Drive My Carida

[Ugoto Chivaro]

SPINARA PLATEAU
SAFIDINE INDUSTRIES RESEARCH COMPOUND

[member="Sel Wyrick"]

As far as planets went, Carida was a mixed bag. The Caridan species were merchants and industrialists at heart, relatively peaceful. But the humans who colonized the planet wound up becoming militarists - often the sort of people who grew Imperialist sympathies the moment it was politically acceptable to do so. The human Caridans essentially re-wrote the role of the planet in galactic affairs, to the point where it stood among Anaxes and Corulag as the Core Worlds most important military centric planets. And then it got destroyed, but then it also got rebuilt, because at one point in history that was a thing that could happen. But even after the restoration, Carida retained its history. Military academies of every stripe could be found on the planet, as could factories, ordnance depots, and of course, research facilities.

Sort of like the one Force 32 found themselves in right now.

Occasionally the Helix Syndicate could be bothered to do its own research. Sometimes it was cheaper to pay some mercenary and their elite strike team to infiltrate the research compound of some minor, irrelevant firm and take their research instead. This was one of those times. The compound itself was located on the Spinara Plateau, same as the famous Academy of Carida, but it was a long distance away from the academy and the rest of civilization. Which meant, conveniently, that they had to import food and supplies for the compound's staff via shuttle with vary large cargo containers.

Today had been another shipment day, and after loading in several cargo containers, the exhausted maintenance crew retired to their quarters. Night had fallen on the plateau and most of the scientists and other crew would be out of the way. About ten minutes after the lights in the hangar shut off, the electronic lock on one of the containers fizzed out. The container swung open, and out crept four humanoids - masked, armored, and armed.

"Which crate is the Doc in?"

Green, the explosives guy, was surprisingly the one to answer. "46-A."

The other three kept watch while 3202 "Blue" approached the container in question. The designated slicer had it opened in under a minute, but when the door opened Sel Wyrick was conspicuously absent. "There's nothing but packages of Nerf jerky in here."

"I know, but I'm hungry. Toss me one?"

"You guys let him tell me to open the wrong crate so you could have a snack?"

There wasn't a whole lot of noise, as most of the chatter was contained in their helmets. Comlinks and scramblers, that kind of thing. 3201 "Gold", squad leader, chimed in. "Just open the other crate, 02."

Blue muttered something indignant under his breath and moved to the next crate, 46-C, to release Sel Wyrick from his temporary, pantry-esque prison.

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Helix Syndicate"]

The door slipped open, and out crept Sel Wyrick.

A tight scowl was hidden beneath the expanse of his mask, the thin red line which marked his visor shifting over the four figures that stood in front of him as soon as the crate popped open. The Butcher couldn't help but feel a bit of humiliation at this sort of method of travel.

His people were famed mercenaries, soldiers, they fought and killed the greatest warriors in the galaxy. Yet here he was, traveling inside of a food crate. It made him want to kill something. The only justification for it had of course been the one reason he'd actually agreed to this little venture; progress. It was why he did most everything, why he had followed Ra and why he now worked inside of the Empire. Sel didn't care who did what or who was pitted against whom.

He was in this for himself.

For his research.

Sel's scowl didn't go away, a roll of his shoulders untying the knots that had formed in the middle of his back. He didn't bother drawing either of his weapons yet, satisfied with leaving the dual WESTAR blasters in their place. He glanced at the leader of the squad, a man whom he'd met earlier. "Let's go."

No use standing around.

 

[Azimuth Industries]

In an Uncharted Asteroid Field, Near a Derelict Refueling Platform, Several Parsecs Away . . .

"Hey man, you're not supposed to smoke inside the cockpit."

Slowly, Akron Altunen turned his chair around so that he faced the co-pilot. His lips firmly gripped a fat cigarra, supple tobacco leaf straight from the jungle plantations of Rishi. He inhaled a lungful of the rich smoke and the orange glow of the embers flared, illuminating his pale features and pupilless white eyes inside the dark interior of the cockpit.

"Hm? Come again?"

The Rodian co-pilot shrunk down into his seat and grumbled something incoherent.

The small flotilla of Kajidic ships sat motionless in the asteroid field, most of them clamped onto an asteroid or floating near the refueling station. There were a feth ton of old, but cheap Scyk interceptors, half as many reliable Dunelizards, and a handful of Kimogilas. And one Krayt-class gunship.

