Faction A Thief in the Night [NJO]

[Hacks]

[ T H E M E ]

Sublevel 17, Sector 4991,
Coruscant

In the lowest levels of Coruscant, the darkest abysmal depths of the planet-city, it was rare to see sunlight. Hacks slipped through midnight junctions of ruins from ancient and forgotten cities, hundreds of stories below the first inhabited buildings and cloudcutters of Coruscant. Evading scrapper-gangs and hawk-bats, Hacks knew the real danger to come were the Jedi. She had decided to set up shop in one of the darkest corners of the planet to avoid detection and capture by the Galactic Alliance, or their Jedi. So far below life in the city that the oldest buildings on the planet had been pancaked upon by thousands of other buildings, built atop one another. The trek had taken hours. There was no transit system down here, and life in the tight corridors meant no speeder or starship could find no nearby landing. Three protocol droids trailed her, struggling to drag a sled of equipment. More than once Hacks had to fend off the locals who survived off the technological detritus down here, seeing her horde of equipment as a goldmine for the taking.

Hacks came to an alleyway that ended abruptly, she brushed a cybernetic hand on an unsuspecting stone on the wall, a half-concealed entrance grumbled and pulled away revealing a dimly lit tunnel. She followed the path, her droids grimly following behind her. The tunnel led out into an immense casino floor, vaulted ceilings that swept up and were lost in the darkness above. The lights had failed in this sector millennia ago, dust caking every surface. She moved across the floor and found a suitable gambling table that the protocol droids went to work clearing of dust and setting up her equipment. Computing systems quickly arranged across the table, visual datapads propped up on make-shift stands, a dozen connections snaking out and towards a chair Hacks had retrieved from across the casino. She wondered how many abandoned, desolate places like this were in the deepest sublevels, perhaps millions. Hidden far below the bases of Coruscants tallest towers, like rot growing in teeth.

"I'm almost ready," Hacks chirped into her commlink, the signal bouncing between a dozen amplifiers she had spread throughout the sublevels to even get a signal to the surface. She didn't wait for a signal from Koda or Ghorua. She sat in the chair and began to connect her datapads and signal-link them to her glasses, the frames hosting small computing systems of their own that enabled her to slice on the fly. Guns lay in her lap, a last resort if a scrapper found their way in, or something worse. A protocol droid offered a leather pouch and she opened the bag, retrieving the loaded needles inside. Stimulants. The protocol droid closest began to inject the needles into her arm. Her adrenaline spiked. Her attention focused. Her heart raced. "Bring up footage of Hasjo Hallu's last known location on Coruscant," Hacks queried aloud, curious about the Jedi who's holocron they were going to steal for Argos.

The datapad went quiet for a few moments then played footage from the Sacking of Coruscant in 838ABY, a public street-cam overlooking the steps of the Jedi Temple from a block away. As the camera panned over the action, Jedi Knights and Jedi Masters rushed from the temple doors and down the vast steps to make a last stand, to delay the Sith while many younglings and padawans fled by starship. In the chaos was a fearsome Jedi Nautolan who carved a path through the fray with flurries of his lightsaber blade. The carnage he wrought on the Sith was suddenly stopped by incendiary rounds that set fire to the amphibious man, burning him alive.

"Huh," Hacks mattered, "Never been a fan of fried fish." She cut the feed and turned to the protocol droids present, "Go watch the entrance, ping me if there's a disturbance." Argos of the East had employed Hacks to seek out the holocron of Hasju Hallu, lost in the ruins of the former Jedi Temple below the now-current Temple of the New Jedi Order. Hacks was a well respected shadowrunner for Darkwire, but stealing from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant required backup. She had once heard Julian Valentine speak of only two bounty hunters he respected, Koda Fett and Ghorua the Shark. With little persuasion involved Hacks had organised the small but elite team, and days later, they were poised to steal from right under the noses of the Jedi. "Koda, Ghorua," Hacks chimed up again, her glasses glazing over with vast streams of complex code, "I'm ready." She lay back into the chair and fell into a deep trance as the drugs fully engulfed her, her mind swam in an ocean of data.
​

Koda Fett | Ghorua the Shark | @Any NJO Jedi

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

LOCATION: OUTSIDE THE NEW JEDI TEMPLE, CORUSCANT
EQUIPMENT: IN BIO
OBJECTIVE: MAKE SOME NOISE
ALLIES: Hacks - Koda Fett
ENEMIES: NJO
​

Ghorua grew up under the shadow of the Jedi Temple.

