Emtry simmed with Middour, Cracken simmed with Vickie

Anreson took a transport back to her home on the edge of the 'main' city. She took out an old pilots bag and stuffed in the belongings that mattered most to her. Graduation certificates, a few mementos from home. Even a small holobook, with holos of her family and of her home in the Essey mountains of Ralltiir.

There was also a holo of herself with a childhood friend before that friend's untimely death by lightning strike. A few holos of her roomate in medical school. There were a handful of she and various members of the Alliance medical frigate's team she'd been a part of, oh the fun they'd had during downtime. And finally, a holo of she and Ton Phanan sharing a kiss at a Lifeday party before the attack at Endor. She looked at it sadly a moment, running a finger over the right side of his face, before placing it in the pack.

She went to her room and changed into an old dark-grey flightsuit. She pulled a small cloth bag from her jewelry box and took off her earrings and necklace, putting them into the bag. She left the jade band on her finger, she hadn't taken it off since before Endor, and she wasn't about to now. Then she opened up the lock box bearing a holdout blaster and a forearm sheathe with two small vibroblades. She stuck the holdout into one pocket, and strapped on the blades, hiding them beneath her left sleeve. There was also an old laser-scalpel of hers, that she often had had with her; medical tool and weapon in one; Ton had taught her that. She then pushed on a hidden panel and it popped out, revealing a set of discs she had from her time in Intel. She would need these to upgrade the new R2 or R5 she would be getting. Then she closed everything back up and resumed packing.

After taking some comfortable 'civvie' outfits, along with a couple of nicer and less comfortable ones, and stuffing them into the bag, she was ready. She left a note on her door for the landlord to have everything left packed up and shipped to her family on Ralltiir because she'd been called back up to active duty. She knew he would take care of it, he was the cousin of one of her parent's friends.

* *

A short time later, she was on the transport back to the main city. Once there, she transferred to another one and headed for the starfighter base.

Once there, Anreson headed straight to the hanger, the shapeless pilots bag slung over her shoulder. She made her way down the hall towards the offices, looking for Emtry.

The droid was toddling down the hallway with the typical stiff-legged gait, his twin photoreceptors glowing yellow from his clamshell head.

Oh! there he is... She jogged over to catch up to him, "Hey, you're Emtry, right?"

He turned abruptly, "Yes, I am M-3PO, Human/Cyborg military relations..."

"Yah, Hey," she broke him off hurriedly. "I'm Lt. Dr. Anreson, you're supposed to get me my things?" She flipped the long black braid back over her shoulder to hang down her back.

He stopped, his eyes blinking. "Oh yes, Doctor Anreson. I have your billet assigned, and your fighter has been ordered. It should arrive this afternoon."

"I see... what about my gear?"

"I have your gear and uniforms being delivered to your quarters this very moment," the droid said indignantly.

Anreson nodded, her manner softening, "I'm glad. Can you show me where my new quarters are?"

"If you will follow me," the droid nodded and turned, heading to the turbolift at the end of the hall.

As she followed him a plan began to form in her mind. She would wait until they reached her new quarters though.

She stepped in beside him when the doors opened, and he keyed the controls for the crew levels. He looked at the doctor. "May I take this time to welcome you to the Squadron...."

"Thank you."

"Please keep in mind that any items you may need can be obtained by filling out the appropriate forms..."

"Emtry?"

"Yes Doctor?"

"I was a floater not all that long ago, I know the drill."

"Yes, Doctor," he looked away, obviously perturbed.

The lift opened up on crew deck level 412.

"Call me 'Doc'," she told the droid her old squadron nickname. "If you insist on being formal," she said as she followed him out.

Emtry stiffened and proceeded forth down the hall. "Yes, Doctor."

She slapped a hand to her forehead. "'Doc'."

The droid ignored her as he made his way down the hall. After a few doors he stopped and turned. "Here we are. 412 C-16."

Anreson decided to go ahead with her idea, it was possible he had been there in the hangar when Tycho left. In fact, because of what she had learned about the droid, it was most likely that he was. "Emtry? Can you do me a favour?"

He turned his head to look at her. "If I can."

"I need you to 'scrounge' up some information for me."

The droid suddenly stiffened as his head tilted. The lights of his photoreceptors blinked a few times, then his head straightened, eyes glowing white. "What can I get for you, Doc?"

"The transponder codes and shuttle identification of the craft Colonel Celchu took when he disappeared," she said as she pulled out her old matte-black intel-issue datapad.

