Around Every Corner

[Varyn Rask]

Varyn Rask couldn't argue that the facility was of sound build, the fact that the Crusader owned it sickened him. While he wasn't quick to condemn a comfortable lifestyle, this Sith had betrayed what the Venatori stood for in order to obtain it, and Varyn couldn't stand for that. For years this Imperial had been aid to their leaders, but now he had become complacent, given into what they were trying to destroy, and betrayed those who remained. For that, Varyn had marked him for death.

But there was a hierarchy, and despite being Sith, you couldn't just walk into a Crusader's estate and take his head off... at least not officially. However, if your government's enemy did it, who could argue?

It was for this reason that Varyn had reached out to a member of the Old Empire under his alias. He left no connection to who he actually was, and this little operation would be without record. No one would be surprised if a pair of Old Empire acolytes hunted down an Imperial Crusader to make a name for themselves. It would just be another day at war.

Varyn glanced up at the estate, standing tall and proud at the top of the rocky cliff and wished for enough high explosives to bring the whole thing down to his level. That wasn't an option. They would have to approach from the only access point. That was, once his associate arrived. The idea that she might betray him had more than crossed his mind, so his weapons were - typically - not too far away. His senses reached out to feel what was around him, sensing for when she approached. The hour of meeting was close at hand, and he wondered if she would take the opportunity he'd left for her. He certainly hoped she would. @Wit

 

[Nymeria (TL8)]

The future is a dark place. We all die there.​

The words hung in the back of her head as she trudged through the gravel towards the rendezvous point. It wasn't that she was going to kill someone, she had killed before, it was she was going to kill that was getting her excited. It had taken her years to get where she was, and the stupid squabble between two high born fools has almost ruined everything by plunging the Galaxy into chaos. Well, she wasn't just going to sit by and let that happen. It had taken her some time, but she had seen the opportunity that this "civil war" was going to present to her. The Galaxy was going to plunge into chaos, and she would ride the ladders of chaos straight to the top. That ascent began today, with the death of a man who though insignificant in the grand scheme of things, might one day prove to be the foundation on which she would build everything. One death and she would have the influence and notoriety to move forward.

It didn't take long for her to spot her co-conspirator in this little game, another whose goals with hers today. She didn't know much about him, but if he was able to help her do what he had said, well then she was willing to take that risk. She would simply have to watch her back as well, something that had been beaten into her in her very first week at the academy. Coming to a stop besides the other Sith, she greeted him with a simple nod and a "You're early," before turning her eyes back to the estate, where a Crusader waited unawares that his future was here.

The future is a dark place. She would take him there.​

@Phoenix

 

[Varyn Rask]

Varyn could sense another person approaching and felt his muscles tense ever so slightly. It was a reflex that usually led up to fighting, but that wasn't the goal right now. The goal now was to eliminate their target and make first contact with his partner. He wondered at his own decision making for being here: partnering with an acolyte from the Old Empire was hardly a good plan, but they were both using each other. He could get his goal, and she would be able to claim credit for a kill that would push her through the ranks. A win-win, and one that might teach him a bit about her in the process. The time to find allies was now.

He gave a quiet nod from behind his mask as she mentioned he was early. He'd discovered that it usually paid to be early. It helped one evade traps before they were set up, and offered the chance to study the terrain before conflict arose.

Corax, he said, offering his alias so she wouldn't have to merely refer to him as "hey you" for the rest of the operation. There wasn't need for much further introduction, but he silently wondered if she would think this was a trap. It certainly screamed suspicion, but he suspected she had her own insurances.

I had the chance to observe his security. He, himself, is only gonna be one of your problems. There are guards on patrol around the facility constantly, and the only way in is the main road, he said, pointing to the bridge-like overhang above them. It offered little by way of concealement apart from a few trees, but darkness was beginning to fall, and he hoped that would offer them an opportunity.

The good thing is, we don't need to be quiet. If we can eliminate the guards quietly, that'll give us the advantage, but if things get loud, our mission isn't lost. While their target no doubt had an escape route of some sort, cowardly Sith who ran from a fight - especially against acolytes - didn't tend to last for long.

