A Racket You'd Expect | Collective Dominion of Anobis Hex

[Jaya Tandris]

Location: Southern Zabrak Colony
Objective: Find the smugglers' guild, wait until it's time to punch things

It took Jaya a second to realize '2 o'clock' meant the direction she had to look in. She wasn't very used to the terms agents tended to use, but luckily she was able to make sure it didn't show either. Her expertise lied with action and when people would claim things had gone south, but perhaps that was the reason she was here in the first place. Following someone wasn't something difficult by any means, even if it was a bit boring to her, but if anything went wrong for any reason she would be able to shift gears in a split second.

The instructions that were given, were understood right away though. Jaya calmly kept walking alongside Evoros until Mara departed, waiting for a moment to see where she headed off to. When the agent became harder to make out in the crowd she herself slowly started diverging into the other direction, making sure to keep her eyes on the target. "Got clear sight on him from here."

[member="Evoros"] | [member="Mara Kellarov"]​

 

[Whisper]

If there was one thing that the slicer known as Whisper excelled at, it was working alone. She didn't enjoy playing with others, at all, so if she ever had a choice, she didn't. If there were gods out there in that mean unforgiving universe, she would've thanked them that the Collective didn't press her.

The teenager was in her room, on the mining colony in the Arkanian system. Why would she be anywhere else, after all? Anobis wasn't far, not from Arkania, and she quite enjoyed the darkness and tranquility of her room. She had her hood pulled up over head, her terminal on her lap, and she was currently draining a can of an energy drink, and tossing the empty container to the side of her bed. Useless, now.

The objective was simple. Slice into cameras and other things, support operatives [member="Evoros"], [member="Jaya Tandris"], and [member="Mara Kellarov"]. She didn't particularly like any of those people very much, but since when did she like anyone? The Collective didn't seek out her services for her friendliness, after all. No, they sought out her services for her mastery over the slicing game. Speaking of which, she was in.

Simple enough. No one had good enough security to keep her at bay, these days, it seemed. Quite boring, actually. She sighed as she viewed the operations through security cameras, safe in the comfort of her bedroom. Bliss.

She sent each operative a small message, just a little reminder that their good friend Whisper was watching over them. Then she waited, keeping overwatch. She was of course patched in to their comms already. If they had a request of Big Sister, all they had to do, was ask politely.

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

LOCATION: NEW MINING COLONY, ANOBIS
OBJECTIVE: 2 (SHARK TEAM 6)

- [member="Gauntlet"] - [member="Mariya Fleischer"] -

Ghorua's eyes widened in surprise as, not lizards, but children escaped from the vents. He almost fired at them before realizing what they were, wondering for a moment if the Collective were sent to take care of a child infestation. Ghorua didn't have time to find his little joke funny before the knaar began to stream out.

For a lack of a better word, the deluge of lizards swarmed the operatives, who did their best to hold them back. For his credit, Ghorua didn't back up. He kept himself far in front of the others, eyes narrowing as his mind began to analyze the situation. He produced a small cylinder from his bandolier, and lobbed it far into the cave. The gas grenade flushed out a pea-green, viscous gas, intoxicating the back area with FEX-M3. That would certainly stem the tide.

He kept the rest of his expendables to himself for now, relying on his slugthrowers' incendiary rounds and his flame projector to carve a burning swathe through the knaar. Even as the reptilian creatures clambered over him, looking for a weaknesses in his heavy armor or simply trying to get past him, he wasn't worried. One tried to bolt past, and he smashed it with a stray fist.

Ghorua hadn't realized how much he missed pounding something into a bloody pulp.

 

[Gauntlet]

"Nice work." He commented on Mariya's quick thinking.

Without the vents, the horde of lizards would now be coming from one path alone. Yet that didn't make their job easier per se, just less hard. Gauntlet's disruptor rifle--although very powerful--did not have the rate of fire to compete with quantity of knaar sent forth.

So he did the one thing he knew that worked. He aimed his disruptor rifle higher, just over the head of Ghorua but a little further in, and fired a beam across the ceiling. Crumbling rock began to avalanche on top of them all. They really didn't stand a chance. The remaining knaar withdrew deeper into the mines. Using the short barrier of rubble as an obstacle to slow down their pursuers. Or at least that's what it felt like from Gauntlet's observation. Doubtful they were actually that intelligent.

