As the Rebellion against the Empire continued the Rebels need every ally they can get. Now in a remote area of space called the Elrood Sector, the Alliance has reached an agreement to trade the services of a scouting team for percentages of the metals and minerals recovered by the Radell Mining Corporation. Since the Rebellion is so desperately short of raw materials, this deal is very important to Alliance High Command.

Few details were given in the mission report that Commander Lyla received. The mission was in the report simple. The Gray Griffins, an Alliance scouting team loaned to Radell, have been captured by pirates and are being held for ransom. The Alabak's Gold must rescue the Griffins and secure any new worlds claimed for Radell Mining.

The Rebel contact with Radell is Jameth Todkal, an executive who works on the 28th floor of the Radell Mining Corporation's headquarters. The building is in the centre of the capital city of Elrooden.

There is a Rebel operative in Elrooden, Shondra Del. Lyla is supplied with an address 'Gwynn Dispatch' and an identification phrase 'we're former business partners from Keyorin'.

Rebel command have supplied Lyla with fake identicards for Rebel agents Klyn Cors, Lamar Danar, Rynn Culmar, Tera Inkari and herself.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:23, Mon 23 Dec 2019.

Lamar Danar waited at the docks for the Alabak's Gold to arrive. He was dressed as a typical low level engineer would be so he wouldn't stick out, with his case at his side containing his tools and computer. Hidden inside it was also his other tools of his trade though, including a blaster rifle with scope and a few explosives.

This short human male seemed to bear a perpetual scowl on his face, as if nothing was good in his life. He was waiting for the arrival of his new team as he had been dispatched from Leritor where he had been setting up a communications relay network. Luckily it was nearly finished and the other techs there could finish what was left to do. He jumped at the chance, as he was informed that there was a rumor that Moff Hiroff had been seen in this sector. Hopping on the first transport he could get he had arrived two days ago, and already secured a safe house. Now the rest of them needed to get here.

So here he was sitting on a bench eating a gorma meat sandwich waiting for the arrival of this new team. First he reviewed the contact procedure He knew them by sight as he had their pictures, but that could be faked so he would use the phrase-counter phrase- trade craft. He would approach and ask '"Do you know what time is the Shuttle to Coruscant?"' Their response would be '"I'm afraid I'm bound for Corillia." He would respond with '"Then be sure to give my regards to the Director."  As he reviewed this in his mind he sighed. it was sad that such clandestine procedures were necessary. Damn the Empire! He thought to himself.

He Wonder if they will get themselves killed like so many others have? He thought to him self. Still they seem to have survived a few missions. Though why they need a comms specialist all of a sudden is concerning. I'll have to ask about that. Might be important. Need to know if they have any shorthand codes, or safe phrases and the like emergency phrases and such... He began to think through the possible things that he would need to discuss with them after meeting them.

On the flight out from Isis, Lyla had studied the scant mission details closely and learned what little she could of the Eldrood Sector, the Elrood system, the planet Elrood, and the surprisingly named capital city Elrooden. She decided the long-ago Republic senator Elrood who'd funded the ancient colony must be either a really great guy, or a total egomaniac. Cynically, she leaned toward the latter.

She had good feelings about this mission. It wasn't quite the working holiday she'd had in mind, but it wasn't going up against the Empire and achieving the impossible again either. Once they rescued the Alliance scouting team, any further exploration they needed to do should be quiet and straightforward, not unlike Lyla's old trade really, with corporate resources. If there were no troubles, the mission was a success, and they maintained cover, that is.

So she spent the rest of her time getting into character. Fortunately, she wasn't unskilled at this; the Twi'lek had a natural knack of subterfuge, and before she'd been a Rebel soldier and a scruffy scout, she'd been a dancer, and before that a street-kid grifter. Now, she could be someone else for a while. Yet still she was a scout, a hunter, just adopting camouflage to pass unnoticed through this new clean, orderly, and corporate environment. But she didn't intend to be a mere secretary.

Eventually, slightly delayed by weather, the Alabak's Gold touched down in the Elrooden starport, and the ramp extended. Tap, tap, tap went her tall heels as she strutted down the ramp, followed by sleek stocking legs, a short skirt to show them, and a business jacket and blouse, unbuttoned for a bit of decolletage, all in midnight blue over her orange skin, with matching headband over the tops of her lekku, lifting them, separating them, and letting them sway like a pendulum in tune with her hips. The appearance was calculated to be professional, smart, and more than a little sexy. A bright orange Twi'lek wouldn't escape notice, but she could sure as hell distract.

Rynn opened up the ships comms as he set the ship down. "Thank for choosing to fly with us today, on behalf of the Rebel Alliance, have a great day."

Once he'd landed he unbuckled and set the safety protocols on the ship. Gathering his gear, he  made his way to the ramp to exit the spacecraft. When he saw his Commander he said. "Lyla's Lancers? The Neskroff Irregulars? " he asked, tossing out more  possible names. Ever since hearing the name The Gray Griffins he'd been unrelenting in suggesting names for their crew, suggesting that they should be 'making a name for themselves' and therefore need a name.

At the latest proposals, Lyla twitched a tail, something like raising an eyebrow in a human. 'You want to put us on everyone's radar?' she asked again incredulously. 'Then how about "The Dead Ducks"? Or "The Empire's Most Wanted"?'

