NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC Thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=554761).

The relative quiet of travel through hyperspace was somewhat soothing to Sergeant Annika Lopokova as she lay back in her bunk aboard the Free Spirit, reading over an intelligence report to pass the time. In another bunk opposite her own in this small cabin, another member of her section made better use of the free time; by her reckoning, by catching up on some sleep, something she’d rather be doing but couldn’t seem to manage.

The Free Spirit was a modified model of the KIAM produced LCT, a simple and rather small model transport typically used by Kilrany corporations for passenger transport and re-supply of research stations and mining installations. Unintentionally, the Kilrany designer of the LCT had created a craft with a striking exterior resemblance to an as of yet unknown alien transport made by the Corellian Engineering Corporation, known as the YT-1930.

Dressed rather casually in a darkly coloured, lightweight shirt and pants, one could easily see her short black hair, and while she had expected to be able to get some sleep, as time wore on it became increasingly clear that it wasn’t coming. Most of her equipment was stored within a locker half a meter from her bunk, with the exception of her boots, which sat on the floor within arms reach.

It wasn’t only words she looked at upon the datapad; there was also an image of a moderately attractive woman somewhere in her twenties with shoulder length black hair, a portrait of their potential target. The woman’s name was Senni Vorano, and she apparently had the misfortune of angering the wrong sort of people, the sort of people willing to pay for revenge; or justice, however one choose to look at it.

According to the data they had, roughly a year before, the woman had been responsible for getting someone killed who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the family of this individual wanted justice; though with a stipulation to take her to them alive so they could enact it themselves. One of the big problem as the Kilrany saw it though, was that while it was somewhat vague to them just who exactly the target was, they guessed that she was a member of some sort of law enforcement organization, as such she was labeled only a potential target until more information could be obtained.

It was for this reason Annika’s section had been temporarily assigned to a 5th Division operational unit as a reserve force in case they ran into trouble on this reconnaissance operation, their plan to use a civilian transport to slip in quietly and gather some information. They were also suspicious of the bounty, given the fact that while to them the amount of ‘money’ sounded reasonable, it had been around for quite some time, despite the fact that the location of the individual was supposedly known, and this did not sit well with them, leading them to suspect that some deception was involved.

Reaching the end of the data provided on Senni, Annika sighed slightly in annoyance and allowed her right hand, which she had been using to hold up the datapad, to thump down lightly on the bunk before staring up at the ceiling plate for a minute. Abruptly she began to sit up while at the same time swinging her feet out and towards her boots before sliding them in and leaning over to tie them up slightly.

Careful to avoid hitting her head on the low overhand above her bunk, she pushed off from it and came to a stand, and before moving off quietly to the cabin hatch, she set the datapad down on a nearby table. Keeping the noise to a minimum, she passed out through the hatch and slowly let it click shut behind her before moving to the left and past the entry to the ship’s cockpit, stopping instead at the entrance to what could be best described as the ship’s lounge area.

Several times larger then the cabin with her bunk, she could see four members of her section, all in similar off duty clothing to her, sitting around a table playing a game of cards, though one looked to merely be watching. It was this observer she addressed as she gestured with her right hand back towards the direction she had come from, “Pavlov, bunk’s available if you want it, just keep quiet.”

Private Solomon Pavlov almost shot up out of his seat in response, his eyes betraying just how tired he actually was, and appreciation evident in his voice, “Thank you Sergeant.”

“Yeah, yeah, just don’t wake Gerdt or he’ll break your neck.”

Solomon grinned as he passed her by, and she couldn’t help a slight smile in return before she turned around slightly, heading back towards the cabin at first before turning right, heading in towards the cockpit. Unlike military designs, KIAM civilian craft actually had view ports on them, and in this case, the cockpit had a rather interesting view of hyperspace.

Moving towards the copilot seat located to the front right of the cockpit, she caught sight of one of the two 5th Division operatives who were in charge of their current operation, calling himself Kyril. Shorter then the average Kilrany, he only reached a height of one point eight meters, but this was because he was another example of a Kilrany human form AI, designed to appear slightly less threatening with his smaller stature.

