Rush for the spy

Imperial Dreadnought ‘Sword of Korriban’
Rear Admiral Jonas Verhein paced the floor command deck of his flagship impatiently, his eyes returning to the situation report displayed on the datapad his newest aide-de-camp brought just a minute ago. Gone… That blasted scoundrel managed to get away from the crash site and vanish in the nearby forest before Imperial forces arrived to the scene. No matter, he will not be able to hide forever. Not after the Rear Admiral ordered to take appropriate measures. The forest has been surrounded by soldiers of the Imperial Army. Not completely, of course, they would need several divisions for that, but most obvious routes of escape were cut off. Interceptor pilots were ordered to conduct continuous aerial reckon over the area and searching parties were sent into the woods. On top of that Verhein’s naval battlegroup blockaded the planet and jammed its communication. A minor inconvenience for the populace, but at least the spy will not transmit the information he’s learned.

Unfortunately there were some unpleasant news as well. Following the instructions provided for cases such as this, the Rear Admiral has contacted Dromund Kaas immediately after the incident. The Sith certainly were not pleased with this turn of events and informed Verhein that several members of their Order will be joining his force shortly. “To make sure the Republican cur is captured” – they said. Jonas could only pray that the Dark Council will send someone sensible, he had little use for murderous maniacs.

A lone ship appeared outside the viewscreen of the Imperial Dreadnought ‘Sword of Korriban’...Lucifer and arrived and he was most displeased as much as any of his brethren.


Piloting his modified Fury-class Imperial Interceptor 'The Ahriman' near to the hangaer bay the sith master spoke into the com to the Reaer Admiral to gain immediate access and ascertain the specifics of the situation as to have enough intel with which to track down his prey.

''Sword of Korriban this is The Ahriman personal craft to Lord Lucifer of The Sith Order. Rear Admiral Jonas Verhein is expecting my arrival and several others, I request permission to board and upon my arrival an immediate update on the situation.''

With that the massassi waited.

“Understood, ‘Ahriman’, permission to board granted.” A harsh voice sounded from Darth Lucifer’s communicator. “The Rear Admiral will be waiting for you.”
At the same time the shields that protected the hangar bay were lowered, allowing Lucifer’s craft to land inside. Two smaller interceptors flanked the ‘Ahriman’ and escorted it to ‘Sword of Korriban’. There two squads of Imperial Troopers waited, they could either assume the role of an honour guard or, if this all was a set up, meet the interlopers properly. However acquiring the call signs of the Sith Order would be a nigh impossible task to accomplish, and so Verhein was almost absolutely sure there is no fraud. He waited on the command bridge for this Lord Lucifer and Force-knows who else to arrive.

If Mason felt nervous about the mission (specifically the Sith), he certainly wasn't showing any of it. Instead the smuggler kept cool and collected as his ship 'The Halcyon' drew ever closer to Hagia. Colors of green, red, yellow, and blue from the around the viewport spontaneously flashed on Mason's face, his eyes scanning the dash for any problems that might be on his ship. He waited for a moment, then another before he stood up from his seat and went to the cargo bay.

Mason glanced at his crew of a dozen or so with a nonchalant look. If they saw that Mason was all right with being near Sith orbit, then they would hopefully follow suit. As if on command, a faint beeping could be heard from the cabin. Mason spun on his heels and hurriedly walked into the cockpit, soon locating where the noise was coming from. After clicking a few buttons and spinning dials, Mason rubbed his left cheek with his right hand. They were now in Sith orbit.

The Halcyon's copilot sat in her chair, leaning over the controls, her hat pulled low enough to obscure her face. When Mason entered the cockpit, Irina lifted her head and watched Mason begin his work. Though Irina had no love for mercenaries, she did respect the way Mason kept calm even in potentially life threatening situations. She had originally pegged him as a run-of-the-mill smuggler, relatively spoiled in the realities of such danger. Perhaps there was more to him then met the eye.

