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

[Mav Halo]

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

Our thoughts align.

The Mandalorian snorted softly, unsure if to take that as compliment or an insult coming from the Tapani fop. Oh, but he was a cold one alright. A creature of perfumed smiles and cultivated graces. Charming enough to fool the masses, but a lifetime of hunting bounties and chasing criminals saw through that that finely polished veneer. He wondered if the Collective knew just what kind of creature they held to their breast when they courted the exiled Mecetti and his borderline robotic foot soldiers.

The door opened on two disheveled looking scoundrels before he could follow that line of thought any further, a flicker of begrudging respect working its way across Kalad's features as he found himself looking at those requested prisoners ahead of schedule. Prisoners, he noted, plural. One more than he had been expecting. Not only efficient, but over achieving, too. Skill like that was worth its weight in aurodium on the battlefield. Perhaps there was something to Didact after all. Beyond the loth-wolf in ronto's clothing over there.

"Not bad, Mecetti." He grunted, grabbing the room's third chair that lent against the holotable, jolting the prisoners upright by making a loud show planting it heavily down in front of them with a loud metallic clang of durasteel on concrete. "You should consider hiring them for snatch jobs. Extractions in under thirty minutes or your target is free."

The fear radiating off the men before him was almost palpable. Soot marked, sweat stained, jittering around the edges. If they hadn't already surmised that they were hardly dealing with professionals, then what quivered before them was enough to well and truly put to bed any lingering doubts. These weren't trained soldiers. These weren't hardened mercs. These were just people with delusions that having a blaster tucked in your waistband made you a gangster.

"I only needed one of them, though." Kalad began, pressing his boot up against the knee of one of the detainees, causing them to flinch with a babble of incomprehensible chatter. Tttt. He revised his estimation further. A karks-be-damned ugnaut girl scout brigade would put up more resistance in an interrogation. "One is a source, two is a distraction. Have your men start digging a shallow grave out back. In the mean time, I'm sure one of these fine gentlemen is just dying to explain why they won't be filling it, no?"

He gave another kick of his boot, prompting another waill of gibberish from the first prisoner that was borderline broken basic, borderline hysterical chatter. And like that, the flood gates were open, with the second quick to chime in with his own butchered spiel of yammer. A torrentuous stream of inconsequential information, pleas and...

His nose wrinkled.

"Tell them to line that grave with tarp while they're at it."

 

[Itash Mecetti]

Location: Ord Mantell.

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

The Thyrsians detached themselves from the wall with that same quality of smoothness that had disturbed Kalad so. They walked out of the room, but it was for show. Not that these two would be aware of that in their mad panic. Odd how the loudest mouths sang the hardest, when the chips were down and there was little to gain but pain with bravado.

Would Itash have sung in the face of Shysa?

Loudly, yes. Proudly so he might add. Loyalty, dignity, they all mattered little when it was either you or the mystical *them*. They did not matter once the preservation kicked in. "I wish they didn't burn so slow in this weather," Tash sighed out loud as he stepped on next to Kalad. "The smoke would give us away too, I suppose."

Head tilted.

"Grave is done. They couldn't find any tarp though, but I am sure we can improvise something."

Somehow *his* words had even more of an effect than Kalad's. They started talking faster, but Tash was picking up more from their minds than anything else.

They were giving everything up. Quickly too. Routes, names, faces, structures, the leaders and the brains.

Their contacts. More.

They kept talking.

Tash grew amused.

 

[Mav Halo]

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

Mecetti may have grown amused, but Kalad's patience was rapidly dwindling with each garbled syllable.

They just kept talking.

And talking.

It soon became difficult to keep track of who said what. Each whiny pitched tidbit and morsel of information blending into the next. Kark, it was almost embarrassing just watching them fall to pieces. Fortunately, they were quickly coming to the end of their usefulness, as evidenced by the fact one of them was now simply listing items on their favorite takeout menu in a vain effort to keep themselves alive a few seconds longer. Ithorian spinach rolls. Now that was a new one.

"You get what you need, Mecetti?" It might have been framed as a question, but the fact the mercenary's blaster was already clearing his holster before he'd even finished his sentenced proved that it was simply a passing courtesy.

Mister takeout menu here was an obvious choice, but anyone willing to yammer that hard just to stay alive would be an asset in the coming days if Itash was serious about taking over their network. He'd practically fall over himself to keep his usefulness at the forefront of his new employer's mind.

