Private Repo

[Arris Windrun]

BONADAN
Naniti

In the heart of Bonadan's capital city, a pair of Sith have planned a heist.

"You're supposed to be smart with this shit, right?" Arris asked.

She, of course, was referring to the highly secured vault of priceless Force artifacts housed at a corporate oligarch's estate. Word of mouth has called it a "private museum" among other descriptions. Suffice it to say, Arris expected at least something of worth to the Covenant would be found inside. More importantly, it would serve to test one of the academy's latest students...

The cyborg found herself at a disadvantage.

"I am really not a teacher," She thought to herself. "What would Darth Adekos do?" He seemed a capable teacher, given that he was teaching Arris. What was it he said?

The old umbaran smiled faintly. "How does anyone master anything? Practice and reflection. The unending parade of self-humiliation in trying, failing, trying again... Until it is impossible to do incorrectly."

"What do you sense inside?"

That was a start, at least. Whatever artifacts were inside would almost certainly be noticeable in the Force.

Right now, they operated from cover, behind a dumpster outside of a garage entrance into the estate. Physical security consisted of guard droids, sensors, cameras, and alarms. Nothing trivial, but nothing the technopath couldn't handle. The vault was somewhere deep inside, but she'd leave sniffing it and the artifacts out to Naniti.

 

[Naniti]

The Togruta found it a bit amusing to be crouching behind a dumpster scoping out a museum. She tried to keep it from showing on her face, however. Just wasn't the sort of thing anyone ever described in a class. Usually Lords always said they just walked in and took what they wanted; they commanded legions to wash away the enemy and clear a path to their objective. Not that she was a Sith Lord, Master of Armies and the Force. Still, no one told stories that began behind a dumpster.

Arris Windrun made a sharp remark that drew Naniti's blue gaze. She was supposed to be 'smart with this shit?' Just what was her Master telling people about her talent? Maybe just that she was good with maps and timing or something? Better than the truth. Who knew what might happen if that got out. If anyone believed it.

Hand on the side of the dumpster for spatial awareness, the Togruta's eyes closed. After a moment, she began to answer Arris' questions, "Sub basement. Durasteel door. Patrol." Her lips thinned. "Droids. Several minor artifacts, two notably strong artifacts, and..." Naniti's brow pinched. Her head rotated a bit to the side, but after three seconds she exhaled a breath Naniti hadn't known she'd been holding. "Something else." Her eyes slid open and lifted toward the other woman. "I can't tell if it's that strong or if there's something more to it. Other than that, nothing unexpected."

Nanit wondered whether Arris would take the lead, and what her mission parameters would be. If she bothered to confide them in the Acolyte.

 

[Arris Windrun]

"Good instincts," she replied.

Instincts she struggled to summon herself. It probably wasn't a good idea for acolytes to know about that, though, so Arris played it coy. Made it a lesson rather than revealing the talents she lacked.

The Togruta's last remark was a bit concerning, though. Ambiguity was never a welcome variable on the job.

Thankfully, there were no exterior cameras by the garage. It could've been an oversight or confidence in the rest of the building's security. The scoundrel hoped it was the former.

"Alright," she waved the acolyte along. "I'll get us inside here."

Arris snuck up to the garage and opened a panel beside the keypad. She had done this enough times in her youth that unless they deployed niche, military-grade code, she wasn't about to be stopped by a simple layer of security such as this. She was also a technopath, but this time experience trumped the Force.

"And..." The side door slid open. "Gotcha!"

She slipped inside and waited for Naniti to follow before closing the door behind them. Arris sensed a camera as it panned towards their position, and reached out through the Force to convince the machine it had turned as far as it would go, and so it began to pan the other way. This time, the Force trumped experience...

Naniti

 

[Naniti]

Naniti glanced over at Arris. Not because she sensed anything, but to... double check whether the woman meant it. Instincts. Yes that's what it was. One of those 'feels' people got from the Force they described as guidance. Precisely. Good to leave it at that.

