Ask Ice Cold Revenge

[Arla]

Per my OP template, thread is death enabled​

The prep work had been done, and now it was time for Apex to move in against their target. It was beyond personal for Arla this time. The woman they were here to kill was responsible for the death of her mother, and the fact that Apex had been hired to kill her was just a bonus. She'd have been here either way.

Unfortunately, she had no option to infiltrate how she would choose. This one was about making it look like the Empire. To that end, she had brought on a mixture of human and humanoid contractors rather than the Kaleesh she so often used. Apex's fingerprints couldn't be on this one. They had already laid the breadcrumb trail. Arrival on a ship with Raxus transponders, Imperial sidearms - concealed for now - and Imperial encryption and communication devices.

The team wore tactical gear that was anonymous and concealed their faces, and Arla had her Sith lightsaber tucked away for the final part of the job.

It was only a small team for this job. Arla, Nakoa, and two of the Anzati plus another four-man backup team in a second vehicle on standby. Arla felt a bit nervous, but more than that she felt angry. She wanted her revenge, and it would taste so sweet.

She moved to look at the gear in the back of the van and glanced over to her teammates.

Two minutes, she said. It was a complicated job. It was an Apex assassination made to look like the Empire was trying to frame the Sith. On the surface, it would appear to be Sith. As intelligence would dive deeper, they would find evidence that it was the Empire. So far as she was aware, they had covered all of their tracks that might point to the job being Apex.

Fortunately, it was a world of crime and corruption. A Shadowport that meant it didn't have the greatest of surveillance or law enforcement.

 

[Nakoa Singh]

This was the sort of thing where Apex's executive strategist really shone. His more obsessive and detail-oriented tendencies and hunger for information meant he took a little more time or effort, but he was damnably thorough. Paired with Arla, the plan took many angles into account. Arla's passion drove things forward and Nakoa's patience filled in the gaps.

They'd been working together for years, now, and it was almost as easy as breathing. Apex work had quickly become a passion of his own, second only to scholarly pursuits and study of the Force. It was a challenge, and he lived for such things. But his thoughts became tangential so he refocused on the moment before him, centered on where his feet were.

To his mind, there was no acceptable loss in this game. The payout was immense, yes, but this job was also largely personal. He'd promised to help Arla, and he would do everything he could. While he carried anger, it was far less personal and they'd balance each other out in getting things done.

He had an Imperial sidearm and concealed vibroknife, relying on no other weapons. His appearance was well-concealed like the others. Amber-gold eyes- hidden behind tactical goggles- watched a generic watch long the underside of his left wrist. His belt had things like security spikes and pre-loaded slicing programs. None of them were slicers, but they could plug things in just fine.

"They'll rely on local muscle outside, some droids inside," he reminded the team. It wasn't a sure thing, but reasoning derived from intelligence gathering was the next best bet.

They'd move when Arla gave the word.

@Phoenix

 

[Jade Archer]

The target building was taller than it was wide, a collection of upscale spires with the tallest serving containing Governor Jade Archer's home and office. Local security were more decently-trained criminal thugs than actual police, only getting involved if people caused trouble for business. Local culture would chafe at too much ISC presence getting involved with Llanic's long-standing crime families, so Archer kept Consortium forces out of sight.

She was in her home office now late at night, working on handling paperwork and certain dealings, as well as the next little speech for the Senate. Her last had gone better than anticipated and she fully intended to keep it up in order to solidify the ISC's status in the galaxy amidst all the chaos. Governor Archer was safe here, in her tower of glass and steel, high and out of reach. Her people prospered in their own way. What had she to fear?

The most vulnerable entrances were service and side doors for maintenance staff and more questionable guests to find their way inside. It was far from a fortress, with only minimal visible security guard patrols who were, by all accounts, not fans of being made to actually do their job.

There were tough men at the doors, but it was a private residence, not a government building.

Two minutes passed.

 

[Arla]

As they finished up their last minute equipment checks, Arla added a vibroknife, garrote, and security spike to her gear and their two minutes came to a close.

