It ain't just a booty call

[Arage Bao]

Krant System​

Krant​

Nightfall​

[member="Isley Verd"]
​

A single ship dropped out of hyperspace, stealth systems engaged. Some would say it swam through space with much grace, well.. I don’t know about that. Because I ain’t some kind of wicked magician, who can see his ship flying while standing in its hangar bay. So I gotta disappoint you there, no crazy descriptions here.

Anyway, an acquaintance of mine decided to share some juicy intelhttp://starwarsrp.net/topic/30894-the-scorpions-tail-invited-only/ with me. To be more specific, the location of Verd’s Castle. Now, I don’t actually know Verd, never met the guy. But Salem also gave me a possible list of the items that might be in the castle, and there.. well that right there gave me pause. Note, I said might. Salem didn’t actually know for certain what was happening there.

So I did the only thing a responsible person would do. I hit up another acquaintance of mine, Manu. Now to be honest, he didn’t have a clue either, but he knew someone who did. That led me to a.. well I’d say pleasant, but really it wasn’t that pleasant of a conversationhttp://starwarsrp.net/topic/31261-eleven-minus-ten-jared-ovmar/. Now she.. gave me all the info I needed.

From there it was a simple thing of picking the right people for the right job, and here we are. Standing inside the hangar bay of the Bane of Coruscant. Plan was simple, get in, neutralize all opposition, take everything and then get the hell out of there.

We would be going in by the Sekairo Stealth Transports, hopefully that would make sure they won’t know what’s happening until we are right on top of them. At least, that was the plan. We would see how things would progress.

“Alright people. Plan is simple, we go in by Sekairo. Should give us some time before they detect us. Intel suggests there are various obstacles in our way, an army of droids and passworded doors on the estate. Maybe Obsidian Knights patrolling, but definitely on call if we make too much noise. Expect regular soldiers, maybe a mech or two. I hear Verd’s got a damn zoo in there, so I won’t be surprised if we encounter a Bull Rancor or two. On top of that, the castle is built on an ancient Sith Temple. Lower levels are crowded with Sith Spirits and all that nasty stuff.”

I looked at each and everyone one of ‘em, while finishing up the talk.

“You are the best, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. So this should be a damn cakewalk. Just to be safe, a second Sekairo is going to land on the other side of the Castle. If anything goes wrong, head North. Medics and a fast extraction point will be there. Just remember, the payday is going to be something out of legends. Any questions?”

Spoiler

[member="Aleidis Ijet"] [member="Lord Dissero"] [member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Manu Xextos"] [member="Selinica Miriya Cailis"] [member="Anaudius"] [member="Darth Janus"] [member="Valik"] [member="Layla"] [member="Nemene Talith"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"][member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Layla]

From under a black mask, brown eyes would go flickering over at [member="Jared Ovmar"] along with that of the rest of the motley crew.

Her hair would be slicked back in a half ponytail, the long length of chestnut hair flowing down her back and alongside the black leather catsuit. One Taozin Amulet would be tucked under her modest bustline, making her fuzzy in the Force to those around, and other than that, nothing would seem to come from the woman other than that.

Simple black boots, AEL’s newest line of gun belt riding low on her hips with a Tenloss Ambassador pistol holstered along it in it. A regular WeStar 34 would glint like a glassy lady on her left thigh, along with the AEL’s phrik shiv.

Layla de Barbarac, one of the elitist underworld purveyors of the classics. A bit flirty, coy, and perhaps obsessive over perfection, but rumor had it she had the knowledge of antiquities that may just be on par of Dissero.

Maybe.

A reputation was all a sapient had. She did her part on Serpena. Now, she had to prove it here.

 

[Lira Dajenn]

Nemene didn't respond to Jareds comforting little speech, she didn't really feel the need to.

The reason she was here was not for momentary gain, or knowledge, or anything of the sort. No the purple skinned woman was here as a favor to her friend, and to have a spot of fun. Nemene knew some of the people in the room, though not shockingly she had never even seen the half of them before. Perhaps a failing on her part, or perhaps a plus, seeming as how she didn't have to put up with annoyances.

