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(3.3) Cyber Cat and Mouse
Cyber Cat and Mouse
The Star Adder
Somewhere in the deep in the Outer Rim
The silent corridors of the Star Adder are testament to the normal state of paranoia aboard the ship. Along with the new passengers on board, droids on patrol with orders to kill anyone that doesn't belong move about the corridors in an ever eerie silent guard. Security has always been one of the highest priorities on the Adder. When one has the reputation of being the best runners in the Outer Rim, there is a never ending list of nubs that will try to make a name off of you. They have been betrayed by friends and allies alike for gains. Their cargo has attempted to be stolen or swindled from them. There has even been more than once that a sly conning conman had tried to worm his way in to their hearts. So to insure that none of these nubs would try to take advantage of them, sisters have learned to trust no one and to be ready for anything at anytime. It is clear on any level, that the two only holds trust for each other and no one else.
Battles are not uncommon for the our party of heroes. Some battles are some field of honor on some remote world. Other battlefields are fought through the mighty powers of the Force. And still other battles are fought in deep space. Yet, no one on the ship knew that a strange battle was taking place deep in the heart of the ship. Down the corridors of the ship and to the left of the Main Engineering deck stood a pair of Destroyer Droids. Like the other droids of the ship, they only answered to Anni and Aral. They stood silent and unmoving before pair of blast doors that protected the heart and core of the Adder. It was the main computer room of the ship. It was here that Anni built the systems that run most of the ships functions. It was here that she planned out the improvements to the ship. Beyond these doors no one could hear the loud music playing that had become the anthem of the battle.
Suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Anni had always kept this room very net and clean. However tonight, her mind was elsewhere as it showed by the things tossed about and out of place. As the stereo blasted its music the red bars of the equalizer reflected the changes in the tone, pitch and tune of the sound waves that filled the room. The heavy metal music which was playing was by some anger girl band that was only known in the underground world. The air in the room was filled with smoke and scents from the oils and incenses that were burning in a number of locations throughout the room. When she is working on her servers she always enjoy keeping the room dark except for the monitors and lights that flashed on the servers. Anni looked at the twin monitors before her reading lines of code as it poured in over the servers. Her hair wrapped up in a loss bun with a pair of pins keeping it up. Every once and a while she would pick up a small lit cigarette and take a long drag off of it.
Anni pushed off her desk as she rolled across the deck to a stack of servers on the far wall. She reached in to a box hanging from the rack and pulled up a datacard. She read it to make sure it was the one she wanted and then she pushed it in to a slot on one of the servers. She hit a few keys on the rack and nodded as the drive started to read the card. Satisfied with the upload she pushed back to her desk and the waiting keyboard. “Come on you little mouse. Where are you going to lead me next.” she said under her breath as she started typing again. The chase has already been on going and Anni was enjoying it very much. It isn't every day that she gets a chance to cross wits with someone so talented or clever. The smile on her face could not be whipped off as she took a sip of her drink and another drag from her cigarette.
“Anni, we can't just hang out here. We need to get back in to hyperspace” Aral said over the comlink. Anni had almost forgotten that she had the ship hanging in normal space while she played this cat and mouse game with that other hacker.
Anni watched her screen as she saw the binary code roll before her eyes. 'Moorja weather control subsystems? That is where you are leading me now?' she thought as she watched her little mouse lead her on their little chase. “Hold on, I need more time. This is taking longer than I thought.” Anni said as she keyed in her commands as the cyber chase continued.
She could tell that Aral was getting upset by the tone in her voice, “You said it would only take a few minutes. Its already been nearly an hour......” Anni cut her off as she typed in more commands as the chase now led them to a holonetwork station and their servers. 'clever little mouse' she thought once more. Throughout the Republic's communication network a series of signals played a real time cat and mouse game jumping from system to system. As fast as a signal could move from one system they were already heading to the next. It was a light speed intense chase.
“I said more time, Aral, please trust me....” Anni snapped over the comlink then turned it off. She focused on her keyboard and the data running across her screen. There were hundreds of lines of code rushing pass the screen in real time. Within these lines of code was a tiny little foot print that she was looking for. She knew in her heart that Aral would wait. There was no one in the entire galaxy that she could count on more than her own sister. She also knew it was the same for Aral. The two had that tight of a relationship between them. Anni could pull the plug on the hyperdrive if she had too. But she knew she wouldn't need to. Aral would give her the time she needed.
