Dominion Aggressive Transaction | HSC Dominion of Hollastin

[Horus Rhyne]

Flint presumably assumed that Horus would be uncomfortable here.

Among the riff-raff and skullduggery of his gang. Pirates, really, more so than a gang. But Horus didn't show any signs of discomfort. In fact, he was far too interested in the going-ons of the ship to feel anything in the manner of trepidation. Ancient ship, yes, but also increasingly automated and working on its own.

That's useful if you couldn't trust a large crew.

A pirate popped up into the remote corner of the hangar bay Horus had claimed for himself and the few enforcers along with him. It was some sort of gibberish again, but the alien made it clear that Flint was looking for him.

He nodded before ordering his men to get ready.

Flint wouldn't be asking for his presence if this wasn't gonna get hot soon.

"Mister Flint." The noble responded calmly as he watched him lift up his oversized axe. "I see we are fighting." Without another word he pulled out two mean looking half-swords. Serrated edges, which would electrify on touch. They were quite opposite from Horus' noble bearing. He did not seem nervous however.

"Lead the way since this is your ship."

Piraka | Reave

 

[Varm Nul]

HOLLASTIN
NEAR SPILGAN COMPLEX

OBJECTIVE III​

Things went off without a hitch.

The 'Captain' nodded, as both security guards were dispatched, before he reached out for the datapad and flicked through some settings to familiarize himself. Seemed it was in order, the now-dead Nova Guards had been lazy, relying on the automated functionality.

Fortunate.

"Let's go," The disguised Varm Nul said as he motioned toward the turbolifts. "I'll make sure it's clear. Schematics have the data port we need in sub-level two... then we take as many out as we can, leavin'."

The holographic disguise matrix remained stable, the power cell had been charged fully, but the Duros didn't want to rely on it for too long. The last thing they needed was to lose the pointman on the infiltration; especially since, as a group, the trio stood out as obvious interlopers up to no good, doubly so when in restricted areas.

The 'Captain' pressed the lift button, then accessed the passcode to allow sub-level access.

"Wait til I see if the lift is clear," Varm Nul muttered, though he suspected that much was obvious. Still, better to communicate than make mistakes. "Hachi, how's your slicin' skill? Think you can handle the task?"

Varm Nul suspected so.

But, again, better to communicate.

The turbolift doors opened, which revealed a single Nova Guard member within, to which the 'Captain' walked in and prepared to handle it - however the Nova Guard stepped awkwardly to the side, to give space, which the Duros hadn't expected, and the pair collided. With his hands full with the datapad, Varm Nul stumbled in the attempt to avoid dropping it... but that also resulted in the matrix effect being buffeted and shimmering due to the disruption.

"What the..." The guard blinked. "Don't move!"

In no position to react accordingly, hands on the datapad and flatfooted, Varm Nul called:

"Wren!"

Dayn Wren | Hachi X-0​

 

[Arkyn Rane]

OBJECTIVE: DOUBLOONS!
TAG: Piraka | Horus Rhyne | Reave​

---

The heavy blast doors slid open. The vault was a long rectangular room, its walls lined with shelves that were stuffed with trophies, gems, and jewels. A thick red carpet extended to the back of the room, where there stood a single pedestal upon which sat a wide bowl of Corusca gems. So old Grummkin wasn't lying. Arkyn danced a little jig, whooping silently. The room had likely been booby-trapped, but R5 had taken care of all that.

She had hit the jackpot. This was the score of a lifetime.

The Warden moved quickly, upending the bag of near priceless gems into her satchel before she placed it back on the pedestal. She didn't bother taking anything else, though she wanted to, out of sheer spite for pirates if nothing else. But she had to move fast if she wanted to escape in time, and she couldn't do that if she was weighed down with loot. So she zipped and locked her satchel shut, tightened the strap to fit it snugly to her back, about-faced towards the door, and took off at a run.

<"Alright R5...it's extraction time.">

<"BREEEEEP BZZZZZT.">

<What?! No! Do not initiate a self destruct. This ain't that kinda of extraction.">

As she ran, she slipped her petars free, sliding her fingers into the grips. She'd made them after Ilum, called to the crystals by the great tree they'd sprouted from-- a vergence, the Jedi had called it. Unlike standard Kyuzo petars, these here powered be kyber crystals. She activated them, and pale blue light blossomed along the cutting length, curving outward in a coruscating arc.

