A Bothan's Trial

[Tank]

Bothawui Space Port. 4:00 P.M. local time.​

Freylyon Cain was aboard his Jai’galaar-class dropship. His viewport was currently filled with the hustle and bustle of one of Bothawui’s premier spaceports. He was meeting a prospective intelligence operative by the name of Logar Lo’tey. They had already connected via Holonet, but today Cain was taking Logar out on a mission to see just how good this guy was. If he performed as well as Cain’s contacts had told him Logar could, he would find himself gainfully employed in no time.

Cain dropped the boarding ramp of his dropship, The War Chaser, and checked his chrono. 4:02 P.M. The Bothan should be there at any moment. Cain was dressed in his Aliit’gam armor, he had painted it black and removed all the clan symbols that used to adorn the trim of his armor. He knew wearing it out in the open on Bothawui it could cause a scare; so he had given Logar his ship’s transmitter signal so the Bothan would be able to find Cain.

Cain’s helmet was off and laying beside the captain’s chair. The Bothan was just a couple minutes late but Cain hadn’t arrived until four on the dot, so a few minutes to make it from the space port to the landing pad would be expected. The two would be heading to Lannik. There was a pirate force, backed by the Hutts, preparing a raid on Bothan trade.

The pirate’s boss was still a mystery to Cain; there is a Hutt by the name of Nor’baal working in conjunction with Mercenaries United and Cain needs to make sure Nor’baal is in no way associated with these pirates otherwise it could create a strain on their relationship. Hopefully the Bothan would be able to work his intelligence magic on the computer system at the pirate’s headquarters. Cain had two Canderous-Class Assault Tanks waiting to enter the fray, distract the pirates, and allow Cain and Logar to escape. If anything went awry with the plan, Cain would be there to provide protection for Logar.

Cain could see a Bothan approaching The War Chaser and knew it would be his man.

 

[ErosThanatos]

The Bothan stood in front of The War Chaser, looking around with a furrowed brow. He held up a slip of paper, turning in a slow circuit and frowned. He apparently couldn't find the ship he was looking for. After a moment, the Bothan shoved the slip of paper back into his pocket and wandered off.

Logar Lo'tey remained where he was next to one of the starport's mechanics - an amiable Bothan named Goff Lo'fey. The mechanic snorted, lighting up Logar's second cigarra for him. They'd been watching the ship nearly as long as it had been there. Goff had driven him around the spaceport when Logar got the initial message. When they found the right ship, Logar had insisted on watching it. It always paid to be careful.

"Some bilk couldn't find their own hands if they had a map." the grizzled spacehand muttered as the other Bothan meandered away. The mechanic gestured towards The War Chaser. "In't that the ship you're meeting?"

Logar sucked in a lungful of smoke, exhaling it slowly. He reached up, tugging at the short goatee hanging from his snout. He twitched his ears and sighed.

"Yeah. Scout for a merc outfit." he said, dropping his cigarra and crushing it out with the heel of his boot. He'd dressed simply- comfortable fatigue pants and a nerf-hide jacket that was running threadbare at the elbows. Over one shoulder he'd slung a small haversack filled with equipment. Most of it was slicing rigs that he'd appropriated from Prig's office while the diminutive Rodian had been getting lunch. Always better to ask forgiveness than permission, Logar figured. "Seems legit from what I could dig up."

"S'long as the bilk pays." the spacehand shrugged, the fur along his muzzle flattening in disinterest. "I better get back-"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry Goff. I'll be seeing you." Logar muttered. He dipped around a parked speeder and ambled towards the seated gunship. He had certain reservations regarding this job. For one, it wasn't a Bothan outfit. Logar preferred Bothans and that wasn't probably to change. The gunship itself didn't seem promising. The best and brightest technologies for ending life, with a nice paint job.

The Bothan operative knocked on the side of the gunship as he walked towards the access port.

 

[Tank]

From the way the Bothan approached the ship, looked at the ship and rapped his knuckles against the hull Cain could tell the Bothan didn't have much respect for the thing. To be honest, The War Chaser had seen better days, and Cain had neglected it a bit the past few months while he was out scouting and recruiting new talent. But The War Chaser was a fine ship in excellent condition, it just needed a few...tune ups was all.

Cain moved to the back of the dropship and met Logar as he was coming up the steps of the boarding ramp.

"Logar!" Cain called out a smile on his face that was just slightly insincere, the man had looked cross-eyed at his ship after all. "Nice to finally meet in person!" He extended his hand for the Bothan to shake. Cain began to turn back toward the cockpit of The War Chaser, hitting to close switch on the boarding ramp as he passed it.

"Melinda, start the engines please, and Mary would you begin contact with the spaceport and negotiate an off world exit pattern, please my dears?" Cain said addressing his two droid brains who helped him not only navigate and fly the ship, but they also manned the guns when found himself in a tight spot and couldn't manage both by himself. While Cain certainly wasn't a womanizer he considered his two droid brains the closest thing he would ever get to a wife.

