Nightfall [FO/GA]

[Kiyron]

[member="Emilia Ravel"]
-----------

That was unexpected. She did actually have a lighter. Kiyron hadn't anticipated that, as he certainly didn't have any death-sticks. But he blinked in what seemed to be a drunken surprise at the sudden light, and reached in all his pockets, frowning. He patted them for good measure and looked down at the ground, peering into the shadows, assessing the group from the corner of his eye.

Their faces were calm, bored even. Maybe he wasn't being crazy enough in his facade, but he felt it would be enough to make palace janitors uncomfortable. It used to make him uncomfortable, that was for sure. He looked back up to the woman who approached him and shrugged.

"Someone took my death sticks. You're right generous though."

He put on another frown and scratched his forehead, there moonlight and flame reflecting off his durasteel hand.

"Why don't you just use the employee entrance? Most places have one, don't they? Palace looks awfully big enough to have more than one door."

He squinted and peered at the palace beyond.

"How important do you think they are? Seemed awful normal to me. No fancy clothes or bodyguards. Didn't even have an expensive speeder."

He turned back to her.

"Wait a minute. You said you're late. Wouldn't place staff be good enough to not be late?" He peered at them. "You aren't secret bodyguards are you? They hang around..." His voice trailed off as he waved his fingers in the general motion of a circle. "Here, somewhere. Watching, always watching they are."

He leaned in a little closer. "You never know whose watching these days. Eyes in the walls. I saw 'me once." Then he leaned back and nodded.

His armor was sounding very appealing right now, but it was a few blocks away in a chest. He just had to improvise and hope his acting skills were convincing.

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

Emilia's eyes narrowed. For a brief moment, her features became openly hostile, then settled back into a slack-faced calm. For her, time had slowed, it seemed to run at 100th its normal pace. Her finger twitched, and she felt as if she could see the eddies and swirls in the air that had been produced. She closed the lighter, and the silver moonlight dominated the dim alley once again, casting half of her face in deep shadow. Behind her, one of her agents shuffled slightly, making a slight rasping noise against the wall of the building next to him. She shifted her balance, her black boots scraping softly against the stone underfoot. Silence hung in the air, and Emilia stared at the dark shape of the man. He'd made a grave mistake, when would people learn that asking questions got you in trouble? Curiosity killed the cat, as they say. The objective had been so simple, and yet here they were, sitting on the edge of exposure, before they'd even made it inside. She wondered if The Major and Dresden were faring any better. She had faith, those two knew what they were doing. They could be trusted to take care of themselves.

She turned her attention back to the man in the alley. Oh how she wished he'd just left them alone. She didn't want to do it, but she knew what had to be done. Her heart-rate began to quicken, the butterflies awakened in her stomach, adrenaline pumped through her system, increasing her alertness. She kept her breathing steady, her gaze was unvavering. She cleared her throat. "I have a couple spare, let me get you one." Lazily, her hand drifted down to her bag. Rummaging around, her fingers found the grip of her DC-17. Silently, she flicked off the safety.

A cool breeze filtered down through the alley, blowing in a few leaves and playing with her hair. She looked casually into the bag, then back at the man. "Here" she said, "you'll need this." She tossed him the lighter. As the silver object arced through the air, she didn't wait to see if he'd move to catch it. She ducked down, smoothly pulling the blaster from its nest in her bag. She hefted the weight of the small gun, both hands positioned on the grip.

Emilia aimed the blaster at the man's centre of mass, and squeezed the trigger.

The shot shattered the peace of the night, and Emilia was already up and running, not even looking back to admire her handiwork. The agents had scattered, only one had run out the same way she had. A Special Agent named Magnus or something. They sheltered in a doorway a few streets away. Emilia was breathing heavily, hands shaking. This was definitely not ideal.

[member="Kiyron"] | [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] | [member="Sarge Potteiger"] | [member="Isabella Fonti"] | [member="Adder"] | [member="The Major"] | [member="Zmej Ren"] | [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"]​

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Location: Shuttle Camp
[member="The Major"] | [member="Dresden Verbrennung"]

The two men approaching the shuttle camp through the brush on the outskirts of Theed walked with purpose, but hardly silently. Bright flashlights lit their path beneath the moonlight as they approached. With them they carried stun batons and blasters, restraints, and small arms body vests. Nothing lethal. When at last they reached the shuttle a woman almost knowingly met them at the entry ramp. The two officers looked up, staring at a woman that was all too cheery for having directly disobeyed planetary law and security protocol. One of the men stepped forward while his partner lingered to the side.

"Good evening, Ma'am."

His voice was baritone and heavy, face neatly trimmed yet a full greying beard decorated his features. Sharp brown eyes peered towards the inside of the ship, observing what he could from where he stood. "My partner and I have a few questions we'd like to ask you, if you wouldn't mind stepping out for a moment." The officer noted Dresden as he appeared beside the woman, seemingly with camera in hand whilst intentionally pointing the light towards them. "Sir, please turn off or set the device down. If anyone else is inside as well, please have them step out."

