Chapter 3: Archaic

[Pandora 77]

"You don't want option C. Option C is the reason Archaic is down three men today."

[Rogue 4]

"You heartless Hutt-spawn..." She murmured, staying planted on her knees where she'd fallen. "What the hell does it matter? You're going to fragging do what you want to do anyway."

Edited July 31, 2008 by Rogue

[Pandora 77]

He left her on the floor. There was nowhere for her to go anyway. He calmly retrieved his blaster from the dresser and locked the drawer back after he closed it. He changed the powerpack idly. "So. Is Sena with Ayana? I never thought to look on Zeltros. Does Ayana know that Aunt Sena is her father's sister? Call me old fashioned, Layla, but I think a girl needs her dad in her life." Confident he had a full charge on his blaster, Deign stowed it in the holster where it belonged and rested his hand over it. "Oh, I just thought up Option D. Why don't you come with me to pick them up? It'll be fun. A nice family trip, what do you say? We can leave tomorrow."

[Rogue 4]

Layla felt her blood run cold, avoiding his gaze. If she kept staring down at the ground then her long hair would block the emotion from her face. If she didn't look at him then her cheekbone wasn't turning various hues of violet and she wasn't really about ready to actually cry. If she didn't look at him, or acknowledge what he had just said, then her greatest fears weren't coming to life before her very eyes. Her daughter wasn't in danger, her family wasn't in danger. As long as she didn't have to see the madness in his eyes she could deny it all, at least partially to herself.

[Pandora 77]

Deign went over to where Layla knelt on the floor and gripped her jaw roughly, pulling her head up to face him. "Shall I get your things packed, dearest? Or would you prefer to wait here? When I found the locket while I was searching you, I sent out a handful of agents to Zeltros to look for Sena and Ayana. Don't worry though, when they find them, they have strict instructions to bring them directly to me." He released Layla's chin and turned away. "I have so much to say to the both of them."

[Rogue 4]

"Haven't you done enough damage?" Layla's fear and sorrow, guilt and blame came clear as day across the pheromones her body naturally emitted. "Haven't you hurt enough people? Now...you have to hurt the children too?"

She felt everything falling apart from the seams. He was going to destroy everything she had ever loved, and everything she had ever worked for. He had begun with Takeshi, and he wouldn't stop until Layla saw everything she loved die. He would make her live through it all. "Deign, I'll do whatever you want, just---just leave them out of this."

[Drake 53]

While they were eating, Aston and Arlan filled Tak in on what they had found while he was out.

"Not a whole lot, sadly," said Aston.

"Three hours and you guys came up with nothing?" Tak asked, a little too strongly.

Arlan held up a hand defensively. "Give it some time. We sent listening droids to a few places. They'll transmit anything if anyone in range trips the keywords I programmed. We just need to be patient."

"Believe me," said Tak. "I have all kinds of patience right now."

A window popped up on Astons monitor with words scrolling by and an audio track transmitting sound waves. Aston smiled. "Hey guys, I think I'm getting something." He pressed a button on the keypad and the sound being transmitted played over the computer's speakers.

"...shipment in. It can't be late again or the boss will have our heads," came the deep male voice over the speakers. The conversation was being transmitted instantly from the listening droid. Apparently, this man was speaking over a private commlink, most likely with an earpiece, as the other end of the conversation could not be heard. "Yeah, I have a call with Sano later this afternoon. We're going over some costs..."

"Who is this we're listening to?" asked Takeshi.

Aston checked the droid's ID number. "Uhh. This is Jax Arden."

Tak nodded. "Perfect."

Arden continued. "Look, Jiong, I have to tell him how it is. We need that full shipment in by this evening. The games are tonight and our stock is on the streets. The next batch has to be fresh, clean and in deep freeze. You have two hours to get it to the distribution warehouse. The boss wants it to karking snow in the Hutt's house." There was a pause, then, "Yeah, see to it. Out." Clearly the conversation was over because the next thing they heard was Jax Arden saying, "Rannis, dear, I need for you to cancel my 1800 appointment..."

Tak reached over and turned off the speakers. "This is promising, gentlemen."

