Rhijans dropped into step, two steps behind and one to the left of Shard, the anonymity of the armor making it easy to become just another suit in the crowd, but the position nullifying that as a way of underscoring the position that Shard supposedly held...whoever she was, she was important enough to have her own personal guard.

He hoped the others picked up on that and did something similar...it would be the difference between an unknown officer arriving with a full entourage of personal staff to help with whatever assignment she had been given, and some pain-in-the-backside who'd dragged along some specialists to make her look good when they did their jobs.

Haarmon and Karra Hedine fall in behind Rhijans, as befits underlings, flanking the Wookiee "slave".  Vekkis Lund remains aboard the shuttle, like a good little Imperial pilot, ready to depart the instant his passenger demands it.

As the group approach the door, the troopers straighten up, apparently trying to appear more vigilant.

One of the desk officers glances at the newcomers, and does a double-take.  Then he too adopts a more watchful posture.  His companion, perhaps alerted by the first man's sudden movement, reacts similarly.

As the group walk into the tower, all eyes seem fixed on Juragga...

The first officer tears his gaze away and looks at Shard.  "What is your business here?" he asks, sounding slightly deferential...

Inwardly, he was seething.  He wanted to just lash out at the troopers, rend them with his bare hands.

With effort, though, outwardly... the meek and battered slave lowered his head and avoided eye contact.

For now.

Shard walks to the questioner's desk, her face a touch weary...but still not approachable.  "Parts and working capital -" this said with a jerk of the thumb toward Juragga "- for a subsystem.  Apparently it's fried, it's hard to reach, the parts are heavy, and they require technical knowhow.  Hence our ambulatory package."  A thin smile crosses her lips for an instant.  "Lots of hours in flight for a short work order."

A flick of her hand produces the ID. "Hopefully the whole thing won't take long," she mutters.  "I'm looking down the barrel of the return trip."

The officer glances at the ID, and his eyes widen slightly.  "Thank you Captain.  Sorry to delay you, but we were not notified of your arrival.  Do you require a guide, or do you know where you need to go?"  His tone suggests that he doesn't much care, either way, along as he doesn't have to leave his comfortable desk.

The second man, meanwhile, seems to catch on to his colleague's nervousness, and lowers his gaze as he goes bacl to... whatever he should be doing...

The stormtroopers continue to, apparently, stare at Juragga.  Something about the Wookiee appears to be making them worried.  Much to nobody's surprise...

Rhijans noticed the body language of the stormtroopers...and subtly modified his own to capitalize on it, shifting slightly so he was in a position to keep eyes on Juragga, and weapon at the half-ready...as though he expected the Wookiee to explode at any moment and his duty was to contain the damage.

It would, he figured, either reassure them that there was someone else assigned to deal with the Wookiee...or make them even more nervous that the guy who'd apparently drawn the short straw for that assignment was also nervous about it, himself.  The more tense they were, the more disjointed their actions would be...if they had to take any.

"Minimal delays are never an issue," Shard returns in a reassuring-yet-calmly-warning fashion. "The work order gives the necessary information; I won't require that guide." Still as benign as an Imperial officer might be, she offers a subtle hint in her tone that waiting would potentially edge that 'minimal' delay into something unacceptable.

She ignores the stormtroopers' heightened unease as inconsequential...which it would be to an officer.  Rhijans, Haarmon and Juragga might have some reactions, but she's not going to turn around to check.

"Is there anything else?  Or can I release you back to your work?" The wry questions carry a third, implicit query.

'And can I get on with this without any more delay?'

All the while she's considering her ID, with some concern over why the desk-rider has become so nervous.  Did they use a name he recognized from ship gossip (not Nimadda surely, not as a 'captain' on a tech run)?  Or had some martinet walked through recently and raked them over the coals for a perceived slight?

"No, Captain, that will be all."  At the same time, the security officer keys some information into his console, then accepts a red plastic card that is ejected from a slot.  This he passes to Shard.

"That will get you past further checkpoints a bit faster, and open most secured doors in the facility."

He indicates a slot on the front edge of the desk.  "Just look for a reader, and insert the pass key when you come to a checkpoint or locked door."

"Thank you," Shard states, and means it.  "Very helpful, officer - I'm sure it will suffice."  'Most' secure doors, but she's not going to ask for all, and anything the card won't bring them past...well, Haarmon probably can.

A nod - a little more friendly and appreciative than any kind of saluting, but still a touch remote.  Shard then twitches her fingers to the others.  "Let's go."  But before she takes another step, the woman pauses, tapping the card against her fingertips.  "Your name?" she inquires of the helpful officer.  "If someone asks for a full report, I like to include positive things, and your efficiency has been the one bright light on this..."  Her free hand waves in the air, and then she shrugs.  "Mess," Shard finally concludes.

