This is not what I had expected.

It is what I had feared.

Taking allies… I think I may have made a mistake. This group of… people. They are very well meaning. But… I just don't think this is going to work out.

Where do I pick up the story? Well, Seth and I took it upon ourselves to acquire some explosives for the upcoming “retrieval” mission. On our way, I was accosted by a spice-head with attitude. I hadn't seen him before and he seemed to not like me. He blew off some steam about “my kind” not being welcome there and that he wanted me to leave. One of his eyes looked off at the ceiling as he spoke to me and the other one was bloodshot. I couldn't tell for sure if he was spinning or not, but he presented himself as one who's life had been dedicated to the spice jar.

I exchanged looks with Seth, gave a shake of my head, then brushed the stranger off. I told him that I was going already and walked past. He muttered something about not coming back, but I disregarded him. Seth asked me why we were walking away, and I didn't know what to say. I'm still not sure who the Brothers and Sisters are down here, but I do know that I don't want trouble, and killing an unarmed man is a good way for anyone to gain attention round here. I said that Rordrrl, the Wookie who runs the place, doesn't allow violence, and Seth left it at that.

I nosed around my contacts for a supplier of explosives. After a few redirects, I ended up at a little bar frequented by a guy named Tyro. (I think that was his name. I guess I should pay more attention. I still owe him money after all.) We beat around the bush some, and finally settled on the reason for my visit. Tyro said he had some “special” firepaste that I might be interested in. Problem was, he only buys it in bulk, and he has a lot in his warehouse. The only way he would sell me some is if I bought 3 cases at 300 credits a piece. (!!!)

I tried to bargain with him, but the events of the previous 24 hours had left me unbalanced. Seth sucked up to him a bit, and showed him how to jigger the gambling machine he was playing with. That improved Tyro's mood some, and he agreed to deliver the cases to the warehouse we were planning on ambushing. He seemed truthful, so we parted way. Seth gave him the location of the “surprise party”, I paid him half now and promised the other half when the package arrived. (I had been saving up for something nice, but it seems that I need to spend my money before Swift does it for me! )

We returned to the Den and I led everyone to a more private area in behind Maeka's dealing area. (Rordrrl and his gang keep order down here, but Maeka is the one who keeps everyone calm. He does a lucrative business and he keeps the right people paid up. If him and Rordrrl every had a falling out, the Den would be awash in blood, I fear.) We each brought the group up to speed on what he had accomplished. We got schematics of the target, a rough schedule of the rooftop guards, and enough firepaste to demolish a city block. Now there wasn't much to do, but head out.

My head must have been in a serious fog. I can't believe I let that spice-head from before and his cronies get the jump on us. Out of nowhere, we're surrounded by guys who are barely holding onto blaster pistols. Was I half asleep? (Note to self. It's time to draw up a map of the Den and get a better understanding of where each hidey-hole leads to.)

My mind screams for Panic Mode, but I hold it together. Surrendering isn't an option. Killing these guys isn't an option. “Hey Brain, what's left? Huh? What is left??” Swift jumped to the fore, shouting at the guys to get out of there, which actually works a bit. One of our six assailants actually fled, thank the Moon. But 5 were left. I see Sprend taking out his gun, and I start to get real nervous. If we spill blood down here, not only will I get a bad reputation, but Rordrrl might reconsider our arrangement. “Brain! I need a solution, right now!“

Damaria steps up and tries for an Imperial bearing, but things are not moving quickly enough. I watch out of the corner of my eye as Sprend adjusts his gun for close range.

Brain says, “Oh! I got something!” I suddenly have a vision of me patting Sprend on the back with my shock gloves. He falls to the floor, momentarily stunned and I shout to the rabble to get out of here before he regains himself. Then I look in their spice addled eyes and fear that they are beyond reasoning and bloodshed might be the only path available to us.

I reach out to Sprend, asking for a minute longer for the band to disperse. He acquiesces, and I warn them that they have one minute to clear out before shots ring out.

Tor does some menacing with his ratchet and soon there's only two left. Seth jumps forward with a gun to the gullet of the leader of the crew. (My Hero! Gag.) Which only leaves one. Sprend lines up his shot, my heart sinks, and I close my eyes. I hear the shot ring out and the man screams. Again and again. “Sprend must be losing his touch,” I think to myself. His head shots are usually quite accurate.

I open my eyes in time to see the man throw away what remains of a charred blaster pistol then turn tail to flee. I guess Sprend's accuracy is as good as ever!

With the last of his men gone, the spice head begins to see reason and decides to make a hasty retreat. The group relaxes again, but only slightly. I'll have to mention this to Rordrll later to make sure it doesn't happen again. I don't like lose-lose situation. When we've gathered our wits about ourselves again, we pick up are materials and head to the warehouse. Once again, I'm behind the wheel of our black vibro-van.

I dropped the rest of the crew off near the warehouse. My job was to cause a loud diversion near the main doors of the facility and draw as much manpower that way as possible. Then Sprend would ignite the firepaste on the other side of the building and create a breach for them to enter through. I would follow and catch up to them.

