All At Once [Bounty Hunters Only]

[Gabriel Audemars]

She wasn't there. Instead it was just the corpse of some addict. Drats. Well at least he was getting close, Gabriel was a good bounty hunter, but he knew that being in this firefight alone wasn't going to be beneficial for him. While he'd have no problem with it, he didn't really want to spend a week in a bacta tank afterwards, he had done that enough in his life.

He really didn't enjoy the fact he was being blanked out however, how dare she blank out a bounty hunter as efficient as him. "So...You gonna let me help you out or what?" He insisted, his tone still calm and not overly aggravated, he thought it was more for her own good than his. Gabriel wasn't arrogant per se, but he knew what he was capable of.

He sprinted down an alleyway, keeping tabs on the video feed for her location and the location of the other crooks and bounty hunters that now swarmed this once dark and desolate alleyway. This was getting really grimy.

He vaulted over a rusted speeder as he tried to chase down Xenia, blaster bolts missing him as he ran and dived into another alleyway with a roll, one bolt hitting his shoulder but it ricocheted off the heavy beskar plating and onto a streetlight, the light extinguished with a bang sending sparks raining onto the floor.

"Whoa." He winced as he picked up the pace.

[member="Xenia Nastassia "][member="Kail Ragnar"]

 

[Xenia Nastassia]

Core Worlds;
Corusca Sector;
Coruscant.

When Kail's voice came back onto her com-unit, she looked as if she might pop. Dancing eyes, hopping around to the same beat as her wild tongue, pressed against the backs of her teeth. "Kaaiiillll, it's sweet that you're here, but you're," he'd hear the noise of a blast before her voice cut off, and the connection temporarily fell through once more. It had been an attack from one of the numerous men Ord had hired. The gun had taken a massive chunk out of even the stone she was hiding behind, so she knew it would remove a large part of her, should it hit. And that didn't sound at all comfortable. Rolling, and hurting her back in doing so, she sprang up and avoided combat with the man entirely. Too risky, and she couldn't bargain for enough time to set up her own shot.

<<M'lady-->>
"WHAT!?"
<<... There's... another incoming message... for you.>>
"... kfftttt--relay it, Kink."

"--kkfft Looks like you're in a bit of a pickle, missy--"

But she was still on the run, and when the message did come, she was hardly available to listen. The others he left would come, but only fall to a similar effect; unable to be heard due to some severe situation involving 'staying alive.' Another whirrling series of sprints and rolling dodges until finally she have woven all the way around to the man's back and removed him. There were others, she could see them now. The building she was trying to gain entry to was large. Very large, and very square, like a durasteel box. On each side, a massive flight of stairs led to bigger still entrances. Doors, made from solid stuff. At the top of the stairs, a walk way ran all of the way around, and she could hear the foot steps of approaching trouble. She knew that her pistol would only be able to make so many more shots before the charge pack would need replacement, and in the situation that was beginning to feel like a death sentence. Shadows stretched long here, and another glance told her that there were more of Ord's guards rushing up the stairs, effectively cornering her. Her breathing began climb in rate, shaking and filling with the heat of anxiety. What to do, what to do, what to do. She needed to focus, and do what she had come for.

Snatching a small mechanical device from one of her rear pockets, she ran up to one of the doors. It was so risky, she was right in plain view, a sitting duck, so to speak. She felt the danger staring her in the back, and coming closer, laughing at her for being so trusting. But, really, what choice did she have. Quickly finding the door's security code locks, she scrambled to remove one of the security code slips from her side pouch and rushed it against the sensors. Fumbling, nervous fingers continued to slip on the surface of that which she grabbed at, eventually dropping the other security ID card she owned onto the ground at her feet. With a satisfying, and tame --beep-- the door cracked, and slid open. Her speed was remarkable at this point, the nearing sound of enemies approaching only acting to throw her faster and faster. Those cards, the security cards, of which she had more than one, had been a rare find, and proven to be a useful one. It was her trump card, so she thought. It would be what set her apart from the others on the bounty, so she had thought. Her panting breaths were ended when she the clammy skin of someone's hand reach around the backside of head head to grab her face, literally enveloping her so that she struggled to breath. A scream, muffled, ripped into the echoed auditorium.

A fierce attack from her elbow into the man's gut, and he staggered back, letting her stumble forward. But when she turned, her face fell. She was not even close to alone. One, two, five, ten, fifteen blaster rifles pointed at her, all powerful enough to tear her apart in one or more shots. Additionally, three unarmed men, two humans and a four armed besalisk, all towering over the relatively small female in comparison. A shaking hand, now powerless even when in possession of a blaster, dropped the weapon to the ground. She had not expected such a watchful force in the auditorium level of Victus' establishment. The multi armed alien looked as if it were planning a second attack, and Xenia knew that running for a dodge would only beg for one of the riflemen to scatter her across the tiles to her feet. Instead, she clicked the com-unit at the side of her head, sliding her finger down so as to speak on all previously activated channels; carrying her words to the 3PO unit, Kail, and a third party she didn't recognize yet. Her voice, this time, was frantic. Genuine, and scared, reaching out for her only and last option. Choosing how she wanted to die.

"K-K-Kail-- I'minside--kfft They'resomanyinside-- p-pleaseco--Nononohe--helppp!"

>://Holo-Net_Summary [_run]
Coruscant_launch// justify_prgm

Loading...
Complete.

Summary: Escaping death in the form of many armed men with guns, Xenia rushed to the compound's main entrance, using one of her key cards scraped from one of the corpses from earlier to slip indoors. Unfortunately for the unlucky girl, the interior of the building is teeming with Ord's men, and she's just walked headlong into a trap...

Important: Xenia used a keycard to gain access to the building's interior, but she also dropped her other one right outside of the door. That means there's a free access to anyone who gets there first.

[[ [member="Kail Ragnar"] || [member="Gabriel Audemars"] ]]

 

[Connor Harrison]

He stopped walking across the rooftop gangway that adjoined two large buildings at the sound of another blaster bolt – this time hearing it muffled through the com-link but also in his ear up ahead. Kail froze and looked forward, scanning the roof ahead that was dotted with stairwells, exterior turbolift and a familiar Nubian ship atop. With the street level of the sector visible, thankfully they weren’t TOO high.

Why was he even here? He didn’t need to chase a bounty hunter across the galaxy. He had a life to live.