I say we get into position, by that point night will be set in, and we move against the pair of bridge guards as quickly and quietly as we can, he suggested, waiting to hear if she had a counter-proposal.

 

[F2O2]

F2O2 hummed a little hum-hum tune to himself as he drove the delivery hovervan up the road. It wasn't often that he found himself in need of some extra credits, but the damndest thing was that the investments where he had the wealth he'd kinda-sorta embezzled from a dying owner were all tied up in accounts that would levy early-withdrawal penalties. Compound interest being the wonderful thing that it was, F2O2 was not very eager to damage that future potential. His business programming simply would not allow it for the level of circumstances he was in.

So, he'd gotten a job as a delivery driver. Naturally no regular business would offer a droid of all things a paying job. So he'd found employment with less...reputable bosses. The kind that dealt in goods under the table, so to speak. The issues of legality or morality in this specific transaction did not bother him. He would likely never see this specific client again, and he only needed a couple more delivery runs to meet his goal of credits on hand. Then he would be gone from what had occasionally been a dangerous job.

"Sal Gaulik's Pizza Express" was emblazoned on the side of the van. F2O2 had no pizza in the van, however. Somethings were technically edible. Most weren't. F2O2 was aware of the contents of the manifest, only so he could verify that this Sith fellow had received the delivery in full. Criminals, his employers may be, but they knew how to keep books. F2O2 could respect that. Details and verification of those details were essential in any business operation.

The road incline changed as it started to wind up the side of the cliff and the repulsors in the van started to sound a little off. F2O2 dissected the audio information along with the change in speed and deduced that the van would fail soon. He guessed that the blaster fire from last week had damaged something the mechanic back at the chop shop had missed. It was still an annoyance that would require some temporary rerouting of power. Nobody really needed a speedometer or radio. The whine of the repulsors grew to a higher pitch and then cut out. The van dropped to the surface with a bang and a jolt. "Blasted claptrap mechanic, I'll rip its wiring out," F2O2 muttered as he reached down and popped a panel from the dash. Now, where did all of these wires lead?

 

[Nymeria (TL8)]

"Nymeria." She replied to Corax's introduction. The fact that his name might be an alias wasn't something that she had considered, and as such neither had giving an alias of her own in return. As far as she was concerned it didn't matter, she wanted people to know that she had done this, so what was the point of hiding her name.

She followed his words as he outlined his plan, it was a sound one and their chances of succeeding were pretty good. But she wondered as she observed the overhang a smile crept up her face as she realized she did know of a way to further improve their chances. Turning to Corax with the smile, as innocent and sweet as it could be, still on her face, she pulled back the cloak that covered her small frame and let it fall to the ground. It revealed the practical yet flattering attire she wore below, one befitting a Sith but one that didn't quite reveal her as an assassin.

"I walk up to the gates and introduce myself as the evening's entertainment for the lord of the manor." She pulled off her lightsaber and held it out to Corax as safekeeping before pulling a pair of zenji needles from her waist and slipping into her hair disguised as pins to keep her hair in place. "Either they're used to their master thinking with his needle and let me in, or be distracted long enough for you to sneak in and get behind them. Either way, it'll make for an easier kill, don't you think?"

The plan seemed like a sound one to her, though neither she nor Corax knew of the approaching van that had the potential to throw a literal hydrospanner into their plans. Based on what she did know, she was going against her training by trusting in him enough to hand over her one weapon to him, but there were times when you had to look at the bigger picture and take a leap of faith. Hopefully this was one of them.

@Phoenix @Clayton

 

[Varyn Rask]

Varyn was a bit surprised when he saw her hand her weapon over to him. He was waiting for it to explode in his hand at any minute, but it didn't. She merely threw her cloak off and revealed that she was... uh, very fit. He tried not to stare from behind his mask and even more tried not to shake his head to shake himself out of it. No, business.

He gave a nod instead. That... uh, seems sound, he said, returning his mind to the present. I'll make my way around to get behind them, he said as they made it to the top of the cliff. Hopefully they would get lucky and she'd have her "in" quickly.

