Chapter 3: Archaic

[Rogue 4]

Nat's lekku bristled a bit at that, but he forced his dislike for his current task down. "We have a job to do, and I'm here to assist in doing it any way possible. My only regret is that I first joined the Rebellion here. I know this territory better than most of the squadron does. Anyway, I may be your guest here but it is not my intention to step on the toes of you or your family."

[Vergere 1]

At this, Brier actually stopped and turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised both in suprise and amusement. She returned to walking before saying anything. "I think we would not know what to do with ourselves if that were to be the case. And sometimes, toes need stepping on." She shrugged. "As to the task..." Brier sighed softly and looked around, trying to find a way to make it sound more interesting than it really was. "Well, I'll just make sure to let you go do a lot of the pickups and such. And go visit places. Besides that... yeah. It's boring."

[Drake 53]

Takeshi paid the Nikto cabbie the fare then stepped away from the hovertaxi a second before it roared off down the street. The hotel loomed before him and his team.

"The Empyrean Arms," said Aston, reading off the sign. "Sounds...pleasant."

"Yeah, it's heaven," said Tak. He slipped on his sunglasses then picked up what luggage he could and started towards the door.

The hotel wasn't high-class nor was it a slum motel. Situated near the grav-train, the Empyrean was primarily used by tourists wishing to visit the Gold Beaches while avoiding the high costs of staying there.

Tak stepped up to the front counter, making a show of setting down the gear, as though he had been carrying it across the galaxy. "Hot damn," he said, now in a flawless Corellian accent. He pushed his sunglasses up above his hair line then gave a lopsided grin to the woman behind the counter. "It's good to finally be here!"

The woman smiled back. "I can imagine. Will you be looking for a room today, sir?"

"Well, yeah!" Tak said. "Me and the boys are gonna hit up the Beaches. Check out the party scene. Check out the ladies." He turned to his companions, gave a thumbs up and asked, "Am I right, boys?"

Caught off-guard, Aston merely grinned half-heartedly and gave a thumbs up. Arlan, however, pumped his fist and gave an excited-sounding, "Yeah!"

The receptionist's eyes went wide but she just smiled and nodded. No doubt having seen their 'type' before. "So...three bedrooms then?"

"Yeah! Hook us up!" said Tak. "Three rooms would be ideal but we'll crash wherever, ya know."

"No problem," said the woman. "We have a couple three bedroom suites available. How many nights will you be staying?"

"Put us down for five," said Tak, as he dug out one of his fake IDs and the credit card to go with it.

As if on queue, the woman asked, "Can I have your name and ID card, please?"

"Jacer Tann," he said, showing her the ID.

Once he paid, the receptionist handed Tak three keycards then had a four-armed busboybot come over to carry their luggage and bring the trio to their room. The lift brought them to the fourteenth floor then the droid led them down the hall and around a corner to their room. The room was a good size. It had the basics: a sitting area with a couch and holoprojector, a bathroom, kitchen, and, of course, the three bedrooms each with a double-size bed. The three men went around the suite, making excited sounds and saying things like, "Cool," and "Awesome."

Once the busboybot had dropped off their equipment and left, Tak switched back to his normal demeanor. "Alright, gentlemen. Let's get to work."

[Princess 35]

Nima screamed in frustration and threw a the nearest heavy book that she could find at the door after it closed behind Nat. He may have been handsome, but he was so kriffing frustrating. And here she was stuck with him for Force only knew how long. She took a deep breath and stared at the boxes before starting to sort through them so that she knew what was there.

[Ayingel 24]

Szen silently toted her bag along behind Captain Tunon. She was almost relieved now that she didn't have all of her usual gear. She pulled out her datapad and pulled up a map of Tyrena. "Which motel will it be, Captain?"

[Chickenman 9]

"Azure Heights Motel. It's not as glamorous as it sounds."

In a few minutes, these words are proven true as they approach the place. It's a dump in every sense of the word.

"Home sweet home."

[Ender 8]

Jaim set the Rhyshcate Warrior down at Corin's hangar, and immediately sent a signal to Jysella over his comlink. That would let her know they were in and, as far as he knew, undetected.

"Welcome to Tyrena, Jya," he said, grabbing his duffel and case. "Our flat's about a klick and a half away. Hopefully Corin's left us a speeder."

Edited July 14, 2008 by The Stig

[Bad furday 57]

Jya grabbed her bags and followed Jaim out into the hangar, looking around for a speeder.

[Chickenman 9]

They checked in at the motel and then headed over to the two connected rooms.

