Behind Enemy Lines: GR/Open

[RC 212]

[member="Ali Hadrix"] [member="Mantic Dorn"]

Location: Kuat
Unit: Republic Commando team Alpha

"Drop is five minutes out Sir, hook up!"

RC nodded. He turned back to the cabin crew and gave the signal to hook into their fast ropes. They would be going in fast and furious. The cabin of dropship was dimly lit, with cargo webbing and some over head lines. RC and three Commandos and a few Jedi were on board. They had received a priority one distress call and it was time to get to work.

"Alright crew, this a black op, if you get captured, sterilize your gear and deny. You don't belong to the Republic anymore at that point got it?"

The Commandos nodded, hooking their harnesses in as the dropship shuddered in the atmospheric turbulence.

"Two GRIM agents got trapped yesterday. They got Sith on their trail. Our Infil point is north of the Capitol. We're gonna snak in, grab them and haul em out of there. Got one wounded, so bring the litter too."

The engines were getting incomparably loud now, rattling RC's eardrums and teeth. His heavy armored boots clanged on the deck, each step carrying him towards the door of the craft.

With a glance in the corner of his HUD he confirmed the mission time and began the helmet cam recording. His hands napped the steel cable into his belt harness, and he racked the bolt on DC-15, locking a particle beam round into the chamber.

"One minute, standbye."

The lights in the cabin went out completely. They would infiltrate under the over of darkness.

 

[Mantic Dorn]

Mantic sat in the back of the shuttle. his arms resting on his laps, his face lowered into his cowl as he was focusing. Everything was going very fast for Mantic and the strain the jedi order was undergoing with members of the order leaving for the myriad of variants that was offered was bleeding the republic jedi order dry.
A few years ago no one would even have considered sending a padawan on this kind of mission. But times had changed and more and more desperate methods were being used to support the republic however possible.

Mantic inhaled calmly, focused on the message of the voice. He felt the men around him. It was hard to ignore the excitement, the fear, even the blood-lust that held court on some of the troopers aboard the vessel.
To cope with it he had to isolate himself, a trait that most often was seen as asocial behavior among non-jedi. But for mantic it was necessary to keep these things in check. they were about to embarge on a dangerous mission, most likely involving violence and death. He had to stand prepared for this without risking himself to darker emotions.

Hence he exhaled and went over the code to reassure himself that he knew what he was doing...

[member="RC 212"] [member="Ali Hadrix"]

 

[Veino Garn]

Veino perched in the shuttle, watching. He couldn't remember if he'd met [member="RC 212 "]before in any situation, but he seemed like an extremely capable officer, the same with the other commandos. They did good work. Work most in the Jedi would be horrified at, but necessary. Veino recognized that and accepted it. To not do that work would be to allow evil to fester and grow in other areas and thus harming innocents through the galaxy. Hence why he was here. He didn't even need plausible deniability with the Republic, not as a member of the Underground and non-associated ally of the Jedi. It made him... useful to the Republic, by all stretches of the word, and especially where operations were... questionable or secret.

He was rather concerned about the young padawan [member="Mantic Dorn"] who was on the mission though. The young man was strained and tense. As he should be. This was a delicate mission, especially for Jedi involved. He slipped over towards him and took a nearby seat.

"Ready for this?" He asked softly. He didn't think he'd look terribly intimidating, so that should help. He wasn't in his Jensaarai armor. Just some mass-market Sasori medium armor. Enough to handle shrapnel and some weaker blaster bolts and otherwise keep his skin away from hazards. He'd spent enough time with his only clothes getting shredded by blaster bolts. He didn't have that much money for clothes. He wasn't some senator or merchant-prince, by any means.

 

[Mantic Dorn]

Mantic looked up as [member="Veino Garn"] approached him. He had sensed something in the shuttle. But as he gazed upon the man he realized he had very much underestimated the strength of the source. [member="Veino Garn"] was very strong in the forc. He was no sith either, the taint was nit there. But something about him did cause caution in Mantic, something was... different

"I must be." he replied with a crooked smile. "You are not with the troopers, yet..." Mantic stopped himself. His was not the place to question anything with this mission. But of course another jedi, or at least force sensitive poked his curiosity.

