Access to Outer Rim Federation CID (Central Information Database) granted.
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Access…Operation: Red Storm…
Vessel(s) Involved: Victory-Class- Star Destroyer Red Sun, Victory-Class Star Destroyer Cloud
Preliminary Report:
Red Storm and Cloud on patrol 0.76 lightyears from Crimstal Current, Wild Space. At 0300 hours Cloud’s Sensor Operator, Ensign Krenskay detected a graviton surge originating within a large nebula. Krenskay alerted Captain J. Geoff who decided to investigate. Upon entering the nebula, Cloud discovered a Class “3” planetoid that was designated CN-1344 by Geoff. Cloud and Red Sun then continued on patrol.
Access…planetoid CN-1344…
Class “3”
Native Population: Unknown.
Natural Resources: Unknown.
Last vessel to visit CN-1344:Classified.
Access…patrol file 10035412…
Patrol Route: Bakura to Correlian Trade Route to Crimstal Current
Vessels on current patrol: Carrack-class cruiser C004, Lancer-class Frigate L005
Search: Operation: Red Storm in relation to patrol 10035412…
Search Results: Unknown file. Please Specify.
Search: Operation: Red Storm in relation to planetoid CN-1344…
Warning…intruder alert… access to CID denied… intruder alert.. intruder alert intruder alert intruder alert…
The woman hunched over her portable computer terminal jerked back in shock as smoke started pouring from her PCT. She sat there for a moment in anger and surprise before she packed up her now-destroyed piece of equipment. She was in one of her many hideouts, a nondescript apartment within the huge confines of Coruscant. She went by the alias “Hacker” and was very good at what she did. She worked for the highest bidder and was very good at breaking into computer systems. That skill was very useful from bankrobbers to galactic organizations who utilized her skill for espionage purposes. Many bank robbers hired her to break in and time the credit vault to open at a predetermined time. The Bank of Coruscant had a large bounty of tens of thousands of credits on her head. But she was used to evading the many hunters and law enforcement agents. She had been working as a hacker for half of her life and was a very careful person. She was careful of traps and wore clothes that could belong to a native of thousands of planets. She worked only for the most money she could get and had accumulated a large amount of wealth. But she had become aware of a group known only as “The Agents” to hackers across the galaxy. They were faceless men and women who target all enemies of the Federation and it’s allies. They used secrecy and fear to destroy their enemies.
But this time she feared she had been less careful. The Agents would be coming soon so she hurried out of her apartment and into the lift. She pressed the button for the higher levels and the lift rose obediently. The doors opened a minute later but she waited a few moments. When the opening of the doors was not greeted with a blaster bolt she stepped out into a service corridor and quickly headed to the hangar where her speeder waited. She arrived at her speeder minutes later and got in. She started the repulsorlifts and eased out of the hangar carefully. The exit was only 30 meters away so she gunned the engine and flew out into the city. She allowed herself a small smile of satisfaction. She had outsmarted the Agents.
As it turned out, fortune was not with her because suddenly, a blaster bolt came out of nowhere and slammed into the underside of her speeder. The target had been the repulsorlifts and was perfectly aimed. She thanked the gods when there was no resulting explosion. The woman turned back to see what had shot her speeder out of the sky and saw a small speeder bike turn and fly away. The rider of the bike was holding a long-barreled blaster rifle. She ignored the bike for the moment and turned back to the more important matter at hand. She made sure the pack containing her PCT was secure on her back and then pressed a button on the underside of the control board. The seat she was sitting on suddenly detached itself from the speeder and used its own internal repulsors to slow her decent. Its internal sensors then began searching for a nearby building to land on. Unfortunately the building it chose to land on was The Bank of Coruscant.
She was determined not to let a seat decide her fate. The guards in the building were sure to be watching for unknown visitors. And when the captured her, they would turn her over to the police who would discover her identity and then the Agents would come. But the choice she had was either landing on the roof or dropping thousands of levels to her death. So she chose the roof. The guards within the bank had every inch of the building watched continuously by holocameras. So as soon as she had landed she had been spotted. The chair made a soft landing and the woman jumped off, only to face half a dozen guards all armed with stun batons and vibroblades. She stood and entered into a fighting stance and waited for the first attack to come.
The first was two guards from the sides. They rushed in, all brute force and no finesse. She jumped and flipped backwards and watched in satisfaction as the two guards slammed into each other. The next attack came almost before she landed. She felt powerful arms reach around and start to choke her. So she set her feet a few inches apart, bent down a little, and threw the man over her shoulder. He landed with a thud and did not get up for the moment. Another guard came from her right so she kicked him cleanly in the gut, temporarily taking him out of the fight. The last attack was two guards from the front. The left guard punched and the right stabbed at her with his vibroblade. She twisted so the blade missed her, then she grabbed her attacker’s wrist and used her arm to break the man’s forearm. The blade fell out of his hand and she grabbed it and spun to face the last man standing. He pulled out his own blade smiled slightly at her.
“Come on little girl… show me what ya got”
She said nothing. It was more effective.
He stabbed but when she started twisting he withdrew the blade and kicked instead, sending her flying. She landed in a backwards roll and came up on her feet, blade in a guard position.
“Hmm…not bad…for a hacker”
Now she was surprised. How did this mere guard know? Or could it be he was more than what he seemed?
He smiled at her faintly. He had caught on to her surprise.
“Yes. I know who you are. You are Hacker, the one who broke into this very bank more than once. We know who you are, but we do not know who you are working for, or what your objective is. That is why you must come with me, to answer those questions”
She nodded understandingly.
“You are an Agent”
He gave her a bored look.
“If you like. We have many different names, many different faces. Look, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. Your choice”
She smiled faintly. Then suddenly she threw her blade in the air, towards the Agent. It was barely in the air before she backed up, drawing her blaster and firing at the man. But she had underestimated this one. He was already moving almost before she was. Nevertheless, he barely evaded the incoming blaster bolt. She was now hiding behind a small hovertruck. As she hid she heard the Agent’s voice call out to her.
“I see you prefer the hard way. Very well. I have time to play. By the way, your pretty good. I haven’t seen that knife trick in years. You former NA Special Forces?”
Again she said nothing. Only a fool would give away his cover by speaking to his victim. She had seen hundreds of people like this one, arrogant loudmouths who simply didn’t know when to shut up.
He spoke again: “Come on out. I just want to play. A pretty girl like you…don’t you want to have some fun?”
She could tell by the sound of his voice that he was moving. Undoubtedly looking for her.
“Come out, come out wherever you are”
She peeked out of her hiding place. She saw him, moving slowly throughout all the crates and vehicles on this side of the roof. She aimed carefully with her blaster at his head. She fired and was again surprised. He didn’t even look at her. She had fired a clear shot at the man’s head but when the bolt arrived the it hit empty space.
“You missed” A voice pointed out from behind her.
She spun but his foot was already there, knocking the blaster out of her hand. His blaster was pointed at her head.
“I like it when people underestimate me” He said simply. “On your feet, hands up or I will kill you”
“You need me”
“Correct, but in my line of work, everyone and everything is expendable. Even me”
She put her hands up as she stood up.
“Very good. Now before we go anywhere I have some questions. And before I ask questions I will warn you once and only once: try anything and you will die”
She nodded.
“Good. Now where did you learn to fight?”
“New Alliance”
“When?”
“10 Years ago”
“Why did you break into the CID?”
“I was told to”
“Who are your current employers?”
She said nothing.
