With the debriefing over, Rhijans, Haarmon and Juragga are dismissed, and told to get some rest.  As Arisis explains, "The information you've provided could be used in planning future missions.  I'll need to speak to the Colonel when he gets back, but I'm sure there must be some way we can work out where Reise was taking the diverted torps, and getting them back from whoever they were delivered to.  I suspect things are going to be busy for you people."

"In the meantime, I'll have Barsh taken into protective custody, just in case Reise has other people working with him here.  If I can manage it, I'll have him put on a ship and taken safely off-world.  Just bring him in, and we'll keep him safe until Reise and any friends he has are pinned down."

He squeezes the bridge of his nose and sighs, "Is there anything else?"

Rhijans thought for a moment...and grimaced, in a 'I can't believe I'm actually saying this' fashion.  "The repair tech in Medical...Kedra.  Make sure she knows Barsh isn't actually the bad guy.  Might have to wait on that until after we get Reise...but if we can tell her earlier and get her to agree to play along, it would be better."

He shook his head, adding, "Don't ask me to explain why..."

Haarmon gave the security guy a long-suffering look and a sympathetic shrug. "I still don't understand why."

And then, to Rhijans, "Should we... ummm... go get Shard? Or at least let her know it's all on the up-and-up?"

Juragga warbled a repeat and endorsement of Haarmon's query.  He had a bad feeling about this...

Rhijans nodded.  "You know where to get ahold of her?  It'd be smart to tell her Barsh is safe from Security...but that we don't necessarily know if Reise was operating solo and she should be on her toes until we meet up with them."  He wasn't about to leave her in the hands of any old security guard who happened across her path.

Oblivious, Shard continues to sit quietly while Barsh sleeps.  She does, after all, have a great deal to think about.

...not the best thing for her.

Hot void.  I could really use a drink.

Haarmon smiles as they walk away from Security Central.  Yes, he knows how to get hold of Shard.  And the smile slips only a little as he corrects himself mentally.  He thinks he knows how to get hold of her.


After a few moments of walking in silence, Haarmon clears his throat and asks Rhijans, quietly. "Where should she meet us?  I mean, if I can contact her."

Then, for some reason that only he seems to know, he gives Juragga a grin, and that "thumbs up" gesture that Humans use all the time, meaning that everything is going well.

Usually just before somebody pulls a thermal detonator out of their pocket...

Rhijans gave Haarmon an inscrutable look...whether it was because he could see no visible method of communicating with Shard, or because he had some exception to being asked the question wasn't clear.  At least, not until his response provided at least some clue...

"Well, I would suggest a place that's somewhere between where she is and where we are...but I have no idea where the blazes she is, so I can't really make that suggestion."  There was a look of expectancy on his face, as though he'd just left a blank in a sentence that he expected Haarmon to fill in, somehow...

Haarmon opens his eyes. He hoped that the message reached. He was pretty sure it did. Not that he had any real experience with whatever the void was happening. Or even knew what the void was happening. But still. He nailed it.

Totally nailed it.

"She's in the computer core," he said, quietly. He still wasn't sure how much of what he was supposed to be telling who. "With Barsh. Your quarters are about halfway. How bout there?"

His own quarters were actually closer to halfway, but he'd been shot there not too long ago. Maybe give them a miss for a bit. His hand picked idly at his wound as he walked.

Shard winces as the message floats through the aether to her; not from pain, but surprise.  She shoots a quick check at Barsh, finding him asleep or next to it.  With that, she closes her eyes and leans her head back.  It's becoming more and more easy finding the balancing point...or so she hopes.

Rhijans gave Haarmon another inscrutable look...then shrugged.  "My quarters will work fine," he said flatly.  "Maybe even a little to her side of midway, depending on how fast we move and how hard it is to get out of the core..."

Rather than discuss it further, he turned and started walking.  Nobody saw the flicker of disbelief and confusion that flashed across his features...

Juragga shrugged and went to follow Rhijans, sparing a glance to Haarmon to make sure.

The strange looking group makes their way through the base - a gray skinned Humanoid, a protocol droid, a Wookiee, and a Human who keeps closing his eyes and appears to be concentrating really hard...