 

[Veino Garn]

[member="Mantic Dorn"]

Veino returned the crooked smile. Such... bravado, or pretend bravado. It was a little hard to tell the difference between the two, even for him. It wasn't like rage or hate that poisoned people though. It was a natural emotion, meant to protect the mind from the terrors it was about to endure. Jedi had it. Jensaarai had it. Sith had it. Soldiers had it. It was a rite of passage, in a way. He wasn't entirely sure how far it spread across cultures and species, but among humans, it was very common.

And there was the question. Who was he and why was he here on a commando mission, as he was clearly not a Jedi either. He gave a soft laugh and leaned back in the seat, trying to think of how to explain. "I... specialize in... delicate operations such as these. I get in and out without drawing attention to myself and can influence events unexpectedly from there." He frowned a little though. "And what of yourself? I don't remember special operations being missions they'd send padawans on. Not without their Master, anyways."

 

[Faith Organa]

[SIZE=12pt]Location: Undisclosed.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]On board the Eternal Light[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Flagship of the Princess of Alderaan. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Today it would double as the Flagship of the Minister of Intelligence as updates were given to her as available.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Two GRIM agents were in trouble and she was standing by listening to see if the team could find them and bring them home.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]How often in the last month had she paced this same path on the bridge. At times she would clench her hands into fists other times she just wanted to scream from the frustration of not knowing.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]There was another rumor that she was trying to confirm.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The rumor mill was stating that [member="Lady Kay"] the Senator of Commenor had been taken captive by the Hutt Cartel. Faith was working to find that out as well.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She needed to send off messages to key members of the Senate.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]To the Prime Minister [/SIZE]Geneviève Lasedri
[SIZE=12pt]We are tracking the movements of the Senator from Commenor to find where she may have been taken. As soon as something breaks, I’ll update you[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]To the Supreme Commander, [member="Gir Quee"][/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Gir,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]I have two GRIM agents missing on the planet Kuat. Also there is rumor that the Senator of Commenor has been taken captive by the Hutt Cartel. [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]If you hear anything through military channels on either please let me know.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]To HRH the Queen of Alderaan[/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt]Mom. Please ensure that Aldera City increases security.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Faith couldn’t tell her mother why just like she couldn't tell Gir that a team was looking for the Agents, communications could be monitored or hacked.[/SIZE]


[member="Veino Garn"] [member="Mantic Dorn"] @RC 212

 

[Mantic Dorn]

Mantic felt the shuttle shake a bit as they rushed through space toward their target. Most likely changing course he figured.

"I am uncertain why I was sent. As you state it is not comon for my rank. But I suppose the dire times are a mark of this. To many force adepts leaving their order to do what they want does bring gaps in the jedi ranks." he meant it as food for thought for the apparent rouge knight but it might have come out a little to blunt.
He tried to smooth it over by lowering his eyes avoiding a challenging look.

"But I suppose I can find myself useful in guarding the shuttle or wherever officer [member="RC 212 "]requests."

[member="Veino Garn"]

 

[Sifa Tirel]

[member="RC 212 "]| [member="Mantic Dorn"] | [member="Faith Balor-Organa"] | [member="Veino Garn"]​

​

What not many people knew, or rather, what many uninformed people didn't know was that Kuat was unlike any other planet within the current One Sith Empire. The world, famed for its shipyards, during the time it had been brought into the fold had a unique bargaining position. The Queen of Kuat, Lorelei Darke, had known what the Sith wanted with her planet, and she had used that knowledge to her advantage. When the Sith had come for Kuat, she had negotiated something that no other world had.

Sovereignty.

Kuat, unlike any other planet within One Sith space was a sovereign entity. The planet was outside the control of the Sith. There were no temples, no military bases, no datacenters, nothing. The only presence of the Sith within the entire system of Kuat was a very large defense fleet at its edge.

