Impact

[Asmus Janes]

“Ah it’s not like I don’t get leave. I just tend to spend it in cities. I should travel a bit more, plenty of places within Alliance space to go and see. Actually, give me two?”

Decided to take advantage of the stream he walked down it a few metres and relieved himself with his back to the espion. A shallow and rocky part of the stream to cross ensured they left almost no tracks. He thought back to his training, fists curling slightly as he recalled the part where he’d been ‘captured’ and interrogated. Nothing like facing your anxieties face on to give you an awful time.

They’d taken some sharp turns, gone back and forth a few times to send tracking animals in different directions and annoy their handlers, crossed a few difficult obstacles. The mossy ground left no real tracks.

That was when he heard the low whine.

“Down!” he whispered harshly. He stepped over another fallen log and pressed himself into the ground beside her. He couldn’t see it, but he knew that sound. An imperial drone. Not nearly as large as a probe droid and unarmed.

The city garrison had been tasked with increasing security to the threat of attack from some extremists. Of course the bureaucracy had given them no additional funding to do so. They were stretched. They’d borrowed three automated AA vehicles from the planetary garrison by cashing in favours. No one had even had a chance to answer the comm before one shot down an unidentified vessel. There was some panic among the officers that they had shot down a civilian vehicle. On top of that they had no soldiers to spare for a sweep. All five probe drones had been aerially deployed and were sweeping at a smooth 30mph from the landing site to the city. Some civilians were searching the crash site once it had been found.

Asmus turned his head from side to side. The whine wasn’t close, somewhere off to their left. He unslung his rifle and pulled his spotting scope from his belt.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Immediately there was a flash of cerulean across Kaileann’s eyes. They went sweeping the area in a slow pan from right to left. Her heart practically thundered in her ears. Breathing hitched, every breath fanning a small fern sprouting beside her face. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Kaile heard the hum. That slow distant whine. Narrowing in, she couldn’t get a visual, but she could discern it came from the north west. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]“Watch your ten.” she told Asmus in a low whisper. The last thing they needed was to be spotted by a probe. How many were there? How close? So many questions. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=13.3333px]“Stay here.” she told him, turning to face the Wraith pilot. “I’m going to take a closer look.”[/SIZE]

 

[Asmus Janes]

The initial thought of protest died in its infancy. He had to trust her. “Understood.”

With his bare eyes he scanned through the trees, looking for any sign of movement. They didn't tend to come camouflaged at all, so he was looking for a head-sized black sphere. The things could move beyond sprinting speed. Unless it came to a halt he didn't have much of a chance of hitting one at distance.

His eyes remained scanning as his right hand carefully unclipped the cover from the scope of his CC13 and brought it alongside him. He left it there and brought his spotting scope up and placed it on the trunk before him. If he could just catch sight of the thing he could try and draw a bead on it. But shooting the probe was as good as being spotted by it.

He truly had to rely on Kaile now. Keep the blaster to hand in case something went wrong.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[SIZE=13.3333px]The brief flash in his eyes told her that Asmus wanted to protest, but didn’t. Spoke words considering their earlier conversation of trust. A curt nod and Kaile quickly wiggled out of her pack. She needed to lose the extra kilos in order to be quick and less likely to be seen. Still in a low crouch, the agent set her bag down beside Asmus.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]“Keep low.” she warned, before she turned and began her low approach towards the distant whine. This would be tricky. Probes were deft, agile things. However, Kaile had a hand at working with a few before. Her cybernetics would allow her to pinpoint and track the trajectory if she could catch it flying. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Moving carefully, and as quietly as she could, Kaile’s low figure eventually would blend into the surrounding forest. The light was already fading, so the shadows from the canopies in the waning light were both a boon and a danger. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=13.3333px]But if she could get close enough… maybe she get it off of their path. [/SIZE]

 

[Asmus Janes]

Asmus took to following Kaile’s path. He allowed his periphery to scan for anything moving. The sound was a constant whine. Had it picked up their trail and started to scan more carefully.

Asmus stayed exactly where she had left him. Pressed low to the ground with just his head above the log. Almost to give himself something to do he brought his spotting scope up to his right eye. Numbers appeared on the screen showing distance. One eye stayed in the scope, the other on the distance. A tap on the side and it brought up a red cross. This allowed him to try and put together the images from both eyes.

