Foundations

[Alric Kuhn]

Outer Rim
Tendrando Arms Archives
[member="Helix Syndicate"]

The Vanir Special Operations squad sat silently on the crest of a hill-top, the team of six men waiting idly as they watched the facility below.
Trandando Arms was an old company, a corporation that had been founded before the Gulag Plague and somehow maintained it's place in society without going into complete disrepair. It was a shadow of what it had once been of course, a mere icon of a time long passed, but it was still around. The facility below wasn't the companies headquarters, merely a half forgotten archive that contained some of the companies designs.

Exactly what Vanir needed.

"They here yet?"​

A voice rang out over the comms, a small whisper that wouldn't be audible to anyone that wasn't wearing one of the VSO's facemasks. One of the operatives turned slightly, glancing at his men before slowly shaking his head.

Vanir was not a corporation that usually stole it's technological developments, but unfortunately sometimes such things were necessary. This was one of those times. Though many corporations throughout the galaxy could produce what Tendrando had made so long ago, few could replicate it to perfection, and in order for Vanir to do what it needed, perfection was required.

Thus the VSO had been dispatched, and in order to their job properly they had reached out to certain contacts within the underworld.

Though crime was deplorable, there were certain factions that could be trusted...when they were paid enough, and Vanir certainly had the money for that.

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

Slowly, carefully, Force 32 made their way through the dense undergrowth of the forest. There was always some excuse for landing this far out, apparently they didn't want to tip off whoever was squatting in the archives that they were about to be on the business end of a brutal corporate spec ops raid. But then again, no one was even sure if there was someone squatting in the archives to deal with. VSO was tight-lipped about everything. All the Helix Syndicate had was a vague objective, a meeting point, and a quarter upfront payment.

Payment large enough that they were willing to send in Force 32 with little intelligence beyond what was absolutely necessary. Which led 02 to deduce, correctly, that the payment had been large enough that it could easily cover the replacement of every single member of the operations group. As they walked, 02 inhaled loudly. "Smell that forest air, boys. It's our last chance to enjoy the outdoors before we all die horrible deaths." Unfortunately, no one could actually smell that forest air. The filtration systems built into their helmets were fairly robust.

Not everyone thought 02's assessment was accurate... Or even welcome. "Shut up. We'll be alright. This is alright."

04's persuasion left a lot to be desired, but who needed it anyway? If they were running with VSO, how bad could it be?

"Quiet back there," 01 ordered. For once in his life, he was looking forward to something. Running with the VSO would allow him to imagine what it was like working with taciturn professionals for once.

As they approached the edge of the treeline and the bottom of the rendezvous hill, 01 would signal VSO via comms that they were approaching. What a grim ending it would be to startle a VSO team and get killed before they event got into the building.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Helix Syndicate"]

The small ping was enough to grab the teams attention.

Half of them turned, though as consummate professionals they kept most of their attention on the facility below. Though Tandrando hadn't done much in the last few centuries, they were still an arms manufacturer. There was not a doubt in anyone's mind that the facility was at least guarded with some of the famed droids that the corporation had once produced.

As the criminals approached, no one said anything.

The VSO was a group of men and women who had served Vanir Technologies to some degree for nigh on decades. All of them were professionals, though some came from a background that most regular people in the galaxy would consider...shady. The galaxy was a cruel place, and one didn't climb to the heights Vanir did without getting their hands dirty once or twice. The members of the VSO knew that, and they had seen it first hand more than once.

"Finally." ​

One of them men commented quietly, though he was quickly silence by a wave of his commanders hand. "The facility is just below, no organics present in the building."

The commander spoke quickly, his voice terse.

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

No organics. That would have been nice under any other circumstance, but given that this was the known manufacturer of YVH-1 droids... Well, 01 looked forward to seeing how this would be handled. None of them were Vong, but that didn't mean the droids would be any less of a hassle to take down. 01 fittingly matched the commander in terms of speed and brevity of speech. "What's our approach, then?"

His three cohorts kept watch behind him, eyeing the rest of the sleek VSO team. Force 32 preferred the use of heavy slugthrowers for most of their raids. A stark contrast to the fancy disruptor rifles their counterparts were packing. And that was, naturally, just what was visible on them. 02 could only imagine what other absurdly advanced Vanir equipment these people were running around with. Clearly he had picked the wrong company to soldier for, but hindsight was fifty-fifty.

"Get a load of these spooks," 04 commented over Force 32's personal secured com line.

03 replied more cautiously, "Don't make 'em angry, Green. They got more people than we do."

"They can't hear either of us, I'll call them what I like." 04 continued to survey the Vanir team, most of whom had not bothered to survey them back. Suddenly he gave a soft gasp of surprise. "Hey, check out the babe at three 'o clock."

There was a pause as 03 sought out the purported babe and drank in the sight. He gave a low whistle. "These guys really do get all the good stuff, don't they?"

"Talks like this is why there aren't any 'babes' in our squad," 02 chimed in, though when he was greeted with angry silence from his two colleagues, he added, "I'm just saying."

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Helix Syndicate"]

The Commander point to the south eastern section of the laser fence. "There's a gap in the sensors there."

It was clear that the VSO had done it's homework, though it should have been obvious that they were. Vanir Technologies had ensured that only the best and the brightest ended up as Operatives, and the equipment they were packed with was enough to make most special forces jealous.

"We'll have to disable the fence." A simple enough task really.

Once they breached the facility things would differ rapidly of course. There was a security system in place, and they would keep things as quiet as possible, but if they were spotted the Tendrando droids would undoubtedly fall upon them with a quick voracity. The Commander knew this, though he didn't really feel the need to share his thoughts with his criminal counterpart. If he didn't already know, then they would just make for decent fodder in the ensuing fight.

"The central databank is in the middle of the Archive." The commander continued. "We'll need ten minutes once we access it, at which point security will likely be alerted."

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

[member="Alric Kuhn"]

01 looked over his shoulder to his own team, who stood rigidly behind them. They almost looked professional, but 01 was cursed with knowledge of the inanity of their conversation. They were now attempting to guess the species of the VSO dame. Absolutely absurd. "Did you guys get that?"

The conversation ground to a halt and 02 quickly answered aloud on behalf of the other two. "Yessir."

Good enough. 01 returned his attention to the VSO commander. "Alright. We'll follow your lead. How are we playing this?"

Force 32 had nominal intelligence on the layout, structure, and defense of the facility, though they hadn't been aware of the gap in the sensors. This was a Vanir job, so they would have done most of the heavy reconnaissance that would reveal gaps in the armor like that. Force 32 was just along for the ride. If Vanir had their entrance vector picked out, then they probably had a deployment plan in mind as well.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

[member="Helix Syndicate"]

The Commander glanced back at his men for a moment, then signaled with his right hand. The brief flash and crook of a finger was enough to send three of the Operatives running. They rushed down the hill and moved quickly around the facility, hefting their weapons and taking up positions around the Archives.

"We stay quiet until we get to the main databank." As quiet as possible.

The remaining VSO formed up behind their commander, the small stealth generators that were produced by Vanir Technologies kicking into effect. An odd sort of haze instantly surrounded the soldiers, not turning them invisible, but making it difficult to focus on them, almost hurting the eye. For a moment they remained still, and then slowly the VSO began to creep towards the facility and into the direction that the Commander had earlier indicated.

Up ahead the laser fence gave off a bright red glow, illuminating small sections of the valley around it.

The challenge would be disabling it without starting an alarm.