This was the deal that had been negotiated by Kuat's queen. Kuat serves the One Sith, builds its ships and other military weapons, and in return Kuat would maintain its independence. It was a fair deal, and it had kept Kuat intact. It's citizens were happy, affluent, and maybe even a bit smug. They had been kept away from the menace of the Sith, they held none of their secrets and knew none of their horrors. Kuat held nearly no trace of the One Sith, and the GRIM spies would quickly have learned that.

Of course, for Sifa, this meant that what she was doing was technically illegal. The chasing of spies on foreign soil was no new game, it had been done for hundreds, if not thousands of years. She held no protection from the law on this world, she held no authority to arrest anyone, and she certainly did not hold the power to legally kill. Her arms were tied by the laws of Kuat, at best she was a guest here, at worst, an unwanted parasite.

She knew that, but she also knew she had a task.

Two spies were fleeing from her and a few others within her taskforce. Discovered by an OSI taskforce stationed on Kuat to keep an eye on the Sovereign planet, the two spies had been discovered two days ago. OSI didn't know what they knew, if anything at all, there were no Sith secrets here, but Kuat was still a valuable world, and information was always key in a war.

So Sifa and her group had been tasked with hunting down these spies, and that was what she intended to do, despite the fact that Kuat would not look kindly upon such activities.

As she ran through the rain, cloak heavy and slick with rain, lightsaber gripped tightly in her hand, she wondered exactly who would win this game of Cat and Mouse.

 

[Veino Garn]

Veino caught the implied rebuke behind [member="Mantic Dorn"]'s words and suppessed a half-smile, then frowned. There was a whiff of the Dark Side in the Force. Not as much as could be expected from a One Sith world, but Kuat, from his understanding, was special in some way. The Sith didn't truly interfere here, other than with the defense fleet in orbit. Theoretically, that should have meant no Dark Side presence at all. He closed his eyes and settled himself deeper in the Force, stretching out to the planet below. So many people. So many lives. So many emotions. Too many to filter through, unless he dropped his emotional barriers. That he really didn't want to do. Not yet anyways. There wasn't enough concentrated Dark Side energy on the planet to get a hold of yet. That would have to come later.

He opened his eyes and frowned again, biting his lip. That could be some trace presence from a visit or someone hiding their presence or someone with just a little presence. He steepled his fingers and considered. Best to stay aware of it nonetheless. Just to be on the safe side, he took another deep breath and sank his Force presence deep into the Force, dispersing it through the nearby systems and making small adjustments to become one with the surrounding universe. If there was a Sith on planet, he may have to go off on his own and lead them away. That would make getting off-planet difficult, but it was something. He leaned forward in his seat and called back to @RC 212.

"I'm picking up some Dark Side energy on the planet. Not enough to narrow down or guess at yet." He leaned back and turned back to Mantic. "How fortunate for the Jedi then that I'm willing to help them out without ever having been a member." This time he let the smile out. "I even helped teach the Grandmaster back before she she was a knight."

[member="Sifa Tirel"]

Spoiler

Hope that works for you, Sifa! That gets tension and conflict started without getting too specific. Don't think Veino could get much more specific than that at this distance. Let me know if you think it's too much though.

 

[Mantic Dorn]

Mantic felt the disturbance too. He could be as presice as [member="Veino Garn"] but he did feel that something was not right. A piece of the puzzle that the organizers of the operation had not taken into account.
But it took him time to harness the sensation and before he could make much out of it the rouge jedi had called [member="RC 212"] - followed by his reply to Mantic.

"A shame that you roam without the order to guide you then. I can see that modesty has been forgotten during your time away" Mantic replied with senserity. "Maybe one day you will find the strength to return to us, until then I will respect you as an agent of the republic, a noble role for sure and not one I in any way disregard as unimportant. You do not need to justify that you belong in a mission like this or explain your strength in the force. You are clearly well attuned with it."

