Behind Enemy Lines

[Jaya Tandris]

Old Jedi Temple, Tython

Overall, joining the First Order, if you could call it joining, did Jaya well. She was allowed to keep leading the Eye of the Street back home on Bavva, and whenever she was called up it was often to enforce. Cupcake didn't care for the fact the law had to be upheld, she often broke them herself even now, but it was satisfying to beat people into submission. The fact there were no repercussions for such things was merely icing on the cake. This mission though, was something completely different. It required subtlety, not one of Jaya's strong suits, and something she didn't like one bit. Why bother being careful when you can just break it on purpose?

Her mission sounded simple enough, find whatever information you can without being noticed. The woman currently was at the old Jedi temple of the planet, scouting the area for a way in without being seen. She wore mostly black, unlike her normal attire, and a hood to hide her attention-screeching highlights in her hair. She had her gauntlets attached to a frame on her back, made for easy transport of her personal weapons of choice. They weren't the most subtle of weapons, but if things went south Jaya wanted them around. She'd have to store them away somewhere safe for the time being however, as they slowed the woman down. They also didn't really help with the stealth part.

An opening. The guards at the entrance were leaving, their shift likely ended, and the woman quickly made her way to the doors. Peeking inside, she saw nobody. The agent made her way inside, immediately looking around. Finding a side room, she entered it and unloaded her gauntlets. Hiding the weapons from sight, the mission was ready to get underway. With her wrist datapad she'd be able to quickly store any information she would find. Now where to start...

[member='Dax Fyre']

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax sat within the temple archives, one of the many who were sifting through the data held within the ancient databanks. In truth he didn't have to be there, looking for whatever scraps of data the KO or the GA may potentially be interested in. He was there as much for himself as for the Outback. The Outback had asked for volunteers to participate in the menial task of locating the ancient site and the aforementioned data and Dax had volunteered. He was still recovering from his wounds and the recent surgery, but he had also hoped to find some kind of information regarding Force Drain. His search as of yet had yielded no results. Sure he and his team had found the odd scraps of relevant data, but nothing big. This had become more and more of a chore...

[member="Jaya Tandris"]

 

[Jaya Tandris]

The archives was the obvious place to start. The hall was still deserted, but Jaya couldn't rest on her laurels. Moving quickly, the woman made her way up a set of stairs. It didn't take her long to find the archives, but peeking around the corner she saw that there were a good amount of people inside. This left Jaya with only a single option: Blend in. She took off her hood, revealing her hair, and walked inside pretending she belonged there. It was risky, but her affiliations with the First Order rarely made it in records. Often times she'd get arrested by First Order agents, only to discover her relationship with them, forcing them to let her go. "Maybe that's why they picked me for this..." Cupcake thought to herself as she made the realization.

Jaya took a look around, quickly getting to work. She wasn't able to transfer the data to her wrist datapad just yet, that would arouse suspicion, but knowing where to look when the place was more deserted would help her efforts. She passed by a half-half human-epicanthix man who looked slightly younger than herself, nodding as she walked. He seemed busy with sifting through data himself, sparking curiosity within Jaya. What would he be looking for?

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

A woman with highlights in her hair happened to pass the man and nod to him. He nodded back, but eyed her carefully...he didn't recognize her...a new recruit perhaps? Although he doubted that Halzyn had taken on anyone else without having mentioning it to the Rogue. Maybe an analyst. he didn't really know too many of them, so that seemed likely. Still, Dax was surprised he hadn't met the pretty woman yet. Putting the data pad down, leaving it unattended, he walked over to another of the data analysts who had called his name and peered over his shoulder at whatever he'd uncovered.

Elsewhere, Halzyn Ciir, happy to once more be working with the Rogue he'd only just met on Kaeshana, was organizing the security efforts of the Outback militamen. A perimeter had been set up already, but they didn't have any heavy armaments. They weren't exactly the kind who even owned that kind of equipment. But they made due with what they could. "Sergeant!" one of his men called out, "I think I might have something!"

