Tadath - Vast Empire Space

The cyberdefense branch of Fort Sexton was a hive, in both name and description. Buried deep within the slab of Imperial engineering, the massive room hosted dozens of super computers and tens of slicers and cybersecurity officers on rotating duty. They were the first, and best, line of defense against slicing attacks on Tadath government and military servers. The Hive, as it was known, was the nerve center of electronic defense, and the most impressive in the sector.

Numbers, code and constant status updates ran by almost every single screen; men and women scanned the data they received and ran programs periodically, sweeping their systems and constantly checking and re-checking their defenses.

On several screens, one after another, over a ten-minute period, their was an anomaly. Each time, it manifested itself in a different way; once, it was a crashed firewall on a minor bureaucrat; another, a colonel’s terminal displayed a fatal error and had to be restarted; others ranged from door access pads failing for several moments to a pair of protocol droids singing Mon Calamari opera in the middle of a meeting.

But each slicer only eyed the hiccups for a moment; a half-dozen slicers looked past strange data, because it could be expected.

In the ‘Box’ at the back of the room, the current duty-master looked at the grand scheme of defenses on his wall-to-wall terminals, pacing before the huge screens and their own, global updates, taken from summaries from across the planet’s major computer systems. He was unaware of the anomalies as well; his view was too broad too see such small imperfections in the Vast Empire’s day-to-day business. At the door, a knock came. The duty-master turned to the sound and opened the door.

“Major Harris?” said the man, a tall, blonde man with a lean build and an unmarked unifrom. “My name is Lieutenant Anderson.”

“What is it you want, Lieutenant?” Harris asked softly. “This division must constantly be on alert for intrusions or attacks on Tadath space.”

“That’s what I’m here about,” Anderson said, then approached the terminal to the far right. With a few hand motions, he manipulated the high-tech computer’s display. The duty-master opened his mouth angrily, but shut it a moment later.

“What the hell is this?” Harris barked, stepping forwards, and, with a flick of his hand, sending the data to his main screen.

“This, Major,” replied Anderson. “Is an intrusion. Exactly what we’ve been expecting. Can you trace this break?”

The duty-master nodded once and brought up an incredibly sophisticated program. He fed the anomalies into the machine, and it churned for a few moments.

“Do you know what’s going on?” the Major asked, his voice cold.

“Yes,” Anderson replied. “This intrusion is almost identical to a hack several years ago. Do you remember the Tadath Crisis?”

“How can anyone in the Hive forget?” the Major replied. “It was a black eye for us, that’s for sure. That bastard Frozt somehow got past every single one of our firewalls and had our defenses down. But he died.”

“He did. But his organization did not,” Anderson said in return. “This is their handiwork. But we’ve finally got them on the run, and this’ll be nail in the coffin.”

Before them, the program beeped quietly. Harris leaned forwards and flicked the results onto his main screen. A few lines appeared; the files downloaded and stolen, and the location to where they’d been taken to.

“Damn. This is bad,” Anderson muttered. “Real damn bad.”

“I’d call this potentially catastrophic,” Harris added icily. “Every one of the Tadath defense codes. Every damn one. I hope whoever is getting these guys does it quickly.”

*** *** *** *** ***
“Commander,” Anderson’s voice spoke through a comlink. “It’s about as bad as we feared. Defense codes are compromised. The Major here says a replace would take almost two months; we have to get both these things at once.”

“Roger that, lieutenant. I’ll get clearance,” replied the Commander, shutting off the link.

The terminal before him booted up quickly, and he typed in a message to his own superior.


Classified; Rating Indigo
To: Umbra
From: Krisis
Message begins:

//Our worst fears are realized. B. has made their move. We have a location. Wish to advance with P. and support. Orders?//


With a final keystroke, the message was sent. The Commander waited only a few minutes before his terminal told him he had an answer. With a click, he opened the reply.


Classified; Rating Indigo
To: Krisis
From: Umbra
Message begins:

//Go order given. Take B. out. Resources at location suggest N. is involved this time. Naval and army elements are under orders to assist. Godspeed.//


With a satisfied nod, Commander Orr stood up from the desk, shutting down the terminal. He had orders now, and now, he just had to get the operation started.

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

“So then,” Gates said from the chair before the desk, “this one mercenary looks straight at us, and talked about how they must have switched the recaf.”

“Really?” Havock said, leaning back in her chair. “Well, I’ll be damned. I swear, we must have seen the same man...”

The newly-minted Company Commander’s laughter was interrupted by a knock at the door. Havock leaned back forward - “Enter.”

The door opened before the last syllable had left her mouth, revealing a man in an unmarked uniform but for his rank pins. Gates twisted in his seat, and was soon standing.

“Commander,” Garryll said. “Nice of you to drop by. I was just telling Havock about that one strange mercenary. But what’re you here for?”

“I just happen to have another job for Phoenix,” Orr said, producing a pair of identical beige folders, each stamped with “TOP SECRET.” He handed a folder to each of them, and gestured for them to leaf through. “It’s rather a big deal.”

The two Stormtrooper officers reacted as expected - both cursed softly, and raised eyebrows at the ARC Commander.