With her senior's direction, the Acolyte hurried after Arris toward the garage. Blue eyes kept watch behind them in case of an unexpected patrol. Not everything could be sensed in the Force. Extending your senses out constantly was draining and there was more likely to be greater threat inside than out.

The Togruta glanced over her shoulder at Arris' victorious cry. She pivoted to follow like the other woman's shadow.

"Are we taking everything, or just something in particular?" Naniti asked quietly, not certain what the objective of this excursion was. She wasn't even sure if she was supposed to do anything besides follow Arris and watch her in action. Whatever the expectations, the Togruta student was trying to divine them along the way. The use of the Force to manipulate a camera, for example; could be useful though that wasn't a common ability. She'd have to try it eventually.

Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Arris pulled an empty duffel bag off her shoulders and passed it to Naniti.

"Whatever we can fit into here," she answered.

It was a rushed job to be sure. They had little intel save for the basics. An estate, a loose floor pan, and the vault's general location. Getting past security and into the vault? That was for them to figure out on the way. A good test for new blood, Arris believed.

She looked back at Naniti. "I can sense the droids, if you can the 'ganics."

Indeed, the presence of droids was quite discernible for Windrun; she could feel them like static in a dry winter. What she couldn't sense were people. The whole notion of "perceiving" with the Force was a fresh concept to the cyborg. She wasn't even aware how taxing it might be in broader circumstances.

Confident that the pair of them could figure this out, Arris crept up a little further. The garage was fairly empty, save for tools and some speeder parts, but absent the vehicles. Two doors led further into the estate, and Arris picked the more direct path, towards the secret vault located somewhere within the entertaining room.

Thankfully, the estates here were not terribly unique. Most shared an architect, and a general floorplan at that. If corporatists were reliable for anything, it was a fondness for conformity.

Unaware to the cyborg, however, was the human woman just down the hall. Droids were elsewhere in the building, but not there.

Naniti

 

[Naniti]

The bag now in Naniti's hands, she very quickly reflected on the moment. Whatever they could fit? Wasn't like there was a limit to her moral depravity. They were there to steal something, who cared if that was one thing or many things? Wasn't like there was a karmic score to keep track of. Naniti had seen plenty of disgusting creatures even as an Acolyte to know there were no cosmic scales doling out due punishments.

Then Arris casually tossed Naniti a Force grenade. Just go find all the organic people and let her know where they were. Great. Actually, it wasn't that difficult of an ask as others might find it. Naniti's problem was making it appear that difficult. She didn't know of the Cyborg's limitations or familiarity with the ability; far as the Togruta was concerned Arris knew everything and every mistake was going to be picked up on and held against her. There may not be a cosmic scale of karma, but there was certainly scales upon which Acolytes were judged.

"Rules of engagement?" she whispered as they crept through the garage. Was this a stealth-at-all-costs mission, or just an effort to minimize grief before the goods were acquired? It'd help to know whether people were expendable before they showed up.

Two doors were found, and Arris decided to go for the direct route. Minimizing time? Not interested in scoping the grounds? If only Naniti were genuinely a telepathic genius. "O-- Watch out!" she hissed suddenly to warn her instructor of the danger ahead as the violet woman lunged forward to grab Arris' arm. There wouldn't be time to complain as the pit trap sprung open just in front of or beneath one of Arris' feet. Breathlessly, the Togruta managed, "Organic. They're headed this way now. Evade or fight?"

Something warned this spelunking into some rich estate was going to end up giving Naniti a headache by the end. Differentiating organics wasn't more difficult, but channeling the Force was still tiring over time.

Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

"Rules of engagement?"

"Just one," Arris whispered back. "Victory at any cost."

A meaningless statement as far as tactical viability goes, but it reached deep into the essence of what it meant to be Sith - a pure expression of will.

Before Arris could continue, however, Naniti spoke out and stopped her, taking the cyborg by a metal arm. The blonde snapped her neck back, a look of confusion more than anger.

Breathlessly, the Togruta managed, "Organic. They're headed this way now. Evade or fight?"