Stealth and minimal footprint is preferable, she said. They could always turn to "guns blazing" if they needed, but she would really prefer not. But between a pair of Anzati, Arla, and Nakoa, there was plenty of stealth experience to go around. There were no rookies on this trip.

Local muscle, she repeated. Those words didn't typically correlate well with "well trained." It wasn't impossible, and she would operate carefully either way, but it meant they were unlikely to have the true discipline of actual soldiers.

We'll use the delivery door at the rear of the building, she said, knowing that one of the Anzati had experience with bypassing security in addition to the security spikes. She checked one last time to ensure that people were ready and slipped out of the back of the vehicle. The shadows of the building gave them some small amount of cover, and Arla kept here eyes open for security cameras or guards as she made her way over.

 

[The Storyteller]

Out by the delivery entrance, a well-muscled Orcolan towered over a scrawny, tattooed-up Duros in conversation. A thick cigar, clamped between her teeth, smoldered idly as the two engaged in some kind of energetic conversation. As the Apex group grew closer, words would carry over the sounds of late-night city life, the buzzing of streetlights and distant repulsorcraft.

"-and while the mime did survive, he'll never walk again," the Orcolan rumbled solemnly. The Duros shook his head with a sigh. "I liked that one. Broke up monotony." Just an ordinary, entirely mundane conversation between an Orcolan door guard and- judging from the outfit- a Duros line cook.

There didn't immediately appear to be any cameras for the delivery entrance, nor other security. On the downside, that Orcolan woman was at least seven feet tall and built like a freight truck. Neither individual seemed to notice Arla's group yet.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla moved along like a shadow to the back entrance, and for all her skill at stealth, it was practically dwarfed by the skill of the Azanti who were almost imperceptible in their movements. Even after all these years, they were a terrifying marvel to behold.

She slipped into an alcove, find the smallest shadow and somehow letting herself slink into it even deeper, the darkness seeming to become even more obscure as she stood there in silence, watching. It was a mixture of her own training with the Anzati and the smallest touch of the Shadow that let her blend in so seamlessly. These were skills she had practiced for years, after all. By her reckoning, a guard should be out here, but a chef not so much. While they could have killed both, she wanted to leave the scene as clean as possible. Not to mention, the Orcolan alone was huge. She doubted if that was only for show, but maybe fates would be on her side and that would be the case.

So she waited. Sometimes, it was the job of a huntress to be patient. An opportunity would eventually present itself, and when the Orcolan was alone, they would move against her.

If that opportunity presented herself, the trio would move on the woman in a flash, one of the Anzati moving to plunge a dagger up under the rib cage and into the diaphragm to both kill and stifle any sounds in a single blow. Meanwhile, Arla went high, letting the Shadow suffuse her body to augment both strength and speed. She would attempt to slash her own blade quickly across the guard's throat and chop short both life and breath in a single flick of the wrist. The third, stood ready at guard to intercept anyone else who may come their way.

If the opportunity didn't come after several minutes of waiting, the plan would go largely the same except that the other Anzati would move against the chef to slit his throat in short order as well. Quick and vicious was the way of an Apex predator: going for the throat.

 

[The Storyteller]

In this scenario, patience served better than haste. The scrawny Duro only lingered long enough to finish his cigarra before moving on, strolling away with the exhaustion of a being stuck in a hot kitchen for ten-hour shifts. It left only one target for those waiting in the shadows of alleys and street corners. Daggers and knives rained down on the Orcolan, a sentence of death. The Anazati would find themselves surprised, however.

Their dagger struck strong and true but failed to penetrate the Orcolan guard's jacket. Arla's dagger cut quick across the guard's throat, blood spurting under pressure, but it didn't stop the liquid gurgles of rage. Nor did it stop a thick, muscular arm from grabbing the Anzati's weapon arm, or the other matching limb from swinging at their head.

Whether from luck, skill, or simple rage, the Orcolan hadn't gone down easily from the attack and responded with violence. More importantly, the guard's jacket was obviously not an ordinary sleeveless bomber despite all appearances.

