Private Put Your Back Into The Oar

[Jerec Asyr]

BORAO — AN ITHORIAN HOMEWORLD
EDGE OF NABOO TERRITORY

Like most Ithorian Foreign Legion muster ports, this one was a small enclave concealed under thick tree cover, staffed by a mix of species and armed with a melange of guns. Jerec felt right at home.

"Right," he said to the couple dozen assorted fighters and specialists — glorified mercs, seasoned rebels, disillusioned assholes — gathered around a jury-rigged holo display, "here's the target. Remember the file you've all got is corrupted and might be way off. Valisca Prime, looks like a forest planet, got about eight million, near-human monarchy turned dictatorship. The job is taking out the dictator — Sith knockoff called Atheon Karis — and enough of his friends to break the machine. We've got about a week to pull it together.

"Goal of this meeting is talking angles. No question or idea's too wild."

 

[Delila Castillon]

Delila was part seasoned rebel, part disillusioned ass hole.

Standing in the slightly humid forest, the trees gently swaying in the breeze, she felt at home. If anything, the Ithorian Foreign Legion was the calling she had been searching for. Especially lately when she felt unattached, drifting with no real direction or purpose. Yet being out here, helping people where it mattered with a mix of massive explosives and heavy blasterfire? This was certainly helping her get over her heartbreak of being single once again. Something about seeing an enemy stronghold blast apart really quelled some of the rage she had around her personal life.

Hands on her hips, she stared at the holo-display, taking in the information. A planet she hadn't heard of but taking out a dictator? Another worthy cause.

She raised her hand to speak.

"Yes, two suggestions. One, orbital bombardment of government and dictatorial structures. Or two..." Delila lowered her hand and pointed to her bosom. "....create a distraction, lure this guy into a false sense of security, slit his throat. Black widow type shit."

One of the Ithorians managed to look dumbfounded she suggested using her cleavage as a distraction. Shoulders shrugged and she shot a sheepish smile, she was no Danger Arceneau but could hold her own.

Jerec Asyr

 

[Jerec Asyr]

"Would ya believe it, neither one of those occurred to me before now."

Jerec exchanged a glance with a humanoid compatriot to verify that Delila Castillon was considered attractive. Now truth be told, he'd married a Twi'lek ages back, humanoid, but her head had been at least nominally properly T-shaped.

"Number two works maybe better than one. We've got nothing on their navy but from the general character of the joint I'm betting they've got all of it an ethnonationalist planet of eight million can afford. Patrol boats, couple corvettes, light cruiser if we're real unlucky. What we've got to work with is mostly on the smaller side of that. We could do hit and run, not a slugging match. Unless someone here's got a cruiser in their butt pocket."

 

[Delila Castillon]

"What were you thinking then? Sniper strike team? That could work as well...barring we have a sniper in our group. I know its not me."

Blue-green eyes scanned around the group. No one seemed to speak up on that front. A good sniper team was hard to find in these rag-tag situations. Typically they only seemed to get spotters and not the actual shooters. Delila pondered why that could be for a moment as Jerec Asyr seemed to be pushing forward with her idea of seduction.

"No navy in my pocket. Can barely fly, let alone put together such a thing. Probably best to stick to our strengths as a small strike force anyway. We've been excelling so far. Taking back Empress Teta...this team was amazing."

Delila had joined in on one leg of that front. The first time she had fought with the Ithorian Foreign Legion. Despite their peaceful stereotype, she had seen some things against the Dark Empire that were certainly war crimes. Not that she was concerned with such legalities when it came to liberation of peoples.

"So Operation Twin Peaks? Let's hope this guy is into women otherwise its going to get real dicey real quick. How do we even get inside? Can't show up in lingerie and just pray he opens the door."

 

[Jerec Asyr]

"Well, if he won't go for you, odds are he'll go for me," said Jerec optimistically, preening his left neckmouth's moustache. "That's just math. But in the event my math's off, I do like the idea of sticking with small nasty groups. Upside of a military dictatorship is they like big areas of total control, ready-made free-fire zones. And to that end..."