But there have been enough things going on lately that the people they pass, most of whom appear to be in a hurry, are too busy to notice them. 

As they round a corner, they pass a security team who stand there, waiting patiently (and trying to prove how alert they are by scrutinising passers-by), as their leader talks on a comlink.  "Copy that, Control.  We'll head over there now."

Barsh stirs in his sleep, and wakes suddenly, calling out, "Kedra!"

As soon as Haarmon gets the transmission from Shard he stops and leans against the wall, eyes closed, brow furrowed, mind focused. He tried to find that point of sharp concentration that he managed before. It was hard. Like trying to balance on a tightrope. On a unicycle. In a windstorm.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 17:35, Thu 08 Oct 2015.

Still waiting, Shard starts slightly; Barsh's explanation was hardly the message she expected.  Coughing her tongue back up into her mouth from where she had swallowed it, the older woman eyes Barsh with an appraising eye. "Bad dreams, Barsh?  If they were, fire off the details now before you forget them."

If they weren't...she doesn't want to hear about them, prurient or not.  Love stories make her maudlin, these days.

Barsh shakes his head, groggily.  "Bad dream?  You might say that.  I... I dreamed I killed Kedra.  Again.  I mean I dreamed it again, not I killed her again."  He looks thoroughly depressed. 

The security team start to move, heading away from Haarmon, Rhijans, Juragga and You-Why.  Twenty metres away the turn into a side passage which leads directly away from Rhijans' quarters...

"She's alive," Shard states, helpfully.  Then the older woman softens a touch.  "Dreams will come, Barsh.  But they get better, after a while.  They really do.  We can see about getting you in to talk with Kendra - maybe that'll help those dreams, as well."

Abruptly her brows draw together, almost a wince. Hot void.  Imagery?  And...loud, sometimes.  No control, but there's a lot of natural ability there. Digging in her heels, she presses herself up the wall, then steps forward to extend her hand to Barsh.  "Come on.  I got a message a bit ago - we're to meet with security.  Everything should be clear for you, now, but we're going to keep you under watch for the moment." She cocks her head to the side, a half-smile appearing on her thin visage. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you now, after all the trouble we've taken to keep you safe."

Rhijans paused at the corridor heading to his quarters, and turned to look back at Haarmon.  "Which way and how far to the computer core?" he asked.  "And should we go meet Shard or wait for her?"  It was apparent from the tone his voice took, in the second half of that question, that the prospect of sitting and waiting for Shard to show up was not appealing to him.

Haarmon's heart skipped a beat and his mouth went a little dry at Rhijans' tone. He didn't like thinking of Rhijans displeased.

He pulls out his datapad and keys up the map of the base for Rhijans. A couple of screen swipes and a few taps and he had it. "Here's us. Here's your quarters. Here's the core. Assuming she got moving as soon as she heard the plan we should get there only a minute or two before she does. But there's enough routes from Core to quarters that if we go hunting for her we could miss her."

He shrugs. "But once she's out of the Core we should be able to use comms again. Assuming we're not still hiding. It's more reliable than... ummm.. the... other... method."

He was reluctant to get into the specifics of the 'other method.' Mainly because he for really-reals had no idea what the hell he was doing.

Barsh pushes himself to his feet, seeming a little groggy, and almost stumbles.  "Still half asleep.  Be glad to get back on a flat floor too." he yawns, and then, "Let's go."  Shard pops the door, and they step outside of their safe little hidey hole.

Barsh leads the way, while Shard watches his back.  "I really hope this doesn't all blow back in my face,"

You-Why studies the organics, puzzled.  There's clearly something going on that he isn't able to follow.  They obviously have some way of talking across long distances that he is not privy to.  Which means they could be saying anything.  He drops a memo into his priority stack to remind himself to keep an eye on them, just in case.

"If she has been told to meet you at a particular location, surely it would make sense to be there when she arrives."

Rhijans gave Haarmon another inscrutable look...something that could have been incredulity, distrust, annoyance...or equal parts of the above with something more.  His lip twitched as though he were about to say something when You-Why spoke up, and his eyes darted to the protocol droid for just a moment.

"True enough.  If she needs help, she knows to call us."  Assuming we can even hear the call...