"Sure, I can give you that information.... At a price."

She nodded, knowing how the game would go. "And what price might that be?"

"I seem to recall that the squads allotment of Bacta is diminishing faster than I would like."

"I see..."

"We are currently at six tanks per cycle."

"Remind me how long a cycle is again?"

"Six months."

"No, that isn't enough."

"Agreed."

"You give me the information I need," she told the droid, "and I'll see what I can do about getting our squadron more bacta."

He waited a moment, "How much more?"

She thought for a moment, If I start low, we can end up about where I want to, but not too high that I can't pull it off. "Two more."

"I feel that the squads should be able to draw at least twelve tanks per cycle, with an emergancy provision to double that if we took too many casualties. Two more is not enough." After a pause, "This is privilidged information, may I remind you."

"How about six more tanks, plus provision for emergency tanks as needed. That brings up a total of twelve."

"Double provisions in an emergency.... twenty-four total, agreed?"

"Fifteen total."

"Twenty."

"Seventeen."

"Twenty."

"Nineteen?" she knew better than to barter with a droid, but couldn't help trying.

"Twenty."

I really gotta find Celchu. She nodded. "Alright, Twenty total. I'll see what I can do, but you have to give me my information first. Otherwise, I can't do it."

He handed her a datapad, "Sign please, and I will take care of the rest."

She scratched in her illegible signiture. "Please, be quick about it. It's a matter of life and death," she told him truthfully.

"Thank you." The droid thought a moment. "Tycho is on a Lambda Class Shuttle, under the sliced identity Wayward Star."

She put his datapad under her arm as she tapped the information into her own.

"The transponder code is 456.399.723 Mhz."

She finished putting the information into her own datapad, and handed his back. "Thank you Emtry."

He took the datapad. "Pleasure doing business with you," he said as he toddled off down the hall... apparently whistling to himself.

She saved the information and pass-protected it, then slipped the datapad into her pocket. She shook her head at the whistling protocol droid and entered the room.

Her new astromech was in its recharge slot next to the un-claimed bed. It was an evergreen with silver trim R2 unit. She spent the next hour downloading the programming she needed him to have, and in the process got to know the little droid. During the downloads, she affixed the holos she'd brought from her apartment to the wall above the unclaimed bed, now hers. The droid seemed to be a bit sneaky, already having one or two of the programmes she brought for him. She decided to call him Wily.

With Wily's help, she sliced into the Medical Distribution Systems computers and entered in the orders necessary that Emtry's request would be met with little, if any, opposition. That done, she patted the little droid and let him go back to recharging while she headed for the Intel offices, and one General Airen Cracken.

* *

Lt. Dr. Anreson asked the secretary to let her see the General. She was buzzed through after a brief conversation which she couldn't hear, and entered his office. General Cracken was seated at his desk, working on the days pile of datacards.

She walked up to his desk and leaned both hands on it, "General Cracken."

He looked up, "Dr. Anreson. How can I help you?"

"I have to find Colonel Celchu, and I need your help."

He looked back down, "I already have people searching for the Colonel."

"Do they have the ship transponder codes and shuttle identification of the craft he took? I do. You have people everywhere, and I have information he must receive immediately. Also, if you know where he was seen last, that would be of help."

He raised an eyebrow, and kept working. "And where did you get this information, Lieutenant?"

"I have my ways, you know that. If I give you the codes, can you have your people notify me immediately if the ship is found?"

Impressive. He looked up, "Why are you so interested in Colonel Celchu?"

"I need to find him before he does something stupid."

He blinked at her candor, "And that would be different from any other time, when?"

"When he thinks he's dying, and is actually healthier than a gundark."

"Oh really?" both eyebrows raised themselves.

"Yes. Really. So are you going to help me or not?" she folded her arms and stared evenly down across the desk to where he was seated.

"Codes."

"I'll take that as a yes," she unfolded her arms and pulled out her intel-pad, keyed up the codes, and placed it on the desk before him.

He took his own pad and keyed in the codes she had, along with some of his own. A few minutes later, he got a confirmation. "Interesting."

"What is?"

"Seems he is in the Corellian System."

She nodded, "Where."

"Tralus," he handed her datapad back.

She took it, turned it off, and put it back into her pocket. "Thank you General, you just made my job infinitely easier."

"Yes, I'm sure I did. Now, if you will excuse me, Lieutenant."

She smirked, gave him a half-hearted salute, and left.

-----END-------