He let a slow whistle. "Well, well, well... Wasn't that just dandy." He said, unloading the expended powerpack of his rifle and loading in a fresh one.

The bodies of several dozen knaar littered the floor around them, but judging from the horde that was only about half of the total infestation. And now they would have to venture deeper and narrower to find the rest.

[member="Ghorua the Shark"] | [member="Mariya Fleischer"]

 

[Skye Achlys]

LOCATION: Near the Southern Zabrak Colony
OBJECTIVE: Find the smuggler's guild, to where the ex-lieutenant from the First Order has retreated a long time ago

The landing wasn't exactly soft, but it would do. It wasn't like she had much of a say in the matter anyway.
'That could've gone worse- but also better', Skye thought, laying on the ground. She slowly stood up before actually bothering to see where she was. It appeared she dropped down onto a small hill next to a makeshift city of some kind.
She realized she didn't really have any proper intel, she sort of just hopped aboard some smugglers' ship- and even that didn't go precisely as planned. The only option here was obviously to get into that crowd and find some place, preferably a bar, where she could ask around for her friend Kane, or this gang of his.
She took her mask in her hands for a short time, and looked at its form. She hadn't been wearing it for long, but in the places she had, rumours about 'the Mask' had already started to pop up. Luckily for her though, she expected no-one here would've heard them, so hopefully no-one'd be freaked when they saw her walking among the crowd.
She shook her head, put her mask back on and pulled the hood from her cloak over her head. "Quit stalling, Skye", she mumbled to herself.

Once she had made her way down the little hill and merged with the crowd, she started to observe her surroundings or more specifically, the people around her. She needed to find a clan of sorts. If only she had overheard the smugglers' conversation a bit better. It was... -something- hand?

Then she saw something odd; an odd figure left the main crowd and instead entered a different and small street, which was oddly empty. No-one else seemed to go that way.
'Why?', she thought to herself. She just noticed that there appeared to be cameras on both corners of the street entrance when a muscular person bumped into her. "Watch yourself," the man scowled at her, "puppet", he added, drops of spit flying out of his mouth while he did. Skye only stared at him while the man turned back around and disappeared in the crowd.
She felt a certain tension in the air, yet she couldn't figure out what it was.

[member="Evoros"] [member="Jaya Tandris"] [member="Mara Kellarov"] [member="Whisper"]

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"Nice work... did you feel something?"

Mariya raised an eyebrow when [member="Gauntlet"] showed his ingenious idea of destroying the ceiling to keep the creatures at bay. She knew his aiming was good, but it was hell of a risky shot with [member="Ghorua the Shark"] fighting near the collapsed ceiling. As the fallen debris of rocks and sand in front of them cleared up, she could distinctively feel a trembling on the ground. The tremor was certainly a sign of instability in the mine's overall structure. While the vibrations seemed to have stopped, but the mercenary had no wish to be buried alive on an assignment.

"Let's not do too much architectural rearrangement as we go deeper in. Won't want the whole place to collapse on us..."

She walked over to the nearest Knaar, kneeling down to take a good look at the corpse. The creature was definitely lizard like and had evolved to move quickly in packs. She had never seen anything like it before in all her time spent in the field. She made a mental note to be prepared for melee engagements as they proceed deeper into the tunnels. The tightness would leave little room for maneuverability and might forced her to use her vibro knife.

"Would be nice if we can draw them out somehow instead of us having to go in deep into enemy territory. If there's no way to do that... I can cloak and scout ahead."

The blonde offered her stealth capability as an option, waiting for the rest to give their ideas.

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

LOCATION: NEW MISSION MINING COLONY, ANOBIS
OBJECTIVE: 2 (SHARK TEAM SIX)

- [member="Gauntlet"] - [member="Mariya Fleischer"] -​

Amidst the conflict, Ghorua kept up his relentless assault, trying not to let the knaar past him, to freedom and his allies. Equipment and body became one as the Shark's endless hours of training kicked in, each movement precise and deadly. Flames, fist, headbutt, fire, flames, fire, it was a combination of Ghorua's entire arsenal to not be overwhelmed.

