Ask Gun or Knife

[Duke Winters]

Duke was at the police station, examing case files once more of various gangbangers in the nearby area. On Nar Shaddaa, gangs ran the streets of the planet and the police were there just to contain it enough that it didn't spill out into civilian life. He was used to this after spending so many years experiencing and wondered when the cycle would be broken. He was supposed to meet another Ranger that sent to Nar Shaddaa, Duke asking for the reinforcements as he wasn't with the most equipped force to deal with this head-on and could use the extra hand.

They had gotten reports from inside sources that there was going to be a major deal near the dock area between the Rippers and the Scavs, both of them known for stripping Speeders and other tech of its parts in order to sell them on the black market. It was a lucrative business and if they managed to stop it today, it would put a sizeable dent into both gang's operations at least for a while and temper the amount of illegal transporting there was.

Duke picked up two of the case files from the pile, both of them containing information of the lieutenant as armed police officers strolled past him and made one of their ways to an armored carrier, strapping up and preparing their blaster rifles. The lieutenant for the Rippers was a massive man, scars lining all the way up to his arms and to his face. The one in charge of the Scavs was a Rodian, a man with a rap sheet a few miles long. Both were extremely dangerous and were preferred to be captured alive in order to spill but it wouldn't be held against the Rangers if they had to be taken down.

Outside the station, there were two armored carriers, officers and swat milling about as they waited for it to strike midnight when the supposed deal was going to take place. Duke waited by the front door, crossing his legs as he stood there for his partner and continued to read up on their convicts.

@Raydo

 

[Nick Shaw]

Nick spent most of his time in Core but had been dispatched to Nar Shaddaa to help another Ranger with an operation. He was used to being able to somewhat rely on the local law enforcement agencies in the Core, but out here, he had countless stories of corrupt cops who at best did nothing to stop criminals and, at worse, aided them.

He made his way through the street, badge hidden under his shirt. Advertising the fact that you were law enforcement here was a terrible idea.

Once inside the Police Station, he was taken to where they were preparing for the raid that was supposedly happening tonight. It was not hard to spot the Sector Ranger in a sea of uniformed officers. The place buzzed with anticipation of the raid. It wasn't often the police here actually raided anything.

He made eye contact with the fellow Ranger as he approached. "You the one who asked for backup?" he asked "I was the only one that could pull away, you know how things are," he said as he stopped in front of the man. It was no secret that Sector Rangers were stretched dangerously thin. Governments didn't like to contribute much money to an organization that didn't directly answer to them. "Nick Shaw," he said as he extended a hand towards the man.

They seemed to have a sizeable force, but Nick was nervous. If just one of these local guys was a mole, they could be walking into a death trap.

@Orbit

 

[Duke Winters]

Duke heard footsteps coming towards him and he lifted his head, finding a man heading straight toward him and presumably his backup. The newcomer didn't have his badge out, so he had to give him props for at least understanding the planet he was sent to. He extended his hand out when Nick did, "Duke Winters." A solid shake was exchanged between them before drawing his hand back, "Unfortunately I do but you are a sight for sore eyes at least. Walk with me the men are getting ready." Duke pushed off the wall before heading towards the back of the convey.

Men jogged past the two as he asked Nick a question, "You been informed at all?" Duke glanced at the files before extending them behind them without looking, letting his partner get the chance to catch up quick. "We've been hearing some chatter of a deal going down between Rips and Scavs. A major break for us and going down at a remote location by a dock. " Before they reached the very end of the convoy, Duke stopped and took a quick peek around before turning around to face Nick, "I've been here a few years, I know some of these people are not as straight and narrow as they pretend to be. They may know were coming. We just met but I need someone I can count on. I'll watch your back, you watch mine." There have been a few in the force that has grumbled when Duke pressed the issue of the Scavs and the Rips and when it came to Nar Shaddaa and it was always good to have someone in your corner.

