Private A Tale of Three Brothers

[Percival Io]

Perhaps House Io’s forces could’ve stormed Garbo’s palace on New Alderaan and taken Percival’s unfortunate clone by force. But Percival himself ultimately squashed that idea, pointing out that the petty crime lord clearly had knowledge of how House Io’s forces worked if he was able to use Percival’s weakness against him. It would be foolhardy to charge in with Neutralizers, and no one else in House Io could spare the time or the manpower to rescue one droid—especially one that they already had two copies of already.

Instead, he proposed a much more lowkey rescue operation, involving only a few operatives, most of them very well-paid mercs. In fact, Percival was the only House Io member among the group that descended upon the palace that evening, ready to infiltrate the compound and take back his brother.

“There’s a route through the gardens that should get us inside,” he had explained before the mission began. “It’s close to the area where he’s being held. We won’t be able to keep up stealth forever, but try not to draw too much attention to yourselves. These are all just thugs—I don’t care who you kill, as long as you aren’t slaughtering dancers or unarmed slaves.”

Part of him was tempted to burn the whole place to the ground. It certainly would’ve satisfied the Chaplain in him to see the land cleansed in holy fire.

Artur (Γ013)​

 

[Artur (Γ013)]

As Percival went through explaining the basics of the plan to the rest, Artur stood apart from the rest of the group, looking at the palace compound through the scope from his rifle. The outside guard appeared to be fairly minimal, but given that they were dealing with a Hutt, he had no doubt there'd be a large number to deal with once they were inside. Most likely work for his pistol and vibrodagger, not his rifle. "I hate close quarters," he muttered to himself.

At least he looked like he fit in with the group, between the remnants of his armour that he kept and the mismatched weaponry he carried. If only he didn't tower over the rest so noticeably. Thinking of that, hopefully the interior of the compound wasn't designed for particularly short beings, otherwise he'd have a fair bit of trouble. "Seven guards on outside rotation," he spoke up once Percival finished speaking. "Three of them patrolling the edges of the compound, and four up on the walls of the central building, with sharpshooter capability. Surplus Judicators it looks like."

Percival Io

 

[Percival Io]

Percival was known for being insanely well-prepared. This was because he knew the outcome was unpredictable, so he prepared for everything (or at least, as much as he possibly could) and just rolled with it.

With a basic route of entry decided upon, the rest of the plan would have to be made up as they went along. To the accented sniper of the group he simply said, “Shoot them all, and keep shooting.” Turning to the others, he added, “The same goes for you.”

With that, he led the way toward the compound.

Artur (Γ013)​

 

[Artur (Γ013)]

Artur stared, blank faced, at Percival for a moment or two. Just until he was sure that the leader of the escapade was serious.

It seemed he was.

Now, Artur did have a suppressor for the rifle. It wouldn't do much to keep the news of an attack from quickly reaching into the compound, but it could at least help them keep from realizing which direction the group storming the castle would be coming from. All he'd have to do would be to take out the seven outside before they could manage to regroup or report back the position that the blaster bolts came from. He blinked once, a quick heads-up-display overlaying the vision he received from cybernetically modified eyes.

Movement speed, projected patrol pattern, individual target tracking to determine which of them would be obstructed and when, a measurement of the total field of view needed to cover to get from one end of the group to the other. "Move quickly," he told Percival, sliding the scope back onto the rifle's quick-detach mount.

The four sharpshooters would have to go first. He breathed out, holding his lungs empty as the response package in his nervous system took over. Four shots were loosed within the space of a second, the man's body twitching almost droid-like as he shifted between them. Before the first had even fallen from their perch he shifted towards one of the patrolling guards, who had just started to move for cover. Another shot. A quick turn across the field to loose a sixth; the seventh target, however, managed to duck behind a duracrete wall before Artur could manage to hit him.

He racked he lever on his rifle, supercharging the next shot, and fired again; it punched clean through the wall, and the heat signature of the final thug exploded in nearly every direction before rapidly dissipating. Not as clean as disintegration, but just as effective. He breathed in, and the RiMPack deactivated itself, the world around him speeding back up to a normal level.

Artur didn't even bother to see if any of the team he was with was particularly shocked or surprised by what they just witnessed, slinging the rifle over his back and quickly running for the gardens.

Percival Io

 

[Percival Io]

Percival showed no reaction to the quick work Artur made of the guards, but a couple of the other mercs reacted with surprise. It was short-lived, however—they were on a mission, after all.

The gardens were fenced in; entry required them to climb the fence, which upon inspection was revealed to be electrified. After shooting the generator with a remote electrical charge to temporarily disrupt the current, they swiftly ascended it.

All except for one of the mercs. The poor bastard was nearly over the line when the generator suddenly reactivated, electrocuting him. His teammates watched helplessly as he fell from the top of the fence, down a not-insignificant drop, landing with a meaty thud on the ground.

"...Shit," someone whispered.

Artur (Γ013)​

 

[Artur (Γ013)]

One of the team dying merited little more than a short glance of acknowledgement; even though he often found himself working with them, he didn't particularly appreciate the sort that turned to mercenary work. Though, he didn't particularly appreciate himself either. "Find some cover," he told the others, making his way over to kneel beside one of the thugs he'd dropped. A pair of short blinks, and his eyes switched to a different wavelength. "Biomedical sensor, communication, and tracking implants," he reported to Percival. He should've expected it.

The electric fence had gotten switched over to backup power far too quickly for a proper surprise, far too quickly for what should've been expected after how quickly he'd dealt with the seven outside guards. He looked up to their target, the main building of the compound. It wasn't smooth like an old B'omarr temple taken and converted to a Hutt's dwelling; while it was large, it was certainly comprised of multiple distinct sections. There were a fair amount of handholds available. Looking around futher, other buildings of the compound showed similar construction. "Keep moving to your entrance, expect resistance. I'm going to get up high to give covering fire, meet you inside."

He pushed off with one leg, rising from his kneel and rapidly disappearing into a different part of the gardens from the rest of the group.

Percival Io

 

[Percival Io]

Ah, repulsorlifts. Percival had some of those in both his hands and feet as well.

As Artur blasted off, the Chaplain led the rest of the group through the garden entrance. Not long after entering the compound, they were accosted by blaster fire.

The mercs, obeying Percival’s earlier order, started shooting and kept shooting until the sounds of returning fire fell silent. With the element of surprise and stealth quite lost at this point, Percival was surprised an alarm had yet to be triggered. But the corridors of the palace remained eerily silent.

He gestured for his men to follow him as he headed straight for the display room, where his droid brother should be hanging suspended by a powerful magnetic field…

Artur (Γ013)​