What she did know however, was that each person in this room was in one way or another quite powerful, powerful enough that half of them likely would have gotten this job done just fine.

Or taken the planet.

Her shoulders rolled in a slight shrug, purple lines shifting across her skin as she moved ever so slightly. This would be entertaining, and educating. The most fun she would have here was in observing the reaction of the Confederacy. She had never met any of these so called Obsidian Knights, but she was eager to watch them in battle, eager to see how they fought, and more importantly died.

Dying was the most important thing anyone could do after all.

 

[Caulder Dune]

Tyrin had no quarrel with Isley, truly. If anything, he had nothing but respect for the Sithling. The man had, after all, enabled him to set up shop as the Viceroy of Hypori and then as the Vicelord of the Confederacy itself. The fact of the matter was that this opportunity was worth much, much more than this friendship. A partnership was fleeting, but Sith artifacts were forever, or so the saying goes. Besides, Isley was a Mandalorian. He could not expect Tyrin to ignore his affiliation with that filthy tribe of degenerates forever.

It had been a subject of much contention to Tyrin for a while. On one hand, Verd was a Sith. Powerful in the Force, a user of the correct side of it, very well situated. On the other hand, he lowered himself to the disgusting, backwards tendencies of that marauding horde of barbarians known as Mandalorians. Ultimately Janus decided that a Sith was only a Sith so long as they didn't seek to blur their proper identity by intermingling those mouth-breathing swine.

With that settled, he found his usual policy of not stepping on the toes of other Sith to be irrelevant. Darth Janus donned a cleaner set of armor and robes and joined up with Ovmar's band of merry miscreants. Now he was here, in the hangar with some other rabble, listening intently as Ovmar rattled off what they would be finding underneath the temple-castle-thing-whatever. Despite being throttled by Tahira Solo for a second time and abandoned on Hoth, it had done little to stem his desire to commit acts of heinous, heinous evil. Well, maybe a little, but he was determined to not let such a thing bother him. It wasn't as if any of them would know too much about it anyway. Keep on keeping on.

No one else responded to Jared after he was done speaking. That was... Rude? What were these shlebs on about?

"Remind us how the loot is going to be divvied up, please." Tyrin requested. "You know, just so we're all clear on that."

 

[Sal Katarn]

Redacted

 

[Manu Xextos]

Isley Verd had been Manu's friend. Life around the Verd-ster had been tense and apoplectic but the Mandalorian had put racial echoes aside for mutuality and a place to be. Heck, Manu Xextos was Admiral of the Sv'yato Fleet because Isley Verd pulled strings. Verd also tried to pull Manu's mentally ill mother into an affair and for that, Isley Verd would die penniless, holocronless, and devoid of swag. The seven foot tall Echani Master stood on the Command Deck of the Bane with his hands folded in front of him, his body draped in a deep grey robe and armour hidden under the robe.

The Obsidian Master had given [member="Jared Ovmar"] the appropriate codes to make hasty escapes with clear run channels, should they need to and the taste of betrayal was fallow and rank in his mouth. "Anybody got a mint?" Manu piped up, glancing around this troop of Darksiders. His eyebrow raised and he cleared his throat. "Nevermind."

"Leviathan and Nexu." Manu said, "Most likely zoo creatures are the leviathan and the Nexu. Try not to kill the Nexu if you can, they're trained. Right person can make them sit pretty and pounce with 'death from above', or so I've heard. Mmh... who gets what? Good question, [member="Darth Janus"]"

He glared outward for a planet or star to fly by, the unsettled feeling growing in his stomach that this was a parting of ways. His lot was better cast with Ovmar anyway.

 

[Nisha Decrilla]

Anaya sat back with her boots up on the table, a bored expression on her face. She disliked pep talks and speeches when they weren't needed. They only needed the details, but clearly Jared was feeling the need to give his collection of misfits a little boost.

