Olra'en's Eleven - The Teferi Job

[Moira Skaldi]

@[member="Cora Passek"]

Moira had become aware of her presence and turned those lifeless blue eyes to face Cora before she uttered a word. These intense eyes, to which could attribute a piercing quality, focused on her, as if dissecting a favoured specimen, a piece of study. Or perhaps a work of art; one could never really tell when it came to the Terminatrix. The black eye was noted and was it seemed any other damage Cora might have suffered. It would be an impediment if Moira had to sedate her again. Silly organics just could not act in a logical manner and so as they were told.

Her features remained placcid but the stoic, cold expression softened just a bit, not noticeable for someone who did not know Moira well. Very few could claim that and she preferred it that way. She understood what distraction meant - another hunter. This was an annoyance that required extermination. Once again Moira found herself pondering whether she should adjust her plans and process Cora now. It would be for her own good after all.

She would run the calculations later. "I imagine it has been removed. A pleasure to have you here, Cora," she spoke, with just a flicker of actual inflection in her voice. "We are hashing out the mechanics of assuming direct control over the target. Calling it the Dooku-class was a terribly poor choice in name. Unsurprising given its owners," she commented randomly, something she did sometimes.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

"Cora, this is everyone; everyone, Cora. And I, apparently, am Hatman. To answer your question, Triko, I obtained this hat from a very reputable sporting goods store on Ord Mantell. No story. Feel free to make your explosions as big as necessary. Just don't do so much damage to the ship that it can't fly away.

"Junko, we have the best stunners in the 'verse: Czerka HeadBanger riot rifles. They're replica models, specialty Czerka order, very nice. They'll stop a wave of charging Wookiees, knock out a Sith Lord, or put down a crowd of humans for a couple of days' rest.

"Mia, the plan is for Jorus to fly my cloaked Oneiromancer into one of the docking bays. I still have a code hardwired into the deepest levels of the ship's computers. It will work exactly once before the Confederate programming shuts us out.

"Moira, we're also well stocked with coma gas and gas masks in case the evacuation plan doesn't work.

"Lucien, my apologies.

"Now, here's the general idea. The Shepherd alternates between the following stops." A star map came up on the holoprojector. "Roon, security grade five, the highest CIS designation for a star system's lockdown -- we have the excellent Rebel Alliance to blame for that one. Utapau and Druckenwell, security grade four. Kamino, Rodia, and Geonosis, security grade three. Chroma Zed, security grade two. Chroma Zed is our primary location, Kamino is our secondary. Chroma Zed and its region are under one @[member="Sophia Walsh"]. There's low military presence, but very high Templar Ranger presence, meaning that we'll be facing Force-using cops under @[member="Josiah Denko"].

"Now, before we can launch this op, we need to secure some resources. My buyers can't supply everything, for reasons of deniability and distance. We need a safe place to go, assuming tracking beacons. Our destination is the unclaimed world of Kira. It has a dense asteroid field, and the Shepherd's redundant shields would let us outlast any pursuers, ideally. But we need to do two things. We need to clear the pirate presence out of Kira's asteroid field the hard way, and we need to lay traps in that asteroid field, lots and lots of traps. I've got a pretty substantial amount of money set aside for this, from various backers, though nothing compared to what we'll get for the ship. So I need all of you to go shopping, take care of some pirates, and set up your best traps in that asteroid field. That's where we'll lose them.

"Any more questions?"

 

[Cora Passek]

@Moira

"Of course, surely you didn't expect any less of me?" She said with an almost proud smirk. "Can't have things like that laying around. Never know what's in the cards when you do."
To Je'gan she only nodded, force users, were generally not a group she trusted. There was one, and only one, and it had been some time since she'd seen her old friend. But that was another story. The mention of explosives and her smile just lit up. "Shop? On someone else's dime?" Not that she particularly needed cash at this point, she was in it for the pure excitement. This was her playground, her fun. "Well I supposed it's only fair after giving me that scare, though I do have a few things already made to go, saved for a rainy day, and to me it seems it's pouring."