When they reached the near end of the convoy, Duke nodded at one of the speeders, "This is us." He got into the driver's side once the door lifted and waited for Nick to get in as well. When he did, he started to pull out from the station and went out into the street. "We're the first wave. We'll check to confirm the location before calling in the calvary." The police lights remained off as they didn't need a warning for the gangs to know they were coming. As they fell in with the usual traffic, Duke glanced over to Nick, "You ever been to Nar Shaddaa before?" They had some time to spare, might as well get to know each other.

 

[Nick Shaw]

He shook the man's hand, and then fell in beside him as they made their way to the convoy. "I read the briefing on the way out to the Rim. I have seen a few operations similar to these gangs in the Core, but nothing of this size," he said, taking the files, flipping through it as they walked. "Two for the price of one is a deal I will always go for."

The man spun, stopping them as they reached a spot where no one was immediately around them. He confirmed what Nick had already expected. Dirty cops were a threat everywhere. He had seen people get killed becuase of them; it was just a part of the job. Here it seemed the norm instead of the exception. "It wouldn't be police work if we weren't walking into a trap," he said with a chuckle. "I got your back," he said with a nod.

They climbed in the speeder and left the staging area behind. His plan made sense. If the gangs got spooked, they would likely just disappear, but with eyes on the ground, they could block that escape. Rangers were trained to blend in when they needed to. "This is the first time. I have enough cases on Coruscant alone to keep me busy for a hundred lifetimes. Though I hear the parties out here can get a little crazy." he said with another chuckle. "What about you? How does one end up assigned to the belly of the beast?" he asked.

The continued to chat until they reached the warehouse district and their destination. They left the speeder aways off before walking up on foot. The rows and rows of warehouses stood mostly abandoned and falling apart, but that didn't mean the place was empty. It was like its own city within a city. Sketchy characters lurked in the shadows, some of them likely on the lookout for law enforcement. Luckily, the two of them looked like any other person. "So what's the plan?" he asked as they approached the warehouse in question. It wasn't hard to spot, there were armed thugs all over the place, and they had some pretty heavy fire power. "Those are military-grade weapons," he muttered as they watched from the shadows.

@Orbit

 

[Duke Winters]

They continued in the traffic at a normal place and acted like everything was normal. The speeder wasn't marked and couldn't draw suspicion as the windows were tinted enough that no one could see inside. Gangs had spotters everywhere, they informed members what street they saw a patrol car, where it was heading, what time, what unit. It made it hard to actually pull off successful operations against them and required more of blitzkrieg tactics to work. Nick revealed that he was from Coruscant when he answered, having never been there but hearing quite a bit about it. "On this planet, there is no limit to crazy you'll find." He then asked where Duke was from and it was his turn to chuckle, "Well when you're born in it, you kinda find it hard to leave. Truth be told."

They arrived at the warehouse district and they went on foot, walking to the designated address to not draw suspicion. When they arrived and saw the warehouse, it was easy to tell what was going down, guards walking along the perimeter with weapons drawn. When asked what the plan was, Duke glanced around before backing up a little, checking what street they were on before also checking his datapad and the map of the place. He pressed against the corner afterward as he tugged the corner of his trenchcoat closer to his mouth, "Unit 3, move to Tulon St, Unit 4 to Pasture Ave, Unit 5 to King St. Move in position and set up, if someone leaves from the warehouse detain them, if they resist, put them down." Every exit of the warehouse was now covered and units could radio in if someone was fleeing.

Duke looked over to Nick, "We call in the calvary. We're not armed to bust in there ourselves." They didn't have military-grade weapons or armor to tank those types of shots. It was also too risky for them to be spotted snooping about and ruining the whole Op. Speaking into his trenchcoat again, "Rhino 1 and 2, you are good to go."

