Fear will keep the local systems in line IC thread

[dojango]

CHAPTER III

FEAR WILL KEEP THE LOCAL SYSTEMS IN LINE...

Heavy rains have just swept over Suvrata City, leaving the streets damp and wet. Steam rises from the coats of the men and women filling the union hall. They talk nervously amongst themselves. At the front of the room sits a middle-aged woman in the uniform of the planetary defense corps and the Zabrak bounty hunter Lok'Bau. He gives Pala a quick salute when their eyes meet for a moment as he scans the crowd. The main doors of the hall open suddenly, and in walks... no, struts... the Rodian Captain Dheeco. Behind him swagger a dozen of his crew. Dheeco makes his way to the front table, while his men stand together to the side. The woman says mildly, "Captain Dheeco. Thank you for coming." She raps loudly on he table. "Quiet please, quiet. Time is something of a luxury at this point. Quiet."

The noise slowly dies down, and the woman stands up to address the crowd. "I am Commander Baraheri of the defense force. Also I am one of the commanders of the military wing of the Liberation Committee. As you know, ever since we rid our beautiful home of the empire's lackeys, those greedy bastards want to come take it back. And are we going to let them?"

"NO!" shouts the crowd.

"But, sad as it is, there are Imperial sympathizers hiding behind their false faces. Waiting to betray us. Waiting for us to let our guard down. So I come to you, my comrades in this struggle. Our target has many powerful friends, who don't realize that they have a snake in their midst. So. Our goal tonight is to strike at this hidden foe. Our spies have unmasked him. We have to move quickly before he realizes this." Baraheri pushes a button, and the image of a large mansion appears on a screen behind her. "This is the mansion of the industrialist Wayne Surur. We believe that he has been secretly working with COMPNOR for several years, and has a hidden intelligence operation running out of his house. Tonight, while Mr. Surur and his family are at the opera with Prime Minister Younis, we are going to raid Surur's home, destroy his espionage ring, and get the evidence we need to arrest him. The assault cadre of the Liberation Committee will attack from the front, like so..." she taps on the image, "while Captain Dheeco and his men will cross this wall here, and attack through the rear of the mansion, right here and... here. We will arrest or neutralize anyone in the house for further questioning, and attempt to locate the evidence we need. Three minutes after the attack begins, Lok'Bau will lead a team of technical specialists to access the maintenance tunnel here..." she taps some distance away from the mansion, "where you will shut down or destroy the comms array as soon as possible, to prevent anyone in the mansion from communicating with the outside world, or transmitting any information to the Imperial blockade. Once that is done, infiltrate deeper into the mansion, link up with the other teams, and be ready to slice into the systems within the facility so we can find the intel we need. There are several trucks waiting to take us into position. We leave at sundown. Are there any questions?"

[EarthenRite]

Pollix had filed in like the others, concealed within her deep hood. It had become even more important recently to keep her identity a strictly guarded secret.

Slowly, she raised a hand and cleared her throat.

“One question...how much resistance are we likely to encounter? Do you know things like staff numbers, innocent workers who might be ignorant of these actions?”

[zinycor]

Standing next to Pala is a pale, dark haired Zabrak. Seroa looks carefully to the people around them, checking to see if they had their weapons at the ready, or if anyone is acting suspiciously.

Secretly Seroa is worried, discussing their secret plans in front of so many people is worrisome at best.... However she makes an effort to look confident and serious.

Focus in the task at hand, don't let your emotions cloud your judgement... repeated to herself in her mind, words from Master Fel'Kona.

Seroa turns to Pala and asks her -Does the plan sound ok to you? You are going to be doing most of it after all.

[Hazuki]

Pala returns Lok'Bau's salute with a brief two-finger wave and does her best not to focus on the plan after that. Her part was simple enough; do what she was best at and let somebody else do what they were best at, which was mostly violence. She wasn't dressed in any particular fashion, just a vest, pants, and a jacket around her waist that made it clear that she was in no way, shape, or form a combatant and her enemies could safely disregard her as a threat in combat. Any more social engagements would notice the stumps she had in place of lekku, but there wasn't much she could do about that.

