Coronet City

The crowd about him moved slowly within the confines of the metallic hallway. It was a potent mixture of CorSec officers and civilians mingling in the corridor as they went about their daily lives; completely oblivious to the contracted killer moving among them. His outfit made him out to be that of the local stock, and his falsified identity only added to the rouse. The assassin now wore the name of Aiden, a veteran enforcement officer whom was tasked with taking down one of the Hoth Cartel cells. The man died by the hands of the Syndicate shortly after accomplishing his mission in order for Alpharius to assume his identity. It was the perfect fit for the assassin, as the man was a social recluse and barely interacted with any of his enforcement comrades. Alpharius’ only hope was that he did not run into the people that did interact with the fallen CorSec officer. For they would see right through his guise and the task at hand would become much harder than it needed to be. Keeping his gaze focused on what lay ahead, the assassin slowly moved with the crowd as it headed deeper into the heart of CorSec’s headquarters. When he had accessed the data upon the packet he was given, Alpharius could not believe the myriad of cover stories he could have used in order to infiltrate Corellia’s enforcement precincts. There was a pair of identities he could have assumed for almost every single one of them upon the planet. The syndicate had given him options in which to exploit, and as the information would not expire anytime soon, the biometric locked chip would come in handy later on should he not be caught. The one thing that had attracted him to this role, was that the man had unlimited access to the orbital traffic logs. Such an entry was priceless, for he would not have to bribe or threaten the information out of anyone as he would just take it for himself with none the wiser. The chances of anyone questioning his actions were minimal as long as he kept a low profile, which to Alpharius was second nature. Aiden Maegar Kronan was the full name of the officer he had taken on, a family man with a loving wife and three adorable children. She was not of Corellia and their offspring were born in the maternity ward of an orbiting hospital ship several years ago. Her name was Illyria, and she was born thirty three years ago within the palace district of Coruscant to a pair of loving and wealthy parents. The assassin imprinted the information of this man’s life, via the method in which clone soldiers were flash trained. It hurt at first, as the information was rewriting some previous data. Then after several minutes of staring blank eyed into the projector, Alpharius’ life had ceased to be. He was Aiden now, and he would move about hiding in plain sight.

Wearing a false smile, Aiden stepped up to the biometric scanner and placed his palm upon the reader. The officer was not worried that the system would read his data and prove him false, as the Syndicate had already sliced into the CorSec mainframe and swapped the current information for that which belonged to the assassin. It was a quick and easy process as everything seemed to check out, but when the retinal scanner had descended to take readings of the man’s iris, an alarm sounded. His access was suddenly denied. Letting the false smile fade from his lips, the officer’s face curled into a look of worry. It was a natural response to when things did not proceed as they should have, but beneath the flesh the Assassin began to run through the flash implanted memories. Aiden didn’t have a retinal combat implant installed within his eye; the records did not show that the alterations had taken place. Betrayed by his own lack of foresight, Aiden chuckled nervously as a pair of armed guards approached. Their side arms were drawn and slowly rising, almost out of instinct Aiden had made a move for his weapon. Instead, his hands slowly moved into the air as the two uniformed men came upon him. “Sorry guys, it seems I forgot to log that I had my eye upgraded during my last mission.” Aiden said, looking to the terminals technician. The CorSec officer was known by the department for his odd ball mistakes, but this was pushing it. An error in spelling or forgetting a deadline was all forgivable lapses in judgement, but having an enhancement implanted and not placing that data in one’s own record? Reckless. “Officer Kronan, that will go on your permanent record and Internal Affairs may desire to have some words after we file the report.” Aiden nodded and let a small nervous smile crawl onto his face. “However as everything else checks out, you’ll be waved on through. Do not let this happen against Officer, CorSec has little patience for those that seek to bend the rules.” The officer nodded curtly. “Aye sir, I’ll return to my station and process the changes immediately. Thanks.” His tone was somewhat jovial in comparison to the technician, who himself was stern and seemingly bereft of compassion.