“Who hired you?”
Silence.
“As you wish. We have ways to make you tell us.”
“Who do you work for?” She asked.
“Sorry. I am not that stupid”
That was the last thing he would ever say. One mistake he had made was not searching her. And he paid for that mistake dearly. She jerked her arm forward quicker than his eye could follow. And he received the last great surprise of his life. She pulled her small blaster up and shot him cleanly in the head.
“Yes. Yes you are”
Then she got into the truck and drove out into the city.
“Report”
“She escaped”
“Again?”
“Yes sir. We think she may have had a warning”
“You think”
“Correct sir”
“I do not want to hear what you think Corporal. I want results. Find the woman”
“Yes sir”
Xexes sighed slightly. Too many questions…not enough answers.
“Captain Xexes.” A voice said.
Xexes did not turn. He knew the voice.
“Captain Jones. So very nice to see you again. How is army life treating you?”
“Well. You called?”
“Yes. The Project has been tracking a young woman for several weeks now. She is known only as ‘Hacker’”
“The Bank of Coruscant Hacker?”
“The same. She broke into the CID and was looking for something. We do not know what. But we know it is something that has to do with Operation: Red Storm”
“What?”
“Are you familiar with the Operation?”
“No. Perhaps you could fill me in”
“A planetoid in the Crimstal Current was discovered 2 years ago. By a Vic named Cloud on patrol. It was documented and apparently forgotten”
“Why do I sense that it wasn’t just forgotten?”
“It wasn’t. Project Scorpion has been secretly developing it”
“Developing it for what?”
“Military and espionage purposes.”
“I see”
“But this woman, Hacker, has duplicated the files on Red Storm. We do know that she has been employed by someone but we do not know who”
“Are you still tracking her?”
“Yes. She is still on Coruscant. We impounded her ship to prevent her from leaving. But she is smart, she will find another way of the planet.”
“And you need me to find her and retrieve the duplicates”
“Yes”
“I currently have an assignment for Black Hand. I am a busy man”
“Consider yourself…reassigned”
“Very well”
“There is a transport waiting for you. Good luck”
“This meeting of the Council of leaders is now in session.” Council Leader Grissm said. “Gentleman, the time is at hand. I have called this session today to discuss the current state in which the government of the Federation is run. Quite frankly, we as a supposed ‘governing body’ must take action. The Federation has become nothing more than a military camp. The Federation Constitution states that, we the Council of Leaders, have complete control of the government. We represent the different member worlds of the Federation. And we should have a say in what the Federation does. This council was formed long ago to govern the people. We are the rightful rulers”
The rest of the council nodded in agreement.
“But it is a dictatorship, under Admiral Griff. He rules the military, and with the military he threatens the rest of the Federation!”
The other councilors nodded again, and some voiced their opinions.
“So here is what I propose”, Grissm said. “I propose that we, as the rightful rulers of the Outer-Rim Federation take back what is ours. We are the people!”
The rest of the council begun murmuring amongst themselves. But Grissm kept up the speech.
“And we have the right to govern ourselves!”
The councilors murmuring grew louder. Some were beginning to shout their agreement.
“And choose our leaders!”
The council was now in an uproar. They were all shouting.
A storm was brewing.
“Do you have what I want?”
“Yes. My PCT was destroyed but I have an optical disk with all the data on it”
“You’ve done well. Now we must arrange the pickup. Where are you currently?”
“Coruscant. My ship was impounded by the Agents, but I can find another way off the planet”
“Secrecy is the key. Go first to Corellia and await further instructions”
“Understood”
“And remember, if they catch you, do not let them have the disk”
“Understood.”
“Off with you then”
The woman known only as Hacker turned her comlink off. She was 3.7 kilometers from the famed Imperial Palace which had housed Emperor Palpatine. Now under the New Republic’s rule, it stood empty. Since the Republic’s capital was Corellia the Palace had gone unused. Near the palace was the offices of Admiral Logan of the Republic. He was one of the few higher echelons of the Republic who kept his office on Coruscant. The planet itself was heralded as a ‘bright star’ within the New Republic. But to Hacker, it was a deathtrap that she was determined to escape from.
The first order of business was finding a way offplanet. There were thousands of transports lifting off every hour. She would simply have to get on one heading to Corellia where she would be contacted by her employers. She hoped she could get rid of the disk as soon as possible. It had become a curse, and she would be happy when she could hand it over and collect her large reward from men she was currently working for.
But as she walked through the upper levels she sighed as the rich upper class people walked about her.
Poor fools.
They had no idea what kind of hardships the people of the lower levels went through on a day-to-day basis. They were also oblivious to the deadly games their leaders loved to play. The players of the galactic gameboard. The groups who had the largest militaries were controlled not by the military, but by the hated and pathetic politicians. Men and women who sat behind their desks and drank tea while their minions did their dirty work.
As a hacker, it was her business to break through the smoke screen and find the answers. She broke into computers only to discover the truth behind all the lies. She had broken through thousands of encrypted systems of thousands of different computer networks. She had a long list: The New Republic, The New Alliance, The Empire, The Federation, The Rogue Empire… the list went on and on. She knew more secrets about those factions then the factions themselves. For example, she knew about the New Alliance’s secret attempts at cloning. They never perfected the method, and all of their attempts were utter failures. She knew that the Outer-Rim Federation had several different covert groups who spied on everyone else, Black Hand for instance. The Federation preferred espionage to outright fighting. Everyone had secrets, and there are those who will pay lots of money to get them. Which is why there were people like Hacker.
At least that is what I tell myself. It is what I have been telling myself all these years. Perhaps she was like the upperclass people. Maybe I am not ‘breaking through the smoke screen’. I am just as greedy as these people.
She pushed those annoying thoughts out of her mind and stopped in a small cantina. The cantina seemed out of place among the plush restaurants that lined the streets. But as she walked inside it was well lit and was actually clean and very well lit. Walking up to the bar, she took a seat and looked at the bartender, a Bothan.
“I am in need of a way off Coruscant”
He sighed.
“Buy something first”
“No”
He sighed longer.
“As you wish. Take the transports. Thousands of them, cheap… most of the time. Now can I get you a drink?”
“Yeah… give me an ale”
“You got it”
The Bothan placed a cup in front of her and poured some brownish liquid into it. Just as he did, a well-built man with a half-shaven face and brown hair sat down next to her. He walked with a sort of swagger. Corellian probably.
“Yeah I’ll have some Corellian whiskey”
“Corellian?” Hacker asked him.
The man looked down at her.
“Yeah I’m from Corellia, what’s it to you?”
‘Are you a pilot?”
“Yeah”
“Are you going to be returning to Corellia anytime soon”
“Maybe. What’s with 20 questions?”
“I am looking for a good pilot with a fast ship to get me off this planet”
“It’ll cost you”
“How much”
“Five thousand”
“Done”
And that was that. She didn’t find out the Corellian’s name, but did get the docking bay number. After arranging her time of arrival with the pilot, she left the cantina and walked back out onto the streets. She had an hour until she was to go to the docking bay and board the ship for passage to Corellia. She settled down in a slightly darkened alley and began fixing her PCT.
That was easy
Jones stood in front of the fruit vendor. On Coruscant. He had just asked the alien if he had seen Hacker.
“A woman with dark hair carrying a PCT?”
“Correct?”
“Hmm…no”
Jones turned to leave.
“Wait! Was this woman in her early thirties?”
Jones stopped but did not turn.
