Inspection

Enamoured. Destiny had  finished downloading the patterns for her UEP uniform ten minutes earlier but could not seem to drag herself from the mirror. The clones were sat in the ships entryway, prepared in their new uniforms, restless.
“Curves, go check on Destiny. See what’s keeping her.” Ace wasn’t enjoying the delays
“Why me?”
“She… You two…” Ace didn’t know how to properly end their thought.
“Fine.” Curves stood and made her way towards the crew quarters.
Destiny’s designated room was the bridge but she was adamant that if they were to succeed, she would need a better mirror than the monitors in her room. Curves knocked on the locked door with a rhythmic patter. The red light above the door quickly faded to blue as the doors slid open.
“Ready?” She asked.
“Now I am.” Destiny smiled. “I want you by my side at all times.” With that, Destiny got into character. Her face became stern.
“Not sure whether Ace is going to like that but… Yes sir.”
They made their way to the others. Curves replaced her helmet. She offered Destiny one of the ships respirators. Destiny nearly declined until she remembered the stealth aspect of their assignment. Now all ready to leave, they left the ship and crossed the docks into the mining town. From there, they found a small garage renting short range vehicles. Without a hint of a background check, the cowering shop keep counted the figures before him and handed over the keys to a small speeder. Destiny glared deep into the man’s soul before handing him his payment. Confused, he bowed before them and retreated quickly. They boarded the speeder. Destiny assigned the seats. Magpie was to drive, with Midpoint in the front with him whilst she, Curves and Ace would take the back.
It didn’t take long to reach the outpost. Destiny had given a brief briefing of the overall operation but it mostly consisted of her saying ‘follow my lead and it’ll be fine’. As instructed, Magpie exited the speeder first, opening the doors for the people in the rear. Their appearance had not gone unnoticed.
“Excuse me. Who are you and what are you doing here? This refinery and all of its associated operations are under the jurisdiction of the United Earth Protectorate.”
“That’s why we’re here.” Destiny reached for the tablet in Curves’ hand. “I’m Captain Craft of the 23^rd order; and you and this facility are hereby under inspection. Please sign here to verify that we have arrived on schedule.” She extended the tablet and a stylus to the officer now trying his hardest not to break down.
“My apologies. I wasn’t aware of any inspections. But I suppose after the incident, we should have expected it.” He waved the group into the compound properly, taking them directly to the command centre. After what felt like miles of the same bland corridor, they reached the end of their journey. The officer spoke briefly through an intercom and the door to the refinery commanders office swung open.
“Captain.” He smiled. “Welcome to Rexel Five.” Only She and Curves had made it into the office before the door shut. There was something else amiss. Out of the shadows, a pale figure emerged.
“We weren’t expecting you for another few days at least.” She walked over with a significant limp but maintained an air of strength and confidence.
“Yes… How can we help you?” The Commander was careful with his words, constantly glancing at the figure in his peripheral vision.
“We’ve been ordered to conduct a top to bottom inspection of our operations here and across the Rexel system. After hearing about the incident, we thought it prudent to start with Rexel Five.” Curves could see that Destiny was enjoying playing her part in this charade.
“Of course. We’re willing to co-operate to the fullest extent.”
“Perfect. You will provide me with access to your systems here on the surface and my men access to the entirety of the mines.” She smiled as she continued. “This is my personal bodyguard, Leftenant Tolan. They have been cleared on our operations here and are to have the same access and clearance as me.” The pale lady darted a confused look. “It’s unorthodox but those are my orders.” She continued staring before turning to the Commander.
“Very well, let us begin then.”
The four of them left the office and split into groups. The clones made their way into the mines.
“What’s going on with those two? The plan was we all go down so if there were any problems, more hands?” Ace looked to their squad mates for support. They received shrugged shoulders in response.
After a lift ride that seemed to last forever, they reached the base of the mine. Ace gestured towards one of the three tunnels ahead of them. Their wrist began to flash.
“… Hurry… Rumbled… Fine but complete your mission…” The transmission was obviously distorted but luckily, the key message got through. Ace led their troops into the mine.
“Well… ‘Captain’ I’m impressed.” The pale lady was out of breath. “It takes a special kind of imbecile to think that they can pull the wool over an inquisitors eyes.” She removed her staff from her belt. “I’m guessing you’re responsible for our ‘Incident’ too?” Destiny looked to Curves. She looked back. They both shrugged, completely unaware of what she was talking about before the fight resumed. Despite her injury, she still moved like a cheetah on speed, pinballing around the command centre at incredible speeds. Curves finally landed a hit; her blade travelled clean through the inquisitors injured leg yet she didn’t react. The dismembered limb hit the floor with a thud, leaking lubricant onto the laminate floor. Continuing the fight on one leg, she instead decided to play the offence. There was a slight quake. Silence. Then the room exploded with sound. Curves saw her chance, grabbed Destiny and left. The job was done.
“You took your time.” Lore was wearing a three centimetre thick layer of rock and an annoyed expression. Retrieval.