Earlier in the day a small holodisk had been distributed to Taldryanites on each team. The disk itself had a recording on it, with a visual of the Supreme Chancellor herself; Cassandra Oriana Tyris. She bowed forward, eyes closed for a moment with her arms in front of her on her legs as she did so.
“Good morning, Taldryanite.” she spoke with a soft, gentle voice. “It is with my sincerest of thanks that you are participating in these wargames against fellow brothers. While this may seem out of the ordinary, and definitely is, we need to stay ever vigilant and ready against any threats that may come.”
Cassandra leaned back up, looking straight ahead with a smile. “This particular wargame will test your abilities significantly, as you stand against a strong enemy force. It is with thanks of the senate, and a desire to watch these games directly, that they have volunteered the senate grounds as the first major battleground. I wish you all the best, and your team leader will have more information for you. May the Force be with you.”
The holoimage disappeared with a crackle.
Shanree studied the three members of his infiltration squad through the Force. He had no eyes, as a Miraluka, but he could see through the Force.
These people were professionals in their own ways and each one brought years of expertise, experience, and training to the mission. The “mission” was a farce, a training exercise, but it was still a big deal; the Taldryan armed forces had mobilized in various ways to facilitate the war games and training exercises. Entire city blocks of Port Kasiya had been cordoned off, and civilians encouraged to remain off the streets for the duration of the games.
For their part the team members aboard the LAAT/i with Shanree radiated emotions of excitement and jitteriness, like they would before a battle but with less fear as they knew the stakes this time around were far lower.
The ship’s speakers came alive with the co-pilot’s voice, carried over radio for those using coms, “Crew, this is Flight: We’re sixty seconds out, Colonel. Have your people ready for exfil.”
Shanree put two fingers to his ear where his com-bud sat in his ear, “Roger, Flight. Sixty seconds.”
The others looked at him as the cabin’s regular lights cut out and were replaced with red ones.
They waited in silence.
Erinyes used the time calmly to stow one last thing in a cargo pocket, until the lights turned amber. He gestured for them to all rise from their seats and to join him at the crew compartment hatch.
Ten seconds later the hatch slid open and the cabin lights turned green. Shanree leapt from the open compartment of the LAAT/i, to the ground two meters below, and scanned the surroundings with his Force Sight. Three patters of feet landed behind and beside him, signaling that Blue Wampa team was on the ground.
The thrum of the LAAT/i’s repulsors grew distant as the ship rose into the air, skirting the low roofs of surrounding buildings it flew away. They were in a suburb of Port Kasiya and had a little over a mile to trek to where the Senate Complex’s grounds were, and where their mission would begin in earnest. They would have to avoid roaming patrols, detect and defuse numerous sensors, traps, and disable any opposing VIP’s they came across. It would not be easy, but Shanree had no doubt that at the end of the day their mission would be a success.
He raised his hand and with two fingers motioned for the squad to move out.
Aay'han’s boots hit the ground with a muted thud. Her mind ran on automatic, hands drifted to the rifle at her back, bringing it up to bare scoping out the familiar environment.
Once satisfied, her barrel lowered fractionally downward. Ready to bring it right back up again should the need arise.
The others within the group were strangers to her, and it set her teeth on edge. Having no real point of reference on how these people will react. The only thing that took her mind off this was how eerily familiar the streets were.
How desolate it felt with no noise of people or traffic; it seemed almost dead. Though not yet bloated or rotten.
She could even smell cooking food coming from somewhere, her stomach gave a wanting rumble that broke through the viscous silence.
All eyes felt like they bore into her skin at that moment. As though they could see through her armour and spot every wall she had built up over time to keep herself safe.
Shanree was the first to break the silence, his footsteps brought Aay'han’s gaze shooting in his direction. It took all of her willpower to not bring that weapon back up again but she managed to stifle the instinct.
It was as though this man saw and did not all at the same time. Disconcertingly, he watched her with a keenness that seemed to see far too much.
On the other side of this Shanree could see the chaos that was her being. It was a confusing medley of movements even when she was still.
“You’ve got the dummy rounds, right?” The query drew a puzzled look from the girl.
“What’s that?” She asked with genuine ignorance.
The question drew the attention of the others rapidly as the realization sunk in that she had live ammo loaded.
