Acies

The mismatched team of Republic forces had already started to move out (keeping a close watch on their surroundings) by the time Hartik, with Na’tanilia close on his heels, made it outside of the downed shuttle.

“Hmm, I suppose there's no reason we couldn't just let them do the job they were hired for?†Hartik pondered under his breath.

“Let me guess, you have a different mission?â€

Na’tanilia smirked as the SIS agent gave a quick start and glanced in her direction.

“Fuck it Raptor! Don’t sneak up on me like that!â€

He sighed, and passed a slightly shaking hand over his forehead. Frowning, she suddenly turned on him – watching his face closely as she asked her next question.

“Hartick, what exactly did this ship contain?â€

He took a deep breath and exhaled, then looked her in the eye.

“Rakghoul samples.â€

The stark response was hardly pass his lips when a cry was heard; then a sudden blast of gunfire and the easily recognizable sizzle of unsheathed lightsabers echoed harshly back to ears of the listening individuals. Jessin stumbled out the shuttle behind them; a military burnbag strapped across his shoulders, and a blaster grasped tightly in his hands.

“Was that…?†He said no more, as the faces in front of him confirmed his growing fears.

“Alright, so what’s the plan? I assume you do have a plan?â€

“Yes, yes. Of course.â€

Hartik shook his head and looked swiftly around, then grabbed a small hologram from his belt; which once lighted, looked like a vague representation of a large cargo ship.

“It looks like we’ve landed in the C-deck hanger bay. With any luck our friends will clear the way, then head towards engineering.  We, however, will head in the opposite direction; towards the elevator shafts. From the intel we’ve gathered, there was three possible spots on this ship that could have contained all the research done here.â€

“Research on rakghouls, I take it?â€

“Indeed. It’s our suspicions that certain unnamed individuals were in the process of developing a weaponized form of the rakghoul virus; and this vessel was the traveling lab containing all the experiments.â€

Na’tanilia stared at him. “You’re telling me… that I came out of hiding… for a suicide mission?!â€

“Hey, it’s not my fault you decided to snoop around a secret base! And now that you’re here, would you rather stay put and probably get eaten; or help me find a way to contain this before it spreads to other planets?!â€

Shaking her head disgustedly, she motioned for him to continue.

“As I was saying, there are three possible places the research would have been kept. Room SOC7, here on this deck; the communications center, further along and closer to the reactors; or the flight deck, which is higher and on the third floor.â€

“Let me guess; while we’re sneaking around collecting this so called research, your handy group of Republic and Imperial forces will be providing a quite substantial distraction?â€

“More or less, though they do have their own important objectives.â€

“And yet we still couldn’t bring along one or two heavily armored troopers for our own incursion?â€

Why should we need them? I thought you said you were good with a blaster?â€

Na’tanilia just curled her lip into a half-snarl. “Good, not frakking inconvincible!â€

“Hey, I don’t mean to interrupt your little spat, but it sounds like the fighting has died down. What say we get a move on?†Jessin motioned in the direction of the now silent and darkened hallway leading out of the hanger.

“Affirmative†Hartik quickly replaced the hologram and scooped up the second burnbag and blaster. “Let’s not waste any more time.â€

The two men began moving in the direction of the hallway, and Na’tanilia couldn’t help but feel a little exasperated at the whole ordeal. Here she was, just trying to make an honest credit or two; but as luck would have it, she would be sincerely happy in just being alive after such a mission that now lay before her. Sighing, she picked up her own pack and moved to cover the swiftly  retreating figures. She wasn’t too worried though, for a good agent will always have a few tricks up their sleeve - especially for days like today.

As her vision began to clear, Na'tanilia slowly became aware of her surroundings. The snow seemed to be endless in all directions. until she realized that in truth, they were actually buried. That was the least of her worries however. During the ship's hasty descent to the planet's surface, she had slipped into the crew's hold to retrieve a few select pieces of arctic gear and supplies; just in time to bump into the smuggler Ruus. After the intervening crash, he had helped her up like a proper gentleman, but the look he gave her was far from unfamiliar. It appeared, much to her dismay, that he clearly did know Aciela. It was likely that he simply thought she had received the same message; but regardless, she needed to stay as far away from him as possible. She completed her perusal of the necessary gear, shivering already at the thought of the next several frigid days; then quickly returned to the cockpit to check on the remaining pilots. Jessin seemed to have taken quite a fall, and was still fairly groggy as he was gaining his feet. Hartik was already up and checking systems, confirming just how trashed the Republic shuttle really was. He managed a glance towards Na'tanila, and shrugged halfheartedly. "I trust this won't interfere with your mission?" he asked with a sarcastic grin. "No, actually, this will work out quite well. And don't worry, I know how to handle a blaster, among other things. I won't get in your team's way." she returned softly. Hartik glanced at her from under hooded brows. "I know you won't," he confirmed. "In fact, if you had of left a known holo-address, we would have sent you the same message." "Hmm, I suppose that's true. But it likely would have been as an Imperial agent, not a Republic smuggler; and that could be currently disastrous." "Well, I suppose it's all in the same boat now. For better or worse, you're in this with us; because there's absolutely no way this ship's coming off the ground." He gave a wry grin and turned to collect his own gear. "I suppose we should go check on the others; though I wouldn't be surprised if they're already knee-deep in trouble at this point." Na'tanila nodded absently, and stood to the side to let him past. Her plan was still in good shape, but who knew what could happen in the next few days? She sighed, and turned to follow him out into the ice.

