Knowledge Is Power Cause I Can Sell It (Open)

[Celiana]

I caught Silas's eyes flitting over to my helmet then motioning with his eyes towards the scientists I took that to mean that I should take the scientists out. Pulling my silenced pistol from it's holster I checked making sure the load was tranquilizer rounds then softly pulled the slide back loading it. As the group of scientists turned to welcome us I walked over into one of the camera's blind spots to close the distance and shaking the scientist's hand shot him in the chest. As soon as he dropped I popped a clean shot into the other two scientist's stomachs and they dropped too. Arja got my message through helmet comms and loaded a tranquilizer mag in her pistol and lined up shots on the guards just then the guard's weapons overloaded incapacitating them. There were two shots from me and two from Arja as the guards fell.

Arja dragged them out of view, hid their bodies in a storage room and zip tied the four men together. Locking the door after her she rejoined me. Opening the comms I said, "alright Dr. Miu now I'm guessing that we're going to abscond with the scientist's badges right? Allows us access to the labs and so forth, also sorry about the no helmet thing but you should tie your computer into my gauntlet datapad now so that you don't have to talk to communicate. It'll make things much easier. If you're good to head to the data storage Arja and I will quickly go through and round up tech in the R&D labs unless you wanted to go there with us and then head to the data storage servers so Arja and I can cover you."

[member="Silas Miu"]

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas debated with himself about how to proceed, and ultimately decided to err on the side of caution. "We'll clear the R&D labs, then proceed to the data storage center. It'd be best to have you two in tow in case they have security patrols out." Silas said, then to answer an earlier question about the background he's set up and it's integrity, "As far as the research projects and documents I've forged, you don't have to worry about it. I've set up several holonet sites containing research documents, projected completion dates, the works. If they can get through the fake background I set up, we deserve to be caught."

 

[Celiana]

"Alright R&D it is then. You'd best be tied into my gauntlet datapad and then we'll start moving through the labs." Looking towards Arja she started screwing on silencers to all her weapons and I did the same with my Vindicator bull pup rifle. Checking the chambers I ejected the mags of my rifle and made sure they were armor-piercing rounds. Smacking the mag against my palm to clear it of dust I slapped it back into the rifle the pulled the slide back loading one into the chamber. Going through I pulled the mag out of my pistol and tapped it against my palm before reloading the mag with two rounds and pulling the slide back to load a tranquilizer round in the chamber before slapping the mag back into place.

"Whenever you're ready Silas, we're good to move." Flicking my eyes up to the timer in my helmet I said, "we've still got an hour and fifteen before we need to begin our ex-fil from the facility. We're doing good on time and keeping things quiet so far." Remembering something I realized the guards probably had their own comm system and that they'd need to check in periodically. "Arja, go and grab their comms, we'll need to check in with them periodically otherwise we'll be karked. Silas we're going to keep tied into their comms in our helmets so that nothing will appear wrong, if they ask where we are in the tour I'll cover that. It'll also allow us to monitor their patrols so that we can stay ahead of them. We're good to move now though and I suggest we truly begin our heist here."

[member="Silas Miu"]

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas nodded in approval at [member="Celiana"] as she and her friend grabbed the guards comms, readying to report that all was well. He quickly set up a connection between his computer and her gauntlet datapad, allowing him to communicate with her silently, should the need arise. His demeanor had changed as soon as the guards and scientists hit the floor, slipping from his 'happy Kaminoan scientist's mode into his 'aloof Kaminoan slicer' mode. "Alright, the cameras have been in a loop for the past couple of minutes. We need to work quickly to determine the most valuable tech to take with us, as well as determining if it's of sith origin. I'll start in on the records, searching for anything that piques my interest, while you two have a look around." Silas said, eyeing a nearby terminal that one of the scientists helpfully left open.

