Skirmish HOSTAGE CRISIS: Sakedo Tower (Darkwire vs Armada)

[Xun of Throne]

DENON
Sakedo Tower
301st Floor

A megamall is not usually the ideal location for a hostage crisis. Unfortunately, Captain Gunfist of the mediocre yet alarmingly violent Red Libation crew was not very experienced in holding hostages. He usually preferred to just shoot people and loot the bodies. Less blubbering and what not.

Of course, as he stood in the spreading pool of a mall security guard's blood and listened to the sudden screams of a panicked mass of people, he almost forgot the whole plan and told his crew to just shoot 'em all, take what they could, and get out. But he'd done a lot of planning over the last month to pull this off and he wouldn't jeopardize over a little whining.

Or screaming.

Or whatever.

Feth, though, their full throated shrieking really was getting on his nerves though.

He raised his left hand, which happened to not be a hand at all but a gigantic cannon, and fired a few whumping rounds into the air. Which he regretted almost instantly since it sent a pile of permacrete and rebar tumbling down from the ceiling.

"Aw kriff," he muttered, rubbing his face with the hand that was not a smoking barrel. "Just SHUT UP WOULD YA!"

Fascinatingly, a roaring two meter tall Houk tends to quite people down. Maybe it's some built in prey-predator biological mechanism, or maybe it's the 17 or so other heavily armed pirates who began encircling the crowd and separating them into smaller groups.

In a surprisingly short amount of time, the crew had managed to corral the frightened masses into different buildings throughout the megamall, murder the last straggling security guards, and set up a really bad but nonetheless deadly defensive perimeter.

A gigantic, exo-suited Tarro who looked like he could rip the arms off a wookiee and a Togorian with an expression that said he would really just like to eat like one or five or twelve of the civilians approached Gunfist.

"Silverback, Mane, we good?"

"We're good," sneered the Togorian called Mane.

Gunfist's red eyes narrowed. He'd have to watch that motherfether.

"Now what?" grunted Silverback.

"Now we wait," replied Gunfist.

The broadcast to the planetary authorities was already transmitting.

100,000 million standard credits wired to IGBC Account #196969100 by midnight
We kill fifty hostages every hour
No cops​

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

I N T E R V E N T I O N
Corellia Digital Corporate Headquarters | Orbit of Denon​

Most star destroyers didn't have a pool deck.

But, then, most star destroyers didn't also have multiple restaurants, a starboard bridge tower that was a glorified hotel for corporate VIPs, or a dedicated corporate board room. Intervention had a different mission from most ships of its class -- to seek out new markets and new business opportunities, to boldly go where no shareholder meeting had gone before -- and its internal configuration had been modified to suit.

The water lapped against the side of the pool, as the sandy-haired youth moved his way down the lane. At present, there were no conventions or meetings taking place aboard the corporate vessel, leaving the ship seemingly empty and the company president with the run of the place. It was an altogether eerie sense of abandonment that he had come to associate with living aboard the ship when between engagements.

Of late, the business affairs surrounding the Corporate Authorities of Denon had kept his attention. And so both he and the Intervention stayed in orbit. Mostly, it was rather mundane -- if legally complex -- as the company adjusted to the current business environment on Denon. Which was different now than it had been when Sor-Jan had last visited, which had been during the reign of the Galactic Republic during the wars with the One Sith.

As the boy reached the end of the swim lane, his head broke the surface. As he did, he caught a glimpse of a protocol droid standing off to one side.

Instead of diving down and flipping around, pushing off the wall to do another lap, the young Anzat swam up to the edge. Hooking one arm over the wall, he used the other to wipe the water from out of his face. "Yes?"

"My apologies, General," the automaton intoned with a mechanical bow. As it straightened back up, it explained, "The watch captain requests you join him."

Sor-Jan Xantha had grown up in the Old Republic during the wars that had consumed its last days. Not surprising, then, that he had structured the company's operations along similar lines. As a civilian ship, the Intervention didn't have a captain. Instead, it had a master.

But there were two bridges on a Venator-class star destroyer. In the case of the Intervention, that second bridge was the Corellia Digital Galactic Operations Center. The literal hub of Corellia Digital's entire HoloNet telecommuniations network. And directing that network traffic was a rotational manager known as the Watch Captain.

So this didn't have anything to do with the ship, it was something concerning the network. "Is there a problem?" the boy asked, pulling himself up and throwing his weight around so that he was seated on the pool's edge. Then, he turned as he got his legs around and then under him, so that he was walking away from the pool and over toward where a towel was waiting for him.

"A transmission of some kind, I believe, sir," the protocol droid reported, before adding. "I'm only a droid and not really knowledgeable about such things."

 

[Daiya]

The recycled air in The 301 felt clean and refreshing, a bright spot to an otherwise dingy atmosphere in Seven Corners. Daiya didn't get up to the mall floor often, in fact she didn't get to Sakedo Tower often, but she hadn't given Tawrro a choice today. The girl didn't mind him tagging along with her, it was his choice, but she was insistent that she was going to come today regardless.

It was Buy One, Get One Free day at Chase Fashion and she wasn't about to pass that up!

Daiya shook her head as she dipped out of the storefront, passing the lines of Edgewear t-shirts splattered with some catchy slogan to cash in on the latest youth trends. Whoever this Chase guy was, he definitely didn't know fashion. It was all designed just for men, or a tacky attempt at being hip, and the girl still didn't know which was worse.

Probably the fact that she felt annoyed that her hands were still empty.

No shopping bags, no rush from the newness of a purchase, no fun. At the very least, her cred accounts hadn't changed...much. It was hard to soothe that level of emptiness without something real, so Daiya bought something small at a nearby kiosk. The sucker-pop didn't do much, but with its handy stick protruding from her mouth, it at least gave her something to play with. Popping it out of her mouth before she talked was at least an amusing segue.

"Can you believe that garbage?" she asked Tawrro, even if she didn't really need an answer. The teen just needed to complain. "Don't designers know there are colors besides black and brown?"