As the engines began to churn, Cain turned to his new associate. "Please have a seat," Cain offered motioning to the copilots seat immediately to the right of Cain. Cain sat down in the captain's chair and buckled in his crash webbing. "I hope you don't mind if we devise out strategy on the way. We should be there in about two hours, assuming everything goes to plan that is." Cain reached in front of him and flipped on the holoprojector. Between the two of them images of the pirate base as well as blueprint pictures began to cycle through, showing security positions, key rooms, and other information vital to the success of the mission. Logar's true test would be decimating the information and putting together a plan that would get them the information they needed.

Cain flipped one more switch and a holorecording began to play. It was a prerecording of Jet, Cain's Bothan associate who helped run the Mercenaries United, giving instructions regarding the targets, information that needed to be retrieved from the computer database, as well as explaining some of the on-screen pictures that continued to cycle through the holoprojector.

"War Chaser you are cleared for take-off, please follow the flight path being sent to your navicomputer now. Have a good flight!" The Bothan controller said in a pleasant but tired voice.

"Mary, honey, could you execute the flight plan." Cain commanded the computer. While Cain was a more than capable pilot he decided to rely on his computers for most of this simple flight so he could focus on setting up a plan with Logar. Cain began to feel the ship rumble after a sudden burst of power from the repulsor lifts. The ship shot up ten feet, rocked a bit as the ship transitioned from repulsor lifts to engine thrusts, and then began to rise up above the city and into the upper atmosphere. As the world beneath them began to shrink Cain turned to Logar again as the holorecording of Jet came to a close.

"So what are your thoughts?" Cain could feel the weightlessness of space begin to take effect and watched as his helmet began to float from the floor up to the middle of the deck. Cain grabbed the helmet and placed it on his head. "I'll be loading all our plans into my HUD so I can keep track of our progress throughout the mission. Melinda, sweetie, activate inertia compensator please." There was a distinctive click of electronics activating and Cain was suddenly dropping back into his seat as gravity was once again restored to the spaceship.

 

[ErosThanatos]

Logar shook Cain's hand briefly as they made their way into the ship. Shaking hands, palm to palm, was such a curiously Coruscanti custom. It had propagated to even the furthest reaches of the galaxy, as far as the Bothan knew, but he'd never personally seen the appeal. Supposedly its origins had something to do with a show of trust. You allowed a stranger to grasp the place one traditionally kept a knife, in order to show there was no knife.

Bothan culture had a similar enough gesture, showing the palms of the hands then the backs of the hands. Traditionally, one also averted ones eyes entirely. It was a non-verbal shorthand of 'I don't have to watch you'. Apparently other species found the custom off-putting, and it did little to alleviate certain stereotypes that Bothans were on the whole untrustworthy.

Logar settled into his seat silently, setting his bag between his feet. The pleasantries, such as they were, had been dispensed with. That suited him just fine. There was work, here, and it was the kind of work Logar enjoyed. Even as the projector began to play, Logar realized how much he missed this kind of work.

From the looks of it the pirates at least knew their way around internal security protocol. They had regular patrols broken up by shift, and a rotating shift command apparently allowed for some variety when they wanted to shake off the schedule. The compound itself was about as standard as standard got. It looked like the pirates had gone on the Holonet for 'Lairs At Discount', then grabbed the first square Imperialesque monstrosity they could find. No points for creativity, but as Logar poured through the security measures, he realized that maybe they didn't need to be creative.

The command center was in the middle of the compound and easily the tallest structure. Normally, Logar would be inclined to blackout the command center on an infiltration like this- keep them in the dark so they couldn't coordinate any efforts to ferret out infiltrators. Not here. You could cut off electronic contact with the rest of the compound, but that large and visible it would be impossible to cut off physical contact. Best that could be hoped for would be a slower response time, and slow wasn't good enough.

"I say we walk in the door and ask them to access the main core." Logar said, resisting the urge to dig out a cigarra. He'd had three today. Three was enough. "We ask nicely enough, and they'll let us. I think."

The Bothan began gesturing to the information in front of them.

"This compound is state of the art, relatively speaking. They're monitoring electromagnetic distubances, they're monitoring comm chatter, heat signatures. The perimeter is meant to make covert entry into the base absolutely impossible." he said. Logar tapped a nailed finger at the holo-base. "But that's all about keeping people out who aren't supposed to come in, not making sure the people who get in are supposed to be there."

Logar raked a hand over his head, smoothing back the fur there. He really had missed this work.

"Back when in Spynet, we had this slicer who loved to brag about how he could get into any server or datafort in known space. We challenged him, he accepted, and we set up a remote server. No Holonet access, no connection to an outside network, just a guy on a computer in a room. We thought we were clever." Logar said, grinning. He made sure not to show too many teeth. "Slicer got the last laugh, though. Waited for our guy to place a delivery order for lunch, then walked right in the front door with some Rodian noodles."

The Bothan leaned forward, elbows on knees.

"Should work here. I'm thinking custodial staff- I mean what kind of pirate wants to clean up their own mess, right? Blue-grey overalls and a mop, no one looks at us twice." he said finally. "All we need is to see what janitorial service they contracted for the base. This neck of the woods my money is on TransGalaxy or True New."

Logar bobbed his head with finality.