A black shape. His left locked onto it and he shifted his whole head to follow. It was moving slowly and he lost sight of it several times. It wasn't heading straight for them, but was closing. Asmus kept very, very still. The weight of the rifle against his side was reassuring, but even having to use it would likely doom them. That gunship was probably refuelling now, but they could get it airborne and right on top of them within minutes.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[SIZE=13.3333px]A swirl of grid lines and Kaile slowed. The hum of the hover jets grew louder. Ducking low beside a lichen covered tree trunk, the agent narrowed her eyes. A brief widening and a quick zoom in. There, she caught the black shape drifting between several tall trees. It’s scanners flickered red, periodically twisting and turning to scan for lifeforms. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Ah, there you are, Kaile thought to herself. Wet beads of sweat went trickling down her temple. This humidity was the worst. Although, not as bad as potentially getting caught by a probe. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]It was at a distance of about twenty meters. With advanced lifesensor readings, Kaile couldn’t get too close. However, the good thing was that it had set protocols in place to conduct its search based on specific triggers. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Kaile bit her lower lip. There were options. Some a bit riskier, others not so much. However, being able to discern how many other probs might be out there would be a pretty handy thing. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Fingers gave a silent tap against the bark of the tree she leaned against. Thinking back on just what may be able to trigger a response, Kaile licked her lips. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Now to get just a little bit closer.[/SIZE]

 

[Asmus Janes]

Kaile had a line on the probe too. He watched the agent as intently as he did the imperial tool. In his head he started to consider being the other side again. Gunship on the deck refuelling, men re-arming. How quick to get airborne? How much ground could he make with Kaile before they go to this position? Not enough.

If they were caught they'd be separated. Last time he'd been captured he'd told them everything within two hours. That was a time before he'd agreed to give his life in service of the Alliance. And a particularly sadistic, mind controlling sith.

She was moving closer to it. She had a plan. Very slowly he moved his spotting scope to his left hand and unclipped the safety on his rifle. The probe probably wasn't armed. If it was armed and it spotted them it would go for Kaile. If it wasn't armed its protocols would likely have it retreat and follow them from a safer distance.

Trust her.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Kaile was a slicer. She was also an espion. On top of that she had a unique set of skills she’d managed to nurture during her time in the Rebellion, Pyre, and in Alliance SIS. Granted, a bulk of those years had been spent with Bobo. And being around Bobo made things a little difficult when it came to using the Force.

[SIZE=13.3333px]With her increase in dangerous missions, Bobo had to be left behind under the care of Raja, a Selonian agent based off Sullust that would be able to take care of the little guy. Every now and then she commed back when she could. Honestly, she missed him quite a bit. Like the way he would curl around her lap for a nap or when he’d scurry up her arm to tuck himself away under the length of her hair. He had always been so intuitive to her emotional needs, and after the miscarriage, well, he’d been a major comforting point for her. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Looking back, maybe she didn’t handle things the best way. Bobo wasn’t too happy with her leaving him behind, or for the length of time it could span. At first he’d been very angry, almost sulky. It had taken more than a few attempts at bringing him round before he had been able to curl himself around her again. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]However, not having Bobo around meant that she could practice those lost skills. Well, they were never really [/SIZE][SIZE=13.3333px]lost[/SIZE][SIZE=13.3333px]. Just there in the back burner. A little rusty perhaps when she first started, but time made Kaile better. Practice made nearly perfect. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]In this instance, Kaile wanted to get close enough to potentially manipulate the droids programing and deactivate it’s lifesensor scanner. Then maybe be able to see if it was connected in a close circuit or with any of the other probs. Were they sharing information?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Easing closer, the Lorrdian espion kept her eyes on that slow moving black sphere. At any given time it could whiz right out of the area. Not to mention the trouble she’d find herself if it was armed. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]At about ten meters, the brunette managed to come behind the droid. Any closer and she’d risk getting spotted. Alright, let’s see if this works. Biting her lower lip, Kaile slowly brought up her hand. It was just curled slightly by her face. She didn’t need to extend her arm out fully. Really, they were just somatic gestures. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Nothing like zapping a droid with ionize to try and disable it for a bit. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]For Asmus, it would appear as a trick of the light. Or maybe just exhaustion. Whatever it would be, a small purple spark seem to dart out before hitting the black sphere. It fizzled still for a moment, as if shocked. Within a few seconds it immediately collapsed onto the floor. It hit the ground with a low thud, before rolling onto its side. [/SIZE]

 

[Asmus Janes]

It had been an almost overwhelming temptation to reach for the rifle. She was getting closer and closer to the drone and he couldn't fathom why. He wanted to bring it up, get a feel for it and line up the shot.