Sitting down in the seat next to him, she noted that while he wore the full standard 5th Division uniform and armour, his sword was not present, and his helmet sat upon an unused portion of a console to his left. This also allowed her to note his closed eyes as he addressed her without looking towards her, “What might I do for you Sergeant?”

She smiled slightly, “Nothing in particular, no rest for the wicked, so I came here for the view.”

It was his turn to smile slightly, his eyes still closed. One of the many minor modifications to the basic design of the craft at the request of 5th Division was in regard to their human form AIs, it allowed them to connect with the ship and control all its systems, giving them more versatility then a purely human pilot.

Leaning back in the seat she stared off through the screen into the light show, content with this for a while, she didn’t say anything else for nearly ten minutes, “What’s our ETA?”

“I put it at around two hours.”

“Oh? You don’t have it down to the microsecond?”

Again he smiled, it was rare for a 5th Division operative to find someone outside the organization willing to joke with them, even when they were from other divisions of the Imperial Guard, “If it would make you feel better I could tell you my estimate that far, but I don’t feel like being a pretentious ass.”

She grunted in amusement, “I see then, I suppose we’ll just have to do with the general estimate,” she paused a few moments before her tone became more serious, “Does it bother you at all that there are some out here who may not see you as we do?”

The AI knew full well what she meant, and if it weren’t for the fact that he could process his thoughts so much faster then a human, he might have taken longer to reply as he contemplated the seemingly random nature of the question. As it was however his reply was a simple, and prompt, “No.”

Anticipating the follow up question however, he continued, “But then you’re asking the wrong person aren’t you, we’re not exactly known for caring what other people think of us now are we.”

She nodded her head slightly at that, realizing that it was true not merely of 5th Division personnel, or even the rest of the Imperial Guard, but of the Kilrany in general who had rarely shown much care in that regard except when it came to a very select few.

As she remained silent for several moment contemplating on her own thoughts, the AI spoke again, “Obviously the thought of this bothers you though.”

She smiled slightly, “It does yes, big surprise right?”

“Oh yes, never saw it coming,” he smiled before continuing, “So why does it bother you then?”

She hesitated a few moments as she pondered the question, “I’m not sure exactly, perhaps I’m just being cynical,” she then added with a smile, “or maybe I’ve just read to many works of fiction.”

“Perhaps, or perhaps after so many years of seeing us as equal, the thought of someone else seeing us as little more then slaves is as distasteful to you as it was to our ancestors during the occupation.”

She looked over at the AI with a raised eyebrow, “That’s an interesting theory,” she then added with a smile, “But only a perhaps? No definitive answer?”

He replied with mock seriousness, “Hey now, I might be an AI with the ability to become nearly omnipresent by plugging into a security network, but that by no means makes me omnipotent,” he then jokingly added, “Besides, do you have any idea how boring it would be to actually know everything?”

A smirk came upon her face, “I don’t know, some people like life dull.”

“Somehow you don’t strike me as that type of person.”

“Nor do you.”

“Thank you.”

“Indeed,” she smiled again before leaning back in her seat and letting her head rest against the comfortable covering on the chair. With their banter done for the moment, a relative silence fell upon the cockpit again as she found herself more comfortable seated in the chair then she had in her bunk.

Not five minutes later the AI noted the change in rhythm of her breathing as it became slow and regular, which he quickly recognized as meaning she had fallen asleep, prompting him to smile lightly in amusement.

It wasn’t until nearly two hours later that Annika opened her eyes again; woken by a tap on her shoulder, she looked over to see their pilot looking back at her, “Rise and shine sleeping beauty, we’ve arrived, time to get ready.”

She grunted in amusement as she shook the sleep from her head, “Very well, I suppose I should go rouse the troops then.”

The AI merely smiled as she turned her attention to the planet that was rapidly filling their frontal view, emerald, blue and brown, the world clearly had far more land mass to ocean then their own. Pushing herself up to a stand she addressed the AI one last time before retreating from the cockpit, “So this is Dantooine … guess we’ll find out what a ‘Jedi’ is soon enough.”

