Delicious Fond

[Tagal Saxon]

"I hate you, catman."

The cathar glared at Tagal.

"That's not my name and you know it."

Tagal shot the cathar another glare.

"I also, now, know that your office building has it's own private security force and what is, clearly, armored vehicles at it's disposal." he ground out, "So right now I'm seriously considering ventilating you and living my life on the lam from Fondor law instead of getting us all into the building to clear our names."

Sighing, Tagal stepped away from the window. They had managed to set up in an apartment down the main road from the offices of the corporation they were going to try and get in. In that building was the cathar's boss; the one who could call off the search and get the charges against Tagal, Irma and their crew-mates dropped.

Likely get their damages paid for too.

The alternative was to go on the run from a rather developed world and have a bounty placed on their heads for a crime they hadn't committed. Moving back into the living room area, Tagal called out to Irma as he picked up his helmet.

"Irma!" he called before securing his helmet, "We've got to get through some heavy security. Couple of Rancour IFVs, a dozen or so guards. Ideas on distractions we can set up, people?"

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma Kinton, interstellar adventurer and getaway driver, was leaning against a window-frame, glaring up the street at the headquarters of the Cathar's employer. It was all supposed to be so simple... bring back a wayward employee of a minor megacorp, get a pat on the back and a little money for their trouble, everyone would be happy.

She looked over at the Cathar.

He owes me. She thought to herself. Owes me a lot.

The Tintinna was taken from her thoughts by Tagal, who summed up the situation in rather bleak terms for her. Sighing, she nodded, standing up.

"Well, they probably can't use the Rancors inside." She commented, shrugging. "So we really only have to worry about getting past them. I mean, overall, I'd want to avoid doing much actual damage, 'cause the higher ups might take exception to that, and be less inclined to believe that we're just trying to return something to them."

Irma rubbed her chin, thinking hard.

"Maybe..."

She turned to the Cathar again.

"You did software, right?" She asked. "Is there some way we could get into their computer net? Maybe set off a bunch of false alarms away from where we want to go?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Yeah that was the bright side - once they were past the front lines it was basically just a straight shot to where they needed to go. But when the 'bright side' was that it was 'easy once you get past the tanks'? Well how bright could that side actually be? Tagal ran a hand through his hair.

"Right. We just need to get past them without causing too much damage because if we clear our names of piracy and murder and blackmail... it had better not be to add murder and destruction of property onto our rapsheets instead." he agreed with a frown, pulling up a small holoprojector with a map of the city, "The place is near enough in the centre of the city though so we have options when it comes to distractions."

Tagal raised an eyebrow and the catman stirred a little bit as he pondered the idea.

"I would need a hard-line connection." he admitted with a thoughtful purr, "Perhaps if we can patch directly into the communications? The place is pretty old school - it still uses cables to transmit information. More secure than wireless."

Well that was a start at least.

"Suit up boob-mouse."

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma nodded to Tagal, and to the Cathar.

"If they're still using primarily wired connections, I bet I know a place to go." She said. "There are tunnels running underneath the streets where they route things like comm cables and other utilities; not the most glamorous environs, but a decent access point."

The Tintinna went over to the couch, pulling down a her flight suit, which was draped over the arm. She disappeared into a nearby refresher, and reemerged with the one-piece garment replacing her regular civilian clothes. Crossing her arms, she grinned at the two males.

"Let's go!"

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Down into sewers?

He really hoped that these were more access tunnels than sewers but he knew that the two tended to skirt rather close together so even if he managed to keep the shite off of his boots he was fully expecting it to still be some interesting new smells. He grimaced a little bit before sighing.

There was nothing for it.

The other option was to try and distract some armoured vehicles while within shooting range of them and he really didn't like the sound of that, considering how likely that was to end in his death or dismemberment.

Already still armoured up, Tagal drew his pistol but didn't raise it, keeping it low to his side. He nodded to Irma before making his way out into the streets.

"Coast is clear - lead the way Irma."

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

It didn't take long for the small group to make it to the district of the city where the Cathar's employers were located. The headquarters loomed over the street, an enormous durasteel, transparisteel and duracrete edifice to Galactic capitalism. Looking up at it, it tugged at something in the Tintinna's recollection; perhaps not even her own, in fact, but something left over from some distant ancestor, intruding on the present.