He gave a jerk of his head in the direction of his quarters.  "We'll set up and be ready to respond if she calls for help...and ready to move out immediately to Security when she gets there with Barsh."  While his tone was decisive, there was something...a hint of dissatisfaction, perhaps?...coloring the words.

"Some of this will," Shard flatly states. "Best you prepare yourself for it.  There's always going to be people angry with you.  There'll always be people who whisper about no smoke without a fire.  Whatever."  She slips around in front of him, making sure to stay ahead.  "You keep behind me until we get through this - it's unlikely anyone is back there, or they would have shot already, but they sure could be waiting up ahead."

Ducking under a pipe, she continues with the main line of discussion.  "But you remember why you're here.  And you stick with it.  Do that, and you'll always have people ready to step in and defend you, if you make good on that.  You can't make even half the people happy even half the time, so don't try.  Just keep working your best to make this galaxy a better place, and...there will be people who see that." 

Maybe Kendra, but she doesn't mention that name.  Better not to make him expect something that might not happen.

"For myself?  We get through this alive, I hear anyone talking garbage about you I'm calling them on it."

It doesn't take Shard and a very grateful Barsh long to find their way back up from the tunnels and into the base proper.  From that point it's a short walk to a service elevator, and then another, longer walk to Rhijan's quarters.

Oddly there don't seem to be many security teams about...  A few droids, some base personnel going about their usual work, a service tech who is currently no more than a pair of legs sticking out of an access panel.  All of them seem too busy to pay much attention to two people just walking along a corridor.

Rhijans' door opens as soon as Shard signals her arrival, and she and Barsh enter, to find Rhijans himself, Haarmon, Juragga, and You-Why inside and waiting for them...

Rhijans looked up as the door opened, a quick flicker of something that could have been relief showing on his face.  "Good to see we're all still intact..."  His eyes flickered over to Haarmon for just a moment and the scantest hint of a smile played across his features momentarily.

"Or mostly intact, at least."  He didn't pause for a laugh, just kept talking.  "We've been able to confirm enough details that I have no doubt that Reise is responsible for the leaked information.  Doesn't seem like he's got an accomplice, but he might...someone kept issuing him deliveries after the first few were reported back as missing...either someone was deliberately overlooking them, someone was preventing the reports from proliferating to the right channels...or someone was just lazy and didn't keep tabs on the results of his delivery shipments.  But all the activity connects back to his ship."

He looked over at Barsh.  "Security's been advised...but in order to keep any potential inside contacts from alerting Reise before he can get back here, they want to keep Barsh, to make it look like everything's been pinned on him."  He gave Barsh a measured look, and added, "They know you aren't the one.  They just need someone to give the impression that they're still being misled.  Once they have Reise, the truth can come out.  But if word gets to Reise before he gets back here and they can round him up, he could run for it...and sell out the whole sector's operations in one stroke, instead of the piecemeal job he's been doing."

Juragga yodeled a greeting for Shard, then sat back and pondered as Rhijans laid out all the details he'd uncovered.  It was the first time the Wookiee had heard all the particulars...

Grinning, Shard hustles Barsh inside to the tune of a bugled hello from Juragga and...is that actually a smile from Rhijans?  Worth the wait, she decides.  "Nice to see everyone alive and healthy - mostly - as well."  She shoots a quick look at Haarmon, appraising and warning simultaneously.  He doesn't look healthy...but doesn't look decomposing, so he's still on the proper side of that line.  A slow nod follows.  You and I need to talk, youngster, and soon.

Flick of two fingers off the brow to Juragga, and a small sniff at Rhijans' summation.  "So we might have others working along with Reise to obfuscate things?  Void.  But I like the plan for Barsh.  Security can keep him safe...or they'd better." Her eyes narrow.  "We have people on the 'safe' list in there?  They watch Barsh.  ONLY them.  If none of them are cleared by the Colonel, they don't get Barsh.  Period."

She jerks a thumb toward Juragga. "They don't like it, they can explain it to our complaints department."   Hot void, they've done enough work keeping Barsh alive until now; and she'd made promises, to boot.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:28, Mon 26 Oct 2015.

Haarmon wasn't around for most of this, so he took Rhijans' word for it all and just dug the groove. Also, he was feeling quite shy with Shard in the room. Vulnerable. Like she'd seen him naked in the shower or something.