Back at the station, the armored carriers started and rolled out onto the street, quickly cutting through traffic as they would be spotted instantly. It only took a few minutes before they could hear the sound of their massive engines. A couple of the guards started to peer in that direction and that's when they would notice the APCs rolling down the street. Some of them rushed inside the warehouse while others opened fire. The shots wouldn't penetrate the armor and when they stopped in front of the warehouse, windows opened up on the sides and blaster bolts were fired out, taking out the remaining guards outside. The latch doors opened and police officers in full tactical gear spilled out, taking position around the warehouse and setting a perimeter.

"Let's go," Duke told Nick before taking off his trench coat and revealing his vest with a black long sleeve underneath. He was donned in fully black clothes in preparation for the raid. There was a handheld radio clipped to his vest and he spoke into it once more, "Watch those exits. We don't need anybody leaving right under our noses." Duke looked to Nick as he drew out his blaster pistol and kept it to his side, "You ready?" There was a team of swat forming about to breach into the warehouse.

 

[Nick Shaw]

Calvary was a good name for it, cops swarmed the streets as shots began getting exchanged by both sides. Nick leaned against the back of the wall, tugging on his vest to make sure it was secure. The SWAT team formed up and the door with the two relatively unarmored Sector Rangers in the back.

He gave the other man a grin. "Let's light it up," he said, tapping the SWAT member in front of him. Around the front of the building a rocket launched from the top of the building and blew one of the APCs that had been providing covering fire from a roof-mounted cannon. The ground shook as bits of metal began falling back to the ground.

The head of the SWAT line breached the door and tossed a flash grenade inside before closing the door. A second later there was a loud bang and the team started their assault. Nick followed behind his blaster pistol in his hand. He had never seen military conflicts in person before, but this had to come pretty close. The amount of fire being exchanged wasn't anything like he had seen on Coruscant.

He took several shots in the general direction of the enemy before having to dive behind cover. He dragged one of the team who had been shot as they entered out of the way.

@Orbit

 

[Duke Winters]

Things were going relatively smooth all things considered but when that thought crossed his mind, an RPG was launched and took out one of the APCs. How things quickly went from relatively smooth to hell in the matter of a few seconds. Nar Shaddaa always had twists and turns up its sleeve that it was willing to pull out at any moment. Swat would have to deal with the warzone outside, the two of them needed to breach with the team in order to apprehend the lieutenants conducting the deal.

The team point threw a flashbang inside before breaching as the others flooded in beside him and instantly let loose a torrent of bolts. The lights were shut off, it was incredibly hard to see and each shot lit the area up in blue and provided enough light that objects and furniture could be made out of the outline. While this wasn't Duke's first rodeo, it was his first of this ferocity, never before seeing anything breach the armor of an APC without it being serious equipment. Most gangs in these sectors had blaster rifles at best, this was completely new.

There were gang-members along the catwalks above, firing down on the incoming SWAT before having to take cover themselves and then repeat the process. Duke found Nick immediately and rushed over to him when there was a break in between the fire, sliding over before standing up and pressing his shoulder against a crate. He peeked out to unleash a couple of shots before stepping back in cover and tugging Nick in his direction, "We gotta go. The medic will take care of him once we clear out these guys." Even though they rolled in with APCs, these gang members were too prepared, this indeed was a deathtrap and they had to figure out a way to survive through it or get out with their lives.

Duke led the way between shipping crates. They were tall enough that they covered their movement and allow them to get closer to the target. One of the thugs stepped out with a shotgun and he was quickly shot in the knee by his blaster before rushed and slammed into the wall behind him, knocking him out instantly. "Let's go." Duke motioned for Nick to follow before progressing deeper into the warehouse.

They reached a formation of boxes and he took cover behind one of them, finding a set of double doors that led somewhere that at least wasn't going to be bad as the situation they were in. "You see that?" Duke pointed it out but that's when multiple thugs stepped out from the very room and found them sitting there behind cover. "Get them!" The biggest of the bunch shouted, the group dispersing and taking cover as they pulled out their weapons. Duke immediately stood up and started unloading blaster bolts in their direction, "We need to get in that door!"

