Ex-Ranger Kagen of the Alliance gets involved

'Dak!' The otherwise empty corridor rang out with the sound of someone calling out his name just as Dak Kagen stepped out of the sick bay.

'Jora!' Dak smiled as he saw his friend and superior officer, Jora Needan, make his way towards him. The lanky Duros, with his smooth blue skin, red eyes and long, noseless face returned the friendly smile as he got within range of Dak to offer him his hand.

'Good work, Dak. How's Peric?' Jora asked as the two men shook hands.

'He'll need a couple more dips in the bacta tank, but the first prognosis is that he should be fine.' Dak replied, as the two men started walking down the corridor, Jora apparently leading the way, 'It's going to take at least a week though.'

'It's a damn shame he got injured.' Jora grimaced, 'You two did a fine job though. I just skimmed through your report, and as soon we got word that you'd lifted off with his family, Commander Borima started telling us everything he knew about the Skiprays. Deployment, tactics, capabilities. Everything.'

'Good.'

The mission that Dak had just returned from was fairly typical of what he was asked to do as a member of the Alliance Intelligence. An Imperial Navy officer had defected, and was willing to share with the Rebellion everything that he knew about the GAT-12 Skipray Blastboat, a highly capable Imperial gunship which was used in a way that was radically different from the Empire's usual tactics of relying on hulking Star Destroyers and throwaway TIE Fighters. Before he'd do that however, Borima had requested that the Alliance would make sure that his family was safe. The task of finding them and bringing them to the Rebel fleet had fallen on Dak and Peric, who had travelled to the planet of Genian.

'You ran into some trouble, I take it.' Jora said.

'Well, Peric ran face first into a thermal detonator. But yes, when we're almost back at the ship, we ran into some ISB thugs and their goons in white plastic. They were planning to take them hostage alright.' In truth, Peric had covered their rear while Dak had gotten Borima's family onto their ship. It was right as he was about to board it too that a thermal detonator had landed a little too close for comfort for Peric, necessitating Dak to rush out and drag him onboard.

'Good job stopping them. And Borima's oldest daughter in particular was very keen that I should thank Peric for his heroism.' Jora's lipless mouth formed a wry smile. Dak smiled too as he thought of Borima's young but decidedly adult daughter. Back in his days as an Imperial Sector Ranger, few missions had brought him into contact with women as attractive as her, which was just one more reason, more light-hearted than most of them, why leaving the Empire's service and eventually joining the Rebellion had been the right call.

'Poor Borima. After escaping the Emperor's clutches, he has to worry about his daughter falling in love with an old gunrunner turned renegade.' Dak chuckled.

'If not for the fact that we're supposed to be the good guys, I could have used it for leverage. Threaten to tell Borima's daughter the way to the sick bay if I think he's holding out information on us.' Jora joked as the two of them walked past a group of technicians. One of them, a short but curvy and pretty young redheaded woman, at least a foot shorter than Dak's 6'4' frame, smiled warmly at him, and he happily returned the gesture.

'Say, Jora, there's nothing else, right?' Dak asked while throwing a glance over his shoulder back at the redhead, who was watching him walk away. 'I can take time off for some R and R, right?'

'I'm afraid you can't.' Jora shook his head. 'Something's urgent come up.'

'I just got back here!' Dak said as he watched the redhead grow smaller and smaller in the distance of the long corridor. 'Can I at least get a good night's sleep before you send out again?'

'Cracken wants to see you straight away.'

'Then I guess it is urgent.' Airen Cracken was one of the top members of the Rebellion's intelligence services, arguably the second man after Chief of Intelligence General Vernan. If he needed to see Dak straight away, that meant that whatever had come up was not something that could wait.

'Captain Kagen.' Airen Cracken nodded at Dak as he entered the briefing room and made his way over to the table where he was waiting for him, Jora following close behind.

'General.' Dak returned the nod, always finding it a little strange to be referred to by rank. Usually, he was in command of no one other than himself, although the formal rank did come into play occasionally.

'Good to have you back, Dak. Jora's told you about the new mission?'

'Only that it's urgent.'

'It is. Excellent work on Genian, by the way.'

'Thank you, general.'

