Part 17- A Little Bit of Espionage
"Field team, this is Gizka Central," Carth said into the comlink as he surveyed the holoprojection in front of him. Between Canderous and Mission, they had managed to hack into the planetary satellite data, which provided them with an aerial video feed of the Sith Embassy. He asked, "Are you at your positions."
"Tree Climber one, reporting in," Jolee's voice came over the comlink, "We are at our position and out of sight."
Zaalbar rumbled over the com as well. Carth assumed it to be something like, "Tree Climber two, reporting in."
"Plains Walker one, reporting in," Bastila said over her comlink, "We are securely in place."
"Plains Walker two, reporting in," HK-47's voice added.
"Bird's Eye, reporting in," Ev's voice came. "I am in place with the Divers."
"Diver two reporting in, all systems functional," Mission reported.
"Diver one, reporting in," Juhani said.
"If everything is set, commence dive," Carth ordered.
"We read you, Gizka Central," Mission replied, "We're going in."
On the satellite image projected in front of them, tiny points moved about on the roof. It would have been impossible to notice if not for the bright tracking beacons that Juhani and Mission gave off. Canderous had managed to layer their position on top of the satellite photo. It seemed that Mandalorian had a flare for computers
Over the comlink, there came the sound of a lightsaber slicing through metal. A minute later, Mission whispered, "Were in, and it's tight."
"Great," Carth replied, "Find yourself a computer console to slice and we'll be able to be of more help to you."
The points of light that marked Juhani and Mission's positions inched slowly along. Their comlink channel remained in complete silence. A few minutes later, they stopped moving, and there was the sound of grating metal, followed by scuffling, then typing at keys. Carth was on edge. Mission found a console, but they were blind to her actions.
"Downloading area schematics," Mission announced at last, "Prepare to receive transmission, Gizka Central."
Just then a map flashed into the air, projected above the satellite image. "Received, Diver two," Carth confirmed. He turned to Canderous, who sat waiting lazily on the other side of the projector. "See if you can't resize that map and get it lined up with the image we already have," he request.
"Piece of cake," Canderous replied and clicked away at the computer console on the ship. In moments, the two maps became one.
"Here come your security cameras," Mission whispered. Making good of her promise, thirteen camera projections hovered in the air above the combined maps. One, labeled 'hall security' showed only fuzzy darkness. They must have knocked it out before Mission descended.
Without waiting for Carth's command, Canderous began dragging the security projections around, matching their labels with those of the rooms. Soon, they had a cohesive view of the interior of the Embassy. There was very little activity at that late hour of the night, but some droids and guards did patrol the halls.
"Diver two, you're about to have company," Canderous warned, noticing a patrol droid heading down another hallway towards where she stood.
There was another sudden scuffling and grating of metal, signaling that Mission was again safe in the ducts with Juhani.
"We await your orders, Gizka Central," Juhani said.
Meanwhile, Carth scanned all of the security feeds. Many of them showed darkness that was difficult to make out anything through.
"What about that one, Cart?" Canderous suggested. He pointed to one labeled 'disassembly room.' Through the near darkness, he could see the outline of what might have been the submersible droid and its gently blinking lights.
"Divers, I think we might have your target," Carth announced, "Continue forward until I tell you otherwise."
The two spies crept forward along the ducts. Carth had to guess that each corridor was followed by a duct in the ceiling with smaller ducts breaking off at each room. When they reached the corridor that would lead to the disassembly room, Carth ordered, "Take a right around there."
Wordlessly, they backtracked a short distance and turned.
"Now, it should be your second room on the left," Carth instructed. At exactly the right place, their beacons turned into the correct room.
"This one?" Mission asked.
"We think so," Carth replied. Again, there was the sound of grating metal. On the security feed, a shadowy figure leaped to the ground from above, crouching defensively on the ground before activating her stealth unit. Mission vanished from sight. The large submersible droid rocked, seemingly of its own accord. A hatch opened and a data card floated out, then disappeared as well. Carth couldn't see Mission climb back up into the air vent, but the grating of metal as they slid the vent cover back into place told him that they were out.
"We have the Fish," Mission announced.
"Bird's Eye," Carth felt a pang in his chest when he hailed Ev, "Are you ready to cut them a new way out."
"Any time, Gizka Central," Ev replied. "Just lead me to them."
"Wait," Juhani interrupted, "I sense something very wrong here. What do you see for the rooms directly ahead of us?"
"I've got nothing," Canderous replied.
Carth looked at the area Juhani must be talking about. Absolutely no security cameras covered that area.
"There's no cameras that we can see," Carth added.
"Diver one," Bastila's voice cut over the comlink, "We need that data safely out of there. Of course the Dark Side will be present there, don't risk what we have accomplished so far."
"I understand," Juhani replied, "But I feel that the Force is leading me to it. I must investigate while we have the chance."
"I feel it too, Plains Walker one," Ev added, "And I think it's worth checking out too."
"Don't do anything foolish," Bastila replied sternly.
Without Carth's guidance, Juhani and Mission continued on along the ducts. They moved into the dead zone and Carth again felt blind and useless to help them.
Faintly, other voices echoed through the comlink. "Do you hear that?" Juhani asked.
