... Onboard the Harmonia...
docked at the orbital space station of Devaron.
Mikka bobbed her head up and down to some jams she found on some datachits. The music was rather loud before, but she had toned it down a little to turn on the holonews. A quick cross reference of the artists and song titles on the holonet before the charming newlady without horns broke into a special report had noted that this particular concerto seemed to have been lost in time, with no full recordings. She wondered how Moira had come across such works, but paid that no mind as the LE-Series repair droid she was told to call 'Fives' had greeted her.
She was also told that without the new mistress' return she would not be able to move the ship. Which was fine with her, as she told the droid it's new mistress was her 'sista' and she was here to help start doing a little ship maintenance. In fact she was up to her elbows in engine grease when the holonews broke into a special report with a marquee scrolling across the screen that caught her attention.
///////// Breaking News////// ///////// Breaking News////// ///////// Breaking News//////
"Hello Everyone this is Lilith Bed e'val from your local holonews station Network 35 coming to you live from Montellan Serat."
Mikka could see a holocamera from a far off view zoom into the center of the city, where a cloud of smoke seemed to bellow around a tall building. She listened in as closely as she could.
"It appears there has been an assault on the city's main jailhouse by a series of unknown individuals.
Casualties are reported as high, though officials can tell us the majority of the prisoners are still contained in the Establishment with only a few escapes in what might be the most strange jailbreaks in the history of Montellan Serat. Early responding police forces to the scene were met with heavy resistance."
Mikka watched as the feed switched to a view of a couple of police airspeeders being exploded by missile strikes. Then having the areas from which the strikes occurred quickly hosed with blaster fire from Devaronian gunships.
"For the last half hours, it's been chaos in the streets and all citizens are asked to stay inside until this crisis is over as our security forces respond."
Thellis looked a little pensive for a moment, before she took a gaze out the viewport of the
Harmonia.
"I hope you're not caught up in all that Moiri Bruri."
Unknown to her at the time, her friend and sister was talking with a rather subdued ISIS agent in the hotel room she had been provided with who felt like she had to nurse a headache for having had some teenage girl get the drop on her. While said agent's partner, one Loran Mortist was dealing with a headache of a very different sort.
~~~ooo~~~
Cremsey shrugged, and seemed to be rather amused by Rei's continued questions. Over the earpiece he had heard that puke talking to their ride out of here, and by now he was wondering if all the snags of the night meant he could silently put a round into the head of his current 'plus one.' But that wasn't guaranteed yet; after all, she did seem to be a much better date then some of the stiffs he had to work with the past couple months.
He chuckled at the way she plugged those guards at the front station. It was beautiful! Absolutely classic.
"Okay, I got us in, where to now?"
"Why are you asking? You in a rush or something? Taking it easy can be helpful for your stress, you know. Are you sure you can't stop and smell the cordite babe?" The woman seemed to glare at him a little, as his eyes glinted amusingly behind the lensed mask of his camoflauge suit. Yes, they did come with a mask, thank you very much. Normally they were tinted and polarized so no one could see one's eyes, but meh. He didn't really think it mattered so much that he had to turn that feature off while carrying a sleeping weight. The rise and fall of the man's chest at least assured the target was still alive. That was all that mattered right now.
The woman seemed to huff a little before her reply.
"Maybe, and just maybe, I might be a little perturbed that my face is now probably in the hands of the bastards on the other side of the holocamera and probably delivered to their security net."
Cremsey smiled under the mask,
"Oh I don't really think so..."
"What are you on about? Are you going to tell me some invisible friend of yours is going to wave a magic wand and make things better? Any moment now they'll probably put out an A.P.B on me!" Rei drove back with a bitter retort and a growl.
Cremsey shrugged, not really caring. But his eyes already noticed certain things in the environment she hadn't.
"Nah, that's not his style. He wouldn't save your mug of a face if he didn't have a use for you. Besides if you're so worried about your looks, I wouldn't bother. Otherwise I wouldn't have seen that high end disruption field generator peeking over the roof of the guardhouse." The woman blinked and looked back towards the guardhouse, where from around the corner a foot poked out. Two distinct flashes of light seemed to burst out of her sight. Briefly illuminating the area as the foot disintegrated into chalky white ash. Cremsey saw the woman put her hand on the pommel of her weapon.
"Don't worry, that's probably just a friend getting rid of the bodies before he removes the generator. My guess was that when you killed them the holocamera was already fried."
Rei would hear a distinctive whine of a disruptor powering up behind her.
