Loneliness Is Your Only Ally [Tegs/Sio]

[Razelle Breuner]

Firemane Industries, Kaeshana

In all the years that she'd been doing her thing, Razelle Breuner had constructed a slightly comprehensive list on what to expect when casing an objective based on who, where, and when. That last point was pretty useless now, but the other two still held up pretty well. "Who" boiled down to four possibilities: military, paramilitary, civilian, and Force user. Civilian targets tended to have superior facial recognition and ambient familiarity, making disguises and social infiltration much less effective and requiring a physical touch. Military targets, on the other hand, were much easier to infiltrate with a proper ID and the ability to avoid squadmates, but the expensive and deadly security measures made physical infiltration extremely dangerous. Both had easy solutions.

Raz's current objective was paramilitary in nature, which made it slightly trickier. The funding of a military endeavor combined with the civilian freedom from restrictions made the whole thing extremely unpredictable. Without exception being caught would be dangerous, as paramilitary companies tended to be pretty lax on their observation of local law enforcement. Moreover, this particular company seemed to be part of the local law enforcement. It was all very confusing, but what it definitely meant was that Raz's job wasn't going to get any easier if she was cornered. She might have another Coruscant IIB-A23 on her hands if she screwed this one up, and she had no idea where she'd find another fifty kilos of military-grade explosives and an important government official on this planet.

Standing barely outside the commonly observed "suspicious distance," the wayward ART-03 cased her target through electrobinoculars. The outside of the building was obviously military, less "shopping mall" and more "bunker," and she could see a half-dozen guards stationed within easy response time of the few entrances. All of them were clean, disciplined, well-armed, and in communication with each other. This was definitely a professional installation and it would not be easy to bust. She'd need an auxiliary entrance if she didn't want to fight her way through dozens of response personnel without any gear.

That would be another problem. Normally on this sort of job, Razelle would want at least a full security kit, several shaped charges, a silent and semi-permanent method of threat disposal, a locally-uplinked datapad with linked com-headset and visor, and a few other toys. She didn't have any of that, and she'd need to procure on-site. There were decidedly few times that she missed the "benefits" of Imperial and Republic affiliation, but pre-mission was often one of them; at least they kitted out their agents properly.

Above all else, Razelle tried not to consider that talking to Domino would have not only given her proper kit but removed the necessity for this mission at all. She wasn't ready to face Pru yet. There were still pieces to pick up. Besides, doing an impossible mission with no equipment or backup was the best way for her to get back into shape. One mission, the she'd need to re-establish her cover identities. Then she could carefully talk to Dee. There was no guarantee that a powerful and rage-prone Force user wouldn't want to kill her for abandoning her to the evils of the galaxy and never making contact for months...but she had to try.

No more stalling. No more contemplating her navel. Guard change was coming up, and she'd only have a small window to get through the first checkpoint. 'Time to get to work, Sieglinde.'

[member="Tegaea Alcori"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

 

[Tempest]

[member="Razelle Breuner"], [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Firemane Industries and Technology had a strong commitment to innovation and technological breakthroughs whilst retaining a keen sense of…

Wait, that’s the advertisement.

In reality, the Firemane bunker was where most of the secret technology testing and development went. It was solidly built, enough to keep out the sort of attacks Firemane had anticipated, namely Dashdae Eldorai and smash-and-grab mercenaries. Thus its single main entrance was fortified with heavy turrets, cameras and guards who checked vehicles and visitors before allowing entrance.

A blast door sealed second entrance, monitored by cameras and a single turret acted as a fire escape and an oversized equipment entrance. A landing pad near this second entrance allowed visitors or things to be taken in or removed when needed.

Overall, it was a professional, effective setup against anyone who wasn’t Solid Snake without a winkle.

 

[Razelle Breuner]

Guard change was a vulnerable point in any defensive setup. Now, it was never a clean sweep like it always seemed to be in holovids - the perfect five minutes of 100% effective crime - but the general visual coverage was lessened in the mild chaos of men milling in and out, chatting with each other about the Huttball game, making plans for the weekend... Agent Sieglinde had been taught early on to utilize that chaos to the best of her ability. Once inside she would have a much easier time moving around, due to "borrowed" equipment.

Cameras were still active. She'd used her electrobinoculars to pinpoint the most obvious ones from the relatively lightly guarded rear entrance and approached from an angle that would give her the most motion blur coverage. While it wasn't a perfect defense, she couldn't air-drop in, and this would give a good chance of any trace of her on camera being written off as a camera flaw.