“Yes”
“Yeah as a matter of fact I did see her. She went into the Red Baron cantina”
“When”
“Maybe…uhhh…one hour…or was it two hours?”
“You are sure you saw her?”
“Yep”
Jones turned and walked away from the fruit vendor, and went back to his speeder. He was one step closer.
“That’s your ship?” Hacker asked with a mixture of fury and annoyance.
“Yeah, that’s her”
Hacker closed her eyes and controlled herself. All she had to do was get to Corellia and then she could get rid of this disk and get paid. Then she could hide out for a little while.
She was standing in front of an extremely beat up and old Hoerch-Kessel Drive Yards Mark II tanker. At 50 Meters long it carried few visible weapons and looked like it was built before the Clone Wars.
“Oh let’s get this over with”
The pilot said nothing and walked up the ramp and into the ship. She followed.
“Where did you say she was going?” Jones asked the Bothan.
“Tattoine I think” The Bothan said.
“You are lying”
“What are you going to do? Arrest me?”
Jones pulled a blaster out of his pocket and pressed the nozzle to the bartender’s head.
“No. I will simply kill you”
“Alright, alright!”
Jones lowered the blaster.
“It was Malastare”
Jones pulled the blaster up and back to its former position.
“I will count to three, and then I will kill you. You have until then to give me the proper location”
The Bothan said nothing.
“One”
Silence.
“Two”
“Corellia”
Jones lowered the blaster and walked out of the cantina.
“Welcome to Corellia” The pilot, who’s name was still unknown to her, said dryly once they had landed on Corellia.
Hacker said nothing. Her instructions were to go to Corellia and wait for more orders.
“Come on” The pilot said. “I know where we can stay for the time being”
She said nothing and followed him.
They went several blocks from the landing area to a small house.
“Where are we?”
“It’s my uncles old place. When he died, he left it to me”
“I see”
“Come on let’s go in”
Hacker and the pilot both went into the small house in a clean residential area. The landing pad where the ship was located was only a kilometer away. Which was good. Chances were she was going to need to use it if the drop off was on a planet other than Corellia. She had never seen her employers, nor had she ever met them face-to-face. The image was always distorted and her contact used a voice scrambler. Apparently they didn’t trust their employees at all.
The house was surprisingly clean and neat. But unfortunately, she found out from her pilot, there was only one bedroom.
“And one bed” The pilot said with a grin.
She glared at him. She had been hoping to sleep on a soft surface tonight. But she didn’t care. All she cared about was the 600,000 credits she would get the next day. She started to prepare for sleep on the floor.
“Don’t do that. The bedroom is the second door in that hallway to the right. Go on, I’ll sleep here for the night.”
“Thank you” She said, and walked back to the room. As promised there was a bed, along with a dresser and a glowlamp. She lay down on the bed and drifted off to sleep.
“Doctor Peterson, I am tired of hearing excuses. I want to see to progress reports on the missle tests”
“Yes… but you do not understand. The warhead is not ready to be tested. It is still in the developmental stages”
“ More excuses. Any more and I will replace you with Doctor Mason. You will be fixing satellites orbiting N’zoth by the end of the week”
“When would you like to test the weapon?”
“You are a smart man. In two days”
“Understood”
General Bror of the Outer-Rim Federation Army nodded and walked past Doctor Peterson. The doctor sighed deeply. He knew that the warhead would not function properly. And the General would probably reassign him to the N’zoth Orbital Debris Committee. But he had bought himself time to prepare for a hasty departure. Maybe the Empire or the Republic needed a advanced ballistic weapons engineer. He had been designing ballistic missles for 10 years. His most recent assignment was planetoid CN- 1344, codenamed “Spectre”. It was a secret weapons research facility and was the home base for ‘Project Scorpion’. Nobody except Project members knew exactly what Scorpion was but they knew it had to do with spying and espionage. He didn’t know about any of that. He was a workaholic who lived in a world of calculations and equations. Nothing existed in his world other than completing his goal. And his most current goal was a tough one.
His superiors had ordered him and his team to build a missle that could be fired from a ship or a space station that would enter hyperspace, cruise to it’s target, and ram itself into the target. For example, if its target was a space station, or shipyards which it was designed to destroy, it would hit the target, penetrate as deeply into the shipyards as it could and then wait for a few seconds and then detonate. Inside the weapon was a substance called benzomite, a highly explosive compound and when packed with enough thermal detonators, it was a most effective weapon. When the missle detonated, it created first a electro magnetic pulse which is much like an Ion cannon. It destroys the shields and all other electric systems while at the same time releasing a huge explosion that destroys most of the structure anyway. But the warhead could be modified to only create the EMP. So when the shields drop other vessels could move in to destroy it. There were infinite uses for the weapon, which was why the general wanted it so badly.
But the weapon had never been tested. And creating it involved thousands of calculations. If one of those was just slightly off…
He didn’t want to think about that. He would stick around long enough to see if his creation worked or not. If so, he would hopefully get a promotion to Senior Scientific Advisor and report all the way up to Griff himself. But if the weapon didn’t work, he would flee to an organization that needed him more.
“Have you found the target?”
“Negative. It appears she made it to Corellia. I am on my way”
“Get her before she makes the drop off. If she passes it to someone else we will never get it back”
“Agreed”
“Go”
“I suggest to this Council that we consider using this weapon” Griff said.
The Council Leader, a human named Sace Grissm, scowled at Griff.
“Using it on whom?”
“The target that I and my advisors specify”
“This weapon is too dangerous. We will deliberate on this issue. But in the mean time, we have some pressing business we must discuss with you”
Griff waited.
“We have been in session for hours talking about this. Admiral Griff, to be frank, this council has not been pleased with you for some time. Your reputation among us has steadily decreased over time. The biggest mistake we believe you have made is that business with the Yevethans”
Griff stood.
“I have doubled the Federation’s size!”
“But you have rarely, if ever, asked for our opinion. It is us who leads this government”
“And it is I who leads the military” Griff said quietly.
“Do not threaten us” Said the Bakuran Councilman.
“I am not threatening the council. I merely wish to advise the council that it is I who commands the loyalty of the military. And the military protects the government. My officers will not answer to the politicians. They are loyal to me, because I am just like them. You may expel me from the government but I will still control the military. And if the military abandons the Federation there will be nothing to protect you”
“A rousing speech” Said Grissm. “But I will take no more of this. The military is loyal to the Federation and the Council controls the Federation”
Griff remained calm.
“As you wish. But there is more to the military than a bunch of ships. There is so much more to it than you think”
The Council remained silent.
Griff spoke again, “Perhaps you convince a few captains to stick with you. But there are many who are loyal to me”
“I have had enough of this” Grissm said. “Guards! Place this civilian under house arrest until we decide what to do with him”
The guards stood where they were.
Seeing this, Grissm scowled and said again, “Guards. You will obey me. Take Mr Griff to his quarters.
The two guards nodded and headed towards Griff. But instead of handcuffing him, they stood behind him and drew their blasters.
“Sirnge , Grethal” Grissm said to his two loyal bodyguards. “Take Griff to his quarters and put these to traitors in the brig”
The guards behind Griff readied their weapons. Grissm’s bodyguards did likewise. The room was crackling with tension.
“My friends” Griff said to the two men behind him. “Put down your arms and do as Councilman Grissm says”
The guards loyal to Griff did as they were told and laid their weapons down and put their hands above their heads. But something that Grissm did not realize at the time, but by laying his arms down, Griff demonstrated that he would not attack and kill those he thought innocent. And little did Grissm know, that that would hurt him in the near future.