She pushed away from the console and leaned back in her seat so as to look at Mason properly. "And so here we are. This is your time to shine, Veldheer. Is there any assistance I can provide to get us planetside safely?" she asked, though she had no reason to believe he would need her help. To the contrary, her military directness would likely just cause trouble in a delicate operation.

Mason shook his head slightly in response to Irina, his attention still focused on the dash and viewport. "I believe we'll be just fine should our cloaking device hold up." Mason turned his seat to the left and set the system for a quick and easy navigation through the Sith blockade. For the moment, all was going well for Mason and his crew.

The smuggler turned back to face the viewport and then ran a hand through his hair. "If my calculations are right, and they almost always are, we should be able to touch down on the surface within several minutes at the most. My ship is one of the fastest of its kind." Mason tossed a glance at Irina and then shrugged. "Just a few perks of working for the Cartel. Have to make a living somehow." He then set his hand on the dash and turned to fully face Irina. "Now, what can you tell me about this 'VIP' of yours?"

Lucifer recieved the communique and and answered in reply however when he did he felt a strangeness about the force. He could feel almost every person on the vast ship yet when he looked out into the stars it was as if he felt something that should be.

Yet when he looked out he saw nothing. Either the force was playing tricks on him or someone was being very sneaky and trying to keep hidden. Lucifer entered the Sword Of Korriban and landed with no incident. Opening the ramp he descended to meet the honor guard paying them little mind he strolled until he met the waiting officer who was to escort him to the bridge. By the look on the man's face he was somewhat fearful most likely due to the massassi's huge size and evident sith tattoo's that seemed to glow a strange blue aura across his red blindfolded face.

Lucifer spoke.

''Take me to the rear Admiral immediately. I can afford no delays.''

“At once, my Lord.” The officer in charge bowed before Lucifer and gestured the Sith Master to follow him and his men. Time was clearly of the essence, and Imperial soldiers knew full well that any delays would entail grim consequences. Therefore their journey from the hangar bay to the command bridge was an exceptionally short one.

The Rear Admiral was already waiting for his Sith ‘overseer’ to arrive and as soon as the automated door to the deck opened, a young ensign came running to Lucifer and literally shoved a dataslate that contained the situation report. With that the ensign disappeared from sight just as quickly, so did the soldiers who escorted Lucifer here. Verhein, on the other hand, showed no signs of fear or concern. He turned to the Sith marauder and bowed his head as a sign of greeting.

“Lord Lucifer, welcome aboard.” Jonas spoke. “Do you wi…”
“Sir! We have a situation!” A sudden shout interrupted Verhein before he could finish the phrase. “Our scanners have detected a discharge of energy not far from our position. It appears an unidentified vessel has entered realspace, however we are not able to detect it at this point. What are your orders?”

Lucifer followed the honor guard up into the command deck remaining quiet throughout until they arrived on the bridge. Giving a slight bow to the Rear Admiral, the massassi was about to speak in reply to the admiral when a imperial lackey informed the two of a unidentified ship that had been found to enter the blockade.

Lucifer replied knowing the admiral would most likely value his knowledge and even if not there was ltitle he could do for the sith outranked him he would be forced to follow the massassi's orders.

Lucifer spoke intriqued somewhat.

''A unidentified ship you say...this is a strange co-incidence. While I was entering the hangar I felt in the force the presence of what appeared to be several beings out in the stars yet there was no ship present. I thought it were my mind playing tricks on me however this confirms my suspicions that someone is trying hard to remain hidden for us...most likely it is a republic rescue party sent for the spy.''

The massassi continued.

''Rear Admiral Verhein, if our scanners picked up a energy discharge then maybe we can use that to locate the hidden ship by tracking the ion trail, such a ship will require alot of energy to remain hidden most likely by directing the energy to some sort of cloaking device. Although we may not see it physically the ship is likely still nearby, we can follow the scent so to speak to it's source via the trail it leaves and locate them.

