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35:2:21 03:27

Another success, and further signs of our band gelling as a squad. – Though I fear the retaliation that may come from this mission; our mark is getting too large for the Empire to ignore. – It would have been simpler with more advanced intel – I think the Baron needs to have a talk with his sister; if not, I will. –, but I think the team did as well as could be expect in the circumstances.

Said circumstances, thanks to Compatriot: a chance to turn Abrax Fenthar, the head of security at an Imperial R&D center, and a need to steal and/or destroy the plans & new ATST shield generators. – We can't afford those walking around shielded, we don't stand a chance against them as-is right now! – Compatriot's information on Abrax was… scant… but enough to give us a start in deciding how we might try to recruit/turn him. It helped that Sprend & I had both heard of him before, due to his prior involvement in the Ghorman Massacre & the Kwymar Suppressions. Apparently he's fallen a ways since then, if he's been stuck as a head of security at a smaller R&D facility.

And of course, as usual, the main circumstance was one of urgency: the generators were thought to be shipping out tomorrow, meaning we had to move immediately to secure them and Abrax. –Tactician senses… twitching… must… plan… frak.–

Tor immediately started using the plans provided by Compatriot to build a dataspike capable of cracking the decryption hiding the blueprints. Meanwhile, I decided to try out my new disguise kit - waltzing into an Imperial facility with my current profile might be too… obvious. A slight holomesh tweak of my face (button nose, sharper cheeks) and some color changes (grey eyes, black hair – not a bad look actually; did I see Swift give a small start when I came back out, or was it my imagination? –), and I rejoined the team.

Next thing I know I'm hanging from a zipline, 3 stories above the Imperial facility grounds at a dead stop. – I knew I should have looked harder with the remote for another access point! How embarrassing… and talk about failing to lead. – Somehow I'd activated the frelling brake on the thing, and a security droid was starting to come our way! I tried making eye contact with Sprend & Fox as I began to swing towards the building's edge… apparently our silent communication skills still needed work – I was too flustered to try the Force… another failure! –, as they missed my intent (and me) and I found myself clutching the edge of the roof. Thankfully Fox soon managed to grab my hand and pull me up. – I avoided eye contact with everyone for a few minutes after that, I'm sure I knew what they were all thinking, especially after I was followed by the Baron gracefully sliding over. –

What followed was slow but necessary – though apparently Swift and Sprend might have thought otherwise… push-up contest in the middle of a mission?! Boys…. –: sensing for guards, Fox sneaking about, us waiting behind doors, slipping past troopers… and finally unseen into an office where Tor managed to hack in and find plans for the building. – I may have been in a rush at that point too; I was so anxious to get going that I started drawing on my nervous energy to Sense instead of letting it flow calmly. I could feel it was a mistake, but one I felt the team needed me to make for better or worse. –

Our skulk was interrupted by an unexpected run-in with a maintenance droid. Swift lept forward to take care of it – a little too excitedly, almost –, swinging his saber. No luck, and the dark comedy continued as Fox and Sprend had an unsuccessful go at the droid as well. Determined to make up for my earlier snafu with gravity, I quickly unclipped and fired up my own saber and sliced the head off the droid.

Thankfully Fox was then there to cover up my subsequent failures at Sensing – I must work on not getting annoyed like that, given its obvious effect on my abilities! –, and the stealth continued. Soon we found ourselves in the offices containing the blueprint datachip, and Tor got to work on extracting it. As Fox and I stood guard, we heard Sprend quietly shuffling through the desk drawers and then make a small noise… a turn of our heads showed him holding up a photo he'd found… of a family of red Twi'leks, one of whom looked very familiar. FRELL.

Still, we had a mission, and couldn't worry – yet – about the possible repercussions. More skulking, an underground tunnel to the factory, and one security droid later – again, remind me not to anger Sprend when his gun's handy! –, we found ourselves outside what appeared to be a security station above the factory floor. By this point the team was finding its flow; I paused a moment to connect us through the Force again, flipped the door open, and Sprend again took out the droid.

Tor once more made short work of the security (such as it was; this place apparently is old-school, no cameras or anything!)- turns out the shield generators aren't in production, all that's in the factory are prototypes – and we now knew where the storage room for them likely was.

