Ask Defector

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Defector

Whilst it is quite commonplace for members of the 'Corporate Class' to move between companies at a certain level, they tend to avoid doing it without informing their current employer. Deputy Director Hark Saleen, previously of the Czerka Weapons & Development Division, bolted from the testing facility he oversaw late last night. He's headed to the Corporate Sector, where our intelligence understands he intends to sign on with BlastTech. We cannot touch him without severe repercussions if he signs the contract. Kill him before that happens.

The dark circles around her eyes betrayed that Kara Zaa Fenn wasn't sleeping. She looked thin, pale and yet her eyes held a certain anger that hadn't been there before her imprisonment. Czerka labor camps weren't like any other prison, neither was the place they send you when you're too far along in your pregnancy to continue doing hard labor. Still, she had preferred a lifetime of hard labor inside some poisonous mine, or swapping toxins on Quesh without protective gear, over the megacorporation taking her baby from her. Now, which they had made abundantly clear when they showed her a holographic still of her baby draped in a towel showing the Czerka logo, she was forced to use her expansive network in the galactic underworld to Czerka's benefit if she ever wanted to see her baby again.

First job they gave her? Assassination.

She was partnered up with paid mercenaries for the job. Alfie Shepherd, who she had met before her imprisonment. He was an up-and-coming criminal with bright prospects, a lot of potential and seemingly very capable on a job, and with Kyp. The latter merc she hadn't met before. All she knew about them was that they were a Mandalorian Lepi. A strange combination, but that didn't need to say anything about their skillset.

She was supposed to meet them at the spaceport on Etti IV. Hark Saleen was soon to land there and a private BlasTech shuttle (most likely with armed guards) would then transport him to the corporate fortified skyscraper. They would need to get the job done before he reached the safety of said fortress.

So the spaceport cantina seemed to logical place to meet and Kara was smoking a stim at the bar, where a Bantha-milk with a hint of Glitterryl stood before her.


@Charles @Fantasy Liver

 

[Kyp]

Kyp, as instructed was also at the bar, nursing a Phibian beer with his helmet off, his back facing the wall as he surveyed those who entered the establishment. Although some of his more pious of brothers might insist on dining and drinking with their helmets on, Kyp had long ago stopped caring about such traditionalist formalities. In fact, ever since he had offered his services up to Nor'baal the Hutt full-time, he didn't even consider himself Mandalorian anymore. Clan Vizsla had never done anything for him, so what was the point in doing anything for them? No, these days, as lowbrow as he found it, the Lepi found himself mostly content doing what the Hutts told him, which mainly consisted of breaking bones and firing his blaster at the right people. Or, wrong people, depending on how one looked at it.

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Their time was running short and yet neither Alfie nor Kyp had approached her. Kriff, guess that happens when you trust outside contractors too much. Kara killed the stim against the bar and then downed the bantha milk, feeling the dark cloud in her head lifted somewhat as the glitteryll did its thing. She couldn't afford to fail a mission like this, Hark Saleen needed to die today for Kara to ever be able to hold her son. So she did the only thing that she could do: she'd try her hand at it alone.

Rising from her stool, Kara turned towards the door and as she did caught a glimpse of a Mandalorian sitting with its back against the back wall. Had he been here the entire time? She pondered her options for a moment, but her irritation over the no-shows, considering what was at stake for her personally, had already reached a boiling point. "You Kyp!?" she said loud enough for the sound to carry all the way to the back of the spaceport cantina.

If it was indeed the Lepi she'd been waiting for she would try her best to not get any angrier than she already was. Being stood up by Alfie was bad enough and four hands was still better than two. "Let's go then," there wasn't an customary introduction or any kind of civilized banter between two contractors who both had ties to the Desilijic Cartel. Kara simply wasn't in the mood and turned back to the exit and walked out.