Passing through the open emergency airlock for the cockpit, she came to a brief stop and looked to her left before calling out in a loud and clear voice, one that was accustomed to bellowing orders across a parade square; there was also the hint of anticipation in it, “Alright ladies and gentlemen, rise and shine, we’re going planet-side,” her voice seemed to reverberate through the open spaces of the ship as she turned to her right and moved towards the cabins.

The Kilrany soldiers began to their descent to the surface of Dantooine, their target totally unaware of their threat and the trouble they would be bringing to her life. However, to the Jedi Knight Senni Vorano, trouble was something that she was getting used to. Trouble, along with its miserable partner Guilt, were becoming fast friends of her life, no matter how much she despised them. Her blue eyes tiredly watched as she moved through the streets of the same town that had sprung up due to the needs of the farmers on the planet. She had come her to get some moisture evaporator parts for a friend. It was a good friend of hers, that she had found over her time as a Jedi. And the only one whom knew her secret, her hidden shame.

Senni Vorano had been like any other child when born on Dantooine. However, one thing made her special and be chosen out of the many kids born on the planet. She had a Force presence about her, giving her a link to the mystical energy field that powered the protectors of justice and light in the Republic. She was taken from her parents when she was young and inducted into the Order. She grew up learning the way and code of the Jedi. Protect the weak, strike not in anger and to always be wary of the Jedi. To be wise and kind in all things, to seek justice always in their eternal duty to protect the delicate peace of the galaxy. She had grown up, earnest and eager to prove herself. She had been taken in by a wise master, whom calmed her impatient ways and taught her the intricacies of the Force, whom taught her to act with reserve and wisdom. After her final test, she was brought to the Council on Dantooine, and knighted. That had only been two months ago.

So what was it that had so drastically changed her from the determined yet eager Jedi Knight, just minted, into the tired, sorrowful and shambling wreck of a Jedi, whose ability to hide her shame from her fellow Jedi and friends was failing? She had been in a bar, seeking to get a quick drink before going out on patrol. Besides, the bar had been in her route, so she would have had to stop there anyways. Some loudmouth had drunkenly said something that had drawn her attention, but she had whipped around when she heard a shout. Some human had drawn a blaster and was holding up the place. She had kept quiet, hidden, pretending to be a normal denizen of the bar like everyone else. He forced the bartender to give him all the credits he had in the area and then booked it. Now, this was not anything new, there had always been bandits. However, he had grabbed a young girl as a hostage and had left with her. Senni had quietly gone out the back as he made his scene and then followed him through the alleyways of the town.

Soon enough, he had come to a dark area, filled with trash and smelling of rotten meat. He threw the girl to the ground and began to count the money. She had snuck up on him, and was about to knock him out, when her foot tapped a glass and he whirled up to see her. She had charged as he expertly fired at her. Deflecting the shots, she had forced him back more and more. In desperation, he began to fire at the young girl, whom looked on in horror. Like any normal Jedi, she had moved to block those shots, and then thrown her lightsaber, to be followed up by a Force push to knock him out against the wall. A simple tactic, one that had been taught to her by her Master. However, fate was to step in and cause something to go wrong that changed her life.

The man cursed as the saber came whirling at him and began to turn to run and duck when his foot slipped on a bottle and he began to fall backward.....right into the path of the saber. Senni had been readying the push when she heard his last cry and the sizzling sound of saber cutting through flesh. Her eyes had widened as she saw his body collapse into two parts on the ground. The girl, whom had been watching in horror, was so shocked her mouth fell open. She glanced at Senni's back and then ran off. Senni was so stunned, she let her saber fall out of her hand. Her memories after that were blurry, but she found out that she had disposed of the body, and had stumbled to her friends house, delirious with shame and horror. She had babbled the story to her and had only managed to come back to herself the following morning.