"I like Nexu's, had one once, till some jumped up force dead git killed it." She pouted before continuing "I say finders keepers. You find loot, and you want it, keep it, or leave it for the scavenger behind you to pick up. Alternatively we could sell it all at auction and split the profits."

 

[Ilias Nytrau]

Sure, she was the only 'noob' (ugh, she despised that term) going on this little jaunt, Force-wise, but the fact of the matter was that she had spent the past eight years of her life as a thief, not once caught. Now, she had traded that for the experience of teamwork once again, as it was hardly likely that she would be metaphorically (and almost literally) knifed in the back when everyone around her had a significant edge over her to start with. Was that daunting? A little, perhaps, if she was honest with herself. Would it put her off?

No. She was here to do what she did best these days - steal things - and gain some new experiences along the way. She could swallow her pride, put a cap on the distrust, and focus. [member="Manu Xextos"] spoke up with a trivial question, and the nature of it put a small curl at one corner of her mouth.

A mint? Well, at least someone has brought a little levity along for the ride.

Besides, no matter how she felt about, well, anything, she had volunteered for this. The trappings were simply too good to pass up - she did remember how things would be divided, but she left it to [member="Jared Ovmar"] to answer the question.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

Moira Skaldi had little time for speeches, pep talks and such. Devoid of emotions and feelings, she did not really need to be inspired and motivated. Indeed she probably lacked th appropriate software for it. So she gave no response to the little speech of [member="Jared Ovmar"] as she stood there in the hangar alongside the team that had been assembled for the heist.


Moira had no quarrel with the Confederacy or even Isley Verd. Anymore than she had with any organic polity, what with being a paper clip maximiser with genocidal ambitions. The more conflict was sown between organics, the better from her perspective. Strictly speaking the holocrons and artefacts they might find would not be useful to her from a personal perspective, since as a human replica droid she lacked this 'Force', as it was called. However, selling them would be most profitable. She recalled the last big heist she had been on, when Je'gan's crew of misfits stole the Shepherd back from the Confederacy.


A shame the city-ship had vanished after Atrisia's assimilation into the Fringe. She cocked her head slightly to the side, lifeless eyes that were a bright blue and yet held no humanity in them, falling upon [member="Anaya Fen"]. Moira had done business with the Queen of Chaos before, was planning on a long-term partnership with her...until eventually one of the two lethal predators saw the necessity to destroy the other. One could say there was something close to respect...as much as she could manifest such for an organic. "I agree," she said impassively after the Twi'lek had spoken. She did not like saying more than needed.

 

[Valik]

Valik listened half-heartedly to the Fringeman's invigorating speech. He knew why he was here, to take care of slicing, droids, see if any of the alchemical creations were possible or worth it worth to duplicate, as well as perform the catch-all duty of "Bad Mother-Fether." Granted, he wasn't quite as good at playing that last one as a few others around him, but that wasn't to say Valik was a slouch. In any case he remained silent as one of the raiders began to discuss the dividing of shares.

"Now, while normally I'd encourage men and women fighting to take what should be theirs, it'll be much easier to accomplish this job without combating each other in the process." He said, before putting a couple hands around the neck of [member="Anaya Fen"], placing an amulet across her chest before slowly connecting the attached chain behind her neck.

"We will all get our toys by the end of this." He said as he adorned the legendary lethan. Once he completed his action and speech he threw a box in between the crew.

"An invention of mine. Think of it as armor you don't have to wear." He said, referring to the PDA. "I figured increasing mobility would maximize efficiency."

 

[Layla]

Now this was a question that had Layla seemingly instantly perk.

How the goods were going to be divided up. Her boot would slide back to rest it’s sole against the wall, her fingers seemingly giving an idle play in apparent anticipation. From under the simple leather half mask, ruby red lips would quirk just so.

