Core Worlds
Kuat System
Kuat Drive Yards in orbit over Kuat
Rothana Heavy Engineering, a subsidiary of Kuat-Drive Yards

Agent Sluka marched down the enormous corridor in his black laminate armor and blaster carbine in a shoulder harness. Behind him marched a squad of Imperial Army troopers, all much larger than the typical Stormtrooper. However, the troopers were not in gear typically assigned to a member of the Imperial Army. Each was wearing an environmentally sealed laminate armor designed for use within the orbital yard where terrorist attacks had occurred at a number of different locales, some in the hard vacuum of space. Behind the troopers marched two dozen labor droids. Each droid was as tall as a man yet much thicker with a tiny head. Rather than skeletal in thickness like many other droids, the increased cross-sectional area of its skeletal structure allowed for immense loads to be manipulated and carried. Many technicians and maintenance workers of the orbital shipyard passed the group wearing light blue overalls, moving in the opposite direction.

In time of war, an Imperial Naval shipyard did not slow or stop and with the destruction of the Death Star, it was clear that the Galactic Empire was involved in a full-scale civil war by the amount of traffic passed in the corridor.

After passing three vertically sliding doors on his right, Agent Sluka finally stopped and turned to a fourth. A fifth door lay beyond. A data display beside the door read:

Advanced Weapons Project: Task Force 4 Pod

Agent Sluka quickly raised his access card to the reader underneath the door's data display and swiped it. The door rapidly slid up revealing the space within. He quickly noticed two walker prototypes, each mounted on a wheeled skid, as well as a what appeared to be a hovercraft prototype mounted on a third skid. Beyond them, Sluka saw nine transport cases each mounted on a wheeled skid.

"Looks like we got a dozen too many of these droids…Agent Sluka," said a voice over his com, a voice that belonged to Sergeant Conor.

"Maybe, maybe not," Agent Sluka answered aloud through his speaker instead of over his com. "Keep that off-line," he added. "I was able to requisition them because we broke our assigned schedule and arrived two days early. Two days before Task Force 3. If we're lucky, we might happen to need them after all." He contemplated the thought for a moment. How can I get into Task force 3's Pod without leaving a trail of evidence and video records behind? At least getting here early allowed me to lockdown in advance the personnel we're going to transport. Some of them weren't too happy about that…

"I know we made it here early," Sergeant Conor said. "But I was hoping to spend a day or two in the bars. Haven't you heard of 'hurry up and wait'?"

"Nope," Agent Sluka answered with a laugh. Of course, I have, he laughed to himself. I just don't believe in it. "Set the men up to guard the bots when we march back to the transport." Immediately after giving the order, he spoke to his HUD. "Droids, one through three move the three vehicle skids into the corridor for transport to shuttle. Droids, four through twelve, move remaining skids into corridor for transport back to shuttle." Images rose on his display, small icons which represented the droids he was controlling.

The droids went to work.

Within a handful of minutes, the first dozen droids had moved the skids into the corridor in an orderly fashion while the remaining dozen had moved down the corridor toward the fifth door to make way for the others.

"Sergeant Conor," Agent Sluka snapped out loud. "Call up the droid control on your HUD and return to the shuttle."

"What?" Sergeant Conor asked in surprise.

"That's 'what sir?' to you, Sergeant Conor," snapped Agent Sluka. He heard a number of laughs from the loudspeakers of the other troopers. At least I was able to draw a whole squad of troopers from Albin 2 for this, Sluka laughed to himself. Loyalty is paramount on this. He returned his attention back to Sergeant Conor. "Now get busy. This is critically important."

"Yes Sir," Conor replied and began to direct the droids. A few moments later, the troopers and first dozen droids were making their way down the corridor with their skids.

Agent Sluka simply stood there for a moment, thinking about Pod 3. Is there any way I can do this?

A deep rumble shook the deck. What's that? Then another. And a third started while the second was still reverberating through the deck. Sabotage? Boom! Where the previous rumbles had been in the distance, the last explosion had been right down the corridor.

Agent Sluka sprang into action.

He raced down the hallway, past door five, and slowed as he approached an intersection. Blaster fire buzzed, one bolt after another. In the middle of the intersection was a control kiosk. A member of Kuat Drive Security armored in flak vests and a helmet was on each side, crouching while firing a blaster rifle on down the corridor and not bothering with each side. Three tall and thick technicians in blue overalls and blue caps were hunkered behind the kiosk and sitting at the desk within the middle of the kiosk was a female technician in blue overalls with a blue cap covering her long blonde hair. She was furiously typing into the console in front of her. I don't believe it, Agent Sluka laughed to himself.