[member="Jaya Tandris"]

 

[Jaya Tandris]

Jaya noted the suspicion coming from the man. She shrugged it off, she was too far in to slip up now. She got to work, sifting through anything that looked remotely interesting. Cupcake had no idea what to look for exactly, and so she just started somewhere randomly. A lack of knowledge on most of the data hindered the woman, not really knowing what to make of most of it. A disgruntled sigh could be heard as frustration grew. "I'll just take whatever I can get, I guess..." Jaya thought to herself.

Leaving the data alone for now, Jaya made her way to a seat. She plopped down somewhere near the man she saw before, somewhat apathetic still towards the suspicious eye he gave her earlier. All that could be done for now was look around and she what other people were doing. The woman hoped nobody would question why she was here, seeing she was doing nothing right now.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

"What is it?" Halzyn asked the radar technician who'd called him. The technician pointed to the screen on the console before him where multiple red dots blinked in and out, approaching closer and closer every time they reappeared. "I don't know if its faulty equipment..." the technician began, "but I'm getting readings, but this many of em? We should see or hear them...or something..."

Dax's attention was once more drawn to the darkly clad woman only a few meters away from her as she let out an audible dissatisfied sigh. Not that it was particularly loud, but in the silence of the data vaults it was most certainly a more noticeable thing than she likely intended. As she sat down near him the Master approached her and stood just behind and to the right of her, "You alright?" he asked, his voice seeming sincere. With both thumbs hooked in his pockets he seemed very relaxed. Yet, the stance also gave him quick access to his saber should the man's misgivings be correct.

[member="Jaya Tandris"]

 

[Jaya Tandris]

Being way out of her element, Jaya took a second to answer. She wasn't a liar, and she wouldn't start now, but outright admitting what was wrong seemed like a terrible idea. "I was asked to find information, but they were smart enough to not tell me exactly what. I have no idea where to start..." She turned her head towards the man, greeting him with a smile. "Seriously, how am I supposed to do my job like this?" Cupcake wasn't the most tactful talker ever, and this left the opportunity to ask questions she couldn't answer open, but she didn't really care. "Why didn't they just pick someone who knows what to look for..."

Jaya stood up, offering a handshake. "Jaya."

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax raised an eyebrow as the woman responded to his asking about her wellbeing with her name. "Nice to meet you Jaya...Dax." the man responded, shaking her hand tentatively. "So what's the problem?" His hand dropped back to his side, thumb once more hooked in his pocket. Odd woman...but oddity itself wasn't a crime. But it could certainly put one on edge if it was odd enough.

[member="Jaya Tandris"]

 

[Jaya Tandris]

Perhaps this Dax would be able to help out. After all, having a trusted someone at your side would remove pretty much all suspicion. It would mean that Jaya had to convice the man she was an ally, and so she attempted to come up with an as believable story as possible. "They wanted to see how good I was at finding specific data, so they just told me to look for 'relevant information regarding the Force', and nothing more. Surely you'd want to help me, right?" This wasn't a lie, it really was all she was told, she just kept the origin of the task vague. "Do they always test newcomers like this?"

She looked at the man more closely. He was a bit shorter than she was, with a lean build that revealed he was likely someone who was a physically active person. He was pretty good looking, she had to admit, but Cupcake was way too busy of a woman to think of things like that.

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

"That would depend on who the 'they' are." Dax replied, "And can't say we ever test anyone. It's a militia, not a military." Yeah...something was off here. The Outback didn't have a standing military of any sort. As a militia, they'd only ever requested land and air or space forces, had units, but that was it. Everything was done voluntarily. No special organizations or anything like that to be testing green troops. And he wasn't aware of any GA forces on the planet. The woman who stood before him definitely wasn't wearing a GA uniform either. "Who's your CO?"

