A New Power - Rebel Group

[Kemrain]

Jaess heads out of the clean room and proceeds down the hallway to the turbolift on her way to docking bay 3. She steps lightly, the LE unit behind her making far more noise than she even while she pays stealth no mind. She reaches the lift and calls it, shifting her weight from foot to foot impatiently, anxious to be out in the field again. She glances at the LE unit as it speaks to her.

"I must now verify, replace and reinitialise my previously ionized components. Please do not be alarmed ma'am."

Arching an eyebrow incredulously, she regards the droid for a brief moment before looking back at the turbolift doors.
That droid's been all through this ship's secured files, she thinks to herself, returning her gaze to the patina stained droid. I wonder if it came across anything on me. The lift opens, and they both enter, Jaess hitting the proper button on the console before moving to lean against the back of the lift.
"So what have your searches turned up about me?" she asks as the LE unit enters and plugs itself into the turbolift's computer access terminal.

 

[Ambrus]

"So what have your searches turned up about me?"

Without stopping it's work or turning its head to look at her, R-LE-1 answers: "As a covert operative your personnel file is restricted to command officers of Beta clearance or higher. Since I had been previously asked to refrain from accessing restricted files and am not currently a command officer with Beta clearance I thought it best to limit my information gathering to your name, race and passenger status. The datachip Lieutenant Antilles gave me possessed a brief outline of your skill set as a covert operative specializing in unarmed combat, stealth, and assassination as well as a mention of your background as a former imperial operative aboard the ICS Interdictor. Would you care to add anything about yourself that may aid me to serve you?"

The patina stained droid waits patiently for Jaess to step out of the lift first as the doors open onto the Reliant's docking bay three.

OOC: Angcuru, feel free to jump in with a description of what R-LE-1 and Jaess see.

 

[Ambrus]

As it waits to steps off the lift, R-LE-1 mentally reviews the current duty roster of droids on the Reliant's repair/maintenance crew. With its communications array now reattached and operational the repair droid transmits a binary message, via comlink, to an astromech friend of his that is currently unassigned: "R3-L7, if your duties permit, may I request that you please join me in docking bay three immediately? I would appreciate your help on a complex hyperspace transit locus." The patina stained droid then quickly scans the docking bay for the Lambda class shuttle as well as the on-duty deck officer.

 

[Angcuru]

The turbolift door slides open to reveal a docking bay completely bare save for a humble Lambda shuttle sitting in the center of the room. Several crates are still not yet loaded on board, and sit near the end of the shuttle's loading ramp. At every visible entrance, at least two armed guards stand watch, keeping a careful eye out for anything suspicious. The door of the lift had hardly opened when two blaster rifles were pointed at the both of them, and quickly replaced by hasty, wordless salutes from the guards stationed by the lift.

 

[Kemrain]

As the lift descends, Jaess watches the LE unit while it speaks to her.

"Would you care to add anything about yourself that may aid me to serve you?"

"I'll let you know if I think of anything," she replies, trying hard not to sound too sarcastic, taking the droid who asked for independance's reference to servitude as either an attempt at dry humor. She watches it until she feels the lift slowing, righting herself as it comes to a stop. As the doors slide open and the muzzle of a blaster is pointed in her face her hand glides down to the empty holster at her hip, and back up into an uneasy salute as the guards do the same. She steps out of the turbolift, slightly jittery at the thought that people dressed and armed like that would have shot at her a year before.
Switching sides is hell on your nerves, she muses, trying to calm herself down.
Once inside the hangar bay she makes straight for the shuttle, planning to head inside and aquire all of her necessary equipment, still a little uncomfortable around her former enemies without being armed. Inside she takes a moment to don the rest of her shadowsuit, all but the mask, feeling calmer and more confident, less naked, wearing it. Once she has her Flash 4, her Stun Master, and her simple durasteel knife back on her person she heads back out of the craft, putting on the holster for her Striker MkII projectile pistol (Assuming she found it on board the Lambda Shuttle) while she looks around the bay for the technician in charge of loading the vessel, to find out the specifics of what she's bringing into the field.

 

[Ambrus]

R-LE-1 watches its fellow operative salute the guards and briskly walk off towards the shuttle without glancing back at them or it. In turn, R-LE takes a half step forward, doesn't bother returning the salute but instead addresses the two guards: "I commend your vigilance. Please be aware that I have asked an astromech droid, R3-L7, to come here to confer with me. It should be arriving shortly. Please inform your fellow guards to ensure that it is not detained unnecessarily." R-LE-1 turns its single large photoreceptor to regard both guards briefly and then, continues: "Please, may I inquire as to the location of the on-duty deck officer?"

After listening to what the guards have to say, the patina stained droid heads towards the Lambda class shuttle to perform a standard pre-flight inspection of the exterior of the vessel taking particular interest in the six wing-mounted sensor pods. Simultaneously R-LE-1 will continue its astrogation computations while also keeping an eye out for either R3-L7 or the aforementioned deck officer's appearance.

 

[Angcuru]

Jaess finds her personal equipment onboard the shuttle in a locked plasteel containter, opened via biometric fingerprint scan, and a small package containing her requisitioned equipment inside. After ducking behind a few crates, she is able to changesinto her Shadowsuit in relative privacy. Upon standing back up however, she hears a quick intake of breath and finds herself being stared at by a middle-aged man who was looking over the crates, checking them off on a small datpad. He looks at her for a moment, his hand straying towards a small blaster on his thigh as he taps and glances at the screen of the pad, then relaxing.