Was sneaking around the right move? Probably. But Arris had a nasty itch to scratch after being cooped up on Desevro. She needed to cause some trouble, or at least for trouble to find her. That said, they certainly could've picked a better place than Bonadan. Corporate oligarchs were the kind of people who held grudges and spent countless riches just to prove a point.

She looked down at her holsters, which contained nothing but loud chaos in the form of large revolvers.

"Get rid of them," she answered. "Quietly if you can... If things get loud, then we'll just have to tear the place apart."

Her eagerness for the latter outcome was palpable. Arris tapped the acolyte's shoulders for her to go ahead, while fondling a revolver in case things fell apart. At the same time, she reached out through the Force and disabled another camera up ahead.

 

[Naniti]

Naniti regarded Arris attentively when she spoke of removing the threat. The deep blues of her eyes brightened as they shifted slightly in the direction of the doorway. Before she set off, the Togruta pointed at the spot in front of the door and used a hand sign warning of a trap. She carefully stepped around the mat and slipped into the hallway.

At first she hugged the wall on the left then bounced across the hall through an open doorway as the guard turned slightly to survey their flanks.

Several seconds passed before the soft roll of a cylindrical object could be heard on the floor. What might be the round leg of some furniture slowly emerged through the doorway Naniti had slipped through. More than enough sound to draw attention and a befuddled expression. The barrel of their weapon lifted and then tilted their head aside ready to report something unusual.

The violet woman emerged from the side corridor with all the suddenness of a Grim Reaper. Something was held in her hand that connected with the guard's head, and they dropped lack a sack of potatoes to the floor. Not wasting any time, Naniti took hold of their feet and drug them to back into the living space she'd passed through one door and exited through the other to out flank them.

Once the body was hidden, she popped her head back out the doorway and motioned for Arris to join her.

"We should keep an eye out for something to hide our faces," she whispered when Arris got closer. It had been obvious what the woman wanted, but it was too early to indulge.

Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Arris was busy interfacing with a wall-based control panel. If this estate was so automated, then it must have been connected to a central system somewhere. If the slicer could access it, then she could shut off most of the estate's security. Of course, that still left the droids and any other organics.

When the Togruta reappeared, Arris had just finished bypassing the access codes and switched the building into maintenance mode. Suddenly, things got very quiet. The air control shut off, cameras went still, and as Arris suspected, so did any other security measures. Though she wondered if the vault would have its own isolated system. Felt like the right move for a paranoid oligarch.

"Well done," Arris complimented.

Already, Naniti had impressed the Talusian with her killer's instincts. Not many had the headspace required for quiet techniques. She didn't even hear the acolyte take anyone out.

"We should keep an eye out for something to hide our faces," she whispered when Arris got closer. It had been obvious what the woman wanted, but it was too early to indulge.

The cyborg considered for a moment just tearing the synthflesh off her head. Though that would be incredibly tedious and weird, so she dismissed the idea. She hummed aloud in thought. It was a good point; they didn't need their faces plastered for this one.

"Maybe they keep masks in the bedroom?" She threw that dubious one out there. "Hiding ain't exactly my thing."

No, she runner and a fighter. Kept things simple that way.

Before she could continue, one of the security droids stepped around another corner and saw them.

"Shit!" Arris thought. She stopped paying attention to their surroundings for one moment...

Impulses acted faster than strategy, and Arris drew her revolver, destroying the droid with a single and very loud shot that hadn't an Ewok's chance in the Netherworld to go unnoticed. The sound of scrambling and shouting came from several directions. Thankfully, no alarms sounded due to her tampering. That hopefully meant law enforcement wasn't immediately on the way.

"Looks like they're all coming to us now."

Without a hint of shame in her voice.

 

[Naniti]

Masks? The Togruta's head turned slightly as she didn't get the reference. Why would they have masks in the bedroom? Why would Arris even suggest it? But that was nought but a fleeting thought. It was unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

As Arris drew her weapon, the Togruta had begun to turn in the direction of the droid. The crack of the revolver caused the violet woman's hands to snap to the sides of where the lekku and montrals met. Naniti's lips had peeled back in pain at the unsilenced weapon's discharge being so close. It wasn't just audible sound, but the complete chaos thrown into the air affecting even echolocation.

