4 hours ago, Rabobankrider said:

"I, ah, well, I am, but I may have been put on leave after the, incident at the admiral building. I wasn't trying the investigate the spaceport!" Carth clears his throat and stares ahead as he manoeuvres through the traffic. Listening to Armatta, he eventually twists a little as he can see her through the corner of his eye. "You're going after Karath? I thought the jedi were moved away from this whole thing by the senate?"

"Yeah, the Senate is moving at a glacial pace. That, plus putting the Jedi Order under lockdown - official or not - won't stop Karath's machinations against all of us. There's evidence that he's definitely not finished, that there's some other plan about to be unleashed on the Republic, one involving unknown allies. So some of us have been cut loose to reclaim one of our ships and track down Karath." Armatta grimaced slightly. "I guess that it's plausible deniability if a bunch of padawans 'decide to go off and do their own thing'."

She paused and looked at Carth.

"So, would you like to help?"

Carth grimaces as he swerves around a pair that just step into the road. "Honestly, I wish you hadn't told me all that. By all rights I should turn you over to the senate right now". He follows this with a heavy sigh before speaking again. "But, with me being on leave, I suppose I am just a concerned citizen, doing my part. I don't know how much I can do, but I suspect you already have some ideas on that. So where to, miss?"

"Some place where we can ditch this speeder would be a good start, preferably where it won't be found immediately - no need to give the police immediate clues as to our location," Armatta replied. "Then on foot to a diner, near the spaceport."

Deciding to not waste time, the Mandalorian removed his armour, storing it in his backpack, before he walked off, heading towards the diner.

Entering, the male would look around before he walked over to Zoroku.

”I’m here.”

Zoroku gestures for Zalen to sit at the table. " Good to have you." Zoroku would say as the Mandalorian sat at the table with him. " We will brief you once the others are here, there are five of us in total. Six now including you."

Nodding silently, Carth swings the speeder around a corner and begins to head back in the direction of the diner. With his piloting it does not take long for him get them where they need to be. Parking the speeder down the street, he glances around nervously as he disembarks. "This is crazy" he mutters to himself as he rushes across road with the jedi. When they reach the diner the pair make their way to the table where the others are sat. Upon seeing Zoroku, Carth lets out a low groan. "Aw you've got to be kidding me, you're here as well? Just how many of your are involved?"

Armatta looked at the unknown human in surprise.

"Apparently we will be seven now, including you."

As Silun and Andja park their own speeder, he disembarks and heads into the diner. After a moment looking around for the group, he moves to join them, trying to figure out who the two new humans are as he does so. "Sorry, we got caught up in traffic. I didn't know we were bringing friends, though!"

He gives a nod in greeting to Carth and then Zalen, then finds a spot to sit with the others, his short frame putting him much lower in the booth than the rest of the group.

" Hey nice of you to be finding more friends, Maude. Come sit with us." Zoroku says with a Jovial yet calm and relaxed tone in his disguised voice, seemingly giving Armatta a disguised name off the top of his head. As Armatta, Silun, A-Danja and Carth approach the table and they get within whisper range he clears his throat and resumes speaking at his normal cold monotone " Good we are all here, with a few new additions to our mission. " Zoroku said the group filtered into the large booth table they were sitting at. " The goal is to capture Karath ultimately, but to do that we must find him, and before that we need a ship." He says recapping the mission for Carth and Zalen who were joining them. " Due to some friends I made on Foerost the Admiralty gifted a ship to the Jedi for this task, however it is currently impounded. We wish to acquire it through peaceful means..." Zoroku says looking at the Mandalorian specifically, " So that we can truly start ours search of the Traitorous Admiral."

"Right..." Krios leaned in and his low voice got lower. "I believe there was some talk of peacefully accessing the port systems - from this diner - to get access to the ship?" Krios looked around hoping one of his fellow Padawan's or one of the new-comers would come forward with the next step.

Armatta wrinkled her nose at being called "Maude". "I'm not a maiden aunt," she protested in an annoyed whisper to Zoroku/the Dude.

She then pulled out her surprisingly discreet and compact slicer gear.

"Let's see what some preliminary exploration of the extranet/holonet will yield us."

" It was the first name that came to mind, you had yet to come up with a cover identity." he said as he looked at the slicing gear in Armatta's hands. " How did you get the Navy Officer on to this mission?" Zoroku asked Armatta as he looked to Carth who sat next to her.

"I just about literally bumped into him, then he assisted me in getting away from some overly curious police officers. He's been put on leave ... maybe you'll explain it better than me?" Armatta looked questioningly at Carth.

As an afterthought, she added to the table at large, "I'm Maji Mavigon, a skilled mechanic from the Outer Rim. Pleased to meet'ch'all!"

