"That's fine," Shard quietly replies, moving to the door. "I'll just need the door open, is all."  She quirks a smile.  "We have some...systems that can manage from there.  I'll shut it right away, right after."

The security patrol stops, the leader listening to something on a comlink.  "Roger that, Control."  Then he raises his voice, "Two teams,  Team One with me, Team Two down that way.  Whoever it was has gone offline, so now where looking for anything suspicious, not just somebody using a console in an unusual location.  Weapons on stun still."  There is a brief bustle of activity - mostly name selection - then the two teams move out in different directions.

Barsh considers Shard's words, then nods slowly.  "That works for me, I think."

Haarmon and Juragga leave Rhijans' quarters, remembering to lock the door behind them.  Fortunately Haarmon knows that Rhijans and You-Why were at the hangar a short while ago, so if they head in that direction they should be able to find the pair.  Should...

Haarmon hurries down the corridor, trying his best to keep with Juragga's long, powerful strides without looking like he was scurrying along behind him. He was convinced that he always looked like he was scurrying and it really bugged him. He tried a confident saunter, but he couldn't manage speed and cool at the same time.

So he fell into a sort of half-scurry/half-strut that looked more foolish than either one would have on its own.

"Just down here toward the hangar, Rags. And hope he hasn't gone off anywhere strange."

He paused.

"And keep an eye out for security. We don't need that kind of hassle."

Rhijans scowled slightly at what he overheard.  Someone who'd just stopped using a console?  And accessing information that had Security alerted...

Given what he'd just gotten from Jalt's astromech droid, his mind naturally went there, and he gave a relieved sigh that the little droid was back at work on the ship and comfortably far from a data console.

He debated with himself for a moment longer...but they seemed to be following standard protocols and utilizing standard comm traffic.  He couldn't see a reason to remain suspicious of them.  And, at some point, he'd have to start trusting someone on the base outside of his team.

"Excuse me..." he said, by way of announcing his presence before he stepped into view of them.

"Who's the Officer of the Watch, and where might I find him?  I've got information regarding a project the Colonel gave me that really should be run through proper channels..."

"All right," Shard quietly states.  There's always the risk Barsh is exactly what people think he is, and this is a long game played to give him access to the core.  Alone.  But there's a certain point where plans become too complicated and paranoia collapses under its own weight.  Barsh had access to the key.  He could have come down here - alone - at any time.

"I won't be long," she continues, moving to the door.  Before she opens it, though, Shard slides out the cold length of her weapon, holding it firmly in her right hand.  Paranoia can grow too great, but there's always room for caution.

Activating the door, she sneaks a quick look through the crack as it opens.

Haarmon and Juragga stride purposefully into the hangar.  They've made it this far without running into Security, and now they've just got the simple task of talking to Rhijans.

Who isn't there.

Reldan Jalt is though, and the pilot gives the pair a wave, before turning to give his astromech droid a string of instructions heavy on technical jargon and profanity...

"I'll be here when you get back." Barsh affirms as Shard cracks open the hatch.

The corridor outside the core is deserted, though the pipes and conduits provide a plethora of potential shadowy nooks and crannies.  None of which, Shard is forced to admit, are large enough to conceal anything bigger than a mouse droid.

Looks clear...

The patrol leader looks Rhijans up and down, but gives You-Why little more than a cursory glance.  "Lietenant Arisis is in Security Control, next to the Detention Block.  At least that's where he called me from a moment ago."

Rhijans nodded.  "Good enough.  Thanks."  Without further fuss, he turned sharply on a heel and started off in the direction of Security Control...(fortunately, he'd just been through that part of the base a relatively short while ago, so he knew exactly what they were talking about...)

"C'mon, You-Why.  I may need you to clarify some of the nuances if I get too terse in my explanations."  It was a valid concern...protocol droids were generally known for at least some degree of diplomatic training.  Rhijans, however, suspected that You-Why had over-written some of that programming...but after having the droid with him through so much of chasing all these details down, it only seemed fair to have him along when the report was made.

He still had to remind himself to slow down so the droid could keep up, though.  His level of regard for the droid had not grown to a point where he naturally matched pace with You-Why...and he was more than a little impatient for reasons that had nothing to do with the droid's pace.

Haarmon gave the whole hangar a sour look. One of his best. It was at once petulant and demanding. He even crossed his arms and muttered a few bad words. But for all that, the empty hangar refused to produce Rhijans.

So now what?

"So now what?" he asked Juragga. "You wanna go wander? Where would he go?"

Juragga rumbled a suggestion... try calling him on the comm?  He mumbled that wandering about would increase their chance of being spotted by security.  They'd been lucky so far...

While Juragga and Haarmon discuss their next move, the object of their search makes his way to the Detention Block and the adjacent Security Central.  The latter is not nearly as impressive as it sounds - a couple of desks, some seats where base security personnel can sit for briefings, some crates of equipment, and a drink dispenser.  None of it in exactly pristine condition.

A brief inquiry reveals which of the people present is Lietenant Arisis - a balding, middle aged man with a stern expression and some scarring on the left side of his face and neck.

