“So, he took the main body design for us from these guys.” Jason gestured to the Deactivated robot frame before him Looking bewildered.

  “From his own words, The B1 battle droids are the main inspiration for what would eventually become the Astra foot soldier,” David responded looking around the cargo bay, “Though I agree with you they are certainly a design, for an aspiring conqueror who is planning to give all his citizens, all the food shelter and water that they need.” He got a flat look for the addition.

  Jason refocused on the slicing that he was doing on the computer terminal. “Found them” he reported putting the location on the map that he had made and handing over the updated map to David. the squad leader who shared the map with the other members of the Deeptide Stillwater squad. “Continue as planned,” David said softly into his communication device. Then switched it off. They were not taking any chances as slim as they were that their communication methods could be detected and or intercepted.

  Heading out of the cargo bay with Jason behind him covering his rear. They took a winding path through the hallways of the Trade Federation ship that was hosting the Astra diplomatic cohort that had come here to hash out a deal where the Astra businesses would buy some of the trade federations ships. What types of ships they could buy and what the prices were, that kind of thing. Their job, being assigned to the diplomatic cohort, was to protect the diplomats and to investigate reports that the Trade Federation. was corrupt and or working with slavers. With everything they had found thus far, they were proceeding to a likely area where slaves could have been hidden away while the diplomats were there. “Poor Matson and Dave having to deal with the Drama and boredom of protecting the diplomats.” Jason commented “How so” David asked, turning to regard the wall between them and their objective with a little bit of annoyance. He began to charge up his Phase coils, even as Jason answered.“

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “The trade federation tried to claim that we stole their trademark for the B1 battle droid models. When the diplomats showed the logistics and the history that proved that no, we very much did not, they then claimed that we fabricated it”

  Jason stopped speaking for a moment as they both activated their phase engines and went through the wall into a maintenance corridor and through the other wall to get to another set of hallways by passing many sensors and other possible points where they might have been spotted And, greatly shortening the amount of time it would take to reach their destination.

  Striding forward, Jason popped out of the wall behind David, continuing with what he was discussing earlier. “ The issue was tabled from there as they were mostly going for it as a cheap and easy method to try and get an upper hand in negotiations. When it became clear that we didn't care about the cost so much as we were willing to pay a lot to ensure that we would know if there was something funny going on without our dealings, both in information and in transporting the number of goods we're planning on transporting, they jacked up the price a lot. We then simply accepted, which wasn't what they expected.”

  “Did you get this from a pull update? Or Are you actively listening to the bug in their meeting room?” David inquired at the end of the long sentence.

  “I did a pull when I was connected and updated our map to find the objective,” Jason responded. As they approached a door, Jason stepped over to the console and connected it with his hacking tool while David did final checks with the rest of the team to see if they were ready for any unpleasant surprises. Jason signaled his readiness as the last of the Squad captains reported that they were ready and in position.

  When David reported that they were to go, the operation was pulled off without a hitch.

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