Forceful Negotiations [Closed]

[Jiang Winters]

Mrlsst. It was an uncomfortably humid world to the Runner, Corso. He preferred milder worlds such as Corellia, or arid worlds like Kuar, which he had recently visited. Were it up to him, he would not be here, especially on such a vile assignment as the one his masters had handed down to him.

He was here to assassinate Crlisst Herssek, a Mrlssi diplomat.

The human man, dressed in faded olive pants along with a light leather jacket worn unzipped over a navy blue tee-shirt, slowly made his way down the streets of the city. He carried a large aluminum case in his right hand, which held a nasty little surprise for the diplomat. One he wouldn't need to be close to use, unlike the silenced .45 pistol he carried in a holster hidden at the small of his back, just in case.

The streets were unusually empty for being at dusk; he would have thought more citizens would be outside. But he wasn't complaining. The less witnesses, the better it would go.

Corso was coming closer to the spaceport, the diplomat should be touching down any moment now. 'The Bastards', as he liked to call them, had a contact at the spaceport; the moment hapless Herssek landed, he would know exactly where he was, where he was going, and how many guards he had with him. Easy, right?

He sighed, and pulled a datapad out of a pocket in his trench coat as he walked. He'd find out soon enough.

 

[Phil]

The republic vessel had touched down within the hour into a private hangar. However, no one was leaving it yet as the pilot had informed hangar security they were having a boarding ramp malfunction. It was a lie.

"I know I want to be unseen, but this is ridiculous!"

Crlisst Herssek said, wearing a security officer's body armor and helmet over him as one of his other armed escorts wore his expensive suit and had managed to spray his hair to the same color as Crlisst's hair color.

"Sorry, Sir. But we can't take any risks. It'll just be until we get you to abode."

Crlisst's double said, straightening out his suit as he led Crlisst and three other escorts towards the ship's boarding ramp. All they needed to do was pay the fee and wait for the speeder to come and pick them up, which should be soon.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Corso's datapad chirped, and the man tapped the pad's screen, accepting the incoming transmission. It was a brief text message, informing him that his target's ship had touched down, but they were having a boarding ramp malfunction. Either something was up, or their ship's mechanic slacked on the last routine maintenance.

Either way, it was an opportunity to set up an ambush.

The man broke into a light jog, heading directly for the hanger which the vessel had landed within. Once inside the lightly guarded spaceport, he beelined for the designated hanger, his grip on the case's handle becoming so tight that his knuckles turned white, while he maneuvered his thumb to press a hidden button just in front of the handle. He was anxious to get this over with.

 

[Phil]

It did not take long for Crlisst and his few security officers to pay the landing fee and answer a few questions before they were leaving the hangar, entering a large hall that connected with other hangars and offices. Not too many people were in the halls as Crlisst, dressed as his own security, followed his decoy towards the spaceport exit.

 

[Jiang Winters]

There they were. The diplomat and his security detail. Corso positioned a pudgy old businessman between him and his target as he walked past the. Once clear of them and their lines of sight, he depressed the button on his case, causing it to split open and fall to the ground, leaving him holding his silenced 5.56MM assault rifle by the a carry handle that had served as the 'briefcase's' handle. He quickly shifted his grip to the rifle's pistol grip and brought it up to his shoulder, all in a matter of seconds. He whirled around and flicked the rifle's fire selector to 'auto', laid the sights on the back of one of the security guards, and depressed the trigger. The rifle answered his order with a hail of deadly armor-piercing 5.56MM rounds.

He swept the stream of silenced fire from left to right, to rake the security detail and kill as many as he could with the 40-round magazine, at the same time moving to a conveniently-placed half-meter tall duracrete planter in the middle of the hall. He kept firing until his rifle went 'click', then ducked into cover and awaited a retaliatory attack, should there be one.