"That's the rough and broad of it- sound good so far, boss?"

 

[Tank]

Cain began to chuckle as the Bothan suggested simply walking into the base. After a few tense moments however, the Bothan continued on with his plan and Cain realized Logar was very serious about his method. Cain could tell that Logar was enjoying himself. Normally a human would struggle to decipher a Bothan's facial expressions and mannerisms, but Cain had spent years working with and watching Jet Pirone, his Bothan banker. Not to mention the heart rate monitor on Cain's HUD display showed that the Bothans heart rate had jumped a little while fluttering through the information on the holoprojector.

Cain chuckled politely at the end of Logar's tale of his slicer friend. He was begining to see where the Bothan was going with this "walk right in" nonsense. It was something Cain really didn't want to do; he'd rather go in guns blazing and simply kill all the pirates. There were only about fifty of them after all. But this was Logar's initiation, for all intents and purposes he was the one in charge. And if he said walk in, by the Force they were going to walk in.

"Should work here. I'm thinking custodial staff- I mean what kind of pirate wants to clean up their own mess, right? Blue-grey overalls and a mop, no one looks at us twice. All we need is to see what janitorial service they contracted for the base. This neck of the woods my money is on TransGalaxy or True New. That's the rough and broad of it- sound good so far, boss?" Logar finished, explaining his simple, yet more than likely effective, plan.

Cain let out a breath, through the helmet it would sound like an almost menacing deep drawn out breath but it was really just a natural sigh, an anticipation of what was to come.

"Mary, look up which janitorial company is most used on Lannik please." Cain said addressing the droid brain. "It's a good plan..." Cain paused thinking things through. They had passed through Bothawui's atmosphere and were lined up to go into hyperspace. Cain pulled up Lannik on the navicomputer and calculated a hyperroute to the small planet. It was a short distance away and it didn't take long for the computer to find a straight-shot route to the planet. Cain, punched in the coordinates and pulled back the hyperdrive lever. The stars in front of them began to elongate and finally collapsed into a tunnel of space.

"Master, the computers indicate that TransGalaxy is the most prevelant on Lannik." The computer said in the smooth cool voice of a Twi'lek speaking basic. Cain swiveled in his chair to face the Bothan head on for the first time. "Well I say we find TransGalaxy's depot on Lannik, raid their store houses, and then head to the pirate base. Does that sound good to you?"

 

[ErosThanatos]

Logar nodded, not looking at Cain. He was busy on his datapad, tapping away hurriedly. The Bothan wasn't a slicer, but he knew his way around a computer system. It helped that he'd legitimately worked for TransGalaxy before- the first time as cover for a ryll-smuggling sting. The second time when he'd been unemployed after being discharged from Spynet. Logar's old login still worked and he used that to backdoor his way into the main employee database.

"TransGalaxy has two workshifts for the compound. We missed the first. Second shift starts about an hour after we hit Lannik atmosphere." Logar said. He paused, sucking at his teeth. "I don't think we'll have time to insert with the rest of the work team. But that might be for the best. Actually-..."

Logar hunched over again, skimming through a document detailing TransGalaxy's employment policies. There. Bingo. Usually, if you were going to be late you might as well not show up at all, since TransGalaxy would simply dock your pay anyway. The only exceptions listed were for employees in training, and even then, only if accompanied by a task manager. Perfect.

"We hit the depot, quiet-like, and get a TransGalaxy speeder. I'm working on some credentials now; you'll be a new workshift manager, and I'll be on-sight supervision." Logar said. He forwarded the barebones information to Cain. "Fill out the details, it'll look more authentic coming from you. Send it back when you're done and I'll put them into the database."

The Bothan rolled his wrist, working out a crick before resuming his typing.

"The credentials won't hold up to any scrutiny from TransGalaxy - they'll have bounced this out of their system by tomorrow - but there's no way for the pirates to know that. Should scan for them." Logar added. He pulled up the nearest depot to the pirate base and sent it over to Cain's navcomp. "That'll be the best place to hit for overalls and transportation."

Logar closed his datapad, closing his eyes and taking a breath. He didn't see any holes in the plan yet, but no plan survived contact with opposition. That was just the way of things. The manager-in-training bit had enough pliability that Logar didn't anticipate having to vape anyone if they got caught somewhere they weren't supposed to. Not immediately, at least. Logar hoped it didn't come to that. He didn't imagine the pirates were particularly tender to infiltrators.

"So what's the usual methodology here, boss?" Logar asked, glancing over at Cain. The man still had his helmet on. It was probably the relative lack of hair that let him do that, Logar realized. Non-Bothans could be odd sometimes. Logar personally didn't understand a lot about Non-Bothans in general and humans in particular. They were so... pink and patchy. It looked absurd. "You look kitted out for some serious lightfighting. That the usual tact?"

 

[Tank]

Cain listened once more as Logar expounded on his plan to infiltrate the pirate base. It actually was begining to sound like a solid plan. Logar was already proving useful, getting into TransGalaxy's database and finding all the information they needed to get into the base reliably. Logar was resourceful and that would prove vital to his future in the Union. The timeline was tight, they would only have an hour to get uniforms and speeder. They could be about thirty minutes behind the regular crew, any longer and the late arrivals would spark too much interest.