His right hand picked at the bandage on his chest. He sat close to Juragga and stared mostly at the floor.

You-Why listens quietly to the conversation, apparently paying close attention.  Occasionally he interrupts to verify what is being said, mostly by Rhijans.  And sometimes he interrupts to make sure that people are aware of his own part in the investigation, paying particular attention to detail when describing how he was responsible for interrogating and torturing certain individuals.

His uncannily accurate imitations of their screams of anguish are particularly unpleasant.

Finally he adds, "We should, in all likelihood, probably report our findings to Colonel Kourene as soon as possible.  Unfortunately I have been unable to ascertain his exact whereabouts.  None of my sources, including R2-O0, who is usually quite reliable for an R2 unit, have been able to tell me where he is."

Haarmon stood up, glad that there was something happening he could actually help with.

"True story, Tin-Shirt. Hey security guy. You mind if I go mucking around in the system? Like, for legit? Then I can poke around without Rags getting all anxious gramma on me.""

Assuming he gets permission, he starts walking his way through the archives, like he'd started back in Rhijans quarters. Back there he'd had to stop because the big red light was blinking.

(and also because he maybe turned into a Jedi or something maybe sort of kind of)

But now? With all the time he needed? And permission?

Nowhere near as fun. But WAY easier.

Investigation (Networks): 23
Search: 11

"Well done, You-Why," Shard notes to the droid, wincing at one of the screams.  And she means it.  Every team needs someone capable of frightening the opposition.  They have Rhijans...but there's something implacably terrifying about a protocol droid speaking this way.

Between him, the bounty-hunter, and Juragga, they should be able to get information out of anything but a dedicated computer server.

Which leaves Haarmon, already hard at work moving in on that system hunting for Kourene.  Shard moves over, leans on the back of the chair, and peers at the screen.  "You're pretty good at finding your way around there, Haarmon," she quietly notes.  "Amazing how you pass information back and forth."  Leaning forward, she fixes him with a stare for a moment before shifting back again. "You and me, we need to talk."

Haarmon didn't quote know what to say to that. He mumbled something that might have been "M'kay" and tried to concentrate on the screen. And ignore the fact that he was almost certainly blushing.

Fighting down his embarrassment, Haarmon works at the terminal in Rhijans' quarters.  The same one that he had used to slice into the Security system just a short while ago.  Shard stands close to him, doing nothing to reduce the heat spreading through his face.

Information flows across the screen.  Colonel Kourene is off-world, and his current location is unknown, beyond the fact that he boarded a ship which filed no flight plan, and which is somewhere within a sphere whose radius is defined by the maximum distance that it could, potentially, have travelled in the elapsed time.

It's a depressingly large volume of space, and growing larger by the minute.  Even larger if the ship had made the jump to hyperspace.

Further information suggests that a number of the Colonel's staff had also left the base with him, travelling aboard separate transports...

Aha! No one got anywhere without leaving a trail.

He started two lines in inquiry. First, his staff, their whereabouts, and anything they may have left behind. No way every flunky who stapled his reports together was that careful.

And second, start linking pictures and video from security footage to see if he could find what ship the Colonal left on. If he  knew that, he could make strike out into the wider world and see what was findable.

And he was trying to ignore how close Shard was standing to him.

Rhijans turned a measuring gaze on You-Why as the droid recounted his own part in the process of discovering the truth.  Interrogation procedures were not a standard part of protocol droid programming, to the best of his knowledge, and that left Rhijans with uncomfortable speculations on where that kind of programming could have come from...and what other non-standard subroutines might be running through the droid's brain.  Or whatever they called the processing units they used...