<"This is as good as Gorba's station. You wanna blow up Gorba the Hutt's space station? Actually, don't answer that. Just clear a path for me, yeah?">

She turned another corner. The elevator was close, but she wasn't about to take it. Grummkin was most likely using it to send his heavy-hitters down at this very moment. But there was an access hatch not far from the elevator shaft, and none of Grummkin's enforcers could fit-- too big and burly. Moord and Nilbog, his two heaviest, were more like rancors than men. It would even be a tight squeeze for Vathos.

As if summoned by the thought, his voice crackled over her comms, heavy blaster reports in the background, his breath coming hard and fast. <"Arkyn, if you aren't busy, a little help wouldn't be remiss! Zod sent EVERY one of his lieutenants!">

She sighed. She thought they would've been able to get into the access shaft before Grummkin's people arrived. <"Hold fast. I'll be there in two shakes.">

​

 

[Dayn Wren]

Dayn dragged the second body off to the side, stashing them behind some desk. Slicing wasn't his field, so he let Varm and Hachi take care of the elevator. Perhaps the clean-up was unnecessary, but he didn't want to stand around doing nothing. Besides, it'd do them if there was someone in that elevator and they caught a glimpse of a corpse.

By the time they got it operational, Dayn was in position taking cover.

'Wren!'

Things got heated a little earlier than intended. He turned the corner, knife in hand. There was not much thinking involved. If Varm called out like that his position was compromised, and it was likely that the appearance of an ally of his would encourage the pulling of triggers. He'd have to act fast.

As soon as he made the target, he leapt towards him. Luckily there was just one. The jetpack on his back gave him a quick boost as he rocketed into the guard at pace. Knife in hand, the blade pierced the guard in the chest before he could react to what was happening. He heard a loud crunching sound as the guard became the cushion against the opposing wall.

The pair of fell down, Dayn repeatedly stabbing him until the only sound left was that of his knife cutting through flesh. The grunts of resistance had died.

Dayn remained on the elevator floor a moment. That was not an ideal method of entering, well, anywhere. He was sure he'd feel that tomorrow.

"At least no blaster fired off." Dayn grunted, kicking the body only just out beyond the doors. Hopefully their cover wasn't blown just yet. "But the next person that takes a look at this..." The wall had received a new dent, and the floor a fresh paint job. Dayn's armour had a new coating as well.

As soon as they left this elevator, if someone else called for it alarms would surely be raised. Whoever said slow and steady won the race had never actually been in one. Guess the timer's ticking

Hachi X-0 Varm Nul

 

[Hachi X-0]

Spilgan Complex | Hollast VII
Objective: Murder, Kill, Destroy
Varm Nul | Dayn Wren ​

---

"Hachi, how's your slicin' skill? Think you can handle the task?"

Hachi was almost insulted by the question. "No," it began, as if followed Varm to the turbolift. "This one does not think it can handle the task. This one knows."

The lift doors opened, revealing a single Nova guard. In an unfortunate display of organic inefficiency, the blue-skinned fleshbag stumbled, bumped into the guard, and revealed that he was wearing a hologram. He called for the poor Mandalorian, who decided a messily brutal-- if visually pleasing-- stabbing was the best way to take to the guard down. There was a dent in the wall now, and still warm blood was pooling on the floor.

"At least no blaster fired off." Dayn grunted, kicking the body only just out beyond the doors. Hopefully their cover wasn't blown just yet. "But the next person that takes a look at this..."

"This one suggests knife training," Hachi began, eyeing the blood-splattered Mando. "Perhaps anatomy lessons. A single stab to the heart, or through the jugular, would have sufficed. This one also suggests we employ a distraction of some sort, in a separate sector of the facility. This one would volunteer,, but it doubts either of you can slice into the required systems.."

Hachi moved around the body, careful not to step in the blood, and onto the lift, head tilted so that its brim seemed to sit lower on its head.

