Scouting the ACA

[Lira Dajenn]

[member="Ryan Korr"]

Lira frowned.

She wasn't able to sense anyone, but that wasn't out of the ordinary for her. What she did sense were droids. Patrols moving through the buildings, protocol droids moving about, and even mouse droids scurrying within the halls. There were more droids here than at the Jedi Temple, a lot more. Was that the reason there weren't as many people? Did the ACA rely mostly on droids?

That would make sense, they did after all contain many major corporations that worked with droids and they owned Hypori as well as several other massive foundry worlds that produced droids, but would they forgot organics all together?

There's droids. A lot. She stressed the last part of her words as they reached the turbo-lifts.

Lira pressed the button, painfully aware of the lack of cameras inside of the building. That was also an oddity. Why no cameras? There had been cameras on the outside, why not the inside? She frowned again as the turbo-lift dropped into place, again, no camera.

His earlier question had been forgotten.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

A grimace clouded Ryan's expression as the turbo lift dropped into place. The door hissed open, a wide invitation. That screamed all kinds of wrong.

"Droids? I never did get the hang of Mechu-Deru. Good catch."

Droids. Hmm. That could go a couple ways. On the one hand, they couldn't manipulate their minds, or at least he couldn't. On the other, droids lacked a certain creative ingenuity compared to organics. They were stupid. Unless you were stupid, in which case they weren't very stupid at all.

Droids did have a very wonderful habit of sticking with their programming, which meant that their patrols would be exact. No deviations. No human error.

"Ladies first," he gestured at the open lift.

[member="Lira Dajenn"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

[member="Ryan Korr"]

From the hidden picket within her jacket Lira pulled out her lightsaber.

It was very likely that if anyone caught them in the building at this point they would be shot anyway, so having her lightsaber out was just a means of not getting shot, or maybe It was a means of intimidation. Either way, as she stepped into the elevator the Saber-staff entered her palm.

As they stepped onto the turbo-lift and the doors closed Lira stood up straight for the first time in ten or so minutes. They would have to forge a path into the building, perhaps look for a file room or something of the like. As long as they reached a terminal of some sort Lira would be able to get into it. From there it was relatively simple to see what the ACA was up to.

“My last boyfriend at university was in a terrorist group.” Lira said suddenly as the turbo-lift continued to shoot upwards.

She said it so nonchalantly that it was almost out of the blue. Her words were of course an answer to his earlier question, though they were somewhat mixed. Said terrorist group had been founded to fight against the Sith on Prakith, and honestly they had done little more than incite several riots and blow up a mailbox or two.

Not really the best at what they did.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

"Oh," said Ryan, both brows shooting up.

The whir of the turbo lift hummed steadily in the background as they shot up. Personally, Ryan always liked taking the stairs. Turbolifts were almost always death traps waiting to happen. Plus, exercise.

He noted Lira's withdrawal of her lightsaber. He palmed his own in rejoinder. A simple silver and black thing, nothing fancy.

"Sounds like an explosive relationship."

An eye muscle twitched.

The turbo lift doors opened.

[member="Lira Dajenn"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

[member="Ryan Korr"]

Lira turned to look at Ryan. Did he just make a joke? A pun, but a joke nonetheless. She smiled slightly, then headed out the turbo-lift before Ryan could. Her head swiveled from the left to the right, the halls still very noticeably absent of anyone or anything. Lira closed her eyes, trying to sense something, anything that would help them.

She began to reach out, trying not to find life or the thrumming noise of droids, but instead reaching out for coursing machinery. Lira tried to sense the servers she knew would be somewhere on this level, she tried to feel the data storage centers within the building.

Her eyes snapped open, lustrous emeralds revealing themselves.

“That way.” Lira said pointing to the right. Data Storage took an incredible amount of energy as well as quite a bit of complicated machinery. Lira's skill in Mechu-Deru, albeit no where near matching that of a master was enough to detect the placement of the servers, mostly because of the power requirements. “He never blew anything up.”

Lira felt the need to explain herself from earlier as they began moving again. “They protested against the Sith, started a few riots. It was enough to get themselves labeled terrorists. The Sith arrested him. Idiot.”