"I'm Carth Onasi, captain of the republic navy" Carth states, taking a moment to realise the ruse that the others were taking part in. "I, may have been deemed too close to the Karath investigation, what with him being my mentor and something of a personal hero. The higher ups decided it may be best if I take some time off so I could clear my head". Looking around the table he grimaces. "Obviously that's working great right about now". He takes a seat near the edge of the table, perched cautiously as he glances behind him. "So you're going to steal an impounded ship? With the senate putting the jedi on lock down, they could bring charges of treason if they wanted. If it will help bring Karath back though", he pauses as he grips the edge of the table tightly. "Then I can help. When I was at the spaceport, security isn't too tight for the most part. Shuttle and starship transports are still in and outbound, but they're checking passengers. Karath probably got out that way, maybe bribing security or perhaps still having a loyalist in their ranks". Getting around the starship won't be the problem though. If your ship is impounded, it will be in a holding hanger. The spaceport security may be light, but those hangers are no joke. "Turrets and security droids all over the place, probably senate security as well if it's a high priority. Not only that but the landing will will be magnetically locked. You'll need to get to disable the locking system, either at flight control or the security centre. Of course both of those will be filled with flight control staf and security officers. "This isn't going to be easy. You may need to split up, but if you get caught out they'll drag you straight into a senate tribunal".

"Since when is stealing a starship 'treason', and not just 'grand theft starship'?" Armatta asked. "It's not as though it's the government's own super-secret experimental prototype."

She started to poke at the datapad connected to her slicer gear.

"Thank you for the info about the spaceport security situation. It helps to have some intel before going in."

" Delinquency, and Larceny Yes, Treason No, Our actions are not in opposition of the Republic nor would they harm them." Zoroku responds to Carth as he listens to the layout of the Hangar that they would be needing to free the ship from. ' Light security, yet the possibility for Senate Guardsmen, Droids and Turrets, Magnet Locks, We will want to disable the turrets and the magnet, avoid the droids or find and control the droid brain, and deceive the security forces.' The Chiss sat there thinking to himself and trying to formulate a plan around the challenges that were ahead. " C aptain Onasi,do you know the Hangar Layout, or do you posses detailed maps by chance? It would help me plan."

"I suggest that we order something to go, in case we need to de-camp quickly. Remember to use credit sticks without personal information, so that no one can track your transactions," Armatta advised the others. "Here, can someone please take my credit stick and get me a Mandalorian schwarma while I start working on this little project?"

Armatta then hunched over her datapad and slicer gear, with Andja on one side (offering advice), Carth on the other (telling her what he knew of the spaceport systems), and the unknown man hovering over her shoulder (and supplying the occasional useful comment).

While the code was compiling in preparation for the actual slicing action, she rotated her shoulders and stretched her back. Armatta then looked up at the unknown man.

"So ... what's your story? Zoroku obviously considers you trustworthy for this endeavour, but I have no idea as to who you are."

Zalen nods at Zoroku as he then quietly sits down, still very wary of the Jedi, always ready to defend himself.

”And you don’t need to know.”

He replied simply.

”Knowing that you can trust me should be enough.”

He added.

Armatta stopped what she was doing and gave the unknown human an irritated look.

"At least have the courtesy to give us a name. 'Hey, you!' is not sufficient if things get stressful."

She then looked at the Dude/Zoroku and asked him: "Who is this guy, and why is he here?"

After which she turned back to her slicing, muttering and grumbling to herself. "I swear, everyone's watching far too many holo-dramas these days. Outer Rim drifters with no name, twi'lek dancehall girls with hearts of gold, Jedi exiles, secret echaani martial artists, kidnapped children of unknown species, there's no end to the nonsense!"

Carth would sigh at the protests of the crime. "Under normal conditions you'd be right, but I've heard a lot of chatter coming out of the senate building. A lot of the senators are still sore about the jedi and the war, thanks to Karath's deception, a lot of them believe the jedi are responsible for the problems. They're just waiting for a reason to show that they are in charge".

In response to Zoroku's question, Carth shakes his head. "Not personally, but more hangers follow a very similar layout. Storage rooms off to the side, control room overlooking the hanger. That control room is usually linked to the control tower. Down here, most hangers are left through the roof if you're in a ship, but it'll be sealed by security for now".

"Is the control room which overlooks the hangar the place where the magnetic locks on the landing gear can be shut down?" Armatta asked Carth while waiting for her code to dig up some results. "And where is the security centre located in that set-up - in a completely different building?"

Zalen shrugged as he looked away.

”I don’t owe you anything....”

he stubbornly replied.

Armatta rolled her eyes but kept silent as she continued with her coding. I've no idea where or why Zoroku picked up this surly teenaged brat. I can only hope that he doesn't prove to be a liability.

“He is a capable warrior and one who has been slighted by Karath in the past. He has a vested interest to see justice done, and I saw that his combat skills could prove useful when the conflict with Karath will ultimately come.” Zoroku says as he looks to Armatta answering her questions, “I believe he wishes to keep his identity secret as long as possible, for now you may simply call him Z.” Zoroku looks straight at Zalen then back to Armatta, “We are not here to make enemies of each other but to capture a criminal, bickering amongst each other gets us nowhere.” Zoroku’s red eyes linger on both of them for a few moments then turns his attention to Carth, “Captain Onasi, do you know whether the droids are individual units, or controlled by one Droid Brain somewhere in the hangars control room?” He says getting back to formulating a plan of how to get the ship that was gifted to the Jedi.

"Thank you, Dude," Armatta replied somewhat absently as she focused on her datapad. "I was getting worried there, but you've set my mind at ease."