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The CEO helped himself to the refreshments, taking a cup of tea and drinking some, before setting it down and addressing Oriss. "While the Banking Clan is a member of the Confederacy for Independant Systems, the CIS is not represented here. What you see is not representative of their wealth, but our own."

When asked about the theft, he sighed. "I admit, the theft itself was a bit of a problem. The account was accessed using expert slicer codes, and a fake ID. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, as our systems feature the most secure Holonet frequencies in the entire galaxy. The issue is, whoever hacked into the account, did so from a Holonet hub."

He paused for effect. "As it is, the Techno Union, our secutiry partners, operate a warehouse of Metall 4, just outside the CSA. Their warehouse was broken into, and a signifigant loss of CIS military hardware was stolen. Incidently, their is also a Holonet satelite for the sector there, that relays all data from the CSA to our hub here. The satelite has been... misplaced."

(Er, we are the IBC. Do you mean the CIS?)

Ford laughed. "Actually, I'd imagine it the other way around. Were we to choose, we could invest everything into the CIS and control it. But we have other concerns than owning governments and armies.

"We admit, our security was comproised, and we have been complacant since the end of the war. This theft has shown us our error, and such thefts will be very unlikely to occur again.

"As for the loss of the satelite, not much. Most major businesses and starships have Holonet feeds powerful enough to tap in directly, without a relay satelite; if affected at all, they have it minorly. The biggest damage is all of the residencial personel losing their access, which puts about one trillion residents without holonet access, between the CSA inhabitants, that sector, and the nearby Wild Space."

(Edit made. Sorry)

Unphased by the cold glance, mainly because he did not recognize it as such, Ford continued. "The hardware missing amounted to a single C-9979 landing craft: 2,092 battledroids (B1 and Droideka), 11 Multi-Troop Tranports, 28 Trade Feredation Troop Carriers, 114 Armored Assault Tanks, 88 OOM-series pilot droids, 30 repair droids, and 40 OOM-command droids. The combined worth of the landing craft and it's complement amount to two standard legions, worth a total of 600,000 Republic credits.

"What distresses us is not the loss of the hardware, which is relatively insignificant in size, in reltion to the total sum of the Techno Union force. It is the fact that someone could use the force to commit an attack, and then blame it on our allies. Such a thing would cause a war, and a war we do not want."

Sadly enough, she had a point. While the IBC was in disfavor of a war, most of the rest of the CIS was most willing to have one.

"Local authorities have been contacted, both the Techno Union officials in charge of the facility, as well as the local constable. In addition to you, we hired a private investigator to backtrack the data lead and obtain a list of suspects; one Bothan who goes by the name Koth Melan. The only data we have obtained as to the theft was what was left: that the theft was made by a terrorist organization, led by a so called 'sith'."

The Muun nodded. "The warehouse is under heavy security now, from what I hear. Constant surveillance, and nearly a full Techno Union army watching it, to prevent further incusrions. I've already taken the liberty to draw you up a clearance identification."

He reached into a dwarer in his desk, pulled out a plastic card, and handed it to her. "This will give you clearance to everywhere you need to go."

Brike hurried up the steps to the bridge, her heart pounding. Something big was in the system and she didn't need the Force to tell her that. She held onto the railing next to Radomir, gripping the bar tightly until her knucles turned white. "What do you request of me, sir?" She asked calmly, but all the while her eyes were locked on the ship. There was something unsettlingly familiar about this ship...

"Yes sir." She obeyed and closed my eyes, slowing her breathing and reached out with the Force. It responded instantly, and she felt through the rivers of feeling, searching for anything, something, that would lead them to the pirates. She felt a sharp tug, leading her in the direction of a small moon orbiting the planet. Brike opened her eyes and relayed this information.