As Celiana and Arja started their task, Silas began his. Using the terminal, and it's users identity, to slice into an admin account, with access to all research logs, genetic specimens, patient information and financial accounts for the research facility. He sifted through the data, writing an effective algorithm to process it all, and sort the data, accounts and specimens by order of priority. He then spent maybe five minutes creating a list of Sith shell companies, companies with empirical ties and ran that information through as well. "Celiana, we've got seven research projects backed by the sith. Most of it centers around saber crystal research and prototype personal energy shields. Sending you and Arja the files now." Silas said, every bit the professional, as he set up an encrypted file transfer protocol from the terminal to Celianas datapad.

 

[Celiana]

Hearing Silas say that there were seven research projects that The Sith were backing I began a search for working prototypes of the tech. Sure enough there were several for each project The Sith were funding in the R&D labs. That'd be where I started grabbing tech, I was concerned though that nothing had come up about the research into the Rakghoul plague as my informant had been very sure of that. "Silas was there anything funded by The Sith concerning the Rakghoul Plague? My information said there should be that data here as well."

I'd wait for Silas to finish his searches and then we'd go in and raid the R&D labs of the tech we'd come here for....

[member="Silas Miu"]

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas remembered her mentioning the Rakghoul plague before, but had forgotten to check for it specifically. When he ran his query through the systems database, however, nothing happened. Which was odd. If there weren't any hits in the database, it would display that there weren't any matches, however, in this instance, it brought up a blank screen.

That's when Silas' gears began to turn. A blank is is never -just- a blank screen. There's code that's run in the background to generate the GUI and display 'nothing', so Silas worked his way into the server-side approach of the database, searching for hidden subsystems, unusual power draw, and data partitions. Finally, something caught his eye, a subsystem with its database hidden inside the servers update registry.

This is where things would start to get tricky. Anyone who goes to these lengths to hide a database will often set up spyware to log access attempts, triangulating user IDs and network locations. Silas was using another employee's login information, however, they needed to leave this place without anybody being the wiser, so he set up a virtual shell within the system and began using several thousand proxy servers planet-wide in an attempt to hide the location of the data leak. Opening the databaseat long last, he learned two things:

One, the sith were indeed funding Rakghoul plague research, both on new infection vectors and a vaccine to match the new strand.

And two, all research and tests were performed off-site. Shipments to and from the test site were disguised as gemshipments.

Silas hoped to high hell that the transport they planned to hit was one of the legit trucks, and not filled with Rakghoul plague samples.

"[member="Celiana"], we may have a problem. The sith are funding Rakghoul plague research, but everything is off site. Their shipments are disguised as gem shipments. Did your informant have eyes on the prize as it was loaded?" Silas asked, serious trepidation creeping into his voice.

 

[Celiana]

"Celiana we may have a problem. The Sith are funding Raghoul plague research but everything is off site, Their shipments are disguised as gem shipments . Did your informant have eyes on the prize as it was loaded?" Fierfeck'la Osik! I swore openly through my helmet sp both could hear.

"Gods and Goddesses! I knew there was a reason he was so insistent on taking that particular truck and why he chose the Ion charge to disable it. He even said be careful when you steal you tend to make enemies and to note the lights we saw when we first entered the facility. Silas, Arja, he hid samples of both the plague AND the cure inside the diamond shipment along with research to explain everything. The mention of the lights means he marked which crate the research was hidden in. He wanted the single crate of diamonds left for him so he could disappear. My informant worked in various labs here on Arkania he became concerned when Sith started taking trips here. God I'll owe that man dinner and drinks fit for a king!"

"Silas, we have to take that shipment of gems and smuggled research." Checking the timer in my helmet I announced, "Alright we're down to an hour and ten minutes now. I suggest we move on the R&D labs then escort you to the data-servers so you can begin extracting information Silas."

[member="Silas Miu"]

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas' grin seemed to stretch from ear to ear.... well, if he had ears. "That man deserves a medal," he agreed, then, on a more serious note, "But that means that we still have a sith lab planetside that deserves some attention. We may have to come back here at a later date to finish the job."

Swearing silently to himself for getting mixed up in this stuff, he hurriedly switched the transponder signals from their holotag with the ones from the unconscious scientists, allowing them to move more freely throughout the facility. He grabbed the scientists access cards, then nodded to [member="Celiana"] and Arja that he was ready to proceed.