Ghorua heard the sound of a disruptor rifle fire over his head before he had time to flinch away. The strike far in front of Ghorua, and he felt the shifting in the sky. The collapse wasn't near him, but near enough for a few pebbles to scatter across his armor.

The large being felt the aftershocks of the tunnel, stepping back a few paces from the newly-created wall of debris. The knaar had the same idea, retreating farther in.

Ghorua breathed a sigh of relief, realizing he was out of immediate danger. "Yeah, as glad that I am I still have a head, let's not shoot disruptors around my person, please." Despite his nearly-dying, the tone of his mechanized voice was light-hearted. He'd been through worse. Far worse.

He turned to Mariya, pondering her question. "Scouting ahead ain't a bad idea. My only worry is if they can smell you." Ghorua shrugged his bulky shoulders. "We could try to smoke them out, but this is a big mine. That would take a lot of smoke." He fingered the gas grenades at his side. They'd need more than he had.

Ghorua shut his mouth, waiting for imput.

 

[Gauntlet]

Objective 2

Gauntlet went ahead and lit another cigar.

"Smoke 'em out you say?" He chuckled dryly. The fumes from his cigar began to reek in their general area.

The old merc stood with them, this time not willing to be the first to move ahead. "I don't think we need to scout. We know exactly where they went, just not where they are. I say we set a trap. Bait them out... They had us outnumbered, and some rubble wasn't going to stop them. Why did they retreat?"

Gauntlet recalled an old experience of his. He was trapped on a jungle moon with limited ammo, and surrounded by a superior foe. However he positioned himself in an old mine much like this one and fended them off. They feigned a retreat to draw him out. So now he had to just put the reverse into place. If he were the one feigning a retreat, how would he plan it deep within a mine?

"Any thoughts?"

[member="Ghorua the Shark"] | [member="Mariya Fleischer"]

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"Smell huh... That is certainly a possibility," the mercenary thanked [member="Ghoura the Shark"] for pointing out something which she had overlooked. The enemies they were facing were more reptilian than humanoid, and their sense of sense should be keener. With recon out of the picture, the other suggestion thrown out for smoking them out. Judging from the size of the mine, that sounded quite impossible.

[member="Gauntlet"] seemed to have a different view, his constant cigars puffing out smoke as usual. Baiting the Knaar out might be a better approach, but the big question of how to achieve it remained.

Mariya frowned. The earlier comment made by Ghoura alerted her the need to gather more information. If there was some way to find out more about the Knaar, they might be able to find some solution. She lifted her fingers to her chin, deep in thought. The hololink which she had purchased earlier from Corellia Digital during the Winter Fete sale was on her wrist, emitting a soft pulsing glow of green light.

Her brain suddenly lit up. She tapped on the miniature screen and paced around the mine with her hand stretched out in the air, trying to find enough reception for holonet access. Eventually, she found herself standing just next to the mine entrance and browsed the beastiary entry for Knaar.

"Fire! They are attracted to fire! We can lure them out by burning something!"

She shouted at her companions who were still inside the mine, her voice echoing through the mine walls.

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

LOCATION: NEW MISSION MINING COLONY, ANOBIS
OBJECTIVE: 2 (SHARK TEAM SIX)

- [member="Gauntlet"] - [member="Mariya Fleischer"] -

Ghorua withdrew, completing his inner debate. The Shark was by no means a professional at fighting hordes of unintelligent beasts. He wasn't sure how else to face the animals, if not on their own terms.

He hadn't considered baiting them out, but mostly because he wasn't sure how one would do that. The information on the holonet about these 'knaar' was few and far between. Most considered them mindless pack animals that went around in very large groups. The idea of fire attracting them was interesting, the yelling of Mariya cascading off the walls, no doubt the lizards hearing the noise. "That could work," he replied, his own metallic voice ricocheting like bullets off whatever they could.

Something else said caught Ghorua's attention, however.

Why had they fled?

And, perhaps more importantly...

"What were those kids doing in the vents?" Ghorua took off his helmet, puzzelment boldly etched across his face. "How did they even get there? Why would they be down here with these creatures?"

In Ghorua's professional opinion, it was all a little creepy.

"Maybe we need to have a chat with those children. At the very least, they might know more about the interior of the mine, if we have to delve in."