I circled a wide perimeter to give myself enough room to get up to ramming speed. As I drove, Swift confirmed that the barrels of Firepaste were in place. (“Frak, I guess that means I owe Tryo the other 450 credits.”) As I pulled onto Front street, I could see in the distance several pairs of guards stationed at our destination. It was time for another round of bumper soilders.

I gunned the engine and began to barrel down the street, laying on the holo-horn as I went. The guards watched as I approached, bemused by the commotion. That bemusement didn't turn to alarm until I jumped the curb and tried to ram them into the wall. They tried to outrun me, but too late. There was a bump and a thump and two of the guards were down. I tried to catch another pair, but they dodged as I rammed the side of the van against the building, crushing my door shut. I turned the wheel hard to the right to avoid a light post at the last minute.

The the ground was rocked by a massive explosion. My ears were ringing from the firepaste detonation. I looked around and saw a huge plume of black smoke billow up from the southeast corner of the warehouse. The buildings around were illuminated brightly by the inferno that was raging there.

One of the remaining guards opened fire, but he only managed the ding the bumper. Another one caught me through the window. It stung, but was nothing to be concerned about. Still, I didn't want to stick around for another helping. I got the van running again and completed my u-turn. The plan was to quickly and effectively back the van up to the front doors, then sneak in with the vehicle giving me cover. But “quickly and effectively” turned into “very quickly and a little too effectively” and suddenly I'm ramming the doors down and running over a sniper who was setting up his next shot. (The vibro-van is in VERY rough shape. I hope Tor can get it back into good working order when this is done.)

Everything was surprisingly quite inside the loading area. I checked to see if I was being followed, but I appeared to be alone. There was light and voices coming through a nearby door, but I wasn't sure I wanted to engage with multiple foes on my own in my current state. Rather, I slipped through another door that led into what appeared to be an office space. “Jackpot Bingo?”

I booted up the main computer and started to search through the files. I could find lots of illegal material, but nothing that suggested Covert Ops interested in tracking down rebel cells. Things were not lining up in my mind. I downloaded the material onto my datapad for future scanning and attempted to contact the others. Perhaps Seth should be watched a bit more closely. Between the concrete walls and the blazing fiery inferno, there was too much interference to get a hold of them. I was not feeling comfortable with how this mission was coming to a close.

I slunk back into the loading area and investigated further. It wasn't long before everyone else joined me. They hadn't found any intel either, nor was there much resistance to our intrusion. Now I knew for sure that something was wrong. I had a powerful need to find out who was in the nearby room. I led everyone to the door and we proceeded in.

There we found Sabik meeting with a small group of off-worlders, no doubt trying to understand the current invasion they were experiencing. Things quickly got complicated. Sabik explained that he was a new player from off-world vying for a slice of Bin Prime's ripe underworld scene. (Oh, so that's who Tyro was talking about.) However, he was not Black Ops, he had not arranged an attack on us and he had never seen Seth before in his life.

All of this made perfect sense. But if there was still any doubt regarding Seth's honesty, he pulled his blaster and took Damaria hostage. Then the Swift waved his hand and told him to sit down, and he did, and I can't help but feel rage welling up inside of me, as more and more surprises crop up around me.

Then Seth starts spilling his guts for reasons I still don't understand. He explains that he's a rouge agent who was investigating Damaria's connection to some flaming birds, and that's how he uncovered our group, and he staged this entire hoax to gather more information on us. (I'm not sure if “us” is the right term.)

Swift apologizes to Sabik and explains that we will help undo the damage we have done. (Oh, I know! We should throw more of my money at him!)

I notice that Damaria isn't saying much/anything. As were about to leave I do a check on her and I see the scenario play out before she twitches. Her stance says it all. I think she had already made her decision and was just searching for a rationale for it. Then I blinked, and her blaster was drawn on Seth. An instant later, he was dead.

I quickly surveyed the others. Shock was apparent on each of their faces, but none more so than Swift's. He covered quickly though, jaw clenched, eyes steely and boring into her face. Her eyes were just steely, but they were intent on the figure on the ground. Sabik applauded. (Well, it was more of a holo-golf clap.)

Baron asked Tor to drive our limping van home. He tried to make a joke about trying to prevent the death of more innocents. I glared at him.

Things The High and Vaulted Baron Swift Needs to be Reminded of:
1. When you're trying to insight a revolt against an evil, autocratic regime, people get killed. Period. If his sensibilities are too delicate for that, he's in the wrong business! When soldiers are willing to take/give life for their cause, it can't be avoided. Period. Full-stop.
2. I didn't ask to be a part of his little clique. He dragged me into it. If he doesn't like my methods, he should have left me alone. The Moon knows I would still have another thousand credits to my name if he had. And I wouldn't be wasting my time on while goose-killing sprees.

I need to asses if this alliance is going to realistically help me meet my goals. I will admit that they were able to secure an ally for me in Via because of their help with my first mission. But this second endeavour together was a colossal waste of time and money that I would have been spared if I had simply not heeded Swift's call to meet at the Core. And if I'm now expected to do dirty work for Sabbik as a result of tonight's foray, and possibly jeopardize further efforts to extricate my family…

I cannot afford to lose sight of my main objective.