The Rebel Faction

The recording played again.

"Garqi control, this is the freighter <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Night Ice<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> of Trans-Empire Shipping. We are bound for orbital dock Z-19 to pick up a load of Caf Beans for transportation to Muunillust. Our Origin Point is Bastion."

Captain Farok tapped the code cylinder against his lips, his brow furrowed as he listened to the standard transmission that had been rerouted to him just moments ago. He gestured for the recording to be played yet again, and the juvenile voice of the freighters captain rung in his ears once more.

Farok sat up straighter when the recording concluded for the third time, looking to the Lieutenant at his side.

“Well, clearly they either know something I don’t, or they are incredibly ill-informed,” the Captain suggested, scratching at his chin as he contemplated the possibilities.

The Lieutenant had pulled up a bit of information on a datapad for Farok to re-familiarize himself with.


<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color=yellow>Excerpt from letter to Office of the Regent

Paragraph 48, subsection B:

CODENAME: BASTION

Imperial Capital Planet original name to be erased and all coordinate/navigational information never to be recorded on military craft.

The 5 year project to make the Imperial Capital self sustaining has begun to pay off. Naturally, this does not meet all required needs, therefore special dispensation is extended to transport carriers under complete control of Imperial Intelligence. Such carriers will originate at only one authorized port of call (classified).

No cyphers, data transfers or communications (encrypted or otherwise) is to be channelled through Imperial Intelligence relay (location classified).

Non-Imperial units and commercial interests are to remain within authorized (for them) ports of call. Any deviation will result in immediate destruction.</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->


“Perhaps the freighter <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> wants<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> to be destroyed,” suggested Lieutenant Grigmon-Rautha with a smirk.

Captain Farok ignored the sarcasm, clearly not wanting to be interrupted while in thought.

“What is this 'Trans-Empire Shipping'?” the Captain questioned.

“I… don’t know, sir,” the Lieutenant admitted. “That would be something for Intelligence to look into,” he suggested.

“Yes… Yes, have them do that. Since the scans showed nothing harmful aboard… we’ll let them continue without interference. But have station D-16 continue to track the vessel. Alert Devil squadrons C-14 through 18 to concentrate their patrol on sector 1132 D in case the need for emergency action arises. We’ll wait and see if anything comes of this.”

“Very good, sir.”



The freighter continued along its designated path in low orbit of Garqi.



OOC:

For future reference: Bastion is a hidden planet. Saying you are arriving from or heading to Bastion is an immediate tip off to Imperial forces that you are full of crap. :b

Since you claim this to be a recon/information gathering RP only, I will not interfere to the degree that it would muck up your plans, so you are being allowed to continue without interference... unless you provoke it. Hehe.


<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Garqi Planetary Defenses<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->

- Gencore MK I Planetary Shield
- Planetary ION Cannon
- KDY Standard Turbolaser

- 50,000 Planetary Defense Mines

(1) Attack Class Carrier Sphere (with full TIE Devil compliments)
(2) Carrack Class Cruisers
(3) Interdiction Pickets
(3) Abolisher Cruisers

As Nevil reached the people standing at the bottom of the ramp he shook the hand of the representative of the caf bean producing company. Then he turned and began to speak to the docking bay official.

"We require to stay here for 1 hour. We also need to fuel our ship. How much will it cost." asked Nevil

"500 credits." said the official

"Ok" Nevil nodded.

Digging into his money pouch he took out the money. Then he turned and looked at the representative. He was ordering men to prepare to load the 10 crates of beans into the ship. Seeing that all was going well Nevil excused himself to send a short comm message. The Comm message was directed at their headquarters in Muunillust.

"We have landed safely and have commenced loading. We expect to be on time." Nevil said into his communicater.

Without waiting for a confirmation he shut it off and walked back over to his ship. Once inside he walked up to his bridge going the opposite way from the noise in the cargo bay. Sitting down he sighed.

"Valig!" he yelled at his pilot. "File our flightplan with Garqi control."

"Yes sir." the pilot responded


Nevil leaned back and sighed. Soon his ship would be out of here and on it's way to Muunillust.

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Arliss Towers, Muunilist<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->



"Too what do I owe this unexpected pleasure, Mr. Conrad?" Ms. Arliss preempted, starting to stand, aware that her impeccable business attire in no way would distract her father's hawkeyed, pointy nosed Chief Financial Officer.

