Ask Sweep the Legs

[Marissa Hesse]

​

Bestine was hardly a planet that drew the eye. It didn't make it to the holonet news, there were no stories told or songs sung of Bestine. Except one rather poorly received work of landscape art by an immigrated Aqualish artist, whose control of oils was hardly up to exhibiting.

But Marissa had not come for the art. In truth she was hardly coming to the planet at all. If things went according to plan she'd see its endless ocean waves only from orbit, because she was here to steal something for the Zaa Fenn, something that would boost their ability to project force significantly. She could already imagine the look on Gori Xaa Hafven's face. Or mask, she had never actually seen their face before.

The rest of the assembled crew all had their preparatory tasks handed out to them. If all went smoothly then their taking the ship would be a blue milk run just like Canto Bight had been all that time ago. She was relishing the event. It had been a long time since she'd felt this particular thrill again. The deception, the subterfuge, the satisfaction of a plan all coming together. And today it started.

Kel had managed to acquire himself an honest to goodness Sector Ranger badge, and so they meant to use it.

Any good heist involved disguises, right?

With the full face mask of a Sector Ranger officer outfitted for combat, Marissa held the Zaa Fenn's resident slicer, 'Scratch', by the arm, twsited behind her back. They would be escorting her to transport to the Core, though in the meantime needed access to the comms to contact HQ. There was a good plan in this, Kel had been a good investment,

"Lead the way, Lorcan" she said slyly to her ally, her voice scrambled by the helmet, digitally lowered and mildly muffled. If there wasn't a helmet in the way he would have been able to see her playful wink. Pushing their fake prisoner along, she got into character as they began,

"Eyes forward scum. You'e going away for a long time"

@Catbert

 

[Kel Dryden]

Kel was enjoying this. An opportunity to steal a corvette and to get back at a couple of Sector Ranger pricks who had almost arrested him once? And with the aid of Marissa Hesse, the Zaa Fenn mastermind herself? Boonta Eve was sure lasting longer than usual that year. By a pure coincidence, Kel's new gear even looked remotely alike to the armor that Lorcan had used during their fateful meeting on Dxun. "You got it... Corran," the man smirked under the helmet as well. Unlike Marissa, Kel didn't need to alter his voice too much to look the part.

Despite playing the part of a senior Ranger, Kel did as he was told. Get the "rangers" access to the station's comms? Sounded like a cakewalk. So, "Lorcan" took point as he approached the nearest security guard: "Hello. I'm Lorcan, and this is Corran," he flashed the badge briefly. "We're with the Sector Rangers. Could we... Uhmmm... Use the station's hyperspace transceiver?" Kel partly faked being uncomfortable with the request.

He then gestured to the captive, trying to sound less arrogant and more sincere in explaining their "predicament": "Need to call in her arrest and signal for pickup. The schutta busted our own comm system, and a message on your standard civilian channels would travel for days just one way." If his play was any convincing, then the security guard would probably take the trio to the comms and all but do their job for them.

@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

Marissa stood passive beneath her helmet, not adding anything to ‘Lorcan’s’ explanation of the scenario. It did everything they needed it to, so she kept herself to acting as if the slicer with them was a dangerous criminal, holding her arms behind her at a step back from the guard.

The guard on duty was a sappy looking Zabrak who seemed to be new to the job. Gun held awkwardly, helmet ill-fitted, it seemed as if they’d struck gold. A fool like that would be all too trusting.

Too bad then their boss was not.

“Oh, I, uh...” the began to reply awkwardly before heavy footsteps clatters down the hall behind them as a heavy set Cerean stepped out of the office. Marissa had never seen a Cerean as anything but effete, but this one clearly hadn’t exercised since they’d taken the fold on the station. Or so it appeared it Marissa, anyhow. Their tired eyes glanced up and down as they looked over the pair, assessing them,

“Step back Broden. Go guard the snack dispenser, something more you’re speed” he dismissed the young guard with a word before remaining silent for a moment. The outfits were good, convincing enough it seemed. The ‘prisoner’ seemed subdued, the story was accepted. But it proudly be enough yet,

“Comms room? I’ll need ID. I’ll have to write this down in my summary”

@Catbert

 

[Kel Dryden]

Before long, the guard was sent off by his Cerean overseer. A burly hardass, no doubt about it. But even he didn't seem too skeptical about the story and the whole setup. The demand for an ID was logical, and Kel wasn't opposed too much to showing his badge for a longer period of time. Its number was legit, and the name matched. So if someone were to check the logs, they'd see that access was requested by "Ranger Lorcan, badge number XYZ".

