Ask Hostile Acquisitions 2

[Karys]

The last three days had been grueling for Karys. Both he and Alice had spent their days gathering supplies, repairing equipment, or scouting out areas. Eventually, the pair had learned what occurred to spark this abominable war, a slave revolt gone horribly wrong. What was worse, one of the individuals who sparked this wielded a crimson blade, likely a Sith. Security footage had caught the male figure as he cut swathes or blasted attendees for no apparent reason. The Zygerrian news networks broadcast the footage across all channels for a solid day before it was hit with an insurrectionist raid.

Now signal had been jammed for all transmissions going off world and the military had the city itself on full lockdown. It was a nightmare that Karys still wasn’t sure how to break out of. But for now, the pair had turned their attention back to their contract, Morec.

The war front had expanded away from the southernmost areas of the city and towards the heart. At first, Karys had believed this meant their hotel vantage point would be a more permanent safe house until the war ended, he was wrong. Instead Colicoid trade ships landed with fighter support to deliver something that made Karys skin crawl.

Droidekas.

All the missing bodies and aggressive pushes by the rebels made sense now. What this meant for Karys and Alice was, they had to move. Their little nest wasn’t safe anymore and they needed to find another secure area. It had been Alice that suggested Morec’s house as a potential location for them and Karys trusted her judgement.

With a final check of their equipment to ensure everything was in as good of condition as it could be, the pair set off. They used the shadows of buildings and ruins or the cover that rubble provided to move. It took considerably more time but eventually they found themselves pushing closer to Morec’s home. In an area already ruined by fighting, his was strangle untouched.

“What do you think of that?” Karys asked Alice, nodding towards the perfectly pristine home turned compound.

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

With all the careful prep, Maeve wasn't just fully stocked, but the intel they had managed to gather was quite helpful in terms of their goal. They had decided to go pay Morec a visit after all - Maeve simply didn't like unfinished business at all and the last days had passed so quickly that it felt like they had been at his house just a day before.

It was a fact that they couldn't stay in the hotel and so Morec's place potentially offered some more safety. This meant that they had to get in though at first and that could prove rather difficult given that the man was probably keen on security...but the guard schedules still seemed set and so Maeve was counting on that.

The war was still ongoing and so getting to his house undetected in the first place had been a whole ordeal by itself, but once they were finally in position, Maeve felt ready to go. "Five more minutes and they'll change guards for the night...that might be our way in. See the one with the helmet? You can head for its gear and I'll just try to stay undetected like that". She gestured down on herself, a smirk crossing her lips. She wasn't in camouflage, but her clothes usually allowed her to slip into places unnoticed.

"Do you want to take the one out or should I?", she asked him, lowering her voice and her expressions growing a little more serious again. It was show time after all and they had waited for their time to strike for quite a while now.

@Apollyon

 

[Karys]

Karys’ eyes flitted to Alice when she spoke. While he agreed with her tactical assessment on their first move. She wasn’t understanding what he was trying to point out. The whole way here, there had been nothing but destruction and death. That wasn’t the case here. Everything looked almost untouched.

It made no sense.
It put Karys on edge.

“Ladies first.” Karys replied to her, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

He’d seen Alice in action, he knew what she was capable of. Plus they needed to ensure they weren’t noticed quite yet. That wasn’t exactly his speciality. Alice on the other hand? Karys was confident that poor soul would never see what him.

When it was time to strike, Karys would time his attack to align with Alice’s. His target would have the briefest moment to watch their comrade collapse to the ground before there was a sickening crunch. The guard’s head would slump forward on shattered vertebrae.

Karys would extend his other hand, and using the Dark Side he’d drag both bodies out of sight and closer to them. There he would rummage through their equipment, tossing anything of use to Alice. He would then strip the larger of the two bodies of their exterior armor and helmet and put it on himself.

“How do I look?” He asked, the helmet’s filter stripping his accent and leaving only a deep tinny voice in it place.

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

Maeve curtly nodded, a hint of deviousness glistening in her mischievous eyes before she stalked closer like a predator cat vanishing into the shadows of the night. She silently ended closer, curtly assessing the thick armor suit that made her realize darts wouldn't hit their target, so she went for a Vibro-Dagger instead.

