Chapter Four: Introductions

"The name's Rokk Karinn and I'm the new watch captain. The bosses wanted me to come in early so's they could show me the place", Skully said to the humanoid at the guard post. His patience was wearing thin. This was the third time he'd had to repeat himself.

The guard scratched his head and appraised the armored Roxian skeptically. Shaking his head he replied, for the third time, "I've got you on my list, but we have to wait for the escort. Especially since the list doesn't say anything about your friend."

"Bah!" Skully answered disgustedly in defeat. He crossed his arms, fuming, obstensibly irritated with the delay. In actuality, he was a little concerned.

He had not told Chakk that he would be bringing anyone along. He had assumed that they would accept Zarvon, especially if he was just a loyal henchman; a nobody. Perhaps the leaders of this mercenary outfit were not as foolish as he thought. It did seem that they took their security seriously. He hoped this wouldn't throw a hydrospanner into his plans.

After a silent wait for another two minutes, the Roxian saw a figure emerge from the doors of the plant. The humanoid was about two meters tall, covered in a dark green, armored carapace and looked remarkably like a Barabel from a distance. Skully focused the macrobinoculars in his facemask so he could be certain. Yes, it was indeed a Barabel and he was sure that it was the one he had knocked cold the night before. The Barabel was carrying a vibroaxe and had a wicked gleam in his eyes as he casually strolled to the front gate.

"I have a really bad feeling about this," the Jedi murmured quietly from his cowl.

"Take an antacid tablet and get over it. I'm the one that should be worried," Skully replied casually.

As the Barabel got within ten meters from him, Skully stepped forward with his arms open wide. With a deep, comradely laugh he stepped up to greet the Barabel, hoping that he didn't have hard feelings about last night.

"Ah, my friend! How are you this morning? I must thank you for the fight last night! You were quite a challenge! We must drink together sometime so we can swap stories of our escapades!" the Roxian said to the Barabel in a friendly manner as if they were longtime companions. Skully maintained a watchful eye throughout the exchange in case the Barabel decided to strike with the axe.

The Barabel stopped about two meters from the Roxian and stared at him. With a grunt, he lifted the axe high over his head and brought it down in a vicious chop!

The blade of the axe sank halfway into the formex surface of the pedestrian walkway between the Roxian's legs. Had he been a foot closer, Skully would have gotten it between his eyes. The Barabel let go of the axe leaving it imbedded in the ground. He laughed with a hissing growl and spoke in his crude Basic.

"It isss customary on mii world to give to the victor of sssingle combat a ssspoil. Accept mii axe. You ffought bravely", the Barabel said. "The nexxt tiime I will kill you!" he finished with menacing certainty.

"Yeah, right. I accept your axe, friend," Skully stated as he pulled the axe from the ground. "Just remember, that next time I'll be trying to kill you too. Last night you came in second place and your prize was your life. The next time there won't be any prizes for you," the Roxian stated matter-of-factly. "Shall we all go see the bosses now?"

The Barabel turned around and motioned for the two beings to follow him. The three of them walked in silence up to the front doors of the low building. The front entrance consisted of a pair of sliding, glass doors. The rest of the building appeared to be a windowless affair. Two raised guard platforms, accessible by external stairways flanked the building in such a way that each had a view of the front yard and one side of the building. The entire property was surrounded by a ten meter tall high-voltage security fence. Aside from the single guard at the front gate, Skully noticed one on each of the platforms manning a repeating blaster on a pintle mount and he saw at least six others walking in pairs around the inside of the perimeter fence. Overall, the security looked pretty good, but he had seen and defeated better.

The doors of the main entrance slid open as the trio approached and they walked into the cool, lighted interior of the building. The reception foyer had a desk which was unoccupied. The only occupant of the room was the silent security droid which trained a photoreceptor upon the group as they entered. It stood in front of a blast door across the room from the entrance labeled "Authorized Personnel Only" in Basic. Skully wasn't quite sure what the model of the droid, was, but he was certain that it probably exceeded it's original specifications. He saw signs of at least three internal weapon systems mounted upon the droid as well as heavy armor plating. The mechanical wasn't something he wanted to tangle with.