Did he?

It wasn’t much of a life. Recently it had consisted of drinking away pain, pushing himself personally training in the Jundland Wastes and picking fights with vagrants out to cause trouble on Tatooine. Where was the thrill of a kill? The danger in stalking an enemy and ending their life before they killed another? Toppling a corrupt government or helping save a prisoner or rescue lost reassure?

This was what Kail lived for, and he’d be damned if he’d let the Sith Knight Matsu Xiangu break his spirit after he broke his face to grant her life…for the second time. Anger bubbled away inside him, a frustration and sharp pain eating away at his conscious that wanted him to live, but also wanted him to die.

Kail sighed. He tied the bag of credits to his belt and spun around the KX-60 as he mumbled to himself, checking the sight and there was enough charge to make an effective weapon really dangerous.

”Can’t help yourself, can you?”

Kail switched the rifle to full-auto.

”You deserve everything you get! Damn fool.”

He heard more blaster fire in the distance and the roar of another ship flying by overhead, which he ignored.

”For the love of…what the hell are you doing Kail.”

Slamming the sights up, Kail held the weapon with two hands; left on the barrel, right on the trigger. It felt good to get behind the gun again after so long. Moving forward, boot over boot formation across the gangway, he moved slowly and with purpose, looking around as best he can and listening for the indications that would give away positions of any hostiles.

Moving to the stairwell, he heard more blaster fire from below and started down as his comlink crackled into life.

"K-K-Kail-- I'minside--kfft They'resomanyinside-- p-pleaseco--Nononohe--helppp!"

Cursing under his breath and tensing his jaw plate on his muscle, he moved faster down the metal stairs, each rung ringing out under his boot as it went ghostly quiet the lower he went. The stairs came to an end a good 4 flights below and he hugged a wall, seeing a number of bodies and blaster scorches on the walls and floors around the area.

Bringing his rifle up, he flanked left to follow a large black pipe feeding into the compound, which looked like a normal building, but had a strange domed shaped to it from what he could tell. The planet continued to thrive around them, as the building wasn’t the smallest by far in the district, but it wasn’t the biggest either.

Following the pipe and keeping his back to the skylines, eyes peeping over the rifle, he came to a black and yellow door which looked like a service entrance or security access. Looking around, Kail noted a card reader and nothing much, but there, on the floor, was a key card.

As easy as that?

Kneeling down, Kail picked up the blue card, holding the rifle with just one hand, and looked it over. Nothing major, except a sliver and red strip running through it. He reached up to the card reader, flexed his fingers on the trigger of the rifle and swiped it down slowly.

As a small beep chirped out and the door kicked open ajar, Kail took a moment before he would open the door and enter into the unknown.


[member="Xenia Nastassia "][member="Gabriel Audemars"]

 

[Meanken]

Chaff watched all the going ons from his rooftop perch. His helmet, with his zoom function, enabled him to get a nice look at what was going down on the streets. He watched as some chick got attacked by a bunch of the target's goons, and managed to get away. Not bad. Must be another hunter. Then he saw her approach the door of the base and open it. Chaff doubted it was unlocked. Must have picked a key off one of the dead dudes. She walked in. He was gonna have to move now, or she would beat him to the target.

He quickly ran down and out of the building, moving as fast as he could through the streets while avoiding the dudes still running around. When he got there, he saw another dude at the door.. Probably here for the bounty too. Damn. Well, there were ways to handle that. He walked up and drew his gun, aiming it at the guy's back. before he could say anything, the dude swiped a card and the door opened a bit. How convenient. That would save him the trouble of getting in.

"Alright, drop the gun and put ya hands behind ya head. No quick moves or you'll be tasting the dirt." Chaff said, finger on the trigger and ready to fire.

 

[Kyber Salurra]

((Fixed))

Kyber wasn't in the best of moods. He'd stayed in one place too long, but hey if no one bothered him he was fine with being the unnoticed one. He was waiting up there awhile before things got interesting. Kyber was just scouring the area, picking off any mercenaries that wandered too close or found themselves alone in some back alley. Something unexpected happened though; he intercepted some static transmissions...so the woman was behind it all? Didn't expect that. He kept his eye on her when he could, but she left his range of sight more often than not. He did take notes on where she entered alleys and decided to be the unsung hero for once. He took out any mercenaries and bounty hunters alike that tried to follow her, however the occasional fast one got through every now and then. It became increasingly difficult the closer she got to the target building, but Kyber did the best he could in taking out a least half of the idiots that got too close. He kept intercepting the various transmissions, half of it was just static, but he got the basic gist of what was going on.

Kyber decided to move positions after he noticed that Gabriel could handle the small fries. He climbed down the building and slipped through back alleyways as fast as he could with his modified DL-44 drawn and rearing to blast someone. It didn't take long to approach the building, but longer than Kyber would've liked. He had to take the alleys he noted that had minimal guards, knowing he was no brute. After he was almost upon the building he hung back, noticing an unknown man pick up the key at the door. He tried to contact the man on the same frequency as he intercepted from, hoping it was the same man. "I see you at the entrance, I'm 50 meters behind your position at the ready for you to open the door. I will assist from a distance. I am not your enemy but if I see signs of you turning to attack me I will not hesitate." Kyber steeled himself, hopefully ready for whatever was beyond that door...

As Kyber awaited Kail's response, the man that didn't care To be discovered (Chaff) showed himself and threatened the other man. Kyber sighed and said on the coms to the man "Turn on my mark." As soon as Kyber finished the sentence he pulled the trigger of his mag-pellet sniper rifle. With silent precision he aimed for Chaff's pistol to knock It out of the man's hand or bust a hole in it. "Mark"

// [member="Meanken"] // [member="Kail Ragnar"] // [member="Gabriel Audemars"] //

 

[Manidark Zail]

Zail decoded the message, and found out whom it was intended for.

"Teamwork eh, its possible" Dark thought and spoke to the droid next to him, inchy to use that flesh burner...

Set_Course_Hyperdrive: Courasant

"Ah a women bounty hunter, named.. Xenia Nastassia," May need some help and the person with answers to the where abouts of The Hand of The Empire.

Perhaps a little late for the party, but Zail likes it that way.. less to kill and less to bother with. While in the tunnel of light, he thinks to himself if he will make it in time... he needs contact, its been awhile.. besides this demon droid..

