Outpost Occupation

[Flamjetxx]

All Credit for Image goes to TitusLunter of DeviatntArt.


Outpost Occupation​

Sith Mission
Planet: Rhen Var

- Rhen Var is full of ice. There is no place Vakira had ever found to be colder. However, he wet where he was told to go, and he did what he was told to do. Thankfully, on the descent onto the planet, he didn't have to weather the cold for long. Him and his appointed guide had a mission and a plan.

The planet was filled with Mercenaries, Pirates, and all kinds of other criminals. Some of these criminals however, have things that others would pay handsomely for. Many criminals come to places as remote and secluded as this in order to make deals or to pick up help for jobs. Vakira and his overseer were after a particular individual looking to move an arms shipment. The warehouses they use are hidden, but good intel tells Vakira's handlers that the manifest is moving hands to a buyer for a fee. Vakira's Job is to intercept this manifest and to retrieve the payment if possible. Unfortunately it also means that Vakira needs to eliminate the dealer in order to prevent him from warning the arms dealers that the warehouse(s) is/are compromised. It sounds more complicated than it really is. All it is, is an assassination and stealing what is on his person, preferably before the deal goes down.

Getting to the base in the first place included quite the excursion. Apart from landing into the world's only landing zone, a large sum of sub aquatic ferrying vehicles were used to transport the criminals from the surface to the underwater base and back again. No wonder it is next to impossible to locate the base without gaining insider information, is because the base is hidden underwater. Regardless of how Vakira's handlers came about this information, Vakira and his handler were given the opportunity to drive one of these sub aquatic vehicles to the underwater base. However, instead of bringing it to one of the 12 main hangars, where it would be parked until they needed to be ferried off, Vakira and his overseer brought it to the ventral side of the base in order to access an escape hatch. The hatch is used for maintenance, but is otherwise unknown to anyone that hadn't previously done their homework in order to move about the base unseen.

The hatch lies within a concave divot in the bottom of the base, where air fills the bottom of it. However, Vakira and his overseer weren't planning to enter the base quite yet. Vakira dawned a pressurized aquatics suit, and as he left the dorsal hatch of the subaquatic vehicle, he had several highly explosive charges that weighed him down into the water. The next half hour, Vakira and his overseer swam up the side of the base, where they placed the charges underneath the dozen ports of the base. They'd set them off in order to both prevent their targets from escaping, and it would coincidentally compromise security systems, sending everyone into a state of shut down. During the chaos, Vakira and his master would be able to kill their mark and escape through the ventral hatch before anyone could even realize what happened. After all, assassinating someone in an underwater base doesn't leave a lot of escape options. If Vakira and his overseer were caught for an assassination, they'd be in quite a predicament. Thankfully, decompressing and flooding the hangars would coincidentally prevent anyone from following them.

After setting the charges, Vakira and his Overseer, Jack, went into the base to locate their query. Hopefully, they wouldn't waste much time doing so, and the plan would go off without a hitch. If the mission was to fail either due to a death or to being found out, Vakira is ordered to return to the ventral hatch and make his escape from their. Thankfully, their Charges weren't secluded to simply the hangars of the subaquatic base, but they were also in the land hangars, which would prevent anyone from the surface from coming down to help. Coincidentally, it meant that they wouldn't be able to return to that base, but instead they'd have to beach the subaquatic vehicle and circle back to the surface hangar in order to get off the planet.

Before blending into the Base's crowd of black marketers and criminals, 50452 struck up some conversation with his overseer, "Jack, I'm remembering a lot. I remember a lot of my Aquatics training coming back to me. By the end of setting the charges, I could remember quite a bit. It gets me pumped up to remember this kind of stuff, but I feel like there was a lot I missed."

Jack smirks as he leads them into a crowd, "Patience 50452. By the time I am done with you, you will remember almost everything you've learned when you were in the system. It's precisely what I was hired for anyway. I must admit though, you are quite young to have been trained in as many things as I'm told you were trained in. It almost makes me wish I went through similar training if it weren't for the forgetting everything part."

Vakira wanted to talk more, but was shushed as they melted into the crowd. Now all he had to do was help his Master locate the target.

 

[Phoenix]

The wind bit at his face as he looked at the "base." Saying that he was actually looking at the base may have been a bit of an exaggeration, since someone had decided that building a base underwater was a good idea, so in reality what he was looking at was the hangar to get to the base. The wind whipped through his cloak and sent a shiver down his spine. At least, if nothing else, getting inside would get him out of this frigid weather. The only trick was actually getting inside.

There were a couple of options at his disposal. He could swim down to the base using a respirator, but of course that presented the problem of him being dead of hypothermia before leaving the planet, since he didn't have cold swimming gear. Well, that meant plan A was out. Plan B, he could hijack a vehicle and travel down to one of the main docks. Not a horrible idea, but risky at best. Plan C, use a ventilation shaft. The problem with that idea was that he had no idea where those were or if they would fit a man.

Plan B was looking more appealing.

He crept toward the hangar bay side entrance slipping his short sword from its sheathe as he did so. He'd learned long ago that for an assassin, a lightsaber wasn't always the best choice. Despite its power, it had a serious drawback of noise. Gripping the weapon in his hand, he reached out and gently tapped the door controls, which slid open with a slight hiss, followed by a slightly louder rushing of air inside the building. He moved low and swift into the building, immediately turned to the side and concealed himself behind a crate. No one seemed to have been alerted - or at least cared - that the door had opened, and after a moment of waiting, Corvo crept his way forward toward the main section of the hangar.

He peered into the hangar bay with the steady, searching gaze of a professional. A half-dozen sub-aquatic vehicles sat surfaced at various dock points. For the most part, the hangar was empty, since no one wanted to be on the freezing surface of the planet. On the opposite side from where he now concealed himself, a trio of smugglers loaded one of the vehicles and a pair of guards or gatekeepers kept watch in a control room situated in the wall a few feet above the hangar.

It took him but a moment to decide whether it was worth it to deal with the guards now, or leave them for later. While his mission was to cleanse the base of life, it was also true that if they were discovered as missing or dead, it could raise the alarm; something he greatly wished to avoid. But if he began his work below, they may escape and come back with friends. Now, then.

Moving below the security booth, he made his way to the ramp that lead up through the ice and toward the booth. The two men were facing out toward the hangar, which meant their backs would be to him. All too easy. Gripping sword in one hand, he quickly hit the door controls with the other, already gaining momentum towards the men before the door finished opening. He'd have to be quick if he didn't want the others to see, but with the element of surprise on his side, they shouldn't stand a chance.

Closing the ten feet to the men rapidly, he brought the sword horizontally away from his body at his own chest level. This caught the sitting man across the throat, leaving a horrid gash that severed the trachea and began spewing blood moments later. Simultaneously, his left hand shot out, seizing the second smuggler - a Weequay - by his braids and yanking his head back. He brought the blade around, and plunged it deep into the man's chest, the force imbued blade cutting through bone and heart like butter.

With the second man on pulled out of his chair by the braids and now lying on the floor, he reached back to the first man, who was still clutching his throat as blood seeped between his fingers, and yanked him to the ground as well. No one had seen anything, and now he had no risk of being spotted by guards while sneaking aboard the smuggler's ship.

That meant he needed a distraction to sneak onto the enemy vessel without being seen. Fires were usually nice to that end, but again, ran the risk of bringing more enemies to his location. It was at this point that another idea came to him. He snuck across the hangar, from cover to cover, until he approached the area where the smugglers were busy. With their crates almost loaded, he knew that now was the time to move. Reaching out with the Force, he triggered the controls of a door nearby, again, and again, and again, drawing the smuggler's attention away. While two of the men went to "check it out." The third stayed behind to fire up the ship controls.

Silently as a shadow, Corvo snuck into the ship, rammed his blade through the back of the man's throat and out through his mouth and waited for the other two to make their way aboard.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Vakira and his overseer, Jack passed throughout the crowds of the base. It was really quite an intriguing place as far as an underwater base went. Vakira wasn’t all too familiar with the greater Galaxy apart from what he’d seen in his training, and unfortunately, that trained couldn’t possibly cover everything. It meant that Vakira didn’t have too many opportunities to see Criminal bases, but even for not being experienced, Vakira had no real choice but to be impressed and to determine for himself that the base was probably one of the more exclusive pirate bases in the Galaxy.