Cain knew that if they didn't pull off the first part of the plan, stealing a speeder from TransGalaxy, then there was no way they would make it to the pirate base. TransGalaxy would sound a warning to all their clients and the pirate base would be on high alert. Logar sent him an application of sorts, requesting information that would help identify the worker if their credentials were scanned. Cain quickly scanned over the information and filled it out. He filled in a fake name, Nik Tailor, just in-case he was discovered.

It wasn't a fool proof plan, but it was a good one. It would certainly work as long as nothing went too wrong. Getting into the main computer room would be simple, but getting the information they needed without being seen would be difficult. Cain's blaster was probably going to get some action this afternoon.


"So what's the usual methodology here, boss? You look kitted out for some serious lightfighting. That the usual tact?" Logar asked. Cain decided Logar had already proved useful and as long as he didn't collapse under the pressure of the mission he would be a good addition to the Mercenaries United. So Cain let Logar in on a little of his backstory.

"I grew up in Mandalorian space, was trained and worked in their military." Cain didn't know how much information to trust Logar with, so he didn't get into too many specifics. "I decided to leave when I was young and work on my own. All I really know is the military, so yeah...I guess you could say I'm a serious fighter. Don't worry though I'll lose the armor once we land, going into a pirate base dressed in Mandalorian armor is a suicide mission. I'll be bringing my repeater and shockwave pistol though, I'll cover you back if we get into any serious gun fights."

Cain turned back to the navicomputer and watched the clock time down to arrival. They still had around thirty minutes until they arrived.

"Unless you have anything else you want to add I'm going to go change and get my gear ready. Data pad, slicing gear, weapons, you know." Cain said as he removed his helmet.

 

[ErosThanatos]

"Mandalorian bred. Right. That puts some things in context." Logar said dryly, itching idly under his chin. Spynet had some dealings with the Mandalorians, but Lo'tey himself had never involved himself with them. He was a domestic personality, back in the service. He knew Bothans and stuck to what he knew. The old aphorism rang, unbidden, through his head. Variety is the spice of life.

Logar extended the metaphor to its absurd conclusion- in a big enough galaxy, there are plenty of alien spices that'll kill you if you don't know your allergies. Logar chuffed to himself, not getting up. He had nothing to change into, since he was already in civilian garb.

"Nothing to add." Logar said, closing his eyes. He figured he could afford a power nap while they were en route. An REM cycle might give him some inspiration with the coming operation. He pursed his lips. "Actually. Yeah. We're going undercover as janitors, so try not to look so... Mandalorian."

Logar shook out his limbs in demonstration, then hunched forward and looked down. Posture was important when you were being someone other than yourself. It was doubly important when dealing with aliens like humans. They lacked emotive fur patterns, a strong sense of smell, or even expressive ears. You had to practically scream your body language at them so they could notice.

"Try not to act like someone who knows what they're doing with their life." Logar explained. "Walk like ninety percent of the mopes in this galaxy- like you just want to go home and watch a blizzball game."

 

[Tank]

Cain laughed out loud at Logar’s blizzball joke. While Cain had never been into the game he knew more than enough men who sat on the front lines with their portable holoprojectors listening to a blizzball game through their headset. They were the mopes, as Logar had called them, that usually went first when the battle started.

“Don’t worry, I’m good at acting casual. You’re talking to the guy who walked from one end of the battlefield to the other on Tython when the Imperial Army offered me twice what I was getting paid by the Galactic Alliance!” Cain gave the Bothan a reassuring, albeit over confident, smile and headed to the dropships’ refresher.

He opted for a plain tan brown tunic and brown colored pants. The lose tunic would help him hide his shoulder holster and shockwave pistol. It took him a few moments to get out of his armor and changed into his street garb. By the time he had changed and returned to the cockpit the Bothan was fast asleep. Cain did his best to be quiet and move around the cockpit seamlessly. A few minutes later they were coming out of hyperspace. The tunnel of stars slowed down, turning into lines and ultimately from lines into individual blips, far out in space. Lannik swelled in the viewport growing from an individual speck to a behemoth and filled the viewport.

After a few moments of negotiating a landing pattern and a valid port near the janitorial service, the noise level in the cockpit was beginning to rise and Cain decided it would be a good time to wake the Bothan.

“We’re there, Logar. Any brilliant ideas come your way in the astral plane?” Cain chuckled. Within moments they had landed and were ready to debark. Cain made sure to pack his helmet and repeater blaster in his back pack. He’d be able to link into his the droid brains on his ship and heat up the engines if they needed to make a quick escape off planet. Cain started for the back of The War Chaser as he approached the boarding ramp he took a deep breath. It was go time.

 

[ErosThanatos]

Logar opened his eyes at Cain's voice, blinking twice at the bright light spilling in from Lannik outside. The Bothan unbuckled and rose, stretching himself out with a satisfying series of pops. At least the trip had been short.

"What's an astral plane?" Logar murmured, furrowing his brow and slinging his bag over a shoulder. "Is that a Mandalorian thing?"

