Dangerous Territory

[Simone]

Spoiler

In response to the challenge set by [member="Ember Rekali"]. @Countess of Báthory

Spoiler

tagged as you requested.

Spoiler

@Cryax Bane @Dashal Vance not sure if you two want to join this or set up your own.

Fingers clutched tightly to the bag on her lap, partly to stop the slight tremble in her hands, partly because she could feel the eyes of some of the lesser beings on the transport eyeing it up. Who, in their right mind would come back here? She'd been some of the few to escape Coruscant when it fell and as its luminescent surface drew ever closer, she found herself reliving her last moments here quietly.

Eyes flicked from the planet to the others on the transport. A rag tag band of humanoids and aliens a like, all scraping from the bottom of the barrel. There reason for return? Desperation. War meant that supply lines were strained people were struggling on the edges of space. There comes a point in time, where you no longer worry about the greater battles, you simply ignore the great political struggles and head where there is food and work.

No matter who flew their flag on Coruscant, it would always have work and food, and a former reporter, whose reputation labelled her as a loud mouthed citizen who badgered the Republic for its failings prior to the war, was down on her luck and looking for work. There was no lie in that story, it simply omitted truths. Truths like the fact that she was a slicer, and she had aided the Republic in their war efforts, albeit a very minor amount.

Small details, that wouldn't go amiss, lest someone felt the need to look hard at her. And why would they? It took the best part of an hour to get through the spaceport security where she was asked a handful of questions by a Rodian whose voice told her he was very much bored of his day already, despite it only being a couple of hours past dawn. He passed her through, satisfied with her responses and she caught a speeder cab to the Column Commons.

She'd need to re-familiarize herself with her old homestead before getting to work.

 

[Simone]

Home wasn't what she remembered. She remebered people who loved to gossip who would spend their afternoons lazing in Coruscant's false sun exchanging tales of disaster and dramatics, stories of the senator that was seen in that district with this whore, of business owners who were rumoured to be dodging taxes. Of course, all rumours started in the Column Common's, the centre of the planets media, this districts entire existence worked for rumours and speculation. Half truths and exaggerated lies. Simone had both loved and hated it.

Now though? Now they were tight lipped, they walked with their heads down and said but three words to each other. Half the buildings were derelict, people gone out of business. The few she had gotten words out of were eager to tell her they'd been forced out of business, but they did so with a panicked air about them. The One SIth rule wasn't kind to those who wanted to shout about their poor management, or bad decisions. It left a bad taste in Simone's mouth and steeled her resolve.

Derelict buildings offered Simone something wonderful. Accessible equipment beyond the capabilities of that which she carried in her knapsack. Certain she wasn't being watched, she ducked under the tape that deemed the old holovid company building off limits and dashed inside. Reaching into her bag she pulled out a small holocamera and began filming. An old habit, when you stumble across something you shouldn't have, film it, so the secret can be shared.

A think layer of dust covered everything, blackened marks on the wall told all the story she needed. Whoever had been in here had put up a fight. There was no noise excpet the sound of her breathing, which she realized had become very shallow. Taking a deep breath, she glanced once more over her shoulder before heading for the turbolift. Out of service, she headed up the emergency stair case, her steps echoing so loudly she was certain someone would hear her.

 

[jtfang]

Rather then hearing her, the ithorian sensed her as she walked up the stairs. When she arrived, she would notice the 6'4" alien standing, placing a hand on one of the various burns on the walls. When she would see him, he would say, "A terrible thing has happened here. Like many other homes on this planet..." in ithorian, almost sounding sad.

 

[Simone]

Simone froze in the fire exit door, holocam still in her hand, wishing very much that it was a weapon of some sort. Ithorian's were big, she was not. His words made her tilt her head, frowning slightly. Unfreezing her limbs she moved into the office floor. "Yeah, well, sith are heartless bastards." she responded, moving past him. If he was a threat, she didn't have a hope in hell, but she wasn't going to assume the worse when all he'd done so far was comment on tragedy. "Welcome to the war."

She set the holocam down on a nearby desk and ran her hands over the servers. They were slightly damaged, but there was enough of them left for her to get a signal and a signal was all she needed. She set to work, glancing sideways at the ithorian as she got the power started. "What are you doing here anyway?" she asked as she pulled her personal computer from her knapsack and began connecting it to the server.

[member="Perth Marogan"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Hidden in the Force, her presence reduced to that of your average Slightly Mysterious Figure, Ashin moved unhurriedly through the derelict buildings in this part of Coruscant. She was not aware of @Simone; she simply happened to be in the area, on an errand of sorts. A Tenloss Warrior Helm concealed her face; a heavy cloak did its best to conceal comparably heavy armour and a belted lightsabre. She'd left Ravening at home; the fething sword was almost impossible to hide, either physically or spiritually.