“Non-lethal rounds?” He pressed which only drew further confusion from her.
“Is that what they gave me?” As she spoke she gave one of her pockets a pat. “Why fight at all if you don’t mean it?”
There had never been a time where she had used false rounds, or even been taught why they were important. She fought to win, and that meant always using the real thing.
The Governor of Kasiya chuckled in amusement, whilst his adoptive father merely shook his head, the elder of the pair’s features concealed by the ARC Trooper helmet. “They wish to ensure that our clanmates are prepared should battle be upon us,” Celevon smirked at the Zabrak, even if he agreed wholeheartedly with her sentiments. “If we killed the other team, they wouldn’t learn anything.”
“Speaking of,” J’akked Eilifsson interrupted before Aay’han could retort, speaking up loudly enough to gain the attention of the other team members. “While these rounds were designed to not be lethal, they can still kill. Which is why we’ve all been given the orders to take only body shots; hits to the face or throat are off-limits.”
“We wouldn’t want to give you extra work,” the Shaevalian-Umbaran deadpanned, drawing a glare that was obvious even with the helmet’s dark visor. Celevon glanced over at Aay’han, even as he ejected a single round from his pistol and caught it. He lifted the slug, revealing a bright cyan tip that moved fluidly within as he shook it. “Our slugthrower rounds are for painting a target, though some call them ‘paintballs’. It’ll leave a welt on the skin if the target isn’t wearing armor at most, and releases a splatter of iridescent paint on impact.“
J'akked continued. "We’ve also got live rounds, just in case a situation arises that requires the need.”
“Likewise, no blades and lightsabers remain in training or stun mode,” Shanree finished, drawing a disgusted snort from the Zabrak.
“Shanree has been accused of hating fun before.” The Zeltron grinned from the rear of the group. “As for live rounds, if you think they’re for the soft, consider this: Cutting someone in half with a real lightsaber is easy. Beating them into submission with a training saber requires a lot more skill. The same goes for any other weapon you like to use. Besides, if you treat your own soldiers like ammunition, you’re going to have to replace them like ammunition—and that cuts into your drinking budget.”
The Miraluka sighed. “Trust you to bring everything back to drinking. Didn’t that spectacle on Raithal teach you anything?”
“Alcohol is what binds the galaxy together. Don’t let the Jedi tell you otherwise.” Erinyes ignited her lightsaber and flicked the phase control switch, then whacked the now-training blade against her palm, leaving only a few faint scratches on the surface of her gloves. “See? All safe. Now, what’s our plan for getting into the tower? Do we have the skills to go in quietly, like slicing a door or something, or are we doing it the old-fashioned way? I have a few computer spikes, but I’m probably more use as a distraction than an infiltrator.”
Aticus’ feet landed softly as he used the force to ease the jump a bit. His aging body coupled with 20+ years of war, chaos and walking the path of the dark side had left him scarred and broken in many ways yet stronger in others. The assassin scanned the surrounding area, his head wrapped by a shemagh. He wondered to himself how he kept ending up in front line situations with Taldryan, this was far from his speciality even if it was just a training exercise. He held an armory issued sniper rifle, and tucked into the sash around his waste was his saber hilt. Having lost BZ in his recent engagement with Taldryan had left him without a means to communicate on several levels aside from hand signals. His eyes continued to sweep the surrounding area for possible threats that could be in the streets or even in windows (Perception +2).
Shanree grinned at Erinyes, his old friend, “Now that I’ve got you out here away from the comnet… I’ve been authorized to let the four of you in on a secret.”
Instead of explaining anything he motioned with his head and started trotting off towards some buildings along the street ahead of them. The squad followed the Miraluka up the road, keeping to one side so they could better cover their movement.
You could never know where a patrol or a spotting droid could pop up. Once they reached a store front with a security cage stretched over the entrance he called them to a halt with a raised fist. Aay’han looked like she was about to ask the obvious question when Shanree preempted her and waved his hand over the locking mechanism. Something clicked, allowing him to pull the cage back from the door which opened at the press of the entry button. He ushered them inside and closed the cage behind them.
“What’s all this about?” J’akked asked dubiously, “You got a secret tunnel hidden under here or something?”
Shanree froze momentarily, midstride as he was preparing to go further into the building, “Yes, actually.”
