Retaking Centerpoint

[Jaxton Ravos]

Jaxton still didn't like what he was doing. Bloody politicians, screwing everything up. Jaxton had looked at the blueprints of the 'centerpoint station' and they seemed ancient. Far older than the Gulag Plague, and definitely not made by any Corellian engineer he'd ever seen. From what he could tell it was some kind of gravity manipulator, and the files Brunswick gave him said that the previous Senator Heideron had made an alliance with the Sith in order to enslave an entire hive of Killiks in order to build it. There were probably millions of Killiks still enslaved there now, not to mention the squadron of soldiers from the Sith Empire. They'd be lead of course by at least a Sith Knight, and probably a few apprentices. Jaxton liked his crew though, a couple of Omega Pyre members, a couple of fellows from the "Southern Triad", and one man who seemed to be some super soldier experiment. He had the muscle, and the tech expertise to get everything done. As the ship neared Centerpoint Station, Jaxton decided it was time to address his crew. He had already paid them each 100,000 credits for accepting the job, so he had felt like getting their attention wouldn't be difficult.

"It's time for us to address the crew and tell them what's going on." Jaxton said to Brunswick and began walking to where he had stationed the mercenaries. It was a room with no terminals, no technology, and no windows, so none of them could figure out the coordinates of where they were going. He opened the door and saw the five mercenaries. All looked hardy, prepared for the worst, and ready to kill if need to be . . . or if they were given an excuse too. He was pleasantly surprised to see that one of the crew members, and Omega Pyre mercenary, was a Force Sensitive, and had even brought a lightsaber. The Force-Sensitive man looked up at him, as did all of the other muscle he had hired. They were all ready for the briefing, and could figure out that the time for the mission was at hand.

"Hello everyone, my name is Jax. This man beside me is our employer, Mr. Barnesworth." He began, careful not to use the Senator's real name. Some of them would know it was a farce obviously, but extra steps never hurt in a matter such as this. "We are going to a station called Centerpoint, which we will raid and kill or drive out all Sith Occupancy." Jaxton said as he gave all of the mercenaries floorplans of the station. "The Station will also be populated with a Hive of Killiks. These Killiks are slaves to the Sith, and are not our enemies. Use them against the Sith if you can, but saving each individual Killik is not a priority. The Sith resistance will be well trained, but not very numerous. They wished to build this station stealthily, and thus we do not expect more than 4 or 5 actual Sith in resistance, though we do not know how many normal soldiers they employ." Jaxton continued. The soldiers shouldn't be a problem for this crew, but dealing with their sheer numbers could be difficult.

"They will be lead by a Sith Knight. Our intelligence merely states that he is a very large man, about the same size as myself, and wears mirrored armor. Our objective is to either terminate him or force his escape and thus retake the station. Our employed will accompany us into the station, and if he dies, nobody gets paid." Jaxton said and looked around. He could tell that the crew wasn't happy about having a welp like him along, but they were ready to deal with it. "Osos Ned'lx" Jaxton said as he pointed to the tall and slim Verpine listening in with everyone else "is our tech expert. As such I will expect all of you to take measures to ensure his safety, but if in the unfortunate event he dies it will not affect your payment, nor will the death of any of your other crew members." Jaxton relayed the morbid, although expected news. "All of you will have input in our course of action as we tackle the base. That being said, I am leading the expedition and my say is final." He said factually. "We will be docking with the station in approximately 8 galactic standard minutes.If any of you have any questions, voice them now, but otherwise I will be going to the the loading ramp and preparing for their attack on our landing."

 

[Darren Brunswick]

Well, dang. That was 500,000 credits right off of Darren Brunswick's personal account. It was the first time in his life that Darren realized that some bounty hunter or mercenary in the Galaxy earned tenfolds of his yearly income. But after all, every single credit spent on this mission would be worth it. As much as he hated the former Senator Heidron and despised him for making him inherit the terrible political situation, Brunswick was a loyal and determined Corellian, ready to spend as much as needed to ensure the safety of the Galactic Republic. The senator felt rather glad that Jaxton seemed confident and knew what he was doing. As he followed Jaxton back to the cabin to brief the team, he couldn't resist glancing at all of the mercenary's heavy weapons.

