“An armor shipment?” the guard asked with a befuddled look upon his face. “”We aren’t do for an armor shipment for another month. Who did you say sent you again?”
“Look, like I told you before,” Jon said, doing his best to maintain the air of an aggravated but too-polite-to-come-out-and-say-it delivery boy, most likely some grunt barely into his first tour of duty. “I got the orders from Lieutenant Commanders Jenstas, from Regional Command!” There, in fact, really was a Lieutenant Commander Jenstas, and she did in fact work for Regional Command. Just not this region. But by the time the confusion had been sorted out, no doubt taking a half dozen or more trips up and down the chain of command, Jon would be in and out.
“Bring it up with those guys if you like, but if I come back with this stuff-”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it,” the guard huffed out. He looked contemplative for a moment, though with his rather pudgy and sweaty face it look more like constipation, before reluctantly waving Jon and his “shipment” in.
“Take it into docking bay 4, alright?” the guard called after him.
“Docking bay 4, understood!” Jon promptly took the shipment to docking bay 1, which he noted was already over-full, and quickly left before anyone had a chance to notice. It’d be another level of confusion for them to sort through, and thus more time for Jon to work. He also took a shoulder bag from the second seat, and swung it over his shoulder before heading out.
A few moments later, Jon ducked into an alcove, and shuffled out of his workman’s clothes, revealing a security guard’s uniform, complete with an identification chip.
Jon walked the hallways confidently, and head held high. While cheap holodrama’s may give one the impression that sneaking from corner to corner and dodging every last worker to come your way was the key to stealth, Jon had learned young that most people didn’t look twice at anything they expected to see. Jon waved hello to a passing guard, like they were old friends. The passing guard didn’t spare him a second glance.
Jon followed the layouts he and Artemis had… acquired, to the room that they told him held the facility’s main computer banks. If that didn’t have what they were looking for… well, he’d find some other way to appease the Empress. That said, he still sent a quick prayer to any beings that might have been listening, and swiped his stolen chip in front of the scanner.
“Beep. Beep. Identification Accepted. Welcome, Dr. Arsdil.”
There was, in fact, a Dr. Arsdil, and he did, in fact, work in this facility. He also had a horrible drinking problem it seemed. Jon was sympathetic. Not enough to refuse taking advantage of that by buying the man a few extra drinks the night before, and swiping his identification chip, mind you, but… well, once the man recovered from the toxin Jon slipped his drink, he’d probably think twice before accepting drinks from strangers.
But, that was his business, and raiding this facility for its secrets was Jon’s.
Thankfully, the main computer room was empty, just as he’d hoped. Good, it made things easier on him that way. Jon had never had much skill at slicing, but Dr. Arsdil had more than enough security clearance to get what Jon was after. And, he noted with glee, a good number of other things the Imperials would be willing to pay for. Looked like he’d be able to afford those mods for the Carnival after all.
With that done, Jon quickly wiped down the terminals to erase any lingering fingerprints, and headed for the hangar bay. He only stopped long enough to change out of his security guard uniform, and into a pilot’s uniform he’d had stashed inside his shoulder bag.
For the first time since arriving, Jon hurried his pace. This next part of the plan actually required him to be a bit ahead of schedule if he wanted to make it out of this base in one piece.
Thankfully, Jon found the shuttle he was looking for just as its contingent of soldiers was climbing on board. Waiting next to the pilot’s seat was Artemis herself. Good to see she found her way here from inside the “Armor shipment” without any problems.
“You disable the tracker’s like we discussed Artemis?”
“Bloop, wah-wah.”
“Awesome, let’s get this thing out of here before the real pilot shows up, shall we?” Artemis quickly plugged into the shuttle’s terminal, and the ship took off. In the distance, Jon could hear the sound of a pilot shouting after them, but it was quickly drowned out by the sound of the thrusters.
“Oh!” Jon exclaimed. “I nearly forgot. You got the stun grenade?” Artemis beeped her confirmation, and cracked open a compartment, letting the little sphere fall free,and roll back into the cabin holding a half dozen meraxian soldiers. Jon had just a second to hear their cries of alarm before slamming the cabin door shut.
And with that, Jon finally allowed himself to relax, as he prepared to deliver a wealth of information, plus a few prisoners. All in all, an easy payday.