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Old 09-13-2009, 03:33 AM
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Max Max is offline
Communications Director (On Leave)
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Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Australia
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Meanwhile, on Naboo.....

The first thing that greeted her as she keyed open the lock of her long-unused flat in Theed was the musty, cracked smell of dead nannariums. Kellina sighed; if the most pressing problem her home had was unrecycled biomass, then she could count the end of her training trip a success. Dropping her dusty pack just inside the door, she wound her way through the room to two slim, intricately wrought hooks on the far wall. This was always the hardest part: once this was done, she was home. She smiled wryly, and slipped her head through the battered leather straps holding her pike in place across her shoulders.

Careful not to hit the ornate ceiling with the head, she swung the pike to the front and gave the long, wicked blades a last loving polish with her sleeve. "Well, old friend," she said slightly mournfully as she replaced it on the hooks. "Its time for you to rest," Her LVA safely stored, she turned back to the dusty room, "and time for me to get back to work."

An hour later, the flat was looking livable again. The offending flowers had been taken outside, the windows were thrown open and the breezes from the waterfall swirled through her home. She had bought a tin of spice tea when she left Corellia, and she was sipping on her second cup as she settled into her chair and flipped on her datapad. It was time to see what the galaxy had been up to while she'd been off training. Besides, it was better than answering the three hundred unread messages the alert light in the corner was so helpfully reminding her to open.

Naked fighters draw crowds on Lok!

Of all the headlines to see first, Kellina thought as she skimmed the story. Nothing quite like fighting in your skivvies to add an extra dimension of concern to a brawl. She paged forward. This year's Death Race was a smashing, carnage filled success, it seems. The inclusion of the Geonosian Aklays seemed to make things difficult for all, but the winners somehow made it through: the first place winners were LoTrax, Dedaskalion and Faust, second place went to Corbaer and Romulis, and third place to Ma'el and Kendarian. She glanced over her shoulder at her pike and grinned: maybe she should give them a run for their money next year.

She kept reading. There had been an increased interest in big game hunting, with large organized hunts occurring on Endor, Lok and Yavin IV. It seemed from the holos that casualties were minimal, which was always positive. Mos Eisley had been attacked again by Tusken Raiders, but the citizens pushed them back, while increased farming on Dantooine had stirred up the Kunga Tribesmen. Both incursions had been successfully turned back, but the sudden appearance of large numbers of Nightsisters on Dathomir had almost overrun the small Imperial outpost there. That must have been something to see, she mused. Nightsisters were not the kindest of neighbors to deal with.

Last month, the Imperial Game Commission had placed a premium on krayt dragon hides. That would explain the sudden surge in dragon hunting on Tatooine and the subsequent large hunting parties. Several large outdoor events had been staged as well: the society pages were full of slightly embarrassing pictures from Learning, Inyri, El'layn and PhantomLeader's birthday parties. She had no idea how the Ithorian had climbed into the fountain in Doaba Guerfel, but it seemed like he was having a good time. It was his birthday, after all.

She took a long drink of her tea and stretched. As fun as it was to idle away time on the holonet, it was time to get to work. She keyed in her security code, and opened up the Imperial Intelligence documents. Next to her on the table, her tea slowly went cold as she sifted through the reports. The Rebels had been busy.

Somehow, they had managed to locate and activate several databanks from the wreckage of the Death Star. Most of the data had been recovered, but several Rebel agents had escaped with some of the data. Imperial Intelligence had tracked them to Tatooine, then recovered the datapads during a covert raid of Jabba the Hutt's Palace. Somehow, the Rebels located the Imperial regiment guarding the datapads, then engaged the troopers at the Oasis and stole them back. It appeared the Empire gave chase, following them to Corellia, then finally to Rori in an attempt to crush that particular cell. She frowned as she read the battle report. Something had to be done about the insurgents.

While on Rori, the Rebels had located a former Imperial operative and strong-armed him into giving up information on the Empire's shipping lanes. They had attempted to rob a storage facility on Endor, but were badly beaten as they escaped. Kellina read and reread the last report. The Rebels had last been seen on Dantooine: there was no doubt they had taken what they could and made their way back to their long-abandoned base in the north. She laid her datapad in her lap and leaned back into her chair. The base was in a strategically sound position, but it hadn't been used in months. It would take time for the Rebels to get enough manpower and supplies there to make that a viable position. So far, there had been no increase in traffic to the sector. If they were holed up on Dantooine, they were being quiet about it.

Outside her windows, the sun was slipping below the horizon, and the wind was slowly dying off as she silently mulled the reports. Sending a platoon of stormtroopers in to wipe out the cell wasn't an option yet, since the Rebels had a way of slipping out of even the worst situations. The Empire needed intelligence first: reliable, up-to-date tactical assessments of their position in the old base. There was only one person she could think of who could get them that kind of intel.

She pulled her comlink from her pocket. "Imperial Center, get me Ekaika Forge."
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