Vengeance served freezing cold [ KDY / OS Heist ]

[Jaster Starfallen]

"What is with my luck!" I exclaim as the tram backs up. "Why am I always getting detected and captured?" I hate it when that happens. I also hate it when I'm outnumbered 100-1. And outgunned. "This has been happening more frequently lately."

"Alright this is a speed mission now. Everyone get your task done fast so we can get the hell outta here." I order everyone. The faster we get this done the less enemies and problems we face on our way out. "Silas stay hidden and don't get caught. You can hitch a ride with us when we leave if you want." I'm not about to get Silas caught again. I felt bad enough the first time. I look to [member="Charzon Loulan"] for confirmation and she nods.

"Do they have any security bots or anything else you can take over [member="Silas Miu"]? The more havoc the better. Camera feeds, cat memes, doors, anything." I snicker at my brilliance with the cat meme part. Whatever we can do to keep them off balance the easier the mission will be. "Let's go!"

The tram stops at the station and the doors open.

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas had an idea, but he's need some serious backup. Which, due to his friends being otherwise occupied, that he'd have to get to the Droid Control Center. He'd done some research of the station before throwing himself into the fray, so he knew that only the light security droids, repair drones and probe droids were remotely controlled by the center. That should be all he'd need, though.

He pulled up his holocomputer, cursing again as he realized the system was shut down. "[member="Celiana"], [member="Jaster Starfallen"], we have another problem. They shouldn't know their system, but they've shut down most, if not all terminals in the station. I can still slice doors, but I'd have to be next to them. As for droids, I'm working on it. I'll have to make my way over to the control center. I may need backup." Silas reported, his tone very agitated.

He really wished people would stop kicking him out of their systems. Even if it was just as a preventative measure. Thankfully, he could always rely on his wit and personal tech to see the job through.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Even though Charzon stayed behind for this, she knew Jessica and Marcia were variable-geometry guns. She wanted to curse these ladies if the theft failed, but the bit about "outdated authorization codes" she overheard apparently dated from the time where Jessica still worked there. Jessica's drive for revenge led me into trouble, she thought. If she was a Force-sensitive, she would have joined the Order of Ren or the Sith Lords by now... Yet the manifest contained mostly products that were released after Jessica was fired: only the heavy tractor beams could possibly have been ordered before Jessica was sacked. But the droid that interrogated her earlier began to ask questions about the purpose of the items on the manifest, whether they have actual reason to be on some KDY-built ship. For the heavy tractor beams it goes without saying. But the automated kitchenettes or collision avoidance systems?

"You do realize that One Sith regulations mandate that all ships capable of landing must have collision avoidance systems, not only traffic but also for terrain. This is where the Watchtowers in the cargo hold of that ship come in. Also they can equip ships with variable-geometry landing gears" Charzon told the security droid.

Meanwhile, because Marcia's role depended on the cargo manifest, her own role has been compromised by her apparent lack of experience in forgery. All that Marcia could do at this point was to tote a blaster, preferrably behind cover, now that she has served her purpose in this... revenge-driven plan, which happened to serve SSC authorities as well. Jessica prepared her slicing equipment.

[member="Silas Miu"] [member="Jaster Starfallen"] [member="Celiana"]

 

[Laguz Vald]

While a certain Mr. Vess of Saeva – lovingly dubbed Murder Inc. – might’ve been floating around on the Imperious with a sizable contingent of Mandalorians on board, not all mercenaries were bound in such manner. In fact, most of them weren’t; one of the perks of working for the company. Laguz had always been a free spirit, and that hadn’t changed even when xe’d signed a long-term contract with the mercenaries.

When the alert came in through their channels, the shifter was already planetside. Call it coincidence or providence, it mattered little. Xe dropped xir current business, whose relevance and respective payout faded in comparison to the bounty that the Queen of Kuat would surely bestow if they rid her of the pests.

Credit chips lead the way to docking bay C7, target practice, and a pretty five-figure payment on xir Tattooine bank account.

