Session export: S1C2 RO - [HQD 2]


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Coruscant Surface Level Imperial Palace Old Temple Garden

“I thought you said we were going antiquing…?”

The question from the Umbaran male was more of a protest than inquiry, yet the deadpan look that came from the cloak draped face added an eerie edge to the question. Umbarans were a bit odd like that, with their pale complexion, bald heads, and sunken eyes; yet this one had a darker grey skin and silver-grey eyes with yellow streaks and marked up his bald skull with a tattoo with two thing lines that ran from the base of his skull to his forehead where it stopped in a point between his brow line.

“We are…”

The dismissive response was atypical for the motor mouth of a Miralukan man that accompanied the Umbaran. Since the pair arrived at the Imperial Palace, or former Grand Jedi Temple depending on your outlook, the Miraluka had been chattering non-stop with every passerby and asking for directions before saying or doing something wildly inappropriate. At their last interaction, the Umbaran was shocked security hadn’t been called after the Miraluka stumbled on his robes and ended up flashing his twin lightsabers to a group of strangers.

“So shouldn’t we be in the undercity looking for a shop?” The Umbaran continued, circling the Miraluka who somehow appeared to be glaring off into the distance. “Where are you taking me?”

“Well, you have to understand that in Qel-Droma, we have a tradition for new journeymen…” A smile slowly crept across the Miraluka’s lips as he spoke. “That involves obtaining an antique -”

“From the Imperial Palace?!” Grycym shouted before he grabbed the Miraluka by the collar. It was at this point that Revs could no longer contain himself and laughter filled the garden. Once again eyes from all again the courtyard glared at the pair.

“You have incoming.” Both of their comlinks squawked.

“Hey! What are you two doing here?!” Immediately both men felt sober looks freeze their faces as two security officers approached them. The one that spoke stepped forward with his hand placed on his holstered gun. Before either of them could speak, they could see another man and a following Shistavanen trotting up to the officers.

“It’s okay, officers.” Stated a man who cut in between the officers and the pair with a wave of his hand. With a clean shave and crew cut, Grycym immediately recognized Lontra and breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll take care of these drunks for you.”

No one stayed to hear the response from the officers as Lontra grabbed Grycym and pulled him into step while the Shistavanen roughly grabbed the Miraluka and fell into step behind. They were quick to march across the garden, hoping to avoid further issues while they retreated back the way they had came and arrived at a transit stop. There Lontra popped out a datapad and quickly unlocked it so others could see. He passed it first to Archian who had already pulled out a flask by this time and knocked it back before passing it onto the Miraluka.

“Word from Wyndell, we have to abort.” Lontra stated after pushing his comlink. “Draven, we no longer need overwatch - we will see you on the trolley at the next stop.”

Undercity Level 1145 The Veermok & Mouse Pub

“Why are we here?”

The words carried a sense of disdain with them that hung in the air. Despite the establishment being a pub, things were unusually quiet and the words carried easily from the corner booth across to the bar. Lontra was collecting five shot glasses and a rye bottle that he carried back to the corner booth.

A large series of banging followed the Umbaran’s question, all coming from behind the bar counter. There Archain, Revs, and Draven worked away at removing the flooring and had disappeared into the void below. Occasionally, one of them could be heard directing the others.

“I know you read the report.” Lontra sighed as he carefully placed the glasses down in a neat row. “The Brotherhood has been set up in a way that could expose our existence -”

“I know that, I didn’t mean…” The Umbaran huffed, cutting the man off. After a moment of careful reflection while Lontra continued to pour rye into each of the shot glass, Grycym attempted another take on his question. “I meant, why are we here…in this place?”

It was at this time that, one by one, Archain, Revs, and Draven stomped their way back up into the bar. Each of them was carrying black bags that appeared to be filled with gear and as each dropped them off at the neighbouring table they then turned to join Lontra in the corner booth before grabbing one of the poured shots. When only one remained, Lontra leaned forward and pushed it towards Grycym.

“Whatever happens next, you need to know where our fallback place is. If you hear the phrase Apes and Mice, you run and make your way back here as soon as you can. Understand?”