Her eyes almost hungrily surveyed her prey before it was just the right moment to strike - a brief moment of inattentiveness and the deed was done. The humming blade was rammed into the skull and brain within a split-second, causing the body to collapse and no blood to spill yet. Karys worked in perfect sync and so Alice disappeared behind the hedges again while her crimson ally swapped into the suit.

"Ready to go", she replied with a smirk, jutting her head towards the entrance. She had no intentions of squeezing into a suit as well as she preferred staying agile, but for him it was the best possible cover. So far, everything seemed like it had a few days ago, which meant that no one had been fazed by the disappearances of the first two guards. Perhaps though, this had simply gone under after hell had broken loose...

Karys had a point. There was something odd about how perfectly fine and peaceful it was right here, but perhaps this only meant that Morec was more powerful than they had first thought - what if neither side wanted him angry? A few scenarios ran through her head, but she tried not to worry yet. While Alice had picked up anything useful from the bodies, she then began stalking closer to the glass door again while Karys could walk in just like that, pretending to be the guard that was a little late for the change of guards.

Maeve's watchful gaze kept scanning the house before she intended to slip in, however right as she did, a duo of guards would round the corner, coming from the staircase that led up and as she passed the opened door frame, their gaze would fall right onto her. Now this called for improvisation and she was hoping that Karys, who played the role of the third guard in this and was just behind her, was good at that.

@Apollyon

Roll 5/20

 

[Karys]

Karys finished putting on the gear from the now dead guard. It was a little ill-fitting on his massive frame but it would have to suffice. Karys rounded the corner as Alice tried to duck behind it, he froze and locked eyes with pair of guards in front of him. They paused and examined him.

"Damn Steve, have you been working out?" One asked.
"Yeah holy shit, you've been drinking that Emyrc Energy Bro-tein Drink haven't you?" The other chimed in.

Karys went to respond from behind the helmet but the first guard spoke again.

"No wait, you're wayyyyy off your patrol there buddy. What're you doing here?" He said as he stepped closer.

Fuck.

Karys reached over and snatched Alice from behind the wall, holding her roughly before him. "Found this street rat snooping around." He replied. "Gotta drop her off at holding for interrogation." He continued.

"Holding? Don't you mean processing?" The armored man questioningly replied.
"Uh...yeah. The new terms since the uprising just have my wires crossed is all." Karys lied.

The two guards turned their helmeted heads towards one another before speaking again. Their voices were laced with caution and suspicion but they gave him the instructions on where to find the processing facility. Karys would immediately start shoving Alice in that direction until they were out of sight.

The Processing Facility was actually a small bunker near the back of the property. Karys wasn't sure what was in it but he didn't like the sound of it at all. Their plans had shifted suddenly and unexpectedly once more, this was beginning to become a running trend with Alice.

"Just play everything cool." He told her. "I'm not about to let anything happen to you."

@LadyRen
9/20 roll

 

[Maeve]

It was at this moment that Alice knew she fucked up. She froze out of tactical reason, as it still gave her the flexibility of acting based on what else happened. Fortunately, Karys did react right away and roughly twisted and fixed her arm behind her back as he jumped into the new script.

Good boy. At least that went smoothly. Maeve pretended to struggle against his grip, teeth gritted. For a moment, there was a tension in the air that was uncomfortable to grasp. She held her breath as he walked her out, leading her towards this so called processing facility.

The pit of her stomach seemed to spin, but she kept acting as the temporary prisoner she was. It was bad, but they seemed to have escaped the disaster for a moment. She breathed normally once outside at the bunker, her eyes however widened. What awaited inside? She didn't really dare to.

"Oh I am cool", she whispered back, which was a little lie. She hated that the plan had gotten derailed once again, but she was at least a skilled adaptor. It took her a moment to realize that he actually offered gentle words that actually reassured her, but once again she was reminded of what was burned into her brain 'you can't blindly trust anyone but yourself'.

She began drafting backups for backups again, but from the outside she appeared to wait for Karys to open the door. "That's sweet of you though", she softly teased, her tone definitely shifted, yet her demeanor still matching her current role. Once Karys would actually open the door, their gazes would settle on full blown darkness that collided with a dim light at the bottom of the stairs ahead of them. "What the kriff...". They probably wouldn't like what this bunker had to offer, but perhaps it would also be something that would bring them forwards.