Varyn had just found a tree - yes, he was climbing a tree - and made his way up into it, offering him a good position to drop behind the guards when the sound of a van breaking down hit his ears. It was, of course, right as Nymeria was making her way to the guards.

What can we help you with, sweetheart? he asked, before the sputtering and puttering of the van promptly caught his attention. What's that? he asked, squinting out at the vehicle. It wasn't entirely clear if he was asking Nymeria, himself, or one of his fellow guards. @Wit @Clayton

 

[F2O2]

/OOC Roll = 18

With a protest of grimy gears and bearings that could probably used a good cleaning and new coat of oil, the panel on the dash slid free to expose a mess of wiring. With some good fortune whoever had last worked on the innards of the van was competent as they had zip-tied all the various wiring into solid bundles, grouped by where those wires led. The kind bastard had even labeled them. If F2O2 were an organic, he would have shed a tear at this beautiful dedication to the quality of mechanical work. Instead, he assigned a positive value to the unknown mechanic.

After a cursory poke around he quickly identified the issue: a fuse had blown. Well, that was simple enough to fix. He popped the blown fuse out and tossed the now-useless device out the window. What, who was going to arrest a droid for littering? He did not have a spare fuse, but the van did come with a plug-in cigarra lighter. Having absolutely no other use for the thing, F2 removed the device from its housing in the console and gave it a new home where the fuse had been. With a spark of power the van's repulsorlifts whined back into life and the vehicle rose above the ground.

F2O2 slid the panel closed and shifted the van back into gear. The van lurched forward, and an angry hiss sounded from the back. F2O2 didn't care. He was immune to even the astoundingly potent venom that thing carried. Droids had some serious benefits over organics in that department. Slowly he approached the gate, only to find other people there as well. F2O2 did not care. He simply decided to compute the next digit of Pi while he waited. Sadly, he did not get to compute anywhere near the last digit of Pi as the guards had obviously been expecting the delivery. Two of them strolled up to the van, one on either side.

"Whatchu got there, clink?" asked the guard on the driver's side.

"Greetings, I am F2O2, delivery droid at your master's...well not service, but delivery," F2O2 said, going with his protocol programming for now. "I have a shipping manifest right here," he handed a datapad to the guard who looked at it while the other guard went around behind the van to check the rear doors.

@Phoenix @Wit

 

[Nymeria (TL8)]

Nymeria smirked at Corax's reaction, though she couldn't see his face behind his mask she had been trained to know when someone appreciated her in the way he was and she found it comforting that even among the Sith some things were still the same as everywhere else.

As the two parted ways, Nym carefully made her way towards the main entrance, and the guards that waited there. It was not a surprise when they treated her as they did, she was used to being called "love" and "sweetheart" and smiled at the guard as she stepped up to him.

"Your Master requested..." She was cut short by the arrival of the van, it loud arrival distracting the guard and momentarily drawing his attention away from her. Now, she was no assassin, far from it, but neither was she so incompetent that she could fail when opportunity presented itself. As the man was busy talking to the droid, she pulled out one of the needles from her hair. While the second guard began moving towards the rear of the van to inspect its contents, she stepped up to the first guard as the droid was holding out the datapad for him to inspect and jammed the needle into his neck, hitting at just the right spot to drop him like a fly.

As the guard fell lifeless to the guard, she smiled at the droid as it stood there with the datapad still in its hand and gestured towards the side of the van where the second guard was now taking notice of what had happened and was tugging on his holstered weapon. "Heads up!" She warned the droid as she dropped to her knees behind cover off the van's hood and pulled out the dead guard's blaster from his holster, expecting the second guard to open fire at any moment. Hopefully Corax would be able to intercept the second guard before things got too heated up.

OOC: Roll to sneak up on guard=19, roll to kill him=19
@Phoenix @Clayton

 

[Varyn Rask]

Dice​

Varyn was up in the tree and preparing to drop down behind the guards when suddenly his partner was moving. He wasn't quite expecting things to progress that quickly, but this droid had been an opportunity, and Nymeria had seized on it. He couldn't blame her - he likely would have done the same - but it meant he wasn't in position when it was time to kill him.