The Barabel ignored the droid and led the group into one of the only two other exits from the room. It was a door labeled "Administrative Offices" to the right of the entrance. Zarvon was the last into the door and he watched the droid as the door slid shut.

The three walked through the barren outer offices and into an executive area consisting of private, single occupancy offices. Their destination lay at the end of the hall. The Barabel opened one last door and the pair was ushered into a conference room.

At the far end of the table sat Sweto Chakk. To his right sat Luosk and Flodo. On his left sat a member of the Ubese species clothed in bounty hunter armor and next to him sat a large Whiphid with tan fur and two immense, upturned tusks. All of them stared at the new arrivals.

"Stand here," the Barabel instructed. He then walked down to stand against the wall behind Sweto.

"We are glad you and your companion could join us, Rokk" the Quarren began. "Why did you not tell us of him last night? Do you trust us more now?"

"Here goes nothing," the Roxian thought to himself.

"He's a good spy and backup man. In my line of work, you can't be too careful. I brought him down here this morning so that I could introduce him to you. If you'll let him stay on, I'll pay his salary out of my pocket as I always have. His name is Ello," Skully finished with a gesture to Zarvon.

"If he's such a good backup man, why did he not see me follow you both back to your ship last night?" inquired a soft, gravelly voice at Rip's ear.

Skully and Zarvon both stiffened with momentary surprise. They both peered over their right shoulders to see a shadow walking away from them and towards the head of the table. It moved to stand beside the Barabel at which time Sweto spoke again.

"Welcome aboard, Rokk and Ello," he announced while letting a grin escape his stern facade.

"Y'trall said that your companion did do a good job of watching your back last night. Not everyone can spot a Defel when he wants to remain hidden," he said with a wave of his hand over his shoulder. "He and Chona-kar are our enforcers. Flasch and Sulak here are our other two watch captains," the Quarren said as he indicated the Ubese and the Whiphid in order.

Introductions were made once again all around for Zarvon's benefit and then the two newcomers were told to sit. The group then began discussing business.

First, Skully's duties and responsibilities were outlined. He would be in charge of a seven hour guard shift which began in the afternoon. He was then free to leave the compound to sleep, eat, drink or indulge in other diversions. All mercenaries were required to spend at least one of their two off-duty shifts each day in the compound in case of trouble. They could mill about the yard or stay in one of the empty offices. Zarvon would work on Skully's shift since they were partners, more or less. They even negotiated and agreed to pay Skully an extra one hundred credits per month to defray Zarvon's salary. Skully was then told that he could have one of the offices as his quarters since he was a watch captain. Zarvon, however, would have to find quarters elsewhere.

They were both told that any orders from any of the other beings in this room were to be followed explicitly or else. As the meeting broke up, Sweto gave just one last instruction to the pair.

"Be certain that you stay out of the plant itself and the warehouse. The Imperials left the security of those areas in the hands of security droids like the one outside. They will shoot first and not ask questions at all. One foolish guard already found that out the hard way. If you have any other questions, at least two of us are usually here in the offices."

Skully and Zarvon acknowledged their final instructions and left the offices in silence. They then walked outside, ostensibly to learn the layout of the place. At the corner of the building, Skully stretched, clasping and unclasping his right hand several times.

Zarvon caught the signal and closed his eyes. He reached out with the Force and felt around him, searching for a glimmer in the Force which indicated a lifeform was nearby. After a short moment, he spoke quietly.

"I'm certain that no one is within hearing range. What do you want to do now?" he asked the Roxian.

Opening his visor so that his voice would be clear and not carry as far, Skully answered him. "We have a few hours left before our shift. I'm going to look around some. I need you to go out and contact Endlighter and 5150 discreetly and tell them about the layout. Also tell them that they need to leave the ship and find another place to lay low in case that Defel decides to snoop around some more. Have 5150 meet me tonight at that tavern near the spaceport called "The Launch Pad" and I'll fill him in on the situation."

"Will do," the Tectarnian replied. He walked away from the Roxian and made his way for the front gate.