"What was he talking about, shipments of snow?" asked Arlan.

"No, that was definately in code." Tak paced back and forth, thinking about what it could mean. "They were no doubt talking about the card tournament tonight. Arden mentioned 'the games' and making it 'snow in the Hutt's house.' It's clear that they want this shipment delivered before the games start. But snow.... What could it...?" He stopped and snapped his fingers. "He said it's on the streets which means it has to be spice. It's white and put into deep freeze. The only spice variant I can think of that enhances its properties with cold is refined andris. It's very addictive and can provide strong sensory enhancement. If Archaic is behind this, they no doubt have permission, if not support, from the Imperial Diktat.

"Arlan," he continued, "is there any way to instruct the droid remotely to tap into the commline? If Jax is going to call Cale Sano, I want to hear both sides of the conversation."

Arlan nodded hesitantly. "I should be able to. I'll need AK's help, though."

"Not a problem," said Aston.

"Good," Tak said. "After that, Aston, I need you to run a search for this 'Jiong' person he was talking to. Then compile everything we have so far onto a datachip. Triple encrypt it with the RevGold cipher and have it ready for me to deliver it. I'll be in my room. Let me know if he transmits anything else." With that, he left the common room and went down the short hall to his room.

Once the door was closed and locked, he went over to his luggage case and opened it. From inside, he took out a small device and activated it. From it, sprung a hologram of Layla he had recorded just a couple weeks before, juring their downtime after the mission to Ithyari.

"What are you lookin' at?" the holographic Layla asked, teasingly. She stuck out her tongue. "Oh, are you recording this? Well then..." she put on a seductive look and gazed into the camera. "Hey there, big boy. How about you set that camera over there and we can make a special holo of our own?"

Tak remembered what had happened next and couldn't help but smile. Both of them had been quite drunk at the time he had hurriedly set up the holocam on the edge of the desk. Being inebriated, Tak had misjudged the distance between where the cam would remain safely on the desk and where it would easily tip off the edge under its own weight. Suffice it to say, the holorecording ended abruptly when the floor suddenly rushed up to meet him.

He played it again, this time pausing it on Layla at the beginning. Tak looked at her and found himself lost in thoughts of how this mission could play out. Eventually, he looked up and out the window. From here, he could just see the top of the Five Worlds headquarters building. Looking back at Layla's smiling face, Tak nodded and uttered, "Finally."

Edited July 31, 2008 by Drake

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric ducked back behind the table, reloading one blaster and discarding the other, out of ammo for it. He looked back at Kaden, who was thankfully still breathing.

"Time to get you out of here, buddy." He signaled Atuarre and Szen to cover him, hoped they saw it, and began to pick up Kaden in a fireman's carry. And then he was off, zig-zagging behind pillars, more tables, potted plants, anything that gave him a scrap of cover. Blaster bolts whizzed overhead, and Aeric crouched lower to protect Kaden.

He had almost made it to the door when a pirate spun around from behind a pillar, pistol aimed directly at Aeric's chest. Aeric, out in the open, running full speed with no time to stop or turn, and carrying his unconscious squadronmate, stared death in the face.

[Ayingel 24]

Szen saw the captain signal and start running. She kept picking off pirates and keeping an eye on Aeric and Kaden. She saw them near the door when a pirate stepped out along his path. Without taking time to think about it, she pulled her blaster around and fired several shots at the pirate. As he fell, she took off after her captain and injured sqadmate. Szen let out a sharp whistle hoping Atuarre would hear over the din and follow them.

[Chickenman 9]

For the second time in five minutes, Aeric thanked the stars for Szen. He emerged from the hotel, bolts chasing him through the windows. He found a bench just outside of the hotel, laid Kaden on it, and used it as cover, trying to give Szen and Atuarre some covering fire.

He just barely heard the sound of a parking landspeeder over the sounds of battle. He turned around and more pirates climbing out.

He spun around, and time slowed. His special forces training took over as Aeric's combat reflexes kicked into overdrive. He was suddenly a blur of motion.

The pirates emerged from the speeder, six of them in all.

