Search lights swept back and forth along the perimeter of the massive fortress complex, and Pherik ‘Serpent’ Zail made sure to hang back out of their range, crouched among the bushes. He mentally timed their pattern on the cold hard ground, and when he saw his opportunity he went for it.
He dashed from cover, briefly exposing himself to the light of Orvanus III’s twin moons. Even in his jet-black body suit, Serpent felt exposed under the clear, cloudless moonlight, but he knew that he was just being paranoid. As long as he avoided the fortress’s floodlights then the VENI agent knew that he would be safe.
Zail pushed himself hard, and was thankful that he had been working out a lot of late. True, his exercise was primarily limited to vibrorapier duelling, but such combat tended to test and hone many of his muscles and he had never been fitter. With a full three seconds to spare before the lights swept back across his path, he was clear of them and flat against the cold ferrocrete walls of the fortress.
He pulled forth the grapple gun that was on his back, and fired it up towards the ramparts. Serpent’s aim was a little off, and he had to fire again, but on the second time the hook told hold. He pulled himself up (again relying on his new muscles) and reached the fortress’s ramparts. Zail went over to land in a crouch on the walkway, and glanced back and forth quickly, looking for Vast Empire guards. There were none nearby on this section of the wall. Again he had timed it well. Two full days of studying the fortress and noticing patrol patterns had paid off handsomely.
Serpent moved along the ramparts of the outer wall, studying the interior of the VE fortress complex. This place had been built by several centuries ago by Orvanus III’s original settlers, and so did not conform in any way to standard Vast Empire military designs. There was a circular outer wall, an even higher circular inner wall, and within
that the single massive keep with spires, one of which housed his target.
He moved quickly, heading towards one of the bridges that linked the outer wall to the inner. Down below, inside the fortress, Zail could clearly see VE Army tanks and walkers, lined in rows and ready to roll out at a moment’s notice. This base was technically a friendly one, but the sight of so much firepower unnerved him.
Suddenly he saw a duo of guards coming his way, and knew he had to get out of sight. The rampart walkway was narrow and with nowhere to hide, but he was prepared for this. Once again, he took the grapple gun, but did not fire it. Instead he reached over the edge of the inner rampart and jammed the grappling hook in as tight as he could into a gap in the masonry. Then he hopped over and lowered himself down.
Zail hung there, flat against the inside of the outer wall, and waited for the guards to pass just a few feet from him. If either decided to look down inside the fortress, or worse, if one of the tank crews below looked up, he would be spotted. And whether or not they tried to take him alive was irrelevant. If anyone shot at him while dangling there, he would slip and fall to his death, and he knew it.
Serpent heard the sounds of the guards chatting as they passed. One a human in Basic, the other in some growled language that he could not comprehend. Their voices sounded oh so close, and he fought the rush of nerves within him. Inside the tight-fitting bodysuit, the VENI agent could feel himself sweating, and he wished that the two guards would hurry up and press on.
His arms began to hurt, but it seemed that the duo had chosen the exact spot beside him to stop for a chat. Zail felt his muscles begin to burn as he hung on for dear life, and tried to focus on his mission instead of the growing pain in his arms and shoulders. Seconds ticked by, long and drawn out, and just as he thought he was going to lose it, the human said, “Let’s press on.”
He heard them moving off, and much as he longed to pull himself up, Serpent forced himself to wait until their footsteps had diminished and they were out of sight. Once clear, he pulled himself back up, and took a few moments to collect himself, drawing deep, calming breaths until his heart stopped pounding in his chest.
He could not wait long, though, and pressed on.
-----
Across the bridge and then another shot with the grappling gun took Zail to the top of the inner wall, and from there he got a good look at the central keep. It was a thick, blocky construct of stone, topped with a tight cluster of five cylindrical spires, the central of which was by far the tallest. Further uses of his grappling gun took him to a low window, but that was as close as he was going to get from the outside. The rest of his mission would have to be
inside the central tower.
Dangling from the window sill, he pulled himself up a little and glanced inside. The room within the tower was a meeting room of some description, with a conference table and numerous chairs. It was empty, however, and not even the lights were on within.