@Apollyon

 

[Karys]

What the kriff, they were the exact same thoughts that Karys had when the bunk door slid open. Somewhere deeper down the stairs an overhead light flickered before burning out. Karys reached back into a pouch on his belt and produced an unused glow stick. He cracked it between two fingers, causing a faint green illumination to flare up, then he tossed it down the stairs. The tiny stick bounced several times before coming to a rest at the bottom of the staircase.

It was creepy but seemed safe.

Karys would take point, ready and anticipating that anything could be waiting for them. However at the bottom of the stairs there was a hallway that seemed to be carved from the earth. It was roughly hewn and illuminated but obviously well traveled. The smell of damp earth filled the place, but beneath it, there was something else, something foul.

“Do you smell that?” Karys asked, his head turning to let him glance back at Alice.

About that time, a pair of armored guards rounded the corner. They seemed as startled as Karys and Alice were by the suddenness.

“What the kri- Steve is that you?” One of the startled guards asked.
“By the Force it’s been a while, how’re Jen and the ki-“

CRUNCH

They didn’t have time for this. Karys interrupted the man’s questioning by using a telekinetic shove with the force. The guard who had called him “Steve” was sent colliding with the stone wall behind him. His helmet cracking on contact with a wet crunch.

Karys trusted Maeve to deal with the other guard, she was more than capable and he knew it. Instead his eyes flitted to the trio of doors that lined either side of the hallway before them. Two doors were on his left hand side, one on the right, and then the hall took an abrupt left hand turn at the end, leading into the unknown.

Karys tested the door handle of the final room, it opened seamlessly and within was an empty security room. Within it were four screens, that showed the viewpoint of four cameras. Each provided some valuable intelligence of what laid beyond. Karys removed his helmet and looked to Alice.

“Come here and check this out.” He whispered to her.

If she came, and as the pair watched the live footage, they’d miss the telltale sound of approaching danger. The sound of something rolling through the wet soil and finding the bodies of the guards they just dealt with.

A droideka unrolled, unfurled its weaponry as it was now on high alert. Its shield flickered to life and it took its first unmistakable step towards the now opened door.

“What the fuck was that?” Karys asked in response to the unusual sound.

@LadyRen
2/20 for difficult on initial encounter
8/20 - barely successful w/negative for noticing something useful.
6/20 for difficulty of that negative.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve held her breath as Karys released her and took the lead. She locked the door behind them , wanting to know whether anyone planned on following and also not wanting to risk a rear assault. They descended into darkness and his glowstick proved useful, at least until they suddenly had company to deal with.

Maeve went for her Vibro-Dagger, not wanting to risk losing any shots and thus makling unwanted noise, but her muscles tensed up completely as she charged towards the second guard, sliding past him and cutting his calves for him to drop down in pain. Before an agonized cry could even escape him, she had his throat slashes which left him spluttering blood, but those sounds literally suffocated themselves.

She stood back up and cleared her throat as she met Karys| gaze. "I don't like this place" she openly admitted, however knew they'd have to carry on regardless. They moved towards the first though and stumbled upon a security room and after Maeve checked for more sounds, she closed the door as well and went to check the screens with Karys.

Her ocean eyes immediately began scanning the different screens before a sudden rolling noise caught her attention. Almost instantly her mind snapped back to what Karys had learned yesterday and fear immedietaly widened her eyes as she connected the puzzle pieces. "Droidekas", she whispered fearfully, fumbing in her pocket. As she gathered more metal noises, she fully froze up.

"Fuck...what do we do?", it was obviously a rhetorical question, but a destroyer was a huge problem in here. "Can you...distract it for a moment? I'll try to reach the rear". She knew those droids had a weak spot there, but would she be fast enough. She couldn't go for explosives here either, even though she still had the grenades, but it would draw too much attention, so penetrating it's shield from behind was perhaps their only chance.

@Apollyon

 

[Karys]

Panic filled Karys’ eyes at the word he dreaded the most, Droidekas. Those destroyer droids could annihilate the pair of them if there was more than one and even if there was only one, the odds still weren’t in their favor. Alice quickly came up with a plan, he nodded unworried about betrayal from the woman he had come to trust. Karys would unclip the lightsaber from the back of his belt and moved towards the door.

He’d take a deep breath and swing it open.

