The Curtain Rises

[Derrick Veltraa]

[member="Aspen Laval"] [member="Chekīta Kaie"]

Grinning ear to ear as he entered the hangar bay, Derrick was rather excited for the first major mission Praetorian Squad was undertaking and eager to give the squad members their final briefing over the operation. With the clock ticking the squad would be tuning the final checks on their modified Aurek Starfighters before launch, while Veltraa would be heading a different part of the mission. "Hey there ladies, how are the fighters checking out? Everything in order?" Beaming as he gave them a heads up, the Rendili man whistled at how busy the small hangar seemed until Sergeant Bor coughed behind him to move along.

Repositioning his hat with a chuckle, the Captain of the newly fielded corvette got to the mission layout. "Once you're checks are done you'll launch from the corvette in your Aureks and activate your Whisperthrust Engines stealth mode. You'll need to keep at your fighters cruising speed and avoid visual detection while you bring your fighters beneath a cargo hauler for the mining facility you'll be infiltrating. In the meantime myself and Sergeant Bor as my escort will meet with the CEO we're investigating. Under the premise of ensuring their security is up to snuff after the Mandalorian attack on Alderaan we'll look to be given a tour of the entire asteroid base. While we do that your tech oversight will be using the ship's passive sensor suite with our good bridge officers to supply you with a map of the base wherever I am guided though you're on your own in the cargo bay. Once your inside you're objectives are to seek out evidence of the illegal activities this corporation and its CEO are suspected of. This includes bribing low level officials on worlds at the edge of Coalition space to let illegal spice through customs, and in worse scenarios the exchanging of slaves to the wealthy who hide the affairs from local law enforcement. You're mission is to scan the cargo bay containers for any spices, I doubt they'd hide slaves here but if they have find them. If nothing is in the cargo bay or nothing is sufficient as evidence you're to then head to the CEO's office. From there your encrypted line to the ship will allow you to contact your support for a slice into the room. Search that for evidence as well and then extract. Do your best to go undetected, but if you're noticed me and Bor will attempt to act as a smokescreen for you and make a good show at failing to catch you as upstanding members of the military. A good plan no?"

Seemingly pleased with himself despite having little to do with the actual operational planning, Veltraa slapped Sergeant Bor on the back, making the veteran trooper already exasperated with his post even further tired at the fact he had volunteered for his post. "If there's no questions I think its time for Praetorian Squad to make their debut."

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Aspen all morning had been extremely busy readying herself, she would have taken apart and cleaned all of her blasters, she didn't think she would need them but she wanted to be ready just in case the poodoo hit the fan on this mission she would be ready. She would have also cleaned her armor that had been provided to her by her squad.

As the brief began she had just finished her final checks on her starship before deployment, as she did she noted a newcomer to their ranks, a very pretty young lady, a paraplegic who she had never met before. She wouldn't dwell on it too much as the briefing went on she would listen and when it ended she would make for her ship

[member="Derrick Veltraa"]
@Chekīta Kaie
[member="Iris Issey"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Iris would have just been added to this team, she was enlisted for her extreme skill with anything electronic. She had been doing from the time she was 16 where on her way home from a party when she was assaulted by a man she had told she would not make love to him that night and she was beaten down and thrown into a brick wall, this severed her spinal chord rendering her legs useless.

She would sit there and as the briefing was adjorned she would approach Aspen and hand her a file drive this when hooked into a computer terminal would give her control of the whole ship

[member="Aspen Laval"]
[member="Derrick Veltraa"]

 

[Chekīta Kaie]

Chetika leaned against the wall off to the side, inspecting the new armour she wore now being a member of Praetorian squad, said armour being a large upgrade from her usual suit, though maybe the colour pattern could be updated a bit, black was more her thing, not blue. "No question cap, but I have to wonder, why is the squad only women, you have some secret agenda you’re going for"? She gave Derrick a playful smile before turning around to face her fighter "I'm kidding, probably just a coincidence, I'll get prepared and ready to move out now sir".