Not literally, of course. His home turf was 1313, layers and layers beneath Coruscant's shining shell. But as a kid, Ghorua often peeked over the side of his family's speeder as they passed the administrative heart of the Jedi Knights. Back then, he'd always wondered what it'd be like to be one of them.

Now, he was in the literal shadow of the New Jedi Temple, just outside the Processional Way. The poor old structure had endured being destroyed and desecrated multiple times in it's long life, most recently as the catalyst to the Second Great Hyperspace War. No doubt they were still licking their wounds. It was the perfect time to strike.

Outside the front doors of the Jedi temple, a large Houk in street clothes loitered against the side of a building. At his side was a small speeder, with metal crates labeled 'Fruits and Vegetables' packed on the back of it. Only the briefest shimmer of blue light would alert any onlookers of the large alien's disguise matrix, and only a dedicated scan of the crates would alert someone to their explosive contents.

"Good to go topside," the Shark rumbled, his deep voice imperceptible beyond the helm of his disguised armor.

Ghorua would be acting as the distraction for an entire temple's worth of Jedi. Any other bounty hunter would have fought tooth and nail for any other job, but not him. He'd insisted on being the only one on the front lines, aside from the assistance of unmanned drones. Why had he done such a thing?

Well, if he did his job well enough, no one was dying today, Jedi or otherwise.

 

[Koda Fett]

Beneath Coruscant in the cities and settlements that all remained so interconnected in that absence of the sun, the lawless found themselves at home; beneath the nose of the Jedi, of the senate, save for the scarce few authorities that ventured into the underworld to see the reach of their status fade as the surface fell further and further from them. Cartels ran their turf, and not much else seemed to be achievable. In such a locale, an armed and armoured man may roam free as a common visitor to their muck. Bathed in neon, and all the sounds of mindless chatter, music and traffic needed some form of atunement to withstand. But the Mandalorian had known these hives, let them become his life, even if one to detest those that dwell within them for one reason or another.

Bitter, and hateful. Such was Koda, he came to understand of himself.

In time, the noise faded as the crowds thinned - main streets left behind in favour of corners and untread routes. Hardly his first time on Coruscant. He came to a series of tunnels and clambered inside, the maze of them near impossible to wander in a timely manner if not for the added aid of his various tools.

Ghorua had his task, and Koda had his own.

He reached out towards an old console: inoperable. Fett tried to pry it open himself to no avail, and soon his voice reached their comms.

"Hacks, I need this hall unlocked,," said Fett, his location suddenly shot onto her feed.

Beyond it, the first signs of earlier destruction. Ruins and rubble.

Hacks | Ghorua the Shark

 

[Hacks]

A vast and lawless world lay before her. She began with infecting local systems, some of which hadn't been touched in centuries. Worm viruses containing fragments of a remote access trojan multiplied and spread from it's source point. Unprotected networks were swiftly under her domain and monitored, but the information was quickly becoming overwhelming. Fingers danced wildly across the keypad in front of her as her eyes made precise movements that were tracked by her glasses, registering them as commands.

Streams of code fell away as she filtered out information that was not immediately relevant. Lists of utilities began to form as more advantageous systems began to be infected, open-source street cameras, home holonetworks, traffic controls. "Hacks, I need this hall unlocked," Fett ordered and she instantly reacted. His location pinged to her as she accessed city records and analysed the layout of his subsector. The console nearest him had only the faintest hint of current still coursing through it. The heartbeat of a dying computer.

Hacks opened the commlink to Fett but didn't speak, swiftly typing in lines of code and sent them down the channel, using Fett's communication system to piggyback along his signal and remotely infect the console from his helmets transceiver. A command list from the console were bare-minimum, exclusively open, close and lock for the door ahead. In half a second the door was opening the way to Fett.