 

[Phil]

From Corso's view, all five were cut down was cut down in the hail of gunfire as everyone else in the area not shot ran out screaming. However, only two security units, one being Crlisst, and the decoy survived as they had dove to the ground as the shooting started. Crlisst realized that he was in the process of being assassinated as he made a run for the exit as the decoy and remaining security guard unholstered their blaster pistols and moved in where the Assassin was, following the empty bullet cases on the floor.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Corso dropped the spent magazine out of his rifle and extracted a fresh one from a hidden pouch on the inside of his coat, then slapped it home and charged the bolt. He then poked up from behind his cover, rifle at the ready, and saw Crlisst and a guard coming right for him, blaster pistols drawn. He had no time to think it strange that one of the guards was fleeing for his life, yet the diplomat himself was coming right at him, he just pulled the trigger and swept another volley of fire over the two before taking cover again, though they had plenty of time to send a answering volley his way before he was completely in cover.

 

[Phil]

Once they saw the assassin peak out from the corner, both the decoy and remaining guard opened fired with their pistols, not bothering to take aim as they fired an volley of shots all over his direction. The decoy knew he was about to die, but so long as Crlisst escaped, his death would not be in vain. He only hoped that the speeder would arrive soon to pick him up.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Argnnhh, dammit!" Corso growled through clenched teeth, wincing at the intense burning pain coming from the blaster wound seared into his left shoulder. It was a relatively minor hit and wouldn't impede his fighting ability - much - but it hurt like hell and would need medical treatment. And it had really pissed him off.

He ducked right this time, poking out around the corner of the planter where a bench sat next to it. Aiming between the bench and the planter, he got a good bead on the security guard, and took the shot, loosing off a three-round burst aimed for his chest. Without waiting to see what happened to the hapless being, he sucked back into cover, then stuck his rifle above his head and blind-fired another fifteen shots in the direction of the other before pulling his arms and rifle back into cover, bringing the ammo in the magazine down to twelve shots remaining.

 

[Phil]

The last guard was shot down, falling down after revising the shots into his chest. The decoy looked down and saw he was not responding, which meant that he was all that was left of the security for Crlisst. He now had the assassin where he wanted him, but started to think if he was the only one... For all he knew, there could be another two assassins in on this, and the other could be...

"Falling back!" He yelled, deciding to deal with the assassin later and now he needed to get to Crlisst just incase... that is if he did not leave yet.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Falling Back!"

The sound caused the assassin to pause. What if it was a ruse? What if the lone guard was trying to cause him to make a mistake by leaping right into the barrel of his blaster? But he had no time to think; something was very wrong here, and he had a feeling that his real target was escaping.

He bolted to his feet and dashed left around the column, his rifle instantly at the ready as he moved. The sights fell on the torso of the decoy and he emptied the contents of the magazine in one long burst, sending a spattering of tracers hurtling at him.

 

[Phil]

The decoy was almost to the main exit, just had to turn a corner and he was free. Before he reached it, he felt piercing agony slam into his back and side as bullets shredded through his clothing, bloodsplattering out as he fell to the ground in a mess. Outside the hangar, the real Crlisst was waiting for a speeder to come and grab him. He heard the gunfire from inside as mostly everyone inside ran out and the hell away from the port area until police arrived.

"What's taking that damn thing so long?!"

He asked, his hand resting gently on a standard security blaster pistol. He was a terrible shot, never really using a pistol in combat until this day.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Corso jogged up to the fallen decoy, kneeling beside him for a moment as he followed up on a gut feeling. Rolling the deceased man over so he could see his face, he compared the man's visage to that of the real Clrisst, who's face he was studying on his datapad. "Shit, it's not him. I've been duped. The real one must be dressed up as a guard. Sneaky bastard." He grumbled, stuffing the pad back into his pocket and rising back to his feet, as he swapped out the spent mag for his last full clip.

He dashed out of the entrance and started looking around for another member of the security detail he had just ambushed. That would be his target, that would be Clrisst. Luckily, there were only a few people left running away, and out of them, one would be wearing armor and would be staying put, waiting for a speeder. That narrowed the search... Somewhat.

