Sapphire. [CIS]

[Ascendant Muse]

S A P P H I R E​

BACKGROUND

As the spirit of Independence began to captivate the Southern Systems, a need was identified. In order for the budding Confederacy to survive within the modern Galaxy, it required the infrastructure and resources of a Superpower. It needed brilliant minds, exceptional imaginations, and those talented enough to make dreams a reality. Thus had a search began for those gifted in a variety of fields...and that search led to Csilla. In particular, to the Chief Scientist of Csillian Laboratories: [member="Sila"].

It is unknown how word of the Confederacy stretched into the distant region of the Galaxy; but what is known is that we must act quickly. Initial contact with the Chiss scientist revealed a hostile reality: she was being forced to ply her trade and lived in a constant state of duress. She risked life and limb to send a missive to the South: a plea for extraction in exchange for her services and knowledge. A plea for a symbiotic relationship of protection and progress. Immediately, a unit was dispatched: a strike team composed of Geonosian Knights, ApeX Operatives, and Sector Zero agents. They would do what they did best: Succeed.

CSILLA
Local Time: 1900 Hours

A single freighter reverted into Realspace.

At a glance, the vessel was unremarkable. Its hull bore an insignia reminiscent of Corellia, denoting nothing more than the manufacturer. Its identity was blared over the airwaves: a simple delivery of supplies to Csillan Laboratories. Nothing more, nothing less. Scans would show a crew of only a handful of individuals; and each was armed with applicable papers and documentation. This was, simply, a routine delivery on a routine day at a routine hour.

Asterisk.

In truth, the vessel was indeed carrying supplies and had been scheduled for this very date and hour. However, Sector Zero flexed its muscles beforehand: apprehending the vessel and before it could leave its initial port. Now, as opposed to a benign crew of couriers, a team now occupied the seats. Sector Zero agents. Marshals of the Geonosian Knights. ApeX Operatives. All awaited silently until the vessel was cleared and made its descent upon the Iron Capital. Within a matter of moments, the freighter came to a halt upon Csillan Laboratories' rearmost landing pad. A hiss erupted from the vessel as its doors slid open and the ramp extended to the facility below. Now, the act was about to begin. Operation Sapphire was a go.

OBJECTIVES

1. Deliver the "merchandise" to the Staging Area.
2. Seize control of the facility's Power Station.
3. Navigate to and Extract the Target.
4. Code-names only.

Spoiler

[member="Darth Interitus"], [member="Sila"], [member="Natasha Darkstar"], [member="Arlox"], [member="Ash"], [member="Jackpot"], [member="Kurenai Yumi"], [member="Noviac Caligo"], [member="Surnin Strenger"]

 

[Ak'lya]

Natasha was not built for lifting crates.

As she stacked boxes onto the hover sled, there were parts of her that simply wanted to give. She had never been exceptionally strong, but it took everything she had to act the part of an honest ship's mate. Shaking her head, the woman glanced down the ramp. Nothing to show they had been discovered. At least, not yet.

If they knew, they'd be here. The AI chirped in her mind. It's unlikely they'll give ground if they can avoid it. She shook her head. He was right, she was being paranoid. Still, best to not let her guard down. Struggling to lift the next box, 'Mara "Spark" Iubar' did her hardest to fit into her role of a simple worker doing a simple job. Almost instinctively, she wiped the sweat from her brow. Why did it have to be so heavy?

Spoiler: tags

[member="Darth Interitus"], [member="Sila"], [member="Arlox"], [member="Ash"], [member="Jackpot"], [member="Kurenai Yumi"], [member="Noviac Caligo"], [member="Surnin Strenger"]

 

[Kurenai Yumi]

(code name: Crimson)

Kurenai sat silently on the freighter as it touched down, it had been a while since partaking in a covert op of some sort, but I was nice to have the familiar sensation of the task at hand as well as a challenging goal. She eyed the other members, she did not really know any of them but that hardly mattered, if eveyone did their part things would go smoothly.