All of them waited for a signal. A signal that might never come.

[member="Helix Syndicate"] | [member="Sel Wyrick"]

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Sel Wyrick"]

"Right," 01 said, nodding at the newly released Mandalorian. Judging from the WESTARs, they were probably going to end up doing this loud and quick as opposed to slow and quiet. Fine by him, honestly. The sooner they left, the sooner he could get back to doing something he enjoyed. Like watching Shockball. Or going fishing. Or snorting spice off a hooker's back. One of the three - He hadn't quite decided yet.

At the far end of the hangar was the cargo freighter that had hauled in the crates they had arrived in. This would, of course, be their means of escape. They would pilot it back to the rendezvous point, then get in their proper stealth shuttle, and be gone before Safidine could understand what happened. "02 and 03, you move out first. Take the doc and head up to the control room. Clear out anyone in the way and get jacked in." Lifting schematics and data would be easier if no alarms started blaring in the process. 02 could be useful at any given access terminal with access to the internal systems, but presently he'd be more at home at the heart of the operation.

"Me and 04 will handle the mainframe." Several levels down would be the main storage server for the research facility. Once 02 shut down all the security protocols, getting what they needed would be easy enough. Provided they weren't getting shot at by any stubborn security guards... Which they probably would be, all things considered.

"Roger that," 02 replied, giving his standard issue Czerka shotgun a pump before taking point.

After checking the corridor for hostiles, he gestured for the doc and 03 to follow behind him. They'd have to take the stairs, as someone in the control room could probably monitor elevator usage.

"Does this guy even have a PhD?"

"You know he can hear you, right?"

There was a slight pause as 02 checked the stairwell. After a moment he indicated it was clear, and the trio began the climb up.

"Well, do you?"

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Helix Syndicate"]

His visor slowly shifted as they moved, the thin red light flowing from place to place as Sel watched the corridors around them. They moved quickly, some of them speaking, others remaining silent. Sel drowned out their voices, neither caring for their opinions nor what mindless drabble they chose to spew from their lips.

He wasn't here for conversation.

The Mandalorian and the Criminals moved quickly, heading up the stairs. They were quiet, but eventually they were bound to run into someone. At the top of the stairs Sel heard an echo, his fingers flinching slightly as he reached out and grasped one of the criminals by the shoulder. He pulled the man back against the wall of the stairwell, motioning for the others to do the same.

A whistle sounded out a moment later.

The sound echoed through the empty hallway, clearly a man attempting to learn a tune.

Sel waited quietly, his eyes lulling a bit as the echo of the whistle grew closer and closer. Eventually footsteps began to rang out, and just as the sound of the tune neared them Sel stepped out from the corner of the stairwell. His fist came first, striking directly into the mans throat. A heartbeat passed and Sel reached for the man, grappling his hands and snapping his wrists before quickly turning him and locking him into a choke hold. There was a rather loud struggle for breath, and then a loud snap.

The man's body went limp and Sel dropped him. "Throw the corpse into a closet."

The Mandalorian directed as he continued towards their objective.

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Sel Wyrick"]

Suddenly the Mando was in the lead, but after that neck-snapping display, 02 didn't really feel the need to correct him. They exited the stairwell on the same floor as the control room and continued to snake silently through the hallways. Wouldn't be long before someone saw them on camera now. 03 jammed the corpse into a nearby utility closet, as instructed, and returned to formation.

"If he were a real doctor, he'd have said cadaver."

"Somehow I think your litmus test for discerning authentic medical professionals is off."

"Er, what?"

"Don't worry about, tough guy."

They rounded another corner, coming face to face with the doors to the control room. The only problem was that there were three guards loitering outside, as opposed to the two they were expecting. There was a millisecond of hesitation and then realization between the Syndicate crooks and the Safidine employees, then action. Action that the crooks ultimately won, because their guns were already out. A shotgun blast took one guard in the chest. 03 moved faster, issuing a three round burst from his assault weapon into the other two.

Nice and easy. "Now we're in business."

There was a short pause, then the alarms kicked on and the magnetic restraints kicked in. Reinforcements would be along shortly. "You two watch the hallway, I'll get a breaching charge set up."