The soft whirring of the cooling engines was the only sound heard in the ready-room of the smugglers ship; as the bulk of engine components was powered down in preparation for a silent coast into the coordinates specified. Na’tanilia sat comfortably in the captain’s chair, keeping a firm and unshaken hand on the controls. This was the moment of no return; for as soon as she docked in the substation’s landing pad; she was committed to her act - regardless of the outcome. 

Though in reality, her decision to commit to such a path was not one made in rash haste. The sad truth of the matter was portrayed by the simple fact that in case of an emergency; she would be in a much better position if contained by the Republic, rather than by the Imperials. They already thought her a traitor and defector; if she happened to be caught and exposed while on such a mission as this - she would no doubt be executed on the spot. 

Nonetheless, her decision had been made; and her plans laid into action. Within minutes of decrypting the message, she had called up several contacts in the SIS who could be trusted; and had them spread the word that an old alias she had used was back in action. 

Captain Aciela Strongwale was possibly one of Na’tanilia’s only friends; and as an added benefit was a well-known individual of shady propensities; but one whose reputation carried with it a certain level of respect and earnestness. They had met while Na’tanilia was on a mission to find informants hiding in the subspace smuggler zones; and she had (after much convincing) procured both her help as a smuggler and as an ally. 

The plan had been complex, and consisted of using Aciela’s natural force talents to disguise herself and Agent Raptor as each other; effectively letting them switch identities. (Aciela had originally been in training as a padawan, but had dropped out in favor of continuing the family business.) The mission had gone on without a hitch, both Imperial and Republic forces were satisfied with the arrests; and Aciela had been substantially rewarded. 

Eight hours ago, she had called Aciela and proposed a plan; which if successful, could give both parties a good bit of pocket cash. 

Which is how Na’tanilia now found herself flying a very delightful NX-1200 styled smuggler vessel; or at least, that’s what the ship appeared to be on the outside. There were a few other interesting surprises under the hood, but these particular details were left off the main report of the ship’s contents.

Taking a glance at the control panels once more, she nodded in satisfaction - everything was proceeding according to plan. She quickly sat up, flipped the auto-flight switch on, and began her preparations for entrance into the lonely station. Various pieces of equipment and supplies were gathered by the main door, this would provide the distraction necessary to infiltrate the main hub of the station. 

There was no radio hail directed toward the incoming vessel, but then, she really hadn’t expected one. Whatever was going down here was off the grid, and probably off the record as well. The auto-pilot guided the ship smoothly into the nearest docking station, then proceeded with post landing checks and system rundown. 

Na’tanilia crouched stiff legged in the small compartment hidden in the bottom of the smuggler’s ship, and slowly began to count. Once she reached 345 seconds, she swiftly opened the compartment hatch, and dropped lightly to the dockyard below. A quick visual scan was all that was needed to register the surrounding area; and then she was off, running light-footed across the empty hanger space. Sliding to a halt before an open door, she glanced behind her in time to see the uniformed guard descending out of the docked ship with a puzzled expression on his face.

Fantastic, just let them keep worrying about the empty ship. She already had more than enough time to complete the next step in her plan. 

___________________________________________________________

The briefing had gone as expected; with vague descriptions of the actual mission, and even worse coverups by whatever agency was trying to sell this op. “Surely this odd group of soldiers, smugglers, Jedi, and whatever else can see that for themselves,†she wondered silently from her hiding spot in one of the side exhaust-vents. Ah well, their loss. She could honestly care less about the supposed mission in the middle of the horrid ice world of Hoth. No, all she was here for was information - pure and simple. The more she knew about this ragtag bunch and their shady employers the better. There were always certain individuals in the galaxy who would pay well for such information, and Na’tanilia already had more than a few buyers lined up. 