"Miss Talori, you gave me quite a fright for a moment there. Didn't see you behind those crates when I came on board." He cleared his throat, and Jaess notices his eyes atraing a bit lower than her own for a brief moment. "I trust that all your equipment is present and accounted for?"

***​

"The deck officer should be onboard the shuttle doing an inventory of your cargo, R-LE-1." Says the guard on the left. The other guard remains silent, but nods.

Arlee detects the faint sound of a vaccuum tube as a small chute opens up near the turbolift doors, ejecting a yellow R3 unit a little too forcefully. It gives an electronic yelp as it falls over into its side, and then beeps and chirps in annoyance as a mechanical arm pops out of a hatch and pushes it upright.

Arlee's R3-speak translation:

Spoiler

Those organic technicians were supposed to service this thing five hours ago! Note to self: give technicians a minor shock upon next meeting.

 

[Ambrus]

The patina stained droid walks towards the astromech, its metal toes clicking softly on the deck plating with each step. With but a thought R-LE switches its vocabulator from the languid basic language it had been using to a high-baud rate binary language more appropriate to information exchange amongst droids. R-LE-1 addresses the yellow droid in a series of low-pitched chirps and buzzes; "Thank you for coming so quickly my friend. Please be patient with the organics; a situation has recently arisen that necessitated unusual security precautions be taken in docking bay three. It's likely that all routine maintenance and repair work on this level has been temporarily delayed. I'm sure normal operations will resume once this shuttle has departed."

The patina stained droid places a hand gently on the back of R3's lamp-shade shaped head to direct his attention to the tri-wing shuttle at the center of the bay as he begins guiding the astromech towards it. "Speaking of which, I have been asked to pilot this vessel on a secret mission on behalf of the Rebel Alliance. Speed is of the utmost importance in this mission. The destination is in uncharted system deep in wild-space and I would appreciate your assistance in calculating the hyperspace transit locus to ensure the shortest travel time possible. I've already begun work on the code..." R-LE-1 will begin sharing its astrogation calculations with the astromech droid to gain its help (hopefully gaining a +2 to its own astrogation check) while he walks around the shuttle performing his pre-flight inspection.

Once satisfied with the state of the vessel and its modifications R-LE-1 will enter the shuttle looking for Jaess, the deck-officer and the equipment he requested. Upon spotting them R-LE will greet the pair; "Hello again miss Talori. Sir. I am R-LE-1 and this is my friend R3-L7. He is helping me with the astrogation calculations for our flight." Once the patina stained droid locates the datachips he requisitioned, he picks them up and attaches one to his hip mounted scomp-link without pausing. While he continues to talk, he will begin encrypting, compressing and downloading all his memory files and personality algorithms. "Sir, since this vessel would be recognized as Imperial property on sight I would be curious to learn when and under what circumstances it was first acquired by the Alliance. This information may prove crucial to our mission." The patina stained droid pauses and tilts its head in an inquisitive manner. "Also, does it currently have a name?"

 

[Kemrain]

Jaess pulls her clothing back on over the shadowsuit, watching the deck officer watch her.
"It all seems to be here, yes," she states flatly, hopefully drawing his attention back upwards, annoyed by the man's wandering eyes but used to that sort of attention since her appearance had been altered by Alliance surgeons.
"You got it down here quick. Thanks," she says, stepping out from behind the crates she was using for cover and the distance between the two of them.
"Do you have a spare copy of the cargo manifest?" she asks, continuing, "I'd like to review it before we depart." The clicking of metal toes brings her attention to the LE unit ambling up the access ramp.
"We've got company," she whispers, gesturing behind the deck officer with her head.

 

[Angcuru]

"Of course." The officer responds to Jaess. "I just finished triple-checking the manifest, and everything is on board and accounted for except for....ah, the explosives haven't been brought in from the munitions hold yet. I'll get right on that." He opens up and rummages around in one of the plasteel storage cylinders labeled 'Data Storage' from which R-LE-1 had recently procured several datachips, and pulls out a Datapad. This is quickly linked to his own, and after a few taps on the screen, he unlinks and hands it to Jaess.

At Arlee's inquiry, he reveals a slight smile. "I'm glad you asked. If you'll follow me, please..." He exits the shuttle and points out the sphere/dome structures added to the shuttle's wings. "The Empire has been steadily losing its supply routes due to our activities in the Mid and Outer Rim sectors. Industrial materials, foodstuffs, munitions components, all the necessities are now in short supply for their fleets in these areas. So, they've begun to search out new sources of raw materials in asteroid belts and the like for new logistical routes, but they didn't have enough time or resources to design a ship specifically for the task. Thus, they began modifying existing ships, namely shuttles and transports, refitting them for additional sensory equipment.

"We very luckily obtained this one just a few hours ago when it dropped out of hyperspace not 50 clicks from this very station and the pilots began broadcasting their intent to defect. Apparently they were sent to this new star system you are to investigate, putting their sensory ability towards finding that spiffy hyperdrive the higher ups reckon is around there. They thought differently, of course. Said they were planning to desert soon anyway, and figured they'd give us a gift while they were at it. Truth serum confirmed this, naturally. So you're essentially going to be flying a ship that the Imperials still think is theirs, on a mission they started, but for the Alliance's benefit instead." He gave them a toothy grin. "Crazy galaxy, isn't it? The ID Code is Deepscan 39. Well, I should be back shortly, got to go get those explosives. Let me know if you find that I've overlooked something." And with that, he heads towards the turbolift, pulls out a commlink, and begins berating the hapless munitions officer on the other end. Loudly.