Three days of surveillance gave Raz a decent grasp on where soldiers went on their smoke breaks after shift. One of them, a young man who probably flunked out of his college sports scholarship, always lagged behind. Not the brightest of kids, but probably an effective stim-pusher when it came to busting skulls and properly bitchy enough to be a door guard. Clan Brenner hunter training: pick off the stragglers first, no matter how strong they are.

A veteran commando did not need gear to be silent, or deadly. From the proper camera angle, she moved quickly and quietly at a near-silent sprint directly into his blind spot. She didn't know a lot of Stava techniques, but she'd practiced a few in order to combine them with the styles she was versed in. Stava charge, low and shoulders for minimum visible profile. When she was close enough, she came up to a fuller stand and crashed her elbow into the side of the man's head, followed by a backhand knife-hand strike to his throat. Coming at him from the side that his comlink was not on would leave a minimal audio trace.

He was down in seconds. She didn't bother to check for a pulse, move the body, strip him down, or anything else time-consuming. Her window was small and shrinking. Instead, she grabbed his utility belt and weapons, played with grenades for a moment, and tossed a half-empty bottle of alcohol down beside him before continuing towards the wall. Security booths couldn't watch every camera all the time, so she had a decent chance of avoiding notice, but there wasn't a lot she could do about that little obstacle with no gear or inside help. Putting it out of her mind, she attached an ascension grapple to the downed guard's rifle and fired it up to the roof.

Minimum windows meant minimum entry points. It also meant that no one was going to idly catch sight of her as she climbed the side of the building. Bunkers tended to be conveniently single-purposed like that. She hesitated when she reached the ledge of the roof to check for guards and cameras up top.

Any cameras on the roof would need a maintenance hatch. A bare roof would offer her safety while she hacked the door guard's datapad. Either way was a win, and she still had another ten minutes before the little surprise she'd left on her victim sounded off. [color=0066ff]'Be patient. Ten minutes.'[/COLOR]

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tempest"], [member="Razelle Breuner"]


While Sieglinde was playing the latest edition of Metal Gear Solid: Now without A Cyborg Guy hacking Mecha with lots of gore, Siobhan was off on an inspection tour, oblivious to what was going on. After all, she always liked hearing about new designs that made things go bang - and would result in her earning plenty of money. As is well-known she did have a rather expensive life style.



"Lady Kerrigan, it's an honour to receive you. Firemane R&D is working on several top-notch designs I am sure you will find interesting," the lead scientist spoke as she extended her hand to the Countess, who gave it a firm handshake though her touch might have a lingered a moment longer than was appropriate. The scientist was called Miranda Lawson, though unlike her counterpart in another universe she wore a proper doctor's outfit and not a skintight leather catsuit. It did nothing to distract from her, in Siobhan's eyes, magnificient figure and bountiful assets.



Firemane did not discriminate when hiring its employees at all, though it definitely counted as an Amazon Brigade with an Implausible Female Cast. Siobhan would also wholeheartedly agree that Buxom Is Better. Now that this post is Trope Overdosed we can continue with the actual plot, for there is one.


"No need to be so formal, Miranda. I'm sure you have...just what I want. Please led the way. I heard you're talking on a new type of armour," Siobhan responded once she finally released her hand. The scientist gave her a short smile and turned on her heels, motioning Sio and her party to follow.


"Indeed we are. Along with the Mk3 bolter - I am sure you will enjoy the test we have planned for it. It's called the Mk1 Illyria armour. A suit of scout armour for sustained operations amidst extreme hazards. Most importantly, reflex coating grants it stealth capabilities against electronic sensors. Sonic dampeners built into the boots assist in silent movement and it can absorb a certain amount of incoming light. By no means perfect, but very promising. An invisible scout lives longer and can better relay information, so that the battering ram knows where to crush all opposition. We are presently in the prototype phase," Miranda spoke with an air of pride.



"Scout stealth armour, consider me interested. Tell me more about the ups and downs. Hevana Martin would be jealous if she knew," Siobhan said, referring to the ex-Imperial supersoldier and scout trooper who after being carbonite frozen for 800 years had served Omega Pyre for a while.



"It will be my pleasure. Some of our best minds have worked on it."

 

[Tempest]

[member="Razelle Breuner"]
[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]
Tempest, who had been dragged along on this little tour, was not exactly greatly impressed so far. Even the plagaristically named Miss Lawson wasn’t a good enough distraction to keep her interested. Silent scout armour was not really her thing. Her thing mainly involved blasting enemies with bolters and exploding things.

Still, not everything could be exciting battles, so she trooped obediently after Siobhan, waiting for something to happen.
She probably would wish that she hadn’t got her wish!