Course_Arival_Set: nearest dock

After leaving the ship with his trusty BOD droid, he listens, closes his eyes and turns on the radar system inside his deeply scarred helmet and hears..
Screaming, death, and doom.. but where is she? What building, among all these others..

"Found it!, ok droid guard the ship, use your flamethrower if you must, just clean up the mess.. and by the way, none on the ship please.."
With that the droid responded, " With pleasure.. I..I.. promise not to get human or alien guts on the ship..sir"
"Good, off I go" Zail remarks

Turning over to switch on the jetpack, he begins to hover and with the beacon set makes his way towards a building so dark, creepy, and booming with blood, splattered within... someone screaming for help.. He then hears a blaster shot from his right looks and draws his pistol, fires and domeshots the alien guard on top of the building.. thinking, more blood, death, where the hell is she!!!

In any case, they may need a rescue team... Zail is willing, and needs his path.

[member="Kail Ragnar"][member="Xenia Nastassia "][member="Gabriel Audemars"]

 

[Meanken]

Lot of things Chaff was expecting. Having his gun sniped out of his hand was not one of them. Gun was probably ruined. And he had just dropped 1500 on it. Hadn't even gotten a chance to fire it. But that wasn't important right now. He could see the dude he was pointing the gun at start to spin around as the shot hit. Chaff's reaction was immediate and instinctive. He activated his jetpack, and flew directly at the man, moving to tackle him. If he hit him, he would tackle him directly through the ajar door and out of the sniper's LoS, and then try to drive him into whatever wall might be behind it.

[member="Kyber Salurra"] [member="Kail Ragnar"]

 

[Xenia Nastassia]

Core Worlds;
Coruscant Outskirts;
Victus Ord Mainframe;
Hangar Bay.

There wasn't time to track exactly all that happened, as it all happened at about the same time. A screaming whirl of noises, explosion, and blaster fire, booming from all around her. Her eyes were locked on the four armed attacker, watching his movements, though realizing she had never tussled with four arms. It certainly made tracking all possible attacks much more difficult. When he ran in, Xenia stepped to the side, but wasn't able to avoid his grasp, slung into one, two, three of his arms as the forth slammed across her face, at a downward angle which sent her sprawling onto the ground. She was quick and agile, able to stay ahead of the game, those were her specialties. When it came to taking a hit, and dealing impressive damage with her own unarmed assaults, well, she lacked a bit more. A desperate gasp for air, and she crawled backwards. She didn't even fully know or care what she was reaching for, only that she was going for one of the three grenades she had swooped up from the dead bodies just outside. With a luck which seemed to stick to her like glue, she loosened the flash bomb, and rolled it over the floor. Its explosion was near silent, but the dark room, even with its size, was encapsulated with the rays. A flash so bright it would fracture the vision of anyone who had looked into it carelessly. Of course, she had covered her head, half expecting the grenade to be one of the two ion grenades she had taken, in which case her skin would have been burnt from the compacted electrical energy.

Breathing came second, she needed to move, and now. Scraping herself back to her feet, she glanced around the room, taking in her surroundings and looking for an escape area. Somewhere to move to, cover, and a hiding spot. The room was not a room at all. It was a hangar bay, and large ships were posted there within, though they looked outdated to today's spacecraft. Another boom, and she had no choice but to look, survival instincts blaring at full power. Ord's men stumbled around, hands over their eyes and throbbing heads, their sense of vision far from returning to normal, double images and white walls no doubt obscuring their deadliness. Through the door she had entered came a blast of movement, another man, levitated by a sporadic jetpack launch. Had he thrown himself through the door, impossible. So then-- ah, the card, the one she had dropped. "Blast," she muttered, realizing she had just given away her main form of advantage. Her access cards. Whoever owned that card owned as many doors as she did, as far as she could tell. She had not noted any substantial difference in rank between the two carrying the cards ours earlier. There was enough confusion. Enough confusion for her to start running, and she didn't have to put a lot of thought into where. Anywhere.

She didn't draw her weapon, she drew something else. Another grenade. There, on the other side of the hangar bay, on the far side, and guarded by more of the thuggish foot soldiers, was a massive, durasteel door. Large enough for cruisers to file into the bay, and more than likely very sturdy. The grenade, one of the two ion grenades, made a huge arc in the air upon her throwing it. It was hardly hopeful, but again, luck guided the spherical weapon towards the back door just as it exploded. A blue pulse of electric energy ravaged the metallic walls, frying whatever circuitry it passed through, though, the door showed no signs of even noticing the effects. No lights across the entrance panel so much as flickered, and she pulled herself back behind the cover of a heavy ship, pressed against its underside. "Really!?" she managed in response to the failed attempt. So then, she would have to get it open with the key card, but that seemed impossible. There were so many in between her and the location, so many that she had no hope of clearing by herself. Now, however, she drew the pistol, and instead of firing it and giving away her position, she began to reload the charge pack. It would be no good if she ran short on ammo at the wrong moment, and she had bought herself enough time to afford such a casualty. It only took a second, too, trained hands having long since lost their shaking nervousness during the rushed process.

"Kink, I'm inside. It's hangar bay, I'll send you an upload--"
<<Xenia, you're alright?>>
"Yes, Kink, listen, I need you to focus, can you get me--"
<<M'lady, the bio-scan shows that you're completely surrounded!>>
"KINK!" Her voice was raised, and she was serious.
<<Yes?>>
"I am going to send you an upload here in a second, can you get me the schematics to this place?"
<<Send the file. I've been trying too-->>
"Shut up, focus, wait for that uplink."
<<Waiting.>>

In a brief moment of surveillance, she saw nothing that'd offer her the information she needed. There was no grid to tap into, and certainly no freedom of movement to look around for one. The door, the hangar bay door at the far end, that was her only option again. The access panel served as a terminal through which she could extract more information about the building, though, again, she ran into the issue of Ord's men. "Blast, blast, blast." That was, until she thought about the large ship above her. Her eyes glowed with nimble ideas.

"Kink, do transport cruisers carry uplinks to this server's main frame?"
<<Impossible to tell, but their systems should be lined up if their in current use.>>
"I can't tell if they're being used, or if they're in storage."
<<Do you have any other option?>>
"... No."