Brunswick smirked a little as he heard Jaxton announce that if he were to die, none of the mercenaries would get their 100,000 credit pay. He gave a grim grin to the five mercenaries, none of which returned a grin or a nod. They were looking at Brunswick as though they'd like to do nothing better than shoot him after they got their pay. "We will be docking with the station in approximately 8 galactic standard minutes.If any of you have any questions, voice them now, but otherwise I will be going to the the loading ramp and preparing for their attack on our landing." concluded Jaxton and Darren gave a nod of approval. He was busy looking at one of the Force-sensitive mercenary that he was informed of, who apparently had a lightsaber with him. Dang. Why couldn't the senator get himself one of those fancy glowing swords? Besides the obvious fact that Darren would probably end up cutting his head off within seconds of activating the dangerous weapon. He rechecked his pocket to make sure that he had his blaster with him, before giving a quick nod to his team and walking off to the loading ramp.

 

[Daxton Bane]

Silently the droideka units rolled into position, each squad of four regular units was led by the new Cortosis alloyed master unit. If the attackers had any force users among them, they were going to be in for a nasty surprise. Meanwhile Garak Tomal, the sith apprentice had the troopers gather the slaves. Promising freedom for any slave who could bring an invader's head, giving the prisoners a sense of false hope which would buoy them into being used as easy cannon fodder.

Meanwhile the members of his unit were preparing in the command room, backing up the data and setting up the viral traps linking the computers to the master module in Daxton's possession. At a flick of his fingers, he could wipe the files and all the proof of Sith involvement in this little adventure. Daxton was holding his lightsaber staff in one hand as he waited patiently for his trap to be sprung.

 

[D' Orrin]

"This, is just gonna piss me off. Not only do we have a guy supposedly leading us after we're given floor plans andwhatnot, but somebody feels the need to come along for the ride? And the guy that's paying us wants to come along to ensure that the job gets done. Any merc worth his weapon knows that's a damn rookie mistake."

At this point he would be placing his helmet over his head. Allowing the magnetic pressure locks to engage and secure the piece of equipment in place just as the cybernetic right optical unit was adjusting its visual sensors to the new tinted visor. Ensuring that while people couldn't see in, Orrin could still see out clearly. That was the point where he'd look over towards Amara with his head leaning towards the side slightly.

"Aren't you glad I brought those mini missiles this time?"

At that point he looked out over the crowd and scanned them over. A few things had run through his head, but he figured he'd ask the question he was sure at least one of them was thinking.

"Okay. So...who wants to babysit the Senator while the rest of us actually get the work done?"

 

[Osos Ned'lx]

Osos merely observed his new allies, commiting details to memory, using his eyes to look for minute indications of dishonesty. The only one he trusted was Durok. The Boss. His wings buzzed. Oh well. Money was money and he needed some more cash.

 

[Alpha]

Alpha was in a meeting with other mercs getting intel about the place they were going to over run. A group of 5 including Jax and the employer would be comming with us. That was a dumb move. It looked like he was going to be the front man since he had all of the powerful weapons. not including his 4 and a half foot long blade that weighed as much as their armor. Hes pracitly throwing a suit of body armor around and cutting people in half lenghtwise. he shook his head. and answerd the mans question. "Yeah. whats with the employer comming with us? Im going to be the front man because from the looks of all of you I have the heavy battle armor and A blade that could cut ships in half. So I wont be protecting pritsy here." Alpha pointed at the man.

Alpha then looked around and continued "If any of you have an objection to me leading the front so Jax here doesnt die say it now, And no im not leading the opp Im just wanting to be the man who crashes down the door yelling 'knock knock'".

 

[DurokNe'Ja]

Durok eyed the group that he towered over, they all seemed soft...except that super soldier...he caught the Gen Dai's attention. He looked armored enough to take a direct punch from Durok and live, which was something since it almost never happened. The mobster marched to Osos and leaned over to speak quietly in his ear


"Remember, Syndicate first. I want to steal any sith tech worth while, that will be much more profitable than this mission." He looked at the senator "and he may become a useful contact. Get a picture of him with the mercs, video of him at the base would be better." Once his quiet conversation was over Durok headed for the ramp as if nothing had been said at all.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

Jaxton knew the men wouldn't like having to babysit the Senator, partly because he hated it himself. But, they were also informed they'd be protecting a 'high priority asset' and he didn 't except these seemingly battle hardened mercenaries to be such babies about it.