For now, however, he kept his peace, watching Haarmon begin his own kind of interrogation.  He'd been focused on other matters so intently that he'd been able to keep it subdued...but the thought of Colonel Kourene being off the base, with no known destination and no expected time of return, and his entire staff traveling under similar conditions, made him profoundly uncomfortable.  They had no way of knowing who Reise had sold information to...odds were extremely good it was Oomba's organization, as Hutts enjoyed notoriety when it came to weapons and information (among other things)...they had no idea of what information, exactly, had been passed along to them, whether it had been merely the locations of the outposts to which Reise had been neglecting to deliver or if the whole sector's operations had been compromised...and they had no idea how much of that information Oomba was holding in reserve as a bargaining chip to get around Imperial entanglements with his operations.  Selling a Rebel base might be enough to get a full spice shipment through Imperial Customs without more than a checkmark acknowledging the ship had gone through the port, or get a subordinate out of Imperial custody.  Might even be enough to buy Imperial arms, especially if they were older weapons that were due to be cycled out of issue.  There were plenty of reasons for Oomba to hold back information from the Empire.

But there were also plenty of opportunities for that information to leak...for something critical to happen and no one in the chain of command to be here to oversee a response, whatever that might be.  And while he felt quite competent taking care of himself...and even his team, if need be...he saw the potential for a catastrophic lack of response without a recognized authority figure present.

All of that flickered behind his eyes in the amount of time it took for Haarmon to type in one of his inquiries.  And the rest of the time was spent trying to keep the accompanying sense of unease from making him want to pace...or go to the hangar deck and see if Jalt's ship was finished and he could get them off the planet until Kourene returned.

Juragga huffed indignantly at Haarmon's "Gramma" comment, but stood back and let the kid do his thing.  He was very good at it; and it was not Juragga's forte.

But neither was sitting back and doing nothing.  So he mosied over to the doorway and checked the hall.

Nothing.  Nothing, nothing, and nothing...void.

That too.

She's not blind, though; Shard quickly realizes proximity is upsetting Haarmon.  Embarrassment, to be sure; for what, she wasn't quite certain.  Same as before?  Or because of his 'discovery'?  Either way, it's not helping and she can't decipher anything that's passing on the screen.  It might as well be in Sandperson for all she can comprehend.

Actually, Shard considers, she'd have better luck with Sandperson.

"Good job.  Keep it going, Haarmon," she mutters, turning away to do what Rhijans eschewed: pace.  It's one thing to move, to focus, to have a goal; it's another wait, and hot void, she wants a drink.  Only a few more days of this, she tells herself, knowing full-well her assessment is optimistic.  A few more days, and it'll get easier.  You can hang on.  You know you can.  Look at Rhijans.  Pro.  Take your cue from him.

Her eyes flick to Juragga as he moves to the door. "Anything out there?" she quietly queries the hairy giant.  If there's a danger...

...If there's a danger, Juragga will beat it to death.  With itself. 

Haarmon tries to focus on getting information out of the system regarding the Colonel's whereabouts.  It's slow work, and doesn't look too good.  Kourene and a handful of staff officers left on four different transports, none of which filed flight information with the base's traffic control centre.

The officer's themselves were, apparently, under instructions to keep their destinations secret.  If they filed any information with their own people, it consists of phrases like, "Off-world: meeting."  The location, and the purpose, of that meeting are a tightly guarded secret - hardly surprising considering the security issues that Defiance Base has been experiencing.

Haarmon is, at least, able to identify the ships that they used - a variety of transports and freighters, all of which launched within a half hour of each other:

Rim Runner
Kornell's Sky Dancer
Lady Fortuna
Mynock Bait

Interestingly, Lady Fortuna returned to the base about an hour later.  Apparently without its passengers...

Haarmon turns around and shows his team-mates the terminal. So we got these four transports right here. And this one," he points to the screen. "Just came back empty. Sooooooo maybe we ought to go talk to the captain? Sick the Titanium Ally here on them?"

He made a face. That last actually wasn't very funny.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:56, Sat 07 Nov 2015.

Rhijans scowled at the screen.  "I'm not wildly optimistic about the captain surrendering information about where he dropped his passengers.  Not even sure it will get us where we need to go to get them."

His face twitched, minutely, as thoughts of trying to trace the Colonel from information handed off by a courier pilot ran through his head.  If Kourene took the same kinds of precautions he would, in similar circumstances, Lady Fortuna had only been the first of several transports...in the same way that smugglers would set hyperspace coordinates for the middle of nowhere, then drop out and set a new course.  The more dangerous the cargo, the more often they'd shift courses, to throw off pursuit.

And having the top brass for the Alliance in this sector going to the same place was way up there, in terms of dangerous...

