they passed along their way got a once-over assessment of their equipment, their stance, of how much attention they paid to Shard and Barsh...or how carefully they avoided noticing them.

We've got a thread...I'm not letting someone cut it off before we get a chance to pull on it...

"All right.  Stop right there," Shard states, turning around before they hit the corridor.  She checks distances to make sure they're out of hearing of anyone else - that she can see - and if not, motions the other two to follow her to another area of the medlab that IS free from potential eavesdroppers.

"Barsh, it might surprise you to hear that I believe you about that part," the older rebel begins, quite quietly.  And truthfully.  "So now is the time for you to come clean.  Spill everything, and we'll do our best to figure out a way through this - a way through that takes into account you deciding to cooperate and give us a hand." She leans a little closer, keeping her eyes on his, her voice low and earnest.  "AND that you didn't mean for anyone to get hurt."

Reaching out, she touches his arm then shifts back a hair.   Shard doesn't want to invade personal space, just let him know that this is people dealing with people.  "So tell me everything; holding out helps nobody.  I'll see what matches up with what we already know, and it'll fill in the blanks with the rest."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:32, Thu 29 Jan 2015.

Juragga nodded to Haarmon, and inwardly slumped a bit at You-Why's happy chattering.  He almost felt guilty for doubting the droid.  But then, it could also have been that U-7 had a chip or bug planted in him without his knowledge, he rationalized.  They had to be sure.  And this spy business had them all jumpy.

"Ruuummmph," he agreed to the droid's loyal espousing.  He made a mental note to trust the droid in the future.

"I really didn't mean for anybody to get hurt.  And it wasn't even my idea.  It was the freighter pilot, the Corellian one who came in last month." Barsh explains quietly as they move on.  "I was talking to him about Kendra, and how I didn't stand a chance with her because the rafts we're from don't get along."

"So anyway, he said that I should make a bomb, not a real one, but it should look good.  And I should put it somewhere, then deactivate it in front of her, so I'd look like a hero.  Only I didn't know how to make one, so he said he could rig something that would look the part without being dangerous.  He said... he said I just had to find a place to put it, where it wouldn't be likely to be found until I was ready to put on my performance."

The Quartermaster's clerk sighs, "I'm an idiot.  Just like my dad said before he left Mum and me."

In the distance, Haarmon, Juragga, and You-Why can be seen walking towards them.  The droid movements are positively jaunty...

Rhijans' jaw clenched...the story was certainly plausible.  They'd have to do some checking, of course...

"What was his name, the Corellian?" he asked.  His voice was cold, clinical, detached...there was no anger toward Barsh in it.

But there wasn't any sympathy, either.

Shard keeps her silence, her thoughts whirling.  Rhijans fires off a question when it's all finished, and it's a good one.  She waits a beat, then puts in her own two credits worth.  "Wasn't the brightest move, Barsh.  But there are worse reasons - like wanting to hurt someone - and I'm pretty convinced you're not an Imperial spy.  So far.  There's a light at the end of this tunnel." She grimaces.  "People do crazy things for love."

A bit of sympathy - real sympathy - couldn't hurt, either.

She spots the others heading her way, raises an eyebrow at You-Why's 'body language'.  Interesting.  "So.  His name, like Rhijans asks."  She hopes it isn't anyone she worked with.  Worries that it is.  "And any other details you can remember.  The more you tell us, the safer it is for you.  And I'm not talking about punishment."

The dark-clad woman glances back down the hallway with some concern.  Right now, Barsh is the only lead.  Someone, somewhere, knows he's a weak link.  Once they get all the information out of him, and that becomes obvious, he'll be more safe.  But until then, she needs to keep her guard up.

"I... no, wait, I remember." Barsh says, "Volan Reise.  That was his name.  Don't know the name of his ship.  Was just a freighter to me.  And yes, I know it was a stupid idea.  Shouldn't have listened to him, but I was desperate.  And I didn't know that he'd give me a real bomb."

"Honestly, I've never done anything like this before, or even considered it.  I support the Alliance.  I'd never deliberately do anything to hurt it, or anybody on the base.  You have to believe me!"

Rhijans briefly considered pointing out that, no, in fact, he did NOT have to believe anything...but it would be energy wasted on what was, apparently, only a secondary target, at best.

"For now, it would be best if you stayed in custody.  If Reise is anything more than a puppet, himself, you're in danger...if you're tucked away, he can't do anything to you without getting through us first."  He didn't bother mentioning that if Reise was just a puppet, Barsh was in even MORE danger, because they didn't know who might be pulling Reise's strings.

He looked at Shard.  "I'll let you call this one...we need to move quickly, before word gets around.  Do you want to come with me to find Reise?  Or take Barsh to a holding cell until we get the Corellian?"  It was obvious, from his tone, that regardless of her choice, he was going after Reise.

As Juragga approached with Haarmon and You-Why, he hooted a Wookiee greeting and interrogative to his comrades... eyeing Barsh quizzically.

"Good afternoon, Sir, Ma'am." You-Why greets Rhijans and Shard cheerfully, as the team meet in the corridor.  "I am feeling much better now, thanks to the assistance of your most excellent companions.  In light of that development I should like to, once again, offer my assistance in your investigations."

Barsh glares at the droid, but says nothing beyond, "Where are you taking me?  A cell?  That's no good... I wouldn't be able to check up on Kendra from there."

Rhijans gave Barsh a cold, hard look.  "So, knowing that you're about to have a bullseye painted on your back, you'd rather sit at your wounded girlfriend's bedside, so she can become collateral damage if something goes wrong?"  The flat tone of his voice somehow made the sarcasm in the question that much more biting.

"Putting you under wraps isn't just for your protection.  It's not even necessarily for ours.  If what you've told us is true, there's someone loose in the base who's actively attempted to take several lives at random.  If he thinks you, in any way, tipped us off to his identity, he's going to start some damage control, and that means getting rid of witnesses.  You think he's going to exercise restraint in that attempt, given what he's already done?"

Rhijans shook his head, though there was no way of knowing whether he did so in answer to his own question, or he was doing it as an editorial comment on Barsh's reasoning.

He turned away from the man to face You-Why.  "Good to have you back," he commented.  "Even better to have you back with a clean bill of health."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:21, Tue 10 Feb 2015.

"We do need to take you to a cell, Barsh.  I'm not planning on throwing away any keys, because...I still think you're telling the truth."  Well, it's a little more than that.  Either he is, or he's so professional he can lie inside his own head.  She jerks a thumb toward Rhijans.  "He's right.  We don't want you dead.  You don't want to be dead.  You're no use to Kendra if you're dead.  Better we keep you safe until we deal with this problem."

She blinks at You-Why's enthusiastic greeting, and flicks a small salute to Haarmon and Juragga.  "Thanks, You-Why - I'm with Rhijans, you're looking good.  And we're going to need the help."  If the droid is in a good mood, why spoil it?  She flicks a finger toward their 'prisoner'.  "Barsh," Shard replies to Juragga's query, "has just done us the good deed of putting a name to the person ultimately responsible for the bombing.  We're going to need to put him in a cell - for protection - and find this bantha crap what goes by Volan Reise."

She glances around the small group.  "I can handle getting Barsh there safely, Rhijans.  If you want to take Haarmon and Juragga - unless they have something they've found we need to look into - I figure you can run down this Reise."

Barsh nods glumly, clearly not as happy as You-Why.  "I suppose you have a point.  But you don't need to worry about Reise.  He's not on the base, he just called in last month to drop off some supplies.  I think he'd been here once, maybe twice before that.  Not a regular visitor.  And I bet he won't be back again now."

Which piece of information, of course, rules the Corellian out as a source for the base's information leak.  Which is not to say that he hadn't hired somebody else to do the job for him...

An R2 unit rolls past, and is greeted cheerfully by You-Why, "Good morning, my friend how are you?"  The astromech droid's response sounds downright rude.  "Too busy to speak at the moment, I suppose." You-Why confides to his friends.

Mothessh Base boasts a detention facility (actually a block of six cells and a guard post), and it is to there that Barsh is being escorted.  Unfortunately the base, in the manner of such small cramped facilities, where everybody knows each other, also boasts an extremely sophisticated and active rumour mill.

So it is that the group find the entrance to the detention block obstructed by about a dozen people.  A dozen angry people, several of them armed.

"That's the one!  That's Barsh!"  An angry looking woman points at the QM clerk, "That's the Imperial agent!  Tried to kill the Colonel, and anybody else in the cafeteria."

This is where Juragga does what he does best.  Drawing himself up to his full height, he releases a savage roar and snarl, warning the mob to back off!

With the news that Reise was not currently on the base (officially, at least), Rhijans opted to walk with Shard.  Barsh's story explained the bomb...but there were a lot of details to be checked before he'd be satisfied that it explained the repeated intelligence leaks about the Alliance missions that had been intercepted by Imperials.

And until he was satisfied on that score, there was still a chance that Reise had other collaborators.  That meant Barsh was still in danger...and it also meant that anyone Reise had left behind would likely be looking to intercept Barsh first, and then their team, before anything else could be exposed.

So he was there when the angry voices arose.  As Juragga stepped forward, Rhijans did the same.  "Barsh is NOT the Imperial agent," he announced with finality.  And his hand rested on his blaster, to underscore the message.

"But he knows who is."

It was cold-blooded, Rhjijans knew...but this gave them a way to find anyone else that Reise had recruited.  "Until the Colonel can get a full debriefing, we're keeping him here, for his own safety."

If there was a collaborator in the group, they'd be sweating over the detention area from this point forward until this was over, one way or the other.  If there wasn't...well...the same force of rumor that got the crowd here in the first place would get the collaborator informed.

They just had to make sure they got the collaborator before the collaborator got Barsh.  And them.

Shard doubts that explaining things will help.  'No, Barsh was actually tricked into planting that bomb' doesn't sound like an explanation that will defuse an angry mob.  Better, she figures, to allow Rhijans and Juragga to deal with the situation in their own way.

Juragga certainly gets everyone's attention.  And Rhijans supports with cold logic and a definitive punctuation to the Wookie's threat.

For her part, Shard just takes hold of Barsh's arm - with her free hand, the other hidden beneath her cloak.  "Don't worry," she whispers.  "We'll set things straight and keep you safe until everyone cools off.  This is not your fault.  Just stay frosty, keep quiet, and let us handle this."  Well, it is.  Sort of.  But not in a meaningful way, and while the man screwed up tremendously it was without malice.

"You-why?  Haarmon?" she quietly asks.  "Anyone behind us?"  If the rumor has reached the entire base, chances are any collaborator will be in the crowd...or soon arriving.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:33, Wed 18 Feb 2015.

The mob surges forward, then retreats just as quickly before Juragga's challenge.  Nobody, it would appear, wants to charge towards an angry Wookiee.  Nobody even wants to throw anything in his general direction, not so much as a look.

Rhijans follows up with some information to defuse the situation - making it appear that Barsh isn't the villain: he's a witness, or an informant, who has been taken into protective custody.  There is some muttering at that, and then the same woman demands, "Well who is it then?  If he knows, then we should know too, so we can protect ourselves."

You-Why makes a valiant attempt at a surreptitious glance behind him, considering his limited joint articulation.  "I do not see anybody." he replies to Shard, his voce as sotto as he can make it.  "The corridor is deserted."  Haarmon confirms it, the droid's report is correct.

So just the mob in front, still a little tense...

Rhijans shook his head.  "How do I know one of you isn't collaborating with him?  If I tell you, word gets back to the spy and he's gone before we can round him up.  This is in the Colonel's hands, now...he decides when that information gets released, and what we do with anyone who's been working with the spy."

With a little luck, planting a few seeds of suspicion would break down the cohesion of the would-be lynch mob.

For good measure, he added, "Of course, you can stand there and continue to be threatening.  At which point we'll have to assume that you intend to do harm to the one witness we have, and Juragga will proceed to nullify the threat in the most expedient method available."  His voice was icy cold.

"I suggest you move on.  If you have complaints about it, take them to the Colonel.  I've got an assignment to complete, and you're all standing in my way."

"What he said," Shard mutters, still backing Rhijan's play.  She raises her voice.  "And there you have it.  You trust the Colonel?  Then stand down.  You don't?  Void, why are you here?!"

Things could still go wrong in an instant, but she's getting a better feeling about the situation.  Which, probably, means disaster looms, but one can't always be a pessimist, can one?

There is some angry muttering, and not a few pointed glares (at Rhijans, Shard, Haarmon and Barsh, not at Juragga).  Then a voice says, "He isn't worth it.  The Colonel will deal with him.", and a man on the left hand side of the mob turns away and stalks off, shaking his head.

To be followed a couple of seconds later by two more, then another three...

In less than twenty seconds, only the woman remains, her face set in a scowl of determination, her arms folded, and her feet apart.  A stance which says that it would take three or four Wookiees to force her to move.

Then she too shakes her head, "I trust Kourene, not you lot." and she backs away, her eyes locked on Barsh.  As she draws level with a side corridor, she ducks into it, and the group can hear her footsteps receding into the distance at a run.  Leaving Barsh and his captors standing in the entrance to the detention block, with no guards in sight...

Some would call it paranoia...but something didn't fit.  She was the first to speak up and foment the mob.  The last to leave.  And the most needlessly vocal about her loyalty to the Colonel.

"Who is she?" he asked, looking around the group.  "Anyone know her name or what she does?"

He didn't add anything about wondering how they'd known that Barsh would be brought to Detention.  That decision had been made in the middle of an empty hall...
This message was last edited by the player at 05:40, Tue 24 Feb 2015.

Juragga stared after the woman as she went.  He could recognize trouble when he saw it.  If she thought he'd be intimidated because she was a female... she'd never met a female wookiee.  She was just another hairless chimp to him.

Of course, he had a lot of friends who were hairless chimps.  So...

Shrugging, he pondered if he'd heard anything about her before.

"Good question.  Haarmon, you think you can call up her records?  Find by image or something"  Silly question.  Of course he could, and probably in two heartbeats.  Maybe three if they're secured.  Turning slightly, Shard cocks an eyebrow at Barsh.  "You know any of those people?  Specifically the woman, but any others?"

Barsh practically lives at this base, unlike their little 'squad'.  It's more likely he'd have some kind of interaction with the crowd before them.  But..."We should get you inside.  Now," she stresses, some concern leaking into her voice.

