They had a wealth of new information, but it was a ticking time bomb.
Cassian's missed check-in would be noticed.
The Vanguard would know he was compromised, and they would change their protocols, erase their dead drops, and disappear back into the shadows.
They had a window of opportunity, and it was closing fast.
"We can't hit the Correction Center head-on," Joric argued, his voice a dose of cold reality.
"It's a fortress. According to Cassian's intel, it's manned by their best-trained soldiers. Going in there is suicide."
"He's right," Kiera conceded, her frustration evident.
"We need a key. A way in. And that means we need to get to someone higher up the food chain than Cassian." Her eyes fell on the name Cassian had given them for his handler: The Quartermaster.
The Quartermaster was the logistics man, the one who supplied the local cell with everything from credits to weapons to the advanced technology used in the Rust-maze ambush.
He was a vital link in the chain.
If they could capture him, they could cripple the entire sector's operations and potentially get the intelligence they needed to assault the Correction Center.
According to Cassian, his next 'dead drop' was scheduled for tonight.
It was a simple, classic espionage maneuver: a data-chip hidden inside a hollowed-out book, to be left on a specific table in a dingy, crowded noodle bar in the lower market.
Cassian was supposed to leave the information he had gathered, and later, The Quartermaster, or one of his agents, would retrieve it, leaving payment in its place.
"This is our chance," Kiera declared.
"The Vanguard might know Cassian is missing, but they might not have had time to scrub the dead drop. They may even use it as a trap to see who comes sniffing around. But it's a risk we have to take."
The new plan was for Kiera to take Cassian's place.
She would deliver a fake data-chip to the drop point and then wait, hidden, to see who came to collect it.
Ryu's role, once again, was to be her unseen support.
He would be positioned nearby, using his ChainForce sense to monitor the area for any hidden threats or Vanguard operatives.
His ability to sense energy signatures, even weak ones, was a unique asset that no Vanguard surveillance could replicate.
Joric disguised Kiera, dressing her in the shabby, anonymous clothes of an Outer Sector resident.
She was no longer a warrior of the Azure Dragons, but a nervous informant, her face partially obscured by a low-brimmed hat.
Ryu, meanwhile, found a perch on a nearby rooftop, overlooking the entrance to the noodle bar.
He closed his eyes and cast out his senses.
The noodle bar was a chaotic symphony of energy: the heat from the kitchens, the low-level buzz of the patrons' comm-links, the faint life-force of a hundred people crammed into a small space.
It was a difficult environment to read, a sea of noise. He had to filter it all out, to look for the disciplined, controlled energy of a trained Vanguard operative.
Kiera entered the bar, her movements deliberately hesitant and fearful.
She sat at the designated table, slid the fake data-chip into the hollowed-out book, and left. The bait was laid.
Now, they waited.
An hour passed. Then another.
The crowd in the noodle bar thinned out.
Ryu's concentration was beginning to wane.
Then, he felt it. A new energy signature entering the area.
It was different from the Vanguard soldiers he had encountered before. It was not the aggressive, violent energy of a fighter.
It was cold, methodical, and utterly devoid of emotion, like the hum of a well-oiled machine. It was The Quartermaster.
He was not just a logistics man; he was a high-level spymaster, and he was walking right into their trap.