Alexander leaned back in his “chair”, actually a crate pushed up against a stone wall, idly typing into his datapad. Yavin IV had been a nice vacation away from the frontlines of Thyferran resistance; itself mostly dormant aside from some intelligence gathering operations. Finally, a group of people, probably the other operatives, filtered into the briefing room. He only recognized one of the people, Commander Nix, the commander of the Yavin base while Faulkner was away. The others he had never seen before, nor would he ever probably know their true names. Nix pointed out the former law enforcement agent.

“Ariston group members, this is a guy you will only know as Stormy. He’ll be tagging along on your mission to refresh himself in some covert operations. But I’ll save the rest of the introductions until you’re away. Anyways, to the briefing.”

Nix tapped a button on his comlink, activating the room’s holo-projector. A holo of a surprisingly non-descript man arose from the projector, followed by the floating words of “DECEASED” orbiting the holo.

“This man was once known as Aristocrat, but his real name was Robert Leaskey. Aristocrat was killed three weeks ago in a traffic accident on Foerost. At the time we chalked it up to bad luck.”

He tapped the button on the comlink again; Aristocrat’s holo faded to be replaced by an unusually hairly Sullustan. Her holo is also orbited by the word “DECEASED”.

“This was Kartan, real name Aril Dhur. She was killed two weeks ago on Foerost by Foerost Civil Security Service while resisting arrest. Kartan and Aristocrat were both working an operation on Foerost. When the second death happened, we pulled out the team and recalled it to a safeworld of ours. Alliance Internal Security has gone over their mission files with a fine-toothed comb; they’ve determined that the team didn’t make any mistakes. Their cover should have been air-tight. AIS has concluded that there must be a leak somewhere in Alliance Intelligence Services.”

He tapped the comlink again, replacing the deceased Sullustan with a female Bothan.

“This is Oracle, real name Kol’kai A’tey. Alliance Intelligence recruited her six months ago, and she works in our Core Worlds analytical office. She is an extremely adept hacker; very talented with high mathematics and coding, but not really a people person. She was providing support for Aristocrat’s team. Now, AIS has scrambled a team to check out Aristocrat’s other support crew, but this team is going to discover if Oracle is responsible for the leak, and if she is, bring her back here for interrogation. Now, it’s extremely important that none of you give her the hint that she is being investigated. If she’s guilty, it’s important that she doesn’t get a chance to alert anyone about her capture so that we can feed counterintelligence to whoever she is really working for. If she’s innocent, then realizing that the Alliance doesn’t trust her is probably going to turn her against us, and she’ll vanish with a lot of information and some of our nicer computer equipment as well.”

Nix cleared his throat.

“This is not going to be an easy mission. Oracle can probably spot any mistakes on your part easily, or if she has employers, them or their own agents. Complicating this is that she isn’t based on an Alliance-aligned planet, so you can’t alert or depend on the local authorities to help you out. Yes Stormy?”

“Where is Oracle based?”

“Chardaan, about seven light years away from Foerost. Basic information about her location and what we know of her habits will be provided to you in your missions packet which you will receive once you board your ship out of here. Any other questions?”

Ryan was fiddling with a blaster as he heard the mission briefing. A man next to him, probably a hand picked mercenary spoke up. " This is undercover? What weapons are we allowed to bring?"

Korr gave a snort of annoyance. The only weapon he would be needing was a common blaster pistol. Although if it came to it, his armament consisted of many different weapons. Among them a Beskad, Shattergun, SFOR, and some other pistols. Another question was asked after the answer to the first one had been given.

" Who controls Chardaan? And how do we get there? By our own ship?" The man was a scruffy looking, hawkish faced man. ' probably a bounty hunter or smuggler.' Thought Ryan as a response to this question was given. Again, yet another question was asked.

" Are we going to be working separate, or in groups?" This from a young man, who looked like he was just out of the academy. Ryan suddenly had a thought. He waited until the answer had been given then he spoke up.