He dropped quickly, catching a glimpse of the first guard bleeding out as he clutched at his neck. He moved as quickly as he could, saber hilt in hand as he saw the guard beginning to take aim. His thumb flipped the activator and the low buzzing-hum of a saber blade could suddenly be heard.

He couldn't hit his target from this range, but it did manage to draw the attention away from Nymeria and the droid. A blaster shot range out - fine, so stealth was somewhat out the window - and his saber twirled through the air, catching the shot and sending it back toward the man. Unfortunately, it didn't kill him. The shot blew off the lower part of his leg and he fell to the ground, giving Varyn enough time to close.

What's he doing here? he asked, indicating the droid as he moved in closer to the wounded man. While there was a high chance that the main house had not heard the gunshot, they couldn't quite bank on that. Do you have access codes to the house? he asked the droid, hoping that perhaps he was employed here, unlikely as it may be. @Clayton @Wit

 

[F2O2]

/OOC rolls: 1, 1, 7

Things were turning out in a very unexpected manner. A startled "Oh dear me!" escaped his vocabulator as Nymeria stabbed the guard in the neck. Murder and assassination on this simple delivery run to a well-guarded estate was not high on the list of probabilities calculated on the drive here. He had been wrong before however. These organics sure liked to act in erratic and sometimes unpredictable manners. He looked down at the guard who was clutching his neck to no avail. "You are going to die; try not to panic," the droid advised the guard after seeing how much blood was escaping.

For some reason his words gave little comfort.

Somebody fired a shot a little bit later, which was followed by the oddly satisfying sound of a man screaming about his leg getting blown off. Now that was odd, F2O2 had never assigned a positive value to that sound before. Interesting. That would require future introspection into his value programming. Varyn, the man that had sent the blaster bolt back, made his way over to the van now that the second guard was occupied with the fact that his leg had been blown off. The lightsaber immediately identified him as Sith, which sent a shiver down F2O2's circuits. Sith were volatile and ranked high on the Danger Index. He would need to tread carefully. And helpfully.

"I am sorry, I do not have access codes to the house, Master Sith. However, I may be able to open the gates another way," he replied, ever the helpful protocol droid. Normally he might have suggested checking the slain guards for a code cylinder, or slicing the gate. Hell, F2O2 had a universal computer interface that he could probably override the gates with. However, sometimes new circumstances resulted in unusual decisions, even for droids.

F2O2 slammed the van into gear and accelerated hard at the gate. He locked his servos with only a little play to absorb some of the impact. The van slammed with a might crash into the gates and sparks flew...as the solid metal gate held and the electrical charge that coursed through it entered the van and overloaded almost everything that could overload. F2 luckily was safe inside the driver's compartment which held no bare metal. But the unmistakable sound of pops, cracks, and an ever-increasing whine could only spell bad news.

With great urgency he threw the door open and spilled out onto the pavement. His foot caught on the runner, tripping him up. Once he regained his balance he broke into a brisk run in a direction away from the van. "I do suggest that you run bef-" KERWHAAAAAAAM! The concussive blast lifted F2O2 up bodily from the ground and threw him a dozen yards before he landed in a bush while also covered in burning, molten plasteel. "Oh dear! Bless my circuits I am on fire!" he cried out. The bush, having been through a recent drought, started to catch fire as well.

It went without saying that the estate guards were now aware of their presence.

@Phoenix @Wit

 

[Nymeria (TL8)]

Nymeria was keeping an eye on the second guard, but her eyes were drawn away for a moment as she heard the droid attempt to calm the first guard, one eyebrow rising in surprise as she heard the words. Letting out a soft chuckle, she turned her attention back to the second guard, in time to see Corax deal with him.

As he approached, Nymeria got to her feet and took finally had an opportunity to study the droid and his van, and when Corax questioned her about him she was able to respond with an amused "Pizza guy. All his wealth and he still orders from Pizza Hutta." The later part of her reply came with a shake of her head as she began walking back towards the first guard.