Irma withdrew into the shadows of the alley where she, Tagal and the Cathar had hidden to avoid the eyes of any corporate security watching the street. She jogged back to where the other two stood, where a manhole cover had been pried up and pulled aside. It was not, in fact, a sewer; the city used separate tunnels for utilities and waste removal. Inside, however, the walls were still thick with humming cables, scalding steam lines and other hazards; the Cathar would have to stoop while they were all inside. He would have to come, though; of the three of them, he was the only one with direct experience of the company's systems.

The Tintinna hefted her portable computer and a loop of cable. The Cathar was stuck with a heavy toolbox.

"You guys ready to go?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

God damn why were cities so big?

Tagal wasn't exactly a country-boy but one thing he didn't like right now was just how big this city was. Why was that a problem? Because cities were full of security cameras and the like. The longer your walk through a city, the more cameras that were going to pick you up.

He was already convinced that the only reason they hadn't been attacked by the police force in the area so far was because they were busy combing through the digital breadcrumbs in a different area right now. The Cathar looked a little nervous at the prospect of entering the tunnel.

"Are we sure it's safe?"

Tagal rolled his eyes before kicking the cathar in the lower back, forcing him into the tunnel before following,

"We're good Irma." he confirmed as he closed the cover behind them, "Any idea on if there are any hazards down here aside from the utilities themselves?"

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma climbed down the rusty ladder that led down into the utility tunnel below, looking around at the gloomy underworld apprehensively. The space was quite dark, lit only by a few red tritium lights spaced along the corridor. Reaching into a pocket of her flight suit, the Tintinna withdrew a glowrod, igniting it and shining the beam down the tunnel in the general direction of the Cathar's employer's building.

She had walked a few paces when the Cathar landed heavily behind her, with Tagal climbing down the ladder a moment later. At the latter's question, she looked around, and shook her head.

"I honestly can't tell." She admitted. "I mean, I'm betting the city wouldn't let them place booby traps or anything in the public utility tunnels. However, I'm also betting that there's a barrier up ahead somewhere that we'll have to get through. Probably something we can slice open, though."

She waved the other two on, starting down the corridor again.

"We'll have to find a junction box or something where I can hook this up." She said, hefting her portable. "After that it's your show, Kitty."

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Yeah Irma had far too much faith in the idea that corporations and governments actually cared about their people in his book. Sure it wouldn't be a good idea for a company to be allowed to install booby traps in the utility tunnels but since when had common sense, a, been that common and, b, applied to corporations with more credits than some planets?

Well maybe she was right.

And if she wasn't?

Well Tagal had literally no problem with sending the cat man in first.

"Alright but if I see any hints of tripwires or anything like that, I retain the right to say I told you so." he joked a little bit as they carried on, "And then throw the cat in first."

The Cathar literally hissed at him and Tagal didn't care.

As they approached their destination, it was blocked by a door with a rather strong ray shield covering it. Tagal hummed a little bit as he looked around the edges of the shield, seeing no obvious panels nearby.

"Do you think we passed it or is it just disguised to blend in?"

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma looked around, biting her lower lip. The walls of the tunnel were dense with thick cables; some of them were power conduits, she knew, and it wouldn't do to get one mixed up with an ordinary data line.

"Well, if we do hit something like that, you're certainly allowed." Responded the Tintinna on Tagal's comment about booby traps. "But please don't throw in the kitty... we're gonna need 'im pretty soon."

Irma was intently tracing one of the thicker cables, which she was reasonably certain contained one of the data lines she sought. Companies like the Cathar's employer paid for fast, high-bandwidth connection, much faster than anything the average person could hope to afford; when she had been a librarian, she had drooled at the idea of having a connection a quarter as fancy for her little backrocket archive.

Eventually, nestled in amongst the thick hawsers of power and information, she discovered a nondescript plastoid box with a lock on it.

"Bingo." She said, grinning. "It's here; hang on a second, I have to get it open."

Irma produced a set of hairpins, carefully inserting them into the lock. The junction was a simple diagnostic port; security wasn't that high, and under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be a useful point of access for slicing. The Cathar, however, knew the correct passwords and routes to make it into one.

Or so Irma had been led to believe, at least.

"There!"

The junction box clicked and swung open, revealing a few diagnostic readouts and a standard access port. There was an empty spool of cable stood on its end in the corridor, and Irma un-slung her portable, setting it up. She extended a cable from it, plugging into the access port, and stepped away from the setup, waving the Cathar toward it.

"Your show now, Kitty."