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Helix Syndicate"]

Only have the three guards were dead did Sel draw his blaster. The Criminals had made short work of the first batch of guards, and there hadn't been any need. He frowned for a moment as he looked down at the corpses, the red visor glancing towards their ID tags for just a moment before he squatted down besides them. He plucked one of the tags from a corpse, slipping it into the cloak that he wore of his armor before quickly standing up and pulling something from his belt.

He walked over towards the end of the hall, placing a small proximity explosive before wandering back to take his place with the criminals. A moment later Sel drew his other blaster, both weapons powering up as the alarms continued to blare above them.

A moment later footsteps could be heard echoing around the corner, half a dozen or so guards quickly swarming their way towards them. Sel frowned for a moment, then spotted the first of them crossing the threshold. The fool didn't watch his corners, and as he passed through the proximity field the device Sel had planted immediately went off. Shrapnel and fire burst out from the tiny device, slicing through the guard and two of his friends. Cries of pain could be heard as two of the six guards fell to the floor.

The others moved passed their friends, raising blasters just in time to be met with a flurry of firepower.

Sel and the two other criminals mowed down the four remaining guards, their weapons flaring into none of the protectors remained standing.

There would be more of them of course, likely better organized, but Sel hoped they would enter the control room by then. He glanced back to check on the other man's progress, spotting that the explosives were nearly in place. Without a word the Mandalorian stepped to the side, moving clear of the hallway so that they could breach their way into the control room.

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Sel Wyrick"]

03 watched, bewildered, as Sel plucked something off of a corpse and then walked back down the hallway. "Where's he going?"

"Be quiet," 02 replied, affixing a breaching charge to the door's locking mechanism. He was not paying attention to Sel's movements as he adjusted the charge's settings to accommodate the door about to be breached. Syndicate loved to make things modular, adjustable. Including their explosions. Tiny bombs, big bombs, same package. Just needed a different switch flipped. It was supposed to be convenient, but then they had to start phasing them out from general use because Enforcers kept killing themselves using a setting too big for the job.

Fortunately, Force 32 was better than that. Mostly. 03 was still puzzling over what Sel was up to when the Mandalorian came back. He didn't have time to make any comments, he could hear hurried footsteps rushing up the stairs. "Hostiles inbound," announced 03, raising his rifle as Sel rejoined the formation.

02 bobbed his head, "Just another second-"

A small explosion ripped through the approaching security guards, producing screams, anguish, and casualties. This gave 02 enough time to finish setting the charge and get back in line, firing his weapon dutifully into the stragglers who took up the first team's rear. One of them managed to squeeze off a shot - the last one as it happened. Mostly as a reflex, squeezing the trigger just as the last traces of life left his body. The bolt lurched forward and hit 03 square in the head. His energy shield lit up the dark corridor with an eerie blue light as it took the bolt for him.

"Ow," said 03. The energy might have dissipated harmlessly, but that didn't mean there wasn't any kinetic force behind it.

"You'll live," 02 said, "Now let's get in there before more show up."

Once the three had positioned themselves appropriately around the door, 02 activated the charge. A small explosion ripped off the central locking mechanism, prompting the door to raise back into the ceiling. Someone inside screamed something along the lines of "don't shoot" or "we surrender." 03 didn't register it, he just flung the stun grenade in and waited for the other two to do their thing.

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Helix Syndicate"]

The employees within the control room dropped to the floor, their corpses smoking husks.

Sel paid them no mind, stepping on one of them on his way to the main console. The red of his visor shifted over the different inputs and keys, blasters quickly slipping back into their holsters before he motioned to one of the men with him. "Do what you need to."

The Mandalorian said as he shifted and glanced towards one of the other consoles.

He approached it, pulling the keycard he had earlier plucked from the corpse. He slid the small keycard into an open slot, pulling up some information on the screen in front of him before he pulled another device from his coat and placed it on the console. There was a slight pause, and then the screen in front of him flickered. His lips thinned behind his mask, but he said nothing as he quietly went about his work. After a moment there was a another flicker on his screen, Sel pulling his device free a heartbeat later.

The device was returned to his coat, his gaze sweeping over the Helix lackeys expectantly.

They didn't have all day.

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Sel Wyrick"]

02 lightly skipped over some charred corpses, then kicked away the reaching hand of a wounded survivor as he approached the command console. "Watch the doors, this shouldn't take long."