The droideka would begin to respond to the sudden change in its environment. The droid started slowly turning to face the door. Karys twisted the Dark Side to his command and thrust his hand out. The telekinetic blast slammed into the droid, knocking it off its feet and slamming it into the wall behind it. Before rolling back towards the door. Karys would look to Alice and nod.

“You got this Alice?”

Once the droid was dealt with Karys would move down the hallway. He wouldn't bother to glance back at Alice, he knew she would be right on his tail. They had to deal with this issue in the "processing" center and shut down whatever was going on down here. These insurgents were making deals to get some of the most deadly droids on the market and they had to slow that process down.

As he moved, Karys would sense something and pause. His head flicked to and fro, he was attentive, almost as if he'd heard something. He'd sensed something from somewhere in the facility. Someone was using the Dark Side.

 

[Maeve]

Maeve was extremely nervous and the way she shifted her weight from one leg to the other and bit her lip as she reached for the blaster betrayed her mental state. Inanimate targets were much harder for her to deal with and she knew that shooting wasn't an option, so this was rather dicey.

She followed him towards the door and he slammed it open to knock the droid off its balance. Thanks to contacts and Intel she had gathered throughout the years, she knew that once they rolled, they couldn't use their shields and were thus vulnerable, so when it did, she didn't hesitate a second before she dashed after it and rammed the Vibro-Dagger into its weak, unprotected spot which left the droid utterly immobilize. Electricity cackled and she withdrew her weapon quickly before she stumbled backwards and exhaled in relief.

She then sprinted after him until he suddenly slowed and stiffened. "What is it?", she immediately asked, her voice low and breathless. As if trying to make out the invisible threat, she glanced around frantically, but neither heard nor saw anything. She still,, automatically edged closer to Karys, knowing he was more perceptive than her thanks to the Force and switched to her blasted again.

They'd manage to walk further, but Karys' Force use had alerted the one who already awaited them inside. They'd stumbled upon a heavy metal door and right as they reached it, it would open and reveal a pitch black room beyond, however Karys would know they weren't alone...

@Apollyon

 

[Karys]

The sound of electricity arching was all Karys needed to hear to know Alice had done her job. The droideka was down and likely wouldn't be bothering them anymore. However, there was still the danger of other threats lurking in the hallways. Which is precisely why Karys had frozen the way he did, he felt something.

He felt the unmistakable shift in the Dark Side, someone was near. As the pair rounded several more corners, they would eventually come to heavy metal door. It slid open on it's own in dramatic fashion to reveal a black abyss beyond. The source of whatever this presence was, was in that room. Karys reached his hand back and touched Alice lightly on her arm to get her attention.

"Whatever happens next, keep me between you and it." He whispered.

Almost in reply there was a sharp hiss and the yellow blade of a lightsaber snapped to life. The glow from the weapon illuminated the glowering features of Rattataki young woman. Her eyes narrowed at Karys before she spoke in a twisted and commanding voice.

"Why have you betrayed us..." She paused for a moment, almost as if she was reading something. "...Steve?" She continued questioningly.

Karys eyes followed where the woman was looking, there was a small name badge that he had missed on the armor. It read Steve, Karys rolled his eyes and activated his own blood-orange blade. "My name isn't Steve." He replied.

Before Karys and the woman would advance towards one another, he would whisper to Alice. "I know you have my back. Let kill this one and figure out what the hell is going on."

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

Maeve prefered trailing along behind Karys, still hoping his heightened perception would warn them of potential dangers like it had in the hotel. Her breaths were shallow and she moved carefully, avoiding any unnecessary noises while she readily gripped her blaster.

Karys' words reassured her, which she found relatively surprising. Perhaps it was because they had already been through hell and he hadn't yet given her any reasons to doubt or mistrust him, but she felt somewhat more safe with him around down here, even if force users generally bothered her.

The door hissed open threateningly and Maeve thought she was prepared for anything- more guards, droids, a booby trap or whatever, but as her gaze fell on the woman ahead, she literally sensed the danger. The way her yellow lightsaber illuminated led Maeve to the assumption they were dealing with yet another force user and knowing what this implied made her stomach churn.

