Exfiltration

[Xin Boa]

Astarro City, Ord Cestus, D'Astan sector​

​

​

The Vagrant Fleet transport whipped up dust as it set off. Xin Boa shouldered his E-22 rifle and scanned the buildings with his wide eyes. The state of the buildings around them explained the dust. Much of this district had been bombed to try and hold back the droid legions. The insurrection had been raging for months now on this peninsula and the cities had born the brunt of the damage.

"See anything?" Hirrau asked Xin.

"Like whatever that damn thing we saw on the way down was?" Inso added. On the flight down they had recorded little droid activity, but had seen something moving over the rooftops of the city. The droid legions apparently had weapons from ball-sized drones to floating behemoths the size of dragons.

"We look clear," Xin replied, checking a device on his wrist. Each of them had a passive scanner that would give a rough estimate of direction and distance to any large battle droids.

"Let's move," Hirrau called. The bunker was deeper in the city, where more droids apparently laid in hibernation in case their attack on the next city failed. Two political leaders had remained hidden and so far survived. It was down to the Vagrant Fleet's Dragoons to get them out again. If they did not only would they receive pay, but the Fleet would be permitted to cross Cestus space and make for the Hydian Way.


[member="Barnabas Harou"]
[member="Charlotte Homura"]
[member="Delila Castillon"]
[member="Formorta"]
[member="Jorg"]
[member="Maanis Vizsla"]
[member="Gideon Newport"]
[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]
[member="Noviac Caligo"]
[member="Nej Tane"]

 

[Nej Tane]

Droids. Had to be droids. Had to be stupid metal robots of doom, didn't it?

Nej was here for the route to Hydian way. Lots of places to make money out there. And pay off a few debts. And stop Bounty Hunters from coming after him. Nej pushed himself against the wall, staying near the group. He ran a hand through his hair and pulled up the goggles that were protecting his eyes.

"I don't understand droids. They creep me out."

He spoke quietly, to avoid getting the attention of one of their metal friends. And by friends he meant enemies. And enemies that wanted to kill them. Something something law of robotics. But droids really moved beyond robotics. Sentient life and all. Self-awareness that eventually led to giant killing machines. Some ancient wiseman predicted this and was laughing at them in his cozy grave right about now. He leaned his head back on the wall he was crouched behind, twirling the blaster in his hand. Blasters worked better against droids. But he wished he brought a rifle.

"But in fairness, so do a lot of things..."




[member="Barnabas Harou"]
[member="Charlotte Homura"]
[member="Delila Castillon"]
[member="Formorta"]
[member="Jorg"]
[member="Maanis Vizsla"]
[member="Gideon Newport"]
[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]
[member="Noviac Caligo"]

 

[Delila Castillon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cShYbLkhBc​

​

​

​

Back to the wall of a dusty rooftop, Delila was running through a small checklist of weapons on her body. A heavy KX-80 style blaster rifle was trapped to her back. Thigh holster held a trusty and elderly hold-out blaster. Vibroblade in her boot.There were multiple explosives hiding in various pouches and pockets on her person. Never leave the house without a hefty dose of explosives. It had saved her many times before. Nothing like a good bomb here or there to get the blood flowing.


The redhead wasn't sure why she was with the little band of vagrants once again. Most likely for the credits. It was a gamble though. She wasn't sure if she could trust any of them with her back. Unsure of their military or criminal experience. Delila had seen enough hardened military types lose it throughout the years. Took a special type to hold it together and slog through the hell that was battle.


Feet went under her, moving to more of crouch. They would be moving into the heart of the city. Urban combat, too many places to hide. Their assignment wasn't going to be easy.

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Khthul the Elder"]
[member="Barnabas Harou"]
[member="Charlotte Homura"]
[member="Delila Castillon"]
[member="Formorta"]
[member="Jorg"]
[member="Maanis Vizsla"]
[member="Gideon Newport"]
[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]
[member="Noviac Caligo"]
[member="Nej Tane"]

It took Xin a minute to work out what was gnawing at the back of his mind. For once he was almost silent as they advanced down a narrow street. He turned his attention inwards, trying to find what it was his subconscious was trying to tell him. Often he would spot something without realising it, but would get a vague sense of awareness that he was in danger. Nothing so simple this time.