Silas checked the security feeds, making sure that the coast was clear before heading into the R&D labs storage warehouse, where all the fun stuff was kept. Cross-referencing the list of valuable/useful items, as well as the list of Sith items, specimens and the like, Silas pinged several locations within the warehouse, each location was the site of valuable tech and sith items. There were 40 locations in total. Silas forgot there were that many. "Let's get to work," he said, shoulders slumping at the prospect of having to move quickly to have the time to get to the data center.

Just then, he heard the guards' comms go off in Celiana and Arja's bags.

 

[Celiana]

As we headed into the R&D warehouse and Arja and I got the pinged locations of the tech we were here to grab both of the radios we'd grabbed from the guards went active. "Security Escort 1124 respond please?" Activating my comms channel I'd acquired from the guards and putting it on speaker to where Silas could hear. I answered the call, "Security Escort 1124 here, there a problem?" I started walking towards a table that held tech samples of the research on crystals and began collecting data disks and placing tech samples in a concealed bag I'd pulled from my cargo pants. "Doing routine check-ins, everything going alright with the tourists?"

I continued my work and got a notification from Arja that she was collecting data disks and samples of shield tech. I sent the message on to Silas and added keep it moving Silas. "Roger that, the tourists are engrossed in their science and their job. Mandalorians certainly are what I'd consider the strong silent type. Though this one looks like she's ready to take on the world single handed. I'd love to get my hands on some of their gear." I continued placing segments of lab grown natural saber crystals in the bag and then moved on to the electronic applications of the crystal tech. Arja had acquired some prototypes of blaster modifications using increased power output and was busy taking whatever looked to be useful. "Yeah, wouldn't we all like some Mandalorian tech? She cute? The Mandalorian?"

"Curves in all the right places brother. Wonder what she looks like under the armor?" Silas was busy gathering tech samples and data as well. "Man I bet but good luck getting her out of that armor. Even I wouldn't want to try that. We'll check back in in an hour towards the end of the tour. Who knows, maybe you'll use that time to get her info? Control out." Good we had another hour and we'd be on our way out by then. I spoke into the squad comm, "Silas, we're on the end of rounding up our tech samples and data disks. We've got an hour before they'll check back in towards the end of the tour route which puts us on our ex-fil from this facility. How're you doing on tech collection?

[member="Silas Miu"]

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas' search centered more around their research involving genetics and the tech applications for said research. Along with the data discs and schematics for prototype gene mods, he found two, newly minted prototype implants. 'Score!' He thought, slipping them into one of the few pockets his outfit had. He was mildly distracted by Celiana's conversation with the guard control, having to stifle laughter when she stated the mandalorian woman had curves in all the right places. 'She may be good looking, for a mandalorian, but she's no Kaminoan,' He thought to himself.

As soon as he'd received the message to keep things moving from [member="Celiana"], Silas nodded, grabbed a few more data discs, especially a few black ones, marked as confidential, and couple that were marked as redacted. "I'm ready to move on to the Data Center when you two are done." Silas spoke over the comms, "I'm getting the feeling we may not be able to rely on that one hour time window."

He couldn't describe the feeling. It was as if he could feel something approaching. He continued to monitor the security feeds, seeing nothing of note. He even checked to see if he'd been back-hacked and was being fed a loop, but that wasn't the case either. He just wanted to get out of the facility, hit the diamond transport with their smuggled intel and make off like bandits in time to start their Recon of Yinchorr. He took a few deep breaths, feeling his lungs pulling the air in, holding it for two seconds, then releasing the breath. Repeating it as necessary until he was calmed down and feeling in control of his thoughts once more.

 

[Celiana]

As I finished grabbing things I immersed myself in the currents of The Force. Sensing several caches of black data-disks I grabbed them all and had Arja come up behind me just as Silas said through the comms, "I'm ready to move on the data center when you two are done. I'm getting the feeling that we may not be able to rely on that one hour time window." I sensed it too, someone was here and they were Force-sensitive. Though their signature in The Force was neither Light or Dark. No, it couldn't be...."Silas start moving to the data-center now. You were right someone is here that's Force-sensitive though they're neither Jedi or Sith."

