Dante walked down the shuttle's ramp, more than a little nervous despite the set of storm commando armour between him and any hostiles.
They'd tracked the missing "parts" to this planet, something that more than slightly alarmed and frightened the High Command. The Vast Imperial cruiser
Advent had been ambushed by a so-far unknown faction several standard weeks earlier, and all of its crew had been killed. More disturbingly, the ship's computer systems had been removed, including the sensor logs. Normally, this wouldn't have been much of a problem: however, the Army officer in charge of the briefing had revealed to the group that the
Advent had in fact been a Vast Imperial Intelligence recon ship. If its logs were decrypted, many of the Vast Empire's more hidden facilites could be compromised.
A task force, including the Star Destroyer
Palpatine's Fist, had been diverted to either retrieve or destroy the data and find the identity of the thieves. Unfortunately, Dante had been en route to Tadeth on board the
Fist when the HoloNet message had come through, and had been reassigned to Squad Besh, then sent down with several other troopers to investigate.
Throughout the flight, he'd expected to come under fire. Kaminoans were notoriously secretive, and they'd begun arming their floating cities since the Clone Wars had ended. That hadn't stopped the Empire from preventing their attempt to create a treasonous Clone army, but the Vast Empire had less than a hundredth of the old Empire's military prowess. If it came to conflict, there would be no way for the VE to passify the planet.
Still, the Kaminoans had agreed to let a single shuttle land and to cooperate with the investigative team. Something still didn't feel right, but it was better than being shot out of the air by turbolasers.
Dante saw a group of Kaminoans emerge from the nearest circular doorseal and repressed a shudder. With their slitted eyes and oddly cold manner of speaking, the aliens were somewhat disturbing to the trooper.
The thick-frilled male Kaminoan at the head of the group stepped forwards, flanked by a pair of bodyguard droids. Bending its long neck in what appeared to be a bow, the alien addressed the group of stormtroopers.
"On behalf of Frenicon City, I welcome you to our planet. I am Deran Cu, the administrator of this facility. What brings you offworlders to Kamino?"
Beneath the long-necked alien's civil manner was an undertone of fear and disgust. Kaminoans thought of themselves as superior to other species, especially humans, and had little or no understanding or desire to understand of how others viewed them.
The Intelligence officer nodded crisply, stiffly returning the bow.
"The Vast Empire requests your cooperation in an investigation."
Cu's large eyes widened and he jerked his head back.
"An investigation?" he asked. "Into what?"
"We have reason to believe that sensor logs from one of our ships are inside this city. It is of extreme importance to the Empire for these to be recovered. We would be grateful if you would aid us in this matter." the Intelligence officer stated flatly.
What the Vast Empire would feel if the Kaminoans refused to help was left unstated, although all present understood it. Kamino's defenses would be capable of withstanding ground attacks, but its meager planetary defense shields would collapse with a few turbolaser volleys from the
Fist. With a minimal fleet of its own and the nearest Republic or other fleets hours away, Kamino would be almost defenseless, even if the Republic would be inclined to help.
"Very well." the alien whispered. "We will do our best to aid your search. However, be aware that there is sensitive equipment throughout certain sectors, and that some units may not react well to the presence of strangers...Follow me."
- OOC:
- Sp there's a Vast Imperial battle group in orbit around Kamino. One way for this to end is for the Kaminoans to call for help from an opposing faction... The stolen data has a HoloNet beacon leading us to the planet and the city. Of course, this could be a trap/decoy, as the thieves might have known about the beacon...