Etti IV's spaceport was perhaps the most advanced marble of engineering, cleanliness and corporate efficiency of any spaceport in the galaxy. It was impossible to get lost and yet there were also distinct sections that were off-limits if you didn't belong to the corporation that owned its own private hangars and landing pads. Kara preferred to kill Hark Saleen before he ever set foot on the BlasTech shuttle, but that meant finding her way into the BlasTech private hangar.

@Charles @Fantasy Liver

 

[Kyp]

Kyp responded to such rudeness with some of his own. He silently looked at Kara in response to her question. Was she serious? How many other Mandalorian Lepis were there in the galaxy, let alone in this stupid bar. He took one last swig of his drink, letting her ferment in her own stupidity for a second, before obediently getting up and following her. Cartel work was low-down and demanded working with less-than-savory types but, for now, it was all Kyp had. H

"What's the play here? Snipe him and run? Or take out his whole entourage. Guy like him is going to have more than a couple bruisers with him." Kyp asked his partner on this assignment. He might not care for her personally so far but that didn't mean he couldn't be a professional about the whole thing.

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

As it turned out the Mandalorian that hadn't bothered to introduce himself was -in fact- the one contracted by Imperial Czerka to join her on this job. At least he showed up, which she couldn't see for Alfie Shepherd, and carried himself like a professional. That was a smart thing either way, for Kara didn't have the patience for anything else right now. "I'll slice into and lock down the BlasTech hangar, preventing their shuttle from getting in." and lock in the ship and crew of Hark Saleen's transport. That on its own might answer the Mandalorian's question, for he was heading into a rough blasterfight. "Without corporate security from that shuttle, my guess is we'll be dealing with starship crew and our target. I don't care about the crew, but we better not leave the hangar with Hark Saleen still alive." Kara's sanity depended on doing a good job for Imperial Czerka, after all. Her sanity and her baby.

It took them roughly a minute to get to the secured wing of the spaceport where the private hangars were located and she flashed a-

Kriff, there was no way she could get access to the private hangars with the Imperial Czerka I.D. since that would possibly implicate the megacorporation in foul play. If only she had used the droid for this mission instead of going herself. TC-SC 23006's disguise matrix would've gotten it inside with ease. This whole thing had Kara not thinking straight.. Crix in prison, their kid held hostage and Kara was out here losing the edge that had made her an accomplished fixer to begin with.

She turned to the Mandalorian, "we need to split up. Find a way into the hangar from the outside," Hopefully the Mandalorian had armor functions that would support it in a climb as she didn't see him wearing a jetpack or jetboots. "I need to find a suitable port."

If Kyp didn't have any questions, then Kara would hurry towards the nearest door that had a 'maintenance' sign above it. She took a seat on a bench nearby and pulled out what looked like a datapad, but was actually a port scanner which she used to try and remotely slice into the door's access panel. Unfortunately the spaceport was high-tech enough to have personal swipecards even for maintenance doors.

Spoiler: OOC

Slicing into Maintenance room: Turn 1/2

@Charles @Fantasy Liver

 

[Kyp]

Damn it. Kyp had never been much of a climber, foregoing the usual jetpacks and grapple lines that some Mandalorians utilized in favor of repulsors and wrist rockets. Blowing stuff up was infinitely more fun and besides, he wasnt that fond of heights. His fellow foundlings used to tease him that phobia came from him being snatched up by a hawk when he was a baby. Doubtless, it was a hilarious joke about how he looked like a rabbit but Kyle never found it funny.

But it looked as though he needed to find a way into the spaceport somehow and scaling the walls weren't an option.

Unless...

Remembering that he'd spotted one of the docking bays being under construction earlier, Kyp came up with a half baked but also half decent plan. Making his way a few docking bag overs to the construction site, he saw a number of small vehicles and an Ugnaught crew wandering around getting to work.

A forklift? Too small. A rideable power washer? Fun but not exactly useful for what Kyp needed it for. There it was. A collapsible lift, perfect for lifting Ugnaughts up to replace ceiling lightbulbs and also perfect for lifting Lepis up over spaceport walls. Sprinting over to the lift, Kyp absolutely launched the Ugnaughts inside up in the air with a solid kick before stealing the vehicle and gunning it towards Hark's hangar. Behind him he could hear the sounds of angry Ugnaughts pursuing him on foot and in construction vehicles.