"And that would be my former sniper friend drawing a disruptor on your pretty little head if you don't take the hand off that pistol of yours."
"You are such a dick sometimes Clancy. But at least so far you've gotten the job done. This better be your Plus One."
"Or my dick of a current boss. Our former Invisible Friend you were alluding too. I just call him Smiley. He hates it when I go out on dates and don't tell him about them. Probably a pervert if you ask me- you should probably shoo-" Cremsey said without batting an eye.
"Shut it Agent Arsehole. " the voice interjected,
"Did you really have to let her take you in the front door and kill those guards when you knew the side entrance was already ours?"
Clancy shrugged.
"The side entrance is ten meters up when the gangway and plasma bridge aren't down. I'd have been a fool to lug this unconscious brick up when the little lady could of shot me in the back when her skills would suffice as a doorknocker. Besides , if she died I could just try to sneak my way up anyways."
"I take it back, you are super Agent Arsehole. Well Miss Plus one. Your damn lucky I'm playing nice right now to protect any assets in the area. But then again, your file says that's quite necessary right now Miss T'shkali. For your information, and your consideration I think you should consider yourself lucky to follow my next order. Stay completely still while you get a nice new necklace. I'll put it on your shoulder, and you'll put it on properly."
Clancy seemed to bark out a bit of laughter, sensing the baleful gaze of the puke on him. He wondered if the plebite was just going to off the woman. But to his dismay, he saw the girl stiffen as something was But was suprised as a small lanyard was lain across the shoulder with a bit of a medallion looking thing. It didn't look like a slave collar. Damn, and he was hoping to make a kinky remark or two. Maybe he should anyways. He opened his mouth to comment. But was rudely interrupted again.
"Shut up Arsehole. Put it on, Miss Plus One. I will expect it's return when you get to the ship." Cremsey saw the man ask.
The lady gingerly put it on, perhaps wondering what it was. But it was quickly answered by the voice of the person behind her. "
Wolf-Three-Foxtrot-ISIS-Zero"
Cremsey saw the woman's eyes widen when she heard the code that seemed to activate the necklace. The necklace hummed as it began to emit a dull whine, as the hairs of Rei's skin seemed to stand up.
"If you have never heard of it before, it's called a PSG-8487 View Masker. It's also about the best damn things I have available to help keep your identity clear of anything right now, and be glad I keep the habit of keeping assets that are useful. I'd suggest you consider yourself for the next few hours as under the direct employment of the Federation's ISIS."
"Oooh, spoiling all the fun." Cremsey said with a shake of his head,
"Why are you breaking protocol? Last I heard you were on the horn with some more pukes you hired to help with the evac."
"I'm not Agent Dickless. The masker and the disortion field is keeping this conversation safe. Besides, the situation's changed. Cell Six is reporting New Republic Intelligence Agents are making headway into the Craxus district of the city, about three kilometers from here. They've narrowed the target's safehouse down to that area. The mission is in danger of being compromised."
Cremsey snorted.
"You just might have compromised it by telling this bitch, too!"
"Only if she doesn't play ball, and if that happens well- it's hard to remove a View Masker, with an added bonus of having a small detonite charge if she doesn't play nice. Lucky for her, it will only trigger if I or one of the other two agents trigger it or her heart stops. We have them to help hide the evidence, remember?"
"Right. Well can I get the code to make her chest burst? I promise it will happen completely out of love for our wonderful date so far."
"Nope."The man's deadpan response was Cremsey's reply.
"Unlike you I treat assets fairly if they prove they can play it straight with me. Having a potential red flag out of Point Nadir is not really considered a good bet unless hedged. But at least I'm giving her a chance to prove herself." Cremsey could almost sense a shrug from the invisible man's direction. By the force he wished the invisibility would relate to his 'boss' shutting up.
"Besides, at least this way she has a ninety nine percent chance to be rewarded with the entire bounty on the target. After all, we're not really supposed to be here."
"Well if you aren't going to shoot her and let me keep the body for a souvenir, can I ask what you need us to do?" Cremsey said with a huff. No dead body here, and he was still having to deal with a long winded bastard.
"Get to the warehouse on the far side of the complex. Make sure you dodge the GV3 guardian droids, well normally I just call them dog droids. They got a few on patrol with a guard or two left out in the open. Be careful as they're probably the only thing that will sense you due to the mask I just gave you if you're not in plain sight. Once you get to the warehouse, link up with the two commandos who have the latchcracker to the underground drainage chute already open. From there it's a hundred meters to the edge of the city walls, and then a hundred and fifty to the evac shuttle. Some other Assets we called in. They're competent enough, just don't piss them off. When you get to the ship, I'll need you to wake the mark up and get the safehouse's location from him. Just don't forget he's worth more alive. With all the lives at stake with his information, we can't allow the NRI to get their hands on it. Turn around Miss Plus One."