A quick glace at his blaster showed seven bolts left.

Aeric rose to his feet and brought the pistol up to bear.

He pulled the trigger twice.

Two pirates went down.

Aeric began running towards the pirates. There was no cover he could get to without endangering Kaden, and hopefully the charge would take the pirates by surprise.

He pulled the trigger three more times, and three more pirates went down.

Aeric had almost made it to the speeder, had the last pirate targeted.

The pirate had Aeric targetted as well.

Aeric cried out in pain as searing heat tore into the flesh of his shooting hand just as he pulled the trigger. The shot went wild.

Aeric crashed up again the landspeeder, using it as cover.

One pirate. One bolt. One arm. He switched the pistol to his other hand. Go. Go!

Aeric spun around the side of the speeder and tried to snap off another shot as the pirate slipped away towards the front.

One pirate. No ammo. Great.

The pirate turned from his hiding place to shoot Aeric, surprised to see a boot flying towards his face.

He went down without a word. The flying kick wasn't graceful, but it didn't have to be. Aeric grabbed the key off of the guy, tossed it to Szen, picked up the pirate's blaster rifle, and went to grab Kaden again.

[Bad furday 57]

* * *

Jya peered over Jaim's shoulder. Both watched intently as Benni's icon moved quickly southward, amongst twisting, turning streets.

"What's down there?" Jya wondered aloud. " A shopping district, some casinos...."

She trailed off as the icon emerged from the cluttered alleys, and onto what could have been a broad boulevard. After a moment's pause, the dot began

moving southwestward at a rapid pace.

"After all that he's still able to run fast?" asked Jaim in disbelief. Benni wasn't exactly fit.

Somehow, Benni was moving faster than he had run before.

Jya watched Benni's icon for a moment. She appeared to be deep in thought.

"Isn't there a light rail in that sector?" she asked.

Jaim keyed in a request on the pad's keyboard.

After a moment, the tracking pad opened a list and schedule of all Corellian light rail trams in a new tab.

[Radioactive Isotope 29]

Atuarre got to Kaden before Aeric and slung the unconscious man unceremoniously over one shoulder. "I'll carry Sleeping Beauty here. Get in."

Edited August 1, 2008 by Radioactive Isotope

[Chickenman 9]

He motioned for Atuarre to get Kaden inside first. He gave them some covering fire as she climbed in. Mowing down one last pirate, Aeric hopped into the speeder.

"Anywhere but here, Szen!"

[Pandora 77]

Deign grabbed her arm and hauled Layla to her feet roughly. "Well, dearest, since you expressed such a concern for providing for our daughter by yourself, I'll try to make things easier on you." He dragged her over to the bed and shoved her down to a sitting position and stood over her. "Tell me everything you know about Revenant Squadron."

[Rogue 4]

Layla shook her head as she stared up at him. "I'm not telling you anything now. I have no reason to believe that my daughter, or Sena is safe right now."

[Pandora 77]

"Would you feel better about it if Sena and Ayana were here with us where we could both keep an eye on them?" He threw a glance to the chrono on the wall. "Because they will be here very soon."

[Rogue 4]

She looked at him in complete and utter disbelief. "What?! But you said---"

[Pandora 77]

"You've maintained this entire time that I'm a liar. Now you choose to change your mind? Now, do I need to further restrain you, or will you sit there and start talking?"

[Rogue 4]

"You sick lying sack of Nagai-Tof entrails!" The Zeltron exclaimed furiously. She wanted to hit him, but her wrists only met stuncuffs. "You sent men after my daughter---"

Ayana was coming here. The three year old had been snatched from her grandmother's arms and dragged 5 hours away to a strange world, by strange, dangerous men with blasters. And when she got here she was going to meet the worst of them all. And then he was going to tell her that he was her father.

[Ayingel 24]

"You got it!" Szen tried to picture the map of Tyrena in her head as they sped off. She constantly changed the direction they were heading to keep any slow pirates off their tail. She was about to start heading for their motel when she got a good look at Aeric's hand. That changes things a little. "Captain, I'm not about to take this to the estate. We need to lose this speeder."