A dead-spot. No, the last time I'd seen one was on Eshan. "Silas this person has the ability to cloak their signature in The Force, they're known as dead-spots. They're used as assassins but nobody knows we're here. They have a target in the facility either a scientist, official, or something else. But we're not their target. Though we should be as discreet as possible in your data-mining and as soon as you're finished we should immediately ex-fil back to the ship to begin the second phase at site two."

"We're on our way to your location now we'll be there in under a minute, start moving anyways."

[member="Silas Miu"]

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas cursed their luck, making sure the tech and data he'd grabbed was secure, he watched the security feeds, looking for the right time to move through the small crowd moving through the hallway that led to the Data Center. Unfortunately, as soon as one group would leave, another would walk in. Their was no break in the pattern. He looked around the warehouse for any other way to get to the Data Center. Above them, maybe twelve feet off the ground, was an air vent. However, it was only about two feet tall and wide, meaning they'd probably get stuck if they tried to crawl through the opening, especially [member="Celiana"] and Arja, with their armor. "Damn, doesn't look like we can get to the Data Center without being seen... unless," He mused, hurriedly opening the larger black leather backpack he'd brought with him, which had blended in quite nicely with the outfit, making it barely noticeable.

He pulled out hid modified probe droid. He'd had this droid for a few years now. The Imperial Army used these DRK-1 probe droids for minor field repairs, but they were unarmed, making them vulnerable to enemies. He'd found it in a scrap shop aboard a Space Station and decided to buy it, wanting to have something to tinker with. Eventually, he'd been able to add on a Scomp-link from a scrapped R2 unit, allowing the droid to access computer terminals. Further tinkering had enabled him to, instead of slicing a system physically, he simply 'sliced' the droid, and a custom GUI would appear, simulating the computer terminal itself, allowing Silas to have sliced the system 'remotely'. He eyeballed the size of the droid to the size of the opening. It looked like it'd fit. "I think I got a solution. If Darko here can get in through the air vents and traverse them all the way to the data center, we may be able to simply be on standby to ex-fil ASAP, while I do my thing remotely." Silas said, excited that they might be able to stay out of the way of this mysterious assassin while still completing their mission with aplomb.

He checked the security feeds again, noting that the guards were about to perform a security check on the Data Center before moving on to the Executive Offices. "This way we could avoid the guards as well," He said, taking a small clip of the recording and sending it to Celiana, "These guys take their jobs seriously."

 

[Celiana]

As Silas went over the plan with the probe droid I nodded and said, "That'l be the way we'll do it then, we can't afford to be stopped by security and we can continue the tour. Without drawing attention we can move with those other groups of people and have your droid join back up with us." Making our way through the warehouse to follow Silas I planted several remote incendiary charges to start a big fire on our way out.

Making our way towards Silas I switched the charges on and prepped the remote detonation on my gauntlet. Coming up behind Silas I spoke through the squad comms and said, "we're right behind you Silas. I've rigged incendiary charges in the warehouse to cover our tracks and cause panic allowing us to keep this assassin here as we steal the speeder bikes to make our escape to the second site. I'm also going to plant evidence by his ship in the form of several tranquilizer ammo mags and explosives as we're on our way out and rig it with a high powered EMP charge to ground his ship. Trapping him here and taking the fall for the explosives in the warehouse."

"Waiting on you to start the data-mine and then we'll merge with the crowds...."

