Fast Pace [Open]

[Alienor Na'Varro]

Alienor was under the impression that the day had already been going on for countless hours. Her tired eyes stared at the chrono wall as she arrived to her floor at the Facility. It was only 0815. She shook her head and yawned. Her day had already been going on for a good while regardless of how she was only now stepping into her office. It was one of the perks of her promotion to Field Agent: her own office. She didn't spend that much time there, but it came in handy.

With her very bad sleep, she easily got up around 0400. She had been forcing herself to get up only at 0500 for the past few months, because she couldn't practice early or go out jogging in the middle of the night. So she had gone to the main hospital to do one of her volunteering shift with some of the children patients, grabbed her first couple of caf with Keir, then went for her run. She had briefly stopped by home to quickly shower and dress for the day, before walking to the Facility. Though she now had her speeder and didn't need to rely on public transportation anymore, the young woman always enjoyed walking around instead of sitting in a vehicle.

She let herself plop into the large plush red chair in her small office. She had already given several personal touches to it, easy items to take with her when another promotion might happen, though she was in no rush. She loved her crazy busy life and she didn't take things, professionaly or personally, for granted, given the life she had had before.

Sipping on her caf, she heard her stomach rumble and smirked. She had kind of forgotten breakfast again. Reaching for some supplies she kept in one of her drawers, she munched on some protein bar and a couple cookies, in between sending a message to her boyfriend. She never knew when he might actually get them when he was off world in deployment, but she always had the habit to send little notes or voice messages when he was away.

And given that she had no upcoming meeting or training session before another hour or two, she could take five minutes to herself before jumping into some research and report writing.

[Dav Nirken]

-Already a week back and they've still got me running mail.-

:: To be fair, it was surprising that they'd let him back in this early. Written procedure was somewhat vague on the point, but in the past he'd been sequestered for up to a month. This last one had been much longer than the others, yet barely a week after being brought in and he was back on the job. Though he was internally questioning the decision, wondering what the angle was - with Intelligence, there was always an angle - he wasn't going to ask. For all he knew, it was an oversight and they'd shuffle him back out.

Then again, they'd stuck him in the mail room. While they figured out a revised set of duties, he was stuck delivering people's mail without even a cubicle. To be fair, he was still trying to catch his own footing. Being back in civilization after nearly three years embedded undercover with a now-defunct pirate gang was itself jarring: the slang, the attitudes and the clothing were all different, both from what he was used to and how it had been before he left.

And the organization of offices. One would think in an organization as old and all-knowing as Imperial Intelligence would never change that particular setup, but it was a security measure. Useful when it came to preventing attacks, annoying when one was gone for years and had to learn how it had changed. That was how Dav wound up being followed by several pairs of very sharp eyes and a somewhat jumpy Agent assigned for security, despite the three checks he'd gone through to get to this level (on top of the ones to even enter the facility). He knocked on the doorjamb of the room he'd been directed to, holding up a package that could only be hardcopy files and one of the secure datapads used by mail room clerks. ::

"Field Agent Alienor Na'Varro? Package for you, just need a thumbprint please."

[Alienor Na'Varro]

When she heard the knock on the door, Alienor looked up and saw an agent whose name she took moment to recall. She remembered having seen him around, helping with the mail. She got to her feet. "Good morning, Agent Nirken. This is your name, right?" She inquired, wanting to make sure her memory served her well.

"Of course." She was to give her thumbprint, when she briefly stopped and didn't do it, having a bad feeling about this.

"Does it say who it comes from?" She wouldn't normally hesitate and it had nothing to do with who was delivering, but with the package itself.

She had learned to trust her intuition for many years and while there was a chance it was all in her head and that she was only on edge, she preferred being safe than sorry.

[Dav Nirken]

"Good morning, Agent Nirken. This is your name, right?"

"Yes, ma'am."

:: Dav was somewhat surprised that she knew his name. He knew he shouldn't be, this was Imperial Intelligence after all, where knowledge was power, but he'd not worked with or otherwise interacted with Na'Varro before. He kept said surprise from his expression and tone of his voice however, he'd learned that long before joining Imperial ranks.