​

Location: Theed Palace
[member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Adder"]

The blonde rolled her eyes at Aela. "Of course you dragged her here. I know you, Aela." Her soft azure eyes set back on Adder, their hands locking for a stunningly brief handshake. "It's good to meet you, Adder." Jamie could feel the weariness to her. Whether that was nervousness or just overall shyness she wasn't sure. Perhaps it was the title of queen that bothered her, as the woman didn't take herself to be an overly intimidating person. Her demeanor was welcoming and kind, and her voice was hardly one of dominance or power. In her mind she chalked up Adder's hesitation and rather damp hand to shyness around new people. Given Aela's disposition herself it wasn't hard to imagine the two were similar in that regard. Jamie had grown up surrounded by people, in the spotlight so to speak, while having to associate with people who were both strangers and intimidating to her. It was an easy thing to forgive the other girl for.

"Still," She began, turning her attention back to Aela. "You came all this way in a spur of the moment to force this poor girl into meeting me? I'm guessing you didn't tell her where she was going either." Jamie looked to Adder, "I'm certain whatever she has told you about me isn't nearly as bad as she made it out to seem." What had she told Adder about her she wondered. "I promise I'm not someone worth being nervous in front of, or intimidated by. I wasn't born a princess, or heir to the throne or anything like that."

[member="Zmej Ren"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"] | [member="Sarge Potteiger"] | [member="Isabella Fonti"] | [member="Kiyron"] | [member="Lancer Damar"] |

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Kiyron"] | [member="The Major"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"] | [member="Zmej Ren"] | [member="Lancer Damar"] | [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Adder"]

"Yeah, she was born a brat." Aela's voice was so deadpan that one could almost think she was serious.

She of course didn't have anything against Jamie, but the two of them did like to joke with one another quite a bit, it was just how their relationship worked. Funnily enough out of everyone around the young Jedi Master, Adder, Jacen, her family, Jamie had probably brought out the more 'human' side of her the most. She had taught the Queen of Naboo quite a bit, but in that teaching the young girl had a noticeable effect on Aela herself, mainly causing her to be less serious.

"I might." She began. "Have encouraged Adder to come along."

She shot the security officer an accusing glare. "But there's a good reason for it."

That mainly being that she had wanted to. The younglings back on Wroosti were currently being taught Jedi History, something that Aela knew a lot about but not as much as Master Sifa, the woman who ran the Archives on Wroosti. Due to that she had free time, and what better way to spend free time than with some friends? She had always been told that it was natural to do so.

"I was hoping we could peel you away for the evening." The Jedi Master stated plainly. "Get some of that fine...Nabooan...wine..."

Last time she'd tried it it wasn't all that great, but she was trying to bribe Jamie.

 

[The Major]

As the sparkling go getting reporter being masqueraded by the elusive one otherwise known as the Major walked past the two security officers her internal comms are on nigh haywire. [member="Emilia Ravel"]’s frontline party was in a huge spot of bother. The conversation went poorly before a blaster shot ended its weary conclusion as messy as could be. None of the operatives could afford wasting any more time. The illusionary journalist keep clacking away with those heels, but the Fallanassi agent couldn't wait to resolve this any longer. Suddenly, she leaps with spidery, practiced military movements. The huntress pounces upon quarry, driving the small dagger deeply into the lead officer’s rear right armpit, right where a safety vest could not protect for sake of movement. Hot euphoria tickles her right wrist as one of her strong boot heel cracks into the man’s left kneecap joint. Simultaneously the agent pulls on his left shoulder towards her, knocking him off balance. As the guard falls unto his tushy, she completes the drop phase by stepping backwards —yanking the knife back to both open the wound and release the blade for further persuasion. Her left hand now catches his left wrist, twists it to sprain, and wrenches the left limb upward until her arm can loop beneath his left tricep. Stooping over him, her left hooks behind his nape, getting a good grip with her forearm upon his left shoulder by using old fashioned pressure. Her right needed something to do as well, and it complimented the left by applying worry to his neck with her right forearm. The small blade now digs into the poor man’s left cheek, causing superficial harm and bleeding.

Finally, she bent her knees and leaned all of her 185 pounds into the back of his neck while pulling her left arm expertly. Too hard and the man’s neck would crack and cause him death; too lose and he would take long to pass out. As long as Dresden catered to his partner, she would have one of the two security guards knocked out in a matter of a few seconds.

Maybe it was the just moonlight reflecting off the rain kissed cobblestones, but there was undeniably a bright blue glimmer, pale as the moon, shimmering in her twitching eyes as she consoled her prey with a comforting hiss.

The facade was over. Now they had to act.

[member="Jamie Pyne"] I [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] I [member="Aela Talith"] I [member="Kiyron"] I [member="Zmej Ren"] I [member="Adder"]

 

[Dresden Verbrennung]

Dresden opted for a much simpler approach. As his guard, the one that [member="The Major"] wasn't busy tying into a pretzel turned to react to the threat, he simply clonked him over the back of the head with the camera. Which, it should be noted, weighed much more than was strictly necessary. The man fell to the ground in a boneless heap.