The Bothan shook his head, descending the ramp behind Cain. They'd landed a scan distance from the target depot, which suited the Bothan just fine. No need pushing the timetable anymore than necessary. He dug out a cigarra and let it hang limply between his lips, slouching forward into his walk with a languid and obvious apathy. He took a moment to pull out a keycard, synch it with his datapad, and upload his old work profile. He didn't bother changing the name. If they scanned him at the compound, he could wipe it at the central server.

Logar continued his walk towards the depot- it was barely more than a prefabricated office overlooking asphalt. There were three trucks and two smaller landspeeders. Logar nudged Cain and gestured at one of them.

"Grab the speeder and bring it around, I'll talk to the guy." he said before moving towards the office. The Bothan paused at the door, peering past the slats inside. A heavyset Bith sat at a desk, watching some holovid. Logar didn't bother knocking, sliding half-in the doorway. "Oy. Takin' the two-seat, runnin' late, fill in the papers for me?"

Logar nearly made it out the door before the Bith, startled, sat forward.

"Hey, hey!"

"What?" Logar said, popping back in and injecting a tired irritability into his tone. An aurally inclined species, Bith responded better to tone than body language. "I'm runnin' late- oh, I think I seen this episode."

The Bith glanced back at his holovid.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Last fifteen are burners. Can you sign me or- thanks." Logar said, ducking back out as the Bith waved dismissively. A job like this, you could care only so far and no further. The Bothan slid in next to Cain, grinning toothily. "That's that, bossman."

 

[Tank]

((OOC: Sorry it's short and rushed. I accidentally reloaded the page twice, which erased everything I had written twice so I just got frustrated and threw this together...))
Cain was beginning to like this Bothan. He had everything sorted out and knew how to proceed. The only thing that kept Cain weary was the Bothan's knack for doing things that were very straight forward. Walking straight into the pirate camp, walking into the janitorial service's office, it would only be a matter of time before he walked into a trap or found an opponent who didn't just let Logar walk right by. When that happened Cain would truly know the quality of intelligence agent Logar really was.

Cain walked around to the side of the building, where the speeder lot was, very nonchalantly. He inserted his credentials into the key slot and the speeder started up immediately. Well at least the Bothan knew what he was doing. He backed the speeder out of the lot and pulled around to the front of the building where Logar was waiting for him. He waited for the Bothan to get in and then sped off. The pirates base was about a ten minute drive through the mountains and into a the edge of the desert.

The ride was relatively smooth and quick. Cain slowed down so that he and Logar would be able to talk comfortably and not have to shout over the sound of the wind passing past them. "I'll let you do the talking once we arrive at the gate. If anything goes wrong take cover and I'll handle all the killing. I hope this plan is as solid and as it has been so far."

 

[ErosThanatos]

Logar merely bobbed his head at Cain. The first checkpoint would be one of the biggest hurdles. Second checkpoint, not so much. As he'd pointed out in the ship, the compound was very keyed towards keeping people out, not making sure the people inside were supposed to be there. Each checkpoint would, if the Bothan had read correctly, get sloppier and sloppier.

"If you have the killing covered..." Logar murmured, sliding his blaster pistol beneath his seat. "Worst case scenario right now, they have a dumbass working the post. Dumb follows procedure because it has to, smart disregards it because it thinks it doesn't have to."

Logar lit his cigarra finally,taking a slow drag. He let the smoke curl from his nostrils, speaking around the t'bac stick as they neared the first gate. Two pirates flanked the road, about twenty yards to the right of the speeder. They had decent cover and a good view of anyone advancing on the entrance. Wonderful.

The guard turned out to be a lean Rodian with drooping earstalks. He squinted at Cain and Logar. The Bothan leaned over, presenting his ID languidly.

"Big truck already come through? We're late." he said. The Rodian didn't react immediately. The Bothan made sure to keep his fur down and his ears as floppy as the Rodian's eyestalks. Rodians lacked some of the physiological features that many sapient species had which might betray emotions. No eyelids, for example, and so no epicanthic fold. A nictitating membrane is harder to read than a raised eyebrow.

The Rodian grabbed the ID and swiped it. His pad beeped with a green light. So far so good. The Rodian likewise checked Cain's ID. Another green light. Almost there.

"Where's your mops?" the Rodian buzzed. Galactic Common always sounded nasally coming from a Rodian. The guard gestured at Cain, handing the IDs back. "Why ain't you got mops, eh?"

 

[Tank]

"Worst case scenario right now, they have a dumbass working the post. Dumb follows procedure because it has to, smart disregards it because it thinks it doesn't have to." Cain smiled, even if things at the Mercenaries United didn't work out he'd still have to have a few drinks with the guy. They approached the main gates and the first checkpoint. It really wasn't that heavily guarded and had this been any other mission Cain would have felt confident in shooting the two with no second thought. But these pirates had information they needed and at any sign of alarm they might just dump all their data files.

"Big truck already come through? We're late." Logar said confidently and without pause. He would be a good sabaac player and Cain made a note to never play with him. It looked like the Rodian bought their story but he was still a little skeptical. Their IDs went through but the Rodian pressed the issue.