Regardless of how all of this goes down, Barsh will likely have to leave this base.  There's always idiots who prattle on about smoke and fire.  At that, some vague amusement leaks through Shard's irritation.  'Idiots'.  This group they'd faced down hadn't quite been that, but...all emotion, no smarts.  Avoiding giving offense to Juragga?  That's obvious.  And she understands them shooting dirty looks at her and Haarmon.  But Rhijans...

They don't know him, I guess.

"C'mon, Barsh," she mutters, though not unkindly.

Rhijans lifted his commlink, suspicions actively burning.  "Colonel, can you have some check a personnel record for us?" he asked.  "They need to look at security footage from the detention area...the woman that was the last to leave, just a moment ago."

He paused for a moment, then added, "And it might be advisable to lock down the base...no one in or out, until we chase down this lead.  Quietly."  If she was another agent...and the more he thought about it, the more Rhijans was convinced there was, actually, another...then tipping her off that they were in pursuit could lead to desperate action, on her part.

But Barsh, unless he was a LOT better than he appeared, had no way of accessing the kind of data that had compromised so many Rebel operations.  And, for that matter, neither did a Corellian who was on and off the base at random...though he would be a great way to get that kind of information out.

And a great fall-guy when people started digging.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:54, Sun 01 Mar 2015.

"I know her." Barsh admits, glumly, "She's a maintenance tech who comes into the stores with Kendra sometimes.  I guess they're friends, or something, which would explain why she's annoyed.  That or the fact that she could have been the one getting hurt if she'd found the bomb."

He follows along as Shard moves forward into the detention area, such as it is.  A few small cells, all of them currently empty, and a security post, also currently empty.  The latter not too surprising, since there are no prisoners to guard, and Kourene has all the security people he can muster moving around the base, looking for further sabotage.

Haarmon jacks his terminal into the security post and starts running through personnel records.

Barsh steps into a cell, even before being told to do so, and stands looking around the unimpressive interior.  "Always wondered what these looked like."

Haarmon says, "Here she is.  Doona Eskil.  A tech, like Barsh says, and she's been here almost since before the base was set up."  He reads a little further, then, "And it says here that Kourene pulled her out of a fire on Nostrinna about ten years ago."

Rhijans nodded, grimly.  For good measure, he looked for her name on Kourene's 'cleared' list, but he was already moving on in his mind.  "While you're in there, can you check the others that were here?"

First to speak up meant most passionate, for whatever reason...but passionate people were easy to manipulate, if someone pushed the right buttons.  Someone had told all those people that Barsh was being brought to Detention...

A thought dawned on him, and he shrugged, inwardly.  Sometimes, the direct approach worked best.  He got the commlink set to talk to Eskil, and asked, bluntly, "How did you know we were bringing Barsh to Detention?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:55, Sun 01 Mar 2015.

Haarmon nods to Rhijans, happy that he could finally be of some real use. "I'm on it," he muttered and bent over the keyboard.

He ran every face in the mob, and for good measure saw if he could track their movements through the base, through cam footage and duty rotations. See if any of them jived up with the attacks in any sort of non-random manner.

Doona Eskil seems less than friendly, which is, perhaps, only to be expected, "Oh, so you're questioning me now?  Nice.  You protect Barsh and try to make out that I've done something wrong.  Well, listen up laser brain, it didn't take a genius to work it out.  You and the witch were seen asking questions in the infirmary, and then you marched him away.  It didn't take much effort to put two and two together, and the cells seemed like the most likely place for you to put a prisoner."

"Well, hopefully you won't be here very long," Shard replies to Barsh.  Rhijans and Haarmon are taking the task of following up, leaving her to deal with their 'prisoner'.  Only, he's not so much that.  "Look, we'll set up for you to get meals - better than prison fare, you're here for protection, not punishment.  And we'll get the Colonel to set up some kind of guard, as well.  Ones he hand-picks, not just chosen from a roster."

She leans against the door.  "I want you safe, not locked up."  She purses her lips, leaning back to call to Rhijans.  "Rhijans, does Eskil know we're doing this directly for the Colonel, on his word?  You know, the one who saved her ass a while back?  Maybe it'll help with some cooperation finding the real saboteurs."

Back to Barsh. "We're going to fix this.  And you don't need to worry about me just 'saying' that.  We have to find the people who did this, Barsh.  I'm not just doing this to clear you, I'm doing this to end this problem.  THAT will clear you.  Then you can get your life back, and I'll be happy about that too."  She studies the grim, grey walls.  "You don't deserve this."

"Ghhhhrrrrruuuuuuuuumph," Juragga offered.  Did they want him to stay with Barsh?  Having a menacing wookiee around would deter... well, most people.

While his first impulse was to fire off a curt dismissal, Rhijans hadn't survived to where he was by giving into first impulses.  At least, not consistently.  This was a situation where the first impulse hit, was weighed mentally, and was found undesirable.

"You don't like how we dealt with you."  It was an observation, not a question.  "That's fair.  But ask yourself, if you had orders to track down a mole in this base, how would you react to the first person who wanted to do damage to the only solid lead you had?"

He didn't wait for a response, because he didn't have time and he frankly didn't care.  "If you're concerned about us, as a security risk, as the Colonel.  And if you're not, then do what you can to help us.  Someone's trying to stick our heads out an airlock and seal the door on our necks, here.  ALL of us."

He had no idea how she could be helpful, at the moment...but having someone who wasn't part of their team that could operate in support gave them significantly better odds than they had on their own, at the moment.

"I was prepared to help, but you wouldn't let me.  You lost your chance."

You-Why emits a mechanical, and over exaggerated, sigh.  "What an unpleasant woman.  First she tries to organise some kind of unofficial justce, then she tries to indicate that it was all your fault."  The droid moves to where he can see Barsh in the cell, watches him briefly, then turns away.

"What should we do next?  Do you want me to interrogate the prisoner?  I could analyse his voice patterns and know instantly if he is lying."

In the cell Barsh shudders slightly at the mention of interrogation.  "I don't know anything beyond what I told you."

Before anybody can answer him, or You-Why, there is a sudden high pitched bleeping, and a red light starts flashing on the security console...

Rhijans didn't hesitate.  The moment the flashing light registered, he dashed forward, into the cell, pulling Barsh.  "Get him out of here!" he barked out, moving close to the man in the belief...however tenuous...that if something went off, his own body might absorb enough of the blast to leave their one witness intact enough to give Kourene vital information.

At Rhijan's urging, Juragga lunged forward and tried to grab Barsh, scooping him up into a protective hug, and then - if he had time - hustle him out the door, protecting him with his own mass.

"You've got that correct, You-Why," Shard gloomily agrees.  "I guess we can -"

Then the alarm, and things start to happen all-too-quickly.

Rhijans and Juragga head for Barsh.  "Get to safety!" Shard shoots at You-Why, indicating the door.  A glance to Haarmon to make sure he's thinking the same, and the older woman breaks into a run, making for the exit herself.  She has to get out first, clear the passage; this could be a setup.

Breathing rapid, hand inside her cloak, she palms the door open and steps into the breach.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:35, Mon 09 Mar 2015.

There is a brief moment of frenzied action.  Rhijans moves to act as a shield.  Juragga grabs Barsh.  Haarmon snatches up whatever gear he can and dashes towards the door, as does Shard.  You-Why starts to shuffle in the same direction, bewildered by the sudden flurry of activity, and not exactly built for speed...

And then it hits everybody at once.  It's an incoming call on the security console's comm panel.  The bleeping sound continues, and the light carries on flashing urgently.

You-Why looks around, "Should I answer that?  It might be important."

Haarmon stops, and has the decency to blush and look embarrassed.  "Guess we're all a bit on edge." he mutters.

Raising his hand, Barsh asks, "Shall I go back to the cell?"

Juragga dumped Barsh unceremoniously and gobbled furiously in embarrassment.  Something about 'With all the tension in this room you could cut it with a dewclaw'.

Rhijans slowed with the discovery that the sound was a call...slowed, but didn't relax.  "No," he said tersely to Barsh.  "Answer it," he said to You-Why, with a nod that might have been encouragement.

All the time, his hand rested on the butt of his blaster.  What he'd really like, if they were going to be stuck here, would be Barsh to be moved anonymously to somewhere else on the base...and himself left here to confront anyone who came looking for the man.  Detention areas were designed to keep people in, not out, although they did generally provide for pretty solid access control.

He looked over at Haarmon.  "See what you can do about closing us off...video monitoring in the access halls, security sealed doors, whatever you can manage."  The good thing was, they didn't have to worry about their escape getting cut off by a bunch of Imperial troops...

Unless things really went to hell...

"No worries, Juragga, and you hit that dead on, Haarmon.  Sorry, Barsh."  Shard's laugh is a touch brittle.  "Hey, if you needed proof we're looking out for you...."

Of course, a bunch of paranoiacs looking out for someone isn't necessarily reassuring.

Rhijans is on the call to the console.  Shard, instead, pulls out her com-link.  "Void-cursed Jawa-bait," she snarls, fiddling with the electronic.  It's not to that she refers her displeasure.  After a moment, she calls up the Colonel's office.

"I need to speak to the Colonel, ASAP.  This is Shard.  There's a woman - Doona Eskil - who is making a problem for us, and she might have some valuable information.  We need her cooperation, and I have a feeling the only person she'll give that to is the colonel."  And if she doesn't?  Well, she's withholding critical and non-personal information that's stonewalling an investigation into saboteurs on base.  That's enough for Shard to just toss her in a cell.

...far away from Barsh.

Shard can handle the witch part; she's been called worse, after all.  Much, much worse.  But lives are on the line, now.

You-Why takes the call, handling it politely and efficiently.  When it's finished, he announces, "There is, apparently, a fight in the hangar - tempers became frayed in a dispute regarding equipment.  They were wondering if Security could send a team over to deal with it.  I explained that there is nobody from Security here at the moment, and they used some disgusting language before disconnecting the call from their end."

Shard's call to Kourene meets with no more success - the Colonel is in conference with his senior staff at the moment, and not to be interrupted for anything less than an Imperial squadron entering orbit.  The aide who takes the call can't even tell Shard where, exactly, Kourene is.  Security around the meeting is that tight.  But he does promise to let the Colonel know that she needs to speak to him, just as soon as he returns to his office.

Haarmon nods slowly at Rhijans, "I can do that.  Do you want we to stop the movement checks on the lynch mob, or should I wait until those are finished.?"

Barsh shrugs, confused by Rhijans' terse denial, then stands uncomfortably, close to Juragga.  "Look, if somebody's trying to kill me, should I really be standing in front of an open door?"

Rhijans looked over at Barsh for a moment...and it seemed, for the briefest of moments, almost as though a look of amusement crossed his face.  It was there and gone so quickly that only someone who was familiar with his expressions (or lack thereof) and watching him would have picked it up.  But it was there.

"Pretty sure nobody said you had to stand in front of the doorway," he said to Barsh, and gestured to a space a little off to one side.

He turned to Haarmon.  "Finish the rundown on the mob.  I think we can muster enough firepower to discourage anyone rushing down the hall."

Unless the other accomplice...or one of the accomplices, if there are more...is in Security.  Then he could come down the hall without anyone noting his approach...could even be coming in heavily armed.

But there were a million maybes, ifs, and other variables out there and he could drive himself into a catatonic stupor trying to think through them all, much less come up with individual contingencies.  Keep it simple, stupid...

He took a position just inside the entrance to the detention block, off to one side.  He wasn't completely hidden from view of anyone who might be in the hall outside, but he was obscured enough that they'd need to get dangerously close to get a solid line on him.  From there, he glanced over at You-Why.  "Any chance you can tap into a security feed from the hangar deck, so we can see or at least hear what's going on up there?"  Someone trying to draw out Security at a time when they were all tied up with a special assignment was just enough to seem noteworthy to him...either someone trying to get out while Security was tied up, or trying to draw enough Security off the Colonel's meeting to create vulnerability for the brass in attendance.

Of course, it could be totally innocuous, as well...two captains with too much downtime on their hands, bickering over some piece of equipment in the belief that they had to be fixed NOW, in the belief that they might need to be spaceworthy immediately.  The only way to know was to see and/or hear what they were fighting about.

Juragga, still frustrated with his earlier embarrassment, rumbled a suggestion. "Why don't we just take him to Kourene and explain this?" he hooted.

A strangely quiet and studious Haarmon stared at the terminal screen, fingers tap-tap-tapping away as he accessed files and correlated data. It was often hard to describe to people what was hard to do on a terminal and what was easy. You want to tap into the security systems and open a door? Fairly easy. All systems had a defined set of IF.... THENS... that told it when the doors open and when they close. Come down on the right side of the logic tests and you're good.

Find information based on a candid, in-action picture? Far harder. Computers were built for YES and NO. 'Maybe' was difficult. But slowly, carefully, he was able to gather the names and positions of the people in the mob and start to teach the system how to find them on the camlogs.

But, like pushing any giant rock down a big hill, the hardest art was getting it moving. Once you set the parameters, told the network what the IFs' and THEN's were, it was all just waiting and tweaking.

Once he was done that, closing off the detention area as child's play.

Moving hastily aside, Barsh gives Rhijans a nervous grin, "Sorry.  Not used to this sort of thing."  You-Why shuffles away from the door, seeming dejected by the lack of interrogation opportunities presented by the current situation.

Then Haarmon gives him a distraction.  "I am not an astromech unit, of course, but I can try."  He surveys the console for a moment, then, "Do you know where I can access a dataport?  Is this one?  The configuration looks a little odd." 

A still image of the lynch mob appears before Haarmon, and several reticules appear, bracketing faces in the crowd.  Then, one by one, more images appear.  Images from the base's personnel archives, medical records, security files.  Each of them is a portrait, and each portrait is a match for the selected faces on the main image.

After a few moments the screen changes, displaying only the portraits, and alongside each one there is a name, and a few personal details.

Then the system starts searching through the surveillance logs... and immediately starts returning hits.  Unfortunately each of those hits indicates that the person in question was here, in the security facility, a short while ago.  With varying degrees of patience, everybody waits as the system looks back through older and older records...

Rhijans glanced over toward the consoles, from where he was holding watch on the outer hall.  "Don't know if it's too late, now that you've got a search running...but see if you can find anything on Volan Reise in there...and if any of our lynch mob were associates of his.  If that can be done without interrupting the search or slowing it down too much."