Unlike the movies, a blow to the back of the head like that wasn't just a harmless way to incapacitate. Clear fluid, mingled with blood, was leaking from the man's ears, a sure sign of a fractured skull. That had been intentional. To render the guy unconscious without killing him, Dresden more or less had to induce a traumatic brain injury. That, in turn, meant swelling of the brain, and potentially, death. A fractured skull wasn't exactly the safest thing, but at least it would allow pressure to vent out through the ears. No doubt the man was in bad condition, but he'd probably live, if someone rescued him in the next ten to twelve hours, and got him in a bacta tank.

Whatever twinkle Miss S had in her eyes, Dresden didn't notice.

"You head on. I'll be right behind with some toys."

[member="Jamie Pyne"] [member="Emilia Ravel"]

 

[Luther Lewis]

Isabella had to admit, she'd maybe judged the Captain a little too hard. The Naboo defences were solid and well thought out. She asked to see the set-ups for each entrance. He explained in clear, concise terms the procedure for visitors entering and relevant information about patrols and so forth. She shot a few scenarios at him, ranging from disguised incursions to all out attacks and was satisfied with his answers. "Hmmm, sounds very sound Captain, but I'm not sure it will all work in practice. Next, let tour the-" She was interrupted by a loud beeping of the nearby comms unit.

Captain picked up the device and hesitated for a moment before turning it onto speaker. "Report" he barked. "Sir". A flat monotonous tone issued from the other end of the line. "The outer patrols have reported a blaster shot issuing from nearby houses, just outside checkpoint C. Orders?" The Captains face darkened. "Hold for now, I'll reroute the team investigating the shuttle landing. They should be finished by now". Isabella watched as the Captain switched channels. "TCPU Squad 12, this is Captain Rodgers of the RSF" the Captain said. Isabella raised an eyebrow at hearing his last name. "The RSF have heard a shot nearby, radio in and we'll give you the coordinates" There was silence from the comms unit. "Squad 12? Come in, over." The silence continued.

Captain Rodgers (she would have to search the SIS database for his first name, later) groaned loudly. "Isabella, I need to get in contact with my Commander and the TCPU headquarters. I would like you to head a team to that shuttle while I send another group of RSF toward the blaster shot" She blinked a couple of times in surprise. "You want me to lead a team? I thought you didn't trust me?" The Captain gave her a sly grin. "You wanted to find out how we run things around here, well, no better option then to join a team and see for yourself." He turned around and waved her off. "Besides, you said so yourself, you've been cleared by the SIS and I've little other RSF to spare. We're short on time, stop by the barracks and rendezvous with the team at checkpoint C". Isabella scowled but did as he said; running off down the hallway.

​

***​

​

She'd outfitted herself with a DL-22 blaster pistol and a stun baton. Her armoured uniform was light, designed for maneuverability over stopping power. That was fine. She didn't plan on getting shot. She approached her team. "Report" She said, hoping to imitate the Captain's commanding tone. The three guards looked sideways at each other until one eventually spoke. "Team 1 is already away, investigating the blaster shot. We are prepped and ready to move out." The guard that responded didn't look much older than twenty, same as the other two guards. "Good" Isabella replied. "Unholster blasters. Until we know the reason of why the patrol isn't reporting, we assume the worst. That being said, leave the safety on. Don't want to panic and accidentally shoot civvies". She positioned one solider left, right and in front while she covered the rear. "Ok, lets move out".

Spoiler

[member="The Major"] | [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"] | [member="Kiyron"] | [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Adder"] | [member="Sarge Potteiger"] | [member="Zmej Ren"]

 

[Kiyron]

[member="Emilia Ravel"] [member="Jamie Pyne"] [member="Isabella Fonti"]
-----------

There it was- that single moment that gave away the game. For just a briefest moment, her true feelings gave out. Hostility and anger after a question that had been phrased to touch close enough to the truth to touch a nerve. But then it was gone.

He forced a broad grin onto his face, every muscle tensing in his body. Then she tosses the lighter and it wasn't the metal of a lighter anymore. It wa the glint of a thermal detonator, arcing through the darkened sky of any one of dozens of worlds that he had fought on.

He moved, turning aside from the object without thinking, one hand going for his gun hidden in a shoulder holster beneath his jacket.

It was too late. The woman had already fired. It shattered the night air, casting a glow across the dark alleyway. Kiyron twisted, trying to dodge, or cover his torso.

His durasteel arm caught the blast, plasma hammering into the metal- throwing a shower of sparks and molten metal across the stone. Kiyron stumbled and fell, biting his lip as pain messages seared up to his mind.

While his other hand clutched his own pistol, much larger than the woman's, his injured hand spasmed. He yanked the pistol from the holster and aimed down the scope at the fleeing agents, picking one at random.

Even with an injured arm, Kiyron was still a sniper. He calculated their trajectory, speed of the target and the bolt, all on instinct, aided by the pistol's sights. He squeezed the trigger. Another bolt arced through the night, following the fleeing figure on an intercept course.