But it was close enough that even that movement could have drawn its attention. If she'd wanted him to do that she would have asked, or even signalled him. She would have known he was watching closely.

Kaile moved carefully, picking her path expertly through the terrain to get around the drone. It get floating on. At its current path he would have to drop down behind the log soon enough and keep low to avoid being seen.

He watched through the scope as she moved closer still. She was barely metres from it now. His hand tightened around the muzzle of his rifle, he imagined the motion to bring it up onto the log and take aim. Concern welled in the pit of his stomach. If it was armed and detected her now...

She brought up her hand and he thought he understood. Obviously she'd moved closer for the shot. Perhaps she could slice it and use it against their trackers. In disbelief, he saw she held nothing in her hands. That view was contradicted as a spark shot out and struck the drone, which fell to the ground like a stone. He must have missed it, clearly she had a small stun weapon.

This time he drew up his rifle, bracing it against his shoulder but aiming at nothing in particular. He flipped the safety back on. After a few seconds he raised his left hand in the air, looking to see if she waved him up or back down.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Soon as the drone fell, Kalie surged forward. There was little time to dawdle. Odds were that they’d notice that one of the probes wasn’t sending any feedback yet. A glance up and she barely managed a small gesture over to Asmus.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]A grunt fell from her lips, knees aching as she managed to bound down beside the probe. It was a large thing. What she didn’t wouldn’t disable it for long, so so she had to act quick. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]“Alright, let’s see what we have here.” dropping to her knees she set her hands to it. The fall had bent a few of its antennas. A bit more and she caught sight of the small laser blasters. Armed. Okay, that would have been a bad thing if it had spotted them. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Closing her eyes, Kaile refocused on the Force again. Reprograming wasn’t an easy affair. It also took quite a bit of concentration and energy. However, Kaile wasn’t looking to reprogram it as much as disable some of its protocols. Lifesensors could be placed offline. That was easy. Maybe even ordnance. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Oh but where was it feeding information to?[/SIZE]

 

[Asmus Janes]

Asmus tugged at several release clips and freed himself from his bags. He pushed himself up from behind the log, bracing one hand on its slippery surface.

The probe was likely alone, he reasoned. Part of a group that was rapidly sweeping a wide area. But it wasn't beyond the realm of imagination for there to be a squad of troops on its tail, using it as a tracking hound.

Carefully he crossed the ground, eyes still scanning. It reminded him of the time they'd chased a group of pirates into a nebula that messed with sensors. They'd been forced to visually scan, looking for flares of engine exhaust.

Movement. His rifle snapped up. He wasn't a bad shot by any means. The GADF officer’s academy was a streamlined thing, giving its recruits a broad range of skills and sending them down particular career paths only after the first year. Mixing all the potential officer's was thought to create ties and give them an appreciation of all divisions. But it was Jarrick who had taught him to shoot. The old eriaduan marine knew that shooting when fresh didn't matter a damn. When Asmus had signed up he'd decided to put him through brutal physical and mental tests before sending him to the makeshift range on the Quin.

His eyes followed the movement and settled on something brown and low to the ground. A long snout appeared, sniffing the air. The size legged, furred creature turned and darted back into the undergrowth.

Asmus continued to come up alongside Kaile. She had her eyes closed and hands on the probe. Was she interfacing with it using her implants? He didn't interrupt her concentration. He simply walked past her and dropped to one knee, shielding her and keeping his eyes on the direction the probe had emerged from.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[SIZE=13.3333px]Kaile [/SIZE][SIZE=13.3333px]felt[/SIZE] more than saw Asmus nestle in front of her. He was keeping watch. A voice in the back of her mind was grateful he wasn’t asking questions. That he was trusting her to do what she was doing without second guessing. A flashback to what he had said earlier came to mind. That he’d trust her with whatever might come to pass.

Beads of sweat formed over her brow. Plucking whatever data or information she could gather, Kaile mentally swam through what she could find. It was broadcasting back to the city. It also seemed to have a protocol set to sweep at a specific grid pattern with other probes. Nothing seemed to indicate so far that it was searching for a specific profile.

“There are four others.” she murmured, going through that data. “Set in a wide spread from what I can gather.” satisfied with what she had, the Lorrdian set a small reboot timer. This way at least whoever was registering the feed would simply - hopefully - believe that it was just a small glitch.