 

[Junko Ike]

Junko looked at Je'gan as he spoke and detailed where they were going. "Ah master? Wouldn't going after the ship when it is in transit to Kamino be smarter?" Her hands moved while he pointed. "Kamino is in the satalite and they have to follow a very specific path. The Zareca string between. A vertical hyperspace leap and they are in the middle of the void. If Jorus Merril is as skilled as some reports say coudln't he find us another way out of there?"

 

[Cora Passek]

Cora rapped her fingers along the table thinking, listening to the dark haired one, she hadn't caught the name of just yet. "That is an interesting point. There is always the option of gravity well technology that could theoretically pull such a ship from hyperspace and have it out in the open, much easier game if we have said location completely set for our advantage." Slowly eyes went to the table thinking through her own engineering career that few knew of, well one at the table knew she was something more than a terrorist. At least a few skills that had been more than handy over the course of her career.

"Also happen to have the schematics handy? Could help to place a few explosives for the sheer purpose of locking a few rooms, cutting people off from others should said evacuation not go according to plan. At least hinder things enough that we know the path, know where they are and where they can be caught, or otherwise dealt with. Personally, like to have a solid plan B, C, and D. The Universe has a funny way of working like that and making such things needed." Schematics, definitely something she wanted in her hands, needed really to get a good feel for what they were taking on and how best to go about it.

 

[Triko]

So the explosions couldn't be too big. Triko could accept that, but he'd have to ask for the address of this sporting goods store after the job was done. Without any more questions, he settled back into his seat and glanced about the table, taking the time to update all of his social networks while he waited.

 

[Rexus Drath]

Rexus ordered a drink and commenced to hit on a few floozies next to him. "I swear I've seen you before, are you sure you're not a model?" he asked the bar tramp only half paying attention to what was going on, all he needed to know was who to shoot and who to not shoot. And in this case it was children, Rex didn't want to hurt children or even think about it. But as for now he'd just wait until he was needed. "Nah I got this really nice speeder out front, I'd like to take you for a ride sometime." he said chuckling afterwards sipping his drink.

Something about explosives and the little jawa thing and it's little lolipop guild voice. Maybe if Rex killed it and stuffed it he could give the it to the bar skank so she would sleep with him. But where was he going to find a taxidermist at this hour? "So you when I'm done with my job you want to hook up babe?" he asked her after taking a sip of his drink. He would fill himself in later after he looked up a good taxidermist.

 

[Lina Djo]

"So we're knocking on the front door then?" Mia grinned "Sounds like my kind of stupid."

So they would force an evacuation, take control of the ship, drive to Kira and deactivate the tracking beacons. Mia's eyes flicked from one person to the next as they discussed the schematics of where to hit the target on its trip. She shook her head at their suggestions. "Kamino is on the other side of CIS space to Kira. We'd only make escaping harder for ourselves. Chroma Zed has less security and is on the edge of CIS space, as well as on the right side. Easy in, easy out. If we start using gravity wells, we could be biting off more than we can chew. The Shepherd isn't the only ship that flies these routes, if we pull the wrong one out, we've got us a messy loose end to tie up."

She looked at Je'gan "I can get the Veil into Kira's asteroid field without being seen and get you a head count on the pirates but she's not armed for battle. I could, however, steal one of their own ships. Take 'em by surprise."

 

[Cody Weadge]

Cody stood silently during the meeting, those that did not know who is was need not find out. There was always the chance he would have to hunt them down at a later date after all, it was better they thought he was just another thug for hire. One who had a very specific set of skills that made him useful for this heist. It was not only those skills that brought him here today though.

A quick glance moved to @[member="Cora Passek"], who was considered a valuable asset to the Empire. He was here to make sure she survived the mission as well as see the operation succeed. Hopefully he would not arrived in a situation where he had to choose between his two missions.