She was all for resisting the Sith, but not in stupid ways.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

An eerie silence greeted them. No droid patrol. No bustle of busy office workers. Nothing. Just the silence. It lent the rather ordinary office space a creepy feeling... as if they were being watched by something. Something in the shadows.

Ryan's eyes narrowed. Nothing about this was right.

He followed Lira out of the turbo lift, only half paying attention to the conversation. He trusted her mechu-deru, but even she had to know that something was amiss.

"What happened to him?"

Fingers tightened around the hilt of his lightsaber as they moved down the hall.

[member="Lira Dajenn"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

[member="Ryan Korr"]

Lira knew something was wrong, very wrong. This was too easy. They had made it into the building, had encountered no cameras, no guards, no droids, nothing. It was simple, and someone else may have chalked it up to simple luck or maybe incompetence on the part of the Corporate Alliance, but Lira knew better, and as they drew closer to the server room she began to grow more and more nervous.

“They let him go eventually.” Lira said quietly, rounding another corner.

“Him and his friends.” She sounded somewhat remorseful. “They weren't exactly the same when they came back. They were...broken, shells of what they used to be.”

That was the best way to describe it, and as the door to the server room came into view Lira became quiet.

They approached the door, finding that it was a simple durasteel blast door. Lira motioned for Ryan to take up a watch while she moved over towards the panel that was connected to the locked door. Slowly she popped off the key control and began to mess about with the wires on the inside, using natural instinct as well as the force.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

"I'm sorry," Ryan said turning his back to the young woman, "He sounds like he had a good heart."

​At least he's alive. The thought skipped across the placid pond of Ryan's mind like an unwanted stone.

Overcast eyes glowed with a white-blue light once more as Ryan utilized Force Sight to ensure no one snuck up on them from behind. The feel of the Force rushing through him was, as always, refreshingly peaceful.

Through now translucent walls, Ryan saw nothing.

[member="Lira Dajenn"]

 

[Raziel]

The Spymaster was, frankly, bored. Across the desk before him were three monitors, each displaying operations logs and reports as they arrived. Datapads were piled on the table, occasionally new ones would be brought with reports that could not be loaded onto the network for security purposes. From time to time he would reach out with the Force and called one to him to check some facts that he had not been able to cram into his considerable memory.

Raziel had never imagined having this much information at his fingertips and being desperate for a distraction. He needed to get his feet on the ground, get on with some field work upsetting the Republic on Nar Shaddaa or the Protectorate's operations. He couldn't always stay out doing interesting jobs whilst also building his little empire of influence. The title of spymaster didn't technically exist any more. Officially it had been retired when the Confederacy had fallen. He attached orders with a variety of monikers: sub-director of operations, research analyst, principal agent. It was all a layer of obfuscation to ensure any politician on a quest would be unable to find out that he even existed. Shadow Director would appropriately describe his position. He had worked for Lord Commander Norongachi and now Starchaser, the power behind the ACA. All he did was ensure Spynet worked to further their goals, and in return they didn't look too hard into how he used the massive intelligence network.

An IFR, or information request form, caught his attention. Across the ACA were military intelligence systems fed with, among other sources, Spynet information. Something had stumped them, and now Spybet were requesting information from One Sith Intelligence in turn. A starfighter from Republic space, had arrived on Chroma Zed. Nothing that perfectly matched the engine signature or hull configuration, though similar to several designs.

Within a few minutes Raziel had logged an intervention and sent a voice message to the agent supervising across one of the most secure private networks in the galaxy. "Impound that starship, get a thorough scan. Claim random customs checks, the usual."

He then called for increased monitoring of ACA and Republic diplomatic channels. Time to see if any feathers were about the be ruffled.


OOC made some assumptions here, let me know if anything is off

http://starwarsrp.net/topic/39863-spynet-darknet/

 

[Lira Dajenn]

[member="Ryan Korr"] [member="Raziel"]

Lira pricked one of the wires, and suddenly the door jerked up.

She grinned slightly, looking back at Ryan with success in her eyes. Yes this was too easy, but at least they were getting somewhere. From the server room she would be able to access all sorts of information, information that would help shed some light on some of the more suspicious things the ACA had done as of late, like the invasion of Naboo.