He looks up from a datapad as Rhijans and You-Why approach him, "Yes, what do you want?  I'm a little busy, so unless it's important... "

Jalt looks across at Haarmon and Juragga.  "Hey, Artoo says he knows where your friends went.  He can show you.  I was planning to take a break anyway while the ship runs some diagnostics, so I can spare him for a few more minutes."

Shard, meanwhile moves out into the deserted corridor...

Rhijans wasn't given to flippancy, so he made it blunt.  "If it wasn't important, I wouldn't be here.  It's directly related to an assignment I got from Colonel Kourene, personally...to track down the Imperial agent that's been compromising our operations in this sector."

He didn't wait to see what kind of impact that had, but just continued.  "I've figured out who it is...and depending on how we deal with that information, we can catch him and seal off the leak, or we can scare him and send him running to the Empire with nothing to lose and a perfectly good reason to report the location of this base."

He gave a scant pause, and added, "Is that important enough for you, Lieutenant?"

Lieutenant Arisis opens his mouth to speak, then closes it again.  A brief look around the room, and finally says, "Come with me please."  He leads the way into a small office just off the main room, and he closes the door after Rhijans and You-Why have entered.  He gestures for Rhijans to sit down, then takes another seat for himself.

You-Why is left standing.

"Right... tell me what you've got."

Rhijans sat...but didn't relax.  While there was nothing to indicate that Reise had any accomplices, the possibility didn't escape him.  And having the lieutenant lead them into a secluded room could either mean he wanted to avoid feeding the rumor mill...or he was an accomplice and doing his best to filter who knew and could pass the information along.

There was one way to find out.  "Volan Reise is your man.  His last...how many deliveries was it, You-Why?" he asked the droid, glancing quickly back and gesturing for his cohort in chasing the information down to step up beside the chair.  Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "They've been issued by the quartermaster...but delivery to the stated destination was never confirmed.  In fact, Alliance personnel waiting for delivery sent queries after the reported date, asking what the delay was and explaining they were still waiting.  Not only that, but pretty much each outpost, shortly after that, was attacked by the Empire.  It's too regular to be lucky guesswork by the Empire, and the absolute lack of similar incidents from anyone else flying resupply missions makes it pretty damning."

He waited for the lieutenant's reaction...and You-Why's confirmation of the number of missions Reise had compromised.  Since he never really looked relaxed, the tension in his body, ready to react if it turned out his suspicious nature was justified, looked about as close to calm as he got.

The lieutenant steeples his fingers and looks at Rhijans over the top of them.  You-Why's confirmation of the number of missing shipments and Imperial raids that can be linked to Reise brings a sudden flurry of activity as Arisis reaches for a datapad and starts checking details.

Finally he clears his throat and says, "I have people that I know I can trust to deal with this.  The next time Reise shows up, and he has to if he wants more information to sell, we'll arrest him as soon as he lands, and before he can talk to anybody here."

"My guess would be that he's selling goods and information to the Hutts, perhaps to pay off debts or favours, and they sell the information to the Imperials at a healthy mark-up."

Haarmon nods at Jalt. And then at the R2 unit. "Sounds good. Lead on, Tuna Can."

While he walked he kept his mind sort of half-cocked, listening for any more messages from Shard. He wasn't sure if he should warn Rhijans he was coming or just drop in. He didn't want to give anyone listening in an opportunity to jump them. But the Artoo unit only knew where he was right now. And, as Harmon knows from personal experience, invincible tech ninjas got around pretty fast.

And, there was always the chance he'd get shot if he surprised him at the wrong time.

+Rhijans+ he said into the comm, +Coming to you+

For his part, Juragga's concern was that Haarmon NOT get shot.  He warily eyed the exits with his teal eyes and prepared to dive in the way, bodily, of any threat to the kid.

R2-O0 makes his way through the base, followed by Haarmon and Juragga.  Every now and then the droid chirps something that sounds like an interrogative, or a suggestion, or possibly even an insult, but since neither the Human nor the Wookiee can understand the string of electronic noises, it's hard for them to reply to him.

The trio move through the corridors, and ride a freight elevator down a couple of levels, all without encountering any difficulty.

And then, at about the same time, both Haarmon and Juragga begin to realise something...

The droid seems to be leading them to the detention cells, and the base's security centre...

Haarmon's eyes narrow and his lips tighten up. He slows and pauses. "Hold it up there a moment, Pi-R-Squared."

He gave Juragga a significant look. He tried to make the look mean Do you think maybe this crazy thing is taking us to security? Like maybe it knows it was us who broke into the system and it lied to Jalt to get us alone and now it's turning us in?

He was pretty sure he nailed it. But then, he also knew that Rags wasn't exactly an expert at human facial expressions. So who know how much got lost in the translation.

"Hot void," he muttered, fully cognizant that this thing could understand them, but they couldn't understand it. Why do they even build the stupid things without the ability to speak Common?

"I never thought I'd say this, and if you tell him I said so I'll deny it, but I wish You-Why was here."