With a grunt, Naniti focused on Arris with a pinch expression. Too much. There was too much pain to focus. "We can't stay here. It's a good choke point, but it'll keep us from getting any further inside." Her head pounded, but she tried to think through the fog. "Which way to the vault?" They'd have to find somewhere better to make a stand. Or just fight their way through. Didn't matter; whatever happened they couldn't stay at the garage or the mission was a bust (assuming security wasn't unable to hit anything with their weapons).

Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

"This way," Arris gestured with her gun.

It seemed the acolyte had the right idea of it. They had to move quickly, get in and out. The cyborg sprinted down the hall and turned the corner, right into another droid. There wasn't enough time to compromise this one, so she resorted to projecting a random string of binary. Enough to disrupt its internal logic for a few seconds.

"Take care of it, will ya?" She shoulder checked the lanky droid and jogged further down the hall.

It opened up into another living area, this time with a beautiful view of the skyline, and right where the vault entrance was said to be, but there was nothing obvious. Was the entrance in the floor, through one of the walls? Arris looked around the room and tried to discern it. Right as additional guards and droids approached their position.

Arris picked one hallway and aimed her barrels down it, hoping Naniti would catch up in time and hold the other.

Naniti

 

[Naniti]

They didn't waste time getting a move on, and Naniti wasn't slow to follow her instructor's command.

That's how they ran straight into a droid that Arris dumped in the Acolyte's lap. There wasn't even time to curse at the woman's back as she sailed on down the hallway. Not that Naniti would have. This was par for the course when it came to Sith training far as she was concerned. Actually, Arris was being surprisingly hands on and helpful. Usually her Master before the Academy didn't so much as lift a finger for those she put to trials.

Violet hands reached out to take hold of the droid before electricity began arcing through its chassis. Naniti poured more energy into the droid as it became evident its model had been built to withstand such assaults. EMP shielding and grounding caps were good, but they weren't bottomless. They were rated to handle specific loads; because what were the chances of being struck by lightning and being the only droid around?

At last the metal thing collapsed with several bangs onto its side. Naniti panted for a moment before she shoot her head and stepped over the burnt ruins.

The Torguta stumbled into the doorway, one hand on the frame, to stare at Arris. "Over there," she gestured toward the faux fireplace. "But do we go in, possibly being trapped inside with an army out here waiting?"

Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Arris tossed a glance at the fireplace and sensed an unusual amount of circuitry within it.

"But do we go in, possibly being trapped inside with an army out here waiting?"

She unstrapped the duffel bag and tossed it to the Togruta, followed by a grenade from her belt.

"This should get you in - grab whatever you can and meet me back out here."

The cyborg drew her second gun and had a barrel pointed down both hallways. She was admittedly a little anxious to have the grenade go off so close to herself, but better options had come and gone.

Footsteps--mechanical and organic--clamored towards the room, followed by their shadows, and then the figures themselves. Blaster bolts went flying, some striking Arris. Though they'd need more firepower than that to breach her subdermal armor. She aimed and fired at one of the droids; its large frame would prove a useful obstacle to clog the hallway.

Naniti would have to act fast, however. Even if Arris did manage to kill them all, there would undoubtedly be a siege outside before too long.

 

[Naniti]

Naniti caught the bag and then the grenade with a blank expression. Sure, it wasn't a fragmentation grenade or a thermal detonator, but... Well, Nether, Arris said to do it. So, who was she to tell the more experienced woman it was a bad idea? The Force could protect them. In theory.

With the bag shouldered, the Togruta set the grenade and pulled the pin. When it 'exploded' it caused the room to shake, but there was no fire or shrapnel to go along with it; electromagnetic interference was its specialty. It would be enough to overload the circuitry and cause the locks to cycle; which left Naniti an opportunity to shove the door out of the way and reveal the vault within. Her blue eyes darted over to Arris for a split second before her violet self launched through the open passageway.