The blonde reached to give her thumbprint, but for some reason stopped and inquired about the sender. That one gave Dav pause, he'd not had someone do that yet. He glanced at the label on the front of the package only to find that it carried no senders name, simply a location. It didn't follow protocol. ::

"No, ma'am. The location it was sent from is one of the rooms in quadrant esk subsection 6 of the Imperial Library. Last I checked though, that whole section was public-use research rooms."

:: The Imperial Library was there for everyone, civilian and military alike. Certain sections were closed off for specific uses, and some of the information came with security clearance requirements. The rooms in Esk 6 were open to the public, they just had to sign them out and could use them for days at a time if necessary. It wouldn't make sense for hardcopy files to be sent from there unless an agent was doing work clandestinely or an operations group of some sort had taken over the area. ::

[Alienor Na'Varro]

Alienor nodded when the Agent confirmed the name she had called him. When he said there was only the location and no sender for the package, she narrowed her eyes, pensive. "This makes no sense, especially from a public area." She wasn't expecting hard copy of anything, and certainly not from the library. And when orders came from higher, they didn't come that way.

"Agent Nirken, how familiar are you with the technology from our analysis labs? If you are, I'd like you to come with me to assist in inspecting this package before I think about opening it." She was a competent stealth agent and a solid interrogator, as well as a good observer, but technology wasn't her forte.

"If this delays you in the mail delivery, I can go wait for you at the lab with this package and you may return once you're done with the round."

[Dav Nirken]

"Familiar, but no expert. However, this was the last drop for this round, and I'm not allowed to leave it until I get a print for it. Shall we?"

:: Dav was an agent trained for fieldwork, and while he could perform desk-bound analysis - and deliver mail, even - was no technician. Every agent destined for fieldwork was taught quick and dirty methods of finding what they desired, usually destructive in some form or another; agents in friendlier areas tended to have access to field teams who specialized in their chosen field. The techs in the Facility were some of the very best in the galaxy. He didn't know what she wanted to look for, as all mail - electronic and otherwise - was screened before entering or leaving the premises. Basic scans, yes, and heavily automated, but it covered a fair amount of the bases. Unless someone had sneaked it into the lineup after the scanning process...

While the Facility had many of the best minds in their respective fields, most of those were working on their own projects, or projects of more importance than a Field Agent's mail. Fortunately, there were a plethora of droids available at any given time and assuming the right questions were asked, they could get whatever answers they desired. Assuming Alienor followed, he headed for the turbolift and spoke to the AI controlling it. ::

"Analysis labs."

[Alienor Na'Varro]

"We shall." Alienor replied, betting that Nirken's knowledge of the lab equipment went beyond her own. Technology wasn't what she was best with at all, though she had improved since joining the Imperial Intelligence Services. She just knew when to rely on others' capacities.

She honestly didn't know what she was looking for with this package, but there was something up and she knew when to trust her instinct. As they headed to the turbolift, she appreciated that the agent could check this with her now.

"Hopefully everything will turn out fine." She said, knowing that the analysis would tell them soon enough. As they reached their destination, she let Nirken do what needed to be done, taking the opportunity to watch.

The first test made her suspicious at once. "No finger print save for yours and someone else, probably the one in charge of the courrier. That's tampering to me, and an inside job." Now the question was to find out what was inside the package.

[Dav Nirken]

:: As they approached one of the analysis rooms, the windows became clear, revealing a droid inside. Dav placed the package in a slot designed for that kind of transfer. The droid would do the work, Dav would just have to ask the right questions and give the right instructions. ::

"Case number."

:: The Agent had considered that on the short ride down. All evidence collected in these rooms was logged and added to a case. The mail room could override that, it would essentially open a new case that would be logged specifically for the mail room, but it would also be attached to the recipient's name. If the person who dropped the package was indeed inside the system, he or she would know they'd been discovered if they watched the cases closely. Alternatively, he could list it under an open case of his own, but that would be frowned upon later should it be discovered. ::

"Mail room override, new case. Non-destructive scan for fingerprints, cross-reference against known prints of Imperial Intelligence Agent Dav Nirken."

:: Fingerprinting was a simple concept that went back eons. The ridges and troughs on the fingers, combined with the secretions of said being, would remain and allow for identification. Over time, the methods for finding these had improved: scanners could now locate and read a fingerprint without using outside chemicals that might corrupt some other evidence on the exterior. Said scan occurred, then two identities were determined, Dav's and an unknown. ::

"No finger print save for yours and someone else, probably the one in charge of the courrier. That's tampering to me, and an inside job."