Senni sighed as she stepped around a farmer. They had both agreed to keep the secret and everything should have been fine. But every night she had dark dreams of a whirling silver saber and the last cry of a man she didn't want to kill. Slowly, but surely, her control over her emotions, her speech and even her thoughts was beginning to fail and she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep up the illusion. She felt the Masters suspected, her stressed condition was odd and they had been inquiring after her health. She knew she should have come clean, that she SHOULD come clean, but something held her back. It always did.

It was too late now, she had waited too long. No...she would have to live with it. This was the horrible truth of death, of being someone with the power to end lives. You carried the weight of every death in your soul, until the very day you die. Rubbing a hand across tired eyes, she turned a corner and began to head for the Jedi Enclave. Her patrol was over and it was time for her to head back into her room and attempt to sleep through more nightmares.

However, for Senni, her true nightmare had just begun......

As the craft sought, and received clearance to land at a specific settlement upon the planet’s surface, beginning an intentionally slow decent through the atmosphere, Annika was rallying her section in the Free Spirit’s lounge area. Space became something of a premium as all twelve members of her section spread throughout the compartment wearing their full uniforms, armour and equipment, currently all in a dull, dark grey colour pattern.

While to some of them, the thought of charging down the vessel’s loading ramp and assaulting into the lightly armed settlement was an amusing one, it was not their purpose here this day and they all knew it. For the most part they were expected to remain quietly aboard the ship, but until more specific orders came to them from their 5th Division superiors, they merely waited in the lounge with their weapons hanging by their tactical slings and their helmets either held under their arms, or sat nearby on a level surface.

A few minutes passed before the second of the two 5th Division operatives; a two meter tall woman going by the name Helena, came walking into the lounge from the starboard cargo bay, dressed in 5th Division’s customary black uniform and armour. In trying to remain subtle, Helena had opted to leave behind most of her available weapons, including her Disruptor pistol, opting instead to carry only her Kilrany long knife and a blaster held in a drop leg holster, confiscated from some pirates a few weeks prior to this operation.

Her face concealed by the black, well fitting helmet, Helena addressed Annika with the exterior communications option, which unlike those used by the regular forces, sounded natural, as opposed to a re-transmission, “Sergeant, when we land I want two of your men on watch in the cockpit at all times, the rest of you can relax, we wont need you until night falls.”

Together with a single nod of her head, Annika replied simply, “Yes ma’am,” before turning her head towards her unit and addressing them, “Anton, Velemir, you get first watch in there when we touch down.”

-----

By the time she could feel the slight vibration in her feet as the Free Spirit touched down, Annika was near the starboard loading ramp with Helena, while the rest of her section was spread out in the lounge and the starboard cargo bay, minus Anton and Velemir. Out of paranoia, she had decided to keep the rest of her section near the ramp and ready to assault outward incase anything went wrong and their support was quickly required.

With his role as pilot complete for the moment, Annika saw Kyril come striding out from the cockpit and through the lounge towards them. Much like his taller colleague, he was dressed in the usual 5th Division black uniform and armour, he was even armed identically to Helena as both were reluctant to make use of their own energy based weapons if they could avoid it.

At this point, had Annika not been as familiar with 5th Division as she was, she might have wondered how they intended to remain unobtrusive in their mission dressed as they were. As it was however, she was not surprised to see them both activate a device similar to a stealth field generator, the key difference however was that theirs was far more sophisticated, and instead of simply creating a form of active camouflage around them, it was also capable of creating a holographic image, changing their outward appearance.

Using images taken from the memories of the pirates they had captured earlier, they were able to copy some generic civilian clothing to help them blend in, with the only items on their persons showing through being their sidearms. The illusion also extended to their facial features, with each choosing a few random characteristics to create a new face rather then use their own, though they did keep the Slavic ethnicity. As an additional feature, their false faces would react as their own concealed faces did, allowing them to smile, frown, or perform any other minor actions as needed, of course as an AI, Kyril had far more control over every slight action then his counterpart.