“That’s right. This mission is pretty damn important. Assemble your Company - we’ve got work to do,” Orr said grimly.

*** *** *** *** ***
Barely an hour later, Phoenix company’s Squad Leaders and officers sat around a large conference table; Havock, Executive Officer, Garryll, Company Commander and Blackjack squad lead, Skarr, Platoon Commander and Eclipse lead, Joamer and Brightstar, squad leaders of Raiders and Jester squads respectively. The only two to never have been part of Phoenix were Orr himself, and a female soldier that was part of Havock’s staff.

Orr stood up at the front of the room, a projector displaying their briefing.

“This is Outpost 65-B, or as it’s called by its inhabitants, ‘Liberty Station,’ was built by the Empire a decade and change ago. It’s a huge trading hub on the Corellian Trade Spine. It’s unique in that it’s one of the few ‘neutral’ stations left in the galaxy. It’s important enough to be able to stay independent, but it’s not critical enough for a major power to make a grab at it. After the Empire dissolved into what it is right now, it declared its own freedom from all powers.”

Orr clicked a device, and a new image appeared. “Blanchard has stolen critical data from us, and it looks like they’re just going to try and sell it to someone. We have an idea who, as well.”

With another click, another image appeared. It consisted of the New Republic crest in light colors, and on it, an eye was placed over a olive branch.

“Liberty Station is often used by this New Republic agency, Needle. Their sole purpose is the destruction of absorption or non-Remnant Imperial factions in the western side of the galaxy. That means, they don’t like us.”

The collected squad leaders chuckled quietly.

“This means that when we go into 65-B, we’ve got several objectives,” Orr started. “Our intelligence also suggests something else: POWs.”

The Stormtroopers somehow managed to pay even closer attention.

“I know that Jester had to leave behind several members of their squad,” Orr said. “And we think that Blanchard is going to trade them, along with the Defense Network data they stole, to Needle for protection from us.”

Orr clicked again, and a rough map of the Outpost appeared. “So here’s how we’re going to play this. Needle and Blanchard aren’t the best of friends right now. Hell, they’re as nervous as possible. It’ll take them a while to line up an actual meeting, so we have some time. Raiders and Jester squads will infiltrate as soon as possible, and prep the table; download any targets, scout out some of the landing pads, and be in position to smuggle weapons in and secure LZs.”

Joamer and Brighstar nodded. Orr turned his attention to the last two SLs. “Blackjack and Eclipse will insert in a couple weeks and be in position to create chaos and create opportunities in a rather louder way. We’ll be the tip of the spear for the attack force. Once we have sufficient LZs secured, our reinforcements will come in, and we’ll take out Blanchard and the Needle forces in the area, as well as scoop up anyone important and the data.”

Havock nodded. “That mission on Anteevy was my last one in the field for a while - Jeg’s been breathing down my neck to stay out of the field with these pins. As such, I’ll be sending Senior Sergeant Temia Jacaranda in my steed. She’ll be paired with Raiders and Jester on the infiltration team.”

The odd woman out nodded, but said nothing.

“What are we going to be facing?” Gates spoke up, raising his hand half-way up.

“We’ll be duking it out with Blanchard, Needle and Liberty station forces. This is a heavy civvy zone - there’s about twenty-two hundred permanent residents, plus anywhere from three to seven hundred smugglers, merchants and traders at any time,” Orr said. “We’re looking at a big fight throughout the entire station, and that’s why we’re goign to be calling in army and navy support once we get some LZs secured.”

Gates nodded softly. “This is going to messy, isn’t it?”

“If it was a clean job, they wouldn’t give it to us,” Skarr replied wryly.

“Any more questions? No?” Orr asked. “Good. Joamer, Brightstar - collect your squads. You’ll be going in in an hour.”

*** *** Thirteen days later *** ***
“Blackjack and Eclipse are now on-station,” Garryll Gates said quietly into his comlink, keyed into the heavily encrypted frequency that the Stormtroopers would use. “Joamer, Brightstar - y’all there?”

“Been waiting, Gates,” Joamer shot back. “We’re ready.”

Orr nodded beside Gates as the Stormtroopers, all clad in civilians’ clothing, filed out of the transport. “Well, that’s good. Let’s get this job started.”

OOC:

So begins the 2012 Quick Write!
Some background on Needle can be found here: HERE!
Rules:  CLICK ME!
Outpost 65-B background:  SPAAACE!
FAQ:  QUESTIONS!

It’d be strongly suggested to write a personal OR squad story (depending on what your SL wants to do) on what you did to prep for your part of the mission - for Jester/Raiders, this means what you did to go about your infiltration and whatnot.

BJ/Eclipse, this means you can explore how you killed 2 weeks worth of prep and possible training.

OOC:

RAIDERS

Liberty station. Jack still hadn't found what was so liberating about the place. The people that worked there seemed to live in a perpetual delusional world with their superiority complex.

A man and woman walked by her in the break room, chatting and flirting paying no attention to the girl in the light blue jumpsuit sweeping the floor. Jack wasn't sure if it was Havock's idea of a joke making sure her papers which assigned her to the Custodial staff, or just some kind of karma for drunken misbehavior which she probably no longer remembered.