No, it was the second bound prisoner that got a single blue bolt to the brain pan. A simple end for a simple man, snuffing him out mid-sentence. The silence that ensued was well worth the charnel mess. At least the smell of charred flesh and singed hair covered up the stench of fear and other bodily fluids that had become prevalent in the room during the course of the interrogation. If that word could even apply.

"Take the other one out back. He can fill in the grave for his friend here while we confirm the veracity of the information." Blaster holstered, he rose from his chair and turned to move back to the holotable, sparing neither prisoner, alive or dead, a second glance. "Remind him that one can quickly become two if needs be."

Again the electric blue display flashed up with a sea of lines. The information provided already being steadily vetted and uploaded by the Didact technicians, filling in some if not all of the blanks around the local operations in the area. He had to hand it to them, they had some nice little routes and bypasses. A few maybe worth remembering if he had the need to return to this system in future. "Now or never. You decide if we're cleaning house or are you moving in?"

 

[Itash Mecetti]

Location: Ord Mantell.

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

This was why operational security was partially limiting information.

If every cog in the machine knew everything about the machine? Then it took only that single cog to send it all crashing down. Just as it was happening right now with these two trying to save their lives, sputtering out as much as possible to get what they wanted most. Out of this situation. Tash nodded once and the blaster shot rang through the hall. Almost immediately, as he slumped, the Thyrsians grabbed him from behind and brushed past the other occupant.

Who squealed.

Itash sighed and turned around, walking back over to the holographic map being updated with their new intel. He didn't miss the scrutinizing eye of Kalad - always looking for an advantage himself... and why not? The second one was gagged, bag over his head again.

Not knocked out though, who knew what else they had to quickly figure out. It was why one or two would stay with him to keep in touch.

"Seems rude not to use the information readily supplied to us." Tash murmured, while studying the map. It was favorable to them. Large chance that they'd be able to take it with minimal casualties. "Moving in." The decision had already been made. Even before they had managed to extract the details out of those idiots. That had just made this easier. The verbal decision shifted something in the Thyrsians as well, besides the one babysitting their prisoner?

They all started to fade out of the warehouse.

Waiting to be unleashed.

"This will be interesting." Loose comment before he, too, turned around and went for the door.

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

The blonde unhooked her helmet from her backpack and put it on. It always made her hot and sweaty, but she wanted the air filter to block the disgusting scent from the fuel. She pulled out the fuel canister from the nearest machine and dragged it over the pile of bodies that was been piled up. The cap was then unscrewed and she began pouring the dirty fuel over the dead lizards. Even with the air filter, the stench was clearly there. She repeated the process several times, dragging a new fuel can over and tossing the empty one to the side.

"Yuck... this darn thing better work..."

Mariya made a face as she finished pouring the last canister. Her nose felt like it was going to catch lead poisoning with all the gasoline in the air and her hands were soaked with the grimy black liquid. She decided not to go near the bodies when the fire went off, just in case her hands caught a stray spark somewhere. There were still some canisters left, so she decided to grease the gate with the remainder.

An incendiary grenade or some flaming love from [member="Ghorua the Shark"] should light up the ambush.

"If nothing else... let's do it."

She engaged her cloaking device again, making sure her rifle was reloaded while she hid behind one of those crappy machines. [member="Gauntlet"] had positioned himself well behind the crates while Jaws seemed to be armoured enough to take a fight head on.

 

[Mav Halo]

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

"I count seven on the perimeter." Kalad reported as they counted off another half hour of observation, absently drumming his fingers on the top of the battler scared helmet he held in the crook of his arm. "Four fixed, two roaming. Last one I'm pretty sure is just plain drunk."

With the information they'd managed to glean from their two volunteers, slipping beneath the Second Hand's radar proved to be almost too easy. With a series of false communications crafted by the surviving prisoner distracting the eyes and ears of the organisation away from the central compound, Kalad and Didact found little in the way of opposition as they progressed through the sprawling city towards where the local leadership resided.

Even now, as the rested in a crumbling, abandoned factory just across from the smugglers' beating heart, it seemed that their opponents were none the wiser for their presence. The guards on the perimeter milling around without any real urgency or concern in their movements. Tttt. Operational security really was a foreign concept to these people. Perhaps he'd see if Mecetti would hire him on after this was all sorted. With a few of his fellow clansmen at his back, he was reasonably certain he'd be able to instill some semblance of discipline and security into these aruetiise fethwits.