"Yeah," she answers Seroa. "Run around, slice computers, come back to base and put my feet up. No problem."

[zinycor]

-Good, keep that attitude.- Said Seroa distracted while looking at Pollix...

Always worried about the innocents, reminds me of Master... Maybe with some more experience I... Seroa Admired Pollix, even though she was pretty sure they walked different paths...

[Bowerbird]

There's a pop from the back of the room as the Commander pauses. Rela continues chewing her gum, arms crossed, her booted feet up on the chair in front of her. She lazily raises a hand, "Yeah I got questions. How much ordnance we getting for this, and how much of this sleemo's place needs to be standing by the end?" She says the last with a hopeful gleam in her eye.

[Rakaydos]

A wolfman mercenary stood with Captian Dheeco smiled. Looking for evidence would be why he was hired, but the pay was nothing worthwhile, if he hadnt had his own problems with the industrialist in question. Tonight, he would be getting his own back.

[dojango]

“One question...how much resistance are we likely to encounter? Do you know things like staff numbers, innocent workers who might be ignorant of these actions?”

"Yes. Typical mansion security; a few security guards backed up by perhaps a dozen semi-autonomous security droids. Standard procedure would be for the mansion's alarms to call police and private security backup, but that won't be an issue, I'll take care of that on my end. As far as servants... there may be a few in the servant's quarters. We'll round them up as well. If they're not a threat, just let them past, we'll pick them up outside. If they do shoot at you..." she shrugs. "Do what you need to do."

"Yeah I got questions. How much ordnance we getting for this, and how much of this sleemo's place needs to be standing by the end?"

"There isn't any artillery support, but if you need explosives we can find some for you. Keep in mind we want to capture his computer system intact so we can find out what he's been telling the imperials, and what he's been up to. But if you need to breach and clear as you go, or make alternative entrances in the interest of safety... I won't second guess you. Just make sure the server room is captured intact. Lok'Bau, she's with you, right?"

The Zabrak nods. "I can get some stuff for us, don't worry about it, Rela."

"Any other questions?" she asks.

"Yeaa... I gots one..." drawls Captain Dheeco. "Nobody asks yet. Verry important. What's in it for me?"

The commander seems taken aback at this, and stutters for a few seconds. Finally, she rubs her temples, and says, "I thought you had agreed to take part in this new 'rebel alliance'. That we are going to work together. I am still trying to help you get off-planet. In the meantime... well. You are going to be attacking the mansion of a very wealthy man. There will be a lot of valuable baubles, art, jewelry, electronics. Need I spell it out to you?"

The Rodian laughs and says something in Rodian to his men, who let out a cheer. "Verry good. We fill our truck. We are with you, yeah? But is no good unless we live to spend it... so we talk about escape after, yes?"

************

Two hours later, the small group is crouched around a locked maintenance door concealed in the rocks at the base of the hill. Above you, in the twilight, are the bright lights of the mansion. Lok'Bau pulls out a small satchel and says, "Rela, Seroa, Legosi. Two of each. And some for me." In the satchel are AP grenades and stun grenades. There are also six glow rods. He then turns to Pala. "I'd feel a lot better if you had one of these," he says, extending a small holdout blaster towards her. "Just in case."

Once everyone takes their gear (or not), Lok'Bau takes some bolt cutters and cuts through the padlock on the door. Lok'Bau says, "Once we go in, Legosi, Seroa, after me. Then the rest of you. Should be starting..." in the distance you start hearing some blaster fire. Bolts of energy crackle in the darkness above you. "Alright, let's go." He turns on his glow rod and draws a blaster and slides inside.

