Dominion To Have And Have Not | Darkwire Dominion of Iphigin

[Daiya]

Location: Hiding behind some crates
Equipment: 434 Blaster Pistol, DL-13 Holdout Blaster
Tags: Scherezade deWinter , Beltran Rarr

It seemed like a normal-enough sounding mission. Just protect the crates at a shipyard. Spaceports had lots of crates, plenty of chances to hide their valuable loot in among the things Darkwire didn't care about. These ones had pricey cybernetics inside, things that Daiya wasn't particularly interested in, but were of enough interest to Darkwire that they were willing to pay handsomely to safeguard them. Easy creds, right?

Wrong.

It started like an innocuous discussion, but Daiya didn't need a vision to see where it was going. The Agents of Chaos, a kind of anarcho-terrorist group from the Wild Unknown or some region like that, came raring for a fight. To the girl's satisfaction, the first shot that rang out was aimed at the head —literally— of the Chaos agents. After that, all hell broke loose.

Daiya couldn't hide for much longer behind these crates, not if her blaster could aid the fight. She was supposed to wait for the signal from Tawrro, but he'd gotten himself hired by the warehouse manager, whose management credentials were...a bit questionable. The girl's finger itched as her hand gripped the heavy blaster, loosening and tightening her grasp as a way to relieve her own nervousness. She muttered under her breath, "Come on, Tawrro..."

Shots flew across the yard, giving the girl some relief she hadn't revealed herself yet. The Chaos intruders were quick to fight back and fight hard. The droid with them was a sheer brute, grabbing hold of Noah, seemingly intent on using the man as a projectile himself. Daiya hadn't known the Darkwire agent was a Force wielder until he pulled out his lightsaber to cut off his own arm!

If there was ever a time for a Wookiee Smash, it was now.

There was no Tawrro on the horizon, and no time for Daiya to reel from the shock of the maneuver. Darkwire's chances were starting to look grim. The head Chaos lady was armed to the teeth and a Forcer to boot, wielding laser blades and metal blades alike against Beltran's attacks. The droid and other Chaos agent seemed to be concentrating toward one end of the fight, and the girl didn't like her chances against them.

Instead, she trained her eyes on the action in front of her. The large dancing woman with the many blades had pulled out a shield instead, charing forward toward Beltran's own shielded charge. Daiya might have laughed at the idiocy of it, if the woman's attack hadn't left her rear exposed to Daiya's hiding place behind the crates. The girl couldn't wait for the signal any longer, this was her opportunity.

Popping up enough out of cover to see and aim, the teen propped her weapon up with two hands to brace against its recoil. Daiya waited until the woman screamed, then let off a round of shots from her 434 Blaster. With every shot, the girl could feel her anxiety fading away to a mere whimper. The familiar feeling of the fight rose up, sending adrenaline racing through her veins and an eerie calm through her brain. It almost seemed like the world proceeded in slow motion, she could see everything so clearly, almost more of a feeling than mere sight alone.

As the girl squeezed the trigger each time, she tried to aim her next shot where she thought the woman would dance to after her the previous.

 

[Beltran Rarr]

Location: Shipyard Complex, nearby the freight containers...waiting....
Armor: Mirage Stealth Prototype Armor
Weapons: Reaper Blaster Pistol (drop holster-left hip), Fate Assault Rifle (attached to chest rig), Wrist Mounted Retractable Hold-Out Blaster (right wrist), Beskar Sword (back scabbard), Krath Itak Sword (back scabbard **Note to Force Sensitives/Force Users-this sword emanates a strong Darkside presence), Retractable Vibro-Sword (attached to utility belt), Boot-Knife (right boot)
Equipment: Personal Energy Shield (left wrist), Personal Cloaking Device (attached to utility belt)
Tagging Allies: Noah Gloom Sam Rodarch Shira Varanin Project Uriel Daiya
Tagging Enemies: Scherezade deWinter Sasmay Cull scifipoinsettia

Beltran sensed the sudden shift in Scherezade deWinter 's stance just before she charged. It wasn't the Force that allowed him to anticipate her, at least he didn't think it was. It was his innate Lorrdian ability to read body language that cued him in. While the woman was well built and obviously a deadly combatant, Beltran wasn't exactly worried about her bowling him over. Though they both appeared to weigh about the same, and though she only stood a single inch taller than him, he actually outweighed her by nearly a hundred pounds.