Reise was the key.  If he wasn't the spy, he was working for the spy...possibly set up, himself, to be a fall-guy, the same way he'd set up Barsh.  Either way, he was the point of attack.  "If he is the spy, he may have others that he's either set up like Barsh or is using to create his own little network here...because I don't think he'd have access to all the mission information that leaked to the Empire.  If he's not the spy, he's an intermediary that the spy is using to be a face for the operation.  So if we can isolate his connections in the base, we can start tracking down just who's truly culpable for all of this."

Flicking off her comm, Shard shakes her head. "No luck with the colonel.  He's in a meeting or something, won't be available until later.  I've left a message of utmost urgency..."

Her lips tighten.  "All right.  I think it's time to use the go-ahead the colonel gave us.  One of us should just go down there and interrupt the void-cursed meeting.  They said 'no interruptions except an Imperial Squadron entering orbit, which is exactly what we're trying to prevent."

She snorts a laugh.  "So I'll go.  I'm more than happy to suffer under the colonel's displeasure just to deal with this issue."  The older woman eyes Haarmon and You-Why. "Good point, Rhijans.  How are we doing on that search, You-Why?  Haarmon?  Maybe we can get something to take to the colonel there, as well."

Haarmon sighs, "The search will take a while.  There's a void-cursed lot of security footage to go through.  I set it up to check recent records first, because we aren't interested in what people were doing two years ago, only what they've done recently.  But even so... "

He takes a moment to point You-Why to a port that won't fry his processors if he jacks into it.  The droid, apparently pleased to be doing an important task to aid the investigation starts work immediately.

"I'm not finding much correlation on these movements." Haarmon declares after a while, "It seems that the mob all knew a lot of people around here, but there's nothing to show that they were an organised floating riot."

"Sir." You-Why interrupts, "It looks as though the trouble started in the hanger because a tech accused another of taking a hydrospanner from his tool kit.  From there it escalated.  Tensions have, apparently been running high, of late."

Rhijans nodded...he'd expected about as much with regards to the lynching crowd.  "As you can nail down IDs on them, we can start to narrow the search a bit.  Anyone who's on Kourene's Clear list, we can stop searching...focus the resources on the unknowns and the ones we're not sure about."

He glanced over at You-Why as the droid reported on the situation down on the hangar deck.  "Can't imagine why anyone would feel tense," he quipped drily.

Speaking up, he added, "Any chance you can scroll back and see just who was fooling around with the tool-kit in question?"  His eyes narrowed as he continued, "Could be totally innocuous...could be someone trying to create confusion.  Knowing who did it could make all the difference in how to deal with it."

He was grasping, he knew...but at this point, every potential lead became important, at least for the moment it took to make sure it didn't go anywhere.

Juragga looked from person to person as each spoke, starting to feel like he was watching a tennis match.

"GRAAAAAAAAwwwwwwrrr," he warbled by way of comment.  I'm hungry.

Haarmon shook his head and logged out of the terminal with a muttered curse. "No good. I think we need to go see Kourene. Tell him what's what. And he promised me some information on prior incidents. I need some time to sit down, write some scripts, tweak the results. Terminals like questions with definite starting points. "S'too many variables to get anything useful here."

He smiled at Juragga's comment. It was reassuring to know that, whatever happened, Rags was Rags.

"Why don't you guys go see Kourene? I'll head back to my room and dig into this a little more."

Rhijans scowled slightly...and nodded.  "Take Juragga with you...none of us should be walking around alone at this point.  I was hoping to chase this all down before anyone really had time to react to the fact that we were looking for our security leak, but at this point, it's too late for that, word's already out."  He gestured around the detention area.

"The fact that we had a welcoming committee when we got here is proof of that."  It still bothered him that what had been intended to be a few quiet questions in a secluded hallway had been recognized, somehow, as the team hunting for the Imperial spy, but without querying each member of the would-be lynch mob, there was no way of knowing if it had been a lack of discretion on the part of Shard or himself that had given it away, or if it had been someone that had somehow listened in...someone with a vested interest in making sure Barsh got blamed for the whole thing.

"The three of us will take Barsh to talk to the Colonel and see what we can get to facilitate the search."  He looked at Shard, and You-Why...Shard, to gauge her reaction to the idea, and the droid because...well...he didn't want to ignore it.  Though he was a little on edge at the notion of the droid's enthusiasm for interrogating Barsh.

He was supposed to be the cold, soulless, businesslike professional, and he hadn't been anywhere near that eager to ask the man questions in THAT way...

Shard shoots a quick nod to Haarmon.  "Good plan.  Juragga can grab something to eat on the way."  That said with a small laugh. "Been a little long, hasn't it?"  She shakes her head.  "As for going to the colonel...I think we have to.  I don't like the idea of bringing Barsh, simply because that puts him in the open.  But it's not anything anyone would expect, and it's better than leaving him here alone."

A quick pat on Barsh's arm follows. "We're not going to do that," Shard mutters.  Then she paces in a small circle, thinking hard.  "I wish we had time to get to requisitions.  I'd love to get some kind of armor for you, Barsh.  Maybe a weapon, as well.  If things go poorly, I want you armed."

She's not worried about Barsh's guilt, not any more.

"For now, let's just get you to see the colonel."

Slowly an alternate plan starts to take shape.  Haarmon and Juragga will head for their quarters, where Haarmon will work on creating a tool to make the checks on the lynch mob more efficient, while Juragga eats.

Shard and Rhijans will go to see the Colonel.  The immediate hitch being that he's apparently in a meeting.  Somewhere,  The aide that Shard had spoken to had been very non-specific about the venue.  Given the recent security issues, it seems natural that there would be a certain amount of secrecy surrounding the meeting location.  Especially if it involves the Colonel and a number of the higher-ranking base personnel.

You-Why looks backwards through the records of the trouble in the hangar, and eventually declares, "Here.  These two techs were, eventually, involved in the fracas.  They were working on two fighters that stand next to each other.  This one searches for something among his tools, apparently without success, then goes to borrow an item from the other's equipment.  He doesn't ask, because the second tech is not about.  When the second man returns, he also searches for a tool, then notices that the first tech is using borrowed equipment."

Then the droid continues, "If I might make a suggestion?  It might speed up your investigation if you find out who, exactly, in the infirmary contacted Doona Eskil with the information that you had been seen talking to Barsh."

"Oh my, I do believe I have a knack for this sort of activity.  It is rather enjoyable."

Rhijans managed to keep the grimace that came to his face to a tight-lipped grin, with no humor behind it at all.  "Do you have some suggestion on just how to do that?  Seeing as how I asked Eskil that very question and she did the commlink equivalent of spitting in my eye, I don't hold out much faith that she's going to suddenly have a change of heart."

He shrugged, and added, "I mean, we could track her down and threaten to shoot her for failing to cooperate with an investigation sanctioned by Colonel Kourene...but I wouldn't put much faith in any answers we get that way."  The grimace returned, growing almost to a snarl, before he continued, "And if she's particularly stubborn on the issue, it would mean I'd actually have to shoot her.  And I don't think that would do much for the current state of morale..."

Juragga would follow Haarmon, always.  But as he began to saunter forth in search of food (and watcing Haarmon's back) he mused, "RrrrUUUUhhhhrrGGGhHH?" Who's watching Barsh again?

Haarmon shook his head ruefully at You-why's suggestion. It was odd to have him helping them instead of judging them. But it was a good suggestion. Rhijans seemed about ready to shoot something, anything, if it meant making forward progress. And Shard was keeping the peace.

Haarmon tapped the droid on the shoulder. "Hey, Iron Undies, why don't you come with us? You can help me with my security filters. And maybe give me some tips on intrigue and espionage while you're at it. Let the smart people over there do what they gotta do. And we'll stop off at the caff on the way, Rags. Get you some food."

And with that he started herding his little posse out of the room.

Juragga's question did stop him, however. He paused. "Yeah, you guys okay to watch Barsh while you go looking for the Colonal? We could take him with us, I guess. Let Rags have the watching of him. If you think it'd, you know, help."

"oooOOOuuurrggh," Juragga commented. If we leave him alone, we'll never see him again alive.  That's just how these things work.

Rhijans paused...the kind of pause a caged cat makes when something distracts it from pacing the edge of the cage.  "Tough call...if we take him with us, Kourene talks to him sooner and the faster the base gets put on alert for people who've had interaction with Reise.  If he goes with you, he's got a much lower profile, as a target."

He looked at Barsh.  "How do you feel?  Want to get this over with as quickly as possible?  Or as safely as possible?"  He barely paused, before adding, "Keep in mind that, with us, while you're highly visible, you're also mobile.  With them, you're safe as long as nobody realizes where you've gone to ground. If they figure that out...and figure out where...you're a stationary target."

He shrugged.  "Either option is risky.  Which one do you prefer?"

"Let's try to avoid shooting anyone, at present, unless perfectly necessary," Shard comments.  "Good catch on the brawl, You-Why; looks like a random event rather than something planned.  I think we can let that go for now."

She purses her lips.  "If You-Why goes with Haarmon, that'll put both of our computer experts on this part of it...good idea, again.  As for Barsh, I'm with both Juragga and Rhijans: Barsh should have a say in it, and we can't leave him alone.  I'd prefer to take him directly to the colonel, but we don't precisely know where the colonel IS right now.  So we'd have to get that information first, anyway.  Which I propose we do - march down there and ask."

A shrug follows.  "If his office can't tell us, I can still get the information."  That last said with a rueful smile.  "I think."

Barsh frowns, "I don't know where I want to go.  Staying here is a bad idea, because word will have gotten round about where I am, but so is walking around the base.  I suppose you could stick me in a storeroom somewhere, and even lock me in to keep me from vanishing.  But you would have to be sure that nobody sees you putting me in there."

"I have no firm ideas." You-Why replies to Rhijans, "Though I would suggest going to the infirmary and asking the people there if they saw anybody making a call at about the right time.  They cannot all be involved in this.  You should try to do it without annoying them.  If possible."  The droid sounds quite pleased with his suggestion, coming, as it does, so soon after the praise for his success in determining the cause of the hangar riot.

At this rate he will soon be considered indispensable.

This was all getting complicated. And all this talk of moving targets and safe keeping was putting the zap on Haarmon's head.

"I think the only one going to be able to keep this balloon-head safe is Kourene. So maybe he ought to go with you. You can do, like, a drop and run, yeah? Or we could all go see the Boss Man. Safety in numbers. Get that sorted. Then everything else."

Rhijans gave the droid a calculating look.  For a protocol droid, he was proving surprisingly good at this whole espionage thing.  He made a mental note to talk to You-Why about his ownership history.  Later.  When they weren't worried about the whole base being compromised...

He nodded.  "That's actually not a half bad idea..." he mused aloud.  As Haarmon weighed in, he thought a little longer, before answering.

"Yes and no, about the safety in numbers.  If we're all together and someone is looking for us, they're going to be sure we've found what we're looking for if we're all together...which means they'll likely come after us in desperation, and I don't know if all of us together are ready to withstand a determined attack like that, especially if they aren't alone.  If we're split up, that tells them we're still looking."

He gave a half-nod, more to himself than anyone else in the room, and added, "Besides, the list he gave us is what Kourene has been able to resolve with his own resources.  While Barsh has given us some good leads to follow, he hasn't exactly handed us the whole intel package...so we need to keep looking, see where we can find links between what Barsh has given us and what Kourene wasn't able to clear...I'd rather you keep working on that while we go looking for the Colonel than have the search paused while we toss the base trying to find him.  Most efficient use of available resources..."

It wasn't a command...but there was no mistaking the surety in his tone.

Barsh's frown deepens.  It's starting to look like his would-be gaoler-bodyguards aren't really sure what they're doing.  Or, at least, they can't decide which of their plans is the best.  He decides to give them a nudge, "Look, standing around here, in a group, is going to get us all killed.  A thermal detonator thrown in through the door could take us all out in a single hit, and everything you've learned, or worked out, about this whole mess will be gone.  Worse than that... so will I, and I'm a witness for where the bomb came from.  if I die with you, then nobody else can find out what I know."

"Why not send a message to the Colonel, telling him what you know already, just in case, then take me somewhere safe?  Or broadcast what you know to the whole base, using the public address system.  That way what you've learned becomes public knowledge, and the only way to stop people knowing it would be an orbital bombardment or an invasion.  And we're rebels, we know how to deal with that sort of thing."

You-Why gives an electronic snort of derision, "It would make far more sense to ask in the infirmary to find out who informed the mob of Barsh's arrest."

Rhijans nodded.  Both suggestions had merit...

"Haarmon.  First thing you do back at your quarters is get word out...base-wide PA.  Witnesses have identified Volan Reise as being involved with the bombing in the mess hall.  Anyone should be on the lookout for Reise or his associates.  Then get that search running on filtering out Kourene's cleared personnel.  Juragga, you make sure he's safe while he does that."

He turned to Shard.  "You take Barsh, go find the Colonel.  I suspect once Haarmon's PA broadcast begins, he'll actually be looking for us...with a lot of questions.  Do your best to answer them and get Barsh into his hands safely."

He turned to You-Why.  "Since I've proven myself less than adept at asking people questions without making them defensive, you're coming with me to the infirmary to make some tactful inquiries about who sounded the alarm."  He nodded.

"Any questions?"

"Righto," Shard replies, with a snappy salute.  It could have appeared mocking; it wasn't, instead heading in the direction of ironic.  "C'mon, Barsh.  We're heading to find the colonel."  Pausing, she purses her lips.  "Yeah, not like that."

With some evident annoyance, she shrugs out of her heavy, concealing robe.  Beneath it, Shard wears her faded, somewhat threadbare black silk dress, fold across the chest and slit from calf to mid-thigh on one side for mobility.  Mid-thigh, mind, and no higher.  There's a gold cord, hanging low, around her waist; a single plain cylinder, scuffed and scratched metal, depends from it.  With a flick of the wrist, she plucks that free and holds the cloak out to Barsh with her left hand.

"Sling this on for the moment.  We'll get you a change of clothing first chance we get...mind the weight, there's a blaster pistol fixed on the inside right of the cloak."  Her smile is almost as sharp as her features.  "I want you able to at least shoot back if things go badly; don't use it without my say-so, and don't make me regret letting you have it."

Juragga rumbled an affirmation, then followed Haarmon to wherever the kid led him.

And so, at last, a plan is put into operation...