Glancing around, she spied an engineer waiting by the docks, so she stopped talking like a Rebel. She needed to get rid of the guy before he snooped around and blew their cover. 'Thanks, but we don't need any repairs.' she said before he could say anything.

Tera shrugged "I was always partial to the Motley Mob" she winced "but I was brought up on Corellia... so there's that."

As his companions chatted about names, Klyn looked a bit around, trying to see the face from the picture they had gotten.

He supposed the man had  a description of the Gold too, so he shouldn't be that far.

Scowling even harder at this twillek girl's unprofessionalism Lamar simply said "Do you know what time is the Shuttle to Coruscant?"

He hoped the girl would not be so distracted as to miss her contact completely.

'How in the world should I know?' Lyla retorted, playing the imperious business-woman. Wait, wasn't that the code-phrase they were supposed to use? But the script was so unconvincing. And this was their new guy? She had to see how well he could adapt and talk his way out. 'Do I look like Elrood Starport Command?'

Lamar's eyes narrowed in suspicion. That sure as hell wasn't the return phrase and though they looked like his team the imps had been known to use substitutes and impostors before. He simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, my mistake for wanting to try and be civil to such a primitive anyway. Carry on then."

He then stood and began to exit with the intent to exit the area as quickly as he could. If the imps had compromised the mission then he wouldn't stick around any longer than necessary.

Klyn raised his eyes to the sky as he watched the exchange.

Their little team of independent scoundrels was really not used to stick with the rules of the  Rebellion's communication system.

"Indeed, and we have nothing to do on Coruscant, anyways, I'm afraid we are bound for Corellia."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:48, Sun 05 Jan 2020.

Lamar paused and turned slowly to look at Klyn. His eyes narrowed and he eyed them for several seconds before finally saying "Well then, give my regards to the Director." He looked around at the rest of the group, scowled, sighed and said "Come with me."

As he marches off  towards the safehouse, he thinks to himself. This is not a good sign. Right from the start they get the contact code wrong, and they seem to be taking this less than serious. This isn't going to be a good start to this mission at all.

Well, if that was his response, he couldn't be in the Alliance then. Lyla scowled and picked up her pace, striding away on clicking heels, just wanting to be gone. No matter how she dressed up, or how she dressed down, there was a human jerk waiting to knock her just for not being human.

But her pointed ears pricked to hear Klyn speak with the guy, them exchanging the other lines in this secret-squirrel nonsense. So, he was the contact after all. Cruk. She turned around and rejoin them. 'I'm the Director.' she informed him coolly.

Tera looked around, checking the area to see if anyone was watching "Lets go talk about transportation schedules somewhere else. Our ship might be for hire for the right price." she said just in case ears nearby were in the hire of the Empire.

Lamar winced as the Twi'lek girl claimed to be the Director. She obviously had no understanding of greater galactic political structure, to be claiming that title. No mere Twi'lek girl would claim to be the leader of the Corellia worlds if she did. Instead of correct her he merely shook his head and walked towards one of the mid-level apartment buildings in the industrial section of the city.
This message was last updated by the player at 22:41, Tue 07 Jan 2020.

As they walked to a less crowded place, Klyn let his mind wander a bit.

This mission was starting very well : they almost missed their contact on the first few minutes...

Speaking of which, the guy looked quite tense, understandably. But he hoped it was not always the case or he would have some trouble fitting with their group of misfits.

The Rebels, the 'Motley Mob' or whatever name took their fancy, followed Lamar to his apartment. The starport was on the outskirts and the journey included a few minutes by monorail. One of the few things they notice about Elrooden is how clean everything is, the starport, the monorail and even the rundown neighbourhood that Lamar led them to.

Off the street they would hope to be away from prying eyes and listening ears. For the five of the them the apartment was a fairly tight squeeze, but it wasn't too distinct a change from size of the living quarters onboard the Alabak's Gold.

As Lamar led them off through the not-so-mean streets of Elrooden, Lyla followed along in sullen silence, still annoyed over the Imperialist insult even if it was fake. So far, their new comms guy didn't seem up to snuff, if he couldn't recover from a missed cue.  That was a fine start to a mission, wasn't it? She wondered how Chu-Shkar was doing in his retraining.

Once inside Lamar's apartment, Lyla took a disdainful look around (all the sterile cleanliness in this city was giving her the creeps) but stayed quiet for now, just in case Lamar thought there might be listening devices or something.

Tera watched her surroundings carefully. Something felt...odd about the city being so clean. The only places where she'd seen things this clean was aboard the ISS Contemptible. She raised her eyebrow as she entered the apartment, using the Force to feel for any disturbances in the nearby area.

As Lamar Entered the apartment he checked his tells looking for signs of disturbance. If anyone had entered the apartment the tells would have been moved. Little things like the toothpick he had wedged into the door jam in the hall door as he left the apartment. It would tell him if anyone entered the apartment through that door since he left, as it would fall out if the door was opened and it was down low where people would not be likely to see it.

There were many such tells. Things moved into just certain positions so that if drawers or door was were opened they would be moved and he would notice. All of it subtle. You could trigger every one and to the casual observer nothing would look out of place, but to his trained eye it would scream tossed room.

So when he approached he looked at the door and then followed into the room and examined the rooms of the apartment while remaining silent as he examined the room for signs any of his tells had been disturbed. For a professional crew could spot them as well, but it was nearly impossible to get them all.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 08:04, Sat 25 Jan 2020.