“There you are little mouse!” she said with glee and entered a set of her own codes to follow the footprint. As the system loaded up the next lines of code Anni turned to another monitor and more lines of code. “I see you hiding there by that node. No you don't! Trying to reverse the chase again. Let me show you this!” she said as she entered a set of new codes which shifted her own foot prints to a new server. She smiled as she read the code and saw that she lead the little mouse to a Republic Communication Satellite than on to Malastare's Approach Control Subsystems. “Follow the leader” Anni said jokingly as she moved to the other computer and continued to read lines of code.
The chase started just under an hour ago when she saw that a passing pirate ship scanned Ogon's message. She leaped on the signal and followed it through the ships systems and then it lead her across the Galactic Communication Network at light speed. The mouse she was chasing was a smart one indeed. Almost at the same time Anni started to follow the mouse's signal a second signal showed up on the pirate ship and started to follow its way back to the Adder. Anni had dealt with hackers before but this one was smart and clever. The chase started at one point and spread in two different directions as both tried to cover their own tracks while locating the other. At the same time each were playing offensive and defense. This really made the chase that much more enjoyable for Anni.
Anni was fast with the keyboard, she had experience behind her and her mind was built for this level of thinking and reading at the same time. She already knew that her little mouse that she was chasing was using a Republic Military Server. This meant that her little mouse was military trained but there was also something else about the mouse. It was almost playful in its actions. This meant that the mouse was not a harden soldier. Maybe a civilian contractor or student. Her little mouse was almost as fast in commands and lines of code as she was. Three times the mouse almost lost Anni during the chase and Anni only managed to almost loss the mouse once. The signals were routed through communication stations, public broad casting stations, traffic control systems, and even other ships. Any system that was linked to the Galactic Communication Network had become their play ground. Anni actually thought she lost the mouse when she routed the signal through a major holostar's mainframe. Surprisingly to Anni, the mouse had side slipped the chase and was right on her tail still. The cat was now being hunted. She laughed at the thought of it as she continued to enter in her commands on both computers.
Anni smiled deeply as she finally locked on the signal and started the final path to her little mouse's house. 'house of mouse' she thought with humor and smiled deeply taking another drink and entered some more commands. “Sorry little friend, but this cat is about to get fed!” she said with happiness. Right then an alarm drew her attention, “Clever little mouse, oh so clever.” She said as she watched the mouse make a remarkable move to close in on her and the Adder. There was no point in trying to reroute the signal again. It would not stop the mouse and only waste her time. Instead she focused on blasted through the firewalls of the mouse's systems. 'Nice system little mouse' she thought as she had a chance to see what kind of servers powered the mouse's system. “Rayon Stealth Logic ION. Don't see one of those ever day. Someone is flipping a big bill for you little mouse” she said as she continued to type and smiled as the end of the chase was getting closer.
Anni typed faster on her keyboard while lines of code on the other monitor turned red. She knew she only had moments to do what she needed to do. She typed as fast as she could while her focused narrowed on the lines of code right before her eyes. She smiled, “Come on little mouse the door is wide open. Come on in and stay for a spell.” she typed even faster as she glanced at the other monitor. She nodded as she hit a final key then leaned over rapidly and hit the comlink, “NOW ARAL!”
On her call to the bridge, Aral didn't need to think she only acted. The Adder leaped in to hyperspace cutting off the signal before the mouse could identify the Adder's location. Anni leaned back in her chair smiling and taking a drag off her cigarette, “That was intense!” she said shaking and sweating as she looked over at her little droid cat. It made a metal meow sound. “I know, we had to let the mouse go this time. But I think we will be seeing more of it in the future.” Anni said looking at the now blank screens and nodded again. She rolled back and pulled the datacard from the read and looked at it. “But at least I know where they are and what they look like” she added softly activating the holo image of a ship. She turned it off and got up from her chair. She walked for the door, “I will be right back, Ogon will want to see this.”
She walked in to the galley. Normally she would see her sister here drinking or playing on their console game when she walked in to the galley. However because of the Jedi aboard, Aral has pretty much cut herself off and stayed on the bridge. Anni didn't mind, it was best this way. She didn't want to help her sister in disposing of any more bodies. After all you can only space so many people before it starts to get to you. She closed off that thought and walked up to Ogon's table. He was going over some files on his datapad. She could be sneaky and peek, but she figured if he wanted her to know than he would tell her. She just walked up and smiled, “So your trick worked. They took the beat. Man they are good. You have no idea how good they are.” She said picking up a bottle of liquor off the table and took a deep drink. Liquor was one thing any one could be sure to find on the Adder. Anni was still shaking from the excitement she just had.
He looked up with a smile and a reassuring nod, “I know you did your best......”