Thoughts for a later time.

"From what we got from those two, there should be less than a dozen inside. I don't expect we'll find much of a fight regardless, but there might be more information and resources worth salvaging that going in too hard would be a mistake." He shifted his helmet up, pulling it over his messy untamed features. Bumping it loudly with the butt of his hand to secure it in place. "Same play as before should work. No need to complicate matters. Take out the guards, move into position and cut the power. Give them a taste of Thyrsian shock combat."

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

LOCATION: NEW MISSION MINING COLONY, ANOBIS
OBJECTIVE: 2 (ROASTING MARSHMALLOWS)

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

It was time.

The putrid fumes of the dead lizards stacked by Gauntlet, and the fuel lathered on them via Ms. Fleischer, choked the area. The smell got so terrible, Ghorua had to switch over to his own air supply, sealing his suit to the delectable aroma of rotting lizard bodies and flammable material. The Shark watched on in muted interest, noting the mercernaries' actions.

As they completed their finishing touches, the Shark fed fuel into his flame projector, preparing to set off the makeshift bonfire they had constructed. He didn't look back to Mariya and Gauntlet; the former was probably invisible at this point, the latter stashed away behind some crates.

"Let's do it," he affirmed, taking one step forward.

The roar of Ghorua's flame projector spewing a line of heat was nothing compared to the thunderous boom of the fuel canisters and lizards exploding. Pieces of metal shredded out, the shrapnel peppering the crates, the equipment, and Ghorua's heavy armor, the pieces of slimy gore raining down on all of them. There was enough left for a large fire, but considerably less material than it started with.

That fuel is serious stuff

The distant shrieking of lizards greeted Ghorua's ears, bouncing off the mine walls like a symphony of bad news. They were coming. He could feel it in the ground, the shaking of hundreds of knaar feet pattering against the ground.

Let's do it, he affirmed to himself, suddenly doubting if they could, in fact, do it.

 

[Evoros]

LOCATION: Southern Zabrak Colony
OBJECTIVE: Look like a badass follow the target

"Roger that. Nobody let him out of sight."

Tracking was the boring part of a mission, the part with the least variation. Evoros knew how to fade into the background, how to make herself impossibly difficult to figure out. She'd never excelled at fighting perhaps, but it never stopped her- she struck from the shadows.

Well. There were times when it mattered. Again, stories for another time.

"There. Looks like it could be our place."

Luckily, the boring part was usually over soon enough.

There was an apartment in a street of several, identical to every other except for the fact that it had no windows. Glass was covered from the inside - it looked just like a reflection to anyone who wasn't searching for oddities. But clearly the residents didn't want anyone seeing what went on.

"Take a look around the outside, see if there's another entrance. Gather what you can and then we'll plan a move."

[member="Jaya Tandris"] | [member="Mara Kellarov"]​

 

[Jaya Tandris]

Location: Southern Zabrak Colony
Objective: Find the smugglers' guild, make sure to not start punching too early

"Couldn't they have at least tried to make it look less suspicious?" Jaya looked at the covered up windows of the apartment, only tilting up her eyes instead of her head to prevent it from looking like she was paying special attention to anything. In the end she supposed it made their job easier, and so she decided not to complain about it. Soon it would be time for action, the part that functioned as the reason for her to be here in the first place. Her fists were itching, and not just literally. While scratching her knuckles she kept on moving.

"Yup, I'd bet on that being the place." The man they had been following had gained entry into the apartment building, which mean there was a very good chance they had found what they had been looking for. The instruction that then followed from Evoros was straightforward and Cupcake started moving towards and alleyway next to the structure, slipping into it as inconspicuously as she could. Temptation and urge to innocently whistle while doing so were suppressed and it seemed nobody really minded her, allowing her to take a look around. "There's a ladder in the alleyway, probably the fire escape. It might get us in from another angle. It's pretty high up though, so we'll have to find a way to get up it," she said through her earpiece as she moved further in, looking for anything else the alley had to offer.

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

 

[Gauntlet]

Objective 2

The ground around them began to shake as an ungodly amount of knaar poured forward like a tidal wave. Most were trampling each other, and rolling out of the pile back onto their feet as they neared the exit of the choke point.

Between the burning fumes and the stims in his system, Gauntlet wasn't exactly all there. The merc began to fire wildly into the swarm without a care for where his compatriots were standing. The disruptor rifle spewing its deadly beam of... Well, death.