The guards led the three “traitors” out. But before leaving Griff said,
“Sace, I hope you know what you are doing. I hope you know who your enemies and your allies are. Because your list of allies will grow short, and your list of enemies will grow long”
Then he allowed himself to be led out.
“You will go to the marketplace zero point five kilometers from you. There a person will be sitting on a bench near the fountain. Proceed to walk directly in front of the person. Once you pass near, the person will stand abruptly. You will then make a drop pass. After that, proceed to the speeder rental station. You will receive payment there. Be on guard. the Agents will be there”
Click.
And that was that. Hacker thought to herself.
She was sitting on the bed in her temporary room. She shut off her comlink and put it away. Then there came a knock on the door.
“Come in”
The pilot came in.
“Are you rested?” He said.
“Very. Thank you” She replied.
“I heard you talking. Who was it?”
“My… current employers” She said stiffly.
“I see. Is something going to happen”
She only nodded.
“When?”
“Today. In half an hour”
He was silent for several long moments. He seemed to be grappling with indecision. Finally, he seemed to make up his mind.
“What can I do to help?”
She smiled for once.
“We have work to do” She said.
“Got it”, He said. And started to turn.
“Wait, I never did get your name”
“It’s Loran”
“Well Loran. Let’s go”
Griff was escorted to his quarters by one of the bodyguards. While the other two were led by the second bodyguard. They stopped at his door. And the bodyguard looked both ways before handing Griff his blaster.
“Director Meer had a feeling that something would happen today. He has prepared” The bodyguard, Sirnge, said.
Griff just grinned.
“I must remember to thank Director Meer. What do you know?”
The guard said simply, “Everything. I am his messenger”
“We need to talk privately.”
“I cannot enter your room. My ‘boss’ gave me orders to stand outside your apartment.”
“Well what do we do”
“Director Meer has prepared. And when Black Hand prepares, there is nothing left out” At this Sirnge handed him a small earpiece.
“It is tuned to my frequency. I have one also. Just speak and I will hear. Hurry and get inside before someone sees you”
Griff asked no questions. He took the earpiece and hurried inside his apartment. Once he put it on he could speak to and hear Sirnge.
“Tell me what you know” Griff said.
Sirnge said nothing for a moment, which told Griff that someone was passing by the door to the apartment. Finally, he answered.
“As you have already guessed, I work for Black Hand. I have been undercover as Grissm’s bodyguard for two years as a sleeper unit. I was recently reactivated two weeks ago. Black Hand has been closely monitoring Grissm and his followers. He has been planning this for years. He has slowly bribed or blackmailed the other Council members to his side. We knew he was going to do something. So we have—“
“Yes, prepared” Griff interrupted.
“—Correct. We have set the Government Building’s guards to rotate in precisely nineteen minutes. We will have a five minute window. Also, all the surveillance camera’s will also cycle through their regular power shutdown, and will run a self-diagnostic— all routine. They will shut down along our escape route for, again, five minutes”
“I will not leave without my men. The ones in the brig. I have many men in the Federation who are loyal to me”
“My comrade, Grethal will see to it. And I must remind you, Black Hand cannot evacuate all loyalist personnel. But arrangements have been made to evacuate hundreds of thousands.
Griff was amazed. “And how will you do that?”
He could hear the proud smile in Sirnge’s voice.
“The Outer-Rim Federation Navy of course”
“What?”
“Yes. Black Hand has stationed thousands of men in the Navy. And they are right this minute, starting a revolution on the vessels. Black Hand, of course, holorecorded the entire Council meeting. The tape is now being played on all of our ships. And I must say, your performance could not have been more perfect”
Griff was utterly shocked. But in a way, he felt proud. Marth Meer was saving the Federation—The true loyal Federation—from annihilation.
“I am very pleased. But I have one question”
Sirnge paused for a moment and did not say anything. From the level of noise he could her through the earpiece, two or more people were passing by, talking exitedly. After it faded in the distance, Sirnge spoke.
“Go ahead, Admiral”
“After you liberate all of our ships, where will we go?”
“Our most secret base, a planetoid in a cluster of black holes, in Wild Space. Designated CN-1344”
“I have not heard of it” Griff said.
“Neither have I up till a few weeks ago. But it is rumored Project Scorpion is based there”
Now Griff had heard of Project Scorpion. It was a shadowy organization, utterly and totally loyal to the Federation. It was dedicated to protecting it. But now the Federation was crumbling into two factions. The ‘Allies’—people who were loyal to Griff and the military. And the ‘Peacekeepers’—loyal to Grissm and the Council.
Before Griff could ask about Project Scorpion, Sirnge suddenly broke in.
“Come, our window is opening. I have unlocked your door. You have four and a half minutes to gather what you can. You will not be coming back to Bakura for some time”
Griff grabbed his blaster, vibroblade and a satchel that he had been packing during his conversation with Sirnge. He hurried through the door and Sirnge motioned for him to follow.
The corridor was calm as they ran through it. Sirnge looked like he was in his mid-twenties. Griff was ten years older. But he kept up nevertheless. He was running alongside Singe and was about to ask him where their escape vessel was when they rounded a corner sharply and came face to face with half a dozen armed Peacekeepers.
Sirnge didn’t slow. He jumped and hit the foremost guards with both feet to the chest. All seven men fell in a large heap. He heard Sirnge’s voice yell loudly.
“Go! I will hold them. Te hangar is just ahead!”
With that he began trading blows with all six of the Peacekeepers. Griff looked behind and saw the doors to the hangar. He could just make out the shapes of the other Black Hand Agent, Grethal, and the two guards that were thrown in the brig. They were firing their blasters at a horde of Peacekeeper soldiers.
“Go!” Sirnge yelled again.
He turned and ran to the hangar. He paused by the doors and made sure his blaster was ready. Then he rushed out and sprinted to the escape shuttle, firing at the Peacekeepers as he did so. The three Allied men saw him and stepped up their fire at the Peacekeepers.
He made it to the shuttle and told Grethal to take off. The man disappeared up the ramp while Griff and his two men continued their fire.
But then he saw Sirnge run out of the corridor and to the shuttle. He had at least one vibroblade wound that Griff could see and was stumbling heavily. Griff jumped off the ramp and rushed to him. Throwing his arm under Sirnge’s back, he helped him to the shuttle. By the time they got up the ramp, they were already airborne. They flew out of the hangar and into the atmosphere of Bakura.
“What happened? Loran asked.
“I do not know” Hacker said. She had waited for her contact at the location she had discussed with her employers. The contact had never shown his face.
“What will you do with the information?” Loran asked.
“Keep it for now. It is my insurance. The Agents cannot hurt me if they know I have it and I am threatening to sell it to the highest bidder”
Loran said nothing.
“Well, you are welcome to come with me. I am leaving Corellia. I have a few more run’s I have to do.”
She nodded to him.
“I think I’ll take you up on that”
“Report”
“I have searched everywhere on Corellia. She is not here”
“I want that disc, Jones. You said there would be no mistakes”
There was no reply for a long time.
“And there will be none. What is the situation over there?”
“In uproar. The Federation is destroying itself. I have reports from our Agents, Griff is on his way here. He will undoubtedly hide here with the remnants of the Federation Fleet”
“What role will you take?”
“Our job is to protect the Federation. And protect it we will”
“There is two Federations now. Which one will you protect?”
