Chapter 3: Archaic

[Drake 53]

Takeshi stepped into the passenger area where Arlan and Aston were waiting. "It's going to be about twenty minutes until the end of this jump. You gentlemen up for some cards?"

[Ayingel 24]

Szen made a lunge at the Twi'lek. Nima seemed to be expecting her move, and dodged Szen by inches. Again, Szen moved her arm towards her opponent and this time, when Nima moved from her swing, Szen immediately countered with her new arm.

[Princess 35]

Nima blocked with her forearm, but the new arm hurt as she blocked it. Nima took a step back to balance and launched a roundhouse kick at Szen's head, on the side of her new eye.

[Ayingel 24]

Szen ducked, but not quite enough to miss the full blow of Nima's foot. It struck the top of her head and it took Szen a second to shake it off. She kept moving and threw a couple more punches.

[Princess 35]

One of Szen's punches got through. Luckily, Nima took it off the shoulder, instead of getting a good punch to the cheek. She grunted. "You're good Szen. Almost got me there." Nima launched a combination of punches making Szen retreat a few steps.

[Chickenman 9]

"Layla, you're my wing."

"Roger," Layla answered, her X-Wing sliding up behind him.

Aeric's HUD filled with the fearsome shape of the Star Destroyer. He bit his tongue. This is suicide...

They began their run. The Star Destroyer responded by raining laserfire on them.

"Arm your torpedoes."

"Roger." Layla acknowledged.

They were her last words, as her fighter was torn apart...

***

Aeric woke with a start.

These damned nightmares have got to stop.

He stumbled out of the room, looking for the refresher.

[Ayingel 24]

Nima's attacks were coming much faster now. Szen wasn't having a hard time keeping up, but she was losing ground. Her back was almost to the wall when she crouched and swung her leg to knock Nima's legs out from under her.

[Ender 8]

Jaim finally completed all of his checks, making sure all of the Riot's hidden tricks were in working order.

"This is Rhyshcate Warrior, lit up and ready."

Once takeoff clearance was given, Jaim brought his ship out of the hangar. Several minutes later, he and Jya had broken atmosphere and launched into hyperspace.

Edited July 8, 2008 by Drake

[Princess 35]

Nima fell to the ground with a grunt. "Okay. I think you're good for out of a starfighter too." She paused to catch her breath. "Remind me never to piss you off in real life. Just blocking that cybernetic arm hurts." She looked at her chrono. "Well, that killed that flight, we should be coming out of hyperspace fairly soon. Maybe we should go take our seats." Nima stood and offered a hand to Szen to shake after the fight.

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric found Nima and approached her. The water he'd splashed on his face still hadn't dried off.

"Nima, I was wondering if you could help me with something."

[Princess 35]

Nima noticed Captain Tunon's haggard looking appearance. "Sure thing Captain, do we need to go someplace private?"

[Chickenman 9]

"Sure." He followed Nima into another room. He glanced over his shoulder, searching outside for onlookers. Satisfied, he turned back to Nima.

"I was wondering if you had anything for nightmares."

[Mara 29]

Kaden sighed and shut off his datapad, shoving it into the bag at his feet before picking it up to sling over his shoulder. He stood up and made his way to an empty cabin.

[Pandora 77]

Archaic Base, Tyrena Corellia

Deign stormed back into his office. If his door hadn't been automatic, he would have slammed it shut behind him. As it were, he picked up the first object to his right--a table lamp--ripped it from the wall, and hurled it across the room. The lamp hit the opposite wall, scratching the paint and breaking the lamp in a storm of shattered glass and broken metal. Didn't that damn woman understand urgency?

He kicked away the wreckage of the lamp as he went around to his desk, switched on his datapad and popped in the chip containing the report from Cale. He scrolled through it quickly, skimming the more-than-thorough pages of data for useful information.

Deign muttered to himself as he scanned the document. "Strike logistics, number of Archaic operatives versus hired operatives... Archaic crew rosters... WORTHLESS!" The Diktat didn't need to know who Deign had working for him. In fact, he'd prefer that he didn't. He copied the file to a new location and deleted the entire first third of the report.

He continued searching with a sigh, pausing to read carefully when something caught his attention. "Aha! I knew I could count on you, Cale." He saved the section of the report containing hyperspace routes--omitting Sano's theories on outside activity along the routes--and highlighted the coordinates of the New Republic base where his men found Layla. "Perfect, the Diktat will love that. He'll probably make it look like his own recon mission. I don't care, it keeps me alive."