Well, that decided that. So she climbed. It took more than a fair share of blaster bolts in order to break through some of the hatches and disengage the locked entrances. In fact, by the time she was done, the gun had become useless once more, and would require yet another reload. She was a fan of shooting, on repeat, quickly, until she could not shoot anymore. Trigger happy, the phrase spoke to her kindly. But, before long, she slumped down in the ship's cockpit. From there, she was in her comfort zone. A series of small mechanical bits and pieces, all pulled from random pockets and pouches around her person, and all plugged into small electrical outlets most would miss at first glance. Lastly, the small data pad, screens flashing and moving, silenced beeps and update noises pinging every few seconds. It was nimble work, and careful, lines of code scrambling into the ship's system. She could see the firewalls and security programs beginning to reject her intrusions, though she was more than able to handle such predictable malware. Clicks, and swipes along the data pad dispelled the cyber enemies with ease.

Though, to Kail, he would hear nothing but scattered static from his com-connection to the girl.
And silence...

"Sending upload... now, you getting it?" A very short pause.
<<Yes, I am receiving something, let me open it.>>
"Hurry, Kink, I can't stay hidden for long!"
<<I understand, m'lady-- opened. Scanning for schematics.>>
She waiting, "anything?"
Another pause, this one longer, <<Yes! Xenia, there's, wait-->>
"What?! Kink, what is it!?"
<<There are schematics, but they look more than outdated, these are from years ago.>>
"Blast, well, send them anyway, they can't have changed too much, right?"
<<Impossible to say, m'lady. Marking your location now-->>

>://Holo-Net_Summary [_run]
Coruscant_launch// justify_prgm

Loading...
Complete.

Summary: Saved, Xenia scans the room. A Hangar Bay, with Ord's older service ships. Finding shelter in the cockpit of one such spacecraft, Xenia hacks into the main frame and, with the help of her 3PO unit on the outside, is able to secure outdated schematics for the building. Additionally, Kink, her 3PO unit gives her the data from her bio-scans of the building. Not 100% accurate, but better than nothing.

Important: The door into the Hangar Bay was left open, though there are other means of access as well. In total, the building has three levels. On the second and third level, there are windows, though not on the first. Bio scans show Ord, and most of his men, on the ground level making entrance from these points easier. The men on the building's interior are of high enough rank to carry access cards of their own, though such access cards will not allow entrance into the back-most room, the room where Ord is most likely in hiding.

Thank You: Just want to say thank you, everyone, for participating so well! This whole thread has got me thinking about continuations and the fuuuuuture. We'd work together well as a bounty hunter armyyyy. Alright, go on an post!

[[ [member="Meanken"] || [member="Manidark Zail"] || [member="Kyber Salurra"] || [member="Kail Ragnar"] || [member="Gabriel Audemars"] ]]

 

[Manidark Zail]

More shots fired... This women whatever species..amazing.

Zail, waiting for the perfect window while standing over the corpse of the guard he had shot, searched and found a card reading cargo bay.

So then, Zail thinks out loud "If not up then down and jumps heading towards the bay of doom. Long jump down.

 

[Kyber Salurra]

Kyber was a little shocked. The last thing he expected was for the man to shoot himself directly into enemy territory. The man either had extraordinary balls or was plain stupid. Kyber wasn't in a rush to find out. Kyber adjusted his angle on the building while still retaining some of his distance, he needed to get a clear shot into the main entrance. Once he found suitable cover behind a open-top landspeeder about 32 meters away. He looked down his sight and didn't like what he saw. The place was too big and the doorway was too small, but Kyber wasn't about to head inside himself. He noticed the woman heading up into a service ship. Using the same frequency as before he begins to talk through the coms as he calmly yet rapidly picks off anyone not in cover. "I'm outside...picking off Victus' men...stay in cover...for now." Coincidentally as soon as Kyber stoppe speaking the last of Victus' men found cover. Unfortunately, they also found him. Kyber cursed under his breath. He got sloppy. Stayed in one place too long, distracted by the coms. Kyber folded up the stock on his Quietsnipe and slung it's leather strap over his body. He took back out his DL-44 blaster and looked back for a brief moment in between blaster fire to see the windows of the second floor. "Lady, they know I'm here. Make your move while I'm distracting them. Anyone else that's on this frequency, this is your chance to pick them off and head further inside..." Kyber clicked off his coms and sighed. He made a note to himself for future reference: Never play the Unsung Hero again. If you're gonna help, make sure they all know it was. After Kyber was done sulking he turned and popped out of cover to fire at them with his modified DL-44 before popping back down. He hit one of them...? Kyber hated this kind of shootout. He preferred being the one shooting at cover. Kyber kept on like this for awhile, until two charge packs ran out, then he was done. He'd taken out more than a few men but it wasn't fast enough. They would pour in from other areas.

Kyber took his Quietsnipe back out and sprinted from cover out of the sight of people in the building while unfolding the stock. He looked up to the windows on the second floor and smashed through one of them with a rock in his Quietsnipe. No need to waste ammo. He found himself behind another landspeeder again before he looked up and saw no one. He repeated this process with every window visible. The men inside were surprised to say the least. Easy pickings. After taking out all the visible guards on the second floor and waiting awhile to see if reinforcements would come, Kyber ran inside a small building next to the compound who's roof should've worked well as an area to jump from. When he got to the roof some of Victus' men had ventured outside where the landspeeder was, wondering where Kyber went. Not worth another firefight Kyber started running full-speed before launching off the roof and onto the second floor of Victus' HQ with a less than graceful rolling thud of a landing. He didn't look down, and that was a big mistake. He couldn't tell if Victus' men had seen him, which put Kyber at a huge disadvantage. Kyber drew his DL-44 and opened a small room on the floor and was ready to fire....luckily the room was empty. Kyber went inside and found it was a supply room. Various chemicals that he had no idea did were stored there. He took all the vials and capsules that had a nice little warning label on it and said "Acidic". That would come in handy. He looked up at the ceiling in the storage room and found just what he needed, a ventilation shaft. Kyber took the grating off of it and hopped up into it before placing it back, to look undisturbed. Kyber could finally relax and gain his bearings. He opened his coms again "Hey Lady, I don't suppose you have a map of the ventilation shafts? I'll start heading in the general direction of the back of the compound, but some solid directions would be fantastic."

