Ask Coruscant Source Codes

[Acklay]

It was 2:47am on Coruscant. Early enough that patrons were on their drunken way homes, and late enough that most of the reasonable citizens of the city were sound asleep. Acklay was waiting for her partner to show up with one arm hugging her abdomen and the other holding a dimly lit datapad in front of her. On the screen were the details for the mission the two were teaming up to tackle:

The Troig Eccle'baal is the leader of the Taris Exchange. Here he deals in all kinds of illicit goods and recently someone has requested not physical goods, but information. Almost a decade ago there was a Sector Ranger who had engineered a dataplague so efficient that he managed to provide solid evidence for hundreds of convictions on the planet of Coruscant. His datapad most likely still holds the dataplague's sourcecode! Get it and the Troig will reward you handsomely.

After doing a bit of prep work, Acklay figured that the most likely location for the datapad was either his home here on Coruscant, or the Sector Ranger's old headquarters (also here on Coruscant). Though she hoped to avoid any and all confrontations, the holorunner was still armed, and she had come prepared with every tool she could possibly need to complete the mission.

The woman waited for Crix to show, leaning up against an alley wall.

@Zay @Eccles

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crix hated Coruscant. The whole fucking cityplanet was a pain in the ass. Not only was it the most inconvenient planet to travel on, but the people here thought the galaxy revolved around them, it was maddening. He pulled a cigarette out of his jacket pocket and grumpilly lit up, before shoving his hands back into his jacket pockets.

He was dressed in his usual gear, sans his helmet. Honestly, he wasn’t really sure why he’d taken this job. The money he’d made in his last two gigs had been more than enough for him to hang low for a few years… He sighed, realizing the answer, but not able to accept it

Crix turned the corner and spotted a girl leaning against the duracrete wall studying a data pad. He casually leaned up against the wall in front of her then asked, “So," he said in an amicable tone, "Why are two Crimson Dawn agents working for The Exchange?”

He wasn’t looking at her, he was studying the wall and smoking his cigarette as if he hadn’t said a thing. Crix was loyal to Terra, he’d made that plain from the start, but he wasn’t sure if he liked Crimson Dawn as a whole yet. To be honest, he was starting to think it was time to start vetting a crew again.

Besides, the only master he’d ever truly served was money.

@lizziie

 

[Acklay]

Acklay was from Coruscant. Level 2077 to be exact, years ago when she was still called 'Juno' by her friends and found family. She didn't particularly miss the place, as anything resembling her old turf was long gone. Omega was, for all intents and purposes, her new home now. She'd been called back here only by the promise of credits.

"A hundred thousand credits isn't anything to turn your nose up at," she responded, her lips curving up into a smile under her mask. "Nor is access to a sophisticated dataplague." The woman fully intended to complete the mission and deliver the datapad to the two-headed alien as they were hired to do so, but certainly not without pursuing the code herself first.

"The ranger's old datapad is either located in his current residence or at the old Sector Ranger headquarters," she continued, turning her datapad around to show Crix the map on the device. "His residence is further away but less likely to have too much security around." Though she didn't doubt the man had some, private systems were often easier to take over than full on sprawling networks.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crix’s smile widened as she mentioned the price and the dataplague. Say one thing for the criminal element of the galaxy, say they’re opportunistic. He took out his ratty pack of cigarettes, packed them with a few quick taps, took one out and lit it up.

“Amen to that, next question: how much of my pay am I going to need to invest, to get a copy?”

Crix Dolan didn’t beat around the bush when it came to business. He didn’t have to, not anymore. He was in an interesting position to take control of his life in a way he hadn’t for years. To his surprise, his most profitable job ever had been with The Exchange, made him wonder if Crimson Dawn was still as big a player as they thought or if they were being swept away by the tide of new challengers.

The Enforcer listened as she spoke. He nodded, “I say we swing by the apartment. Shouldn’t take long to sweep.”

The prospect of breaking into a sector ranger headquarters wasn’t exactly thrilling, but after Raxus he wasn’t exactly worried.

“Would you like to drive or should I?” he asked, finally turning to look at her. From what he could see she was slender, but hid her fame under baggy clothing, half of her face was covered by a mask, and she kept that datapad at her hip like a blaster. He just hoped it was as dangerous as one.

@lizziie

 

[Acklay]

"We can talk about that later, if we even manage to get our hands on the 'pad," she hummed, pocketing her datapad as she pushed her foot back to push herself off the wall. She figured they were better off focusing on getting it first and dealing with the negotiations later. Not that she expected them to be all that difficult - Terra trusted Crix, so she figured he was alright - but she liked to keep her mind focused on the mission at hand.

"If you don't mind," she replied, gesturing around the corner. She would follow behind him as she made his way over. He would round the corner to see a two-seater speeder already waiting in natural, quietly humming away as the repulsor engines made their rotations. "I'm going to try and find out which holonet providers his holofi network is associated with." Depending on who it was, hacking in and disabling any security would either be a breeze or a bit of a chore.

Mars would step into the speeder, sinking down into the passenger seat and placing a knee up on the dashboard to act as a surface for her to use her datapad on. Once the two of them were on their way, she'd looked sideways toward Crix.

"Not gonna get lost in the Coruscanti streets, are you?" she asked. Whether he picked up on it or not, it was another way of her asking if he was familiar with the planet or not.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

”Sure thing,” he said, taking the lead. As they rounded the corner he spotted the vehicle and started heading toward it as Acklay let him know what she needed to focus on. Honestly he was vaguely aware of most of what she said so he said, “Good luck with that,” while stepping into the car.

Crow waited for her to get set and then took off.