He continued to scroll quickly through Cale's way-too-detailed account of the snatch and grab. He paused again. "Uh-oh. This part could get me killed... if the Diktat finds out."

Deign deleted the rest of the report, including Cale's account of personnel evacuation cruisers leaving the base.

"But it will buy me some time." Deign sat back in his chair, drumming his fingers on the desk as he copied the revised information onto a fresh datachip. He still needed to get information from Layla. The situation with Sena was more personal than professional. He really didn't want to hurt her; he knew that as soon as his sister saw their father in his full drunken glory she'd be emotionally done-for.

But Layla knew where those evac ships would have gone, she knew the names and locations of key New Republic officials. That intel would appease the Diktat for a while.

At last Deign stood, poured himself another cup of caf and downed it, muttering to himself again as he set the empty mug back down. "That Zeltron is going to have me adding whiskey to my caf before the day's out."

Deign pocketed the new datachip and headed in the direction of Layla's cell. All he could think about along the way was what the Diktat would do when he found out Deign was giving him the coordinates of an abandoned base. He'll probably have me jettisoned into space and use my frozen corpse for target practice with his Star Destroyer.

He wiped all worry from his face as he finally arrived back at Layla's cell and cleared his throat, alerting her to his presence. "Are we nice and hungry and ready to cooperate now?"

[Drake 53]

Close to twenty minutes later, Takeshi threw down his winning hand and pulled the pile of chips, from that round, to join the already generous pile in front of him. He grinned at his two companions, whose chip piles were looking a little more scarce.

"Sorry, boys," he said, "but you just lost The Game. Oh, you might want to clean this up and then buckle up. We'll be making a jump changeover in a minute or two."

He chuckled and got up, then went back to the cockpit. A minute later, the Loose Cannon reverted to realspace. Already having the next set of coordinates loaded, Tak changed their trajectory and sent the ship into its second jump.

"Another ten minutes," he said, upon returning to the passenger hold. "Time to get ready." He went to his cabin and began removing his armour and stowing the pieces in a secret shielded compartment. Wearing his Mandalorian armour on this op would spell certain disaster for the squad if he were spotted. Tak would have been more comfortable with his armour on, for this mission, but that wasn't an option. He knew of Mandos who would only take off their armour to clean it, chosing to wear it even to sleep. He felt that those people became too reliant on their armour and forgot how to fight with flesh and bone. Tak was good at that.

Once all of his armour was removed, he stripped out of the various layers of protective undersuit and packed them with the armour. Next he removed anything of his that was distinctly Mandalorian, anything that could possibly give him away in case of capture, and threw them in with his armour. He was sad to have to give up his Ripper pistol but it was nessecary. After closing and locking up the secret compartment, Tak changed into his Corellian garb. He strapped on his utility belt and slung a pair of blasters into the holsters at either hip.

Tak looked in a full length mirror. Something wasn't quite right with the look. After a few seconds of contemplation, he loosened off the belt so that it hung off his waist at an angle. Much more Corellian, he thought, before rejoining his companions.

[Vergere 1]

Some time later, Brier's voice came over the comm system. "Alright kiddos. Buckle down, we're about to land." She turned off the comm as she concentrated on making the ship's landing as smooth as possible for her guests, knowing if she didn't they probably wouldn't let her fly them anywhere again.

She landed the Swiftfire flawlessly in her hangar, and locked it all down, opening the hatch from the cockpit before exiting. "Alright, we're home." And once again she knew she was home, walking out into their hangar with all of their vessels stored underground. Zak walked on out of the ship to lead people above ground when they got off, so that they could head on to their individual destinations.

[Mara 29]

Upon reaching the cabin, Kaden closed the door behind him and reached into his bag to dig out his change of clothes. He would always feel more comfortable in a coverall or flightsuit, but for this mission, they needed to blend in. Laying his new clothes out before him, Kaden grimaced but was glad some of Brier's family had taken him into Tyrena to buy something less... sparse military.

He peeled off his gray flightsuit and put on the new trousers and tunic with the jacket he had gotten months earlier with Szen. Everything but his boots were different. Those he couldn't part with. Plus, they were generic enough to avoid detection. Kaden shoved a couple of his old I.D.s in his jacket pocket before packing everything back up in his shoulder bag.