Then the pistol clattered to the ground as another wave of pain hampered him. Footsteps ran towards the alley as royal security hurried to investigate.

Kiyron pulled the comlink from his pocket, using the encrypted and secured SIS channel.

"This is Agent Wildcard. Any and all personnel in the Naboo system, hostiles are on ground-" He hissed as one of the guards grabbed him and pushed him to the ground. Rough hands searched his pockets, seizing the gun. They paused at his ID badge though. His real one, not the GADF one. It was a SIS badge. The guard helped Kiyron to his feet and escorted him towards the palace while he finished the message.

"Hostile on ground and shots have been fired. Target appears to be palace. Suspects disguised as palace janitorial staff and have dispersed into the city. Their ship is like at this location-" He sent th the location of the hill where he had seen them. "Pass all information to Royal Security and implement a full lockdown. Nobody leaves."

He shook off the guard's helping hand and inspected his arm. It was in rough shape, true bolt having melted through part of the exterior plates to destroy the wires beneath, along with buckling other plates around it. He frowned as he stared at it. He would need a new arm. Again.

"Get me a cyberneticist," he muttered to one of the guards as they entered the palace. The man nodded and called for somebody. Kiyron though, leaned against a wall and beckoned to somebody else. "This is my address. There is a large crate with my equipment secured within. Bring it here."

The man nodded and hurried away. The adrenaline faded and Kiyron slumped to the floor, surrounded by a bustle of activity and craziness, but for the moment, there was nothing else he could do.

Not long after, they returned with the trunk, while a medical droid and an older woman hurried towards him, toolkits in hand. They set up beside him, examining his arm, while the others left the crate beside him.

Kiyron leaned over to access the retinal reader and there was an audible click, followed by the appearance of several other locks.

As the doctors began their work, Kiyron leaned back against the wall and gritted his teeth.

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

One of the agents had been shot. Emilia could see her, further down the street. An Agent named Diaz, she lay in the mouth of the alley, face-up. She moved only slightly, and a deep crimson pool had begun to spread from under her. The breeze shifted, and the sound of the dying woman's cries trickled into Emilia's ears. Diaz was begging for help, for mercy. Emilia wished she could do something. When the woman finally relented and pulled out the small blue pill from her pocket, she turned away in disgust, blinking away hot tears. It was like a knife to her gut, a painful, twisting guilt. But, she had to keep it together.

Emilia crouched down behind a low wall, and pulled out her communicator. "I assume you heard the commotion. We were caught out, likely an enemy operative." She paused, thinking carefully. "The situation went bad, we have an agent down and the rest have scattered. Are you able to get to my position?" She heard voices and peeked over the wall. 3 RSF had emerged from the alley. One crouched down by Diaz, and checked for a pulse. Shaking his head, he gently hefted the body and slung it over his shoulders. The three RSF moved back down the alley with the body, but they'd be back soon enough. That much she knew.

Gesturing for the Special Agent, Magnus, to follow, she made her move. Dashing across the street, sticking to the shadows, she stopped about a block away from the Theed Palace. Shouts floated across the cool night air, the palace was responding to the incident in the alley. She was on the brink of losing everything. All the time, the effort, the planning that had gone into this mission, and she was about to lose it all to a single blaster shot. That she fired, no less. She almost laughed.

She shook her head angrily. It wasn't over yet, they still had a chance to get into the palace. It would just require something a little more... drastic.

[member="Kiyron"] | [member="Isabella Fonti"] | [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] | [member="The Major"] | [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Adder"] | [member="Sarge Potteiger"] | [member="Zmej Ren"]​

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The officers of the RSF, detached under the suspicion of smuggling operations would have grilled the reporter and her crew for the direct disobedience regarding planetary customs law. Bypassing scanner satellites and failing to land at sanctioned zones with no emergency beacon activated would incur stiff fines and, depending on the nature of the offense, criminal charges. That would have happened, had [member="The Major"] and [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] not swiftly incapacitated the two men during the ever so brief exchange of words. In that moment, seeing the rather enchanting looking reporter, harmless as she appeared, the two had lowered their guard and fallen prey to the menace beneath the visage of illusion.

And so the game began.

The interval upon which they were due to report in would be missed, sparking further response as appropriate from RSF. A report of radio silence from the investigation team would be dispatched to the commander on duty. A tenured man, tall, bronzed skin and of impressive muscular mass for a man in his late forties, Commander Braxton stood nearby his terminal, reviewing the intel provided by his security team. "A civilian ship bearing merchant ID tags dodges our scanners and lands outside regulation zone. A common enough occurrence in the world of smuggling." Thick, bushy brows furrowed. Teeth sank sharply into the cigarra. "Two officers go silent upon investigating this situation." A deep inhale followed a husky exhale, a billow of smoke rising up towards the ceiling. "And now we get reports of blaster fire in the streets of the city." He turned from the reinforced window to his lieutenant. "This has all the makings of a smuggling operation gone wrong. See to it that the whereabouts of our officers are discovered, and that those responsible for this operation are brought into custody. Impound the vessel and confiscate any cargo." The lieutenant nodded, but remained before the commander. "Is there something else, Hopedale?" The lieutenant stirred, "Yes sir. An SIS operative was brought into the palace moments ago with blaster injuries. He has requested we lock down Theed Palace and alert both TCPU and the queen that they are targets of a terror operation."

