Keeping them in the Dark

[Diocletian Solus]

Location: Onderon

Participants: @Raydo @Critas @Algarus

Dice: OPEN PVP

Prompt: Keeping them in the Dark: Mandalorians, posing as Republica soldiers, will attack a Holonet tower to cut off any footage of the fight where Empress Lyanna loses. Be loud and bold in your attacks, make sure the public understands that you are suppressing the result of the fight.

Diocletian did not like the fact that the need for anonymity had led him to not wearing his helmet with its iconic T-visor and Jaig Eyes. He had painted his beskar’gam a flat black and covered it with an Imperial Republica uniform. It had the insignia and symbols of an officer in the Imperial Republica military. He carried a stolen Gladius Blaster Rifle, his usual bandoleer of grenades, a Pugio blaster pistol was holstered at his waist and he had a rather ostentatious vibro blade that he had removed from the same Imperial officer that he had stolen the uniform from. Instead of his beloved T-visored helmet, he wore the helmet from a set of Sith Enforcer Heavy Armor.

He had arrived several days before and stashed his Overhead Pirate freighter near the capitol city of Iziz for when the mission was over. He had bought transportation from the planet to another planet and then donned his disguise. Dio then returned to the planet wearing the disguise so as to not attract undue attention and to cement his identity a little better in the minds of those he encountered. He wanted them to remember the IR lieutenant, that was all part of the plan. He had to meet with the other two members of his team on planet and was heading to that rendezvous.

Their mission was to attack a Holonet tower and make it seem that they were trying to suppress the video of the fight between the rulers of the Old Empire and Imperial Republica. Dio had made sure, when he was here prior to donning his disguise, that the Holonet tower obtained the footage and was going to air it that evening as a special event for the people of the planet. He had given strict orders that it not be opened or viewed prior to the viewing, citing an obscure Imperial Republica ordinance that he had made up on the spot.

Now he was waiting in a public transit terminal across the street from the Holonet tower for his other conspirators to arrive. He hoped they would get there soon, time was wasting and this mission was delicate in its timing. His other two co-conspirators would have also been provided Imperial armor and weapons to cement their own disguises.

 

[Brianna Saxon]

Brianna had been waiting for a moment like this for a very long time. She had arrived five days prior via transport, and was now wishing she had a ship of her own in the future for these sorts of things. She was curious if any of her comrades had the same gripes about their equipment as she had. The Gladius Blaster Rifle of the Imperial Republica left much to be desired, and the armor wasn't her style either. She had her Pugi Blaster Pistol strapped in her holster, a vibro knife tucked down by her ankle, and two fragmentation grenades hooked towards the back. She would arrive at the rendezvous point as scheduled, ready to get on with the mission. She wondered how many people would die today. She didn't like the idea of civilians dying, but then again, war is hell. The rifle felt strange in her hands as she walked along the street; it was too light. Part of her wished she had taken that Javelin Repeater, but that thing was not inconspicuous at all. She was curious how they were to identify one another, given that they were all wearing disguises. Surely there was some planning for this....right? Time was of the essence, and so upon arriving at the transit terminal, she would take up a position near it and sweep her eyes over the crowds of people going to and fro. She felt the a throbbing of excitement welling up in her. Her hour of glory would soon be upon her. Behind the stoic faceplate of the Sith armor, she was grinning to herself. It was time to prove her father wrong.
@Raydo

 

[Varus Wren]

He wore the Sith Trooper Armor that had been given for the mission. His two blaster pistols still sat in a holster belt on his hip. He carried with his usual vibrosword which hung in a black sheath on his back. Two frag grenades rounded out the kit on the back of his belt. It wasn't the best, but Varus had spent years training both with and without his armor for such occasions.

This would be a loud mission, less clean than Varus preferred it, but that was the entire point. They needed this to be loud, to be noticed. He made his way to the rendezvous point. It didn't take him long to travel to the designated spot.

He opened his mouth to speek, catching himself before he spoke in Mandalorian, his normal language. To common came to him, but their was a brief pause. "Lets get this over with." he spoke quietly.