" If the republic has deemed you a good choice for the role here I am not one to pass judgement." Mantic tried and nodded a smile.

Force users outside the order was a more common sight then jedi inside. [member="Veino Garn"] was another example of the uncontrolled bleeding from the order and not something new to Mantic. Of course he felt impressed by a man who had trained current masters but also felt fatigued by the constant dismissal and attempts to point out faults of the jedi order. If history thaught anything about the jedi ot was that everytime a jedi went his own way, most often for a good cause it ended with the dark side growing in power regardless what the rouge knights claimed. And now the masses of force users inventing their own paths, molding their own uses of the force was more or less endless. It was not a surprise to run into yet another one on a mission like this. But now was not the time for debate, so with a little effort he bit his lips to keep the thoughts from pouring out.

He felt that he needed to listen to the commando com as well now. Perhaps the mission would be aborted due to the new and unexpected threat.

[member="Sifa Tirel"]

 

[Veino Garn]

Veino stood and grabbed the cargo nets up above and hooked into the deployment ropes before looking back over his shoulder at [member="Mantic Dorn"], eyebrow raised and a smile tugging his face. Ah, Jedi. They were such an interesting lot. He ran a double-check on his gear. A few dozen durasteel spheres. Lightsaber. Medkit. The basics, for the most part. Nothing fancy this time. All clear. He headed towards the exit and rolled his neck to loosen it up while his stomach tied itself in knots. He took a deep breath, letting the tension drain from his neck and shoulders. Unfortunately, it didn't help much with the knots. He sank into the Force, diving deeper into its cool depths, letting its stillness permeate every molecule of his being. The knots dissolved into away, spread out through the galaxy.

Much better.

"My order still guides me,"Then he added as an afterthought, "Your order had far greater need of me when I came to assist." How long ago was that? He frowned slightly, trying to remember. Well before the Netherworld and destruction of Corellia debacle. So... twelve years? Fifteen? He scratched his head, "Right before the Republic lost Alderaan to the One Sith invasion. Corvus was just a teenager then still." He laughed softly at the thought, "Didn't even have her lightsaber then." He frowned again. "I'm reminiscing. I'm getting old." This time he laughed out loud., though it was swallowed up by the engines and wind rushing past the vessel. Wasn't that a crazy thought? He had actually lived long enough to reminisce about things that happened so long ago he couldn't remember exactly how long ago that was.

He never would have expected that. Certainly not when he was in his first battle on Togoria battling, and losing, a Zygerrian queen who was training as an Acolyte of the Sith Empire. Certainly not in other skirmishes with the Sith Empire before their collapse. Definitely not at Alderaan where he had stood next to Jedi Master Saki and faced down the Sith's massive worm. Yet here he was, so many years later, still alive and still taking the light into the heart of the Sith's darkness. That meant he'd outlived... he did a quick count... three major galactic powers? That was quite the surprise then. It was a shame Thyria wasn't here for some sassy comment, but she didn't the clearance for operations like these. She didn't even want to know, which was fair. She was a smuggler, not a soldier. Also she had a standing arrest warrant in the Republic, so she wouldn't cross the border.

But was the time for the present moment and present people. He double-checked his fast-line and moved to the door. The drop zone was just ahead. His pulse picked up now and it pounded through his ears. Excitement started to bubble up again and he let it simmer away into the Force. Stillness was his ally, his strength. Only that could weather the tempest of the Dark Side that had a rude habit of constantly throwing itself at him. If he tried to match its intensity, he would fall. If he had a doubt, he would fall. That contrast always intrigued him. But what did it mean? That he did not have an answer for and probably never would, and certainly not on this mission.