As soon as the words left his lips, an explosion rocked the stone structure, dust and debris coming down in plumes from the ancient ceiling. A few startled cries and screams filled the air before orders were issued by the unit officers and the men and women grabbed their blasters. "Commander!" came the call from Halzyn, "We've got incoming hostiles! Marauders!"

[member="Jaya Tandris"]

 

[Jaya Tandris]

That was not a good sign. The man got suspicous, and Jaya was slowly being driven into a corner. She screwed up, and was quickly thinking of a plan B. "Well, that explains a lot." The only way she'd get out of this was hanging up a story so ridiculous that it almost made sense. It wasn't her preferred course of action, and if this encounter was one on one she'd have started punching, but she was vastly outnumbered. There was no other way. "You see, my CO did look a bit shady. Maybe I didn't pay enough attention to realize that-"

An explosion. Dust, debris and screams. This wasn't the doing of the FO, she was completely alone on this mission, leaving her dumbfounded at the situation. "Okay, I owe you an explanation but this is not the right time. Let's get the feth out of here first, I prefer living and I'd assume the same goes for you." A marauder charged into the archives, thrusting his vibroblade in blind rage towards Jaya. Quickly avoiding the man with a deft sidestep, she landed a haymaker to the marauder's temple, knocking him out cold. Picking up the weapon the man dropped, Cupcake started moving. "I need your help, you need mine. Follow me, I have some goods I need to pick up. Come on, let's go!"

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax looked at the woman in half bewilderment as she dropped a man nearly twice her size with one blow and told him to follow. "I've got men here to lead! They're my responsibility!" Well, he now knew for sure that the woman wasn't a KO member...but right now he had more pressing matters. Two saber's sprung to life in his hands, an orange one in his right, and a yellow in his left. Together the two blades danced around each other, deflecting the incoming blaster bolts in every direction, but more often than not, back into the crowd of marauders that had filled the temple entrance. Halzyn took up a position just behind the Rogue, behind some crates, and fired at the assaulting force, calmly taking aim and depressing the trigger watching as the men fell before them.

[member="Jaya Tandris"]

 

[Jaya Tandris]

"I'll help you out with this if you just help me out right now! Come on!" Jaya made her way down the stairs, using the vibroblade to fend off the incoming marauders. Caring more about getting through than to actually taking them all out, at least for now, she ran through as much as possible without fighting while dodging and weaving through the blaster fire. The ones that *did* block her path were met by blows that would make them lose balance. As two men tried to stop her, she dropped the vibroblade, dodged the incoming swings of their own blades by ducking, and pulled their feet from under them.

Getting to the room where Cupcake had hid her gauntlets, she was relieved to see they were still in the place where she left them. She stuck her hands inside them, and with a satisfying hiss they secured around her hands and arms as the mechanisms sprung to life. "Alright, now I can get to work. They'll regret the day they crossed Jaya Tandris!" Storming out of the room, she immediately blasted an incoming marauder with her left fist, the miniature thruster inside powering the punch. The body flew across the building, landing a good bit away from Jaya. "Who wants some!?"

[member="Dax Fyre"]

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax followed just behind the woman, punching and stabbing her way through the dense crowd of marauders. Upon reaching the staircase, as Jaya got out of the line of fire, Dax unleashed a powerful Force push, bodies slamming each other or into the walls, piles of daed and broken bodies collected on the floor before the staircase.

Rushing to catch up to the woman, Dax had to duck as a body flew over his head, the woman's gauntlets apparently a lot more effective than he would've guessed at the first glance. Now it was his turn to show off. The marauders, focused on woman, failed to see or hear Dax leap into the air above them, crashing down into the center of their numbers, a shock wave of sorts causing those nearest him to fall to the ground, one poor soul impaled on his sabers underneath him. Rising his sabers arced outwards, moving quickly, the trails of light appearing like the blooms of a deadly flower. What had been perhaps a dozen men had been cut down to less than half that number, their weapons useless at close range.

[member="Jaya Tandris"]