"I don't like that we have to play babysitter either, but he's our employer and you all were informed you'd be protecting somebody you signed your contracts. You all are welcome to try and convince Mr. Barnesworth of his chances on the ship compared to in the station, but until you do he's coming with us. If any of you are half the mercenaries you said you were, it shouldn't be a problem, only a setback." Jaxton said to them. He knew the men he hired could handle it, they just wouldn't like it.

"I'll join you at taking point." Jaxton said as he faced the man who bragged that he could cut a starship. "And Mr. Barnesworth is also offering another 100 to the first man who offers to be his personal bodyguard." Jaxton dropped. He knew Darren wouldn't like it, but he could take the hit and it would help ease tension. Jaxton looked at his chrono to see how much time they had before they landed.

"We have four minutes until docking." Jaxton stated as he begun to sense what kind of a welcoming party they'd receive. Oddly enough, he couldn't sense anybody. Jaxton reached into a pocket full if grenades he had recently purchased an EMP grenade. If he couldn't sense any life, it meant droids.

OOC: Y'all continue with questions and grumblings, and then after most people have posted I'll post us landing and beginning combat.

 

[Osos Ned'lx]

Osos made a barely imperceptible nod to The Boss, then continued listening to his employer. He knew he could easily get images and vids to use against the Senator. He eyed the supposed "super soldier", noticing several imperfections in his armor, that if hit properly, could severly injure him. Hopefully he could use that against him, for blackmail or for future combat, he wasn't sure.

 

[Amara]

Amara just shook her head from one side to the next as she was listening in on what was happening. Jaxton spoke, but he wasn't really saying micuh.

"Okay, if you're suppose to be leading the mission andgetting it done is of utmost importance, how about you use whatever influence you have to make him come to his senses? That would make a lot more sense than you trying to belittle people whom probably know more about situations than you do. Seems to make sense right?"

And from there she'd look around the room. Though her attention settled in on Alpha.

"Okay. Heavy armor plus a heavy sword equals....superiority? Yeah... Orrin I should shoot you dfor this. But anyway. Please, by all means. Be the guy to get shot at first. Mind if I paint the target on your chest as well? I'm sure you wouldn't mind. The giant sword just helps to make you a giant target. Now can we please hit the ground running? I'm sure we all just want this over with."

 

[D' Orrin]

"You'll have to excuse my friend. Though she does have a few points. As the guy that's suppose to be leading the mission, it's your responsibility to ensure the safety just as much as ours, right? So why haven't you tried to talk him into staying on the ship? That seems to me like it's a conflict of interests."

He was obviously speaking to Jaxton at that point, but after that portion of his words were done he'd switch his attention towards Alpha.

"Heavy armoring and a big sword doesn't really mean much. That much she can say is true. To prove the point of what I'm attempting to say, why don't you take a swing at me with that big sword of yours?"

And yes he was rather in his right mind. Moving his right hand over his right shoulder and removing from the mag plating on his back, a single Zenkai Fang. The katana esque sword being firmly held in his right hand as he whirled it around just once in a forward motion. As he whirled it he let his energy become one with it. Making it almost a literal extention of himself as he enveloped it in his energy. Employing a technique refered to as Force Weapon while he waited to see if Alpha would take that swing.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

"You're assuming I haven't attempted to try to and dissuade him already." Jaxton added the statement he had neglected because he thought it was obvious. "And I'd recommend not beginning a fight-" Jaxton looked at his chrono again " three minutes before we land. All of you know they'll have a welcoming party waiting for us."

 

[D' Orrin]

"No. By no means am I assuming. But in that, perhaps you can see our dilema is no different than yours. So instead of attempting to say that we're complaining about it, perhaps you'd better spend time trying to show him the dangers. Ground zero is sure to be a point of great havoc. So why not show him what happens when you go straight into the fires when you're not really tempered for it?"

He'd ask as his attention was still on Alpha for the time being. Rolling his shoulders back a bit as he'd have his head tilted to the right side some while he still awaited Alpha's decision about taking a swing at him.

"It's not a fight. Merely a demonstration. He strikes, I block. Just something to say that perhaps he shouldn't place so much faith and stock into an overly weighted weapon that may be more for show than have actual practicality."

