Something to help make the Spice go Down

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck had prepped his men for the mission. It was supposed to be elegantly simple, but warfare of any kind is hardly elegant. This was probably going to get ugly, very fast. That was part of the reason that Corruck had spent more time than usually necessary training his squad for various potential problems that might arise. As it was, they were all aboard a public transportation vessel to the planet Quesh. Corruck would have preferred a private one so that the men could go over their equipment before landing.

He had had to content himself with this, the necessity of transport had overridden any preference to anonymity. They were all using false documents that would lead to various parts of the galaxy, entirely unrelated to the Consortium, if they were thoroughly examined and back ground checks occurred. Further their weapons and basic armor had been passed through by fake passes, which if inspected would have created yet another paper trail leading off into the black markets of Nar Shadda. If either of these happened then Corruck intended on beginning the mission prematurely.

Corruck was confident that they would remain secret long enough to reach the mission objective. He had gotten a transport all set up for their extraction. It had plenty of room for the cargo he intended on picking up here. His target was a mine. It was not the most heavily protected due to the fact that its contents were not the greatest and most important on the planet. Dialium-6 was nothing more than a chemical to be added to the stronger and more infamous spices in order to augment their effects to a minor degree. This however was not Corruck's main reason for wanting the chemical. He had recently come across old data suggesting that it could be used for a more controlling system. He wanted to see if he could recreate the Castellian restraints of the old Sith Empire. Those would help with the plans that [member="Vincente Zann"] had for the Defiler networks. Corruck wished to contribute by cementing the loyalty of their agents.

The cyborg and his men were perhaps midway in the crowd that exited the spacecraft. If 'crowd' was the word that could be used. Quesh was hardly a planet that made most people want to visit. The very air was dangerous, leading to the people being handed face masks in order to keep them relatively safe. This promised to be a very interesting job.

[member="Brynyar Ordo"]

 

[Corruck Kazen]

The first hurdle had been passed, the papers had given them entrance to the planet and though a queer look or two was given no questions were asked. There was a moment of concern when one of the guards took a look into the container with the rifles, disruptors were supposed to be banned on most worlds, but perhaps they had not really cared due to the paperwork. Corruck had his suspicions that they might have been found out and that the operation was blown. But ten minutes later, outside in the sickly colored world, there did not appear to be anyone following them and no unusual police activity could be seen.

This was a good start, Corruck just hoped it would continue. The transports were prearranged and had been given plenty of money to not remember this trip. A few hours later, the team was within a kilometer of their intended target. That was enough to hopefully keep them off of potential security devices while being close enough to make a quick run relatively easy. He moved ahead of the group. "Remember, we keep this tight and controlled. No killing unnecessarily, don't want any people trying to follow us."

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Corruck continued until at last they were near the facility. There did not appear to be much activity at the moment, perhaps there was a break ongoing. They would find out soon enough. The run to the facility entrance was soon over and the men split up into two groups. One would deal with security footage while the other would get the containers. As had been planned. Corruck would be accompanying the group heading for the mines and the material. He wanted to be there to see the thing that would be most useful for the Defiler project.

The building was close to the mine, thus allowing the two teams to keep visual contact until they had both reached their targets. The first team would blow in one of the back entrances to the main building, the closest to the security room, and would hopefully be able to avoid any confrontation. The second team, the one Corruck was part of, would take on the mine entrance and hopefully find some barrels of the material which they would collect and move out to the cargo vessel, which would be landing in half an hour to pick up the bunch of them.

The second team was to wait five minutes, then when the door charge blew they would then force their own entry into the mine. Five more minutes.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

The explosion could be heard from the mine entrance, probably the people inside could as well. It should not have been that loud, too much explosive? As this was a criminal organization, he and his team had had to make the charges. Corruck guessed that too much was better than too little in this case. He would have to find out who had made it and figure out a solution for next time. Until then, he just had to hope that the mission had not been scrapped by this. They would have to continue on as if it were all normal.

Corruck simply watched as one of his men moved into position in front of the door and used a plasma torch to make quick work of the entry hinges. This was followed by a kick that sent the metal door falling inwards. The team then moved swiftly in, weapons up and looking for anything that moved. He was pleased to see that no one fired, they had the gun control down pat. Two men moved to the corners and stayed put, they would make sure that the crew was not caught unprepared by security coming in behind them.