Have the scanners reconfigured to pick up any ion trail emmisions I shall assist and attempt to locate the presences via the force they cannot be hidden for long they will reveal themselves as blips among the stars to me, as for your task...anything out of the ordinary no matter how small I want tracked and reported. Have the troops on the ground informed to expect uninvited guests however inform them to do as they were doing as to keep our guests in the dark...they must not know that we are aware of their presence...let them feel as if they have won before we break them, let us use this to our advantage and use them to find our vermin for us. Use them as the bait to draw out the rat and spring a trap of our making.

Once we locate this ship I shall join the ground teams on the surface and ensure our plan goes off without a hitch. Have a team join me equipped with a scanner and cloaking devices. As for now let these scum go unharmed their time will come.''

With that Lucifer set to work focusing within the force he looked outward into the same spot he had felt the blips recently. Focusing on the general area he had felt the disturbance before he searched out his prey.

Irina pushed her duty cap back and pretended to be sizing Mason up. "You have been waiting patiently, I suppose," she said and looked down at her datapad. "The target is a Republic spy who was on an important mission that happened to bring him inside Imperial space. The simple need-to-know story is that his cover was blown while accessing some highly classified Imperial documents and has been forced into hiding here on Hagia." She handed the datapad to Mason, which contained an image and psychological profile for the spy. "His name is Iago Williams. We're here to get him safely back to Republic space without implicating without implicating that the Republic was involved in the attempt," she continued.

After allowing Mason to look at the profile for a few moments, she held her hand out expectantly. "I'll order my women to change into their armor now, if that's alright. We need to be prepared for anything in case we aren't as subtle as we thought," she said in a conversational tone so as to hopefully not offend Mason.

Mason nodded as Irina spoke, taking in everything that he read on the datapad after he received it. "Hmm. Well, I'll see to it that he makes it out of there alive and with the Republic reputation maintained." Mason tilted his head ever so slightly and gave a soft smirk, handing back the datapad at the same time. While he tried to ease the ever-increasing tension on the ship with this act, he did realize the importance and magnitude of their situation. If anything turned sour, he would be the first to abandon this attitude and get to business. It was what defined him.

"And yes, I believe you're right. Best not to be caught off-guard." Mason turned back to face the viewport and watched as the planet grew increasing larger with each passing moment, not paying attention to whether Irina had already left or not. The surrounding ships in orbit were going about their normal duties, but Mason felt a heavy feeling in his gut. That was when he placed his right elbow on the armrest and put his hand over his mouth, rubbing his cheeks with his fingers. Mason then noticed a faint red glow coming from his dashboard, silently going off and on every few seconds. His eyes closed tightly as he tried to remember what his mother had said about that, but to no avail. He then reopened his eyes and leaned back in his seat, sighing as he did so. His eyes never faltered from the red glow.

"Just a few more minutes, Mason," the smuggler spoke to himself.

As a sign of acknowledgement Verhein gave a slight bow to Lucifer. The measures he has described moments ago were a standard procedure and the Rear Admiral was well-aware with it. However it was good to know that at least the Sith Master had military experience, cooperating with him would be much easier because of this.

“You heard him, Lieutenant. Comply.” Verhein ordered to one of his officers before turning back to the viewport. This turn of events was not unforeseen, even if the exfiltration team made its appearance much earlier than the Rear Admiral expected. No matter, they would only serve to draw the spy from hiding. Ground forces would be informed about incoming hostiles in a matter of minutes and so would be the pilots. Ships of the Imperial Armada were ready to tighten the blockade at his word, turning Hagia into a deathtrap for any Republic intruders.

Meanwhile on the surface numerous Sith patrols searched far and wide for any traces of the escaped spy. One such patrol was led by a young agent of the Imperial Intelligence named Silvia Winters. She has only recently arrived to the sector and was immediately assigned to this mission by the Keeper’s personal orders. Whatever this damn sleuth has stolen must’ve been very important if the High Command went to such length to return this information. But neither Silvia’s men nor other patrols found anything of note yet. Winters even had to question a couple of peasants on an outlying farm. Unfortunately they proved to be quite dense and after a few minutes of fruitless interrogation Silvia had to abandon the whole idea.