“And just what are the goods?” would come of soft throaty purr, the expression of piqued interest rolling off her Nexu smile. It was clear where she would apparently stand in. Business was business.

And such little bits were best taken care of from the get go.

Granted the box was thrown into the center of the room by another. Ebon brow under the mask quirked. PDA?


Curious.

 

[Marcus Tritum]

I stood in the middle of Forcers. Lots and lots of Forcers. And I don't think all of them were friendly. You bet I was decked out in the best AEL had to offer. Worked for the company now, after all. Just because I resigned from the military didn't mean I wouldn't be doin' Fringe ops anymore, though... I'd just be doin' them on my own terms.

Let's see the list of what I was wearing. Well, obviously I had on my grey-green terentatek duster. That was a must. And I had my AEL Leviathan Bracers. Those were pretty useful. A pair of terentattack cuffs hung off my hip. Oh, and I had the fancy new Bodo Baas Gunbelt slung around my shoulder, with a bunch of grenades and a truly ridiculous amount of extra mags stuffed into it. I had my Czerka Machine Pistol and my BTI-Ripper strapped to my thighs, plus a disruptor pistol in a shoulder holster. A big lightsaber-resistant knife sat in a sheath at my hip and opposite that was my hatchet.

Basically, I felt like I was a walking armory. Oh. I forgot about my latest addition. I was carrying a CZ-840 combat shotgun. 8 rounds, semi-auto, double barreled. Best part? I was using dragon's breath rounds. 12 gauge shells, nasty things. They shoot out magnesium pellets and shards that'll set you on fire like nobody's business.

Except even though I was carrying all this crap I still felt like I wouldn't be ready for whatever we were up against. Freakin' Forcers, man.

 

[Dissero]

"Would seem such a waste," Dissero spoke from a seat towards the back, horn of drink in his hand, skin sooty from work in the forges, beard stubble having fully enveloped the lower portion of his face, "put all that effort into pillaging things just to footle them away for a few credits." The man gestured with a wave of his free hand.

"You can't put a price on knowledge until you have it, friends. We can all have what we're after, so long as it's made to be shared. Be there any holocrons in that trove, I will willingly craft each of you a pristine copy of whichever you like, and in return I will maintain the true items with the rest of my..." the man's blue eyes trailed towards Janus indistinctly, a wane smile pressed into his expression, "collection. I think that's fair. So far as the rest of the lot goes, this lovely specimen here has the right idea," the Archivist's gaze landed then on Layla, maintaining her for a moment before flickering finally to Jared, "what's the goods, Jae?"

 

[Moira Skaldi]

"I have no personal use for holocrons, should such devices be found in the castle. I am willing to part with those I find in return for adequate remuneration. Be it monetary or materiel. But that is for after this venture has been successful," Moira spoke after [member="Lord Dissero"] the archivist had said his piece. In other words for credits or shiny tech that talented individuals such as Rave Merrill and [member="Valik"] so excelled at creating. As a droid she would not be able to activate holocrons and in any case her suddenly manifesting supernatural powers was beyond logical possibility.

"Regardless, the question is valid. What devices are we expecting to find?"

 

[Arage Bao]

I was going to answer Tyrin’s question, but then Anaya decided to give her own input supported by the Moira. ‘Course I had seen this coming, some Sith ain’t interested in the long term game, they just wanna go in quick and play a bit of grabby grabby then get out again. Ain’t what this is about in the end though, if I wanted to make this a Free for All? I’d have invited Fox Plant to our little get together.

Was about to say that too, but then Valik decided to jump in himself and put out his own opinion. Which elicited a nod from me, a sensible man this alchemist. Seemed he didn’t lack any vision, neither did he lack in taste in the area of womenfolk it seemed.

Couldn’t help but grin at that, which turned even wider when I saw the amulets. Now that was some beauty, I took one out and put it over my neck. Probably would explode in two seconds and cut my head off… nope, safe. Excellent.

