Culture Shock

[Sergei Petrov]

eimodia’s Museum of History and the Arts stood as a herald to the species rich culture, tradition and society. Decades of civil prosperity has led them into a new, defining chapter in history. From the detailed marble sculptures of Runa Haako to the charming mural paintings thrown together by Yuron de Lune, the museum is a testament to Neimodian society. But for the Imperial Republica? Not even close. They were above the nicknacks and trinkets of alien species. They could never compare to the wealth of history that was the Empire. Five hundred years worth.

Noseless, bony and lanky: the Neimodians were a primitive species. Somehow, someway, they managed to prosper and thrive. Their homeworld was under the care of the Imperial Republica, but in their folly, they had decided to expand. Establishing a colony of their own, Cato Neimodia, they had gone directly under the Empire in favor of a taste of independence. Did they seriously believe it could be done? Sergei Petrov thought not. While he received orders to bring justice to the colony and its people, he felt no differently from his superiors. Recompense was demanded.

Although he would be personally overseeing the operation into the planet, he decided to send two other Imperials for this particular task. Their job was to empty, loot or raze the museum to the ground. Nothing could remain. Either the Imperial Republica could take the artifacts inside for themselves or nobody could have it at all. The two agents sent were already briefed over the details of the mission, but Sergei wanted to make certain they were off.

“Acolytes Harlow and... Kallig, thank you for enlisting your help against these treasonous scum. They deserve nothing but swift retribution for their actions here. Ransack the museum and the prized relics within. Do whatever you wish. Only show them that we will not tolerate even the thought of sedition.” He said through an encrypted, holographic frequency to each Imperial. With a nod, he saluted them both. “For the Empire.” He said, and the com-link dissipated a second later. They were alone now, left to make the will of the Sith shift into reality.

@Insalius @Nightfall (DICE)

 

[Darth Inheris]

She had a softer place in her heart for art these days. One of the few left now. A memory that still tugged a little too deep, a little too personal. Why it had, why it refused to completely abandon her, she still wasn't sure, so much else had now. That meant when her orders came through, as much as the mission required, there would be a few pieces she wanted to save from the storm they meant to unleash. If she was thinking more coldly, the manor needed redecorating. It sounded so trivial when she thought it. Though, what else was she meant to indulge at times but her whims. She had broken herself to reach her position, there had to be some rewards for the righteous. This might be hers.

Hanging underneath one of Cato Neimodia's great flipped bridges, the Museum of History and the Arts was architecturally rather impressive, if not overblown in far too many ways for Saorise to appreciate. Though it also had the benefit of giving them a whole set of unexpected entryways and shadowed corners to exploit in their little mission.

She said little mission. It'd leave a big mess, she was certain.

For now, they were aboard a small freighter, that flew beneath the bridge city and positioned itself near the top level of the Museum, hopping distance from the roof. Hopefully from here they'd find the museum least guarded, though their entry from ship to shore upside down would not be easy. One false move and they might plummet into the crevice below.

Still, worth a shot,

"If we climb across to the roof here, the security shouldn't be too high, no one in their right mind would enter here normally" she said with a smile as she strapped herself into her gear. That gear included a parachute. Just in case,

"This is where the building connects to the bridge. We destroy those support connections and this thing plummets. It'd certainly make a point. We plant some detonators, move through the museum for any items we deem worth saving, and exfil back onto our ship at the bottom. Get out of here with a boom" drastic, but it would be effective. And the Empire was in need of making some statements recently,

"Though obviously, open to ideas"

@Insalius

 

[Rowan Harlow]

Now THIS was going to be a fun little jaunt. Rowan wore his usual clothing and weapons, though he was also strapping himself into the same gear that Saorise was putting on. Safety first, after all. As much as he just wanted to get to the breaking and entering, Rowan knew that working hastily would only lead to failure and possibly injury or death. He hadn't worked this hard to die at this point, so he reigned in his destructive tendencies to prepare to unleash them when it was absolutely needed. Strapping his cane into a sheath on the back of the gear, positioned so it wouldn't interfere with the parachute, the noble gave his partner a small bow after removing his hat. "I hope we run into at least a FEW guards while in there. My lightsaber has been feeling a might peckish, I think some exercise should solve the problem." Replacing the hat on his head and standing up straight, he gestured for them to begin. "Your plan is sound and the best I can think up as well. I'll follow your lead. Let's have some fun with this one. Maybe we can pretend the guards look like Jacob Tagger. That sounds therapeutic."

@Nightfall

 

[Darth Inheris]

She couldn't help but snigger at Rowan's comment. Mr Tagger held a very particular place in her mind, and Rowan's hit it right on the money. Equally funny was the thought of him jumping in alongside, somehow she doubted he'd exactly be up for the ride,

"In which case, geronimo" Saorise replied over her shoulder with a sly smile as the bay doors from the ship opened above the yawning crevice below, a straight shot to the roof across from them. With a deep breath, she focused her eyes on her landing spot, and ran at the ramp, leaping across.