A growl did come from the big Wookiee, causing her to glance up at him. The twinkle in his eyes wasn't her first clue that he was teasing her. "Har, har. Grey isn't that much better, I don't need to blend in with the sky."

Not that it would have worked on the streets of Denon, tucked far below the ashen backdrop of today's open sky that the 301 teased through the windows above its stores. Daiya had a few outfits to blend in when she needed to, she wanted some more options to stand out instead! The only thing she could find like that in the store was a dorky umbrella, and she didn't need that kind of attention.

And then, she saw it. Color, pop, style. All that and more seemed to wait for her under the shimmering sign announcing an outlet of Heartbeat House. Daiya started for it, leaving her Wookiee shadow quickly behind, only to have him catch up with her just a few moments after she, too, noticed the rush of patrons moving past them. "What's going on?"

A new sale? Did a celebrity show up? Had someone started a flash mob?

Then the screams began.

Instinct made the girl reach for the satchel at her side, where her favorite blaster was tucked away. She hadn't hoped to need it today, but scanning the crowd, Daiya spotted the reason for her sinking realization that she would. A group of thugs, grouped tightly as if they were used to small spaces like a ship, were intimidating and corralling groups of the crowd into various stores. She ducked back towards the Heartbeat Boutique outlet store, pulling Tawrro reluctantly with them. A Wookiee was only going to incite an early conflict before they could even find some good cover.

"Did you bring Giggles?" the girl asked, referencing the automatic shotgun that Tawrro usually carried with him. She knew it wasn't on him, but he could have stashed it in the lockers downstairs without her knowing! Was it really her job to keep track of everything Tawrro did when there was a sale on?!

The low barks of her companion's response made her giggle, just not the one she needed at the moment. "You're pretty conspicuous yourself, big guy."

She scanned the bunch of thugs, who looked more and more like pirates as the Darkwire teen considered them. A few of them were big, too big, hulking brutes in armor that made her grimace at the sight. Those weren't going to be easy to neutralize, especially the Houk.

Why did there have to be a Houk?

"Well, then you'd better find something big to whack people with, because I think someones about to bite it today..." Daiya remarked as she sucked hard on the candy in her mouth, pulling out her blaster at last now that they were largely out of sight of the pirate thugs. The streets-raised girl wasn't about to shoot at them yet, not until they had a strategy, but she was going to defend herself if it came to that. She hoped the other few people hiding with them in the store weren't going to make targets of themselves either.

Daiya let the candy's sweetness wash over her tongue, focusing on that for a moment instead of the hostile atmosphere just meters away.

"...and it's not going to be us."

Xun of Throne Sor-Jan Xantha​

 

[Kadora'Tra]

100,000 million standard credits wired to IGBC Account #196969100 by midnight
We kill fifty hostages every hour
No cops​

"Did the IGBC get back to you on freezing that account, Kyle?" Kadora'Tra said while looking over a holographic display of the 301st Floor of Sakedo Tower.

"Uh, not yet Kador-"

"Then why are you talking to me? Also, I know you weren't about to say my name without my rank. Somebody tell me how many patrol ships we have in the area, I want a perimeter a klick surrounding Sakedo Tower."

"Sorry Captain Kador-"

"We're rerouting fifty different patrols to the area now, twelve already surrounding the scene. I'll instruct them to keep a klick away as instructed."

"Good, have we identified how many DireX's were caught in this mess? How many are part of Diviak's voting bloc?"

"9 lower level DireX's, four of which are Diviak's, the rest are divided amongst the other blocs."

"That's sufficient I guess, contact the Bounty Hunters Guild, get authorization for 20,000 a head for these thugs, and 100,000 for their ship destroyed. They didn't want any cops so let's humor them while breaking the rules." Kadora'Tra smiled.

It felt good to be in charge, and even better that the authorization came through Diviak Manfloon himself, via hologram. Sakedo Tower wasn't normally his territory, leaving it to Luminous Sun to her entertainment district. However, all the important DireX board members had allies in the lower echelons of their hierarchy, and everyone needed to shop once in a while. This attack merely coincided with a not entirely insignificant amount of Diviak's voting bloc, thus necessitating his "direct" intervention.

"Somebody prep a transport for me, I want to be on scene to take care of this..." She said, walking out of the holographic conference room.

Daiya Xun of Throne Sor-Jan Xantha

 

[Xun of Throne]

"Yo boss."

Gunfist looked around. "Huh?" He could've sworn...

"Down here."

Gunfist looked down into the scarred face of a gray-furred Squib. "Oh. Hey Micky."

"You seen that Wookiee?"

"What? What Wookiee?"

"There was a Wookiee. I think I saw him go in there." Micky pointed a tiny, rodent finger at a gaudy establishment.

"Oh, that's a Heartbreak store," grunted Gunfist, red eyes staring at the store. "I love Heartbreak."

"Yeah, me too. Them Zeltrons are fine."

"Got anybody in there? No? Alright, I guess we should go check it out. Let's go, Silverback. Mane, you uh. You stay here."

The exo-suitted Tarro, Gunfist, and Micky the Squib all started walking toward the Heartbreak Boutique. The door hissed open and the three of them stepped inside.

 

[Myrin Deene]

Eleven years. Eleven years in total they'd stolen from her, locking her away in too-clean, too-bright cells with harsh-angled walls and harsh-fisted guards. They'd wanted even more, wanted to keep her caged for over a decade longer, as if twelve more years of being told when to eat, when to sleep, when to shower, when to piss, would somehow turn her into a well-functioning corporate drone - instead of someone who hated them with every fiber of her being, every last sliver of her soul. Not likely. They didn't know druk about her.

Ever since she'd gotten herself out, Mai had sworn to spend every waking moment drinking in what it meant to be free. She sat at the little cafe with a cold Bespin Fizz in one hand and a Marcan herb cigarillo in the other, feet propped up on the table. She'd been asked not to do that, twice, before the poor harried teenager serving her had given up. The Corporate Sector's highest-security prison hadn't been able to get her to do what it wanted, so if it felt good to put her dirty boots up there, she wouldn't take "no" from some punk kid.

