A Galactic Express delivery speeder truck landed at the Imperial Palace garage for surface utility vehicles—the same area that in a few hours would be occupied with ComfortRides for the event. The place bustled with activity: from Imperial personnel and guards; to droids, preparing the place for the promotion ceremony. Ignoring the instructions of ground control, and the directions from a ground crewmember, the truck landed with its back next to a service duct.
Elynn, Gorin, and Addia jumped out of the cargo area; the women dressed in the uniforms stolen from the Talon Strike. Elynn used her datapad to check the service duct for scanning drones, while Gorin used a sonic screwdriver to gain access to it. Addia left the rigged equipment cart on the side, and came around the truck, holding her illuminated traffic wands.
"Hey! You can't land there," Addia said. "Didn't you hear the instructions from ground control?"
"I need to be close to make my delivery." Kogo-Leeto stuck out the truck's window in full delivery person regalia, keeping his cap low to cover his face.
"This is a restricted area. You need to move your truck to the other side of the garage." She pointed at the far end of the vast complex.
"You got to be joking. All the way over there? Let me drop off the parcel quickly and I'll be out of your hair."
Seeing one of their colleagues handling the problem, the other ground crewmembers walked away, relieved to avoid a confrontation.
"You have eighteen minutes," Elynn informed Gorin of the time he had before the next drone sweep. He then crawled inside the open duct with his beskar staff and the unassembled lightsaber rifle on his back.
Elynn resealed the grate and made her way to the adjacent central security station at the base of the former Jedi Council Tower and used a bypass key to gain entry to the room.
"Yes? What is it?" the officer in charge said.
"My orders, sir," Elynn presented a data cylinder.
"What's with the helmet?" the officer checked the information inside at a terminal.
"I have a cold." Elynn sniffed.
"Then why are you here?" The answer came up on the screen. "Personnel change? Why wasn't I notified of this? Everyone working here today had been previously vetted."
"It doesn't matter, those are the orders. You can go ahead and take that corner terminal, so you aren't near the others," Elynn said influencing the officer with her mind.
"It doesn't matter; those are the orders," the officer repeated, returning the code cylinder. "Why don't you take that terminal by the corner away from everybody else? And make sure you keep that visor down. I don't want any of my people getting sick—particularly tonight."
"Yes, sir." Elynn saluted.
She placed the code cylinder at the station to login and began to slice the palace's HoloNet. Elynn uploaded a program from a datacard to crack the security administrator's password. From there, the Theelin could control the security systems. While the program ran, she sliced into the wireless network to log the kyber statue delivery into the day's schedule.
Commander Eisvolk had been supervising the scanning setup at the security check point from the garage to the corridor leading to the Imperial Banquet Hall, when she became aware of the argument between the ground crewwoman and the delivery man. Datapad in hand, she approached to investigate accompanied by four shock troopers.
"Just let me unload here and I'll be on my way," Kogo-Leeto said.
"For the last time, move now or I'll have you arrested," the Addia said.
YOU ARE READING
FORSAKEN - Target: Zero
FanfictionSTARWARSFANS OFFICIAL FANFIC. At the dawn of the Empire, a mysterious figure only known as Pharos forges an unlikely alliance to oppose the new rule from the shadows. Five years later, this secret partnership would come to a head when a daring plot...