Her amusement though turned to slight concern as the droid suddenly got back into the van and began driving straight towards the gate. She got what he was going for, but the result did not match the intent, and the aftermath of the droid's stunt was a slow wail emerging from within the estate as the alarms went up. It made for a weird scene, the droid in the bushes, both on fire, the ruined remains of the van slammed against the still closed gates, and the mournful wail emerging from the estate. This wasn't really a stealth mission anymore.

Well, they just had to play with the hand that had been dealt to them. A quick search of the guard she had taken down revealed nothing that could help them open the door, so she gave up on getting the door open and decided it was better to just go over it. "Up and above?" She called out to Corax as she began jogging towards the door, about to launch herself into the air when a crack of blaster bolt suddenly rang out over the wail of the alarm and a went brushing past her right shoulder. It was but a scratch, but it was enough to completely ruin the momentum of her charge and instead of jumping over the gate she found herself whipped around and only managed to get her stumbling recovery to a stop a few feet from the burning van.

She jumped behind cover of the van before attempting to peer out from behind it to see what had happened. More guards had arrived, a lucky shot from afar had managed to hit her, but now they were getting closer and within range to take more well placed shots. This was very much not a stealth mission anymore.

OOC: Roll to see if there is an external guard house=5(no)
roll to find access codes on first guard=9(failure)
roll to jump over gate=2
@Phoenix @Clayton

 

[Varyn Rask]

Dice​

Varyn got to the guard who was downed and grabbed the security badge off the man, but it didn't seem to be able to open the gate. As he continued going through the man's pockets, the droid backed up his little speeder and then went plowing into the gate. That went even worse than Varyn would have anticipated. A moment later, the speeder exploded, knocking Varyn from his crouch to a stumble onto the floor, and sending a piece of shrapnel directly into the guard's head. While Varyn was certainly glad it wasn't his own head, now the guard wouldn't be giving them the gate access code.

Another loud - but not as loud as the explosion - declaration that the droid was on fire caused Varyn to look that direction. The bush had started to catch as well. This was not turning into a smooth mission.

Concern began to set in on the assassin's mind, and he knew there would be repercussions if they failed. No, failing wasn't an option. Think, think, think, he told himself, taking a deep breath in and out before settling on a plan of sorts. His partner had tried a jump over the gate, so perhaps that would work! Why that was the best plan his mind settled on, no one may ever know, but it didn't work out.

Just as the Sith was preparing to make his run for the gate, a blaster shot ripped across the opening and nearly caught him in the shoulder. His step was completely thrown off, and he pulled up short as another round of fire ripped through the gaps in the gate. Jumping seemed out of the question.

Nymeria, cut through, I'll cover you! he said, pointing to a portion of the wall to the side of the gate. It would require a certain level of trust in him that he would prevent her from being shot, but teamwork was the only way they were going to get through.

And then there was the droid. Varyn... really didn't know what to make of the droid, but he wasn't turning his back to it. Something about its willingness to drive a speeder into a gate was definitely not part of the programming of a pizza delivery unit. @Clayton @Wit

 

[F2O2]

/OOC: dice = malfunction

"Heppo jeesh Oprah Spacefree jee 'sh nop nire!" F2 cried out as he rolled away from the bush and over the ground to smother the flames. He would have to pay someone to scrape off the pieces of plasteel that had melted and adhered to his body. That was for later. Right now he had more pressing concerns such as the fact that..."Kaa poy, da doth tee Doyoee! Jee katka doth dotkana du Yikkuensm! Mah vehpobaa chespo phila!" This was bad news. He would have to go in for servicing to fix this little issue.

The droid stood from where he'd been rolling, and made his way over to the fallen guards. Each carried a blaster pistol, so he recovered those. It had been a while since F2O2 had carried weapons. Non-licensed security droids typically couldn't get through security checkpoints with them. The explosion must have knocked a couple circuits back together though because the guard shack suddenly looked like an excellent place to assess what could be done. The Sith might react poorly to him accidentally almost blowing them up, and the Sith in the compound certainly were not friendly to him, so F2 needed to repair whatever shaky ground he was in with at least one of these two groups.