As ordered, 03 remained by the doors, occasionally peeking into the hallway and firing if anyone approached. At one point he glanced over at Sel and noticed he was alone at separate console, clearly not watching the doors like 02 had asked. 03 debated saying something and ultimately decided against it. Sel was clearly not a listener. Or a talker. And he definitely didn't really have a PhD. No one who got a PhD went on commando raids for a living. That was just a fact of life.

"Here we... Go..." 02's fingers were a blur on the console. He had jacked in some wrist-mounted device of his into the socket. "Hey 01, how are you guys doing?"

Small arms fire and several small explosions were the first sounds that came back from the other end of the commlink. 04 was whooping like a jackass in the background, in between bursts of fire from his own rifle. 01's voice was strained with the level of stress that could only be attributed to his partner's antics. "We're holed up in the mainframe. What's your status?"

"Countermeasures should be down in the next few seconds."

03 detached a thermal detonator from his belt and lobbed it down the hallway. There was a shriek, then the explosion. Sooner or later these Safidine mooks were going to realize they weren't getting paid enough for the numbers of casualties they were currently enduring. Until then...

"And they're down."

"About time."

02 stole a glance behind him and saw Sel hanging around instead of watching the door. Typical Mandalorian. "Hey, why don't you go help 03 hold them off? Get some exercise. Score some Jagannath points or whatever."

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Helix Syndicate"]

Sel stared at the man for a moment, his gaze as cold as ice.

After a few seconds the Mandalorian shifted, half turning and drawing one of his blasters. He considered shooting the man, but decided that it was best not to begin executing the Helix Syndicate's mean just yet. They were an ally that he might need in the future, and although he'd already gotten what he wanted betraying them wasn't in the cards.

Not yet anyway.

Without another word Sel moved through the command room and headed towards the door, finding the other man and a handful of dead guards piled up within the hall. Just down from them and to the left he saw a few more figures shifting about, this time sticking behind the corners and holding back. Undoubtedly they were waiting for reinforcements, though if that would help them was a rather questionable thing. He considered for a moment, regarding the other man.

There was only one way out of here, and eventually they would have to cut through those guards.

From his belt he pulled out two small silvery orbs, balancing the small sphere's between his fingers.

They were gas grenades, something of his own composition. A nerve gas would work well here, none of the guards wore facemasks and the composition within the grenades worked fast. For now he held onto them, not yet throwing them down the hall.

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Sel Wyrick"]

03 fired several bursts down the hall, attempting to keep the encroaching security personnel pinned in place. It didn't last forever, these Czerka slugthrowers might have been badass and intimidating, but their ammo capacity left much to be desired. The mercenary pulled back behind the wall and ejected the spent clip, bringing him face to face with a waiting Sel Wyrick. 03 studied the shifting red light of the Mandalorian's visor even as he slammed a fresh magazine into his rifle. "Oh. Hey doc." A few blaster bolts licked the sides of the wall 03 was behind.

When they ceased, 03 peaked out again and laid down some suppressing fire, slamming a few rounds into some mook's chest and driving the rest back another few feet. "You jump in whenever you feel like it."

---​

A few levels down, things were proceeding in a similar fashion.

On his own multirole device, 01 was observing as the relevant data was downloaded. Safidine had left a lot of information on here. As far as 01 knew, they were here for the power armor schematics in particular, but he had orders to just take everything he could. Safidine, as it turned out, had a cloaking device in the works and were stockpiling the stygium at an off-site to make it. This was the kind of intel that would get him a nice, juicy bonus when they got back home. But only if they got through this next part.

04 fired his sidearm sporadically down a hallway. Had to keep up the show, even if no one was watching. The security were holed up around the corner again. Not that 04 could blame them. There were a lot of corpses, and a lot of bits and pieces of corpses, clogging that hallway too. A lot of scorch marks and chunks of structure missing from the places he had thrown several different grenades. They probably thought he was out now, but like Sel he was keeping a couple for the exit strategy.

Suddenly 01 was yanking his jack out of the mainframe and coming up towards the exit. "Set the charges on the databanks. I'll keep them back."

"Roger that, boss."

"02," He said, back on the commlink line. "We're about to blow the mainframe. Get ready to move."

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Helix Syndicate"]

Sel waited a few more moments.