 

[Piraka]

OBJECTIVE I: Establish a Trading Port // Pirate Crew Rivalry
Location: Foresight Station
Tags: Arkyn Rane | Reave | Horus Rhyne

---

With the most critical of the station’s defenses seemingly having been dealt with, Piraka called into the bridge of the mothership. “This is Looter 1, launch one of our shuttles for the station. We’ll cover it. Over!” He said before filling in the rest of the squadron on what they needed to do now, which was to cover the shuttle. Getting in place with the rest of his wing he was notified of some other ships that were inbound. Both friendlies and hostiles. Apparently a few detached fighters were coming up from the atmosphere to reinforce the station’s defenses.

From his cockpit sensors Piraka could see the “friendlies” who've arrived as well. An old confederate ship. Reave he presumed. Soon the shuttle launched from Piraka’s own corvette to reach one of the docking tubes, since the hangars had been blown out by now. Turning his flightstick the trandoshan maneuvered to meet with the additional group of enemy pirate starfighters along with some of his own squadron. As he did Piraka faced down one of the opposing pirate craft.

Flying fast towards the oncoming vessel he let his computers lock on to the starfighter as they sped towards one another in a game of chicken. Until they both began firing their weapons at each other. Low grade red tibanna gas laser bolts fired from his own craft and the enemies. The crimson glow filling his field of view as blaster fire ripped past him in a destructive blur. Piraka hit the enemy starfighter first tearing it apart as his own ship absorbed the incoming fire with its shields.

Although his reckless flying would turn into a detriment in this starfighter joust of his as his vessel tore through the small debris cloud that formed after he destroyed the starfighter. With his shields already depleted from tanking the previous shots the numerous micro impacts from flying through the wreckage of the craft punctured into his own ship’s hull and maneuvering fins. Red alert lights flashed in his cockpit as he lost some control in his interceptor, and was spinning off course. The G force made his hands go numb some as blood rushed to his head and feet.

When Piraka began to gain control he turned his ship back in the direction of the station and his corvette. “This is Looter 1, I’ve taken damage, might need to pull-” Just then a stay blaster bolt hit the back end of his interceptor at his engine and again sent his ship spiraling away again and he was cut off from his sentence. Putting all the effort he could into smoothing out his flight trajectory as it looked like he may crash into Foresight station. However, it didn’t seem like he could dodge the orbital structure, and needed to settle for a different approach. Seeing a smoking wound from the station, he realized it was one of the bombout out hangers, which would have to do for a crash landing. His ship wobbled into position before abruptly slamming against the hanger floor and skidding across it. Only coming to a stop after crashing into a number of cargo crates. Another happy landing.

Piraka felt dizzy from the whiplash of the stunt he just pulled as he sat in a crashed interceptor in a hanger set ablaze. He needed to move fast unless he cooked along with the rest of the docked starfighters in there. Still hearing some of the radio chatter from his squadron, he spoke up. “Ah, this-this is Piraka, I’m okay, just crashed in Foresighter station-” Seeing outside his cockpit window some of the fires approaching him he would cut his call off short. “Gotta go now, over!” He said before opening up the cockpit. Grabbing only his blaster pistol and vibroblade he scrambled out of his interceptor and into the hot, and smoky hanger on the station. Fortunately he still had his breath mask on, to be prepared for the possible loss of life support. So he could still breath despite all the smoke. Noticing a few automated droids working to try and put out the fires. Making his way to the exit he was knocked over from the sudden blast of his interceptor as it blew up behind him. Likely fuel was leaking from the engine which ignited. Scrambling back to his feet he rushed himself out of the room into the cooler air into the halls leading out of the hanger. Taking a bit of a breather to catch his breath now.

 

[Varm Nul]

HOLLASTIN
NEAR SPILGAN COMPLEX

OBJECTIVE III​

The Mandalorian was brutal but effective.

And the mess didn't bother Varm Nul, as he suspected that soon enough things would be chaotic to not matter, so as long as the guard remained undetected for enough time... well, it wouldn't mean much, when the blaster bolts started to fly.

"Won't matter, we're close enough and immediate security's down."

It had been great to make it through security, that was a win by the Duros' reckoning, so he figured they had a decent chance now.