Perfect, Zail thought.
From his belt of Intelligence-provided gadgets, he pulled forth a glass cutter and went to work. The device had a built in sound dampener, limiting the noise of diamond-on-glass and reducing the odds of him being overheard. Once he had made himself a large enough hole, Serpent passed through, ensuring that he brought the cut out sheet of glass with him and laying it silently on the floor.
Zail crossed the room and opened the door at the far end. The corridor beyond seemed empty enough this late at night, but he was wary of encountering security cameras as he proceeded up the next few floors to the tower’s command level.
Emerging, he moved down the corridor, making a left turn and then a right, following signs on the walls in Aurebesh that indicated the way to the turbolift. At one point he heard voices ahead down the corridor, so doubled back and hid around the bend until they vanished. Then he resumed his course.
Reaching the elevator, Zail noticed from the indicator lights that it was currently some ten floors down, near the ground level. Acting quickly, he pulled out an electronic overload device and attached it to the doors. With the flick of a switch, a charge was emitted that fried the turbolift doors, preventing them from working right. It was then easy for him to pull them apart and open the way into the turbolift shaft.
Next from his belt full of tricks he pulled forth a long sticker that read ‘out of order’ in Aurebesh. He slapped it on one of the elevator doors and then pulled them closed behind him as he stepped through.
That should buy me a little time if anyone else tries to use these doors, he thought.
A ladder ran up the inside of the elevator shaft, and he could see the turbolift down below. Serpent hugged the ladder and began climbing. As he did so, the elevator car came up and shot past him. For a terrifying moment he feared that it would hit him, but no, he was safe. With renewed confidence he kept going.
Reaching the top of the shaft, Zail knew that he was at the command level and his target. While entering the shaft from the outside had been tricky, leaving from within was just a matter of pulling a door release lever. That done, Serpent stepped out onto the command level main corridor and again, thankfully, no one was around.
He looked down the corridor, and saw it end in a T-junction. Heading along it, he paused at the end and glanced both ways. He saw to his left a passage culminating in a large door, the writing of which had it labelled as the office that he sought. Alas, a security camera above the entrance gave Zail pause.
He reached to his belt and pulled out a pistol. Serpent had two, but only the one on his right hip was an actual blaster. The other, the one that he drew now, was more akin to a paint gun. He took aim with it (praying that his notoriously bad marksmanship skills would not fail him), and fired. The first pellet went wide, exploding against the wall, but he fired again quickly. To his delight, the second one hit the camera full-on, covering the lens with a thick black goo.
Zail punched the air in delight, thrilled with the hit. Shooting out a security camera and destroying it was fraught with problems. Most had some sort of built in safety, a constant feed from the camera that, if disrupted for some reason, would trigger an alarm. It was far safer, then, to simply obscure the lens. True, whoever was monitoring the video feed would frown at a suddenly black screen, but he or she was more likely to write that off as a glitch than if the image suddenly became full of static.
Seizing his chance, he hurried down the corridor and to the door that the camera covered. Again Serpent used the overload device that he had previously used on the elevator door, and blew open the lock on the office. Quickly, before anyone happened to come by, he was through the door and had it pulled shut behind him.
A smile came to Zail’s lips as he surveyed the darkened room, lit only by the moonlight that spilled in through the windows. Fine paintings covered the walls and statues filled the corners. A desk dominated one side of the room, and behind a series of shelves and cabinets filled with data crystals and storage devices. Serpent knew that what he sought would be there.
A few moments of careful search revealed what he sought. “Governor Mitaan,” Said the VENI agent to himself softly, “How careless of you.” So saying, he helped himself liberally to several data crystals that were recordings of the Governor’s official logs and reports to the Vast Empire’s leaders. Once he had taken several months worth of Mitaan’s correspondence, Zail made quickly for the exit.
Back into the main corridor, he stopped to re-apply some more black ooze to the camera (before the last batch of ink slimed its way off in a way that revealed that the black display was definitely
not a glitch), and then made for the turbolift.
As he approached it, he noticed that the elevator’s display was indicating that the lift was already on its way to the Command Level, and it would be arriving in just a few moments. Serpent barely had time to pull his non-paint gun and raised it just as two technicians were stepping from the turbolift.