"Could mean a droid or someone with prosthetic limbs was involved too, can't rule those out. Droid, identify the unknown set of fingerprints. Scan the package exterior for alternative traces and display results."

:: The droid hummed for a minute as it sent information to the planet's central computer system and ran scans on the package. After nearly a minute of analysis the droid turned back to the two intelligence officers and spoke while text appeared on the window next to the fingerprints. ::

"Identification ongoing. Trace amounts of Zaffa oil found on package exterior. No other outstanding material detected."

"Initiate scan of package contents, full range of scans. Minimal intrusiveness, fine-tipped scanner only. Report all findings."

:: Meanwhile, Dav took out his datapad and initiated a search. Zaffa oil wasn't something he was familiar with; once he knew what it was maybe he would be able to figure out how that would help in this situation. ::

[Alienor Na'Varro]

Alienor nodded to what Nirken said about how there were different options for the lack of prints, but there should have been more than three persons handling this package, and she doubted that all other individuals had prosthetic limbs or were droids. It would be an uncanny coincidence. Yet, she had seen her lot of weird occurences in her young life, so she waited.

"Zaffa oil?" She was surprised by the first result that came. She wasn't familiar with this. Her attention was caught the moment the initial results of the on going scans came up.

"Faint traces of explosive detected. Quantity below the standard levels of alarm. Scan still in progress..." Alienor quirked a brow at the news. She was still racking her brains about who might want to do something like this. She didn't have many enemies, and she didn't know whether any Sith who knew and saw her defection in a bad way might try to get rid of her.

"This really makes no sense at all." Most people ignored her service with the imperial intelligence in the first place. "If anyone tried to get to me, they could do it much more easily given my public work."

[Dav Nirken]

:: Dav gave Alienor a sideways look as she commented that it would be easier to kill her when she was involved in her public work. He had no idea what that might be, but understood that some agents had public faces that they used to facilitate their Intelligence work. He'd considered it, but his skills as an actor had atrophied with relative disuse. Working undercover was a form of acting, but it wasn't the same. He'd have to give serious thought to getting back into that area if his identity was ever released.

Zaffa oil was used in cooking, notably in some seafood dishes. Definitely not something you'd see in the Imperial Library. Explosives had also been detected - that was a surprise, seeing as how the mail room scanned for that sort of thing. The ultra-low quantities might simply not have pushed past the scanner minimums. Something to bring up to the agent in charge. ::

"Scan complete. Flimsi inside reveals the presence of low amounts of atmospheric pollution consistent with approximately four dozen worlds in this quadrant of the galaxy. There is a stain on several pages suggesting a spill, analyzing this will require further access."

:: Cooking oil and a spill of some sort, and faint traces of explosives. It didn't add up, not to an attack unless the spill was toxic or biological. That meant eliminating that preconception. She was a public figure that also worked Intel, maybe a written threat of some sort? Unlikely, given the size of the paper stack and the whole package being sent to The Facility instead of her front-facing address. Maybe a warning? Information on an attack that was in the planning or preparation stages? That would again require knowledge of Alienor's status as an Intelligence Agent, let alone how to address the package to actually get it to her. ::

"Droid, with Field Agent Na'Varro's permission please begin an analysis of the spill, make the sample as small as is feasible. Likewise, please list the planets with matching pollution situations as that found on the contents. Highlight Imperial-held worlds. And has the identity attached to the other fingerprints been found yet?"

"Negative, search ongoing."

"Ms. Na'Varro, are there others outside Imperial service that know you're with Intelligence and have the knowledge to get you a package like this? It really doesn't seem to be pointing at an attempted attack at this point."

[Alienor Na'Varro]

"Permission granted." Alienor said as the droid gave more information and was ready to proceed to a further scan. She was still trying to figure out what all of this might mean. If it was sent to the Facility and not the Institute, it meant that someone was onto her as an imperial intelligence agent. It couldn't be the Sith, because nobody knew that she was working like this, only that she had moved to Bastion and was a prestigious musician at the Chopin Institute.