As a couple blaster bolts whizzed by him, F2 toddered into the shack. A still-smoking droid must not have been too high on the list of current threats for the few guards that had managed to respond so quickly. A split-screened monitor steadily flipped through different camera views along the perimeter. Below these screens, a beautiful sight met his optical sensors. A computer socket. An interface probe popped out of F2's arm and slid right into the socket. It turned this way and that as he accessed the Estate's security system. A few moments later and he'd unlocked the gate and set it to open. A simple enough command, and no security around it.

F2 probed the system a little more and identified a couple other commands that were executable with a little bit of dedication in getting around the security settings. "Meecooda phocha twa cahecakha vocdy an neka bu deuba, hatkocanh uba bacaka mi bai?" He asked Nymeria as he further delved into the root commands, identifying a few more options such as downloading Estate schematics, and calling for reinforcements. The last one would probably be a bad idea.

@Wit @Phoenix

 

[Nymeria (TL8)]

Nymeria looked from the section of the wall Corax had pointed towards, to the guards, and then back to the Sith assassin. He was right, this would only work if they worked together, and she would have to trust him once more. She had already done that once when she had handed over her saber to him, but now she would be putting her life more directly in his hands by counting on him to watch her back. Well, what fun was life without some risk?

She was about to call out to Corax to toss her blade to him as she began moving towards the wall when the gates suddenly began opening, bringing Nymeria to a skidding stop. The droid's words drew her attention and she realized that somehow he had managed to get the gates to open, he must be really desperate to deliver that pizza. The tone of his words made it apparent to her that he was asking her a question, but it was still gibberish to her ears and she had no idea what he mwant. So she just nodded and responded with what seemed like what he might want to hear. "Yes, good job!"

Not waiting to see what he did next, she darted towards the now open gate and slipped into the estate proper. Almost immediately she found herself under blaster fire, though none of their shots hit this time around. She reached out with the Force to try and grab the two closest guards, but as far as they were she wasn't sure what she could do. So she sucked the Force in and putting on a burst of speed, did the one thing they might not have been expecting, she ran straight into the incoming blaster fire. Her speed, along with the unexpected nature of her response might have caught them off guard, as there was no blaster fire for a few seconds and she had all the time to cut down the distance between her and the guards.

The next instant she was upon them, not even stopping as she ran by them, darting through a gap between two of them and grabbing both as she ran, her moment and the Force coursing through her providing the strength and momentum to pull them along. She came to a stop near the manor's walls, letting go of the guards as she did so that their newfound momentum took them flying into the walls, where they collapsed unconscious to the ground.

Quickly dropping to her knees in case other guards were targeting her, she turned around to see where Corax and the droid were.

OOC: Roll to see if she answers yes or no to F2O2=6(yes)
roll to see if close enough to guards for TK attack=8(failure)
roll to get close to guards safely=20
@Phoenix @Clayton

 

[Varyn Rask]

Dice​

Had the pizza droid just grabbed guns? Yes, yes it had. That threw up huge red flags in Varyn's mind, and he began to operate under the assumption that this was actually an assassin droid of some advanced kind that was trained to infiltrate its target by impersonating other roles. It was one of the reason that assassin droids were so effective: most people didn't bother to pay any attention to a wandering droid and what it was supposed to be doing.

If this was an assassin droid, who was it working for? Was it after their target as well? Would it attack them? Did it work for itself? He had heard stories of a few droids going rogue and picking up a scoundrel's life. More likely, this one worked for another Sith. The questions were endless, and he didn't have time to ponder any of them lest he wind up dead. The entire thought process took only a second in his mind before he snapped back into action.

Whatever questions he might have about the droid, he had to give it credit for getting the door open. Why was it speaking Huttese now? At least the droid had managed to switch to one of the second most used languages in the Empire.