When the gravity well idea was brought up, Cody decided to pipe in responding to @[member="Mia Monroe"]'s concerns. "I will be aboard the Shepard at the beginning of the operation, and can transmit a message before we enter hyperspace to get the timing right. Grabbing the ship just before the Chroma Zed system has many advantages. They are further from help, and it will make whatever catastrophe they believe is happening all the more dire. With Cora's help I can smuggle in a virus to give reading of hyper drive failure when the ship reemerges, so they think they've been stranded by a mechanical failure.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Je'gan gave a slow nod. "An inside man would certainly help resolve Mia's concerns, which I share. We have access to an interdictor that should do the job. The real problem with gravity wells and hitting the ship between systems, though, is shields. That vessel has four layers of nearly planetary-scale shields. We either need our inside man to drop all the shields before they can get any of them operational as standard procedure -- and I put the shield generators miles apart to prevent just that -- or we need to take my stealth ship in before it gets so much as a whisper of our presence, which would require actually pulling the operation inside the Chroma Zed system." He transferred the blueprints to the agent's datapad. "So my question to you is...can you get those shields down? Alone? Or do we have to do this in-system?

"See, there's also the problem of the hyperwave inertial momentum sustainer. The interdictor can drop it out of hyperspace, but it can jump right back again as soon as it brings the HIMS online, meaning we would have a very small window of opportunity."

@[member="Cody Weadge"]

 

[Cody Weadge]

Cody took the datapad and looked closely at the points around the shield generators. While for a ship the scale was simply massive, if he looked at it like a ground mission sabotaging a military base then the solution was simple enough for the agent. A few taps highlighted a number of sections, eight green dots and four blue dots before passing it back.

"There are really only three ways to disable a shield from the inside, apart from outright destruction. The first is a virus, but with so many generators so far apart infecting each computer is risky. The next is attaching a device that will disable each device individually, indicated by the blue dots. It would just take one inspection before I use them for the entire thing to fall apart. Which leaves the best option. If the power lines to the generators are disabled, so are the shields. The crawl spaces the lines are located in are rarely inspected, and can easily be worked around. As long as both the primary and backup lines are disabled, it is unlikely they would be able to restore them before we succeed."

Cody shrugged after giving his analysis. "But the interdiction plan fails the moment the HIMS comes into play. the more systems I have to sabotage at the start of the operation, the more likely everything starts falling apart."

 

[Lina Djo]

So they had an inside man? Mia smiled inwardly. Precision operations always went smoother when you had an inside man. She shook her head and shifted in her seat, excitement glittering in her eyes. "A HIMS system only stops a ship from being pulled from hyperspace. Once its in realspace the HIMS does nothing, provided that field is still going it can't jump back into hyperspace. If you're gonna build a virus to make them believe the hyperdrive has failed then it needs to counteract the gravity anomaly sensors too. That will prevent HIMS coming online and all you need to worry about is the shields."

 

[Moira Skaldi]

This writer faces the peculiar dilemma of being less well-versed in technical matters than their character ought to be. Which is the inversion of matters with Siobhan, who this writer believes is less intelligent than they are!

Regardless Moira observed the exchange as the best methods of intrusion and of taking down the sophisticated defences of the vessel were discussed. She cocked her head to the side slightly, a trait that seemed common to her both as an organic and a machine, as @[member="Cody Weadge"] spoke. She was quite familiar with the man - not just from the rescue mission on Csilla, but they had had an 'encounter' before. Another time, another place, a bit like one of those cheesy spy movies from the holonet. Before her ascension, back when she had been human.

She knew him to be very capable. An inside man able to commit sabotage on the Shepherd would be most useful, likewise if they could simulate a hyperdrive failure. Her mission was quite clear, assist in seizing or destroying the Shepherd, reap the profits. It would be displeasing if something happened to @[member="Cora Passek"], but an assassin droid was not designed for compassion.

"If we use a virus to simulate hyperdrive failure and the gravity anomaly sensors I can assist. Cora should be able to help develop the necessary hacking tool," she spoke flatly. Moira did in fact now possess a cloaked ship, but the Lightbringer was not created for battle, but to serve as a mobile processing station. Moreover, it was top secret and not to be risked on an assignment like that.

"As for the pirates, I shall be there to seize and purge one of their vessels," a brief look over to @[member="Mia Monroe"] regarding her earlier suggestion to take them by surprise by assuming direct control over one of their ships. Moira was not a great pilot, but quite adept at wiping insignificant corsairs out. Between the two of them it would be an easy bloodbath.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

After long moments pondering his lum, Je'gan looked up. Black eyes scanned the compartment, unblinking.