The city felt dead. Never had he been in such an urban area and been greeted with almost absolute silence. Nothing stirred. No machines, no speeders, no birds, no people. No life.

The nautolan swallowed hard as he raised his rifle. There were too many windows above them. They had someone on the rooftops but neither party would necessarily spot a shooter in the buildings. Bring his rifle back to bear on the road ahead he continued his cautious advance.

It was half way up the street that he came to an abrupt halt. Xin twisted his head back and forth and brought up a hand to call the others to stop. He had almost missed it. Buried in the general apprehension this place brought about it had been hard to notice.

“Cover!” He called. “Get inside,” he hissed as loudly as he dared. Xin dashed for an open doorway. He sidestepped towards a window, dropping to his knees and pressing his back against the wall beneath it. The noise slowly built: mechanical joints whirring, binary beeps on the breeze, metallic feet slapping against the road. Xin risked a glance and caught a brief glimpse of a formation of droids sprinting down the road.

They weren't humanoid. A pair of quick limbs delivering a weapons system into battle. Lean and efficient. Xin almost jumped as a fan of blue light cut through the window. It illuminated the dust in the air as it swept from left to right and back again. The nautolan stayed very, very still. He didn't think the Force had time for reprobates like him, but he silently prayed to his own luck to hold a little longer. The scanning beam vanished.

A deep thrum reverberated through the building. Shards of glass still anchored in window frames trembled and several broke free to shatter on the ground. The beam of light was replaced by darkness. A shadow of something passed over the road. Xin's knuckles went pale yellow as tight as he brought his rifle to his chest.

No one moved for minutes after the droid task force passed them by.

“They were headed for the landing point,” Xin reasoned.

“Or just to reinforce the east of the city,” Hirrau offered.

“Either way, perhaps we head north so we don't have them pass is on the way back?” Xin asked.

“Agreed. We head north. And as much as I want to ask our woman on the rooftops what she saw keep radio silence for now.”

 

[Formorta]

Droids a dead city and urban warfare, this was her kind of fun, if fun, one of the few emotions Formorta acknowledged, the small group of vagrants, made their way through the desolate city, once coming close to some mechanized, walkers of sorts. She had opted to accompany the main group, though being a sniper, fighting against giant robots, distance didn't really matter, besides she was also proficient at being stealthy, and making way through the street to their location was almost child's play.

For this particular assignment she had brought her trusty APAR, its anti-armor rounds would be useful against any mechanical enemies they faced, the silent assassin waited for [member="Xin Boa"] and his friends to make a call on their next move, in order to avoid the walkers that the group spied earlier. Though the vagrants were equipped to deal with a multitude of threats, remaining unseen was priority number one.

The masked woman's reasons for joining the fleet were simple, she was a mercenary, killed and fought for who paid, the vagrants were just another means to get work, nothing more.

 

[Nadir]

[member="Barnabas Harou"]
[member="Charlotte Homura"]
[member="Delila Castillon"]
[member="Formorta"]
[member="Jorg"]
[member="Maanis Vizsla"]
[member="Gideon Newport"]
[member="Ava Taylor"]
[member="Kinsey Starchaser"]
[member="Noviac Caligo"]
[member="Nej Tane"]
[member="Xin Boa"]

Not quite North from the main party, a figure sat perched atop an upturned vendor. It had long been looted clean of any goods, the torn brand umbrella billowing with the occasional gust of wind. The street around him was deserted, chock-full of rubble and abandoned speeders crushed under the weight of droid patrols.

None of this bothered Khthul the Elder.

The cause of a furrow in his brow was nothing more and nothing less than an empty lighter. He stabbed a beady red glare at the device in his clawed hand. It still refused to work.

“Piece of trash.” That’s what he got for buying toydarian. The quarren grunted and flicked the lighter at the broken traffic light twenty meters away. It hit the hole in the glass dead-on, rattling inside the machine before the alley resettled into ghost-quiet.

A glance downwards revealed that his contact should be arriving soon, which was just as well – gave him just enough time to fish out his matches and light a Force-damned cigarette.

Smoke soon rose in blue plumes out his mouth and neck-holes, and Khthul hummed his satisfaction. The jitters were gone.