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

So he wasn't allowed to throw the kitty at the things that would fry him alive. Noted. Not without a small grumble but noted nonetheless. He looked over the surroundings and toyed with his weapons for a moment. As was natural for a Mandalorian, Tagal was considering the ways in which it may be possible to blast their way in.

Honestly it looked like a lost cause without higher grade explosives than he had on hand of a fusion cutter with a nigh infinite power supply, all things considered.

He waited, instead, for Irma to get her grove on.

"Have I ever told you that you're actually pretty handy to have around?" he teased the mouse woman, patting her on the head with a grin, "Glad you decided to give up your boring life for a life of adventure and crime."

Tagal pushed the Cathar forwards but the catman didn't even care. Instead his fingers began to dance as he connected to the building they needed. It was honestly the fastest he had ever seen someone slice before.

"I developed half this software."

Well that helped he supposed.

In the distance, Tagal heard the alarms starting up. The Cathar looked rather smug.

"Do I get a kiss from the mouse now?"

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma watched the Cathar work, more than a little impressed by the big feline's skill; she had some elementary knowledge of slicing, but her calling - aside from library work - had turned out to be mechanical systems. The Cathar, however, seemed to be right at home in the digital realm.

If he could fix a turbine, too, he'd be absolutely perfect. She thought to herself.

Turning in the direction of the distant alarms, the Tintinna grinned. At the Cathar's comment, she raised her eyebrows, turning back to him.

"Not yet." She replied. "If we make it through this next part, I'll be happy to reward you any way you want."

She punctuated her words with a wink, and turned back to Tagal.

"Alright! Guess we should get moving..."

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Were the furry people flirting?

He checked for a moment before pulling a bit of a face beneath his helmet.

The furry people were flirting.

It wasn't that he had anything against the idea of furry people flirting, it was more about the fact that he really didn't like the kitty cat and he didn't think he was really good enough for the little boob mouse that he and Skuld had basically adopted. Irma might see it differently but, well, she was young.

"Kids, put your trousers back on, daddy's gotta take you both to work." he playfully scolded them as he began climbing up one of the access ladders, "Now get your tails moving."

Pushing his way out onto the street, specifically a side street, Tagal made sure to hug the wall and shush the two furries as the tanks rolled down the main street.

Oh yeah, it was all coming together.

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma blushed at Tagal's interjection, glancing over at the Mandalorian with a sort of sheepish glower. She helped the Cathar disconnect from the access port, close and re-lock the junction box, re-coil the bundle of cable and retrieve the portable computer. Hefting the portable's strap back onto her shoulder, she looked sheepishly at big felinoid, smiling a little.

"Coming dad." She replied to Tagal, following along.

The Tintinna made her way up the rusty ladder back to street level, swiftly followed by the Cathar. The trio watched from the alley as a squad of tanks emerged out onto the street, turbines and repulsors whining as they turned and made their way toward the imaginary catastrophe happening some distance away.

Irma turned to look up at the Cathar again.

"Just what is it you told these guys was going on?" She asked, shifting her equipment for the dash across the street and into the building, as soon as the tanks were out of sight. "And how much time would you say we have?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Yeah he was too young for someone Irma's age to be calling him "dad" and he immediately regretted giving her the idea. Seriously, he was not ready to be the father of some hormonal twenty-something or teenager. Honestly, he didn't think he had ever asked Irma her age and he wasn't sure he actually knew it.

Awkward.

"Well at least you didn't call me daddy." he agreed, "Only Skuld can call me that."

The Mandalorian was also pretty intrigued by what the Cathar had told them that had them all rushing to the other end of town. It might come in handy to know it in the future.

"I sent them a coded message saying I was being held hostage by you guys in a warehouse on the outskirts of town and that you had the prototype with you."

Huh.

That would do it.

"Well come along then."

Moving forwards but hugging the shadows slightly, Tagal made his way up to the perimeter fence of the facility. The front and back gates were still too heavily guarded and the side gate that the Cathar had let them know about was locked from the inside, even if it wasn't guarded. Getting into position on their side of the fence, Tagal laced his hands together.

"Irma - step onto my hand and I'll launch you over the fence. When you're there, unlock the gate and let us in."

Once she stepped onto his hands the Mandalorian would launch her up into the air with all his strength. He could use his jetpack to just hop over the fence but that was the kind of loud and flashy activity that would get them shot at.

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma looked up at the gate as she, Tagal and the Cathar approached. At the Cathar's explanation, she raised her eyebrows appreciatively.

