How to Avoid a Trap

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

Homework had been done. Helker'Kok was owned through majority sharehold by Noah Corek, a known member of the Omega Protectorate. And the Protectorate were allied with the Republic and opposed to the Sith. The Ravens hadn't encountered to them, but were still commonly known to be tied to the Sith.

So. Three options.

1. The anonymous messenger was full of it. There was no deal.
2. The Protectorate were laying a trap, they had specifically requested one half of the Ravens leadership. Of course it wasn't the half that was dealing with the issue, but that was besides the point.
3. Someone in the Protectorate was going rogue.

Either way there was a quick and easy way to determine what was going on and deal with it.

She considered the terminal before her. Encrypted? No. Basic levels so civilians couldn't intercept, but traceable back to the Dragon Palace Casino if they wanted to put professionals on the job.


///...begin transmission

To: [member="Sarge Potteiger"]
From: Chiasa Kritivaas

Mr Potteiger, I don't believe we've met. Not surprising, our business rarely coincides.. Someone contacted me with a rather interesting proposition from Hekler'Kok. I've attached the conversation within. It could be a red herring of course, but in case it wasn't. The only one who could authorize such a deal is the majority shareholder, and since he is one of yours, I thought you might be interested. I trust if they Protectorate had taken issue with us, they would let us know so we could rectify the problem.

Consider this a courtesy message, to convey my respect.

...end transmission///

As well as the attached message, the sigil of the Red Ravens could be seen below her message. Even if he was unaware of them, between the sigil, her name and the point of origin, he'd figure it out quickly enough.

Not that any of this meant she didn't intend to go and see what there was to see at the agreed upon meeting point, she just liked to cover her bases.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

By the time the message reached the desk of the Lord Protector, it was scrutinized by a battery of experts, run through the gauntlet of Intel and then handed over for his perusal once authentication had been established. Not an overly long process given what they had to work with, but still. Thorough. Giving a faint tug on the dog tags hanging around his neck, the stubble covered face of the Protector gave a faint frown.

Red Ravens... he knew little of them. They were far Outer Rim, that he knew for sure. But news from there was sporadic in authenticity, but the general rule of thumb seemed to peg them as an up and coming Black Sun organization. More criminals. Joy.

But the messages they got screamed of a lack of subtlety he had come to expect from Corek. It elicited a frown.

Inhaling slowly, he tapped a finger on his desk before composing a short reply.

///...message begins

>Independent company. Still; run by one of my soldiers. Interesting. Shortsighted. Likely looking to reverse engineer what you have to study his competition. Meeting likely will end OK for you - he's not a trigger happy sort despite his big mouth.

>Curious choice of location. Few jumps from Protectorate capital. Roughly same number of jumps from Fringe space. Not sure why he has you coming all the way out there.

>I'll send someone to watch over the meeting.

...message ends.//

It was the location that really got Sarge to thinking. Why so close to Fringe space and not in the great neutral gulf between Ravens and Protectorate? If Corek was on the Fringe payroll he wanted to know. He'd go personally.

 

[Chiasa Kritivaas]

The Lord Protector was an interesting sort from his message. He was not verbose, used only the bare minimum of words, but they were not necessarily the simplest of choices. Intelligent then, but not one to waste time. Not a diplomat, direct. Dangerous. It was good she'd sent the message. This was not a man she intended to cross if she could help it.

The tone had not been hostile, the intent to send an observer was good. It might mean as long as the Ravens behaved he'd feel honour bound to ensure their safety. She didn't know him nearly well enough from one message to be able to count on that, but one could hope. The long and short was that even if she broke the agreement and packed her ship with troops, for all she knew she'd come out of hyperspace to find a fleet staring her down. Any little weight that could tip the scales in her favour, that could ensure her safety was welcome.

///...begin transmission

To: [member="Sarge Potteiger"]
From: Chiasa Kritivaas

Appreciate the information and manpower, you have my gratitude.

...end transmission///

Short, succinct. So he knew she'd received the information. And acknowleding a debt. If he didn't pick up on it and so never cashed in, well, that was hardly her problem.