If anything, Mr. Conrad seemed rather impatient with the usual politics of formal business meetings.

"Nevermind!" he snapped, his eyes taking in everything that her office was decorated with, as if counting the material cost of her decorative tastes.

"I need to see last year's fiscal numbers for Muunilist's Five Year Projection."

"What Five Year Projection?" she countered.

"The kind that don't concern you," he answered quickly, pointing to a Gungan Ceremonial Bowl. "It's fake."


"It's an original."


"It's crap. Where's your lover?" he suddenly asked, making himself entirely at home in Ms. Aliss' office.

"He's busy."

"So, I saw. The shipyards are locked tighter than a loan officer's lending on an unsecured amount."


"Sentinel Division is in repairs at this moment. Currently, half the fleet is in drydock."

"That woud be Divison II wouldn't it? The man Kaine's division?"

"General Kaine," Ms. Arliss quietly corrected, smiling slightly. "I am surprised you saw the yards at all. Imperial Procedure keeps the docks and yards out and away from civilian traffic."


"Yes, civilian and business traffic are routed through the Office of Interplanetary Affairs. However, your father has been of service to them on various occasions and they feel... indebted to Arliss Industries."

"You didn't come for financials, Mr. Conrad. What do you want?"


At her directness, Seamus Arliss' CFO smiled. It was a disturbing sight. "Such a sharp mind, Ms. Arliss. It is a shame you waste it with that...that.."

"Don't say it." the rather icy blonde woman warned. Her deep blue eyes pierced the failing politeness of the financial wizard of her father.

The facade fell.

"Very well. The Empire's growth is dependent on several things. Our growth has been joined to the Empire ever since the agreement with your lover and the blundering Admiral Hyfe."

"Grand Admiral Hyfe." Ms. Arliss corrected. "You may not like it Mr. Conrad. My father may not like it, but it's the Empire's soldiers that make us strong."

"Explain that to me in your haughty voice when their power coils run down. When their supply shipments run short. When their great weapons of war break down and these great leaders must come crawlng to US. To US, Ms. Arliss, to make their world better!"

His eyes became sharp.

"So spare me the indignation of the pious. It unbecomes you and is utterly ridiculous."

"What do you want, Mr. Conrad?"


The Chief Financial Officer of Arliss Industries suddenly held a conspiratorial look.

He leaned forward a bit...


..and told her.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> The scanners picked up about several thousand vessels but nothing specific as traffic was moving at a steady pace.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


"Night Ice, this is Shield Control. Your vessel will undergo extensive scanning before shield penetration. We will be issuing you a flght plan upon entering planetary civilian lanes. Remain within your flight plan and the mines will be safe.

Please proceed to the designated customs clearance where your craft will be boarded. Be prepared to show identification and registration upon reaching customs point to an authorized official.

Thank you for your cooperation, and welcome to Moneyland."

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> The Night Ice was know free of the docking bay on the customs space station. The planetary shield had been lowered and the planetary minefield had been deactivated. Slowly the Night Ice settled down on the exclusive Trans-Empire shipping landing pad. Through his viewport Nevil could seea group of droids clustered together. They were undoubtedly there to unload the cargo. Slipping from his seat Nevil made his way back to the Sensor Operaters station with only the soft click of his boots to prowide any noise. He arived at the Sensor Operaters Station and waited as he was obviously concentrating very hard on his readout. As Nevil approached he could see that it was a view of the Muunnillust and the Garqi data.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

"What is it?" he asked

"It's this information sir. There's something missing. There should be more ships at these planets." he said

"Meaning what?" Nevil asked

"Meaning that they must have a hidden planet somewhere that is extremely heavily defended. Probably their Capital World." said the Sensor Operater

"You mean Bastion." said Nevil

"Yes Bastion. It's obvious that neither Garqi, Muunillust or any other planet controlled by TNO that we know about is it so it must be some other planet." said the sensor operater

"I know that. But we have a huge amount of space to cover. Just the area around what used to be the Imperial Remmant is 8 sectors. Plus all the new sectors that they've pushed into. That's over a thousand planets. Even though only 10 or so as we know it are under there control." said Nevil

"I know but there has to be a solution somewhere." said the sensor operater

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Just then Nevil got a idea.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

"Take the sensor data from Garqi and Muunillust. Backtrack the courses of the ships. It will give us a pretty good starting point on finding Bastion." said Nevil

"Yes Sir." said the Sensor Operater.