[member="Silas Miu"]

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas was busy telling his droid the plan, while taking the cover off the air vent after finding a decent stepstool. Once the cover was off, he sent his droid up, uploading schematics of the ventilation system and the facility layout so that it could find its way. By the time he was done with that, [member="Celiana"] let him know she rigged the R&D warehouse to go up in flames as a diversion to plant evidence on the Assassins ship. A good plan. They'd have a fall guy and the Facility would lose billions of credits in tech. Win-win. "Alright, my droid is approaching the Data Center now, we can head to the ex-fil point. I'll start the datamining as soon as Darko is in position." Silas said, monitoring the feeds of the hallway leading to their exit, which was mostly clear except for a security patrol, which included two guards and a combat droid. "We may have trouble. There's a security patrol heading to our ex-fil site. Unsure of their intentions. Let's proceed with caution." Silas said, wishing their were power nodes in that sector he could overload to take them out.

Silas gripped his DL-44 in his right hand, having drawn it as a just-in-case measure. He opened the door and gestured to Celiana and Arja to proceed, "Ladies first," He said, smirking despite the situation.

 

[Celiana]

"Alright, well then let's go introduce ourselves shall we?" Pulling my silenced Reaper pistol I checked the load of ammo through my helmet. Tranqilizers good. I sent Arja a quick message telling her the silenced pistol with tranquilizers then she nodded at me and she and I led the way covering Silas up front. The security stopped us and nodding at Arja we simultaneously popped a shot each into the guard's midsection tranquilizing both of them. The security droid turned our way and it had noticed we had weapons and the guards were unconscious and began to say, "Halt, surrender your."

At that moment I called my saber to my hand and ignited the aqua blade with a snap-hiss before removing it's head, cutting its legs and impaling it. Killing the power supply so it couldn't remotely summon security reinforcements. Then thumbing the power off I clipped my saber back to my belt. As we hit the landing pad. Arja handed me the half empty mag of tranquiler ammo and before pulling off and covered our six as walking back I ejected the mag of tranquilizer ammo directly next to the guards and tossed the other by a ship. Black, stealth generator and extensive sensor bristled along the outer hull. Then pulling a high yield EMP charge I wired it into the take-off systems. Overriding the cargo bay controls I placed stacks of high yield incendiary explosives and the firing pins in the cargo bay before closing it back up and re-engaging the locks.

Walking back over to where Silas and Arja were waiting I slung my leg over the seat mounting up as Arja and Silas did and asked, "Will it be possible to have your probe droid travel back to the ship if we leave now? The bodies there will soon attract attention which is part of the point. But, if you're good to go now I'll blow the warehouse and trigger the EMP charge on that ship disabling it from taking off. The guards will rush to the exits and discover the bodies and droid, and the assassin will be stopped with no way of leaving. Then you can have your droid come out to the ship's coordinates which I'll provide to you now."

Sending a message to Silas's datapad with the coordinates I looked to him to confirm my plan before leaving.....

[member="Silas Miu"]

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas was amazed at [member="Celiana"] and her friends combat abilities, as they quickly dispatched the security patrol. They even managed to make it look like the assassin fought them on his way into the facility. "Good work," Silas said approvingly as he followed them out to the ex-fil point, and within sight of the Assassins ship.

The ship looked kitted to the nines, blacked out, filled with cutting edge tech and just simply great to look at. If it were possible, he'd have loved to steal the ship, but there was always the possibility of the assassin tracking it. Best to proceed with the plans. Silas received a notification from Darko, letting him know the remote connection was available.

While Celiana and Arja framed the Assassin for their actions, Silas logged in to the data banks servers with the stolen credentials, marking the signal location as coming from within the Assassins ship, and proceeded to create several new protocols, heavily encrypted, that would cause the entirety of the companies R&D and Cloning departments databases to be backed up onto a virtual drive on Silas' holocomputer allowing him to store that data in the heavily encrypted, reinforced firewall-protected data partition.

The projected download time for the 17 Zettabytes of data was approximately twenty minutes. Celiana asked if he could get his droid to Rendezvous back at her ship so they could get out of here. He hated leaving his droid behind, even for twenty minutes, but the whole plan would be for naught if they were discovered now. "Sure thing." He said, a somewhat resigned tone in his voice, "Darko, meet us at the rendezvous point. Coordinates are being sent to you now."