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

It took a moment, but it wasn't the first time Kara used her port scanner to slice into a foreign system and sure enough the door to the maintenance room was unlocked. Getting up from the bench, she casually walked over to the door and then slipped inside, locking it behind her. The room she entered was simply that which the sign said it was; a maintenance room offering access to a maintenance shaft running up and down the spaceport. Kara was fortunate to find hatch unlocked, no doubt to provide access in case of an emergency and because.. well, that other door had already been locked.

By virtue of her small frame she managed to squeeze in and crawl her way further into the restricted section of the spaceport. Her AT-specs -which was linked to the port scanner- showed her whether or not there was an open port available to slice within twenty meters. She made progress like this, albeit slow, and eventually came within those twenty meters of the BlasTech private hangar where she discovered an open port.

Not wasting any time, Kara, still inside the crawl space, took her portscanner in her hands and as she lay flat out in the limited space started slicing into the hangar control panel. She hoped the Mandalorian would be inside by the time she was finished slicing into it, for once the hangar was locked down that's when the magic had to happen.

Spoiler: OOC

Slicing into Maintenance room: Turn 2/2
Slicing into Hangar Controls 1/3

@Charles @Fantasy Liver

 

[Kyp]

Kicking Ugnaughts turned out to be one of the simpler pleasures in life and one that Kyp had regrettably not taken part in before today. He had parked the wheeled lift right at the wall and activated the hydraulics to propel the lift forward. Three pursuing Ugnaughts had managed to jump aboard, where it became quickly clear that they didn't have a plan for what they'd do once they got here. As such Kyp, was happy to give them an option with a few swift kicks. As they hit the ground, Kyp vaulted over the side of the hangar wall and was able to slowly make his way to the ground, using pipes, wires and other wall fixtures within the hangar.

"I'm in." He commed to Kara, taking position behind a few empty crates and readying his rifle.

@Charles @Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Slicing into the hangar control proved to be much more difficult than the maintenance door had been and Kara had to be focused to find the right entry-points to insert a dataplague into. One misstep and she could set herself back and perhaps even get locked out entirely. It wasn't until she had to wait for an upload that took a few seconds that she noticed the sound of an approaching spaceship.

Although Kara couldn't see it, she realized by the sound that Hark Saleen's ship was entering the hangar and with its landing gear extended touched down after a controlled descend in the limited space. Three technicians immediately ran up to apply a refueling hose and a recharging cable while the ship still hissed trying to offload engine heat during its shutdown procedure. A few moments later the ramp lowered and a man in a largely unbuttoned Czerka uniform stood at the top of it, holding a datapad and an external storage bank closely in his arms.

As he descended the ramp the hangar's administrator approached him -while the three technicians continued to work- and waved the Czerka defector over, "Mister Saleen? The BlasTech shuttle will be here in two minutes." Visible relief crossed Hark's facial expression as his shoulders dropped a little, "Good, because we're way too close to Czerka Headquarters to be comfortable." he replied, much to the acknowledgement of the administrator, "Don't worry, mister Saleen. The shuttle has former Tenloss security personnel onboard that will protect you from anything Czerka could possible throw at you." Tenloss Interstellar was a mercenary company owned and operated by the late Shane Covax, who had proclaimed himself the leader of the Crymorah Syndicate after he -aided by Nar Shaddaa Legend Aska Ryun and soldiers from the Independent Systems Consortium- attacked the Zaa Fenn headquarters on Coruscant. After their leader's death -or more accurately, his permanent stasis in a slab of carbonite- Tenloss had hit a rough patch and many of its most capable mercenaries now worked for other companies inside corporate space. Evidently, BlasTech was one of them.