Braxton drifted his hand to his chin, stroking the well groomed mane. "SIS? Those Alliance spooks bury their noses into the business of our affairs more often than I prefer." He waived a hand. "The queen need not be concerned with the affairs of a few smugglers. Disregard the call for lockdown. RSF will handle this, though I would ask to speak with this SIS agent. Double city wide patrols, ensure proper protocol is followed, and request TCPU to increase efforts surrounding the palace. At this time there is no need for anything so drastic as a lockdown or to notify the queen. This is not considered a terrorist attack." The lieutenant nodded. "Yes, sir. As you command." Swiftly the man did as ordered, relaying information to those necessary through the typical rolling encryption comlink.

Several minutes would pass before the lieutenant was able to locate the SIS agent, [member="Kiyron"], as he was tended to by medical personnel. "Sir, Commander Braxton, head of RSF would like to speak with you when you are able. I am to escort you at your convenience."

[member="Isabella Fonti"] | [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Adder"] | [member="Sarge Potteiger"] | [member="Zmej Ren"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"]

 

[Adder]

[member="Kiyron"] | [member="The Major"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"] | [member="Zmej Ren"] | [member="Lancer Damar"] | [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Isabella Fonti"] | [member="Sarge Potteiger"]

“Right,” she blurted, the smile as uneasy on her features as she was in the queen’s presence. “Likewise. And she hasn’t talked about you. Much.” Adder forced out a chuckle. “It was all good though!”

A red brow furrowed. Before she had to say anything else (and, perhaps, finally say something that’d get her escorted out of the palace for insulting some dumb royal custom) her prayers were answered.

Her commlink came alive with a frequency that had no business being used out here. In the frakking Royal palace of Theed. On her week off.

What the hell.

:: This is Agent Wildcard. Any and all personnel in the Naboo system, hostiles are on ground— :: Adder blinked, tipping her head to the side.

:: Hostiles on ground and shots have been fired. Target appears to be palace. Suspects disguised as palace janitorial staff and have dispersed into the city. Their ship is like at this location— :: Adder… may have cursed. Quietly. (In Huttese.)

:: Pass all information to Royal Security and implement a full lockdown. Nobody leaves. ::

“Aela,” the redhead stated, slowly and carefully. For a moment, the queen, her frayed nerves, and her sweaty hands didn’t exist. There was just the wary, pregnant timbre of someone who’d stood in front of the fan enough times to smell the shet coming from miles away.

Green eyes found bright orange. “We have a problem.”

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Kiyron"] | [member="The Major"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"] | [member="Zmej Ren"] | [member="Lancer Damar"] | [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Adder"]


It took Aela a second to register what Adder had even said.

She cared about her friend of course and wasn't just straight ignoring her, but the excitement of the moment had gotten to Aela a little bit and that caused her to steamroll over Adder a bit. The young Jedi Master hadn't really ever had the opportunity to gather her friends up like this, and in a life that she was increasingly attempting to steer towards the more “normal”, it was an exciting landmark. ”It’ll be fun! We can go ou-”

Aela was about to keep talking when she noticed the expression on Adder's face.

The Jedi Masters lips turned to a frown a heartbeat later as she attempted to reprocess what her friend had said, and then a moment later she took on an almost grumpy visage. The feeling in her gut told her that the plans she had for this night were about to be ruined, and anything she could do about it was already out the window.

”What?” She sounded exasperated. Not with Adder of course, but the whole situation. ”What does the galaxy want now?”

Aela scowled. ”Alliance insurrection? First Order Invasion? Rise of a Secret Sith lord in the swamps?”

She was not at all pleased.

 

[The Major]

As her boots thudded against the cobbles at a steady clip, the Major finally had a chance to respond to the op. leader, her data-glasses seamlessly providing information in real time via the wireless network. A veritable hornet's nest had been struck, and now all her thoughts were bent on canceling the mission and getting out of Theed as quickly as possible. One of the team members had their vital signs flat line, and already a sour taste was pooling in the back of her mouth. [member="Emilia Ravel"] was not very far at all, but cutting into and out of alley ways and backstreets made the exercise take a bit longer than needed.

"Aye, in route to your location!"

Now passing through a main, busy night street filled with commuters with the palace serving as a background, the slicer prepares a little misdirection: this program attached to a disposable datapad would activate a subroutine in roughly one minute. Once expired, the device would find the nearest holonet connected alarm and run it. At this hour, most commercial shops were closed. Walking behind a taxi with a passenger embarking, the agent tucks the device underneath a bumper. The little adhesive strip would keep it there for at least a little while -more than enough time. Pushing on, the Fallanassi can hear the craft zooming up and away. Heart pounding from an ever escalating situation, she controls her breathing and confirms Ravel's location, making a beeline to it at a steady walk as to not arouse suspicion.