A blaster bolt whizzed past his head.

"Shit," Agent Sluka said aloud, broadcast via his loudspeaker, as he reflexively ducked. Each of the security guards glanced back at him for a moment, then returned to firing beyond the intersection. Agent Sluka noticed the eyes of the crouched technicians narrow at him. He quickly moved up to the kiosk without standing up from his crouch. "Easy there, Cats," he said. "I'm with her."

Agent Sluka raised up and leveled his carbine on its sling. He wildly unleashed a hail of blaster fire. Bolts went everywhere across the intersection but connected with no one. There, on the other side of the intersection, two skids were overturned with a gap between each and behind them were a half dozen men, also in blue technician uniforms. Two behind each skid were firing blaster rifles while a third behind each was merely hunkering down with some sort of projectile rifle.

"Hurry up, techie!" screamed the Security Guard on the left of the kiosk. "You gotta get the doors open so that we can get some help in here!" he reached around the kiosk and fired two blasts. Each connected with the left skid.

The other guard said, "Glad to have your help!" to Agent Sluka. The top half of his helmet blew off from a bullet fired by one of the techies with a projectile weapon, and with it, the top half of his head blew off too. He slumped to the ground.

Shit, Agent Sluka said to himself. They got a sharpshooter over there. No blazing way I'm raising up again.

"The droids are loading the shuttle right now," came a voice over Sluka's com, that of Sergeant Conor. "Reinforcements will be there shortly…Sir"

"Negative," Agent Sluka snapped back via his com and not his loudspeaker. "Get ready to leave without me if need be."

"Don't count on me waiting too long," Sergeant Conor answered. "If you need help, I'll be there."

Agent Sluka pulled a frag grenade and tossed it short. "Fuck! It slipped from my hand," he lied. The grenade landed halfway to the overturned skids and exploded, silencing the return fire for a moment. He glanced at the 'techies' for a moment. Each looked ready to spring to his feet. Ready to spring at Agent Sluka. I'm not sure if they believe I'm with Sal here, he thought.

The left guard reached around the kiosk to fire and the top of his helmet blew along with the top of his head, just like the other one.

Agent Sluka looked at the techies who looked about to spring onto him and said, "No need to jump me. I'm the ticket out of here for you guys and the lady." They each stared at him coldly. Remaining in a low crouch, he moved into the kiosk beside Sal and raised his visor.

She looked over her shoulder at him and her jaw dropped.

"When we get out of here, you owe me a dinner date," he said.

She frowned at him and turned back to the console. "That doesn't look like a very good possibility at the moment," she said.

"Will this be of use to you?" Agent Sluka said as he pulled a memory stick from a pouch on his belt and set it next to the console she was working.

"What is it and where'd you get it?" she asked.

"A military grade virus designed to lockdown automated processes and change the parameters governing other processes in Imperial military programs," he said with a smile. "I got it from Callorin." He pointed back over his shoulder. "We can get out of here back the way I came."

She stared at him for a moment and then grabbed the memory stick and inserted it into the console. A moment later as she began to view the code, she added, "Oh, this is nice, real nice."

At that moment, the techies from the other side arrived, blasters pointed overtop the edge of the kiosk and trained on Agent Sluka.

"He's with us," Sal said.

"When we get to the shuttle, I got some Horned Serpents for you Cats to meet," Agent Sluka said. Sal missed a beat typing into the console.

"Let's go," she said and stood up. "All the cameras should be shut down and footage erased for starters. Beyond that, given a little time, everything will be consumed and reconfigured." A small smile formed on her lips.

"Excellent," Agent Sluka said. "Now, we just need to access Pod 3 on the way out and gather some gear and plans."

Sal looked at the tall and thick techies standing with her. "We're not your labor gang and we outnumber you," she said.

"I've got droids waiting to load the stuff once I blow the door with a mini and you won't get out of here without me," Agent Sluka added. "Then, I'll drop a few more explosives and make it look like a firefight. After that, I've got three squads of well-armed troopers waiting at a shuttle with a clearance to get out of here."

Sal frowned for a moment in thought. "And if they don't accept that clearance because of a terrorist attack on the Advanced Weapons Project?"

"My clearance is granted for the purpose of removing gear from the Advanced Weapons Project to safeguard it from attacks," Sluka added with a laugh. "Come on now," he added. "We don't have all day." Agent Sluka began walking down the corridor.

The techies looked at Sal for a moment, then she nodded and they all filed in behind him.