The additional weight had be forced upon him, in the form of the still mysterious cybernetic implants that had been installed throughout his body-against his will. During his captivity, it had taken him agonizing months to learn how to walk and move around with the new weight. But since his escape, he had come to understand the advantage the additional heft lent him, even if he didn't yet understand the nature of the implants that provided it.

No, it wasn't the force of her rush that concerned Beltran, it was the pulsing energy of her newly activated shield that did. His helmet HUD told him that his own shield, which had never been designed for long-term use-especially against lightsabers-was about to short out. Which meant that if she hit him full on, he would be taking the brunt of any electrical discharge the shield might emit full on. And that could be....problematic.

It was time to change tactics. Not for the first time today Beltran lamented the fact that he had forgone attaching his jump jet system to his armor for this mission. A quick burst upward and over her would have been a perfect counter. Instead, he would attempt to side-step her charge. He knew that his heavier weight and the fact that he was loaded down with armor and equipment would make it unlikely that he would be able to completely get out of the faster moving woman's way, but a glancing blow would be better than a full on one.

"BAM!"

She impacted him in mid step, glancing off his left shoulder. Sparks flew as her shield connected with his beskar plated armor and the force of it caused him to stumble sideways and fall to one knee. It was perhaps serendipity that this actually opened up a clear avenue for the young teen, Daiya , to shoot at the woman directly, but that wasn't something Beltran could afford time to consider. Twisting his body toward Scherezade deWinter , he swung his sword again, hoping to catch her on the leg-perhaps underneath the range of her shield.

 

[Shira Varanin]

Shira hunkered down behind the crate that protected her, right near the mouth of the all-important hangar. No extra power pack appeared in her coat pockets or belt pouches. She was well and truly out of ammunition.

For this gun, anyway.

Her left arm contained a shielded hyperspace aperture leading to a stabilized, pyronium-generated lattice. She tapped a code and reached inside her own arm. A small stowed object emerged into realspace via the port in her forearm: a compact, small-caliber slugthrower pistol.

The Force whispered. She glanced over at Daiya , who was shooting from behind another crate.

"Close your eyes," she called. "Trust the Force and keep doing what you're doing."

 

[Daiya]

Location: In cover behind some crates
Equipment: 434 Blaster Pistol, DL-13 Holdout Blaster
Tags: Shira Varanin, Scherezade deWinter , Beltran Rarr

"Trust the Force and keep doing what you're doing."

Daiya took her eyes off the target for a moment to glance at the woman offering advice. Darkwire had sent another Forcer with them? She hadn't been worried by Noah's reveal, at least not from her hiding place before. But now the girl was crouching right next to another one, who had just called her out for using that special magic called the Force. She hadn't even known that's what she was doing! Daiya's heart skipped a beat and her breath caught in her throat. The calm that had come over her before shattered, giving way to the chill of fear.

Jairdain may have discovered her Force abilities, but Daiya trusted Jair. Even if she knew Shira's name, the cyborg woman was otherwise a stranger to her.

She tried to breathe normally, knowing that Forcers like Jedi could sense her feelings, but it wasn't easy. She was already a little anxious from Tawrro's absence, and he couldn't have picked a worse time not to be there. The fight erupting, her secret discovered, Daiya was in a tight spot. If she left, it could cost Darkwire the cargo and their mission here, but if she didn't...who knew what could happen to her?

"Please don't tell anyone," the girl spoke her futile plea in a muted tone, praying that her voice wouldn't carry past the woman. Her grip on the blaster tightened, wondering if she might need to use it on someone else in a moment. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Hadn't Tawrro always told her to never put her back to an unknown? When Enigma had recruited her to Darkwire, Daiya had gotten the sense that he was afraid of the same thing Phelaan had been. A firefight on an unfamiliar planet with Tawrro out of reach, it would be the perfect time to eliminate Daiya for good. She should never have believed a bunch of criminals could give second chances.

Daiya closed her eyes, feeling the dampness welling up behind her eyelids. Her head shook in anguish, hoping the breath she drew in was not to be her last. Yet as the girl inhaled, a kind of reassurance settled over her, abating her anxious fears. Somehow, in some way, faith returned to her. She opened her eyes, blinking away the blurry vision to venture another glance at Shira.

All she could do was have faith that Shira was one of the good ones.

And this time, a question, "What do you mean, 'Trust the Force'?"