Revs sat down in the booth and leaned back, throwing his arm over the back of the bench seat. “Don’t worry if you can’t remember the pull out phase. As long as you stick to the plan and everything goes right….” The Miraluka threw back his shot and reached for the bottle to pour another one. “It won’t but right now we are going to pretend it’s going to go exactly according to plan.” He smiled at Grycym. “The important thing is we take down the target. We know he’s heavily armed and I guess we can expect him to be traveling with a group. Unless we can catch him slipping up and take him out when he’s alone.” Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a cigarette and lite it. “Have we gotten any information on this guy yet? Habits? Vices? Anything we can use to track him?”

Draven considered for a while and then said, “It is likely that he’ll be accompanied by a guard of sorts. We should be ready to deal with that.

As for the target…hmm.” Thought the Mandalorian aloud but also replying to the group, “…we do not know much about him. But from his habits, he is quite garrulous, loves to drink, is violent and cruel, kills without batting an eye, rules his gang with intimidation, and has all the fittings one needs to be a crime boss.

He then asked quickly “So what is the plan? Do drop down on them, eliminate the target, and come back up through here?

“Mission is the mission.” Shistavanen took shot glass to his paw, and without hesitation emptied it at once to his jaws.

“Good…” He said to himself. “After all of this I will bring a bucket, and please fill it up for me with it.” He pointed with the claw of right paw at the rye bottle, and looked at Lontra with bright citrine eyes.

“I don’t know much about this mission. I am almost retired because of my own business…” He started to open the black bag, reached inside to grab a small package full of Nuna shaped baked treats. He threw it into the far end of the bar where Reek caught and swallowed it with a slurping sound.

“But… I need to stay in shape. So won’t hear much from me, but definitely from both of them.” He directed his head first at the still slurping Reek, then at quite small Nerf, slowly sneaking with interest to Umbaran trying to sniff his equipment.

“I will just support you, but trust me when I say - the main reason why I’m here is because I heard Lontra chatting about Apes and Mice at Port Ol'val.” He opened own flask and drank a gulp of own green fluorescent mixture.

.

Grycym repeated the phrase “Apes and Mice” to himself under his breath, committing it to memory.

“The lower levels are very different than the surface; everything looks similar. I’ve never been on Coruscant, but wouldn’t it be easier to go undetected down there?” Grycym inquired. He’d never even left the Mid Rim, much less been to the Galactic Core. But he had a knack for finding himself in the right places at the right time — maybe it was pure luck or the Force guiding him, but he knew it was calling him to leave this place. “I’ve only heard stories of the ‘Jewel of the Core’ during my limited travels, but the lower levels seem like a good place to start.”

Grycym gave a determined look to the others, downed the shot of alcohol he had sitting in front of him, then stated, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get to it, then…” He stood up and started making his way to the entrance of the Veermok Pub.

^

^

They trooped down the tunnel towards their destination slowly, carrying with them their heavy ammo and rifle bags. Down they went through long corridors which latter webbed and blended into proper, yet still dilapidated passageways of residential buildings, metal doors that made up a home’s entranceway, then long passages outside, and finally the streets where teemed hundreds of residents. They figured that this part was risky but it had to be done. Besides, the best way to blend in was to be among the hunters themselves, as long as they were sufficiently shielded from prying eyes. And this they were doing quite well, for most of them were wearing long cloaks which concealed their features. This was not an issue, for more of the other denizens of that part of the city have a habit of wearing dark-colored cloaks and clothing items when they go out, to blend in, to stick to the shadows, and to avoid gangs. The Brotherhood’s assassination team were doing the same, so it raised no eyebrows. Except their gait this. That was not the submissive walk typical of the denizens. Theirs was the walk to confident military individuals. Soon enough, they spotted the building where their target is supposed to haunt. Fortunately, there were some taller structures nearby, good for the Mando to use as a vantage point for sniping. As agreed, Revs prepared to go inside and try to draw the target outside for a quick, clean kill. The rest started to take their positions as well.

^

=>

Revs ducked into a side alley and stripped his cloak along with anything that might reveal himself as a member of the Brotherhood. He unclipped his lightsabers and passed them off to Lontra while strapping on a single blaster hanging low on his hip.

His plan was simple. Walk right in the front door carrying a bag of weapons and try to get Bhoc Vedmat to take the bait with promises of more stored in a near by wearhouse. Once the transdosian had come outside the team would handle the rest.

“I’ll double tap the ping on my comlimk twice if things go south. Y'all come in guns blazing if that happens. Wish me luck.” The Miraluka picked up the bag of rifles, inhaled deeply, then slowly exhaled as he slipped out the ally and walked into the hide out.