Clancy saw the lady do so, as out of thin air two capsules appeared. She would reach out and take them quietly.
"Take the smelling salts for the prisoner. Just remember even if you have to deal with this asshole behind you, I was never officially here. I'll meet you back at the ship. Just, have the information by the time I reach there and don't let Clancy cause any trouble there. It's a shakey situation as it is."
"Are you saying you trust this bitch more then I?"
"No I trust both your reputations just about equally. Hers just has a higher chance of keeping the mark alive, as you tend to like killing people. Besides, the information is necessary to stop any further attacks elsewhere. Keep the bastard alive if at all possible."
"So what are you going to be doing while we go gallavanting around, huh, Sir" Cremsey said snidely.
"Playing tag with a bunch of E-I- Nine network security droids that I had to dissuade from getting some holofootage of your date here. So get to the ship, get the information, and get ready to get tactical. I cannot afford any more slipups to clean up your messes Clancy. Consider this an order: stop antagonizing the assets today. We have a job to do."
Without further ado, the whine of the weapon shutting down was the last thing Rei would see as a thin veneer of a figure moved off into the shadows. Cremsey would turn to her.
"Well shucks, he likes to just ruin all my fun."
For a moment she glared at him.
"What you were amazed that the support team was already here waiting... and did something actually useful? If it was up to me, I would have capped you for being so trusting, shame the boss seems to play by different rules. Besides, they're ISIS they're good like that."
The distinctive sound of something small scraping by the roof of the gatehouse was all he needed to know what had just happened,
"And that's them moving the disruption field. I'd get a move on Sugah. We don't have much time if the NRI is already sniffing down this mark's hideout then they're probably on our tails as well. Move your pretty little ass and take point and if I might make a request if we run into those dog droids; after you turn those beastly little things into sprockets could you perhaps do some more headshots to the guards to really get that brain matter flying? Or perhaps another heart shot. THAT was classic!"
"I really want to kick you right now."
Under the mask , Cremsey smirked.
"Oh did you say kick or kiss? Either way I love a girl that likes it rough. Maybe later, Sugah. Now pucker up, put on the big girl pants, it's time for us to move." A silence stretched between them, before Cremsey did a line from an impromptu little song. "
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, you mad, or nah? Better get moving now, or so."
As the pair moved off Bleering droid sounds would occur behind them at the gate as out of the closet one U2-C1-series housekeeping droid sauntered out. It had far too long since it's last memory wipe and cursed in binary as it began to vacuum up the gray-white dust its sensors told them had scored the front walk of the establishment. It hated cleaning up human messes. Damn fleshies had no respect, it bleeped, angrily. 'Where were the guards anyways?'
~~~ooo~~~
In the Craxus district , Montellan Serrat....
Three agents were going door to door the neighborhood around the corner from Flotto's Freight and Storage company.
Within the racks of storage unit B-312 Three large forty five meter shipping containers lay stacked in an L shape, with one on the second story crossing both of them. If one looked closely on the inside, they would see entrances cut and welded between the crates and a small spiral staircase leading up into the second story box. Within that cargo container, just to the right of the stairs lay the smooth curves of a Cutlass 9 patrol fighter, boxed in by it's surroundings. The safehouse hadn't been just commissioned for Laret Doravon's use, but also as an escape vector.
Down below were two racks of munitions, a scattergun, and a few grenade attachments for the assorted weapons that were held in armory racks. The entrance was cleverly masked by a series of racks that held ornate, and rather expensive cheeses held in carbonite.
A simple tug of one cheese wheel on the top shelves would ensure entrance to Doravon's safehouse, but that wasn't the most distinguishing feature of the cleverly hidden place.No the most distinguished feature was on a rack, a Juggernaut 510 Combat Power Armor lay next to holotable and a series of heavy duty computer systems.
In the corner, a rather large Battledroid Mk II with the scratched name of 'Sparky' lay on standby. It's sensors linked to another container in the yard which housed Doravon's last surprise; a fully restored HMP Predator Gunship that was to activate if the Cutlass' Engines ever became active or the droid was made inert. The battledroid's red sensors scanned the area once again for sixty seconds, and then shut off as it went back into standby mode as the sounds of starport traffic zoomed overhead.
