Bounty The Catalyst Protocol: Chasing Decoys

[Liin "Tera" Terallo]

Kwenn. The planet itself was an easy pick for me to use as my final decoy lab. And why is that? The reasons are simple. One being that people would expect that the popular Kwenn Station would be an ample choice, and two being that people might try to think like me and believe that I would pick the less obvious choice of the planet. Either way it is enough to keep some people guessing. And so I chose the less popular one; Kwenn the planet.

Judah Dashiell was good enough to loan me a salvaged vessel to bring in my fake equipment, and two droids to fly the vessel for me. Not to mention help me to set everything up. And I brought with me a cannister containing the specimen that I use to communicate to Mr. Usher with. It's purpose is for more than just experimentation. In some ways it is like a pet, but not one that one could cuddle. This specimen is more instectoid in nature due to what I feed it.

Somehow others are keeping tabs on me. I am unsure if there are trackers on my vessel's used, or the equipment purchased or on my datapad. I try to restrict my holonet usage and used the alias of Tera for my purchases. But perhaps that alias has been figured out. One thing is for sure; my 'secret' labs do not stay secret for long. And if I am tailed, then it is imperative that I am at the decoy lab for some amount of time, even if just a little.

I had let Imperius Indomitus know of this last part of my decoy plan before I switch my focus on my project as well as his. The last thing that I need is to be smothered by guards and given that this laboratory is a fake one; a large security detail is not needed.

If I am wrong, then I will take responsibility for it. But there are eyes everywhere; be them friend or foe.I just hope that I'll have enough time to finish setting up the laboratory first. So that is what I am up to; unpacking the boxes of equipment as the droids bring them into the small warehouse that I have purchased in a seemingly abandoned town on Kwenn.

Tag: Sahan Dragr Velzari Tharn Glen Cowen The Lord of Hunger

 

[Sar Talos]

Kwenn Station

Despite the specialisations of the Templars in the Great Chapters, it was not unusual for a Crusader to perform duties of a Praetorian or even Inquisitor. Especially when the Supreme Grandmaster himself commanded it. Talos was not entirely aware of the reasoning for the protection of the woman called Tera, but he also did not need to care too much. He had received his order and would follow it to the latter, no matter the circumstances. He knew that this was connected to Project Doomgiver, but did not know how or what the project was. Compartmentalization was an asset in the Crusade and would not be compromised for a civilian or even him himself.​

​

The Marshal came with a squad of Stormtroopers, ten strong. No more, no less. Troopers of the 181st Legion and veterans of Ord Radama and Bosph, their armors with the typical red livery of shield and checkerboard. They were not spread across the station and guarded particular places or tactical locations, no. This was not a battle or defence, but a protection detail. They had arrived with him in his shuttle and since then watched over Tera, not intrusively, but carefully. This was a decoy and meant to attract attention, so they rather made ready to get their patron out of there safely.​

​

Sar Talos checked in on the woman every hour, not to talk, as he was generally not talking unless necessary, nor ever revealing his face, but simply to see her progress. He was meditating in between and simply waiting as well. There was not much to it and for some it would be mind-numbing, but he did not care. Duty was duty.​

​

Another hour passed and he rose from his kneeling position and moved through the laboratory to Tera. His heavy steps clanking as he was clad in black armor below a white tabard with red trim and Templar cross on it. It was also shaped across his visor which black lenses now found Tera for their routine check-in.​

Liin "Tera" Terallo

 

[Sahan Dragr]

Spoiler: Equipment

SHIP:

• "Ure'adtr" Howler Basilisk War Droid​

ARMOR:

• Besk'gathr Mk III​

WEAPONS:

• Tusurki'aa Ta'hye Beskad​
• M.I. Model 6 hybrid pistol​
• "O'dteyase Saranuhlr" Modified Vora-Class Verpine Hand Cannon​
• M.I. Model 12 shatter rifle​

ITEMS:

• AXC (10)​
• Mirshir Ka'esr Binders​
• Irya'kadir Smoke Bombs​
• Sasori Last Resort Cannon​
• Ring of Vision​
• Runi Ticu'r​
• Rulariyi Mandalorian Sunglasses

AMMO:

• Gas Canisters (12)​
• Slugs (100)​
• Grulyr'bedtr CryoSlugs (1 Mag)​
• RB-02 "Salt" Rounds (1 Mag)​
• RB-04 "Droid's Bane" Rounds (1 Mag)​
• RB-03 "Force Breaker" Rounds (1 Mag)​
• Tracyn'wuta Pyro Slugs (5 Mags)​
• Hurdisi Photonic Blackout Rounds (5 Mags)​

---

Sahan Dragr has been lazily scouring the bounty boards while on break from his usual jobs. He liked to occasionally look for bounties, particularly those of rogue Forcers or anything that might be vampiric in nature. He had nabbed quite a few of each. Most of the Forcers were turned in alive, unless they were Sith. The vampires were always killed on sight.