Alarms weren't much of an issue, especially if they were silent one. Just like the minor artifacts that fit easily in the duffel bag. Whether they'd be useful despite lack of raw power remain to be seen, and Naniti didn't waste time trying to discern it. The two stronger artifacts fit, but were noticeably heavier. One was a small statue that must have been much denser than its appearance made it seem.

Which left the 'something else.' Naniti stood before the display case for a moment to regard the sparkling item within. The transparent case wasn't even reinforced; it wasn't meant to be another layer of security so much as a safeguard from accidentally interacting with the object within. It wasn't entirely in phase with everything around it. The repulsor keeping it aloft probably only worked because of the partial phase-in the talisman experienced. Not enough for contact normally.

Unless you happened to see when it was, anyway. Naniti removed the lid and timed her grasp around the amulet. Her fingers clenched down on the oblong object with its chain dangling out the sides of her fist. Contact seemed to keep it in phase. Which probably meant she couldn't throw it in the bag. Not that she wanted to, but... Oh, kark it, she'd just have to deal with any consequences later.

The amulet was slipped over her montrals and left to dangle about her neck. With all the important stuff cleared, the Togruta hurried back to the room where Arris had taken root.

Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Naniti

'Ganic guards began to stumble and trip over the collapsing droid in the hallway. Arris glanced to her left and saw Naniti disappear within the hidden vault. She trusted the acolyte to see it through on her own and turned her attention back to the security forces.

From the other hallway, a pair of carbine-armed guards had taken up position. One knelt in the hall, and the other peered around the corner, and both fired suppressive volleys to pin the cyborg down. She held up her arm to absorb some of the blows - superheated plasma scorched and melted the armored casing. Another shot burned clean across her cheek, exposing the plasteel plating beneath.

Arris grunted. "Oh, c'mon, lemme teach you!"

The technopath reached out to the downed droid and shorted its powercore, triggering a runaway reaction that crescendoed into a large explosion. The fireball tore through the wall and flooring, stripping away the pretty facade and revealing the metal skeleton within. It also took out everyone in that hallway, and fire began to spread into their room.

"Shit... Where are you?!" She threw another glance at the vault entrance.

She fired a few more shots down the other hall, but more guards poured in, and it was starting to get ugly.

Finally, the Togruta returned, and Arris noticed the full duffel bag.

With a smirk, "Alright - time to bail! Break the window behind us!" She threw a head gesture towards the glass.

It was likely tough as shit, but she believed the acolyte would find some means to get around it. If not, then they'd have to detour through a whole heap of trouble and fight their way out of the building.

 

[Naniti]

Naniti stepped into the doorway and peered into the room. Place looked about as messed up as she expected. Arris was holding them back in this half-assed choke point? That was rather kind of impressive.

Impressive or not, Arris wasn't keen on sticking around to test how far she could take it. Already been more than long enough as a flex. The Togruta gave a sharp nod and turned her blue eyes out toward their aggressive defenders in the hallway. Somehow they needed to blow out the window. Probably something sturdy. Transparisteel? That could be bad, especially if it were thicker than any residence had need of it to be. Ships had solid panes because they got hit at relativist speed by solid matter.

"I got--" The Togruta's words cut off as the air pressure in the room flat-lined. It rushed out through the gaping hole where one of the windows used to be. Charred edges suggested a thermal explosion of some kind. The carbon scoring splashed over the other window, the wall, the ceiling, and the floor. Nearly everything in the living area was in pieces; cloth shredded, decorations all but missing. If it weren't for the walls being made out of steel there'd probably be things skewering them or punched straight through from the look of it.

But the important part was there had not been any explosion. There had been an explosion, only neither woman had experienced it actually happening and they'd been well within the blast radius.

"Time to go," Naniti shouted as she made for the hole, duffel bag slung over her head.

Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Arris turned her attention to the sensation - she expected anything but a gaping hole in the wall so soon, but wasn't about to stand around and ask questions.

She and Naniti jumped out and landed some five meters below onto a back road behind the estate. A pair of security gunships soared overhead and touched down somewhere in the front.

"Good timing," Arris muttered, then broke into a run down the alley.