Their third member, another Anzati, would notice nothing out of the ordinary. There was no sign of the Duro returning or anyone else wandering the streets in their immediate vicinity.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Redundancy. It seemed to have served them well as Arla cut down the Orcolan where the first Anzati had failed to do so. It would have been so much easier with more liberal application of the Shadow, but they needed this job to look like it was done by Imperials.

The Orcolan took a swing at the Anzati, but despite the momentary surprise, the Anzati was still a trained killer and hunter of men. He ducked to the side, and instead of taking the blow full-power to the head, he was knocked off his feet but only momentarily dazed.

Arla leapt into action and grabbed onto the woman's arms, the Shadow augmenting her strength enough to keep match with her as the blood drained out of her. Within moments, she would be dead, and they would be able to clean up the body and stash it out of sight.

After ensuring that the punched Anzati was still upright and fine, they would press on into the entrance cautiously but quickly.

 

[The Storyteller]

The Orcolan struggled, but even her great size and strength were overwhelmed by lethal surprise. She got her meager pound of flesh and then, she died. Arla's Anzat had a nasty bruise but was fine to continue onward, perhaps glad it hadn't been a more direct confrontation.

Then there was the entrance. Barely lit by design, ideal for that late-night rendevous the criminally inclined were so known for, the door was blanketed in stretching shadow. It was also, likely to no one's surprise, locked shut. What might be a surprise was that the Orcolan guard didn't appear to have the key to open it. This door presented as a thick, metal affair with a sliding panel near the top for an inner guard to peer through.

They were very lucky for the guard's silence. But this begged the question: How were they to get through?

There appeared to be an electronic lock on the door itself, which slid into the wall when open. What might be beyond the door was not immediately discernible.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla turned to face the door as they pressed onward, surprised to find that the Orcolan didn't have a key to access the door. This would make things more difficult, but not impossible. The oversight of another guard, however, did make it more difficult.

By Arla's reckoning, if there was a guard upstairs on the watch for them, the alarm would have already been raised, and she decided that time was of the essence. She reached out to the Shadow and made herself like mist, pressing against the wall and allowing her body to phase through the door as she pressed her palms against it and then the rest of her body.

It was a rare power, but Arla had built a career on knowing how to use rare powers in place of technology or other more conventional means.

Even as she did that, she had one of the Anzati begin opening the control panel to make it appear as if some sort of hotwiring job had been used to bypass the door while she began moving through and looking for the control panel that should have been at the guard post just above the door, knife in hand.

 

[The Storyteller]

Arla passed through the door and found herself in a short hallway illuminated by small panels in the ceiling. Directly across from the door was empty space that terminated at a small open area with at least one visible elevator. Halfway down the hall on the right was a metal door with the universal symbol for stairs painted in white on a small metal plaque. Immediately to her left was another door marked Security in red letters across its front.

Muffled conversation meandered out from under the security door, the sound only audible thanks to Arla's sharp hearing. There was another control panel to the entry door on this side, identical to the one outside. It appeared to need a keycard.

Meanwhile, the Anzat worked on the panel. It wasn't that hard to pop off, although the inside might be a surprise. Its innards weren't a standard door panel arrangement. Instead, it was something used specifically on Llanic, with numerous wires of the same color and labeling meant to be difficult to hotwire.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla made her way quickly along to head in the direction of the security room, which she assumed should have control of the door to the outside given that was the way the door was opened.

She stopped at the outside, looking at the door and having little options for how to get through it. If she had been inside before, she could have teleported there, but as it stood, that wasn't an option, so she pushed forward to phase through it as well, though this time more quickly.

She would - with luck - burst into the room with her blaster in hand and fire at point blank range at those inside. Blasters weren't particularly loud, and in an isolated room with a closed door, it shouldn't alert anyone to her presence.

If all went well, she should have those inside dead within seconds, and if things went poorly... well, then she would have to resort to what she did best: killing people with the Shadow.

Meanwhile outside, the Anzati may not have seen this particular system before, but he had seen similar in the past and he applied those skills to the device in order to make an attempt to open it himself.