Were xe not too busy breaking out xir trusty Tessie, laguz would’ve rubbed xir greedy little hands. Alas, priorities.

“Kiran, I’m on-site,” the merc muttered into xir comm as xe loaded beskar bullets into the sniper rifle. “Be quick or you’ll miss all the fun.”

Xe slithered inside, skin the color and texture of the smooth metal used in the construction of the station. The trespassers on the tram would almost certainly remain completely obvious to xir presence, space-mages or not. Laguz was Force-dead on top of being a natural chameleon with well over two centuries’ worth of experience.

So xe set up in an inconspicuous little corner of the hangar, looking like the corner itself.

And then xe waited.

[member="Hannibal Oryen"] | [member="Sera Spar"] | [member="Dak Canton"] | [member="Charzon Loulan"] | [member="Jaster Starfallen"] | [member="Silas Miu"] | [member="Celiana"]

 

[Celiana]

Speaking into the squad comm that Silas had discreetly tied himself into I said, "Silas you're getting better at infiltrating my tech this one you can keep. Guys and lovely ladies there's something not right in the hangar we entered, your friendly neighborhood Jedi is sensing something....wrong there. There should be a network of life there and there is but there's a Force-dead area in the hangar. Something or someone is there. Also our presence hasn't gone unnoticed they'll be sending security. Probably droids and someone that can actually think for themselves. Silas if you'd be so kind can you please turn the security droids against their masters and cause chaos so we can leave?"

There was a dead-spot in The Force in that hangar. It wasn't what belonged but what didn't that had stood out to me there. Odds were someone was waiting for us there. Racking the slides on my guns I prepared for what we'd be facing soon.....

[member="Laguz Vald"]
[member="Silas Miu"]
[member="Jaster Starfallen"]
[member="Hannibal Oryen"]
[member="Sera Spar"]
[member="Charzon Loulan"]
[member="Dak Canton"]

 

[Jaster Starfallen]

"Well that ain't good." I remark to @Celiana. "If you're nervous I suppose I ought to be."

I bring my weapon up and set it for 'Overkill'. If something or someone can create or even supply machinery for a force dead area they must be powerful. A couple bolts from my blaster should bring it down to size. I march to the doors and give the team a 1,2,3. I open the doors at three and swing my blaster to bear at anything that looks threatening in the hangar.

"Boo." I say as the doors open.

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas grumbled to himself after [member="Celiana"] spoke over the comms. "If I'd be so kind..." Silas grumpily grumbled, "I can be very kind, but it doesn't look like I'm getting any backup, does it?"

Silas darted from cover to cover on his way around the ring station. The Trams were otherwise occupied, so he had to go the long way. He would normally try to slice into the trams systems and either bring them to a halt, or back the way they'd normally intended, but he didn't have access because some security karker decided he wanted a bonus and take every precaution he could think of. Silas hated security types.

He's barely made it 500 meters from the docking area before he came across his first security patrol. Three of the light security droids and a probe droid. Made sense to have the probe droid along, as they needed more eyes and ears now that the cameras were out. "Time to have some fun," Silas said as he pulled an ion grenade out of his bag.

He pulled the pin and threw the small device right at the patrol. The security droids barely had time to turn in his direction, raising their rifles, before the grenade went off, frying their circuitry. Silas grinned, making his way over to the droids. 'Lets be friends,' he thought to himself as he opened up the droids plating to reveal the processing unit beneath.

Before Silas could do anything else with the Droid, he needed it to have a new power source, so he removed the old power source, which was slightly charred, and replaced it with a brand new one. Next, he connected his computer to the droids processing unit, performing a cold boot of its systems. It's computers would be running, but it couldn't perform any actions. He sliced into the droids programming, finding its network controls, and removed all known networks from its systems, replacing them with his own network, which ensured the Droid Control Center that he needed to breach wouldn't be sending it any commands. Next, he accessed the droids Friend-Foe system, reprogramming it to see himself and his allies and friends, and everyone else on the station as Foes.

'A lot of trouble for one rinky-dink droid,' he mused to himself, "But, this should help if I encounter more trouble.'

