Ranes reclines in office chair reading a datapad with his daily intelligence report on it. Most people, if they even know of the Smugglers' Alliance, think it's all about moving illegal goods. That works for Ranes, but it's not entirely accurate.... Sure, the SA's happy to move good that the Empire or Rebels would otherwise consider illegal. In fact, they're happy to move that same cargo FOR either faction, too. That's the advantage of official neutrality.... But, the real product of the SA is information. Knowing what is going on across the galaxy, where the next battle will be, where the next occupation will occur, who plans to make the next move...that's the real currency of the galaxy.
So, as Ranes reads his latest intel summary, his interest in peeked on a report that the Imperial Remnant had moved on Korriban. He was not surprised by the reports of a rather overwhelming victory. The ISD was still the premier warship in the galaxy and sending three was almost comical overkill, but the tactics of overwhelming force and intimidation were still typical.
Ranes' eyes go unfocused as he mentally sorts through previous reports and tries to figure out what the IR was up to. There were some obvious interest there for them, with the sisterhood being a part of the IR, but surely they wouldn't waste forces just to claim a trophy for the sisterhood....
A few minutes later, the door chime brings Ranes out of his thoughts. Ranes blanks the screen of his datapad, causing it to wipe the unencrypted data and called for the visitor to enter.
The door slides up and, somewhat to Ranes' disappointment, RAT walked in. 6S6-RA-7 was a captured Imperial protocol droid who had been sent to spy on the SA, but was intercepted upon arrival and his operational core replaced. The combination of being an RA-7 droid and an intended spy eared him the name RAT. He was also rather obnoxious, even for a protocol droid.
"Sir," RAT started, at least he was pretended to have some manners today, Ranes thought to himself....
(To Be Continued)