Waved through the checkpoint, Aiden moved onto to his station. The path that was imprinted in his thoughts carried him to a small dusty office in the corner of the level below the checkpoint. The desk hadn’t been used in some time and a very fine layer of dust covered the surface. Giving it the cursory breath of life, the small particles of dust sprang into action. Coughing as he inhaled a mouthful of the vile substance, Aiden took his seat and boot up his terminal. As if the memory was his, the assassin input in Aiden’s passcode and the machine thrummed to life before him. Bathed in the azure light of the terminals hololithic monitor, Aiden went to work scouring through the orbital traffic logs. Several ships of note were flagged for future reference as he scrolled through the data, yet only one of the tagged vessels was worthy of his acknowledgement. A large warship had entered into the Corellian system less than a few days ago, the Victory II –Class Star Destroyer – designate: Bounty.

All vessels that had entered the territory of the proud Corellians and left thereafter was scanned and logged in the system. Passenger and cargo manifests were attached to each named vessel, detailing all imported and exported goods coming and going. Nothing seemed out of place when Aiden had first eyed the collected data, regarding the bounty, yet something was off. There was little data to be seen, as if a step was missed and no one managed to catch it. The ship was scanned when it had first entered the system, and as the weapons batteries and shields were not powered up it was not labeled as a threat to the Corellian people. Several shuttles and crew craft had disembarked from the Destroyer, and returned either several hours later or not at all. Alone, that was nothing worthy of note, yet one of the shuttles was more expedient than his brothers. As if there was something aboard that the pilot or perhaps a passenger did not want to CorSec to find. One shuttle that had acted suspiciously was not enough to warrant his attention, but the fact that one of the shuttles had been given an escort of TIE/in Fighters and was attached to an active investigation regarding a shootout in a bar some distance outside Coronet city, was enough to garner his gaze. Aurelia was either on the Bounty or she had fled the Corellian system, those were his two leads and only one of them had a trail hot enough to follow. Logging out of the terminal, after withdrawing the information he needed, Aiden powered down his personal computer. He made for the door, but was stopped by a woman in an emerald uniform. A memory stirred from somewhere in his mind, the woman before him was part of Internal Affairs! Panic slowly started to fester within his heart; he could not jeopardize the mission with a calculated murder, for that would tarnish the borrowed name and the family that currently bore it. The compassion that was imprinted into his mind would not allow such an act to occur. Stopping mid-stride, Aiden looked at the woman and offered his most famous smile.

“Is there something I can do for you, Ma'am?” He asked, adding a slight sense of innocence into his words. “Yes,” she said, moving into his office and letting it slide closed behind her. “I am here about the incident earlier, the one with the retinal scanner at the eastern checkpoint.” Unsurprised, Aiden’s smile faded slightly. “Ah, yes. I’m sorry if that caused a bit of a stir, Ma'am. It was an honest mistake that I forgot to log the change in my file. I kind of got swept up in the heat of my first field mission.” The woman nodded, which was emotionless Aiden had noted. “Aye, most of our Officers seem to have that issue. Pre-mission jitters they call it.” Wordlessly, Aiden nodded his understanding. With something as critical as the elimination of a cartel cell, it was impossible not to have second thoughts about what could go wrong if he slipped up. Without hesitation, the Internal Affairs officer continued to speak; despite the fact Aiden did not want her too. “I have read your mission report Aiden, and I have to say; I’m impressed. Outnumbered and outgunned you walked right into the devil’s lair and ended up walking out alive, and with nothing more than a few carbon scores. How did you do it?” Seems the syndicate slicer had made the story somewhat believable, rather than his usual run and gun stories. Falling into character, Aiden clicked his heels together and began scratching the flesh beneath his ear. “Well, the entire Op took several weeks to prepare and infiltrate the Cartel cell. Garnering the trust of the hired guns and doing odd jobs for the Domo every now and then. Once inside, I began playing the part of the puppet master, pitting the gangsters against one another. Naturally, I got caught in the cross fire to show those who could not be cowed by my words that I was loyal to the cause. Nearly got killed in the process, but it got me what I needed with those that managed to survive the internal struggle. With only the Domo and his trusted adviser left, I accomplished my mission by putting the both of them down while we were enroute to the Cartel Safe House. Two smoking holes through the back of their heads, right in front of the safe house doors.“ Aiden paused to catch his breath. He felt a small measure of imprinted pride surge through his system, and as his inner fire grew the story became all the more true in the mind of the Internal Affairs Officer.

