Major Hector Ricmore
CVS Adjudicator
Zsoldos system, Wild Space

Hector Ricmore lay comfortably in his cot ready to get some shut-eye after a long day. His arm still ached on occasion from the injury he received during the Trials of Ullr but the medical staff assured him that it was healing and all would be well in time. Double checking that the bacta patch was in place on the wound, the Zygerrian closed his eyes and rolled onto his side as he began to drift off to sleep.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

“Ngh” Hector mumbled in his sleep sleeping through the sound.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

“Hnnn” He mumbled and shifted his pillow over his ears, trying to block out the sound.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

“Alright! I’m up!” The Zygerrian rolled out of bed and answered his comm with a snarl on his face.

“What do you want?”

“My most sincere apologies for waking you sir, but we have a communication from Dral Falgorth. He is rather insistent on meeting with you and is claiming that it is urgent.”

Hector sighed. “Alright, I’m on my way.”

The feline humanoid slid out of bed. Not bothering to change, as the matter was apparently urgent, he walked to the cockpit of his shuttle whilst still in his sleep wear.

Entering the cockpit, Hector made eye contact with the holographic figure of Dral Falgorth. The muscular human managed to cut a heroic figure with his polished set of Pure Beskar Armor and his majestically long beard which reached down to his chest.

Standing at the same height but clad only in his sleepwear, Hector felt a bit lacking in comparison to his Battle Team Leader.

“I’m sorry to contact you at such a late hour Hector but this is an urgent matter. Appius has gone missing.”

A look of disbelief crossed Hector’s face. “I’m sorry sir can you repeat that? I thought I heard you say that Appius was missing.”

“You heard right Hector. As one of the last people to hear from him I am placing you in charge of the investigation. I’ve updated your security clearance to give you access to all of Appius files and his office.”

Hector nodded solemnly, a frown visible upon his face. “I understand sir, I’ll get started right away.”

Dral’s hologram nodded and flickered before fading out completely.

Hector paused for a moment to collect his thoughts before addressing his crew. “Bring us down to Zsoldos, We’ll land right at the Wren base. I’m going to freshen up and get ready for the investigation.”

“Yes sir.” The crew responded as they began the process of descending to the planet's surface.

Hector returned to his quarters. He donned his armor, slipped on his fuel pack, and made sure both his flamethrower and blaster were loaded. He then returned to the cockpit as the shuttle finished its descent towards the planet’s surface.

Lowering the ramp, Hector exited the ship and made his way towards the House Wren base. He moved with a single minded purpose, ignoring the groups of soldiers on guard as he marched ever closer to Appius' office and hopefully, some answers.

The Zygerrian entered the room, noting the neat piles of paper and abandoned holoterminal. Taking a seat at the terminal Hector booted it up, intent on finding out something. He attempted to access it with the codes given to him by Dral only for the attempt to fail.

After a few attempts a question prompt appeared on the screen:
During my time as a birdwatcher what was my favorite bird of prey?

Hector blinked in surprise, as far as he knew Appius had not participated in such a hobby. But if that was the case then what could the missing Jedi be referring to?

Hector reread the question again and again. It was looking specifically for a bird of prey. What birds did he know of that fit that moniker? Ravens, Shriek-Hawks, Falcons… Hector’s eyes shot open in realization. Falcon. The Millenial Falcon was the ship that he and Appius flew together in. Inputting the name of the ship Hector gave a cry of joy as the terminal sprang to life.
The Zygerrian’s eyes fell upon the familiar visage of Appius Wight. The human appeared pale and haggard, with dark circles under his eyes, which were unsettlingly tinged with red and yellow.

“If you are listening to this recording I assume that you are either in the presence of, or at the very least, an associate of Hector Ricmore. I intended this message to be found by you, my friend and I hope you can pass on the news to the clan as a whole. First off I need to apologize for my disappearance, I need to get away and think about somethings. The artifact we brought back from Plagueis, that damned sphere, is making everything worse. I can hear whispers goading me, telling me to act. Hector, you’ve no doubt noticed by now that things aren't right. I’ve felt this growing...darkness inside me. It’s been eating away at me since Meridian, a gnawing anger at my inability to act, to save them. I need to get a handle on this darkness before it becomes too late, it’s too dangerous to remain in the clan with those I have come to view as comrades. Goodbye Hector, I hope that we meet again.”

