Inside the turbolift was a courteous servant droid, SE4-T25. The droid was an absolute gentleman, he complimented Tera on her attire and offered Lamar a hand with his bag as he entered the lift.

The turbolift stopped on the 28th floor and when stepping out a short man wearing a stylish suit hastily approached from the third door on the right "welcome. My name is Jameth Todkal. I'm glad you could make it."

The business man was wiry and physically fit; premature greying of his hair hinted at the stress of his job, however he remained enthusiastic and animated "please follow me to a private room where we can discuss matters."

Jameth turned and led the group to a spartan conference room. A dark wooden tabled surrounded by a score of mauve chaired dominated the chamber. A window filled one wall, offering a splendid view of the park and city beyond. Jameth shut the door and gestured for everyone to take a seat. As he settled down he spoke fast and examining him it was clear that he was tired and red-eyed.

"As you already know, my company has entered into an agreement with your Rebel Alliance. This is due to the actions of a company called Imperial Mining Ltd. IML recently started a 'corporate war' against us. IML-sponsored agents have sabotaged our facilities, attacked scout ships and in the last two weeks, three separate facilities have been bombed. Security is tight here because we fully expect another bombing, possibly right here at our headquarters. IML has close contacts with Moff Andal, so our requests for an investigation into these incidents have been ignored."

"We've lost almost all of our scouting crews. Our agreement with the Alliance is simple; your scouts search for new mining worlds and we secretly deliver you ten percent of the refined metals."

"The first Alliance group working for us was an experienced team called Gray Griffins. They disappeared. You've been sent here to rescue them and secure Alluuvia, a new world they discovered. Before I bring in Parek, who can explain what happened in greater detail, I'll answer any questions you have."

"Do you know where Moff Andel is at this time?" Lamar asked. "His presence brings increased security, so it's important to know where he might be at any given moment and plan accordingly. Also there was word that there was another Moff seen in the area, have you any info on that?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:12, Sun 23 Feb 2020.

On the trip up, Lyla stayed quiet and reserved, trying not to act too far outside of her station, or her race, in the eyes of the Empire and their fascist, racist sympathisers. Even the droid ignored her, it seemed. It wasn't until she was in the conference room and Todkal was talking that she relaxed and could be more confident again.

'That's some pretty intense corporate rivalry there. Is that what you call a "hostile takeover"?' she deadpanned. 'I'm guessing Imperial Mining is owned by none other than the Empire... What measures have you taken against them?' She wouldn't be surprised if RMC had retaliated, it sounded like they'd be justified in it, but she was wary of these big-moneyed corporations and if she was walking into a corporate war, she wanted to know both sides. RMC might be no better than IM Ltd.

'Our intel was that the Gray Griffins have been captured by pirates and are being held for ransom. So, what do you know of these pirates? Are they connected to Imperial Mining or the Empire? What ransom demands have you received?' The pirate thing was odd; the Empire didn't need to operate through criminals when they could have their own thugs just arrest people on made-up charges and confiscate their property.

"Do you have any more information on Alluuvia? Are there any precautions we need to take? Any indigenous inhabitants?" Tera added "And since you think the world is worth mining what ores did you think are present on the world? Anything the empire might see as a strategic resource?"

"The Star Destroyer Brazen in currently in orbit, the Imperial presence is tighter than normal. The Empire is here to investigate recent piracy attacks. I'm not sure where Moff Andel is but the Star Destroyer is a new arrival here and may have brought others"

"IML, or Imperial Mining Ltd is a newly formed company, founded by retired Imperial naval personnel. Regrettably the growth of IML is rapid"

"Alluuvia is only recently discovered so nothing is known about the planet"

"You should meet Parek"

Jameth called in the Rebel. Parek, a short alien about a metre and a half tall, he is bald, with a low ridge of spines covering his head and tapering down his back. His skin is bronze and hardened, with three gill slits on each side of the neck.