Walking through the door, the Smell of smoke and cheap booze filled Revs nose. Several armed gang members sat around multiple tables all looking up at once to see who had walked through the door.

The sounds of sliding chairs and blasters sliding out of leather holsters filled the room. The Miraluka raised his hands by his head. “Hold on now. Im just here to try and make a quick deal.” Slowly he lowered the black bag to the ground then put his hands back up. “Who’s in charge around here?”

A large Transdosian sitting calmly at the back table hissed. “You must be pretty damn stupid to just walk in here.”

Revs smiled. “Yea well that’s what my grade school teacher always told me. Look Im in a tight spot. Picked up a job and managed to get my hands on some crates of guns…Correlian made …I gotta get rid of them before I can head off world and I hear you might be looking.”

Bhoc Vedmat gestured and two of the gangsters jumped up. One patted Revs down and took his blaster and knife that he kept stashed in his boot. The other grabbed the black bag and brought it to Vedmat. The Transdosian opened the bag and looked through the weapon stash before signaling to Revs to come closer. The Arconan walked over to the table and stuck his hand in his pocket, thanking the Force that they didn’t take his comlink.

“Where did you come across these”? Vedmat asked as he looked through the weapons, not really paying attention to Revs.

“I got them off a group a twelicks out on tantooine. No clue where they got them but the price was right and just couldn’t pass it up. I’m trying to get rid of them cheap. Got two more crates stashed in my ship. Ten thousand creds and it’s all yours.”

Vedmant nodded his head and leaned back in his chair. “And who exactly is it that told you we would be interested?”

“Just word on the street.” Revs shifted his weight nervously.

Vedmant took a deep breath and waived his hand at a Gregormorian behind Revs. The Miraluka didn’t have time to react before the Gregamoriand massive hand grabbed the back of his head and slammed him into the table.

“How about we just keep this bag and let customs deal with your ship and body.” Vedmant laughed

Revs head spun as he clicked the comlink twice.

Click click ……

Click click…..

Click click click click click

.

.

.

Click Click….

Archian shifted his position to aim at the door from the far corner of the building.

Click Click….

He switched to his Electro-Whip with Cry-Thrower to launch, hanging a bow at his back, making his way to the closest window. Others made their moves, changing from assassination mission to rescue mission.

Click Click Click Click Click

Archian whistled and seconds later smashed glass of the window, releasing the bullet into the direction of two nearby enemies, instantly freezing them and slowing them down with cryo-ban liquid.

At the same time Umbaran ran through the same door as Revs, getting ready to use any means for approaching combat. When doors opened, now deep red coloured Reek jumped his queue and with one swift hump, landed at the face of the front enemy, biting into it and consuming one of its eyes.

Shistavanen shattered the rest of the glass, and slid inside of the room, aiming with an electro whip at Gregormorian’s hand still holding Rev’s head. Straightened his arm releasing full length and shocking a limb which let go of Miraluka’s head. Just after that, a bullet landed in between the eyes of a previously electrified enemy, which proved the sniping talent of Draven.

Lontra as leader had only one choice, facing their main target supported by a small Nerf behind him, barking and rumbling at enemies coming from the flanks.

During the chaos of the siege to save Revs, while everyone was distracted, Grycym took advantage of Archian using cryo-ban on the two security soldiers and opened fire with his DL-44 Blaster Pistol dropping them both quickly with precise shots to the head.

“Two Down” he thought to himself as he continued to survey the room to decide his next target.

Grycym went to take out the Gregormorian that had a hold of Revs, he had a shot lined up but before he could take it, the Gregormorian’s head partially exploded and he slumped to the floor, a clean sniper shot.

“Draven” he thought.

Distracted by the impressive shot, Grycym lost focus momentarily and was abruptly hit with a Vibro Mace by one of Vedmat’s men who snuck up on him. The blunt force temporarily caused him to kneel on one knee, dropping his blaster, reaching behind his head he pulled his fingers back seeing his gaunt grey fingers covered in his blood.

Regaining his composure, thinking to himself “You’ll pay for that”, he swiftly rose back to his feet and grabbed the assailant by his neck, using the force to augment his strength and cut off the air to his lungs, simulatenously he used the force to pull his vibro blade from his sheath and plunged it into the soldiers heart. The soldier went limp and Grycym let go and he slumped to the floor…

Turning around to assess the room, he saw <@864003319584391179> still in combat, but couldn’t get a clean shot…

As more combat emerged between gang and team, blood splashes started to color the walls, crack of broken bones thunder close to the floor, and screams echoed through the opened door.