 

[Ava Taylor]

The Vagrant fleet enforcers, or the Dragoons, as they referred to themselves, were a colorful bunch. Ava wasn’t usually a good team player, but lately work had been a bit scarce and she felt it just might be beneficial to join a semi-formal group.

And besides, the nomadic lifestyle was right up her alley. As long as it benefitted her, she would stay with the fleet.

Now, this mission unsettled her a bit. They were dealing with droids, emotionless killing machines, and they had always creeped her out. She much preferred organics that made wet sounds when they died. Clanking and screeching wasn’t for her.

They had narrowly missed a big formation of droids headed east, and Ava’s heart beat wildly where she clutched her heavy blaster to her chest, hand hovering over the grenades on her belt.

As they peeled out of their last-second hideouts and headed north, she couldn’t help glancing up at the tall buildings. She usually preferred being up and away from immediate action, but she also preferred to dig into one spot and this type of mission just wasn’t suited to that. Resigned to close quarters combat, she was sure to bring a vibroblade as well, but against a mechanical enemy, it wouldn’t do much good.

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

Blues with white starbursts squinted through the binocs. They refocused in a quiet whir. "Um. That our contact down there?" The young Starchaser was perched on her belly at the lip of the roof and looking down and over. Chrono beeped on her wrist and she looked over, handing the bincos to her Vagrant partner, Delila Castillon. An older ginger. The woman seemed to have sass.

Kinsey liked her immediately.

Reminder her a bit of Adder.

The binocs would point to a quarren. Someone called Kthul the Elder. But for real. The. Elder. Kinsey wondered how old that meant the quarren was to actually have that in their name? "He's not being very stealthy," she mused and looked to her chrono. No big battle droids yet. Eyes tracked the movements of Xin and his landing team trying not to let her thoughts get distracted by thinking about those nautolan inky-orbs. Fingers began fishing out her line and grappling hook from her utility belt. Once she got confirmation from Dells on their target, she'd begin the descent.


[member="Delila Castillon"]
[member="Khthul the Elder"]
[member="Xin Boa"]

 

[Delila Castillon]

[member="Kinsey Starchaser"] | [member="Khthul the Elder"] | [member="Xin Boa"] | [member="Ava Taylor"] | [member="Formorta"]



"Maybe he's suicidal. I could understand that."


Eyes briefly peered down the macros. Landing team had begun to move. They were here to protect their backs, make sure they made it from point A to point B in one relative piece. Already Delila had seen dozens of droids roll through town. The little ones didn't bother her. The big ones that rattled the windows were a problem. Pale hand gave the macros back to the girl who called herself Kinsey.


Crouch shifted so she could peer across the gap between buildings.


"That group is who we are protecting, yes. You sure about this? If we get caught in something....they have orders not to stop for us."


Delila let the weight of her words hang in the air. Brown-hair was much younger than she and most likely without a quasi-death wish. If the girl didn't want to tag along it wouldn't bother her in the slightest. Self preservation was a tough instinct to ignore.

 

[Dravis Rosilla]

ASTARRO CITY, ORD CESTUS​

​

Barney picked himself up from the floor, having been roughly pushed into a building to hide. He wasn't used to ground operations, but had just enough of his wits about him to shut up and stay down. Eerie lights and mechanical monstrosities aside, he wasn't enjoying himself.

He glanced around at the others near him, in a bit of a huff. [member="Ava Taylor"], who seemed to know what she was doing, and the emotions he picked up from her suggested a sort of standoffishness. [member="Formorta"], who toted a large sniper rifle around, which Barnabas found slightly hilarious. [member="Nej Tane"], who had seemed fit to point out that these droids were creepy. Barney thought the observation was a bit obvious, but who was he to judge who said it out loud? Then the Nautolan, [member="Xin Boa"], who the Zeltron still found mildly intriguing. A few others.

He knew other groups existed in the city, such as [member="Kinsey Starchaser"], [member="Delila Castillon"], [member="Khthul the Elder"], but they seemed so far away. Fear tended to make people wish help were closer.

Barney didn't like it.