The flat eyes of the Tenloss death's-head flicked from empty building to empty building, searching for...

Well, that'd be telling.

 

[jtfang]

The ithorian walked away from the blaster mark, moving a bit toward her. "Just checking for anything that could be used... The real question, miss, is 'why are you here with a hovercam'?" The ithorian said. If you listened a little closer, his ithorian voice was a bit higher pitched. He was young compared to adult ithorians. (Ashin, would I still sense a disturbance or anything?)

 

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Perth Marogan"]

OOC/ No, I'm hiding my Force presence, though you might sense other people being uneasy about me outside.

IC/ Phrik gauntlets knotted into fists, just for a moment, a gesture of satisfaction. She lumbered into one derelict building among many, and began to make her way to the roof. The turbolifts didn't work here, and the roof was a long way up, especially when wearing close to twenty pounds of phrik plate. She drew upon the Force to enhance her bodily endurance, shunt away or prevent fatigue, and otherwise enhance her ability to climb a ridiculous number of stairs.

 

[Simone]

"Hmmm?" She glanced at the camera resting on a nearby desk. "Oh! That. Well, old habits die hard. When I see something bad or exciting, I reach for the camera." She flashed him an innocent smile. "Retired reporter."

She turned back to the computer in her hand and began scanning for secure networks. It was safe to say there were a few hundred of them but she picked out a handfulof the toughest ones and started some test runs. They operator at the otother end wouldn't pick up any more than a rogue virus bouncing off their firewalls. Low threat. Nothing to concern themselves with, what it was doing was giving Simone a more solid idea of what security she'd be dealing with. And how quickly they'd locate her.

[member="Perth Marogan"] [member="Ashin Varanin"]

 

[Simone]

There were a handful of old consoles dotted about, while Simone's personal computer ran its tests, she set to work getting some of them online. They were sluggish and slow to start, protesting with the hum of fans at being woken from their slumber. It took the best part of an hour to reconnect four consoles and connect them to the server. Hardware in place, she began the more delicate process of building her own firewalls, setting traps for tracking. Viruses of her own making that corrupt data or wipe systems clean. Irritating advert explosions and the silhouette of a twi'lek dancer that is impossible to remove unless the computer is shut down.

Anything she could use to give her more time, she used.

Then, with the systems set, she checked her exits, estimated how long it would take for her to cut across the city and get on a transport, doubled it, and set herself a time limit. She sat herself on the floor before her personal computer, and studied the intel she'd gotten. It would take no less than fifteen minutes to get past the firewalls, no more than twenty, they'd be through the first two traps by then.

That gave her a grand total of ten minutes to find the bounty's author, and less than ten minutes to dissappear into the underground before a response team pinned her down. Ten minutes wasn't enough. She pursed her lips. She needed one of two things. A distraction for the response team, or to find the intelligence before her time was up.

Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes, flexing her fingers slightly as she did.

Opening them, she opted for the latter. The operator of the secure server would have alarm bells ringing as she began to cut through the first fire walls. Simone's fingers move deftly, with precision and without hesitation. She'd played this game before, but before it was against the Republic, and the Republic don't kill quite as easily as the sith.

 

[Simone]

Ten minutes had passed, her first firewall had fallen, in return a trap had been sprung and her trackers were currently dealing with a virus that was contendly deleting random files. she'd gotten through the worst of their own firewalls, hairs on the back of her neck were on end, heart racing. She bit her lower lip, eyes glittering with excitement as she shifted her position slightly, fingers still unrelenting in their pace to get through to the end.

This was where Simone got her kicks, this was where she loved to be, breaking the rules, stealing intelligence and flashing it at the highest bidder. And why? because it annoyed people, because she could, because there was nothing better than snatching the rug out from under someone feet when they believed they were utterly secure and stable, and watching them land on their backside...or face.

A glance to her right, as her trackers started up again. The second firewall fell, and her second trap unleashed on them and she slipped past their final layer of security and began her search, adrenaline making her tremble slightly. The fingerprint was cleared here than it had been on the bounty board, within five mintues, she had a name, address and basic background. Jumping up, she pulled the plug on the server, with five minutes to spare.

Triumphant as she felt, she didn't waste time on a victory dance, thought it was tempting. She erased whatever data she'd inputeed into the consoles, and returned them to their previous positions, snatched up her personal computer and holocam and dashed for the emergency stairs. She kept a steady pace all the way back to her apartment, relaxing only when she'd dead locked the door. A laugh, and she allowed herself the little victory dance before firing up her com systems.

The message sent was simple.

Found a breadcrumb trail. Input required to progress further.

-S-

@[member="Ember Rekali"]