 

[Phil]

Finally, the speeder started to approach from a distance. Crlisst sighed with relief as he approached the sidewalk edge when the roofless speeder pulled up. He removed the uncomfortable helmet to show the driver it was him.

"We were ambushed, all my escorts are dead."

He said, opening the door and starting to get in as he turned towards the entrance of the spaceport and saw none other then the assassin. Crlisst immediately started to freak out as he cursed at the driver to start driving.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Corso swore under his breath; he couldn't seem to be able to spot his target! He kept searching in different directions, but the armored diplomat seemed to have disappeared from view. He had all but given up hope of tracking him, when he saw a speeder approaching the sidewalk a fair distance away. He squinted his eyes, and lo and behold, there was Clrisst, about to get into the speeder!

He bolted towards the vehicle, his hands so tightly squeezing the grips of his weapon that he turned white-knuckled. He had to shave some of the distance off, otherwise he would never be able to get an accurate burst off at either of them. Clrisst opened the door and adrenaline flooded Corso's system, causing him to run that much faster, before sliding to a halt some hundred meters away. He had hoped to get even closer, but this was what he had.

Dropping to one knee as the diplomat started to freak out, he laid the sights on the hapless fellow's center-mass, and started firing off short bursts of automatic fire, to stay accurate.

 

[Phil]

Clrisst screamed as he ducked out of view in the speeder, going down as far as he could as bullets raced over him. The driver was not so fortunate as he was riddled with the gunfire meant for his boss as he slumped forward, the speeder driving straight off with a dead driver in the seat. Clrisst had little time to figure out what happened as he saw he was covered in blood, his driver was dead, and the speeder was going into an intersection at high speed. As soon as it passed through it, it was slammed into by another speeder on the driver's side, sending Clrisst's speeder crashing out of the street and into a nearby building wall, running down one innocent pedestrian.

 

[Jiang Winters]

While it was not the intended outcome, Corso was fairly satisfied with the effect the rounds had. He felt somewhat remorseful for the pedestrian the out-of-control speeder splattered, but he didn't have time to feel more than a tinge of passing guilt. Clrisst was still alive inside the downed speeder, and he had to kill him. And, of course, recover the corpse.

With his rifle almost completely out of ammo, he flicked it's safety on and slung it over his back, then drew his .45, which was also silenced, and dashed towards the speeder. He reached it in short order and jumped onto the tail of the downed vehicle with his pistol aimed at the passenger section. "Clrisst! Slowly get up with both hands on your head, and I'll spare your life! I only intend to take you hostage; nothing more!"

He was being partly truthful. He was going to take the man captive, then brutally murder him before taking him to the Royal Morgue, which was the drop-off point for the body, and where he'd collect his money.

 

[Phil]

Clrisst was a bloody and wrecked mess when he recovered and heard the assassin was now behind him. His left arm was broke in several places as he used his right hand to open his door and attempted to get out, his hands high save for his broken arm.

"You... know who I am? You arnen't... getting away with... ANY of this!"

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Yes, I know who you are, and you're wrong. I will get away with this, my employers have seen to that." Corso replied, watching Clrisst's every movement as the man got out of the vehicle. "See that cargo speeder across the street? Walk to it, and move fast. Don't try anything, I'd hate to have to cause you any... Unncessary suffering by chasing you down." He ordered, motioning towards the nondescript gray box-like speeder with his free hand, as he hopped off the crashed vehicle.

 

[Phil]

OOC: Sorry, almost forgot about this. I don't know how much longer this will need to go though.

IC: Clrisst cursed under his breath, grumbling slightly as he walked towards the cargo speeder. He knew it, he was dead or wold be dead soon enough. If this Hunter would not kill him, then his "employer" surely would. He was furious, wanting to just punch this hunter now, but fear was holding him back; fear of a painful end. As he stopped thinking, he was now right at the cargo speeder.