Skully waited until his friend had made it out the front gate before resealing his faceplate and continuing his survey of the grounds.

Chapter Five: Infiltration

"What's this stuff?" asked the human at the front gate to the processing facility. He indicated the three crates on the repulsorlift cargo skiff with his left hand while keeping his right hand near his blaster.

"It's Karinn's gear from his ship. He told me to bring it in for him," replied Zarvon casually.

"What is it? His personal arsenal? Open up those crates. I need to have a look inside. Those are the orders. No exceptions," stated the man.

"He values his privacy. If you look in these crates, it will probably make him mad," cautioned the blue-skinned being.

Squinting into the rising sun, the guard fixed a sneer on his face and replied, "Too bad. Open 'em up!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you. You really don't need to look in these crates," commented Zarvon absently as he moved to the top crate with a power prybar from the skiff's toolbox. He quickly removed the lid of the crate and stepped back so that the guard could have a better look.

A low whistle escaped the man's lips. "Is that a Sharpshooter V? Wow!" the guard asked in wonder as he stared down at the sniper rifle packed lovingly into the crate.

"Yep! Top-of-the-line BlasTech model made just for the Empire. Karinn accquired it somewhere. The owner no longer needed it, as I understand it. It's a beautiful weapon, isn't it?" asked the Tectarnian.

"It sure is. I know a lot of people who would love to get their hands on it," answered the human.

"I'm sure you do. That's why Mr. Karinn likes his privacy. That way, people are not tempted to be greedy over his possessions. He doesn't like greedy people. I'm sure you can understand that," Zarvon replied. Stepping closer to the man, he placed an arm around the man's shoulders and whispered to him "You really don't need to look inside the other crates."

Looking at Zarvon, matching his whisper, the man nodded his head and said "Yes, I do need to look inside the other crates."

Taking a deep breath, Zarvon stretched out with Force and repeated "You don't need to look in the other crates."

"I don't need to look in the other crates," answered the man.

"There's nothing unusual about these crates."

"There's nothing unusual about those crates."

"You will forget that I brought these crates in."

"I will forget that you brought these crates in."

"Thank you," finished Zarvon as he put the prybar away and replaced the lid of the first crate. He waved to the guard as he manned the controls of the open vehicle and drove it into the compound.

Within the otherwise empty office cubicle, G'nash Endlighter slid aside the cover of the third crate which Zarvon had placed there. Raising his head up and bringing his blaster pistol to bear, he did a quick sweep of the dimly-lit room. He was alone.

"Good", he thought to himself, "the plan's actually working so far."

Stepping gingerly out of the crate, Endlighter holstered his blaster and picked up the tool harness and portable computer packed into the end of the crate. The tools and the computer were there to give him a cover story. The computer was also there to assist him with the next step of the plan: cracking the Imperial database in this processing plant.

Moving to the cubicle door, Endlighter placed his ear against the door to listen for movement outside. He was rewarded with silence. As an afterthought, he retrieved the datapad from within the utility thigh pocket of his loose-fitting fatigue trousers and double-checked the map of the offices which Zarvon had programmed into it. Satisfied that he knew where he was going, Endlighter listened again at the door before sliding it open and stepping into the hallway.

The hallway was as dark and cluttered as Zarvon had described it. To the east lay the conference room and the offices used by Luosk and his lieutenants. To the west were more offices; some occupied and some not. Also to the west was the door to the entry foyer. It was to this door which Endlighter quickly walked and stepped boldly through.

No one stood in the entry foyer save the lone sentry droid. G'nash glanced uncomfortably at it out of the corner of his eye as he paused on the threshold.

"It's even bigger than Zarvon said!" he thought. He found himself wishing he'd brought along a heavier weapon than his pistol. Sighing, he resigned himself to his course of action.

"Here goes nothing", he mumbled to himself as he began walking across the foyer to the door across the reception area.

The droid slowly swiveled its head to follow his movement with red photoreceptors. It made no move to halt him as he opened the western door and entered the dark office.

