Private Luxury, Lies, and Other Technical Failures

[Ana Rix]

Ana followed behind Donovan as they headed for the stairs, considering Jack's explanation with a faint smile. There was something amusing about receiving political wisdom in the middle of a locked-down security station while they searched for whoever had tampered with its systems, but the principle itself made sense. "Trust people to do the things they're actually good at. I can appreciate that philosophy." She glanced toward Jack. "It also conveniently supports my intention to let Donovan handle anything involving blasters while I handle anything involving wires."

Donovan's description of the route sounded better than circling the building, especially since they still had no reliable idea whether anyone else was nearby. Ana started up the stairs with them, keeping close enough that they wouldn't become separated without crowding the armed officer ahead of her. "Straight across and within shouting distance sounds good to me." Her gaze traveled upward toward the roof access as they climbed. "I'm even willing to temporarily suspend my distrust of the word 'easy.' Just don't expect it to survive another surprise."

Jack Sheltrak

 

[Jack Sheltrak]

Ana Rix

Jack looked at her as the door opened and he looked over it with a nod to Donovan. They were moving and Jack motioned with one hand while Donovan first made sure he had the door secured and open for them. Jack and him could watch it while helping Ana be able to check it and then he made sure he had the keys that would open it up on him. To be safe he was making sure Ana and Jack saw where he was putting it so they could grab it if they needed it or something happened. Jack was moving and motioned with a hand for Donovan while they were spreading out and then both motioned for Ana with a look giving each other distance so they could cover and watch each other.

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana followed Jack and Donovan onto the roof, noticing where Donovan placed the keys when he deliberately made sure they both saw them. She appreciated the precaution, particularly given how thoroughly the evening had punished assumptions so far. When the two men spread out and motioned for her to move between them, she did exactly that, leaving enough room for them to watch their respective approaches while she stayed out of their way. "I have to admit, I'm getting much better at this part. You two worry about anything with a blaster, and I'll worry about anything with a circuit."

Once they reached the area above where Donovan had spotted the splice, Ana finally had a better angle on the wiring. She crouched near the edge of the installation without touching it, studying what belonged to the building and what looked newer or out of place. She pulled out her datapad long enough to record the visible connections and their positions, giving her something to compare as she followed the added lines rather than risking disturbing them prematurely. "This is better. I couldn't see enough of it from below." She shifted slightly, following the route of another wire with her eyes. "Give me a minute. I want to see how much of this was added and whether I can follow it back toward whatever is powering the grid."

For the first time since they'd left the interrogation room, Ana felt they had reached a problem firmly within her expertise. She continued documenting what she could see, comparing the unfamiliar wiring against the original installation while leaving every connection exactly as she'd found it. Jack and Donovan could decide what to do if someone appeared; she was considerably happier concentrating on the electronics in front of her. "I'm still not disconnecting anything. If whoever did this can tell when the grid loses power, I'd rather they remain unaware that we've found it for as long as possible."

Jack Sheltrak

 

[Jack Sheltrak]

Ana Rix
Jack gave a look at Donovan while Ana was checking it and speaking before he moved. Donovan was making a beeline and checking some of the other areas. "The power is keeping us from being able to contact anyone so if we want to get out we need to get it down but..." He seemed to be thinking. "Can you delay it or make it so we can disable it remotely. The distance is the biggest danger as we can't run away from the building after disabling it we have to go through it to get out of here."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana considered Donovan's question without taking her attention entirely off the wiring. A delayed shutdown was possible in principle, but she wouldn't promise one until she knew what she was actually dealing with. "Maybe. If there's something here I can control rather than just a hard connection, I might be able to give us a delay or arrange for it to drop remotely." She followed the added wiring farther with her eyes, looking for anything that resembled a relay, controller, or switching mechanism. "But I need to know how they built this first. If it's nothing more sophisticated than feeding power directly into the grid, there may not be anything for me to talk to."

Donovan's concern was obvious now that she thought about their route back. Cutting the power from the roof and then making their way through the very building it had been designed to isolate gave whoever was responsible plenty of time to react. Ana shifted closer to another section of the installation, still careful not to disturb it as she examined where the added lines joined the original system. "A delay would be better. We could be back downstairs, preferably somewhere near an exit, before anything changes." A small smile tugged at her mouth. "So give me a few minutes before we resort to pulling wires. This is finally a problem I'm actually qualified to be useful for."