Her attention moved elsewhere. A mosaic of footage from dozens of street cameras fed directly to the screens in front of the slicer. Triangulating the Herglics location with the various feeds, Hacks began to send commands to the various drones placed throughout Coruscant, waiting on standby to provide assistance to the gargantuan bounty hunter. She rested back in the chair briefly, surveying the ever increasing control she was gaining. Coruscants networks would soon become burdened and clogged by the increased demand Hacks was placing on it, it wouldn't be long before someone in intelligence noticed the issue.

Outside of her world of data, she sat alone in the darkness of the vast abandoned casino, face illuminated by her screens. The only sound was the rain outside and the gentle tapping of fingers on keypads.

​

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

LOCATION: OUTSIDE THE NEW JEDI TEMPLE, CORUSCANT
EQUIPMENT: IN BIO
OBJECTIVE: MAKE SOME NOISE
ALLIES: Hacks - Koda Fett
ENEMIES: NJO
​

The Shark, within his convincingly dirty disguise, gingerly placed a large hand on the wall he'd been resting on. Ghorua held it there a moment, bowing his head, as if apologizing to the duracrete for what he was about to do. Then, with some amount of finality, he unattached himself from the building, and stepped onto the speeder, wincing as he jostled the crates in the back with his weight.

He turned on his comms once more, speaking to Hacks and Koda with his deep bass voice. "Hey, Slicer, would you be so kind as to turn up the volume and turn off their eyes? Thanks."

Ghorua revved the engine of the speeder once. "Goin' in."

The Shark went slow at first, approaching the enormous steps of the Processional Way, but the Temple Guard noticed him quickly, holding out their deactivated saberpikes in a halting gesture. It was then that Ghorua rolled the first sonic detonator. One noticed the device, and used the force to huck it back at the Shark, but not before it could go off, emitting a high-pitched whining shriek that forced the guards to hold the edges of their masks.

Ghorua gunned the speeder past them and up the steps of the Processional Way, diving off the vehicle as he reached the top of the steps, and the main entrance of the Temple. The Shark rolled, coming to a stop crouched, and pressed a button on his wrist. The crate at the back of the speeder exploded, releasing the rest of the dozens of sonic detonators in the area. Ghorua watched as they stuck to the floor, sides of columns, and tops of statues, and began screeching their own ear-splitting tunes to the world.

From within the safety of the noise-cancelling devices in his helmet, Ghorua was free to disengage his disguise matrix, unholster his blaster cannon, and prepare for the fight of his life.

 

[Auteme]

Ghorua the Shark | Hacks Koda Fett ​

She felt the danger first. Then, a distant explosion, and an ear-splitting sound. She was halfway down the main hall past the Processional Way, and knew any closer would probably cripple her hearing, but if there was some attack there wasn't an option to simply leave. With small effort she placed her hands on her ears. Through her Mist-Weaving she produced a pair of translucent earplugs, hardening like ice in an instant. It was disconcerting to not hear her own steps as she ran back to the entrance. Better than being doubled over in pain from the noise.

The battle on the steps up to the Temple seemed larger than it actually was. The sole attacker, an abnormally large Herglic, was easily handling the squad of Alliance shocktroopers who'd been tasked with keeping the public out of the Temple. Their helmet's aural dampners saved them from the worst of the sonic attack, but between their terrifying opponent and the civilians they had to pull away, it seemed a losing battle.

Auteme stepped in as soon as she could see the giant. Her left hand thrust forward, and from her fingertips sprouted ethereal threads. The quickness of her action meant they weren't as strong as usual, but like water they were quick to reform after taking damage. Her sole intent was to score a hit early and stick the threads to the colossus -- from there the threads would only grow, and she'd be able to entrap the Herglic in an ever-strengthening cocoon.

 

[Koda Fett]

Silently, the Mandalorian continued on; cautious footfalls amidst the extensive mess of a conflict bound to come once more and create another series of ruins for himself to loiter inside of, in search of an item or an individual for one reason or another. He noted the muffled sounds of the Eucamopolis become even more so as the distance between them increased, absent of the vast swathes of vibrant neon in the stead of an industrial ambience and relics of an old, old culture.