"Major Katash, I am confused. You want to attach me to a squad, and next mission I may be attached to a different squad? I just bound around on a whim? Sounds to me more like I am the unlucky girl who never gets leave anymore."

Havock smiled and shook her head. "Yea, and on top of that you get to spend all the free time you have with me." She waved her hand to present her office the way a travel agent would talk about a vacation getaway. She leaned on her desk and let her face get serious again. "Jack, no more than three missions in a row, then you get no less than one month off. You have my word on that. And I'll try to give you more time as I can. Your profile makes you perfect for this. You are trustworthy and capable but have no desire to lead a squad much less anything more than that. You'll have my ear, but only the responsibility of a trooper."

Jack considered this. It wasn't a dream job by any standards but it was a good job for someone like her in the army. "One mission, give me at least one mission before I sign my name in blood."

"Agreed, here you go." Havock handed her a datapad. "Transport is waiting in the hanger, I would run if I were you, good medic but the pilots a pain in the ass about waiting."


A young mechanic laughed as he knocked her dustpan to the floor and continued on his way with no knowledge that he broke her reverie. By now the other squads would have landed in the hanger, and she knew that Brightstar and Joamer had done their part. As long as they stopped playing footsy with each other long enough to do their job. Jack just couldn't wait to have her debriefing with Havock, she would have to bring the bottle of whiskey.

Jack carefully placed her cleaning supplies against the wall. She touched her data pad sending a brief code that indicated her readiness. Now she got to act as lookout and she prayed someone would start shooting at her soon, two weeks of mopping gave her several pounds of pent up anger to unleash on all the inhabitants of Liberty Station.

OOC:

Word Count: 481

OOC:

RAIDERS

Unlike Jack, who was currently finishing up her custodial duties, Heliwer was currently in the middle of his job, which, fortunately for RAIDERS and Jester, did not expose them one bit. Rather, he was assigned to work as a security guard at a trade depot. All he had to do was stand there in his suit and tie and look imposing. He wished he could have at least been given a weapon, but when traders came in to do business, they thought twice about short-changing the boss, a man who, as far as the big trooper could tell by overhearing conversations, was nicknamed Sly by pretty much everyone. “Hey, uh, boss?” He asked as said person walked by. The beady dull eyes looked up. “Yes, Ryan, what is it?”

“Mind if I take my break early? I’m feeling a bit hungry.”

A smile lit up the rat-faced man, and promptly patted the big man’s chest. “Why not? Good job today. Heck, come back in an hour or so.”

With a sigh of relief, he began walking over to where the nearest food stand was. On his way, he knocked into a female custodian who was attempting to get in line the same time as he did. “Hey watch it!” He growled. The woman turned and his anger turned into slight cheekiness. “Oh, hey Jack. How’s custodial work?” He whispered.

“Don’t press me about it or I will shove a broom so far up your ass-”

“Hey, hey! I get it! Geeze!”

When tensions cooled off and the two had got their food, they sat down and began to eat. “I swear, even though my job is easy, I’m dying here of boredom. I sure hope the others come soon.”

Jack mumbled an agreement as she took a bite out of the… ‘thing’ that was supposed to be food. “You’d think that they’d be able to afford better shit than this.”

Heliwer shrugged and finished his meal off. “It isn’t that I’m hungry that I took break off early. I’m feeling tired. Sometimes I feel like I’m getting too old for this stuff.”

Another sigh, and the two chatted nonchalantly about their boring, tedious jobs. As they were talking, another transport ship landed, dropping off their passengers. Near the end of Heliwer and Jack’s conversation, the two could see a few in their vicinity, making them smirk. “Looks like we get that action after all.”

OOC:

404.

OOC:

RAIDERS

Steam rose in billowing tendrils, sucked into the overhead fan before it could spread to the rest of the kitchen. The smell of both spicy and sweet ingredients filled the air, the sound of sizzling foods of all kinds stung at the ears of anyone who would take a step into the kitchen. Though should anyone even get close, they would have to deal with the new chef that had already established her dominance over the kitchen in just the two weeks since she had taken the job. It was scary, even for the sous-chef droids, to get in the way of the dark auburn haired, one-eyed woman while she was working. In these two weeks she had fired three droids for getting in her way, destroyed one of them with a butcher-vibro, and had even redone the entire menu. But what anyone complaining?

There was a soft knock on the double swinging doors that led to the Waiters’ area of the restaurant, and afterwards a tentative, and rather terrified looking, Waiter came in, still standing half way in the doors that were still slightly ajar. “Uhm… M-Miss Reed?”

The woman looked up from the pan she held in her right hand, the contents were of all different greens and reds. Most likely peppers being sautéed for a dish. “Yes?”

“There’s uhm.. Th-there’s a customer who says your steak was too rare for him to eat.” It was clear that the Waiter was struggling with the thought of running away and abandoning passing on the complaint entirely, and as the one-eyed woman set the sizzling pan she had been working on to the side, turned and began to stomp towards the Waiter, that desire grew to a boiling point in his mind. It was only when the woman passed him and went out the doors that he allowed himself to breathe again, his knees wobbly and the inside thighs of his nice black slacks a bit wet.