 

[Ali Hadrix]

Ali held the blaster out, resting her elbow on her shoulder. She could see the barrel swinging back and forth gently as her chest heaved. Sweat dripped from her hair and onto her forehead and cheeks, it wet her neck and back and between her breasts. "Fecking hell, you're a hard one to catch." She coughed out, half laughing. "I'm not sure if you're worth keeping alive at this point," she joked, angling the muzzle downward. "Lay on your stomach, put your hands behind your head..." The subject, a Nautolan security operative within the Kuati military, complied without argument. His many green head tails curled and shook as he moved, clawed fingers gripping one another tightly.
"Good, now just stay right there until I decide if I'm going to stun you or try and bring you in alive and kicking."

Ali Hadrix (technically a Captain within the official Republic military but lacking any official titles within the Ministry) was sitting against a crumbling plaster wall in one of Kuat's rare poor districts with blaster burns in her side and arm and bruises in more places than she had had time to stop and count over the last two days. The man she was holding hostage was Meaka Reames, and he was a spy, just like herself. Only Meaka was a spy for the One Sith, assigned to work within Kuat's government to steal secrets and probe their defenses. Ali was hoping to learn those secrets for herself in order to prepare Kuat for invasion by the Galactic Republic. To do that, she needed hyperspace routes that could get them in and out of the system without having to fight through Sith space. And Meaka would know those routes.

"I expect you to try and escape," Ali called, wiping some of the sweat from her brow. Her partner, Marcus Solstice, was peeling open the sterile package of a bacta patch, then he knelt down beside her and ripped at her shirt gently so he could apply the patch to the blaster wound on her side. Ali reached down with her free hand and pulled the short-hemmed leather jacket she wore up and out of his way, wincing and gritting her teeth as he applied salve to the wound, then the bandage. "You can wrap it later, this will stick for now. Keep your shirt down and your jacket fastened so no one sees." Marcus told her as he went for a second patch, this time for her arm. Ali nodded her acknowledgment and thanks, wincing and cursing through gnashed teeth as the second palmful of salve and patch were both applied. Marcus rolled down her sleeve for her, leaving her free to wave her gun about. "I don't need you to talk...yet. But you will, once we get back to the Republic. Though try not to sing. Leave that to the professionals."

"We need to get going." Marcus warned her. Night was falling, and they were still three kilometers from the extraction point. The Sith had been tipped off when Ali and Marcus had called for extraction after capturing their target; somehow their transmitter had not been loaded with the encryption data it needed to send secured communications. Ali had kept the transmitter with them to be inspected later upon their return to Republic space, she was greatly suspicious that their mission had been intentionally sabotaged to make the Sith aware of what her objective was once she had moved to complete it. That meant GRIM had a mole, and it would be Ali's job to find out whom it was upon her return and recovery.
"Yeah, I got ya. How are we supposed to get scumbag moving with us though, without anyone being tipped off?" Ali asked. Marcus shrugged, "I could call for a cab. But I would recommend we try the distress transmitters first. Those would have been tamper-proof, they belong to us personally." Ali nodded, "Fine, activate them now. Exfil should be close enough to pick up on us, and they can move the extraction point to the rooftop of this building without us having to actually speak to them."
Marcus nodded and retrieved their distress beacons from a zippered pouch on his belt. He handed Ali hers, and she activated it with a thumb scan. Her partner did the same. She tucked it away in her pocket. "You're not still broadcasting that warning that our communications are compromised, are you?" Ali asked. Marcus shook his head, "No I deactivated it before we arrived here, just after you got shot. I figured they must have been tracking our transmissions. Hopefully the exfil team had a chance to hear the message before they start blabbing their information over comms trying to find us." That was the biggest danger to them at this point. If the exfil team were to start attempting to contact Ali and Marcus through the prearranged channels, which were compromised, then the Sith (and likely the Kuatis), would know exactly how they were approaching, and could easily shoot them out of the sky.

 

[Piraiba]

- Kuati Intelligence Counterespionage Division-

An unmarked Kuati Intelligence shuttle was ferrying agents down to one of the poor districts of the city. It was there that police forces had been hot in pursuit of what was suspected to be a GRIM agent. Originally there had been two under surveillance, but it seemed that another player had intervened and the two agents had been separated. An OSI team was believed to be the culprit. They likely wanted to intercept the Republic spies for their own goals.