“I said good not better than ME!” she cut him off. 'Man! Pay someone a compliment and everyone just assumes they are better then you' she thought then nodded as she dismissed his comment and continued, “They took your bait and lead me on a chase across the galaxy as I tried to locate them. An hour of cat and mouse chasing, here is what I have.” she said placing the holoplayer on the table and activated it. “It is the Jedi Cruiser, Clear Thought, I managed to locate them near the system of Anobis.” she explained as she noticed her hand still shaking. 'oh my god, I need to finish this off before I scream!' she thought. Her pleasure could barely be contained. “Someone is dropping some big bills on this little mouse. Top of the line equipment and servers.” She explained with a smile on her face. As she ran her hand through her hair just thinking of the systems that that little mouse had. She closed her eyes trying to get a better control of her self while her body quivered at the thought of the power of the systems that were in use.
“Oh man, some of those equipment are not even available on the black market!” she said with excitement. Anni brought her hands up in fist shaking as she thought of the chase just moments before, “Oh yeah, it was like oh my god intense.” She ran her hands through her hair as to fix it but then decided to leave it down. 'or was it up?' she asked not being able to think clearly. Then in that moment she realized she was letting too much excitement out. “So um, yeah” she said looking for a decent exit line while she brought her body back under control. She nodded, “I have to go” she said then thought, 'yeah go somewhere. But what? Oh yeah thats prefect.' “clean up my lab.” she said then turned and walking away without looking back. She left the holoplayer behind showing the ship and the record of the entire chase. As she left the galley she couldn't help of think about that Rayon Stealth Logic ION, 'Oh god what I could do with one of those on the Adder' she thought as she used the doorway as support till the thought passed her. Her body quivered once more before she was able to leave and return to her lab.
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Hunters on the Hunt
Mount Gushania
Baklid 6
Damaya walked away from the group of Jedi a few steps then turned around and glared back their prisoner, “Let's get this straight” she said more loudly than needed, “They walked in to your shop” she asked.
The broken and scared little woman dressed up as a cat laid on the ground as she listened to Damaya's question. The bruises across her body and face indicated clearly the level of interrogation that she was going through. Her body was shaking uncontrollably from the countless beatings she had already endured. She looked down in fear, “Yes...........” she answered than added, “Patrick was so hungry. So I fed them”
“YES, yes... We know that part” Damaya paused then continued, “So after you fed them, you help care for their friends then you led them here through the same secret tunnels you brought us through. Correct?” Damaya asked while four members of her team searched the area for clues and were scanning the location. Two other members of her team stood guard over the prisoner. Damaya's own padawan stood by watching the interrogation with a look of horror across his face.
The sad little woman nodded almost too scared to answer but she managed to work out, “Y.....es....” she said shielding her face from some attack she feared would be coming at any moment. It was clear that she was broken and was able to offer up no further acts of resistance.
Damaya's anger was clearly written about her face, “OKAY! So we got this point down. You talked with them a bit, then used those secret tunnels to hide up there” she said pointing to a location high above the floor of the long dead volcano.
The sad little woman nodded, “y.......es......” she answered without looking up from where her arms shielded her face.
Damaya nodded, “Okay so what did you see. What ship picked them up” she asked hoping that this time she would get a better answer with more details.
“They left with the Demon and Shadow. I saw the Shadow walked out of the lighted place.” She answered almost in tears. They had asked her the same questions now for almost three hours and she told them the truth but they still beat her. She could not understand why they were beating her.
“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!” Damaya yelled as she rushed the woman kicking her over and over again. “TELL ME WHAT THAT MEAN!” She just kept kicking the woman as the she cried out in pain begging for the beating to stop. Damaya reached down and grabbed her up by her hair and slugged her repeatedly in the face till one of her hunters pulled her off the woman. “WHAT DOES THAT MEAN YOU CRAZZY WOMAN!” Damaya yelled full of frustration as one of her hunters pulled her off the woman again.
The woman laid on the ground sobbing. She knew what would happen next. They would talk some more and then the mad woman would ask her the same questions again and she would tell them the truth and she would be beaten more. She tried one time to lie to them but the lie was caught and she was beaten even harder than before. She hurt all over her body so much that couldn't feel her legs anymore. She looked down to see her tail broken. Her beautiful little white tail had been broken. She reached out and pulled it closer to her. She held it softly as she sobbed. Her tears washed down on the white fur of her tail. Her make up had long ran down her face leaving behind lines of sadness and suffering across her face. Just this morning she took so much pride in her appearance to make sure that she looked her very best when she opened her shop. That was when the mad woman and her so called Jedi rushed in to her store. She wished that they would just leave her alone.