" What are our orders if she did leak? Or if we are discovered?" Once Ryan had recieved the answer to his question, no more came. ' Well, I guess its time to board the ship. '

Ryan went to grab his luggage full of supplies, he wasn't going to come empty handed. Of course, living among the Mandalorians had given him something of a Mando habit. He only packed the bare necessities. Anything else would just slow him down. Being a bounty hunter had taught him a couple things. One, always prepare for the unexpected. Two, if you don't fight dirty you will end up an honorable dead man.

He could smell the engines as they heated up. The noise swamped his ears. Assassination missions where much easier than gathering information on someone. And Ryan preferred assassinations anyway, much more efficient and to the point. But of course you would need to be sure that the person in question was guilty before you blew their skull to pieces.

The ship lifted off. Ryan got that familiar flip in his stomach as it raced out of the atmosphere and into space. Then, to lightspeed.

Sturm glanced nearly imperceptibly at the others as they spoke up for questions. Most of them could probably be freelancers of some sort; or so they appeared. Nix never was too open with any of them about who their teammates were. Intelligence operations forced mission personnel to compartmentalize information about themselves; more strict than even the mainstream Alliance's. Even "Nix" certainly wasn't likely the commander's real name.

"Who controls Chardaan? And how do we get there? By our own ship?"

Nix let a smile curl across his face, "Chardaan controls Chardaan. It's a neutral government, not someone's pawn if that's what you're wondering. As for transportation, Alliance Support Services will transporting the group in one of its freighters."

" Are we going to be working separate, or in groups?"

Nix snorted in derision, "That's for you guys to figure out. You will certainly work and coordinate yourself in a group of some sort, but the specifics of the operation will be up to you all to decide in a democratic fashion."

" What are our orders if she did leak? Or if we are discovered?"

Nix pasted an obviously false smile across his face; clearly he wasn't typically an Intelligence officer or operative of any sort, normally.

"I want her to disappear into the hold of your freighter without a trace. Then I want that freighter with her in it parked in the hangar just outside of the doors. If you're discovered, do what you think is best. If you can salvage the mission, great. If not, get the hell out of there. The Alliance doesn't need any needless deaths. Any more questions? No? Good. I believe your ride is waiting. May the Force be with you."

The entire group rose sporadically and the left the room in the same manner. Slipping his datapad back into a pocket, Sturm briefly rechecked his gear. Combat Suit, check. SMG, check. Vibroblade, check. Medpac, check...Alexander continued to mentally check up his equipment even as he idly paced up the ramp of the YT-2400. As he neared the top of the ramp, the ship's captain handed him a non-descript bag. Sitting down, he opened it up.

Ah another datapad to add to my collection...nice. He turned it on.

Primary Objectives:

1. Determine if Oracle is working for another
organization.
2. Determine if Oracle was the source of the
Intelligence leak which lead to the two deaths on Foerost.
3. Keep the investigation secret from Oracle.

Secondary Objectives:
1. Keep the investigation secret from outside observers
2. If Oracle is working for another source, identify that source

He flipped the electronic page. More data on Foerost and her known behavior...I'm sure that'll be interesting....

Sturm glanced up to see most of the other mission personnel staring at their own datapads. He glanced at his own again; beginning the arduous task of reading through the crappy reports that AIS had hastly thrown together for the mission. They were surprisingly detailed if not terribly formatted and bland. Minutes passed before he realized that the ship had passed into hyperspace, and that most people were done reading their datapads for at least the first time over. He sighed.

"All right, as that Nix guy said, my name is Stormy. I do contract mercenary work for the Alliance from time to time..."

A lie. Sturm was a not mercenary, but rather a SpecOps officer typically in charge of Thyferran operations. But he was first a law enforcement officer and mercenary before the Alliance managed to enroll him full-time.

"... now who the hell are you guys?"

The hawkish man coughed. "You guys can call me Hawk, and some would call me a traceskipper."

Sturm frowned. "But others would call you a bounty hunter?"

The man nodded. "Correct."

"Um...I'm Crafty, I mean, you can call me Crafty," said a younger guy, "I'm a tech specialist with AIS. Computers, hacking, you say it, um...I might be able to do it."