Varyn moved forward right after Nymeria, trying to get close enough to toss her her lightsaber, but she seemed to be doing just fine without it, easily busting her way through multiple guards.

He decided not to bother with chasing her anymore, lighting up both his and her sabers at once, while doing his best to keep an eye on the droid just in case he got any ideas. Apparently the dual sabers caught some attention, though, because within moments, multiple people began to open fire on him. With two sabers in hand and fully on the defensive, the Sith was able to deflect the shots without much difficult, sending a bolt into the ground here and there but failing to eliminate even a single enemy combatant.

I'll distract them, you go! he said, since that was apparently all he was going to be able to do at this point. @Clayton @Wit

 

[F2O2]

The two surprise Sith attackers must have accepted F2's unexpected assistance. No doubt they had dozens of questions that they would love to ask of him in some undesirable methods. Probably through slicing into and accessing his memory core. That would best be avoided; he'd gone a long while without anyone rooting around in his electronic innards like that. The droid would happily go through with the affirmative answer Nymeria had given, even though she'd not known what he'd been asking. It was a good thing then that he did not say he could overload the Estate's generators, causing a massive explosion.

Which...Could he?

F2O2 probed a bit more and found himself stymied by a number of firewalls preventing further access into the systems around the Estate. That was to be expected, really. He left that alone for now and instead focused on accessing the security camera controls. Normally this might pose a temporary challenge, but the guard shack was already hardwired into the camera system as they obviously had to be able to view and control particular cameras at a moment's notice. His interface probed buzzed and spun as F2 hummed to himself as he gained access to the security camera controls.

It did not appear that there was any true shutdown command, but that was fine, he could abuse the system and make one of his own. There did appear to be a reboot command, likely to purge any loops fed into the system or attempt to fix a glitchy feed. F2 triggered the reboot command, which brought down all cameras along the perimeter. The screens flickered once and fell to black. Once that happened, F2 flooded the rebooting computer with a large volume of junk requests and cancel operation commands. Stuck in a reboot process and bombarded by requests it had to process and answer, the computer simply could not handle all of that. It promptly entered an error state and crashed.

Any competent IT person would be able to bring the cameras back online, but by the time that happened, Nymeria, Varyn, and F2O2 would be long gone. And hopefully the security footage would be gone, too. F2 needed to find out which electronic route led to that storage server.

@Wit @Phoenix

 

[Nymeria (TL8)]

"Got it!" She shouted back as Corax pulled out a second blade, her blade, and began swinging them with practiced ease. With the guards focused on him, hard as it was to ignore a man with two glowing blades of death in his hand, Nymeria quickly slipped into the house.

Once inside she didn't find a great deal of resistance, only a guard or two here and there that she was able to slip past, all the while trying to find the Crusader they were here to kill. Most of the guards seemed to be outside dealing with the assailants and the explosion, so things were quieter inside, and this was a Crusader after all, not a Sith Lord, there were only so many hands under his command. Tracking him was turning out to be easier than she had expected, he wasn't really hiding himself, and as she burst through a set of ornate doors she found herself in a large room, well lit with a number of doors and windows overlooking the very courtyard they had charged in through. And there waiting for her was the Crusader. She flicked on her com, leaving an open channel to Corax so that he could overhear everything that was happening here. For though the Crusader didn't seem a great deal stronger than either of his two would be assassins, their odds of killing him would be greatly improved if the two of them fought him together.

"My lord," she performed a small bow as she studied the room to familiarise herself with the environment, "you have a beautiful house." As if on cue, a small explosion went off outside, and Nymeria smiled as she waited for his response.

OOC: Roll to track the Crusader once inside the house=18+1
Roll to determine Crusader's level (even for level 1, odd for level 2, 1 or 20 for level 3) = 4 (lvl 1)
@Phoenix @Clayton

 

[Varyn Rask]

Dice​

Varyn pressed forward with the two sabers in hand, fully intending to make it to the house after he saw her, but it seemed the guards had other plans. The barrage of gunfire not only continued, it got worse. More blaster bolts seemed to force the Sith further away from the front door, and he began to wonder what was happening with his partner inside. Surely, she was going to be in danger and outmatched fighting a Crusader by herself. Perhaps - in fact it was likely - the droid would be able to make it through the front door with so many guns firing on the young Sith.