The planet wasn’t one of those commonly found to have criminals roaming about. Usually, those systems seemed to have a certain criminal element to it, but this was somehow a bit more organized. Thankfully, it was simply an underground black marketing place, and in this case it was an underwater black market. It was protected in a way that is nearly unheard of in their tier of organization. As Vakira looked around, sure the thugs and mercenaries of the crowded streets were all armed and rather vicious to each other. They were certainly a class of criminal that was ugly to the rest of the Galaxy, but they seemed to have a code of their own. Everyone around here carried a blaster, and as even a single criminal would draw a weapon, ten others would wave in their face. It was their own little system of fighting the chaos one would assume would inevitably consume a place like this, and giving the immense population of the place, there was nowhere truly safe.



It also meant that any secrecy that the innumerous meetings, such as the ones that Vakira and Jack were looking for, would be difficult to find in a place of privacy. Thankfully, Vakira and his overseer had a few ideas; Restaurants, not cantinas, but restaurants had a certain responsibility for civilized actions. Higher class restaurants would ensure that behavior, particularly in a place like this, was kept well suited to the ambiance of the establishment. It would provide the relative privacy and some level of protection for a deal to go down. Thankfully, in a place like this, restaurants like that would be rare to find, but not impossible. Storage warehouses would also serve some privacy, and security would go as far as bringing their own, though that didn’t give Vakira any feelings of ease regarding taking out a security detail or two before actually doing anything. It was likely that, due to the contents of the trade being easily exchanged, and due to the natural security of the place, the restaurant scene was looking better and better, although anything seemed possible at this point. What was worse was getting into those kind of scenes, as the rarity of the restaurants in the area would attract a certain level of exclusivity.


First thing is first though, they needed to find out whether or not their targets were even meeting there in the first place. Scouting the place could very easily be as simple as finding a place at the bar outside of it though. Vakira and Jack spent some time at the bar casually, but relatively frequently looking into the bar from the relatively skewed angle they were provided. Together they could gather enough information on procedures and what not. Getting a reservation, as expected would be impossible in such short notice without actually knowing someone important enough. Giving their situation, that was completely unlikely. Their security for the place, giving the company of the base, was airtight, preventing anyone without a name on the ‘list’ from even walking into the place. Thankfully, there were holes in it, in which the guards seemed to be a bit too enthusiastic regarding their job, and provoking fear into anyone not on the ‘list’ seemed to make their day. Bullies if anything else. And the hostess seemed to be against the every man that objectified her. Unfortunately for her, there wasn’t much she could do about it apart from provoking the bouncers to do what came naturally for them.


After discussing a brief plan in the hushed whispers of the bustling cantina around the corner of the restaurant. Nodding, Vakira began to stumble over with Jack slinking in the shadows out of sight, while Vakira began to laugh, almost obnoxiously. Stumbling past the podium of the hostess Vakira began to wink and with slurred speech began to try to flirt and wink at the hostess. Rolling her eyes, she and the guards seemed quite interested in Vakira, before Vakira began to stumble off past the podium before acting like he tripped and stumbled an unseemly distance into the restaurant. The guards instantaneously jumped into action, pouncing on Vakira, wrenching him up violently. They weren’t too happy with his drunken performance, and with the influence of the hostess, she got one of them to send a punch into Vakira’s gut, doubling him over.


The punch was strong, and it was quite honestly malicious. Any other time, Vakira would have fought them, but the extra eyes on him didn’t seem to be exactly necessary. Instead, in order to prevent another punch in the gut, he puffed out his cheeks, kept doubled over, making hurling noise. The guards, disgusted with what they would imagine to be Vakira about to relieve his stomach of its contents threw him down the hall, where Jack, acting as a passerby seemed to catch him in a way.


Stumbling out of sight of the guards, Jack sit Vakira at the bar bench again, and in the pain of the acting he’d done, Vakira managed to growl through his teeth, “Did you get it?”


Jack smirked at Vakira, “Your performance was convincing enough to get the attention of the hostess and both bouncers. Yeah… I got it. Lock, Daniel and Love, Corvo, McHenry party… And we are in luck, one of our man’s aliases showed up on the list, Doubblen. He’s used it on a mining facility, where he’d temporarily hidden a shipment. He’ll be around tonight at 7pm. We have 2 hours to set things up. I think our best bet at getting in after that little ruse is to pose as waiting staff or a health inspector. Bussing staff come and go often enough that it wouldn’t be a surprise if a new face shows up. I’m not too confident on a health inspector coming around these parts though. We’ll have enough time to get some bussing outfits and sneak in. When we get in, one of us creates a brief distraction while the other causes a grease fire. When the kitchen staff are busy, we can set up to hit the them. We can change in the bathrooms into nicer clothing that is more appropriate for this kind of setting, and get in close to make sure they have what we are looking for. When we confirm it, we trigger the explosions in the hangars, and we hit them in the panic, walking out with the brief case of money and the locations of the gun warehouses.”


Vakira had heard that kind of plan before, and it sounded foolproof so long as no one noticed the trouble they were causing, “Sounds good boss. I’ll go and see if I can scout an escape route, and make sure our sub aquatic suits are safely hidden away in an easily accessible location. You can fetch the outfits.”

-----​

Meanwhile…

A higher class Mercenary, likely former militant walks into the cantina. He has a reservation with a rather shady individual in the restaurant around the corner. The details aren’t necessarily completely known yet, but the resources he was asking for had a lot of potential, and none of it looked particularly good. He’s seen a lot of jobs go down poorly, but this one had nothing good written all over it. Not only did he not trust this particular individual, but meeting in a higher class restaurant like this simply didn’t bode well for him. It shook him up a little to think about how the resources this particular individual was asking for was enough to… well, heck it was enough to take out an entire base of this size. However, the credits involved in the deal were just far too much to pass up. It was almost a little too good to pass up though, and he had to admit that the thought has crossed his mind that the credits simple didn’t exist, and that this shady individual might simply be after the idea of tying up loose ends and keeping the credits after the deal goes down. No, he was over thinking things. Just drink and calm yourself.

-----​

Just as planned, the waiting staff didn’t notice the two new employees sneaking past them. And even more perfectly, they didn’t notice it was Vakira that started the grease fire while Jack ‘accidentally tipped’ a platter of food for a table. The commotion in the kitchen allowed them both to sneak out into the bathroom completely unnoticed, where on the way, Vakira couldn’t help but to lock eyes with a shady looking figure talking to a particularly nervous-looking former militant type. He’d been made. It didn’t matter at this point, they were close enough that they could set off the charges on the hangars, and escape before whoever he was could do anything too big of a deal. However, Vakira’s thoughts shifted completely when he walked into the bathrooms to find Vakira and Jack half way through changing out of the waiting clothes and into their suits. Jack was only just finishing and stuffing a blaster pistol into the back of his pants when he’d walked in on them.


The Force only knows what was going through his mind, but if the nervousness of his militant friend, if his mission was as important as theirs, and if he thought they were hit men, this could not likely go down well, because Vakira knew the look in Jack’s eyes. He hadn’t known Jack long, but he could recognize the look in his face right before he was about to kill someone, and drawing the knife would ensure a quick and silent kill. And even more unfortunately, Vakira was in the back of the bathroom and too tied up in changing into his suit to be of any immediate assistance quite yet. Jack would be on his own for the next few seconds.

 

[Phoenix]

Upon dispatching the man in the submersible, Corvo sheathed his blade and pulled one of his two sabers from the back of his belt. He wasn't about to leave evidence of his murders outside the submersible by way of pools of blood, but the beauty of a lightsaber was that it cauterized wounds instantly. No blood. Emerging from the sub's exit, he hit the activation switch and with a buzz, the black and red blade slid from the saber.

With no one left to hear the sound, save the two men about to be killed. It was but a second until he had closed the distance to the closer man, slashing his saber across his side just above the kidney and cutting him nearly in two. As the second man's hand reached for his pistol, Corvo's blade rotated back around, severing the man's shooting arm and carving a path along his chest.

