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...