“Valik has the right idea here. I ain’t interested in making this some kind of free for all winner takes all-match. We are professionals and Verd’s castle ain’t no joke. We go in there, we take everything we can get and then distribute everything here equally.”

I took another look at the PDA, could already feel the energy stirring inside of it. This would certainly come in handy, especially because I hate wearing armor.

“If you don’t agree with this course, say so now and you can be on your way. No bad feelings, just business.”

Then Layla brought in a word, now this woman was a mystery. Had been hard to track her down, even harder to find anything solid on her. One thing was for sure, she knew her business and if stories are correct she would be very helpful with copying any holocrons we would find.

I waved behind me, and a holoprojection appeared showing various holo/datacrons and scrollshttp://starwarsrp.net/topic/31261-eleven-minus-ten-jared-ovmar/?p=439780 on it. Those were the solid lead I had, artifacts and all that? Didn’t have anything specific on it, so wasn’t any use showing maybes here.

“We aren’t sure what the word is on the artifacts, most of ‘em are things Verd could be using on a daily basis. What we do know for certain is that he has an extensive archive. “

“Plan is simple, we go in and take everything. Anyone who is interested in holocrons, will get a copy. Same goes for the datacrons and the scrolls. Artifacts will be distributed fairly. Valik has requested a touching session with anything we find, and I don’t see a problem with that.”

“That reminds me, as I said any holocrons we find will be copied. That will take a lot of work from Di and possibly Layla. I don’t have a problem giving you the original pieces, but if Layla helps she will probably want a piece of the action. I assume you will be able to sort that amongst yourselves?”

Looking over everyone, I waited for someone to comment.

"If that's all, I think ladies and gentlemen.. we have just arrived at our destination. Move out."

Spoiler

[member="Aleidis Ijet"] [member="Lord Dissero"] [member="Anaya Fen"] [member="Manu Xextos"] [member="Selinica Miriya Cailis"] [member="Anaudius"] [member="Darth Janus"] [member="Valik"] [member="Layla"] [member="Nemene Talith"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"][member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Layla]

There was a keen light igniting in the dark eyes of the woman in the black mask, her gloved thumb sliding over the PDA unit provided.

The list was quite an intriguing one. Tempting. A tasty treat for any connoisseur of lore.

No wonder so many had come together for the endeavour. She would seemingly wonder just who they were. Names. Titles. What role would they play?

As the call to move out went ahead, Layla gave a nod.

This will be interesting indeed.

"Well then... Let's get started. Are we doing this in teams? " she'd ask.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

Human replica droids possessed a near timeless patience. Or at least that was what they claimed they did, along with the claim of being above base and primitive organic emotions. Nonetheless Moira might have felt a close approximation of what organics would call impatience. [member="Jared Ovmar"], Fringe Lord, had spoken his piece and laid out the terms and, moreover, as had been pointed out they had yet to actually infiltrate the castle, overcome its formidable defences and abscond with the treasure their intelligence indicated would be hidden inside it.

Haggling over conditions and thus using up time would be illogical. Then again, the machine had a dislike of haggling anyway. A contract was either logical or it was not, so she was in no mood - terminatrices did actually have those - to draw things out. Eyes that were as blue as a Naboo sea and yet, most unlike it, so devoid of life fell upon the amulets [member="Valik"] revealed before she took one and placed it around her neck.

She was already wearing the grey-green leather terentatek duster, which was an absolute must the days, while a truly ridiculous amounts of explosives, including metal-eating insect grenades that would surely be useful, and spare magazines was stuffed inside her gunbelt. Her purple bladed lightsabre, a gift from Lady Kyros, who unfortunately seemed to have vanished, something that had caused a measure of annoyance in the human replica droid, was strapped to her belt. Two boltguns to provide heavy firepower, a shatter gun and a disruptor pistol holstered each.

The list was certainly very...intriguing. All those treasures up for grabs, if their endeavour was successful. So she arose, as the call to move out came, looking over the assembled group as she readied herself to head out.