He laughed, “You gonna get lost on the Holonet?” he shot back.

In the infancy of his scoundrel days Crix had worked as a legitimate transporter and a smuggler. His main stomping grounds had centered around deliveries to Coruscant. As they drove he strolled down memory lane. The Conuscanti skyways crisscrossed above them as they stayed low, sticking to sector level. This route would take a little longer, but it also posed the smallest threat.

The Enforcer didn’t drive like an asshole, and as they closed in on the apartment, he turned.

“Scoping exits for later real quick. Gonna want to know this area very well,” he said. Crow was through. He liked having a plan and he liked to have a backup for that plan and so on and so on. He covered the perimeter once and then pulled up into the parking garage.

Crow checked his guns, cut on the power to his personal shield, making sure it was primed and ready just in case. He looked over at Acklay, “Ready?”

@lizziie

 

[Acklay]

"Fair 'nough," she chuckled, amused at his response.

It turns out that the Sector Ranger was on a major holonet provider here on Coruscant. This had both its pros and cons, and she wasn't too sure which she would have preferred. At least it meant she knew what to expect in terms of security.

"Our boy's running his network off a Zfinite modem," she stated as she twisted herself up and out of the vehicle, eyes still trained on her datapad. "As is about ninety percent of the building as well. Gotta assume Zfinite's got some sort of monopoly on the holonet here." It wasn't uncommon for providers to do that. There were all sorts of corporate 'wars' for certain layers or certain sections of layers. "As long as I can get within range of the holofi then I can most likely get in - maybe even a peek inside if he's the paranoid type." She didn't doubt the ex-Ranger had cameras. Seemed like a cop thing to have.

"But yeah, let's go." Acklay had a gun at her hip, but she wasn't too concerned about things coming to that. As long as Crix could keep a low profile, she figured they'd be alright.

The woman made her way to the edge of the parking garage and glanced out toward the apartment building where the Ranger supposedly lived. Each unit had a small balcony just big enough to fit a glass door in the corner and maybe a table and chair in the other. 'Going off the strength of the signal...' Acklay's eyes searched for the apartment and eventually settled on one that had an empty balcony and a door that was clearly blocked with either paper or blinds from the inside. 'Bingo.' Paranoid indeed.

"I think its that one there," she pointed out. The woman glanced down toward the ground - quite a ways - then back up toward the balcony. It just just too far to jump. She really should look into some calf implants. She could've made it if she had a bit more artificial muscle in her.

"I can't quite get enough signal here. Do you see any way up?"

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crow tried his best to follow along with Acklay as she explained what modem the target was using, and what network that was connected too, would getting into the holonet business be worth exploring? Nah, he was way too old for that.

“I mean yeah, we can go up another level or two,” he walked over to where she was pointing and stuck his head out over the railing, looked up frowned appraisingly then looked back at her.

A moment later they were standing in the exact same spot, but one level up. They now looked directly into the blind covered balcony door of their target, or at least that’s what his holorunner friend suggested.

“This close enough?”

The jump to the balcony was doable. He’d been a bit of a running start, but he was a solid eighty percent sure he could make the jump. How long had it been since he’d pulled something like this? Better not to think about it. He took a couple breaths then started running. He jumped off the railing and was airborn, he felt his heart jump into his throat and then dive back into his feet as he clambered over the side railing.

In reality, he hadn’t made much noise, but when you were about to break into someone’s house any noise sounded like an explosion. He eased up to the door, it was locked. He looked back at Ackaly and pointed at the door, miming can you slice this? in criminal sign language. If she couldn’t he’d have to fall back on more traditional means.

@lizziie

 

[Acklay]

'Damn, he made that jump no issue.' She couldn't help but be at least slightly impressed. As much as the slicer was happy to go bouncing about between buildings - she remembered jumping out of a window and just expecting Terra to follow (the tiefling did not) - she was not at the same physical athleticism as Crix was. Her idea of working out was morning jogs.

"Oh geez, okay." Acklay muttered under her breath as she leaned over the railing, again judging the distance between her and the balcony Crix had already leapt onto. She wasn't confident she could make it; she gave herself a fifty-fifty shot.

'Fuck it.' She wouldn't be able to slice from there. Taking several steps back, Acklay got herself a running start and pushed off the ledge. She knew almost immediately that she wasn't going to make it, and her eyes widened as her hands desperately reached out to try and grasp at the ledge. "Shit!"

roll to jump: 4/20 - failure
@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crix watched as Acklay backed up a couple of steps and he cocked an eyebrow. Even with her face mask on he could tell she wasn’t overly confident about the jump. He leaned in on his tip-toes looking over the edge, now that he looked they were much higher than he’d realized, huh.

The Enforcer’s gaze flicked up to the Holorunner as they charged forward. He found his breath catching in his own throat as she hit the railing.

Then she was airborne and Crix was surging forward freehand outstretched and a curse word on his lips. He felt himself nearly flip over the railing as he lunged for her outstretched hand. His grip landed around her wrist and he held on with everything he had. Unfortunately her moment was still moving forward, so unless she protected herself she’d collide with the wall pretty hard.

Crix grunted under the strain of holding Ackley, “Are you made of fucking durasteel?!” he spat through gritted teeth.

He managed to get his foot up on the railing earning enough leverage to pull The Slicer over. Crow sat back on his ass and breathed for a second. He really needed to quit smoking…

With the excitement concluded he looked back to the door, nodding at the same time asking, “Mind slicing that now?”

Pretty good chance their sneaking was over. The sound of Acklay colliding with the wall probably woke the whole floor…

@lizziie