 

[The Storyteller]

Generally speaking, folks manning security rooms didn't sit and stare at the door, they stared at camera monitors. Sure, they'd probably notice it opening. But it hadn't, giving Arla the element of surprise. No one was going to hand the Nightsister a medal for pistol marksmanship, but it was pretty hard to mess up against two nearby people who hadn't even noticed her.

The first one down instantly, while the second took a follow-up shot as he panicked and tried to get to his feet. By all appearances, this security room was now secure. Smells of burnt flesh wafted through the air, smoking curling before the monitors. Those monitors themselves seemed to mostly watch the elevator room, elevator itself, and the two floors above. There was also a control console that handled the elevator and the entry door.

The latter was unneeded, however: Whether by experience or intuition, the Anzat figured out the outside console before the two security guards even hit the ground. The door quietly opened, and the Anzat was even able to figure out a way to rapidly hotwire this model of console for the future. Clever!

This left Arla free to do whatever she liked in the security checkpoint, the stairs, and the elevator.

@Phoenix

Spoiler: Slicing Roll

1d20+1 = 21. Nat 20, grants quick-hack for local door controls.

 

[Arla]

Indeed, Arla was not the greatest expert with a blaster, but she knew the basics and even she couldn't miss at this distance. Three shots, two dead bodies, and that sickening smell of burning flesh left Arla standing alone over her victims, not even giving a second thought to what she had just done. After all, they guarded the wretch that had taken her mother.

She pressed several buttons on the console with her gloved hands and began to open the doors for the rest of the team only to see that the Anzati had apparently already made it through.

Impressive, she thought to herself, giving a nod of approval before opening up the path for them.

She moved over to try to find a layout of the facility from the security terminals, and barring that would try to get a gauge of the layout from the cameras before turning to find the rest of her team.

Meanwhile, the Anzati made a final sweep over the console to ensure he'd left behind no evidence and then returned his attention to making his way inside along with his partner. They would all meet up again in short order and set off to find a turbolift or route that would take them to the Governor's living space.

 

[The Storyteller]

Present on the consoles was a notably limited layout encompassing only the areas this station monitored. This was 'checkpoint C'. From this checkpoint, Arla could gather a half-decent mental map of the two floors above this side entrance itself and elevator room, considered 'Floor B-C'. Other floors were only labeled by numbers 1 or higher. There was no readily available information on what purpose other floors served, the locations of other security checkpoints, or floor layouts.

From this information, they could determine two obvious choices of route. The lift could take them straight to the Governor's floor, 10- if they had a specific code cylinder. Without it, they could only go up to 7 and would have to move forward from there. They could also take the stairs, two floors up, move halfway across the building, and then go up using the primary stairwell to floor 7.

There didn't appear to be any straight-line routes to Governor Archer's living area from within the building. Whether this was an intentional security feature or just dumb bad luck for Arla's infiltrators wasn't clear.

It was up to her to decide their path with what she knew.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla looked quickly over the information in front of her, and sorted it into the necessary boxes. There was no direct route, and she couldn't afford to be plagued by indecision, so she weighed her options quickly before deciding on the best route.

The rest of the team was catching up as she laid her mind on the decision and course they would take. She quickly searched the guards for any potential code cylinders that might give her access to the 10th floor, and assuming she wasn't fortunate enough to find anything, she chose to go the turbolift up to floor seven.

By her reasoning, both routes got her to the seventh floor and there was perhaps a slightly higher chance of someone guarding the lift exit - though this was unlikely - but there was an even greater chance of running into someone if she had to cross a large portion of one of the floors and that was before she even got to seven.

Ultimately, she didn't love either option, but she did have confidence in her own ability to handle situations that came up. She would do just that now, and headed to call the turbolift and climb inside along with her team.

All clear? she asked into her comlink, radioing Nakoa to see if he had anything pop up as an alarm bell on his end, though she expected if he had he'd have let her know already.

 

[The Storyteller]

The turbolift, well cared for and swept clean regularly, began its approach downward. It was very late at night; others were unlikely actively using the lifts at this hour. It appeared the Apex group just had to wait for its arrival.