// [member="Xenia Nastassia "]// [member="Meanken"] // [member="Manidark Zail"] // [member="Kail Ragnar"] // [member="Gabriel Audemars"] //

 

[Xenia Nastassia]

Core Worlds;
Coruscant Outskirts;
Victus Ord Mainframe;
Hangar Bay.

When the communication came in, at first, she didn't know how to respond. In fact, she thought it more of a hindrance than anything else. The bounty hunter, as far as Xenia could tell, was a random voice coming through in her ear, and nothing else. She knew not where he was, or which men exactly he was clearing, and thus how useful such information was. A short smile, quickly returning to a focused frown. One thing was for sure, bounty hunters were no soldiers. Their group tactics, in most cases, would be rough at best, and this was a great example. Though, what the bounty hunter offered was his own signal. As soon as he was done speaking, her finger slammed against the small button, locking onto Kyber's frequency so as to respond, though, when she activated the response button she heard only static.

"Kink, what's going on, I can't access that last frequency?"
<<I am dealing with interferences, they're comin-- kfffttt-- sub-leve-- terminal-->>
"What!? Kink, you're cutting out, I can't hear you," she sounded desperate again.
<<M'lad--kfftt-- 'ferences, I'm attempting to-- sssfftttttt-- them now, one momen-->>
"Kink, do you read me? Kink!?"
<<--Kfffttttttt-- sssfftttttttttzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...>>

From outside of the cockpit it would sound silent, though anyone looking would see the girl let loose a cry of frustration and slam her hands against the spacecraft's dashboard. Losing contact at a time like this, that was just perfect. Exasperated thoughts seemed to clot up and swarm without direction now, the possibilities endless, though bleak at best. She tried again with her com, though only static came through. Kail's frequency was the same, and the same with that of Gabriel's channel. Nothing seemed to respond. "Blast," she said, hitting the dashboard again. It was a jamming field, probably being generated from some far off location in the head quarters. Nothing she could do about it at the moment-- no, wait. Her eyes froze, and so did her body. That moment of disbelief followed by the creation of a new, life saving idea. That 'it couldn't be that easy' expression. The jamming field had been set up to cripple outside frequencies. Not inner frequencies, not their own frequencies.

Her data pad, suddenly her best friend, whirred back into use, and she began an elaborate splicing. Cutting through firewall after firewall, she bored herself into the systems of the ship in which she sat. Old travel files, useless, massive labor reports, and mechanical notes. Also useless, but after a good couple minutes of searching, she was able to find what she had come for. The inner frequency of the building. A localized com-channel which was probably being used among Ord's men currently. Though finding it was only half the battle, and it took another good while for her to crack the more intense firewalls which had been set up around that communication channel. "Someone wants this to stay hiddennnnn," she whispered to herself in quiet, desperate victory, singing the sentence as if it were musical. "There!" She exclaimed in excitement. Where she had been wrapped in silence just before, all of a sudden, a flurry of voices came through the holo-nets all at once. The men, Ord's men, shouting and recalling information to one another. But the voice which made her freeze had just come to an end, the voice of Victus himself. From here, the option was simple. If they were to cripple her communication, she'd cripple theirs, as well. A simple click, and a few lines of additional code, and the speakers around the Hangar Bay began shouting with the cluttered conversation of Ord's men. Everything they said blurted over the speakers, and their realization was priceless.

A moment of the chaos, and then the channels went silent. They couldn't speak if they were being heard. So she would speak instead. In the place of numerous rough and low voices, came the voice of Xenia, blaring through the echoing halls and large, empty rooms. Throughout the building, the tone of pure victory acting as a morale boost to those fighting alongside her; though, that was a stretch to say about each of the acting hunters here.

"You've been made, Victus, I suggest you merely stop trying now," she began, which was answered with silence on Ord's side. "When I find you, and I will, you'll wish you had merely stepped forward, Ord. In fact, finding you isn't the issue, I've already got you." A small giggle over the intercom, the kind which was meant to further annoy Victus. "What're you gunna do, Victus? I'm cominggggggg."

<<--Ssstt--'enia, are you on this channel?>>
"Kink, run a bio scan, right now! You see any random movement?"
<<Running... there's movement in the back room, m'lady.>>
"That's Ord, he must be feeling the pressure by now."

And then the second blurt of noise sprang into her ear. It was a loud clash of static at first, though she could hear the voice underneath just barely. Whoever was speaking was still using his previous com-frequency, and was thus fighting the blockage. Something about ventilation shafts, and a map, and his voice sounded as if he were asking a question. It wasn't hard to piece it together, though when she spoke in response, it was not back to him, and instead to her 3PO unit, still located inside the Nubian class cruiser outside of all of this. This communication, same as any communication anyone within the building could attempt was plastered through the speakers, of the building, the 3PO's voice sounding strangely comfortable and relaxed when blurting through the speakers over blaster fire.

"You getting that, too? It's on a bad channel, I can't really hear anything."
<<It came through fine for me,>> the droid responded, apparently not in the local communication jam.
"Run the com-number, I want to know who I'm speaking to."
<<Right away... a Kyber Salurra, that's the registered holder...?>>
"Alright, I need his location, stat."
<<Right away, activating the bio-scan... it seems he's... he's in the ventilation?>>
"Alright, send me schemati--"
<<M'lady, the ventilation shaft leads clearly into the next room,>> Kink sounded excited, in monotone.

"Kyber, this is Xenia, do you copy?" It was the new channel, clear and improved. "I'm sending the schematics to you now, keep your location quiet, we're on a public channel now," and the information was sent off, assuming Kink had procurred the proper com-unit information from her search. It was always a risky gamble, seeing as bounty hunters, and all thieves did like to steal their possessions from time to time. "Just up ahead should be a drop out point, I'll be your eyes from here. Continue forward until you find the first hatch. Below you, you'll have some company, but you need to get to the door panel on the opposite side. It shouldn't be locked from both ends, and opening that door is gunna be a huge help."

>://Holo-Net_Summary [_run]
Coruscant_launch// justify_prgm

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Complete.

Summary: Communication's were jammed by Ord's men, the jamming coming from his location at the other end of the HQ. Using her already gained access to the spacecraft's computer terminal, Xenia managed to send Ord's com-frequencies to the surrounding speakers which line the entire interior of the building. As such, Ord nor his men can so much as speak a word without everyone in the building hearing it. Though, the same goes for any of the bounty hunters. Furthermore, Xenia has blanketed the building in the secret signal, allowing communication once more, though nothing is private anymore, everything is over the building's speakers.