"[member="Celiana"], I'm heading to the Droid Control Center now, hopefully I can earn more than my weight in credits there." Silas said over the comms.

 

[Quietus]

"Security anomaly detected in section 7C," this was not what Lorelei Darke wanted to hear as she stepped off the lift and into the massive spread of Crown Control.

All eyes remained firmly focused on tasks at hand, just as she liked them. Pressed uniforms illuminated by holographic consoles encircling the chambers. Hundreds of screens lined the walls, sectioned off for various control subjects of the orbital rings. Dotted along the center floor and lower level she stopped to watch the progression of the various holographic kiosk tables and the people milling about, hard at work.

"We have a code HA36 originating from Tram Station 7," a woman sitting in a raised chair surrounded by projected screens began skillfully tapping through commands. Her voice was flat and unimpeded by emotion, "Security breach in progress, beginning counter- Bart what are you doing?"

The woman looked to another man sitting in the chair to her right within the Security Module circle.

"Locking up Tram Station 7 and returning all departing trams." replied Bart while Hannibal Oryen's voice barked in his ear.

Lorelei, who had merely been listening, moved to descend a set of stairs leading to Security Command. Reaching the raised dais, she stepped up through the entryway to stand at the center of eight people seated around the Command. Her gaze turned to watch over Bart's shoulder.

"Who is that?" Lorelei's eyes caught the figure of an armored man making his way through security feed.

"Hannibal Oryen, Ma'am. Contracted into local security for the Supply Station two months ago. Comms Officer Derik and his squad are under his command. They are en route to Tram Station 7 to assess the security breach."

"Keep him in the feeds."

"Yes, your Grace."

"And lock down sector 4. No movement in or out without my authorization."

"Locking down Supply Station and Warehouses. Halting all Tram movement through adjoining sectors. Commencing Security Protocol LD24 for sector 4. Local uplink modules locked, cutting wireless access to sector Inframe. Sector 4 Security Detail on the move."

"Your Grace," Lorelei turned to the voice of D.O. DiVanca Leonardi standing behind her holding out a datapad, "the information on the Maersk of Lanteeb and Ringovinda Staryards. The Maersk is a ship commissioned by a company called Star Tours. We are presently compiling data on them."

"Ringovinda is in Coalition territory..." Lorelei perused the files, "corporate sabotage notwithstanding, I have a difficult time believing those flower-pickers capable of organizing this."

"Their failure at Ruusan may have turned them to petty crimes."

"What a shame."

 

[Aedan Miles]

Aedan Miles sat on the bridge of one of his ships tapping his finger against the arm of the chair as he thought quickly he had relieved word of an attack on Kuat Drive Yards which sparked his interest. Not one to miss a chance at piracy Aedan had gathered a small force of ships over filled with men to crew any ships he wished to steal he had a catalog from Kuat Drive Yards and highlighted a few ships that he wanted to steal. Finally he nodded and sent the ships he wanted to steal to his companion who would be showing up after him finally he nodded and the seven ships in his armada jumped into hyperspace the pair of Widow-class Frigate in the lead followed by a pair of Dire-class patrol ships with a Facade-class pocket carrier between them followed by a Krayt-class light cruiser and a Skira-class heavy cruiser to provide fire support for his ships.

[member="Lorelei Darke"] [member="Charzon Loulan"] [member="Solan Charr"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

SPACE
NEAR KUAT DRIVE YARDS

The LightStealth-18 Reconnaissance Ship was a rarely-requested but inimitable part of KDY's classic catalog. Still viable after centuries, the LS18 design was the closest anyone had ever come to a ship that could scan the absolute feth out of anything while remaining undetected. It was, additionally, a very pretty little ship and handled like a dream for any pilot, even one who wasn't Jorus Merrill.

The man at the pilot's seat certainly wasn't Jorus Merrill. The rakish scar across his eye and the bleached blonde hair made that virtually certain. Jorus Merrill would never have come into One Sith territory, naturally. The man in the pilot's seat just happened to be some other spacer to whom Kuat Drive Yards owed a ship for various reasons.