"Canderous, boost the sound levels," Carth ordered and he complied.
"...proceeding as planned, Darth Bandon. The Selkath youth make eager trainees, however they are not yet ready."
"Do not fail me. We must not fall behind schedule."
"Of course not, my lord. They will be ready, fully trained servants of the Sith, by the end of next month. Through their eagerness to help their people become stronger, they do not see that they are merely pawns in our great game. They will overthrow the government that wishes to please the Republic, and replace it with new, charismatic leaders; young leaders who are willing to serve the Sith and the Sith only, my lord."
"Perfect. And have any tried to escape your training center? We cannot allow any word of this to leak out into the Selkath population. There are still some of the creatures who are distrustful of us."
"Two asked to be returned home. They have been dealt with in secret. The other young ones will never suspect."
"Without the allegiance of the Selkath, the Republic will have no source of kolto. Without kolto, they will fall. You have done well so far. Do not disappoint me."
"Of course not, Darth Bandon. Manaan will be yours soon enough."
"This is terrible," Juhani whispered, "We have to find those Selkath."
"Be wary," Jolee advised.
Mission and Juhani moved on. They stopped above another unlabeled room and Carth heard them move the grating away. "Stay up here," Juhani whispered to mission. It carried over the comlink. With a gentle thud, Juhani landed in the room below.
"Who's there?" a young Selkath voice gargled.
"Show yourself!" another added.
There came the hiss of a lightsaber.
"Intruder! Shasa, we must call the masters!" a third said, alarmed.
"We can't rely on the masters for everything," the second voice returned, "This may be a test that they have sent us. Who are you?"
"I am a member of the Jedi Order," Juhani said, "And you are on the wrong path, a path that leads only to darkness."
"Darkness?" the same Selkath asked, "The masters say that you Jedi are afraid of the Dark Side and of the power it holds. We are learning to control that power so that we can make our people safer in this war."
"The Sith are evil," Juhani urged, "You should escape while you can."
"They have treated us with nothing but respect," the young Selkath argued. "And we are not prisoners here. Several of our friends have already gone back home. Our masters didn't stop them."
"Really?" Juhani asked. Suddenly, the conversation between the two Sith began to play again over the comlink.
"She recorded it!" Carth exclaimed excitedly.
"Why does that make you so happy?" Canderous asked.
"Because Shasa's father came to me in the cantina tonight, asking me to keep an eye out for his daughter. Besides, this is the sort of evidence we could use to get the Sith kicked off of Manaan."
"That's the voice of our master, and another," another one of the Selkath youth said.
"Can it be true?" the spokesperson asked.
"I just heard it myself only a few minutes ago," Juhani replied, "I would not advise you to ask your master yourself. I doubt he'd let you live through the encounter."
"We have made a great mistake," the Selkath replied sadly, "To think that we were all a part of their plan to rule Manaan. This is terrible."
"It is night now," Juhani advised, "Use the cover of darkness to flee back into the city."
"Thank you Jedi for enlightening us before it was too late," one of the Selkath said.
"Your master is still awake, so you must move carefully," Juhani warned. "If you still wish to learn the ways of the Force when this ordeal is finished, perhaps the Jedi will accept you as they accepted me."
There, the conversation dropped off. Juhani apparently had leaped back up into the ducts and shifted the grating shut behind her.
"Bird's Eye, are you ready to cut them out now?" Carth asked.
"Yes sir," Ev replied, "Lead me to them."
Watching Ev's tiny moonlit dot on the satellite projection, Carth guided her to not far from where Juhani and Mission crept. She sliced an opening in the roof and the duct to pull them out. Soon, they were jogging across the rooftops towards the spaceport.
"Tree Climbers and Plains Walkers, return to base. The Fish is securely away," Carth ordered.
Early the next morning, Ev and Bastila took the retrieved data card to the Republic Embassy. By the time they returned, everyone was awake, waiting for their news. Bastila and Ev looked both pleased and irritated.
"We can have our submersible, and the diplomat even knew where our star map was all along," Ev explained, "They have a secret kolto harvesting plant on the ocean floor to get ahead of Sith. Some of Selkath even authorized it. But they lost contact with the plant a few days ago and they fear the worst."
"What does this plant have to do with our map?" Canderous asked.
"It's right next to it," Bastila explained shortly, "We'll have to go through the harvesting facility to get to the star map."
"This is all on the ocean floor?" Juhani asked.
Ev nodded.
"Their submersible can hold four people at the very most," Ev said, "Bastila and I will be going, but who else would like to come along."
"I would rather keep the water beneath me," Juhani said diplomatically.
"Count me in," Canderous said, "I've had enough of this sitting around."
"I—" Carth stammered, but Ev didn't even seem to notice him. Neither did Bastila.
"I'd be up for it," Mission offered.
"It's settled then," Bastila said. "We will leave as soon as we are able."
"What about the rest of us?" Carth asked. Ev was already walking from the room.
"You will do something about these gizka," Bastila said over her shoulder, "There has to be a zoo or a pet store around here that would want them."
Canderous and Mission immediately began to gather up what they would need and followed after the two Jedi.
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