But the alternative seemed to be sitting around, doing nothing.  And while he could bring himself to wait until the optimal moment to act, he was only comfortable with that when he had a definite course of action in mind.  Sitting and doing nothing was...highly undesirable.

"It's worth a try, at least.  Can you get the pilot's name and whereabouts?"

Haarmon gave Rhijans a thumbs up and went back to the terminal and back to work. Not too hard to trace someone on the base who was supposed to be there. The whole place was like a forest of electronic breadcrumbs.

He didn't think it would be a problem.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:37, Sun 22 Nov 2015.

Haarmon works his magic, and the screen fills with information in a matter of seconds.  A little bit too much information...  One adjusted parameter later, and the data is more manageable.

He spun in the chair and nodded his most decisive nod. "Kaldo Ritasa. She's down in the hangar right now waiting at her ship."
x
This message was last edited by the player at 05:37, Sun 22 Nov 2015.

"Outstanding."  Shard smiles, satisfied.  Not only is it success, but they've cut through some of the mire surrounding this situation and gotten to where she can do some good - face to face.  "Let's get started - it gives us something to do beyond sitting around and waiting."

Void.  Waiting.  That's thirsty work, and Shard is desperate to avoid anything of the sort.

"Great work, Haarmon."  Better he doesn't get it in his head that she's sitting and glaring at him all day, every day.  Not the case. "Let's get set and get moving."

Rhijans nodded.  "Ready when you are," he commented, drily.  He was actually looking forward to going there as a group...it meant he wouldn't necessarily have to do the talking.  He'd been forced to converse with people far more than was his custom, so far today, and it certainly wasn't helping the sense of agitation he was, thus far, fighting down.

Haarmon blushed a little a shard's praise. He felt a little strange now, as though unsure exactly what to think of her, or how. Somehow the fact that she was a-freaking-Jedi, added to the fact that, also apparently, he could... whatever they called it... the Force, or whatever, too... and then also that he had actually touched her mind, and her his, made her, at the same time, muddled everything together into a complicated stew of emotion.

Part of her wanted to think of her as almost sacred. Unreal and untouchable. Like a goddess. Or a holovid heroine. But she was also his teammate, and he had a deep respect for her as an actual for-real human being that didn't jive well with all the rest.

Haarmon wasn't good at complex emotions. Even the simple ones tended to mess him up.

He was really glad they had something to do.

"I'm ready, he said.
x
This message was last edited by the player at 05:37, Sun 22 Nov 2015.

Everybody gets up to go to the hangar, including You-Why.

"I will come with you, in case you need a translator."

The walk isn't too long, and Lady Fortuna is easy enough to find.  It's just a matter of looking for the dirtiest, most run-down ship in the place.  The pilot, a blonde human in her mid-late forties, and somewhat overweight, is sitting on a crate at the bottom of the ramp, with a tray of junk food on one side of her, and a blaster on the other.

As the group approaches, she squints at them and demands, "You lot the loadin' team?  Took yer time gettin' 'ere."

So it's the entire group - together - that heads for the docks.  Haarmon, to Shard's eye, has come back to more of his 'normal' place.  The flush seems to be par for the course, and Shard finds herself smiling with grim amusement as she marches through the hallways.

It's going to be interesting, approaching him about this thing she has discovered.  Juragga will, no doubt, support Haarmon; he holds people like her former mentor in high respect.  Shard doesn't, but understands the Jedi had good PR.  Rhijans, though...skepticism and outright irritation at the mention of such things.  That part isn't going to be easy.

But their arrival at the bay cuts off such discussion, and they end up face to face with Ritasa.  Or so Shard believes.  "Kaldo Ritasa?" she begins by way of confirmation.  "We're not the loading team you're looking for.  We're here about Colonel Kourene.  Need to speak with him as soon as possible.  You can verify our credentials with security...and probably should."  The lean woman grins.  "We'll wait."

"Yep, I'm Kaldo Ritasa, an' I'll take yer word that yer who yer say yer are." the woman replies, focussing on Shard, somehow, in spite of the fact that her left eye seems to be more interested in something a metre or so to Shard's right.  "The rest though, I can't 'elp yer.  No idea where 'e's at."