Normally, he wouldn't have killed everyone out here, but in this case, he didn't want these guys running off to tell people about what he was about to do. He dragged the bodies inside the vehicle and began his descent. The pressure in his ears popped as the vehicle ran deeper, eventually making it to the hangar below. He sincerely hoped that he wasn't about to be met by another half of some crew - he glanced behind him at the dead bodies piled in the corner - who were supposed to help these guys unload. If there were, he'd have to deal with that when it came.

As he docked at an empty port, a man approached the vehicle. He was short, stocky, and ornery looking and as Corvo stepped out, he began speaking in an equally ornery fashion. What're ya doin' her? You ain got perm'sion to dock here. Whadda ya got inside? he said starting to step towards the hatch.

What was with the guy's accent was the first thing Corvo wondered? It almost sounded drunk, but the man seemed to be at least relatively sober. It was just some horrid sound. That thought process was interrupted by the man making his way toward the hatch where he would find the dead bodies. Corvo quickly sidestepped into the man's path, blocking his entrance. He reached into the man's mind, and with a slight wave of his hand, impressed upon the man the fact that he didn't need to know. You don't need to know what's inside. I have all the right permissions to be here. The man repeated his words back and then moved toward the next dock to bother someone else.

Terra had previously contacted a mercenary aboard the base about the supplies for the operation. The man had no idea what was about to happen. Clicking his EMP-resistant datapad on the inside of his wrist, he pulled up the information about the reservation. It was in a public restaurant, which Terra said would "cut down on the likelihood of violence or conspicuousness.

He made good time to the meeting, and took a seat, back up against a wall, with a view of the whole restaurant. Something felt a little bit off about this mission from the start, but he didn't know what it was. He'd need to keep his eyes open.

The man arrived - Corvo recognized him from his picture - and he looked... nervous to say the least. Crap, something's really not right here. It's gotta be a trap. The thoughts had barely finished coursing through his head when something stuck out at him like a sore thumb amidst the smugglers of the world. Force sensitive. Corvo locked eyes with the wolf-man as he disappeared from the room.

Was this a rival Sith? It certainly wasn't a Jedi, there was too much darkness, but Corvo was going to find out. Excuse me for a moment, I need to use the fresher's, he said a few moments later and moved away from the table. It was a horrible excuse, but he needed to move. Now.

He walked to the door that he'd seen the others go through, hand reaching for his dagger as he did so. With a final push, he was through the door, sword in hand and swung across the first man's throat. They clearly weren't the "waiters" they were pretending to be, and he didn't want to find out who they actually were. He moved quickly toward the other one, the one he had initially seen - the one he was more interested in, ever wary of weapons the man might be carrying.

 

[Flamjetxx]

The man was much like Vakira was. He had the same look in his eyes, as if he'd seen more than a single lifetime would have preferred. Vakira had already seen the glinting of light off the blade as he'd strut into the bathroom. There was an unnatural grace, speed, and strength about him that caught not only Vakira, but Jack off guard. They'd pressed the vacant chair of the washman against the door. It wasn't meant to keep anyone out for good, but it would stop the casual push on the door until they could look presentable or hide themselves in the nearby stalls, and only at the minor expense of the occupant's frustrating attempts to get into the bathroom. The chair shattered upon the door swinging open, but against the bustling sound of the Kitchen fire and the many staff rushing to see what they could do, it was simply white noise, and so would become of the scuffle they'd likely hear.

Vakira, incapable of asserting his immediate assistance was helpless to see how Jack struggled against the human man, only for leverage and grace to be worked against him, where the blade Vakira initially caught a glimpse of to be thrust into Jack's Forcedly turned back. It likely hit something vital, but not vital enough, because he dropped like a bag of bricks to simply be tossed aside like a rag doll, but the shallow gasps of gargled blood didn't leave the bathroom as silent as it otherwise would have been.

Vakira has seen enough death already, so the sight of a dead body did nothing past a crooked look and a skipped heartbeat. All was natural, but it would have certainly been more natural for Vakira's stomach to sink and to squeal at the sight of his dead overseer. Perhaps it was some sort of subconscious suppressant against the sight of death that he'd developed during training, or maybe he simply hadn't become attached enough to Jack yet to become so alarmed at his death. Either way, it didn't cause Vakira to falter as he became, once again available.

The gargling slowed as the gasps became shorter and more desperate. His lungs were collapsing, and it must have been his last thoughts that caused him to chuckle. Vakira's crooked face melted to normalcy as the crumpled body of his former Overseer laid in a growing pool of blood with a blood stained grin as blood coughed up onto his cheek as his chuckle was the last sound he'd made. The detonator in his hand beeped once as the light flickered off, and Vakira knew exactly what to expect. Tossing himself at the newcomer, Vakira lunged at Corvo with a slightly defensive pose. Vakira's hands swept the blade hand down and out, hoping that the explosion would catch the Sith off guard enough to lose it, and the other hand intended to simultaneously strike at his other forearm. It was by and large a defensive move, but with the explosion, it could very easily gain Vakira the upper hand overall.

Only just as Vakira thrust himself at Corvo, 12 explosions set off in rapid succession, causing the base to literally shake violently. The hull of the base was designed to keep out the immense pressures of the outside water pressure, so any separate hulls that the hangars were attached to would, though being subjected to the shockwaves of the explosions, they'd be safe from bursting under the pressure. It was all good too, considering that it didn't look as if Vakira was going to be able to get out relatively soon; In fact, it looked like Vakira's mission was blown, because right now, their targets were likely about to look for the fastest way out of the base. Sure, their wouldn't be one, but good luck finding them...

Vakira had bigger problems to deal with anyway. Though his defensive lunge at the intruder was intended to make use of the Base's shaking, it seemed that Vakira's familiarity with explosives, and his martial ability were grossly misunderstood, as Vakira couldn't keep his own balance eve after knowing what was coming, and was thrown into a stall door and subsequently whipped into a sink, and the sound of metal sliding across linoleum could be heard as Vakira realized that his knife had been lost from his own possession, despite being strapped onto his waist.

And somehow... during the violent battery he'd received, Vakira realized that it was FAR too late to do anything about it now, but it had finally come to him. His opponent was dark. He was a presence that he'd simply not realized existed until only just now in the pain of the moment. He was... likely a Sith. And because of a Sith, the entire Mission went down the drain, and Vakira's only escape was blocked by a threat that could likely kill him.

It was only after the rumbling of the explosions did a feint alarm system reach Vakira's sensitive ears; though the gurgling sound of the explosion seemed to partially deafen him. However, the alarms grew in sound only just long enough to be easily drowned out by the sound of the greater hull creaking, which meant that there was a massive shift in pressure. It meant that the hangars had successfully been obliterated, and the signal to the detonator no longer existed, meaning that they'd all gone off. The creaking however would likely go on for a little while though, considering that the hangars had yet to flood with the icy water.

Lying in pain on the bathroom floor, Vakira couldn't help but to let out a coughing chuckle of his own as he felt that he'd cracked at least one rib in the process, "Looks like you're too late. I can still kill him."

Vakira didn't wait for any response though, nor did he wait to see if his enemy had a knife still, but instead he scrambled across the floor in agony to re-engage with him, even if it meant tackling him.

 

[Phoenix]

With one of his opponent's dying on the floor, he turned to the other man, who now lunged at him, reaching for the blade arm. He began to bring the blade up again, but his attention was torn away in an instant by something else completely unanticipated. In combat, the mind filtered out superfluous information. The sympathetic nervous system only responds to what is necessary for survival. However, the deafening roar of an explosion and the shaking of an entire superstructure was more than enough to register as "life-threatening."

It was this distraction that caused him to lose control of his weapon as the impact of his opponent's body struck the arm. The blade clattered to the floor and even with his balance skills, Corvo was nearly knocked off his feet, saved only by his body striking the wall.

Struggling to once again regain his balance as the ground settled and the equilibrium in his inner ear restored itself, his head shot around searching for his opponent even as his right hand slipped instinctively to his holstered lightsaber. Through the ringing in his ears, his subconscious became aware of the sound of a voice in his comlink, though muffled and faint compared to the gong sound in his ear. What was that? What's going on?