"Oh man, no pool!" he mock whined before turning the key.

Either the maid hadn't been through yet, or this place employed the worst maids in history.

"Wonderful."

He checked the next room, which was an iota or so cleaner, and gave that room to Atuarre and Szen. He pulled out a map and set it on the table while Szen began unloading the gear.

[Pandora 77]

The Zeltron's hand twitched, just slightly beneath his, as if it possessed an automatic need to get away. Then Layla breathed and she relaxed a little, running her other hand back through her red locks. She couldn't believe what she was about to say. "I can give you some information...about my squadron."

Deign slid his other hand under hers so it was sandwiched in his grasp. "What can you tell me?" His expression softened even more. There was no way he looked remotely threatening now... except for the surroundings, of course.

[Rogue 4]

"If I tell you anything Deign, I can't go back to the New Republic, and you know that. I'll be a traitor." Layla's hand shook as she said those words. "There's no way in hell I'm going to rot in my cell here. You and I both know I'm going to need more comfortable arrangements...I'm all about color, and fun, and this dank little cell here has none of that babe."

[Pandora 77]

A memory flashed into Deign's mind of the last time he'd held her trembling hand. Back then she'd been telling him that he was going to be a father, a revelation that had certainly not brought out the best Deign Argos the galaxy had ever seen. Now she was telling him that she would become a traitor for him in exchange for a comfortable room.

Wait a second.

Surely the New Republic had proticols for dealing with interrogated prisoners of war.

Deign nodded depsite that thought, keeping the mask of his reverie firmly fixed to his face. "We'll make a trade, but sweetheart I need you to make the first move. Give me something, and I'll reward it with better accomodations. And we'll keep going that way until I'm building a palace for you. Can you live with that?"

[Rogue 4]

Layla bit down on her pink lower lip, closing her eyes shut and nodded. "What I'm going to give you is highly classified information..." She took a breath of air. "I could be jailed indefinatly just for talking about it too loudly in public."

"I know that there's rumors flying around about the attack on Ithyari, and how it was a combined effort between Cracken's commandos and the New Republic Defense Force...."

[Pandora 77]

Deign nodded again. "I've seen full reports of the strike and caught wind of some of the rumors, which didn't really seem credible to me, just more conspiracy theories. But go on."

He couldn't help but let his attention be drawn to Layla's lips when she bit thoughtfully on the lower one. Had he ever seen a human woman made up in layers of rouge with such a perfect shade of pink? Never. He bit down as discreetly as possible on the inside of his cheek as a thousand more memories of varying degrees of passion paraded through his mind. She'd never needed pheremones to get his attention.

Deign shook the actualized fantasies from his conscience. Focus, Argos!

[Rogue 4]

"Partially intel covering things up, and partially a lack of intelligence on your side of the war." Layla informed him casually. "The truth is, thirteen people took down the facilities there, simultaneously. That would leave four people to take down each Imperial run-and-maintained facility, deep within imperial space, with one person shuffled around."

She looked up to him, and her eyes spoke the truth. "That wasn't Intel or the NRDF. That was my squadron. Revenant Squadron."

Edited July 14, 2008 by Rogue

[Pandora 77]

Deign's eyes widened in surprise. He made a strict mental note of Layla's exact words and searched his brain for any reconition of the name Revenant Squadron. There was none. "Revenant Squadron?" he repeated. "Never heard of it. Is this the New Republic's latest thing? Black Ops with wings or something?" Sure enough, she wasn't lying to him, but Deign had a hard time grasping the concept of thirteen people causing so much damage. "And Ithyari has been the squadron's only mission so far, I take it?"

[Rogue 4]

"The only official one." Layla responded, her hands tightening around his fingers. "But I'm not new to this Deign. That's enough information for now. I gave that to you on good faith...prove to me that what you said is true, and maybe if I'm feeling good you'll get some more later hun."

[Pandora 77]

Perfect! He could forget about buying time even with this small bit of info. The Diktat would pay well for the rest of the story. No more "failures" for Deign Argos!

He could have kissed Layla but settled for brining the back of her hand to his lips instead. He pulled her to her feet when he stood. "Come with me."

Deign took her hand and led her out of the cell and down the hallway. They weaved through a few corridors in silence until they reached a door at the end of another, wider hallway, well removed from the brig. Diegn unlocked the door to reveal a small guest quarters. It was far from lavish and still had no window, but was furnished as a proper bedroom with soft, crisp linen tucked neatly over the mattress. Deign motioned Layla inside but did not follow her.