He was here for a very specific reason; to jimmy open doors, mess with programming, anything to help the team. He had no weapons or armor, but his datapad and slicer equipment were in a backpack over his shoulders. He wore a grey vest, and tight combat pants, leaving much of his skin bare, as was customary of Zetrons. He wore heavy mechanic gloves, and a pair of welder's goggles on his forehead, but not much else. Not a blaster pistol. Not a knife. Zip.

He was kinda depending on everyone else to keep him alive.

"This is fun," he said, trying his best to work up an easy smile, speaking to no one in particular as the group walked north. "Saving a couple of people I've never heard of before from a horde of rampaging droids? Awesome."

His face gave away that he didn't think this was awesome.

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Barnabas Harou"] [member="Delila Castillon"] [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] [member="Ava Taylor"] [member="Khthul the Elder"] [member="Formorta"] [member="Nej Tane"]

It wasn't easy to shake the nerves after the close encounter. Whatever had rattled the windows and cast a shadow over them all had been huge. Reports had suggested very little droid activity, but a large force had just marched right past them. For Xin it was difficult to accept that he wasn't fully master of his own destiny. By chance they could take a wrong turn and end up facing a droid horde they couldn't hope to fight. No surrender, no talking their way out.

The nautolan didn't like to rely on anyone else and he certainly didn't like having others rely on him. He did jobs that required teamwork, but he liked to chart his own path. From a young child he had drifted from place to place and been in space as often as not. A bedroll in a spare corner of a cargo bay was his home. Three years working off debt to a crime lord, two years behind bars and instead of enjoying his newfound freedom he was in this forsaken city. If they got out of this he would be spending his credits hard.

You still have your eyes, your ears and your luck, he reminded himself.

"Nothing anyone gets paid for is fun," Xin replied. With a cant of his head he opened his mouth to add some exceptions. His mouth snapped shut. Now wasn't the time. They'd picked their way through rubble from where a corvette had been brought down into a building. Now Xin weaved through abandoned speeders in a wide street.

The noise made by the quarren had Xin press the butt of the blaster rifle into his shoulder more firmly. He picked a wide path to round the corner towards the noise. He wondered how many droids they could hold off with a good defensive position. He hadn't brought enough power packs for his E22 and Glie44 for a protracted engagement.

A figure in clear view. Xin came to a stop. It quite obviously wasn't a droid.

"Our contact,". Hirrau, the nikto explained. "The bunker with the VIPs won't be far. Might have to cross the canal though."

Xin lowered his rifle, but not far. He raised a hand in greeting and approached cautiously. His eyes scanned the skyline to see if he could spot their support above.

 

[Nej Tane]

So, here Nej was, in an abandoned city, abandoned by people, at least. But it wasn't abandoned by killer, bipedal, hyper-lethal droids. When [member="Xin Boa"] said get inside, a careful, watchful eye would note that Nej was already fast inside. Perhaps a testament to his survival instinct. Or that he wasn't one for being assaulted by killer robots. Assaulted and subsequently littered with thousands of blaster bolts was not how Nej wanted to go. Nej wanted to go peacefully, surrounded by women and not by family.

As their group went on and they all dealt with the prospect of mechanical-being focused death in their own separate ways, Nej crouched as Xin and company came forth to their supposed contact.

"Hey Xin, looks like we're on the wrong side of the river."

Nej followed Xin's gaze, holding the blaster pistol, thumb over thumb, tightly as he maneuvered after his green-skinned, black-eyed, tentacle-headed- semi-aquatic acquaintance, and the company of friends he had. Friends was a stretch, but they seemed nice enough.

[member="Barnabas Harou"] l [member="Delila Castillon"] l [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] l [member="Khthul the Elder"] l [member="Ava Taylor"]

 

[Formorta]

Formorta was not one to really acknowledge other unless she had to interact with them, the only one that really caught any attention was [member="Barnabas Harou"], his bright and colorful appearance and choice of weaponry was a bit odd, but she didn't care, as long as it didn't interfere with the mission. The group continued to move silently through the city, fortunately not coming across any potential threats, though just to be safe had activated all the stealth tech on her suit, except the visual cloaking field.

Pressing up against the wall as [member="Xin Boa"] spotted the presumed contact, while him and [member="Nej Tane"] talked about crossing the river, Formorta got into a crouched position, eyeing the target though the scope on the oversized rifle. The being was indeed human and matched the constants description, and appeared to be on the look out for their group, "Can confirm, target is contact".