Rhijans and You-Why head for the infirmary.  On the way, the droid questions Rhijans about the sort of things he needs to be asking when they get there.  "While it would be simple to walk in and ask who had informed people outside the infirmary about Barsh being escorted away, that would likely make people wary of answering.  I shall need to use a more subtle approach,  Is there information you absolutely must have, which will need to be included in the question?"

Haarmon and Juragga make for the man's quarters, where Haarmon sets to work trying to hack into the base public address system.  It's fairly easy.  It's not a highly sensitive system, so the security on it is fairly low-key.  It's just time consuming...  Eventually though, he is in a position to broadcast a message.

Shard and Barsh head off to find the Colonel.  The first stop is his office, where they encounter an immediate problem.  The aide doesn't know where he is.  "With all the trouble, he decided to hold the meeting in secret to reduce the chances of being hit with another bomb.  Only the attendees knew where it was to be, and they were informed of it at the last minute.  For all I know, they aren't even on the base."

He eyes Barsh suspiciously...

Rhijans thought quickly.  "Tell them you're participating in a diagnostic check on the comm system, and need to verify if anyone used comm gear in or around Medical at the time in question."

While there was no physical motion, the shrug was practically audible in his tone of voice.  "Technically, it's true.  We're checking to see if the comm system was compromised by an Imperial agent.  They just don't need to know that part."  Another couple of strides, in thought, and he added, "I'll wait just outside Medical...if I come in with you, and you're asking questions about a time so closely connected to my last presence there, people will make the connection anyway and it's a wasted effort to try and be tactful."

Haarmon's brow was sweaty by the time he was done. Not that any of this was hard, exactly, it wasn't. He knew the base's security inside and out and this wasn't exactly master-slicer-put-a-virus-in-the-Death-Star kind of shenanigans.

But it was time consuming. And he was in a rush. And Rhijans had given him a task, and he didn't want to screw it up.

But, eventually, he was ready. Scripts written. Programs opened. And the security cam filters running in the background. He took a breath, gave Juragga a look for confidence (no one projected confidence like a well-fed wookie, and thumbed the PA System.

"Attention everyone, attention. All personnel, if I could have your... ummmm... attention." Void curse it. This was going south already. "Information has come to light. Identifying Volan Reise as responsible for the bombing in the mess hall. So we need everyone to keep an eye out for him or anyone working for him. He should be considered dangerous, so don't let him leave the base. If anyone sees him or knows about his whereabouts, hit the Panic Button right away and we'll come collect him. Do not engage him. And for Void's sake don't kill him."

That didn't sound right. But he couldn't fix it. Best to shut it down.

"That is all."

He thumbed the communicator off and looked up at Juragga again, hoping that sounded better outside than it did inside his head.

"Now, we wait?"

Juragga woofed his approval, then rumbled a query: Wait, or join the search?

"Well, that's just wonderful," Shard mutters to the unwelcome new.  Shaking off her dolor, she nods to the aide.  "Fair enough, I understand.  We'll manage for the moment.  But you'd better tell him -"

++ Attention everyone, attention. All personnel, if I could have your... ummmm... attention.  Information has come to light. Identifying Volan Reise as responsible for the bombing in the mess hall. So we need everyone to keep an eye out for him or anyone working for him. He should be considered dangerous, so don't let him leave the base. If anyone sees him or knows about his whereabouts, hit the Panic Button right away and we'll come collect him. Do not engage him. And for Void's sake don't kill him. ++

++ That is all. ++


Falling silent, Shard waits until the announcement finishes, then offers an apologetic shrug.  "As you can see, it's a bit of an emergency.  I know that people often say that, but perhaps this time you might agree.  If you could inform him we need to speak to him immediately?"

She purses her lips in a thoughtful moue.  "Depending on where he is, I suppose you might be hearing from him momentarily.  Barsh, we'd better get moving."

Any second now, someone might burst in looking for the colonel.  Someone with an axe to grind, so to speak.

The announcement fades away, and Shard reiterates just how important her request to speak with Kourene is.

"Look, I really have no idea where he is." the aide shrugs apologetically, "But as soon as he gets out of the meeting, and makes contact, I'll let the Colonel know what's going on.  But, just as a matter of information, Volan Reise is not currently on Mothessh.  He delivered a shipment of ration packs and left the system, on his own business, two days before the explosion.  His crew, both of them, left with him."

Rhijans and You-Why arrive at the infirmary, though only the droid enters.  Rhijans' suggestion that enquiries about the comm system should mention some sort of system diagnostic seems to work, and the protocol droid soon has a good idea of who contacted Doona Eskil and sparked the attempted interception of Barsh at the holding cells.

"It was, apparently, the injured technician, Kedra Ashaine.  She has admitted speaking to Doona Eskil as soon as you left her alone after your last visit."

Meanwhile, Haarmon and Juragga discuss their next course of action.  They've completed the task they were assigned as their part of the investigation, and don't have much else to do.

That might be about to change though, as there is a warbling from the door signal.  There is, it seems, somebody outside who wants to see them...

Haarmon sat straight up in his chair, eyes wide and heart hammering. No way that was some just love-struck table-jockey looking for love tips. Not this time. He looked over at Juragga, as much to reassure himself the Wookie was there as anything.

He called out, "Who is it?"

At the sound of the warble, Juragga unlimbered his bowcaster.  He nodded to Haarmon, and quietly motioned the kid to get out of the line of sight of the door.

Rhijans scowled slightly.  That was an unexpected wrinkle...and he didn't like unexpected things to happen.  At least, not to him.  He preferred making unexpected things happen to someone else.

"Shard," he said into his commlink, in a tone that was markedly terse, even for him.  "Eskil was tipped off by Kedra...the injured tech.  I could see her calling someone to check on Barsh...but we didn't say anything in front of her about Barsh being a suspect.  So why would she tell Eskil that we'd rounded up Barsh for being a spy?"

He stopped talking for a moment, scowling down at the floor.  After a moment, he looked up at the droid.  "I feel like a Squib running in circles after its own tail..." he grumbled, darkly.  He didn't know if You-Why would understand the metaphor...or the sensation...but he had to say something to someone.

Haarmon wasted exactly zero time moving away from the door and into the far corner. He didn't like Rags putting himself in danger on his behalf, and clearly he could handle whatever, but this is what Wookies did best, and he so seldom got to actually beat anything to taters.

Would be a shame to rob the poor guy of the experience.

He waited to see who, or what, answered.

"Thank you," Shard replies to the aide.  "It's critical, but we have no choice.  My com-line is open at present."  And it is - she needs to keep it open to intercept other information coming in from her team.

And here it comes.  "Stay put, Barsh."  She keeps the aide in her line of sight without looking like she's trying; it's not hard, really, given she just finished talking to him.  + Her? +  Shard continues over the com.  No names; she doesn't need Barsh flipping out or protesting.  + There were questions there, as well.  Maybe she got the idea from that?  It's a possibility. +

The other option, that Kendra might still be the traitor, she leaves unsaid.

+ You think it's safe for you to go check it out?  Or want to wait? + She slowly studies the Colonel's outer office.  + I'm thinking about hanging around the colonel's office until he comes back.  It might be the safest place on the base. +
This message was last edited by the player at 13:44, Mon 13 Apr 2015.

"I can question her if you like."  The protocol droid seems... enthusiastic... about the idea.  Almost as if he would enjoy it.  Possibly enjoy it a little bit too much.

The aide scowls at something on the desk, then looks at Shard.  "Did your people clear that little announcement with Security?  They're reporting that somebody hacked into the site comm network and broadcast an unauthorised message."

There is a brief silence from outside Haarmon's quarters, and then a voice answers, "Base Security.  We'd like a word with you, please."

Arrgh.

"No, likely it didn't go through proper channels, but we're in a bit of a rush here.  Shortcuts were probably taken." She crosses her arms.  "I'm perfectly willing to take responsibility, but we're currently under orders of the colonel and trying to protect our witness.  If we need to expedite things a tad, we will."

Unfold the arms, hold up palms.  "Please inform security that I'm responsible.  When the colonel comes back, he can rake me over the coals for it.  Until then, I have to continue to carry out the task he set."  Her lips thin.  "That is, find out who trying to kill our people."

Juragga chirped a soft warning to Haarmon.  Anyone can claim to be base security, he noted.

OOC: Is there a back way out of Haarmon's quarters?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:42, Mon 13 Apr 2015.

Rhijans gave the droid an inscrutable look.  "You and I need to have a very serious discussion sometime.  But not now."

He looked back into Medical.  "We need more info on her background.  As I recall, Kourene put her on his cleared list, but primarily because she saved his life.  How good are you at calling up standard records on the base computers?" he asked.

"Stuff like work assignments for technicians.  Whose ships brought them to Mothessh initially.  Or if not that one, what their initial date of arrival was, and whether or not specific ships arrived that same day."  He thought for another moment, and added, "Or, specifically, which base personnel were brought here by Volan Reise."

He wouldn't have brought any of his own personnel in that way, if he'd been the spy...but, then again, he wouldn't have done something like telling Barsh to plant a bomb to try and impress a girl, either.  Just because he didn't think it was the smart way to do it didn't mean that someone else thought the same way.

"Is that something you can do?  Or will we need to go track down Haarmon and add that to his list of projects?"

Haarmon nods to Juragga. That was rich, the gregarious life-loving wookie reminding the bitter cynical slicer not to talk to strangers. But that was why the two of them got on so well.

He called out. "Have your word. No one's stopping you. But no one's opening anything until I see some credentials."

You-Why thinks things over for several microseconds before answering, "I am capable of communicating with all cybernetic systems, in a wide variety of electronic, digital and synthetic languages."  Oddly, he does not sound as annoyed as he normally does when his capabilities are questioned.  "I could certainly attempt to gain all of that information.  The only difficulty might arise if the data is protected by security protocols that require a higher clearance level than I possess."

And again that cheerful tone returns, "Questioning the woman directly might produce faster results."

"The problem is," the aide states quietly, "that while you may have felt that short-cuts were necessary, your group might easily have compromised an operation being run by Security.  Who were, incidentally, also trying to find out who is behind this recent sabotage, and the leaking of information to the Imperials.  This broadcast might have added unnecessary panic to an already volatile situation."

"I'll be sure to file a full report with Colonel Kourene when he gets back.  In the meantime, did any of your group consider liaising with Security in an effort to avoid clashes of this nature?"

"We'll be happy to show you some identification as soon as you open the door.  Meanwhile, are you responsible for a recent, unauthorised, site-wide broadcast?"

Haarmon wasn't sure what to do about the door. He didn't want to open it until he was sure it was really base security. But he couldn't get credentials until he opened the door. They could hurl a starship past the speed of light, but this was a problem.

Ah well, stall for time. Always worked in the vids.

"Yeah, that was me," he said to the door, "But I don't what you're talking about unauthorized."

Juragga glanced at the air vent at the back of the room.  It was the only other way out, if this was a hit squad.  He rumbled uncertainly.  But he could tell the kid was stalling for time.

Some days you just have to Wookiee up and take the bantha by the horns.

"GrAAAAAAAAAuuurgh," he roared.  Open it.  He lowered his bowcaster.

Haarmon's face went white. I mean, most likely this was just some security flunkies out there trying to look big. And maybe he shouldn't have blasted the comm like that, but this here is a delicate operation and things gotta get done.

But all the same, confrontation wasn't really his thing, unless he was way (WAY) up on the ole advantage meter.

But Rags? He was a drop down and get moving kind of guy.

So he walked over to the heavy metal door, keyed the opening switch, and stepped out of the way as fast as he could. If there was blasting to be done here, let it be done by those that are good at blasting.

Haarmon, if nothing else, was all the way into efficient division of labour.

"Understood." Shard sighs. "Apologies all around, and no, we didn't set up a contact with Security."  There are reasons they might not have - Security isn't ALL on the 'trust' list - but the fact is that they just plain forgot.

"Blame for that as well.  I guess I'll probably be assigned to sitting in a tiny spy-ship at the edge of Imperial space for the next six months." A shrug follows.  "For now, let's just try to move on with this."

Rhijans gave You-Why a measuring look.  "I already asked her about the bomb that injured her, which is what led us to Barsh.  If she's the spy, she's certainly not going to volunteer anything that will incriminate her.  What kind of questioning did you have in mind?"  He was guardedly curious about why a protocol droid seemed so enthusiastic about the prospect of interrogating someone...but said nothing more to that effect.

He'd wait to see what the answer was.

All inflection drains from You-Why's voice, and the room seems to become as cold as the depths of space.  "I can be quite intimidating when I choose to be.  It could be interesting to discover why she sent a team of assassins to deal with Barsh.  It could also be interesting to find out how she knew there would be no security personnel here to protect him."

Then his voice returns to normal, "If, however, you would prefer to pursue an alternate line of investigation, I am in no position to object."

"The broadcast was not authorised.  Security was not... "  The door opens to reveal four men in Alliance combat jump suits and body armour.  All armed.  They spread out as best they can in the passageway, and start yelling at Juragga to lower his weapon.  One of them holds out a pass card of some description. 

The aide gives Shard a narrow-eyed look, and all but harrumphs at her, "Well, as I said, I have no way to contact the Colonel directly at the moment.  The best I can offer you is that I'll fill him in on the latest developments as soon as he's back in contact."

Juragga - who had already lowered his bowcaster - roared defiantly - and then charged, ducking low and spreading his arms out to catch as many of the guards as he could.  He was aiming to knock down and bash, not maul and rend...

11:28, Today: Juragga rolled 23 using 6 dice with the WEG Classic system with rolls of {Wild}3,4,3,6,1,6. Brawling.

Rhijans' eyes narrowed and his lips tightened, in what could have been either a snarl or a grin that he refused to allow full exposure.  When he spoke, however, his voice had mirthlessly humorous overtones.  "Well, when you put it that way, it does actually sound like an intriguing possibility."  He glanced into the Medical area, appraisingly.

"I suppose we'll have to do it in there," he observed.  "Unless Kedra's stable enough to take somewhere else.  The intimidation factor will be a lot more effective if she can't call a nurse over because she claims to be in pain..."  He did a little mental calculating, and nodded.

"Wait here, fifteen seconds.  If I'm still arguing with Medical personnel at that point, go ahead and ask her while I've got them busy.  But if they clear her to go, I'll be right back this way."