 

[Sam Rodarch]

Location: Crates?
Objective: Crates!
Tags: CRATES!​

“Good rule of thumb, Lirri,” the warehouse manager (who I thought would be dead by now and never named) advised as they surveyed the pallet truck, or more accurately the splintered pallet beneath, “don't hit the emergency stop unless it's actually an emergency.”

“Yer sayin' that's not a 'mergency?” Rodarch replied tilted her head towards the utter nonsense occurring not so far away from them.

As the warehouse manager considered what was and wasn't an emergency, the aforementioned boys were out in force. Well, as much as a force as three warehouse trained bodies could be. It was hard to seem imposing, or useful as maniacs shot each other and skirmished in the background. That being said, they did come with machinery. Couple more pallet trucks to join the fray. One of them even had what Sam would have described as 'the grabby thing'.

Which was more accurately known as a mini-crane.

“HEADS UP!”

Was that a giant ball of dirt? Man, she was out of her element with those lunatics. Here Rodarch had been ready to throw fists and they were throwing chunks of earth. Maybe she belonged at heart with the manual labourers.

It was shot mid-air, exploding into what was effectively many dirt balls that showered the crates and the crew (most of which actively covered their heads, Sam included). One of them didn't, a worker with a head the shape of a misshapen potato, a solid ball of earth colliding with his head with a meaty thud.

There was a meatier thud as the warehouse worker toppled over.

“Damn it, Tharl,” the manager remarked with a sigh, knowing that he would have to fill out an accident form later on that day, “he's a bit slow that one, but damn is he not an artist with a pallet truck.”

Enough messing around.

The remaining two workers got onto actually loading the crates (the ones that weren't being recklessly destroyed, that is, it was hard to keep up) into the ship, and the manager's attention returned to Rodarch and the broken pallet.

“I can't wait to retire, you know?”

 

[Hacks]

Savior of the broken,
the beaten, and the damned.​

Chaos had erupted in the shipping yards. The shadowrunner Hacks had kept a watch on the events for sometime and had allowed things to go on, but no longer. She twisted an arm and checked the chronometer, time was running short. They had to get that cargo up in the sky before their window closed. "Time to go," Hacks said to Liberty, her grip twisting on the throttle. The speeder took off with frightening speed and screamed through the night. The shrill cry of the thrusters was enough to alert anyone in a kilometer to the womans presence as her speeder blazed through the sky with a trail of purple super-heated plasma left behind in her wake, fizzling out into smoke and then dissipating into thin air.

Air whipped at Hacks face but her glasses kept her vision clear. IFF tags lit up in her field of view and she surveyed those engaged and those quickly getting the containers onto the freighters. She ducked her head and turned a sharp right and came down towards Scherezade deWinter who was engaged with Beltran, the speeder shrieking now as it cut a path towards the duo. A hailstorm of slugs opened up on Scherezade as the combined firepower of Liberty and Hacks unloaded their payload. The pop! of Hacks' SMG pierced the night, duracrete kicking up dust as the slugs came awfully close to their mark, perhaps too close. The supercharged engine gave them incredible speed and Hacks had flashed past Scherezade in an instant.

 

[Mr Black]

Black was back at the office watching the security footage at the shipyard. Alone at his desk as he smoked his way to an early grave, a chain of them in the ashtray ahead. Shame about the smoking taxes, perhaps his next company needed to be a cigarette brand!

Bzzzz. He buzzed his desk communicator.

“Selane, I think the channel needs changing.”

“Channel Sir?”

“Yes. This is far too boorish for our corporate security friends to see. How about something, tasteful, from last week?"

"Certainly Sir."

With the few shadowrunners on the Apex payroll and his corporate connections. It wasn’t long before the shipyard cameras were showing something entirely different, a pleasant scene from a week ago where everything was just peachy, and as for any local communicators seeking out local authorities.

All operators are currently busy, please leave a message with your contact details…

Contact details he’d now have recorded for later, bribes, connections at the shipyard or names to pass to Darkwire. Taking a long hard puff on his cigarette. You could do a lot from an office. Now about that cigarette brand....

 

[Shira Varanin]

And this time, a question, "What do you mean, 'Trust the Force'?"

It took Shira way too long to formulate an answer. She flinched farther under cover as a stray bolt turned a crate's edge to superheated shrapnel.