"Where's your mops?" the Rodian asked in his nasally voice. At first Cain thought Logar was going to respond but when he didn't Cain realized the Rodian was staring him down. "Why ain't you got mops. eh?"

"You're kidding right?" Cain came back. "You saw the size of the truck didn't you? What do you think is back there? Come on! I've already lost fifty credits this morning by not being on the work site, open up the gates already!" The last few words were a growl. Rodian's were a small species, and even seated in a speeder Cain's size was intimidating. The Rodian must have realized this as he lost interest in questioning them very suddenly and turned to open the gate.

Cain pulled the speeder through the first gate and approached the second. Once they passed this gate they would be inside the compound. The only other opposition they would see would be inside the building, protecting certain rooms. Cain approached the gate and began to slow down.

"We're pa-" Cain couldn't even get the words out of his mouth. The guard waved them on through without even stopping them. Logar was right about security being much more lax on the inside. Cain pulled the speeder up next to the main janitorial truck. Cain jumped out and put his backpack on.

"Alright what now, foreman?" Cain said with a small smile. Cain knew the course of action but, once again, this was the Bothan's trial and Cain needed to be absolutely certain he would be able to carry out missions on his own.

 

[ErosThanatos]

Logar dropped his cigarra and crushed it out as he exited the speeder. He took a moment to stretch, exaggerating the movement so he could keep an eye on the general compound as he did so. There was hustle and there was bustle. The pirates seemed inordinately quiet for a group supposedly gearing for a raid. That was odd. But intel indicated this group wasn't exactly new to the game; it was entirely possible they weren't all concerned. That was a comforting thought.

The Bothan jerked a thumb towards the main warehouse. Cain's intel had indicated that TransGalaxy employees had a small workroom on sight, mostly for equipment storage and other things they didn't want to truck in daily. Logar figured it would be an easy place to swing by. They didn't need uniforms, since he was nominally training another site-manager. But he did need a clipboard and several other props. It was as good a place as any to start.

Logar led Cain down the steps into the musty-smelling room. It was cramped, and filled with things that probably did other things to make even more things clean. The Bothan hardly cared to think about it, instead plucking a clipboard from the dented metal desk in the corner. There was a small pile of clips and ID lanyards- Logar got one for each of them, clipping his own to the left lapel of his jacket. Logar glanced over the clipboard and was pleased to see a breakdown of work schedules. Perfect. They could coordinate their own moves through the complex with the janitorial services- near but not with the cleaners in order to create plausibility.

"Here, take a gander. You want some caf?" Logar said, offering Cain the clipboard. He went to the desk and poured himself a mug. It smelled acrid, and when Logar took a sip he grimaced. Strong. Disgusting. Perfect. "We'll stick to the secondary access corridor to get up to the right level. They're apparently steaming out some carpet one level below that."

Logar took another sip of caf, warming his hands around the mug.

"If anyone stops us, we pretend we've got somewhere to be. If they press us, we tell them we got lost on our way to the refresher." he continued. The Bothan itched under his chin. Despite his heartrate being jacked - it was always up on a mission - Logar was forcing himself not to rush them out the door and on their way. Patience was more than a virtue, in this line of work, it was a requirement. "It's easy to forget that every military base has an equal share of civvies. Regular bilks who just need a paycheck, y'know? Ideological differences be damned- you take some muckraker from a Sithsite, a Hutt slavetender's compound, and a Bothan snubfighter base and you will find they've got more in common with each other than the guys carrying blasters."

Logar pushed off the wall, refilling his mug of caf and gesturing towards the door. It was time to get going.

 

[Tank]

Cain shook his head when Logar offered him Caf. While he enjoyed a cup every now and again, it certainly wasn't the last taste he wanted in his mouth if they were to be captured or killed.

"We'll stick to the secondary access corridor to get up to the right level. They're apparently steaming out some carpet one level below that." Cain brought up his datapad and looked over the schematics. Logar was right, from the access corridor down to the lower third floor the computer main frame room was just a few paces from the elevator. "If anyone stops us, we pretend we've got somewhere to be. If they press us, we tell them we got lost on our way to the refresher." Cain once again nodded his consent. It had already been a long trip and a long mission and he was ready to get into the heat of things. The sooner they blew this hell-hole sky high the better.

Cain listened as Logar went on about civilians working on the base. Cain didn't particularly care; if they raised a blaster they would get vaped whether they were wearing civilian clothes or the pirates' insignia. Cain hoped that when the time came Logar would have the same convictions. Cain waited for Logar to finish his caf and then he stood. He'd been studying the datapad the past few minutes making sure he knew every entrance and exit, if something happened and they needed a back door it would be up to Cain to get Logar out of the facility with his life; intelligence agents were no good dead.

Cain grabbed a couple of bottles of what he supposed were cleaning spray and clipped them to his belt. He also grabbed a broom, it would not only help sell their image but provide a good improvisational weapon if the situation called for it. Cain walked out of the warehouse and headed over toward the central building of the compound. As he approached the door he pulled out his identification card and swiped it at the door. A green light appeared and there was a metallic click as the door unlocked.