"Too many variables, too many things to go wrong. We're scrapping the interdiction plan. Here's the new deal, and it's the same as the first deal with a few tweaks thrown in. One stealth ship, get inside the shields while they're down. Cody, we'll still need you to be aboard as our inside man, and you'll still deploy a virus, but it'll be a much simpler beast. It only needs to trigger a microjump once our ship has clamped on in one of the space city's innumerable nooks and crannies. Instead of trying to hit the primary and backup lines for four shield generators, I need you to cut only one line, right here -- the power to the hypercomm. That'll cut the distress beacon as well. The Confederacy will have no way to find us once that microjump happens. Some of their Force-sensitive cops may be able to follow us by instinct, but they fly small ships and they'll try to retake the city -- which is why we have the hitters onboard.

"Once we're onboard, explosions, preferably harmless or away from critical systems. I'll be applying my skills to maximize confusion and instill a strong desire to evacuate. If this goes right, we'll only have to deal with the Forcers on the ship itself. That, and droids, though I'm sure some of you have solutions for that."

He stood. "This is the plan. Let's get to it."

***

KIRA
ASTEROID BELT

A small group of starships exited hyperspace above the plane of the pirate-infested asteroid belt.

"Listen up. Neutralize them all; we can't have significant forces coming back to loot our traps. We wipe out the pirates, then bring in whatever you folks have bought or built, to turn this section of the asteroid belt into a killzone for our pursuers. You've all had access to a large amount of funds. I'm curious to see what you've come up with."
@[member="Cora Passek"]
@[member="Mia Monroe"]
@[member="Rexus Drath"]
@[member="Junko Ike"]
@[member="Moira Skaldi"]
@[member="Triko"]
@[member="Cody Weadge"]
@[member="Jared Ovmar"]
@[member="Lucien Cordel"]

 

[Triko]

After a celestial being named 'Jon' had warped him to wherever it was he was supposed to be, in his own ship of no particular description, Triko glanced nervously over his shoulder for a moment. Behind him, in the hold of this ship of no particular description, was a rather large pile of his 'investment.' In fact, it was his entire 'investment.' Triko wasn't easily concerned; in fact, he was never concerned. It was a genuine mental problem- yet nonetheless, he felt some strange pang of fear when it truly occurred to him what his ship was full of.

His ship of no particular description (other than the fact that it was quite big) was full of, well... Bantha dung.

Mounds and mounds of Bantha dung.

Triko took no risks with such a volatile substance., and elected to wear a spacesuit made of asbestos.

 

[Junko Ike]

Junko listened to the other and well before Je'gan had made the new plan she was thinking more about simulations. Most ships would run tests to make sure they could handle problems be there attacks or traps. Both internal and external in this case the ship must have had a plan for interdiction fields or being pulled out by the enemy and pirates. Best way to run a simulation is the practical approach which would mean the sensors and mechanics were fooled to give a real sense of danger. Their work could have already been done for them and just sitting there in a red book of battle simulations but she didn't have the chance as Je'gan gave them another plan. One that wasn't as bad but she was still going to make sure all that they did for it wasn't harm the peoples. Unless they had to a stunner would be her primary weapons along with another knock out grenades they had. Her armor kept under clothing to add bulk.

Then they were whisked away to an asteroid field and Junko avoided the place that the jawa had filled with his "investment" She really didn't know what to say to it being there aside from... Eww but that might be too girly and she was there with her armor and stun weapons. There wasn't much else she could get investment wise, her family wasn't rich and this was the plan of a man who was mostly known. There might not even be a whisper of it to anyone or funds allocated to help them get more equipment. She supposed asking for contact help from some of the lesser reputable sources in the region could help. The Hutts or the Suns might dislike the CIS enough to help but she wouldn't know how to get in touch with them. She just found her way to @[member="Je'gan Olra'en"] and spoke. "Do you really believe we can do it sir?"

 

[Lina Djo]

One ship flew unseen, and pushed ahead of the rest maneuvering between the asteroids. Mia watched the scanners like a hawk, trusting her better half to keep the Veil in one peice. "Ok boys and girls," Mia said softly "We have four freighters and a handful of gunships to eliminate. The XS stock is mine, please don't damage it." Cutting the transmission she rose from her seat, planted a kiss on the top of the Bard's head and moved for the airlock, sliding her helmet into place as she did. Magnetic boots anchored her to the Veil as the air lock opened. She peered below as the top of the XS stock freighter came into view. Climbing from the airlock she moved beneath the Veil and pushed firmly from it.