Corruck followed the men who jogged down one of the tunnels. Signs led them to the storage room. He counted an easy hundred closed barrels. They could probably get away with half of that any more and it might take take long enough for planetary authorities to move in. "Keep it moving." He spoke unnecessarily, everybody knew that time was of the essence. None of them needed the reminder that time wasted would be punished most severely.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Everything had been going alright, had being the operative word. Corruck had heard a brief interchange of blaster fire. This had caused him to run up to the entrance, what he found was not quite as terrifying as he had assumed. It appeared that some of the men were bored as guards and had taken to shooting at some small rodent that had been running around outside. The creature was now a pile of dust somewhere, at least Corruck assumed as much since the men had stopped shooting and were now talking about shot that had undoubtedly claimed the animal.

Corruck was about to berate his men but decided against it. As much as he would have wanted a military unit, these men were not truly that. This was a 'gang', There was nowhere near enough professionalism for what he would have wanted. These men were fighters, but they were not soldiers. They needed something to do while they waited. Though he would have preferred something quieter, these were men who fought for a living and thus were prone to thinking mostly in terms of fighting and skill with a weapon.

Turning back to head in to check where the others were at, Corruck heard footsteps coming. The guards heard it as well, they were quickly to point their weapons towards the noise. It turned out to be a good sign, the men from the security building had come now that their job was done. Apparently very little was left of the equipment that the enemy would have used to report their arrival. That would hopefully make things easier. Corruck checked his watch, another half hour before their ride came in.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

Things continued smoothly, the ship arrived on schedule and Corruck's men loaded it with as many of the barrels they could muster. As they were preparing to leave Corruck had a moment of inspiration. He ordered some of his men to stick with him while the rest were taken up to the ship waiting in orbit. The gang leader decided that perhaps more than just hiding the evidence of who had stolen the material, they should leave false clues. It would be more effective, hopefully, at making certain that the Consortium was not to blame for this act. For the time being they had remain more clandestine, when they became more powerful their name could become a household byword of fear and control.

"You three get down into the mine and use the grenades to set up traps. Whatever explosives were left set to blow as well, if someone walks in there I want the mine unusable for awhile. The rest of you help me with these barrels. We're gonna leave them a message." He tipped over one of the leftover and shot off the top. He put his hand into the mixture and then began drawing words on the walls and floor. The three or so others followed suit. After about ten minutes there were insults and little pictures all over the place. Corruck decided to finish up with, 'Thanks, frm te Crazzed Vinecats!' Hopefully that would make enough trouble, along with the explosives that were being set up down in the mine and supply room.

Corruck nodded and congratulated the men on their good work before leading them down to the other group. They found them working very busily, nothing quite as amusing as what had gone on upstairs. They explained that the grenades had been set on a motion detection system attached to the cameras. While nothing was being recorded, movements and other anomalies would be picked up and with a little work had been made to be able to activate the grenade. They said that they would finish setting it up on the computer upstairs. In the meantime they were moving gas canisters they had found, probably meant to power the mining equipment, so that when the grenades went up so would the canisters. One of Corruck's men, to his amusement, had studied structural engineering at some point and had a basic idea of some of the load bearing beams and pillars. He had tried to make it possible for as many of these as possible to be blown by some form of explosive. Corruck was impressed by the ingenuity and quickly ordered his men to continue working and began to help with the last parts of this job.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

With all of them working on the plan, it took only a few minutes to finish up. The last step was more for amusement than anything else. Corruck and one of his men strung a wire about five centimeters above the ground, making sure it was not completely hidden. This was would give the appearance of a more basic trap, hopefully making whatever team came down here somewhat relieved at seeing the amateurish nature of the traps. The rest of the team finished with some decorations, specifically leaving marks and words proclaiming this tunnel as death and warning those who came down to stay away. Obviously the idea would be for the team to read these and take no heed. This would hopefully also solidify the concept of this being a very unprofessional groups handiwork.

Now it was time to move out. It became much more difficult in a matter of moments when Corruck heard the sound of incoming craft. He ordered his men to quickly make a break for a back entrance. The most important thing for now was to get out unseen, the last thing they wanted was for someone to get a glimpse of who they were and perhaps survive to help in part of an investigation. Fortunately this was an uneventful dash. Once safely outside Corruck took a moment to get his bearings. Then there came the problem of leaving the area without being detected. A plan began forming in his mind, but he needed time to think it through some more.