“Ya think my steak was too rare huh?” She said, almost standing entirely over the man who sat there with a steak on his plate.

The man scoffed. “Yes, yes I do.”

The next moment the plate, the steak and the sautéed potatoes and carrots were slammed into the man’s face. “Then get out of my restaurant!” Instantly, he and his companion complied, bolting up and out of the establishment. As she watched them go she smiled, but her victory was short lived as she heard a soft beep from her wrist. She lifted her right arm, pulled up her sleeve slightly and grumbled. “Alright, time to get to work I guess.” She sighed and turned to the matredee, lifted her hand and closed her fist. The man in the nice suit took that as the sure sign to close for the night. She turned then, and left the restaurant, a determined look setting into her one good sea-foam eye.

So no… no one ever complained about Jaenna Reed Caldwin. They wouldn’t dare.

OOC:

500 words exactly. If it was hard to understand, the beeping on her wrist was the signal that Blackjack and Eclipse had arrived. The next poster from RAIDERS or Jester can feel free to do what they please with Jae's destination.

OOC:

JESTER

Bright nudged Joamer and indicated the scanning crew that had been called in. One of the three man crew was obviously a Chiss man, who appeared to be taking great pride in the uniform he was wearing. Bright also recognized the two other men with him. Lukas looked like he'd rather be somewhere else, while Mox appeared as comfortable as if he'd been doing this job his entire life. Given the man's background, Bright wouldn't be surprised if he had actually done this job before. She was just glad it wasn't her. Brightstar hated being undercover as a menial laborer, at least as security personal she could call some of the shots.

“Scanners are still messing with the security cams?” Mox asked as if he were talking to real security guards who didn't have anything better to do.

Bright had to remind Joamer to give the man an acting award of some kind. “Yeah, I've told the duty officer three times in the last week that we had a problem with them. He still hasn't done anything about it.” She said rolling her eyes.

Lukas snorted but said nothing as he helped the other two men with the scanning equipment. Joamer scowled, “Come on lets get this ball rolling. I've got other things to do today you know.”

“Yeah like flirt with the good looking tourists?” The Chiss muttered. It was obvious that he held it against Joamer for having the looks and the charm that he didn't.

Bright hid a smile behind her hand at the glare that Joamer shot at the younger man. She indicated that she would stand guard outside the transport, a two fold job that would entail guarding against anybody entering the  transport, and acting as a lookout for any sort of trouble that would be coming their way by any other sources. In an hour she would switch off with Joamer and take over in whatever he was doing in there. She only hoped that they could get whatever was hidden on that transport off in time to use to it's full capability.

After a full thirty minutes, Bright's ear piece crackled to life once more. “Remind me to tell the boss man that I love him.” Joamer's voice said. The use of the phrase 'boss man' indicated that he was unsure the channel they were using was secure.

“Hey you were the one who wanted to be a security guard. Besides you can blame the mechanic for being paranoid.” She grinned. She had to wonder just what kind of toys Garryll had brought with him.  She hoped that there was a way to off load the weapons without drawing suspicion. Faulty cams or not, this hanger bay was still a pretty active place.

OOC:

466 words.

OOC:

Blackjack

Gates pulled the ear-bud from his pocket and screwed it in. He’d recognized Dunny as he’d ‘blundered’ into him, and had found the two objects in his pocket. In the link, he was able to tap into Brightstar and Joamer’s chatter with the other security personnel.

“Tell your boys,” Gates muttered into the link. “That the guns were really hard to find. But then we thought we should just tell you that they’re in the smuggling compartments underneath the hallways.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Joamer shaking his head, one of his thumbs in his belt, the other waving other visitors to ‘Liberty Station’ in.

“Skarr, are you and your guys through?” Gates said, rotating his head nonchalantly.

“Not yet; the damn line’s moving slow as hell,” replied the Eclipse.

In front of him, Valthir was doing his best beat-down businessman routine - convincing - and Aelin and Fain were doing their best very-in-love act - amusing to watch. Crest had disappeared somewhere, and Kilroy was next to Gates, posing as his assistant.

There was no way either of them was going to hide what they were; military cuts and straight-backed stances; they obviously were soldiers, and couldn’t bend enough to pretend otherwise. So they’d just play their cards on the table, but tweak the suit a bit. Gates stepped up to the checkpoint.

“Name, purpose of visit?” said the security guard.

“Garryll Gates, Kilroy Varl,” said the Blackjack SL. “We’re here as agents for our company.”

“And the company does...?”

“It kills the people it’s paid to,” Gates enunciated clearly. “Private Military Contractor Impel, at your service.”

The guard sighed, then stamped his documents and passed them through the checkpoint, muttering under his breath, “Why can’t I just get tourists?”

Gates and Kilroy loitered in the small plaza that sat outside the hangar for a few minutes, making sure each member of Blackjack made its way through.

Gates looked about; he still couldn’t see Orr or Crest; he wanted his HUD back, rangefinders, IFFs and motion sensors. Regardless, he would adapt. After a moment of hunting, he finally spotted Crest, wearing a full kit of armor and carrying weapons, and glared at the man. A few moments passed before the trooper seemed to key in on his gaze, and the man shrugged sheepishly.