There were two rather simple drawbacks to this system though, the first being that since it ran essentially in the same manner as their stealth field generator did; running just over the body, the illusion was only skin deep and did nothing to disguise their size and build. The second and perhaps more important to keep in mind was the face that any direct, physical contact from outside the field would cause a visible disruption and betray the user, except on their gloved hands, which the field did not encompass, meaning they had to be extremely cautious in their interactions.

Regardless of the drawbacks, with this done, Kyril looked at Annika and his façade smiled, “Show time Sergeant, lets try not to kill anyone shall we?”

Under the cover of her own helmet she smiled in amusement, though she was rather content with the thought of a quiet operations that didn’t require her to pull the trigger on her weapon, or use one of her knives while she was on this alien world. Backing away from the ramp so she would be out of sight from anyone immediately below, she watched as Kyril typed in a six-digit code on a control panel to lower the ramp.

As the ramp struck the ground below, she watched the pair walk down out of the relatively dark interior of the vessel and into the sunlight before she promptly activated her own stealth field generator and followed two seconds behind them. Careful to remain on the ramp and in the shadow cast by the Free Spirit; causing the slight visual distortions in her movement be lost in its shadow, she found herself in a decent enough location to take in their immediate surroundings.

From what she could see, they appeared to be in a mostly enclosed hangar of sorts that was longer then it was wide; or vice versa depending on one’s perspective, leaving room for several more landing positions to their left and right, with only one other occupied by another small craft. Though the Free Spirit blocked her view above, the natural sunlight that bathed the area around them led her to believe there was no roof on the enclosure, or at the very least, not one that was currently closed, which she figured made sense in retrospect, given they had just landed here.

Shifting her attention back to the two 5th Division operatives, she watched as they were approached a half dozen meters out from the ramp by a human looking woman in her late twenties with long brown hair, and standing five centimeters shorter the Kyril, she held a datapad in her left hand. It was at this point with the three of them in her view that Annika couldn’t help but notice how, unlike Kyril, who was consciously aware of every minute move he made, Helena couldn’t help but continue to carry herself like a soldier, which caused her to stand out all the more to the Sergeant’s eyes. This clearly didn’t go unnoticed by the smaller woman either, who looked up at her curiously, as she was clearly not accustomed to seeing such a large and well-built human woman, though fortunately this appeared to pass quickly.

From her position on the ramp, Annika’s helmet was able to pick up on their speech and amplify it to a comfortably audible level, as such she was able to hear the smaller woman speak in a far to cheery of a demeanor for her liking, “Good Afternoon, I’m Tyria Gran, I’m with the docking authority, could I ask you a few questions? Just a formality, I’ll try not to keep you long.”

With a friendly tone she heard Kyril respond with flawless English; whether he let his helmet’s system translate or he spoke it himself, she couldn’t tell, which conveniently enough seemed to be known as Galactic Basic, “Of course, I’m Marn Arrik,” he gestured then to Helena, “This is my copilot and business partner, Danna Pacus,” he then gestured behind him in Annika’s general direction and added a proud tone to his voice, “And that is the Free Spirit.”

Annika could see the smile widen upon the face of the woman as she seemed pleased Kyril was friendly, “Pleased to meet you. The Free Spirit, I like that name, what class is she? I’m not familiar with it.”

Kyril feigned ignorance, “You know, I’m not sure off hand, we bought it second hand off a retiring friend, T something and too many numbers to remember. Is that required?”

Tyria chuckled lightly, “That’s fine, it’s not an official questions, no, but back to business I’m afraid. First off, what’s your business on Dantooine?”

“We’re supposed to be picking up some passengers in a few days, and since there weren’t any other runs we could do in the meantime, we decided to make this a sort of short holiday.”

Tyria looked amused, “A holiday? Not many people come to Dantooine to relax.”

“Ah but it’s quiet here, peaceful, and it looked rather scenic from orbit.”

“I suppose that’s true enough, just keep and eye out for Kath Hounds then.”

Kyril replied curiously, “Kath Hounds?”

“I should have expected as much. They’re a pack animal, predators, but they shouldn’t bother you too much if you don’t stray too far from the settlement and don’t bother them, all the same though, keep your blaster close.”