Suddenly, her pocket tricoder began displaying it’s own interesting message; following the same frequencies used in the encrypted signal sent to various imperials earlier. It went something along the lines of ordering them on a suicide mission. Hah, that would go over real well with a few of the more hot-headed ones. 

The briefing seemed like it was starting to wrap up; so she gingerly began making her way out of the tight vents she was traversing through, and back into one of the side corridors of the station. Once she reached the maintenance hatch, she gently stepped over the unconscious pilot lying in a silent heap; and continued down the hallways to the awaiting shuttle.

She stepped into the cockpit, and after giving a brief nod to the other seated pilot, settled into the awaiting chair. The few credits she had to bribe for his silence was hardly significant; and as much as Na’tanila was an accomplished pilot, it was always smart to keep someone along as fodder for whatever mistakes were likely to happen.

It wasn’t long until the rest of the team was led into the shuttle, and conformation was given for release from the shuttle bay. She waited until they reached a comfortable hyperspace speed, then plugged in her radio into the ship’s on-board com system. A few tweaks here and there, and she could easily hear everything going on in the main cabin. Hmm, interesting. There were some significant free-lancers on-board, and she would certainly have to be careful about the Jedi and their mind tricks; though she wasn’t too worried due to Aciela’s disguise. And her cerebral implants effectively changed her brain patterns to match whatever disguise she was currently using, but you could never be to sure. A name caught her attention, and she quickly focused in on whoever was currently talking. Shik! It was Vito Ruus! There wasn’t much chance he would know her real identity, but there was a very good chance he would know Aciela! They probably ran in the same circles after all. She could undoubtedly bluff her way out of short conversation, but if he started taking an interest in her, it could give her plan a few problems. Still, there wasn’t much she could about it; and it was already to late to back out, so... the ship suddenly lurched to one side as a unidentified craft flew past them on a collision course with the ground! It seemed to level out at the last second, just before it hit the dirt in a flying arc of debris and snow. Na’tanilia’s attention was elsewhere however, as the shuttle seemed to be having its own issues. One of its side engines was smoking, and it was beginning to look very likely that the Republic shuttle would be following it’s unidentified counterpart into the forbidding terrain of the Hoth tundra.

A dark hooded figure strode quickly down one of the side alley-ways of a dully lit street; it’s trash strewn and forgotten door-ways just one of many such passages in and around the underbelly of the city planet. The figure paused at a hidden alcove, cast a quick glance in both directions; and confident that they had gone unseen, continued into the small access way. A few minutes more of walking passed; then suddenly a sharp turn was taken, and the shadowy individual flashed a miniscule ID badge pass a small holo-receiver hidden in the wall. A disguised panel slid to the side, and a single passenger turbolift rose quickly into place. A long ride later, the figure opened another panel into a small, but entirely comfortable, abode.

The hood was thrown off onto a nearby chair; and Na’tanilia stood still for a moment, enjoying the solitude of her hideaway. It was furnished with a multitude of old and unusual objects, some dated from when the planet was first settled. Long forgotten and hidden away, Na’tanilia had stumbled upon this place when on the run from some very unpleasant acquaintances; and it had served her well in the years to come. It was the perfect place to hide out now, as all her other safe houses were documented and watched by the Imperial Intelligence. The only reason why they hadn’t found her yet, was because she wasn’t stupid enough to make contact with the SIS; and because she was one of the best deep undercover agents the Imperials had ever trained.

She gave the small hideout a quick search; and seeing that nothing had changed, walked over to the holo-terminal tucked away in one corner. It was not really that impressive, but what it hid - was. A top of the line encoded and multi-graphed STUNC (Secured Tangent Universal NavComp) was stretched via power lines and maintenance routes to the planet’s surface; where it was able to swiftly pick up any and all transmissions passing with range of the Republic and Imperial StarCOMS. It was her window into the galaxy, and without it she would have felt quite uncertain as to the state of affairs around her.

She quickly and efficiently skimmed the transmissions, looking for any coded or unusual messages; when something caught her eye. It was simple enough in appearance; a call for help to various well-known republic allies. What seemed odd was that a similar message had been sent to several Imperial freelancers and well-known Sith lords.

Working quickly, she traced the original transcript back to its source, then decoded and audio-formatted it. She pushed play, and stepped back to listen. Once the Republic message had completed, she switched to the Imperial version, and listened till its completion.  She scanned and made a copy of both messages, securing them in her own holo-drive.

She stepped quietly in front of the window, with its breathtaking view of the city, then sighed deeply. “Well, I suppose I had to come out some time. Now, the only question is… should I go as an Imperial Agent, or a Republic assassin?†A hardly perceptible smirk crept slowly across her face, and her eyes began to gleam with sudden cunning.