Long ago, in a galaxy far away...

[PurpleXVI]

"What are you idiots waiting out here for?" Grumbled Argon, dusting off his coat where Barney had ruffled it, then got a small flashlight out of his duffel bag, turning it on to check that it was still working, then flicking it off again, "Let's see if our friend is at home."

The technician sauntered up to the front door and searched for a doorbell, if there wasn't anyone, he'd whack the door a few times with his fist. If that didn't provoke any reaction he'd walk around to see if there was any light on in the back of the house. Should he find anything open at all, and no neighbours watching, he'd cheerfully enter, turn on his flashlight and start looking around for any sign of their contact.

[Kazilan]

"Idiots? We've been waiting for you, and a good thing too. Your discreet approach was so stealthy that it almost took you past our contact's house."

Sorkuk followed as Argon tried the front door, and would follow him around to the back of the house if no one was home.

[Caleb808]

Barney was about to lead the way, but smiled and moved aside for Argon when he was called an idiot. He stops Sorkuk from following and whispers "Something ain't right about this, Bothan. If our contact is waiting for us, the lights should be on. Let the toothpick lead the way and learn his lesson. I'll give you a boost to the second story window and then go in whichever door the human doesn't use, after he attracts the attention of any enemies."

Per Seph: It is a three story house with a back door and several windows, though the windows have no light coming out of them.

[ 03-07-2007, 04:50 AM: Message edited by: Caleb808 ]

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

Argon's pounding on the door was met only with silence. If anybody was home, they weren't where they could hear anyone knocking on the door, and there was no doorbell. When he tried the door activation button it didn't move, apparently it was locked. Going around to the back had about the same results, as there were no lights on that he could see. However there were also no neighbors watching, and the back door was still closed. Though knocking on this one didn't yield any results either, pressing the button did cause the door to slide open. Inside there was nothing but dark and a couple of digital displays that he could see, though his mini glow rod helped illuminate things for him.

Barney easily lifted the small Bothan off the ground and onto the sloped roof, where he settled for a brief moment before he threw his arms out to the side, threw his left foot up into the air, and came tumbling down back on top of Barney just as he was going for the door. It wasn't a very long fall so he took no damage, but he did rip the back of his uniform along the spine.

Since the door was locked and Barney had no means of entry besides brute force, he was able to convince Sorkuk to help him enter. He surpassed the door's lock with ease, allowing him and the Trandoshan to enter. He also had a mini glow rod in his tool kit, and brought it out to help them search.

Argon
The spindly human found himself in a small rectangular room which seemed to be used for storage, and also contained several utensils for maintaining various objects that were probably in the house, from clothes to mechanical devices. Many of these things looked much too heavy for even Barney to be able to lift without exceptional help. From this room there were two walkways leading out, one in front which led to a large room with a long table with chairs around it, and another to the left, through which he could see a large bed, about six feet by four feet. It did not seem to be recently used.

Sorkuk, Barney
These two found themselves in a large square room. On the floor was a rug made from very fine hairs, and if they stood on the nearest corner, the two far sides were covered by a couch and two chairs, from left to right. In the middle was a holoprojector, but it was unplugged. Two doorways led out of this room also, one on the left leading to a room with a sink, towels, and refrigerator, while the doorway on the right led to a shallow room full of liquor bottles. In between the two doorways was a narrow staircase leading upwards.

All
None of them were able to see any sign that a person had been in the house in the last eight hours.

[PurpleXVI]

Argon tapped himself on the chin with the bright end of his glow-rod as he pondered his next move, which led to a brief couple of seconds spent yelping, flinging his glow-rod away and digging it back out from under the bed. He took the chance to check the under-bed area for any hidden goodies, people or Clues.

It briefly occurred to him that leaving an open door in a dark house on a dark evening might attract attention, so after having left it like that for several minutes, he got around to closing the door behind him.

He then proceeded to whistle tunelessly as he wandered from room to room with no particular plan or purpose other than keeping an eye out for anything interesting. He'd instantly head upwards, though, as soon as he found the stairs.