He cracked open a crate, revealing utterly inhumane Gallofree Multispectral Radcannons.

"...lingerie."

Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

"If you were unwed Jerec, I'd turn an eye towards you."

Delila chuckled as he preened a mustache. Yet the Ithorian was correct, if this dictator wasn't into women, then they would try next with what he did like. Given their ragtag group someone in their group would fit the bill. She just happened to be up first. Maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't. Still it was risky. The entire group was putting their lives on the lines for this.

Looking inside the crate, she sighed.

"Here I said I wasn't going to fall in love again." A small pause. "Can't wait to see that in action. Now lets get moving and figure out the layout of this place. See if there is some kind of shindig to give us an in."

Jerec Asyr

 

[Jerec Asyr]

"Alas, my heart belongs to Ithor." Well, a used ship lot on Denon, but that was a bit too personal for the moment. "Layout...layout we can do but only halfway. Our target made a big broadcast from this huge government building. Safe bet he spends a lot of time there getting topped up on ceremony. Not a bad place to honeypot at a gala or something."

Jerec pried at the holoprojector rig with his rekalikad knife and got it into the right mode to play a few seconds of a recording.

"Enough footage floating around for droids to map half the outside and half the inside. We figure three best last-ditch escape route would be repulsor belt or shoes right through those ornamental windows. They'll be shockproof or something for sure, so getting through them is its own thing, but that's all just last ditch. To keep that way clear, backup would come some other way. Drive-by drop through the ceiling maybe. We're working on some gear for that.

"But the main thing is how to take the swing. Wonder how big a disruptor I can fit in a cummerbund."

Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

"Huh, I did not anticipate the place looking like that. Throws a wrench in some of my initial ideas."

Delila had been thinking more grand palace mansion type get up. Something where they could pose as kitchen staff and janitors and gardeners and gain entry that way. Create a fake staffing agency on the fly. Maybe they still could. Looking at the holoprojector, she was lost in thought, mind drifting back to what she knew best ; destruction.

"What if....what if we pose as maintenance workers for like....heating and cooling. That gains us entry into this building...we bring explosives in our bag, plant them, detonate when we skip out to the gardens for a smoke break. I mean...maintenance folks always have weird tools and parts. Wires and such. Would reduce us being seen, rich types act like they can't see the common folk."

Jerec Asyr

 

[Jerec Asyr]

"Yes but these are fascist rich types. Guards, scanners, papers please." Jerec snapped his fingers. "Multi-part liquid explosives disguised as cleaning products! Totally inert until you mix them!"

He indulged in a mental image of dual-wielding spray bottles against a Sith. Well, the target wasn't believed to be a Sith, but close enough.

"Maintenance workers it is — unless there's a lucky gala. If it doesn't work, shoot our way through and shoot our way out again. Even a podunk dictatorship's still got enough body mass to swamp us if we give it time."

Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

"So its either Operation Squeaky Clean or Operation Twin Peaks. We'll know more once we get moving and get our eyes on the target. I don't like the look of that building. I also don't like knowing the real layout beyond those holos. Maybe we can find more on the way there. Plenty of time to talk and figure out what to do."

---

The strike team was now in another forest, this time on Valisca Prime. Delila held macrobionoculars to her face, a small frown on her face. The outside didn't give out much more in the way of the interior, which bothered her. Didn't mean they wouldn't figure it out. Right now overlooking the estate she already spotted several guards. Par for the course at such a grand place.

"So what're thinking? We need a broke down white transport if its going to be maintenance crew..."

Jerec Asyr

 

[Jerec Asyr]

The Ithorian Foreign Legion was not known for its meticulous preparation. This time much of the prep had gone into the backup plans — Multispectral Radcannons, evening wear, etc. For Plan A, prep time had focused on the spray bottles of 'cleaning products.' A maintainance-suitable vehicle had to be locally procured.

Fortunately, Jerec was as skilled at magic as he was at speeder appropriation. This consummate combination of skills, at a bend in the forest road, enabled the acquisition of a suitable vehicle and its security pass for the low, low price of 'we're secret police, you don't need to see our identification, move along.' At which point the actual maintenance crew — bound for some kind of grandiose broadcast system tuneup — were quietly stunned and relieved of their uniforms, and the fun part began.