But his focus was still too centered to respond. And all that focus said was "kill." As his ears normalized once more, he heard the man mutter something about "too late" and "I can kill him." What was this guy on about? He was about to ask him, when the man rushed at him again, as if to tackle him. Instead, Corvo let loose with his left hand a blast of kinetic energy to halt his opponent's progress, simultaneously lighting the saber in his other hand, ready to strike if the man somehow didn't stop.

What are you talking about? Who are you? Who sent you? He knew he only had a few moments to get some answers lest he drown in this despicable place, but he had to at least try and figure out who was trying to kill him.

 

[Flamjetxx]

The Force wall hit him like a brick wall. For someone with supposed training all across the board, Vakira would have hoped that some of that subconscious information would have at least included preparation for dealing with a wall for Force energy flying at you, but even if Vakira could remember, it doesn't seem like there is much of a defense for it; At least, there is none that he had information regarding it anyway.

Vakira slammed backwards, from attempted tackle, back onto his ass, only just in time for the soul-vibrating sound of a lightsaber to ignite between him and his opponent. The scene was all too familiar. He's been, exactly here before. Unarmed against a lightsaber wielding opponent that clearly had every advantage. Only this time Vakira had no possible advantages. There wasn't even a window in the bathroom. The only thing that presented itself was Vakira attempting to talk his way out of it... Talking wasn't a strong suit of his. Hell, he'd already said too much, but perhaps too much was exactly enough to save him.

The lightsaber's color reflected off of everything in the bathroom to the point that room had an all new lighting. And if it weren't for the commotion of the base and the panicking restraint diners, the near-deafening sound of the blade's humming would have attracted too much attention. But for all intents and purposes of the moment, it served the job of letting Vakira know he wasn't going anywhere any time soon... not without answering questions anyway.

Despite knowing that it was inevitable -if he wanted the possibility of getting out alive- that he'd have to talk eventually, but the events that happened so quickly and the sharp pain constantly reminding him he has a fractured rib was a lot to process. Even Vakira didn't have enough energy to concentrate on any clever lie. But eventually it came to him... There was no point in lying, because he had everything he needed in the truth, "I certainly didn't expect my mark to have a Sith as a security detail, but I think that you can trust me when I say that I'd just flooded all of the submersible hangars. There is no getting out of here, and I think that a man of your skill doesn't want to be stuck on the same security detail forever. Who knows when help will even arrive, and if you can believe me, I also have you know that the charges that blew up the Hangars here have twins at the surface base. Help might not ever come. And if you intend to be stuck here guarding that lowlife, then you can kill me now. But if you want the only way off the base, then we need to go now, because the longer we wait, the better chances there is of someone who actually knows something of the base to finding it."

Vakira paused to try to observe every contemplating second in his face. If he was going to go I for the kill, Vakira wanted every second to count. His fingers began to wrap around the handle of the knife that had flown from the Sith's hand earlier. Being pushed back onto his ass not only sat him right on top of it, but hid how Vakira was able to grab it from view of the Sith... not that a knife would sway the tide of an attack agaist a lightsaber much anyway, but at least it was something.

There it was, it was all out there. He knew now that Vakira was an assassin, behind the bombings, and that he was the only one able to get off the base. Hopefully, he wasn't one of the honor-bound security details that stuck with the job no matter the cost... though he might be very well underpaid for this particular job.

 

[Phoenix]

Corvo had gained the upper hand in the fight and while he could have moved in to finish it, he paused a moment to listen. Lies was what he expected. An assassin who would spew nothing but lies, but sometimes information could be gleaned from a lie as well as a truth.

Whether or not anything the man said was true, Corvo knew that he wasn't totally wrong. True enough, he had totally mis-guessed at Corvo's intentions, but he was completely right that they only had a few minutes to get out of this place before they both drown. Drowning wasn't really how he wanted to go out. He debated telling the guy why he was actually here, but the fact was that if he thought he was just part of a security detail then that might have been better anyway

Fine, I won't kill you. I have no interest in dying here, but we'll need to go, now. I'll take my sword now as well. And don't even think about trying anything because I will cut you down. He paused a moment to let it sink in. He wanted this guy to know just how serious he was because while Corvo wanted to get out of here, he by no means trusted this guy who would kill him as soon as look at him. BUT he was most interested in surviving, and if there was even an off chance this guy had a way out, he'd give it a shot. He could kill him later. How are you planning to get out of here, then?

After getting his sword back, he planned to deactivate his lightsaber and holster it, still no point in drawing attention, even if the base was going to pieces. As he exited the bathroom - ever wary of the man's movements - to see what had just happened.

The base was already filling with waters in other areas and the power seemed to be out all over the facility. Individuals seemed to be running haphazardly in an attempt to escape. The edge of Corvo's mouth curled up slightly in a smile. These guys had done his job for him, maybe skills like that could be useful. AND he was Force sensitive. Maybe it was meant to be. He looked to the wolf-man, we quite literally don't have all day, let's get to it. And quickly.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Though feeling more vulnerable now than every before in his life, Vakira somehow knew before Corvo even made his decision that this wasn't going to be his end. Even as the unnamed Sith vocalized his decision, Vakira had already begun packing away the knife. It wasn't a great asset, but it might very well prove to be useful later on, and letting him know he was armed wasn't going to help Vakira at all, considering the threat of cutting him down.

As expected, he wanted to get moving as soon as possible, though Vakira wasn't so much content with the idea of revealing the location verbally. After all, the moment he did so, there wasn't much of a point in keeping him alive afterwards. So long as the location was a secret, Vakira had a way to live. The moment his lightsaber was deactivated, Vakira took it upon himself to get to his feet, where he lead the way out of the bathroom and into the restaurant. The place was quite empty, having vacated likely the moment the explosions were set off. Another massive creaking sounded through out the base, as the massive pressure change from within the hangars effected the whole base. There was no way in hell the base was going to be able to be left, and Vakira couldn't help, but to smirk at what he'd accomplished. It would have only been better if he could find... No freaking way...

Exiting the restaurant, the tension of the base's integrity was setting the criminals off like little explosions of their own. All it took was a single blaster shot from one paranoid criminal, and it set off a chain reaction of blasters going off. Stealing, firefights, grudges settled, and kidnapping went off all around them. The balcony of the restaurant that ordinarily overlooked the entire eastern wing of the base was right next to one of the 12 Hangars, and the sound of gushing water traveled through the metal hull, and it made it obvious that the Hangars were unusable. Blast shield doors shut closed on all the 6 Hangar entrances in view of the balcony. Unfortunately, the impending chaos below made traversing the streets to be... less savory of a method of travel.

Instead, Vakira waved his hand at the many rooftops ahead of them, and raising an eyebrow to Corvo, Vakira leapt from the balcony onto the rooftop below. Even as Vakira leapt though, blasters could be seen shooting across the many streets, where the once bustling streets were taken over by Martial Law. The unspoken security of everyone wielding a blaster that was ordinarily the perfect system of keeping everyone on their best behaviors had backfired into an all out war of the thousands... perhaps millions of criminals that roams about doing whatever they damn well pleased. Chaos ensued, but even better is that the firefights on the streets left Vakira completely unnoticed on the rooftops, because anyone below looking upwards would probably be paying too little attention to what was going around them to not get shot. It was officially the most dangerous place in the system.

From the rooftops, Vakira could see just about everything. There were the 12, blocked off hangars, the restaurant behind him, the ventilation systems, even a control center was visible. But most of all, Vakira's escape was in view. Of 'course, he had to bring a Sith along with him, but there was at least a relatively safe way to get out, but only a single way out... Thankfully, it was a way out that only Vakira, Jack, and the rare few most trusted personnel knew about.. And Vakira calculated that they had an easy 20minutes before that control center realized that the surface building was also blown to pieces, and that no help was coming. Thankfully, there was no other submersible at that escape hatch, so even those personnel wouldn't even consider it an option. Protocol would likely have them sit tight, wait for things to die down, and wait for help to eventually come for them. It was only a matter of time... weeks, maybe even months, but by then, Vakira would have been LONG gone, and if he was lucky, he'd be alive and far away from the Sith that was undoubtedly following him down the balcony.