"I'm in the tunnels," the man announced to his team, "If Ghorua continues as is, I'll reach the ruins in no time undisturbed."

Perhaps an easier assignment than Fett first believed it to be.

Hacks | Ghorua the Shark | Auteme

 

[Hacks]

Hacks weaved through an ever more complicated web of code. As the minutes passed the drain on the systems throughout Coruscant was becoming painfully noticeable. The worm-virus was reaching critical mass that would result in frying every system it had infected as they collapsed under the load pressure. The botnet influence over the local sectors was incredible, and no one had tried to intervene. This was nothing like Confederate space. The moment she had tried to kidnap a senator the goons of the confederacy descended upon her like the very gates of hell had opened. She wondered if the Galactic Alliance were lazy or simply distracted with the war efforts.

The rumbling tone of the Herglic brushed those thoughts aside, "Hey, Slicer, would you be so kind as to turn up the volume and turn off their eyes? Thanks." Hacks held a thin-lipped smile as she replied, "You can call me Hacks y'know?" Her hands pattered against the keypad, eyes twitching as the glasses registered minute movements as commands. Within seconds the traffic lights in the local subsector outside the temple all turned green, conflicting traffic lanes moved then slammed onto their brakes. Speeders hit their horns as they narrowly dodged colliding, and a few unfortunate ones were hit and knocked from the sky, barrelling down towards the surface.

The traffic chaos was only half the fun. Trojan viruses that had infected the security systems began to shut down visuals to anyone bar Hacks' signal, effectively blinding anyone who would try to use the cameras to gain an insight into what was happening. Row after row of apartments nearby had their home alarms triggered. The cacophony of noises was chaotic and disruptive, civilians walking panicked and ran, speeders ignored the chaos of the traffic jam and took to the skies, endangering even more vehicles in the air lanes above. In a few short minutes the quiet day had turned into complete bedlam.

"I'm in the tunnels," the Koda announced to the team, "If Ghorua continues as is, I'll reach the ruins in no time undisturbed." Hacks brought up the schematics she had been studying earlier, watching Fetts signal follow a path towards the older ruins of the Jedi temple. "Ten-four rubber ducky," Hacks replied, "I'll make sure all eyes are on him. Goodluck." The data streams on her displays were becoming lagged and burdened. One of the first systems she infected suddenly went offline with a static pop. Hacks announced to the two of them, "If you need anything specific make sure it's now, the codes fraggin' and I'm going to have a serious issue with overload in a second."
​

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

LOCATION: OUTSIDE THE NEW JEDI TEMPLE, CORUSCANT
EQUIPMENT: IN BIO
OBJECTIVE: MAKE SOME NOISE
ALLIES: Hacks - Koda Fett
ENEMIES: Auteme - NJO​

The beginning of the heist had came and went without a hitch.

Ghorua realized with a soft smile that it had been going extremely smoothly up to this point. The slicer, Hacks, the Shark corrected himself, was performing her job excellently; topside had turned into chaos quickly, the kind of chaos Ghorua needed if he wanted to survive the next few minutes.

And, as much as Ghorua disliked Fett, he didn't doubt the Mandalorian's effectiveness. The plan was going too well.

Cogs, meet wrench.

The Jedi temple's standard security was no match for the veteran hunter. Ghorua's blaster cannon, an enormous hunk of metal anchored against his large shoulder, dispersed powerful stun blasts, sending his enemies scattered and disoriented before him. Whenever a shocktrooper tried to enter a blindspot, his shoulder-mounted blaster quickly mowed them down with stun bolts. The Shark was a one-man army.

But he didn't notice the threads of force until it was too late.

Before he could react, the Shark had lines of energy sticking to his armor, beginning to impede his movement. Surprised, but quick to react, the Herglic traced the threads back to their source, glaring at the Jedi in concentration. That was a new one.

Ghorua grazed his wrist with a hand, and a sudden bubble of Force energy erupted from around the Shark, pushing away Auteme's threads for the moment. Both the Firaxa and the Seamstress trained their barrels on the Jedi, and Ghorua let loose a curtain of stun energy, trying to catch his opponent off-guard.