The lift doors opened, to which the 'Captain' stepped out, and looked around. There wasn't much to the data area, mainly just a hallway that connected various rooms with storage cores inside. A guard stood at the far end of the hallway, perhaps surprised by the arrivals, but--

* TWIP! *

--Varm Nul had raised a forearm, before he fired a gas-propellant dart. It sailed toward the guard in seconds, accurate as the Duros' reputation was known for, and took the humanoid in the neck. The poison worked quickly, the guard dropped dead, to which Varm Nul deactivated the holographic disguise and resumed his typical appearance.

"No need for a distraction, this is the place," He muttered, then nodded to the droid. "Hardest part is locatin' the core you need, then begin slicin'. We need anythin' on Nova Guard operations or bases in other regions."

Varm Nul turned to regard the Mandalorian with his red eyes, as he drew his twin LL-30 blaster pistols:

"We'll cover you. Wren, you good to handle this end of the hallway? I'll watch the other.

"Oh, and goin' loud ain't a problem now."

Dayn Wren | Hachi X-0​

 

[Reave]

PIRATE RIVALRY
Horus Rhyne Piraka Arkyn Rane

​

"Lead the way since this is your ship."

"Don't forget it," Flint bared his fangs, "Kee baatu baatu."

Lashing out at Horus with a long forked tongue, the devaronian shoved past him. Vibro-axe resting on one shoulder, its blade swung perilously close. He stomped confidently down corridors infested with heavy cables and past bulkheads covered in graffiti. Pandemonium greeted them once they reached the hangars. Flint's crew were a collection of nasty looking corsairs. Some of them human, but others were weequay or klatooinian. More than a few possessed crude metal limbs or antique cybernetic eyes.

"Mi stuka mo gootu nooma na junkee Gorba," the alien laughed, "Fly good though."

Flint pointed his axe at the battered old mandalorian boarding shuttles. Pirates tore out fuel hoses and jostled each other to climb on board. Each of them was armed with a deadly mix of blasters and vibroweaponry. As soon as the raiders noticed their master ascend one of the boarding ramps they backed out of his way.

Engines sputtered to noisy life. Flint uncorked a small pale-yellow vial, inhaling the reek of sulfur fumes. Veins bulged and muscles rippled all over his exposed flesh. He donned a blast helmet which glowed red from each socket.

"Try not to die, little human."

There was no warning save for a deafening impact against station hull. Smoke poured into the air, and then Flint was charging fast through a scattered hail of blaster fire ready to cut down any fool who dared stand against him.

 

[Dayn Wren]

"This one suggests knife training," Hachi began, eyeing the blood-splattered Mando. "Perhaps anatomy lessons. A single stab to the heart, or through the jugular, would have sufficed.

"I'll keep that in mind" The Mando said, leaning against the wall as he pulled himself back up to a standing position. What he'd done hadn't been pretty, it hadn't even been effective. But it had succeeded. Still, something to think about back in training.

"We'll cover you. Wren, you good to handle this end of the hallway? I'll watch the other.

"Oh, and goin' loud ain't a problem now."

"Got it" Dayn nodded. The knife was sheathed now, and replaced by the light repeating blaster from his back. Going loud indeed. The crew went through the hallway, quickly scanning room after room.

Dayn held himself in the hallway, walking backwards with slow steps until he decided he was at the opportune distance. He turned to see how the rest were doing. Had they found what they were looking for yet? Varm held down the other hallway, Hachi would probably be the one to locating the core. So far so good. This might just be - "Hey! Stop right there" criminal scum. Dayn turned back around, dropping into a crouch with his rifle pointed at the direction of the sound. Again, there wasn't much thinking involved. He picked his target and fired.

His target had fired first, but missed. Maybe because Dayn conveniently dropped low in that moment, maybe he always would've. One blast from either left Dayn the only one standing. "Guess we're loud" he remarked to the others. Now he took up position, taking partial cover by the doorframe of one of the hallway's rooms.

Not long after two more guards appeared his side of the hallway. With two well-placed shots he took them down, then there was another moment of silence until he heard someone from his team saying something. He didn't make out the words, but he understood that they'd found the core. Did they need to extract information from it here or could they take it with them? Clearly, Dayn hadn't been paying very close attention to that part...