Her lips curled into a warm smile and she nodded her understanding. Aiden read from her body language that he was able to make her believe that his lie was the truth, as it almost matched his report word for word. Chicks like that digged efficiency. A moment of silence ensued after the CorSec officer had finished giving his verbal report, and Aiden reveled in the strangeness of the moment. Deep within his gut, the officer repressed the urge to make a sexual advance upon his superior. For he was lovingly married, why would he give up something so wonderful for a moment of ignorant bliss!? Smiling once more, Aiden asked; “Is there anything else I can help you with, Ma'am?” She paused for a moment, stunned that the silence was broken. “Uh, yes.” She said her tone unstable and her words forced. “When you left Corellia, you had booked transport on one of the system liners yet when you returned, a brand new ship is resting in docking bay 42. Care to fill in the blanks?” Aiden bit his tongue. Another oversight he had not expected. The syndicate was supposed to thoroughly cover all the details of Aiden’s mission, and the fact they had left out how he had managed to procure a vessel of his own… went to show the slicer’s worth. Should the assassin ever find him, he would be sure to make the hacker pay in kind. “It was a gift from the Domo, I’ll be logging it as evidence before I clock out today.” She nodded once more, this time the motion was suspicious. “Well that about sums up my visit. Be sure to log the ship as evidence before you go, it might have to be transferred off system, so you may be asked to take it to the impound yard over Drall. If that’s the case, I shall see you here bright and early tomorrow.” She made to turn towards the door. Her gaze was cast over her shoulder as she keyed the door to open. “I shall keep an eye on you Aiden, your star is only rising from here on out.” Aiden smiled and nodded his thanks, but said no more.

When she had left, the officer let loose a long sigh of relief. Internal Affairs were notorious for find out the secrets that lay beneath the squandered truth. Yet either this woman had been oblivious to his deception, or saw right through him and sought to entertain her vices until she could prove his lies. Waiting for a moment to collect himself, Aiden moved out back into the corridor and proceeded through the checkpoint he had entered nearly an hour before. Waving his thanks to the technician, Aiden parted ways with his personality and assumed his true identity of Alpharius once more…

Having just returned from Coruscant, Jade disembarked a public transport ship in the large spaceport that sprawled over a goodly portion of the real estate in this quarter of Coronet City. In no immediate hurry to return to the Jedi Temple she instead bent her path towards the closest cantina for a bit of the local gossip and a drink.

It wasn't a classy joint, but it was tolerable.

Midnight black outer robe was open, revealing her tunic underneath as well as a glimpse of her lightsaber every so often as she moved with the lithe grace reminiscent of predatory felines. She sipped her ale in silence, taking in the surroundings. She stood just over five feet in height, not physically prepossessing with the exception of a pair of emerald green eyes and to those who could feel it, an aura of experience and controlled resilience. 

Hazarding a guess that the fellow in red was a recent arrival himself, she spoke, "New to Coronet?"

A man of few words, not particularly comfortable with Basic it seemed. And there was an underlying hint of masked hostility? unease? One warrior to another she knew instinctively that he felt unarmed. Whether he was or not was something she didn't feel it needful to go into. Or, he had a deep-seated dislike of Jedi--

"Allow me to hypothesize then," she gestured in a non-threatening way to his attire, "not a planned stop on Corellia, so presumably waiting for repairs on your transportation, no?" Her left eyebrow arched curiously, "minor repairs I should say, as you are not seeking lodging, but not minor enough that you wanted to wait in the spaceport itself." Her own accent was not usually noticeable after all these years. And she tended to avoid words in Basic that drew attention to it. If there was a universal truth in the galaxy it would probably be something along the lines of the tendency of people to fear anyone or anything that was 'other.' "In which case, Coronet has many things to offer."

She suddenly looked him dead-on, "For instance, ever heard of the LastDark Club?"

"I was many things before I took up the Jedi path. And no, I have no interest in your presence here on Corellia." She paused, finishing her drink, replacing the glass on the counter and stepping ahead of him toward the door.

I could tell he was barely tolerating me. If he could get away with it, I'd give him about eight seconds before he'd have attempted to add a few inches of literal steel to my spine. It is a pity that Jedi have such a disliked image. Still, perhaps the atmosphere of the LastDark and it's premier Corellian ale would make him feel more comfortable? Less hostile would also suffice.

"Sometimes I go out and mingle with the world at large, I find it can provide a bigger picture and aid in gathering a clearer perspective." She stopped, turned to face him, and held out her gloved right hand, "By the way, my name's Jade."