"I think," Shard begins slowly, "that it might be better to have the colonel contact us ASAP rather than just giving him the rundown.  I realize I'm running on thin ice with this request, but this is critical.  We have bombs going off, we have someone in-hand who may have critical information, and we have a saboteur loose on the base.  The faster we get this information to the colonel, the more lives might be saved.  Especially since by that point we likely will have more information."

She slowly shakes her head.  "All right, I'll get out of your hair now.  Thanks for your time, and sorry for the inconvenience."

With that, Shard moves toward the door.  "Barsh, keep back from the door; we're heading out, but I want to check the hallway first."

When the door opens, she has the murder-stick gripped tightly in her hand.

Rhijans walks into the infirmary, while You-Why stands outside and monitors his internal clock.  The medical droid, busy examining another patient, spots the grey skinned man and dispatches one of the medical personnel to deal with him.  The man walks towards Rhijans, "Can I help you, Sir?  If your business will wait, we are a little busy just now."

Shard steps out of the door, and into a deserted hallway.  Behind her Barsh moves to cover, as instructed.  Somewhere in the distance, machinery hums - something to do with the base's thermal regulation, or atmospheric recycling, or something.  There are voices too, again distant, and indistinct.  There seem to be several of them, at least three or four.  Maybe more.  Possibly behind some of the office doors which line the corridor...

Juragga lunges forward and hits the first two men, causing one of them to drop the pass card.  Both men try to withstand the impact, but are knocked over, falling in a tangle of limbs.  A blaster fires, sending a shot ricochetting off the ceiling above Juragga's head as a third man is driven backwards.  A second blaster discharges a stun pulse, striking Juragga, who shakes off the effect easily, and still stands amidst the carnage...

Haarmon was just about to start snarking the security guys when Juragga went full-on-rage-wookie on them. This wasn't the first time he'd seen the big guy snap, but it was a shocking and awe-inspiring sight every time to watch the normally placid and polite wall of muscle fill with rage.

With little effort he bowled the team over. Haarmon had no idea how he was going to spin this one. He put his hands up and started toward the melee. He kept his distance. But he didn't try to look like he was keeping his distance. He sidled casual. As he approached he called out of the sounds of growling and howling. "Okay okay okay let's all calm down here and have a talk..."

And if his voice wavered a bit, well who could blame him.

"Getting a touch paranoid," Shard mutters. "Okay, Barsh.  We're moving.  Going to find the others, I think.  Probably the best idea, but first we're going to hit requisitions.  I want you in armor, and I have a hunch your boss isn't going to disagree."

With another check both ways, she motions for her charge to follow her and heads down the hallway toward requisitions.

The security team scatter before the enraged Wookiee, scrambling back down the corridor.  All except the one who appears to be unconscious.  The pass card lays forgotten on the floor.

Juragga turns...

... and sees Haarmon, sprawled on his back.  A thin wisp of smoke curls lazily upward from a scorched hole in his shirt as the Wookiee's friend lays unmoving...

Juragga roars in horrified fury, his cries louder than before.  He looks for the attacker who'd shot Haarmon.

Rhijans stepped into the Medical Bay, heading directly for the head medic on duty.  "We have some additional questions we need to ask that one," he said, nodding in Kedra's direction.

"However, they're questions of a highly sensitive nature, best not asked around personnel who aren't cleared for the discussion.  Is she well enough to move?"

The security personnel, except for the unconscious one, have all vanished around the corners where the passage connects with a crossway at a 'T' junction.  Juragga can't see anybody else. 

In his room, Haarmon gives a weak groan...

Shard moves through the base with Barsh close behind her.  But not too close.  The Quartermaster's clerk has a steady stream of questions about the plan, and what Shard intends to do after she has him in armour.  he's starting to sound increasingly nervous.  "Should we be moving about like this?  What's to stop somebody shooting me from one of those side passages?  Wouldn't we be better off just hiding out somewhere?"

The medical droid, who appears to be in charge of the infirmary, ignores Rhijans and continues working on its patient.  The assistant who had been sent to talk to him when he arrived comes up behind him, "Please don't disturb the doctor while he's working.  If you need to move the patient, you'll need to do so under your own authority.  Her condition is such that you will need to take responsibility should you decide to move her."

Rhijans turned to the assistant.  "But she CAN be moved?" he asked, to clarify...and then, without really waiting for an answer, turned and began making his way to Kedra's bed.

"Barsh, take it down a notch.  You're attracting attention, and the whole point of me walking around without my favourite cloak -" and it shows, what with all the wear and tear "- is for you to be innocuous."

Despite her frustration, Shard keeps her tone level and quiet; not just to avoid attention, but because Barsh doesn't deserve her snapping at him.

Another check down a passage, surreptitious-like, as she passes.  Nothing.  Finding themselves in a straight hall with an exit to the left, Shard stops for a quick palaver.  "Look, the colonel isn't in right now.  As you've wisely noted, sitting you in a single room makes you thermal detonator bait.  So long as I keep moving with you hopefully under cover, it's less likely we'll get into a situation where we can't see it coming or can't break away."

She ticks off a finger for that, then another; it's made difficult by the nicked, scuffed metal cylinder in her hand.  "Furthermore, we've already fired off word to the whole base that you've told us what you know.  Unless there's something you know that we don't, yet - not that you've hidden, but that you haven't realized is important yet - the push to get rid of you drops waaaaay down.  If we DO have their identity, coming after you puts them in danger for no reason.  If we don't, they're increasing the odds of us figuring things out by coming after you.  So chances are, there's no real percentage."

Check all three directions again, and Shard grimaces.  "Chances are.  But this is your life we're talking about, so I'm not willing to take those chances.  Better to keep moving, get you that armor, talk to your boss - maybe he knows something - and keep moving until the colonel gets back to us."

Motioning him to continue, she heads toward stores.  "I mean, we could all hop in a ship and go up to orbit, but then we worry about someone down here managing to seize control of an ion cannon or something."

"But walking about  makes me more conspicuous if somebody knows what I look like.  And percentages are easy to figure when you own life isn't on the line - nobody on the base has tried to kill you, remember." Barsh says with a sigh.

"Look... I have a better idea, I think.  The service tunnels.  They run between the floor levels, and there are a limited number of entrances, all locked, as far as I know.  But I know where to get hold of a key.  It's cramped down there, and there are a lot less people to run into, which means that you have less random meetings to calculate the odds of them ending in blaster fire."

The assistant chases after Rhijans, "Yes, she can be moved.  If you don't mind maybe not being able to ask her any questions when you get her to where you're going.  Or ever again, for that matter.  It's fifty-fifty either way."

"But if you want to move her, I'll need some ID and a signature on the paperwork.  This tech saved the Colonel's life, if she dies after you move her, I want to make sure that nobody on this medical team gets the blame for moving her."

He pauses for a moment, then, "In fact, if you want, I'll come with you.  I can keep an eye on her, and do what I can to minimise the chances of her dying."

The Haarmon that first walked into the Rebel base not that long ago had thought he'd had a life filled with pain. Outcast. Misfit. Misunderstood. Unliked. Unwanted. Judged and dismissed. Since then, he's learned that he's never really even seen pain, let along felt. The Haarmon of a few minutes ago was an older, wiser, Haarmon who understood the real nature of pain.

Unfortunately, THAT Haarmon as dead wrong too.

Somewhere deep in his brain, he was pretty sure there was all kinds of stuff that hurt more than a blaster bolt to the shoulder, but he couldn't really pay too much attention to that part of his brain, because the rest of his brain was screaming out HOLY SWEET JUMPING HYPERDRIVES I'VE BEEN SHOT AND IT HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURTS!

All that came out was a weak moan. All that good anger and rage and pain and he was too weak to do more than sort of weeze into an empty room.

Ad somehow, that seemed the unkindest cut of all.

Roaring in fury, fear and frustration, Juragga scooped Haarmon up and barreled towards the medical bay like a furry freight train.

Shard laughs - it's not unkind, it's more pained.  "My life is rather on the line, Barsh.  I'm the one here protecting you; smart money says anyone trying to get to you is going to realize they have to go through me, first.  Or just toss a grenade in for both of us."  She doesn't even mention the fact that unlike Barsh, she's always out there.  It's not germane, just snottily superior.

"But if you do have a better idea - and it seems you do - I'm good with it." Her lips thin.  "As long as getting a key isn't going to land us in further trouble.  Much.  We're skirting the edges of that already."

It has occurred to her that Barsh might be trying to get her alone...and not for licentious purposes.  It's possible he might be pulling the wool over all of their eyes.  She doesn't think so, based on his thoughts from before; low possibility, at most.

Hardly comforting if she turns out wrong, but there it is.

"Let's get you the armor, speak to your boss, and then head to these tunnels.  Okay?"

Rhijans stopped dead in his tracks, and wheeled to face the medic.  "You could have just said that in the original answer.  And if moving her is a fifty-fifty proposition, what exactly is accomplished by bringing you along?  It's not like you'll be able to treat her as we're walking down a hall.  If she's so badly off that she needs constant medical attention, then she's not well enough to move, is she?"

He let his voice raise slightly...not to a yell, not even necessarily to a particularly loud talk.  But, hopefully, enough volume to give You-Why a hint that things weren't going smoothly and the droid should make his entrance to ask his questions now, while Rhijans had the medic occupied.

Barsh smiles, "Good, now your thinking.  The key will be easy to get, I know there's one in a cabinet in the stores.  And since we're going there anyway, to find me some armour and talk to my boss, then lead away."

Juragga starts to move as fast as he can through the corridors, carrying Haarmon towards the infirmary, and howling to clear the way as he goes.  Ahead of him, base personnel scatter out of his path.  He briefly considers the elevator, but decides it would take too long, so he takes a flight of stairs up one level.  Almost there...

"Because I can keep an eye on some of her readouts, and watch for signs of trouble - like something that will kill her if you don't stop whatever you're doing.  And, while I probably won't be able to heal her completely, I might be able to, at least, undo any further damage that moving her causes."  The medical assistant folds his arms across his chest and glares at Rhijans.  Behind the man's back, You-Why appears in the doorway, and starts to shuffle, as quietly as possible, towards Kedra's screened bed.

Somewhere in the distance, Rhijans can hear what sounds almost like an angry Wookiee engaged in battle.  The assistant seems about to say something further, but changes it to, "What is that racket?" and starts to turn away from Rhijans, and (all unknowingly) towards You-Why...

The icy tone in Rhijans' voice was easy to feign...because, it was only partly feigned.  "And just what do you think it is that I'd be doing to her that would result in some kind of medical intervention?" he asked, stiffening slightly.

He leaned forward, not quite threateningly, but with a dangerous expression, making sure he stayed in the man's peripheral vision.  "Just what kind of medical background do you have, anyway?" he asked,letting accusation color his tone heavily.

After all, a good interrogator could have a fairly extensive medical background...so he knew just how far to push a subject, and then how to bring them back to start all over again.

In the back of his mind, alarm bells began to ring.  After all, there were only so many things that sounded like a rampaging Wookiee.  And he only knew of one Wookiee on the base...who was supposed to be watching over Haarmon...

I've got a bad feeling about this... he told himself...and then forced himself to focus on browbeating the medic to keep his focus away from You-Why.

"Armor it is."  Another check down both hallways.  Clear for now.  "Let's go."

With that, Shard leads the way - as noted - down the hallway that leads to their destination: Stores.  Her free hand flicks on her comlink as she walks.

+ Rhijans?  You there?  Small change of plans; I'm hitting the stores to talk to Barsh's boss and get him armor, then we're heading for a bolt-hole. +

The assistant turns back towards Rhijans, "I don't think you'll be doing anything that would require medical intervention.  At least not deliberately.  If I did think that, then I'd be calling for security, not offering you a compromise.  She's weak, however, and just talking to her might be enough, especially if something you say causes her any stress."

Behind the man, You-Why hurries his approach to Kedra's bed.  And not a moment too soon... the droid moves behind the screen, just as Juragga comes in through the door carrying Haarmon.

And that is when Shard's voice comes from the comm, announcing a change of plan...

And talking of Shard... she finishes her brief explanation of the changed plan, just as she peers into a side corridor.  A movement catches her attention, something behind them, only visible in her peripheral vision in the brief moment while her head is turned.

An astromech droid which seems to be following them...

"Get behind me," Shard mutters.  "And fast."  She points at the droid. "Stop there," the former apprentice calls out.  "Now." 

It could be a droid.  It could be something else, entirely - a remote system containing an explosive device, for example.  Void, it could be a droid programmed to assassinate; who would suspect an R2 unit?

Her mind shifts, slowly moving toward that place of balance between icy reason and heated emotion.  It's getting easier the more she does it, now.

Juragga gobbled for medical attention for Haarmon, not really aware of the finer points of droid mayhem.

Rhijans' mouth had just opened for a response that never made it out, as Juragga burst into Medical.  He moved quickly toward the Wookiee, looking at the droid as he did so.  "Do you understand Wookiee?  Because if you don't, we're gonna have a helluva time trying to get him to explain what happened..."

And then Shard's comm call added to the chaos.  "Sure, why not?" he replied, drily.  It was near impossible to tell if it was sarcasm or sincerity.  "All our other plans seem to be changing, go ahead."  There was a pause...and then he added, in unmistakably sincere fervent tones, "Be safe."

He hoped that not too much of Juragga's chaos had made it onto the comm call.  He'd puzzled out that something was wrong with the team almost as soon as he heard it...and he was sure she was more perceptive than he was.  At least when it came to emotional understanding.

And, for a brief moment, he let himself wonder how You-Why's inquiries behind the screen were going.  The good thing about Juragga being here and frantic was that there was plenty of chaos to distract the medical droid.

The bad thing was, the Wookiee was carrying Haarmon...

There is a sudden rush of movement in the infirmary.  Two of the medics try to take Haarmon from Juragga, then change their minds, instead indicating that the Wookiee should place the groaning slicer on  a bed so that he can be examined.  Rhijans steps aside to give people room to move, and to work.

Coincidentally the movement carries him a little closer to the screen which conceals Kedra.  He can hear You-Why talking quietly, at least it sounds like his voice, but the exact words are hard to hear over the noise in the room.

The medical team, including the droid, gather around the bed and start their examination of the wounded man...

Barsh does what he's told without any argument.  He moves in behind Shard, and then, because he's nervous and curious at the same time, he peers past her at the droid.