The entry way is a small room carved out of the rocky hill. On the other end, an open doorway leads deeper into the mountain. But to the right and left are two small alcoves containing Mark III HomeSafe brand security droids. They trundle out of their alcoves. One says, "This area is restricted to authorized maintenance workers. Please display work order and proper identification."

[Hazuki]

Pala regards the holdout blaster with a moment of surprise, then settles her face into something resembling nonchalance and shrugs. "Okay, but I'm only going to pew pew if I have to," she says, as she tucks it into her back pocket. She also takes a glow rod, hanging it around her neck with some spare cord.

When the droids roll out, Pala looks at her companions, then the droids, and pulls out one of the connectors for her slicing tools. "Kark it, when are people gonna adapt to modern technology?" she sighs. "All my ID is stored digitally, because I'm not a two-cred engineer lackey. Let me plug in so you can get your ID and I can do my job," she instructs the droid.

Spoiler: Deception!

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So that I can slice it directly, mwahaha.

Deceiving The Droids: 2eA+1eP+2eD 3 successes, 1 threat

[dojango]

The droid that spoke moves forward. One of its arms is simply a metal framework with a blaster pistol integrated into it instead of a manipulator. The other has a fairly standard three-digit manipulator. Just behind the lateral rotory joint is a small panel. "Upload work order and identification for authorization by central processing."

[zinycor]

Seroa approaches the second droid (Engage range) and waits for Pala to do her magic.

[Hazuki]

Pala connects her gear to the droid's panel and starts hacking to access its databank and grant them authorization.

Spoiler: Slicing!

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I don't know if Codebreaker applies, so I haven't taken away a Difficulty/Setback.

Slicing the Droid: 2eA+2eP+2eD 2 successes, 1 advantage

[dojango]

The droid pauses as Pala overrides the security protocol and flags herself and the others as a maintenance crew. The droid scans the group and says, "Maintenance work order accepted. Transmitting base schematic now. Maintenance crew are restricted to lower levels without escort." The droids move back into their alcoves. Pala reviews the schematic; there is a long tunnel leading deeper into the hill. Immediately past where she is now, there is a a room labelled 'generator room'. Next to it is something labeled 'commsat controls'. Deeper inside is a large space marked 'hangar facility', and at the end of the corridor there is a large room marked as 'central processing'. It also has a symbol marked as 'elevator to residence'.

[zinycor]

-Let's go then!.- Says Seroa, readying her vibrosword, She was amazed at Pala's abilities and would do her very best to defend her in order to succed on the mission.

[Bowerbird]

Rela shoots Pala an impressed look, shouldering her satchel and gesturing rudely at the droids as she walks past. "You want I should take a look at the generator room, or we sticking together for the other thing?"

[zinycor]

-I believe we should stay together, Pala bought us some time, better not take risks.

[EarthenRite]

Years ago, if asked, Pollix would never have thought she would be involved in something like this. Of course, times changed and everyone needed to change with them or risk getting left behind.

She was relieved when she was not offered any of the packages containing the grenades. More than anything, those were focus-less, indiscriminate dealers of death; not something she was interested in.

When the younger woman with seemingly effortless skill reprogrammed the droid, she had admiration in her eyes.

“That was beautifully done.”

She maintained her place near the back of the order. She did not have a specific “job” to enact in this group, yet. In fact, she hoped her particular connection to the Force would not come into play at all. Instead, she watched and listened, opening herself up to the world. She sought to read its clues, hoping to notice anything the others who were more focused might have missed.

“I think we should remain together, for as long as we are able. There is safety in numbers, after all.”

[Rakaydos]

"I suppose that means no side trips to the Residence for... shopping." Legosi let out a small whine of disapointment. "In that case, we should disable the elevator as soon as possible then- if we arnt using it, noone else should, ya?"

Still, the wolfman eyed the Hangar. Ships tended to be armed- it would be best to secure it (and an excape craft). "Suggest we see what's in the garage before the alarms go off, ya?"

