Creating Chaos in CorpSec

Kedrihm'Val and Dalt both remain tense about E'Val. Dalt considers it an abomination, and says this is pretty much the sort of thing that happens when you clone an Abindosani imperfectly. Ree has no advice when Kedrihm asks her for her opinion.

Oola has determined that the signal leads to Arken Multinode AgriCorp, a group handling farm supplies and products, and several fast food companies. It seems to be a fairly aboveboard operation, but it is CorpSec. Republic jurisdiction doesn't extend there.

Z: "Are we taking TechnoGay?"
Ree: "Well, we are visiting one of his-"
Z: "Haha, you knew who I meant!"

Leia arranges permits and travel papers for them. Ree promises to try to be discreet. "Given who I'm married to," Leia responds, "I have no expectations." When Ree asks what Han did, Leia mutters something about blowing up floating prisons, then says, "Whatever you do, don't mention his name." Dalt is familiar with CorpSec, and Oola knows some people. Looks like they're sitting pretty.

After they play 'follow the bouncing transmission,' the signal ends at Amalgamated Pharmaceuticals, one of CorpSec's top outfits. They're a big exploration group that explores planets for useful chemicals and other such items. Dalt tells them these guys aren't aboveboard in the least. The own about 600 systems outside CorpSec, which they exploit brutally for profit. Currently, they're holding an expo for their various products and services, so it won't be hard to slip in. They arrange false IDs as rubes, as SARR puts it: wealthy but clueless investors desperate for a 'good cause' to throw money at. Ree and Z will play the wealthy couple, and Lydia will fill in as their impressionable young niece. Oola, Onna, Dalt, and Kedrihm'Val are their entourage.

Some of the group find themselves uncomfortable with the level of opulence at the hotel they book. Z, however, makes up for any possible gaffe on anyone else's part by portraying an outstanding reckless playboy.

There are CorpSec security swarming the place in riot gear. Millennium Entertainments dominates the displays at the expo, featuring ads for Primal Justice and the movies. Bank of the Core is more discreet but ubiquitous, and ZZip Product Concepts advertises all sorts of custom-made luxury goods for the wealthy. Galaxy Publishing has apparently been hired by the Hutts to improve their public image, which it turns out is not actually possible, though they give it their best shot. The group are given invitations by all and sundry, sorting through them to find likely targets, especially anything relating to the Amalgamated.

Z hauls Kedrihm'Val to Millennium Entertainment's booth while the others head to Amalgamated. He wants to show him the teasers for next season, which apparently introduce a love interest for Kedrihm'Val's character who's an upper-class police woman. He buys Kedrihm a "By the beards of my ancestors" shirt.

Ree, meanwhile, frets over Kyp. "I hope he's okay." "They sent him with Han, Chewbacca, and Lando," Dalt replies. "You should hope Kessel's okay."

Amalgamated's showcase is a cylinder filled with water. They demonstrate how you can immerse an injured person and they are quickly healed to almost perfect health. To the Force users, it's as if the person's pattern is reset to their ideal condition. The core component of this device, the product demonstrators proudly declare, is located on only one planet. "Won't that make access difficult?" Ree asks. "It depends on who owns the planet by the end," she's told. The demonstrator avoids being engaged in further discussion about the contents of the cylinder, so Ree asks about a tour. While the booth operator looks into that, the crew discusses the buying and selling of planets. SARR suggests they'd better look into the history of Abindosan.

The tour is scheduled for tomorrow morning. Oola has Z buy some movie merchandise for her that she doesn't own yet. When the group collects again in their rooms, Ree tells them she suspects they're using coral to translate the information to heal people. If they can buy Oola's droids time to retrieve the computer core they stored the reef information on... Z says he can do that easily; he'll just act like a total jerk so everyone has to kowtow to his every whim.

Kedrihm is concerned about the use of the coral. The information from the reef has to be the first priority, they can at least look into getting the coral out.

Things go pretty smoothly. Oola's droids head back to the ship with the core. The droid they attached Dalt's coral detector to didn't get a bead on any (though it did register Kedrihm'Val), but it picked up something else: four people gathered around a holo relay--three Amalgamated staff and one Seinar Tech representative (Severan's old corporation), talking to Drath via uplink about getting the deed to Abindosan. He schedules a rendezvous in the Tapani Sector. Someone has apparently owned the planet since the time of the Old Republic, and the deed at some point made its way to the Houses of the Tapani Sector.

They send a message back to Coruscant about looking up records of Abindosan. Oola notes that their message is intercepted, and tracks a cloaked ship along the transmission path. They can't get identifying marks with its cloak up, but Dalt suggests scanning for gravity fields, which shows that it's a very small ship: too small to be Drath's. Oola sneaks up and levels an ion cannon at it, which knocks out the cloak and reveals it to be a Sienar design--Dalt's technology.

Ree wonders aloud if they're in trouble. "We're not in trouble if we kill them," Dalt points out. Compromising, they try to capture the ship, but the thing powers up to avoid them. It dodges Oola's shots at its engine with uncanny dexterity, marking the pilot as a Force user. By this time, they're drawing attention from CorpSec security, so Oola sits Dalt down and makes him help as she fires a tracker at the little vessel and then they clear out.

Z attacks the security ships to hold them off, and they chase their small target out of the sector. It's running hard to prepare for hyperspace. Oola locks in its final coordinates, and sure enough, it's heading for the Tapani Sector. Ree resends her earlier message to Erin and then they jump to hyperspace and follow it out.