The R2 unit itself stops, but not without launching into a tirade of whistles and chirps which sound positively offensive.  It rolls backwards and forwards a few centimetres at a time, like a man shuffling his feet impatiently, and twists its head from side to side, angrily buzzing, whistling, clicking and squealing at the Jedi.

"I think you've annoyed him.  Astromechs can be a bit... irritable." Barsh murmurs...

"The R2 can be annoyed all it wants," Shard mutters back.  "I honk everyone off, and I'm not about to stop just because one person is a meter tall and has a metal shell."  She eyes the droid with some displeasure for a long moment before continuing.

"Look, I don't know if you're following us or just happen to be passing this way.  If the former, stop.  I can't understand you without a translator, and right now everything I don't understand is a security hazard.  If the latter, find a different route.  Again, security hazard.  But continue following us, and I'll disable you."

Not 'forced to disable'; Shard firmly believes in taking responsibility for one's choices.

It was convenient...and Rhijans was eternally suspicious.  With everyone else focused on Juragga and Haarmon, Rhijans eased back to a position where he was just outside the privacy screen, taking care to not touch it and give any visual clue of his presence, and tried to hear as best he could over the sounds of a highly distressed Wookiee.

Haarmon thought he was awake. And aware. And relatively lucid. But then Rags brought him to the infirmary and Rhijans was there too. And golden-undies was lurking over behind a privacy screen. So maybe he was hallucinating? Was this some kind of fever dream symbolic of his desire for unity and belonging?

But whatever was going on, family reunion or brain damage, he found himself feeling comforted and safe all the same.

He put one hand up and tried to snark off to Rags about being carried over the threshold and maybe they were, like, married now, or something. But he didn't have the energy. And that's when he knew he was really hurt.

He did, however, chuckle once or twice at his own, unvoiced cleverness.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:09, Thu 21 May 2015.

The R2 unit unleashes another stream of polytonal invective - at least that's what it sounds like - and then it stops.  There is a faint crackling hiss, and the droid suddenly projects a hologram, life sized, in front of itself.  The image gives a shallow bow and says, "Hey, can you give R2 three XP72 regulators and a power coupler.  I have to do some urgent repairs.  I'll sort out the tickets when I get back, I don't have time to do it now."

The image fades, and the droid makes an attempt to move past Shard, whistling angrily...

Rhijans can't hear clearly from his position outside the screen, but it certainly sounds like You-Why is questioning Kedra...

On the bed, Haarmon is slipping in and out of conciousness while the medical team work on him and Juragga hoots anxiously.  Finally the doctor says something, and one of the organics says to the Wookiee,

Haarmon was tired. So, so, so tired. Everything in front of him wavered and shimmered like the heat haze across a star field. He wasn't sure if he could feel most of him or not, but whatever he did feel was pretty far away.

And then, more or less all of a sudden, Shard was there too, talking to Barsh. And an R2 unit. Did she just come in? Is this, like, my life flashing before me eyes or whatever?

If so, he hoped he could skip High School.

Or maybe it WAS all a hallucination. And this was, like, symbolic of his need for unity and belonging? Or something like his true family or something?

Didn't explain the pissy R2 unit, though. Probably something to do with his mother.

"It wants you to get out of its way," Haarmon mutters, both to Shard and to no one in particular, "it needs to get... Quartermasters... shortest route... in its way... also that you're a dumb bloodbag..."

It looks on the level.  It even might be on the level.

Shard doesn't buy it yet.  Too much wrong.  For one thing, the odds of their particular quartermaster giving out that gear without any kind of proper certification - in her experience - are close to nil.  For another, how is an R2 unit supposed to carry the equipment back?  They have, at most, one small manipulator arm.

Shard puts her foot against the R2's casing and pushes it back; a moment later, blue-white fire ignites in the hallway, forming a barrier across its path.  "Barsh," she calls out. "You know that guy in the hologram?  Friend of your bosses?"

Rhijans didn't entirely buy the story, but he waited in silence to see what the reaction was from the protocol droid.  There was definitely more going on inside that shiny casing than the standard programming package...

At the doctor's diagnosis, Juragga sags against a wall and slides down to a sitting position, visibly deflating, and covers his face with his paws.

Barsh sighs, a mix of relief and frustration, "It's one of the regular freighter pilots, Conal Something-or-other.  Swings through about once a month with supplies and scrounges parts for his flying junk pile.  As far as I know, the only threat is that the requisition dockets will take me until his next visit to get in order.  Reliable pilot, by all accounts, but sloppy with his documentation." 

And now Rhijans can hear You-Why trying to calm Kedra down. 

The medical staff continue to work on Haarmon, who suddenly groans loudly and tries, unsuccessfully, to sit up.  Though it must be said that at least some of his failure is due to people actually holding him still while the doctor buzzes and chuckles and clicks and whirs, and works on his injury.  His shirt is opened up, and an applicator nozzle begins to spray something mildly numbing over the wound...

Rhijans didn't nod, visibly, but he grinned inwardly.  He didn't know how complete standard protocol droid programming was...but You-Why had a very complex packet.  He'd shown Rhijans he could play the heavy and present himself in a disturbingly heartless manner...here he was, giving Kedra the soft touch.

Whether or not the droid's lack of confidence in the team was true mattered little to him...the presentation of it was done in such a way that Rhijans could truly appreciate what the droid was trying to do.

For the moment, at least, he was satisfied that anything that could be learned from Kedra would be.  He eased quietly over to Juragga and rested a hand on the Wookiee's shoulder, in a rare gesture of understanding that showed there was more to him than the cold professional exterior he carefully maintained.  This was his team.  They'd separated on his suggestion.

And Haarmon had gotten shot.

That didn't sit well with him.

Shard pauses, lips parting slightly.  "...Haarmon?"  It's the barest of whispers, just like what her mind thinks it 'hears'.  But it's not hearing; she has experienced this enough times in the past to know that much.

*snap*  The icy blade deactivates, vanishing.  "All right.  Pass."  She motions the droid onward.  "But if you get shot full of holes the next time you ignore someone with a security emergency, don't come running to me."  She crooks a finger at Barsh.  "Let's follow him, but stay at least twenty paces back."

Beginning to walk, Shard allows her spirit to drift between fury and ice, opening herself up.  More, she reaches out as she had in the Hutt's den, this time seeking a mind not here, not in front of her, but far more familiar.  Flash of teeth in a cocky smile, heavy sarcasm in the voice, a pistol spinning around a finger....

~~ Haarmon?  Where are you? ~~

For a few minutes there, most of Haarmon's focus was on the white-hot ball of furious pain that was his chest cavity. Once they numbed it there was a moment of pure, lake-water cool, summer-breeze-awesome relief from the pain, and then almost immediately he found it was getting harder and harder to focus.

Without the pain to hang on to, he started to fade and he felt like he was looking at everything from the bottom of a very deep hole.

And apparently Shard was going to be his guide to the next world. Was she dead too? Or was this more hallucinating? Funny. I always figured it'd be Rags. But at least it's not the R2 unit.

But whichever the case, it was all interesting enough to get him up off his metaphysical behind for another few seconds. Because if this was it, good and proper, once and for all, it, then he supposed he ought to get moving. Probably had some sweet holo vids on the other side.

~~ Pfft. Some spirit guide you are. You're supposed to tell me where I am. But I'm hanging with the crew over at medlab. Can I get one of those dying moments of clarity? Maybe some sweet final words? Rags is pretty torn up about the whole thing. ~~

~~ You're INJURED? ~~

Fortunately, thinking occurs at speeds greater than speaking.  Asking how he was hurt...pointless.  He's in the infirmary.  Juragga feels he's going to die...as does Haarmon himself.  And he's communicating with her in this fashion.

~~ Haarmon, forget the sweet final words.  I need you to think about the injury.  Think about it...like a computer issue to be solved.  I've seen you almost feel your way through these things.  I want you to do the same here.  Just consider the injury - not all of its little problems, but the injury as a whole - and start directing the resources of your body to fix that problem.  ~~

All the while she's marching down the hallway, hunting for a turn-off toward the med-lab.  "Change of plans, Barsh.  There's been a situation, and we need to get there, fast."

Barsh shakes his head and stops walking, "Wait, what?  I thought we'd already established that I'm your star witness, and I'm going to end up very dead if we don't get me to somewhere safe, and soon.  And this would destroy your chance of finding out who's been causing all the trouble around here.  Now you're changing plans on me?"

In the medical bay, the doctor extends a small nozzle from the palm of its hand and starts to spray bacta onto Haarmon's wound, which (now that it's been cleaned up a little) is looking a lot less serious...

One of the human assistants approaches Juragga and mutters something to him... 

You-Why, meanwhile, continues his quiet discussion with Kedra, who just keeps repeating that she never tried to get Barsh killed.  She'd just called her friend in an attempt to find out what was going on, and that friend had taken it upon herself to deal with the apparent traitor...

Juragga nods in relief at the assistant's words.  Shaking his head, he rumbled about it being Juragga's fault and why o why hadn't Haarmon stayed behind the doorway like he'd asked the kid to?

He remained seated on the floor, grateful for Rhijan's support.  He looked up at the kid on the med table.  The wound wasn't serious, they said, he rumbled.

There was a patch of singed fur on Juragga as well - he'd been shot too - but the massive wookiee barely seemed to notice.

Haarmon started to be aware that things in the Medlab, with his body, weren't as bad as they seemed. The shock was wearing off now and the pain was mostly taken care of by the attendants, and that whole dark tunnel to the other side was mostly fading. He even thought he could probably manage a weak moan if he tried.

So, then what was happening here with Shard? If he wasn't dying, and he wasn't in so much pain he was hallucinating, and he wasn't... what? What in void was happening? He tried to do what she said, to focus on his body, and on his energies or whatever, and try to heal himself, but the whole thing made him so flustered he lost the connection completely and opened his eyes.

"Rags?" he called out, weakly, "Hey Rags? Didn't no one ever tell you wookies ain't supposed to cry?"

Shard spins back, her hand going up to her earpiece.  "I've just received a message that one of my teammates has been shot and is in the infirmary.  Give me a second; I'll try to get some kind of update.  If things aren't critical, we'll keep going."

As much as it pains her to say.

With a flick, she switches the com on again to their frequency, trying to get in touch with Rhijans.

++ Rhijans.  Come in - what's the situation? ++

Juragga roared in glee, which quickly turned to a rumble of indignation. He was NOT crying, and what the hells had Haarmon been thinking, poking out and getting shot like that? His parental scolding did little to conceal his relief at Haarmon's awakening.

Barsh sighs, "All right, but I really don't like standing around here."

Over her comm, Shard can hear the unmistakeable sound of a very loud Wookiee.  And then comes Rhijan's voice again...  "Haarmon's all right.  He's awake, and the doctor is working on him.  Juragga seems happy enough."

And You-Why takes advantage of the noise and distraction to step out from behind the screen while everybody is watching the Wookiee.  He hovers, close to Rhijans, as if unsure where he should be going next...

Haarmon still felt plenty weak. But he had the strength for a wry chuckle as Juragga scolded him. "Not my fault, guy, you made it all look so easy. I was, like, yeah, I can bust up a whole security detail. No probs."

He took a breath. "Glad you were there, though. Thanks for saving my life. Again."

Juragga warbled the Wookiee equivalent of next time, do as I say, not as I do - a parental lament that typically had no effect whatsover.  Then he rose, standing to his full towering height.

"RaaaUUUUAAArrrrrgh," he commented, looking to Rhijans.  Security had come looking for them, but had it been 'security' or a hatchet job?

+ Spectacular.  Will keep in touch. When you get a chance, maybe I could know what the void just happened? +

Flicking the comm to standby, she motions to Barsh.  "We're continuing.  Follow the R2."  Picking up the pace to a brisk walk, she marches after the droid.  "My associate is shot, but he's in no danger.  Now I just need a report on why."

Barsh nods, much happier to be going in what he considers to be the right direction.  It doesn't take long for them to reach the stores, where Barsh's superior gives them a nod, even as he watches the droid's holoprojection.

"I see you found him." he comments to Shard, then, "You ready to go back to work, Barsh?  Or are you still mooning over that girl?"

The old man starts gathering the components that the droid's owner had requested...

The doctor retracts its limbs, and eases back from Haarmon, buzzing, whirring and clicking as it does so.  One of the assistants nods at the droid, and explains, "It's just a flesh wound.  I'd guess a ricochet or a very near miss, rather than a direct hit.  The bacta should heal it up within a day or so, and stop it hurting while it gets better.  Just don't pick at it.  It won't do any real harm if you do, but it'll leave you with a scar."

Rhijans, in his extremely limited grasp of Wookiee, had no idea what Juragga was saying, or to whom, really, but the look felt, to him, like someone grasping for a lifeline.

"Probably best you just plan on laying low, Haarmon," he said.  "I think we've stirred things up enough as it is.  Assuming he's still somewhere on the base, the Colonel had to have heard the announcement and I'm sure he's going to want answers about unauthorized access to the PA system."

He turned to the medical droid.  "Does he need to stay here throughout the treatment?  Or is he okay to be moved to regular quarters, as long as he promises to take it easy?"

It was possible that whatever happened had been some kind of misunderstanding...but it was also possible that whoever had shot Dak had been trying to cover tracks.  And if that proved to be the case, leaving Haarmon in a very hard-to-secure medical center sounded decided unappealing...

"Sadly, your assistant remains unavailable," Shard notes, wondering how the quartermaster missed the recent loud announcement.  Time for paranoia?  Perhaps, perhaps. "In fact, we're looking for some body armor.  Basic stuff, enough to give him a little more protection."

"He's not leaving the base, so it'll stay in-house."

More clicking and buzzing, and this time You-Why gets in first, "He says that the treatment is finished.  Haarmon should come back in twelve hours, so that they can check on his progress, and then again tomorrow, by which time he will be fully healed."

The medical droid buzzes angrily, and You-Why amends, "By which time he will almost certainly be fully healed."

"In any case, there is no need for him to be here now."

The Quartermaster sighs, "This would happen just when we're busy.  So many repairs to be done, and so few parts.  And Barsh is my best scrounger."

Shard's request for armour brings a smile though, "So he's finally going to get shot at, like an honest soldier?  Let's see, best I can offer is a blast vest and helmet.  Not as good as 'trooper armour, but it should protect his vital areas.  Though with a girl on his mind, I'm not sure that protecting his head is that vital.  Should have them in his size."