One of the KI agents aboard the shuttle, glanced warily at Piraiba. Not much was known about the feline. His records were virtually nonexistent, but he was sanctioned by the government to operate with almost unimaginable power and flexibility for counterespionage. He was not confined by the ranks of the government or military. He could commandeer considerable resources to hunt down the enemies of the crown. Whoever he was, he had very powerful friends. Of course no one knew that he was actually the adopted cousin of the queen herself.

The agents did know one thing though. Piraiba got involved when the target was particularly valuable or dangerous. It was a dangerous proposition to be on a mission with him. They were likely to be shot at quite a bit tonight.

"Lord Relens," came the voice of man next to the Togorian. He handed the feline a datapad. "We have intercepted non-encrypted transmission for extraction not far from our LZ. There also seems to have been a report of possible blaster fire in that area."

"What of the prey?"

"Police believe they have one of them cornered. A perimeter is being setup. Special Tactics should be moving in within the hour."

"The other?"

"There was some interference and our eyes on the ground have gone dark."

"Republic or Sith probably," responded the cat nonchalantly in his deep almost demonic voice. He leaned his head back against the hull behind him and closed his eyes.

Republic operatives were to be captured alive for questioning if possible. One Sith Intelligence agents on the other hand were tolerated to a point. Of course some of them had to meet certain accidents at times when they got to close to anything particularly valuable. If it was the OSI, then they clearly were crossing a line. It could be swept under the rug if they cooperated, but they'd likely disavow themselves and fight to the death. The real question however was whether or not he should devote himself to a potential Sith threat or a potential Jedi threat. Luckily he had resources that the other two groups did not have.

"Deploy a squad to investigate the unencrypted transmission, and send another team to pursue the potental Sith threat. Piraiba wants both spies, but this one will work for bait for now. Ground all civilian flights. Get the military linked in. This one wants all available fighters on patrol immediately. If it can touch the atmosphere it will comply or it will be shot down.”

OS operatives would have no problem disappearing to their armada if they could get into the atmosphere. The republic on the other hand would have to sneak by that armada. They likely had some kind of inconspicuous transport ship well outside of the city limits.

Unfortunately the city was a large area to cover. He had the advantage of resources, but both of the other groups had the element of surprise for now. Either way, an exit strategy would be complicated once the military got their fighters into the air.

For now Kuati special tactics police forces deployed to investigate the commotion caused by Ali and Marcus, and the clues that would potentially lead to Sifa and the trail to the second GRIM agent. RC212's team was still unknown to the Kuati forces at this point.

[member="Sifa Tirel"] [member="Ali Hadrix"]

 

[Sifa Tirel]

She moved as quickly as she could, though quietly.

Sifa wasn't the usual Sith, or rather, she hadn't yet become what most thought of as the typical Sith. Unlike most of her kindred she had never touched the darkside, she had no corruption or thoughts of power on her mind. She didn't much care for rampage or death, all she wanted was to complete her mission.

That was the same mindset that she carried now, the same ideal. She had been sent to complete a task, and she intended on doing just that. She ran through the alleys, moved through paths and dashed across the streets. In her ear she could hear the One Sith Intelligence agents speaking, they relayed information and marked the tracks of the two agents that were being hunted.

"We lost the trail."

Suddenly she came to a stop. "You what."

"We lost the trail, ma'am."

Her hand tightened on her lightsaber, her other hand breaking into a fist. She let out a small curse, shaking her head and asking herself why she even had to work with others if they were just going to fuck up. Red and yellow eyes went searching, her gaze falling all over the alleyway as she tried to find something, anything, that could help her. Suddenly she spotted something, the backing of a bacta patch laying on the floor. Slowly she wandered over to it, scooping it up.

It was an odd place to find something like this, rather suspicious really. She frowned.

"One of them is injured." Sifa said into her comm. "Look for hospital records, clinic break ins, anything along those lines."

