[Niall Organa]

There were probably places within the encampment that could be made secure. But meeting on Z's ship had the advantage of simplicity and anonymity, something that couldn't easily be found elsewhere.

And so Niall led the way to the hangars, and to the Three Drinks, which was growing gradually more familiar. As before, he sent Z a quick comm ping when they arrived.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Cole had been on The Three Drinks before, once, a long time ago. Entering the hanger, he sauntered up to Niall, he looked exhausted, “so, why am I here?”

[Niall Organa]

Niall gave Cole a nod. "Cole. Good to see you again."

He cleared his throat. "It relates to that autopsy I requested you perform. There's an ongoing investigation I'm working on. Possibly a few, all connected. This meeting is intended to allow us to pool our knowledge, and perhaps devise a next step. I was hoping to hear your findings personally, and see if you had any ideas as to how best to proceed from here."

He frowned. "I'm sorry, I thought the autopsy request came with a bit more info. I'll make sure you get filled in on the details."

[Zanebry Varliss]

The door slid open, without a greeting, Niall and company were expected after all. They'd find Z in the common room, apparently putting on the finishing touches for a night out.

Where exactly he planned to go in the middle of a warzone, and with who, was anyone's guess.

[Lyseil Panteer]

Lyseil had music plugged into her ears as she finally made the trek from the command center and over to the hangar, unbuttoning the top part of her uniform for a more relaxed look now that she was technically off-duty. At least the temperature in the base was surprisingly pleasant after another hot day.

She hummed along quietly to the music as she passed through the hangar to the location Niall had messaged her. "Dun-dududu-dun, dududu-ru-ru-ru-dan-dan-daaaan. babapaparpapaa-tch-tch..." And finally spotting Niall... oh, and the Doctor-Captain too, she gave a wave and unplugged her ears. Very loud rock music could faintly be heard from the ear-plugs as she hadn't turned it off yet as she approached them. "Hi-hi!" she said excitedly and somehow quietly.

And then the door slid open. "I guess we're expected, yes-yes?"

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

As Lyseil arrived, Cole ran a hand through his curls, oh, what fresh hell is this? He nodded curtly to Niall and indicated for the Alderaanians to go ahead of him.

[Niall Organa]

Each newcomer received a smile and a nod as Niall led his way onto the ship.

"So." He was comfortable enough that he lead his way to the seating area, sitting on the end of one of the couches. "Does everyone know why we're here?" He asked. It sounded as though Cole didn't, but perhaps the others needed a bit of a recap, too.

[Lyseil Panteer]

Since Niall just walked in, Lyseil did the same... though she looked around for a few moments before taking a seat. She gave a wave to Zanebry as well when she saw him. "Hello there!"

At Niall's question, she gave a nod. "I... believe I do?" At least she thought she did, but perhaps it was just as well that Niall clarified it for everyone involved.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

“Z,” Cole nodded, it had been a while. The beard suited him. “Sure,” he said in reply to Niall’s question, running a hand through his blonde hair.

[Zanebry Varliss]

The interior of the ship, while not exactly the lap of luxury was quite comfortable, and built to entertain. One man had no need for multiple couches and a chair after all. As the filed in, Z greeted them with a smile, and a polite nod. "Niall. Doctor, good to see you again. And a good evening to you as well, Lyseil."

"Drinks anyone?" He asked, as he fastened his last cuff link, moving over to the bar to play host, while niall filled the others in.

[Niall Organa]

Niall sighed. "Right. So, this began as an investigation of a possible leak. A Resistance drop went missing, with all members of the retrieval team killed. The Resistance suspected a leak on our side, so we began a full investigation." He grimaced. "So far, we've found a lot of circumstantial evidence, but not much more."

He cleared his throat. "Captain Hurn, recruited the smuggler Jax for this campaign. The night after the drop went missing, his ship made a delivery to the Valiant Star." He smiled grimly. "Or so it seems. But while the manifest was signed out and in by officers on both sides, and supposedly destroyed after, I couldn't find a work crew record of it. I'm still following up on that to see if it actually took place."

Turning to Cole, Niall nodded. "The autopsy I asked you to perform was on one of the individuals who knew about the drop. That adds a layer of suspicion."

Finally, he nodded to Lyseil. "And, possibly related, possibly not, an artifact called the Cipher was stolen from the museum. Doctor Rexa prepared a report on it." His lips quirked. "I have every confidence that Lyseil has already studied it sufficiently to give us an effective summary."

He looked to Z. "Does that about summarize things?"

[Zanebry Varliss]

"Just about." Z offered after taking a sip of his drink. "The only thing I could really add, is the woman who stole the item from the museum works for someone called the Clever Man." He looked towards Niall. "Did we ever get anything back on that blood we sent in?"