Kyber Salurra, currently in the ventilation shafts is being lead to open the Hangar Bay door at the other end of the room from the other side, assuming he can handle the three men waiting for him below, as Xenia's public warning also tipped them off.

[[ [member="Kyber Salurra"] || [member="Manidark Zail"] || [member="Meanken"] || [member="Kail Ragnar"] || [member="Gabriel Audemars"] ]]

 

[Gabriel Audemars]

Gabriel knew that the outside was gonna get crowded. And that even thinking of entering the first floor meant that they'd be sitting ducks as Ord was in the building. There was a woman in grave danger and the lives of other bounty hunters, well. He didn't care about them too much provided they didn't attack him. But that didn't seem to be the case here so as far as he was concerned he was cool with them. After all they all had the same job.

Gunfire continued to ricochet around the area as he hid behind a wall close to the main entrance. But he knew that was a deathtrap, everyone would be protecting the bottom floor. If he could get direct access from above he'd be able to nab Victus quickly in one of the trucks. That was his plan, stupid but efficient as he'd have to wipe out the whole second floor, but how would he get there?

"This is REAL. FREAKIN. DUMB." He hollered in a tone of fear as he fired up his modified JT-12 Jetpack and set off pretty much almost instantly into the air. He guided himself with the aid of his HUD to direct him straight into the second floor window. He hadn't tested out this upgraded model yet, and visibly he was pretty shocked by the acceleration, but his fear subsided as he clattered into the window, absolutely shattering the whole left half of the window sending sharp shards of glass zooming in every direction, his jetpack extinguishing just before landing as he did a barrel roll, careening into a goon in the process and crashing into him with enough force to knock the guy out.

He quickly rushed to his feet and hid in the corner of the door leading to the corridor, using his time in cover to try and tune his radio frequencies to speak to Xenia.

"Xenia! I'm on the second floor, if you need a hand gimme a shout!" This bounty was way too nuts, this kinda stuff wasn't worth 50,000 credits cause this guy seemed to have his own private drug addict marine corps.

He saw someone rush through the door with a DL-44, Gabe responded by pulling out his beskad and giving him a firm stab in the chest, the sharp beskar traversing his abdomen like a hot knife through butter, resheathing his blade he rushed out into the corridor, shooting down two lackies before they could expect the rush with his AJAX ARC.

He had to find some way into the room from above, perhaps if he caved in the ceiling? He'd need to clear out the area for friendly fire. If he had some surveillance from Ord's room to see where he was he'd be able to plant a more precise charge to not cave down the whole thing so as not to crush Ord and kill him.

 

[Kyber Salurra]

Kyber couldn't help but crack a small smile. He hadn't expected any help. Kyber crawled through the shafts until he was just within earshot of the men in the next room...he heard low tones with their coms off. They knew he was coming and most likely already had their guns pointed at the shaft, just waiting for him to be visible in the grating. Kyber was real glad he picked up those chemicals. He took them all out and placed them in front of him in the shaft. He opened one of the small vials and poured it on the shaft's base, creating a tiny hole for him to see through. Just as Kyber expected, they all had rifles pointed directly at the grating, just waiting for him to try.

Kyber opened up one of the bigger vials and burned the hole slightly bigger, just enough to fit the barrel of his blaster into it, but he had to be careful. He burned another tiny hole for him to look through and put his blaster on the hole, but not through it yet. He marked each mans position before taking a deep breath and firing 3 quick rounds. The men dropped with a moderate thud. Kyber sighed in relief, hating this close contact. He punched out the grating and dropped down. Kyber looked around the room for the panel. As soon as he found it he half-jogged over, wanting this to be over as quickly as possible. He holstered his pistol and took out his rifle again. This time he loaded it with real slugs, ready for whatever would pop up past the door.

Kyber took another deep breath and got ready to sprint. As soon as Kyber released the door he sprinted back to the shaft and jumped up as the door was opening. Kyber barely made it inside the shaft as the guards turned around to see what they already confirmed with their ears, the door had been opened. Kyber couldn't help but smile as he backed up in the shaft and let his rifle peer through the opened grate, which they hadn't seemed to notice yet. Suddenly the 5th and last guy in the line that was headed into the room collapsed. Everyone turned around to look. Too easy. They all fell for it. When they turned he popped the 3 with the silent slugs of his rifle right in their backs. The last one down realized what happened and turned to fire, but it was too late. Kyber had already pulled the trigger. The guy got off a shot, but it just missed the barrel of the rifle and hit the top of the shaft.

Kyber jumped back down from the shaft and said over the coms so Xenia and the rest of the compound could hear; "Second room clear. Not a problem." Kyber hoped that would scare this Victus guy enough into doing something stupid.

Kyber walked to the doorway and peered into the Hangar. He took a crouching position in the doorway and started providing some covering fire to the men up front in the barricades, hoping wherever Xenia was had a view of him pumping out slugs so she could head into the room. He didn't want to risk the coms so seeing him was the best chance she had.

// [member="Xenia Nastassia "]//

 

[Xenia Nastassia]

Core Worlds;
Coruscant Outskirts;
Victus Ord Mainframe;
Hangar Bay.

Everything was going perfectly. Too perfectly. So that she didn't even notice when the readings of her bio-scan flickered. When the image returned, the contents had changed, horribly. Where, before, the scan had shown numerous life scans from within the buildings interior, there were now none. As if the entire building had been evacuated, or every life had just been crushed in one fowl swoop, every vital sign vanished. Her fingers were pressed against the ear piece, cycling in and out the various channels and conveying information without staring back at the pad. She had no reason to, as far as she knew. Her face lit up with enthusiasm as yet another connection was made with her com-unit, attached to a deep voice. Male, and torn with the raspy vibrations of heavy breathing, he was in action, and on the second floor, as if awaiting further instructions. She hadn't prepared for the bounty hunters of this universe to be quite so compliant, but found that it only made things easier. Yes, yes, second floor, and the second room had bee cleared, made obvious by the opening door at the far side-- that was when she looked back down at her datapad to see the updated information. No life, there was no life in the building.