This being a near-human ethnofascist kind of place, Dells could pass but Jerec could not, hence a very large hat.

Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

Delila would have to play lead as the maintenance crew. The others were Ithorians or younger disillusioned soldiers who may slip up at a slight questioning. She could often have a questioning, bitchy air as if someone who dared questioned her authority would be subject to hellfires beyond any form of imagination. A skill acquired as she got older, naturally.

"The hat looks great on you. Very natural."

They approached the 'service entrance' for all peasants to stand upon, to beg entry to the glittering palace. At this point she implemented a bit of "plan A", a tasteful two buttons undone on her uniform. Guards immediately looked them over and she flashed a smile and pointed to her badge conveniently placed right next to those two undone buttons.

"Tersa Veyu. Valisca Prime Prime Maintenance Inc. We were contacted about some trouble with one of your comfort systems...."

The guard frowned, looking down a datapad at a list of expected visitors. "I don't see a Valisca Prime Prime Maintenance Inc."

Delila pretended to frown, to look concerned at this development.

"Really? Very odd....got a call from the kitchen crew? Do they communicate with y'all? Seemed urgent when I spoke to the kitchen manager..."

Jerec Asyr

 

[Jerec Asyr]

Behind Dells, Jerec moved his hand just so. "Maybe you should double-check."

"Maybe I should double-check. Oh, Valisca Prime Prime Maintenance, I see it now." The guard's eyes lingered in certain directions as he waved them through security. "Maintenance entrance C - straight through here and take your second...wait, what alien is that?"

The siren song of Dells' attire adjustment had, it seemed, not been quite sireny enough, nor the hat big enough, for the mind-tricked guard to miss Jerec being Ithorian. The guard's hand went for his blaster-

Delila Castillon

 

[Delila Castillon]

wait, what alien is that?

"Alien? What alien?"

Delila looked around, as if searching for the little green men in question. Oh, right, it was her partner in crime, Jerec Asyr . It seemed her wardrobe wasn't alluring enough for a distraction. She was older. Entering a niche market at this point, apparently the security guard wasn't appreciative of cougars.

Given that now the guard was trying to draw a blaster, it was clear he wasn't appreciative at all.

Not wanting to draw a weapon, Delila reached out and grabbed his wrist, engaging in disarming techniques to prevent herself and Jerec from getting shot. One of those techniques? A swift and hard knee to the groin. Hopefully the security had finished expanding his family.

 

[Jerec Asyr]

The kicker here was that this place had layers and layers of security, watchers watching watchers. One things escalated this far they would escalate fast. Dread and adrenaline and excitement churned in his belly. He got the distinct sense the future was becoming unpleasant. Genre-alteringly, soberingly unpleasant.

"Everyone into the van and arm up. Time to make a run for that maintenance door."

He took the driver's seat and settled a Multispectral Radcannon pistol on his lap. The checkpoint's security barrier flicked up unnaturally fast and he gunned it.

Delila Castillon Atheon Karis

 

[Delila Castillon]

Here she was, in a white speedervan that could have had 'free candy' painted on the side, ready to ram the security gates. Inside were other members of the Ithorian Foreign Legion, all arming up to storm the building. They had tried subtle and sexy and it had gotten them nowhere. They were now headed for an approach she appreciated ; brute strength and firepower.

For her firepower? A Type-62 Missile Launcher. Nothing subtle about it, she was poised to blast as many holes as possible. Was she going to shoot it out of the speedervan window? Also yes. Jerec Asyr was busy with his fancy pistol and she hoped that was going to be their first foray into the building, along with the launcher.

Their Ithorian driver was flooring it, busting through security measures, she readied the missile launcher. It was going to take a quick targeting attempt at the main entrance before pulling back in the speedervan before getting shot.

"Aamaw, lay some cover fire..."

Leaning out a side window, she took her shot, being pulled back with the large recoil as the round sailed toward the entrance.