The Seven Corners district was a rundown drukhole, but that suited her a hell of a lot better than the rest of Denon, now home to many of the corporations she remembered from Etti IV. The gleaming towers of the Corporate Authority, all their little brainwashed wage-slaves autopiloting to and from their cubicles - "Thank you, Mister Manfloon, for the opportunity to waste my life making you richer!" - made her skin crawl. At least down here the streets had a pulse. Everything was uneven and dirty and dangerous and beautifully alive.

Relaxing there, the mildly narcotic smoke calming her as the alcohol set her brain buzzing, Mai felt... bored. Really, really bored.

Well feth it, that wasn't supposed to happen, was it? Frustratedly she flicked ashes from the edge of the cigarillo, shooting the server a mocking grin as they scattered over the freshly-mopped floor. As she turned her gaze back toward her drink, a vidscreen caught her eye. Something something breaking news, something something hostage crisis, something something innocents in danger, may never see their families again. Mai pulled her eyes away, instantly bored. "Sucks to be them," she shrugged, and took another swig.

Then her datapad buzzed, and Mai was more interested. She'd set up alerts on local channels whenever they discussed a good sum of money to be made. She put her drink down and pulled the slate out, scanning the message. 20,000 credits a head for these dumb motherkarkers. She could buy a lot of spice and good whiskey for that much, and probably talk somebody (somebodies?) hot into spending the night partying with her. Swinging her feet down, she left a credstick on the now-stained table. 15% tip, she wasn't a total monster.

Someone out front hadn't properly locked his landspeeder, which in Mai's eyes meant he clearly didn't want it anymore. Her practiced fingers had it hotwired within thirty seconds, and she was off toward the site of the disturbance. She drove like a maniac, cutting people off and trading paint with a few tight corners, leaving a chorus of honks and screamed epithets behind her. As the wind blew through her hair, she grinned, then let out a wild whoop. Now she wasn't bored. And the day, she was sure, was only going to get more fun from there...

 

[Daiya]

Daiya had seen Heartbeat House's products advertised on the HoloNet before, but she'd never come in close contact with the store's offerings before. Mostly, the store catered to a clientele that felt a little more adult than she was willing to be yet, so the girl had avoided the boutique shop. She'd also never had the kind of money to spend that Heartbeat asked for. The ring of security sensors around the door and anti-theft devices on a few of the products told that story even if the prices couldn't, and the prices weren't shy.

Nonetheless, the shelves were full of tantalizing products that grabbed her eye. In another scenario, Daiya would have take samples as she could, especially of that MyShade foundation. As pricey as it was, finding good foundation that would keep her cheeks looking healthy but not blemished, wasn't easy. The teen looked away somberly, cursing the unknown pirates who had chosen today of all days to crash the mall.

She heard a crash that was definitely not from the pirates.

"Hey, that's all valuable merchandise, Tawrro!" Daiya admonished the Wookiee in a low voice, who stood unabashed nearby with a long, metal shelf in hand. The girl frowned, she had to admit that would make a pretty good weapon. "Okay, okay, just warn me if you're going to swing it."

The barking chuckle that came from the Wookiee caused her to shoot him an evil glare, "I don't stay up that late at night!"

Looking down at the products spilled, she only vaguely recall their names and descriptions from the signs on the shelf. A face mask, some patches still with their branding on, and two bottles of lotion imbued with pheromones. Those caught Daiya's eye, she had spotted them earlier but was going to circle back once Tawrro wasn't looking. One of those lotions was supposed to make everyone chill out, while the other was supposed to make everyone all hot and bothered. The teen shook the thoughts out of her head, that latter one was something she could have fun with when she was older.

Not when there was a gang of pirates literally walking into the store!

Three of them, anyway, a suited-up Tarro, a tiny rodent-like Squib whose finger looked itchy, and the Houk. Why did it have to be the Houk? Daiya ducked down, motioning to Tawrro who had already spotted the trio's arrival and had taken a position around another aisle. Good.

Daiya reached out of cover, an arm snatching at the enhanced lotion product, and pulling it back at her. Popping the cover, she took a whiff of it. If anyone needed to relax, it was these pirates. Spreading some on her hands and arms, the girl only then noticed the silver color of the container. She stared at it, hoping she hadn't just put on the wrong stuff. The last thing she needed was some pirate trying to creep on her while she was hoping to kill them.

Talk about your awkward fight moment.

At the same moment that Tawrro stepped out from his aisle, Daiya launched herself from hers, jumping up onto the back of the suited Tarro. She brought her arms around his neck, holding up her lotion-covered free hand to his face so the pirate could breathe in the pheromones.

"Alright, time for you to relax," she cooed, waving the hand in front of his face. In front of her, Daiya watched her Wookiee partner swing the makeshift shelf-weapon at the tiny pirate rat, and winced at the thought of what could happen next. Could Squibs ricochet? A pair of eyebrows rose from her face as the teen hung on to the Tarro's exo-suit, hooking her legs into the harness for a better purchase as she waited for the lotion to work. "Seriously, laserbrain, just chill out!"

Xun of Throne Sor-Jan Xantha Kadora'Tra Myrin Deene​

 

[Vallaro Kindall]

Navi [Version 10.0.18363.752]
(c) Locke and Key Mechanics. All rights reserved.

---

Information traveled fast. It wasn’t often that a bounty was place before the crime had been completed, but times they are a-changin’. Information streamed across the Vallaro’s datapad casting a ghostly green glow across the hunter’s face. Over four hundred thousand credits worth of targets hold up at the top of Sakedo Tower. It was a good prize considering unlike most other bounties nowadays it didn’t involve an active war zone and somehow capturing the leader of an army.