"There's too many of these karkin' bastards!" This had to be all of them by the looks of it.

A single knaar more and they'd have exhausted their air supply down there and suffocated.

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

 

[Mara Kellarov]

LOCATION: Southern Zabrak Colony
OBJECTIVE: Infiltrate the Building

She had kept a bead on the target throughout his little walk. Every so often he'd disappear from Mara's view until she jumped to another rooftop.

Thankfully none of them had a significant gap between them, making it a simple effort for the Agent to keep up.

Eventually she began to notice the change in his walking, shifting from a casual pace to something more stiff and hurried. At first she thought he had somehow caught on to them, but a second evaluation eased her mind.

He wasn't outright running, but his change in pace made it evident he was nearing his destination. She called it in alerting Evoros and Jaya that they had found the place.

Mara watched as the man was greeted at the door, the man took a glance around before closing the door behind them - locking it. She took stock of the building, noting it had a significant distance from the one she was currently situated on.

She could make that jump. Probably.

"I can reach the fire escape."

The Agent took the time to size up the distance, make the calculations...it was going to be close. Mara walked to the far end of the roof, before she sprinted across it and made the leap. The night kept her appearance hidden, a shadow casting across the ground as she soared through the air. Before anyone thought to look up, Mara had reached the other apartment.

Hands grasping the apartment roof's edge.

Okay, maybe just barely made it.

Ignoring the pain against her chest and arms, Mara pulled herself up, before quietly moving over and dropping down onto the fire escape.

"We've got an easy entrance up here, the door has a basic lock. But I can also drop down the ladder if we want to double up on this vantage point."

The only other entrance Mara could discern was the front door. But that was hardly ever a valid point of entry for an infiltration.

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

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

Objective 2: Clearing knaar Fighting "T-rex"

Her rifle fired off angrily at the crowd of lizards. They seemed to be relentless, like an unstoppable tide. She stopped firing for a moment when the swarm was big enough, tossing the incendiary grenade at the cursed doors which kept spitting creatures. There was a loud whooosh as the petroleum caught fire, exploding into a fiery ball of fire that took out a huge number. The flames licked furiously at the ones caught in the blaze while stopping the rest from emerging.

She was glad that her little trap worked, returning back to her firing to take out the panicked crowd. Now, all they needed to do would be to clear up the mess. Still a mighty big challenge. Her attention was drawn to something else though as a gigantic shadow roared and burst through the flames.

"Holy bantha! What in the world is that?"

Mariya screamed a warning at the giant creature, a lumbering lizard that exceeded the size of any normal knaar. It gave a roar that stopped the rest of the knaar as they turned tails and ran while it took a huge step forward. Unsurprisingly, the creature now nicknamed as "T-rex" by the blonde towered over [member="Ghorua the Shark"]. The mother? The dad? An ancient ancestor? Whatever it was, the trio suddenly had a bigger problem in their hands now.

She doubted even [member="Gauntlet"] with his awesome disruptor rifle could finish it easily.

 

[Evoros]

Her mind was drawing the building, drawing lines from point to point, person to person, as on the outside Evoros briefly went still. This would be seamless if it was done right. But it had to be done right.

"Okay, drop the ladder, I'm on my way." Really? Wordlessly, Evoros told her conscience to shut up. "Cupcake, take the door."

Pause.

"And try not to break it."

She moved with perfectly calculated discretion, easily lost to the crowds if you weren't watching her. Once upon a time, the word unremarkable would've been the greatest insult, but Yvonne Evoros held it like a dagger.

The ladder came down and she ascended without pause, and the anticipation beneath her skin lay in every movement. Whatever else had changed over the years, this was what she was good at and this was what she liked. It was one of few things she rarely had to hide.

"Nice view," she remarked as she got to her feet on the roof, double-checking her comm. "You in position?"

[member="Mara Kellarov"] | [member="Jaya Tandris"]​

 

[Gauntlet]

Lizard Snacks

In the commotion of a new enemy's arrival, Gauntlet coolly took the time to light a fresh cigar.

Having set his disruptor rifle down at his feet prior, he slowly reached up to grab it just as the beast let out its mighty roar. Mariya's hunch wasn't wrong. His disruptor rifle, as powerful as it was, would overheat before it melted completely through the beast's thick energy-resistant hide.