“I appreciate the warning.”

“My pleasure. How many days do you intent to be here?”

“Three, four at the most assuming the transfer is delayed.”

“Do you mind if I do a quick visual inspection of your ship?”

This caused Annika to raise an eyebrow in curiousity, but it didn’t terribly surprise her, they had expected some sort of customs inspection after all, but the fact that it was only this one woman was strange to her. Kyril however showed no such surprise in his voice, “I see no reason why not.”

Annika reacted quickly, spinning around she darted back up the ramp, hissing quickly through her internal communication system to the rest of her section, “Inspection! Peter, make yourselves scarce, Olga-Vaslav-Lev, spread out, Anton, Velimir, stay where you are and everyone make like the bloody shadows.”

In turn she had referenced each member of her section as quickly as she could, and much like a childhood game of hide and seek, they all broke and scattered, though with far more coordination. To her right she saw Corporal Peter Krylov direct his six man fireteam, splitting them up, he had them duck into the passenger cabins and the port cargo bay while to her left, Olga and Lev did the same in the starboard cargo bay, ducking in behind storage crates, Vaslav did similar, but he nearly pole vaulted over one crate in particular. Stuck in the cockpit, Anton and Velimir inched themselves closer to the front as much as they could, and when all had found a place out of the way, they activated their stealth field generators to hide their presence.

Not forgetting herself, Annika ducked to her right into the lounge and took up a position next to the wall just in time to hear Tyria as she walked up the ramp, “-in good condition given you got it used. Do you mostly just ferry passengers?”

From just around the corner she heard Kyril’s voice reply, “For the most part, yes, though we do the odd courier jobs as well, the Free Spirit just doesn’t have the volume to make any serious cargo runs though.”

As their voiced quieted slightly, Annika leaned her head around the corner and saw that it was just the two of them in the starboard cargo bay, Helena was nowhere to be seen. Tyria was simply glancing around slowly as she continued, “I can understand why, though I suppose this is perfect space for personal luggage and what have you.”

“Oh yes, we get a lot of positive feedback on that alone, always plenty of space for that and easy access to it as well.”

Annika ducked back around the corner as she saw Tyria starting to turn around, “Your friend is a rather quiet one for someone so large, I didn’t say anything to offend her did I?”

As Tyria finished her sentence, Annika saw her step through into the lounge just behind Kyril, “Oh don’t worry about Danna, she’s just a shy one, not very comfortable around strangers so she lets me do all the talking while she stands there and looks tough. You’d be amazed how many disagreements her mere presence has prevented.”

Annika watched as Tyria stopped for a moment to take in the lounge, “This looks comfortable, but yes, I can see why,” she then let out a short, high pitched laugh before continuing, “She looks like she could take on a Kath Hound with her bare hands.”

As she moved on towards the cockpit, Kyril responded with a chuckle, “I’ll be sure to let her know you said so, she’ll be pleased to hear that.”

It was moments like this where Annika mentally cursed the drawbacks of using a stealth field generator, namely that she couldn’t even see her own hand in front of her face, let alone the Carbine she held as she moved up behind Tyria and Kyril. Activating her communications set, she decided it best to warn her comrades of the approaching danger, “Heads up Anton, Velemir, they’re coming your way.”

As the two disappeared into the cockpit and she came to a stop just inside the lounge’s other exit, she heard Anton’s whispered reply, “I’d have to be outside the ship to be any more out of reach here Sergeant.”

She couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at Anton as she suddenly pictured the two in some absurd positions in an attempt to avoid being accidentally bumped into by Tyria, and despite the temptation to peer into the cockpit, she held her position. This proved a wise course of action a few moments later as both Tyria and Kyril came walking back out, turning this time towards the cabins.

Annika followed slowly behind them, though at a distance, and Tyria spoke again, “You keep a very tidy ship, I have to admit it’s a welcome change from some of the ones I’ve seen lately.”