Vallaro was a few hundred levels below when this all started. Business with his newfound Darkwire associates had brought him to the city-planet. Normally the hunter wouldn’t bother with work outside official Empire contracts and the several missions Lord Venari asked of him in exchange for a substantial retainer fee. But all-out war across the galaxy had causes coffers that once overflowed to now run dry and it the drought could be felt in the pockets of all but the wealthiest citizens of the galaxies. It had been a long time since Vallaro had worried about his expenses, but the price of slugs and fuel was quickly becoming something the Epicanthix could no longer ignore.

Navigating narrow alleyways and corridors, the hunter made his way back towards the landing pad where the surreptitious was parked. The undercity air was heavy, and the metallic tinge of aging air recyclers suffocated him. Mentally he scoffed at his discomfort. It had been too long since he’d crawled this close to the muck and the mud. Spending so long in luxury had made him soft, weak. Maybe this was all a good thing, a time to return to basics and get his bearings again.

Vallaro boarded his ship. Fingers danced across the navigation panel punching in the coordinates of Sakedo Tower. The ship soared into the night sky. Optic camouflage and stealth systems working in tandem to conceal the hunter’s approach and flagrant violation of local airspace laws. Local news feed began covering the situation as it unfolded. Hostages on display and a simple demand. Credits for their lives or their blood would flow. A sinister grin crossed the hunter's face.

“Ya’d kill fifty every hour eh? I like your style. I’ll be there soon, save a dance for me won’t ya?"
Xun of Throne Daiya Myrin Deene Sor-Jan Xantha Kadora'Tra Zivos​

 

[Zivos]

Zivos brought the Skimmer into the system, intending for a rest and refuel stop before returning home for a spell. A ping on his alert network had him shifting to look over the screen with a curious grin.

"Least the costs will be covered." He hissed a laugh before setting course through the open lanes well above the planet, sending a call out through the hunters network for anyone else in the area. He found a spot, somehow to his surprise, not terribly far away from the site, donning his gear while he pulled up the file.

Eyes narrowed through the visor at the information provided in the bounty. Had to either be an insider that tipped everyone off, or this bounty was of the questionable sort.

The blaster rifle was tucked on his back, clipped on as he looked up the tower and looked at his wrist, his suit had sealed and vitals were clean. Gloved hands glided over his sides to check for everything. A few thermal detonators covered by a hardpoint bag, blaster pistol on the right hip, throwing knives on either side, and medical scanner working.

He checked the vision scopes of his mask, switching between night, thermal, and zoom functions before the cargo door opened as the atmosphere of his ship seeped out. Quickly clearing the door, it shut behind him as he left the droid in charge of security and moved towards the tower. The bounty hunter emblem was emblazened on the armor, and identification presented if asked. The group surrounding the scene didn't object to much at his presence, which was a bit curious to him, but he didn't know all the details and did not care to.

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

I N T E R V E N T I O N
Corellia Digital Corporate Headquarters | Orbit of Denon​

He'd managed to dry off at least to where he wasn't leaving puddles as he made his way from the pool deck in the primary hull to the starboard bridge tower. That didn't mean there wasn't the occasional drip, particularly as he was still toweling off as he entered into the starboard bridge.

Once, long ago, its purpose had been to manage debarkation control for the starfighter squadrons. And then to de-conflict the starfighter flight paths and maneuvers with the ship's turbolaser crews to avoid them crossing into the ship's field of fire. During the Clone Wars, it had been quite an intensive process. Now, a single droid brain managed the entire thing -- so it had been consolidated into the primary bridge in the port tower.

Today, the port bridge was a complex web of servers that had been bridged together in a nexus of control that relied on a series of de-centralized HoloNet relays that were load sharing the greater part of the HoloNet across the Core and southern galactic hemisphere. Save for where the Sith Empire had expanded into the Mara-Perlemian Trade Corridor that had once been under Corellia Digital's purview.

As much as the One Sith and Corellia Digital had co-existed without the one bothering the other, it seemed that Sor-Jan's religious upbringing made the company illegal as far as the Sith Emperor was concerned. That, or Darth Carnifex simply wasn't the type to just Holoflix and chill.

Go figure, that.

Running the towel through the unkempt mass of tawny hair, the boy wound his way to where a Chadra-Fan was currently serving as overseer to the network. "I understand you have a transmission problem," the boy intoned in a neutral voice.

The bat-like alien gave something of a squeak sound that the empathic youngling recognized as a sort of verbal tick. "The transmission is the problem, sir."

"What do you have?"

Reaching over, the Chadra-Fan keyed up the broadcast, even as he motioned for the tow-headed youth to direct his attention to a monitor overhead.

100,000 million standard credits wired to IGBC Account #196969100 by midnight
We kill fifty hostages every hour
No cops​

A frown settled across the boy's face, his arms crossed as his posture betrayed a sense of frustration. "Isolate that carrier wave," the boy stated finally, as the broadcast came to its conclusion. Turning to look over at the similarly sized Chadra-Fan, the youth said, "Let's start working on an origin point for that transmission."

Then, turning back toward the protocol droid that had summoned him from his lap swim. "Contact Marque and transmit a copy of this message to him. Ask if he has any contacts inside the IGBC," the Anzat instructed curtly. As the protocol droid gave a stiff bow and turned to depart, the youth continued to muse aloud. "I suspect the account is a red herring," he noted, turning back to the watch captain. "It's almost certainly a stolen identity or fraudulent account, and it's not bloody likely the Banking Clans are going to give up the access logs in any case."

The Banking Clans stood to gain quite a bit with the money laundering that was going on, particularly of late. Part of maintaining that business was not sharing the names of the mob or other criminals freely.

"And what should we do if we're able to trace this to a source, sir?" the Chadra-Fan inquired.

A good question.

The boy's shoulders shrugged, his crossed arms tightening around himself as he found he distinctly disliked that he didn't have an answer. "If this were Jedi space or even Coalition space, I'd at least know who to talk to," the youth admitted finally. Which was not the case here. "Monitor this for me," he stated finally, as he turned to take his leave. "We'll see how it develops."

