Routine Inquiry (Closed)

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden sat in a chair as the Firehawk’s auto navigation system took the ship in for an acceptable landing on the leviathan ring surrounding the world of Kuat. The process was calm, controlled, and efficient. Quite Imperial. Rhoden had more important--and fun--things to occupy his mind, though. He sat cleaning, polishing, and sharpening his blade--he would need it before his time on Kuat was done.

He stood up, stretched and walked back towards the boarding ramp as it lowered, pulling up the hood of his Shadowguard robes. Dot floated up beside him, silent for the time being. Rhoden walked down the ramp and the small group of troopers straightened and a man--a General by the looks of him--gazed on nervously.

“Commander Carbine.” the man said--indeed the general--as he approached, “To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit.” there was a strain on the word pleasure. Rhoden’s eyes glittered malevolently as he answered, “A routine inquiry, only.” he said, smiling coldly. The General seemed to wilt a little, “Surely a routine inquiry is outside of your… ah… job description.” the general said delicately. “Perhaps,” Rhoden responded, “Though you haven’t the pleasure of knowing what my job is.” he said.

The General’s--Amon Morris, Rhoden connected the face to a file he had read weeks ago--eyes tightened. “Perhaps I could see your orders?” he asked. He desired to send Rhoden away but knew that without cause it would be unwise to do so. “No. I don’t think you can.” Rhoden replied smoothly, his voice calm and controlled. Which served only to heighten the General’s anxiety in this case. “You can give me full access codes and clearance.” he said, “Or must I retrieve that for myself?” he said, a slight edge in his voice. General Morris swallowed, “No… I… here.” he said, gesturing a terrified looking aide rushed out from behind the troopers and handed Rhoden a code cylinder, Rhoden handed it to Dot.

“Unless you have anything else to add, I’ll begin immediately.” Rhoden said, the General gave a smile that looked like a grimace and walked away. Rhoden wondered about their attitudes. On the one hand the Other One received similar responses--such was what happened when an unknown variable showed up unexpectedly--but on the other hand such nervousness could be a sign of guilt.


Lieutenant Selya Johma had joined the Empire to get out there and see the stars, to be a part of the force which brought peace and stability to the galaxy. At least that was as her parents had remembered it, how she had thought it would be. Then she went to the academy. It was long and grueling, and she saw officers just as able or less so than herself rise up higher because of their connections. It galled her, especially since they had brought her down in the process. She might have let it rest if they hadn’t attacked her.

Then she had gotten out of the academy--barely--and been posted to Kuat. She wasn’t out seeing the galaxy. No. She got to stare at a monitor all day, not even doing anything of value. She’d show them all. She was just as good as anyone else here--better than anyone else here.

The man--well, his representative--had come to her with an offer over three years ago. It had been simple--sneak in code when requested. Sometimes it could be done from her terminal. A few times she had stopped droids. She hadn’t been given anything for the main computer, but then she couldn’t access that without raising suspicion. She wet her lips. Another transmission had come through early that morning. She had her most important job yet.


Sergeant Draymond Azin wasn’t here to keep order, to crush terrorists, he wasn’t here because he believed in the cause. He was here because he was a damn good soldier, it was what he did best. And the Empire paid him well enough to be happy, at first. Sure, he’d been promoted, he got more money now. But he wasn’t in a combat position. He guarded empty ships. The Empire didn’t pay Stormtroopers for sitting back and watching ghost ships. As far as they were concerned Draymond was getting free housing and free food--if you could call it food--and was still being compensated for his “work”.

That wasn’t good enough for him, so when a new job opportunity had opened up he’d taken it. There was money in it. There was a lot of money in it. The man had introduced himself with a code name, and said he was representing an “independent group”. Draymond suspected it was pirates, or some other scum, but he didn’t care. All he knew was that he reported on his fellow troops, their numbers, personal information, patrol routines, the whole package. He also had the more difficult job of planting certain devices throughout his sector of the ring.

He’d scanned the packages at first, worried he might be found out, but they were really quite ingenious in their design. From what he gathered they were items varying from holocams to high yield explosives, but each was coated in a clear material which shielded it from scans. As far as he knew no one had found one of the items to date, and there were a lot of them out there. He also knew there were others on the station. There had to be. He didn’t know who they were and he didn’t care. All that mattered was the money. And today was the day when it all paid off.


Commander Gieran Halik had clawed his way up the ranks with blind fervor. By the time he’d realized what the Empire really was he’d gotten himself in too far. Now he was stuck on the terrifyingly large orbital platforms of Kuat. A small part of him felt pride at being the Commander of an entire sector’s worth of TIE’s on the giant ring, and he did genuinely care for the pilots under his command. But he knew what had to be done.