Kyril responded with a smile, “We prefer it this way Mrs. Gran, we feel it speaks to our character, besides, it’s not so easy to get away with a mess when passengers prefer a clean ship.”

Tyria responded as she peered in through the hatch of one of the cabins, “I’m sure they do, and it’s miss by the way, but please, Tyria is fine.”

“Ah, very well Tyria, I suppose there are just too many to chose from then.”

“What do you mean?”

“An attractive young women such as yourself, still single, all the men must be beating down the doors to see you.”

Just short of the entryway into the port cargo bay, she stopped and looked at him with incredulous expression upon her face, along with just a little bit of suspicion, or possibly amusement, Annika wasn’t sure, “You flatter me Marn.”

Kyril shrugged slightly, “I merely speak the truth.”

A smile came upon her face as she pointed her finger at his chest, “Now don’t you get any ideas there, I don’ consort with spacers, never know where they’ll be the next week.”

Kyril put up his arms in jest, “Don’t fault a guy for being truthful now.”

She shook her head slightly before continuing into the cargo bay, adding as she went, “Besides, I’m sure your ‘friend’ would have something to say about the matter.”

Stopping near the entrance to the bay, Annika watched as Kyril continued, “If you refer to Danna, we really are just friends, and business partners.”

Sensing the inspection was coming to a close, Annika took a step back and ducked into a storage compartment to her left that held a number of large lockers. This also proved timely as a moment later she saw the pair come walking back out of the cargo bay, “You’ll forgive me if I’m a little skeptical of that now. In any event, that’s all I needed to see.”

Moving back out from the storage compartment, Annika followed them as they walked around to the other side of the ship through the lounge and back to the loading ramp, “Very well then Tyria, you have a pleasant day now.”

Tyria merely shook her head, but she was still smiling as she disappeared down the ramp, and after several moments of standing there, watching her go, Kyril abruptly turned to look in Annika’s general direction with the trace of a smile upon his false face, “Well that went better then expected, wouldn’t you agree Sergeant?”

She grunted slightly in amusement as she disabled her stealth field generator, allowing Kyril to focus on her directly then on where he thought she was, “I suppose so, where’s Helena?”

“She’s doing a visual inspection on the exterior of the ship. Once she finishes that the two of us are going to head out into the settlement and look around, perhaps act like tourists with some of the money we have for this assignment.”

Well aware that he knew the proper term, she teasingly added, “You mean credits right?”

“I do, yes. While we’re gone just keep the ramp closed, we’ll keep in touch and be back before it gets dark, ideally nothing should go wrong in the meantime.”

Despite the fact that he couldn’t see it, she raised an eyebrow, “Ideally we never would have needed to blow up a few pirates, or left our solar system for that matter, but we all know how everything always goes as planned for us, don’t we.”

Kyril chuckled lightly before turning to go down the ramp, “Don’t get too bored while we’re gone Sergeant.”

Annika merely shook her head as she tapped a key on the console, causing the ramp to rise and close after a few seconds. As it sealed shut she activated her internal communication system, “Alright, you’re clear to come out now, she’s gone.”

-----

With both 5th Division operatives out conducting their initial investigation of the settlement, Sergeant Lopokova’s section was left with very little to do in the meantime beyond the few keeping watch. This led some to go back to playing cards, while others stripped off a portion of their equipment to get more sleep, all knowing that for the next few days they would be living in their uniforms and armour until they were able to leave the planet, as they were expected to remain on stand-bye until then.

As they exited the landing bay facilities, Helena was struck by just how small the settlement looked, as the landing facility rested on a rise some eighty meters higher then what the rest of the settlement was built upon. Making a rough guess, she figured there couldn’t have been more then one hundred too one hundred and fifty people living here, but the Kilrany didn’t exactly have access to any ‘tourism brochures’, so they were unaware that the majority of people lived in what amounted to personal estates that were scattered over the planet’s plains.

While the height didn’t exactly make for a commanding view of the area, it was better then nothing for them at that moment, so before heading down the path, they both took a little stroll around the facility. With no real means of being subtle about it, they played up the role of tourists should anyone be watching them; which wasn’t too far from the truth anyway, and took note of a few of the larger structured in the distance that they thought could be a part of their objective.