“Fine. If you see this man, contact the nearest Imperial patrol.” She sighed wearily and bid the farmers good bye. It was certainly not an easy job, although it still had its advantages. Silvia smoothed her uniform cap as she walked back to her squad and motioned the men to move on. No one had to know an Imperial Agent was here, so Winters masqueraded herself as a junior lieutenant of the Army. This way she could participate in the search without rising suspicion… If only she’d have any idea where to continue the said search now. The forests of Hagia were a perfect hiding place and even with the help of trained hounds it would be incredibly hard to track down one man.

Lucifer stepped forward looking out into the stars...he had the feeling that his prey was by now close to descending into the planet's atmosphere thus he took action.

The massassi thought upon the next stage remembering that he had a asset of Imperial Intelligence already upon the surface, it would be wise to inform them of the new guests so that they knew to expect such company. However rather than the tradtional channels Lucifer sent the message via his personal com to ensure no one aside the asset, himself and the admiral knew about the message sent.

Turning to the admiral he spoke.

''What have your men picked up. Do we have a location for the craft yet. I have the distinct feeling they are close to the surface by now...as such I believe it time to move things along and ensure our success. I also believe it time to make you privy to certain knowledge withheld up unto now for...security reasons.

As soon as we heard of the spy we dispatched one of our most valued assets from Imperial Intelligence and a hired mercenary to locate him, earlier today shortly before arrival within the system I was informed that our two assets had made planetfall with one of the search teams. The name of these operatives is unimportant only that you know they are below us assisting in the game we are playing, ensuring our success. They are to be informed of the latest arrival whereby they shall act upon the intelligence we shall give them...which explains the reason I ask if we have a suspected trajectory. For our plan to work our asset must be told a specific search area to check and lay in wait for our 'guests' before tracking and following them to our quarry whereby I shall also act with the teams I had requested earlier. We shall surround and envelop this spy and his friends. At the exact moment this happens tighten the grip of the blockade...inform your men to reveal themselves as the trap is sprung and make sure none escape. If this spy wishes to hide in the jungle then he shall die there.''

With that Lucifer wiated folding his arms as he looked out of the viewport ahead.

“I am hardly surprised, Lord Lucifer.” The Rear Admiral answered with a nod. “There was never any doubt the Ministry of Intelligence would involve itself into this mission. Their agent will be a most valuable asset, of course, considering that we are hunting their colleague. But I will not lie, hiring mercenaries for such a delicate task seems risky to me. We are dealing with state secrets here, and freelancers are just as likely to leak the information in question as they are to help us retrieve it. I hope you are planning to take all possible precautions.”

Verhein followed a squadron of interceptor-starfighters with his eyes as they sped past the ‘Sword of Korriban’ and disappeared into the endless blackness of space. For a moment it seemed that a shadow of a smile appeared on the officer’s face, however it was gone an instant later. Silence was broken by a distinct sound of military issue boots clanking against the metallic floor of the command deck. And just as Verhein presumed, the conversation he was currently engaged in was interrupted by his new aide-de-camp. After a brief exchange of salutes, Jonas allowed the second officer to report.

“Did our men manage to track the vessel, Commodore Fuchs?” He asked nonchalantly.
“Yes and no, sir.” Fuchs replied, casting a momentary nervous glance on the Sith Master who stood beside his commanding officer. “The planet’s magnetic field and our own ships interfere with scanners, and given the infiltrator’s already weak emission, it will be impossible to pinpoint their location accurately. But it would be only rational to assume they will land in close vicinity of the escape pod’s crash site. Unfortunately we do not possess detailed information yet, but rest assured you will be informed at once if we discover anything.”

Lucifer gave a nod as he replied.

''I am not so foolish as to not prepare in the event that such a thing happened, every measure that can be taken has been afforded. This particular mercenary I have worked with before he is a reliable asset however as I have said should the need arise he will not live to see the next day.''

With that the massassi waited as the commander spoke...it seemed that their guest had for now partially evaded them. With that he spoke.