 

[Mara Kellarov]

LOCATION: Southern Zabrak Colony
OBJECTIVE: Follow the Target

Mara blended in like any other civilian in the crowds. Her weapons were obscured beneath layers, but the agent was ready to spring into action should the situation devolve to that point. But if this went according to plan, they wouldn't be doing that for a time.

That was the idea anyway, how well that would be in practice would have to wait and see.

"Two o'clock. That's our target."

She didn't immediately look in that direction, instead casually glanced over and in passing caught sight of their target. Mara was familiar with the tone Evoros was using, short and to the point. It was mission time, and their minds were focused solely on the objective.

Mara split away from Evoros and Jaya, quickly disappearing into the crowd. She didn't keep her attention solely fixed on the mark, but he was always within her peripheral vision.

The agent saw an alleyway ahead, she sized up the target's likely path before she slid from the crowd and between the buildings. Her casual movements switched to a more precise hurry, eyes looking around for a potential way up. When she found one, Mara didn't waste time in ascended up a fire escape until she had two feet up onto the roof.

Prior to arriving, she had studied the layout of the colony, noting that there was a dense area with plenty of buildings packed together. Perfect for a little rooftop scouting, which was right up Mara's alley. Pun intended.

A quick hop across to another building, Mara crouched down and peered over the edge. It took a few moments, but she caught sight of the target as he moved through the crowds ahead of the others.

"I've got eyes on him from above."

She spoke softly, communicating with Evoros and Jaya through an earpiece.

[member="Evoros"] | [member="Jaya Tandris"]​

 

[Gauntlet]

Objective 2

"Kids?" Gauntlet scoffed.

He turned his eyes downward to one of the dead lizards at his feet, and gave it a subtle kick. "However they got in and out, looks like our lady friend sealed it up real fast." He looked up at the spot where Mariya had clogged the vents with knaar bodies.

"I'm with her on the suggestion. Though if you want to go talking to kids be my guest." The merc grunted. If it wasn't obvious, the man did not appreciate the young. A grizzled mercenary like himself probably cared only about the credits at this point. Maybe not though. Perhaps he had a stamp collection.

"Though if we're going to light a fire, we'll need some materials."

They didn't want the entire place to burn down, or the air to combust.

[member="Ghorua the Shark"] | [member="Mariya Fleischer"]

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"If you are looking for materials... we have them lying around. But I'm not sure if the Knaars will take kindly to their dead being burned."

Mariya walked back into the mine from the entrance towards her companions, gesturing towards the dead lizards littered around them. It sounded like a morbid idea, but a practical one. Eventually the corpses would have to be moved away, probably cremated or burned in a remote location. The only problem was to find enough tinder to start the flames. No dead plants anywhere in the mine, except for rusty old machines.

"How about the fuel from those mining equipment? We could empty the fuel tanks and pour them over the corpses to make a little bonfire."

To prove her point, she walked over to the nearest digging machine and lifted the hatch sideways, exposing the fuel cap. A few turns and the cap was off, with a greasy stench filling up the air. [member="Gauntlet]'s cigars were bad enough, but the oil smelled even worse. She quickly closed the cap and screw it back.

[COLOR=#ffff00]"Pfft... smells like crap. So, game enough to erm... roast some lizards?"[/COLOR]

She looked at the old man and [member="Ghorua the Shark"] for their feedback.

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

LOCATION: NEW MISSION MINING COLONY, ANOBIS
OBJECTIVE: 2 (SHARK TEAM SIX)

- [member="Gauntlet"] - [member="Mariya Fleischer"] -

Something wasn't adding up. It felt wrong to dismiss the children as nothing. They were a part of this, he was sure of it. How they fit in, how they could possibly be involved in the swarm of knaar, Ghorua didn't know, but he DID know there was something.

His fellow agents didn't feel the same way, it seemed. It was a common theme among mercenaries. Do the job, ask no questions, stay alive long enough to get your next payday. Ghorua was like that, a long time ago. Nowadays, he'd been plagued by the worst curse of all.

Giving a kark.

"Fine. Fire it is." Ghorua put back on his helmet, hiding his slightly miffed expression. He walked back into position, that is to say, the center of attention. He had the distinct advantage of heavy armor, something these lizards would find difficult to pierce. Look at him, ensuring the safety of his teammates. Fatherhood had changed him.

