The Hand of Thrawn

Many hours after the Mandalorian delegation had departed to meet with the King of Niruaun, they and their shuttle returned, engines humming rhythmically as they coasted gently from side to side, navigating the canyons and mesas and chasms with ease. Setting the Lambda-class down on the rocky surface alongside their encampment once more, they returned to complete the task for which they had initially come. The diplomatic sidetrip had had to be abandoned. Someone was attacking the local king, and communications disruptions had left the Aliit'alor and his staff momentarily stranded on the planet, at their own devices. It seemed like perfect cover for some fact-finding among the ruins.

Exiting the shuttle, with Andre Walker at his heels, Plu cast aside the safety padding which he had ripped from his sword during the flight. Then, he turned to his ceremonial guards (now once more armed with their usual stun pikes and side blasters, which had been left in the shuttle) and the shuttle crew, and motioned to the encampment.

"Pack all that stuff up, and let's move it into the fortress. We may have an invasion force down here soon, and we need to be in a strong enough position to negotiate."

The guardsmen and crew saluted, then moved off to quickly tear down the camp and pack it once more aboard the shuttle. Fifteen minutes later, they were airborne once more, skimming mere meters above the stony base of the near black fortress. As they rounded the second of the five towering spires, a great left in the side of the fortress came into view: the entrance to the main hangar.

"Right where it's supposed to be ...." The ambassador observed, in a hushed tone.

Plu smiled jovially. "What did you expect, a solid wall of stone with no entrances anywhere?"

As the shuttle settled down in the middle of the wide, flat lip of the Hand's main hangar bay, the replusorlifts kicked up a cloud of fine dust from the smooth black stone floor. Before them, a dark chasm opened into the depths of the ancient fortress. Faint shapes toward the back indicated the presence of the wreckage of several dozen assorted small craft. Wires and small conduit boxes around the entire entrance told the story of where ray shielding had once protected the bay. And on top of everything, a thick layer of dust, dirt, soot, and dried oil indicated that no one had been here for a very long time. Apparently the fortress was just as abandoned as it had appeared from the earlier Mandalorian aerial reconnaissance.

Loosening his hold on one of the passenger compartment's grab bars, Plu moved to peer through one of the viewports as he waited for the crew to report on the condition and safety assessment of the hangar. "So this is it, at last." The old warrior murmurred in an awed tone. "The Hand of Thrawn, the center of his great empire. Amazing. If ever there was a man who understood the importance of the Unknown Regions ..." His voice trailed off as a new voice echoed over the ship's com.

Aliit'alor, there is no sign of any threat outside. No biomarkers, no infrared heat, nothing. It should be safe to lower the ramp and have a careful look around.

Plu's voice sounded slightly muffled in the passenger cabin from behind his helmet, as he used the built-in com to reply. Excellent. Stand by for orders and emergency evac if needed. He turned to the Ambassador, and the six red-clad guardsmen, who had retrieved their side arms and rifles and now looked a while lot less ceremonial. "Andre, you stay here for now. Let's go!"

And with that, he reached out, slapped the release, and the rear boarding ramp fell open.

Plu and his six companions stepped carefully down onto the worn, dust-covered Hijarna stone tarmac of the cavernous hangar bay, and took several cautious steps out away from the shuttle, before they stopped to turn around. The Aliit'alor of the Or'dinii had long dreamed of visiting the historic and legendary fortress, and he could barely believe it was finally happening. But the seriousness of their situation and their ongoing standoff with the Chiss meant that he had to keep his focus. Scanning the area closely with his own eyes now, he waited as his pupils adjusted to the relative darkness of the hangar's depths, then traced the walls of the hangar.

The entire hangar was a big rectangle, with three uniform walls, one rising at each end of the hangar, and the third rising before them, at least a hundred meters deeper into the structure. Plu marveled that there were no interior columns visible within the hangar -- clearly the fortress had been built by ancient masters of architecture. Off to the left, in the end wall, two-thirds of the way to the back, was a man-sized door, and a larger cargo bay, side by side. Both appeared to be closed and sealed, but how tight would the security be? There was no other entrance visible (although almost half the back wall was obscured by the wreckage of starcraft of some alien design, with distinct Imperial influences, and there probably was another door somewhere).

Plu shrugged his shoulders slightly, and started forward. "Let's go have a look at the door."

Moments later, the seven Mandalorians stood in a half-semicircle before the man-sized door and it's larger cargo cousin. Both doors were edged with a plain black metallic frame that stuck out several inches, and had gracefully rounded corners at the top, and the doors themselves were painted a glossy black as well, with no markings or features visible. Unlike the floor of the hangar, no dust had stuck to the smooth finish of the doors. There was no control panel visible anywhere.

Stepping forward, one of the guardsmen gently touched the very center of the people door with the butt of his rifle, then tapped on it several times. The door sounded heavy and ominous, but there was also a hollow tone that indicated that it was not very thick. Plu considered simply attempting to cut through the door with a torch or maybe a lightsaber, but they didn't want to make a mess. It would be better to take their time and learn what they could about the ancient technology here.