Fresh out of the Academy.

"I'm Dolash."

Sturm frowned. "The hell you are."

The alien winced. "Not a convincing code name? How about Regrad? Or maybe Kaine?"

Sturm snorted, "Whatever Dolash. What's your trade?"

"I'm an educator. I used to be a professor in Pharmacology before the Alliance called me."

"Sure you did," said Sturm, turning to Ryan, "and who are you? What's your trade?"

(OOC: lol, srry. Its Ryan not Tycho. Tycho is the bad guy :P)

Verpine shatterguns are, somewhat ironically, just like they sound. They can shatter armor with ease. They can also shatter to pieces if you drop them. So it is important to be very careful around the fragile guns. Ryan's personal shattergun was heavily modified as a collapsible sniper rifle. It was stored in separate pieces in a metal case that Korr had brought.

Along with the shattergun, Ryan had two vibro knives concealed in black sheaths on his black pants. His standard L-23 blaster pistol was strapped to his hip. And he had a holdout blaster in his boot leg. He had an SFOR carbine slung around his shoulder. Completing his arsenal was a concealed rocket dart launcher hidden on his knee.

He listened with an unexpressive face as the other operatives revealed their 'names' and 'jobs'. When the man who called himself Stormy asked who he was, Ryan thought for a second, then he replied with a shrug. " Hunter...Captain....Soldier, Spy." he winked at the group. " You folks can call me Mando. "

Korr leaned back. It was going to be a long ride. His 'abilities' allowed him to do things others couldn't. He was faster and stronger than his compatriots, even if some of them had bigger muscles. Time seemed to slow down for him when he was in a fight. And he could sense danger coming at him. All in all, a great benefit for a man of his....trades.

Ryan turned to the man who called himself 'Crafty'.
" So, Crafty. A computer specialist eh? We will need you on this one I am sure."

" Y..Yeah. I hope I can be of some use." Replied the fidgeting young man. Even though he was barely younger than Korr there was an enormous difference in bearing between the two. Ryan had been through a lot. And it showed. Although he was just twenty one he carred himself as if he was thirty, but with some Corellian swagger thrown in.

" Any one here have a dart weapon?" Korr asked.

" I do, Rilctur carbine. Darts." Said a shady looking dark man. " Name is Ibby, Ibrahim. "

" Excellent, you will probably need that for...'securing' the Oracle." Ryan replied. Then he turned to Stormy. " So, Stormy. A mercenary eh? Who'd you work for before the Alliance?" Of course Ryan didn't believe that the man was a mercenary for a second. Too orderly and military. You only got that type in older mercs. And this guy wasn't an older merc. Few guessed that Ryan was a bounty hunter because of his age. But they were soon put in the right mind when they had one of his darts in them.

After a while Ryan felt the ship come out of hyperspace. Ryan put on a dark cloak over his black clad clothes. Then he picked up his two cases of luggage. ' Time to go to work.'

Paine. Michael Azareal Paine. He was a legend when it came to the Special Ops Community.

Why was he a legend? Because in the 37 missions that he'd run over the last 5 years, every target had been completed, either killed or taken prisoner, without a single trace of his existance. Simply put, the man was a legend, a story told to drunk booties at the beginning of their boot camps, in an effort to both scare the crap out of them with the talent they could possess, and awe them at the same time that such a man was someone that they could not only work with but strive to be like.

He was codenamed "The Ghost" by the 5 people in the alliance who had seen his file. Handpicked, by the higherups in the organization, it was his job, to succeed where no others could, and he made his living out of making politicians look good and keeping planets safe. Its why no one ever knew his real name.


He stood up from the hold, and lit his cigar, only a smoke ring visible as he he spoke in a gruff tone.

"You can call me Whisper. Because its the last thing thats heard before my mission is complete."

Ryan looked over at the man whose face was now clouded in smoke. He sounded like one of those guys whose spent too long in the spec ops. Another lesson in the life of a Bounty Hunter, always expect that you can or will mess up, that way you are prepared for it. Those who have survived long enough on the battlefield tended to think they were invincible. They usually ended up dead after they became set in that state of mind.

