Briefing Room, Trepus Mining Facility
Trepus, Solyiat, Kiast System
Thirteen Hours Prior to Wildcard Initiative
The half-Echani leaned down, the emerald beam of the retinal scanner doing a vertical sweep before the door unlocked and slid into the ceiling. The moment Celevon was clear, it swiftly shut and locked itself.
So, Edgar has the SCIF protocols active… Interesting, the Assassin noted with surprise; it was the first time since his appointment that the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility had been activated, and the first had only been for demonstrative purposes. He took in the presence of the Commander of the Joint Task Force, which was not a surprise, as Drachen had called this meeting. No, the surprise was in the form of a Sephi with dirty blonde hair with slight waves, bound into a ponytail, sitting next to the Quaestor. From a glance, Celevon could tell that she was a little shorter than most of the Sephi he had met previously, but bearing features that would be lost in a crowd of others.
Svelte, willowy figure, modest clothing and no visible weapons. His attention was drawn from the unknown female as Edgar gestured toward the live holo-stream.
“—in other news, we have received reports that tensions between the two mining companies in the Widrall continue to rise. What started as peaceful protests have now increased to sabotage of Thratch Corporation’s equipment. Thratch has been rumored to be supported by Governor Smok Kopchak, growing in size since shortly before these rumors started. We will keep you updated as more information comes in. This is Vayda Vernic of the Solyiat News Network signing off.”
Edgar Drachen shut off the feed before Melia Durchin could start the weather forecast for the weekend.
The half-Echani quirked an eyebrow, now more curious than he was before.
“You’ve not met her in person before, but this is Dove. She’s involved with the smaller competition to Thratch and insisted upon a face to face meeting with us,” Drachen explained, gesturing for the woman to explain.
When Dove stood, the Onderonian re-estimated her height to be around five foot seven. Her bearing and delivery reinforced his earlier thoughts on the woman’s intelligence; the casual method of speaking also confirmed that she was fairly low as far as the classes went. “I hope you don’t mind my not sharing my real name… An associate of mine is fairly close to the owner of the smaller mining Corporation, Delphi. I decided that the information I’ve been able to gather was too sensitive to share through communications that could be intercepted, encoded or not.”
Celevon had focused completely onto the woman the moment she began to speak, a tendril of Force energy sinking into her mind without her notice. He was paranoid by nature, so it was as much an instinct as anything; walking into a trap based on misinformation delivered by a spy was not something he wanted to repeat. Her mind revealed that the ‘associate’ didn’t exist, it was simply a method to make herself appear more distant from the situation, but there was no other deception involved.
“What little information I’ve been able to gather is circumstantial at best, based upon rumor and hearsay, but what I’ve heard is… disturbing enough that I thought it best to bring it to your attention.” Complete sincerity. “Governor Kopchak is definitely a supporter of Thratch, but the funding is coming from a Private Military Company based somewhere in the system. Kopchak and the Corporation have more security than previous, all heavily armed. Not only that, one of my sources within Thratch Corporation hinted at deeper plots being discussed between the Corporation ownership, the Governor and the leader of this PMC, but they didn’t know the specifics. Governor Kopchak was never happy about being overruled when it came to Hoth being given a place on Solyiat and I fear this is somehow involved in the plot my sources spoke of.”
“Dove, you know that we cannot directly interfere without the approval of the Empress and her Council,” Edgar pointed out after a moment of thought.
“That’s not to say that we cannot have your concerns looked into, however,” the Assassin returned mildly when the Sephi opened her mouth.
The Quaestor nodded in agreement. “We can have some of our members look into your concerns and see if they can procure more solid evidence… Celevon, I think it’s time to put our plan into action. You should seek out Takota Okami, within the Mandalorian Enclave to the south. Yuki Suoh, the previous person in your position, can help you.”
“Edgar, I don’t need help getting—”
“Then it shouldn’t be a problem to speak to her. The details are in your datapad. Do let me know how it goes,” Drachen appeared amused as he all but forced the half-Echani from the Briefing Room.