The cyborg ran and leapt over a railing, then another, using the city's vertically to her advantage, before throwing herself into the open window of a restaurant kitchen. The Falleen chef gave them both a puzzled look.

Arris reached into a jacket and pulled a few credit chits. "Sorry about that... But uh... is there another way through?"

The chef blinked and reluctantly pointed a finger towards a back door. Arris smirked and gave a two-finger salute before slipping through the back door and into the cramped alley. She pressed her back up against the duracrete wall of a building next door and sighed.

"So, what did you get?"

Sirens continued to wail in the distance, but thankfully, they headed further away.

Naniti

 

[Naniti]

Naniti jumped after Arris as security neared the doorway no longer defended by the cyborg. A five meter jump wasn't anything to worry about even for a humble Togruta. Not when the Force was on her side. Couldn't say the same for any security officer and their ankles that tried to follow.

Their dash was fast, and passed without a word. They had to lose any possible tail or they'd be running for the better part of a day.

They only stopped when Arris' bolt led them straight into a restaurant kitchen with a Falleen cook giving them an appraising look. Arris paid a fee for information and soon their course was clarified. Naniti didn't say anything, but two bottles of herbs floated from the other side to the kitchen and set down on the counter next to the chef. With a clip nod, the violet woman followed Arris out the back.

Once they were outside, Arris finally felt they'd made progress and drew to a halt.

The bag was slung over her head and around to the front to show the objects inside. "Several small artifacts probably nice for a collection." Obviously they weren't merely decorative, but that didn't mean whatever effect they had was worth carting about everywhere. Or anywhere. Some artifacts just didn't do much. Maybe they'd been failures someone dug up? Who knew.

"Then there are these two," she shifted the bag and pointed at the larger items. "I don't know what they do, but they feel stronger in the Force. What do you think?" Honestly, Naniti didn't have a rich education in Sith artifacts. She knew of them, obviously, but she was no walking encyclopedia ready to give Arris a historic rundown.

The Togruta seemed to evaporate before Arris' eyes only to re-emerge from the kitchen doorway again and run back over to her as she had followed earlier. It was only when she stopped that Naniti blinked, her brow furrowed, and her lips twisted. The bag slung under arm for her to put her hands on the still-closed bag full of artifacts. Then she looked up at Arris once more. "Wait, what? Didn't I...?"

Arris Windrun

 

[Arris Windrun]

Naniti

Arris nodded at the first set of items. Then, as Naniti singled out two more, the cyborg drew closer.

She watched intently as the Togruta described her hunch, with the pair of artifacts front and center. The acolyte asked what she thought about it.

"Hmm," she pondered, even brought a hand to her chin.... but the truth was Arris lacked such senses.

Her training in the Force was... non-traditional; 'unorthodox' didn't quite cut it. She was a freak whose power came from a desperation and self-loathing that challenged Mercy's narcissism and Gerra's rage. None of what she could do came from mastery, let alone much awareness. Some would call her lucky, others reckless, but really, she stood somewhere in the middle.

"I... I dunno," she answered honestly. Considered playing coy for a moment, though. "Artifacts ain't my turf, but I can think of someone who might know more..."

Two someones, actually. Both Vestra Tane and Kirie came to mind. The former she knew by reputation as an artifact slinger, and the latter was a known quantity at the Red Library. Neither were with them now, however, so it'd have to wait.

But Naniti disappeared before Arris could even drop their names. She looked left and then right, wondering if the woman had merely stepped out of view for a second. When she didn't turn up on either side, the cyborg worried there was something wrong with her eyes. Implants occasionally witched out on you (outlaw tech slang for 'spooky' glitches). Then the acolyte reappeared at the kitchen door and ran towards her like they had just stepped outside again.

That was weird - a sentiment that exploded in her chest like a foul anxiety.

"What the fuck?!"

She backed away and reached for the grip of her revolver. Her eyes lingered on the duffel bag, then glanced up at Naniti.

"Yeah, I don't know what just happened, but I don't like it. Know which one it is?" A gut feeling said a repeat of whatever just happened was on the table.