Korr replied to the man who called himself 'Whisper'. " Lets hope that whisper isn't rushing out from your punctured trachea." Ryan looked around. Finally the ship had landed, time to disembark. " Alright folks, lets spread out when we get to customs. I suggest meeting back up at the Vontaine bar."

Stepping lightly off the ramp of the ship and onto the surface of the planet, Ryan looked around. The city was just your average city, definitely not your star of the galaxy, but not exactly the slums either. Korr strode up to the customs security. Flashing his bounty license to them, he showed them his SFOR carbine slung onto his shoulder and his pistol. They apparently didn't want to waste time checking the rest of his arsenal of weapons, because they waved him on. ' I am in.'

The first objective in an undercover mission is to not make yourself well known. Find the worst slums in the city, rent a room, then you can relax. Which is exactly what Korr did. Once he rented a room at a dingy looking beat up, rusted hotel, he did a bug sweep. Finding that there were no bugs. He unpacked his weapons.

He made sure that everything was readily available for immediate use, whenever it was required. After making sure everything was in order, Ryan threw on his hooded cloak and proceeded down to the Vontaine Caf'e to see who had taken him up on his basic offer of working together. It was always best to use the most crowded places as meeting points. That way no one will notice you. And spies can't listen in easily.

Ryan entered the Vontaine and looked around. Not too shabby, but crowded. Perfect for his purposes. It said in his datapad that this was a place the Oracle went every day in usually in the afternoons. He sat at a table and waited for someone to show up.

Paine, like Korr, had a similar state of mind. He checked into a hotel, just down the block from where Korr did, in order to maintain an aura of less supisciousness. Of one of many of his cover identities, he had called ahead and reserved one of the more nice suites, under cover of a dummy corporation which was said to be a foremost seller of Tibanna gas.

He was waved in, having been to the planet before, they knew how paranoid he was for his own protection, after a quick check of his concealed carry liscense, they allowed him to step through and into his room.

A short time later, at the Fontain, after he had changed clothes, opting for a simple button down shirt with a pair of slacks, and a sportjacked with which to conceal his holster and blaster, he arrived in the same location where Korr had said he would be. Spotting him, he decided to maintain a cover ID, and simply, send the man a small datapad along with a drink of his choice. It was encrypted, so the waitress couldn't snoop, but that wasn't uncommon among business associates.

He waited for Korr to look up after receiving it, and he simply nodded.

It was time to go to work.

Stormy watched as most of the mission team exited the freighter. He eyed Korr as the man passed through customs. Lone wolfs, most of them. They may or may not get the job done, but it doesn't seem quite like team action yet. But there's one who won't. Stormy grabbed Crafty as the hacker began to slowly sneak towards the freight ramp.

"Come on kid, we're going to have some fun," said the cell leader.

"What...what makes you think that?"

"Because I'm the brawn of the operation, and you're the brains."

"Oh sure. That makes sense," half-heartedly agreed Crafty.

"Seriously," said Sturm, "what are you going to do if we end up in a fire fight."

"Well, assuming taht I'm forced into a firefight, which is not my preference...I run."

Alexander let a grin flit across his face, "I'm sure that works 100% of the time."

Crafty's face grew red, "And shooting does? I'm sure you have 100% accuracy all the time."

"You know what," sighed Sturm, "you're right, maybe even 100% right on that part. I really need to relax a bit."

Crafty nodded. "I do too. I'm not tested under the trial of fire, unlike you I think."

"I've been through some stuff," admitted Sturm, "but it only makes you realize how easy it is to simply fall off the face of the galaxy and into some hole somewhere, never to be seen again. I think we need each other, complimentary skills and all that."

"You have a point," said Crafty, "and I'll do it under two conditions."

Alexander raised an eyebrow, "What are they?"

"Don't touch my computer."

"And?"

The cell leader crossed his arms.