 

[Caulder Dune]

For some reason Anaya Fen felt inclined to offer her input on how she thought the loot should be divided up. Tyrin could not imagine what he had said to that arrogant wastrel to make her think her opinion was desired, if valuable at all. He had been speaking to Ovmar. For some reason, Ovmar was delayed in giving an answer, leaving room for the other members of this team to hamfistedly shove their opinions to the floor. Of course the robot wanted it to be a free for all. Of course the shaggy looking ruffian wanted the animals alive. He would keep these opinions to himself. It would be rather improper and gauche of him otherwise, not to mention hazardous to his life expectancy.

Eventually, Valik deposited a box of amulets on the ground, fastening one around Fen's neck. Wasteful. At least he had brought enough to share with the rest of the class. Tyrin wordlessly seized one of the amulets telekinetically, having it drift slowly over towards him before he caught it in an outstretched hand. He fastened the amulet around his neck, ensuring it was secured. A woman he didn't recognize asked about the exact details on the loot. If Ovmar waited much longer he'd drown in the backlog of unanswered questions. Thankfully he didn't wait much longer, and effectively put everyone in the right just in time for the ship to touch down.

How convenient.

The doors swung open, revealing the wicked looking dead forest that surrounded that castle. It was a dark night, but not stormy, which indicated only half a cliche. Up ahead Tyrin could see the looming walls of what he would now refer to as Castle Verd. No doubt he would need to expend precious, precious energy building up the Force so he could silently jump over the walls. Frankly, he doubted he could do such a thing. Instead he would opt to use the Ascension gun he had the foresight to bring with him, currently holstered at his side. Blasters were brutish weapons; unfitting of a person of his stature. But only a complete idiot would refuse to use one when the situation called for it.

Someone mentioned teams. He was not sitting here and waiting for everyone to elect team captains and pick their players. Partly because it was a waste of time and partly because he still had emotional trauma from his academy days, being picked last every time his peers had organized any kind of team sport.

"Teams. Of course. Simply gravitate towards the people you think will get things done." Tyrin said as he strolled down the ramp and off the ship. "I'm going to the library, assuming this abysmal little redoubt has one."

Logic dictated that most deposits of knowledge would be within a library. He very much doubted Verd had the creativity to store them elsewhere or invent a safer location.

 

[Layla]

Layla would give a pointed look. Fine, her expression behind the mask would say.

"Then let's hop to it. Time is money ladies and gentlebeings... we do not have the luxury to waste it." she would clip the PDA upon her belt, the black leather covered figure of the woman striding past the main group.

A glance over her shoulder would reveal a perk of her brow. "Shall we?"

 

[Arage Bao]

Ovmar stepped outside of the transported, and squinted as his eyes adjusted themselves to the eerie darkness of the Fortress and the glooming lights of the courtyard. They had landed behind the encampment, would have to scale a wall and then quickly breeze through the defenses.

Intel was simple, outside forces were mostly organics. Wouldn’t be much of a threat to the mentalist, but inside the real fun began. Droids, Sithspawn all the goodness.

Wouldn’t be much help against that, but.. that was going to be a worry for later. As Ardik started scaling the wall, the miss asked if he was ready.

“Right behind you. Let me… do something against those guards.”​

Which was followed by him closing his eyes, and reaching out towards the fortress. There were four men on this side of the wall, patrolling and making sure nobody would be trying to climb on it. It was a good thing Ovmar had been reaching out just now, because one of the guards had already heard some shuffling.

The Lord of the Fringe put them to sleep, all of ‘em at once. Four men weren’t that difficult, especially not on a cold, dark night. When the only thing they were wishing for was a bed already. The power of suggestion, if you will.

Ardik and to an extension Layla’s path was clear now. Silently, Jared followed in their wake, his mind still roaming the fortress. Ready to snuff out any opposition, before detection came to pass.

It was imperative to the mission to avoid detection, or at least prolong it until they were ready for extraction again. They wouldn’t want a Fleet on their ass.