12-11-2016, 06:17 AM
Sabrina stepped through the portal from Coruscant back to Costa del Sol and took a deep breath of the salty seabreeze. She'd only spent a couple of hours in Coruscant, according to her time perception, but in retrospect she realized how much she had missed that smell. Coruscant was an industrial hole, the air was saturated with smog from the factories and the cars, with electrosmog from the various devices, and no real way for all that to escape and be recycled. It made her wonder how it hadn't run out of air yet, actually... she wondered if somewhere a group of Primes were constantly synthesizing Omnilium into oxygen and extracting Omnilium from the carbon dioxide. The thought amused her.
Because her badge was prominently displayed on her chest she expected the Stormtroopers to allow her to pass without further complications. However one of them, who had undoubtedly seen her badge, raised his voice. "Professor Sabrina! Could you come to the side please?"
"Hmm? Certainly, what's the matter? Something wrong with my badge?" she asked as she stepped away from the checkpoint and walked towards the Stormtrooper, who led her towards the guard hut. There was a small table in front of it, which the guards used for their lunchbreaks judging by the breadcrumbs lying around.
"Please wait a moment. We have a delivery for you." He headed into the hut and shortly after came back out with a small packet and a note. "We recieved word that you were in Coruscant. The guards were notified to hand this to you when you came back." He put both items on the table and pushed them towards Sabrina.
"Why did you not deliver it to my home address?" asked Sabrina as she took the note and read through it. A delivery from the military branch of the Imperial R&D department? But yes, it was addressed to her...
"We were specifically told to make sure that you recieve it personally. Since you were absent the risk of the package being stolen if we left it at your doorstep was too big."
"I see. Do you happen to have a cutter that I could borrow?" When the Stormtrooper didn't reply and looked at her with what she could only imagine to be an expectant look - he was wearing his helmet after all - she pointed at the box which was sealed with duct tape. He unfastened the combat knife from its holster and handed it to her, but Sabrina noted that his hands were gripping his laser rifle a bit tighter as she carefully cut the duct tape open. He was probably violating protocol with this. But she handed the knife back, holding it by its blade, right after finishing with it, and he relaxed again. As for the box, it contained a smaller strongbox that looked like a miniature safe, with a numberpad on the front. Sabrina lifted it out of the cardboard box and punched in a code holding the pad in such an angle that only she could see what she was typing in, namely the twelve-digit unique secret code that went along with her ID for security clearances. Indeed a green light and a beep confirmed the correct input and the box opened up, revealing a lengthy item that looked like a mix between a key and an USB stick. Sabrina took it out of the box and held it up. "Do you know what this is?"
"It's an electronic key, Professor. A combination of a physical and a digital key for a high-security lock."
"Right... so they want me to get something from a high-security safe, huh." She folded the note up and put the key away. "Thank you, officer. Please have that strongbox sent back to the return address. I need to go now."
"Yes, Professor. Have a good day."
As she passed the checkpoint and headed into Costa del Sol Sabrina read the note again. A safe in the Costa del Sol police precint, holding a "gift" for her. But what could the military branch be sending her that needed so many security precautions? Some weapon prototype for her to test? She would have to return home first though, whatever it was that was waiting for her in that safe was not going anywhere anyway. On the other hand she may have a ton of mail waiting for her. Possibly even some new orders... she had no idea how much time had passed between Sarah and her when they had been talking, but with the time distortion ever present in the Omniverse it could have been days, weeks, months in the rest of the world. The results of her research might already have been processed long ago. They might even be getting impatient because she hadn't replied in a while. The thought caused her to speed her pace up a little. And sure enough when she arrived at her apartment she was greeted with a stuffed-full mailbox and a notice that more mail as well as packets were waiting for her at the post office.
"Damnit..." She brought everything to her apartment, hid the key in her personal safe and hurried back with the notice in hand. It looked like this little absence had left her with a huge backlog of work. She could only hope that there was only a few more letters at the office. Otherwise she would be stuck in her apartment for weeks.
Because her badge was prominently displayed on her chest she expected the Stormtroopers to allow her to pass without further complications. However one of them, who had undoubtedly seen her badge, raised his voice. "Professor Sabrina! Could you come to the side please?"
"Hmm? Certainly, what's the matter? Something wrong with my badge?" she asked as she stepped away from the checkpoint and walked towards the Stormtrooper, who led her towards the guard hut. There was a small table in front of it, which the guards used for their lunchbreaks judging by the breadcrumbs lying around.
"Please wait a moment. We have a delivery for you." He headed into the hut and shortly after came back out with a small packet and a note. "We recieved word that you were in Coruscant. The guards were notified to hand this to you when you came back." He put both items on the table and pushed them towards Sabrina.
"Why did you not deliver it to my home address?" asked Sabrina as she took the note and read through it. A delivery from the military branch of the Imperial R&D department? But yes, it was addressed to her...
"We were specifically told to make sure that you recieve it personally. Since you were absent the risk of the package being stolen if we left it at your doorstep was too big."
"I see. Do you happen to have a cutter that I could borrow?" When the Stormtrooper didn't reply and looked at her with what she could only imagine to be an expectant look - he was wearing his helmet after all - she pointed at the box which was sealed with duct tape. He unfastened the combat knife from its holster and handed it to her, but Sabrina noted that his hands were gripping his laser rifle a bit tighter as she carefully cut the duct tape open. He was probably violating protocol with this. But she handed the knife back, holding it by its blade, right after finishing with it, and he relaxed again. As for the box, it contained a smaller strongbox that looked like a miniature safe, with a numberpad on the front. Sabrina lifted it out of the cardboard box and punched in a code holding the pad in such an angle that only she could see what she was typing in, namely the twelve-digit unique secret code that went along with her ID for security clearances. Indeed a green light and a beep confirmed the correct input and the box opened up, revealing a lengthy item that looked like a mix between a key and an USB stick. Sabrina took it out of the box and held it up. "Do you know what this is?"
"It's an electronic key, Professor. A combination of a physical and a digital key for a high-security lock."
"Right... so they want me to get something from a high-security safe, huh." She folded the note up and put the key away. "Thank you, officer. Please have that strongbox sent back to the return address. I need to go now."
"Yes, Professor. Have a good day."
As she passed the checkpoint and headed into Costa del Sol Sabrina read the note again. A safe in the Costa del Sol police precint, holding a "gift" for her. But what could the military branch be sending her that needed so many security precautions? Some weapon prototype for her to test? She would have to return home first though, whatever it was that was waiting for her in that safe was not going anywhere anyway. On the other hand she may have a ton of mail waiting for her. Possibly even some new orders... she had no idea how much time had passed between Sarah and her when they had been talking, but with the time distortion ever present in the Omniverse it could have been days, weeks, months in the rest of the world. The results of her research might already have been processed long ago. They might even be getting impatient because she hadn't replied in a while. The thought caused her to speed her pace up a little. And sure enough when she arrived at her apartment she was greeted with a stuffed-full mailbox and a notice that more mail as well as packets were waiting for her at the post office.
"Damnit..." She brought everything to her apartment, hid the key in her personal safe and hurried back with the notice in hand. It looked like this little absence had left her with a huge backlog of work. She could only hope that there was only a few more letters at the office. Otherwise she would be stuck in her apartment for weeks.
"(Note to self: insert quote & picture once I find stuff)"
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