She laughed to herself a bit before walking over to her fighter, the craft also being an upgrade to her usual ship, who would have thought that all it took to get into an Elite FWC task force was to survive a ship full of un-dead and flirt with a defence force captain, in her mind that was an easy win. That was not to say Chekita was not a good fighter, she was on par with a good deal of Mandalorian warriors and a bit more with her experience with sneaking and planning, what of the others present?

She knew that [member="Aspen Laval"] was a decent fighter, good with hacking and the team’s medic, [member="Iris Issey"] was kind of a mystery, sure she must have her uses, but a cripple did not really strike Chekita as someone you would have on a task force, whatever the case it was time to move out. With a small vault, she entered her stealth fighters, pulling down her helmet, awaiting deployment, giving a thumb up to the ground crew as the craft slowly inched closer to their target. "Mission number one, don't screw this up Kaie".

[member="Derrick Veltraa"]

 

[Derrick Veltraa]

[member="Aspen Laval"] [member="Chekīta Kaie"]

A secret agenda? When Chekita called on him over the fact that the squad so far was filled with women, the Rendili Captain did a pause as he rubbed his chin thinking it over. "I don't think I did, I thought I just picked from the appropriate candidates-" Hearing the bodyguard he had previously met during an outbreak aboard a starliner say that she was joking cut off Derrick's musings however, prompting him to laugh and applaud the remark. "Ah well regardless I'll see about trying to pick out a good guy for the team for your next mission. If you got any other requests in regards to equipment or your new armor don't be afraid to let me know." Grinning eagerly again, Derrick watched the two squad members undertaking the actual infiltration portion of the operation climb into their starfighters and prepare for launch.

Once the hangar's maintenance crews backed off and the doors opened to leave the atmospheric containment field as all that stood between the corvette and the vacuum of space, the Rendili man gave Aspen and Chekita a wave. "Alright, good luck Praetorian Squad, just do your best not to get spotted. That cargo transport shouldn't be too far ahead. Just keep your speed steady and steer clear of their viewports." The Captain would wait until both ladies launched their craft before departing the hangar himself. The bridge crew should have already initiated communications to clear the corvette for landing and prepare the CEO for the promised tour. Still, Veltraa hoped to at least get a good view of the asteroid mining facility from his ship's bridge before they docked.

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Aspen would have already climbed into her starship and engaged the ignition and she would smile as she followed the other member of praetorian squad right in front of her

[member="Derrick Veltraa"]
[member="Chekīta Kaie"]

 

[Chekīta Kaie]

The sound of a digitised response came from Chekita’s person in response to Derrick offer of adding an extra member, "Perhaps a guy will do nicely, though don't want him constantly swamped with hot women, may lose focuses during important mission". She gave a small signal to the grown crew, closing the cock pit of her fighter, the engines rumbling to life as it powered up, lifting off the hanger bay floor slowly making its way the blue atmospheric containment field.

"Engaging cloaking field, ETA to enemy ship, 10 minutes, hope you all have a nice flight, [member="Aspen Laval"], everyone else form up and keep it at a slow, no sudden movements". One by one the cloaked stealth fighter excited the hanger bay, flying on low power towards the intended target, 'hold current trajectory, let’s just hope they don't change course any time soon".

[member="Derrick Veltraa"] l [member="Iris Issey"]

 

[Derrick Veltraa]

[member="Aspen Laval"] [member="Chekīta Kaie"]

Once he reached the bridge, Derrick heard Chekita's response with a short chuckle. He hadn't thought about a male squad member getting distracted and that certainly was a possibility given the fact that Praetorian Squad's current members were certainly of the attractive variety. "Sooo. . . .I should try and filter for another woman then? Or are you suggesting a gay male instead? I suppose we could filter for that, it might take longer though. . . then again so long as a straight man is professional we're golden too I guess. Not that it matters what persuasion they are at that point so long as they're professional. . . ." Not really realizing he was putting too much thought into the simple and not too important matter, the Rendili Captain stroked his mustache lost in thought trying to figure out the best member to fill out the team. "Should they be good with a sniper rifle or close quarters to compliment everyone else too?"