The alien tells its story "the Griffins has successfully navigated the Drift by making several micro hyperspace jumps to locate Alluuvia and we performed a preliminary scouting survey. The world looked promising, initial scans showed high levels of valuable metals"

"However shortly after we left Alluuvia we were ambushed by a pirate band. Our ship Whisper was disabled by an ion cannon from several Skipray blastboats. A battered space barge closed and boarded the Whisper capturing everyone. During the battle I noticed a huge container ship fleeing into the Drift, I don't know what the pirates were using it for, its was too bulky and clumsy to be a war vessel. I was then pushed into a blastboat whilst the others were loaded onto the space barge. The blastboat jumped to here and gave me the ransom demand of 250,000 credits then ejected me in an escape pod."

"So the pirats are  a third party in your conflict? Did they attack IML too, hence the Star Destroyer ? Or is it all just for show and ILM hired or bribed them?"

"Any idea on how they knew where to find you?" he asked Parek.

Tera raised an eyebrow "A large container ship? Perhaps the pirates are already mining Alluuvia and not wishing anyone to interfere. The presence of so many blastboats...perhaps ILMs source of funding for rapid expansion? They may perhaps be hiding things from the Empire themselves. Do ILM have offices on this planet?"

She looked at Parek "250 thousand credits...that's got to be worth more than your ship. How could you afford it? Who paid it? It might be encouraging that the pirates can be negotiated with."

Lyla thought a while on what Jameth and Parek told them. So far, it seemed straightforward, but with so many parties involved, with and against them, it all had the potential to get dangerous complicated. And she'd rather work that out now. Something didn't fit right here. 'If the pirates or their allies are mining Alluuvia in secret, then it's strange that they'd let you go after seeing their operation, or at least that container ship.. To be honest, if would've been better for them to kill you all, and let RMC write your team and the world off as too dangerous. A ransom demand draws more attention to Alluuvia.' Lyla mused, trying not to remark too bluntly on Parek's fate. 'Or maybe they don't know you saw the container, or maybe they're greedy, desperate, or dumb, I don't know.' she shrugged away the issue, for now.

'You saw those pirates, right? Can you describe them? Races, names, equipment, uniform?' she probed Parek for more information. If they were Imperials undercover, they would all be of a type.

"The pirates attacked after we left Alluuvia. They may not know of the planet's exact location, but the coordinates are on the Whisper that's why the pirate believe the ship is worth the ransom" Parek shrugged and Jameth added the corporate spin "if IML can get locate Alluuvia and set up a mining rig it will be bad business for Radell."

"The pirates were in space suits, they were arrogant and had their weapons on stun. Difficult to tell in space suits, most looked human, I did see one with big black eyes, perhaps an Aqualish" Parek explained, then gave a suggestion "the pirate band must operate in the Drift, if you can find them you can rescue the Gray Griffins, the Whisper and the coordinates for Alluuvia."

Querying a band of marauding pirates' motives in, well, piracy, abduction, and ransom was not going to get them very far at this point. Parek's account was more or less holding, as far as she could tell. Lyla simply nodded at the information and moved on to the key part of it all. 'You said they gave you a ransom demand – what exactly did they say? And how are you meant to contact them to deliver. Did they give a time, location, communication details?'

"The ransom demand was two hundred and fifty thousand credits for the return of the Whisper and the crew. They said that they would make contact for where to credit the funds" just as Parek was explaining a loud piercing wail stopped the conversation.

The intercom and video screens came to life. A rough looking man smiled at the camera "good afternoon Radell Mining Corporation. My name is Adair Koryunt. You don't know me but I've a wonderful surprise in store for you. In twenty minutes or so, a concealed bomb will level this building. That should supply you an interesting couple of minutes unless you locate the bomb. Good luck!"

'Oh, what now?' Lyla demanded exasperatedly at sound of the siren, figuring this for the inevitable interruption where everything went wrong and their mission was blown. As it turned out, it was.

'Of course there is.' she sighed, though she couldn't actually have expected the bomb, she had known to expect the unexpected. 'Looks like IML are getting more competitive.' She looked to Jameth, advising if he hadn't already, 'You need to get all your rent-a-cops searching for this bomb, if you want to keep your building. And we need to evacuate.'

While he organised that, Lyla turned back to Parek. 'Did you see that guy during the attack?'