A blaster round or two caught the wall besides his face, black scorch marks lingering where they struck. Still he waited. He wanted the guards to come in closer. The Gas would be most effective if he could get them closer to the source, and...well he couldn't throw all that far while being shot at. So he simply waited, sticking his head out every now and again to see where his enemies were. A few times he glanced towards his ally, frowning slightly until finally the guards began to crept closer.

"Go!"​

He heard one of them shout.

"We can over run them!"​

The assumption was an incorrect one, but there was no way they could know that. For a heartbeat more Sel held back, slowly rotating the grenades within his palm before he slowly turned, and then pressed the button atop them. With a light toss he threw them down the hall.

A soft clink clink clink could be heard as the grenades bounced off the floor and into the room. Then suddenly they exploded in a large puff of gas.

A second later the screams began.

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Sel Wyrick"]

Assuming they were just smoke grenades, 03 came out from behind the corner again, ready to fire. Only he hesitated, because now all the security mooks were screaming for their lives. Must have been nerve gas. It didn't sound like a pleasant way to go. "Sheesh, dude," 03 remarked. He was, perhaps unfortunately, no stranger to watching a bunch of hapless goons drop dead under a cloud of nerve gas. That didn't make it any more comfortable to watch. Didn't mean he'd lose sleep either. At this point it was kind of like seeing Bantha chit. Yeah, it's gross, but you move on.

Fortunately 03 and the rest of Force 32 were all sealed up inside their masks. Air filtration and reserve oxygen. You learn to take precautions on trips like these, and right about now it looked to be paying off. 02 finished what he was doing and unloaded a few shotgun shells into the controls. Now that they were done shooting, 03 noticed for the first time that the alarm had been switched off. Must've been 02's doing. The slicer came up behind them, feeding some replacement shells into his weapon.

"Alright, time to go." He paused in the doorway, observing the cloud and the choking screams. "Looks like you two've been busy."

"Doc rolled out some laughing gas."

"Yikes. Well, whatever. Let's get gone."

And just like that, they were on the move again.

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Helix Syndicate"]

Sel didn't speak.

These little fools would carry on conversation all they liked, but the Butcher had no time for such things. He had gotten what he'd wanted from this facility and that meant his time here was done. A hand came up and he waved for the others to follow.

The cloud of nerve gas still lingered within the hallway, sitting there just above the writhing corpses that were the remaining guards.

A part of Sel felt sorry for them, a very small part at least. Had his kin seen him they would likely call him a monster once more. The Mandalorians as a whole abhorred tactics of war that they called "dishonorable". To Sel's people one had to fight up front, one had to be strong, and one could never use tactics like these. For Sel however it was simple strategy. Why expend the energy? Why waste the charge on his blaster? This was easier, faster, and one could actually learn from it.

Without a word he squatted down besides one of the bodies, reaching down and plucking off a piece of the now dead man's skin.

He placed the small sample within a clear glass vial, closing it and tucking it into his coat before he continued his path out of the hall.

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Sel Wyrick"]

At this point the fact that Sel was creeping out 03 and 02 went without saying. So they didn't say it. And for his part, 02 tried not to think about it. 03 naturally did the opposite, intending to gossip to everyone who would listen about it on the ride out of the Carida System. They went down the stairwell through the way they came. As the group did so, the sound of a loud explosion from the facility's deeper levels tore through the facility - coupled with enough violent shaking that the men were forced to pause on their descent.

That must have been the mainframe. Now Safidine's progress belonged to the Syndicate alone. And Sel. Probably.

When they were finally close to their entrance point, corpses that hadn't been there before were now clouting the hallway. More security guards. Safidine had cared enough to keep a lot of guards on hand, not enough to make them a little more than fodder. "I guess we didn't get all the fun."

"No. We didn't."

----​

​

They were back in the loading bay, which also looked like it had recently involved a firefight. More Safidine corpses, more scorch marks, and the lights were on. The cargo freighter that had been sitting idly now had its engine roaring, and the loading ramp was descended. 01 was nowhere to be seen, but not long after the three entered the area did 04 come out of container 46-A carrying two crates of Nerf jerky stacked on top of each other.

"Get a load of his guy."

04 shrugged his broad shoulders as he continued up the ramp. "Hey, blow me."

Safidine had either expended its security forces in full or the survivors were no longer keen on giving chase. Frankly, 02 wouldn't have been surprised if an evacuation was ordered. Without further input, the remainder of Force 32 boarded the freighter and bid the Safidine complex a speedy farewell.