"I should warn you that I have a back up plan in case someone attempts to take our ride out of here... And that includes you... erm, I didn't catch your name," Vakira said, realizing that he too didn't give a name, "I'm Jack... Jack Vakira."

Who knows why he did it... But Vakira decided to take Jack's name. It was better than 50452, made more sense, and as for Vakira... Ugh. Who knows where it came from... Perhaps it was a name he'd heard in the bar earlier that day, but either way, it was the first real name he had to himself. He was, after all, told that getting a name, other than 50452, would be best.

"We should get moving. Our exit is that way," Vakira pointed to the far left, where the control center and the ventilation systems were right next door to their route.

 

[Phoenix]

Chaos. That was the only word to describe what was happening. Actually, it was the kind of chaos that he couldn't have even predicted, but worked to his advantage better than anything he could have planned. He was anonymous. Sure, there was the possibility of being attacked by some random pedestrian or caught in the crossfire of a pair of disgruntled gangs, but at the end of the day, no one was worried about someone they didn't know that was leaving them alone.

His "ally" dropped to the roof of a building and sprinted along. It caught Corvo off guard but was a welcome path. He had spent so many years freerunning and scouting from rooftops that they were like old friends to him. It kept him out of view - and in this case, with gunfights in all the streets - relatively out of danger. He flipped on his comm as he ran across the roof, keeping it short since talking while running wasn't the best way to keep one's breath. Or focus. Change of plans, all the hangars are shot to pieces. I've found an alternative route. I might be bringing a guest. I'll keep you updated. It was at least to let his crew know that there was a plan, even if it was a half-concocted one.

He stayed close to his quarry, not wanting the man to give him "the slip." Oh, I'm sure you do. In reality Corvo wasn't sure if he believed the man or not, but it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that professionals would have had some alternative plan to secure their escape and prevent others from doing so.

You can call me Venator. Obviously that wasn't his real name, which he wasn't overly enthusiastic to share with a stranger. Instead it was his chosen Sith name, the one that would one day bear the title "Darth" before it, once he earned it. It translated loosely to "the hunter," an apt description of who he had always been. An apex predator.

It was a moment later, as "Jack" pointed toward their exit - a destination that he still couldn't actually see - that something else caught his eye: the control and ventilation system. While he knew that needed to vacate the premises before anyone figured out what was going on, he still had a mission to accomplish, and one that he had yet to complete.

As Jack began to make his way forward once more, Corvo stopped a moment, Wait. He didn't have time to waste so he kept his summary as brief as possible. You were here to kill someone, yes? Someone you thought I was guarding? I wasn't guarding anyone. I'm here for something all my own. I think I know how to kill two birds with one stone. Your target and mine. Follow me. He didn't really know if the man was still interested in killing his target with his partner dead, but there didn't really seem to be any reason he wouldn't want to. Besides, the tone of Corvo's statement didn't really leave room for argument, they were doing this whether Jack wanted to or not.

Their path brought them just outside the control room, which he assumed would be heavily guarded. He wasn't sure if his psuedo-partner had figured out what was going on yet, but he'd leave him to guess on his own. Presumably, the people inside would be scrambling to find a way to pacify the insane riot, but to no avail. Nothing would prepare them for what was about to come. We're going to storm the control room. No survivors. None.

Jack still had his sword - which kinda bothered him - but he'd need it for what was coming. It was 24 inches of death literally packed with the Force. Time to find out exactly what this Jack Vakira was capable in combat.

He reached to his back and pulled his saber. The door was presumably locked, which he confirmed with a quick press on the controls which responded with an annoying beeping rejection. Plan B, he thought, igniting the saber.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Venator.

Vakira was almost certain that wasn't his real name, but is was something to call him, and how could he blame someone as well trained as he was to keep his real name form a stranger, no less a stranger that has only just tried to kill him. However, it was still nice to identify him, even if it was under an alias. Furthermore, it was very interesting to see him operate, and to see how he kept up with Vakira's hih energy free running as well as he could dish it out. Perhaps if Vakira was a fraction of the shape he wished he could be in, he would be able to take on a faster pace and lose him, but something stopped him dead in his tracks when he'd shared that he had a plan 'B'.

A detour? Vakira couldn't help but to be worried about whether his submersible would be there when they got down there, depite him and Jack having covered their tracks regarding it so well. They'd chained it up out of view, underneath the water, so that anyone looking down into the icy water wouldn't be able to spot it, even if they did decide to check down there. And let's face it, jumping into Water that would otherwise freeze solid if it weren't for the high salinity content didn't merit keeping anyone alive for more than 30 seconds at most, so jumping in simply to "Check" if something was hiding beneath the hatch by pure random chance was not an option. Still though, paranoia got the better of Jack, and he couldn't help but to think similarly that the submersible wasn't going to be there when him and Venator got down there.

What stopped Vakira and pulled Vakira's full interest was the reveal of who he really was. Venator wasn't a security detail for some lowlife thug... he was, much like Vakira, on a Mission. It explained everything, his skill set, his clear interest in being made in the restaurant, and how little he was actually worried about his supposed client. And the fact that he was offering to revitalize Vakira's mission was simply something that couldn't be passed up, especially considering that it wasn't something he cold readily pass up as far as a ride off a doomed base was concerned. So, lying to Vakira wasn't in his best interest anyway. So the reasns Vakira had for being suspicious of him were void at that point.

"I am still interested in killing my target," Vakira said. Although killing that target didn't seem to add up at the moment, because there wouldn't be much of a reasonable was to locate him as of now... in the eminent Chaos. And if they couldn't locate him, Vakira couldn't retrieve the suitcase detailing the locations of the weapons warehouses. However, it wasn't like he was going anywhere with them anyway.

"Fine, let's do it," Vakira said with curiosity clearly on his mind. Though the thought certainly crossed his mind to simply ditch the man, there was something about the opportunity that made Vakira almost seem to compare himself to the Sith. It made him want to prove that he wasn't afraid and was good enough to indeed complete his mission, even if it seemed like it was a blowout already.

At least it seemed like their destination, the control center, wasn't very far from their escape route anyway. In fact, Vakria pulled up the rough blueprints he'd attempted to memorize in his mind, and he already plotted out the fastest route out, just in case it was some sort of ruse, or if the mission went even poorer.

He noticed the Sith glance at the sword Vakira had tucked away behind him, and his heart skipped a beat realizing that he'd ben made not once, but twice in the past ten minutes by the same person, but it just so happened that at this exact moment, Venator wasn't as preoccupied with the man he'd set up common goals with that he was occupied with the completion of his own mission. And so the contest was on between them. He was good... Oh, he was good. He'd found a common interest, is still capable of finishing his mission, and had beaten every odd set against him, despite having otherwise been trapped under the water like all the other blubbering buffoons shooting each other up down there.

They continued on route over the rooftops, gliding over air from one balcony to another, utilizing any method possible to get from one location to the next. And all the way, Venator was able to keep up with him. By the time they got to the Control room, they were able to get above it by the same methods they'd used to get to the control room in the first place. The top of the control room at a pair of guards in which were easily taken care of. Their preoccupations with the happenings of below left them vulnerable to Vakira and Venator's approach. Vakira waited for them to both be on the roof at the same time, before he crept up behind one, allowing the other to simultaneously be dropped by Vakira's new partner.

They seemed to be laughing at the chaos, and aiming down their rifles firing off a few shots each into the large crowds. It was an interesting way to enjoy themselves, but it was certainly not against Martial Law. Vakira came up behind him, using both hands to violently twist his head, snapping his neck, where Vakira was careful to catch him and the blaster rifle he carried as to not alert the people below to what was happening, before they had a chance to assess.

Vakira started making his way down to the side entrance where, the door had a perfect view of everything that was going on inside the room, "I'm going to scout it, then you can drop in from the hatch after I engage them from the door."