The recording flickered and died. In its place a series of numbers and data appeared detailing the relic held on the Battleteam Deathwatch marauder. Scrolled in the margins of the data were notes from Appius on potential countermeasures for the disposal of the relic.

Hector closed his eyes and hoped that one day he would see his friend again. He began the process of copying the data onto a datadisk he found within the desk that the terminal sat upon. Giving the room one last look, Hector walked back to his ship with the intention of reporting his findings. Appius may be gone for the foreseeable future but he left valuable information that could potentially save lives put in danger by the dark side relics of Clan Plagueis.

Daler was entering a room inside the ACE's Corporate Headquarters, looking for someone that would look like an important person. He had heard that there was a chance for a less than legal contract which he could have used. The Nautolan found a Human woman with an earpiece, talking about what sounded like important business. She had brown hair and black eyes with an imposing posture.

"Listen, if we're not getting 2 million credits, the ships won't be made. The manufacturing is expensive and what you want is very specific. Is that clear? Very well, goodbye," the woman angrily said.

"Good morning, I'm here to talk to Mr. Ghosan. Is he available?" the Nautolan asked.

"Ah, you must be Daler. We're sorry, but you can't speak directly to the CEO. I'm the one you are supposed to talk to. I'm Eva."

"Daler, but I guess you already know. So, I'm going to need information. The location and the other details," the Force Disciple whispered.

"Yes, right here." The Human handed him a Datapad with all the information he needed. The Nautolan read the details in 4 minutes and was ready to go when he was stopped by the woman.

"Is there a problem?"

"We need to keep in contact with you. I have a map of the place and I'll need you to guide you to the server room."

"Right, get the blueprints, destroy their copies," Daler said.

"Give me your Comlink. I just need to connect it to my... done! Now we can talk. Remember, you're taking the place of one of their tech guys. Good luck," Eva voiced.

"Thanks. I'll be back in no time."

The Nautolan was dropped off near the entrance of ACE's competitor, on a station, by a GX1 Civilian Short Hauler with all of his gear, including slicing equipment.

"Daler, can you hear me?" The voice was heard from the Force Disciple's Comlink.

"Loud and clear. Try to keep it down."

"Right. There's a body scanner at the entrance, I've disabled it but only for 30 seconds. You'll have to get through it at the end so be careful with your slicing stuff," the Human informed him.

Daler went through the entrance with no problems, but he was met by a Togrutan guard a few steps after he entered.

"You're the new tech guy? Sheesh, did they run out of people to hire?"

As the guard kept talking, the Nautolan thought of a way to escape the conversation. He focused on the guard, forcing him hear a beeping sound a few feet behind him.

"What was that?"

"You better go check," the Force Disciple told the Togrutan before he ran off.

"Alright, the server room is not far. Take a left and the second room on the right is it," the Human said through the comlink.

When he found the room, he was surprised by a door with an eye scanner.

"Eva, there's an eye scanner on this door. Did you get it?"

"What? There's no eye scanner on the digital blueprints. I can't find anything like that."

"Must be a separate system. I can slice into it, don't worry," the Nautolan uttered. He pulled out a computer spike and put it into the appropriate place on the eye scanner, configuring it to work on all tries. Daler then scanned his eye and took back his computer spike, allowing him entrance.

"Nice job. Now get me into the system," the woman said from the Comlink.

"Don't worry, I can handle this." The Force Disciple then placed his computer probe into one of the server racks' plugs. He copied every blueprint onto his datapad and deleted the originals from the source.

"Good job, Daler. Now you can return."

"You know what? If I deleted all of their security files from the servers, they probably wouldn't know. How about I do it?"

"Everything that destroys our competitors is something that helps ACE."

The Nautolan deleted everything that seemed vaguely connected to security, which allowed him access out of the building with no interruptions.

"You know your way back. Make sure you don't run into someone."

"I know my stuff. I also know how to avoid people."

The Force Disciple returned to the entrance and didn't see a single person, passing through the body scanner with no sign of alarm, silent or otherwise.

"You'll be picked up by the same ship you were dropped by. Well done, your reward has been transferred," the Human happily said.

"And your blueprints are... in your servers. Marked *special_delivery* for your convenience," the Nautolan uttered as he sent the files.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you. May the Force be with you, is that what you say?"

"It was my pleasure. And not really, I usually don't say it, but, may the Force be with you too," the Force Disciple voiced before his Comlink was disconnected.