While scrolling the boards, the golden-armored Mandalorian happened across a name that made him pause. It was a name he knew. "Huh. Why is there a bounty on Terallo?" He had done work for Terallo, capturing a few bounties for her. How odd that the bounty was now on her. "Arty, find the origin of this bounty."

After a moment, ARTUS responded. <IT APPEARS TO BE PLACED BY THE BLACK SUN SYNDICATE THROUGH A VELZARI THARN, A FALLEEN MAN WHO APPEARS TO BE THE BLACK SUN UNDERLORD.>

"Huh." The bounty gave a description and recommendation on how to approach. He was certainly well versed in anti-Force tech, and he momentarily considered taking the bounty for himself. That is, until he came across one particular line. "Of interest to the Jedi Order and Imperials? Does that mean they're after her too, and Black Sun is jumping first?"

After pondering a moment, Sahan made up his mind. "Open a line to Terallo." In a few moments, ARTUS had used backways, reroutes, and other methods to link into her system enough to send a message. They had communicated before, after all, so such a task was not too difficult for the master AI.

Liin Terallo, this is Sahan of Mandalorian clan Dragr. I have done bounty work for you before. As a professional courtesy to you based on our mutually productive past, I give you a warning. You have a bounty placed on you by the criminal organization the Black Sun Syndicate for whatever kind of work you have been doing. The contract has been accepted, though there may be others gunning after you as well. The Syndicate wants you "unharmed," but you should still take care. I have no idea what they would want with you. Of course, if you manage to get captured and need someone to free you, my services are always available. For a price, of course.

​

With that, Sahan closed the comms and leaned back, continuing to scroll the listings. He'd wait and see if she contacted him, or if he encountered news of her being captured. He did not actually care either way, but he could not help being curious of the outcome.

---

TAGS: Liin "Tera" Terallo​

 

[Liin "Tera" Terallo]

My commlink comes to life not long after Mister Talos re-entered the laboratory. I was setting up one of the canisters of fake Isotope-5 and hardly noticed the activation of my commlink until I heard the name of a bounty hunter that I had hired before in the past; Sahan Dragr. At first I was unsure of why he was reaching out to me. That is until he gave me the warning.

I abandon the canister display and instead carry my commlink over towards Mister Talos so that he can hear what was being said as well. I have never had a bounty placed on me before. I run through the various scenarios as to why the Black Sun Syndicate would want my research. My only guess is that they will want to monetize or use it for their own advantage. But why the bounty? Why not just arrange for a meeting? There must be something else going on that I cannot see quite yet, for this is beyond my expertise.

I hit the button on my commlink to respond; "Mister Dragr, this is unexpected. And I appreciate the warning. Is there any way to tell how many hunters could be in pursuit? Or who they could be? My latest research has certainly ruffled some feathers. Yet if some how I am brought in to them, I would appreciate your aid in the rescue. And your cost would be covered. Please keep me informed if you hear of anything else, thank you."

I know that Mister Talos and his squadron will do their best to keep me from being caught; however there are too many unknowns about it all right now. And I still want to finish setting up this decoy laboratory. "I will try to work a little quicker. If we are lucky, these decoys will slow any hunters down like the rest."

Tags: Sar Talos Sahan Dragr Mr. Usher Glen Cowen Velzari Tharn The Lord of Hunger ​

 

[Hacks]

Kwenn Station​

NeuroDive Club​

Hacks took a draw from the cigarra hanging limp between her fingers, toxic smoke filling synth lungs. Her eyes scanned the screamsheets. The Black Sun has placed a bounty on some scientist. An eyebrow was raised and she scrunched her nose. The Black Sun, she thought, the galaxy's whack-a-mole. Domino, Lysle of the Hydian Way, The Hammerhead, Gorba the Hutt. All of them legends, but all the legends are dead. Now this Velzari Tharn takes the claim of Underlord? She hadn't heard the name, who was this two-bit prince of the underworld? She tilted her head and frowned, then again I have been out of the game too long.

The club was busy, the latest synthwave out of Denon thumped and dancers moved to the beat. An ecstasy hung in the air but Hacks was too distracted to enjoy the energy. Mechanical fingers rubbed plastic eyes that didn't feel tired, but her mind felt worn. She flagged down a passing waiter and ordered a Merenzane Gold. Her account balance ran across the cornea of her eyes, damn, I'm on my last few pennies. Her last job had landed her enough creds for a cushioned life in the Refugee Sector on Nar Shaddaa for the last decade, but time flies. It was a wonder the Nakaioma counter-intelligence division never found her.