Opening her eyes, Kaile pulled her hands back.

“I’ve disabled its life scanner and arms. Sending it to simply keep transmitting that it hasn’t found anything.” a glance over to Asmus and then a nod.

“Should at least keep them off of our tail for a bit.” at least enough to find some place safe to spend the night.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Probe two is down sir. Four just entered another signal deadzone. Should I inform the governor?”


“Certainly not,” Captain Bassard snapped back.


“But if they know we're short on resources…”


“No,” Bassard replied in a more sympathetic tone. He saw where the junior officer was going with this now. For a moment he'd thought he was being undermined. “I've made perfectly clear to the Governor that we don't have the resources to deal with this new threat. You can bet he'll come down on me hard if we have an incident. Or if we've just shot down some of his guests.”


“Well. Two is back up and four just came out of its blackspot. NTR on both.”


“Of course not, a hundred square kilometers to search and no men to spare. Those volunteers?”


“Twenty three citizens will be transported in the morning and start sweeping the crash site sir.”


“Good. Increase street patrols.”


“You think that will help?”


“Not at all, but the governor would probably like to see some of my perfectly law abiding citizens being asked for ID.”








“It's a huge area they're trying to cover,” Asmus replied. “We shouldn't encounter another one.” It made logical sense, but it would more reassuring to say it out loud. “Was it on our trail or just following a pattern?”


He brought himself back to his feet, legs protesting at just the weight of the rifle. How the marines could march for weeks and keep fighting he had no idea. Probably why they spent all their time running around Sullust.


“There was a ravine a click ahead. Narrow and shallow but probably a good place to bed down.”


She had called him brilliant. She had just sliced into a hardened Imperial probe and compromised its integrity in a deliberate manner. Asmus was starting to suspect he was going to see her in the same light before the mission was over. When he looked over at her his eyes lingered for a moment. There was no suspicion in his gaze, in fact his lips quirked up a fraction.


His clearance had only been given a temporary elevation on a need to know basis. Even if that wasn't the case the capabilities of the SIS’s agents wasn't something that was shared outside of certain compartments. Still her files for the mission had some information.


A general description of advanced slicing capabilities and a reference to implants. Drink mixing and waitressing had also been referenced, which had amused him

What she had just achieved, however, could not be summarised as advanced. He was no slicer, merely a hobby coder. But he knew that she had broken past the intrusion systems that guarded.its core functions, managed to compensate for intrusion detection and tamper resistant hardware modules and then make significant changes. Playing with the Twins would have been a cakewalk by comparison. He didn't find this intimidating. More intriguing and just a tad alluring. The glance didn't last long, but if she saw it she would have need the seeds of a newfound appreciation.

 

[Kaile Vera]

“Following a pattern. Wasn't searching for specific targets. With how fast that AA came towards us I wonder…”. It was confusing. However, at least this was one less problem. Coming to her feet, Kaile caught Asmus’ eye. No other questions. Just a flicker of admiration. He didn't get or understand what she did. Likely thought it had something to do with the advanced cybernetics. That was fine. I can deal with that.

“We will head to that ravine.” Scrambling back up to the embankment, the Lorrdian made her way back to gather her pack. The brief moment where her load had been light was a small respite, but they had to keep moving.

“The probe is set to reboot,” a glance back then a half grin.”don't be startled if it hovers up again. “

“Let's go.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

As they set out again there was an urgency to their strides. They needed to settle down soon, but they needed to put some distance between themselves and the incident with the probe. If they put another couple of clicks between them then they would have made an area of twelve square kilometres to search. In this terrain and with little to track on the mossy ground that would take an overwhelmingly large search party.

“Those must be some highly classified implants,” he mused. “I know you can't tell me, but you either just broke into the hardened waveforms those probes used and piggybacked off the signal or you got close enough to interface with the shielded internal wiring.”

He considered this as they walked. He knew it was a little mischievous to do so, his body language would be quite clear. But it also distracted him from the growing concern that they would being trailed. They were two reasonably high level prisoners, a Wing Commander and a senior agent. If captured he would have a prolonged and arduous sentence in isolation. He very much thought it would be better to die together fighting. Perhaps she would know better and that the SIS had assets which could be traded in return.

“I'm guessing the latter,” he continued. She could stop him at any time with a look that suggested he needed to. In fact he thought it was probably fifty fifty, but if the SIS has cracked hardened First Order Intel waveforms he was certainly not on the list of people allowed to know. “Do you compromise the integrity chip before moving on to its core systems? Will they find evidence of tampering when it goes in for maintenance?”