Momentum saw her feet connect firmly with the XS's hull with a thud that reverberated through the ship. "Ib'tuur jatne tuur ash'ad kyr'amur." She muttered to herself as she climbed slowly to the airlock, pulling three sticky explosives from her belt and fixing them into place on the airlock door. Moving clear of the explosive zone she depressed the detonation switch and watched with a smirk as the airlock doors blew outwards, catching the Veil as they drifted away. "Whoops. Sorry Rel." she muttered into their private comlink. She dropped into the airlock, drawing her blasters as she did. She slammed her elbow into the switch for the second door, venting more valuable atmosphere. They slid shut rapidly behind her and a blaster bolt exploded above her head.

Mia flinched, cursing. "Bloody pirates never could shoot straight." She returned fire, catching bothan pirate's shoulder and spinning him away from his cover. "Drop it!" she shouted as he swung his blaster round to find both hers already pointing at him. He dropped it, reluctantly. "You alone, pirate?"

"Says the woman hijacking my ship." Mia fired a shot close to his head "Okay! Okay! There are two more, but-" He never finished his sentence. Neutralize them all, that was her order. She moved through the narrow corridors towards the cockpit, two male voices drifted down towards her. Moving as silently as she could she slipped into the cockpit behind them. Two quick bolts to the back of the head and the ship was hers. Pulling the corpses out of the chairs and away from the consoles she opened a channel to the rest of Olra'en group. "This is XS Freighter...we'll work on a name later. Liberator is in, ship secured and opening fire." Hands moved expertly across the console.

"Oh look," she mused "torpedos." Eight streamed from the batteries to find homes in the freighter closest to her.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

@[member="Junko Ike"]

"I do, Shadow Hand," he said quietly. "I'm normally contemptuous of those who claim that their cause is just, and deserves to win. This time..."

He shrugged, and the Oneiromancer dove into the asteroid belt. "This time, even I'm not above claiming righteousness."

The vessel settled against an asteroid base, and he handed out gas masks, then pressed a button. Coma gas torpedoes punched through bulkheads. Droids, some aliens, and those in space suits would be unharmed by the coma gas, but this would help even the fight. "Get to it," he said beneath his gas mask, and stepped through the airlock.

Snap-hiss.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@Je'gan Olra'en, @[member="Junko Ike"]

Justice, righteousness, these terms meant little to the Traitor of Contruum. HRDs had no redeemable qualities, they had all the ruthless drive and cruelty of humans with none of the kind qualities. If one imagined the dark side as something that lurked within each and every person rather than as an external metaphysical force or daemon that pounced on forcers, then they might be it. Fashioned in the image of organics, who wanted to be as the Creators, they were like a dark reflection.

Cold blue eyes, like an abyss gazed impassively as the coma gas torpedoes shot through the bulkhead, pounding through, sprays of gas being released through the ship. Enhanced hearing picked up on pitiful organics crying out and groaning, then falling to the ground, others scrambling for their gas masks. The sounds were like a beautiful symphony to her.

Not bothering with a gas mask herself since she was a droid she stepped through the airlock along with the traitor Grand Master, one boltgun in each hand. Salvoes of blaster fire came shooting through the haze of the gas, there were clearly still plenty of corsairs about, though she casually kicked the gun of a knocked out pirate aside, her scanner picking up on combat droids. Enhanced targeting homed in on them, her boltguns roared as one pumped out explosive rounds at a fast rate since it was a mark two, pounding droids and turning them to scrap, the other fired salvoes of buckshot. Organics cried out, organics fired at her, organics got gunned down or when they came to close the boltguns bashed their heads to jellie or hard kicks sent them flying into walls.

Such a beautiful symphony.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Container transports, escorted by starfighters, exited hyperspace at the fringes of the Kira system, and began to disgorge hundreds of trickster decoys, among other things. They would remain quiescent in the asteroid field, comparable in sensor silhouette to small warships using decoy systems to reduce their profiles.