Her stomach plummeted and as if the universe was answering her sudden sinking feeling, the power cut off. To everything, all at once. Lights fell into pitch blackness, a long strip of luminescence streaming in from the opened door in a long line, bisected the hangar. Her datapad flickered once more, and then returned to functionality. That was to say, the datapad itself returned to functionality, but all of her previous work until now was washed away. Every codex interface and fine mechanic was crushed. Communication fell silent once more, but only for a second. Before a sickeningly leering voice slid over the intercoms, like a venomous, muscle built insect.

<<Apologies, Bounty Hunters, but you're not welcomed here.>>

Hazard lights turned on, sounding an alarm. Dammit, this was a technically licensed building, after all. Even if it was a last resort, they were able to call the planet's law enforcement. Xenia had merely ruled that option out of the equation, for numerous reasons. It had been her experience that nearly every bounty hunter had a mutual agreement; even with their greatest enemies. No bounty hunter sought the demise of another bounty hunter through use of the public defense, the authorities, or the government. Red lights, which swung in sectioned off circles were the only source of vision, and hardly an effective one. At any given point, most of the expansive room was cast into darkness, only to be briefly illuminated by a passing light. If that were the case, communication from here on out would be a no-go, as it was more than likely being traced directly back to the justice department's ears. Removing the com-unit from her ear, and holding it away from her face, wrapped in her hands so as to appear muffled beyond proper vocal recognition, she spoke with a casual air. And only at the last minute did she understand what had happened. There was no call to law enforcement, this was a chemical plant, complete with chemical related safety standards. This was lockdown. Quarantine lights, signaling the complete closure of the building's access points. After just being opened, the door which Kyber had just opened slammed shut with a great speed, snapping any resistance should their be any.

<<I said you're done!>>
"Now thiiiiiis is stupid, Victus. Even by your standards," her mind racing fast.
<<Oh yeah, you think? I bet you think, so, huh,>> His voice was desperate, and carried a thick accent.
"Shall I repeat myself?" Her attitude was pointed, and she could tell Victus hated it.
<<You're useless! Try getting through these doors now, filthy poodo!>>
"Oh yeah, and what about public law enforcement?" There was a silence.
<<Kark off little girl, I don't know what you're talking about!!>>
"Initiating quarantine, ever done it before, Victus...?"
He didn't respond.
"Didn't think so."
Only a huff of enraged breathing from Victus' end.
"How long do you think it takes for public authority is pinged that Gekka-Chem is initiating a full lockdown?"
<<Shut up, slime!!>>
"... Because that's going to make for some interesting explanation."

She did a fake voice, impersonating a 'public authority.'

"Ermm, sir, you've just initiated lockdown, is everything alright?"
"Oh, yeah, just a chemical leak, sorryyy," she continued, now mocking Victus' voice.
"Over your whole facility...? I don't see any evidence of-- is that a body!?"

It was all very enthusiastic, and overly cheerful, further belittling Victus.
But he was clearly done with her little games.

Communications shut off, Victus himself dismantling the channels with admin control over the building's electronics. And then they came, in swarms. Her eyes slid wider, and wider, and wider as she realized what Victus had done. The red lights continued to spin, revealing nothing as they passed over the same place once, twice, thrice, etc. And she had been staring at one spot, nothing had changed, and then something moved. Something which reflected the red lights. It seemed to take the light forever to pass over the same area once more. And when it did, she saw the mechanical bits and pieces moving. Guns, and arms, and legs. "Droids..." It was a mad dash for the cockpit's exit, scraping like a trapped animal at the inside controls until the panel opened and she was allowed to climb out. Droids need not rely on light, they had scanners. Likewise, sound was not a vital sense, and the blaring alarms had taken both previously mentioned senses away from her. And everyone else made to wander the dark building without some fanciful mask feature. Without a doubt, they had already spotted her heat signature, and were making their move towards the ship. She had to get to out now. She had to survive.

EDIT||ADDED: Though, despite her focused thoughts, her luck had finally run out. She was, perhaps, the first to be targeting by the mechanical hunter in the darkness. She had not seen it coming, nor had she heard a thing. A flash of blue blaster energy shot thrice, first hitting the latter she was using to climb down, and the second, almost instantly after the first slapped against her leg. She let a shriek of pain out, feeling the energy sear her skin and numb her leg to puddy. The pain crippled her without end, to the point that she fell a long fall, to durasteel flooring. There was a crashing noise, as if she had hit something uneven below, something like stacked crates. The third veered off course again, sparking as it splashed against the side of the spacecraft's hull. There was no noise from her after this, only the slow but confident approach of a droid with a prey already almost wiped clean. And she was defenseless. At about the same time, the loud sound of metal scraping metal began to tear through the alarm, and light began to pour into the hangar bay as the entire ceiling began to fold like an opening box. Engines, rugged sounding, panting engines started at the other end of the hangar. It was Victus in a final escape, that was the last thing Xenia had seen before the blackness around her vision consumed her. That, and the single, looming droid, easily as large as any two people together, and carrying a gun far too large for anyone's good.

There he was...
Victus Ord, In his ship...
He was so close...

>://Holo-Net_Summary [_run]
Coruscant_launch// justify_prgm

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Complete.

Update: Everything was going well. Second room had been cleared, and the second floor had eyes on. She could not have asked for better correspondence between the rag tag bounty hunters. Though, suddenly, their luck changed.

Turns out, the bio-scan results had been faked, the building's internal systems mimicking the bio-scan data using other mechanics which couldn't be traced as such.

Victus cuts the power, and initiates quarantine throughout the building, despite Xenia's efforts to dissuade him. This essentially means that every door slams shut, and locks that way.

Victus unleashes a single, massive droid into the darkness to buy him just enough time to open the hangar bay and fire up the engines to his escape ship.

[[ [member="Kyber Salurra"] || [member="Gabriel Audemars"] || [member="Manidark Zail"] || [member="Meanken"] || [member="Kail Ragnar"] ]]

 

[Gabriel Audemars]

Gabriel was going to go straight through the corridors to the other side of the hangar on the Second Floor, but he was halted once red lights started to strobe throughout the second corridor, and the sounds of the windows and doors clamping shut wasn't reassuring. There we go, stuck with a criminal inside a warehouse full of drugs. Wonderful.

He pressed a button on the side of his helmet and everything became visible with a bright green glow having activated the built in night-vision. This place was nowhere near bright enough without it for him to get a good shot at someone, plus the sirens had pretty much made trying to listen in on people impossible. When he had traced Xenia's frequency she was in the hangar bay, which was probably his best bet right now.