It was as the gunfire continued that Varyn poured all of his energy into his own defense. He let the Force flow through his every action and guide his movements. The two sabers arced in front of him, almost in unison as they smashed into the bolts in the air. At first, the shots seemed to bounce in random directions, but after a few more moments, they began to move with a near precision.

The assassin moved with surprising grace, dodging this bolt and deflecting that bolt. Within a few moments, half the guards in the front of the house were dead.

---​

Within the house, the Sith Crusader seemed to be all business, and that alone should have been alarming to Nymeria. He had made his way up in the Venatori with a warrior's prowess, and had the dueling skills to match. His saber lit in his hand, and she would immediately notice that he was a hulking man. Large and strong, but perhaps not overly agile. You should have used surprise while you had it, he said, stomping toward her with the blade in hand.

He made a quick swing from his own right side toward Nymeria, aiming to hit her in the left thigh and cut her in two. She would quickly discover that merely blocking his strikes was a feat in and of itself that would drain her of stamina. His blows were powerful Djem So strikes, but the footwork was appropriately blocky. @Clayton @Wit

 

[Nymeria (TL8)]

Facing the Crusader, Nymeria opened herself up to the Force as the Crusader lit hie blade. She tried to ignore his confidence, focusing instead on the Force. "But where's the fun in that?" She replied with a smile on her face as he began moving towards her. She began shaping the Force to unleash an attack but the speed of his attack surprised her. She tried to roll under it, but the blade still cut into her as she rolled past the attack.

When she came to a stop on a knee the Force almost slipped out of her grasp as waves of pain crashed into her. The blade, meant for her thigh, had caught her in the side of her stomach as she rolled past, and a gut wound was now sapping the very life out of her. That one mistake might cost her her life, but she was still sure that if she held on long enough then working together with Corax the two acolytes would be able to deal with the Crusader.

But for that to happen she had to buy herself some time. So before the Force slipped entirely out of her grasp, she used what she could and reached out to grasp the Crusader with the Force and physically toss him out of the room. If Corax could not make it to them, she would bring the fight to him. But even as she wove the Force to her needs, she felt resistance and there was a smile on the Crusader's face as the pain finally pushed the Force out of her grasp. He had sensed what she was trying to do and rebuffed her attack.

"Clever girl." She said with a pained smile on her face. With few other cards to play, it felt like as good a time as any to taunt him. She was probbly signing her own death sentence, but maybe she could buy herself some time, time to find a way to kill him. And who knew, maybe he'd do something stupid if she got him sufficiently pissed. "Not just an ugly face after all, are you?"

While she spoke she kept on tried to reach out to the Force, using the pain itself to slowly strengthen her focus and resolve.

OOC: Roll to dodge attacks: 7
Roll to throw the Crusader out the window: 3 (5-2)
@Phoenix @Clayton

 

[Varyn Rask]

Dice​

By the time it was all said and done, the guards lay mostly dead in the front of the building and Corax made his charge inside the building. He blasted one of the windows in only to be met by security bars slamming shut. It would slow him down, but hopefully not too much. He carved through the bars quickly enough with two sabers, wondering how she was faring alone without her blade. Hopefully he wouldn't be walking in to a dead partner.

He hurled himself through the building, bursting into the room to see the crusader standing there. Here! he shouted, tossing Nymeria's saber back toward her. It wasn't exactly a fastball, but it was in her general vicinity with a reach.

For his part it seemed that Corax had caught the Crusader distracted. He swung down with his saber, arcing his saber quickly with a flick of his wrist to avoid the Sith's blade. And there it was. His blade bit into the Sith's right leg, carving out a huge portion of the muscle and even biting into bone. The man was nearly down for the count already, but then, perhaps his wound wasn't even equal to Nymeria's own. Corax shifted left, moving closer to Nymeria to put him in protective range of her. @Clayton @Wit