[b]The Pirate Vessel, A Little Earlier[/b]
As the alarms sounded, announcing the damage to the vessel and loss of air to the void of space, one individual didn't head immediately towards the commotion. Clad in an outfit mostly of midnight blue and with a deep hood shadowing her face, Talia Wei'Liret (or Twilight as she had let herself be known to the crew) maintained a purposeful stride, though quickened her pace, as she made her way to the cargo hold, careful to lock the door after her. She'd been assigned to taking inventory of the haul gained from a successful raid some hours prior, an opportunity she had long been waiting for. It was the ideal moment to complete her mission, and she wasn't about to let an unexpected attack ruin it! The tranquil disposition native to her race served her well as the first thing she was careful to acquire upon making it to the hold was one of the space-suits stored in lockers scattered strategically throughout the vessel, should a hull breach or some similar misfortune befall it. Donning the suit, she opened the comm to the frequencies used by these particular pirates, to keep an ear open to events as they progressed, conducting a careful inspection of the contents of the hold at the same time and recollecting the events that led her to be here now...

Almost two months prior, Talia had been contacted in her capacity as an Information Hound by a wealthy businessman in a considerable state of anxiety. One of his cargo vessels had been raided by pirates, incurring considerable damage. That though was a secondary issue next to his primary concern: The vessel had contained documents pertaining to several other branches of his business, the ships they used and the nature of the cargoes they commonly transported. Further, the documents had contained the blueprints for several new experimental weapons systems that his business was developing. Since those documents were not to be found anywhere aboard the vessel after the raid, they must now be in the hands of those pirates. The notion of the pirates using those documents and the harm they could potentially become capable of as a result was unthinkable- the documents had to be recovered. Talia had needed little persuasion to accept the job- the tension between Jedi and Sith was bad enough, with the conflict allowing the practices of piracy and smuggling to flourish. The last thing they needed was one group of pirates acquring deadly new weapons and becoming the next major threat to be added to an already bloody war. It had taken considerable research, involving interviewing the crew of the ship, reviewing the shipping schedule and the route taken and visits to several knowledgeable individuals in places of ill-repute to piece together precisely which pirate vessel and crew had been behind the attack. It had been even more challenging to find a suitable crew-member to persuade the others to take her on as one of their number, but Talia liked to think she'd played the part very convincingly... well, that and a little mind-tricking of course. From then until the present time, she'd been doing the grunt-work expected of a rookie, but it had given her an opportunity to observe the way the pirates worked, allowing her to learn one very useful piece of information about them: This particular crew tended to dump all their plunder in the hold and inventory it at a later date. The odds were, therefore, that they didn't know or didn't realise the nature of the documents they'd siezed, and so hadn't put them to use yet. Her musings were interrupted as a voice came over her comm.

"Twilight, report!" She recognised the voice as the captain's. He sounded a deal less confident than usual as he barked orders to her. "We've a- well dammned if I know what- rampaging through the ship and I need all hands on deck! Where the hell are you?" Talia took a moment, weighing her words, before answering. "Cargo hold captain," she answered, "when we lost the integrity of the ship's atmosphere I got a suit from the lockers, but one of the doors has malfunctioned," she was careful to scramble the circuits of the door even as she said the words, "so I'll have to detour and back-track before I can join you on the bridge. I'm on open comm though, so I can hear everything that's going on". There was sound on the other end that could have been static or blaster-fire, before the captain spoke again. "Try not to be all year about it," he said in clipped tones, "you're dammned good with blaster or vibro-blades and I'd prefer I had as many as can shoot straight up here". Talia swept her gaze over the cargo hold even as she made her reply, "understood captain- I'll be there a soon as I can," she assured him. That done she made her way through the hold, scrutinising everything. A lot of droid replacement parts, weapons crates, something that looked suspiciously like a shipment of spice... ah. There. An unobtrusive looking little data-file, but one with company's distinctive logo emblazoned upon it. Talia picked it up and inspected it meticulously. It showed no signs of damage, nor of recent handling. Apparently it had just been shelved for use whenever the pirates remembered they had it or realised what it was. Talia discreetly stored the device in a pocket on the suit, before giving consideration to her next steps.

She had what she'd come for now, and with the ship under attack, now might be a good time to leave. On the other hand, if she attempted to use an escape pod, she would not only be seen by the rest of the crew to be jumping ship, whoever their assailant was might notice as well and come after her. Even if that didn't happen, there was the potential threat of other pirates in the area to consider. Immediate evacuation was not a positive prospect. Perhaps though, if she were to take the maps showing locations where the pirates had ambushes ready and waiting and a list of all the communication frequencies they used, maybe that would give her a bargaining-chip, something to buy her way off this vessel with? If she wasn't shot on sight by the invader, or couldn't reason with them, it was something worth considering. This decided upon, she made her way back to the bridge.

[b]Bridge of the Pirate Vessel, Present Time[/b]
Talia warily looked up from her hiding-place, presenting a minimal taget, as the droid- for so it seemed to be- began to make its way elsewhere. She wasn't certain whether, in its damaged condition, its sensors had failed to detect her, or if it simply considered her no threat. If the latter she was in luck; she had no argument with it, and would be happy to insure the feeling was mutual. If not... Talia ran the past few minutes through her head again. When she'd arrived on the bridge, the droid had already been making its approach. Under the pretence of making sure the invader at least couldn't catch others of their number at unawares Talia had- with the captain's wholehearted approval- wiped every trace of the maps and communications frequencies from the ship's memory-banks; after taking a copy for herself. Now she simply needed to abandon the vessel. She rolled her eyes at that though; there was likely to be nothing simple about it. After the droid exited the bridge Talia waited a few moments, before starting to cross the room to the door, when a beeping from one of the instruments panels attracted her attention. A proximity warning: There was another vessel approaching and, from what she could tell, not another pirate vessel. Her face took on a contemplative expression. Well, this development could be interesting...