About that bounty, she thought, checking her accounts once more. Screw it, time to get back into the game. She kicked her feet up onto the table, resting herself deep into the lounge. She flipped her F80 MacroPad open and activated her Viska Mk1 drone back in her apartment on the station. She assigned surveillance parameters on the drone as she herself began to slip into a semi-concious state. The AJ^6 nestled around the base of her skull connected nanothreads directly to her brain, creating a neuralmatrix that could harness computers with but a thought. She felt her body slipping away as her mind descended into the CryptNet and she lost herself in code.

Liin "Tera" Terallo | Sar Talos | Sahan Dragr

 

[The Lord of Hunger]

LOCATION: unknown
OBJECTIVE: unknown
IMPORTANT LINKS: Sword | Armor | Jewel | Ring | Necklace | DIII Gluttoneria | The guards | The Enforcer
TAG: Liin "Tera" Terallo

Few had managed to make a lasting impression recently on the Lord of Hunger, yet one such person had been quite the intriguing go-getter. From out of nowhere, Credius saw a young woman enter into the N&Z Umbrella corporation, rise to a position of immeasurable power, actively act as the most prominent ambassador of the company and then suddenly, without so much as a two-weeks notice drop out alltogether. He did know part of this sudden change of heart must have been the end of the decade long neutrality New Cov enjoyed, but in return the woman seemed to invest deeper into the underbelly of the galaxy, making big splashes with projects which inevitably would catch the monster's attention.

"This... Liin Terallo, she was head of the N&Z laboratories, was she not?" His crimson and golden-hued eyes looked upon the small holographic image of a kneeling young woman, her hair black as the galaxy's emptiest voids, with eyes dull and gray, without any hint or speck of emotion. "Amalia, her recent work has led me to believe she made the right choice to leave the N&Z behind her, but I will order you to draw her in again, she seems to be more than valuable enough for Section C to safeguard her. We can not have her stray into the hands of some... outsiders. Make sure she remains unharmed and undeterred...but if she would be captured or otherwise detained..."

The pause was rather long, long enough for the woman in the hologram to look up and seemingly show a bit of confusion. Yet as if to emphasize the weight and meaning of this pose, the Lord of Hunger moved his face closer to the holographic image, his eyes burning without restraint, signifying the importance behind his next words.

"Execute her."​

 

[Glen Cowen]

MYNOCK
AROUND | KWENN
TAG: Liin "Tera" Terallo | Everyone else.
GEAR: In bio

DARKNESS​

The tracking fob's beeping was getting louder.

"Hear that, Jo? Guess we're gettin' close." Glen said as he stood next to the Basilisk.
The droid merely rumbled, not even bothering with a response.
"Can you do a scan, Boah? See what you get?" he asked.
://: Course I can. ://: sassed Joey but turned his bulk and started up his long range Naval scanners. The only thing that could be heard other than the tracking fob was the woosh of the ocean while they waited. Glen wasn't the biggest fan of beach-like planets. It took him far longer to clean Joey and all his weapons properly to prevent rust build-up after a hunt on such a planet. It was annoying. He'd actually hoped the fob would take him to the Station instead - it would be better than the sea-air.

://: A small clump of buildings to the east about 50 klicks that have not been marked on the planetary map. Organics pinged too, though barely. Doubt any scanners aside from Naval would pick them up ://: said Joey, breaking Glen out of his thoughts.
"Weapon emplacements?" Glen asked.
://: Can't tell from here. I only got the building clump and barely. ://: came the answer.
"Let's get closer, then." The Hunter shot into the air with his jetpack and into the basilisk's cockpit. "Jus' set down out of earshot, son. Let's see what we dealin' with first."

As they travelled, the beeping of the fob got louder, before Joey set down quite a few kilometers away to avoid anyone hearing the howl of his ions. Glen remained in the cockpit for now until they know what they are facing.

"Run scans again, I don' want to go in blind."

This woman better worth all this drama.

 

[Hacks]

Somewhere in the Net . . .

Hacks was submerged in a world of datastreams and calculations. She couldn't see Kwenn Station, but she felt it. Every ping on a personal device, station sensors scanning incoming and outgoing traffic, rogue radiowaves from passing ships. She accessed a datafort in the stations traffic control room and was overwhelmed with redundant information. Her thought was translated to code as she tightened parameters for her search. She needed something local, the bounty was for this sector. She waited for what felt hours in netspace but in meatspace had only been minutes.

Then in the tedium of scanning the Net, a distant echo pricked at her mind. A basilisk. Wait, a karkin' basilisk? She tuned the stations traffic monitoring satellites to track the signature. Coordinates raced across her retina and she blinked.