“Inconspicuous!” Gates muttered.

“Eh, he could’ve been worse,” came a voice at his side. Gates jerked his head, reaching for a weapon that wasn’t there.

“Dammit, Orr,” said the Stormtrooper. “Warn me next time.”

“Move on in; your squad leaders won’t let anything undue happen to your troopers,” Orr said, tipping a one-finger salute and turning to walk away. “Get settled - we’ve got work to do soon.”

OOC:

WC: 457

OOC:

Blackjack

I hate space sooooo fething much…Why do the send me on these kinds of missions?  Don’t they know how much I can’t stand the sense of space? John thought as the space shuttle entered the docking port.  Despite the fact that Liberty Station was rife with civilian life, supported by artificial gravity and was the size of a small moon, the Cadian still was queasy about how uncanny it all was.

“John, don’t be such a child.  You’re embarrassing me.”  The Fenrisian wolf Rei ‘Horo’ Nagase flatly stated.

“I can’t help it….You know how much us Cadians like good solid ground.”  He replied back.

“We were born on the same planet, so if you’re gonna pull that then I say you should act more Fenrisian for once in your life.”

“Bu-“

“No buts! Otherwise I’ll have to tell your sister of how you acted.  Besides I know all about that Tohno gland of yours so there’s no way I’m letting you out of my sight.”

Sighing at the fact that despite finally getting to be alongside someone from Galm again, Horo, wasn’t going to be going on the mission with the members of Blackjack and Eclipse.  As far as she knew, John and her were just about to spend some well deserved R ‘n R; something that was entirely in the opposite direction for the real reason behind coming to the space station.  No matter what you say Rei, I’m still going to hear a mouthful from you. 

As he searched the passenger compartment of the shuttle, Kilroy was able to spot those that currently filled the roster of Blackjack.  Ahead of them was Valthir, downtrodden businessman with Aelin and Fain acting as newlyweds in tow.  Up next, in the seat behind him was Crest, snickering like some child despite the appearance of your average schmuck.  All things considered the group pretty much looked like your standard civies and wouldn’t stand out; save for himself and his fellow Rhyzan-born friend Horo.  Completely decked out in Cadian attire, John realized he looked more like some battle ready bodyguard protecting his client who had a bushy wolf tail, instead of a boyfriend and girlfriend off on some trip.

Clumsily, as the two got off the shuttle, the corporal began to feel the odd stares that people were giving him; something that wasn’t helping his space sickness at all.  If it wasn’t for the fact that Horo was holding his arm, he might have just barfed on the spot.  There’s the signal, he thought, noticing Garryll looking in his direction.  Turning to his friend and giving her a hug, it was high time that the crew finally got on with their mission.

“Why don’t you go on ahead to the hotel?  The cap wanted to have a word with me in private about something…I believe it was a surprise for someone or something.”

“Okay…but when you are done I am absolutely taking you out…We definitely need to get you some better clothes John.” 

OOC:

500 exact....and yes...Kil hates space

OOC:

RAIDERS!

Another day, another mess to clean.

The mop hit the floor with a wet plop, and he went to work trying to get spilled bacta off of the floor of the med room. Coadster thought getting to be the janitor would be an easy job, but the space station was big, and he was stationed in the hive of the thing, where apparently no one minded leaving messes for him to find.

His alias, Martin Harris, was a twenty six year old nobody, and he had to act like it, which chafed at him immensely. He let his facial hair grow to a prominent dirt-stache, and was careful about not washing his face in the morning for the uncaring look he desired. Ah, the nobody with the nobody job was golden for getting access to the majority of the space station and looking inconspicuous when listening in on conversations around him. The keycards he had in his pocket were all the satisfaction he needed to continue on with the facade, and the earbud on the RAIDERS channel was an added bonus.

"Martin!" the radio attached to his belt yelled. He sighed and plopped the mop  back into the bucket full of sanitary water and unhooked his radio.

"Dammit you lazy-ass, pick up your-"

He held the red button a moment to silence the rest of his boss' rant, then said, "Yeah? Whatcha need?"

"Someone dropped a pot of recaf in the Sector Five lounge. Get on it."

He inwardly groaned; he'd have to sweep AND mop this mess. "Aighty, I'm on it boss man."

He sighed and reattached his radio. He looked up to the discreet camera in the corner of the room with an unamused look. He wondered if Joamer was watching him right now, and he stuck his tongue out for good measure. He was the one that was going to open the doors for the troopers, he knew the layout of the station like the back of his hand, which would be good for his squad to get to their target.

But for now, he was the frumpy janitor with a mop in one hand and a bucket with a busted wheel in the other. He stepped into the staff lift and sighed, punching the panel button labelled '5'. You just keep giving those orders, Mr. Boss Man. I've got a concussion grenade, just for you and your office. That thought kept Cody entertained for some time, so he went to his next sticky battle with a smile on his face.

OOC:

Word Count: 429.
As a famous man once said, "Where's my wife?!"

OOC:

RAIDERS.