Ghorua chuckled at Mariya, shaking his head at her disgust. His sense of smell was magnified by his genetic modifications. It wasn't unbearable, per se, but Ghorua could barely suppress his gag reflex.

"Let's roast them." He agreed, prepping his flame projector.

 

[Itash Mecetti]

Location: Ord Mantell.
Objective: Fulfill the contract.
[member="Kalad Shysa"]

The Collective was an insidious lot.

Bunch'a techno-cultist worshiping some kind of ambiguous future for the Galaxy in the shape of tech, but they paid well and that was all that Tash really cared about. He had two dozen of his Words assembled here on Ord Mantell and the job was a simple one: neutralize the threat of an illegal salvaging ring working out of one of the major salvage yards of Mantell. Apparently the Collective didn't enjoy anyone messing with tech all that much besides themselves.

He had occupied a small warehouse off the edge of the junkyard.

"Shysa, what do you think?" The Tapani Lord indicated towards the holographic map his scouts had managed to draw up of their surroundings. There were about five little outposts, each staffed by two-three of those outlaws.

"Could take out one, extract what we need and move deeper- or skip them altogether."

One of the Thyrsians had managed to track down a weak spot in their shield. Just enough blind spots to make it a reasonable venture, get in, take them out and then get out fast enough for some caf maybe. Or something stronger with a lady on the lap. That really depended on how successful this operation was going to be. Either way- Tash didn't think this was going to be a difficult job. These people were good at salvaging, had the networks and the lanes, but they weren't fighters.

They operated in the fringes and liked to run.

It was the intelligence that allowed them to handle this here and now.

 

[Mav Halo]

Location: Ord Mantell
Objective: Get paid.
Interacting: [member="Itash Mecetti"]

There was a faint snort from the Mandalorian mercenary as he studied the readouts, his eyes taking on a critical glint as they peeled through the layers of electric blue sea of information before them, fingers tapping every few seconds to twist and turn the view this way and that. Lips pursing to a thin line at the picture it all painted. It seemed targets were rank amateurs in the grand scheme of things. No doubt folk that had managed to pull a few schemes and runs off without drawing too much attention their way. Fatted on the profits, they'd grown too accustomed to their inadvertent successes to realise the depth and width of the pond that they sought to swim in.

That'd change.

"There's a risk." He begrudgingly agreed with a dismissive shake of his head. "The information in those outposts should give us enough of a glimpse into their workings to make this a clean sweep, however." Just the targets were content to be sloppy, didn't excuse them from following suit. He'd seen too many mercenaries over the years grow lax and fall victim to the very same weakness that seemed prevalent on this scrapheap of a planet. No, if they were going to do this, he would see that it would be done correctly. Cleanly. Efficiently. Professionally. "We isolate their communications first. No words in, no words out. Make it look like a technical error. While they're scratching their heads over that, we go in hard and fast."

He tapped a few keys, bringing up one of the outposts in question. One of the smaller, more out of the way stations on the edge of town. It would be harder to approach unnoticed with the lack of cover, but there would hopefully be less witnesses in need of silencing. "Small team, three or four people, to avoid drawing attention from the locals. Can never tell who's on the payroll around these parts." He gave a lazy shrug of his shoulders, "Recommend keeping one of them alive. Some of their codes might be verbal and you never know when a hostage will come in handy. Everyone else... "

It didn't really need to be said, really.

"If your troops are as good as you want me to believe, they should be in and out within a few minutes. Minimal footprint."

 

[Itash Mecetti]

Location: Ord Mantell.
Objective: Fulfill the contract.
[member="Kalad Shysa"]

They were better.

At two dozen they could work in perfect harmony, but at three or four?

They moved like a single entity. Merged together in purpose and intent, with no need to verbally communicate, knowing exactly where each of them was, clear focus and having less problem with petty things like pain. They had no need to call out targets, because each one was keenly aware of what the others were sensing, seeing, smelling, tasting.

And all of it ran through Itash and his Lie.

"They will get it done." Tash calmly retorted, before gesturing for three of them to detach. Four could get it done... but in this situation numbers wasn't going to give them additional benefit. It was the exact opposite.

That left them alone for now.