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: New Jedi Temple, Coruscant
Objective: Search for more intruders
Tag: Hacks / Ghorua the Shark / Koda Fett / Auteme

In the midst of his meditation, a loud echo of destruction echoed into his ears. The sound was loud enough for him to instantly snap his eyes open and shoot a gaze at the doorway. He wasn't the only one that heard the commotion, a few other kids his age had also heard the booms and screeching of blaster fire and were as curious as him to see where it was coming from.

The five of them got up at the same time and peeked their heads in the direction of the temple entrance, some releasing a collective gasp as to what they were seeing. A hulking behemoth was creating chaos, cutting through numbers of troopers and even keeping bay the temple guards that protected them. Was the temple under attack again by the sith? from the looks of things no, only a single figure was present and cutting through the lines.

"You five! do not involve yourself in this by any means. Find shelter deeper within the temple and raise the alarm" A nameless Jedi said to them as he ran past, choosing to reassure and keep the padawans safe from harm. They all looked at each other and nodded, before beginning to head further away from the commotion

Something wasn't right, if it was a full scale attack they'd be more than one hostile taking the fight to them. And, considering he was armed to the teeth, he was looking to keep going for a very long time. There had to be more to this surely...

"Run along you four, I'll catch up in a few moments," he said to his fellow padawans who waved their goodbyes and went further down the corridor. He looked back to the distant fighting and stayed in silence, his mind slowly coming to a small realisation. An attack like this was fruitless, worthless for someone with a cause. However, if there were more people involved, this was one hell of a distraction to get most of the temple on your case.

Right now, he didn't have time to find a master or knight to explain his reasoning. Most of them were on their way to take care of the brute. If there really was more tip toeing about the temple, he'd have to try his best to delay them until help arrived. The only problem was, Silas had no clue what they were after.

Turning around, he began to jog deeper into the temple. Unsure if he'd come across nothing or something far more dangerous than anything he had met before.

 

[Auteme]

Ghorua the Shark | Hacks Koda Fett Silas Westgard
​

The strands were forced off by a burst of energy. Was the Herglic Force-sensitive? A Sith? It didn't seem like it, but the most she could figure out was that the burst didn't come from him. The volley of stun bolts forced her to react; she pulled her threads back, weaving a barrier in front of herself. While it was hasty, the damage done by each blast seemed to heal, keeping the barrier intact against the barrage.

Stun bolts.

One giant Herglic causing a ruckus, but also keeping deaths to a minimum. The moment of respite cleared her head long enough to see what was going on. Still, she found herself... relieved. It was easy to choose lethal force, and clearly this man was holding back.

Leaving her barrier to keep her safe, she began to weave something like a ball of yarn, densely packing the strands in the palm of her hand. Once it got close enough, she'd force the threads to expand into a full sphere and envelop the Herglic. A few moments and her construct was complete.

Auteme waved her hand and the barrier swung outwards, extending with the intent to strike his larger weapon aside, if only for a moment. She was exposed now, but already mid-throwing motion.

"Thank you!" she yelled. She had no idea if he could hear her; she still had her earplugs in, and it was hard to tell how loud she was talking anyways. Then she threw the ball at him.

Yeet, she thought. And it was so.

 

[Lyrrin]

-

Location: Jedi Temple (Ruins)
Tags: Auteme Ghorua the Shark Hacks Koda Fett Silas Westgard
Attention: Hacks & Koda Fett

---

Strategic Intelligence Agency, SIA, a name and acronym that had gone unappreciated in many aspects of the Galactic Alliance's myriad of defenders. To some the distinction between them and the Judicial Forces blurred and to others their motives obscured their usefulness internally. While jokes abounded about the SIA surveilling the populace of the Alliance through their datapads and holonet feeds there was a grain of truth to it all. Under the direction of IVI the Director of the SIA, the agency had spent a great amount of time and effort 'monitoring' their various sibling organizations. This was especially true for the New Jedi Order who, while not traitorous, presented a unique set of risks. To that end the efforts of Hacks while indeed masterful did not go undetected nor unnoticed by the men and women of the Alliance's premier intelligence service.