But not blunt-force resistant. "They can always dig new holes." Gauntlet proclaimed as he raised the weapon high, overcharging the powerpack and unleashing an unstable beam against the tunnel's ceiling. The exterior rock transformed to dust almost immediately, and caused a chasm to form in an irregular pattern. Moments later--just as the beast began to charge--large boulders began to crumble forth, collapsing upon the beast.

Though it now threatened to collapse upon them as well. Gauntlet didn't stay around to find out, not even waiting to holster his rifle he instead dropped it and began a hasty retreat towards the entrance. Cigar hanging proudly from his lip.

Eventually the remaining knaar would suffocate on the dust as their limited oxygen supply dwindled. The miners would have to pick up the pieces, however, if they were to reboot operations.

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

 

[Jaya Tandris]

The moment Kellarov made the jump Jaya looked upwards as the other agent flew by above her, watching as she barely made it. "You really did cut it close with that jump," she commented as she watched the ladder come down, "still, that was quite the distance. Nice."

When Evoros came over the comms mentioning she was to take the door, Jaya cracked her knuckles in advance and strutted out of the alleyway back into the street. "I was hoping you'd ask- well, I'll see to keeping the door on its hinges." Her attention turned to the lock the moment she passed by the door, taking a look to see how hard it was going to be to force open in case it was necessary. It was quickly concluded that a well-placed kick would do the job of dealing with the lock. It wasn't the sturdiest one she had ever seen, but hopefully it would hold up to where she didn't actually break it. The keyword here was hopefully.

"I'm in position. Nobody seems to be paying attention to the apartment building right now, so now is as good as a time as we're gonna get." Standing next to the door, leaning against the wall, Jaya waited for the sign to get going. "I will be drawing attention, so if you're quiet enough you should be able to sneak in quite easily." Although she wasn't the scholar type, she knew all too well that from this position she was the distraction, and as such run the highest risk. Luckily for her however, she was completely fine with that. "Just give me the sign."

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

 

[Mariya Fleischer]

"No! No no no no.... everyone run!"

The instance [member="Gauntlet"] aimed his rifle upwards, the blonde knew it was time to leave. She slung her rifle on her back and saw rocks flying off the ceiling, taking down the beast with the collapsed debris. She had no idea if duking it out with "T-rex" was a better idea, but the damage had been done. The old mercenary might just be sealing them to their doom as the trio began running towards the exit. The collapsing tunnel added difficulty to their escape as dust and pebbles rained downwards, small thudding sounds coming from the hits on her helmet.

"Jaws! Gauntlet! Follow me!"

Her tactical flashlight on her goggles switched onto high beam mode, illuminating the dusty path in front of the trio as she led the way. The screams of knaar behind them were replaced by thunderous roars of the ground swallowing everything in its path. She could hardly see where she was going, but her legs kept telling her to keep running.

Don't look back, don't look back... just keep running and they will follow you.

The greeting from a sudden slit of light was too welcoming for her. A few more steps was all she took to jump out of the entrance, rolling across the ground for safety. She looked up, trying to see if the rest had made it.

"[member="Ghorua the Shark"]? Gauntlet?"

 

[Mara Kellarov]

LOCATION: Southern Zabrak Colony
OBJECTIVE: Secure the Building

"Understood."

Mara waited until she spotted Evoros in the alleyway, then moved over to the ladder and carefully lowered it down. They needed the element of surprise here, so outright kicking it and allowing for it to slam down was out of the question.

If they got this right, they'd be able to surprise the targets before they even realized what was happening.

Once Evoros was up on the fire escape, Mara turned her attention to the next matter. She pulled out a lockpick and went about unlocking the door. Just as Jaya was finished speaking, a sharp click echoed out as Mara successfully picked the lock.

"We should probably keep at least one alive, right?" She posed the question to Evoros.

"Yes, probably."

Both agent's new it was more efficient to not keep the other's alive, more people alive meant there was more of a chance one of them could slip away, or try and get the advantage over them. The group was small in size, but Mara had no doubt they weren't going to exactly raise their hands up and surrender.

Drawing her blaster, Mara kept a hand against the door ready to push it the moment Evoros gave the word. With a sharp nod, the order was called through the comms and the trio moved in.

Jaya knocked at the front door, giving an ample distraction for Mara and Evoros to silently slip inside. The apartment was sizable, but the corridors were still rather fight. Both of the moved like a well-oiled machine, moving through the building taking down any smuggler that attempted to intercept them.

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