Private Daggers in the sky

[Vetru]

"Kark."

Vetru looked up at the formation of wedges in the sky. From this distance he couldn't make out any details, but just that silhouette was enough to inspire dread. He saw a flash and squinted.

A red turbo laser blast streaked through the sky to strike a building only a few hundred meters away. A fireball rose from the ground. The screaming started.

"Damnit."

His terminal beeped. An all frequency broadcast for all citizens to remain indoors, for all ships to stay grounded as order was restored.

Vetru didn't know what local warlord or would-be empire this was, but he was most irritated at having his plans scuppered. It was a good gig. Thousands of people were about to die and he was more annoyed about his own wealth. As far as Vetru was concerned there were a lot of people in the galaxy and he didn't have time to worry about their problems too.

He made a snap decision. He found the indent chip least likely to get him arrested if he encountered a patrol and loaded a power pack into his blaster. It usually hung from his belt for show. He only needed a few hours to do the job.

If anything, people would be less concerned about some petty data theft if there was an occupation starting.

He sent a message to his contact, the slicer, to make sure they had the stomach for it.

 

[Taliren]

There were few times when Taliren got to benefit from being deaf. The initial explosion was one such instance.

She'd been sitting on a bench outside a small cafe near the meet up location for the job, casually reading through her datapad. The first indication she got that something was wrong was when the signal was cut and an alert blinked across her screen.

Her head tilted curiously to the side, confused for a brief moment.

Then a brilliant flash of light streaked across the sky, drawing her attention away from the alert.

She didn't hear the explosion, but she felt it. The earth shuddered beneath her feet, the bench shook violently, and the powerful concussive blast hit her a moment later.

Taliren was thrown off the bench, scraping her palm on the concrete as she caught herself. As she snatched her datapad back up, she could see the panic on other people's faces.

She couldn't hear their screams, but the look of terror in their eyes was enough to leave a mark.

Grimacing, she pushed herself back to her feet and rushed to get off the street. It wouldn't be long before the patrols started if there was an occupation.

Her terminal vibrated on her wrist, a modified communicator that she'd programmed for voice-to-text and vice versa. It was how she was able to communicate with most of the world, since not many people bothered with sign language.

It was a message from the mercenary who was also assigned to the job. She'd been leased out to him by Capo, the local warlord who owned her.

She arched a brow, but knew she didn't have much more of a choice if he was still going through with the gig.

<I'll be there.> Her response was short and simple.

 

[Vetru]

Vetru wasn't entirely certain if that was good news or not. On one hand he had put his mind to finishing the job. On the other hand if the slicer had backed out it wouldn't have been his fault. Vetru was aware that he didn't always make wise decisions.

A Holodata Interchange didn't sound exciting. It was well guarded. A fairly unassuming building housing a bunch of of small databanks. Three guards, one droid on maintenance. It was incredibly boring. It also monitored all the holonet traffic for an area covering half a continent.

Traffic would be flowing fast now. All emergency messages and panicked calls. Not the data they were after. Even that was boring. Financial transactions linked to a certain ID. Slicing that was beyond his skill, hence the contact.

Vetru sat on a bench just around the corner, as arranged, and waited.

 

[Taliren]

Finding the mercenary turned out to be far easier than expected.

In an tense and frantically moving city square, he was the only one not moving, seated on a bench.

The zabrak was younger than she expected, and handsome too. She wasn't sure quite what she'd pictured originally, but Vetru was a welcome surprise.

Still, they didn't have time to linger. There were already patrols roving the streets and herding people indoors.

She stopped in front of him and typed a quick message into her wrist terminal which then voiced her greeting for her.

<Fancy a cup of caf?>

 

[Vetru]

Vetru looked down at the wrist terminal that had addressed him and back up at her. It was entirely possible that the wrist terminal was acting the part of a protocol droid for her.

"I think," he replied, jabbing his thumb towards the sky, "that we may have to skip the caf."

Vetru grinned and turned his gaze to the sky as well.

"TIE fighters have been launched, but I haven't seen many troop dropships yet. Unfortunately I'm going to have to fly through that..."

 

[Taliren]

She glanced down at her terminal, reading the words that Vetru had said only moments prior. Sometimes, the programming had a difficult time deciphering certain patterns of speech, especially if the person talking had a thick accent.

Her attention shifted back to Vetru and she gave him a single nod. It was faster than typing out a response.

Being limited to such a blunt means of communication frustrated Taliren. She hadn't been born deaf, but she'd been intentionally made so by her owner with she was just a teenager as a punishment.

<You'll manage, I'm sure. First, we need to focus on getting the job done before you figure out how to leave.>

 

[Vetru]

"Would be nice to have a bit of hope I had a chance getting off-world," he said, more to himself than her.

He stood up and hid his blaster in his bag once more. He couldn't see any stormtroopers between himself and the building. It wouldn't really fit the cover.

Vetru was supposed to do the talking at the front door. Now he realised that was entirely his job.

He hit the buzzer beside the door. When the intercom clicked on he tried to sound rushed.

"Maintenance team for the tripped power surge," he said.

"Now? Really?" came the reply. Vetru could see the guard at his desk through the window.

"You think I want to be on the streets right now? But you think it's a good time to risk the local holonet going down!?" Vetru added a note of panic. He'd always been a good liar.

"Fine, get inside. You might want to stay here when done for now. I'll escort you."