Many agents of the SIA"s VEIL division had been sent to identify, obstruct, and if needed to apprehend the sources of the disturbance within the network the Jedi Temple. Even as Lyrrin set foot atop the ruined promenade of the venerable Temple, a team of agents were narrowing down the location of Hacks . While it would take time for them to find her, given the time, they would "I've arrived." Lyrrin said into a commlink clutched in his hand while he peered around with his keen vision. He wore black elbow length shawl and baggy pants of matching color, shoeless as ever. The claws on his feet clicked dully against the stone and dust "No visuals." he whispered into the tiny cylinder.

From his rugged belt of pouches containing his various gadgets Lyrrin withdrew a life-form scanner and activated it. There were some individuals in the area, distantly, but he could not be sure if these were members of the New Jedi Order or the group who had been snooping through the mostly dormant network of the Temple "I have several life signs on scan." he again whispered his report to keep Operations Control informed.

 

[Koda Fett]

In the bowels of the Jedi Temple, far beneath the lively layers of the new recreated or remodeled structure, the Mandalorian continued to roam undisturbed as of the moment. It offered a certain silence, the sort that enabled a concentration as much as idle muse - the first interaction between himself and Ghorua came to mind, and a wry smirk formed beneath the T-visor in remembrance of the mess that was their skirmish, even now the two had been far from friends... allies by virtue of contract. Fett mused the beast was likely to see his arms torn from his torso if not for the thin line of professionalism that came between them.

Too far from the bolts of blaster fire and all that Ghorua caused, Koda wandered onwards.

His internal systems ran as per usual, the myriad of electronics inside fed their data to the man beneath the dense metal - from lifeform scanners, to flashes of radar, or sonic sensors. His kind, if that much can be said for himself as of late, earned their reputation as some of the deadliest killers for a reason, and their tools had played no small role in their success.

"I may have a friend," the Bounty Hunter remarked, "Stay in touch."

Yet still, he marched on. Further on, closer towards his intended target amidst all the rubble regardless of the newfound caution.

Hacks Ghorua the Shark Auteme Silas Westgard Lyrrin

 

[Hacks]

Far away from the dangers at the ruins of the Jedi Temple, Hacks sat unaware of the agents tracking her. Static pops bounced around her headphones, reminding her that her botnet across Coruscant was collapsing. One after the other, systems were rapidly going offline. The worm malware continued to spread, multiplying across networks in the Temple subsector and quickly overloading them with a flood of information. Ghorua offered no requests and neither did Koda, both had gone silent bar a quick remark from the Mandalorian.

Hacks watched the Herglic from the perspective of a street CCTV system, noting that the traffic system had just fried itself and gone offline. It would be back up soon once traffic control restarted the network, but that wouldn't help the situation. The airlanes had become a nightmare, speeders fleeing from the chaos down below. Were this Denon CorpSec would already be descending on the fight and shredding the Herglic with brutal lethality. The camera went dark. Another static pop. "My eyes are gone," Hacks announced to the team.

She peeled away from the array of datapads and glanced around the ancient casino, appearing even darker now that she had been staring into the bright screens for the last ten minutes. She blinked a moment and peered into the darkness, discerning the outlines of the protocol droids she had assigned to watch the entrance for any disturbances. "Hey, one of you, get the lights working could you?" she asked, unsure if they would be able to get the place up and running again. With a silent nod one of the protocol droids wandered off to a maintenance corridor.
​

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

LOCATION: OUTSIDE THE NEW JEDI TEMPLE, CORUSCANT
EQUIPMENT: IN BIO
OBJECTIVE: MAKE SOME NOISE
ALLIES: Hacks - Koda Fett
ENEMIES: Auteme - Silas Westgard - Lyrrin - NJO​

Ghorua's dance partner had thrown up a shield of the same material she'd used to previously ensnare him to stop his stun barrage. The Shark frowned in concentration, watching on as the wall of threads repaired themselves as quickly as they were damaged.

Still, Ghorua didn't let up the assault, turning his head to either side to ensure he wouldn't be surrounded. The Jedi took the oppotunity to force his weapon from his hand. The Firaxa went skidding to the side, wrenched from his grasp. The Shark turned around for long enough to see the woman say something unintelligible, and throw that strange material at him.