"Well, that ought to keep them busy for awhile, at least. I just hope none of them are smart enough to think it was a distraction from the start."

At Tagal's instructions, the Tintinna nodded. She scurried over and planted her foot on the Mandalorian's cupped hands.

"Alright! Launch me-EEEK!"

Irma squeaked slightly as she was launched into the air, managing to cling into the gate higher up and then scramble over the top. Carefully she dropped down on the other side, looking around; no obvious guards, at least. Turning, she searched for the lock, and was confronted with a fairly substantial keypad. She ran a hand through her hair, biting her lip.

"We've got a problem... this is a lot more substantial than the lock on the junction box."

The Tintinna approached the keypad cautiously, taking out her tools. She would open the thing up and try to game it if she had to, but she was wary of actually damaging the company's property.

"Kitty, you don't have, like, a personal pass-code or something that might work in this, do you?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Yeah the mouse woman had screamed.

Fantastic.

Thankfully she wasn't very loud so no one was going to come running but he was still a little bit annoyed she had cried out like that. He was also rather amused that she had called out like that so he wasn't actually going to SAY anything because there was no problem in his mind. Still, the problems did start when it appeared that the lock was slightly tougher than they had expected and their loveable mouse woman wasn't able to get through.

"Gods damn it... cat?"

The cathar hissed a little bit in worry before responding.

"I've got a code but if I use it then they'll know that it's me coming through - and they will know something is up."

Ah.

So they could get in but it would set the alarms off... fantastic. All that effort to avoid being rushed by tanks and they were likely about to completely undo it.

"Your call, Irma."

@AutoFox

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma cursed expressively, and stared at the keypad, biting her lip. She felt that at any second, some straggler guard was going to come around the corner and see her...

"Alright, well, that's out then. We draw attention to ourselves and we're done."

The Tintinna fished out her tools once more, and carefully began to disassemble the keypad. She was careful not to disconnect anything; chances were the lock was on a circuit, and breaking that circuit would trip a notification somewhere. Deftly, she took out the printed board - still trailing wires - that contained the pad's logic ICs. Producing a small electronic testing probe, she got to work tracing pathways.

"Gods I hope the system doesn't notice this..."

She jabbed in a particular spot, and there was a beep. The gate swung open, and Irma hastily began reassembling the keypad in order to leave it the way she found it, waving her friends inside.

"Hurry hurry! Close it after you!"

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Yeah, Tagal wasn't about to "OK" the idea of getting the attention of the whole planet back onto them. It was bad enough when it was just the security to get through but confirmation of them actually being in one place would get them buried in security from the company and the planetary defences all but immediately.

"I would like to avoid that, yeah."

Probably would have gone without saying but he didn't trust the damned catman to not realise that it would have been a stupid bloody idea so he said it anyway. But it turned out that they really didn't need the catman after all because Irma managed to get the door to open by herself!

Pushing the cathar through the door, he closed it behind him quickly and patted Irma on the head.

"Good job." he congratulated her, "Now let's see about getting to where we need to go. What floor is your boss on?"

The cathar paused for a moment, thinking quickly, before shaking his head.

"My boss won't have the authority to call anything off - we need to go right to the CEO so we need to make it to the top floor."

Fantastic.

Tagal led the way to one of the side doors that would allow them access to the building itself. Opening it slowly, he eased himself inside and checked that the coast was clear before waving Irma and the cat inside. He pressed the call button for the elevator.

"We get these doors open and we need to disable to cameras immediately - when that's done we need to get onto the outside of the elevator so we won't be discovered on the journey up."

The top floor was something stupid like in the region of one thousand after all.

 

[Irma Kinton]

Irma scurried after Tagal, glancing up at the Cathar as she and him pressed up against the wall, waiting tensely for the turbolift to arrive.

"Couldn't we... I dunno... have your boss call the CEO, or something?"

She wrote that idea off almost immediately. The Cathar's manager would probably have to go through several layers of red tape just to talk to the CEO, and there was no guarantee they could convince them of what was happening in time to keep the inevitable security guards from arriving to take them into custody. The best way to call them off would be to confront the CEO directly.

At Tagal's instructions, she nodded.

"Got it... Kitty, you're tall, and the camera will probably be in the upper corner of the lift. This one's on you again."

She bit her lip.

"And I'll probably need a hand up getting onto the roof of the car, come to think of it."

@Nefieslab