Of course, Ranger Lorcan had quit the force a while ago. But to find that out, one would have to contact Sector Ranger HQ. From the comms room. Kel hoped that the guard wouldn't be as meticulous. And if he were... Well, Kel's blasters had been set to stun before the mission. The guard wouldn't have a chance to contact the real Rangers in time. The digital aftermath could hopefully be cleaned out out by the slicer. Not to mention that they'd have to get rid of any extra eyes and ears in the comms room anyway.

"Sure thing," the man nodded understandingly. "Would my badge suffice? My partner is a little... preoccupied to show the ID." As if to prove a point, the heavy cyborg held by "Corran" attempted to adjust her footing and arm position, no doubt to cause some sort of reaction from the "Ranger" and drive the point home even further.

Regardless, Kel showed his badge to the guard, so that he could memorize or write down the digits: "Just write us down as Sector Rangers Lorcan and Corran, if that's ok." Hopefully, that'd settle the obstacle and finally get the trio to the coveted comms room.

@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

It had been quite some time since she’d run a costume based operation. Disguise was the kinder term, made it seem much more professional. Still, she was always shocked at how well it tended to work. With the right logo and a little confidence most people didn’t worry about looking to closely. That was actually something to keep in mind, she’d need to make sure the same didn’t happen back to her. She’d get the guards to implement a security screening, something thorough. If they’d got in to Canto Bight like that, the Zaa Fenn would need to make sure their own security was tip top.

For the moment though she kept her facade up, yanking back Scratch as she feigned a struggle against her grip. And their slicer wasn’t half bad on the acting front, presumably she’d lied enough on Denon to have some half decent acting chops now. Enough at the very least that the Cerean seemed to go along with it. With Kel taking the lead there, things seemed legitimate, and they had the id to prove it,

“Looks to be in order, let me get this written up and I’ll bring you in” he looked down at his pad before walking back to the office, badge in hand. They had a moment to themselves before he came back and escorted them in,

“Alright Scratch, think you can handle this?” Marissa’s voice came out heavy from the scrambler. the cyborg looked around the room, taking in the cameras, the slight but no less deadly wall mounted blasters at the security checkpoint, the few droids that stalked the halls,

“I’ve sliced worse. As long as you two schutta’s keep em’ off me, I’ll get it done” her never ending confidence rang through. It verged on pride, but from everything she’d seen so far, there wasn’t anything she hadn’t been able to deal with,

“Sound good to you then, Lorcan?”

@Catbert

 

[Kel Dryden]

"Yeah, go ahead," despite maintaining an air of confidence, Kel did reply with a slight delay. His first instinct was to follow the Cerean who had taken the prized ranger badge. Who knew what he might've done in his office. It's not like any ranger would relinquish the badge like that, right? It would only be natural for Kel to follow.

So, when the guard headed off, Kel followed him to the office, only to turn backwards briefly and nod at Marissa's remark. Luckily, the Cerean didn't see a catch... or was very good at hiding it. Another reason to follow the guy and make sure there wouldn't be a stab in the back.

It wouldn't take too long for the guard to log the identities of "Lorcan" and "Corran", as well as the former's badge number. "Well, go ahead. Your friend can keep an eye on the captive here in the meantime." Kark! That wasn't good: 'Scratch' was the one who had to get inside the comms room, and not Kel. "Uhmmm, sorry, can't leave my partner alone with a criminal for too long. Against the protocol," the ranger shrugged. "Besides, we'll need to record the holo of the suspect."

The Cerean give the ranger a long doubtful look. Longer than Kel was comfortable with. Luckily, his face mask hid the flaming cheeks and the expression of anxiety on his face. After what seemed like eternity, the guard finally handed over the badge. "Alright, but I'm staying with you. Can't let a criminal near the console unsupervised..." After a pause, he smirked: "Against the protocol."

Kel could only nod in agreement. The guard stood up and led "Lorcan" to regroup with Corran, and then through the security checkpoint. A single button on the device on his belt made all the defenses idle for half-a-minute, allowing unauthorized guests to pass towards the comms room. But getting rid of the guards there and allowing 'Scratch' free reign without interruptions could prove tricky...