"Captain Veltraa, they launched already and are going dark for the first phase of infiltration. They stopped hearing you after you asked about filtering for another woman. By the way sir the CEO hailed us a minute ago as well, I'll bring them up for you now." The exasperated comms officer sighed as they reached for their controls and brought the channel up, allowing an oily voice to come over the bridge's comm unit. "Ah, Captain it's a pleasure to see you are arriving on schedule. I must say though, hearing that a military unit was to perform a security check on our facilities here was rather. . . .unexpected. I can assure you a tour of our asteroid mining operation here is not necessary. We're quite thorough here so there's nothing to worry about. I attempted to contact your superiors in regards to not bothering you with the effort, but was refuted. I hope you can see the futility of troubling yourself."

Laughing as he answered the call, the Rendili man shook his head and beamed at the image of the CEO. In all honesty Derrick forgot the man's homeworld, but supposed it didn't matter so much. "It's no trouble at all sir! I mean the Mandalorians attacked Alderaan recently don't forget. Can't be too secure at this point. We'll just make a quick tour, I hope you don't mind obliging. I mean if we can give you an all clear then won't you feel safer the next time invaders come around? Ha! We already got clearances codes before departing so don't worry yourself about giving us a new pad to clear. Just make sure you or someone is ready to meet us when we dock."

 

[Chekīta Kaie]

Ture to the deck officers word, Chetika was only able to catch the last of the transmission, getting a laughs from the overly joyful woman, "Ah hahaaha, don't tell me his gone on one of his rants again, oh I wish I could have been there to see it.... all the more reason to get back alive, boy he make me crack up, best make sure I make it back alive to hear that rant... okay back to business".

As she was unable to call in on the other fighter Chekita had to assume everything was going according to plan, the only thing she was able to keep an eye on was their ship slowly docking with the station of interest, which would prove to be a nice distraction, even if it was officially a visit/inspection. "Guess its time to test how well these things hold up in no atmosphere, regular clone outfits could, our uniforms should, at least I hope".

Chetikas craft slowly came to a stop just above one of the mining facilities exhaust vents, normally ho gas and other hazards would be pumped out of said vent, but with the inspection on mining was put to a halt, meaning that slipping into through said vents would be a peace of cake. Though they had a short window before they where closed from the inside when said inspection began, "Its show time".

[member="Derrick Veltraa"] l [member="Aspen Laval"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"Let him not be professional we are all adults here..." Aspen said giving a wink. Aspen would follow quickly behind Chekita and as she did she would continue to try to figure this whole team out. It was all a mystery to her.

[member="Chekīta Kaie"]

 

[Derrick Veltraa]

[member="Chekīta Kaie"] [member="Aspen Laval"]

"Well that went better than expected. Wouldn't you say Bor?" Laughing after the communication with the CEO ended, Derrick turned to the familiar Sergeant from the Defense Force roped into being in charge of the small forty strong security contingent aboard Praetorian Squad's home corvette. The soldier was sighing and seemed to be sending messages through his own comm unit while members of the bridge crew answered their Captain for him. "Captain Veltraa rather than going well I simply think it's just obvious they're nervous about our visit. It would be best to hold off saying things are going well until you're about to leave and Praetorian Squad signals us that they collected the evidence we were looking for."

Still, not about to let details get him down the Rendili man's expression beamed as the modified corvette began its docking procedures with the asteroid base. For a mining facility the hangar bay was certainly cramped, but that spoke to how they were doing good business. That or to how small the asteroid base actually was inside the hunk of space rock. Hopefully it wasn't too expansive so there would be little ground for all involved in the operation to cover. Nonetheless, once the corvette settled on the pad, Derrick had already moved to the exit ramp with a small security detail consisting of Bor and two other personnel behind him. "I hope we didn't land too fast for the landing party to arrive."