The blasts were set for stun (these were Vast Imperials after all, his own people) and as close as he was, and with his foes in a confined space, there was no way that he could have missed. Several shots took them both down, and they collapsed on the floor.
Zail cursed under his breath, unhappy with having to do that. He could not afford to have two unconscious bodies riding the elevator all night. No doubt they were on their way to ‘repair’ the security camera, so someone in the fortress’s security team was aware that something was up on the Command Level. Acting quickly, he dragged the duo into a nearby bathroom, and shoved them unceremoniously into a toilet stall out of sight.
And that’s when Serpent got a new idea as to how he would leave this place...
-----
Zail crossed the courtyard, wishing that the mechanics overalls he had swiped from one of the technicians fit him better. The large size went over his tight fitting infiltration gear well, but it was overly baggy. However, once emptied, the tech’s tool bag proved perfect for concealing his grapple gun.
He passed the rows of tanks, feeling as if they were somehow watching him. Serpent felt much better sticking to the shadows than he did walking around in the open, even if it was in disguise with a cap pulled down tightly around his head.
He headed towards the main gates, flinching slightly as one of the search lights from earlier swept by close to him. Why were the things aimed
inside the walls anyway?
Zail made as if to walk through the open central entrance, and as he passed under the stone archway he thought that he had made it. However, from out of the shadows a VE Stormtrooper emerged and yelled “halt!”
The VENI agent stopped dead in his tracks. Trying to be as casual as he could, he turned to face the armoured soldier and said, “Yes?”
“State your business at this late hour,” Demanded the trooper.
Serpent suppressed a grimace. It fit the strict rules-driven reputation of Governor Mitaan that his personnel would need permission just to
leave the fortress. He rushed to come up with a reason. “I’m heading to the city to get some parts,” Zail lied. “One of the turbolift doors in the central spire is broken and I need to repair it.”
The guard gave no reaction, and Serpent cursed the fact that the other’s expressions were totally unreadable while hidden behind his skull-white helmet. After a short pause he said, “Where would be open at this hour?”
Zail’s mind raced. “Nowhere,” He conceded, “But I don’t need to
buy the parts. There is a VE military warehouse near the starport. I can get the parts from there.”
Again, no observable reaction, and Serpent began to fear that the other was not going for it. Even if he called security or maintenance to confirm Zail’s lies, it would be over. He had got the drop and shot those two techs earlier, but would he be able to draw and shoot faster than a trained Stormtrooper? He doubted it, but feared that he was about to try.
“Very well,” Said the guard, and waved Serpent through. “Move along!”
“Thank you,” Zail said, fighting to keep the relief from his voice and face. Keeping his stride at a controlled pace, he walked through the archway and proceeded out of the fortress. Safe.
-----
Out in the forest beyond the fortress, Serpent met up with his backup, a short but stocky human agent. “Did you get the reports?” He asked when he saw Zail coming.
“Indeed I did,” The other replied, pulling them forth triumphantly. “This is the last half year of what Governor Mitaan has been saying and suggesting to the Vast Empire’s High Command.”
“Including his recommendations for military cutbacks?” Asked the other agent. “Specifically, the ‘waste of resources’ that is VENI?”
“Exactly,” Said Zail with a wicked grin. “Now, let’s hand this over to Captain Grey, so he can decide just how best to use this to embarrass Mitaan into shutting up...”
- OOC:
- 2574 words. A training mission to infiltrate a VE fortress, but a bit of a twist in that Serpent is there to gather dirt on one of VENI’s political enemies. Hope its okay!
After Action Report: Serpent infiltrates the fortress of Governor Mitaan, the VE ruler of Orvanus III. He uses a grappling gun to scale the walls, evades guards, breaks into the central spire through a window, climbs the inside of a turbolift shaft, and then blocks a security camera. Finally he reaches the Governor’s office, and takes numerous reports, in which is detailed Mitaan’s plans to suggest cutbacks to VENI’s budget. To leave, Zail stuns a technician, steals his uniform, and walks out the fortress, lying to a Stormtrooper guard he passes.