It wasn't much, but it was something.

 

[Faith Organa]

No word.

Two words that could chill the heart and mind of the Minister. They were far out and monitoring communications was difficult, when the planet seemed to go into lock down Faith knew just as the others around them that word of the agents had reached ears with the power to cut them all off from one another.

Patience.

Bite your nails to the quick silence.

Feth.

 

[Mantic Dorn]

Seeing as the troopers under RC seemed to take a back seat role on this one Mantic rosed and positioned himself at the back entrance, grabbing the cargo net in the roof just like [member="Veino Garn"]

He felt pity for the rouge jedi but also recognized that there was no chance for Mantic persuade him in this brief moment of time. Besides, they were so numerous, those force users claiming to know it all on their own. The jedi, like Mantic, were few and it troubled MAntic heavily that none of them realized what they were contributing to in the long run. This was an age of chaos, ripped apart by an uncontrolled abuse of the force. It disturbed Mantic to meet yet another one of them but not enough to start a quarrel. For the sake of the agents it was best to keep his old dry mouth shut about that topic.

"Old?" he instead asked with a genuine smile, trying to ease the tension. "I dont think you have to worry about old age just yet young man." Mantic chuckled. He was himself in his forties and was guessing that he was about a decade older then the man beside him. He was as so many other confusing power with experience. It too mattered little for the time being though.

He shrugged and smiled at the rouge jedi as the shuttle door started to open up. Beneath them an unguarded balustrade stretched itself out into the darkness. There would be cameras and alarms littering the place and it required a delicate jump to hit the floor beneath them.

Mantic took the leap and turned once in the air before his feet touched down with a light thud. For a short time he remained still, carefully moving his hand to the side of his head to adjust his ear piece. They had picked up a signal from this sector and this balustrade would be a good point to enter. But Mantic could not help but sense the disturbance even stronger now. The dark side was present.

They are here. he decided for himself and looked up at the dark shiluette of the shuttle above them. He pressed himself toward the wall to give others room if they were to join him, but he was himself considering the benefits of spreading out to find the two agents faster. PErhaps it would lure the darkness, whatever and wherever it was away from the shuttle as well.


[member="Piraiba"] [member="Ali Hadrix"] [member="Veino Garn"] [member="Faith Balor-Organa"] [member="Sifa Tirel"]

 

[Piraiba]

Piraiba's shuttle landed not far from where Kuati police forces had set up a perimeter around an industrial building where one of the GRIM agents had been chased into.

Only time would tell whether or not the lead had been genuine. His people had certainly gotten it wrong before. It could have just as likely been another spy or simply a criminal on the run. Well it didn't matter at the moment. They'd just have to finish their work here and move to where the agency was tracking the second supposed spy.

The Togorian moved his way down the loading ramp and started to make the short walk around the corner to the gates of the warehouse where they believed their target to be. Everything was illuminated by the flashing lights from the police speeders that were strewn around the street.

About 20 feet away to his left was a larger transport that had special tactics police gearing up. They were easily recognizable by the military grade battle armor and weapons that they possessed. The knight began to approach them to order the breaching of the warehouse when suddenly he could feel a faint presence tugging at his consciousness. Was it the Jedi?

The feline closed his eyes and focused his awareness into his surroundings. He reached out with his dark perception and blanketed the city around him as far as his will was strong enough to permeate. It took a moment to filter out the noise, but his gut was able to discern a few potential directions.

"Radio in that we've captured both targets. Our enemies will likely be monitoring the police frequencies. Breach the warehouse now and take the fool alive if possible. Piraiba will go hunting. Keep an eye open for interference ... they are out there."

With this his trap was set. It was a risk to leave that trap unattended. Vermin were unpredictable when not supervised. Still there could be some advantage in finding a vantage point nearby. He was likely going to have to deal with more than one problem.