In the meantime, he'd shower and have a change of clothes.

"If nothing else, it should shed some light on how these Corporate Authorities operate."

 

[Xun of Throne]

INSIDE THE TOWER
301st Floor
HEARTBREAK BOUTIQUE OUTLET STORE

"Oh shi-"

WHUMP.

Micky's body went flying past Gunfist and smashed into the wall. His tiny form crumpled limply in on itself. Dead? Gunfist didn't have time to worry about it because there was an angry, shelf-wielding wookiee threatening him with the same shelf that he'd used to send the squib flying.

At the same time, Silverback promptly sat down, his muffled protests becoming weak as some human girl clung to his back and smushed her hand into his nose.

The houk corsair only had a second to decide. The wookiee was clearly the bigger threat here, but...

He shoved his cannon in the girl's face.

"Enough," he roared, spittle flying, "Come any closer, carpet, and I'll blow her head off, I promise you that."

 

[Myrin Deene]

Myrin didn't much care for malls. The overly-cheery storefronts, flashing an endless stream of adverts in your face in the hopes that you'd stop slack-jawed and buy some druk you didn't need, only reminded her of the long chain of production behind them. The plastics and metals were strip mined from vulnerable worlds, leaving behind scarred, deforested hills and poisoned rivers, and purified in refineries that belched endless clouds of industrial contaminants into once-pristine atmospheres. And then they reached the sweatshops.

She did her part for freedom and environmentalism or whatever by crashing the stolen speeder through a window display.

Satisfied that she'd at least given one of Manfloon's managers an even worse day, which she'd have to settle for until she could kick the man himself in the nuts, Mai hopped out of the half-crumpled vehicle and strolled over to the turbolifts. People all over the lower floors of Sakedo Tower were running around in a panic, which was really pretty stupid of them - all the action was unfolding a thousand meters over their heads, and they were unlikely to see anything more exciting than a squad of corpo fascists swooping in to "save the day".

Mai wasn't being paid to care about the hostages, since the bounty was only on dead pirates, but they probably still stood a better chance at living through this if she intervened than if a bunch of trigger-happy private security operators stormed the building.

In Myrin's rather educated opinion - she'd been part of enough anarchist cells to know a thing or two about hostage taking - the vertical megamall was a terrible place to be making ransom demands. She'd have done it underground, where the corpos couldn't bring in air support or approach from multiple directions. And she wouldn't have told anyone where she was; she'd have snatched some important-looking corpo drones off the street and broadcast a closeup of their terrified faces, then demanded crates full of untraceable hard cash.

But poor planning didn't necessarily mean that this bunch wasn't dangerous, and Myrin hadn't survived one of the galaxy's nastiest prisons by taking stupid chances or underestimating big, loud men. She was pretty sure that these guys would have someone watching the turbolifts, probably the kind of meatheads with big guns who would ventilate it as soon as the polite voice inside chimed Floor 301, have a nice day! So as soon as she typed in the floor number, Mai opened the roof maintenance hatch and swung herself up.

She shut the hatch behind her, covering her tracks, and clung flat to the top of the elevator as it hurdled up three hundred floors. As the turbolift began to slow, she freed one hand from its death grip on the outer handles and tapped her belt, activating her stealth field generator. Her image rippled as light bent around her, making her almost impossible to see - if anyone had even thought to look on top of the elevator car. The turbolift came to a stop, and Myrin quickly crawled through the wall-mounted access duct.

If she was right about the turbolift getting blasted by trigger-happy pirates, she didn't need to risk getting hit.

Mai emerged in a maintenance closet. Swinging herself down from the crawlspace set halfway up the wall, she checked her weapons. Her Rodian throwing razors hummed at her fingertips, and the blade of her molecular stiletto, so thin it was invisible to the naked eye, popped out of a hilt that could have passed for a datapad stylus. Taking a deep breath that banished the last of the Macran smoke from her lungs, she cycled the door. Just across from her, she could see the entrance to the Heartbreak Boutique... and several figures silhouetted inside.

"Jackpot," she whispered. She crept closer, ready to jam her stiletto into the back of someone's neck and take her first head.

 

[Kadora'Tra]

THEME​

"Lonnie, got the riot gun?" Kadora'Tra questioned the Trandoshan, who responded in a curt series of hisses, and hoisted the favored weapon of the old Corporate Security.

"Don't be snippy with me woman, what about the baton?" The lizard-woman looked to the side briefly, and admitted through silence they had forgotten it until Kadora'Tra had mentioned it. "This is why I give reminders, hop to it!"

While her companion rushed to equip herself properly, Kadora'Tra pulled long fingerless gloves over her clawed hands, and stretched out her fingers. The time was almost right to crash into the building. The Bounty was authorized, and any hunter in the area would be enticed by the potential profit to be made, and any criminals in the wood works looking for forgiveness of their crimes. If the pirates were worth anything, they'd know that mercs would be fair game. Their conditions were simple, and she'd play by the rules up until they started breaking them.

Or at least, she would give the appearance, of following their rules until it was convenient for her not to.

Finally, the transport was away, and only the Captains most trusted compatriots (who were also produced by the program she came from) rode along with her. A Farghul, a Trandoshan, and a human was all that was needed for these pirates. Well, that and all the Bounty Hunters and criminals coming for their necks, but they were more of a distraction really while she pulled off an expert extraction.

"Remember Kyle, you're on overwatch. If anything comes near us, we need to know about it. Don't screw up." Lonnie hissed something in positive to him, before she made a cabled leap to the roof of the tower, along with Kadora'Tra. The cables detached, and the transport began to fly away about half a klick.

Expecting possible resistance on the roof, Kadora'Tra and Lonnie stuck to the shadows, and prepared to send some pirates off the edge...

Xun of Throne Sor-Jan Xantha Daiya Vallaro Kindall Zivos Myrin Deene

 

[Daiya]

Daiya felt the thump ripple through her whole body as the pirate fell —literally— victim to her pheromone-scented hand. A small relief rushed through her at the victory, it seems like she had chosen the right product after all. The girl promised herself she was going to spend big creds in Heartbeat stores from now on, their stuff was a real knock-out!

