(On board the VEN ISD Paragon)


Einarr was bent over the case of one of the back up generators, Hydro spanner in one hand, frayed conduit connection in the other as he carefully spliced the crisped wires back into order. The bulk of his personal guard droid, the A - series assassin droid standing watchful as its mechanical head swiveled on mounts to maximize its sensor use even as its hands passed Einarr a variety of tools.

“Unknown contact, please identify.” Cas2's mechanical voice rang out in the emptiness of the engineering section as a trio of hunched figures entered through the hatchway. Curses slipped from the lips of the first masked figure as he attempted to back track dropping a large container with a glowing crimson display in slowly descending aurebesh characters. “Master Einarr, we appear to have saboteurs Message sent to security, permission to engage?”

“Granted Cassius , but nothing that could damage the hull or important equipment.” Einarr rose from his work as he drew his paired DC-15's checking their packs charge as the pair hurried in pursuit of the rapidly retreating trio. “You there! Hold it or be confirmed as hostile to this vessel and engaged with force!” Einarr's voice resounded in the narrow confines of the corridor as Cassius actual switched his internal transmitter to the Internal Marine forces channel, the communications filtering into Einarrs consciousness through the cybernetic hardware which made up the right side of his head.

“Team 1 engaged with hostiles, group of 4 at hangar bay 3. Looks like they were going to try to disable some of our fighters.” A moments pause as the Marines voice was drowned out by a flurry of shots “Looks like a Corellian Infiltrator unit. All Units go to high alert, Infiltrators confirmed in Hangar 3 and Engineering bay .”

Einarr ducked behind a bulkhead as the Infiltrators he was in pursuit of fired a salvo of shots back at him, a pair of shots glancing off Cassius 2's glaciated chest plating in a shower of sparks. The droid raised its right arm as it turned side on to the Trio, a pair of long barrels sliding free from compartments in the limb before releasing a pair of carefully aimed shots into the rearmost intruder. The mans dark uniform blazed as the energy impacted, spinning the man to the ground with a scream of pain before swiftly falling silent as life left him. His partners continued to flee only stopping long enough to scoop up the case the dead man had dropped, Cas2 and Einarr both sent shots after the pair only to have their aim foiled by the team moving around a bend in the corridor, their E-11/C rifles flickering back around the corner to fire off a short burst forcing Einarr and Cas2 to move into alcoves of cover. Shots rang out from around the corner and the enemy duo backed and reversed direction as lasers flashed around them, ducking into one of the break rooms off the main hall as a squad of Marine troops rushed forward in leap frogging movements.

“Friendlies on your right, Cas 2 advance and support them. Marine squad, Flight Member Einarr of Jexxel squadron. The enemy retreated into the room on your left, no exits besides the main corridor.”

“Thanks pilot, we got this you get to safety.” The Marine seemed to view Einarr with condescension through the visor of his helmet. Einarr shook his head in the negative as he advanced beside his droid companion.

“Negative, the enemy unit appears to have a tactical explosive. I am an engineer so unless you got someone here who might be able to disarm it or at least reduce its effectiveness then I stay.”

The Marine took a step back, his comm bead relaying this latest report as his men spread out by the open door, the occasional flash of laser fire sliding through the opening to strike the far wall. A trio of Marines risked the fire to cross to the far side, firing as they crossed to be rewarded with a shrill scream as their shots found its mark in one of the saboteurs shoulder. Einarr and Cas2 moved up staying out of the squads way as they prepared to move, one of the Marines limbered a VnS-10b from his pack as he moved to the edge of the doorway. The Sargent raised a fist with 5 fingers raised as he prepared the squad for entry, as the second finger dropped the Chaingun slid around the corner to release a torrent of rounds in a suppression pattern, 3 fingers later the Cerberus fell silent as the remainder of the squad flanked by Einarr and the droid followed behind their weapons striking the huddled man as he attempted to rise and bring his shortened E-1 to bear, the second lay huddled in a pool of congealing blood over the case with its descending numbers. “Okay fly boy, get to work disarming that thing before we all get baked.”

Einarr nodded as he hurried to the case, Cas2 picking up the body on top and tossing the mans corpse into a corner as Einarr swiftly inspected the casing. A slot for a key card sat empty,  the number pad beside it dark. “Sir, the third is dead down that corridor, send someone to go check his pockets for a card, we need it to have any chance of disarming this thing safely. Cas 2 check these other mens pockets. The droid went to work as half the squad moved down the corridor to inspect the area Einarr had come from and check the first casualties possessions as Einarr pulled his spanner from its loop and began disassembling the case careful to inspect each screw for the minor ring of a pressure seating which could be a booby trap. The body of the case came off easily enough revealing the rows of corded Blasticks encased in a film of shock proofing. Einarr followed the main lead from the top blast caps of the explosives as he traced it to the main panel of the detonator, finding both signal and return lines. He slid the spanner into its loop and drew a small wire stripper, he slowly, carefully removed the insulation from between the wires leaving a small stretch exposed as Einarr brought them together shorting out the loop to the explosives while maintaining the loop with the detonator preventing the signal to explode from reaching the main charge. Einarr then snipped the connections and handed the stacked blasticks to a waiting Marine to get to the next set, he repeated this process 3 more times to clear the main destructive charge from the case leaving only the primary charge of a thermal bomb wired hard into the detonator itself.

“Ok, without the card this is the best I can do, clear the room!” The Marines hustled Einarr out ahead of them as they sealed the door behind them, Cas 2 standing watchful at his shoulder as the Marines who had gone to search the body returned with a shattered card in their hands. “No… no… just no, reduced as it is it will burn that room, but it should not penetrate any further.” Einarr had Cassius actual connect him to the control room with a linked co-ordinate code.

“Control, Jexxel flight Besh , I am on site here and we have a thermal charge in the break room on his level. Please close the vents and bulkheads, estimated 46 seconds to detonation.”

“Confirmed Besh , get those people clear I will seal the corridor.”

The Marines led off as the group hurried from the area, breach bulkhead closing in their wake as control watched their progress on their internal sensors. 35 seconds later the lights flickered and the ship shuddered slightly as the internal systems handled the load of the air vents removing all air from the sealed area to starve any fires before they had a chance to catch. 5 seconds after that the final vents sealed and locked. 7 seconds after that the group waited silently as the anticipated detonation registered on their field gear before being swiftly snuffed by the airless void and fire suppression system.

“Marine squad 4 to command, situation clear, engineering needed to clean up the mess.” The man turned and removed his helmets as he looked at the Mon Cal and his robot guardian. “Thanks for the assist fly boy, you can march with us anytime.” Einarr took the humans hand in his own with a firm shake then turned to wait for the all clear so he could get to work on repairs… damn rebels his lunch had been in that break room.

OOC:

Word count: 1471