The Quartermaster disappears among the storage racks.  There are noises, and shortly afterwards he reappears, dragging an open crate.

"Start trying these on.  Should be at least one of each, helmet and vest, that'll fit."  Barsh starts looking through the crate...

Rhijans nodded...and mentally heaved a sigh of relief.  "Help him up," Rhijans said to Juragga, nodding in the direction of their wounded cohort.  "We'll put him in my quarters for now," he added quietly, a murmur that barely made it as far as the Wookiee's ears.

If someone was looking to track down Haarmon as a result of the announcement, they might eventually look in Rhijans' quarters, since the two were associated.  If it happened, though, it would be almost certain that they were up to no good.

And if the base was still in survival-instinct mode in twelve hours, it would mean that things had gone very, VERY wrong...

"Helmet and vest it is," Shard agrees. "I'll take what you have; better than moaning about us not carrying trooper armor."   They have some of that - somewhere - but she decides having Barsh wandering the base dressed like a stormtrooper would just be asking for trouble.

When the quartermaster returns, she shoos Barsh over to the equipment crate and sidles up next to his boss.  "I don't know if you're up for him having a blaster as well.  That one he's holding -" somewhat ineptly "- is mine.  But if not, fair enough." Turning to eye the man, she lowers her voice slightly.  "Have you seen anything that sticks out in your mind recently?  Something odd, or attention-worthy?  We don't figure out who is really responsible for what's going on in the base, the Empire won't need to find us to solve their 'problem'."

A grimace follows that statement.  "We'll do their work for them," Shard mutters, working some of the tension out of her fingers.

The Quartermaster laughs, "Odd and attention-worthy?  You mean apart from my assistant preparing to get involved in a battle?"  He drops a blaster pistol on the counter, a BlasTech DL-44.  "That should be good enough.  Easy to use, even for somebody who hasn't turned up for a weapons drill since he came here."

Barsh pulls on a vest, then adds a second one, slightly bigger, before rummaging for a helmet.  The Quartermaster smiles and shakes his head,

"There was one thing."  He goes to his terminal and starts a search, which doesn't take long to run, then he speaks to Shard quietly, "A freighter captain called Volan Reise requisitioned a case of proton torpedoes on his last visit here, and that was the third consecutive visit when he did that.  Spent a lot of time talking to Barsh last time too."

Juragga hoots cheerfully, then goes to help Haarmon get to his feet.  Then, supporting his friend easily with one arm, he gestures for Rhijans to lead the way...

Shard snorts a laugh at the Quartermaster's quip, and cocks an eyebrow at Barsh' choice...s.  Funny; it's the best she and the Quartermaster have gotten along since forever.  Maybe it has something to do with helping Barsh.  Putting her rear on the line - visibly - to protect the base.  Whatever.  It doesn't matter; she's happier this way.

But a line appears between her thin brows as the Quartermaster continues.  Keeping casual, she lowers her voice - again, not to 'whisper' level, where it will attract attention.  "That's...disturbing.  Three times, eh?  Either he has the worst luck in the galaxy, or..."  Happenstance; coincidence; enemy action.  "He give a reason why?  Someone give clearance?  That's pretty heavy ordnance."

Her lips thin into a grim smile as she nods to the Quartermaster.  "Colour me curious; this could be extremely important."

Juragga followed Rhijans, helping Haarmon along protectively.  He rumbled an interrogative about security; could they trust them?  He was skeptical.

While Rhijans couldn't understand Juragga's inquiry, his thoughts were running along the same lines.  "We'll put him in my quarters...you stay with him, for now.  If I'm out and about, and being seen away from my quarters, nobody with any legitimate business with me will be stopping in there.  Which means anyone who comes there without me should be treated as hostile."

His voice was low as they moved, and his eyes tracked ahead of them, scoping for possible ambushes, assessing anyone they approached or passed for threat level, and scouting for security monitors.  He fell silent as they passed people, or when they approached visible security monitors.

"It's not a perfect solution...but it takes at least one unknown out of the equation.  If they show up in my quarters, they've got no business there...means they're either there because they tracked you or because they're looking to set something up for me.  Either way, they're trouble."  His voice was terse, as much an indicator as his constantly shifting eyes as to how much tension was actually in his mind.

"Keep all the primary lighting off...that should avoid any possible indicators that someone is there.  And keep Haarmon out of direct line of sight of the door, just in case."

The Quartermaster examines the files on the terminal, "He had valid documents, and instructions to deliver the consignments to three different locations.  Probably three different cells.  It's unusual to have that much of a rush on torps, but not totally unheard of.  Given that cells don't talk to each other much, it's possible for several of them to all be planning something big at the same time."

Barsh finally finds a helmet that fits, puzzles briefly over the straps, then puts it on with them unfastened...  He glances at Shard.  "Ready when you are."

Rhijans leads Juragga and the still-unsteady Haarmon through the corridors of the base, avoiding the main thoroughfares and sticking to the more secluded tunnels where possible.  Eventually, and without incident, they all arrive safely at Rhijans' quarters.

Judging by what they see en route most of the base security seems to be busy elsewhere.

Haarmon is installed in a room that's not much bigger than a closet, but there is a strong door, and once Haarmon is inside he is not in a direct line of sight for anybody outside...

Rhijans ensures that Juragga and Haarmon are settled in, then goes off to continue with his own part of the plan...

"Thanks."  Shard's lips tighten. "Reise is someone we're looking at now - you might have heard an announcement, recently."  Or not; he didn't seem aware of things when she arrived.  "This is somewhat disturbing, to say the least; if you have the locations as well, I'd like them."

She glances up when Barsh wanders over.  "Gimme a moment, you don't need that falling over your eyes.  Or falling off."  It'll give the Quartermaster time to get the information, anyway.  Fiddling with the straps, she manages to get them together.  Long time I've not worn a helmet, myself. Then Shard flicks her comm to send to Rhijans.

+ Rhijans.  Got some news.  Reise picked up three shipments of proton torpedoes recently, flew them - supposedly - to three different locations.  I'm getting the locations now. +  She grins, but there's no humor in her smile. + Pretty sure your suspicious mind can make something out of that. +

Just like her own.

Now that the intensity of the whole thing was wearing off, Haarmon found himself feeling a little embarrassed by the whole thing. All that flailing about and making fuss and it turned out he barely even had a scratch. And now that the Bacta was doing its thing, he felt a lot better. Which mostly made him feel worse.

The part that did occupy his thoughts, however, was the part where he... talked?... with Shard? Was that part of the pain and the fever dream? It sure didn't feel like it. Everything else about that that whole experience was sort of chaotic and fragmented. But that part was vivid and almost tranquil.

Still, he thought, as he rubbed at his chest with his free hand, the droid did say that if he picked at it, he'd get a scar.

So one good thing came of all this anyway.

The Quartermaster nods, "Let's see...  Usually shipments are left at drop box sites, mostly on remote moons or asteroids.  Might not even be in the system that the shipment is eventually bound for.  Reise's first load was, supposedly, dropped at an asteroid on the edge of the Faimudin system.  Second was at Kirdillin, in a cargo bay on the main station.  And the third was at Nervalloos, on the outermost moon."

Barsh adjusts the helmet for about the thirtieth time - an insignificant seeming change which apparently meets with his satisfaction.  "Ready." he says, picking up the blaster.  "Again."

Juragga shakes his head at Haarmon, and slaps his partner's hand away from the wound.  The Wookiee grumbles a warning about scars and infection.

Looking around, it occurs to him that he's never been in Rhijans' quarters before.  It isn't nearly as interesting as he would have imagined.  He explains this to Haarmon, and adds that this could get quite boring, unless somebody comes to make trouble for them soon...

Now that they were alone, and Haarmon was safe, Rhijans turned to You-Why, making his way back through halls as empty as he could manage to navigate.  "Did you get anything more from Kedra?" he asked the droid.

Shard's comm message, with reports of Reise's activity via the quartermaster, came through.  He mused over the possibilties.  A tramp freighter was not a likely choice for delivering that kind of payload...not his first choice, anyway, for the simple fact that if he was going to deliver something like that, he'd want to deliver in quantities that wouldn't fit in a freighter's cargo hold.

He acknowledged her call with a terse, "Copy that," and waited for some indicators on where Reise had supposedly been delivering those payloads.  While he was waiting, he focused on You-Why again.

After forewarning that boredom might be imminent, another, more serious threat occurred to Juragga.

Where was the food?

He rose and - trying to avoid going through any of Rhijan's stuff - looked for a fridge.  Or food processor.  Or pantry.

Or beer.

"Spectacular," Shui mutters, gripping the Quartermaster's arm briefly. "Thanks.  Now we have something to work off."  She glances toward Barsh, then offers a wry smile.  "And just in time; looks like I get to take your assistant somewhere safe.  SafER," she stresses.

Her lips thin and she leans a touch closer. "Thanks for the blaster, but keep one with you, yourself.  Things are a little uncertain right now." Cocking an eyebrow  at Barsh, she makes a 'gimme' motion.  "I'm going to need one of those blasters - mine back, or your boss's.  Take your pick on whichever feels better.  And whichever you keep, remember it's last resort."  Glancing down at herself, she shakes her head.  "Can't get a poncho or something for him, right?  I wouldn't mind having my robe back."

Flick on the comlink. + Rhijans, deliveries: asteroid on the edge of the Faimudin system, Kirdillin main station cargo bay, Nervalloos outermost moon.  In that order. +

Rhijans nodded at the report.  "I haven't been updated on our losses due to suspected spy activity...any idea whether those delivery spots correspond with some of our lost missions?" he asked.  He was addressing You-Why, but he kept the commlink open, so Shard could hear it as well.

Juragga's search of Rhijans' quarters reveals some food, though only if you use a very liberal definition of the word "food".  And the only alcohol is some kind of wound cleaning spray located in a medkit.

Haarmon sighs, and wonders quietly what they might be serving in the commissary right now...

You-Why reports in on his interrogation of Kedra, "Well, she is a tough one.  I beat her severely, broke three of her fingers, and threatened to remove one of her eyes, but she did not give me any information.  She insists that she did not order a hit on Barsh, but merely contacted her friend Doona, hoping that she might have heard something about Barsh."

Barsh, meanwhile, returns Shards blaster and keeps the one from the Quartermaster, which does, admittedly, look a little more threatening.  The quartermaster searches through his inventory, then finds a cheap plastic rain cape.  Barsh takes off Shard's robe, and dons the cape.

"This way." he says, and leads the Jedi out of the stores...

Rhijans actually flickered a ghost of a smile.  "Sounds like you were brutally thorough..." he commented drily.  He was quite certain the droid was being sarcastic...standing on the other side of the privacy drape, he'd heard nothing that sounded like a beating, or breaking fingers, or the cries of pain he was sure would accompny either measure.

"So, Kedra's clean.  Doona Eskil was hardly cooperative when I asked her about what led her to the detention area...I don't know if we'd get much of anything if we tracked her down...though you might have methods of persuasion I clearly lack."

He gave a minute shrug.  "Do you know the list of locations where Alliance teams were ambushed?  I'm wondering if the locations correlate to any of the known deliveries Reise made."

Haarmon wasn't super hungry. He was still pretty full of drugs and Bacta and the shaky adrenaline remnants of getting shot and (sort of) almost dying and whatever that craziness was with Shard.

He watches Juragga root through the storage cabinets, picking at his wound with his free hand all the while.

This was going to get pretty boring pretty fast.

He wandered over to Rhijans' terminal. Maybe he could patch into the security cams and see what was happening. Or something.

It isn't too long before Barsh enters an alcove and opens a fairly large access panel using a key cylinder,  Behind the panel is a vertical shaft with a narrow ledge around it, and a ladder which leads down into darkness below.  Barsh reaches into a storage locker inside the shaft and takes out a glowrod with an attached lanyard, which he hands to Shard before taking one for himself.

He clips the lanyard to a loop on his sleeve, then steps into the shaft to stand on the ledge.  "If you come in, it'll be cramped until we start down, but I can pull the panel closed.  Then we can go."

You-Why emits a mechanical sigh, "I have no idea where the Alliance missions were ambushed.  I have not been told.  With access to a terminal I may be able to find out, though there could be some risk if anybody is observing us.  It would be better if we were to ask an astromech droid, or other model with a datalink, to find out.  The main difficulty there is finding one that we can trust."

"I would suggest R2-O0, if Captain Jalt is currently in the base."

Juragga is too busy eating to worry about what Haarmon is doing.  Which is probably a good thing.  A Wookiee with ulcers is not a good thing.  If he knew that Haarmon was thinking of hacking into a secure system, so soon after the recent run-in with a security team, it would probably put him off his food for a week...

Rhijans shrugged.  "Well, then, let's make for the hangar bay and see if our friends are there...and, if not, whether or not we can find a sufficiently random astromech to ping the system for the information we need."

He started off in that direction, and mused aloud, "We've got all these fragments of information...but nothing connects them.  Somewhere, there's got to be some kind of connection...or, if not, a thread that unravels the mystery behind all of this."  He took a few more strides in silence, then added, "Frankly, I'm starting to run out of ideas for which rock to flip over.  I thought we'd certainly have turned up something more concrete than what we have, by now..."

Haarmon had a rare moment of retrospection and self-doubt. Should he be doing this? Was this a little farther over the line than he wanted to walk? What if the goons all came back? What if the bad guys were watching for this?

He paused. And then shrugged and resumed. Just mean he'd need to be even more awesome than he usually was.

"Oh, I quite agree." You-Why affirms, "There are no end of writers who earn large sums of credits creating mystery holodramas far less compelling and intriguing than this one.  In fact a great many of those holodramas are trite and uninteresting, yet they sell very well."

In Rhijans' quarters, Haarmon starts working feverishly at the terminal while Juragga works, equally feverishly, at the refrigerator. 

In the hangar, Reldan Jalt's Dancing Bantha looks a little the worse for wear.  The captain himself is stuck half way into a power distribution node, working on something, while his astromech droid seems to be working on the hyperdrive motivator.  The hull has been scarred and blasted by laser fire, and Jalt's curses can be heard across the hangar, even though his head is  deep inside the ship's  insides...

Rhijans stepped up close to Jalt's position...not intimately close, but close enough that he didn't need to yell to be heard.  "Reldan," he said, announcing his presence...in case the spacer hadn't heard his approach with the protocol droid.  He was used to walking around alone...and walking up on people un-noticed, so it was habitual.

