Private Can't Count On Anyone These Days

[Tass Arceneau]

UNDISCLOSED LOCATION
GALACTIC PERIPHERY

Tass waited under a bridge, down by choppy stinking harbor surf, and waited some more. He had a small blaster in his coat. Five more minutes, he figured, and he'd start feeling like something was wrong and bail. He wasn't at that threshold yet.

The meet was supposed to be a sit-down, plenty of time to sound each other out. He didn't know who he was meeting down here on the rocks, out of sight of every camera around, fiddling with his taozin claw necklace and stressed utterly to hell. He'd spent his last local coin on lunch and it was well past lunch. His growling stomach ran the risk of alerting the patrols on the permacrete bridge above him.

Four minutes. Come to think of it, maybe three.

 

[Jared Starchaser]

The galaxy was a mess, and Jared knew that he had to probably do something to fix it. Kaia was out exploring and helping to remap the galaxy, while his father was in Thera Xelec, helping people find their way back to some semblance of ‘not so lost anymore.’ Part of it meant that someone also needed to be here to assist the various cells.

With Mother Askani vanishing, it seemed to fall to others.

The gentleman known as Undertow, formerly of the ORC, and currently still of the Underground, and secretly the Wardens of the Sky, all of it worked together. But there was time for a change now. Something new, something different.

The Crosscurrent was a ways off, and Jared had taken his swoop to the meeting spot. He was running late, but if this being was worth it, they’d wait. Parking the swoop a ways off, Jared left his BD unit with the bike, his lightsaber in a chest holster under his jacket, and his blaster on his hip as he made his way to the bridge, and under it.

Among the trinkets adorning his jacket, was a taozin claw. And Jared saw the same on the other. He gave a nod. To the average observer, Jared had what seemed like aged equipment. To someone who knew? It was Levantine surplus mixed with Outer Rim Coalition standard issue. Who knew what this … kid? knew.

"A bit of cover under this bridge, huh? Weather does look like its going to turn."

Tass Arceneau

 

[Tass Arceneau]

"A bit of cover under this bridge, huh? Weather does look like its going to turn."

One of the hardest lessons Tass had learned lately was that you couldn't default to trust in this cause. You had to choose whether to opt in to trust, not opt out of it. The greenish humanoid in capital-S Spacer gear, taozin claw talisman or not, recognition phrase or not, might be compromised, might even be a Sith.

"Clouds'll break sooner or later," he said, the other half of the recognition code. When no arrest or murder resulted, he relaxed fractionally. He still kept an eye on everything. The choppy water fouling the black rocks, the lights that might be patrols or normal traffic, where those green hands were at any given moment. Everything.

There was nothing for it but to take the next step.

Making no sudden movements, he got a datacard out of his pocket. The card was wrapped in a slightly bloody scrap of cloth.

"Here it is. I don't want to know where it's going next. You've got the gemstone?"

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Jared was the type who, while he didn’t follow his father’s legacy of leading a galactic government, he was here to help the little guy. Probably why he got tagged by an Underground-adjacent network as a shuttle pilot. Here to bring people where they need to go, and get them back home, or retrieve artifacts from the right hands. Jared had a few extra levels of his own security. A droid, and the Force would keep him in the know of a situation.

His own upbringing, as a paramilitary brat and a saber-for-hire on the fringes of the galaxy would let him handle whatever came his way.

The trick was learning yet another new language. Sure, Jared Starchaser spoke pretty much two, basic, and Cheunh, but he spoke many different dialect, including Spacer’s Cant, and now rebel-code words.

He had his contacts set up these meetings, and Jared was making the pass here to the right delivery, he wasn’t a true-blue operative in this part of the galaxy, his eyes were set elsewhere, but getting in and out? He could do that, didn’t even need to worry about giving away the location of Oasis, as it was not part of this operation.

A grin came across him as he saw the man move, pulling the datacard. That was what he was here for. Data to be given up the chain, to let this Network grow.

“And you got this from what facility?” Just to confirm, hopefully the younger guy would be using a code. Jared reached down opposite of his gun, to grab the small pouch, opening it to show the gemstone, then putting it back in the pouch to hand over.

Tass Arceneau

 

[Tass Arceneau]

“And you got this from what facility?” Just to confirm, hopefully the younger guy would be using a code.

This wasn't an expected part of the exchange and Tass weighed it for a beat. Rather than the facility's actual name, he decided to give the place's designation in the verbal tasking he'd received. Some things, you didn't write down.

"Anvil," he said. "It's the resupply schedules for Anvil. They'll change in five cycles. Wherever that's going, and I don't want to know, it's got to get there quickly."

He felt very tired. Some days, resistance work felt exhilarating. Most days, no. Not after months of this. His body's stress response was permanently overclocked.

"How many more of us do you figure there are out there? How big are we?"

He absolutely was not supposed to ask this kind of thing. He just needed some reassurance.

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Kid was good. Jared had to give him that. What the group needed this kid seemed to be able to get. The Warden was here to take the information back to the Underground and the Network. It was a good thing, maybe this one would need to be lifted out of here, but the Network needed someone behind the Blackwall.

“Resupply. Good. We’ll get this to the people in the right place.” He pocketed the card with a bit of a wave, an old Spacer trick. He’d have to get back to the Crosscurrent with the data and back to the group.

“Of us? On what side? In or out of the Wall?” The Mirialan nodded. “I’ve got contacts with a fair few, but I only know code names.” Facilitator, transporter, connector.

Tass Arceneau

 

[Tass Arceneau]

Tass held up his hands. "And I'm not asking. 'A fair few' is good enough for me when my day-to-day is one or two."