The technician kept an eye out for any attractive pieces of property, mostly small electronics, weaponry or easily transported valuables. He had loyalty towards fellow Imperial operatives, which was why he would not immediately steal it, but if it turned out their contact was dead, had defected or had gone AWOL for some other reason, he wanted to know if there was anything worth coming back to grab.

A few steps in, he also began systematically pulling any window blinds or drapes he came across, so no neighbours would wonder why people were waving glow-rods around inside the house. He passed the suggestion on to Barney and Sorkuk if he met them.

[ 03-07-2007, 04:11 PM: Message edited by: PurpleXVI ]

[Caleb808]

I guess this place is just abandoned then. That being the case, he raids the liquor and fridge then plugs in the holoprojector and turns it on before lying down on the couch. It might hold information meant for them and if not, hopefully it at least had something to entertain him while the other two searched the house.

[ 03-07-2007, 08:13 PM: Message edited by: Caleb808 ]

[Kazilan]

Sorkuk rubbed the back of his neck as he made a search of the main room for any data recording devices, suspicious that if the contact were exposed, the rebels would have left behind something to spy on any future visitors. He would offer to split the search duties with Argon if they met before going upstairs, in order to cover space faster.

[Man Who Fights Like Woman]

All Argon was able to find under the bed were several pairs of shoes. However the carpet was very soft, and he began to think that the ship could use some carpeting in the lounge.

Since the only door leading out of the bedroom was the one through which he came, he went back through the room with the long table and chairs. There was a long red tablecloth laid on the top, and in the middle was a stack of plates which seemed that they may be of some value. Two windows with rolled-up drapes were on walls, which Argon made sure to pull closed before moving on.

In the kitchen he found Sorkuk sweeping for recording devices. As of yet he had come up clean; nobody was apparently watching them, not even the neighbors now. Barney was sitting on the couch, eating a sandwich and drinking a brown, obviously alcoholic, liquid straight from a decanter. He was watching the holoprojector, which was broadcasting the planetary news report.

The anchorwoman was a Twi'lek whose skin had a green tinge. Apparently he had turned it on just as the broadcast had begun to repeat itself. "In our top story tonight," she began, "local police officers raided the house of an Imperial informant who was spreading dissent in the planetary capitol this morning. He was arrested, and charged with causing dissent amongst the populace, conspiracy to assassinate public officials, espionage, and possession of unregistered weapons. He is currently being held in custody, and awaiting trial. No bail has been set." It then cut to an interview with a Rodian police officer who was talking about the raid.

Upstairs, if they continued searching, Argon and Sorkuk saw three doorways, one in front, one on the right, and one to the left. Each of them was closed, but the green light on a nearby panel indicated that they were unlocked.

Downstairs, the story of the raid was followed by a story about the opening of the new designer store in the commercial district. Apparently it offered the latest styles straight from Coruscant, and the human founder was absolutely ecstatic about the huge turnout that her store had on the first day it was open.

[PurpleXVI]

It wasn't until Argon was halfway to the door on his left that the words from the local news sank in, "Wait a moment," he said, half to himself and half to Sorkuk as he stood still in the middle of reaching for the activator button, "If the authorities have arrested our contact for being an Imperial agent, won't they most likely be watching this place?"

He then turned towards Sorkuk, "I say we finish raiding this place for any equipment or information, then get the hell back to our ship and plan our next move. This is a backwater Rebel shithole, so they can't have too impressive facilities, I bet we can come up with a way to spring our friend from whatever place they've got him locked up in."

Having finished imparting this wisdom on Sorkuk, Argon proceeded to open the door in front of him. He didn't take any particular precautions, if the local security hicks had scoured the place, they'd likely have removed any traps or dangerous pets.

[Kazilan]

Sorkuk grew agitated as they proceeded upstairs. He kept glancing over his shoulder and at the windows, as if expecting police to appear at any moment.

"I say we get out of here now. There's no telling who is watching this place. As far as our contact, springing him would be a big risk. We should continue our mission without him and at least try and determine the extent of rebel influence here. After we do that, then maybe we try and rescue him. That way, if the rescue operation goes south we can always fly out of here with enough information to satisfy our contract."

After getting Argon's reply, the bothan abandons his search and heads to the main room to keep an eye on the street from a window.