"Thus far."

Rhijans deliberately took a half-step, as though anxious to get his assignment finished, then stopped and straightened back to attention as Shard took a moment to ask for the officer's name.  Inwardly, he nodded approval...it was just self-indulgent enough to sell as an officer used to people jumping at their beck and call, without being awkwardly friendly and risking their cover...

He half-turned his head, appearing to settle his gaze on Juragga once again, and let his hands stretch and flex on the blaster he carried, not looking at all--apparently--at any of the Imperials.  In reality, he was scanning every detail he could pick out through the limited view afforded by the helmet.

It was all he could do not to leer at the Stormtroopers.  A curled lip, a show of fang, a mocking gaze.  Then he could do what he wanted, which was to wade into them with all his strength.  Maybe go down fighting.  He was never going to find his family anyway...

With an effort, he did nothing, and kept a passive demeanor.

The officer almost seems to grow about ten centimetres taller.  "Lieutenant Dhienn, Captain."

As Shard turns away, the stormtroopers part to make way for the group to pass.  Lieutenant Dhienn sneers at his companion officer, who looks less than pleased, having doubtless realised that Dhienn has probably just clambered past him on the route to promotion...

The team move forward, further into the facility, and are soon out of sight of the desk.

A short while after that they find an alcove with several elevators and a terminal...

The sweat had sprung on her forehead the moment she finally turned away from the checkpoint.  By the time the team has arrived at the terminal, it has dried, and Shard is back fully under control.  For an instant, the urge for a drink hits her, but she brushes it away; every time, it's a little more easy.  Every time, it's a little longer before the next one.

It's good not struggling under a near-constant hangover, as well.

"All right, Haarmon," she quietly states as they arrive at the alcove.  "You're up.  Let's not look suspicious, all right?"  The older woman glances up at Juragga.  "As much as possible...let's stand out here and discuss something while Haarmon gets to work."  Leaning closer, she peers (up) into the wookie's deep eyes.  "You all right Juragga?"

"GrRRRRummmmf," Juragga commented.  I guess. I'd like to twist their little pointy heads off.

While Shard an Juragga have their discussion at the entrance to the alcove, Rhijans stands guard like a good little stormtrooper.  The three of them effectively form a screen, blocking Haarmon and Karra from the view of passers-by (of which, there are quite a few, which is to be expected at a busy facility like this).

One of either Juragga or Rhijans seems to be doing a good job of keeping people moving, and nobody stops to look into the alcove.

Which is just as well... Haarmon is setting up a very non-standard looking connection between the terminal and a datapad.

After a few moments he disassembles it.  "I got us a map." he says quietly. "Detention centres and labour barracks in the dock complex."

Rhijans had drawn a few cues from the stormtroopers that had been at their previous stop, and emulated their behavior, standing and 'watching Juragga' with an apparent nervous tension.  He figured the more he looked like one of the troopers from the base, the less likely anyone was to make inquiries of the group...after all, they had an armed escort, they must be official, or so he calculated people would think.

He nodded slightly at Haarmon's announcement.  "Let's be optimistic, and head for the labor barracks.  Find another terminal there and see if we can locate our target."  His helmet shifted slightly as he tried to look around with the limited visibility of the armor.

"Less time we spend tapped into a terminal, the less likely it is someone's going to figure out we don't belong there..."

"I guess I understand that," Shard mutters...mostly under her breath, pitched for Juragga only.  Better to not be an Imperial Officer in conversation with a Wookie; it might raise all kinds of questions.  "If it's any consolation, we're running about fifty-fifty getting out of situations without a fight, so you stand a good chance of getting your wish."  Hopefully he'll limit himself to shooting them, if it comes to that; the vague memory of another Wookie pulling arms off and beating their former owners with the wet ends still inspires nausea in the older woman.

At Haarmon's report and Rhijans' reply, Shard twitches her head in a fractional nod.  "Sounds like a plan.  Lead the way, Haarmon, and hopefully we'll get some more detailed information soon.  Everyone else, just...keep on doing what you're doing."

One corner of her mouth tugged down. "And Haarmon?"  The young man was a natural, far moreso than Shard herself had ever been.  "If you get any funny feelings, don't hesitate to let us know."

Juragga flashed a brief, subtle smile, showing a little fang, at Shaard's comment.  He seemed to like that prospect.

Haarmon hits a stud, and the elevator door slams open to reveal an open platform in a brightly lit shaft that rises high above their heads, and drops far beneath them.  Standard Imperial design - no safety rails, and just a control panel next to the door.