"Not at all! Welcome to our humble mining facility Captain. I hope we meet your expectations." Smiling oily, the CEO himself stood with his own aide and security chief beside him waiting for their guests.

 

[Chekīta Kaie]

Chetikas fighter slowly depressurized as the canopy came off, the process being a rush, but fortunately they where in space, so no sound, the suits holding fine, though their O2 would not last long so time was even more of the essence in this regard. "We may be adults physically, but some time I wonder about our mental age, but anyway was, there is our insertion point", she chirped back to [member="Aspen Laval"], pointing to the exhaust vents, "Come now, best not keep the captain waiting".

Stepping of her fighter Chekia slowly fell to the facilities hull, her mag boots activating upon impact, clamping the woman to the metal surface, "Okay peeps, we split into teams of two, each one takes a separate ventilation shaft, perform insertion ans stay out of sight, avoid combat with anyone as well, though you are allowed to use not lethal force to take down people, just make sure to hide the bodies". "We get the intelligence, we get out Laval on me, where taking duck number one".

[member="Derrick Veltraa"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Aspen would smirk at the comment from her squad mate, she would also depressurize her cabin and pop her canopy off, she would step out onto the wing of her ship as well. She automatically felt colder, it wasnt enough to hurt her but she was always cold so it made it worse than it already was.

"Lets go." She said her mag boots detatching from the ship and her falling to the vents below and her mag boots would reattach to the metal and she would follow her lead. She wasn't used to taking orders so that may be an issue

[member="Chekīta Kaie"]

[member="Derrick Veltraa"]

 

[Derrick Veltraa]

[member="Aspen Laval"] [member="Chekīta Kaie"]

"Ah! We're hoping things go smoothly as well sir! After all, if everything is in order then you can rest assured and we won't have to go through much trouble in the end right?" Grinning back at the facility administrator's oily smile, the Rendili man beamed as he crossed to his host and shook their hand. After all, it wasn't just that the Captain didn't want to seem suspicious in front of their suspect. There was also the fact that the mining CEO was entirely innocent still if they couldn't find any evidence to support the reports they were acting on. So it was only natural to be polite as things stood. "So do you think you could perhaps show us around the main mining shafts you have active? Along with your hangar bays and transport faculties? Any places crooks or raiders might hit like where you keep information would also be important to visit."

While the CEO looked skeptical about what he said, Derrick supposed everything was fine as the man smiled again and waved to his aid and guard behind him to follow along as he started walking out of the docking bay. "Follow me then Captain, we'll start with the other hangar since it's right around the corner. Then the mining shaft, although I'm not sure what information we'd keep here so anywhere else would be something to figure out later."

 

[Chekīta Kaie]

As the two sqaud member entered the vents artificial gravity would slowly start to take over, a gradual weight coming being felt though their body as the two fell down the shaft. "The vents are protected by environmental shield to prevent depressurization, though we can ride this down to the bottom we should try and latch onto one of the upper level ones so we don't have to sneak though the entire facility" "Even with that we will still be on the lower floors, do be prepared to go silent for a while as we will have to make our way up to the computer and server rooms where we can access the Intel, got it"?

As they fell further a small light could be seen from below as one of the first shield came into view, indicating they would have to start slowing down. Chetika placed her hands against the side of the shaft, letting friction do the work as the metal soles of her boots and gloves scrapped against the sides, slowly decreasing her speed on the decent. "Well have to grab onto that ledge, may hurt a bit but I;m sure you can manage to keep your grip, just don;t dislocate your shoulder or anything".

[member="Derrick Veltraa"] l [member="Aspen Laval"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"I believe I can handle that, if anything its gonna be my wrist that goes but it wont so dont worry." She said having prepared her climbing gloves long before. She would press them into the side of the shaft slowing her descent very rapidly

[member="Chekīta Kaie"]
[member="Derrick Veltraa"]

 

[Derrick Veltraa]

[member="Chekīta Kaie"] [member="Aspen Laval"]

When it came to it, Derrick could actually go being quiet for a long time if he wasn't prompted for anything. As was the case as the mining facility's administrator started to lead him around the asteroid base. The ongoing silence didn't bother the Rendili man much either, although he did wonder why the host of the tour was content to show him around without a word. You would have though a good host would point out all the little details or where side paths led off to, but it appeared as if that wasn't going to be the case. Rather it seemed like the administrator was much more interested in whispering with his aide and security chief than he was in being helpful with his guests, leaving the Defense Force Captain to wonder if they suspected they were under investigation.