''Perhaps there is a way that we can find them. Do your escape pods have tracking beacons upon them, perhaps we can use the beacon to both find the spies last known location and the general vicinity of the ship simaltenously. Scan the area for any sign of such a beacon redirect energy from other systems if you have too to lessen the interference and search out our prey. I want that ship found within the hour. That said excuse me one moment Admiral I must inform our assets of this development if they are to find our targets.''

With that said Lucifer briefly turned to his personel com and spoke into it. The highly encrypted transmission was sent direct to the Imperial Intelligence asset he had on the surface (Nyx) using her given codename and switched to using other such codewords for the operation as the massassi informed her of the developments.

''Dragonfly this is Eaglenest. Bee's have entered the nest...suggested course of action is to act as normal and not arouse suspicion, inform our other asset of this development. Reconfigure scanners to track the bee's and follow the swarm to the queen. Inform me of their location once located and wait for my arrival with specialist team, once we are in position surround flanks as a group and smoke the hive. If he wishes to remain in the jungle then we shall grant his wish.''

Irina stretched her arms and back, settling her armor onto her body. She glanced at the corporate armors with distaste and was not surprised to hear muttered complaints from the other women. "Stow it, ladies," she said over the grumblings. "We aren't here to cause an intergalactic incident. No Republic-issue anything." Of course the reasons were sound, but Irina didn't appreciate it herself and the regulation words felt hollow to her. A few of the women shot her intuitive glances, perhaps sensing their commanders discontent with orders.

Turning away from these stares, Irina strode off in the direction of the cockpit. As she moved along, a subtle tugging sensation came over her and she knew they were passing into the planets atmosphere and gravity. As she entered the cockpit, the outside view was dominated by the Hagian landscape, greens, blues, browns and grays seemingly blurred together in a single image. As the ship closed the distance the colors sharpened, becoming more distinct boundary lines between countryside, city, ocean, mountain, and more. She paused to view the spectacle, her breath softening. No matter how many times she saw it, planet approach was one of the most calming scenarios she had experienced.

With a shake of her head, she pulled her mind back to the present and focused on Mason. "We are all set and ready to roll. We have given you last known coordinates, but it is likely the agent has had to move since then. Can you tap into Imperial communications; see where they've focused their soldiers?" she asked, glancing expectantly her mercenary companion.

Silvia made her way through the meadow back to the river bank where the squad she was attached to set up a “temporary observation posts” as the soldiers themselves called it. Frankly, that was probably just an excuse to fool around while Silvia did all the work. Damn loafers. She’d rather complete the mission quickly and get back the capital. Sure, she could appreciate the beauty of Hagia; its rolling fields, lush forests and wide rivers were quite the view after all (although the constantly present danger of stepping into shaak’s dropping somewhat abated her fascination), but after spending most of her life in a city Winters felt a little out of place here.

A sudden beeping of her comlink returned Silvia to the present concerns and with a quiet sigh she activated the miniature device. As suspected, it was a message from her present Sith superiors containing an update on the general situation and new orders. “Understood, proceeding with the mission.” Winters replied wearily. This was the last time she allowed anyone outside of the Imperial Intelligence to come up with codenames…

As Winters approached, her “squadmates” finally stopped pretending to observe their perfectly serene surroundings and lined up in front of three reconnaissance speeders. There was a grand total of eleven people including Silvia herself, mostly regular troops. Sergeant Korr stepped forward and saluted the Agent when she approached.
“Nothing to report, lieutenant. The place is quiet like a crypt.” He spoke, not even trying to hide his boredom.
“Yes, I can clearly see that, Korr. Now quit loitering, we’re supposed to continue the patrol.” Silvia pursed her lips disapprovingly.
“Yes, ma’am! We’ll move out at once.” The sergeant saluted and ran off to give the orders.

Lucifer waited a short while before speaking again.

''Our assets have been informed. I shall descend to the surface now. Have the specialist team ready to meet me near the crash site. There we shall wait and close this trap.''