"That shot is bringing half the city down on the palace! Ugh. We should leave before we're toast. Don't even ask for the shuttle: security will be all over it in a few moments."

Eight blocks away a signal was sent. Striking lucky gold, the program attached itself to a government office building where a lot of encrypted data on the Theed's layout, along with a bunch of other technical goodies like permit records, were contained. The alarm activates, filling the night with distant ringing. For all intents and purposes someone had just broken into the building according to the sensors. It stood to reason that if the authorities were willing to prepare a battalion over a gunshot in a alley then they would assemble at least two army corps before sending them over to a breached government office.

"What is the plan?"

[member="Aela Talith"] [member="Adder"] [member="Jamie Pyne"] [member="Kiyron"] [member="Isabella Fonti"] [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] [member="Zmej Ren"]

 

[Dresden Verbrennung]

While [member="The Major"] headed into the city, Dresden took a few moments to grab a couple choice items from the shuttle. The first was his Jar of Bees, a pneumatic cannon that would launch glass jars a considerable distance. The jars weren't actually filled with bees. He preferred to use yellowjackets as ammunition, as the little buggers were notoriously cranky. And, just because he was feeling a little mean, one of the jars was filled with spiders. The spiders were fairly harmless, but they were exceptionally creepy.

He also took the time to grab his Executive Protection Carbine, a little carbine that packed a big punch. It clipped to the load bearing vest that he donned, covering a standard ballistic armored vest. The vest would only offer limited protection from blaster rounds, but it was great for stopping projectiles. The load bearing vest contained several spare magazines for his EPC, as well as a few for the grenade launcher attachment. For this mission, the grenades were all white phosphorous incendiary.

Before leaving, he put several rounds into the shuttle's computer banks. This wouldn't wipe their memories, far from it, though it would make the forensics team have to work to recover anything useful. However, it would make for a convincing attempt at hastily destroying the data within, data which had been quite carefully curated. The hard drives contained, among other things, quite genuine correspondences with various anti-gungan groups. The former mercenary had been busy on the long ride over, and had made use of the ship's hypercomm module. He had done a lot of research into the local anti-gungan groups, and had made contact with a few of the more vile ones. He had promised them aid, in the form of money, material, and advice...all from the Sith Empire, of course. The rest of the data would, if one knew how to look, confirm that the ship in question belonged to agents of the Sith. If one didn't know how to look, didn't know how to crack the ciphers, or just plain didn't know what they were doing, they'd get a lot of data, all of it so heavily encrypted that the average computer wouldn't even recognize it as data.

Dresden had covered his tracks electronically, but he knew he wasn't the greatest slicer in the world. Someone with sufficient skill and a bit of luck could massage the data from the hard drives, which was the point of it all. To any outsider, it would likely look like the work of a field agent trying to sow dissent and reap the resultant chaos. Which, to be fair, was exactly what had happened, only with an added layer of sleight of hand thrown in. He hadn't tried to get too cutesy with anything. Barring an investigator with an incredible amount of faith in the goodwill of the Sith, he was fairly confident that they'd reach the conclusions he desired.

On his way out the door, he armed the shuttle's self-destruct mechanism. Under normal circumstances, the next person to enter would be blown sky-high. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view, the mechanism was purposefully sabotaged. Again, it was nothing obvious, but rather than a boom, the brick of detonite would instead burn, a common occurrence when using substandard black market blasting caps. The evidence of the sabotage would be consumed in the resultant fire, which would throw off tremendous amounts of thick black smoke, while leaving the shuttle itself intact.

Dresden was not a man who believed in luck. He believed that luck was manufactured, and he had over a decade of experience manufacturing his own. To the outside observer, this would most likely look like the work of agents who were having a very, very bad day. And, again, that was actually the case. The best way to tell a lie, after all, is to tell the truth, but tell it badly.

Mission accomplished, he lumbered off into the city after Miss S and [member="Emilia Ravel"].

[member="Aela Talith"] @Adder @Jamie Pyne @Kiyron @Isabella Fonti

 

[Luther Lewis]

They were behind a building, just outside the shuttle's landing zone. She addressed the team. "Ok, sounds like the area is clear, but be careful". She pointed to two of the guards and motioned them to move around the building. She looked at the last guard as the others moved off. "You're with me" she whispered. "Follow close and move slowly".

***​

She would move in from the north while the other team would approach from the south. She checked every corner, worried about concealed enemies. She was about to move up to the next cover when the guard across from her cursed loudly. She bit back a reprimand when she saw a device stuck to his boot. Her face drained of colour and she stopped in her tracks. "Don't move" she warned the guard and examined the device.

It was stuck to the underside of his boot. A metal cylinder studded with nails had pierced the sole of the shoe. The cylinder was in turn attached to a small chassis, with its own small motor and power source. It very much resembled an IED. Her breathing became shallow and she fought down a wave of panic. She was less than two feet away from a live bomb. "Hey" she said quietly to the guard. "I need to slowly, and carefully, remove this boot". Realization dawned on his face, and he gulped deeply.