He turned to his men and signaled for them to follow him. As long as they were here they might as well watch and see what became of the incoming team. It would be interesting to see the results of the traps and to get an idea of what they would claim the criminals were. Anyways it gave him time to prepare his plan for exfiltration and it involved those poor souls incoming.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

The group found a nearby knoll in which to take refuge. They watched through the darkness towards the lighted entrance which had just been entered by a security team. They must have given an all clear signal because a few seconds later more men moved in, probably to secure any evidence on the computers. Well the tampering should not have left much to work with on their part. He wondered how long it would be before those poor guys would find the traps set up waiting for them. It shouldn't be long, at least he thought it wouldn't, there was only so much they could get from the graffiti.

His prediction was correct, a few minutes and there was the sound of an explosion, followed by a shockwave that they could feel from their safe spot. The cave was definitely collapsed and now Corruck could turn his attention to getting himself and his men out of here. Which was why it was a good thing that the security teams had not come in on foot. As he watched, those people that were still outside had moved indoors after the explosion, no doubt to help their comrades.

"Quickly follow me. Take those speeders." He jumped to a standing position and sprinted to the vehicles. The vehicles were still running so it would be no problem to get them going and leave the area.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

There was movement from the entrance as Corruck finished the preparation for the transport to get moving. "Suppressing fire." Corruck called out to his men as they got aboard. They turned relatively quickly and began firing randomly at the door, some nearly hitting the man that had incautiously walked into the open. The security guy dove back through the door just in time. There was a great deal of shouting that could be heard over the blaster fire. The team trapped inside the building was doubly confused, between the traps set within and the attack on the outside.

A few shots were wildly returned, one striking against the metal plating that was a mere ten centimeters from Corruck's lightly armored head. He instinctively pulled away from the shot before pushing the engines into gear and putting them at max speed. For a moment there was a slow build of speed and then they were out of there in moments. The other speeder not five meters behind them. It looked like everything was working out.

Corruck turned to his men and spoke as he kept a steady hand on the controls, "Good job everyone, this was a complete success. Once we're all out of here the next round of drinks are on me." It was good to hear them in such high spirits, the whoots of victory. It would be relatively easy once they got to the spaceport to hopefully get back to the smuggler vessel. The human just hoped that the criminal had stuck to the secondary plan should anyone be left behind. If not then they were trapped on this world until they could get public transportation off, or hire another smuggler.

At that moment, the glass in front of Corruck shattered and he felt his right hand get knocked back into himself. He fell to the floor and he felt the vehicle begin to turn off course, however another of his men was quick enough to grab hold and correct the ship's flight. "Keep your heads down!" It had to have been a sniper, with a shot like that. Even so it was a lucky hit, at the speed they were doing it should have been plenty difficult to hit the vehicle itself, more so anyone inside. He checked the mechanical hand that replaced the one he had lost so long ago. It had a new crater burned most of the way through, it looked like he would not be using that hand for awhile. He was out of any gun fights for the time being. As the speeder continued forward, moving very quickly out of the sniper's range, Corruck just hoped they would reach the spaceport before information got there on what had happened.

 

[Corruck Kazen]

At the spaceport, the small team of men walked the rest of he way into the massive building. The speeders had been left behind, but not before stripping it of some equipment they could use. Two of his men were sporting parts of the security suits and badges while the rest wore binders. Their blasters were secure in a crate marked 'Evidence' that floated behind them on a hover sled. Corruck thought it was a pretty brilliant scheme, pretending to be prisoners taken by the security team. All they needed was to reach the appropriate hangar bay, then they could drop the ruse.

Corruck was the third man down the line and he had a pretty good view of what was happening in front. He smiled as the man behind the desk seemed surprise to see people from the security team here, Corruck heard an explanation that the team had received a communique not twenty minutes ago that the security had come across trouble at the mining facility. Corruck was glad of his decision for who was playing as a security member, the man was thinking quickly on his feet. The two of them had been sent to deal with a potentially unrelated crime and they were going to transport the prisoners to another base to correlate possible connections.

It took a few minutes for the person behind the desk to talk with his superior and then allow them unrestricted access. The man pretending to be the lead security at the moment said that they had a transport waiting at a certain bay and that they would head there now. No further questions were asked, though a security detail from the space port checked the container to be sure that there were no explosives or traps set.

Once they were safely aboard the smuggler's vessel and heading out of the system Corruck could finally relax. It had been a closer call then he would have wanted to admit, even if it did indeed sound like everything had gone well for him. There were points were he had been uncertain, but the important part was that they had made it through and had succeeded in obtaining the material. Now Corruck could begin work on implementing the serum into the Defiler project. At last they would have completely trustworthy agents.