Crowning Achievement

[Eccles]

A loud wailing featured as background music to the violent scene that was Iziz. Months ago Jace had fought off bankrobbers just two blocks from his current position and it would be the last time he had ever seen the Guildmistress, Diva Tumi. This time the owner of the Catsratch wasn’t on planet to prevent thievery, but to commit thievery himself. Last time the city of Iziz came under attack by the Brotherhood the Royals of Onderon were spirited away from their city palace and Jace was banking on the same thing happing again.

The courtyards were guarded by Onderonian security forces, but the small F105 drone nevertheless managed to get inside hovering between a military convoy. At moments it was nothing short of a miracle that it went unnoticed yet the remote controlled drone was small and the ceilings in the palace high, thus the little bastard found itself undetected on the third floor of the palace where it closed curtains and opened a window.

Jace himself was on the rooftop of a nearby building from where he controlled the drone. The grin on his face betrayed how brilliant he thought himself to be, while the sweat on his forehead hinted at the stress he felt over his very risky endeavour. He let the drone hover in the window and grabbed the grappling gun he brought for this very occassion. His plan so far was quite simple and he shouldered the rifle before exhaling slowly. It was a tricky shot even for an experienced shooter and there were no second chances because a grappling hook falling on the courtyard below was a definite give away to the security forces patrolling it. Twenty seconds after shouldering it Jace fixed his aim and stopped breathing, twenty-one, twenty-two, the shot surprised him as the grappling hook flew through the air and the open window, gliding back until it secured itself behind the curtains. The rifle Jace tied onto the rooftop in a way it was still functioning but unmoving.

Now he checked his weapons, performing safety checks and additional energy packs for his stun guns before tying his belt around the rope and falling off the rooftop. Only when he was two meters from the palace did Jace hid the brakes by tightly gripping the rope with his gloved hands and losing just enough speed to not break his knees on the palace wall. Quickly he climbed through and found himself in the palace. He remained behind the curtains where he used his wrist-datapad to send the drone through the air to the rooftop and after Jace unhooked the grappling hook, he had the drone flip a switch and pull the trigger so the rifle rewinded the rope, leaving no trace of Jace’s entry visibly from the ground.

However tricky his entrance had been, when it came to stealing King Preadyth’s crown jewels the entry into the palace was probably a piece of cake compared to the internal security measures. Slowly the licensed bounty hunter closed the window and opened the curtains to reveal an empty corridor and a thick carpet that was well known to drawn out all sounds of those that walked on it. Sporting his bounty hunter license in sight, Jace hoped to get a chance to spin a tall tale and avoid immediate capture or other hostilities. Bureacracy and the chaos of an invasion would probably allow him to confuse most guards with the high standing of the guild and their efforts on Onderon earlier that year. By the time their superiors could inform them that the guild was not paid to help the Onderon people Jace would have the jump on them.

So it was that the Spectre Cell operative walked the upper floor corridors of the temple. Usually these floors would be crowded with servants making sure the Royal family was well tended, but most had drawn to the the other side of the palace to view their King face off against the Sith in battle.

 

[Eccles]

"I hate this job," the Onderonian Royal Guardsman said with a sigh to his companion, whose face stood equally sour. "Tell me about it," the companion, also a guardsman, replied in a raised voice filled with spite. "The King is fighting together with the Jedi Lord," which he clearly felt to be an honor he'd rather have done himself, "-and here we stand guarding a door in a corridor without sunlight." They both sighed deeply, "We should be out there fighting for our people!" the words thickly coated in justified rage, "Making sure our family is safe," the other guard added, him being the older of the two implied he had a family of his own.

Jace was three mere feet away, listening in on them with his blaster ready for action. He pitied them, especially since their soon-to-be failure would get them an even worse position within the Onderon military like guarding the beast pins instead of the Royal family's Crown Jewels. Still, the young bounty hunter had come this far already and wasn't going to re-evaluate his plan out of pity for the common man. Stretching out his blaster arm as he rose from his place of hiding, Jace had the guards at the right end of his targeting beam before they even knew they had company. The first flash hit one of them in the face, which prompted the other not to turn to face the aggressor, but to look in horror at his friend until he, too, went down with a blasterbolt to the cheeckbone. "Sorry boys," Jace whispered as he blasted the control panel and the door slid open. "I'm sure you guys are familiar with the routine of Myrna the Mesmerizing Twi'lek?" a slight grin accompanied the strain his backmuscles endured as he dragged the guards inside. "I'll give you a hint," the doors slid shut and he closed them before turning back to their unconscious bodies. "Myrna shows a lot of her beautiful blue teal skin."

Before Jace even took to the display cases he covered his own clothes with the armor and helmet of one of the guards. It was a bit snug around the waist, but otherwise a surprisingly well fit. "Pockets pockets," he whistled a tune, "-empty pockets are a detriment to the," a pause as Jace took a silver necklace studded with pink diamonds and stuffed it neatly into his pocket, "Guild." With Diva Tumi having disappeared the Guild had fallen on bad times, as everyone knew, but what only few were aware of was a growing dedication to thievery among its members. The Theelin had her own relations with the underworld and those were no doubt the cause of her disappearance, therefore, to no ones surprise, her pupils had too dominant a foot in that world as well. Member haunts now served as meeting spots for fences and other kind of contractors. No surprise then that Jace figured he could have the crown jewels of a Core world's royal family fenced.

Within a minute, the nephew of a late crime lord had stuffed his pockets with jewelry of generations of Queens and Kings. The crown, the scepter and other too large objects to fit in his pockets were left untouched, well, aside from the diamonds that made them glitter.

 

[Eccles]

Ten minutes later he was nearing a back entrance of the palace, having walked right passed other guards and servants without them noticing his full pockets nor the unfamiliar face underneath the armor of the Royal Guard. Despite his success seeming almost guaranteed, Jace's heart was pounding like crazy with the prospect of getting caught and forced him to be on his guard. "Oi, you there-" a female voice called out to him from a door to the right, "You think just because the King himself scared away the attackers you can go home?" a thick hint of disapproval was noticeable in her voice and when Jace turned to see her, he wasn't surprised. She was most definitely the oldest employee here in the palace and Jace quickly deduced she probably trained the newer servant girls in the proper treatment of the King, even during his baths, though the latter was a mere guess the bounty hunter would find it forever a waste if the King didn't try to push his luck that way. "Ma'am," the thought had caused a grin, but the closed helmet hid it from the servant woman, "My shift's over, so I figured I'd go see if I was needed in the city." he lied. "Good, you're going outside after all." the old crone flashed a mischievous grin and pushed a trash bag in his arms, and then another one. "Be a good lad and put this in the dumpster then, eh?"

"Yes, ma'am." Jace grumbled, but at the same time blessed his luck that he got away with it this clean.. well, aside from the smelling trash bags. She even opened the door for him as he left the palace and turned the first corner where he dumped the trash in the dumpster. When he looked upwards he noticed that there were less Sith Brotherhood ships in the air than there had been before, meaning the Onderonian people had managed to drive the Sith back with the Jedi's help. "Seems that bounty thinned their numbers, after all. The Diva's gonna get even more praise now," a frown followed as Jace left the courtyard and disappeared from sight, "If she ever shows up again."

Three hours later Jace was back in his usual attire, having hid the armor somewhere it wouldn't be found for days, and succesfully managed to hide within Iziz. The chaos of the invasion's aftermath would free up the ports and the city walls, and that's when he'd slip out of town and off planet. The Catscratch was already waiting.