 

[Diocletian Solus]

Diocletian nodded to his two co-conspirators and then headed towards the front of the Holonet tower. They looked like three Sith soldiers heading to inspect the tower or some other mundane duty. Upon arriving at the gate, Dio walked up to the gate and the bored looking soldier stationed there. He made sure to time it so that there was as many people as possible near the gate as he arrived. He upped the volume on his helmet’s auxiliary speaker before starting to speak.

The guard was sitting in a guard shack, looking bored. He had his feet up on a small shelf in the shack and appeared to be watching a news program on a data pad. Dio walked up and kicked his feet off the shelf, being as loud and angry as possible. “Get up soldier, this isn’t the time for free loading.” The guard scrambled to his feet and as he stood, Dio pulled his Pugio pistol and promptly shot him in the face. The guard fell like a sack of old potatos and Dio shook his head in feigned disgust.

“This is the sort of thing that we were sent here for team.” He said in a loud voice, making sure people had seen the death and could overhear. “We have been too soft on these people. This is a direct result of that. Now we need to stop that transmission, so the people do not get any more ideas. We don’t want them having minds of their own.”

Dio laughed in an evil sort of way, as he reached down and pulled the guards identification card from his belt. He used it to open the door to the Holonet tower and then turned towards the other two with him. “Lets get this done before we have to execute the entire planet!” He gestured for the other two to get inside quickly. He wanted it to be loud and get people angry but not enough to get people to actually do something about it. That would come later but right now they had a job to do. Part one was complete.

@Algarus
@Raydo

 

[Brianna Saxon]

Brianna spotted her teammates and joined up in the formation as they moved towards the holotower. She smirked as she watched Dio gun down the first guard and swipe his key. The poor bastard had it coming.
“Lets get this done before we have to execute the entire planet!”
Brianna couldn't agree more. They needed to nip this in the bud. She'd be first to move into the tower, rifle at the ready and was quick to use it as some poor technician had been inspecting an exposed control panel on the wall, just a few feet away from the door. This room was short hallway, with the door at end end needing a badge to swipe to enter the next room. The poor technician dropped to the floor, having never had the chance to draw a blaster. Brianna would move in and wait for Varus to move in beside her, and readied for the Sith soldiers who would no doubt be heading to their position soon. They had no idea what was in store for them.
@Raydo

 

[Varus Wren]

Varus looked like a relaxed soldier on patrol, maybe even a little bored as they approached the guard at the tower. He chuckled slightly as Dio executed the man. He didn't enjoy seeing the guard die. There was no honor in the killing, but if he would have been awake at his post perhaps he wouldn't have had to die in such a way.

They entered the building, workers drawn to the sound of the shot, but no one daring to step in their way for fear of being next. "You!" he pointed to man trying to avoid eye contact by looking down at his halopad. The man tried to slink back, hoping Varus would pass him. "I am an Imperial Soldier! You will answer me when called!" he said stepping forward and slamming the halopad from his grasp. Varus stepped with a heavy stop of his boot and pulled the blaster from his hip. "Pehaps, another lesson in proper respect for our Imperial Family and their soldiers!" he said pressing the blaster to the man's head.

The man quivered "Ple...Please." he choked out. "I'm sorry!" he said with a growing panic in his voice. "Take his to the data upload room." he said, the command evident in his voice. The man wasn't being given a choice, and if he hesitated he would be put down and another selected.

"O...Of course!" he said pointing down the hall. "This way." he said starting to walk in the direction of the upload room.

 

[Diocletian Solus]

Diocletian nodded to the ploy by Varus to discover the location of the upload room. Dio took up the flag and placed his hands behind his back, trying to look the bored commander as possible. In actuality, it was quite the opposite. He walked behind the man and watched how he moved. He wanted to make sure the man was as cowed as he made out, just to ensure there would be no trap waiting for them at the other end of this journey.

Two soldiers came down the hallway towards the small group and Dio took the opportunity to expand the results of their mission a little further. “Soldier, what time is this farce of a broadcast supposed to happen?” He made sure the entire hallway could hear him, appearing the boisterous commander, overconfident and sure of himself. He waited for the soldier to salute and then respond as requested. Dio loved Imperial efficiency, it made them so very predictable in many ways.