“Right no-” She was interrupted by a chirp from the comm-link on her belt. She looked at Ryan oddly, then picked up the communicator.

“Miss Morian?”

That was the fake name she had used when registering at the star port properly rent hangar space for her ship, a common practice.

“Your Starship has been impounded due t-”

The man was interrupted as hot white rage bubbled through Lira and she began to scream in a hushed whisper to the man on the other line. “What do you mean impounded?! By What right? I am a citizen of the Republic, part of the Republic Trade Group! What cause do you have to impound my vehicle! I demand you stay right there until I can get this sorted out. If I get back and my ship has a single scratch I will personally rip you apart!”

The man on the other line suddenly became very sheepish, saying that she had one hour before the ship was taken away as they had to get the proper vehicle to take it to impound anyway.

Lira fumed, and looked over to Ryan for a few moments. The J-1 luckily had several countermeasures, and if the authorities tried to open the ship or get into it they would likely be very sorry, but still, the ship was special, and it was hers.

She frowned, and then ushered Ryan into the server room.

 

[Raziel]

Raziel frowned, looking through the details - which were precious few - and tried to build a picture. The first report on the starfighter had come in, he'd ignored the technical jargon and distilled the basic facts. Not an Ugly, not a modified known vessel, lightweight, advanced components, no hyperdrive.

Very odd. A puzzle. A challenge. He permitted himself a small, private smile and started mentally sifting through the options. Why would someone land an advanced military vessel on the planet of a neutral neighbour. No obvious answer came to mind.

There were much easier and less obvious ways to get people into enemy territory. He knew most of them. So why would you park your latest military snubfighter on someone else's world?

No hyperdrive either, short range craft. Ah, perhaps not a fighter. Perhaps they hadn't seen it was because it was a classified scouting vessel. How droll to reach such a mundane conclusion. This was going to be nothing more than a scout vessel using a stolen IFF transponder to make an emergency landing. Either its mother ship or hyperdrive ring had been lost, or it had suffered some other malfunction.

Regardless, the course of action was straightforward. Have the pilot brought in, quietly carry out some trade with Republic military intelligence to send them back home. After questioning of course. He did enjoy questioning. The pilot was probably hiding out in some holonet cafe calling for help already.

They'd have the leak the appropriate information to the press out of course. One didn't make public claims about the other side's clandestine activities. That was poor form. No, you aired their dirty laundry in the press and kept a dignified silence whilst the other side squirmed.

He sent the orders, and requested the pilot's ID be traced immediately.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

"Trouble in paradise," Ryan muttered, both eyebrows raising at the sudden outburst from Lira Dajenn. "Remind me never to impound your star fighter."

Impounded for customs? Yeah, right. Coincidence didn't exist in Ryan's vocabulary. Not when it came to investigative missions.

"I don't think you're going to be able to get it back. They know."

Still, they were in the server room now, which could be counted as win. That is, if they could get any useful information and if said information actually held anything of worth. Aggravating a galactic neighbor for no purpose would be very embarrassing. Politics. Blah.

[member="Lira Dajenn"] [member="Raziel"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

[member="Ryan Korr"]

Lira scowled. “I'm not sitting on your lap on the way back.”

That was all the comment she made. It was very unlikely that the ACA would actually get her ship. Even if they impounded it getting into it would take several hours, and by then Lira could either take it back, or do something more drastic.

Of course when the ACA officials would look at the identification given it was all legit. When Jedi went on covert missions it wasn't difficult for them to get false identifications, and what would be found was an ID with Lira's picture on it that would name her Valoria Morian, a twenty two year old pilot and former officer of the Republic Military with a dishonorable discharge that was now working for a small company based out of the Republic.

The Identification was actually perfectly legit, and they ACA would find that indeed it would be government issued. Of course looking farther than that was rather impossible unless you could look into Republic records themselves, but even from this all too perfect ID something else could be inferred.

Perfect records were never as they seemed.

With a huff Lira walked into the Server room, as she correctly predicted there was no alarm since the door had been opened technically correctly and she quickly made her way over to a terminal. Lira didn't bother touching the keyboard, instead she placed a palm on where she knew the computers main harddrive and motherboard would be. She closed her eyes, and began to focus on the information within.