Lamar immediately began searching his memory for where would be the best place to locate such a bomb to actually level the building.

10:14, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 17 using 1d20+13.  Mechanics.

Panicked cried are heard from the hallway and Jameth called for Imperial authorities to send over a bomb squad but is told it will take at least forty minutes. Parek and Jameth then rushed off to organise the evacuation with the Radell security gaurds.

From the exterior the building is tall four sided pyramid. There are many levels general of offices, however for a bomb to level the entire structure Lamar is sure the bomb would need to be near the base of the pyramid.

There are computers in the meeting room which can be accessed easily to show the buildings floorplan.

Floorplan

'Forty minutes for a bomb squad?!' Lyla echoed in disbelief; 'Guess that proves whose side the Imperials on.' Seeing Lamar checking the computer and building plans, she asked the team urgently 'What's it going to be? Do we stop a bombing this time, or do we bug out? The clock is literally ticking.'

Hearing the panicky cries outside, she rushed to the door after to peer in the corridor, wondering if the rest of the staff had gotten the same message, or if something else was going.

Lamar stepped quickly to the nearest terminal, and barked out. "I need the schematics of this building now."  As the terminal was unlocked to show the schematics of the building, Lamar began to calculate where the best point to destroy the building would be.

A look outside the conference room confirmed that the message from the saboteur Adair Koryunt had spread to everyone.

Lamar examined the schematics, he deduced that the rear areas of the lower levels would both be accessible and a weak point.

"Have your security check here, here and here first, and fan out from there. If you find a bomb don't stop looking, as there may be more than one. If you don't have a bomb disposal unit on hand let me know where it is and I'll have a look. I'm EOD trained." He barked out at the director. His tone suggesting this was no time to argue. He then grabbed his tool kit and headed for the door. "I'll be on channel three."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:31, Sat 28 Mar 2020.

Klyn's impression on their new acquaintance grew a bit as he saw him working.

"We should separate to check the area faster.
I will take storage B." He checked his comlink for the correct channel and quickly ran after Lamar.

"Which room do you take?"



(no underground/foundation level?)

Slightly distracted as he answers, Lamar was curt in his response. "A, but I'll scan quickly the loading dock as I go through."

Already at the door, Lyla agreed with their plans 'Yeah, we better look too. Coz chances are it'll be in the place no-one looks.' In all her hard-won experience as a Rebel, she'd learned that the universe operated very heavily on the principles of bad luck, what could go wrong going wrong, and just basic spite. 'If you two are doing storage, I'll start with that restaurant. Easy to stash something strange in there.'

The computer does not have any floorplans for an underground level. All the Rebels rushed out of the conference room and planned there destinations. By this time the building's occupants were in a state of panic. Many of the workers crowded around the two turbolifts, the indicator lights showing the lifts going up and down one floor at a time. Behind the turbolifts were emergency stairs, this too looked busy as a crowd of people rushed to escape.

Time was running out and they needed to reach that ground level!

Waiting anxiously behind the rushing crowd, Lyla tapped her feet and twitched her tails impatiently. 'Damn it, come on! This'll take too long. Doesn't this place have an emergency evacuation plan?' Options, options. She could barge her way through, bluff she was with security, arguing and fighting all the way. She and her team might get through, but if the worst happened, many of these people would still be stuck here. She turned around, considering alternative exits. Two central elevators and a stairway servicing the whole building. What else? A pyramid with big sloping walls and windows 'I don't suppose we can knock out a window and slide down the pyramid slope outside?' she asked the others, especially Lamar, who seemed to know this stuff.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:09, Sun 05 Apr 2020.

Lamar examined the nearest external window, and calculated the height and slope. Trying to determine the likelihood of surviving or even being able to attempt the move Lyla asked about.

A quick look out of the window and Lamar estimated that they were about ninety metres from the ground level. A descent was possible, the slope created by the pyramid shape would prevent any climber from falling straight down but it was too steep to simply walk down the outside of the building. A careful crawling descent would probably take five or ten minutes. With syntherope or some other inventive solution they might be able to get down quicker.