Tapping his finger against the grip of his particle magnum he watched half the scanning crew begin to unload the first weapon stash they had found. He saw the standard issue junk pretty much; E-11's, A280's for the more insane of the groups, DLT-20A's always looked beautiful to him, even a few satchels of various grenades, and of course the gas cartridges, and power cells for everything.

"Move the weapons to hold out charlie, we'll supply the party goers at they make contact with us. The crew that is staying keep scanning, I know Gates put in a second stash here somewhere. BlackJack would not have come here without more heavy weaponry, I want to find the main stash of their equipment." Joamer said as he mentally counted the weapons that left the shuttle. He knew there was more hidden somewhere for sure. This was small potatoes compared to what he had seen that squad carry in a normal mission.

"Tremaine." His more open commlink crackled a few moments later. "Someone from high security just dropped in." Bright sounded slightly amused by her tone, but it still set him on edge thinking their plans just went up in smoke.

Walking down the ramp he ran ideas through his head of how to deal with this new unexpected arrival. By the time he reached the double doors leading out of the hangar his plans were askew as he recognized Jaenna standing next to an amused Brightstar.

"Sector seven transfer, no one knows I'm here yet. You should alert your CO that I'm here soon though, would not want him to get suspicious." Jaenna said as she narrowed her eyes at the weapons being offloaded.

"In time, the scanning process is not yet complete." Joamer replied. He knew Jaenna was going to come up with something really interesting, but posing as high security was truly ballsy. Part of him was glad she was his second, the other part was always nursing a major headache over what his squad managed to pull off.

"Sir, we found something!" This time the voice came from the station's comm system, he knew it was monitored.

Running up the boarding ramp he heard Jaenna following him, skidding to a stop he cursed loudly into the comm link as he looked over the major weapon stash they had uncovered. Making sure the first stash was secure he said into the station's commlink "Alert, condition red one. I repeat, alert condition red one. Security team to hangar bay two."

Counting the weapons as they waited for the security team he could not help but marvel at what Gates had brought. Two M404 MAW's, four MRB-10 Medium Repeating Blasters, Three StA-3 Strova Machine Guns, and six T-21 Light Repeating Blasters.

He knew a find such as this would get them higher security clearance, if it did not he would have Jaenna just forge the documents. He knew everyone would hate him, but it was his job as security office.

OOC:

500. Yes, you can hate me. If you are good boys and girls the nice weapons will be returned.

OOC:

Eclipse

2nd Lieutenant Skarr stood in line with Eclipse right behind him. They had gotten off of a public transport just about a full hour ago. The lines were absolute hell. Customs kept stopping the line, and checking luggage and the like. Skarr didn’t have enough clearance to move up the line, or else he would have gladly tried. In fact, in his role, he should be applauding the security measures the station had assembled. Skarr was posing as a security consultant, leading a team of technicians. Essentially, they were supposed to upgrade security systems on the station. But they had been gifted with a strange little virus that would crash the system when activated.

They were finally getting close to the end of the line when a voice called, “Hey you! Stop right there!” Skarr looked up and followed the source of the voice. It was a group of security guards running towards Skarr and the others. The squad leader attempted not to tense up, but his effort went unnoticed and the guards blew right past him towards the other line. The one with all the cargo. Their destination was a large crate intended for the security area.

Shit, Skarr thought. That crate held their weapons and the light unmarked armor they would be using on this mission. He pulled his comm out of his pocket as the guards began interrogating the man who had brought the weapons on board. They would certainly find discrepancies in his paperwork. Intelligence had forged the documents, making them sound like they were ordered from the station itself.

“Gar, my weapons just got confiscated. We’re going to have to procure weapons on site.” Skarr informed the Captain.

“Well, that certainly puts a hydrospanner in the works, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Garryl said, and the comm clicked off.

Eclipse’s new assistant squad leader, Bernadette, spoke up, “This is going to suck.” The squad chuckled a little bit as they reached the security checkpoint. Their papers were perfectly in order at least. The security guards stationed there looked them over then waved them past. They were officially in the station now. Now to make their way to the offices where they would ‘upgrade’ the security.

OOC:

WC: 375

OOC:

Blackjack

The couple, merging seamlessly with the bustling crowd, moved forward with the flow of foot traffic away from the docking umbilical leading deeper into Liberty Station.

"Stay on Gates' 6. We'll link up with him when it's..." Aelin trailed off, the rest of her statement lost at the sight of a hulking armored form darting into a cheap looking department store, armed guards trailing after cracking off stun rounds fired at full sprint, the rounds sailing up into the station's upper gantry or pummeling the store front. The sound of panicked screams could be heard over the blaster fire and shattering transparisteel of the department store. Fain caught a brief glimpse of Captain Garryll, standing stolid amidst the chaos brewing in the wake of the security team, playing off activating his comm as running a hand over his face and buzzed hair. A Twi'lek trader rammed into Fain's shoulder attempting to flee, cutting off his view of the squad leader.

"To hell with this" murmured Aelin, producing a sharp whistle, grabbing their squad leader's attention. Garryll's reply a discrete jerk of his to his right, indicating a service hatch way, calm demeanor replaced by a facade of panic to blend back into the crowd.