Vakira climbed down only just enough to get a sneak peek inside the room with the blaster he'd stolen over his shoulder. Surprisingly enough, there seemed to be a full on army in there. There were 10 or 12 guards total. Several of them were on the west flank of the room, another group were on the flank of the door where Vakira was attempting to spy on them through, making it difficult for him to get a clear look inside when they were periodically glancing over. At the controls were several men that were freaked out in attempts to get a hold of someone from what was likely the surface base... Likely all static. Several flashing alarms indicated that the hangars were flooded completely. They were certainly panicking, but certainly in a more orderly fashion than everyone else. What was even more unfortunate though was that the door Vakira was planning on using had an access key attached to it, meaning that unlocking it wasn't in his control.

Vakira climbed up enough for Venator to see him, where Vakira signaled to him the situation using standard military symbols. By then, he was likely ready to breach the hatch, so it was go time. The door was armored and locked (no doubt sue to the exact situation shown below), so since sing the door wasn't an option, Vakira saw only one option. Unlike the doors, most people fail to armor their walls and windows, leaving them vulnerable. Vakira pulled a loose electrical chord that didn't seem to be in use, wrapped it around his free arm and around his leg, leaving him completely in control of his descent, but free to wield the blaster in his other hand.

Jumping off the of the control room, Vakira descended enough to be right window level, where he fired off a few shots into the window, completely shattering it as he entered, laying down cover. After breeching the window, Vakira quickly fired off a shot into a cooking appliance, causing a small, but highly distracting explosion that simultaneously caused the blast door of the second room to shut, temporarily blocking off half the security detail.

On his way in, Vakira managed to create a distraction for Venator's entrance and take out a guard or two, but this surprise wasn't long lasted as Vakria found himself in need of drawing the knife he'd stolen from the Sith. He couldn't very well be shooting around while his temporary partner was in the room, though it wouldn't necessarily be so much a loss if it weren't for the fact that he kept his plan for killing Vakira's mark a secret.

Vakira went about slashing at anyone nearby, prioritizing the security detail, but suddenly something completely unpredictable happened. When you're in the field as often as you can be, you tend to see a lot of things, and it should never happen that you not expect even the least worthy suspects of being your greatest danger, but for some reason Vakira managed to overlook the fact that even the geeks at the keyboard could have had a gun, and hat turning your back to them, simply because they didn't seem to pose a threat could be one of your last mistakes. So, when Vakira felt the cold metal of a blaster pistol against his fur, he couldn't help, but to let out a growl of not only shame, but pure rage. How could he have left himself so vulnerable?

 

[Phoenix]

He moved across the rooftop and waited for his partner to breach. With the rooftop guards dead, there wasn't anyone to notice them. If Vakira was to breach at the window, then he'd come in behind the guards on the other side. Using the Force, he reached out with his senses and eyes to look for the opponent's inside. Like ghosts, the impressions of the men in the room became clearer. Well, well, well, there are a lot of you boys aren't there. Instead of breaching the hatch, he picked a spot to make his descent on the west side of the building, a position that would drop him more or less behind the largest group of enemies.

He looked back to his partner. Using the cables as an improv repelling kit. Ballsy. Smart. A moment later, Corvo heard the breach and made his own entrance. With the guard's attention drawn toward the door, Corvo put both of his sabers, unignited, against the section of roof he stood on. An instant later, they lit and and pulled them around, letting them switch from front to back and severing the roof. He hadn't even cut the entire section before his weight caused it to give way, and he turned off his sabers.

He dropped like a stone and smashed into the ground below, right behind his opponents. Well, behind most of them. The slab of roof actually smashed down on one man's unsuspecting head, with Corvo in toe. The impact tossed him to the side a bit, letting him impact his left shoulder against the ground. With his adrenaline pumping so hard though, he barely even noticed and instead flipped the switch on his right blade, turning it on and activating the dual phase. He swung it around, just above his body, severing the legs of a trio of guards.

He scrambled back toward his feet, the falling guards acting as a body shield from other incoming fire. Across the room, he saw the Vakira cutting down a group of guards. Good, but it was as he peered across the room that he noticed something bad: an engineer with a pistol. If he weren't so preoccupied with killing, he likely would have rolled his eyes at the man. He likely didn't have the training to use that thing well, but he was about to get lucky enough to get the drop on his partner.

True, normally Corvo wouldn't have cared, but since he still didn't know the way out, he couldn't afford to have the man die. Dropping his left saber to the ground, he let his right hand reach down to his thigh where he kept a small set of throwing knives holstered. Yeah, for the normal person, throwing knives weren't a very useful weapon, but in the hands of a FS who had trained in stabilizing the weapons with the Force, they became a much more useful tool. Just as the pistol gained position on his partner, Corvo released the blade, letting it fly across the room.

The blade impacted the shoulder of the man's shooting arm, an attempt to distract at a minimum, and if he was lucky, sever the brachial nerve plexus, rendering the man's arm obsolete. It would at least give his partner the time to make his move.

As they finished up the remaining enemies, Corvo turned his attention to the controls for the city. Good work. How far is the extraction from here? We won't want to be around here very long after I do this. He began punching up the controls, wondering if while the man watched what he did on the screen, he would figure out what the plan was. They were almost done. Well, assuming their extraction was close. I really hope it's nearby.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Even as the fight went on, Vakira was remembering more and more of his other life. However, it simply wasn't enough, and as good as his reflexes were, they simply cannot make up for training. And without that training, cold hard steel was inches from his back. Sure, it was not a pretty sight, but the amature didn't even have the common decency to end it quickly. He was aiming at nothing vital; At best, it would puncture a lung. However, Vakira didn't feel like his partner was in a helping mood.

*Shwoom*

The knife flew faster than Vakira could perceive. Reflexes were nothing compared to the blur, and the only reason he found out it was even a knife was because it was barely sticking out of sensitive flesh. The screaming, oh the screaming. The pain, as excruciating as it was, was debilitating... Apparently. Of 'course, Vakira didn't have time to dwell on the fact that the man that only moments ago had a gun at his back was writhing on the ground like a little girl. Vakira might have even seen a smirk on the corner of his lips as he held the gun up to Vakira, only moments before he was on the ground.

"Pfft... Yeah... Role Playing on some sort of Fantasy HoloSite is a lot more different than real life, isn't it?" Vakira remarked at him, kicking the pistol under some furniture. Sure, it was a wild guess that the nerdy-looking kid was into Role Playing websites, but the point was made. However, there was no point in killing the kid... Clearly, he was not a problem.

Vakira looks up to the origin of the blade to find that it was from Venator. Frustrated was all that went through Vakira's mind. It made sense that he'd want Vakira alive in order to escape, but it was a low blow to his honor and his vanity for their little, unspoken, contest from between them to be thrown way out of balance by him saving his life.

The growl he'd let out earlier had been extended a little longer. However, the room had been cleared, all apart from the door that had been shielded by Vakira's little distraction explosion. Unfortunately, the blast shield door was being opened, revealing that Vakira's original count had been wrong by a lot more. Whatever was going on, the security here was extraordinarily misunderstood, and the funnel made at the door was a two way street. They formed an 8-wide firing squad, making a total of 16 shooters, and there might very well be even more out of sight. They knew what they were doing to an extent, and now that they didn't have to fight the element of surprise, they were more than capable of fighting off two others, particularly ones more equipped for short range combat. Bottom line is that they didn't have the firepower to compete.

From what Vakira had caught sight of what Venator was doing on the controls, it seemed he wanted to suffocate everyone inside. IN fact, it was an ingenious plan, the suffocating itself, but it simply didn't have any decent methodology from the control center. Geeks being dead aside, there was almost certainly someone around the base that would be able to turn it back on from the control panel. Not only that, but even if the control panel was destroyed after the switches having been made, there are all kinds of other ways, the air can be turned back on after they were gone. Hell, that was what criminals did... They fond ways around the rules. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like Venator even had enough time to finish what he was doing, and though Vakira would have liked to just say, screw it, and leave him there to take a firing squad in the back, he kind of owed him.

Ripping him off of the control panel, Vakira would shout, "Ready or not, it's time to go!"

Hopefully catching him off guard enough to move him enough out of the way, it was just in time to move him out of the way of the blasters that demolished the control panel he was only just sitting at. The screen that only just moments ago read: 'Ventilation Systems Shutting Down, 85% Completion'; it went completely black before hitting 100%.