Another trooper lifesign on the other side of the door… and when Swift flung it open, two security droids accompanying it. Swift quickly tried to pass us off as a surprise inspection, which resulted in a very puzzled trooper slumping to the ground with his helmeted head in his hands. – The others might be confused by what happened, but I could sense the Swift's Force attempts; I worry now that he may be the one heading down a darker path, we should talk soon I think. If we both go that way then we could be lost… but nevermind, those kind of thoughts are for later. – The droids weren't so confused though, and simply opened fire.

As I ducked behind a door to take cover, – but not before taking a blast from a droid.. frakking droids! – I again connected the team via the Force, this time sending a command urging them to take cover as well if possible. No time for that though, as everyone flew into a blur of action. After the sparks cleared, one droid lay sliced in half and the other in a heap on the floor, panels still flying off as its lights dimmed.

A quick field strip later – Sprend is certainly… pragmatic –, and some more hull-skulking past troops and security droids, we quietly approached a hallway with some very large doors leading out, and one smaller door leading into the center. I sensed something… odd… in that room. It didn't feel human, and it didn't feel small, but I couldn't tell what exactly it was. I sent the remote further into the room after Tor hit some of the lights, to get a better look at what was making the scuffling and clanking noised Fox had heard.

It was… not pretty. A large hulking sharp-appendaged monstrosity. As the others huddled around the remote's screen saw it come into focus right as it let loose a fierce roar, I felt Fox & Tor shiver. Sprend whispered “Gundark…” right as it snapped its chains and lunged towards us.

And my us, I mean “me”. And by “lunged”, I mean “moved faster than I'd expected”; crates flew into the air as it barreled my direction, and next I knew a flaring pain seized my side as its claws ripped into me. As I staggered from the pain, I tried to pierce through the red fog and connect us all again… somehow I managed to help Fox & Sprend. As I unclipped my saber and activated it, I could only hope that'd be enough to help the others stop the beast.

Then… well, not the expected. Somehow Sprend managed to calm the beast down a bit, and with the Baron's calming influence aiding Sprend's efforts, the Gundark actually ended up shuffling back to its nest drowsily. – I admit it took some time for me to appreciate the desire to somehow save the beast, given that it'd just ripped chunks out of my side. Admirable… but perhaps not advisable. Not that I was in much shape to help had combat continued, however… –

A quick stim into my side later, Tor and I started searching through the crates. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted an odd-looking name stenciled on some crates… “Project Kneecap”? After prying them open, Tor confirmed these were the shield prototypes! And more than expected – 50 crates full. A quick comm to Jumper and a few minutes later he'd pulled up into the warehouse – I must ask him how he did that… clearly he's a more impressive fast-talker than your average trooper –. While Sprend tried to figure out a way to save the Gundark, the Baron & I started to head towards the barracks – we had to move fast before our element of surprise was lost! The others apparently came to the same conclusion, as they quickly caught up and we went over our plan for Abrax. Swift & I would pose as Imperial officers, Sprend as a trooper (– kudos to him for the earlier field strip –), and Fox as our prisoner.

Thankfully we made a convincing enough tableau to gain audience with Abrax, at which point it got… interesting. We told him what we'd done and what we wanted from him and what we could do to help him, but of course he was… unenthusiastic. After a lot of back-and-forth with the entire team, and several outbursts of anger at slips of the tongue and failed strategies – apparently talking about his brothers or farming was NOT the way to go, thanks for the intel Compatriot –, he finally seemed to see the truth to the story of kinship & support the Rebellion could provide, and the firm place former Imperials could have in it. – I'm just glad he DID see the light, after the personal information I – and the others – were giving him, letting him walk free wasn't going to be an option. –

After a brief followup discussion on the role he could now play with the Rebellion (he wouldn't recruit for us, but he would act as an agent), he advised us to leave quietly and immediately so he could begin the coverup process for our breakin. He made some mention of having to throw some underlings under the transport to cover his own tracks, understandably enough. Perhaps he could blame the freed gundark for much of the damage.

And then we arrived back at the Reactor Core, to see a very agitated and worried-looking Dash waiting. Before we could even sit down, he started talking rapidly… his house cordoned off by the Empire, parents missing, Imperials everywhere… – FRAK. Surely they couldn't already be acting on the R&D break, could they? That'd be exceedingly efficient for the Empire… –

So, a success blunted by panic of the unknown within the squad. – I pity Dash, and hope we can somehow help his family, or at least him… he's already had a rough set of lessons about the Empire's true methods, he didn't need another. – What next?…