Tawrro confirmed that, in a less-than-subtle manner, as the tiny Squib went flying across the store to land with a sickening crunch.

The thrill of a great victory coursed through her veins. Already, it looked like Daiya and Tawrro were mopping up these pirates with quick work. Two down, just one to go. Even if the last one was a Houk, he was still just one pirate against the two of them. They had outsmarted and beaten one of his kind before, and she was confident that they could do it again.

That confidence quickly evaporated as the Huok pointed his cannon arm in her face, only to turn his attention to Tawrro to deliver his threat.

Chit.

Why did it have to be a smart Huok?

A puerile rage grew inside her, flushing her cheeks red more than any foundation could cover. Daiya's eyes narrowed at the uppity pirate, her face settling into a deep glower. They had been winning! And now he had screwed all that up by a tiny bit of cleverness. Her eyes darted to Tawrro, hoping he would catch her face. She shook her head his way, signalling him. Don't do it Tawrro, she pleaded quietly, don't give in!

Tawrro's muted roar made the girl's heart sink, even lower now as he stepped back from the confrontation. Daiya let out a breath, feeling it steal the victory from her. Defeated? By a stupid pirate? What the feth?

Her companion growled a long complaint at the cyborg pirate, but the girl didn't pay much attention. She used it, instead, to unwind from the downed pirate's exo-suit, giving his face a small wipe to transfer some of the lotion there before she finished untangling. As long as it was still two against one, threats were just threats.

And Daiya had one of her own.

"Funny that you'd think he's the one you need to worry about," Daiya spat in the Huok's direction. The teen had her 434 blaster aimed between his eyes, and at this range she couldn't possibly miss. Her mind was clear of her earlier rage, clear of the confusion and anxiety the pirates had sown among the hostages. Now it was just focused, on pinpoint accuracy...

And on feeling for what the pirate did next.

She didn't have a way to explain that, much like she couldn't explain her visions. The girl just knew it by some inexplicable Force. She didn't like that, but that didn't mean she was going to pass up the advantage it gave her.

Daiya pulled the sucker-pop from her mouth, gesturing to the swath of destruction already revealed around them in the Heartbeat Boutique outlet, "So what's the deal with busting up a mall, anyway? Did you come for the sales? 'Cause I don't think Heartbeat does BOGO."

Alright, looks like she had a little room left to focus on being cocky, too.

Xun of Throne Sor-Jan Xantha Kadora'Tra Myrin Deene Vallaro Kindall Zivos​

 

[Xun of Throne]

"Heh, good one, kid."

She had a sense of humor. He'd give her that.

"You've got spunk. Too bad. Coulda used someone like you on my crew."

Why'd she have to go and be a damn hero?

"Now I'm gonna start counting, ok? And for every second you're still holding the gun, another hostage is gonna die, got it? The first number's free."

Cannon fist pointing at her, his other holding his comlink, Gunfist raised an eyebrow and started to count down.

"One..."

MEANWHILE

ELSEWHERE

There weren't any pirates on the roof of the tower, but the ones on the 301st floor not inside the Heartbreak Boutique were busy strapping explosives to... like... everything.

"Hey maaan," said one of the pirates, a bedraggled human male with a joint between his lips, "Why are we doin this again? This wasn't part of the plan."

"Because I say so, Prof," snarled Mane the Togorian.

"When you told me we were gonna violently disrupt the capitalist structure through performative action this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

"I never said that," Mane growled, in no mood for a discussion, as he hooked up about a pound of plastic explosives to a sobbing zeltron woman.

"Not cool, man."

Daiya Kadora'Tra Myrin Deene Vallaro Kindall Zivos Sor-Jan Xantha

 

[Myrin Deene]

As Myrin crept forward, letting her stealth field generator do the heavy lifting in keeping her from getting shot, she noticed two important things. First, most of the pirates were outside the stores, milling around and tossing out enough detonite to make her favorite fireworks show look like a solemn Jedi funeral. Second, there was some kind of brawl going on inside the Heartbreak Boutique. Two beings were down - no way to tell if they were hostage-takers or hostages - and a standoff had ensued, blasters and wookiees pointed every which way.

Seeing a massive gun pointed in the face of a child filled Myrin with tremendous, heaving, boiling... apathy.

More than likely, whatever was going on in there would take care of itself; someone would get killed, another someone would get injured, and whoever was left over would be easy to stab in the back. That was a lot easier than trying to figure out which ones were the pirates (probably not the little girl, but hey, the galaxy was karked up, and stranger things had happened). She didn't have to be the one who killed the bounties, just the one left alive to collect on their corpses. Myrin was good at staying alive... and at getting her piece of the action.

Besides, if she escalated things in the boutique, the other pirates might well hear the commotion and come running. Myrin was confident in herself, but she wasn't stupid; she fancied her odds against five armed men, not fifteen. The name of the game as a lone operator was "isolate, then eliminate". So she crept up on two of the pirates, a grimy-looking human and a hulking, armored Togorian. They were busy strapping explosives to a weeping hostage. Terrible idea - people strapped with deadly payloads tended to panic and run around.

Then you couldn't control where they blew up, and it might well be right next to you. Amateurs, Myrin clucked.

This pair were at least a little distant from the other thugs wiring up the place - she really hoped the corpos didn't just start shooting when they inevitably decided to storm the building, because a stray round could turn them all into dust on the solar wind. She stalked closer; if luck was on her side, she'd incapacitate these two before they could call for help. Switching her molecular stiletto into her left hand, she let a pair of homing razors slide down her sleeve into her right. She lined up her targets with a practiced eye - one razor for each neck.