Another stud, a tapped in code, and the elevator drops rapidly, wind whistling around the passengers.  When the platform stops, there is still a fair distance to  go to reach the bottom of the shaft.

When the door opens, there is a large vestibule area with a transparent wall which seems to show that they are at ground level.  The room is full of Imperial officers and squads of stormtroopers, all moving about busily and looking like they have plenty to do.  The exit leads out onto a broad thoroughfare, flanked mostly by short, squat structures, with occasional towers like the one they had descended.

The map shows that the nearest barracks is about 400 metres away, so the group heads in that direction.

Karra Hedine mutters, "Depending how far apart these places are, maybe we should see if we can find some transport."

"Might not be a bad idea, but we've got to be careful about getting it.  The trick is to remain as commonplace as possible...if we look like everyone else, nobody's going to notice us."  He gestured slightly for Haarmon to lead, since he had the map, such as it was.

"We grab the wrong kind of transport, or take it in the wrong place, and suddenly we go from almost-invisible to highlighted with screaming alarm klaxons."

Haarmon sighed. More running. He had Shard had been running for what felt like eons. And now, more running. It all looked so close together on the little map.

"I remember the last time I tried to commandeer a transport," Haarmon said, remembering his abortive attempt to steal a crawler on the frozen moon of Alkirk*, "It did NOT go well."

He paused. Grimaced.

"But more because it didn't go anywhere at all rather than going to the wrong place. Forget it."

He was already nervous. Being off the terminal always made him nervous.

OOC: Call back to their very first mission, link to a message in this game!
This message was last edited by the player at 11:36, Tue 29 Sept 2020.

Hedine sighs.  "That's why I'm no good at this sort of thing.  I can't think of things like that.  I can do what I'm told, but I don't always see all the wrinkles in a situation."

In this first case, at least, it's only a short walk to their objective, a secure barracks, currently locked but unguarded.  Though the group find themselves unpleasantly close to what appears to be a busy junction where two major thoroughfares cross.

There is a lot of traffic hereabouts, including large groups of stormtroopers marching towards... somewhere...

Rhijans grunted softly.  "Options and consequences...it always comes down to options and consequences.  It's a question of whether the consequences can justify the option.  And at some point, a transport is, probably, a good idea.  But right now..."  He gestured slightly with one hand.

"See anyone out there driving around in a transport?  Anyone who does is going to attract attention.  We may want attention at some point...but right now, we're just trying to look like yet another Imperial tech specialist with support staff, not important enough to warrant a transport or any kind of close attention."

He remembered Alkirk...although differently than Haarmon did, apparently, as his memories involved a lot of explosions happening because everyone assumed he was just another stormtrooper.  A lot of things had gone right for him there.

And, oddly enough, he realized, that was also where they'd picked up You Why...the whole reason for this operation.  If he believed in such things, he might consider that an omen.  But pretty much the only thing he believed, consistently, was that you made your own luck, and they were working on that right now.  "I'm guessing there should be a terminal inside the barracks with some kind of list or manifest or whatever that could tell us if your brother is stationed here or if we have to keep hunting for him..."  While he spoke in almost conspiratorial tones, his posture was upright and rigid...to a casual observer, he was either escorting the group or guarding the Wookiee.  Part of him itched, just a little bit, to start creating chaos...but it was important that things stay as calm and normal as possible until they had found their man, at least.  The more alarmed the Imperials became, the harder it would become for them to locate their guy, much less get him out.

"All right, then."  Shard, too, remembered Alkirk.  She remembered fear, the sick implosion in her gut when she realized things had headed South.  That had kickstarted the realization that this group of mismatched individuals had become Her Team - not possessive in a leadership role, but merely Hers.  And that had changed everything.  "Rhijans makes a point; we start driving stuff around, it's going to draw eyes.  Imperials must think walking is good for morale...sorry, Haarmon, I guess we hoof it some more.  Think of it as training," she ended, trying for 'brightly' and landing solidly on 'mildly sour'.

"If it's any consolation, none of my recent attempts to garner transport have gone well.  I blame Rhijans; that bad luck started the moment we met."  That said a touch more lightly, and clearly in jest.

"Let's keep moving, and hope we find the information we need before it's bed-time.  I don't want to spend the night in an Imperial Barracks, and don't even want to think about poor Juragga."  That last is definitely not in jest.

Shard uses the key to open the door, and reveals a room containing a currently unmanned security checkpoint, with a console.  A metal gate, backed by a forcefield stands at the far side of the room, and beyond that is a long hall lined with sleeping shelves - three rows of them along both walls.  Hundreds of them.  All empty at the moment.

The barracks' only occupant, just now, is an Imperial droid, an R4 unit with the usual black and white colour scheme, far off down the long room, apparently repairing one of the shelves.