Jack Sheltrak

 

[Jack Sheltrak]

Ana Rix

"COntrol is good, if whoever set this is watching it will alert them just being here, later we'll have to make a choice if they are not coming out." Jack looked at Donovan who was there checking more of the alcoves within view as he spoke. "There will also be the other problems, if it doesn't go down we can't get out or communicate and it will be awhile until they notice. With it being almost fully decommissioned we are just here so they don't have to check on us." Donovan said it while he motioned and looked around some fo the corners and rooftops. The Jack was checking on the sections of it on his side while looking over the corners of the roofs were overlooking parts of the station.

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana continued working while Jack and Donovan watched the surrounding rooftops and alcoves, increasingly aware that their presence alone might already have changed the situation. If whoever had installed the bypass was actively monitoring it, there was little point pretending they could remain unnoticed forever. "Then I think the best I can give us is control over when it changes. If they already know we're here, we can't undo that, but we don't have to tell them exactly when we're ready to move." Her attention remained on the added connections as she traced how they interacted with the original grid.

She considered Donovan's warning about how long it might take anyone to notice something was wrong. A nearly decommissioned station made an inconveniently good place to isolate people precisely because nobody expected much activity from it. "And waiting for someone outside to notice doesn't sound like much of a plan. From their perspective, this place is doing exactly what it's supposed to do: very little." Ana studied the circuitry for another moment, looking specifically for a point where she could introduce a controlled interruption rather than simply severing power. "If I can rig a delayed cutoff without changing what the system is doing now, we can trigger it when we're ready, get downstairs, and put as much distance between ourselves and this building as the delay gives us."

She glanced up briefly toward Jack and Donovan before returning to her work. "I just don't want to promise the clever solution until I know the hardware will actually let me be clever."

Jack Sheltrak

 

[Jack Sheltrak]

Ana Rix

Jack gave a look while he was checking over the edge and spoke. "Clever is good, whatever you think will work best. We are going to want to get out of here quick enough." He said it while Donovan checked and then stopped with one hand coming up and he motioned. "Here." He said it and Jack moved over to join and look at what he was pointing at. The first thing he noticed was less the people and more the sound of them going near one of the windows and checking it and then another. Jack and Donovan crouching lower in place before they were checking out as Jack and Donovan motioned. "We are going to want to get back inside I think."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana looked up at the change in Donovan's tone, then followed the direction of his and Jack's attention. She couldn't make out much from where she was working, but the sounds below and the way the two men immediately lowered themselves told her enough. Apparently they had reached the point where the possibility of someone still being nearby was no longer theoretical. "I think that's the first suggestion you've made tonight that I'm not going to question." She kept her voice low, already gathering the datapad and anything she'd been using without disturbing the wiring itself.

Whatever clever solution she'd managed would have to wait. Ana stayed low and moved toward the roof access, letting Jack and Donovan determine the pace rather than trying to get around either of them. She resisted the temptation to look over the edge herself. If the people below were checking windows, giving them another person to spot seemed distinctly unhelpful. "I haven't changed anything up here, so the grid should still be exactly as they left it." At least whoever was below shouldn't have received an electronic warning from her work. Whether they had noticed the three of them by some other means was another question entirely.

Ana glanced toward the door, then back to Jack and Donovan. "I'll save clever for when we're not standing on a roof somebody may be looking for a way into." No one argued about leaving the technical problem unfinished. Circuits were Ana's territory, but deciding how to handle unknown people moving around a compromised security station emphatically was not. She was more than willing to trust the two men with that part.

Jack Sheltrak

 

[Jack Sheltrak]

Ana Rix

Jack looked at her for a moment and was moving with Donovan towards he door as they got it opened and were inside quickly making room for Ana to get in before Donovan worked on securing it and ensuring it wouldn't be pried open easily... yet. A quick pull on the controls to expose the interior and then disconnecting the scanner. Jack was looking at it as Donovan was showing it more that they could just reattach it to get the light on and unlock the roof for acces quickly. He was moving while they grabbed the stairs railing and was moving what they could to impede as needed if someone tried to force the door. "Won't be good but if we are running, going up to the roof is dangerous."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana slipped through the doorway as soon as Jack and Donovan gave her the opening, moving clear so Donovan could secure it behind them. She watched closely as he exposed the controls and disconnected the scanner, committing the simple reconnection to memory when he showed them how to restore access. "Reattach that, wait for the light, and it unlocks. I can manage that." Considering the increasingly complicated problems surrounding them, she appreciated having at least one escape route whose instructions could be summarized in a sentence.

She helped with the railing where she could, though she left the heavier work and decisions about how best to barricade the access to Jack and Donovan. Donovan's observation about the roof earned a glance back toward the door. Whoever they'd heard outside had already been checking windows, and Ana had no desire to discover what they wanted while trapped somewhere with nowhere else to go. "Especially if we're running from people who already know enough about this building to lock it down." She stepped back once she had nothing useful to add to the makeshift obstruction. "The roof can stay an emergency exit. I'd rather not turn it into our first choice."

