Session export: GJW XVII - The Wipe-out Squad
Nei’kapo, Cor’neria System Approximately 15km from the Oligard Estate
Heat. Fire. Smoke. Pain. These things washed across Alex as he lay, pinned to the deck while a blinding whiteness slowly faded into only speckled spots in his vision. A cacophony of alarms sounded within his helmet, countless warnings flashing across the HUD inside his visor as he struggled to pull his tumbling thoughts into some semblance of coherency. The past few minutes were all a confused blur, a thousand details screaming for attention and for the ancient Mandalorian to somehow make sense out of them. The best way to do that, he knew, was to focus on the present - deal with the now and the chaos of the immediate past would sort itself into focus.
Above him, the starry night sky of Nei’kapo was visible through a jagged hole. Alright…first thing that is wrong. That is supposed to be the hull of a ship. Look down. Oh, there is that hull, currently laying across my body and holding everything from my chest downward to the deck.
Struggling through the mounting pain - now all the more real as he realized his predicament - Alex grasped the edges of the torn hull and strained, muscles tensing as he exerted all his strength to create a large enough gap to slide himself out of. The scrape of the hull against the beskar of his armor barely made a dent in the soundscape of the klaxons wailing around the ship, but after some struggle he found himself free.
A quick scan of his surroundings and he felt more on top of things. Things were bad, yes. Clearly a crash of some sort, and not a particularly pretty one either. Electrical fires dotted the visible area - none threatening to spread but certainly causing damage to critical systems as they burned away. The new skylight above him was not the only one present, but the overall integrity of the ship itself seemed to be mostly stable. Repairs could be made and she may even be made spaceworthy again with enough time. A few of the crew seemed to be a bit worse for wear, but there were no bodies visible - at least not in the areas he could see.
This calm, critical assessment had done its work. The events leading to their present predicament had finally jelled in his mind enough for things to make some kind of sense.
–-
Some time earlier…
“And so that, I think, is probably our best approach vector,” Alex tossed the holoprojector onto the table. It continued to display a topographical map of a portion of Nei’kapo leading up to the Oligard estate. A line glowed faintly on the map, wending its way low to the ground through several hills and high farmland to approach the towering estate. “Rath is more of a leader than a fighter these days, but we should be careful not to assume that he is not going to be some amount of challenge. And that is only if we catch him alone - I cannot imagine he is without a retinue of guards and attendants we may also have to find some way to deal with. Your thoughts?” Alex waved his hand toward the table, covered with reports and all the intelligence he had been able to scrape together for this mission.
“I don’t see any better approach to the estate,” Diyrian Grivna commented.
She braced a hand on the table and leaned in to fiddle with the datapad connected to the projector. The map pivoted and turned in farther examination before flickering and shifting through a few other schematics. Sparse was a fitting word for the pickings, but not nothing. The Inquisitorius agents had managed to unearth enough since the fall of S.T.A.R. to confirm the Tenixer Pirates’ accounts. A generic layout of Isabella Shipyard flickered to life, an estimate of the model based on the size and torus-shape of the station from scans. It swiftly was replaced by a handful of planetary scans, topographic landscapes of Nei'joule City, Portown and the Sprawl. Not a lick of the inner layout of the Oligard Estate was among them however.
“Going to be going in blind once we’re in there but I think we can handle it. Technically, confirmation Rath’s there is all we need. If he is, we call in an Orbital Strike and get the kark out of there.” The Kiffar thumbed the holoprojector back to the original map. She straightened up and crossed her arms with a sigh as sudden realization dawned. “But if we have enough time to escape, so might he. Not to mention any civilians caught in the blast. Okay, so assassination it is. Luka, I think you’re better at infiltrating than the two of us. Any input, advice?”
Luka Zarkot leaned in with their head resting on their elbows. Their gaze flicked between elements of the holo as they attempted to piece together some form of a plan. “Hard to tell until we touch down, but…” They looked to Alex. “… I think the best option might be for me to lead the way in and open the doors behind me. Doubt you both can get in quietly, and if the guards are all connected electronically then grabbing disguises probably won’t work either.” They leaned back in their seat. “Getting that fence down would help us with backup. Or the turrets.”
“Turrets?” Vreva had been silent until now. She pushed away from the corner of the room and leaned over the table as well. She frowned. “So, I’m going in under fire?”