A vessel slashed through dark fog maybe fifty yards overhead, parallel with the bridge, and Tass flinched into the shelter of the bridge supports. Probably innocuous, but probably wasn't good enough. He scanned the fog visually but the ship had moved on, probably. Again, probably wasn't good enough.

Lights shifted in the fog. The vessel was, maybe, coming around again.

"Can't linger," he said, but his path back up to the way he'd come put him right in the line of sight of a ship coming back around on that vector, if there was one. He hesitated.

Jared Starchaser

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Good, the kid knew what he was doing. Jared needed that from the people in the network. Underground was a bit different, it allowed for people to learn from one another, and linked small cells. Some people knew of more of the cells than others, but a group on Mon Cala wouldn’t have a connection to a group on Sullust, an intermediary would connect the groups to coordinate attacks.

Here in the Network, it was data that was the prime order of business. They needed to learn what each cell was against, and what they could do. Sometimes that meant connecting vastly unrelated contacts to form a full picture. Sith were out there, Imperials were blockading space.

And the whole of the Planeshift really messed things up.

“No. We shouldn’t. Are you good for a few more days? We’ll be sending out another request for data, or do you need extraction now?” Blue eyes to the sky, seeing the ship overhead. LAAT type. Jared was hoping he parked in the right location, that his bike and Hopper weren’t noticed.

Tass Arceneau

 

[Tass Arceneau]

Tass figured 'extraction' could mean a knife in the dark, a loose end tied up to itself. He weighed that ship's silhouette, all too consistent with a strike team or a patrol deployment. He thought about the walk home and the prospect of getting taken apart by interrogators. It was known to happen.

"I'll take the extraction," he said, thinking of his own knife and also blaster. He resolved not to turn his back on the contact. "I'm not blown but someone lost blood to get the last card. It's too close." He tracked the LAAT. "Shavvit, it's coming around. Where's your ride?"

Jared Starchaser

 

[Jared Starchaser]

There was a part of Jared Starchaser, the heir apparent to his father's legacy, that had knew he had this, but the other part, the one that worried he couldn't live up to the great Coren Starchaser. But he didn't need to. Sure, Jared trained as a Jedi, but wasn't one. He was an agent of the Outer Rim, and that meant being secretive where he could, and moving with a purpose where he couldn't.

Looking to his operative, he nodded. "Yeah, that's too hot. We'll get you moved back to the Kestrel." Part of Blacktip Patrol Unit, the Sphyrna and its crew were using their expertise to help move people around, especially since the Planeshift. "You're good to walk?" Jared knew the answer, but it was how to get there.

"Bike's up the ridge. Can take you with me. Just need that thing's attention elsewhere…" He considered the Force, but knew he'd need to be focusing to keep the ruse going. "Don't have any jammer or faux transponder nearby, do you?"

Tass Arceneau

 

[Tass Arceneau]

The LAAT-like vehicle seemed to pause in the murk and the sound of its engines pitched higher. It had turned toward them. Right toward them.

Tass held his nerve for the primary reason that 'up the ridge' could encompass a wide range of directions and paths. He had to hang back to follow Jared effectively.

"Only a decoy," he said, fishing a remote from his pocket and antsy to run. "It's a one-shot. I can fire it now or later. What do you think and which way's your ride?"

Jared Starchaser

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Some worlds were just worse off than others. Its why he was working for part of this Network, tied in with his Underground roots? It all worked out. He hated these big militaries and the police forces with excessive funding. Looking up, Jared saw the LAAT and shook his head.

Blast.

But a decoy? That could be good. “Got the swoop just up the ridge, behind us.. Under some brush. BD unit with it. Will be a tight run back to my ship. But we can do it.” He looked at the remote then the LAAT.

“How far away is that decoy?” If he had a few klicks, they’d at least be in the air before the ship caught them.

Tass Arceneau

 

[Tass Arceneau]

"How far? Uh..." When Jared paused, Tass paused, watching that LAAT. "...ah, shavvit. Shavvit."

Was it panic or just rapid assertive decision-making backed by experience-fed subconscious heuristics?

He pushed the button and an explosion, weak but large and bright, swelled and thumped around the far side of the bridge.

The LAAT pivoted that way.

"Can we run?"

Jared Starchaser

 

[Jared Starchaser]

Jared was definitely not expecting explosives. Blame his father for playing clean. Aunt Lily would have said go for the explosion, but Coren preferred just a false transponder and a distress call. Though with the Imperials, you can never be too sure who'd go for it. Eyes up on the LAAT, and hand on his blaster, Jared waited.

As the LAAT pivoted, Jared nodded. "Now." He said, and reached into the Force, more to find danger in their way than anything else. Grabbing his short-broadcast comm, he contacted Hopper.

"Warm up the bike. Got an extra passenger."

It was barely a klick away, just far enough. Hopper saw Jared and Tass running and hopped into the spot ahead of the handlebars, almost reverse of an astromech.

"Get on."

Tass Arceneau

 

[Tass Arceneau]

Tass was not a Jedi. Running a kilometer in fog over uneven ground, without so much as stretching, after the body panic of setting off a bomb, was a big ask. He ultimately stumbled gasping onto the bike, sandwiched between Jared and an oddly nimble astromech.

By now alarms and lights were pulsing back by the bridge. Personal-scale lights coned whitely in the fog and swung around massless.

"Where are we going?" Tass gasped, too winded to do much if this turned into a 'dump the loose end' kind of moment.

Jared Starchaser