Meanwhile Kara watched how her last dataplague was almost finished uploading to give her the controls of the hangar doors. They needed to isolate Hark completely for this to be succesful. With the doors closed the ship couldn't leave and the shuttle couldn't enter, giving Kyp and Kara enough time to kill Hark, take the datapad and the encrypted storage bank and get the kriff out of there.

Spoiler: OOC

Slicing into Hangar Controls 2/3

@Charles @Fantasy Liver

 

[Kyp]

Until the doors were closed, there wasn't much Kyp could do, apart from wait. He was inside the hangar, hidden behind the empty crates, as he heard Hark's nervous musings and the hangar administrator's reassurances. By the sounds of things, it seemed like Hark and his team were content to wait here, which was a relief; Kyp really wasn't in the mood to chase someone down, especially before the BlasTech shuttle had been cut off. As he waited though, he realized that before this was something that needed to be squared away with Kara. He texted her a quick message on his wrist communicator.

DIBS ON THEIR SHIP

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

The upload was finally complete and the port scanner now gave Kara full control of the hangar. "Ship is yours, just get ready. Sealing it off in three," she entered the directive to closing the large hangar doors first, "two" then followed the other doors which were simple exits for bipedial humanoids. "Fire away."

Kara crouched a little bit further to a nearby air-vent and kicked it open with her right heel before dropping down into the small control room. It was empty because the administrator was down at the ship, so that gave her the time pocket her port scanner, which was still linked to her AT-specs so she could confirm her directive was still leading in the hangar's system, and visibly check the doors. All of them had flashing red lights, meaning they were closed, and the hangar doors were still slowly closing as well... which caused quite the panic in the hangar proper.

"What's happening!?" Hark Saleen cried as he rushed off the ramp, followed by a rather mean-looking gunslinger that Kara guessed was a private hire to protect him enroute to Etti IV. The administrator cast a panicked look towards the control room where he was Kara, standing there looking back at him and.. waving.

Spoiler: OOC

Slicing into Hangar Controls 3/3

@Charles @Fantasy Liver

 

[Kyp]

The mean looking gunslinger wasn't very mean-looking for long as Kyp popped out from behind the pile of crates and fired a blast from his rifle that ripped through the man's torso. Still, the man evidently was a pretty good gunslinger because he was quick enough on the draw to still peg Kyp in the torso part of his armor. It was a glancing blow, the result of a hastily squeezed off shot going up against beskar armor, but it still slammed Kyp into the hangar wall. This, of course, gave Hark enough time to run back up the ship's ramp, screaming.

"We're under attack! Blast off! Punch through the hangar if you have to!"

In the meantime, Kara would hear the sound of a handful of angry Ugnaughts outside the control room. Unable to catch Kyp with their stolen lift, they figured that crawling through the vent was the easiest way to catch the Lepi in the hangar. Given their short size, they were very easily able to crawl through the vent and Kara would now see the tufted hair of an Ugnaught's head come slowly into view if she were to look behind her.

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Tiny footsteps echoed behind her and Kara turned to see an Ugnaught's head slowly come into view. She drew her blaster, a reasonable response, and aimed at the first one hung from the vent for a moment and then dropped down. To her surprise, two more followed and then they were four standing inside the control room. "This spaceport is a marvel of engineering," Kara told them, knowing that Ugnaughts were very sensitive to flattery and sure enough they shortly looked at each other, nodded, and the one that looked to be the oldest turned to her first; "This spaceport has been our clan's pride an joy since it was just a single pad and the planet not yet have any skyscrapers," the other two nodded again, "It is known."

To be honest, Kara wasn't sure what to do right now. She knew that it was probably easiest to shoot them, but then again, knowing the Ugnaughts of the Etti IV spaceport would be useful later. That much she was sure about. So, she played along; "It is known." the Ugnaughts nodded in approval.

"Mandalorian stole something from us to get in this hangar," blasterfire could be heard nearby, but that didn't bother them as much as it did Kara, "We retrieved it, but we want satisfaction." All three of them suddenly showed they had wrenches in their hands, no doubt having come here with the intention of giving the Mandalorian a good beatdown. "It is known."