This decidedly-not-Merrilly man was taking his new boat for a test drive when, out of nowhere, Things Started Happening. Certain contacts aboard the shipyard ring indicated that whole sectors were being quarantined for security purposes. Some weird clart was apparently going down in relation to a cargo ship, and security comms traffic was through the roof.

"Funny," he muttered to himself in the solitude of the recon ship's cockpit, "I don't remember any Underground raid scheduled for today."

Fortunately, he happened to be in a ship designed to get to the bottom of such questions, so he began to sate his curiosity.

 

[Silas Miu]

Silas had just made it past the bulkheads between the docking area and the next part of the station when the heavy grinding and whirring alerted him to the blast doors forcibly closing behind him. "Poodoo!" He cursed, slamming his fist against the door.

Turning around, he watched for any approaching forces, but couldn't see any. His hijacked security droid, stood stoicly by his side, it's sensors not picking up anything it deemed a threat. "Alert me to any approaching forces," Silas commanded, loving feeling in control of something again, even if it was a light security droid.

They made their way as stealthily as they could across the area, his droid making its customary mettalic clacking noise as it marched along. Silas' holocomputer had decided the most efficient route to the control center, without the use of the trams, but it was still a good distance out.

"[member="Celiana"], [member="Jaster Starfallen"], the docking area is under lockdown. Blast doors are sealing it off from the rest of the station and I'm on the outside of it. Escape route is cut off, we'll need a new way off this station once we're done here." Silas spoke over the comms to update his friends.

 

[Hannibal Oryen]

KUAT SYSTEM
ORBITAL SHIPYARDS

(( If everyone could have some respect for the posting order and wait for people to post before going ahead without them, why, that would just be dandy. ))

[member="Sera Spar"] | [member="Lorelei Darke"] | [member="Dak Canton"]
[member="Jaster Starfallen"] | [member="Celiana"] | [member="Charzon Loulan"]

[member="Silas Miu"] had somehow used the eldritch powers of deity-based modification to teleport directly from the tram he was on into a different area of the shipyards. Fine. Whatever. That was his prerogative and Hannibal didn't want to give himself an aneurysm trying to figure out why it happened. There were more important things to think about, like the three other mooks who were currently boxed up in the tram and hopefully wouldn't somehow ghost out through indescribable methods like their pal.

The first thing Jaster would see upon opening the doors of the Tram were, again, twenty four battle droids with blasters. They were all pointed at the tram and Jaster by extension. Fortunately, none of them fired. Because Hannibal would have rather negotiated a surrender than damage the Queen's shipyard infrastructure. "Attention nimrods." Hannibal said, voice amplified by a megaphone someone how handed him. He now had the light machine gun in one hand and the megaphone in the other. It would be difficult for Hannibal to return fire if Jaster shot at him, but that was why the droids and the six other men were here anyway.

"Come outta the tram with ya filthy-red-mook-hands up. Drop ya weapons. No sudden movements, dig?"

The guy coming out looked not unlike himself, Hannibal decided. Commando or mercenary or whatever. He could respect that. This was probably just another job to the poor schmuck. It seemed he had not counted on the fact that his employers had no idea who they were up against and the heat that security on the shipyards was packing.

 

[Celiana]

I really didn't take kindly to threats....Glancing over at Jaster I called my aqua saber to my right hand, igniting it with a snap-hiss the thrumming sensation in my hand as I felt my left hand start tingling and sparks started to coalesce over my hand. "So Jaster was it? We're definitely going to surrender right? I mean Mandalorians are completely about just giving up and walking away from fights right?" My voice was dripping with sarcasm which I hoped he caught. In any case I had no plans to give up to a bunch of battle-droids and the hired security who happened to have a machine gun.

There was still the matter of Silas. "Silas we're about to get, occupied. Yeah, occupied would be it. There'll probably be scrap when we're done. As to getting out of here well, we're thieves right? Let's either steal a ship or completely screw with them and take ours back. Either way works honestly."

This is where the fun begins I thought to myself....