"Was that so hard?" rhetorically finishing her previous statement while simultaneously dragging Fain through the remaining group of panic stricken civilians.

"Looks like Crest just got tagged." Fain called over his shoulder, looking back to survey the station's security team and their response to the young Private and his brazen act of...idiocy, Fain thought to himself, coming to a stop behind Aelin while she ducked into the station's service hatchway to meet up with their Captain, who joined them presently, securing the bulkhead behind him.

"Captain!" acknowledged the two troopers in unison, snapping off crisp salutes.

"At ease" returned their squad leader with a mirroring salute.

"What's the plan now that we're on site?"

"Are either of you armed?"

"uh..." stammered Fain, staring at his knee high gloss black boots.

"No, sir." finished Aelin.

"Lovely." sighed gates, running a hand over his face. "Well, you two need to gear up. We can't have you walking around unarmed when we're this close to the action. Here's the run down; Crest, if you hadn't noticed, is en route to re-secure our armaments from Liberty's impound lot, and the rest of Blackjack is sitting on our collective hands until those guns are...liberated."

"Roger" Aelin and Fain replied in unison.

"Uh, excuse me, Sir. You wouldn't happen to have an extra Comm' on you, would you?" Fain asked with a meek shrug and a helpless expression.

Fixing Fain with a glare, Gates pinched the bridge of his nose, and clenching his jaw.

"Here, Private." replied Garryll, placing emphasis on Fain's rank.

"Thank you, Sir." murmured Fain, fixing the Comm Bead to his ear.

"Just...do your jobs and we'll all get out of here fine." ended Gates, opening the hatchway and heading back out into the station.

OOC:

WC: 500 exactly.

OOC:

JESTER

Therex stood on one side of the ships boarding ramp, while Lukas took up position on the other side.

Joamer came through the doors, trailing a security team. Turning he nodded at Lukas, and they both straightened up as the team entered the ship. Peeking inside, Therex saw Joamer showing them the stash.

The lead officer nodded and called down the ramp, "You wanna come help us with these?"

Tugging on Lukas' uniform, they ducked into the ship and started grabbing crates of weapons. Joamer nodded as they walked back down the ramp, laden with heavy equipment. Therex switched on the built-in recorder in his cybernetic eye, taking detailed information of their route. He wasn't sure who had hidden the guns, but he knew they would want them back.

Eventually they came to the higher security levels and the group leader turned around and put his palm up.

"Neither of you are authorized to go beyond this point." he said motioning towards some guards standing nearby.

Tensing, Therex prepared for a fight. But when the guards came closer, they motioned for Therex and Lukas to hand the boxes over. Relaxing, they both unloaded their burdens and Therex kept watching until the door shut at the end of the hallway.

Turning towards Lukas he pulled his comm out and flipped it on.

"Hey Joamer," he said, ducking into a closet, and Lukas stood guard outside, "the guns are stashed. Lukas and I are headed back."

Joamer confirmed with a quick double click, and Therex stashed the comm and exited the closet. Putting his hands on Lukas' shoulder he started back towards the hangar. He was looking forward to getting out of his uniform and into his armor. He would feel more comfortable with the weight of his revolvers or really any gun.

Turning the last corner, Therex stopped dead in his tracks. A large group of security guards were standing around the front door of the hangar, just loitering. There was no apparent sign of any danger, so he walked out again and headed straight for the hangar door.

One of the guards looked up and held his hand out.

"What are you boys doing here?" he asked. "We already had a scanning crew here."

Panicking, Therex opened his mouth, but no words came out. Lukas jumped in and saved him.

"We found some contraband on board," he said, sliding past Therex. "They needed help and so we had to leave our equipment. We are just here to recover it."

The guard nodded and let them pass. Once the door shut, Joamer met them across the hangar floor.

"We can't stay too long," Therex told him. "We have some sniffers outside. "

Joamer nodded and turned to comm Bright about the situation.

"Oh." Therex said turning around real fast, "I think you might want this."

A beep was heard as Therex set up a connection with Joamer's datapad and he uploaded the video and scanning results from the walk to the "gun bin".

OOC:

502 words

OOC:

Blackjack

“Go find Fain and Aelin and tell them where we’ll be linking up. And for god’s sake, be subtle.”

“I’ll try.” 

Do you really think I’m the type to be subtle about something?  John thought, giving the Blackjack commander a rather humorless smile as he went off into the station.  Although the Cadian had some training and experience somewhere in his life, the man really wasn’t cut out for espionage.  Having been taught to field strip a rifle before even making it into primary school, asking him to be faint was akin to asking an AT-AT to be less obvious.  Still, the faster that he got this over with, the faster he could get to his recently shipped gauss rifle; even if it was unfortunately the C model instead of his M variant with the heavier barrel.

Looking around the local station area, the corporal was able to spot the two junior members of Blackjack fairly easily.  Moving closer to the two, he found it rather hard not to laugh at the horrid couple the two made.  With his warmest demeanor he could put up, something that was quite difficult to see when his smile didn’t reach his eyes, John began to play the large ham.