"Umm....that's it, I guess. I thought I had a 2nd one in there somewhere."

"Well," said Sturm, "just let me know when you think of it. Watch, it'll end up being don't drive and talk on the comlink at the same time."

Crafty frowned. "Isn't that a given?"

Alexander merely shook his head and walked out of the freighter, with Crafty tagging along behind him. Taking a deep breath in of fresh, city air, and promptly coughed. What the hell people? Tatooine has better air quality than you guys. Decreipt skyscrapers and gray urban sprawl surrounded the duo. Grimacing, the former security guard headed down the ramp and presented him with his skiptracer and weapons permits. The official frowned.

"What are you guys bringing here? A small army?"

Sturm shook his head. "We are here to investigate a lead about an escaped criminal. The weapons are purely precautionary."

"Sure they are," said the customs agent, "we'll be watching you. And what does the next guy have, a rocket launcher?"

Crafty handed him his computer case.

"Any weapons on you?" questioned the customs officer.

"No sir."

"He's our monitoring and legal specialist," said Sturm, "makes sure that we don't break any laws."

The agent snorted. "I bet he is. Listen, just don't get into any trouble, got it? We see any of those guns or what not hurting people, and you're out of here, or worse. Got it?"

"Yes sir," answered Sturm.

Crafty mumbled some acknowledgement.


"Hey, I see Whisper and that Mando guy in there," said Crafty, gazing through a pair of macro-binoculars.

"Wonderful," replied Sturm, cleaning out the barrel of his SMG, "and how is the lovely Oracle doing?"

"Uh...it looks like she's just eating dinner…wait, she’s beckoning some sort of droid…um…giving it a credit chip…looks like she’s leaving…yep, she’s leaving…”

“Well, that was eventful,” sighed Sturm.



“Who the hell are these people?”

“I don’t know, but I haven’t seen them before.”

The being snarled. “There’s a lot of people here that we’ve never seen before. Vontaine’s is a bit popular for the tourists and natives alike.”

“What the hell are you trying to say?” said the being, handing over his macro-binoculars to the other being.

“I just have a feeling…today’s the day.”

“You always have that feeling.”

“Not like this, we’d better pay close attention to A’tey today. It’s our lucky day."



A’tey received the change from the droid and slipped the currency into a pouch of her nondescript jacket. Abruptly, she stood and blended into the mist of the busy clientele of the café. She had barely left the restaurant when she hailed a green and white checkered Robo-hack to take her back to her apartment.

shit. he cursed under his breath. The target was already moving and they'd only just gotten there. He sent another encrypted message to his partner, and this one read.

Target is on the move, going to try something, Keep the rest of the guys at a distance, but watch my back. Don't move in until you have to.

He slipped out the door, into the downpouring rain and screetching thunder and sighed. there were some days as a spy, you just hated....

He knew she would be along shortly and as soon as she did....
ahh, there we go. he thought to himself.

She stepped out, hailing down the equivalent of a cab, and he just kinda looked up.


He spoke in a shivering tone.

You know i've been trying to get one of those things for the last few minutes, I guess you have to have a pretty face to get that lucky. He tried to smile charmedly, in between his chattering teeth.

A'tey just stared at him. She obviously did not want to be talking to him right this moment.

He half smiled again, turning on the fake charm.

"My hotel isn't that far, but, i'd really rather not walk... and from what I can tell its almost impossible to catch one of these cabs unless you call ahead... I've got a meeting back there in alot less time than it would take for another cab to come.... any chance we could share this one? We don't even have to talk." He half smiled again.


She just stared at him, as she held open the door, as if not wanting to even take the time to agree to it, but, while being as private a person as she was, with an incredible disdain for other people.... even she had a sense of politeness on occasion.

He smiled again, and slipped into the cab and closed the door.

"Thank you." was all he said, before they dissapeared into the night.

Ryan looked up, casually. He smiled. ' Just a facade, appear casual. Nothing is happening over here.' Korr was still searching the bar for fellow Rebs, when he saw her.

A waiter droid came over to take his order. " What will you have today sir?"