He sighed and shrugged. What else could they do? Sometimes the direct approach was the only way to go. "Listen. Beer Can. are you taking us to security? Is that where Rhijans is? Nothing shady going on here?"

A pause.

"I guess, one Bleep for yes and two Bleeps for no? Or something?"

Rhijans nodded to the lieutenant.  "That's actually exactly what I had in mind.  I just wanted to touch base with you to make sure that nobody tried shooting him down while he was on approach and scared him off."

And then Haarmon's commlink call came through, and Rhijans grimaced.  "And, while we're at it, I need you to call off the manhunt for the person who hijacked the base PA system earlier today.  He was working with me, and did it at my instruction...which was at the Colonel's direction.  You're chasing down a false lead, and could cost us a valuable resource if one of your people gets lucky and finds him."

He somehow suspected the reaction to that would be a little less agreeable than the one to his revelation about Reise...

After a short time out in the deserted corridor, Shard slips back into the core room.  "Okay, it's done.  Haarmon knows where we are, and he's doing better.  So he'll let Rhijans know."

R2-O0 stops and turns around to face Haarmon, unleashing what sounds like a torrent of angry sounds.  Then it stops and gives a single beep, followed by a pause and then another beep.  Then two more in quick succession.  Then two more, apparently just for good measure, before continuing on its way towards the detention centre...

Barsh nods, "Okay.  That's good.  I think."  He rubs at his eyes with both hands.  "I mean, I suppose you do trust him, or you wouldn't have called him.  Right?"

Lietenant Arisis smiles, "Look, I know that all you Field types are some kind of hotshots, and everything, But please try to credit us with some intelligence.  We won't shoot him down because we'd quite like him alive.  For questioning."

And then the smile slips, as he addresses Haarmon's breach of security, "Ah... so one of your people was responsible for that?  Well, we won't shoot him either.  Actually I'd like to talk to him... find out how he bypassed the security interlocks without tripping the alarm macros."

"Haarmon," Shard states with absolute certainty, "is one of three people on this entire base I trust whole-heartedly."  She always operates as such; the team is the team, and one can't start second-guessing them unless given proof.  And this team?

It has given her solid proof of its worthiness.  Haarmon, Juragga, Rhijans: three people she trusts with her life and purpose.

"That includes the colonel," she continues, slowly lowering herself back to a seated position.  "Not that I distrust him; there's a difference.  But if I say 'everyone is a suspect', I'm including him.  But not my people; I know them, I depend on them, they depend on me.  We've been through some crazy stuff."

She eyes Barsh for a long moment.  "You look done in.  Use my coat and your outer coat to lie on, and take a break."

Rhijans nodded.  "I'm sure he'd be thrilled to tell you how he did it.  He lives for that...the doing stuff like that, at least.  I'm not so sure about the talking about how."  He shrugged and raised his comm, adding, "I've never cared enough about finding out how he did it to encourage him to explain.  It was always enough that it was done."

He keyed the commlink.  "Haarmon, I'm in the Security HQ.  We've had some headway on tracking down hard evidence on Reise...enough that I thought it was time to say something to Security.  You should be able to breathe easy, at this point."

He still didn't relax, however.  He had the itch to pull out the Colonel's list and check to make sure the lieutenant was on the 'cleared' section, but thought it wouldn't be prudent to do so right in front of the man.  Once Haarmon was here, however...that would be plenty of distraction to let him verify that he hadn't just compromised all of them.

Haarmon listened to Rhijans over the comm and relaxed. He should have known the super-spy would have fixed it up. Probably called in a favour or blew something up or told a sweet lie or something totally ninja like that.

"So, I guess you can waddle back home if you like," he said to the R2 unit, "Go interface with some terminals or whatever it is you do for kicks. Or some hang with us. Whatever."

And shrugging at Juragga he made his way to Security.

He was more than a little nervous about the scene that confronted him. Some of these guys had actually shot him not that long ago. But he coudln't stay mad at them. If that hadn't happened, he wouldn't have that... whatever it was... with Shard.

Which reminded him.

"Uh, Rhijans. I got a.... ummm... message for you. From Shard. Says she's holed up. And safe. With Ba.... with you know who."

He wasn't sure how much of whatever he was supposed to telling who. Spying was hard.

There is a brief debriefing, and Lieutenant Arisis takes notes as  Haarmon explains exactly how somebody could slice into a supposedly secure system (not necessarily how he did it, but how a hypothetical somebody might do it).  Further notes are taken regarding the respective roles played by Barsh and Reise in the recent sabotage, and the latter's ongoing operation as a spy.

Notes taken the old fashioned way, using a stylus and paper, and then pocketed by Arisis.  Nobody is going to slice into a database and get that information.  At least not until after it's been made (semi) public, at which point it would be useless to anybody other than the people its intended for.

Arisis is taking it all very seriously indeed.

And deep inside the core, in the secure heart of the base's computer, Barsh smiles at Shard and thanks her, before getting as comfortable as possible on the curved floor and dozing fitfully...