Really attempting to manhandle him, Vakira hoped that with the blaster fire tearing up the main control panel and the screen, that Venator would willingly come along with Vakira up to the windows edge, where they both would swing on the chord out to an adjacent structure's catwalk. From there, there would be no easy ground path to them, and they'd only briefly be in the line of fire from any pursuing shooters. Thankfully, Vakira still had the blaster on his shoulder, and from the angle the firing squad would have to follow, it would mean that they'd have to file one by one out to the angle in order to shoot, which was good for them, because Vakira could lay down cover fire while they escaped. A few short bursts, and they'd be around the corner. Unfortunately, there wasn't much left to guard for the team, and in order to get to the escape hatch, out of the base, they needed to go back towards the control center.

After making it around the corner, Vakira attempted to figure out, in his head, where they'd be coming from, but the only real answer is that they weren't coming from where they had just swung to the next catwalk. It meant that within a few minutes, they'd likely be encountering them. Thankfully though, they'd likely have to spread out, keeping in contact, as they searched for the pair of trouble makers.

Before they got too far, Vakira heard the ventilations sytem's apparent winding down turn back onto full blast, which confirmed that he'd failed and caused him to speak up, "I know what you were doing, and there is still a chance. All we have to do is get to the ventilation systems themselves. I don't think we should turn it off completely, as the few people paying attention would notice when it goes off, and be able to turn it back on, but if we flood it with some sort of odorless fume, we can choke them all out. There is one main supply system running from the surface, and that means that if we effect it from far enough above the vent system, we can poison them all without hem knowing the wiser."

Vakira spoke with the knowledge of the blueprints on the tip of his tongue, but simply glossed over how he knew so much about the base, and instead continued, "There is a heating supply line running perpendicular just above the ventilation system. We can reroute a few of the pipes to the ventilation system, pumping fuel into the base while simultaneously dropping the base a couple degrees. If it gets cold enough, no one will want to go moving around enough to do something about it, plus it might focus everyone on the opposite side of the base at the heating systems. All we have to do is get there."

Vakira paused as he waited for Venator's confirmation. Surprisingly enough, Vakira didn't expect to be waiting on the stranger's approval, but it simply came natural. By this time, he was clearly established as far more experienced, and there was a sort of dominant structure established between them early on, when he had Vakira at lightsaber point. Hopefully, he was still up for finishing the plan, even if they had to fight off a dozen and a half trained militants on the way.

 

[Phoenix]

As he tapped away at the control panel, the door opened and he felt himself pulled to the side, the control panel erupting a moment later as it succumbed to a dozen blaster bolts. He looked to his right and saw Vakira with a firm grasp of his arm, pulling him out of the way. His instinct was to react violently - since he really had a problem with people touching him - but this was to his benefit. Looked like maybe the two of them were even now.

It took him a mere fraction of a second to commit to the "tactical withdrawal" as he realized that the two of them were severely outnumbered. He leapt from the window, grabbing the cable and let it carry him rather haphazardly to the adjacent catwalk. Leaping on it was really more of a reflex with the hope that it would hold, but if it managed to carry the weight of his compatriot then it should take his as well, yes? Besides, the options were that or being shot.

Hitting the side catwalk, he saw Vakira turn to lay down fire and took off in the other direction toward cover, pausing a moment to ensure that the assassin was behind him before continuing out of the line of fire.

Corvo nodded as he listened to Vakira's plan. Carbon monoxide, he muttered to himself and partially to his compatriot. This base, because it was run by smugglers and their ilk, didn't have the funds for a fancy fission or fusion reactor. Instead it ran on old school chemicals and natural gas - a byproduct of which was Carbon Monoxide. He spoke up a bit louder as he addressed Vakira, the thoughts forming as he spoke. It's odorless, clear, and binds to hemoglobin some 200 times more strongly than oxygen. By the time anyone realizes their choking on it, it'll be too late. If we can block the exit vents, it'll feed back into the main base and every time they use power, they'll be signing their own death warrants.

The two men were shaping up to be quite an effective team. And if the vents and heat are close enough, all the better. Distraction and misdirection.You seem to know where you're going, so lead the way.

It was a rather uncanny alliance. First from violence to necessary alliance to.... what? Begrudging respect? Perhaps this man had earned the right to live. Things to think about once this was over and his mission was accomplished. For now, the two men were on the move once more. Vakira seemed to know his way around movements. He had the grace and agility of a natural athlete, Corvo could see it in the way he moved. He couldn't tell if it came naturally or was practiced, but he handled himself well. Some people were just natural born killers.

As he vaulted one final wall, he dropped to the ground below, and came to a rolling stop just in front of a door. It was nondescript and undoubtedly locked with a sign on the outside that read in large red letters "authorized personnel only." Sounded like just the kind of place he needed to go. Looking to one side and the other, he moved quickly over to the door. True, he could have simply cut a hole in the door with his saber, but that would scream "I was here" like nobody's business, so instead he opted for a more... subtle approach.

He pulled a small knife from his holster and wedged the blade into the side of the control box. Using it as a wedge, he popped the cover off and went to work on the wires inside. Lock picking was one of those skills that you just kind of needed to have if you wanted to sneak around, break in, and kill people. Luckily, givne that this wasn't a high value target, the door didn't have military grade locks and after a moment, the door slid open. He replaced the panel and the two men entered, closing the door behind them.

The inside was a maze of the inner workings of the facility. Catwalks and conduits ran here and there, but the vent system shouldn't be too hard to find? They key was, once they found it to make it look like they hadn't been there tampering with it.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Vakira sighed as the door to the labyrinth swung open. It would take a bit more time than he'd desired to find precisely what he needed to find. That, coupled with the fact that they were still being pursued meant that time wasn't on their side. Pumps, pressure gauges, pipes, and wires, oh my. Thing is that, in order to find what you're looking for, one, it would require a knowledge on how a heating system worked in the first place. But assuming you knew that, the blue prints could give a general ball park in where you should start off looking. Unfortunately, Vakira figured they had, between travel time and the time it took to pick the electronic locks, a minute or two to get a head start on the small army that was, no doubt, looking for them. Vakira also figured that in order to do their reworking of the systems, they'd likely need to get their hands deep and dirty, meaning that one hand on someone's neck wouldn't be too useful when the other was elbow deep in some machinery.

Vakira stayed behind at the door for a moment longer. He wanted to stay a bit longer to create an early warning system. Combining the use of a mop, some spare, useless, wiring, a toolbox, and some sheet metal that looked to be a large removed panel, Vakira constructed a sort of boobie trap that would be loud enough to be heard when the door re-opening triggered it. If anyone was coming into the room, Vakira and Venator would know of them before they even knew where the duo were located. The moment it happened, Vakira sprinted off into the adjacent path of Venator, choosing to stay close enough so that joint efforts were a second away, but not covering the same content. Plus, he was going in the right direction as far as Vakira could tell. In one hand, Vakira had a small, handheld array of tools from the toolbox he'd incorporated into his trap, and in the other, he had a small piece of glass he'd only just moments ago discovered sticking out of his left tricep. It wasn't big, but it began to cause enough pain and swelling to be easily noticed. Vakira supposed that swinging into a window, on second thought, was not nearly as great as an idea as he'd initially thought it would be. Thankfully though, nothing went to waste, and Vakira could use it as a reflection to check around corners after, and if, his trap was set off.

Thankfully though, it seemed like the militia wasn't focused so much on the idea that they were present for more nefarious purposes, but rather assumed they were simply attempting to escape. If Vakira their training, they were probably keeping it safe, blocking off the exits and working their way into the small system of corridors and rooms that would eventually lead them to this room. The room would be relatively far from those exits, but they'd likely get a good chunk of them coming in all at once, since this room is in the conjunction of two main hallways, the curse of being such a large, and important maintenance room.

Vakira sighed as the catacombs of various pipes and pressure gauges told him nothing of use. Finally though, he found what he was looking for, and the singular heating duct could be followed back through a wall of other pipes to be easily lost in the entanglement. Whoever designed this place really hated making things easy...