Her thoughts returned briefly to the bypass she'd left untouched above them. She hadn't gotten enough time to rig the delayed shutdown Donovan wanted, but she had at least documented what she'd seen before they were interrupted. That information wasn't much use while they remained isolated, though. "I recorded the wiring before we came down, so I can keep working out what they did without standing beside it. It won't shut the grid down for us, but we didn't come away with nothing." Ana glanced toward Jack and Donovan, leaving whatever came next to the men who could actually judge the threat outside. "For now, I'll take somewhere with walls between us and whoever was checking those windows."

Jack Sheltrak

 

[Jack Sheltrak]

Ana Rix

"Not running, just tactically moving the opposite direction of the possible hostile force." Jack said it when he was moving with some speed and attention. He allowed Donovan to lead the way when they were getting down but also checking the door to the second floor. Making sure it was locked for the stairs themselves at least in case they didn't get the chance to search the floor. They could at least lock the floor itself and leave the stairs filled with only the one entrance that they wanted to be able to use. "We'll double check but if they are going to find a window at least the ground floors doors are all locked and taken care of."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana followed Jack and Donovan down the stairs, keeping up with their quicker pace without trying to get ahead of either of them. Jack's distinction between running and tactical movement earned a faint smile despite the circumstances. "Of course. We're not retreating. We're strategically relocating ourselves somewhere considerably less convenient for whoever might want to shoot at us." She glanced toward him as they descended. "I can see why you were successful in politics. You have a much better vocabulary for unpleasant situations than I do."

She watched as Jack checked the second-floor door, understanding the reasoning behind securing another possible entrance. Whoever was outside had already demonstrated some familiarity with the station, but that didn't mean they should make moving through it any easier. Ana kept her datapad close, the images she'd recorded on the roof still available for later examination. Unfortunately, knowing how the privacy grid had been modified wasn't the same as knowing how to disable it safely, and she wasn't about to pretend otherwise. "At least we know the interference isn't just a malfunction. Somebody deliberately connected another power source, and now we've seen people checking the building." She lowered her voice slightly. "I'd say that makes our situation a little more interesting than I'd prefer."

As they continued toward the lower levels, Ana glanced at the doors and stairwell, considering what Jack had said about the secured ground-floor entrances. "If they do get through a window, I suppose the locked doors will at least make it harder for them to move around freely." She looked toward Donovan, content to let him determine their next move. "I'm beginning to appreciate just how much effort goes into keeping people out of a building. Usually I'm doing that with passwords and firewalls."

Jack Sheltrak

 

[Jack Sheltrak]

Ana Rix

Donovan looked at her. "You have no idea how good he was at the politics. Zeltron elections are about who can be popular and give a good party. They love it and politicians are chosen middle of the king and queens term so he got to see several and make sure we were properly funded and not just handling naked jedi running through the street." Jack only laughed to that a little. "Streaking is only for designated areas of the city and even then we try to avoid hologram fun world where the tourists and children go for safety concerns and decency of much of the galaxy."

 

[Ana Rix]

Ana looked between Donovan and Jack, momentarily distracted from their rather serious predicament by the unexpected insight into Zeltron politics. She had encountered plenty of unusual political customs, but choosing representatives partly on their ability to throw a good party was certainly a different approach. "So political success on Zeltros depends on popularity, entertaining people, and knowing how to keep everyone happy. I suppose that's not entirely different from politics anywhere else. You're just considerably more upfront about it." Her lips curved into a smile as she glanced toward Jack. "Although I have to admit, I wasn't expecting public nudity regulations to be part of your political legacy."

Donovan's mention of funding also caught her attention. Apparently Jack's ability to navigate the local political climate had translated into something more practical than winning elections or entertaining constituents. "Well, if keeping the security services properly funded was part of your accomplishments, I'm certainly appreciating that right now." She glanced toward Donovan before returning her attention to Jack. "Though I'm curious how often naked Jedi running through the streets actually became a problem. The fact that you have designated areas makes me suspect it happened more than once."

The conversation was an unexpectedly welcome distraction, but Ana hadn't forgotten why they were moving through the stairwell in the first place. She kept pace with the two men, careful not to let her amusement distract her from watching where they were going. "And here I thought diplomatic summits were complicated. Apparently I've been missing an entire category of public safety concerns." Her smile lingered as she added, "Although I'd happily trade our current situation for a complaint about somebody streaking through a tourist district. That sounds like a much more manageable problem."

Jack Sheltrak