As Ghorua unsheathed his sword, he had time to wonder what exactly she had said. He could have sworn she'd said thank you. Why?

Ghorua was hit by the mist-woven strings, and was immediately enveloped, restricting his movement, and his vision. A tense moment passed, where the Shark tested the bonds with his strength, before his alchemized blade pierced the prison from the inside. With his monstrous strength, Ghorua dragged the blade across his body, freeing himself, and shrugging off the excess strands. But he was panting a little. The motion had taken far more out of him than it should have.

Ghorua heard Hacks in his comms, telling him she had gone dark, and Ghorua frowned grimly. He had to be extra cautious of his surroundings, then. He responded with a clipped tone, silent from outside his helm. "Drones still online? May need them here soon."

He wasn't going to beat this Jedi at far range, her shields were too strong for his stun blasts. He needed to get up close.

A death sentence for anyone but the Shark.

Ghorua charged Auteme, his shoulder blaster firing stun bolts all the way, sword at his side. Were he to make it all the way to her, he'd swing the flat end of the blade out, in an attempt to bat away whatever defenses the Jedi would put up for a follow-up punch with a beskar gauntlet.

A controlled display of power, the Shark's specialty.

 

[IVI]

INTERNAL AFFAIRS
COMMUNICATIONS & TRAFFIC DIVISION (COMM-TRAF)

SPECIAL AGENT GRICE MEDEN​

It was like a break, looking after internal affairs rather than the constant influx of Maw activity and white noise on Iron-facing scanners. There was so much static interfering with the comms these days that her old nickname, Grice-think-twice was starting to surface around the watercooler again.

That's why tonight was nice: The rhythms of petty crimes were like pilates for her mind, rather than heavy-lifting.

"I have several life signs on scan."

<I gotcha.> Grice responded, a little informally while leaning back in the comfort of her seat and overseeing the data that came filtering through from Lyrrin's update. <I can only see what you're feeding me. The networks are being flooded and we're scrubbing through the noise.

Orders from up top are to observe. Keep an eye on the bogies, see if they're good at their jobs.> She hmmmm'd deeply before leaning forward in her seat, pinching through the readings from the field agent.

<If they are..wait for more orders.>

---

HUSTLERS: Hacks | Koda Fett | Ghorua the Shark
JEDI: Auteme | Silas Westgard
SIA: Lyrrin

 

[Auteme]

Ghorua the Shark | Silas Westgard Hacks Koda Fett IVI Lyrrin
​

Before she could harden the threads to properly entrap him, he cut through, starting a charge towards her. For his size, the speed was startling, but even as he pushed the assault didn't stop; she pulled back the threads she still had, forming another barrier to stop the shots from the Herglic's shoulder blaster.

Even with the wall between them she could sense his approach. If she had more time, her barrier would be strong enough to withstand anything this giant could throw at her, but he was too quick. Instead she resolved to try something else -- drop her barrier, step in, then catch his hands in her strands.

Once he was close enough she dropped her barrier, pulled her strands back into her hand, stepped forward, and- "AH!" -remembered how much physical coordination and awareness fighting took. She overstepped, her heel clipping the step below. Instinctively she jerked backwards in an attempt to regain her balance, but that just sent her falling on her back. A stroke of luck, given the heavy blade that swung barely an inch above her nose mid-fall.

Her hand slapped the stairs. The strands sprung from her hand, forming a slide under her, slick like ice. The momentum from her fall, a little push, and she slid right between the Herglic's legs. She pulled back, weaving the slide so it'd curve -- unstable, since she was now sliding in mid-air, but it gave her a view of his back.

His stun blaster was already swiveling to track her. She thrust out a hand, firing a bunch of strands, like a glob of spider's webbing, trying to muzzle his weapon. She fired again, sending a weak barrage to stick to him -- hands, feet, head, anything to impair or slow him down until she set down.