'Now,' Cracken paused to press a button on the table console, bringing up a hologram image of a planet, 'Have you heard about the planet Illium Prime?'

'It's some kind of resort planet, isn't it?' Dak ran a hand through his ash blonde hair. 'I've been there, once, a couple of years ago.'

'As a ranger or a smuggler?' Jora asked.

'Ranger. I was tracking down a criminal. The Hutts weren't exactly thrilled when I found him.' Dak explained.

'You didn't leave too much of an impression on them?' Cracken rejoined the conversation.

'No, general, I don't think I did.'

'Good. Because if we're correct, then on the planet there is some extremely important information that we need you to acquire.'

'What kind of information?'

'Conclusive proof that the Empire destroyed Alderaan.'

Dak's eyes widened a little when he heard that. He was well aware of the Empire's attempts to blame the destruction of Alderaan on the Rebel Alliance. Even if the Imperial propaganda apparatus would be able to minimize the damage somewhat simply by virtue of the resources at their disposal, evidence of their guilt would likely help turn the war in the Rebellion's favour.

'And the source who told you this, is he reliable?' Dak asked.

'Very. We've used him in the past, and the information that he's provided us with has always been good.' Cracken replied, obviously not wanting to say too much about whoever it was that was feeding him information from inside the ISB.

'And my mission now is to go to Illium, find the evidence, and bring it back to the fleet.'

'Exactly.' Cracken nodded his head. 'What we know about its exact nature and its location is, unfortunately, not a lot more than what it proves and that it's ended up on Illium. You'll have to go there and locate it.'

'I'll need a cover, won't I?'

'You'll be a merchant there for some rest and relaxation.'

'Looks like I'll have to shave.' Dak said, rubbing his fingers against the stubble on his chin. 'And I'll need a new co-pilot.' Peric and he had worked together on a couple of missions, but it wasn't unusual for the Allied Intelligence operatives, whose community was not particularly large but a tight-knit one, to switch partners after the requirements of that particular mission.

'Of course. Jora has a list of who's present and available.'

'Is there any support on the ground?'

'We have a few cells active on Illium. You'll get into contact with one of them, they should be able to hand you some more information.' General Cracken explained.

'What about resources?' Was Dak's next question.

'We'll provide you with a ship. A Ghtroc 720 that Anturos was **** to liberate on his latest mission. Beyond that, you'll have access to an account with 10,000 credits on it.'

'10,000 credits might not get us very far.'

'Trust me, we've thought of that.' Cracken formed his lips into a thin smile.

'Oh boy, I'm going to like this, aren't I?'

'Definitely. Anturos had to steal the ship from a local crime lord, due to unforeseen complications. As it turned out, the ship had just returned with some luxury items on board.' Cracken explained.

'It seems like the crime lord had some quite expensive tastes.' Jora cut in, smiling wryly again.

'I'm really hoping neither of you is about to use the word '****'.' Dak threw another glance towards the hologram projection of Illium Prime.

'Of course no one is expecting you to sell ****.' Cracken grinned. 'Just a small fortune's worth of ladies underwear made from Lashaa silk.'

'Lashaa silk?' Dak repeated the last words. Clothes made from Lashaa silk were definitely a luxury item, a soft, light fabric with a lustre about it, it was a favourite amongst high-class courtesans, whores and dancing girls. Not quite worth its price in spice, but not far from it.

'Yes. Your cover story is that of a merchant who's come to Illium Prime with a cargo load packed with a hot commodity, and once you've shifted your cargo, you're going to enjoy a nice vacation. We've fixed the ship's records and renamed it The Ardent Venture, out of Eriadu, and you'll be provided with a list of suitable merchants to sell your cargo to, none of whom should be too shady.' Cracken said.

'Good.' Dak muttered. 'I'd hate to be killed because someone wants to steal my knickers. Have you got an estimate of what the cargo might be worth?'

If you haggle, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 150,000 credits.

'I'd better haggle then.' Dak decided. 'Anything else I need to know?'

'That is all. As per usual, the specifics of the mission are up to you. The Ardent Venture is waiting in the hangar. Inform Jora of who you'll pick as your co-pilot, and good luck!'

'Thank you, general.' Dak nodded towards Cracken and walked out of the briefing room.