35:1:19 04:00
- Portions encrypted for personal use only -

This was not how a plan is supposed to be carried out - we'll be lucky if major complication don't arise because of tonight. But I'm getting ahead of myself - too tired, but need to lay this out before I can actually manage any sleep. Anyhow, backtracking…

Four days ago (actually, five now, I suppose) things seemed much simpler and clearer. I accepted an invitation to the Baron's estate to look over some intel he'd received and to puzzle over the artifact we'd retrieved on our previous mission. –I have a feeling there may have been further reasons for the invitation, but I didn't delve further… time for that later. Or so I thought. –

It turned out we had a chance to both recruit a new member for our team (a Shistavanen, who we later learned was named Brown Fox) and to either frame an ISB agent or protect a mole within the ISB (and therein the questions began). The Baron and I talked it over most of the evening (I must say, he does provide excellent meals and company) and came up with a plan to present the rest of the team. I thought we ended up covering all the bases… another lesson soon to be hard-learned. I've transcribed that briefing here, to pull up next time any of us get too cocky or need a laugh.

– Side note: our study of the artifact had interesting results! Almost as interesting as the Baron's reaction to my “it'll be like another cram session at the Academy, and without insinuations that the final result is due to your horizontal abilities” comment… my, that man can blush! Anyhow, we did manage to gain access to some kind of gatekeeper AI within the holocron… now what can we do with it? –

A few days later – yesterday afternoon – we were ready to put things into action. The Baron had procurred security jobs for Sprend & Tor-Nenko – in retrospect, I wouldn't have minded going to the grav-ball tournament the original guards were at myself – , and Dash & I had cased out the ISB safehouse. I'd slipped into my old Imperial dress uniform; I've been to the casino before, and wearing plain civvies was a sure way to get noticed. – I'm sure certain teammates would have prefered something more… exotic. In fact, as I entered the casino through the entrance Sprend was on duty at, I heard him mutter something about “pat-down”. A quick glare cut that one off quickly enough – I went in and milled around the crowd, looking for anything out of place. A few moments later my comm went off - it was the Shistavanen, and he didn't sound too happy to be talking to me instead of the Baron. I don't blame him, given the risk he was taking, but he was going to have to learn quickly to trust us or this whole thing would fall apart. – Ha! –

Shortly after our conversation I saw Fox enter the casino; I slid by him and whispered the plan to get adjoining rooms as I continued on to the hotel checkin and then up to my room. I hoped he'd understand the usefulness of a remote meeting location with backup right next door. As it happened… he didn't care for it – or, I think, me – ; after we met up and I detailed the plan, he flat said “Yeah, I don't like that.” – First sign of breakdown – We did manage to agree that we both wanted to try and find more about D'Gane's contact as well, which seemed to mullify Fox a bit. Still, given his apparent desire and willingness to go offscript – why do I bother? How can trained agents be so reckless?! – , I decided to follow Fox back down to the lobby instead of the original plan to wait in the room as backup.

When the maglift doors opened, I saw Tor-Nenko and Sprend leaving the security office, and a droid thumping in circles being left in their wake. – Second sign – I rushed over as inconspicuously as I could and icily asked WHAT was going on. Sidling over to a spot where the cameras couldn't see us (apparently Tor-Nenko had at least managed to hack into the casino camera system), they simply told me “You don't want to know” – I'm a tactician. I want to know EVERYTHING! – , but tried to give a quick overview anyhow. Twilek ISB agents… caught by security… Dash leaving his post… disabling a security droid… – I'm going to stop counting now – I closed my eyes, sighed deep, smoothed out my dress to try and calm my anger, and then opened them to see Sprend handing me a knife he'd taken from Fox earlier. “Search your feelings” he said in an almost suspicious-sounding tone. Before I could follow up, the Twileks pass by and give Sprend a foul look, and Fox came down the elevator. No time, we had to get back on plan as much and as quickly as possible. – Well, the quickly part was on track, but “back on plan” was out the vidscreen by this point. –

Taking a seat at one of the central low-stakes sabbac tables, I looked for Via D'Gane to make her entrance (as a Zeltron, I was sure her entrance WOULD be noticable). Several hands trickled by while I waited - there were worse ways to do a stakeout. – I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed this game… I have to be careful, I can't end up with another night like the last time I did this with Sally! – Sure enough, heads started turning and I saw who must be D'Gane (with Sprend in tow) making her way through the room, greeting and flirting with half the casino as she went back to the high stakes sabbac tables. Time to finish up my current hand!

More sabbac it seems - I couldn't get into the room D'Gane entered without winning at least 3 medium-stakes games first. I took a seat betwwen a vaguely familiar-looking Imperial general and a large Ithorian. The Toydarian seated across from me was completely silent - a bit unnerving. Still, my luck held and 3 hands later I secured my right to the high stakes room, much to the Toydarian's apparent frustration.