He continued his sprint through the second floor, it was pretty much clear of enemies but what he didn't know, or hear. Was the fact that Victus had brought in some pretty buff droids for security purposes. But he wondered how he was going to get back on the first floor if everything was quarantined? Unless he used the fire escape, those would always be functioning. Plus there had to be a fire escape which led to the hangar in order to evacuate the second third floors into ships and flee should there be a chemical crisis.

The faint green glow of a fire escape door was visible straight ahead of him as he ploughed into it, the door's rusted hinges meant that the door itself flew off and smashed into the opposing wall. This fire escape hadn't been used in a while, all sorts of dust and webs lurked here.

He rushed down the stairs, clearly seeing a sign pointing down the stairs reading "HANGAR BAY, 1ST FLOOR. FIRE ESCAPE" At least he finally knew where he was going.

Smashing into the other door so loudly it could be heard over the sirens he knocked over the entrance to the hangar. And to his disappointment he could see the ship taking off, but what he could also notice in his night vision was a droid. An absolutely massive one. "Oh wow. Big bag of bolts right here." He spoke with an exasperated sigh. But he could also see someone cowering, a female, long hair. It was Xenia!

In realization of this he saw that the droid was planning the execution, he needed to find a distraction. He fired two shots, one at the droid's head and one at the abdomen. Hoping that the incredibly powerful bolts of his Heavy Blaster Pistol would be enough to go through its' plating and burn some circuits, or else he'd need to find another way. But in truth he was looking to distract the thing.

He could also see the roof open up, and what sounded like grinding metal as a ship looked to take off. Not on his watch. He quickly spun and extended his arm, pressing a button on his wrist which fired a small baradium-charged rocket aimed for the craft's wing or engines. The blast was nowhere near powerful enough to blow up the whole craft and kill him but should be powerful enough to make sure the craft didn't take off, he wasn't leaving them inside a quarantine zone full of drugs.

Returning to the droid, he'd have to square off with it provided he could distract it and outgun it. Gabriel didn't fancy his chances at hand to hand combat with this thing, it looked like it'd be able to crush him even with his armor on.

[member="Xenia Nastassia "]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Kail closed his eyes and sighed. He REALLY didn’t have time for this. The voice behind him gave the order, and so if he tried anything, he’d shoot.

”I’m NOT here for you or anything you are looking for. I’m turning around now.”

He started to turn but as he did a shot rang out, instantly making him drop and twist. He saw the assailant’s gun fall, and he was faced with a younger man, dressed in black but with a jetpack. Mando? He didn’t LOOK like a Mando, as they seemed to favour the jetpack. But then again, if he was a bounty hunter, he would use anything to his advantage.

Bringing up the KX-60 to suss where the shot came from, he didn’t have time to move as he heard the jetpack kick into life with a deep roar and before he knew it, Kail was barrelled backwards through the security door and through into the complex.

Carried back with such force, he skidded along the metal floor once he had been pushed through, rifle clattering on the ground before him.

Shaking his head, he rolled backwards and reached for his rifle, unaware of where the jetpack man had gone. Keeping crouched down, he held the KX-60 with both hands and turned around to see his new location. It looked like an access stairwell leading straight down the complex, but to where? Leaning over the railings, there was activity below but he couldn’t make out what.

The noise of engines kicking into life and machinery activating was audible from down below also. Kail brought up his head and looked around the stairwell, illuminated by an orange light above and the daylight coming through from outside.

”You in here? I am NOT here for you!” Kail stated with a serious tone to his voice.



[member="Xenia Nastassia "][member="Meanken"]

 

[Meanken]

Once Chaff had went through the door, he quickly moved out of the man's line of sight. He chuckled as the man tried to call him off, but held off on continued attacks. Least for the moment. How he responded to the next question would determine whenever or not Chaff tries to kill him.

"No, you're not here for me, this much I know." He said, the voice coming from behind him. "You're here for Victus, and the payday attached to his head, probably. Now, I saw this guy's got a lot of different bounty's posted on his head. Maybe we can work something out. Just one question. Your contract want him alive, or dead?"

"Oh, and if you didn't have any beef with me, then having that sniper of yours shoot at me was a really dumb move."

 

[Connor Harrison]

As the voice spoke, Kail turned and kept his eyes forward, his back dangerously close to the rail over the stairwell. His breathing calm and collected, and as the man spoke, Kail knew this wasn’t his arena and so didn’t feel anything for him.

His jaw began to ache and he cursed under his breath and the frustration rising inside him once again – pain was a bad indicator and a reminder of a time he was trying to forget. It reminded him how vulnerable he was.

”Look,” he began, ”I’m not here for Victus or you. I’m here for the girl. I don’t care for you or anyone else. I’m no bounty hunter so I’m not gonna waste my time with you and your hunt. No offence.”

He kept his stance solid, waiting for a response.


[member="Meanken"] @Xenia Nastassia

 

[Meanken]

Girl? What girl? Did Victus take some prisoners or something? Was she here for the bounty? Honestly, Chaff couldn't care less. But, if he wasn't here for Victus, alive or dead, then that meant he wouldn't get in the way. That was good. Chaff had enough idiots in-between him and the target already.

"Alright, here's what I suggest then. From what I can see up here, there's a lot of morons between me, the target, and presumably your girl. We work together until one of us finds what they are here for. I could probably handle em on my own, but having a second guy will make it quicker."

Not to mention that it'd give them another target to shoot at. And he didn't quite trust this dude. This way, he'd be able to keep an eye on him, make sure he wasn't lying about not going after Victus.

[member="Kail Ragnar"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

He didn’t work with anyone – not with anyone he didn’t know or didn’t even have eyes on, but he wasn’t going to waste time searching through a complex he had no idea about for a girl he didn’t know where she was.

If the hunter could get him there, he’d have no quarrel.

”Just get me to where this Victus is and you can have him, and I can get my girl. I told you, I am not here for a bounty. This is personal.”

Kail lowered his rifle and pointed backwards over his shoulder, keeping eyes forward for sight of the man in the shadows.

”Something or someone is down there so I’m going to follow your lead. I’ve got your back, but like I said – I’m not here for you. You can trust me.”


[member="Meanken"] @Xenia Nastassia