Draven was now standing at the entrance, kneeling and aiming his rifle at enemies who were oncoming at Lontra, covering him in his path to face the gang’s ruthless chief, who slowly started to back off to the opposite side of the room, noticing that his forces were quickly reducing.

One of the Gregormorian’s tried to ambush Mandalorian, sneaking from his side, but short whistled from now fighting hand to hand Shistavanen - who was stopping the enemy with his two handed sword which sparked at the touch of the opposite vibriblade - caused his Reek to jump, passed Lontra’s neck which he slightly moved to the left, while Nerf did the same next to slightly repositioned Human’s right leg. Both creatures, like synchronized, did it at the same time, targeting both sneaking at Draven’s enemy by Reek which crushed him into the ground, and Nerf which collided with gangster’s legs, pushing him away from Archian.

That gave time for Mando to push a special button at his communicator, making a wall next to gang leader erupting with Basilisk War Droid crossing his path and stopping him from reaching hidden escape doors in the floor. The Droid was staring at the target, waiting for the next command.

Pure chaos and carnage surrounded the Jedi.

Blood painted walls, tears accompanied cries of pain, and the sickening sound of flesh smacking lifeless on the metallic flooring filled the room. What followed was an awkward, eerie silence; as the striketeam turned their collective focus to the only remaining enemy in the room. The Trandoshan snared at the Basilisk War Droid blocking his escape before whipping his Arg'garok around to threaten the approaching Lontra.

A careful step was made so the man didn’t slip in one of the remains as Lontra made his way closer to the Trandoshan. A sigh followed the troubled looks of the Jedi as he assessed the damage done by the Arconan team, he noted so much hate had driven this assault and it left the man questioning how this could end in any way but more violence. Pausing to look over the remains of an individual’s head, a deep feeling of anger flashed through Lontra but a calm focus kept it at bay as he spoke.

“Don’t be such an idiot,” Lontra stated firmly. “These men just chewed through your moronic gang in a matter of mere moments.”

An orange hue washed over the room as one of Lontra’s lightsabers leapt to life.

“And I didn’t even get to use this yet,” Lontra said with a shake of his head. Moments felt like minutes as the Trandoshan kept his weapon raised and shifted his eye around the room, yet a clang rung out as the Arg’garok was tossed to the ground. As Lontra deactivated his own weapon, he clipped it back on his belt and produced a pair of stun cuffs he held out to Grycym.

“Cuff him and follow me,” turning his attention to Archian, he continued. “Clear the room of anything that would identify the brotherhood.”

“Then torch it?” Revs chimed in from across the room, Lontra attempted to ignore the fact he was clearing the pockets of the dead.

“Yeah…”

“Wait, Lontra.” Archian stepped towards the Jedi so only he could hear his hushed groan as he looked at the Transdoshan that Grycym was now marching forward. “You aren’t thinking of sparing this prick, are you?”

“After everything he did?” Lontra’s brow hung with the weight of the question. “We’ll let the Apes and Mice sort him out.”

“I wish our Apes and Mice were Rancors and Jotaz- especially for him.” Archian pointed with claws at the gang’s leader.

“But I am not higher up any more, so I will let it go. But…” He came face to face with now creepy smiling Trandoshan.

“If I see any more of you around, my Reek will be first to eat your eyes, cheeks and balls.” Archian backed off after saying that, and proceeded with picking any equipment parts signed with Brotherhood marks from the floor and carefully using his Ultraviolet Scope from Flame Projector to identify any fingerprints and then carefully burnt them off from the surface with his electro whip.

Undercity Level 1145 The Veermok & Mouse Pub

The rye tasted different. Lacking the complexity it had before, it only contained the sting of alcohol now. Burning his lips as he gulped straight from the bottle, Lontra found it was the only thing that dull the noises that came from below the barroom floor.

The hisses and cries of the Transdoshan were only broken by the shouted questioning that came from Revs and Draven. The pair had been going on three hours at this point, yet they were no closer to finding out how the gang had learned so much about the brotherhood. Lontra himself had been unable to break the creature’s thoughts for any subtle clues and he now felt responsible for the misery the creature suffered.

Once this bottle’s down, so is his suffering. Lontra thought to himself before throwing the rest of the rye bottle back.