 

[Nick Shaw]

"You'll be okay." he reassured the wounded cop as Duke tugged on his shoulder. There wasn't anything more he could do for the wounded man except press forward and end the threat. He pushed himself to his feet and joined the other Ranger.

The two Sector Rangers weaved in and out of boxes, dodging fire as they pressed deeper in the warehouse. One man stepped in front of Duke with a shotgun, ready to end the man but he was dealt with, Duke having the advantage in close quarters. Another thug stepped in behind Duke, blade raised while he was distracted. In the chaos, he had not noticed Nick. With his blaster already raised, he shot the man twice in the back, leaving two smoldering holes in the criminal.

He nodded and the two continued deeper inside. Duke stopped him, pointing out their objective. No sooner than he had finished, a handful of well-armed gangsters flooded into space between them.

Most were armed with blasters, but one was armed with a repeater which opened fire on them. The two would have to jump behind cover to avoid being cut into two by the wave of blaster fire. "Cover me next time he stops." he said tapping Duke on the shoulder. Seconds went by before their window came.

Nick sprinted across a gap, blaster fire just missing him as he slid behind cover. He had a clear shot at two of the men from his new vantage point and took them out before looking to cover for Duke to advance.

 

[Duke Winters]

It was unfortunate that they were so unequipped with just simple blasters. The police force had enough funds for the APCS and such, with one blowing up that would be a heavy dent in their budget and probably years to replace, but those funds didn't transfer over to the Rangers. Duke ducked behind the crate once again as he ejected an energy clip before sliding a new one as his blaster gave an encouraging whirr. Nick asked for cover when there was a break in the firing and he would get his request.

When the repeater overheated and needed another energy pack, and the same happening relatively to the rest of the thugs as they didn't have the trigger discipline, and gave Duke the time to stand up from his crate and start firing at the crowd. It would make a few of them duck and give the space needed for Nick to change his cover and have a better position to fire upon them. When he took down two of the thugs, that forced open another window for the both of them to move around. A couple of the other thugs saw their comrade's fall to the ground and turned to Nick's direction, raising their blasters to light him up.

But Duke slid to a new piece cover and stood up with his blaster aimed right at the one with the repeater and took two clean shots, one for the chest and the head. With the confirmed kill, he swung his blaster to another nearby target and took him down easily. That left the thugs focus split between the two and they started to huddle closer to the door as they opened fire once more. Duke ducked once more as pieces of his cover flew off from the ferocity of fire even from the remaining guards for the door. With the same happening to Nick, it would pin them down momentarily.

One of the thugs pulled out a grenade and hurled in the middle of the two Rangers, hoping the blast would do enough damage for them. Duke saw the grenade soar through the air before clattering to the ground between them. "Get the kark down!" He went to dive out the way but the grenade detonated and the force of the blast made Duke go through the air and slam into a nearby crate before falling to the ground. His vision went blurry and his ears rung, coughing up dust before he wobbly managed to get himself behind the cover once more.

Radioing into Nick, "You're still breathing, I'm about to open fire on them. When I do, take their asses out." Duke gave a quick inhale and then exhale before stepping out from the corner and firing upon the remaining thugs. His finger would continue to squeeze the trigger until he would run out of ammunition. Hopefully, it would give Nick enough time to make another move and take out the remaining men, at least for the two Rangers.

 

[Nick Shaw]

The firefight continued and while they were holding their own, the longer the fight lasted the bigger the weapons advantage would mean for the Thugs.

He didn't see the grenade get thrown but it had been in the middle of the two Rangers so neither were in the instant kill zone. He heard Duke yell and then was thrown to the side as he grenade when it. The crate he had been hiding behind shattered as he was thrown into a metal pipe. His vision flashed as he hit his head on something, warm blood already starting to dip down the side of his head and onto his face.

Dazed he pushed himself behind cover as the thug continued to fire and slowly start advancing on the Rangers in an attempt to take them out. Nick's comm came to life, the voice jarring him out of the haze that surrounded him.