"Don't have time to explain what the Force really is. You can feel it. Feel that more, keep your cool, quiet your mind and go with instinct. Just like you were doing a second ago, but this time do it intentionally."

All of that was shouted above the sounds of many, many things, like battle and a forklift accident.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Location: Wandering around the shipyard complex
Wearing: Armatura | The Forgemaster's Ring | Ring of Stasis | The Sofitor
Wielding: 7 Nozhi Blades | 1 Whimsy Knife | 1 Whimsy Witch Knife | 2 Nastirci Combat Knives | Clarion | Copero's Wail | Fire and Smoke | Combat Gauntlets | Tessen | 2 TOTT-001 Arc Light Blaster | 2 Dissuader KD-30 Pistols with Glitter Bullets | The Parasite
AoC Tags: Sasmay Cull L8R + Open
Darkwire Tags: Beltran Rarr Noah Gloom Shira Varanin Sam Rodarch Project Uriel Airal Thamne Daiya + Open

The man she was fighting moved just before she came onto him full on, her shield smash only taking his side instead of all of him. Laughter erupted out of the Sithling and she twisted, some of the bullets sent her way by Daiya hitting her. The shield would not be useful now; it had been constructed for short term impacts and didn't do much about bullets. Thank the Force her armor was great against them, though there were more than enough bruises forming beneath her skin now that would ensure a day or two of rest at least to move without feeling weird after this was all over.

But the person on the speeder was a whole different story. The spray gunning Scherezade received was hotter than a lobster shower, and though a hole or two had opened up in her armor protection, it was the heat that was now threatening to take its toll. The bruises multiplied, but that wasn't as much of a concern as the heat that was building up inside her protection.

The hit from Beltran Rarr that would have shattered her kneecap had she not moved instead hit her side. It still hurt like a motherkrakker, but the thick thigh had just saved a life and she wasn't in much position to complain.

Standing awkwardly with all the heat, the bullets, the armor holes, and the incredibly painful thigh, Scherezade looked at Beltran Rarr and began to laugh. Her shield was turned off, and her knives began to make their way towards her again.

She raised her hand, and waved it all around, as though greeting everyone who was on the battlefield, were they the enemy, or those who had come with her.

"Stop!" her voice boomed over the entire area, strengthened by the Force, strong enough to make the outer walls of the warehouse vibrate ever so slightly, "Take me to your leader," she said with the sweetest smile to Beltran Rarr , "I think I like you guys."

 

[Beltran Rarr]

Location: Shipyard Complex, nearby the freight containers...waiting....
Armor: Mirage Stealth Prototype Armor
Weapons: Reaper Blaster Pistol (drop holster-left hip), Fate Assault Rifle (attached to chest rig), Wrist Mounted Retractable Hold-Out Blaster (right wrist), Beskar Sword (back scabbard), Krath Itak Sword (back scabbard **Note to Force Sensitives/Force Users-this sword emanates a strong Darkside presence), Retractable Vibro-Sword (attached to utility belt), Boot-Knife (right boot)
Equipment: Personal Energy Shield (left wrist), Personal Cloaking Device (attached to utility belt)
Tagging Allies: Noah Gloom Noah Gloom Sam Rodarch Sam Rodarch [IMG alt="Shira Varanin"]https://chaoscdn-12cef.kxcdn.com/data/avatars/s/17/17967.jpg?1581388292[/IMG] Shira Varanin Project Uriel Project Uriel Daiya Daiya
Tagging Enemies: Scherezade deWinter Scherezade deWinter Sasmay Cull scifipoinsettia

"Stop! Take me to your leader. I think I like you guys."

The woman's voice boomed throughout the ad hoc battlespace, causing Beltran to wince a little from behind his helmet as the sound dampeners struggled to lower the volume. Standing slowly, the armored Lorrdian still gripped his sword but allowed his arm to slowly lower to his side. Darkwire, as Beltran understood things, didn't exactly have a leader per se. And even if they did, he wasn't about to expose Hacks or anyone else. So he simply took a step forward and keyed his comlink to pick up external audio as well as his own speech. Everyone who had access to the Darkwire's operating frequency would be able to hear.

"Just talk," He told the Sith woman. "They can hear you."