“What?” Erin’s voice was unamused.
Shanree turned to face them all, his hands splayed in apology, “I’m just the messenger here Seraine. It’s OSI’s tunnel; they installed it during the last Chancellor’s building spree. They handed it over, through some back channels to SAG for this endeavor.”
The former Consul had an annoyed look on her face, “This has Vodo written all over it. That son of a Nek-bitch can’t leave well enough alone– He’s supposed to be dead. And you… You’re supposed to be the idealist, the republican…”
Aay’han, Celevon, and J’akked were silent and made small moves to stay out of the situation which seemed to be riding the line between friendly disagreement and outright anger.
Shanree set his jaw, “What was I supposed to do upon learning about it ten hours ago? Order it destroyed? Listen: it was put in as a postern gate, in case of an emergency just like this mission is simulating. I don’t necessarily agree that it exists, but it’s here and I’ve been told I can use it so I will.”
If he’d had eyes they’d have flashed when his head whipped around to the silent trio, “Any of you have any reservations about using my secret tunnel, or do you want to get on with this thing?”
Collectively they shook their heads, shrugged indifference, and murmured their willingness to continue. That settled, he looked back at Erinyes. She judged him intently but nodded after a moment, her mind not yet settled on whether or not the so-called postern gate would still exist after all this was said and done.
Shanree led them to the back of the building and down some stairs into a machinery room. He bid them to the back of that room and behind a rolling shelf he revealed the tunnel’s locked door. He punched a code string into the lock-pad by the door, but it beeped harshly at him and blinked red. Confused, Shanree hit the numbers of the code string he’d memorized earlier that day only to find the pad again refused him.
“Trouble, boss?” Celevon asked with a note of wry humor.
“The passcode isn’t working.”
Aay'han bounced her weight on the balls of her feet, she did not like the confined space but it wasn’t intolerable. She peeked around Celevon’s arm, not quite able to reach his shoulder yet.
“I can make it go bye-bye.” There was an ominous undertone to her voice which was almost masked by the manic tone that laced it.
All eyes moved to her, a whole new wave of anxiety came with the offer, even if she made it with goodwill. The silence that followed was viscous and she visibly shrunk back behind Cevelon once more.Erinyes tried to be kind about it, she attempted to move around Cevelon to speak with her properly but she tried to creep around him until he decided it was quicker to grab her.
“What did you have in mind?” Erinyes placed her hand on Aay'han’s shoulder as she asked trying to be comforting but coupled with Celevon’s grip on her arm it was stifling.
Having free-reign on her arms Aay twisted to pat at the clasp on her pack, carefully she pulled out the item and plopped it into Erinyes’ hand. Her eyes widened a fraction as she realized the implement was in fact a roll of detonite tape.
“Hah, half expected you to hand me a mine or something.” Relief washed over the group that Aay had not suggested the other options first.
“I have land mines and incendiary ones too.” The Mandalorian fidgeted under scrutiny, quite a juxtaposition compared to on the surface.
“The detonite is more suited for this task,” J’akked replied as he moved past the Zabrak and the Zeltron, taking the offered explosive tape as he strode toward the door. “Making bigger booms is always more fun,” the Human muttered to himself as he started placing the material into the crevices keeping the door in place.
“Do make certain not to blow open more than the door, Jack. I wouldn’t enjoy signing off on a bill due to you for a replacement piece of tunnel,” Celevon teased his adoptive father, having released Erinyes when the Combat Medic had moved to place the detonite. The Seeker suddenly frowned as he recalled something he only had learned recently. “The massive lake at the center of the city was the result of the exploding Technocrat tech before the crater filled with rain water… so, it’s plausible that the area possesses faults as a result.”
“This would be much faster and more in the interest of maintaining some measure of stealth if one of you would use one of those lightsabers,” Eilifsson grumbled in return, tossing his fresh roll to Aay’han before returning the remainder of the explosive tape to a pouch on his belt. “I hope one of you has a detonator—”
“You forgot to grab one, didn’t you?”
J’akked ignored the half-Umbaran’s interruption as though it hadn’t occured in favor of the pair of women that wielded blasters. “Or one or both of you can fire a lethal round at the tape to ignite it once we’re clear of the blast zone.”
Closed