It took her several minutes to doff the boot without dislodging the bomb. When it was finally off, they backed away quickly and ducked behind a nearby alley. She radioed the other two guards. "We've got an IED here, be careful on approach". There was a moment of silence before she got a response. "Copy that Ma'am, we've got one here too...you'd better come have a look". She exchanged a nod with her companion and moved out.

***​

It took her only a few moments to make it to the other team's position. They had a high vantage point, having scaled a wall up to a balcony. She joined the spotter while the other two remained on the ground. "What is the problem?" she said. The guard raised an eyebrow and said, "Look for yourself". She glanced out over the balcony and a chill crept up her spine.

The ground was covered with IEDs, tall grass making them visible only from high up. She spotted two bodies, not far from the shuttle. "Those look like ours. We need to get them out". She hopped off the balcony and pointed to one of the guards. "You, come with me. We need to navigate the minefield and get our men". The man paled and trembled, but agreed. He uttered a small prayer as they left.

She'd memorized the bomb positions and moved quickly, ducking right and left. She reached the bodies and performed a quick examination. One had suffered major head trauma; while the other's uniform was sticky with blood. Both seemed to be breathing, albeit shallowly. With the guard's help, she picked the bloody one up first and carried them out of the field.

Running a second time through the minefield was somehow worse. She felt she had cheated death too many times this night. All she could imagine was nails flying through the air, ripping her to shreds. She gritted her teeth and kept moving. They took more care with the second wounded, trying not to move the head too much.

Only until they were safely out of range of the bombs did she grab her comms unit. She radioed the palace security. "This is Isabella, SIS agent. The shuttle looks deserted but is surrounded by a minefield of some sort of improvised explosive. The two sent to investigate are alive, but unconscious. I've moved them out of range of the bombs. We need a medical crew ASAP". She rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath while she waited for the response.

Spoiler

| [member="Emilia Ravel"] | [member="The Major"] | [member="Kiyron"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] | [member="Adder"] | [member="Zmej Ren"] | [member="Sarge Potteiger"] |

 

[Kiyron]

[member="Jamie Pyne"] [member="Isabella Fonti"]
---------------------------

Kiyron took a deep breath and looked away as the doctor and droid removed his arm. Even with it being made of durasteel, arms were meant to stay attached. Queasiness roiled through his stomach as they let the metal arm drop onto the ground. It left him feeling lopsided and vulnerable. He clenched his other hand, servos whirring in his hand.

He looked up as the security officer approached, gritting his teeth as the droid welded the new arm onto his skeletal structure. Pain seared through his bones, but he hissed, breath grating across his teeth. After a moment, he nodded and stood, clenching his new hand. it felt different, but that was to be expected.

Strapping the gunbelt to his waist, Kiyron stood and nodded.

"I would be pleased to speak to the commander as soon as possible," Kiyron replied, grabbing the cases from the crate and slinging them over his shoulder. "What's the most recent report on the situation?"

His boots echoed on the paving stones, but he adjusted his pace, and his steps grew silent.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie's azure gaze drifted to Adder, eye raising in slight suspicion and curiosity. What was wrong? If there was some kind of planetary invasion or something Naboo's satellites would have picked up on it long before they had ever reached the surface. That, or they would have lost contact with them. Even still, there were plenty of probes orbiting the planet, and nothing had been raised to her attention. At least, nothing noteworthy outside of a single ship that bypassed scans, but that was hardly unusual.

"Is this about the smuggler shuttle that landed outside the city? RSF was already sent to investigate it. It happens all the time. The black market is sometimes hard to completely weed out, even here." That was hardly worth being labeled as trouble. "But, how do you know about that?" It wasn't as if Jamie had said anything about the shuttle. It wasn't even something she would have thought twice to mention, given the common enough occurrence of the situation.

​

Commander Braxton it seemed would be a busy man this evening. With his lieutenant dispatched to retrieve the SIS agent that had apparently been injured by the smugglers, another transmission was received and swiftly relayed to the man by another of his subordinates. This included yet another SIS agent. Where the feth are they all coming from? Like termites out of the woodwork! This one apparently had discovered the whereabouts of the previously dispatched RSF, injured and unconscious, requiring medical attention to which would have already been radioed for before Braxton had received the memo. The man shook his head, setting the datapad down on to the table and rolling fingertips over his wide, wrinkled temple.

Bombs? These are bold moves for black marketeers.

"Agent Isabella," The man called, speaking into his comlink. "TPCU team nine will arrive shortly. They will treat the wounded and handle the bombs, as well as impound the shuttle for investigation."

A task force of highly trained operatives and what some might consider a Jedi were more than capable of handling such a delicate task.

"I believe that another agent of yours is injured, here at the palace. Likely the same folk responsible for those bombs."