She could feel the winds rippling across her skin as she flew through the air, landing and rolling upon the roof in an attempt to reduce her impact and its sound. Hopefully none were patrolling beneath, so as not to hear their entrance. So far though it seemed they were safe. Keeping her mind focused on their target, Saorise began hauling herself across the roof in the winds, keeping low to maintain her balance. She had seen Rowan in action before, she had no doubt the man would be across as ably as she was, if not more so.

The construction of these vertical buildings was strange indeed, but they'd managed to identify the load bearing joins for the building before they arrived. A set of intense electro-magnetic pillars held it fast than any kind of duracrete ever could. It also meant if it went, so did it all. And that's exactly where she wanted to hit,

"Priming first target Rowan" she called back, pulling explosives from her pack, and affixing it to the enormous metal pillar. Not that she was the smoothest though. To make room she had to lift her pistol, but the high winds and complexity of her task didn't make for easy handling, the thing slipping from her grasp and soaring with the wind from the side of the building.

She could only sigh. Looks like her and Rowan both were going to embrace a little bladework today.

@Insalius

 

[Rowan Harlow]

With a smirk, Rowan followed Saorise in the jump over to the other side, landing with a near perfect roll on the roof next to her. "Well, that was a bit anti-climactic. Let's see if we can find something more fun. I'll head inside, I know you can handle the bombs." With a small salute he headed inside the building, this entrance being lightly protected as no one in their right minds would try to jump like the two of them had. The interior of the museum was rather snazzy, if perhaps a bit tasteless. Maybe that was just Nemoidian architecture in general. He saw the paltry displays in this part of the building, knowing there had to be SOMETHING better. Then he came to a door, listening in to hear nothing on the other side. It could be the way to something really valuable. Or it could be a guard room. Well, there was only one way to find out. He kicked in the door without any care in the world.

Turned out it was a guard room, with five guards sitting around a Mahjong board. A nearby whiteboard showed that they were in the middle of a Mahjong tournament and had been perfectly quiet so they could think in peace. For nearly thirty seconds Rowan just stared at the guards, the guards staring back in utter surprise, before the Harlow slowly took out a cigar and lit it with his finger. Taking a drag, he let it out slowly as he pointed the lit end at each of the guards. "You know, I was kinda hoping this would happen. Let's dance, assholes. I've got a real axe to grind." The guards scrambled for their weapons, knocking over the Mahjong board. Rowan grinned, despite being outnumbered. This would be some welcome stress relief.

@Nightfall

 

[Darth Inheris]

The wind above died down a little, giving her ears a rest from the noise and her knees a rest from to hold her so close to the roof in order to even stay on. With the bombs in place they were set to sprint their museum, with a quick, albeit dangerous, get of jail free card if everything went to hell.

And well, the sounds down below ticked her off that something was at least a little up beneath her. The sound carried through the roof, like something busrting open, then nothing, before a sudden bit of movement she followed, keeping her ears close to the ground as she followed the sound. And then, Rowans voice.

Time, she thought, to make an entrance.

Igniting her blade in a flash, she drove it into the durasteel of the roof, the burning plasma cutting through like a hot knife through butter as she turned the blade about her, cutting a hole into the roof that dropped with a clang onto the head of one of the guards. Good thing it hadn't been Rowan, she wasn't too sure how she would have explained that one to her ally.

The guards looked up, her appearance above a sudden distraction from the one who'd broken up their boardgame. Not that they'd have much time to change their focus. Dropping down from above, she fell with her weight onto the nearest guard, driving her lightsaber into the neimodians shoulder as they fell to the ground in a moment, the pain from the wound and the bang to the head taking them down. Not that she took it without trouble, the thing managed to smack her with the butt of its blaster as they tumbled, numbing her shoulder where it hit, though not so much to stop her now.

No doubt Rowan had finished off the other two in the mean time.

Though there was no treasure here, there was something just as useful. The security footage from the museum channeled its way back to the room attached, the men apparently on a break when they'd bowled them over. While things were easy enough here, security presence was only going up the further she looked down the building.

But, with their view of the museum suddenly expanded, she saw something she took quite a fancy to. A necklace, in a style she had heretofore not seen before, held behind guards and glass, an ancient thing from Neimodian history. Clearly of value, only adding to its mystique,

"Hmm. I can't help but see myself in that" she explained to Rowan with a smirk, pointing to the trinket before rubbing her sore shoulder,

"Eyes on any prizes my friend?"

@Insalius

 

[Rowan Harlow]

Under normal circumstances, Rowan would have wiped the floor with the two guards allotted him by Saorise's entrance. Indeed, the first guard fell from a quick-drawn lightsaber from his sleeve, giving the Noble a chill of satisfaction. That was replaced by searing pain, though, when the last guard proved to be just quicker at the draw than Rowan had expected. Before he could bring his lightsaber up the Nemoidian fired off a shot at his head, with Rowan's reflexes being the only thing to save his live. Even with that, though, the blaster bolt grazed his face and took our his right eye, scarring the flesh that his hairstyle usually covered. He grunted in pain, only just able to not give his assailant the satisfaction of a scream, and rolled behind some cover. His vision was now off due to only having one eye, his blood dripping over the ground, and he needed to take some time to gather his head. What was true for the moment, though, was that his rage had no bounds. This man would die horribly.