He’d been offered a job while he was on leave a few years back, and he had performed it to the letter. First had been detailing what, exactly, the count on fighters was, flight patterns, and much more. Next had been modifications to the TIE’s in his sector. He’d disguised the modifications’ true intentions as computer upgrades. His superiors had approved the modifications, stating his exceptional performance throughout his career along with a bunch of other high-sounding fluff. When the time came the TIE’s could be taken over by remote pilots.

He took a deep breath. Today just might be the day. He’d received new orders. His most important orders yet.


Rhoden walked to the guest quarters and walked in. They were comfortable and large, he smiled at the thought that they were probably used at other times for visiting flag officers. Apparently his arrival had really stirred the General up--or whoever was in charge at the top, he’d look that up later. Right now, though, he needed to sleep. He collapsed onto the bed. “Dot, five hours, wake me.” he said. He barely registered the response.

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden woke at Dot’s insistent beeping and sat up, swiping half-heartedly at the droid as it floated out of reach. “I’m up, I’m up.” he muttered, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing. He took a moment to make himself halfway presentable--followed by the immediate slinging of weapons back onto himself. He exited his quarters.

“Let’s start with the local constabulary.” Rhoden said to Dot as they moved down the corridor. He stopped a mouse droid, “Droid. Take me to the Stormtrooper barracks and armory.” he said. The droid twittered a short affirmative and Rhoden sighed. He’d been able to understand droid speak more since his unfortunate experience with the nanodroid virus. It wasn’t so much that he understood the meaning word-for-word but he definitely understood. The Other One had found the newfound knowledge useful if disturbing. Rhoden just found it annoying.


Azin had gotten up early that morning and walked into the adjoining armory to the barracks. The few people who had disturbed him so far knew enough not to ask any questions, he was a Sergeant inspecting blasters, nothing more. Of course he wasn’t really inspecting the blasters, he was gimmicking them, making sure that they failed at the very least and blew up in the more extreme cases. Even if someone took the time to examine the blasters closely the sabotage wouldn’t be detected until the weapons were taken apart or fired.

Next he moved to the grenades, fragmentation, concussion, flash, all were carefully given a similar treatment to the blasters. He got more attention during this part of the job, however, “Sergeant? What are you doing?” another trooper--this one in full arrmor--asked. Azin looked back at him as he finished snapping a piece back into place. “Couldn’t sleep,” he grunted, “Picked up a few tricks to make these things work better.” the other trooper--a Corporal--accepted the response, and walked off “Have fun, Sergeant.” he said in a monotone as he left the armory. Azin turned back to his work. Three more and he was finished, just in time too.

The door slid open and a man Azin had never seen before strode in, a droid reminiscent of the holos he’d seen of Viper Probe Droids floating alongside him.


The droid led them through the labyrinthian corridors of the sector and finally veered off into a wall. Clearly they had arrived, given there was only one door ahead of them. Rhoden strode forward and the door slid open. He walked in and looked around, his eyes falling immediately on an off duty trooper--the only person in the room. Rhoden did not wear his helmet but he did wear the appropriate lenses for a HUD and immediately information appeared in his vision.

“Sergeant Draymond Azin.” he said, the man looked up at him. He read over the profile quickly. Former bounty hunter, overpaid given his rank and posting, but a good soldier, currently the ranking trooper of this sector. “Give me a full report on the security measures in place and your personal evaluation of security here--from the other troopers to the officers.” his voice was strong but soft, it seemed to carry unnaturally throughout the empty room.

The man straightened his eyes drifting to the code cylinder dangling from Rhoden’s Shadowguard robes. “The troopers in this sector are well-trained but inexperienced, guards are posted at regular intervals and patrols are frequent. The officers are professional and are particularly careful about security.” he did not add a sir, not an offense given Rhoden’s appearance at this time. The slip could be deliberate, either an attempt to receive and analyze a response, or to ensure no perceived protocol was breached. Too it could be unintentional, the simple habit of a bounty-hunter-turned-soldier, a good fighter but never truly fitting in with the strict requirements of a military force.

Rhoden kept a smile from lifting his face. The Other One was very good with the analyzing and reading and strategizing. The Other One actually enjoyed the process, and in this moment Rhoden found it charming, but when the charm wore off it would become another task to waste time he could otherwise spend doing something that was more energetic and exciting. Though with any luck it would lead to the fun parts…

The Sergeant continued in his analysis, going into a surprising amount of depth, Rhoden agreed with most of the assessments, but some he would have to test further throughout his visit. When the man was finished he inclined his head slightly, “Thank you. That is all.” he left the room.

“Now, let’s go see those lovely TIE’s.” Rhoden said. Dot beeped from beside him, something about “inferior scrap piles” and “flying coffins” Rhoden chuckled.


Azin took a deep breath as the man left the room. Part of his fear had come from the obvious fact of his having just tampered with the weapons but that wasn’t enough to cause him such grief. No. Something about that man had unsettled him, and he couldn’t place what it was. And that disturbed him most of all.