Silas took a few steps forward to follow Celiana and Arja, took a wistful look back to where his droid was, then continued on. The plan hinged on having the storm as cover for the raid on the diamond transport.

 

[Celiana]

As soon as I heard from Silas that he was sending the coordinates to his droid I got off my bike and disabled the tracking devices on the bikes before saddling back up. Kicking the engine on and speeding away from the landing platform I triggered the charges in the warehouse and looking over my shoulder watched as flowers of flame exploded blossoming upwards and the columns of smoke emanated from the warehouse. Then I triggered the EMP charge hidden in the startup mechanics of the ship, grounding it. Speaking into the comms I said, "I do love a good fireworks show."

Checking the coordinates in my helmet's HUD I saw that we were fast approaching the ship. Triggering the deactivation code in my gauntlet we sped on for another five minutes until the outline of my ship was visible. Sliding into a stop I left my bike idling and dashed aboard securing my take in my cabin and waiting for the others to do the same. We were actually ahead of schedule we'd completed our first heist with thirty minutes to spare. Switching out the mags in my pistol to armor-piercing rounds and grabbing my Verpine Rifle I slung it across my back with my bullpup rifle still attached to the shoulder sling.

We'd wait the time it took for Silas's droid to come back and then head out for the second heist. I pulled off my insulated black cloak and grabbed a white insulated cloak handing one to Arja and Silas as well. We'd blend into the landscape and Arja would take my rifle and provide overwatch sniper support, while Silas and I would take the shipment of gems and hidden Rakghoul plague and cure samples along with the research notes.

So kitted back up and dressed to become a wraith in the storm I headed back out onto the idling speeder bike and waited for Silas's droid to come back....

[member="Silas Miu"]

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas sighed as he relaxed into the seat on his own speeder bike, this one appearing to be a bit older than the other. It had taken them a good 15 minutes to get from the ex-fil point to the ship on the speeder bike, as they had needed to make sure it'd be out of view of the facility after they were inside. His droid should be finishing up momentarily.

In the meantime, Silas turned to [member="Celiana"], "So, you've had dealings with these Assassins before?"

 

[Celiana]

Looking over to Silas my ebony black helmet with gold trimmings and the hellish maroon-red T-visor looking straight at him. I replied, "not dealing per se. But I underwent training on Eshan there and ran into several, I noted they had The Force but I could never sense them. Then I started doing my own research and found out they had traveled to Eshan specifically for our training methods with hand to hand and blade work. They were aruetisse, outsiders and we were cautious of outsiders then. I didn't trust them, the Echani ways were not theirs and further they were paying to be trained as the Echani were."

"I should've cut down their brightest students then because soon after they began work as wet-work operatives. Assassins with the training of MY people. I come across any more in the future I'll correct that mistake." Looking out into the frozen tundra I said, "Hindsight is twenty-twenty I suppose. How about you Silas, what's been your experience working with Mandalorians or Jedi before?"

[member="Silas Miu"]

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas had a couple flashbacks to his time spent on Echoy'la, shuddering slightly at the thought of that place. He was supposed to be the backup, just there to make sure that the mission went smoothly. It didn't help that the operative whose mission it was hadn't been told he had backup. Soon enough, the place was swarming with more Mandalorians than Silas would've thought possible, all because he, unbeknownst to him, assisted in a raid of a shipment departing from the Mandalorian Empire's capital. Poodoo had hit the fan big time. Silas had tried his best to salvage the op, but the Mandalorians had a blockade set up, the port was on lockdown and several ex-jedi were present as well, at the behest of the Mando's. "I've had... less than amicable dealings with both parties in the past." Silas began, "I'm learning to pick and choose my jobs more carefully before I commit."

Silas brought up a comm channel with his droid, "Darko, what's taking so long?" He asked, as, looking at the time, his droid should've been done a few minutes ago.

Silas was growing worried as he kept his eyes trained on the path leading from the facility. Did something go wrong? Was his droid discovered? Was it trapped inside due to the activity from the explosives and the assassin? All these questions and more kept gnawing at him while he waited.