"Stevens." The Aliit'alor said, indicating the squad's scanner tech. "Can you get a scan of the door, the frame, and the walls for a good five feet on either side? Let's see if there's a control system embedded in the walls or something." Or maybe on the other (inside) side of the wall, for that matter, which would be awkward unless they could get one of their people inside to open the doors from within.

"Right away, sir!" The red-armored trooper responded, handing his rifle to a companion and unslinging his backpack. In twenty seconds, he had assembled his scanner kick, powered it on, and was aiming the sensor dish wand at the door. His equipment began to hum, then let out an almost constant beeping.

The Mandalorians were caught by surprise. Not that they didn't see the shuttle coming -- they did -- but they were momentarily puzzled as to whose authority these new representatives represented. Ben Jinn and his people, as far as they knew, had left the system. Then, after briefly hostile standoff, the Mandos and Chiss had come to a mutually beneficial agreement regarding Lehon and their shared purposes for it. The Mandalorians did not want to institute permanent control of the entire system. Their interests lay only in acquiring a permanent military base, and in searching for some of the secrets of the Thrawn Empire from long ago, and in ensuring that the inhabitants of Nirauan, whoever they might be, could defend themselves. Once communications had been opened between all parties, the leader of the Mandalorian forces on the surface had calmly pointed out that, with the departure of King Ben Jinn, his army was the only one on the surface, and as such, he controlled the planet. The Chiss commander had countered just as calmly that the army on the surface would be stranded if the Chiss incinerated their starships in orbit. Conceding the point, the Aliit'alor had laid out the reasons for his mission, and pointed out that, in the absence of Jinn, the Mandalorians did not wish to leave the system undefended, and would be happy for the Chiss to take control of the system. Conditions were laid out, a tentative working agreement was made, and the Mandalorians returned to their other primary mission objective.

Stepping forward to meet these new arrivals, Andre Walker and one of the guardsmen placed themselves between the strangers and the rest of the group. "Thank you. You're the third person to give me permission to be here today." The ambassador smiled broadly. He was trying not to be sarcastic, but it was hard. Unaware that these men were sent by Ben Jinn, he thought that a fourth faction was trying to claim the planet. "We would be happy to abide by those conditions, but I'm a little confused. Who do you represent? You're not Chiss, and you're not Mando'ade."

Plu himself casually leaned against the wall, watching in silence, while the others proceeded with their attempts to break open the ancient fortress. The Aliit'alor smirked behind his tinted T-shaped visor at his vod's response, knowing that his team did not plan to take any physical items from the location anyway.

Andre looked surprised. "Oh? My apologies. We thought you'd fled the system when the Chiss arrived." He coughed, and frowned slightly. "The Aliit'alor was not pleased with your ability to defend this planet, and we did not bring the necessary forces to mount a permanent occupation, so we have already made an agreement with the Chiss." He looked sympathetic, although it might have been a charade. "I am afraid you have no authority here, unless you negotiate it with the Chiss first."

In the background, Plu watched the bodyguards closely, letting Andre handle the talking. He activated his HUD, and began marking targets, just in case this got ugly. He didn't want to hurt Jinn's men, but he was running out of patience. This operation was taking entirely too long.

Before Nicolina has a chance to reply to Nyra's rhetorical questions, the Forcie has stalked off towards the nearest group of enemy troops, which may be for the best anyway since getting in the woman's way or trying to calm her down might just set her off since she already seems to be running in the red.  Still, Nicolina thinks as she spots Delvardus not far from where she, Faina, and Nyra are, maybe someone should make sure Nyra doesn't get too out of control.


Figuring that Faina being a Forcie might give her a better chance of reaching out to Nyra, Nicolina turns towards the Imperial Knight and says, Looks like your girlfriend has some anger issues, Nikulin.  Wanna see if you can cool her down before she starts any trouble?  

Turning to address Sergeant Achari, the leader of the squadron of Stormtroopers Nicolina chose to accompany her, Nicolina says, Set up a perimeter, make sure no one gets close to Delvardus.  While it's doubtful anyone would be able to get close to Delvardus given who the Supreme Commander has around him, Nicolina figures it doesn't hurt to remain vigilant all the same, and so she keeps an eye on him herself as her troopers move to carry out her orders.     
 

One cool thing about wearing a helmet that conceals one's entire face, Nicolina thinks while keeping a wary eye on Nyra's hand after seeing the clearly agitated woman reaching towards her lightsaber hilt, is that no one can see where you're looking or the expression on your face, either of which, if seen, might set someone off if they were already apparently teetering on the edge of flipping the frak out for some reason.  While Nicolina doesn't know much about Nyra, having just met the woman here on Nirauan, she is pretty sure that, in this particular instance, it is probably best to reign her sense of humor in and respond to the question as though it were a literal one; which it very well may be even though on the face of it the question seems a bit ridiculous.


No, Nicolina says with a decisive, firm shake of her head just in case the saying no part alone is in any way ambiguous, I'm pretty fond of the lot of 'em actually.  Venturing a guess that it might help to offer some kind of light at the end of the tunnel, Nicolina adds, But, hey, don't you worry or lose heart.  Word is we'll be moving straight on to Csilla from here, so you'll have another shot at getting that big head you're hankerin' for in no time at all.