He waited until Duke moved and slid out behind cover as their attention was drawn away by Duke. Nick fired several shots, some missing but between the two Rangers, the thugs fell.

Nick was breathing hard as he pushed himself to his feet. He wiped blood from infront of his eyes as he tried to scan if there was anyone left. Reports were starting to come in that the various SWAT teams had started to gain the upper hand throughout the warehouse.

 

[Duke Winters]

Thankfully, Nick was still breathing and heard his radio call. He continued to fire upon the thugs but they were soon caught in a crossfire between the two rangers, leaving them helpless and practically defenseless. They went down easy, collapsing to the ground with small pillars of smoke rising from their fresh blaster wounds. Duke leaned against his crate, the adrenaline pumping through him dying down and forcing him to take on some support. Nar Shaddaa was getting crazier and crazier by the day, when did common criminals and thugs have these type of weapons to use? It was on par with the SWAT they brought.

Finally collecting himself, he pushed off the crate before starting to head to the door, radioing to Nick once more, "Let's get on the door and get this over with." When he approached one side of the door, he waited for his partner to get on the other for them to breach. With them both set, Duke gave a nod before opening the door and stepping through first, his blaster cleanly sweeping across the room with his eyes to make sure there wasn't anybody lurking in the shadows for them. It was the garage of the warehouse, multiple trucks in the loading docks with their cargo doors down, indicating they were about to be loaded before they arrived.

Duke saw the company on the side of the truck, Iron Crossing, the name sounding familiar automatically. That's when he remembered it was part of Jeremy Iron's company, one of the victims he found with Trys on Nar Shadda. This was connected? He ignored the trucks for the moment and found the nearby office, the lights still on but the shades closed so they couldn't see inside. "Last room." Duke murmured to Nick, the SWAT teams reporting in that they managed to clear most of the warehouse and performing clean up sweeps.

They lined up on the door, Duke glancing over to Nick and giving him the signal that he could be the one to breach first.

 

[Nick Shaw]

He met back up with Duke, a small trail of blood running down the side of his face. The adrenaline held the pain at bay for the moment, but he would likely be down for the count tomorrow.

They continued through the garage, slowly making their way through the open space. They would have time to thoroughly search the trucks later. At the far end of the garage, there was a single door. They stood on either side of the door as the firing died down in the other parts of the building,

His heart pounded as he took a deep breath and nodded before throwing open the door. He stepped into the room, blasted raised. He spotted the large man behind the desk. He wore a dirty looking suit jacket, blaster raised back at him. Nick went to yell, and take aim but he was just a little to slow on the draw, the man prepared for him.

The blaster shot caught Nick in the stomach, the armor taking the brunt of the damage but he fell, feeling a burning, searing pain in his stomach.

 

[Duke Winters]

Duke took position on the other side of the door, giving Nick a nod that he was ready to proceed when he was. The trucks could be searched later, they had to finish clearing the building once and for all. The Ranger opened the door and stepped through and he followed through after with his blaster raised. Nick was in front of him with the tight office quarters and it blocked his shot, resulting in his partner getting shot in the stomach.

Luckily, it hit the armor and when Nick stumbled to the side, Duke was quick with his blaster already up and squeezed off three bolts toward the large man. Two of them struck him in the torso and the third one right in his forehead, killing him instantly and making him fall backward onto some files. Duke glanced toward Nick before stepping over and helping him up, "Are you alright? He didn't get you too bad did he?" Checking his stomach, the armor did take the brunt but he would have a burn there for sure.

Duke gripped the radio on his shoulder as he took a step back, "Building is clear. We need medical to come to the garage office." He gave a nod to Nick, "Good work, I'm glad I had you here with me. Let's get you outta here now and bag everything." It was true, with a Ranger with him, it made this operation much easier without having to worry about being shot in the back or abandoned. The rest of forensics and detectives would take over the warehouse to clean it and take inventory.

/endthread