Further questioning brings forth a tale of a group of freighters taking off with Kourene and his senior staff aboard (and Kourene was never aboard Kaldo Ritasa's Lady Fortuna in any case, but beyond that she doesn't know which one of them he was on).  The freighters rendezvoused on the edge of an asteroid field out in the outer reaches of the system, and all the passengers were transferred to just one of them.

"Then they all scattered, see?  Ships went off in four diff'ren' directions.  If the others was like me, none of them 'ad any instructions fer after the transfer.  Jus' take them 'ere, then go where yer like.  'ell, fer all I know, even the ship what took 'em aboard 'ad no fixed place ter 'ead fer.  Me, I came back 'ere.  Got a contract ter ship out unusable scrap parts, so I 'ad a load ter pick up."

Haarmon slumped. He knew Rhijans was right and this was probably a dead end. But man, it sure would have been awesome if they'd gotten it, SWISH, on the first try.

"I don't think there's any way to trace that," he said, somewhat reluctantly, "If I had a week maybe I could code something. But too many variables.

"Do you know what freighter they all transferred to? Or make a guess? Did one of them fly off listing slightly to port or whatever?"
x

Rhijans' jaw clenched slightly as the explanation was given, and his mind flashed for a moment, trying to sort possibilities.  He had just settled on something and was about to open his mouth to ask when Haarmon put his thoughts to words...more or less.  He turned to look at the youth, with what might just possibly have been a hint of an appreciative gleam in his eyes, before turning back to the captain, expectantly waiting for an answer.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:57, Fri 27 Nov 2015.

"Was a good shot, Haarmon, for one in the dark." She shrugs at Rhijans - tension, there, she's starting to get to know his expressions.  He keeps them hidden, and hidden well, but with time spent together under stress they become a tad more legible.  The bounty-hunter seems content to let Haarmon continue with the questions, as is Juragga; Shard takes that unspoken advice and settles back slightly on her heels.

"Thanks, Captain," she tosses out, attending the answers to Haarmon's queries.  Hopefully they will glean fruit more ripe than the previous.

"Sure I knows.  All the passengers switched ter Mynock Bait.  But where she went ter after the ships split up is anybody's guess."  She helps herself to a piece of deep fried something, and pops it into her mouth.  "Course, tha's prob'ly the idea... makes 'em 'ard ter track, if they want ter 'ave a secret meetin'."

"So don't tell no one where yer goin', an' only tell the pilot after yer on the ship."

The captain belches loudly.  "'scuse me.  Wish this work crew'd show up.  Sooner I'm away from 'ere, sooner I can be makin' a few credits."

"Mynock Bait?" Rhijans repeated.  "You know who her captain is?"  He was almost certain, with all the security measures otherwise taken, it was someone on Kourene's 'definitely cleared' list...but it never hurt to make sure.

And there was a chance that Jalt might be able to shed some light on it.  It seemed logical, to him, that Kourene would pick a ship and pilot familiar with the region where the meeting was supposed to happen...and Jalt seemed to be well-connected with regards to the other ships and pilots in the sector's operations.

Kaldo Ritasa regards Rhijans with something close to contempt, "Yer doesn't know the skipper of Mynock Bait?  Where yer been livin'?  Ev'ry bugger in the Galaxy's 'eard of Gorto Finn.  'e's famous.  'eld the record fer the Kessel Run fifteen or sixteen years straight 'til some 'ot shot flyboy  took it off 'im."

She snorts, "Could be almost anywhere by now.  Reckon tha's why Kourene  picked Mynock Bait fer this."

Rhijans gave Ritasa an utterly unfazed look.  "Haven't ever needed to keep track of who set the record for the Kessel Run.  That particular detail has never been relevant to my line of work."  His tone was flat...unapologetic, but not threatening or resentful.  Pure observation.

He turned to You-Why...the droid's recall would be a lot faster than his own attempts at trying to find Finn's name on Kourene's list.  "He one of Kourene's cleared people?" he asked, not particularly concerned about whether or not Ritasa overheard the question.

You-Why barely thinks at all before he answers Rhijan's question, "I believe so.  For a short time after you brought me here, I was assigned to work with one of the Colonel's aides who had to deal with freighter pilots. many of whom belong to other species.  While he is Human, Captain Finn spoke mostly Bocce, rather than Basic."