“Sir, the farc…. I mean broadcast should be at 1800 hours.” Dio could not help but smile behind the face plate of his helmet. They had come just in time, with thirty minutes to spare even. “No quite right soldier, a farce it is. Very good, dismissed.” He returned the soldiers hasty salute and then turned to follow their guide. He was standing in the hallway, still apparently in shock from the entire situation. These minor Imperial functionaries are all the same, more afraid than functional in most cases. Dio followed the man until they reached a room labeled above in large letters “Upload Room”. The red light above the door was off, meaning the upload was not in progress at that time.

@Raydo
@Algarus

 

[Brianna Saxon]

Brianna watched the rest of the technicians in the room, keeping her gun leveled right at their feet, just to remind them she wasn't hesitant in shooting them. One brave, or perhaps stupid, technician tried to question them. "You guys can't just barge in here like-" Brianna raised her gun at the man, and he immediately fell silent. "You have a problem with how we do our job? Huh? I can fix that for you right now." She said, her voice scrambler modifying her voice, as she switched the safety off and let the rifle in her hands give off a low whine. "And what about you? You two plotting something over here?" She would demand an awnser, driving the two back into a corner. "No, no of course not!" One of the men whimpered and looked to the floor. She turned to catch on of her constituents move to the upload room and followed him. Well look at that, the bastard wasn't doing his job after all. Brianna moved up to the door and attempted to open it, but got no response. The bastard had locked it. "Great, he locked it." She said, and moved to try and bypass the control from the pannel.
@Raydo

 

[Varus Wren]

Once they reached the data room, Varus stood by, silent. He held his gun at the ready and had a hard expression on his face. None of the other workers seemed interested in making eye contact with him, which was fine with Varus.

They just had to stop to broadcast now. It would seem like the Empire had been trying to suppress the message. In many ways, this would cause it to spread faster and sow even more seeds of doubt in people's minds.

Varus watched over the others, making sure they weren't snuck up on. It was still impossible they were found out. If that was the case, they would need to fight their way out.

He pushed the man they had gathered in the hallway. "Open it." he said to the man. Maybe he couldn't, that would be unfortunate for him. Luckily for the man, he said he could and pulled a badge out and swiped it on the door, causing it open.

He looked to the others. He knew little about computers and assumed someone else would have better luck. If not, he knew how to blow things up just fine, but thought that approach a bit unwise.

 

[Diocletian Solus]

Diocletian followed the technician into the Upload room and waited for his ‘entourage’ to follow him in. He then closed the door and locked it behind him to ensure they did not have any unwanted surprises. Turning back to the room, he looked around to the various consoles and stations and moved to speak with a frazzled looking sergeant. “Sergeant, this upload is cancelled until the events portrayed within it can be verified by the proper authorities.”

Turning towards a corporal with a data pad Dio asked, “What do you have that can fill the time slot? Approximately one hours’ worth of air time. “ The corporal consulted his data pad and Dio could see the upload list blinking on its surface. He could delete the upload right now if he was sly about it.

Reaching out he snatched the data pad from the corporal, giving the man a moment to protest if he wished. The man did not. So Dio turned the data pad to face him and casually hit the CANCEL button for the upload. Tilting the pad so he could only see the surface, he tapped the DELETE icon beside the recording of the fight. Dio knew it would take a few minutes to cancel and delete the file, so he mimicked scrolling through options to supposedly fill the time slot. After several moments he moved a documentary on the capture and care of Ewoks into the time slot and handed it back to the corporal.

“There, that’s done then. Carry on corporal.” With that, he turned and headed back out of the upload room, entourage in tow. They made their way back out of the facility, Dio in the lead so no one questioned their exiting the area. As they left the building, Dio could see a small mob forming at the gates, demanding to know what happened to the broadcast. He smiled as the guards attempted to answer the people’s questions, knowing their answers just made the situation worse. Cutting out a side gate, his team would take a few turns to ensure they were not followed from the facility before making good their escape.

@Raydo
@Algarus