On my way into the private room, I passed by Fox, who was having a hard time getting anything other than “Sabbac players only!” out of the droid guarding the room. I could tell he wanted me to take him in with me, but I just whispered “I'll get her out, give me time” as I was ushered in. – Given his overeagerness, there was NO WAY I was bringing him in cold to meet D'Gane. Not, in the end, that it mattered… – A quick glance back showed a deadly glare in his eyes as he turned and stormed off to the medium-stakes tables.

At last, I had our other target in sight. – And quite a sight too, I must admit… I've not met a Zeltron in-person before, but now I can see how they earn their reputation. – There was also an Imperial governor there – too high up in ranks to recognize me, thankfully. There were a couple of nondescript businessmen playing as well. Most of the room seemed bent on impressing D'Gane as they played, so I joined in and chatted about being on a break from the barracks with her, which started up the governor rambling on about “our marvelous troops, such dedication, protecting the superior commerce of the Empire” and a million other prattlings. As he went on I tried to get a read on D'Gane. – Icleared my mind and reached out to hers… she had quite the slippery and hard-to-focus-on thoughts; all I caught was a brief flash of disdain as the governor continued on. – She was definitely not the vacuous ditz that she presented herself as – we would have to be careful with her! Play continued, as did my luck – which the governor didn't seem to care for. He played his remarks off as joking, but I could tell he was annoyed that the rank-and-file was beating him. – Which, I'll admit, I fully relished – I tried to calm him by chatting with him about recent victories against Black Sun, in a bid to also draw out more reaction from D'Gane's. The governor's continued patter ended up annoying me though. – Angering, actually! Fools like him are what annoyed me most about Imperial service. I turned my anger towards D'Ganes mind, but she still didn't crack. Why wasn't this working?! It'd always worked before! – . Still, I did see D'Gane do something unusual out of the corner of my eye… something tucked underneath the cards she was handing back to the droid.

Just then I caught one of the businessmen giving me a hard stare… Fark! I'd let a comment slip about “we went on a mission to the Gorinth Canyon”… a Firebird mission. Too obvious, anyone with any knowledge of recent battles would have heard about that unauthorized raid! A cold feeling settled into my stomach as I played the next hand - I had a feeling there was more to that businessman than met the eye. Clearly he didn't care for me either… as the dealer declared me the winner yet again, the man stood up, accused me of cheating and demanded I be carried off to security for a full search and interrogation. The governor was all-too-eager to chime in, under the guise of “proving I was a loyal trooper” – Typical… the lowly woman takes all your money, time to kick her our – . D'Gane simply raised an eyebrow as a droid came and escorted me out.

Apparently Fox had managed to win the requisite games while I was getting nowhere, and I slipped him his knife as we crossed paths. Clumsy! I managed to knick myself while doing so – I guess I was distracted by trying to let Fox know D'Gane was, in the least, NOT an Imperial loyalist as we'd potentially feared.

Later I learned what happened while I was being dragged off to security… what was Fox thinking?! And why wasn't Dash in position to back us up? – We all need to have a long, hard talk about our discipline – this kind of stuff is going to get us killed yet! I know we need to improvise, but at least TRY to half-assed follow the plan! – Still, a few moments later I'd managed to convince the head of security (why were his pants out of uniform?) that I wasn't cheating. As soon as I had some privacy I commed Vinny and told him to expect us to be coming out to the garage soon.

As I started to slip out to the garage myself, I heard a commotion in the main casino. Sprend had started a fight with the Twilek ISB agents! Cursing inside, I waited anxiously for the others to make use of the diversion and join me in the taxi. Thankfully, a few stretched-out moments later, they did. As Tor-Nenko opened the door for D'Gane (nothing like a Zeltron to bring out the chivalry), an odd look crossed his face, but he didn't say anything. Not having time to pursue it further, I quickly jumped out and told him about what I'd seen D'Gane slip under the cards – perhaps he should check it out, maybe it was the intel? He agreed and went back inside as Vinny, Fox, D'Gane and I took off in the taxi.

Now was the time to see where things really stood. Fox asked D'Gane which safehouse she wanted to go to – the one from the message or our own – which prompted her to stare straight at me and ask if we were with a the Rebellion. My hand resting lightly on my blaster, I met her glare and simply stated “Yes.” – …and tried to read her internal reaction… no luck again! I got frustrated and pushed harder… still can't tell where her true loyalties lie, but I did catch something about wondering if she can frame some other ISB agent. She's either going to be a big help or huge trouble (or maybe both). –

No reaction – a good thing, I figured. I carried on and explained that she was being setup, and Fox showed her his briefing. She seemed satisfied with his answers and agreed to head to the ISB safehouse to turn the tables. – I wasn't so sure about this part of the plan now… both D'Gane and Fox seem like loose cannons at this point, I'm not sure we can keep things under control. –

Sprend & Dash followed shortly thereafter and we took up positions outside the safehouse. Fox & D'Gane walked up to the front door and apparently convinced the guards all was well, as the guards didn't seen the flurry of violence that followed coming.