“Why if it isn’t my old friend Audrey; it’s so good to see you!  And I see you brought your dear blunt along with you, a surprise that he has made it this far with you.”

“Uhhh.”

“OH YES!  I nearly forgot, so good of you to remind me.  The party is being held at the hotel: Comona, and I duly hope that you enjoy yourselves when we get there.  I certainly know you will ya little fether.”

“Ael-I mean Audrey dear….can you tell me if your friend here is burning with satanic rage or is it just me and he’s glad to see us?”

OOC:

311 words

OOC:

Eclipse

Dark eyes scanned the crowd with mock boredom though she caught as many details as she could of the security. Who knew? It might be useful in case of a hasty retreat. The last mission and her sudden ascension in the ranks had made a certain impact on her. Her usually curious demeanor was muted; throughout the squads training on the basics of security for a station like this she had been serious, quiet. Not that they knew much about her yet, to them this was just her work-ethic. The uniform she wore made her feel a little ridiculous but she tried to disregard that and look as professional as she could. Pressure was pushing down on her higher than before; they expected great things from her. Zaria looked up as the guards moved to the crate that contained their weaponry just as she heard Skarr mutter about it.

“This is gonna suck,” she murmured half to herself as she rechecked the paperwork she had been given, the squad chuckled. 

The security guards didn’t seem to look at them twice; though, one of the younger ones made eye contact with her, grinning at her. Zaria gave him a shy smile and moved on with the rest of the squad. Drexhel looked at her with a knowing smirk. Zaria shrugged then nodded at them and they continued moving as a unit, a reflection of what was expected of a security crew. They had not gone more than sixty feet when a voice shouted at them from behind. She saw Skarr tense and felt herself do the same. Zaria forced obsidian eyes to turn toward the sound as casually as she could. Zaria was taken back when she saw the young man from before, he ran toward her waving something at her. Zaria looked down at her lapel and relaxed with an audible sigh as she noticed that her tag had fallen off.

“I’m Eric…You dropped this.” The guy said handing it to her. She smiled and thanked him as the rest of the squad chuckled behind her, “Erm, if you’re here long enough maybe we could…”

“Sure,” The redhead said quickly, flashing a smile at him once again before taking the extra piece of paper he held out to her. He flushed and grinned at her happily before leaving. There was an almost visible relaxation throughout the group.

“That was…close. But hey, you made a friend ASL Bernadette” chuckled Skarr nudging her.

She shook her head at him, turning her face so he wouldn’t see her blush. It was the first time something of the sort had happened to her, crappy timing.

Again, the squad laughed a bit among themselves. Zaria glared half-heartedly at them as they kept walking. She ran over the layout of the building in her mind making sure to remember the landmarks that Skarr had told them were around. Her eyes wandered over the building as she saw it far ahead. It looked a lot like the pictures, almost there.

OOC:

500+3 words 0_0

OOC:

RAIDERS.

Joamer stood next to the now empty shuttle and contemplated the next set of moves, he knew time was running short before the next set of objectives began. Turning to Jaenna he said,  "We don't all need to be here for this next part. Use your new security to find the squad nice spots to lay low. Rain, you need to be with your squad right now. I'll handle this next part."

He heard one set of security doors opening and knew they only had a few moments. Waving them both away he stood at the entrance to the shuttle as three decently ranking security officers walked up. He saw the door the two had used to escape from the hangar bay close right before the officers turned the corner.

Breathing a sigh of relief he nodded to the three men as two of them boarded the shuttle, the other looked him up and down for a moment before saying, "Some Bounty Hunter moron decided to make a scene a few minutes ago. He's being placed in a security holding cell. The weapons you found are impressive." He stopped for a moment as someone spoke to him over a private comm link for a few seconds, he nodded once like the other person could see him.

After a moment he stopped and continued, "You've only been here for two weeks but your resume is impressive, it also checks out fully. I've got contacts in many worlds who know you by name and reputation. You are being promoted to security grade three, your ident chip is being updated now. Go talk to this Bounty Hunter, see if you can get any information out of him. Very well done, Tremaine."

Joamer nodded as the man waved him away, walking up to the security door they had entered he waited for a moment before swiping his chip over the nearly hidden panel. Three small lights flashed green after a long moment and the door slid up nearly soundlessly. Pulling out his datapad like he was looking at a map he instead brought up the command's private messaging service, typing quickly he wrote; Gained security clearance, will rescue Crest and set up a way for the confiscated weapons to be used. Security doors will close around the station at the planned time for phase II to begin. He sent the message to everyone who needed it.

Putting away his pad he nodded to two guards on patrol but kept moving, he knew they looked at him as he passed but he did not turn around or modify the way he was walking. Turning down another hall he brought his pad out again to send a message to his squad; Inside high security area, listen to Jaenna during phase II. Normal objectives are a go, I'll monitor what I can from the command center. Set up near the correct hangar to secure it, phase II agreed upon start is still a go.

OOC:

499. Alright, Crest will be rescued. We will set the stage for the confiscated weapons to be rescued too. Jae will move RAIDERS into better positions. Bright should do the same with Jester. If you have questions come find me, I'll try to make sense of the insanity.