She looked up to see the mad woman talking to some of the others that took her from her shop. “Master Weirn, there was a ship here. We found and read the ion residuals left behind by the ship's engines. According to the Jedi database it is most likely the Star Adder.” One of Damaya's hunters explained as he continued, “Rumors have it, that they do have some kind of cloaking device aboard the Adder. This could explain her not seeing the ship.”
“Master Weirn, I really don't think that the crazy lady can offer us anything more useful. Just finding out about these tunnels will be a huge help to the Government Forces in cutting down rebel activities within the Capital City. She has proved to be very useful.” Adi-Rami-Tu said softly. Being the youngest Jedi in the group and the newest member he knew his voice didn't carry much weight but his late Master had always told him to speak up and let his heart be heard. That was before his Master was murdered by Rebel Jedi. Last month he was assigned to Master Weirn as her Padawan. He already disliked her teachings and her behavior over all. She was so much more different than his late Master.
Damaya looked at the rest of them as each nodded, “She is guilty of aiding fugitives of the Republic. Under special authority 95, we need to all be agreement to carry out justice.” she said coldly then looked from each of her team members who had gathered. Slowly each of them nodded their heads. Being with her for over a year now, each already knew better than to defy her plans. However when she came to her Cerean Padawan, he just looked at what was going on and shook his head.
“Master Weirn, this is more crazy than she is” he said pointing at the broken woman who was crying and shaking on the ground. “How can you all be serious! She is insane!” He tried to point out seeing the look in each of their eyes. He could not believe that Jedi were about to execute a mentally ill woman who may not even understand the nature of the crime she was being accused of.
Damaya stepped forward trying to speak with that voice of the teacher that she wanted to be. “I understand your point. But she is clearly guilty of the crime. Does that mean we let her crimes go unpunished?” she explained softly placing a hand on his shoulder.
He looked at her in disgust, “She needs to be in a hospital, not this.” he tried to explain.
Anger crossed Damaya's face once more as she back handed the young padawan. “Grow up! Do you think she will ever be normal again. This would be doing her a favor. The facts are clear. Do you agree that she aided fugitives or not!” Damaya yelled at her padawan.
He took the hit almost stumbling back. He snapped his head back and looked her right in the face. “I do, but I do not agree to this” he said softly wiping the blood from his lip.
Damaya nodded and then looked at the rest of her team. “Lets finish this!” she said harshly as she started to walk pass her padawan.
He reached out with his hand while closing his eyes. As he softly caught her arm, he opened his eyes to look at her once more in the face. “Please Master Weirn, I am begging you, don't do this.” he pleaded with her.
Damaya back handed him once more, “Man up! you little weakling” she said hitting him so hard that he fell back to the ground. “I am going to send a message to Daz” she said as she returned walking to the woman. Already two of her hunters took hold of the crazy woman and held her up with her arms searched out. The woman was crying heavily fearing the beating that she thought was coming again.
Adi-Rami-Tu leaped up from the ground and tackled his Master. He might have only been a second year padawan but he knew this was wrong. “Please Master, I am begging you. Don't do this” he pleaded trying to hold her down as best as he could.
Damaya was actually impressed with his action. Sadly he choose a bad time to come out of his shell finally. Still she was impressed with his willingness to resort to violence to get his point across. She rolled and hammered him with her elbow sending the young padawan rolling in the dirt. He leaped from the blow without a thought and cut off her path to the woman. He was not sure what he was doing but he knew he had to protect this woman, crazy or not. He energized his lightsaber and readied to defend the woman's life. Already the other members of her hunter team started to move on the padawan. Damaya waved them off as she drew out her own double bladed lightsaber and activated one end at a time.
Damaya didn't wait for the young padawan to realize his mistake as she rushed him, easily disarmed him using her own lightsaber and her much higher skill level. Once he was weaponless from her first attack, she spun and licked his leg with her lightsaber. He let out a loud scream of pain as he fell. She pulled the blow making sure that he would not be seriously injured from the blow. After all, she was his Master was responsible for teaching him, not killing him when he messes up. He fell to the ground holding his wounded leg. Just as he looked up again he caught the sight of the bottom of her boot landing right on his face. He was knocked flat to the ground by the blow and dazed. He fought hard trying to get his bearings and get back to his feet. His vision cleared just to see Damaya standing behind the woman with her two lightsabers out and crossed right behind the woman's neck.
Damaya frowned, “It is not my fault that Daz brought you in to this. He should have known better than to involve civilians in his crimes. This is Daz's fault, not mine.” she said then pulled the lightsabers part. Adi-Rami-Tu eyes filled with tears as she speak and he tried to get back up but his leg wound was too deep. He tried to use the force and even poured his heart and soul in to the attempt but to no avail. He did everything he could to stop this horrible act but he simply lacked the skills and ability to do anything other than witness what he considered a cold blooded murder.