The main hallway was abandoned and Cain headed toward the secondary access corridor. He got in the elevator, waited for Logar to do the same and hit the B3 button. The elevator shot downward and then slowed as they reached the third floor. As the doors opened the two were confronted by five armed guards.

"Guh...hi?" Cain stammered, completely shocked by the five men.

 

[ErosThanatos]

The Bothan stepped into the elevator next to Cain. So far so good. They were matching up with Logar's rough guess of a timetable- by his estimate they only had an hour left on site. Less if the slicing programs he'd brought along did what the seller had promised. Logar knew his way around a computer, but it was best not to improvise if you didn't have to. The programs he had would gank nearly have the pirates' entire database and toast the rest. Logar's only hand in the slicing was to run the program and ensure it grabbed the right files.

All thoughts regarding planning fled Logar when the doors opened again. The Bothan smelled them a half-second before he saw them- five sapients. One Zabrak - they smelled like spice - and three humans and one Gotal. There were no thoughts, just blind panic. A pure rush of adrenaline. Every muscle in Logar's body screamed to either haul off in one of their faces, or start running.

But these moments were what Logar's training had been for. No plan survived contact with reality; it was a maxim drilled into intelligence operators from the moment they started their curriculum at the Bothan Military Academy. The whole point of training was having something to rely on when cognizant processes failed or hiccuped. Like now.

Logar stepped close to Cain, leveraging against him to move them both to one side of the door. At the same time he raised his clipboard and motioned at the guards.

"Sometimes patrols come through your work area. Just show 'em your badge if they ask and stay out of their way otherwise." the Bothan said. It had taken him decades to learn how to keep his voice from cracking under pressure like this. He flicked Cain's badge with a claw, then nodded at the guards. "Excuse us, fellas."

Logar kept a light pressure on Cain, hoping to coax him into motion down the hall. He had no doubt the man, dangerous as he was, could incapacitate the five- Logar would prefer not to risk it, though.

 

[Tank]

Cain stepped out of the elevator amazed that he'd had such a lapse of concentration. Normally seeing people on the opposite side of a war would result in them ending up dead. But they needed to be stealthy, something Cain wasn't used to an didn't like. So when he'd seen the five pirates at the doorway to the elevator he'd panicked. Luckily, Logar had covered for him and steered him out of the elevator and down the hall.

With broom in hand Cain regained his composure and found the computer room fairly easily. Cain pulled out his identicard and swiped it in the door. Once again the door slip open as Logar's slicing skills were showcased. There were two men in the room, both of them looked like techies, not the pirate type. Cain remembered what Logar had said about civilians working on these types of bases and figured these two were probably some of them. It was really hard to resist the urge to simply pull out his blaster and blow them both away. Instead he decided to implement his broom as a blunt force weapon and give them a chance at survival; if he didn't hit them too hard that was.

Cain approached them with a smile of confidence.

"Have they already got your trash?" Cain asked bending next to one of the tech men and looking underneath his desk where a waste bin should be. Cain didn't give the man a chance to respond, he jabbed the end of his broom into the man's temple. Cain pivoted on his back leg, bringing the broom overhead and twirling it, he brought the broom down on the crown of the second guy's head. They both slumped down in the chairs and hit the floor with a muffled thud.

"Well...that went well. Go ahead and plug into one of those computers I'll go ahead and set up a barricade in case we get any unwanted guests before your program finishes." Cain pulled off his back pack and pulled out his repeater blaster and shockwave pistol. He placed them on the ground and began making barricades. The room was circular in layout. There were two doors each on opposite sides of the room. There were also inclined steps up to the main computers. Cain would be able to upturn several desks facing the door and those would provide excellent firing cover.

All the duo needed was to find out which Hutt was backing the pirates and then get out of there.

"How's it coming Logar?"

 

[ErosThanatos]

Logar knelt next to the two unconscious techies, pressing a clawed finger to each one's neck. There was a pulse. The Mando merc hadn't put them down for good. The Bothan slid into one of their seats, bag in his lap. He pulled out two datapads and a fistful of wires, beginning to set up the slicing rig. Logar couldn't help but grin- one of the technicians had been logged in, which meant he didn't need to break down half as much ICE and countermeasures as he'd been expecting. Lady Luck was with them so far.

"Which Hutt are we interested in, again?" Logar said, taking a moment to light up a cigarra. It was his second of the day. Or third. Or something- he couldn't remember. The datapad in front of him beeped as it accessed the mainframe. "Norbil? Nor'baal. Never heard of 'em. I always tried to steer clear of the big slugs."

Logar started up the slicing programs and got up, letting them do their work. He went over to the technicians, grabbing the first by his boots and dragging him to the opposite side of the room. He did likewise with the second, carefully arranging them out of the way and zip-tying their hands and feet together. Even if they woke they wouldn't be able to do much.

"How's it coming Logar?"

The Bothan went back to his terminal, checking the slicing rig's process so far. He frowned. He'd tripped something. The Bothan slid back into the seat, fingers tapping away. His hackles went up.

"Might've hit a security backup on the way in." he murmured. Logar found the subroutine and neutralized it. He couldn't stop the security report from heading up to the security system two floors above them, but he could delay it. "We have two minutes before their system tells them somethings up."