Loading…
Preparing files…
Accessing…
Welcome Unknown User
Access…Operation: Red Storm…
Vessel(s) Involved: Victory-Class- Star Destroyer Red Sun, Victory-Class Star Destroyer Cloud
Preliminary Report:
Red Storm and Cloud on patrol 0.76 lightyears from Crimstal Current, Wild Space. At 0300 hours Cloud’s Sensor Operator, Ensign Krenskay detected a graviton surge originating within a large nebula. Krenskay alerted Captain J. Geoff who decided to investigate. Upon entering the nebula, Cloud discovered a Class “3” planetoid that was designated CN-1344 by Geoff. Cloud and Red Sun then continued on patrol.
Access…planetoid CN-1344…
Class “3”
Native Population: Unknown.
Natural Resources: Unknown.
Last vessel to visit CN-1344:Classified.
Access…patrol file 10035412…
Patrol Route: Bakura to Correlian Trade Route to Crimstal Current
Vessels on current patrol: Carrack-class cruiser C004, Lancer-class Frigate L005
Search: Operation: Red Storm in relation to patrol 10035412…
Search Results: Unknown file. Please Specify.
Search: Operation: Red Storm in relation to planetoid CN-1344…
Warning…intruder alert… access to CID denied… intruder alert.. intruder alert intruder alert intruder alert…
Got you…Hacker
The woman hunched over her portable computer terminal jerked back in shock as smoke started pouring from her PCT. She sat there for a moment in anger and surprise before she packed up her now-destroyed piece of equipment. She was in one of her many hideouts, a nondescript apartment within the huge confines of Coruscant. She went by the alias “Hacker” and was very good at what she did. She worked for the highest bidder and was very good at breaking into computer systems. That skill was very useful from bankrobbers to galactic organizations who utilized her skill for espionage purposes. Many bank robbers hired her to break in and time the credit vault to open at a predetermined time. The Bank of Coruscant had a large bounty of tens of thousands of credits on her head. But she was used to evading the many hunters and law enforcement agents. She had been working as a hacker for half of her life and was a very careful person. She was careful of traps and wore clothes that could belong to a native of thousands of planets. She worked only for the most money she could get and had accumulated a large amount of wealth. But she had become aware of a group known only as “The Agents” to hackers across the galaxy. They were faceless men and women who target all enemies of the Federation and it’s allies. They used secrecy and fear to destroy their enemies.
But this time she feared she had been less careful. The Agents would be coming soon so she hurried out of her apartment and into the lift. She pressed the button for the higher levels and the lift rose obediently. The doors opened a minute later but she waited a few moments. When the opening of the doors was not greeted with a blaster bolt she stepped out into a service corridor and quickly headed to the hangar where her speeder waited. She arrived at her speeder minutes later and got in. She started the repulsorlifts and eased out of the hangar carefully. The exit was only 30 meters away so she gunned the engine and flew out into the city. She allowed herself a small smile of satisfaction. She had outsmarted the Agents.
As it turned out, fortune was not with her because suddenly, a blaster bolt came out of nowhere and slammed into the underside of her speeder. The target had been the repulsorlifts and was perfectly aimed. She thanked the gods when there was no resulting explosion. The woman turned back to see what had shot her speeder out of the sky and saw a small speeder bike turn and fly away. The rider of the bike was holding a long-barreled blaster rifle. She ignored the bike for the moment and turned back to the more important matter at hand. She made sure the pack containing her PCT was secure on her back and then pressed a button on the underside of the control board. The seat she was sitting on suddenly detached itself from the speeder and used its own internal repulsors to slow her decent. Its internal sensors then began searching for a nearby building to land on. Unfortunately the building it chose to land on was The Bank of Coruscant.
She was determined not to let a seat decide her fate. The guards in the building were sure to be watching for unknown visitors. And when the captured her, they would turn her over to the police who would discover her identity and then the Agents would come. But the choice she had was either landing on the roof or dropping thousands of levels to her death. So she chose the roof. The guards within the bank had every inch of the building watched continuously by holocameras. So as soon as she had landed she had been spotted. The chair made a soft landing and the woman jumped off, only to face half a dozen guards all armed with stun batons and vibroblades. She stood and entered into a fighting stance and waited for the first attack to come.
The first was two guards from the sides. They rushed in, all brute force and no finesse. She jumped and flipped backwards and watched in satisfaction as the two guards slammed into each other. The next attack came almost before she landed. She felt powerful arms reach around and start to choke her. So she set her feet a few inches apart, bent down a little, and threw the man over her shoulder. He landed with a thud and did not get up for the moment. Another guard came from her right so she kicked him cleanly in the gut, temporarily taking him out of the fight. The last attack was two guards from the front. The left guard punched and the right stabbed at her with his vibroblade. She twisted so the blade missed her, then she grabbed her attacker’s wrist and used her arm to break the man’s forearm. The blade fell out of his hand and she grabbed it and spun to face the last man standing. He pulled out his own blade smiled slightly at her.
“Come on little girl… show me what ya got”
She said nothing. It was more effective.
He stabbed but when she started twisting he withdrew the blade and kicked instead, sending her flying. She landed in a backwards roll and came up on her feet, blade in a guard position.
“Hmm…not bad…for a hacker”
Now she was surprised. How did this mere guard know? Or could it be he was more than what he seemed?
He smiled at her faintly. He had caught on to her surprise.
“Yes. I know who you are. You are Hacker, the one who broke into this very bank more than once. We know who you are, but we do not know who you are working for, or what your objective is. That is why you must come with me, to answer those questions”
She nodded understandingly.
“You are an Agent”
He gave her a bored look.
“If you like. We have many different names, many different faces. Look, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. Your choice”
She smiled faintly. Then suddenly she threw her blade in the air, towards the Agent. It was barely in the air before she backed up, drawing her blaster and firing at the man. But she had underestimated this one. He was already moving almost before she was. Nevertheless, he barely evaded the incoming blaster bolt. She was now hiding behind a small hovertruck. As she hid she heard the Agent’s voice call out to her.
“I see you prefer the hard way. Very well. I have time to play. By the way, your pretty good. I haven’t seen that knife trick in years. You former NA Special Forces?”
Again she said nothing. Only a fool would give away his cover by speaking to his victim. She had seen hundreds of people like this one, arrogant loudmouths who simply didn’t know when to shut up.
He spoke again: “Come on out. I just want to play. A pretty girl like you…don’t you want to have some fun?”
She could tell by the sound of his voice that he was moving. Undoubtedly looking for her.
“Come out, come out wherever you are”
She peeked out of her hiding place. She saw him, moving slowly throughout all the crates and vehicles on this side of the roof. She aimed carefully with her blaster at his head. She fired and was again surprised. He didn’t even look at her. She had fired a clear shot at the man’s head but when the bolt arrived the it hit empty space.
“You missed” A voice pointed out from behind her.
She spun but his foot was already there, knocking the blaster out of her hand. His blaster was pointed at her head.
“I like it when people underestimate me” He said simply. “On your feet, hands up or I will kill you”
“You need me”
“Correct, but in my line of work, everyone and everything is expendable. Even me”
She put her hands up as she stood up.
“Very good. Now before we go anywhere I have some questions. And before I ask questions I will warn you once and only once: try anything and you will die”
She nodded.
“Good. Now where did you learn to fight?”
“New Alliance”
“When?”
“10 Years ago”
“Why did you break into the CID?”
“I was told to”
“Who are your current employers?”
She said nothing.