The door clicked as the magnetic seal was released. Vetru pushed it open. Three guards, but if they got as far as the databank with bluffing he might just have to deal with one.

"She's doing most of the repair work," Vetru said as he was handed a badge.

 

[Taliren]

The guard glanced between the two of them with a confused expression. Under normal circumstances, he would have questioned why two technicians were needed, but with the looming invasion he let the matter be.

Taliren watched the exchange impassively, bouncing between watching to two men's expression and glancing down at the terminal on her wrist to see what was being said.

It was clear that things were tense, but going smoothly.

She offered a bright and friendly smile when the guard looked to her, handing her a badge.

The man quirked a brow at her with a puzzled expression. "Doesn't talk much, does she?"

Taliren's smile slipped as she read the words that scrolled across the screen. Her expression turned dour and she quickly fired off several hand gestures in sign, then motioned to Vetru; almost as if to say, 'he does the talking'.

 

[Vetru]

"She's a mute. Don't be rude," snapped Vetru. It might have bought them a few minutes.

This was one of those facilities that no one noticed. A little data interchanged that was lightly guarded. They were bored and didn't take their job too seriously. However, Vetru knew that his pass would get them inside but they would probably be calling someone to check very soon. Perhaps feeling a little guilty would delay that.

One guard walked them deeper into the facility. Cold, stale air washed over them. The holonet comms equipment was kept nice and cool. There came upon a row of databanks. Lots of whirring and flashing lights.

"Which unit needs the service?" the guard asked.

"She knows," said Vetru. The moment he turned towards Taliren Vetru drew a small holdout blaster and fired a stun blast into him at point blank range.

"Best get to work," Vetru said. "Imperials might work in our favour, might be no one responding. Otherwise we've got five minutes at most before they find out the credentials are fake."

 

[Taliren]

Before the guard had even hit the ground, Taliren had pulled a computer spike from her jacket. In all fairness, what Vetru said was true -- she knew which terminal to access in order to get the information they were after.

She winked over her shoulder at Vetru, a wordless reassurance.

There was a reason she'd been assigned to the job, despite her obvious handicap: she excelled with tech. Given enough time and resources, there were very few networks that she couldn't slice in to. Since spoken language had been stolen from her, she immersed herself in computers and technology.

Perhaps that had been the Hutt's plan for her all along, fewer distractions I'd she couldn't speak or hear the world around her.

Vetru would have to stand there and listen to the bombardment, while Taliren's entire world consisted purely of the terminal before her.

She made a thoughtful sound in the back of her throat, a quiet musing born of sheer habit, the subtle vibrations soothing to her.

The data did not prove difficult to find, but it was the contents that gave her pause. It listed the known location of two hutt prisoners in the Core. Both were being held in the same maximum security prison.

At least, that was the surface level information. There must have been something more buried in...

The ground shuddered beneath her feet, drawing her attention back her immediate surroundings. She clicked her tongue, frustrated that she didn't have enough time to delve deeper. Working as quickly as she could, Taliren downloaded the pertinent files and ejected the computer spike.

When she turned back to Vetru, offering him the spike, she half expected him to shoot her on the spot.

It wouldn't have been the first time someone tried to double cross the hutts.

 

[Vetru]

Vetru peered over her shoulder. The aurabesh was scrolling past too quickly for him to sneak a glance at the methods she was using.

He took the spike. He might have simply stashed it in his pocket, but with the imperial lockdown he wasted a few more precious seconds to slot it into a compartment in the heel of his boot.

Vetru wasn't the caring type, but he wasn't the sort for cold blooded material. Slicers were also rare. Perhaps not rare overall, but those that acted as free agents involved in criminal enterprise were. Many for snapped up by intelligence services for the empires and alliances of the galaxy.

"Let's go!" he said, waving at the door to make his point.

Following the path they reached the guard station and locked doors.

"Nothing was broken," he explained. "False alert."

"You really want to go back out there?"

 

[Taliren]

She followed Vetru, unsure of what to expect next. The imperials invasion had complicated things immensely, and she wasn't sure what was expected of her now.

With the job done, she'd expected Vetru to leave her behind and to fend for herself... But it seemed he intended for her to follow him.

The guards looked confused by the pairs quick departure, and their befuddlement only grew when they realized the man who'd been escorting them was absent.

"Wait a second..."

Taliren tensed at Vetru's side as one of the guards stood up, a hand resting on the taser strapped to his side. Instinctively, she took a small step behind the zabrak.

She wasn't much of a fighter when it came down to it.

 

[Vetru]

They weren't shooting yet and that was a good thing. They were in a poor position and Vetru was better at both lying and flying than fighting.

"Can I check that ID again?"

"No problem," said Vetru. He took his hand from his pocket and slipped his card across the counter. He took a big step backwards.

The guard lifted it up. He frowned at the small silver disc beneath the plastic card. The small stun grenade went off. A bright flash of blue throwing him to the ground.

Vetru dove across the counter, hitting the door release button. He waved at it frantically as the magnetic release clicked off.

 

[Taliren]

She winked at Vetru and then turned to bolt out the door, holding it open for the zabrak so he didn't get locked inside behind her.

For her, the outside world was silence. She couldn't hear the chaos unfolding at her back.

There wasn't much time left before the ports were entirely shut down. Troop transports glided through the city.

She gave Vetru a thumbs up as he followed her out into the streets.