Arla's comm message was met by silence.

Then- ksh, ksssh, the sound of Nakoa twice pressing the button in a specific pattern. 'Affirmative', but communicated silently. He must be near others who might hear him speak. The Nightsister was right, though. If Nakoa anticipated trouble for her, there'd be a warning.

With little fanfare, the turbolift slowed to a stop and dinged open. Inside was- empty, save for the camera in the corner Arla already knew about. The trip to the seventh floor was similarly uneventful.

It would open again into the seventh floor primary hallway. Rows of spread out apartment doors took up the space, with an open roundabout complete with a well-pruned little collection of plants in the middle that led to other hallways. To the right of the elevator lobby was the primary stairwell, which ended on this floor. Down the hall and down the leftward hallway should be the shorter stairwell for higher levels, mainly meant for emergencies.

Upon peaking around the corner, however, an Anzat would note an obstacle; a single security officer, seated on a folding stool and reading a datapad.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

There was little to do about the camera in the turbolift, but in this case it wasn't even a problem or issue that Arla had with it. It would capture just enough to be potentially incriminating to the Empire: blasters that were Imperial make and body armor that while perhaps not "standard" Imperial tech was known to be favored by those individuals in their intelligence service.

The affirmative from Nakoa was enough for Arla, and she pressed on to the floor in question and found the assorted variety of apartments that lined the floor. The security guard on this level was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Arla wouldn't hesitate to put him down. He guarded a woman who deserved to die.

The Anzati motioned to Arla, and she paused a moment to think about the best way to handle this. She thought back to the security room, but had no recollection of seeing anything on this floor, which could present a problem for her.

She hated that she couldn't use the full extent of her power overtly for this job, but that didn't mean she couldn't still do something more subtle.

I'll make a distraction, you two close the distance and take him down, she whispered to the pair of Anzati. And true to her word, that was what would happen.

She took a look around to ensure she wasn't in sight of any cameras currently and then spun her fingers about and fooled his mind. She made him hear something behind him, causing him to turn and then masked the footsteps of the already quiet Anzati who would descend on him with knife and garrote while his back was turned. If necessary, Arla could provide additional support, but this wasn't a hulking guard like the brute out front, and she was fairly certain that the two of them could take down one lone, bored, distracted guard before they pressed on to the stairs to the upper floor.

 

[The Storyteller]

Anzati were coordinated and well-skilled at murder. Even if they generally worked alone rather than in pairs as hunters, any flaw that might introduce was irrelevant against Bob the Security Guy. The man fell to their killing tactics without too much fuss and was soon dead on the floor. If they searched, there was nothing on him of note.

However, one Anzati checking the area ahead would find something concerning. "Holocam," they warned of the stairwell itself, spotting it through a pane of glass and skulking out of sight. The other Anzati made sure the guard wasn't within view through the glass as the camera slowly rotated around. It appeared security here was- well, odd, but getting more serious the higher up they went.

Still, the stairwell was the most obvious way up to the Governor's floor.

@Phoenix

 

[Arla]

Arla's eyes locked onto the security camera as they advanced forward, narrowing in careful concentration as she debated the best way to go about dealing with it.

As was the case with this whole operation, wasting time wasn't much of an option, and she had to make her decision quickly.

Hide the body. Prepare to advance up the stairs at speed. Take any comlink on the guard you find, she said. By her reckoning, the guards here were regular people working their 8 or 10 hour shift and going home. They didn't really expect anyone to attack... after all, technical problems were exponentially more common than anything else.

From a distance, Arla reached out with the Shadow and plucked one of the wires from the camera, causing it to lose its feed as they all began to move with speed toward the stairwell. By logic, the security room would call the guard on this floor, and when they did, one of the Anzati would respond with the "all clear, technical issues." A far more believable story than that a witch and two vampires just broke in and were coming to murder them.

All they needed to buy was enough time to close in on whatever the security room was and waive off suspicion for a time. Time may not have been on their side, but stealth still was.