“Who hired you?”
Silence.
“As you wish. We have ways to make you tell us.”
“Who do you work for?” She asked.
“Sorry. I am not that stupid”
That was the last thing he would ever say. One mistake he had made was not searching her. And he paid for that mistake dearly. She jerked her arm forward quicker than his eye could follow. And he received the last great surprise of his life. She pulled her small blaster up and shot him cleanly in the head.
“Yes. Yes you are”
Then she got into the truck and drove out into the city.
“Report”
“She escaped”
“Again?”
“Yes sir. We think she may have had a warning”
“You think”
“Correct sir”
“I do not want to hear what you think Corporal. I want results. Find the woman”
“Yes sir”
Xexes sighed slightly. Too many questions…not enough answers.
“Captain Xexes.” A voice said.
Xexes did not turn. He knew the voice.
“Captain Jones. So very nice to see you again. How is army life treating you?”
“Well. You called?”
“Yes. The Project has been tracking a young woman for several weeks now. She is known only as ‘Hacker’”
“The Bank of Coruscant Hacker?”
“The same. She broke into the CID and was looking for something. We do not know what. But we know it is something that has to do with Operation: Red Storm”
“What?”
“Are you familiar with the Operation?”
“No. Perhaps you could fill me in”
“A planetoid in the Crimstal Current was discovered 2 years ago. By a Vic named Cloud on patrol. It was documented and apparently forgotten”
“Why do I sense that it wasn’t just forgotten?”
“It wasn’t. Project Scorpion has been secretly developing it”
“Developing it for what?”
“Military and espionage purposes.”
“I see”
“But this woman, Hacker, has duplicated the files on Red Storm. We do know that she has been employed by someone but we do not know who”
“Are you still tracking her?”
“Yes. She is still on Coruscant. We impounded her ship to prevent her from leaving. But she is smart, she will find another way of the planet.”
“And you need me to find her and retrieve the duplicates”
“Yes”
“I currently have an assignment for Black Hand. I am a busy man”
“Consider yourself…reassigned”
“Very well”
“There is a transport waiting for you. Good luck”
“This meeting of the Council of leaders is now in session.” Council Leader Grissm said. “Gentleman, the time is at hand. I have called this session today to discuss the current state in which the government of the Federation is run. Quite frankly, we as a supposed ‘governing body’ must take action. The Federation has become nothing more than a military camp. The Federation Constitution states that, we the Council of Leaders, have complete control of the government. We represent the different member worlds of the Federation. And we should have a say in what the Federation does. This council was formed long ago to govern the people. We are the rightful rulers”
The rest of the council nodded in agreement.
“But it is a dictatorship, under Admiral Griff. He rules the military, and with the military he threatens the rest of the Federation!”
The other councilors nodded again, and some voiced their opinions.
“So here is what I propose”, Grissm said. “I propose that we, as the rightful rulers of the Outer-Rim Federation take back what is ours. We are the people!”
The rest of the council begun murmuring amongst themselves. But Grissm kept up the speech.
“And we have the right to govern ourselves!”
The councilors murmuring grew louder. Some were beginning to shout their agreement.
“And choose our leaders!”
The council was now in an uproar. They were all shouting.
A storm was brewing.
“Do you have what I want?”
“Yes. My PCT was destroyed but I have an optical disk with all the data on it”
“You’ve done well. Now we must arrange the pickup. Where are you currently?”
“Coruscant. My ship was impounded by the Agents, but I can find another way off the planet”
“Secrecy is the key. Go first to Corellia and await further instructions”
“Understood”
“And remember, if they catch you, do not let them have the disk”
“Understood.”
“Off with you then”
The woman known only as Hacker turned her comlink off. She was 3.7 kilometers from the famed Imperial Palace which had housed Emperor Palpatine. Now under the New Republic’s rule, it stood empty. Since the Republic’s capital was Corellia the Palace had gone unused. Near the palace was the offices of Admiral Logan of the Republic. He was one of the few higher echelons of the Republic who kept his office on Coruscant. The planet itself was heralded as a ‘bright star’ within the New Republic. But to Hacker, it was a deathtrap that she was determined to escape from.
The first order of business was finding a way offplanet. There were thousands of transports lifting off every hour. She would simply have to get on one heading to Corellia where she would be contacted by her employers. She hoped she could get rid of the disk as soon as possible. It had become a curse, and she would be happy when she could hand it over and collect her large reward from men she was currently working for.
But as she walked through the upper levels she sighed as the rich upper class people walked about her.
Poor fools.
They had no idea what kind of hardships the people of the lower levels went through on a day-to-day basis. They were also oblivious to the deadly games their leaders loved to play. The players of the galactic gameboard. The groups who had the largest militaries were controlled not by the military, but by the hated and pathetic politicians. Men and women who sat behind their desks and drank tea while their minions did their dirty work.
As a hacker, it was her business to break through the smoke screen and find the answers. She broke into computers only to discover the truth behind all the lies. She had broken through thousands of encrypted systems of thousands of different computer networks. She had a long list: The New Republic, The New Alliance, The Empire, The Federation, The Rogue Empire… the list went on and on. She knew more secrets about those factions then the factions themselves. For example, she knew about the New Alliance’s secret attempts at cloning. They never perfected the method, and all of their attempts were utter failures. She knew that the Outer-Rim Federation had several different covert groups who spied on everyone else, Black Hand for instance. The Federation preferred espionage to outright fighting. Everyone had secrets, and there are those who will pay lots of money to get them. Which is why there were people like Hacker.
At least that is what I tell myself. It is what I have been telling myself all these years. Perhaps she was like the upperclass people. Maybe I am not ‘breaking through the smoke screen’. I am just as greedy as these people.
She pushed those annoying thoughts out of her mind and stopped in a small cantina. The cantina seemed out of place among the plush restaurants that lined the streets. But as she walked inside it was well lit and was actually clean and very well lit. Walking up to the bar, she took a seat and looked at the bartender, a Bothan.
“I am in need of a way off Coruscant”
He sighed.
“Buy something first”
“No”
He sighed longer.
“As you wish. Take the transports. Thousands of them, cheap… most of the time. Now can I get you a drink?”
“Yeah… give me an ale”
“You got it”
The Bothan placed a cup in front of her and poured some brownish liquid into it. Just as he did, a well-built man with a half-shaven face and brown hair sat down next to her. He walked with a sort of swagger. Corellian probably.
“Yeah I’ll have some Corellian whiskey”
“Corellian?” Hacker asked him.
The man looked down at her.
“Yeah I’m from Corellia, what’s it to you?”
‘Are you a pilot?”
“Yeah”
“Are you going to be returning to Corellia anytime soon”
“Maybe. What’s with 20 questions?”
“I am looking for a good pilot with a fast ship to get me off this planet”
“It’ll cost you”
“How much”
“Five thousand”
“Done”
And that was that. She didn’t find out the Corellian’s name, but did get the docking bay number. After arranging her time of arrival with the pilot, she left the cantina and walked back out onto the streets. She had an hour until she was to go to the docking bay and board the ship for passage to Corellia. She settled down in a slightly darkened alley and began fixing her PCT.
That was easy
Jones stood in front of the fruit vendor. On Coruscant. He had just asked the alien if he had seen Hacker.
“A woman with dark hair carrying a PCT?”
“Correct?”
“Hmm…no”
Jones turned to leave.
“Wait! Was this woman in her early thirties?”
Jones stopped but did not turn.