She sat up from the couch, groggy like an afternoon nap taken too far. Her half-finished drink sitting across from her, she reached out and downed it in one go. What was a basilisk doing out here? she wondered. Basilisk, Mandalorian, Manadalorians, Bounty Hunters. It was a fair assumption, but one that needed more investigation. The coordinates along her retina were updating with the real-time tracking of the war-droid.

Hacks stood and made her way out of the club. If I can track this bounty hunter, see who their prey is, maybe I'll luck out. Her mind seemed to flex as she requested the stations architecture for shipping manifests, reducing the results by organic and droid pilots. Hacks didn't have her own ship, hell she didn't even know how to fly. She couldn't force some squid-face to fly for her, but she sure as hell could reprogram a droids flight path.

The translit ledger listed a Chevlex light hauler 'Helix Courier' outbound from Kwenn Station to Riflor, departure time estimated in 3:58...57...56. Got to hurry. Heavy boots thundered down the corridor as Hacks slammed shambling pedestrians out of the way. Her mind hit the Net again, downloading directions from her location to the flight deck.

Glen Cowen | Liin "Tera" Terallo

 

[Liin "Tera" Terallo]

The time went by quicker than expected. I did not rush it too much, for I needed to get this decoy set up right. But at least with it being my third decoy laboratory; I can rightly say that I have an established a bit of a routine.

The guards maintaining their positions kept watch like the silent sentinels that they are. So there was very little in the way of chatter or help. At times I had paused to feed Mr. Usher 's specimen. It is my link to him, afterall; and the quickest way that I can contact the Hive Mind. I even had sat down and worked on the genome cypher that Mister Usher had sent me earlier. My dear friend knows what I wish to accomplish and he is doing his part to help me to achieve it. I do not know of what I would do without his support. It is a rare thing indeed to find someone with the same level of scientific curiosity. And if or when my research is successful; he will help me through it.

With the laboratory nearly complete inside; I turn my attention to the outside of the building. Generators needed to be fueled and antennas set up. Anything to make it look like there was ongoing work being done inside.

As I affix one of the antennas onto the flat rooftop of the building; I am reminded of the warning sent to me not so long ago. A bounty had been placed on me and hunters had accepted it. However who they are, I do not know. At least from the rooftop I can have a good vantage point of anyone approaching the building. Just so long as they did not have a cloaking device or some Force Wizard powers that made them invisible.

I should have warning enough of their arrival.

Tags: Glen Cowen Hacks Velzari Tharn Sahan Dragr The Lord of Hunger

 

[Amalia Visconti | Mira Rhory]

Those whose duty it is to watch over a target, are always closer than the target may expect, more thorough than the target may accept, but never are they unaware of the impact of their revelation to their target... as no one ever suspects their very shadow to become their own predator.

"Amalia, her recent work has led me to believe she made the right choice to leave the N&Z behind her, but I will order you to draw her in again, she seems to be more than valuable enough for Section C to safeguard her. We can not have her stray into the hands of some... outsiders. Make sure she remains unharmed and undeterred...but if she would be captured or otherwise detained..."

"As you wish, Milord," Amalia calmly pressed a button on the small holographic transmitter device in the palm of her hand. Her eyes looked down upon the flat rooftop of what outwardly looked like almost every other building in that godforsaken place. The Space station was a clear remembrance of Kwenn's industrial era, something which could be gleamed from the rather bland and dull designs of the spires and building blocks it had within its interior.

Liin "Tera" Terallo , a fugitive, a former Director of the N&Z Umbrella Corporation, a brilliant mind seemingly brought into turbulence by the political upheaval in her home. Maybe it was the pressure she felt, maybe it was the lack of inspiration, perhaps a sense of adventure...but one thing was clear, the gentle Lady Terallo, who seemed to abhore any sort of amoral experiment and had a clear view on what was and wasn't something that should be sanctioned by any government or corporation with a conscience, now was known to be joining hands with individuals whose moral compass was...sketchy, dim at best. Yet she also managed to gain the interest of probably one of the most incomprehensible amoral people within the galaxy; The one who had brought the N&Z on the galactic stage, who had been waiting and watching in the shadows for over five decades and who through mutual understanding, now had the capacity to encroach upon lady Terallo's projects without impunity.

"Oh?" Looking down from where she was standing, the expressionless woman's eyes caught on to something, as it seemed the target was on the move. "Doing everything alone...how quaint, looks like our director truly has fallen on some hard times. I reckon it is the darkest times in one's life that makes us who we are...no?"

Amalia remained calm, letting out a sigh as she scanned the surrounding area. She was only told to keep watch, yet just as her master had said: Lady Terallo was being targeted, so either they had to prevent anything from going wrong or at the very least make sure that even when captured, it would not damage any of Section C's own projects and plans... The latter would obviously be a less favorable outcome for the young lady.