Kaden was just making his way back into the lounge when he had to quick strap in for the landing. Moments later, he was off the ship and breathing in the fresh air.

Back to Corellia.... again....

[Ender 8]

Jaim looked at Jya. "Hey, we're about to land. Want to torture your boyfriend a bit?"

[Drake 53]

The Loose Cannon dropped out of hyperspace several minutes after the Swiftfire. The Ryschate Warrior was set to arrive and make its approach, from the other side of Corellia, in another couple minutes.

Back at the helm, Tak flawlessly worked his way through the Public Safety Service's ID checks. Earlier that year, Diktat Daclif Gallamby had dissolved the Corellian Security Force and replaced it with the PSS. Both a curse and a blessing, the PSS was more concerned with appearances and snooping in small, trivial matters instead of real policing. This made for a rampant criminal underground; something that would make the Revenant's job that much easier.

Takeshi brought his ship through the atmosphere and eventually into a traffic lane leading into Tyrena. Once within the city limits, he split off at an interchange and travelled West to the spaceport on that side of the city.

A few minutes later, the disguised transport set down in its assigned berth. Tak shut down the ship's systems, save the security system, then went back to join his companions as they offloaded their equipment.

[Vergere 1]

Once everyone had exited the ship, Brier locked her up and followed them above ground to the estate grounds that covered the hangar entrance. There were many people milling around the estate, and droids going about their business. However, unlike when only Brier and Kaden had landed on Corellia, the family stayed more reserved around each other. Only Zak and Brier's children attacked and hugged their parents, instead of the rest of the crowd as well. Brier smiled and picked up the youngest one, holding her on her hip as she continued to walk. She pointed out only a few things to her passengers, and motioned which way to leave to head into Tyrena, cautioning that only a few should leave at a time to avoid more suspicion than necessary.

[Rogue 4]

"Are we calmed down and done acting like a teenager now? Oh, scratch that, I liked you better back then." Were the words she wanted so badly to say, but instead Layla continued to lay on her cot, staring up at the ceiling and avoiding his gaze. Since his earlier visit most of the pheromones in the hall had dispersed a bit, but Layla couldn't help the fact that her body still produced them. If she got herself excited she could produce more, but she still had a steady amount always at work.

"That depends, Deign." She said casually instead. Her stomach was growling for food, and she tried to calm it enough that she could ignore it. "Are you ready to be nice now? You know you trained me not to give information when captured, right? Maybe if you loosen up and try treating me like a guest--like someone you used to love, then I'll start loosening up too."

Edited July 10, 2008 by Rogue

[Pandora 77]

"I fail to see the difference." Would she never back down? "One way or another, Layla, I'm getting something out of you today. Remember that report I told you about? The one that will tell the Diktat exactly where you were captured? It will be on its way in precisely three hours unless you give me some little morsel of information. The name of the guy that makes the caf at some minor, barely-useful New Republic base, anything. I don't care, really." He opened a drawer near the door, and removed a black plasteel case. He unlocked the cell door and stepped through it when it slid open.

Deign popped open the case and displayed a syringe of a vaguely blue substance. "Just give me a reason not to use this."

[Rogue 4]

Layla sat up suddenly looking to the needle with wide gray eyes. She hated needles, and he knew that. "Hold on a second!" She said, holding her hands placatingly out in front of her. She kept her eyes on the needle. "You asked me to cut it out with the pheromones, and I stopped. Sorry I don't have a window to pop open and a way to fully stop my body's natural processes, but I did stop the accelerated process. I'm being considerate, Deign... against my better judgement, but I am. So why don't you calm down a bit babe?"

[Pandora 77]

Her blatant fear gave Deign pause. He took a moment to consider the situation, focusing mainly on his physiological activity. It was true, there were far less pheremones in the air and what was there he could deal with now that he was aware of it. A lot of things he was--desperate, angry--but a cruel man, at least to Layla, he was not. After another heartbeat's hesitation Deign replaced the syringe in the box, snapped it shut, and placed it in his pocket.

"Alright." He paced the length of the room and back once. His voice was low and even now, not nearly as malicious as it had been all day. "Thank you. Now please. Throw me a bone here, Layla. Just a teensy little scrap."

[Rogue 4]

Layla watched him pace, thinking to herself. Finally she sighed. "I'm not that far up the chain of command, Deign. I'm just a Flight Officer. I honestly don't know what kind of information you expect to get from me."