"By all accounts he was here fairly often, and was trusted by the Colonel."

Haarmon didn't much like the sound of any of that. He'd come across The Mynock Bait and Gorto Finn a couple of times in his years scouring the Nets, but he didn't know anything helpful enough to label actual intel.

"Is that it?" he half-whispered, half-mouthed to his team. "Do we gotta go forward on our own?"

"I think we're stuck," Shard mutters back.  She paces in a circle for a moment, thinking furiously.  "Why in the void did Kourene take off and go so cursed distant, when we're in the middle of this investigation?  It's..."  Not finding words sufficiently strong, she clenches both fists until her nails bite into her palms.  After a moment, the lean woman relaxes.  A hair.  "All right.  I don't think we're going to easily find him.  We could end up tracking Kourene all the way around the galaxy at this rate, and catch up only when he arrives back."

"Maybe we do need to continue this on our own." Void, but she needs a drink, and that's all the more reason not to. "Might be better to make sure everything is locked up tight here - our 'asset' - and then start looking for the other half of the equation."

You-Why's head swivels to regard Shard, and the droid says, "Excuse me, but why do we need to continue?  We have, have we not, found the person behind the sabotage in the base, exactly as the Colonel instructed.  That information has been passed on to base security personnel."

"In addition, the supposed perpetrator will be taken into protective custody until the real one returns and is arrested."

He pauses for a moment, before continuing, "As I understand it, the Colonel and his staff have decided to hold meetings off-world, as a security measure.  I am only a protocol droid, but it seems to me that if you have come to an apparent dead-end in locating them, then that is part of the motivation in their leaving the base... that they can not be found, or targeted for sabotage or assassination."

"When they return, you can give the Colonel a full report on your investigation, and he will then consider whether, or not, further action is necessary.  I believe the Ho'Din had a proverb which applies - 'When the path you walk reaches the edge of an ocean, it is time to stop walking, rest, and observe the sunset.'  I never fully understood it myself, mind.  What if the ocean does not afford a view of the sunset?  Or what if you reach it at dawn?"

Juragga yodeled a growl after You-Why. Goldenrod has a point, he conveyed.  We don't want to lead the Imperials right to the Colonel.

Rhijans thought on the matter for a moment.  The only other option he could think of--asking Jalt for some ideas of which sectors of space might be likely choices--would still leave them with who-knew-how-many further options in the form of planets, planetoids, large asteroids, additional ships, or other potential destinations.

And, technically, they HAD fulfilled Kourene's assignment.  They found the security leak, they'd taken actions to halt the damage...at this point, really, if they were going to look for anyone, they should still be hunting Reise, rather than trying to find Kourene.

"My concern was making sure that the Colonel's off-world excursion wouldn't be compromised by our security breach.  Seems like the Colonel has taken plenty of precautions in that regard, on his own...not much reason to keep chasing that tauntaun.  I'd say our efforts are better served in trying to coordinate with Security to help contain any further damage from the info-leak, rather than trying to hunt the Colonel down."

He looked over at Haarmon...was there a hint of a smile in his eyes?  "I'm sure it would have been quite gratifying to interrupt the Colonel's conference with the news...but it can wait until he gets back...or, if Reise beats him back here, then we can help capture Reise and give him THAT news when he gets back."

Truth be told, if Reise had any notion that someone was onto him, Rhijans actually expected their next assignment to be hunting the pilot down...because he certainly would't be coming back.  But if the information was accurate, and Reise had been operating on his own, then no one would have reported anything to him, and he'd have no reason not to return.  He already had a proven lucrative reason to come back and try to run another hustle on the Alliance.

Haarmon's head swiveled from speaker to speaker. He gave the driod an odd look when he started quoting mystical philosophers. And he was about to start snarking off. But then everyone agreed with him. Which pretty much meant he had to take the idea seriously.

"So, what, then, it's just Mi'lar Time?" he said, sourly, mentioning a popular brand of ale that had been on the Nets recently. "Doesn't seem right. Seems like we should be doing... something."

But, in all honesty, he wasn't sure what.