Perhaps it was the absence of a lightsaber in Maeve's hand, but shortly after Karys had ignited his in return, Maeve felt an invisible force coiled around her neck. She wasn't able to provide Karys with an answer, but she felt the ferocious gaze of the woman burning right into her while she suddenly gasped for air. It was obvious that the Rattataki's focus was on her, so Karys would have the opening he potentially needed, and perhaps, Maeve thought, providing a fine distraction was a fitting role for her in this imbalanced fight, regardless of how much she hated it as sheer panic spread within her.

@Apollyon

 

[Karys]

Karys felt the Rattataki draw upon the Dark Side, for a moment he thought that she would target him. Instead, she chose to choke Alice. Why would she do that? It made no sense. But Karys wouldn't waste the opportunity she had afforded him. He dashed forward towards her.

His lightsaber blade would swing upwards at an angle, carving through the floor and leaving a molten trail behind. The strike was aimed to carve through her right hip and through her mid-riff. In response the Dark Jedi leapt backwards, Karys' blade left a small furrow across her stomach but it wasn't life threatening. She shoved Karys backwards, breaking her hold on Alice as she did so. Upon landing, she pulled out a remote and pressed a button on it.

Somewhere behind them a door opened at the sound of combat and a guard yelled towards Alice.

"You can't be here!"

Karys quickly got to his feet and took the Djem So ready stance. He'd never dueled a Jedi before but Zygerria had already proven there was a first time for everything.

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

Maeve's feet slowly left the ground while the tight grip around her neck only grew worse. Gasping for air, she stared at the Rattataki wide eyed, slowly attempting to raise her blaster, but Karys was quicker. Maeve was dropped and took a few deep breaths before she scrambled back to her feet.

The two saber wielders started clashing and while Maeve's intention was to quickly end the fight by helping him, she immediately spun after the Rattataki used her remote. A door opened, shedding dim light into the room they were currently in, but Maeve immediately aimed for the guard to stumbled out.

The first bolt missed as he quickly flung himself to the side for cover, but Maeve had no intention of letting him. She drew her Vibro-Dagger and zoomed around the corner, meeting the guard in melee range and cutting his blaster-wielding arm first.

@Apollyon

 

[Karys]

Karys heard Alice hit the ground shortly before the guard came through the door behind him. He had to trust her to deal with the guard before he became an issue for him, Karys couldn't afford to let the Dark Jedi out of his sights. The Dark Jedi was back on him within moments of the guard being alerted. She swung her saber at Karys' neck. In response, he blocked at a diagonal downward angle, stepped slightly to the side and thrust his lightsaber hilt forward.

The chrome hilt would collide with the Dark Jedi's face, cracking several of her teeth and causing her to stumble back. Before Karys could truly capitalize on the counter attack, the Dark Jedi shoved him backwards with the Force, throwing him over a pile of junk. Karys cursed as he tried to quickly recover his footing to prevent an attack at a disadvantageous position.

He didn't react fast enough.

The Dark Jedi sliced through the desk that separated them and advanced on him. She struck down on him with a two handed power strike. Karys barely brought his own blade in time to block the strike. The Rattataki woman pressed her blade heavily down on Karys, slowly pressing his blade towards his face.

"Alice, fucking shoot her!" Karys screamed out.

Around the same time, Alice had just finished slicing through guard's blaster arm with her vibroknives. With his tendons cut, the blaster would clatter uselessly to the floor. The guard would as well, his ruined arms gushing blood and unable to break his fall. His screams would echo through the hall unless quickly silenced.

Karys hoped Alice had a clean shot, he needed out of this rather terrible position in the duel. His life was in her hands now.

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

Maeve was confused about where the other force user came from, but it was relatively obvious that she had to die asap.her problem now though wasbthe hard, and as her knife cut through the flesh and bone with ease, an agonized cry echoed through the basement.

She kicked him right after, so that his body toppled over while all the blood just spilled, and she immediately spun right as Karys called for her. Her blaster was drawn right away and she found the two force users with locked blades and Karys...loosing?

She aimed and moved a little to the side, so that she actually got a clear shot and suddenly a red blaster bolt zoomed through the air and right through the Rattataki's neck. She'd let out a loud gasp until the pressure on Karys' saber would lessen and her gaze would flick to Maeve.

This was Karys' chance to end it as all that was left to do was to fully stab her. Maeve meanwhile once again realized that whatever they had gotten into was completely fucked up and it was time yo leave this terrible place behind.

@Apollyon