There were lots of questions he had for Kaile and these weren't the most important. But they came easily to fill the time and kept them from broaching any personal subjects whilst the mission was on a knife edge. It had been tempting earlier, the pressure had been building for a few days.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Calves protested and thighs burned. However, even the dull aching throb didn't stop the slight tensing of her strides at the Wraith’s questions.

Yes, she had some very advanced cybernetics. No, it wouldn't have been as fast or easy if she had used them. Would have taken a bit longer and she'd would of had to be more careful. Time and risk was the only reason she used the Force.

“Reckon would be best if you didn't know.” Kaile finally admitted, aware that most folk were not too keen on Force users. It was essentially the sum of what Kaile believed to be best with Asmus in the topics that mattered; that it would be best if he didn't know. Too many secrets already. A flashback to Asmus saying he ‘knew’ her came up again.

No you don't.

“But eseyes does have some nifty toys.” Which was the truth. “Reckon much like the Subversion.” The trees seemed to thin around this place. This concerned Kaile. Overhead the sun was alreading sinking into the horizon, painting the sky in orange hues.

“We need to hurry.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Agreed,” Asmus replied firmly. Despite the grumblings from his body at having the weight back on his shoulders he broke into a faster walk. Long loping strides to try and cover some distance. They were relatively exposed here, too little foliage above.

“If I ask a question too close to something classified, I'll shush,” was the last thing he said before falling silent and focussing on their march. He was used to it in this community. They were frank and open and close on the ship, but they were also essentially an intelligence gathering asset. Asmus could fly an atmospheric scouting mission and take images of a new First Order base and he couldn't speak a word of it to his squadron.

As the canopy started to become more dense mist started to roll in. As they reached the ravine he came to a halt, looking down for a potential camp site. The evening light cut through the trees, catching the mist. Knives cutting through the undergrowth. He stopped looking for a campsite and turned his eyes towards the sunset.

“I don't get out enough,” he admitted quietly. He'd seen some amazing astronomical phenomena in his time, but there was something different about being in the middle of a landscape that could have been in a painting.

 

[Kaile Vera]

It was a beautiful sight. Kaile paused, taking the time to catch Asmus’ profile as he surveyed the scene with appreciation.

“Mhm.”

Maybe an appreciation of natural beauty came with age. Goodness knows that Kaile herself had been too busy going place to place, diner to diner, mission after mission to really sit back and enjoy a view. There had been a few places she enjoyed. The beach with Kurt. Cloud 9. Even Tatooine had rather pretty sunsets.

The bulk of her travels were subject to credits and time. Which is why when Kurt and she had traveled, it resulted in a lot of window shopping. A few picnics. Those had been fun.

Kaile missed them.

Coming back to the present, the Lorrdian narrowed her gaze. With the mist it was difficult to discern a safe place to make camp. They needed to be out of the way and hidden out of sight. Not to mention any natural dangers of being close to the ravine.

“Let's head a bit further. Maybe we’ll spot a good place to lay low.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

Asmus agreed with a nod. There was enough light to pick a path down, but it was placing a strain on his legs. In the morning they'd have to climb the other side. Wasn't like they would get a huge amount of sleep either. First light was only six hours away.

Whilst the ravine was fairly shallow a fall would still do some good damage. Fortunately there were trees to grasp and use as anchors all the way down. Fortunately the ravine was dry and the base was again covered in the soft moss. Looking up and down he found a fairly flat spot that was well sheltered by trees. Anyone passing by would need to get very close to spot the tent.

“That'll do?” He suggested. Even with the trees keeping some of the warmth in it was cooling quickly. The sheen of sweat now leaving him cold and clammy. They needed to get the tent laid out and holding in the heat soon.

 

[Kaile Vera]

“That works.” Set up should be quick. Then she would be able to try and get a message back to the Subversion for an update. Odds were that the asset was already anxious over having passed their deadline. However, always flexible.

In truth with the added increased aggressive acts by rebel extremists, it made extraction all the more difficult. A state that both would not discover until they were within the city. That conference had made the facility a target, and having so many First Order officials for that sector a far too tempting target.

Setting her pack down, muscles flexed in their soreness. Her hand came up to rub her right shoulder for a few seconds. Kaile felt the knots there, likely a few bruises as well. This whole operation just seemed to get all the more difficult by the hour.