“Yes”
“Yeah as a matter of fact I did see her. She went into the Red Baron cantina”
“When”
“Maybe…uhhh…one hour…or was it two hours?”
“You are sure you saw her?”
“Yep”
Jones turned and walked away from the fruit vendor, and went back to his speeder. He was one step closer.
“That’s your ship?” Hacker asked with a mixture of fury and annoyance.
“Yeah, that’s her”
Hacker closed her eyes and controlled herself. All she had to do was get to Corellia and then she could get rid of this disk and get paid. Then she could hide out for a little while.
She was standing in front of an extremely beat up and old Hoerch-Kessel Drive Yards Mark II tanker. At 50 Meters long it carried few visible weapons and looked like it was built before the Clone Wars.
“Oh let’s get this over with”
The pilot said nothing and walked up the ramp and into the ship. She followed.
“Where did you say she was going?” Jones asked the Bothan.
“Tattoine I think” The Bothan said.
“You are lying”
“What are you going to do? Arrest me?”
Jones pulled a blaster out of his pocket and pressed the nozzle to the bartender’s head.
“No. I will simply kill you”
“Alright, alright!”
Jones lowered the blaster.
“It was Malastare”
Jones pulled the blaster up and back to its former position.
“I will count to three, and then I will kill you. You have until then to give me the proper location”
The Bothan said nothing.
“One”
Silence.
“Two”
“Corellia”
Jones lowered the blaster and walked out of the cantina.
“Welcome to Corellia” The pilot, who’s name was still unknown to her, said dryly once they had landed on Corellia.
Hacker said nothing. Her instructions were to go to Corellia and wait for more orders.
“Come on” The pilot said. “I know where we can stay for the time being”
She said nothing and followed him.
They went several blocks from the landing area to a small house.
“Where are we?”
“It’s my uncles old place. When he died, he left it to me”
“I see”
“Come on let’s go in”
Hacker and the pilot both went into the small house in a clean residential area. The landing pad where the ship was located was only a kilometer away. Which was good. Chances were she was going to need to use it if the drop off was on a planet other than Corellia. She had never seen her employers, nor had she ever met them face-to-face. The image was always distorted and her contact used a voice scrambler. Apparently they didn’t trust their employees at all.
The house was surprisingly clean and neat. But unfortunately, she found out from her pilot, there was only one bedroom.
“And one bed” The pilot said with a grin.
She glared at him. She had been hoping to sleep on a soft surface tonight. But she didn’t care. All she cared about was the 600,000 credits she would get the next day. She started to prepare for sleep on the floor.
“Don’t do that. The bedroom is the second door in that hallway to the right. Go on, I’ll sleep here for the night.”
“Thank you” She said, and walked back to the room. As promised there was a bed, along with a dresser and a glowlamp. She lay down on the bed and drifted off to sleep.
“Doctor Peterson, I am tired of hearing excuses. I want to see to progress reports on the missle tests”
“Yes… but you do not understand. The warhead is not ready to be tested. It is still in the developmental stages”
“ More excuses. Any more and I will replace you with Doctor Mason. You will be fixing satellites orbiting N’zoth by the end of the week”
“When would you like to test the weapon?”
“You are a smart man. In two days”
“Understood”
General Bror of the Outer-Rim Federation Army nodded and walked past Doctor Peterson. The doctor sighed deeply. He knew that the warhead would not function properly. And the General would probably reassign him to the N’zoth Orbital Debris Committee. But he had bought himself time to prepare for a hasty departure. Maybe the Empire or the Republic needed a advanced ballistic weapons engineer. He had been designing ballistic missles for 10 years. His most recent assignment was planetoid CN- 1344, codenamed “Spectre”. It was a secret weapons research facility and was the home base for ‘Project Scorpion’. Nobody except Project members knew exactly what Scorpion was but they knew it had to do with spying and espionage. He didn’t know about any of that. He was a workaholic who lived in a world of calculations and equations. Nothing existed in his world other than completing his goal. And his most current goal was a tough one.
His superiors had ordered him and his team to build a missle that could be fired from a ship or a space station that would enter hyperspace, cruise to it’s target, and ram itself into the target. For example, if its target was a space station, or shipyards which it was designed to destroy, it would hit the target, penetrate as deeply into the shipyards as it could and then wait for a few seconds and then detonate. Inside the weapon was a substance called benzomite, a highly explosive compound and when packed with enough thermal detonators, it was a most effective weapon. When the missle detonated, it created first a electro magnetic pulse which is much like an Ion cannon. It destroys the shields and all other electric systems while at the same time releasing a huge explosion that destroys most of the structure anyway. But the warhead could be modified to only create the EMP. So when the shields drop other vessels could move in to destroy it. There were infinite uses for the weapon, which was why the general wanted it so badly.
But the weapon had never been tested. And creating it involved thousands of calculations. If one of those was just slightly off…
He didn’t want to think about that. He would stick around long enough to see if his creation worked or not. If so, he would hopefully get a promotion to Senior Scientific Advisor and report all the way up to Griff himself. But if the weapon didn’t work, he would flee to an organization that needed him more.
“Have you found the target?”
“Negative. It appears she made it to Corellia. I am on my way”
“Get her before she makes the drop off. If she passes it to someone else we will never get it back”
“Agreed”
“Go”
“I suggest to this Council that we consider using this weapon” Griff said.
The Council Leader, a human named Sace Grissm, scowled at Griff.
“Using it on whom?”
“The target that I and my advisors specify”
“This weapon is too dangerous. We will deliberate on this issue. But in the mean time, we have some pressing business we must discuss with you”
Griff waited.
“We have been in session for hours talking about this. Admiral Griff, to be frank, this council has not been pleased with you for some time. Your reputation among us has steadily decreased over time. The biggest mistake we believe you have made is that business with the Yevethans”
Griff stood.
“I have doubled the Federation’s size!”
“But you have rarely, if ever, asked for our opinion. It is us who leads this government”
“And it is I who leads the military” Griff said quietly.
“Do not threaten us” Said the Bakuran Councilman.
“I am not threatening the council. I merely wish to advise the council that it is I who commands the loyalty of the military. And the military protects the government. My officers will not answer to the politicians. They are loyal to me, because I am just like them. You may expel me from the government but I will still control the military. And if the military abandons the Federation there will be nothing to protect you”
“A rousing speech” Said Grissm. “But I will take no more of this. The military is loyal to the Federation and the Council controls the Federation”
Griff remained calm.
“As you wish. But there is more to the military than a bunch of ships. There is so much more to it than you think”
The Council remained silent.
Griff spoke again, “Perhaps you convince a few captains to stick with you. But there are many who are loyal to me”
“I have had enough of this” Grissm said. “Guards! Place this civilian under house arrest until we decide what to do with him”
The guards stood where they were.
Seeing this, Grissm scowled and said again, “Guards. You will obey me. Take Mr Griff to his quarters.
The two guards nodded and headed towards Griff. But instead of handcuffing him, they stood behind him and drew their blasters.
“Sirnge , Grethal” Grissm said to his two loyal bodyguards. “Take Griff to his quarters and put these to traitors in the brig”
The guards behind Griff readied their weapons. Grissm’s bodyguards did likewise. The room was crackling with tension.
“My friends” Griff said to the two men behind him. “Put down your arms and do as Councilman Grissm says”
The guards loyal to Griff did as they were told and laid their weapons down and put their hands above their heads. But something that Grissm did not realize at the time, but by laying his arms down, Griff demonstrated that he would not attack and kill those he thought innocent. And little did Grissm know, that that would hurt him in the near future.