The others would be on stand-by for if their operation suddenly turned tits up, but Tash didn't expect that to happen. "Still mulling on our eventual course of action though," Tash admitted while studying the map. "Could wipe them all out." That would be the smoothest course of action, yes. Just kill them all and let nature sort out the rest of the problem.

But when had Itash ever picked the direct route, when there was something more profitable afoot?

 

[Mav Halo]

Location: Ord Mantell
Objective: Get paid.
Interacting: [member="Itash Mecetti"]

His expression was a study of neutrality as he watched the retreating backs of Mecetti's troops. There was something unmistakably unsettling about the way they moved. An almost overly perfect synchronization and obedience that extended far beyond the normal realms of regimented discipline and training. Almost like a shoal of fish, reacting almost instantaneously and in unison to the shifting currents or the approach of a predator. Yet there was no mistaking that they were most assuredly the latter in this or any other equation. He could all but smell the blood lingering in their wake.

"If that's what you want." Another armored approximation of a shrug, turning back to the conversation. Kalad honestly didn't have a preference on how the job was executed, merely that it was done in a timely and well paid manner. "If the rest of their network is as loosely guarded as these outposts, it shouldn't be too much of a challenge."

"Of course," His gaze flickered towards the Tapani, as if already reading his real intent. Recognising that distinctive note reluctance in the man's voice for what it truly was. It wasn't for the coming violence. No, those troops may have been the predators, but this man was most assuredly the hunger that drove them. The hand on the leash. "Taking control could be almost as easy. They might be amateurs when it comes to operational security, but they managed to spin a fairly decent web throughout this system. Profitable, too, from all accounts. With a few changes here and there, it could prove to be even more lucrative under the right management."

Who exactly stepped up to fill those shoes, well... The Collective, the Cartels, Didact... They were just names on a dotted line at the end of the day. It honestly didn't concern him one way or the other who took control of the reins once the contract was fulfilled. His interest started and ended solely with the credits lining his accounts at its completion.

"Your call, burc'ya."

 

[Itash Mecetti]

Location: Ord Mantell.
Objective: Fulfill the contract.
[member="Kalad Shysa"]

Good.

So he wasn't the only one who had noticed the opportunity here.

It was starting to chafe on him- this newfound discipline and profound direction. He had a schedule now, he had targets and plans, but not so long ago Lord Itash of House Mecetti had been as free as any man could be. What had changed? The realization that if he wanted more, he'd have to accept certain limitations in their wake. But this presented him with the opportunity to regain some of that freedom.

"Our thoughts align."

Burc'ya.

Tash had no idea what it meant, but from the surface thoughts brushing past his skin, it seemed amicable enough. No insult or anything. He wasn't sure why Kalad had to rub his face into his Mandalorian upbringing every time they exchange a word.It was bad enough when he was given the opportunity to ignore it. All that oya, beskar beskar, oyaaaa, raaaaaid crap was ridiculous. If the Mando'ade had been anything remotely respectful at one point... that was long since gone after years of leadership neglect. But before that could develop further, the Tapani tilted his head slightly.

"They are done. They captured two, bringing them in." As promised two unconscious individuals were brought in a moment later. Chairs put up, tied to them, blindfolded for the moment.

Very theatrical, it amused Tash a bit, but he supposed that the theatrics could help in the moment. "Mm. They definitely do not look like much."

 

[Gauntlet]

Objective 2

Gauntlet gave the fuel a whiff like a bad addiction.

The strong scent sent a chill down his spine, and before too long he found himself piling the knaar corpses in a number of areas scattered across the room to try and create firing lanes. He went back and pushed the crates once more to form a barricade where he could position himself, before assisting his partners in pouring the fuel on the corpses.

Once they had done their job, he let out a deep sigh.

"I hope you're right about this one. Or we just started a fire for nothing." He chuckled to himself.

Gauntlet roamed back to his defensive position. Ghorua wasn't wrong to think the man was nothing more than a merc looking for his own paycheck. Afterall, that's exactly why he signed on with the Collective to begin with. They offered him a whole lot of money to do what seemed to be mostly simple jobs; not easy ones but simple. This just happened to be more of a chore than he bargained for, but so far so good he thought to himself.

"Alright, I'm ready." He gave Ghorua a nod to toast 'em.

[member="Ghorua the Shark"] | [member="Mariya Fleischer"]