Her gaze lingered on [member="Natasha Darkstar"] as they struggles to place the crates on the hover trolley, "Do you need any help with those"? She made to comment more out of necessity then actually being concerned, the longer it took the deliver the merchandise the less time they had.

Being one of the Apex operatives she was talked with seizing control over the facilitates power station with a few others, but needed to make sure the first part of the operating was complete before commencing that part of the plan.

[member="Natasha Darkstar"]

 

[Sila]

As the freighter found it's landing and it's occupants began offloading the freight, a chiss woman wearing a tight fitting business suit walked up to the freighter while carrying a datapad and two Chiss guards were at her side. Her black hair was in a tight bun and her glasses were resting on the bridge of her nose. "Ah, you must be the ones here to see Dr. Blaire. My name is Dr. Yara and I will be escorting you all to the meeting." The doctor spoke with an awkard smile as her eyes shifted about for anything out of the ordinary. Considering the context of this meeting, being vigilant was paramount.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sila Blaire was in her office, looking over the status of the current project, Sila was starting to grow a bit stressed at her current predicament. Time was running short as she was preparing to pack her bags and move her facilities elsewhere. The Iron Empire could not see her brilliance nor would they accept her research so she had to find somewhere she would be appreciated. She had been contacted by an agent of the revived CIS and could not resist accepting their offer. But, the problem would be getting her offworld along with all her research and tools.

[member="Kurenai Yumi"] | [member="Natasha Darkstar"]

 

[Surnin Strenger]

Callsign - Doppler

Of all things Strenger thought he'd be up to on his first assignment as a Confederate 'Marshal', subterfuge was...expected but not ideal. Regardless the costume fit him well, he was an actor who'd read this script before. Undercover, something he understood well enough. Extracting people wasn't anything alien to him either, all but the world. The Chiss were an intriguing species, wholly xenophobic and a mostly merit based aristocratic society. Surnin liked them quite a bit. Although playing the part of a cargo hauler wasn't ideal, it was far less pressure than keeping lock step and placid as one would posing as a guard.

Given the Balmorran's demeanor and appearance, he blended in like a snake in tallgrass as a cargo hauler. That dull gaze, five o'clock shadow all augmented the illusion perfectly. To cover his eyes up he wore a flight helmet with aurabesh characters and the symbol of the company plastered on each temple. The sun-tinted visor dropped down over his gaze. Hiding his eyes, if possible was ideal in these kinds of environments, he liked to read people as much as he liked to read the environment. It was part of the job and less obvious you can look doing it the better. To tie up the appearance he wore a standard jacket over a maroon flight suit, the data cylinders holding all the specifications he needed to be there at that time packed into a pocket in the outside of his right sleeve tucked below a patch of the hauling company. On the inside of his jacket he held a blaster in case things sour.

Without prodding for any request for help he simply started packing up the crates unto the sled on his own, doing what a cargo hauler would do - their job. He played the part as well as one could. On the Chiss woman's approach he offered her a nod before taking the handle at the front end of the sled and giving the other two a nod to go along with the secretary.

"Just point the way."

[member="Sila"] [member="Kurenai Yumi"] [member="Natasha Darkstar"]

 

[B1-1313]

It would have seemed like a good idea to take a nap in a crate on the hangar floor, but it had been a crate that [member="Natasha Darkstar"] had been trying to lift. Waking to the shuffling of feet, Lucky peeked through the crack in the crate, seeing boots and knees. He didn't recognize any of the legs, but that wasn't part of his database.

He felt like he should keep quiet until a better moment, maybe he'd get deactivated if he was found now. So he just quivered silently inside the crate that was now on Csilla. Hopefully he'd be able to get out of this pickle.