[member="Jaster Starfallen"]
[member="Silas Miu"]

 

[Jaster Starfallen]

"Totally. Surrendering is my favorite option when it comes to combat." I snicker. "Yeah we should all just surrender and get hot chocolate and s'mores sometime, you know, have a fireside chat and all." I notice the cyborg with the machine gun. "I hope you like marshmallows. And hot dogs." I think of how an 'Eat my bullets!' line would fit so nicely in here.

"Yeah, we'll be a little occupied Silas. I'll make sure to save some marshmallows and hot chocolate for you. And a hamburger." I watch as [member="Celiana"] ignites the lightsaber which looks pretty cool. I've never been a hand-to-hand fighter though. But having one of those would be awesome. I turn my attention back to the droids. They don't look tough or any bit dangerous. Besides the blasters. But it's been a long time since I've fought droids so this should be a piece of cake.

[member="Hannibal Oryen"] [member="Silas Miu"] [member="Laguz Vald"] [member="Charzon Loulan"]

 

[Hannibal Oryen]

KUAT SYSTEM
ORBITAL SHIPYARDS

[member="Sera Spar"] | [member="Lorelei Darke"] | [member="Dak Canton"]
[member="Jaster Starfallen"] | [member="Celiana"] | [member="Charzon Loulan"]

Hearing this response Hannibal shrugged his shoulders and threw the megaphone away. As usual, negotiations had failed. Why these people were so intent on running headlong into their graves, Hannibal would never understand. "Alright, can't blame a guy for tryin'." He grunted, raising his weapon of choice and pointing it right at Jaster. "Light these fethers up!"

And so a torrent of blaster fire did descend upon Jaster Starfallen, who was standing in the door of the tram. There were not a lot of options on his table at the moment, as the maelstrom of twenty four simultaneously firing blaster rifles would prevent him from moving forward without dying a gruesome and agonizing death. Not to mention the torrent of bullets spewed out by the CZ-837 LMG. Which had, of course, been loaded with BANG-class ammunition. Explosive bullets.

Hannibal had been in this business a long time. Despite what people thought, they were not faster than bullets or bolts. Jaster could probably make a quick dive back into cover inside the tram to avoid the onslaught, but he wasn't going anywhere else without biting the dust.

 

[Laguz Vald]

[Seriously people. Chill out on the posting order, there’s more than just you two in this thread. ( [member="Celiana"] [member="Jaster Starfallen"] ) ]

The sniper wasn’t terribly concerned. Xe was indistinguishable from the featureless gunmetal gray of the docking bay. The thieves on the tram could be – and were – staring directly at him, and they would see nothing out of the ordinary.

Distance helped, naturally. Scope readout said 198 m. Sweet.

[member="Hannibal Oryen"] was trading words with the Mando merc and the glowstick cop. Clearly, he had patience. Saeva and Laguz weren’t hired to have patience.

Laguz calmly took aim from xir perch, settling the crosshairs on the centre mass of the Mando. At this range, xir beskar bullets would pierce through whatever armor he happened to be wearing, regardless of material and make. And with the speed and power that Tessie packed, the exit wound would probably take out half of the man’s back.

Lesson? Don’t steal from KDY, suckers.

Xe exhaled and squeezed the trigger. Bar divine intervention, the beskar bullet would rip through the Mando right as he was cracking the tasteless jokes about marshmallows and hot dogs.

[member="Silas Miu"] | [member="Sera Spar"] | [member="Lorelei Darke"] | [member="Jorus Merrill"] | [member="Charzon Loulan"]

 

[Hannibal Oryen]

[Double Post]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Thank the Force Charzon didn't enter the tram! And neither had Marcia, both of which were hidden behind an empty crate large enough to contain a repulsorlift generator for a corvette. Jessica, on the other hand, kept quiet while the bulkheads closed down on the tram's tunnels and Station 7's issues. She was rather bulky but she was one for an anti-tank rifle. Charzon was almost tempted to curse her own, as well as her staff's, lack of experience in corporate sabotage. Jessica did help design the Maersk-class, of which the Maersk of Lanteeb was, based on vague memories of KDY-built ships, but that didn't satisfy her in her lust for revenge. If Jessica somehow survived this heist, she will probably end up bathing in bacta for a while, and psychologically scarred for years, unless satisfactory schematics could somehow be stolen (or more accurately, be made backup copies of). But, as Tram Station 7 was under lockdown...