[member="Isabella Fonti"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"] | [member="The Major"] | [member="Kiyron"] | [member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] | [member="Adder"] | [member="Zmej Ren"] | [member="Sarge Potteiger"]

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Isabella Fonti"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"] | [member="The Major"] | [member="Kiyron"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] | [member="Adder"] | [member="Zmej Ren"] | [member="Sarge Potteiger"]

She glowered slightly, mostly just simmering at the thought of having her evening ruined.

Adder wasn't really the type of person to overreact to things, especially when she was already nervous. She had known the woman for quite some time now and generally she was as trustworthy and sure of herself as Aela herself. It was one of the reasons that she actually liked her.

Aela appreciated honesty. "Okay so..."

She trailed off, more than a little bit hopeful that Adder was just overreacting because of her current nerves being frayed. There was of course also always a chance that something was happening, but in all honesty Aela much preferred the option where they could just keep on with the night they had planned. Or rather the night that Aela had planned for them. She wasn't here to fight, she was here to enjoy some time alone with her friends. Having someone interject in that would be...bothersome.

Very bothersome.

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

Emilia crouched silently behind the quiet cafe. With care, she slipped off the grey overalls that marked the janitors uniform of the Theed palace, exposing a dark, fitted outfit of blacks and deep blues. Folding up the clothes neatly, she discarded them behind a nearby dumpster. She pulled out her communicator, attaching the earpiece and folding out the antenna required for off-planet communication. The radio was standard issue, but with a few modifications courtesy of the Supervisory Special Agent known as The Major. The signal would be rerouted to one of a number of broadcasting towers in the immediate area, becoming almost untraceable. What's more, the signal was encrypted, making it much harder for enemy forces to intercept. It took about 20 seconds to connect to the FO command centre. another 30 to reroute her to the operative directing her mission. When the click of the call came her breath caught, like it always did.

"This is First Order Command, go ahead, Officer Ravel." Emilia began explaining how the mission had gone so far, speaking in low tones. "So far we've avoided being exposed, but we believe we were detected after failing to check in with their border control. RSF agents were dispatched to our landing site and have been dealt with. Additionally, an individual I believe to be a GA operative discovered us in an alley not far from the palace. In the resulting shootout we lost Special Agent Diaz, and most of the team has scattered. There is no reason to believe the enemy knows our target is the palace, but RSF forces are currently searching for the remaining agents."

There was silence over the line for a moment, then the man replied. "Understood, Ravel. There have been no unusual communications between Naboo and local GA forces since you landed. It is command's opinion that the mission is still a go-ahead. Use the situation you have caused as a distraction, and enter the palace while you still retain the advantage of surprise. We advise that you and your team pull out should their be any further FOSB casualties."

She sighed with relief. "Understood command. Ravel, out." She stowed the communicator and turned to see The Major arrive, asking what was their plan. "We're still going for the palace. We'll use the shuttle and the alley incident as a distraction for the RSF while we infiltrate the building." The words came out confidently, but her hand drummed nervously against her leg, betraying her inner doubt. She continued once Dresden had joined them, with his personal equipment in tow. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

"I understand that you two opted out of going into the palace because of the risk. If you still don't want to go in, I get it, I can assign both of you to securing us a shuttle out of here." She paused. "However, I think we're going to need all the help we can get. Special Agent Magnus here has a grapple we can use to get over the exterior wall, and I can use Major's chip to loop the nearby cameras, but we'll need as many agents as possible to go about bugging the palace in a timely fashion."

Emilia looked at The Major and Dresden. "Its up to you, you can stay here, or go to the palace with me."

[member="Aela Talith"] | [member="Jamie Pyne"] | [member="Kiyron"] | [member="Isabella Fonti"] | [member="Dresden Verbrennung"] | [member="The Major"] | [member="Adder"] | [member="Zmej Ren"] | [member="Sarge Potteiger"]​

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

Before any effective lockdown could be put into place, Sarge was barreling into the palace. Not literally, thank the Force, but he may as well have been. "You're going to let me in." Was the muffled static-snarl of his helmet from somewhere just out of eyesight of [member="Adder"], [member="Jamie Pyne"] and [member="Aela Talith"].

"Sir, we cannot."

"What're you going to do, shoot me?"

"Yes."

"Good lad." He says, and then heavy footfalls, like a miniature walker parading through the palace, said he was on the move again. "JEDI." He yells, craning his head about, stopping as he spied the target of his ire.

"What have you brought onto your heads." Surprisingly, it wasn't the fact he was eight feet of royal blue durasteel that caught the most attention. His eye lenses sat above a pair of spread golden hawk wings, their tips pointed towards the key. His armor, lined in that same softly hued gold, bore a myriad of chains, icons and skull motifs. The inverted horseshoe of the OmegaPyre sat proud in silver upon his breastplate, and a hawk's head erupted from his left shoulderguard as though it'd been pulled off the prow of an old wooden ship.

Set at his hip was a bolter, curiously unornamented given his armor, though it did have a scope astride it. As an afterthought, his head shifted towards [member="Adder"], and he nodded. "Good to see you sober."