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Location: Wandering around the shipyard complex
Wearing: Armatura | The Forgemaster's Ring | Ring of Stasis | The Sofitor
Wielding: 7 Nozhi Blades | 1 Whimsy Knife | 1 Whimsy Witch Knife | 2 Nastirci Combat Knives | Clarion | Copero's Wail | Fire and Smoke | Combat Gauntlets | Tessen | 2 TOTT-001 Arc Light Blaster | 2 Dissuader KD-30 Pistols with Glitter Bullets | The Parasite
AoC Tags: Sasmay Cull L8R + Open
Darkwire Tags: Beltran Rarr Noah Gloom Shira Varanin Sam Rodarch Project Uriel Airal Thamne Daiya + Open

"Not good enough," Scherezade grinned, beginning to pluck her knives out of the air. Most of them had already made their way to her, and while she could technically put them back in place using telekinesis, she prefered to use her hands for that bit. A millimeter or two off was fine when you stabbed someone, but not when you wanted to avoid accidentally stabbing yourself. Her entire setup was built on precision with her blades' exact location anyway.

Looking at Beltran Rarr , she raised her eyebrows before giving him another smile. One of her Witch Knives was in her left hand at that moment and she cocked her head to the side momentarily, the knife then flipping 180 degrees, its hilt now presented to the man who had almost bested her. "Call it a present for a job well done," the Sithling laughed, and then turned around.

She could feel the presence of all those who weren't droids. And weren't Force Dead, but it had been such a long since she'd met any force dead dudes that she wasn't even thinking about it right there and then.

But there was still business to conduct.

"No, seriously," Scherezade urged on, "Tell your leader that Agents of Chaos are impressed. We got contract details to discuss. Better sooner than later because our next mission before going home isn't a test."

 

[Beltran Rarr]

Location: Shipyard Complex, nearby the freight containers...waiting....
Armor: Mirage Stealth Prototype Armor
Weapons: Reaper Blaster Pistol (drop holster-left hip), Fate Assault Rifle (attached to chest rig), Wrist Mounted Retractable Hold-Out Blaster (right wrist), Beskar Sword (back scabbard), Krath Itak Sword (back scabbard **Note to Force Sensitives/Force Users-this sword emanates a strong Darkside presence), Retractable Vibro-Sword (attached to utility belt), Boot-Knife (right boot)
Equipment: Personal Energy Shield (left wrist), Personal Cloaking Device (attached to utility belt)
Tagging Allies: Noah Gloom Sam Rodarch Sam Rodarch [IMG alt="Shira Varanin"]https://chaoscdn-12cef.kxcdn.com/data/avatars/s/17/17967.jpg?1581388292[/IMG] Shira Varanin Project Uriel Project Uriel Project Uriel Daiya Daiya
Tagging Enemies: Scherezade deWinter Scherezade deWinter Sasmay Cull Sasmay Cull scifipoinsettia scifipoinsettia

When the woman finished speaking, Beltran made a slight show of reaching up to his helmet and clicking off the external pick up for his comlink. In the safety of his own helmet, he spoke broadcasting only to those who had the Darkwire frequency for this mission. "I trust you heard that." He didn't specify who he intended to address with the word "you". He knew that whoever made these kind of decisions for the group would take the information and do something with it.

Or not. It didn't matter much to the Lorrdian.

With that, he clicked the comlink off entirely and brought his full attention to the woman standing in front of him, holding a strangely colorful knife out to him, hilt first. Reaching up, he undid the clasps that held his helm in place and opened it up. He then removed it and re-clasped it. Taking a step forward, he nodded and then-showing a level of trust he rarely extended to others-he reached forward to take the surprisingly light weapon.

"Thank you," He replied, accepting the gift at face value. "Perhaps next time other business won't get in the way of us finishing our fight?" Scherezade deWinter had been one of the more interesting opponents he'd fought over his lifetime. He'd fought Mandalorian Generals and Sith Lords. Pirates and bounty hunters. He'd even kicked a Rancor in the shin once and no, it didn't work. "Of all the people I've fought, nobody I've yet faced has had your style."

If Beltran had been a little more dramatic, he might have offered her a little bow or flourish. Instead, he simply gave her a curt nod before spinning almost militarily on his heels and started to walk away. By this point, Beltran was sure that Hacks and the others had gotten their cargo loaded. With no more enemies to engage and nothing left to protect, Beltran had fulfilled his responsibility to Darkwire for the time being. Without turning his head, he spoke one more time. Oddly enough, though he was facing away from her and by now several meters away and still walking, his voice came into the woman's ear as if he'd been standing directly behind her and whispering.

"Until next time."