With that said the massassi gave a slight bow before departing the command deck heading to the hangar where his ship waited. Many things floated around his head but they were quickly swept aside in preparation for the trap.

Once he was at his ship the massassi pwoered it up and proceeded to exit the hangar, once vacated he activated the cloaking field upon it as to not alert his prey upon his descent. Heading through the atmosphere Lucifer was met with the forests, mountains and various other such things before he rbang his ship round to land not far from where the escape pods homing beacon had been found.

Exiting the ramp the massassi adopted the use of the force to conceal both his force presence and his entire body so that now he was rendered invisible to the naked eye and any jedi if they were brought with the rescue team. Moving through the underbrush he headed towards the meeting point where he was to link up with the rest of the team.

Nighthawk had set up camp a couple of km's away from the meeting point. He wasn't relishing the prospect of hunting down a fugitive on a planet such as this, but he had the resources to do it quickly and get paid well, so that counted for something. Not being an idiot, Nighthawk had about a billion eyes on the meeting spot. He was way to paranoid to just trust to chance or the force, or whatever, about this meeting. So he had set up several AI turrets controlled by himself, a couple of regular traps, and he still had something else up his sleeve in case something happened, or he needed to track the fugitive at a closer range. In any case, he was now sitting at the meeting spot waiting for his contact to show up.

Mason took a few seconds to tinker with the control board before he finally focused his attention on Irina. "Hacking an Imperial frequency isn't very hard if you're well connected. The trouble is sorting through what you can get and finding the information you're looking for," he said casually, while easing back in his seat and putting his feet up. "And when you hired me, you got someone who can do both. Lucky you," he finished coolly.

Irina had almost voiced a sarcastic comeback when a new screen appeared on the ship panel before her with a small bing. As she watched, streams of seemingly random data changed and resolved into words, though some portions were missing.

"That's odd..." Mason commented, frowning slightly at the display. "Normally the system can translate the entire message. The Imperials must be using multi-level encryptions. How much information did your man steal to cause such paranoia?" he joked.

Irina ignored him and continued staring at the screen, her eyes taking in the words that flashed before her. The computer automatically highlighted all phrases pertaining to locations and began to methodically sort and list them. About a minute later, the process was complete and Irina began scrolling through the list. "Got it. They've got Williams caught in a forest to the..." she checked the nav station with a glance. "Northwest of our current location. He's got a lot of space to hide, but it's very likely that Sith soldiers have been conducting searches. Without a Sith Lord, they haven't got a chance of finding him, but it's likely that that's about to change."

Mason shrugged. "I'm paid no matter what the circumstances are," he said simply.

The noncommittal tone of his statement made Irina clench her jaw. For perhaps the eighth time they'd met, the reasons why Irina disliked mercenaries flashed through her mind. But she swallowed her anger and pushed her annoyance from her mind. She needed to be focused if they were going to get Williams out alive. "Well, don't let that be an excuse for sloppiness. The Republic needs this done right," she said. Standing up, she turned to leave the cabin. "Juno will be ready to go the second you put down. Try to find some kind of clearing where we can use this camouflage," she called to Mason before disappearing around the corner.

Mason rolled his head and gripped the manual flight controls. Irina's fear of him performing less-then-examplary was baseless. Mercenary he might have been, but every major failure was a huge blow to his reputation. It may not have been his government and ideals on the line, but something entirely different and -in his personal opinion- much more important. "Whatever," he sighed as he began to search for a suitable landing spot, away from likely Imperial patrols. You just can't discuss mercenary work with soldiers. Or females. And definitely not female soldiers, he thought half-serious, half-joking.

Lucifer arrived at the meeting point after approximately 30 minutes, having seen a familiar face in the bushes. After finding the right place he removed the cloak of the force that hid him and revealed himself to Nighthawk.

It seemed that the specialist team he had requested had also arrived not moments before him. If anything the imperial machine was prudent and efficient.

The massassi walked up to Nighthawk and spoke after giving the customary nod of the head in respect.