@Nightfall

 

[Darth Inheris]

"No, nothing Rowan? Rowan? Rowan?" Saorise suddenly looked about herself, realising her friend hadn't pulled up alongside her. What had-

Any thoughts she might have had were suddenly cut off by the sound of a blaster shot from the other room, echoing into the security office where she stood,

"Rowan!" she called out, reigniting her blade with a spin and running to the other room, something was very wrong out there. The image of Rowan on the ground and the blood near him took her attention in an instant, leaving her far too open when the very same guard turned with a start and fired off a shot that seared into the side of her belly, grazing her badly and cutting through a piece of flesh.

Reaching out in anger, she snatched the guard up with the force, the energy channeling hard and fast to her, before hauling him against the wall, the sound of breaking bones accompanying it. The man wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. Clutching at her wound, she drew herself over to Rowan, one eye less than before. Days like this made it feel like the pair should have stuck to politics,

"Alright, we can't treat this here" she muttered to herself as she put an arm around him to stabilise him "kriff the treasures, and kriff Neimodia. Let's blow this place and get out of here, yeah?" Saorise said to the wounded man as she tried to help him up. Though perhaps the man had other plans. They were seeing this thing blown one way or another now though.

@Insalius

 

[Rowan Harlow]

That guard was way too skilled for the job he had. Saorise was wounded as well, though thankfully not as critically as he himself had been. Looking around with his one remaining eye, Rowan found a first aid kit which made sense to be in a guard station. Kicking the man who had taken his eye on the way, he grabbed the kit and started to tend to his compoanion's wound first. It was just the way he was, he put the needs of those he worked with above his own. It was the duty of a Noble and a Solider, as taught by House Harlow. That was how they would become respected again. That would all be after they blew this place to the kriffing ground.

Finished with Saorise, Rowan then applied what was left to his own face and eye. There was enough gauze and kolto pads to cover the damage, though it still hurt and the suddenly depthless perception was disorienting. "Sergei better appreciate this. C'mon, if you saw something worth taking, let's get it and set the last charge. At this point I'd prefer to just glass this planet from orbit, but instead it'll be fitting to just take this and run it's resources into the ground. Are you able to keep going? Between the two of us cripples, we should be able to finish things." He tried to smile and reassure his companion, some humor hopefully cutting the mood of the room. It may not have been a strong effort, but he hoped it worked.

@Nightfall

 

[Darth Inheris]

Saorise winced a moment as Rowan came to patch her up. How the man was still as lively as he was, she didn't know, but more than a little glad he was. However, she fought down the sting as Rowan tended her, taking a look at the mans eye, still bleeding, the wound so fresh, reminded her how damn lucky she was right now. It was time they finished what they had well started. No other guard would cause them a problem after that one. And they were dead. Despite her wound, Rowans wound, she felt more than a little invincible now, as if the worst must have past them if they'd made it through that.

Time then to prove it,

"Oh I'm sure the two of us cripples will be just fine" she said with a smirk in reply. Keep their spirits, and their sabers up before the final push. And that began now.

Deducing the necklace's location, the pair began their descent through the museum. Having swiped up the guards blaster, and supporting eachother down when they needed it, the pair went loud, blasting guards before they could they ever had a chance, with more than a few blaster bolts coming close to them as they stormed the building. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't even smart, but it was so unexpected for the buildings guards that they had no way of dealing with the pair.

Under a hail of fire, the pair made it to the hall the necklace was kept in. Though blasting through the glass at a distance with her rifle, the piece didn't survive the whole trip in one piece, taking a bolt that seared through its chain,

"Well, better some of it than none of it" Saorise huffed, stashing the piece on herself. She'd see it repaired on Kuat, wear it to remind never to get hit like that again. Not that she thought it exactly worked that way, but she liked the statement it made.

Treasure in hand, only one final thing remained: the last explosive.

Whatever the thing she had taken was, its sudden loss clearly meant something to the Neimodians she couldn't understand, and as the pair fought off the remaining guards, she could sense their sudden lack of morale. Though they fought, their hearts weren't in it, as if they'd already lost with the thing being gone.

Well, they hadn't lost enough just yet. Not for the Empire. And not for them.

Clearing the final floor, where the museum tapered to a point beneath the bridge city like an enormous stalactite, the pair planted the final bomb, in just the right space to rock the structure and pull it free when the roof supports detonated. And they'd do it in style.

Though the guards still fought, a beep on her locator brought their ship down to them, hovering just out the window, ready for them to escape. All it took was a little jump, riding the wave of adrenaline the pair had been flooded with as they'd assaulted the place. Standing on the bay doors, they took a final look back at the museum, before a press of the detonator, plunging the building into the darkness of the ravine below in a rain of fire and dust,

"That oughta blow their minds"

@Insalius

/Endthread (both a little worse for wear)