"Kark it, because of Jessica's fanaticism, she led us into deep trouble" Marcia whispered.

"You can be sure Jessica will be at the receiving end of a poodoo fan hit if she survives. Just that this is probably going to be our last attempts to be conducted personally" Charzon whispered.

As tempted as Charzon can be to scream There may be pirates here along any second!, she somehow kept quiet. And away from any firefight that may ensue in the tram station: they may inadvertantly compromise it. They were worth too much to the Silvers to recklessly risk themselves like that. The initial party, four of which are trapped inside the tram wagon, and the other two still in docking bay C7, was, well, forked. Unless... unless there actually were 1) pirates and 2) these pirates also targeted KDY for some reason. Maybe, maybe then can they steal schematics while the Maersk of Lanteeb is immobilized.

[member="Jaster Starfallen"] [member="Celiana] [member="Silas Miu"] [member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Aedan Miles"]

 

[Jorus Merrill]

SPACE
NEAR KUAT DRIVE YARDS

The recon ship's intercept gear identified one point of interest as Dock C7, currently locked down in the strictest possible terms. The docked vessel wasn't one Jorus knew intimately; it looked like a KDY ship, but he'd thought he knew their work better than that. In a lesser vessel than the LightStealth, Jorus would have swooped in for a closer look and risked irritating the Kuat security ships nearby. Instead he just instructed the recon ship's gear to take that closer look for him. While the scans processed, he used the recon ship's excellent comm suite to connect with a subspace infonode on Kuat proper. Clearly he needed some background here.

Maersk of Lanteeb, a Ringovinda Staryards Maersk-class intraorbital freighter. Five hundred metres of KDY knockoff registered to Star Tours. What was a non-Kuati tour ship doing here, at an orbital yard? A quick search indicated that Star Tours was exactly what it said on the tin, an up-and-coming transportation line. The Maersk-class, it turned out, was noted for its internal modularity. Maybe someone had turned one into a Q-ship somehow -- or, more likely, some important cruise passenger had gotten into a Situation. Either way, the LightStealth's sensors registered what seemed like weapons fire inside the orbital ring, and comm chatter to match. For the moment, Jorus kept his distance.

 

[Subject 37]

Things were going well enough. Kiran had explained to Sera what his plan was, exactly why they were helping the Queen of Kuat and what good it would do Death Watch, and with that explanation Sera had agreed to assist the Monarch.

Her footfalls rang out in the halls as she entered the central Hangar bay of The Imperious, half a dozen members of Death Watch and assorted Mandalorians already preparing within. They all wore their armor, all were readying for battle. She watched them for a moment, speaking into her Radio. "Why are you not leading this strike?"

She spoke to Kiran who had returned to the bridge a few moments after he'd left.

"Someone has to Captain this ship, and it certainly won't be you."

Sera frowned slightly, not sure whether or not she should be insulted. After a moments thought she decided it was better not to respond at all, and instead to move into the hangar and prepare herself. She scooped up a rifle from one of the weapons lockers, nodding over to [member="Kade Kelborn"] who stood in the center of the hangar. She made her way over there, the boarding shuttle being prepped by two of her Clan. The Mandalorain woman said nothing as there was a slight shake that ran through the Hangar deck, a sign of the Imperious' weapons powering up as they prepared to drop from hyperspace.

"We move quickly." She told her soldiers. "Secure the shipyards. Kiran will cover our entry with The Imperious."

Almost at that exact moment The Imperious dropped from hyperspace.

The ship erupted into realspace jarringly close to the Shipyards, falling into place at an almost perfect location. It took only half a heartbeat for it to begin moving forward, throttling it's engines so that within mere moments the boarding shuttles would be in range.