The Bothan checked on the slicing and sighed. So much for Lady Luck.

"And we need about a minute more than that to get what we need." Logar said. A minute was more than enough time for the pirates to muster and vape them. The Bothan pursed his lips- Cain would want to bring in the heavy guns. On the one hand, it was nearly gauranteed to get them out alive. On the other hand, it would be its own kind of defeat. For a Bothan, guile was the greatest virtue. Brute force was for other, lesser species. Violence was easy, cunning was hard. Logar had never liked the easy way. "I'm gonna re-route the power grid. They've got a pretty neat anti-air system, here. Aesir Lab 230e. Can down a snubfighter from a mile out- impressive stuff."

The Bothan's fingers were a blur. With the technician's access, he didn't need to slice the computer so much as simply navigate. In a lot of ways it wasn't too different from the computer systems he'd known when working in the Spynet home offices. Only bigger.

"But that power has to be handled safely. Plenty of breakers, plenty of redundant systems." he said. He tapped a key. "Aaaand they're gone. Chrono says we need three minutes- in two minutes their Aesir Lab 230e goes boom."

The Bothan grinned over at Cain, his nostrils flaring.

"Get ready to run, bossman."

 

[Tank]

“Nor’Baal. He’s been on our side for quite a while. Just need to make sure he’s not the one behind this. It’s a big galaxy and plenty of Hutts would kill for this parcel of space; I just need to make sure Nor’baal’s not one of them.“ Cain reminded Logar. Nor’baal had been a steady contractor for the MU and Cain needed to make sure the Hutt was still on their side. He was sure Nor’baal hadn’t gone behind their back, but he needed to make one hundred percent sure.

“Alright, two minutes for the security team to get here and two minutes for their defense to go down. Another minute and we’ll have the information I need. Alright, I’m going to go ahead and call in the tanks. It’ll take them about two minutes to get into range. Hopefully, when the pirates notice they’re about to get blown to bits they’ll focus more on the tanks and less on us.” Cain flipped his comlink on and turned away from Logar.

“Bravo team, you have a green light. Be advised turrets will be down in a minute-thirty. We’ll be coming out hot on the east side. Approach from the west and we’ll have a clear exit. Level the place boys.” Cain smiled victoriously. All he had to worry about now was fending off the security personnel that came their way.

Cain walked over to the door and poked his head outside. The hallway was still empty. It seemed that the bowels of the facility were used for nothing more than the computer main frame. Because of this, no one was around.

When the two minutes were up an alarm started to blare. There was a tremor that shook the ground even three stories deep. Cain wasn’t sure if the alarm had begun to blare because of the turrets blowing or because the pirates suddenly became aware of their presence.

“Okay, you stay here, I’m going to go out into the hall and draw any stragglers away from the computer room. Once you have the information, get out and get landside. I’ll be right behind you.” Cain trotted out the door and down the hallway. He put the elevator in between him and the computer room. Most of the pirates coming down that cooridor would immediately turn right to the computer room and wouldn’t see Cain behind them ready to strike.

As soon as Cain planted himself in a defensible position the elevator doors opened and five men piled out. Cain caught the first three unaware. The last two had time to turn and return fire before Cain dropped them as well with his repeater rifle. Logar should be out soon, and then they could be rid of this pirate pit.

 

[ErosThanatos]

Logar bobbed his head. He had no love for pirates, but he still couldn't help but pity them. There was a firestorm headed their way, and it was going to be fairly unpleasant. The Bothan packed his equipment away, double-checking that the slicing program had finished. His datapad now had the information that Cain needed- and the servers had been completely wiped. There would be plenty of time to to check the information later, for now Logar needed to ex-filtrate.

Before heading out, Logar untied the two technicians and gave them two hard slaps each. Once he was sure they were on their way to conciousness, the Bothan slipped out the exit. The ground trembled. This was the closest he'd been to live combat in... ever, really. His work generally happened in alleyways and alehouses. He worked at a desk, sifting data and analyzing reports. Sometimes he pretended to be someone else, and sometimes he delivered packages to people.

Live combat was new, though.

Logar had been through a modicum of training, but it still felt disconcertingly visceral. Men ran and shouted - the Bothan made sure to join them where possible - and chaos reigned. No one was looking for him, but that wouldn't stop a blaster bolt if one caught him.

The Bothan burst from the building at a dead lope, keeping his head down. Cain's tanks were already cresting the nearest defenses, and a third of the central compound was simply gone.

"Hey, you!" a pirate called, following Logar as he reached a speeder. The Bothan half-turned. He didn't know what the pirate wanted, and frankly didn't care. As the human neared, Logar caught him with a rising uppercut. He heard the man's teeth click and he crumpled. Logar hauled himself into the speeder, slamming it into gear and blasting into a tight turn. The Bothan spotted Cain as the man exited the building, and he pulled up next to him. Cain was barely in when Logar hit the throttle and aimed for a smoking gap in the perimeter fence.

Bolts skipped off the speeder's cab. Logar didn't let his foot up until they were a hundred yards past the fence.