"I should probably also add that she met with Padawan Aran, sometime after she stole that Artifact.... Though, I don't believe he has any involvement in it."

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Cole hadn't seen any request for a blood analysis. Mentally, he shrugged it off and moved to the bar, "I imagine you can make a mean whiskey sour."

[Zanebry Varliss]

"Certainly." Z replied, his eyebrows knitting for a moment. "If I recall that's a bit of a go to drink of yours, Doctor." Though it had been a couple of years, so he very well could be wrong. Turning towards the bar, he began to mix the drink for the doctor, a fairly quick affair.

"I take it by your presence here though, that the fellow you looked at was most certainly murdered?" Zane asked, as he finished and passed the drink towards Cole.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Nodding, Cole accepted the drink, "correct, on both counts." He'd say more about it when Captain Alderaan deigned to fill him in on how he fitted in to this.

[Lyseil Panteer]

"Hmm, oh, I think I'll have a gin and tonic, please, if it's no trouble," Lyseil said politely at the offer of drinks.

She picked up her datapad and opened up her notes about the Cipher. "I don't think the Cipher is connected to this...? I'm not sure, unless our smugglers are also into taking stuff that belongs in a museum. Doctor Rexa's work was very thorough though, I'd say. The document you sent me, Niall, was pretty well researched, though... hm... I felt like there was either something left out. Similar tablets have allegedly been found in Wild Space, and the suspected origin of the tablet is from some machine intelligence, maybe even from a species distinct from the Rakata."

She gave a small sigh. "It's all a bit unclear, given there's a lack of data from that time period."

[Niall Organa]

"Surprise me." Niall said. He smiled, then sighed. "But no, nothing on the blood. It must have been too damaged."

He nodded to Cole. "I'd hoped you could fill us in on the details." And, of course, he remembered the work Cole had done on a team with him in the past.

He frowned at Lyseil. "Missing? What do you mean?"

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Cole’s brow furrowed and he sipped his drink, it was tart and smokey. Fill you in? he had to assume that Niall meant the autopsy, as he’d seen no blood analysis. But, it appeared it was still Princess Bubbles’ turn to speak. He absently scratched at his belly, it was hurting.

[Lyseil Panteer]

"The other tablets that's been found in Wild Space. The document you gave to me made no mention of them." Lyseil corrected herself, realising she might have mispoken in her rush to say her piece. "Now, it could've been that it wasn't left out intentionally, but... I don't know, someone so professional would have known about it, surely!"

She looked between Cole and Niall. "Again, I'm not so sure how this can tie into these other things...?"

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Cole finished his drink, setting the glass on the bar. He casually took out his hypospray and loaded it. They probably aren’t related at all, the Captain’s just being efficient having both meetings at once. Popping one of the buttons on his jacket, the young surgeon applied the hypo to his stomach.

[Niall Organa]

"It may not." Niall said, frowning thoughtfully. "But I wanted to consider the possibility. Now, perhaps it will end up tying back in to the smuggling, but it may be a separate matter." He gave Lyseil a nod. "Lyseil, can I ask you to follow up on this? If there's anything you need, use my authority." His lips quirked. "And your initiative."

Niall looked over to Cole, giving him a concerned frown as the doctor once again treated himself. He cleared his throat. "Cole." He began, his voice soft. "Can you share the full details of the autopsy?"

[Zanebry Varliss]

"A Gin and Tonic for the Lady, and a bartender's nightmare for Captain Alderran." Z relayed the orders back, first making Lyseil's drink and following it up with something for Niall. Eventually he'd settle on a Rusty Nail. Finished mixing, Zane delivered the bubbly princess her drink, before offering Niall his.

"Too bad about the blood sample." Zane said with a shake of his head. "You said something about a machine intelligence though." He asked turning to Lyseil, and regarding her curiously. "Do we have any idea of if that intelligence is still around?"

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Taking out his flask, Cole tapped his fingers against it lightly. He could feel the drugs start to spread through his system, once again waiting for Lyseil to answer the question fired in her direction.

[Lyseil Panteer]

Lyseil accepted the drink with a nod and smile. "Well... maybe? I don't know. There's nothing in the papers about that, and if it's Rakatan, it could possibly be something like the Star Forge that Revan and Malak used... " she shrugged. "There really isn't that much solid info on the time period of the Rakatan Empire, and there's a lot of questionable claims within the field of study there."

She glanced between the men. "I will look more into it, of course. I'll see if I can pull in something from the databases of universities on the Holonet." Her gaze settled on Cole though, hoping there would be no further sidetracking, to hear what he had to say.

[Niall Organa]

"Thank you." Niall said absently as he accepted the drink. He kept his grey-eyed gaze on Cole, frowning thoughtfully.