Safely on the other side of the door, Endlighter released the breath he had been holding. He then surveyed the office he had entered. Apparently, the room had once held a minor functionary of some type. Some paper waste littered the floor where it had carelessly been discarded. Indentations in the cheap carpeting showed where a heavy workstation, chairs and shelving had once sat. The room was otherwise bare. Eventhe illumination unit had been removed. Midway along the northern wall of the room, Endlighter found what he had hoped to find: a computer access socket. Plugging the portable computer into the socket, G'nash set to work.

It was relatively simple for him to access a system menu. It was a little more difficult for him to find a code to let him access some basic areas. After a few minutes, he was scanning personnel assignment records.

From the personnel records he found that only a squad of stormtroopers, a half dozen security droids and some general maintenance droids were all that remained here of the processing plant's contingent. Except for the solitary droid in the foyer, everyone else was within the plant itself in the sublevels of the facility. After a few more minutes, he changed his search to production records.

According to the production records, the plant had ceased output when the Empire had first pulled out of here weeks earlier. Everything prior to that was general reports of raw foodstuffs received, processed, packaged and shipped. Reports of minor importance except for one fact.

"If they ceased production, then why did I see a transport leave here just over a week ago?" mused Endlighter to himself.

Reaching into an accessory pouch on the computer's case, G'nash withdrew a computer spike. It was a relatively weak tool compared to the ones professional data slicers used, but it would have to do. Plugging it into the peripherals jack of the computer, he went back to work at the keyboard.

"Let's find the real production reports", he thought.

One hidden directory later, encrypted data began to pour across the display screen. G'nash would have to copy the information and hope the computer on Rip's ship could decipher the code. He set the portable computer to completely download all of the secret data.

"File Transfer Time: 1 minute" read the screen.

Endlighter gathered his gear together in order to prepare to return to his crate so that Zarvon could get him out of here. He paused to read the progress of the transfer.

"File Transfer Time: 30 seconds" the display showed.

"So far, so good!", breathed G'nash.

The computer beeped quietly and a new message line appeared on the display:

"Data Security Measures have detected a possible SECURITY BREACH. Automatic systems are attempting to locate the source."

Endlighter swore under his breath and went to work on his keyboard. He had to stall the detection program long enough to finish the download so that no alarms would go off. He was rewarded with a new display:

"File Transfer Time: 11 seconds", read the first line.

"Security Detection of this download: 10 seconds".

Endlighter swore again and drew his blaster pistol. He thumbed off the safety as he gripped the computer's handle with his left hand. He glanced at the display.

"File Transfer Time: 6 seconds", read the first line.

"Security Detection of this download: 5 seconds".

G'nash gathered himself into a crouch and watched the display.

"3 seconds".

"2 seconds".

"1 second".

The warble of klaxxon alarms shattered the silence of the facility as the security programs located Endlighter's position. A second later the file transfer was complete. In one motion, G'nash closed the display and sprang from his crouch towards the sole exit from the room. Access connectors dangled uselessly from where they remained in the wall socket.

G'nash threw open the door and dove towards the main entrance of the building firing blindly with his blaster toward his left. A few of his shots impacted the armored torso of the security droid which was moving to bear upon the door he had exited. Ineffective, the shots did little more the scar the armored surface.

G'nash felt a wave of heat wash over him as simultaneously the droid unleashed a volley from it's built-in weapons systems at the office door. Mini-concussion missiles and rapid-fire blaster bolts vaporized the door and much of the wall on either side of it. The droid continued to fire as it shifted its aim towards the moving, organic target that had presented itself.

"Target accquired", the droid intoned without emotion as it continued to blaze away with its weapons.

As the arc of destruction reached towards his position in front of the main doors, Endlighter sprang low to a new position at the feet of the automaton. The droid's fire destroyed the front doors of the building. Ceasing fire, the droid shifted its weapons toward it's targets new position.

Not wasting time after his leap, Endlighter aimed his blaster up at the head of the sentry droid. Three crimson blaster bolts impacted the head of the violent machine. The first one slagged the lower cranial plating and the last two blew the head completely off of the armored giant.

As the droid slowly began to topple backwards, Endlighter dashed towards the main doors and out into the chaos of the main compound.