@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

As the security whizzed down for a moment, Marissa pushed Scratch through and into the comms room alongside Kel and the security officer. They'd given themselves a little locked room scenario to work with, one that both favoured them and didn't at the same time. They outnumbered the man, yes, but just knocking him out would get caught by the cameras. It wouldn't be so simple. But if the cameras were offline, or that guard Broden stepped away from the office, they'd have a chance to take control,

"See if you can raise them, I have no idea what time it is back at HQ" Marissa said to Kel as she passed by him, trying to keep up the facade. But as she moved closer she put Scratch between herself and the Cerean, hiding her hand passing over a small Security Spike to her ally. It would't be enough to shut everything down, else they wouldn't have needed Scracth here. But it might redirect a camera, or trip an alarm somewhere else, get Broden away for a moment. Hopefully he could put it to use, unless he had some other plan in mind. She was just trying to make options now, and keep the Cerean focused on her,

"So who are we speaking to? We'll need your name for the report" Marissa stepped away from Kel and toward the Cerean, trying to engage them,

"Bi-ala Raal, Senior Security Officer"

"How long you been stationed here, I don't know if I could take being aboard a station for my whole career..." she continued to chat, feigning curiousity for their life. Hopefully Kel could get something going in the meantime.

Then it was time to get this underway.

@Catbert

 

[Kel Dryden]

Kel was caught by surprise when Marissa slipped a security spike to him, but didn't show it thanks to the mask. Him using the spike was never part of the plan. Yet he also knew that one couldn't plan for everything. So while Marissa engaged in conversation with the security guard, Kel headed towards the controls and inserted the spike into the socket. He stood between the Senior Security Officer and the spike, making sure that the guard wouldn't catch on to what they were doing.

All that Kel had to do now was pretend that he was inputting contact information and fiddling with an unfamiliar console, while the spike was doing its job. The job being whatever extra privileges it could grant. It the comms room, those privileges would obviously deal with communications and related hardware. Anything more would require a proper slicer. But what could Kel do with that? Preferably without being caught red-handed by security.

Moments turned into seconds, seconds turned into a minute. Only then would Kel finally notice a thing that could work. A few pressed buttons, a spike slipped out of the socket and hidden in the sleeve, to conceal any tampering. "Hey, there's something wrong with the system," "Lorcan" addressed the guard. "Won't send a message out. Looks like the comm tower is offline."

To back up his claim, the scheme with status indications showed grey next to a particular comm tower, on the other side of the facility. "It went offline when I tried to send the message. Said something about 'hardware malfunction'." With the spike removed, privileges were reverted to normal, so the guard would be unaware that it was Kel who had turned off the tower from the comms office, as opposed to it being sabotaged. Now all that remained is to see if the guard would fall for it.

@Nightfall

 

[Marissa Hesse]

The officer broke off from their conversation with Marissa as Kel pointed out the fault, walking over and taking a look at the screen. Their eyes narrowed as they scrolled the information, scanning the information presented. They did not seem pleased, but the look they gave spoke more to exasperation than to suspicion,

"Probably a loose panel or a micrometeorite" they finished with a sigh, shaking their head "A moment, officers" their gruff voice slipping for a second as they slid open the door to the main room once more and called out,

"Broden, take a look at the comms system! Got an outage again, can't have that" Broden replied to the command with a shock, but in the affirmative, getting up from their position at the security desk and heading down the hall. And as the Cerean came back into the room Marissa knew this was as good an opportunity as they were going to get. Looking at Kel and nodding, she whispered quick to Scratch,

"Do what you do best"

"Aye aye cap'n" she replied sarcastically.

Marissa dropped Scratch's arms as the slicer made a break for the terminal, while Marissa made the jump on the officer, landing a nasty blow on the back of the head in an attempt to knock him out. To no avail. Hopefully the two 'rangers' could take a combatant of his size, and quick.

@Catbert

 

[Kel Dryden]

"Karkin' finally!" The whole "dealing with a security spike and finding ways to mess with things" wasn't Kel's thing. So he was relieved when the Senior Guard bought into their ruse and stepped aside for a while. Marissa was even generous enough to warn Kel in advance and go for the head. That warning and a hit on the head must've bought them an entire second or two.

The enforcer used the time to close the distance. A blaster would cause a whole lot of noise, and it would be the last resort. But there was one thing Kel always wanted to try. A press of the button on the left wrist-mounted control, and his left knee soared in the air, propelled by the jetboot and even lifting Kel off the ground. If all went as planned though, the Soaring Knee would be stopped by the officer's jaw, turning into a devastating uppercut.

But keeping balance like that mid-air was a problem. The enforcer would land on the side with a loud grunt, as if slipping on a banana peel. But hopefully the Cerean had it much worse.

@Nightfall