Holstering the weapon she made a proposal to Xin, "I can sneak across the channel and make contact, while the rest of the group can take a more safe approach. They needed to reach the contact as fast as possible, but at the same time keep cover, sending the stealthiest people over first to confront with the VIPs they had arrived as well as set up a defense perimeter would be a good call, though it was entirely up to Xin on what to do.

/ [member="Delila Castillon"] / [member="Ava Taylor"] /

 

[Nadir]

Khthul perked up at the voices around the corner. Human voices.

His hand moved to rest on the grip of his oldest pistol – Cthahy, so named after his darling sister – and his red eyes narrowed at the bend of the street in anticipation.

A nautolan. Hrm. Good to have a fellow swimmer around.

The quarren slid off his seat and maneuvered around the rubble towards the approaching [member="Xin Boa"]. He didn’t raise his hands.

“Guy I talked to was a nikto,” he spoke, puffing blue smoke at the nauto. His gaze slid over the drifter’s shoulder, settling on Hirrau a few paces back as the lizard walked into the intersection. “That’s the one.”

Smacking his lips to shake off the ash from his cig, the old man continued. “Your human’s right,” he said, pointing a tentacle at [member="Nej Tane"]. “Bunker’s on the other side, but y’all don’t wanna be caught on a bridge, day or night. They got blockades set up like it’s the One Sith occupation down there.”

Khthul croaked out a laugh. “Y’all are gonna have to use the ole waterways ‘neath the canal. Eheheheh. Used to be they smuggled all kinds of them shrooms X’Ting’ve got ‘ere through those. Eheh. Fun place. Non-swimmers might get a bit... eheh... outta breath.”


[member="Kinsey Starchaser"] | [member="Delila Castillon"] | [member="Ava Taylor"] | [member="Barnabas Harou"] | [member="Formorta"]

 

[The Bounteous Hunt]

One team met with the contact, the other stayed on the roof to watch their backs.

And Captain Beloved? He sat back on the roof to watch their asses... literally. Way back behind them, Captain Beloved lounged behind [member="Delila Castillon"] and [member="Kinsey Starchaser"], on his back so as to keep a low profile, yet all the same his attention was on them. He couldn't help it, he was a devil and they were women. Two of his men were perched on their stomachs facing outward to pull security while the Captain ate.

"Y'all movin' out?" He said between bites. He pulled out a sulfur packet, and flicked it around in his hand, shaking up the contents. Fatigue was washed over him watching these woman's backs ever so nobly, he would need a little boost to get moving. "I'll be right behin' ya," The Beloved devil winked, before ripping open and pouring the stinking sulfur onto his long yellowed black tongue. A rush of energy eliminated his fatigue immediately, and he felt a powerful strength in his muscles only moments later. Shoving the rest of his food into a pocket, the Captain sat up into a low crouch, and looked behind him.

"Cover us as we descend boys, your Beloved's got your back." The Captain issued a wicked smile as he return his attention to the female warriors before him, hoping they'd lead the way.

 

[Nej Tane]

Damn right I'm right.

God it feels good to be right.

Nej frowned and holstered his blaster under his arm. "And by that I assume you mean, those of us who aren't born with gills or large lung capacity?" Sure, Nej could swim. But he wasn't a Galactic athlete or even remotely a great swimmer. He just swam when the need arose. Such as when he was drowning. But swimming underneath a tunnel? Hard pass. Unless they couldn't bypass it.

[member="Khthul the Elder"] l [member="Xin Boa"] l [member="Barnabas Harou"] l [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] l [member="Delila Castillon"] l [member="Ava Taylor"]

 

[Ava Taylor]

They rounded the corner to find a fat, green tentacle monster smoking a cigarette that sent Ava into a coughing fit when she inhaled the blue smoke. She sent a death glare to the quarren once she had control of her breathing again. The green guy was just asking for trouble.

That he basically told them all that they needed to swim through underground tunnels or get mowed down by an army of droids didn't exactly brighten her spirits.

"Are you kidding me? No one's got any gear with them and in case you didn't notice, most of us aren't naturally talented," she added on when a fellow human expressed his displeasure. Swimming in armor, light as it was, is no joke, and Ava somehow doubted that the tunnels were conveniently dappled with small abnormalities that would form air pockets.

