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.