Belance’s orange sun rose over Newn-Cape, casting long shadows over the<em>Secret Hope</em>as her captain readied his speeder, one equally as old as the freighter, for its long journey to rescue his charges.  In the morning light Justin loaded food, water, and other various supplies he would need to reach the pirates’ fortress.  With the last box loaded and everything strapped down for the journey Justin walked up the<em>Secret</em>'s ramp and entered the small maintenance room adjacent to his quarters.<br/>Standing at the back of the room and held upright by old, rusty restraints were the two battered combat droids the Republic had graced him with to use on this mission.  Both droids were ancient, rusting hulks that wouldn’t last ten seconds even as bodyguards in the most peaceful place, yet they were all the help he had for now.<br/>He walked over to the first and typed in the start up sequence on the command console that was beside each droid, with a low hum and a slow sparking sound the droid’s photo receptors came to life, glowing a faint blue, “Com…Combat droid BG-105 online and awaiting orders.”<br/>With every word the BG-105 spoke its voice recorder popped and cracked as the old unit worked itself to readiness.<br/>Justin sighed, “Stand by 105.”  Then he reached over and powered up the other combat droid.<br/>This combat droid looked at Justin with pale yellow eyes, its chassis pitted and scarred from age, “Co…mbat droid…BG-215…onli…” Then with a pop and a puff of smoke the top of the droids head bounced opened and the droid itself went dead. Justin snarled impatiently as he fiddled with the droid’s circuitry until the other combat droid suddenly came back to life, “Combat droid BG-215 online and awaiting orders.”<br/>Justin stepped back and faced both of the droids, “BG-105 and BG-215 I am leaving the ship, I am ordering you two to protect the ship until I return.” Both ancient droids’ processors hummed as they processed their orders then spoke with static filled voices, “Orders acknowledged, the<em>Secret Hope</em>will be defended until Master returns.”<br/>Justin nodded and walked out of the room, already unsure if these two droids would survive being active, let alone protect the freighter from anyone who would cause problems. Just to be sure he returned to the cockpit where an astromech droid, the only up-to-date technology he had, was plugged into serve as the Hope’s navigational computer.<br/>The red and white colored droid chirped cheerfully when Justin walked in, “R2-C1 I have an assignment for you, I want you to supervise the BG Combat Droids and keep them in operational shape; plus you are to screen anyone who approaches the ship, using the BGs and the ship’s defenses when necessary, with discretion of course.”<br/>R2-C1 beeped and warbled an affirmative and smoothly unplugged from the freighter’s navigation computer and rolled off to the maintenance room to service the two aging combat droids.<br/>Suitably satisfied that the ship would be here when he came back Justin descended the ramp and closed it with a call beacon programmed to control the ramp only.<br/>As the ramp clanked into place Justin climbed into the speeder, an aging class that had long ended its production, the wear of time had smudged any paint scheme that once covered the speeder, leaving only a dull gray tone of the scarred metal body. With a cloud of black smoke the speeder’s old engine came to life, shaking the poor craft and its driver roughly until it settled in its stand-by mode. Justin paused a second to make a final check of the speeder before accelerating out of Newn-Cape and off to the north, the direction of the fortress.<br/>Wind blew passed Justin’s face while his eyes tried to blink back the dust filling the air.  At least those lazy Republic technicians could have installed a windscreen,<em>I know supplies have been tight ever since the start of the Clone Wars, but I don’t think one windscreen will break the Republic’s war efforts.</em><br/>Justin snarled as a clod of dirt hit him in the face, giving his head a shake Justin slowed to a halt at the top of a low hill overlooking the desert before him. The jagged horizon of Belance had long since been replaced by the flat surface of fresh water lake. No as he topped the hills that formed the southern edge of the lake he could see the Island of Bronze, where the ruins that the pirate used as their camp were located.<br/>He turned around and dug into his pack to pull out a pair of micro-binoculars and look at the island across the lake.<br/>Dark brown, ancient stone made up the walls of most of the ruins, long crumbled from the wear of time and the elements, at the highest point of the island the ruins had been cleared to form a basic landing pad for the pirates land their ships; though currently there wasn't a ship there.<br/>Justin lowered his micro-binoculars and looked over the nearby shoreline, looking for a place where he could observe the ruins undetected, years of experience had told him that watching the target before trying to infiltrate it was the best way to avoid any unnecessary complications. The approach to island was very exposed, though with some modifications he thought he could use his speeder to get him there.<br/>As he was planning his next course of action a loud roar split the air as a small object rocketed down through the atmosphere, Justin sat down rapidly in his speeder and raced down the island, not wanting to have his position silhouetted if the pirates looked out to see the source of the noise that he was sure they could have heard.<br/>The source of the noise was an arriving drop pod,<em>Odd drop pods haven't been used regularly in years, either that is a insurgent being dropped off in a area thought to be abandoned or whoever dropped that pod wanted to be rid of its occupant quickly.</em><br/>Justin brought his speeder to stop in a cleft in the side of the hill near the shoreline and climbed out observe the impact site of the drop pod, the old pod sank with a hiss of steam and bubbling water.<em>Maybe the passenger didn't survive, drop pods have been known to be very unreliable.</em>Then a figure surfaced a short distance from the dissipating crash site, swimming toward the shoreline.<br/>Justin watched the figure until it reached the shore and disappeared in a small group of trees roughly 200 meters west of his position on the southern edge of the lake. Justin noted the location of the group of trees and then set-up the few items from his speeder he'd need to observe the island, deciding to handle his mission first before he investigated any new arrivals. After taking his observation position behind some rocks near the shoreline Justin settled in to watch the ruins and the pirate's landing zone.