Well even if they were wary of his visit, there was no reason for them to expect Praetorian Squad was secretly infiltrating the location now and gathering evidence of the company's involvement with illegal elements. "Ah! Are those Corellian bulk freighters Administrator? I haven't seen their like in a while, especially not in such good upkeep. Or are they brand new in fact?" Breaking the silence at last once they entered the main hangar, Derrick eyed the cargo transports that hauled supplies and goods to and from the asteroid base. They certainly appeared well kept, or new in fact, which wasn't entirely strange, but given the mining facility's supposed income management brand new freighters were an expense that wouldn't seem profitable in the near future.

"Ah yes, our maintenance staff take great pride in keeping our cargo fleet up to spec. You probably know we do more work around the system than this so keeping our freighters in working order is a must. We did purchase one of them new a bit ago though, we've been . . .finding ourselves with an excess of cargo that requires a whole nother ship just to keep up with it all."

 

[Chekīta Kaie]

"Just being careful, your the medic, the last think I want happening is you not being able to threat yourself or others due to a broken bone or some other injury that happened before the main mission even started". It was imperative that everyone was in tip top condition before and after the mission, though a joker and seemingly odd person Chetika did not want any harm to come to the members of Praetorian Squad, though deep down she knew such a feet was impossible to avoid all the time, but damned if she was not going to try.

Slowly Chetika came to the ventilation shaft, quickly moving her arms to grab a hold of the ledge, a sharp jerk coming from the sudden stop, but otherwise okay, hopefully the other members had made it to their respective insertion points too. She gave a quick sweep of the are inside complex from her vantage point, "Looks clear for now, probably everyone's of duty for the moment, but be ready to bump into security and maybe the odd janitor".

[member="Derrick Veltraa"] l [member="Aspen Laval"]

 

[Derrick Veltraa]

[member="Chekīta Kaie"] [member="Aspen Laval"]

"Happy to hear that business is good for you. A busy business is a successful one right? At least I think so, does that sound right to you Sergeant?" Giving Bor a look over his shoulder as the tour continued, Derrick grinned and hummed a spirited tune as the Administrator proceeded to guide them around the area. It was clear he wasn't a fan of the Rendili man's obnoxious nature too as his expression seemed to mix irritation with resignation. The facility's security chief also seemed agitated, speaking in hushed tones with the CEO's aide, flashing anxious looks at one of the freighters before sharing his frustration in a quiet voice with the administrator. Knowing they'd stop talking about it and brush off his questions if he bothered to ask, Veltraa sighed did his best to look impatient despite feeling a bit giddy.

After all, if the man was indeed guilty of the crimes they were investigating him for then he couldn't help but take some small joy in the fact they were clearly distressed and wanting to keep something hidden. He wondered how they would react after everything was said and done though.

 

[Chekīta Kaie]

Spoiler

https://youtu.be/qM0OaV93swI

Chetika jumped through the small air vent, keeping hold onto the leg before letting go, her legs bending from the impact to soften the sound of her landing, though with all the humming of stand by equipment and machinery such a small clang of boots hitting the floor where mute. "Where in, commencing mission now".

Turing back to [member="Aspen Laval"] she gave the woman several hand signs, wanting to avoid anymore noise then necessary, [keep quite, stay low, eyes pealed]. With that the two where off, quickly sneaking through the lower levels of the facility, using unorthodox route to climb up each deck.

For the most part there was few security measures down here, most likely such a only having one possible entrance, that would be guarded and fortified, but that was not there goal, lest the operation went south for some unexpected reason.

[member="Derrick Veltraa"]