 

[Silas Westgard]

Location: New Jedi Temple, Coruscant
Objective: Search for more intruders
Tag: Hacks / Auteme / Ghorua the Shark / Koda Fett

Further and further he went into the crumbling ruins of the temple, walking around like a headless chicken deep within the confines of the spiritual establishment. Not a soul could be seen or heard, only the sound of distant rubble falling to the floor after hopeless years of clinging onto the half destroyed walls. The very few who were present had all but rushed to the entrance to help with the efforts of bringing down the hulking beast. Perfect for anyone with malicious intentions to roam around without barriers

Quickly turning right into a large hall a sizeable chunk of debris suddenly fell in front of him, breaking instantly upon impact. Siras jumped back with haste and put a hand on his saber, but soon saw the need of not using it when he got a closer look at the decayed material. The padawan sighed and shook his head from the false alarm as he kicked away a small piece, making it slide across the dusty floor down the hall.

It was a wild goose chase right now, considering he had yet to explore the entire ruin of the temple under supervision. How was he meant to find any intruders at this rate?

Nonetheless, he continued on, unsure of if he was on the right track or not. Even if there wasn't an intruder, at least he was doing something productive compared to just simply hiding away. Disciplinary was sure to be on the cards by the time he got back, but his mind had to be put to rest of these feelings.

Putting his lips together, he decided to release a high pitch whistle that bounced off the walls. If he weren't going to find them himself, maybe they'd come to him if he was close.

 

[Iri Tuteru]

A Thief in the Night​

Location: Coruscant - Jedi Temple Ruins
Time: Evening
Tags: Silas Westgard Hacks Auteme Ghorua the Shark Koda Fett

It had not been long since Iri had returned back to what remained of the new Jedi temple that stood on Coruscant, he had left earlier to meet with a Jedi, his new Master Merrick Sato. He was in a deep sleep when they came, he had not even noticed at first but now he was well aware that something or someone was here. Most of the padawans and force-sensitive within the temple had long been relocated since the attack, but that didn't mean stubborn ones like himself chose to remain with the few knights and temple guards that remained to guard the ruins of the once-great temple.

He poked his head out of the doorway to his room as he listened to the fighting off in the distance, he was just about to make his way out of the temple to the safety of his fellow Jedi when he heard high pitch whistles echoing down the corridor.

Iri was an inquisitive Pantoran, and often found himself getting in trouble during his time studying within the temple, and now was not the time to change that nature of his, so he headed towards the source of the noise hoping to find whatever was making it. The sounds of battle had yet to make their way this far in, perhaps it was an unseen intruder.

He approached silently, attempting to remain unseen as he traversed the ruined remains of corridors and great halls, and finally his gaze rested upon the source of the noise. To his surprise, it was not an unseen foe but just a fellow padawan. His head tilted to the side as his gaze fell on him "What are you making that sound for? Shouldn't we be getting to safety with the other Jedi?" iri asked in an inquisitive tone, clearly not grasping fully the situation that he was in.

Iri had remained within the temple for some time, it would not be unexpected that the padawan would recognise him. But Iri clearly had never seen him before, or at least couldn't remember.

 

[Koda Fett]

Allies: Hacks | Ghorua the Shark
Enemies: Auteme | Silas Westgard | Iri Tuteru ​

The Mandalorian had no intention to come across the Jedi himself, rather more concerned in the success of the task and all that it meant afterwards. He heard their whistles, faint, distant, and their muted conversation had not been as soft as the two children must have believed. His internal-electronics noted them, their waves of audio locked onto their location, as much as it had locked onto the sole route towards the item of interest: towards them.

Fett listened to their voices some more, the scarce few words had been all that the man needed to determine a few facts. His footfalls had been noticeable, no bid to soften or silence them made, the two Padawans had been all too aware of the inbound Bounty Hunter - the sensation of another reached out in the Force, too. Someone was there, someone was close.

He soon rounded the corner to see the two Padawans; the two children. Both a fraction of their future stature, if a future existed for them. It almost amused him to see them in some morbid manner, neither a Jedi Knight nor Jedi Master had been there at their aid. Both Jedi Masters and Sith Lords had fallen to Fett before, their bounties taken, their lives lost. Two Padawans had not been much of a match, Fett considered.

"Bounties on Padawans fetch a fair reward," his modulated voice said from across the room, "Best run or become one, I'll make that offer once."