Her stealth field generator would drop as soon as she started moving rapidly - she didn't know any tech that could make you invisible while you were busily killing idiots - so she let it drop... just as she let fly with the two razors. Their tiny repulsorlifts were muffled, so they were soundless as they flew unerringly on the course she had set for them. The homing beacon installed in each would bring them back to her bracelet to be thrown again, hopefully wet with the blood of her targets. She was a little worried about the Togorian's armor, though.

"I like blowing up corpos as much as the next gal," Myrin said, "but mama needs a drink, and you're made of credits."

 

[Vallaro Kindall]

Navi [Version 10.0.18363.752]
(c) Locke and Key Mechanics. All rights reserved.

---

It took some time before the Surreptitious arrived. A small group of transports was pulling away from The top of the tower, presumably dropping of forces to deal with the developing situation.

“Fething great. Just what I need. More people goin’ after my prize. Fine, I’ll just kell em too”

The surreptitious went high above the 301[SUP]st[/SUP] floor of the tower. A measure of necessity to make sure the optical camouflage remained effective and to make sure it couldn’t be heard. The hunter made his way towards the cargo bay of his ship While lighting a fresh cigarra and taking a deep breath. Once there the cyborg used his enhanced vision to take a tally of the situation at hand. He could see a few scattered pirates on the roof but no sign of the group that had just landed.

“I guess their not amateurs then.” He took another long drag from his cigarra before taking a single step off the loading ramp and plummeting towards the roof.

Seconds passed in freefall as the hunter began to approach terminal velocity. The wind whipped at his face and tore the cigarra from his mouth. The roaring of rockets filled the air and doubtlessly alerted everyone still on the roof to his presence. Vallaro didn’t care, thugs like these weren’t worth the consideration of stealth and finesse. Those things were reserved for better prey and bigger bounties.

His descent slowed until he landed on the edge partially crouched with a distinct metallic thud. Smoke leaked from the thrusters in his boots. Vallaro pulled yet another fresh cigarra from its pack and set it alight with the residual heat still emanating from the metallic components of the thruster. Standing up he placed it to his lips and took a deep breath. He exhaled slowly, enjoying for a moment as the smoke drifted slowly into the night sky.

There was the sound of running behind him as two pirates rounded the corned with blasters drawn and pointed at the hunter. Vallaro turned around slowly with his hands up.

“Now now, We ain't gotta have any trouble here. Ya got me without my weapon drawn.” He wiggled his hip to draw attention to his SMG which was still slung over his shoulder. “How’s about ya call it quits now and we don’t go any further.“ There was no verbal response, just a chuckle from the pair as the leveled their rifles with the hunters head.

A wicked grin crossed the hunter's face.

“Well then, do ya at least want a light? This blend of tabbac is to die for.” With his left hand, the hunter took the cigarra between his knuckles and pointed it at his assailants.

A small port opened in the space between his first and second knuckles. From it, a stream of Trihexelon vapor spewed forth coating the pirates before they could even react. They tried to scream. Vapor instead quickly made its way into their mouths and lungs turning their last cries into nothing more than wet gurgles. It was hard to comprehend the agony they experienced as the compound performed its intended function; complete biomass conversion. In mere seconds the pair was no more than a memory and a stain on the ground.

“That’s forty thousand. Now to find a way in”

 

[Zivos]

He walked inside, clearing the first floor with a slow scanning gaze before headed to the elevators. Tapping the button, it rocketed him up to the busiest floor in the place. He didn't have to wait long, back to the right side of the elevator when the doors opened, rifle ready in his arms as poked his head out a moment. It seemed he was at the end of a corridor, one that extended to the left. The dinging of the elevator door had likely alerted someone( Myrin Deene ), and his quick look revealed a small number of ne'er do wells strapping what he guessed were explosives to folks.

Always with the people.

Didn't bother the Ubese much. His own people had suffered from the willful abandonment of others long ago, and the grudge from that still burned in a great number of them. Whoever was in charge of the bounty should have put the caveat in of saving hostages if they were concerned about citizens. As far as Zivos was aware, they were just a statistic used to push agendas.

The barrel poked out first, sights set on a cat person that was strapping explosives against a pillar. Static buzzed through the air as Zivos spoke, a pair of pirates to his left just coming into view as the words and shots rang out.

"Here kitty, kitty." The first bolt smacked between their eyes, the follow up shot in the mouth, a sizzling hiss as what he guessed was a pirate became the next victim with another burst of blaster fire. The pirates to his left each raised a blaster and opened fire, one smacking his left arm, the other his back as he growled, static coming through the mask. The single point sling caught the rifle as it was tossed and whipped around to his back.

He stepped wide with his left foot, left hand coming down and sliding a knife out before his twisting body stepped forward with his right. The knife was airborne as the heavy blaster pistol was drawn in the right, aiming at the second that had shot him in the side. The knife stuck into the firsts shoulder causing them to duck into a store entry way while the second pirate ducked behind cover and people as the left hand slid to his back.

"Oooh, bad choice." the static filled voice hissed as a thermal detonator was produced, the setting adjusted to lowest output and thumb on the trigger as it beeped with the warning of being armed. He walked carefully towards them, his head moving this way and that, hearing the pained grunts of the stuck one and the heavy breathing of the other. "Come out, come out little piggies. You've all got a decent price on your head."

The stuck man was attempting to pull the knife out when he heard a pinging sound, followed by a series of beeps. The silver ball softly rolled forward after a few more soft tings, two red lights visible and shortly one before the grenade went off. Zivos watched from relative safety, most of the explosion curtailed by the arched doorway as people screamed from the explosion.

There was a smile under the mask as he focused his attention to the other side, aiming in wait as the other one popped up and received a blaster bolt in the eye.

"This little piggy should have stayed home." The static filled voice chuckled, walking into the storefront to avoid any more incoming fire. He spied the mess he'd made, visor count changing to four tallies as he grabbed the burnt scrap of a throwing knife and frowned. "Bah." Heavy footfalls were coming his way, and he moved behind the counter, switching back to the blaster rifle and waiting in cover. In his opinion he was in a good spot, end of the hallway, back corridor, and behind the counter. He had certainly been in worse predicaments.