Next something rolled in through the entrance, immediately followed by a bright flash. Dayn went blind, the bright flash lingering on his vision. He heard voices, shuffling, and blaster fire. There were more than just two now. Dayn had taken cover for a moment to recover in the room, but threw out the arm holding the blaster and fired wildly down the hallway hoping for the best. Slowly, his vision came back to him, and he laid down a more useful suppressing fire.

Once the group got closer, he fired off a cone of flames from his wrist launcher, scorching the unlucky frontliners and forcing the rest to hold off their advance and seek what cover they could find.

"We good to move?" he called out, as he darted in and out of cover, blaster rifle at hands, able to pick his targets again.

Varm Nul Hachi X-0

 

[Arkyn Rane]

OBJECTIVE: CLEAVE EM' TO THE BRISKET!
TAG: Piraka | Horus Rhyne | Reave​

---

Vathos was about to die. He was sure of it. Covered by a hail of bolts from the other lieutenants, Nilbog, a freakishly large Trandoshan hybrid, was barreling straight towards him. He couldn't concentrate enough to effectively use the Force-- he'd been shot twice, once in his shoulder and once in the hip, and the pain was making it hard to focus. Fething Arkyn had all the bacta patches.

To top things off, his blaster pistol was near empty and he hadn't used his lightsaber in years, for all that he still kept it with him, but Nilbog was armored anyway-- the red bolts had just splashed off his armor with little to no effect.

"RAAAAAAAWWWWWWRRRRR!"

The beast, for the sentient was nothing else if not a beast, roared his anger and fury. Vathos rolled away from jutting strut he'd been hiding behind, wincing as he aimed at Nilbog's face. A blur flashed across Vathos' peripherals. Distracted by the sudden movement, he turned to look, but the figure, the shadow, whatever it was was gone. He looked back to Nilbog, finger trigger clenching--

And had to abort his shot. Arkyn was there, her arm buried in Nilbog's chest all the way up past her elbow. The blaster fire had stopped-- even their opps were mystified. Somehow, she'd punched straight through his armor. Had she learned Gand-Fu during her travels?

But there was no blood. When she pulled her arm free and the massive hybrid Trandoshan fell over, he saw why. She'd made kyber powered punching blades .

By the Force, this woman is mad.

"C'mon then, you bunch'a mangy taints!" Arkyn yelled. Then she immediately dove behind the strut across from Vathos as the pirates began to open fire, and almost negligently tossedhim a canister of bacta spray. "You alright there, Vath'?" She eyed him for a moment, then tossed him some ammo. "Cover me, yeah?"

​

 

[Hachi X-0]

Spilgan Complex | Hollast VII
Objective: Murder, Kill, Destroy
Varm Nul | Dayn Wren ​

---

"No need for a distraction, this is the place," Varm said after expertly dropping the guard at the end of the hall. "Hardest part is locatin' the core you need, then begin slicin'. We need anythin' on Nova Guard operations or bases in other regions."

"Hard for a fleshbag, perhaps," Hachi replied. "There will be a central database that contains an inventory of the information that is stored in the data cores. This one only needs to find it."

The guard that Varm dropped had been standing in front of a door. Hachi supposed that it was as good a place to start as any-- based on its calculations, paired against organic design models, the droid was one hundred percent certain the data inventory was behind the door, given its location at the center of the long hallway.

As the sounds of battle rang out behind it, Hachi stepped into the room, quickly sliding itself into the central port. It felt its circuits warming from the influx of energy and information, and vented the excess heat through the outtake in its head shield. The knowledge it sought was scattered across three cores, grouped by sensitivity-- one core held all the official locations and operations, another held plans and designs for future operations, and the last held all the black sites.

Bingo, as the fleshbags say. Hachi didn't waste time idling. It slipped itself free of the computer's port and all but sprinted to the appropriate rooms-- with the Force as fuel, Hachi was little more than a blur.

"We good to move?" Hachi heard the poor Mando ask from down the hall.

"No," the droid replied over the staccato report of blaster rifles and what sounded suspiciously like crackling flames. "Not yet. This one advises you to keep shooting for a few moments longer."

Hachi only needed a few more seconds.
​