"As far as I know, nobody outside of imperial service does know of my work with Intelligence." It was confusing and frustrating. Then she suddenly went through the different analysis and opened a few different files on her personal datapad.

"There might be a couple people who might want to see me out of imperial service though." She pursed her lips. "I will need to speak to this with my superior, but I got in trouble with a few people, not for my actual work, but for my past."

[Dav Nirken]

:: That her past might come into play here surprised Dav, but not overly so. Everyone had a past, as long as they fit certain requirements then the Empire was happy to have them. His own was fairly relaxed compared to some, and even he had people in it who could have explosive residue - some of them had been friends. ::

"Analysis complete. Specific ingredients and quantities listed on the screen, composition highly suggests blossom wine. The amount of degradation leads to an approximation of being spilled three days ago, unless covered by a stasis field. There is no electrostatic energy associated with the use of such field however. Likewise, the fingerprint search is complete. Inconclusive."

:: As annoyed as he was by the inconclusive results on the fingerprint scans, the blossom wine was a good addition. He was no connoisseur, but he knew that blossom wine was expensive. That, combined with the zaffa oil's tendency to be used with seafood, suggested a certain level of wealth. No stasis field traces meant whatever this was had been put together approximately three days ago, and the pollution pattern gave a small number of locations the package could have originated from. Cross-referencing what they did know would give them a start on finding what they didn't - such work was the bread and butter of Intelligence. Dav pulled up the case file on his datapad to ensure he had access to it, then looked back up to the droid. ::

"Droid, please confirm that the package contents are not harmful to Field Agent Na'Varro."

:: The droid hummed for a moment as it calculated something - possibly examining medical records for allergic history - then spoke. ::

"Confirmed."

"Please return the package. Ms. Na'Varro, if you're willing to authorize delivery examination could start of the contents. Whatever's contained on that flimsi could give you an idea as to who sent it and why. Meanwhile, I've got enough information to start digging into where this actually came from, if you want me to."

[Alienor Na'Varro]

Alienor frowned at the inconclusive results on the fingerprint scans, though deep inside, she wasn't surprised. If they had found any, the work would have been truly sloppy. The mention of blossom wine confirmed that this whole mess originated in rich circles, though of course, this wasn't confirming much else, and it could be a lot of things.

When the droid stated how the contents couldn't be harmful, the Field agent, then authorized the delivery as she originally was supposed to. She entered her fingerprint and the parcel could thus be opened. "Thank you for your assistance, Agent Nirken. I will return to you for further help to investigate this matter, but I wish to speak to my superior first."

She wasn't the kind of woman to be paranoid, but when her bad feeling happened, she trusted them. Her intuition had saved her life a good many times. "No need for you to stick your neck out for me too early, right?"

[Dav Nirken]

:: Dav gave the senior Agent an evaluating look before nodding his acquiescence. In his view, sticking his neck out for others - whether they be Imperial citizens or employed by the government - was what he did. People like him were in place so citizens were kept out of danger, and if his assistance helped coworkers or those working for the same goal, he would do so. A holdover from his past on the security forces, perhaps, as he knew there were other agents who's goals were for them and them alone. Only if he was ordered to do so - or if it would ultimately help and there was no other way - would he injure or kill those he was in place to protect. ::

"It's your decision, ma'am."

:: 'Not sticking his neck out for her' didn't mean he couldn't do research though. Sitting safe in his home office - he was still assigned to the mail room, after all - he could put together a list of locations that matched criteria. Even if he didn't go to those locations himself, compiling a list put him in no danger. A single tap of a function key - one of several he'd changed the function of slightly, copied the contents of the case file to his personal drive, encrypted them, then shut the case file itself. Now he wouldn't have to access it later in order to get the information, he already had it. ::

"If there's nothing else, I'll head back to the mail room. Pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

[Alienor Na'Varro]

Given her background, both her youth on Corino, and then her time with the Sith, Alienor didn't expect people to assist her. She was learning to get used to it since moving to Bastion, and knew she could trust a few people; but it still was a stark change to how her life had been in the past.

She nodded to his agreement to wait for her to contact him. "There is nothing else for the moment, indeed. Thank you, Agent Nirken and likewise." She said with a polite smile, her mind obviously taken by some deep thinking. She took the parcel with her, as well as a copy of the results, hoping to eventually make further sense of them.