Just as Damaya was speaking he heard the woman's cries of fear subside to almost a clam state as she said softly, “Oh a puppy.” He was a bit confused because there was almost happiness in her voice as Damaya removed her head in that simple action. Adi-Rami-Tu couldn't bare to watch as he turned his head right at the moment of death. Under his voice he said, “I am sorry.....” as a his tears flowed freely.
He heard Damaya walk up to him, “The ship will be here soon. Get him bandaged up.” She said looking down at him with pitty.
He looked up at her, “WHY!” he shouted at her. “You didn't have to do that. You could have let her live.” he continued to cry his questions to her.
Damaya only shook her head, “She was a traitor to the Republic and so she was dealt with as such.” She said as she knelled next to him, “I know this is hard for you to understand right now. But in time you will understand and even come to see the truth in what I have said.” She held out a hand for him to take.
He only swatted it away asking “What have we become if we murder in the name of the Republic.” He looked away from her and stared at the dirt around him. “This war, our believes, what have we become? We lost our way. We are no longer Jedi.” he started to mumble in sadness to himself.
Damaya stood up more angry over his lack of respect. Had she shown half this level of disrespect Master Chun would have beaten her heavily for it. She shook her head slowly, 'No, I can be a better Master than him' she thought as she motioned for others to get the padawan up and move him to the landing site. She watched as he was carried away and heard her second in command walk up behind her.
“Normally I would not question you Damaya but I think you made a mistake.” Kell Jace said softly. Kell was a tall human male Jedi that was actually born in the Temple and lived his whole life within the Order. Much like Damaya he had no parents to speak of nor felt no connection outside the Order. His age and experience was clearly written across his face as he spoke freely and calmly. The veteran Jedi Knight had seen more action than anyone else including Damaya. No one understood why he was not given leadership over this hunter team, but he never once questioned the orders of the Grand Master. He was a loyal Jedi and knew how to follow orders like a good soldier.
Damaya nodded, “Maybe you are right, but I had to send a message to Daz.” she explained, “I want him to see what he caused here. I wanted him to see the death that was now on his hands.” She added as she watched the rest of her team leave the area.
Kell nodded his understanding, “How do you know he will get the message.”
“I know Daz, he loves to look deep in to the Force and see events that are linked to him.” she explained then added, “Despite what the Republic Propaganda Machine would like everyone to think. I know Daz like no one else. He will see this death and then he will make a mistake.”
Kell just looked at the headless body and nodded while Damaya continued, “There are two things I know for a fact in the galaxy. One there will always be corruption in the Republic and two, Daz Murl will also do something foolish at just the wrong moment in time.”
He turned to her and nodded, “Also, I got word back from the Azgard command. It would appear that your hunch was wrong about that red dressed woman who stoled your lightsaber and that case that we took from the bird creature. They do not have any warriors that matched the description that we gave” he explained.
Damaya turned to face him, “Then they are lying. I know she is Azgard. I have seen that combat style before. Fiolla Heartman used it. It was a signature move for her. She has to be Azgardian.”
He only shook his head, “It is a known fact that Azgardians don't lie. I am sorry but she is not Azgardian. There are a dozen of other races that I am looking in to at this moment. But I talked to five of my best sources within the Warrior Houses on Azgard and none of them is aware of any warrior that matches her description.”
“Fine, keep looking and get my case back” she said harshly. She knew in her heart that the woman in red had to be Azgardian. But if they do not know of her, than maybe she's not. There were just too many unanswered questions about her. Like why did she steal Visst's case from her. It was clear in their first engagement that she could not use the force. So what reason was behind the theft. Damaya just shook her head, “Daz has well over a twelve hour head start on us. I am not about to leap in to some blind chase like that idiot Biggs did. Lets let Daz come to us.” she said then activated her comlink, “Captain, once you pick us up. Set our course for the pirate heaven at Barstow V” she ordered as she heard her ship starting to land, “I know that the Adder operates out of that base when they are in this region of space. Maybe we can catch a clue there.” The pair headed out to board their ship leaving behind the body of the woman.
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Visst woke up from his dream and touched the side of his face. He felt no tears or wetness on the side of his face. He could feel the heavy weight on his heart though. He saw the vision of Damaya as if he was standing right beside her the entire time. He shook his head and knew in his heart that the Force was speaking to him in the vision. He closed his eyes once more and just focused on breathing. So much had transpired in such a short period of time. He was not sure what action to take next but he knew that with the Force on his side he would not stray from the path.
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