That was something that, regrettably, Kara couldn't allow. "I am Kara, leader of clan Zaa Fenn-" she started, realizing that these hermit Ugnaughts probably wouldn't have heard of the Zaa Fenn, nor Preef Callo, "-I will pay credits for satisfaction." She knew little of Ugnaughts, but what she did know what that they weren't so hung up on credits like other sentient species and yet now they seemed to consider it. It wasn't because of the credits, she guessed, but because it was a clan leader that offered them.

"Satisfaction price is ten credits and a favor owed by Kara of the Zaa Fenn," the oldest Ugnaught replied and again the others said, "It is known." It seemed they really didn't value credits as much as they did their honor, which demanded satisfaction. Kara holstered her pistol and rummaged around in her pockets where she did, in fact, have a chip worth ten credits, which she handed to the oldest Ugnaught. "Kara Zaa Fenn owes the Ugnaughts of this spaceport a favor. It is known."

Satisfied, the Ugnaughts suddenly looked upwards towards the ceiling vent and then at each other. "We will wait here until you finish your business," the started making themselves comfortable, unscrewing a panel that revealed electric circuits, "It is known." They had to use a door to get out again and thankfully they were not inclined to end the lockdown over it. "I thank you and will make it quick."

Kara left the control room, closed the door behind her and unholstered her blaster pistol again. This had cost her a lot of time and hopefully the Mandalorian had managed to deal with Hark Saleen by now..

@Charles @Fantasy Liver

 

[Kyp]

Kyp, using his long, rabbit-like legs was able to sprint after the retreating Hark and squeeze into the ship just before the ramp closed him out for good. He wasn't on his feet for long as Saleen had taken a fire extinguisher off the ship wall and swung it at the Lepi.

Kyp fell and could feel the engines of the vessel rumble as he hit the ship's floor. Evidently the pilots weren't quite as confident as Hark was about the ship's ability to punch through the hangar doors, as it hasn't quite taken off yet. Saleen, after knocking Kyp down tried fleeing down the corridor but a shot from Kyp's blaster hit his ankle and sent the defector down to the ground himself.

Not feeling bloodthirsty enough to go after an innocent crew or pilots, Kyp put Hark in a headlock and hit the emergency release button for the ship ramp. Half-dragging Saleen, he saw Kara exit the control room and threw the injured man at her. Hark collapsed in a heap and started sobbing.

"Please. I have credits, connections, secrets! Anything!"

@Eccles

 

[Kara Zaa Fenn]

Kara was actually quite impressed as she watched the Lepi Mandalorian drag Hark down the ramp and tossed him right in front of her at a few feet. He begged, which was natural for a man in his position, and still desperately clutched to what Kara figured was an encrypted databank with the secrets he had been intending to sell to Blastech. "Czerka has something much more valuable," the Boss of the Zaa Fenn said through gritted teeth as she raised her blaster pistol and shot Hark Saleen point-black in the chest. He fell flat on the floor, the muscles in his lifeless body relaxing slowly and then Kara shot him again, the hot plasma searing through flesh and bone to destroy the man's heart. The databank then fell out of his hands and onto the cold durasteel hangar floor.

She didn't bother to look at Kyp and see if the Lepi approved with her murdering the man in cold blood. She cared deeply about life, but there was one thing she cared more for still and that was her son. Holstering her pistol she knelt down besides the dead body to pick up the databank. "We've got tickets on the Czerka Starliner heading for Taris," which was a world where, due to the affiliation with the Empire, Czerka had a large office. A place where they could hand over the databank in exchange for credits and a pat on the back.

Kara rose again and replaced the port scanner in her pocket with the databank, "I can open the fire escape without setting off an alarm. We climb down, mingle back in with the crowds and head to-" she paused as she tried to remember from which dock the starliner left, "-Dock Seventeen."

Assuming the Mandalorian agreed, Kara once again took remote control of the hangar and opened a small door to their left.


@Charles @Fantasy Liver