 

[Kadora'Tra]

Kadora'Tra and Lonnie moved with predatory speed, expertly fulfilling their stereotypes to maximum effect. There was a thud, and a pair of pirates they were stalking began to walk towards it. This worked to the pairs advantage, whatever was distracting them allowed the CorpSec officers to get past unencumbered dealing with them. The pair began to work enter the building through a roof-access stairwell, and they were marching through with precision before something rocked their feet placement enough to almost cause a slip up.

"Detonators!" Her face would've blanched a bit if not for the thin fur masking her skin pigmentation, before quickly filling with an angry red. The Trandoshan hissed rather loudly.

"Captain! The pirates are arming explosives!" Kyle said over radio.

"Yeah, change of plans. We have to get down there now. Mobilize the transports, screw their demands, fill this building with boots." The Captain attached cabling to her Baton, and Lonnie hissed a reply before leading the way through a window opening, launching cable to the roof and leaping out into the night. Kadora'Tra followed closely behind, and repelled down the outside of the stairwell inside the building. The feline's eye spotted something, and she pointed. "There!"

Kadora'Tra and Lonnie were flying through air on grappling line and after detaching were only a short distance away from the stand off between Daiya and Xun of Throne . Lonnie immediately opened up with the wide shots of the 500 riot gun on stun mode, while Kadora'Tra closed the distance with feline grace running on three limbs while holding her baton in her hand, looking to disable anyone still standing after Lonnie's shot, or to move on if no threats seem apparent and rush to the nearest pirate held storefront looking for endangered execs.

Zivos Vallaro Kindall Sor-Jan Xantha Myrin Deene

 

[Daiya]

A compliment from a pirate, now that was strange to consider. Daiya had faced plenty of enemies before, not many of them took kindly to having their plans blow up in their face and being threatened. The girl narrowed her eyes at the Huok cyborg. What was his angle? If he thought that was going to throw her off-guard, this pirate was sorely mistaken.

Clever and manipulative. This Huok was giving her a bigger headache than the last one had.

The pain started behind her eyes, as it always did. Chit, so not just another headache. Daiya replaced the sucker-pop in her mouth, but it's sweetness did not buoy her irritation that a vision should strike her now. Not now, not in the middle of a stand-off. Chit, chit, chit, chit!

The Huok was saying something, but she didn't couldn't make it out. Daiya was busy with more pressing matters.

The pressure of the fingers she placed on her forehead made her vision blurry, but she managed to catch Tawrro's movements out of the corner of her eye. Recognition crossed his face, one of the last things Daiya saw before squeezing her eyes tight against the intensity of it. The teen couldn't fight it back, despite struggle to do so evident on her face. She never could. The vision forced its way through, making her struggle to breathe, causing her grip on the blaster to loosen. She didn't hear it clatter to the floor as her senses were overwhelmed by the premonition.

A rush of claws and fangs, blasters and knives, tore through the world. Shopping bags flew apart with a flash of fur and scales, flesh burned in a haze of oozing smoke, deliverance rendering forth a cacophonous whirlwind of violence. And then...orderly calm. An eerie, unsettling peace as the remnants of shopping bags and bodies came to rest before a pair of pink and blue combat boots.​

Her knees were weak, and the world around her spun as it resolved around the girl. Dizzy now, Daiya leaned against the Tarro's suited shoulders, somehow grateful for the downed pirate's presence. She took a moment to catch her breath, which came small and quiet as she recovered. Her fingers itched with the urge to draw out what she had seen, to quiet the unsettling feeling playing over her heart.

Daiya looked up, searching for Tawrro. He had backed up again, but took a step in another direction. Casually backing behind the cannon-armed pirate. Her wary eyes tracked him, her mouth working slowly at sounds that would not come. Her mind raced from the amount of it all, trying to piece itself back together. The vision, the pirate, Tawrro. She needed to understand. She needed to warn them.

She needed to do something!

The girl dropped behind the pirate still on his knees before her, her muscles triggered by some otherly will. Daiya felt as if she were watching herself move, without even leaving her own body. Disconnected from her thoughts, her small frame moved on instinct or by some other Force, tucking into a roll to bring her back into the cover behind the sales counter. Her muscles, her bones, the blood pumping through her veins were all focused on a single cause, but what it was her mind and thoughts did not know.

A dozen questions rushed through her, chased by a dozen answers that made no sense. She might have drawn out the vision, made sense of it then, but it was already fading from her mind's eye. Her fingers moved on their own, as if fitting a pen to them would complete the picture they drew, but the rest of her had no intent to see it through. The girl was trapped in limbo, in between understanding, in between control, and in between a pirate and escape from this boutique.

Daiya couldn't see what was happening with the Huok now, her head barely cleared the second shelf in her crouched form. All she could see was the row of products arrayed before her, glimmering at her, appeasing her heart and eyes with their charming marketing pitches.

She picked one up, only then realizing that she was in control of herself again. Her thoughts were muddy and disarranged, and her fingers still itched. The datapad was in her satchel, that felt reassuring under the touch of her hand. It tore at Daiya to break the contact, pulling her focus back to what she had picked up. The item looked innocuous at first, a small and round ball with a sheen on its smooth surface. The girl gave it an experimental squeeze, only to feel a sharp jolt rush up her arm.

Her eyes snapped into focus in front of her, her vision clear again. The product name was clearly visible below the rows of similar pearls waiting to be sold. Daiya grinned, her thoughts crystallizing into purpose once more like a pin dropping.

A pin dropped.

Springing from behind the counter, Daiya tossed the stun pearl towards the pirate, hoping that Tawrro was clear of the Huok's radius. Surely he remembered what happened the last time he had tangoed —and tangled— with one of those monsters. The teen ducked behind the counter again before the small device detonated, blasting a debilitating stun effect throughout most of the small store's interior that would knock out any organics it touched.

Xun of Throne Sor-Jan Xantha Kadora'Tra Myrin Deene Vallaro Kindall Zivos​