The knight did his best to mask his presence in the force. There was no point in being spotted by Jedi or Sith without taking a single shot. He then took a large slug thrower sniper rifle that a nearby agent was holding before making a force assisted jump to the top of a nearby wall and then an adjacent roof top. Piraiba quickly blended into the cover of night as he started to make his way towards his prey. The real question was which prey was closest? Was it Mantic, Ali, or Sifa?

[member="Mantic Dorn"] [member="Faith Balor-Organa"] [member="Sifa Tirel"] [member="Ali Hadrix"] [member="Veino Garn"] @RC 212

 

[Ali Hadrix]

Ali checked the magazine in her Verpine shatter pistol, then slipped it back into the well and pressed it until it clicked. They were ready to make their move to the LZ, the final stretch would cover just over a half klick of city. Luckily for Ali and Marcus, this portion of the city was just as well developed as any other, with the average block rising well over two-dozen levels. Skyscrapers toward over them along the edges of the poor district and many of the structures, such as the one in which they were hiding, were abandoned and empty.
She shook her muzzle at their captive. "Your leash-holders will be heading over soon; there's no way they've given up since our last encounter." Ali wasn't actually sure who'd attacked them before, but she wasn't taking any chances. "They know you're with us, and I doubt they'll be as interested in recovering you as they will be keeping you out of our hands." She winked, staring the Nautolan in the eyes. "You know what that means, don't you?" The man remained silent for a moment, though soon bared his needle-sharp teeth and narrowed the deep pools that were his eyes. He offered her no verbal response. Ali smirked, "That's what I thought. But you're lucky I'm more interested in keeping you alive than they are. So I hope that means you'll be playing shock-ball, because if no--" Ali was cut off by the sound of an explosion.
Fire and light erupted through a hole in the floor, near the door by the East wall. Ali shielded her eyes and angled her pistol toward the source of the explosion, but nothing followed. She looked up at Marcus, concerned. "They're on the floor below us, they got the wrong floor." Marcus pursed his lips and grabbed the Nautolan by the arm. "Let's go buddy," he grunted, pushing the man forward toward the West side of the building. Ali stood and followed quietly as she heard shouting and rustling below.
"Through the window," Marcus muttered as he activated the transparesteel panel and it slid open. The building next to them was a dismal couple meters away, Marcus went first. The dark-skinned man climbed up onto the sill and shot the window across the gap. The rounds of his Verpine pistol were dead silent and cracked the pane across the way in three different places. Marcus was gone in an instant, leaping the distance and breaking through the pane. He tucked and rolled onto the floor in the other building and the Nautolan was quick to follow. Ali paused on the sill just long enough to listen for activity below; it was clear whomever was down there had figured out their mistake. She smirked and slapped the interior release on the window and waited for it to close before making the jump herself.

 

[Connor Harrison]

It was easy enough to scale the turbolift shaft with the majority of hostiles riding up in it at once. Fixx held onto the top of the lift as it rose swiftly through the tower. He looked up, the dark shaft bleeding in light from the floors that were lit and the streaks flashed by his eyes as the lift steadily came to a stop. The door opened and those inside spilled out, lugging something heavy it sounded from the bangs that followed.

Wasting no time, Fixx reached up and pulled himself to the door above, which required him to wedge his legs against the frame and prize the door open with his own gloved hands. Once the door was open enough for him to shove an arm through, it opened far easier with his body weight pushed through. Now, he was a silhouette himself, dressed in black with his shoulder holster carrying his weapon.

The door closed behind him and the lights from outside shone through in a dizzying maze of reflection. Pulling out his Czerka blaster, he moved quickly through the glass partitions to the other side of the floor where he saw figures against the lights outside moving. She had been difficult to track here, but she was his best shot at getting back into the service.

The explosion rang out to his far left, making him crouch and take cover, but with nothing evidently on their floor, Fixx stood and knew it wouldn’t be long. Looking over as the figures started to flee from the building, he moved through zig-zag of glass to reach the back of his target - [member="Ali Hadrix"].

”I didn’t think you’d take the front door out of here.”