[member="Surnin Strenger"] [member="Sila"] [member="Kurenai Yumi"] [member="Natasha Darkstar"]

 

[Sila]

The secretary would smile as she would turn around and begin walking towards the elevator. Once the elevator doors opened to reveal the lift she would step inside and lok back and wait for the tohers to join her. Once they would, she would begin briefing her bosses allies. "Is this everyone? Alright so, here's the situation. Dr. Blaire is currently in her office preparing for the transport of her research to the new facilities in CIS space, but her office is on the far end of the 4th floor, far from the elevator doors. Between here and there are mercenaries hired by the Iron Empire to subdue any intruders within the facility. You will have to fight your way through them in order to reach the doctor.And that is the easy part..." The secretary paused for a moment and pressed the button that was labeled 4. The button illuminated and the doors slowly closed before the elevator ascended.

"The hard part'll be getting us out of here. The mercenaries will surely have guns prepared to shoot you down should you try to enter the airspace, so it would be wise to send one or two of you to shut those down, no? Also there'll probably be in-air resistance but I'm sure you separatists can handle that. Also, Dr Blaire is very sensitive when he comes to bloody and deadly gunfights so if you could, try to keep it to a minimum. If not, well, ensure no harm comes to her.". A single ding would go off as the elevator would reach the 4th floor. On the other side of the doors, several mercenaries would be at the door, with their guns at the ready to unleash fire upon the intruders. What the Confederates did not know was that the mercenaries had them flagged as soon at they entered the system so they were ready and waiting for them.

[member="B1-1313"] | [member="Surnin Strenger"] | [member="Kurenai Yumi"] | [member="Natasha Darkstar"] |

 

[Kurenai Yumi]

Kureni finished loading the boxes up and followed [member="Surnin Strenger"] and [member="Sila"] across the platform and to the turbo lift, listening to the Chiss and as they explained the current situation and mission perimeters. "Ill handle the mercenaries, I'll try and do it in silence as well, I can go ahead of you and do that, but don't hesitate to come running or go loud if things heat up". The stealth part relied on how well trained the mercenaries were, "Do you have any idea on the skill level of the force between us and the doctor".

The turbo lift door closed as the group made their way into the complex, "Okay so subdue the guards, take out the power soruce for the defense, and make sure miss sensitive does not get shot, got it anything else we 'DING'........ well kriff", the mercs took aim about to shoot "GET BEHIND ME"!!. Kurenai drew her saber as fast as she could activating it but not fast enough to catch all the fire on them, several bolts hit her in the chest arm and leg, the armor taking some of the force but still causing a good amount of pain, "RAAAAAAH", she let out a angry cry and charged at the mercs, intent on giving each on a very painful death.

The first merc met a quick slice to his arm decapitating it before being thrown again st wall with a powerful force push, before his closest friend could react Kurenai threw her combat knife into his throat , a third being shot repeatedly by her blaster, though not being kocked out of the fight. Kurenai could only hope the other members would join the fight, even and old droid would help greatly.

[member="B1-1313"] l [member="Natasha Darkstar"]

 

[Ak'lya]

Natasha was quiet, watching as they moved towards the elevator. She gave a simple nod to [member="Kurenai Yumi"], the woman gave her a bad feeling. Mercenaries that feel like they'd murder you in a heartbeat never made for good missions. At least she could keep things in line. She hoped. But that was something for another day. As the Chiss woman spoke, the agent listened with a practiced ear, training immediately kicking in. "Mercs in between us and the target, shut down defenses, minimum causalities. Got it." Smiling, she turned to the others. "I'll take those AA guns. Make sure to get the tar.."She caught herself. "The Doctor out before they get reinforcements."

The door opened, and almost instantly, they were in a fight. Instinct kicked in, and the woman dived through the door, rolling under the first hail of blaster fire. Minimal causalities. Right. The blaster pistol came up, and after a quiet click, the pistol sang out a series of stun bolts. Maybe she could get enough down to get past them.

[member="Sila"] [member="Surnin Strenger"] [member="B1-1313"]