''It seems we meet again Nighthawk. I see your as cautious as ever, however we have little time for pleasantries.

As you may or may not know a spy evaded our ships and jetisoned a escape pod into this jungle, scans showed that the homing beacon was found to the North West which means our spy can't be far off from there. I need you to scout for us, keep a low profile we don't our presence here known other than the search parties already out there searching for the spy whom have been instructed to proceed as normal as to not give what we have in store for him away.

A hour ago a ship was located on scanners with some difficulty which appeared to be using a cloaking device which leads us to assume his friends have arrived to pick him up, regardless of this it provides us with a opportunity. I want you to find and follow this new group to the spy using them as bait and lead us to them, once they are all in one spot we shall surround them and trap them. The team with me are equipped with stealth tech so we shall keep ourselves invisible and when the time is right strike, I suggest you emply the same sort of tech...secrecy is key to our plans success.

Use whatever methods at your disposal to do this but whatever it is keep it as I said low profile, I want the timing and execution of this plan to be perfect and for the spy to be dead this is the prioty as for his friends...consider the leading officer a secondary target for capture. As for the others consider them expendable. I want whomever it is leading them alive they may know something of what the Republic and Jedi are planning next. Imperial Intelligence may have some use for them. That said you may proceed when ready Nighthawk.''

With that the massassi waited, once Nighthawk was reayd he would adopt his camouflage again and signal his team to do the same before waiting for the mercenary to lead them to the republic team on the planet whom in turn would hopefully lead them to the spy.

Rear Admiral Verhein was not a faint-hearted man, but even he sighed with relief when Darth Lucifer finally set off to the planet’s surface. Over the course of his long career Verhein met many Sith, and learned that they can be both a boon and a literal bane for the Imperial Military. He was not yet sure if the massassi was the former or the latter, however caution had to be exercised regardless.

This mysterious ‘asset’ the Ministry of Intelligence has sent troubled the Rear Admiral as well. These people could be just as troublesome as the bloody Sith. Now the old officer found himself caught between the metaphorical hammer that was Lord Lucifer and the anvil of the Imperial Intelligence - failure on his part was not an option.

“Lieutenant Aryss, you are to personally supervise our techs as they reconfigure the scanners. This vessel must not slip past our blockade again.” He ordered with a cold determination, turning his attention to a younger-looking officer who waited patiently near the tactical console. “I want the number of interceptors and gunboats patrolling the sector doubled within forty minutes, but the starfighters are to remain at higher altitudes and descend only after HQ gives the word, lest our targets become too suspicious. If possible, reinforce ground patrols as well and send the specialist teams that Lord Lucifer requested to the surface ASAP. That will be all. Carry out.”

Nighthawk tensed as he heard a voice behind him. It took a moment for his mind to register who was talking, but he had already stood up and turned towards the Sith. Willing his hand to stop from going to his blaster, he let it slide limply to his side as he surveyed the Sith and listened to what he was saying. Stealth technology was not something Nighthawk particularly wanted to deal with. If you couldn't see your allies, you were just as likely to shoot one of them as you were the enemy. Regardless, he had been hired and had a job to do. Nodding at Lucifer, Nighthawk left the camp away from the meeting place and went back to his ship. Rigging up a portable sling on his back had not been incredibly easy, but as a result he now had a personal shield, ready to stop any lightsabers from hitting him, or alternatively blasters. He had brought along a cortosis shield too, but he wouldn't need it for a while, until his energy shield needed recharging. Nighthawk therefore engaged every method he had of target tracking in his helmet (thermal, NV, target tracking, xray, etc etc) and sent off his own surprise; An Imperial Probe Droid with which he had the good fortune to find derelict, he had simply repaired the thing, hacked the codes and it now worked essentially for him. Reprogrammed with a stealth cloak, it did a fair bit of Nighthawk's searching for him as he told it to search through the northern hemisphere of the forest. Constantly streaming data back at Nighthawk, he would follow close to it's path as it had a larger scanner then he did. And then hopefully at the end of the trail he would find his prey.