"Do you by any chance have an idea that wouldn't see half of this squad drown?"

[member="Khthul the Elder"] [member="Xin Boa"] [member="Barnabas Harou"] [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] [member="Delila Castillon"] [member="Nej Tane"] [member="Formorta"] [member="Captain Beloved"]

 

[Dravis Rosilla]

Barney sent a lopsided grin in [member="Xin Boa"]'s direction, a bit of his carefree self leaking through. "Agree to disagree."

The group kept walking, Barney jumping at every noise. He didn't like being out in a battlefield; he'd much rather be inside some impenetrable vehicle, blasting away at droids with laser cannons. Here, he could get taken out by a stray blaster shot, his short life holding no significance to anyone.

Not exactly happy thoughts.

Finally, he saw their contact, and he sighed in relief. They'd managed to get through the city without having their brains scattered, but their next obstacle after talking to their contact was getting to the safe location. [member="Formorta"] suggested she sneak across alone, and Barnabas could only shake his head, not willing to say no. Wasn't his call, but he didn't like the sound of that nonetheless. If she was captured, she'd almost certainly die, and the droids would be alerted to the presence of Dragoons in the city.

A quick, painful end for all of them.

Then, a Quarren, [member="Khthul the Elder"], approached, suggesting a way to the bunker. A way that both [member="Ava Taylor"] and [member="Nej Tane"] found displeasing. The Zeltron could only laugh, waving his hand over his shoulder as he followed the Nautolan to their contact.

"I have to side with the Humans on this one, bub. As breath-taking as that plan would be."

| [member="Captain Beloved"] | [member="Delila Castillon"] | [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] |​

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Barnabas Harou"] [member="Delila Castillon"] [member="Kinsey Starchaser"] [member="Ava Taylor"] [member="Khthul the Elder"] [member="Formorta"] [member="Nej Tane"] [member="Captain Beloved"]


Hirrau, the nikto dragoon burdened with leadership crossed his arms over his chest. His grey and burnished copper armour was covered in marks and notches. It suited him.

"The tunnels shouldn't be flooded. Not in this weather," Hirrau said. He'd done his homework. "Khthul and Xin have point crossing underneath the canal. Formorta if you can find another way then scout ahead."

Xin gave Barnabas a knowing look. As much as Xin liked a good bit of back and forth chat the place sent a chill up his spine. It kept him silent and watchful for the most part. A shame as he'd enjoyed his conversations with the Zeltron so far. After two years in prison and the serious nature of many of the Dragoons he was a breath of fresh air.

---

When they reached the passage down under the city Xin lifted his goggles from his eyes. The nautolan was well suited to the darkness. Shouldering his rifle he went for the Glie44 pistol. It was more agile in a tight space. There were no reports of aquatic droids being seeing in action, but a sense of trepidition built as they descended. When they reached the bottom there was a flat duracrete platform railed off. Xin paused to remove his shoes, stuffing them into his bag. He flexed his toes and strode across the duracrete and climbed the railings.

"Someone with a waterproof bag take these?" He asked, putting his two ion grenades and comms jammer on the ground. He dropped into the water and vanished. He broke the water fifteen seconds later.

"Doesn't get more than waist deep," he called, standing up. "Looks clear ahead."

It was true. There were no aquatic droids. But they were deadly recon drones that could anchor to a ceiling and pepper the group with light blaster fire if they were found...

 

[Kinsey Starchaser]

"Am I ever sure, sure about anything?" Kinsey shook her head and winked at Dells, blues shifting over to Captain Beloved? This lot had some crazy names. Still, the wanderer had heard stranger. No time for judgement when rappelling down a building and meeting up with the rest of the group.

Booted-feet hit the duracreet. Seemed like they were at the back - covering everyone's sixes. In fact, the last of the group ahead of them already disappeared down a tunnel entrance. Xin was kept on comms and she couldn't help the sigh of relief at it being waist deep.

The Starchaser could do a lot of things but swimming wasn't one of them.

Still, maybe they'd stay on this side of the bridge. She had no idea. Blues traveled to Dells and Captain. "We going in too?"