"You'll understand if I lock you in. But if you sit tight for a minute I'll get you something clean to wear. Oh, there's a refresher for you too. It's tiny, but as I said, we'll keep going till I'm building you your own palace." Deign winked at her and closed the door, locked it from the outside, and forced himself to walk at a sensible pace back to his own quarters.

[Rogue 4]

Once Deign had gone, Layla walked around the small room, inspecting it. Much better than her cell, that was for sure. She took a seat on the soft bedlinens, reaching fingers out to smooth the wrinkles. Her hands were still shaking, and she brought them up, rubbing them together to try and coax them to be still.

Part of her couldn't believe that she had just done that. That she had just given out information on her squadron. Her family, and friends. She had betrayed their trust when she had given that information. She wondered what Captain Tunon and the Lieutenant would think. What would Nima, or Jya? Arlan or Aston or Jaim? That new girl Szen or Captain Fae? What would Takeshi think of her, if by some chance he was alive? She didn't want to think about it."

The scarier part was that Deign had bought it. Certainly she had given him real information, but she'd given him information that was pretty useless. Intelligence that wouldn't lead to a victory. Revenant Squadron was protected under strict levels of classification. Even if the Empire had someone infitrate and research it they would be hard pressed to discover any information that indicated that they were anything more than a squadron of pilots. And their identities would be protected.

On the flip side, when brought to the Empire's attention it could have a demoralizing effect on their war effort. A small team that could strike at the heart of the Empire? The words Aeric Tunon spoke their first day at Altagak Base came to mind. Our enemy is going to fear us every waking moment, and then we'll be in his nightmares every moment he's asleep.

She'd keep acting. Keep playing seemingly nice. She would earn the trust of Deign Argos again, and his lust if she had to. She would get out of here. She would go home, and she would see her daughter safely through her life. And if she happened to in some small way stick it to the Empire that had caused all of these problems, she would feel even better for it.

[Drake 53]

Takeshi popped open one of the equipment cases and took out a small, handheld scanner. He ran the device over the walls, floor and ceiling, paying close attention to light fixtures and appliances. After a couple minutes, he had found two listening devices and a micro-camera, all of which had been disabled.

"Probably old bugs from previous occupants," Tak said, dropping the spy devices down the garbage chute. "Aside from that, we're clear in here. I'll check the other rooms before we get started."

He left to scan the 'fresher and bedrooms while Arlan and Aston started setting up their gear. The young slicer took out his tablet datapad and hooked it up to the room's basic HoloNet connection, then started running the programs he would need to run data traces. Meanwhile, Arlan took out his little microdroids and activated them to make sure they all functioned properly.

Tak returned several minutes later with a handful of more bugs. He dumped them in the trash as well. "I found three cameras hidden around the 'fresher," he said, shaking his head. "Bunch of Peeping Shistavanens."

He returned the scanner to his gear then took out a datapad and the chip Black Ops agent Drana Ko had given him. Tak took a seat on the cheap, but comfortable polyform couch and sank back as the polymers shifted to adjust to his body-shape. Once situated, he put his feet up on the table before him and began to sift through the information stored on the datachip.

[Andy 60]

Aston ran a diagnostic on the line, and found a power anomaly that indicated a possibly tapped line--probably on the hotel's main network hub--so as a precaution he bypassed that circuit and set up a programme to feed the monitored line with false data that would not look suspicious.

"Piece of cake," he said quietly to himself as he finished creating his secure HoloNet connection.

[Ender 8]

Jaim finally spotted it, under a tarp in the corner of the hangar. It wasn't exactly the fastest or prettiest speeder he had ever seen, but it was serviceable.

"Come on." He waved Jya over, put his bags in the backseat, and started the repulsors. When Jya had taken the passenger seat, he hit the thrusters and zoomed out, heading towards their arranged flat.

[Rogue 4]

"I suppose it's something I will have to get used to." Nat replied, his yellow eyes looking over at her. "Thank you for letting us use your home. I understand that you are only our liason with Intelligence. This is a step that you didn't need to take."

[Vergere 1]

Brier shrugged. "Well, the way I grew up, people watch out for one another. It's the least I could do. Besides, I'll get paid to be at home with my family." She smiled warmly. "It's a treat I rarely get anymore."

[Rogue 4]

"Yes, I suppose that reward makes it well worth it." Nat wished he could have spent more time with his sister on Ryloth. It had been a while since he'd seen her last, and he knew it would be a long time before he saw her again.