The guards led the three “traitors” out. But before leaving Griff said,
“Sace, I hope you know what you are doing. I hope you know who your enemies and your allies are. Because your list of allies will grow short, and your list of enemies will grow long”
Then he allowed himself to be led out.
“You will go to the marketplace zero point five kilometers from you. There a person will be sitting on a bench near the fountain. Proceed to walk directly in front of the person. Once you pass near, the person will stand abruptly. You will then make a drop pass. After that, proceed to the speeder rental station. You will receive payment there. Be on guard. the Agents will be there”
Click.
And that was that. Hacker thought to herself.
She was sitting on the bed in her temporary room. She shut off her comlink and put it away. Then there came a knock on the door.
“Come in”
The pilot came in.
“Are you rested?” He said.
“Very. Thank you” She replied.
“I heard you talking. Who was it?”
“My… current employers” She said stiffly.
“I see. Is something going to happen”
She only nodded.
“When?”
“Today. In half an hour”
He was silent for several long moments. He seemed to be grappling with indecision. Finally, he seemed to make up his mind.
“What can I do to help?”
She smiled for once.
“We have work to do” She said.
“Got it”, He said. And started to turn.
“Wait, I never did get your name”
“It’s Loran”
“Well Loran. Let’s go”
Griff was escorted to his quarters by one of the bodyguards. While the other two were led by the second bodyguard. They stopped at his door. And the bodyguard looked both ways before handing Griff his blaster.
“Director Meer had a feeling that something would happen today. He has prepared” The bodyguard, Sirnge, said.
Griff just grinned.
“I must remember to thank Director Meer. What do you know?”
The guard said simply, “Everything. I am his messenger”
“We need to talk privately.”
“I cannot enter your room. My ‘boss’ gave me orders to stand outside your apartment.”
“Well what do we do”
“Director Meer has prepared. And when Black Hand prepares, there is nothing left out” At this Sirnge handed him a small earpiece.
“It is tuned to my frequency. I have one also. Just speak and I will hear. Hurry and get inside before someone sees you”
Griff asked no questions. He took the earpiece and hurried inside his apartment. Once he put it on he could speak to and hear Sirnge.
“Tell me what you know” Griff said.
Sirnge said nothing for a moment, which told Griff that someone was passing by the door to the apartment. Finally, he answered.
“As you have already guessed, I work for Black Hand. I have been undercover as Grissm’s bodyguard for two years as a sleeper unit. I was recently reactivated two weeks ago. Black Hand has been closely monitoring Grissm and his followers. He has been planning this for years. He has slowly bribed or blackmailed the other Council members to his side. We knew he was going to do something. So we have—“
“Yes, prepared” Griff interrupted.
“—Correct. We have set the Government Building’s guards to rotate in precisely nineteen minutes. We will have a five minute window. Also, all the surveillance camera’s will also cycle through their regular power shutdown, and will run a self-diagnostic— all routine. They will shut down along our escape route for, again, five minutes”
“I will not leave without my men. The ones in the brig. I have many men in the Federation who are loyal to me”
“My comrade, Grethal will see to it. And I must remind you, Black Hand cannot evacuate all loyalist personnel. But arrangements have been made to evacuate hundreds of thousands.
Griff was amazed. “And how will you do that?”
He could hear the proud smile in Sirnge’s voice.
“The Outer-Rim Federation Navy of course”
“What?”
“Yes. Black Hand has stationed thousands of men in the Navy. And they are right this minute, starting a revolution on the vessels. Black Hand, of course, holorecorded the entire Council meeting. The tape is now being played on all of our ships. And I must say, your performance could not have been more perfect”
Griff was utterly shocked. But in a way, he felt proud. Marth Meer was saving the Federation—The true loyal Federation—from annihilation.
“I am very pleased. But I have one question”
Sirnge paused for a moment and did not say anything. From the level of noise he could her through the earpiece, two or more people were passing by, talking exitedly. After it faded in the distance, Sirnge spoke.
“Go ahead, Admiral”
“After you liberate all of our ships, where will we go?”
“Our most secret base, a planetoid in a cluster of black holes, in Wild Space. Designated CN-1344”
“I have not heard of it” Griff said.
“Neither have I up till a few weeks ago. But it is rumored Project Scorpion is based there”
Now Griff had heard of Project Scorpion. It was a shadowy organization, utterly and totally loyal to the Federation. It was dedicated to protecting it. But now the Federation was crumbling into two factions. The ‘Allies’—people who were loyal to Griff and the military. And the ‘Peacekeepers’—loyal to Grissm and the Council.
Before Griff could ask about Project Scorpion, Sirnge suddenly broke in.
“Come, our window is opening. I have unlocked your door. You have four and a half minutes to gather what you can. You will not be coming back to Bakura for some time”
Griff grabbed his blaster, vibroblade and a satchel that he had been packing during his conversation with Sirnge. He hurried through the door and Sirnge motioned for him to follow.
The corridor was calm as they ran through it. Sirnge looked like he was in his mid-twenties. Griff was ten years older. But he kept up nevertheless. He was running alongside Singe and was about to ask him where their escape vessel was when they rounded a corner sharply and came face to face with half a dozen armed Peacekeepers.
Sirnge didn’t slow. He jumped and hit the foremost guards with both feet to the chest. All seven men fell in a large heap. He heard Sirnge’s voice yell loudly.
“Go! I will hold them. Te hangar is just ahead!”
With that he began trading blows with all six of the Peacekeepers. Griff looked behind and saw the doors to the hangar. He could just make out the shapes of the other Black Hand Agent, Grethal, and the two guards that were thrown in the brig. They were firing their blasters at a horde of Peacekeeper soldiers.
“Go!” Sirnge yelled again.
He turned and ran to the hangar. He paused by the doors and made sure his blaster was ready. Then he rushed out and sprinted to the escape shuttle, firing at the Peacekeepers as he did so. The three Allied men saw him and stepped up their fire at the Peacekeepers.
He made it to the shuttle and told Grethal to take off. The man disappeared up the ramp while Griff and his two men continued their fire.
But then he saw Sirnge run out of the corridor and to the shuttle. He had at least one vibroblade wound that Griff could see and was stumbling heavily. Griff jumped off the ramp and rushed to him. Throwing his arm under Sirnge’s back, he helped him to the shuttle. By the time they got up the ramp, they were already airborne. They flew out of the hangar and into the atmosphere of Bakura.
Corellia…
“What happened? Loran asked.
“I do not know” Hacker said. She had waited for her contact at the location she had discussed with her employers. The contact had never shown his face.
“What will you do with the information?” Loran asked.
“Keep it for now. It is my insurance. The Agents cannot hurt me if they know I have it and I am threatening to sell it to the highest bidder”
Loran said nothing.
“Well, you are welcome to come with me. I am leaving Corellia. I have a few more run’s I have to do.”
She nodded to him.
“I think I’ll take you up on that”
“Report”
“I have searched everywhere on Corellia. She is not here”
“I want that disc, Jones. You said there would be no mistakes”
There was no reply for a long time.
“And there will be none. What is the situation over there?”
“In uproar. The Federation is destroying itself. I have reports from our Agents, Griff is on his way here. He will undoubtedly hide here with the remnants of the Federation Fleet”
“What role will you take?”
“Our job is to protect the Federation. And protect it we will”
“There is two Federations now. Which one will you protect?”
There was no answer.