Information contained in the bounty itself seemed to indicate that whoever the Jedi were, they held an academy of some kind on this planet, specifically within several kilometers of this settlement, and as this wasn’t supposed to be common knowledge, they opted not to ask anyone directly, at least not yet. They didn’t particularly question where this knowledge came from as they knew how hard it was to keep secrets in an open society such as this place had, and merely assumed one of the locals had let it slip at some point to the wrong person, allowing this knowledge to fall into the hands of some of the more unsavory elements.

Unknown to them though, their very target was at that moment walking across some field or valley to the Enclave they looked for, but whether it was due to some rise in the ground, some dense foliage, or merely that they were on the wrong side of the facility just then, it mattered little, for they did not see her. Perhaps had they arrived fifteen minutes earlier, they might have seen her walking along, or even come across her in the settlement, but chance was a fickle mistress, and at this moment was on their target’s side.

Taking in all they could, they came back around to the front of landing facility and headed down the path to the settlement. At no more then thirty meters, the path down to the enclosed settlement was not a long one, and within a few minutes the disguised pair of Kilrany were walking in past the walls of the enclosed settlement. Keeping in mind the limitations in their ‘disguises’, they opted to avoid getting to close to large groups, though given the relatively small nature of the settlement, this wasn’t as hard as it could have been.

Working under the assumption that in such a small community there was little they could have done to properly blend in, they were both content to continue playing the role of tourists for the time being, taking a casual stroll through the settlement and taking in all the sights, all the while Kyril listened intently to any conversation he could pick up. Unlike her AI comrade, Helena knew this part of the mission was not her specialty, as while her helmet could pick up just about all the sounds Kyril could hear, she could not actually listen to them all at once, despite her relatively minor genetic modifications.

While she couldn’t hope to match Kyril in his eavesdropping abilities, she was able to add her own eyesight; along with the recorder in her helmet, to mapping the settlement and watching the locals on their little walkabout. Through this she was also able to note a few of the quizzical looks she received from a select few who thought her appearance as unusual as Tyria had, though it was still fewer then she figured she’d have received had she merely walked about in what would have looked like a black, armoured environmental suit.

“Stop at the stall to our left and browse, there’s a conversation I want to hear more of.”

Helena didn’t reply in any way to Kyril as she heard his voice come over her helmet’s internal communication channel, as an AI he was able to operate all his suit’s systems by thought, with the efficiency only a machine could manage. As a result his ‘face’ made no movement, betraying nothing in this act that was as close to a psychic link as the Kilrany could manage.

Turning to her left she stopped in front of the stall in question while Kyril took up a stance just behind her and on her right that looked very much like that of the husband dragged along on a shopping trip with the wife. ‘Stall’ was perhaps not the best word to describe it as it had an interior section as well just through a door, and from within she could see a seated human male turn his head towards them and watch them closely. She didn’t recognize most of the items displayed in front of her as most looked like simple knick-knacks of some kind while other items looked like small pieces of equipment or electronics.

After a minute of this she heard his voice again, “Not as useful as I hoped, but at least I’m sure we’ve got the right planet, lets move on.”

Again without a word from her they were on the move again, strolling down the street and taking in the sights, and after a few moments Kyril addressed her again, “One of them mentioned the Jedi, nothing specific unfortunately, apparently one of them got help from them in clearing out a particularly large pack of Kath Hounds. He’s apparently quite appreciative.”

A smirk came across Helena’s face for a moment at the sarcasm evident in Kyril’s tone as he finished his last sentence, but with little else for him to say and nothing for her to add, they merely continued on.

The rest of the afternoon slowly passed uneventfully for the pair as they continued on their walk, even going out past the settlement at one point before evening set in. They didn’t travel far however, and in a slightly roundabout route came back to the Free Spirit just as the sun was beginning to drop upon the horizon, both intent on using the cover of the coming night to make full use of their attached reconnaissance element.