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric shook his head. "We're not going to the estate just yet. Drop me and Kaden off at the motel, ditch the speeder, and head back to the motel again.. Atuarre, you go with her."

Edited August 1, 2008 by Chickenman

[Pandora 77]

Deign dug his fingers into Layla's arm cruelly as she struggled. "I'll take that as a 'more restraints, please.'" He dragged her to the false window on the far wall and pushed her back into the blank wall, his jerking movements knocking her head a bit against the duracrete. Warning her not to move lest Ayana be reunited with Mommy unconscious from the second stun bolt in a day, Deign removed the holo screen from its braces, set it down on the floor. He keyed in his passcode, carefully hiding the keystrokes from Layla's vision with his other hand. The door slid open and Deign dragged her into the storage room roughly. He stopped in front of a bank of storage containers, opened the middle drawer and pulled out a roll of industrial grade adhesive tape from a pile of restraining devices and small hand tools.

"Ah, this should do nicely."

[Rogue 4]

Layla forced herself to calm down, breathing in and out slowly. She knew that she needed to come to terms with the facts before she could. She also knew that it was important for her to do so. She needed to keep in control as much as possible to keep both herself and her family safe. And to do that she needed to be in control of her emotions.

So the facts she needed to come to term with were as follows:

Deign was a very unstable man, and unpredictable when angry. Sena would most likely be one of his targets, and although he had expressed concern for Ayana, she was afraid that his moodswings might be taken out mistakenly on the girl.

"Alright,...alright. That's not necessary." She breathed, her chest rising and falling as slow as she could get it. "I'm calm now. See? Calm."

[Drake 53]

Jaim overlaid the map of the rail system with that of the tracker, then called up additional information regarding train routes. "He's taking the Southbound rail down Winchester Skyway," he said. "It looks like he might be going to any number of places involved in his trade."

"Do you think he would go to his bosses to tell them we're onto their operation?" asked Jya.

"It's a good bet a cowardly rodder like Benni would do just that. That might narrow it down a bit." he searched for anything notable near the rail route. "There's a private dock and warehouse a click away from the Junto station. the route is circuitous before that so there's a chance we can make it there and follow him on foot."

They ran the rest of the way back to the speeder and took off into the late afternoon traffic.

***

Takeshi came out of his room, a short time later. He went over to where Aston and Arlan were and asked, "How're we doing?"

Arlan answered. "We managed to remotely contact the droid in Jax Arden's office and commanded it to come out of hiding and tap his commsystem once it was safe to do so. We're just waiting for it to report back on if it was successful or not."

"Good. Aston?"

The young slicer pulled the datachip from his computer. "Just finished the encryption."

Takeshi took the chip from Aston and put it into his inside jacket pocket. "Thanks. I'm going to run out to deliver this now. Send the signal to Blue Team."

Aston tapped some commands into his computer. When finished, he nodded to Tak. "Done."

"Good." Tak started for the door then stopped halfway and turned back to face the two other men. "You two should go out for a bit. Explore a little around here. There's a shopping plaza a block east of here that should have some gadget store or another. I'll comm you if I need you to return."

Tak left the room and made his way down to the parking garage.

[Rogue 4]

Nat was sifting through a few more files of nothing when his datapad beeped. Blinking, he opened the message being sent remotely to his screen. "Gold Group just sent a transmission. They must have found something," He said, standing. He took the code given by Aston, and decoded it into a set of coordinates, which he then corresponded with a map of Tyrena.

"Captain Fae, do you mind if I borrow one of your speeders?"

She shook her head, although by the curve of her lips she seemed a little amused. "Go right ahead. Whichever one suits your needs."

"Thank you, Captain." he responded gratefully, heading outside and picking a speeder. He had to say, he was grateful to be out of there, if even for a short time. Captain Fae was yearning to be with her family, and Nima was a constant cause for distraction or alarm. Meeting with Takeshi, Aston, or Arlan was going to be a welcome change.

About ten minutes later, Nat was sitting in a booth at a cantina downtown, awaiting gold team's messenger. He had bought a drink and relaxed a little so he wouldn't seem suspicious.