[zinycor]

-There might be other enemies around, If so I would rather we faced them together.- Explained Seroa- However I agree, we should take care of the elevator and check the hangar. Nevertheless our mission is clear, and taking care of the comms array is the first priority.

[Hazuki]

Pala finds herself smirking as she tucks her slicing tool away, the thrill of a successful slice only growing in the wake of the approving looks and the compliment she gets. "Thanks," she replies to Polix with a little thumbs-up.

With Seroa's words, Pala nods. "What she said."

[Rakaydos]

"Facing together sounds good, but best keep the mission priority," the wolfman nodded to Pala, "away from any fighting. Which means watching doors and corners, ya? At least one corridor ahead and behind, make sure she doesn't catch a bolt before we're done here."

[EarthenRite]

Spoiler: OOC

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Should Pollix roll anything to keep an eye on things? Basically like...a perception check in D&D?

[Rakaydos]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Should Pollix roll anything to keep an eye on things? Basically like...a perception check in D&D?

Spoiler: OOC

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When something might matter, gm will tell us to roll Vigilance. when we're looking form something specific, we roll perception. Think of it like spot vs search.

Notably, though, Vigilance is a willpower skill, and Perception is cunning, so different people can be good at each.

[Hazuki]

"Catching bolts would be bad," Pala agrees with a nod.

[EarthenRite]

“Don’t worry, Pala...it won’t come to that.”

Pollix rested a hand on her blaster, in case anything did come to that, and formed up into position around the others.

[Rakaydos]

"Speaking of doors and corners," Legosi looked at Pala, then nodded back at the secur-o-matic droids at the door. "Chance you can get these dolls to give us a buzz if anyone else comes knocking?"

[Hazuki]

Pala looks at the droids for a few seconds, then shakes her head. "I don't want them connected to our commlinks," Pala explains. "Could go bad for us and I don't want to push my luck. Let's just get on with it." She nods in the direction of the comms.

[dojango]

Lok'Bau puts away the blaster pistol he had been holding. "Don't want her to catch a blast after we're done here, either," he says sourly to Legosi. "You take the rear." He moves forward down the long hallway. Coming to the room labelled 'generator' he opens the door and peers in, carefully. "Clear." Inside is a huge generator, far larger than the typical backup generator for residential use. It is a 'Surur Industries' Industrial back-up generator. There are a few displays showing its fuel supply, current power generation, and a large switch marked 'emergency shut-down'.

The next door down is labelled 'Comm Array'. Lok'Bau pushes open the door, and inside are several consoles. Sitting in a chair is a very surprised-looking technician. "Who are you?" he asks.

[zinycor]

Lok'Bau puts away the blaster pistol he had been holding. "Don't want her to catch a blast after we're done here, either," he says sourly to Legosi. "You take the rear." He moves forward down the long hallway. Coming to the room labelled 'generator' he opens the door and peers in, carefully. "Clear." Inside is a huge generator, far larger than the typical backup generator for residential use. It is a 'Surur Industries' Industrial back-up generator. There are a few displays showing its fuel supply, current power generation, and a large switch marked 'emergency shut-down'.

The next door down is labelled 'Comm Array'. Lok'Bau pushes open the door, and inside are several consoles. Sitting in a chair is a very surprised-looking technician. "Who are you?" he asks.

Seroa runs to the technician and puts her vibrosword near his neck

-You better stay quiet and do as we say... - Says Seroa in a threatening manner.

Spoiler: Intimidation

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intimidation (now well done): 3eA+2eD 2 successes, 1 threat

(Minus one threat because of being zabrak)

EDIT: OMG I just realized I picked all the wrong dice, sorry about that, results should be better now.

[Hazuki]

Pala, halfway through coming up with her bluff to keep things cool, exhales from her nostrils when Seroa charges in with her vibrosword.

"Well, you got us this far without causing a stir, but I'd really like to wave my sword around and stick us with a hostage for the rest of the hit. Hope you don't think that's a pain in the ass that'll make your job harder for no reason," she mutters under her breath.