Images began to flash on the screen of the computer, documents and official correspondence between people at this office on Chroma Zed, and elsewhere in the galaxy.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

"Of course not," Ryan said, lips twitching. "I assumed I'd sit on yours."

Korr stared as the genius girl got to work. To an individual without the Force it would appear as if things were happening at random, but Ryan Korr got a firsthand seat to an I.Q. level several dozen points north of his own. The flows of the Force wrapped around her hand, blossoming out to intricately manipulate the machine.

With the vast majority of his skills combat oriented, and as this was no place for meditation, Ryan contented himself with twiddling his thumbs and standing lookout by the doorway. A task that, while necessary, produced a definite lack of results.

[member="Lira Dajenn"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

[member="Ryan Korr"]

Lira dug into the computer. She dug and dug with the force, images flashing in her mind, information racing across her thoughts at a rate that was almost impossible to comprehend. Suddenly her eyes flashed open, her mind stuck on something, an image of a holo-email. She stopped, and looked down at the terminal where the information was frozen.

“Ryan.” She said trailing off suddenly. “Ryan. This document says that the ACA is working with the OS.”

It was an innocent document really, just a small internal message between bureaus that communicated a need for a more simple set up when meeting with Sith Agents here on Chroma Zed. Further documents seemed to imply the same thing, and if Lira hadn't been using the force she very likely would have missed this documents. Granted they suggested no official alliance or anything other than meetings, but it was the implication of working with the Sith at all that shocked her.

It meant something.

Something big.

“There's more.” She sounded slightly panicked, but not because she was worried about the implication of what she was reading. More because of the urgency in needing to get this back. From her belt she pulled a small datacard, with a jerk, she transferred the relevant data and turned to Ryan.

Her lightsaber struck her palm again and she looked at him.

“We need to go.” Her voice was hurried. “Now.”

 

[Raziel]

Tucked away in the corner of the room sat an isolated server. Potentially noticeable due to the electromagnetic isolation from the other machines, if one took the time to search. This one had no data ports, and the data disks were encrypted to a level that would take the computing power available to a large intelligence agency, like the Republic's, at least a week to crack. It had no display unit, or interface device. However, this server did contain some more sensitive information than the rest of the servers. It showed that patrols along the Mara corridor and across the Republic border were at particularly low levels. Patrol fleets had been increased near the borders with Black Sun and Red Raven territory. There were no highly classified intelligence reports, but there was evidence of increased activity from Nar Shaddaa, but Republic intelligence were likely already aware that the world was a hot bed for activity from many neighbouring factions.

Time was, perhaps, in short supply. Arakyd Industry's latest version of the Probe Droid were now out in force. They were scouting the city and surrounding countryside. They were now loaded with the image of the pilot from several security camera. Their advanced eigenspace analysis software would be able to recognise a match from over a hundred metres with a clear view. Several squads of Aerial Battle Droids were armed with stun guns and ready for deployment. They were looking for what they believed to be a stranded Republic scout pilot, not a pair of Jedi.

Several Clanker droids had now been joined by a pair of Examplars as they waited for a shuttle to carry the ship away. Its pad had now been cordoned off.

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

Her words struck like the first flash of lightning in a growing storm. And there was a storm now, churning inside his chest. Betrayed yet again. The sting should have been impartial, an affair between two nations was not a personal affront, but Ryan couldn't help but take it personally. The One Sith had built a memorial to their grandeur on the bones of his home. They'd slaughtered his friends. And if they didn't kill them like animals, then they turned them into animals.

The stormfronts darkened his eyes. More lightning in their depths. Lightning and steel.

He gestured toward the nearest window and tore the entire pane out, intact.

"We're jumping."

Without any further comment, Ryan leaped out. Cold mountain air greeted him. He plummeted down, robes snapping in the wind. His stomach leapt into his mouth, but he enjoyed this. It reminded him of flying. The Force made his impact light. He rolled to his feet. He'd landed on the opposite side of the building from the main entrance.

They needed speed now.

"My fighter is not impounded." He projected. "It's our only viable option."