– Agony coursing through my mind! Head on fire! I could barely hear shots ring out from D'Gane's gun as I fell to the ground, writhing with my head in my hands. It happened again! It took a few moments to collect myself and wearily pull out my comm and let Sprend and Dash know we were going in. –

2 guards, dead, exit wounds gaping from the front of their heads. – I was right about D'Gane being both. – I numbly stepped past the bodies into the house, where Fox & D'Gane had already cleared out the guard inside (not lethally, thankfully). We all set up for an ambush of the presumably-arriving-soon Agent 63; I behind a chair, and Fox beside the door, covering the lights. I told Dash to stay outside and cover the read – I don't think he'd want to see what's happened. As we finished getting ready the Baron commed – his meeting was done, and there wouldn't be any Imperial patrols in our area. – I knew already he was NOT going to be happy about how things were going, but no time now to fill him in. –

Doors slamming outisde, and footsteps. A knock on the door, a shot rang out, the sounds of two bodies slumping to the ground, a dull pain inside my numbed brain, a door flinging open and people diving in. Sudden focus and fear – Madar!! “Keep him alive!” I yelled from behind the chair, my stun bolt flying wild. More coursing pain through my thoughts, another shot by D'Gane, another guard dead. – If she ends up with us, SOMETHING is going to have to change – Madar's panicked voice, surrendering… and D'Gane holding off the trigger.

D'Gane and Fox subdued and blindfolded Madar (not that that's a difficult task, it seems), along with the unconscious guard, and loaded them into the taxi. Once I was sure I couldn't be seen by the Imperials, I slid into the taxi as Sprend came down from his perch.

The question was, what now? – I do NOT want more blood on my hands, or in my head… this night has been stained enough already! – I have a feeling D'Gane wants Madar dead once she has all she can get from him, but another body in our wake – much less of an Imperial officer (much as I hesitate to use that term here) – seems likely to agitate the ISB even further. Perhaps we could still do the framing option - D'Gane's help would certainly simplify that, and if Tor-Nenko managed to find whatever she dropped that could be used to implicate Madar further.

Not ready to entrust D'Gane with our own safehouse location, I urged Vinny to stop several blocks from the safehouse to drop off Sprend & myself and then take the rest to Fox's hideaway. Along the way I tried to stress to D'Gane that we did not need to kill Madar once everything was learned from him; I'm not sure if she bought it (and I was still too distraught over the trauma from earlier to try anything with the Force), but Fox at least seemed to see my point to some extent. Hopefully he'll keep D'Gane in check while the rest of us quickly meet the Baron and hash out a cleanup plan.

As I suspected, the Baron was NOT happy about how the evening went. – no need for the Force to read THAT on his face – He tried to see the silver lining, and yes, we DID all survive, and we did have a chance to mostly pull it off still. – I'll hand the Baron this: he excels at exuding optimism towards the team, even if he's not feeling it inside. – Another comm dampened things a bit – Fox was having a hard time keeping D'Gane from eliminating Madar, and wanted us to come help ASAP. It was time for another taxi ride, this time to Fox's den.

Once inside, the Baron turned on the charm – plus a bit of the Force; clearly he REALLY wanted her to like him. I decided to let it drop as “business reasons.” – and chatted up D'Gane. He then asked for a moment with her in private – some kind of “urgent personal matter” – so the rest of us stepped outside. Sprend & I covered the door, just in case this “private moment” went awry. Minutes passed… and more minutes… and more… I'd just decided I'd had enough and was ready to comm the Baron when the opened opened and he & D'Gane walked out. She looked a bit more flushed than usual, but whether from anger or excitement I couldn't tell. – I couldn't read anything from the Baron's face either, and given the reputation of Zeltrons, I'm not sure I wanted to dig any deeper. I guess it's “do whatever is necessary”… Is it that way with everyone? With, well… no, drop it. –

So now the cleanup plan – Right, what could go wrong with a plan?! – has been put into place – Madar will be framed and D'Gane & Fox should be able to keep their covers, plus we get the intel D'Gane was delivering for later decryption. It sounds like a decent resolution, considering… but I can't help but shake the feeling we'll be dealing with the fallout from this for some time.

35:1:22 10:42
I've spent the last few days mulling over the mission, and honing my reactions for the next time things fall apart. (OOC: 15xp - bought “Uncanny Reactions”) This morning was quite an interesting note to it - a visit from a member of the “formal” Rebel Alliance, recognizing our contributions. – THIS is one of the reasons I'm where I am! A fellow sister-in-arms…– After she handed out some items to everyone (a recon drone for me - this should prove quite useful when prepping for our next mission), she had a brief conversation with the Baron and then left. – I'm not sure, but I think there's something more there… but is it worth asking him? Depending on the answer, would I want to know. Wait, why NOT? – Perhaps we CAN make a difference here… if we can keep ahead of trouble.