“Not The Revenant’s first dangerous infiltration,” offered Luka with a grimace.
“Nah, not with you lot, especially,” the red Zabrak scoffed. She looked over the flight plan again with narrowed yellow eyes. “Turret shouldn’t be a problem. They’ve only got the one I need to worry about.” She returned to her corner and leaned against it, crossing her arms over her chest. She shrugged. “How hard can it be?”
“Right. How hard can it be?” Luka said with a smile that hopefully displayed confidence to the others. “Get me to the fence, I’ll get us in. If not, well… Plan B, guns blazing?”
“Somehow I feel like that is always Plan B,” Alex idly spun Honor around in his left hand, “but fortunately it is a plan I am rather good at.”
His eyes flicked to the chrono display in the corner of his HUD ticking away.
“We have about five minutes before we begin the approach, if I have read the map right. Another two before they might detect us,” he pointed again at the topographical map display, tracing a line with his finger, “maybe one more after that before they get their first chance at a clear shot on us. Many little windows like that the whole trip in, but they did not send us because this was supposed to be easy.”
A gauntleted hand reached out, flicking off the holoprojector disk and returning it to his belt.
“It is just about go time, folks. Smoke ‘em if you got 'em.”
—-
Nei'kapo, Cor'ena System [T - 3 minutes post crash] Approximately 2 kilometers from the Oligard Estate
A tendril of smoke curled up from the sparking rendered torso of a KX-series Security Droid and twisted to escape through the draft of The Revenant’s new open skylight. Her head pounding, thrown back against the bulwark in the sudden rocky descent, Diyrian had finally managed to pull herself out from under the droid’s protective shielding.
“Kark, Artie…”
Her hand reached out to touch the shoulder of her trusted companion before falling short a breath away, caution of the electricity dancing through him weighing out emotion. They didn’t have time for further injuries or emotions for inorganic sentience. Perhaps if they survive this all, she could pour a drink out from Draconis’ droid, Stevens’ bar after — barring her own survival and that of the makeshift bar.
“Hey! Sound off!” Diyrian winced at the sharpness of her voice, battering her temple.
A chorus of voices answered her back from varying distances under the din of the klaxons as others regained their composure, assessed themselves and clawed back together as a group. The next swift couple minutes was a whirlwind of action and decision. Alex relayed his own calm critical assessment to which Vreva confirmed her own belief they could get the ship airworthy again, backed by her intimate knowledge of it and her Herglic companion’s mechanical skills. She was pissed, angry and with a look in her eyes that spoke of promised bloodletting and slugfire for anyone that stepped within eye sight of the crash zone.
That certainly wouldn’t be long. Not with a confirmed hit and a likely estimation of the coordinates of where they went down.
They had to get a move on.
Luka hesitated before leaving the wreckage of the ship, turning their gaze up towards where Vreva was perched with her rifle. The Zabrak caught their eye and gave a forceful gesture to wave them off. They all had a job to do. This was hers. They nodded in understanding, though fear clouded their expression before they donned their helmet.
Their voice was tinny and garbled as they spoke through their voice modulator. “Make your way to the fence, as quickly and quietly as you can manage. I’ll scout ahead for a way in.” They pressed a button on their forearm, and a shimmer soon enveloped and hid them from view. “May the Force be with you.”
Though Diyrian could no longer see her friend, the whispered phrase conveyed their worry. “You too, babes,” she replied, though unsure whether they were still in earshot. She then gestured for Alex to follow, and the both of them made a path toward the power fence.
There was a notable lack of Collective guards standing outside the fence, though there was no doubt that they would find many of them inside. From a distance, Luka could see a few clustered around each amplifier pylon, likely on the alert for any interference.
Does not prevent attacks from above and below. The details given to them during their brief returned to their thoughts as they scanned the fence for any possible weakness. Digging under would of course take far too long, but above?
Luka looked up at the height of the fence. They would be alone in there until they got the fence down, but this seemed the best course of action. After calculating the height needed, they leaped into the air and over the fence with aid from the Force.
After touching down, they paused and listened. The alarm for forces to investigate the crash still blared, though no alert to an intruder. No one had heard them. They let out a breath they didn’t realize they were holding, then made their way to the nearest pylon.