Perhaps there had been ample reason to impound a brand spanking new interceptor, but Ryan Korr's was an old vessel, with the paint peeling in places. It had already escaped notice where hers had not.

[member="Raziel"] [member="Lira Dajenn"]

 

[Lira Dajenn]

[member="Ryan Korr"]

Lira watched as Ryan went flying out the window. She was startled for a moment, before remembering that they were Jedi and this type of thing was completely normal for them.

Jumping out of a building.

Normal.

Right.

She scowled, then looked about her as if she was making sure that no one was watching. For a few moments she stood in place, then she backed up, white knuckle gripping her lightsaber. Then she ran, jumping at just the last moment to mimic Ryan in his flight. She fell steadily through the air, her eyes closed, her senses extended. The force served as a buffer, and with a quiet thud she landed, a wave of dust pressing out from her.

“We need to ensure my ship doesn't fall in the wrong hands first.” What she meant by that was rather cryptic, but she tapped Ryan on the shoulder and then began to spring.

The Spaceport wasn't far from them, only a measly two miles. At full Sprint a pair of Jedi could manage that in under six minutes, probably less if they really pushed themselves and used the force to move faster, which Lira of course did.

Drawing attention didn't really matter anymore, after all, the two had just jumped out of a building.

 

[Raziel]

It turned out that Raziel had been more than a little bit wrong. Word of the infiltration and compromise of the ACA military installation reached him very quickly. The military shared much information with Spynet - whether they were aware of the arrangement or not - and so reports were reaching his desk quickly. He immediately sent out several requests for the military to leave the scene of the slice alone. He sent out orders for a forensic investigation team to be assembled, comprised of the best personnel available. That would involve several members of Spynet's massive Cyber warfare division, Abrion Communications Security (ACS). It would also require a Psychometrist and several members experienced in criminal investigation. The computers, the room and the whole installation would need a thorough forensic sweep. Raziel decided he would look into this in person. A transport was booked to take the team to Chroma Zed tomorrow.

He had never envisaged that this could be an infiltration attempt, but then it seemed he had underestimated the ego of the Jedi Order. To turn up in your own personal starfighter and waltz into a military installation. Bold. He had little doubt now that the forces in the area would struggle to stop a pair of Jedi from escaping. At least one of them would be an experienced Knight for this kind of operation. At least they had the new starfighter cordoned off so it could be investigated. He'd attempt to make this an embarrassing issue for the Republic at least.

Clandestine games were always going on, but this was a little too bold to sweep under the rug. They'd crossed a line here. If it was the Republic of course; that was yet to be determined.



A burst of Cronau radiation signalled the arrival of a small patrol over Chroma Zed. They'd been sent in on the off-chance the Republic attempted a more forceful extraction of their personnel. A Contention-class cruiser swept into orbit, a pair of Dirk-class frigates and a squadron of TIE Rapiers in its wake. Star Destroyers were being prepared deeper in ACA space, just in case this became a full blown diplomatic problem and muscles needed to be flexed.

[member="Lira Dajenn"] [member="Ryan Korr"]

 

[Tydeus of Tion]

Six minutes? They reached the spaceport in five.

Those that took notice of a pair of shapes blurring through the back alleys said nothing. A trick of the light. A shadow. Stray cats. The mind is an interesting thing. Such intelligence, yet at the slightest hint of the supernatural it will come up with any justification to explain it away. Human beings couldn’t move that fast. And Jedi Knights were as good as myths, so shrouded in the secrecy of the unknown. People don’t like the unknown. Yes. Must’ve been some cats.

The individuals who knew better than the common citizens of Chroma Zed were busy mobilizing, but mobilization took time. Orders had to be dispatched, relayed and executed. Assembling a team, especially comprised of the absolute best, took time. Not as much time, unfortunately, as it did to dispatch a patrol.

Probe droids were a different story. Thankfully, someone with a keen ability at mechu-deru made that issue negligible. Any they had encountered met a fate similar to that of the camera at the installation.

Korr slowed to a halt near the space port, white-blue gaze making the trappings of this mortal coil fall away like scales from the eyes.

"We have company."

[member="Lira Dajenn"] [member="Raziel"]