 

[Darren Brunswick]

It took only a few seconds for Darren Brunswick realized that all of the mercenaries gathered on this ship seemed to be agreeing to at least one thing: He should stay back. He smirked as he heard their complaints and returned back to the cabin. Did these mercenaries really believe that he only was some untrained Galactic Senator that couldn't shoot down anything. Brunswick had been a sergeant back in the Corellian military, and he sometimes felt irritated that others always underestimated him. Ofcoures, these views on stereotypical senators sometimes provided him with an advantage too. Darren took a glance at Jaxton and shook his head. Making mercenaries be conerned for his safety had a big chance of jeopardizing this mission, and he was willing to put his life at peril if it meant that they could take back Centerpoint. "Well. gentlemen! I'd first like to personally thank you for coming on this mission. Now... you all seem annoyed by the fact that I'd be tagging along with y'all. I believe you'll be delighted to hear now that I will give you your 50,000 credits right now just to convince you that I am willing to take care of myself inside the station. Also, you will still be getting your other half of 100,000 from Jaxton even if I die inside the station. Anyone has any complaints?" he said as he handed out the 50,000 credits to each mercenary onboard the ship.

 

[DurokNe'Ja]

Durok grinned under his helmet and looked the Senator after taking his credits "I will not complain as long as I get that extra hundred for offering to be your personal escort." Durok wanted to be as close to this man as possible, pictures of the two together would be invaluable later. "I'm a God among men, you will not have to worry about your safety with me by your side."

 

[Darren Brunswick]

Brunswick smiled at Durok. "Well, I'm glad you're not complaining. And of course, these are your extra hundred credits." he said with what seemed like a bit of a forced smile. He, the CEO of the Corellian Engineering Corporation felt as if he had just spent about his entire month's worth of income on this particular mission. However, money was nothing compared to his political career. Besides, he didn't feel like getting on the wrong side of a mercenary when such an important mission was about to take place.

 

[D' Orrin]

"You know, that's funny. Either I read my contract wrong, or these guys outside of myself and Amara didn't really read all the details. As I remember it, the contract stated that we were to receive a hundred thousand credits in advance, and another huundred thousand upon completion of mission. So unless there was some sort of negotiation I missed, perhaps it's not in your best interest to try and short us all right off from the start. And perhaps these other so called professionals should pay better attention to the details."

And at that Orrin's visual attention was turned from Alpha towards the Senator after transactions were made. A bright blue glow would emerge from behind the polarized tinted visor of his helmet as his right optical sensor would have a bit of excess energy to burn off. Causing the sensor's light to brighten up as if it were something supernatural before it would slowly dim out. And as stated, Orrin's visual attention was placed on the Senator, to make his point. His other senses, including his abilities to sense danger via the Force, were expanded out with something of a fix on Alpha, in case he took that swing while Orrin was looking away.

 

[Amara]

She was locking all of her equipment in place and after securing her helmet over her head she'd be checking her gaunntlet missiles as well as her flame thrower. Though from time to time she would glance up at Alpha to see if he was going to take that swing that Orrin had invited him to take. But what really got to her was the Senator's words about payment. She had read over the contract herself and just what Orrin had said was what she read. A hundred thousand up front and another upon completion. This shifted her attention from Alpha to the Senator as she was waiting to see what kind of reply to the remakrs that Orrin made would be given. Perhaps the Senator was playing favorites with the Syndicate. Perhaps not, but at this point it was really anyone's guess. Though it was kind of looking that way. Or perhaps she was reading too much into it and the Syndicate people were just a bit overly enthusiastic about getting more credits.

"I remember hearing and reading something like that myself. Now we can bring up the matter of the contracts later. What's the ETA?"

 

[Osos Ned'lx]

Osos pulled out his handcrafted Verpine Shattergun, ready to land on the station. He checked his Duraplast armor armor and put his helmet on. The helmet wasn't much, just to protect his eyes and antennae really. He loaded the Verp and shifted so he faced the ramp. Durok's words were still fresh in his mind, along with sights from when he wished he had human like vision. Those only happened though, when someone made Durok mad.

 

[Darren Brunswick]

Brunswick was freaked out. But on his outside emotion, he appeared calm and tried to maintain a grim smile. "Of course! 100,000 credits up front, definitely! Just stop complaining about me following you guys around." he said calmly as he gave everyone another round of 50,000 so that they could already have their 100,000 credits. At this rate, he'd be broke by the time that he finished this mission. "Alright, we're only a mere minute or two until docking. Get your equipment ready." announced the senator, double checking that all of his weapons and communications were in his pockets.