" I will have a glass of jawa juice." Ryan handed the droid a cred chip.

" Anything else?"

" No, I think thats all I need."

" Your jawa juice will arrivie shortly."

" Thanks." Ryan turned back to survey the crowd. ' Let me see. Ah there is Ibrahim. Standing at that corner. And anyone else? Apparently not.'

" Here is your jawa juice." A droid came up bearing a glass full of the cold juice. Ryan took a sip of it. ' not bad, not bad.' Then he saw the Oracle. She was paying a nearby droid. Ryan knew he had to move first. If anyone saw him move after she had left they would know. Nonchalantly, Korr stood up and began to walk towards the door. Leaving his half drunken juice behind and slipping Whisper's datapad in his pocket he left. Suddenly it buzzed. Ryan checked it. " Target is on the move, going to try something, Keep the rest of the guys at a distance, but watch my back. Don't move in until you have to."

' Stay at a distance? Going to try and do something?!..KRIFF HIM! Great, Always work with the plan. You got up and started walking AFTER she left.' He put the hood of his cloak on and began to walk around the corner. Where he stopped and sank back into the shadows.

The Oracle walked down the street and hailed a Robo-hack. Korr saw that Whisper was getting into the hack too. ' What the STANG?! Now his cover is blown. I hope he has a good reason for this.'

Korr grabbed a nearby speeder and hacked into its control panel. A couple sparks and Bang he was in. He sped after the hack, racing through trafffic. He already knew where they were headed. To the Oracle's hotel. He sped off on short cuts, letting his senses guide him. Finally he arrived at the Hotel. He leapt off the speeder and into the shadows.

The Oracle opened the door of the hack and lightly put her foot onto the pavement. She began to walk towards the hotel entrance. Ryan strode out of the shadows and put a Coruscanti hat on. Then he casually walked past the Oracle. Suddenly, he grabbed her purse and raced down an alleyway. She screamed and ran after him, pulling out a small holdout pistol. Korr continued to run, unheeding of the blaster shot that whizzed by him. As he ran he checked her purse. He grabbed all the cred chips he could find and also a small datapad. Then he tossed the purse aside.

Looking back he saw that the woman had picked up her purse and was looking through it. He jumped into a nearby broken down house and knelt in the shadows, taking out his binocs. She seemed extremely frustrated and angry. But she turned back and continued to the hotel. Ryan couldn't tell what Whisper was doing, but he hoped the man had a plan.

No way to recognize him. A description would simply be. " A man in a black cloak, with a funny hat." There were hundreds of men in black cloaks, but only a few on this planet had the type of hat he was wearing. And it was precisely for that reason that he had worn it. Anyone who is asked to give a description of someone will remember the most unique features. The hat had distracted the lady from the rest of his face.

Now that its purpose was done, Ryan burned it in the fire back at his hotel. His purpose in stealing her purse had been accomplished. She thought it was just a petty robbery. When in fact he had stolen this encrypted datacard. But that also was not the reason for it. He had put a small bug into the purse. Now he would be able to hear whatever she said, whenever she took her purse with her. And he would also be able to track her.

Now to find Crafty. Ryan had made sure to put tracking bugs on all the members of the team. So he headed over to where the bugs said Crafty and Stormy were staying. Korr checked in at the front desk and asked if he could search one of the rooms for a possible criminal. He flipped open his Bounty License. The manager readily agreed. Korr told the man he might want to stay down here. And not to worry as he wouldn't cause much commotion.

He ran up to the room where they were located. Not going to check out the 'supposed' criminal. Suddenly Ryan heard footsteps rushing behind him. He had no time. It would have to wait. Ryan raced to the window of at the end of the hall and leapt out. He landed lightly in the open speeder that he had seen passing by. " Hello there." Ryan said to the distressed man in the pilot's seat. " Could you bring the ship down just a bit? I had a nasty fall from my window, but thankfully your speeder was there." The man complied in stunned and amazed silence. Ryan gave the man a ten cred chip as he leapt off the speeder and raced back to his hotel.