"If you can spare him for a few minutes, we need to borrow your astromech droid.  It's important."

While he was focused on the situation at hand, he wasn't totally without some sense of social protocols...and Jalt was a friend, or as close to one as Rhijans allowed himself to have.  He turned a critical eye on the ship.  "You have a run-in with something?" he asked.  The Bantha was, like many tramp freighters, never too far away from a critical breakdown somewhere...but it seemed to be in worse shape than Rhijans recalled.

"Right," Shard sighs.  "I'm not a huge fan of heights.  No comments about the sudden stop, I've heard that way too many times."

Taking the lanyard, she follows Barsh into the alcove.  The lanyard she clips to her sash after looping it a few times to shorten it.  There's no way she's hanging it off either arm; given her choice of weapons, it'll end up cut in half or swinging around to smack her in the eye the first time they get in a fight.

Not that she's LOOKING for a fight, but...experience tells her to expect one, now.

Reldan Jalt extricates himself from the ship's innards and grins at Rhijans, "Rhijans!  It's been a while.  You want to borrow my droid?"  He gives R2-O0 an appraising look, "Well, I'm thinking of taking a break anyway so you can take him, just don't get him too banged up.  Oh-oh, get over here, Rhijans wants to borrow you!"

The astromech droid produces a series of noises which sound distinctly uncomplimentary.  Then it rolls across to Rhijans, chirping impatiently...

It doesn't take long for Shard and Barsh to reachthe bottom of the shaft, where they find themselves standing in a small junction with six narrow corridors radiating out from it.  The floors of the corridors are plain, unfinished ferrocrete, but the walls and ceilings are covered with complex layers of coloured pipes, conduits and access panels.

"Don't touch anything." Barsh instructs the Jedi, "A lot of this stuff is delicate and expensive."

"And some of the pipes contain volatile compounds."

He makes a big show of securing his blaster in its holster.  "I won't be using that around here.  A couple of hundred metres that way is a room with an armoured hatch, that we can seal ourselves behind.  Less exposed components and nothing flammable there."

He starts to lead the way...

Juragga let out a satisfied belch and sat back, weary from his food frenzy.  "WaaaaaRRRRRgggh," he commented. Not gourmet, but I'm full, was his report.

Then, noticing Haarmon working at Rhijan's console, he queried, Whatcha doin'?  Anything good on Tri-D?

"Spectacularly safe place to which you've brought us, Barsh.  First the dangerous pit, now the hallway full of explosive compounds," Shard gripes, following along in his wake.  She takes a few glances over her shoulder as she does, but keeps the death-stick in hand.  "More seriously, my sudden concern is that someone else might have come to the same conclusion about this being a good place to hide...we're concerned about a saboteur, aren't we?"

A grimace follows.  "I guess we'll find out.  But for now, let's keep it quiet."  With that, the older woman falls silent.  Of course, there are ways she can search ahead of them, Shard muses.  It'll just take a bit of effort.

Slowly she stills her mind, seeking the balance-point between frost and fire.  It's there; she knows it is, and has touched it more often in the last two weeks than in years.  Maybe, Shard considers, she's getting better at it.  Her teacher might be proud.

Void take him, anyway.

Haarmon continues working for a few moments, then, "Huh?  Oh, I'm just taking a look at the security network.  There's Rhijans and You-Why, and some astromech droid.  They're up to something."  On the display the astromech is jacking in to a dataport, while Rhijans and You-Why loiter casually nearby.  The image flickers, and Haarmon laughs nervously as he makes adjustments, "Oops, that was close."

Barsh shakes his head, "I don't think so.  You need a key to get down here, and you need to know what you're doing if you want to do any specific damage.  Here we are."

The hatch is almost invisible beneath a layer of warning notices and technical specifications.  It swings open ponderously to reveal a three metre diameter spherical chamber, the interior of which is covered with hundreds of panels holding thousands of flickering lights.  Each light is labelled with a binary code.  "We're in the computer core, but there's no access to it from here.  The walls are a metre thick, but an expert can come down here and see into the core - there is nothing between the core itself and these indicators.  They're a pure representation of what's going on in there, if you know how to read them.  If somebody hacks into the system, the changes they make to hide that only affect the displays, not what is shown in here.  This room always shows the true state."

Barsh is speaking in a whisper.  He pulls the hatch closed and locks it.

"Clever," Shard mutters.  "Though I can't read a thing on this." She frowns.  "Do the comms reach out through here?  Or is it too thick?"  There should be some kind of electronic ingress and egress; it can't be completely sealed.  Only it's likely hardwired, with any wireless outside of the core.

Aaaaand...that's the extent of her knowledge of such things.

She's a tad concerned about being locked in here with Barsh, but unless he's a fine actor Shard is pretty convinced that she can deal with any issues that arise.  Close quarters actually favour her.  But she makes sure to keep some distance between the pair of them.

Personal space, and all.

Rhijans knelt down next to the astromech droid, so he could voice his request quietly enough to avoid drawing attention, should anyone in the bay be working with Reise.  "I need the locations of the Imperial attacks on Alliance operatives...in order, as they happened.  And I need to cross-reference that list with the missions flown by Volan Reise, as he was delivering cargo."

He didn't bother adding anything about covering tracks...he was pretty sure the R2 unit understood the need for secrecy.  He lookedat You-Why.

"You can save him a little time...give him that list of deliveries Reise made, it's that much less data he's got to sift through to get us a usable answer."

Barsh frowns, "It's too thick, and too heavily shielded.  The only thing that gets through is just plain old power for the indicators, fed directly through cables.  Since this room represents the health of the core, so to speak, they don't want anything interfering with it and giving false readings."

Around the pair, the myriad tiny lights continue to flicker, ephemeral patterns forming and dissolving moment by moment.  "I can't get much out of either."  The clerk indicates a pulsating constellation near the upper pole of the room, "For all I know, that means somebody is hacking into the security systems.  Or maybe using an astromech droid to access base records... "

Oh-oh jacks into a data socket and whistles quietly as he works, swivelling his domed head to look at Rhijans as the man specifies what he needs.  You-Why translates, "He says that there are no direct correlations.  None of the deliveries were dropped in systems where missions from this base were hampered by Imperial forces."

And then the small droid starts chirping excitedly, a stream of rapid fire whistles and beeps follows, "He says that, after the delivery was made at Faimudin, there was a request for information on the progress of their requisition from a cell on Altomen, which is close to Faimudin."  A pause, and then, "It seems that Captain Reise never delivered any of the proton torpedoes to the proper locations, though his documentation showed that he did.  In each case, the Imperial presence in the system that ordered the torpedoes, which was not necessarily the location where he was supposed to deliver them, was increased dramatically."

Juragga ambles over and leans in to see what Haarmon's doing.  And what's going on on the other end of that monitor.

"Mhhhhhhhrrf," he groaned.  He felt they should be out doing something, not just sitting here.  But then, Haarmon was doing something.  It was the Wookiee that felt idle.

Rhijans' eyes narrowed at the news.  "Are there, actually, any Alliance groups operating in the systems where he made the deliveries?  And what kind of Imperial presence is in them?"

He wasn't getting much closer to closing up the security breaches within the base, itself...but this was turning into a pretty damning case against Reise.  The trick would be getting it all to Kourene, if Reise had some kind of inside connection at the Colonel's office.  He couldn't get away from nagging suspicions on that one...and, for now, he didn't indulge any of those suspicions.  The situation was enough to induce very real paranoia...the kind that went beyond healthy suspicion to a crippling fear...and he didn't have time for that.  He acknowledged to himself that there appeared to be a problem and kept working, mentally...there was at least a thread here, to be pulled.  With some luck, that pulling would either prove or disprove the suspicions, and enable him to do something constructive about the situation.

"I hear you, Rags." Haarmon muttered. So far this show was a real let-down. Watching Rhijans talk with Jalt and the trash can was boring. And who knows where Shard and whatssisface got off to.

He cocks a sardonic eyebrow at his friend. "I wonder if I could find Kourene? He can't all the way off the grid. You think? Worth the try?"

"Fair enough.  Better sit down.  We're going to wait a bit, then stick our noses up for a report." She slides down the wall, taking her own advice.  "We'll need to do that.  If there's no comm, I have no idea how things are progressing up top, and we can't stay here for days."

Cocking her head to the side, Shard purses her lips thoughtfully.  "So.  You've had some time to think.  Anything more on this situation come to you?"

Barsh settles down and gives Shard a rueful smile, "Yes, as a matter of fact.  Never ask a smuggler for help impressing a girl."  He looks around the chamber and chuckles, "You know, I'm surprised these rooms don't all have caches of food and weapons in them - they'd make ideal hiding places for spies and saboteurs.  I suppose that's why the owners try to keep their existence a secret as much as possible."

Artoo whistles something on a rising note, which You-Why translates for Rhijans' benefit, "That is just it.  It appears that Captain Reise was providing information that pointed to his having delivered the weapons to the correct locations, but the information was not accurate.  We have no way of knowing where he actually did deliver them.  Also, the Alliance cellss that ordered them all reported increased Imperial activity in their own systems."  The astromech droid adds a string of noises.  "Really?  You think that is the case?  He suspects that Captain Reise stole the weapons in order to sell them himself, and sold the locations of the Alliance cells to the Imperials."

And, without waiting for Juragga's permission, Haarmon starts running a pattern recognition routine, coding and recoding it, making it more and more refined as he searches for Kourene...
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:17, Mon 27 July 2015.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArrrrrgh," Juragga rumbled.

I have a bad feeling about this.

Rhijans' face darkened in a scowl as the information that the astromech was providing suggested a perfectly solid way to set Reise up as a source of misinformation...now that they'd put everyone in the base on alert about him being a spy.

At least they had a solid connection to him being less-than-honest, and a strong suspicion of what he was doing.  "So, Reise gets tapped to deliver a weapons order...which gives him weapons to sell.  He's also got the delivery location to pass along, either to an Imperial agent or to an information broker who'll pass it along to an Imperial agent, which gives away the presence of Alliance troops."

It was enough to pass on to Kourene...if and when the Colonel turned up.  But it might not be everything...

"Do all the missed shipments-turned-attacked locations correlate to Reise's missed deliveries?  Or are there any of them that might be evidence of this being more than a one-man operation?"  If Reise had any buddies helping him with this scheme, there should be a few other traceable connections, as well.

Shard can't help but laugh. "Point taken.  Smugglers are just a bunch of nerf-herders, in general.  Probably scruffy to boot."  She considers most of the smugglers she has known, and shakes her head ruefully.

Though, there was that one back on Bandic III...

Another shake of the head dispels the memory, sending it tumbling into the back of her mind to lurk, awaiting an opportune moment.  Shard shrugs.  "I'd agree.  Though I'd expect more a bottle of wine and a basket of sweets, or something.  Seems a good place for hidden rendezvous."  She lets out a slow, whistling sigh.  "We're going to need to leave here for the fresher, as well," the older woman grumbles.

Then she purses her lips.  "So, that does bring about a question.  Remind me: how many other people are even aware of this hidey-hole?"

"It's all right." Haarmon reassures the Wookiee, "I've thrown together a routine that uses the security network to find Kourene.  If he's on the base, or at least within range of the visual monitoring systems, it'll find him and alert us."

"No problem."

You-Why listens to Artoo's response, and relays a translation to Rhijans, "There is a one hundred percent correlation.  It appears that Captain Reise was the sole connection at this end."

"Of course, there is no way of knowing who he passes the weapons and information on to, before it reaches the Imperials, but I believe that it is safe to say that if Captain Reise is stopped, the leak here will be plugged."

Barsh shrugs, "Let's see... there's probably only the tech teams who actually know about this room, and only the Quartermaster has a key to the service tunnels.  At least he did, until I stole it it a few minutes ago."

"So anybody who wants to get into here has to come by the stores desk, ask for the key, show a work order that requires them to enter the tunnels, and hope that nobody else has the blasted key at that time."

He spreads his hands, shaking his head, "Why did you have to mention the fresher?"

"So we're ahead of the game," Shard muses.  "Anyone wanting to come down here will need to...I don't know, burn through a pressure door."  She snorts, a quick gust of amusement. "Could attract attention."

The amusement fades at Barsh's complaint.  "You should have gone before we came down here," Shard continues with a slightly sardonic smile.  That fades as well.  "Sorry.  Hang on for a while.  We'll need to stick our heads up to get a read on what's happening.  If you can manage for a bit, that'll do.  We should pick up some food and something to drink, as well."

The former padawan pushes herself up, back against the wall.  "We're not staying here forever, and not even that long.  It's nonsensical.  We needed to get you out of the bullseye; if a few hours pass, whomever is hunting you to shut you up will start figuring they've missed their window.  The information will already be out, too many people will know...they'll need to start thinking about running more than killing."  A shrug. "Assuming someone is actually hunting you."

The smile returns.  "I'd...rather not take the chance, and I'm sure you feel the same."

"Well... there was the mob at he detention block.  But at that point we weren't being quite so careful, so there wasn't really a need for any actual hunting.  Anybody who heard that I was escorted out of the infirmary could have guessed that the detention block might be my next stop." Barsh says thoughtfully, then essays a smile that's almost completely worry free, "Maybe I'm in the clear already."

The terminal starts to flicker images in rapid succession, none of them current.  All of them show Kourene at different places around the base.  The most recent one is of him boarding a ship, a freighter, together with two of his ranking officers.  A quick cross-check reveals that many of the base's senior personnel boarded several ships, approximately three hours ago...

You-Why continues to translate the astromech droid's report.  "There were no other Captains who displayed such a close correlation with Imperial interception of operations.  There were a few incidents that Captain Reise could not have been responsible for, and there were a few occasions when missions he would have known about were not compromised.  But he can be linked to almost twice as many failed operations as anybody else on the base, with the exception of Colonel Kourene."

Rhijans nodded.  "That's enough for me.  If anyone else could be more culpable, it would be the Colonel...and if he was the spy, he wouldn't have included additional personnel to find him, he'd most likely have left it to Security, with him keeping a close eye on things."  There was still a chance that the Colonel could have been involved...but it was a slim chance and Rhijans was almost willng to completely dismiss the notion as a product of his own over-developed sense of suspicion.

"Can we get a current location on Reise or the Colonel?"  One would remove the threat, the other would fulfill the mission they'd been given.  Either way, it would mean everyone could relax and breathe a little easier.