Vakira made a small yip. For him, it was a rather natural calling sound, but it might have sounded a bit weird for a human. Thankfully, regardless, it would signal Venator more easily than much else. He was already close enough to help guide him through the maze, where Vakira could finally located where all the heating systems would finally cross with the ventilation systems. Thankfully, the ventilation systems, though not necessarily visible, were a lot more obvious as to their location, and they didn't pose much of an issue for their location.

"Venator, I've found a lead for the heating system. It looks like a gas feed. I need you to get over here, while I go around to the next hallway to try to figure out where it leads to," Vakira said.

After a while of working together, Vakira and Venator would easily be able to work together to work through the mess of shoddy engineering. The base, all in all, was amazing in every way, but the entire room could be reworked. And if someone ever found the base again, they'd likely have to rework the room anyway, simply based upon the plans Vakira had for it.

Smirking, Vakira found it. The crossing point of where the heating systems were closest to the ventilation systems. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as close as he'd intended, but he'd be able to make it work regardless. It would have been nice to have additional help, but unfortunately, a massive metallic thunderstorm of noise washed through the room of hissing alerting them to the new inhabitants entering the room. His ears perking up, Vakira immediately locked eyes with Venator once again, "I'll need you to act as point while I get in here," Vakira said while handing over the piece of glass and the Blaster Rifle. The many catwalks and corners would ensure that they didn't quite know where the shooting would be coming from until they were already pinned down, "See if you can pin them down and buy some time. When I'm done with this, we'll see if I can flank them."

Unfortunately, the maze, though intricate probably would allow them to attempt to flank Venator as well, meaning that Vakira need to be very fast in order to get through this in time to help out. Vakira tried to peel off a piece of paneling as silently as he could as to not alert the team of shooters, before crawling into the hole created. The pipe leading in included both the gas feed as well as the exhaust. The exhaust was a lot farther than the vents than he'd hoped, but seeing all these pipes and other systems really got Vakira's memory pumping. His mind flashed back to various missions, where his engineering skills were handy. Though many of them didn't apply directly to this, it all seemed to make sense, and knowing already what he was looking at certainly helped. Vakira was set to be able to rework the place back and for the, and an idea popped into his head. Reaching to his side, Vakira popped a mask onto his mouth. Though the mask was originally an accessory to the subaquatic suit that allowed him to plant the charges outside the base in the first place, Vakira could also use it to protect him from what he was about to do now.

Using the tools he'd stolen, Vakira removed the gas feed pipe, removing an entire section, in which he'd use to extend the exhaust piping to feed crudely into the ventilation duct. The exhaust, carrying the burned waste of the heating systems would pump carbon monoxide into the breathable air all around the base. Of 'course, the pipes, though as huge as they were, it would take time for the carbon monoxide to be thick enough in the base to be lethal. However, since Vakira didn't intend to replace the piping to the gas feed, the base would become significantly colder, and in all hopes, Vakira hoped that would mean the heating systems would get cranked as a result in attempting to warm things up again, which would in turn create more carbon monoxide to poison the population with. It was a vicious cycle. However, it also meant that gas would be pumped into the room, where the room would become a volatile cocktail waiting to catch fire. Vakira just needed to make sure the gas would feed into the room as opposed to the networking behind the walls, because blowing the barely functional system Vakira intended to create would help no one. Thankfully, Vakira was able to fit a hose that he'd lead the gas out with. The hose would slow the fill of the room, but it would also keep the gases away from the insulation of the wall, and it would also allow Vakira to eventually close the panel up behind him, protecting his handiwork. However, with the trap being set, it meant that he and Venator needed to make it out of the base before they succumbed to the very traps he and Vakira planned.

 

[Phoenix]

Corvo took the rifle and glass. He'd had training in firearms before and, while he wasn't an expert, he was certainly passable with the weapon. Perhaps a skill he'd hone in the future. Moving away from his partner so as to minimize distractions that might be caused to him by, oh I don't know... gunfire. He knew the men were in here, it was just a matter of finding them... or rather, letting them find him?

He pressed up against a large boiler of some sort and stuck the glass around the corner. It was a crude viewing system, but effective nonetheless. The heat from the boiler began to heat his clothes, impressing on him the fact that maybe he shouldn't be touching it. It was at that point that he got a new idea.

Looking once more in the small reflective surface, he located another large vat across the room, near where the men were entering from. How they had managed to track the men so easily was a question for another time, but for now he swung low around the corner, let the rifle's sights fall on the large metal containment system across the room, and let loose a quick stream of gunfire at it.

The bolts flew across the room, punching into the metal and at first had no effect. Darn it. He turned once more, braving the few stray gunshots directed his way and squeezed the trigger again. Clearly the men didn't know what he was attempting and instead must have only assumed him to be a horrible shot. No, he'd hit his target perfectly. The metal on the containment unit gave way under its own pressure and the heat/pressure combination of the blaster bolt. Scaldingly hot steam shot out from the unit, bathing a handful of guards in 2nd and 3rd degree burns. Not a death that Corvo envied, though they would have died soon regardless.

The shock of what they'd just seen must have stunned the other guards who paused a moment before trying to figure out how to help their comrades without being shot or burned themselves. Good, stay distracted. Corvo moved positions, hoping to avoid being flanked before almost literally running back into his partner, who had apparently finished his work.

We good to go? He certainly hoped so. He was ready to be done with this.

He awaited response before quickly handing the rifle back and urging Vakira to follow him. Pulling his saber, he ran past a set of stairs leading to a catwalk and a large stack of crates. Looking quickly behind him, he muttered Watch my back, something he could hardly believe he was saying to a near stranger, and went to work cutting a hole through the wall.

He could hear gunfire behind him and hoped not to be shot in the back, but after a moment, he'd made an opening large enough for the two of them to fit through. Lead the way to the escape, he said, and prepared to run once more.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Getting the trap set was one thing, but getting out was going to be another. As of the current moment, Vakira was standing in sniffing distance of the gas leak, and a burst of blaster rounds could be herd at fairly regular intervals. The first burst was certainly closer, but the others were distance. They were likely retaliation fire attempting to combat the pin Venator likely had on them. It would only be a matter of time before...Ugh!

Both turning the corner at a relatively high speed, Vakira practically jumped 5 feet up when Venator appeared around the corner. Receiving the blaster rifle again, Vakira hunched over, taking a firing position, while aiming down Venator's flank as if a part of the 'V' formation. Catching a man only just around the corner, Vakira managed to get off a few bolts, stopping him in his tracks before making the corner. At this point, he had no visual on them, and aimlessly fired around the corner, but missing ever shot by a mile.

Venator, though as strong as he was, could only cut through a wall like that so fast, so Vakira needed to keep the cover fire. Venator was a sitting duck, and Vakira needed to keep a constant trigger down in order to keep the other man from getting any sort of a clear shot at them. And though Vakira wanted to set a reliable trigger to his gas trap, he couldn't argue with making the faster escape. Besides, they'd all be dead due to their overall scheme sooner or later.

Instead of giving the standard cool off period, Vakira chose to keep firing consistent bursts of bolts, opting to keep him behind cover for as long as possible. However, by the time the blaster overheated completely, Venator wasn't completely done with his job, and Vakira didn't have anything to shoot. His ears perked up to the man vocally signaling to his comrades. They were in hearig distance... well, for Vakira anyway. It likely meant that Vakira could probably be heard if he said something loud enough. The tool he'd used only just previously was still in his possession, and it was dead weight up until this point. Vakira tossed it onto the metal-grate floor, and at the same time, he placed a hand on Venator's shoulder while shaking his head no at him, "Keep your head down!"

Vakira said it only Just loud enough to be heard, but soft enough to make it believable. And from what Vakira could see of his his enemy's hiding spot, and from what he could hear, he heard some diving, and taking of cover, only just as the wrench skidded into view. Of 'course, a wrench was harmless, but when coupled with some well placed words, it bought only just enough time for the wall to give way under Venator's sword. They both dove through it faster than their follower's could turn the corner shooting, and Vakira was cautious to replace the piece of wall where he'd found it, all in hopes of preventing them from being immediately followed.

Propping it back into place, though simple as it may have sounded, it only gave the appearance of a circle burned ito the wall, bt it didn't indicate anything was necessarily removed from the wall, and if they weren't paying close enough attention, they'd walk right past it. And any time bought was enough for Vakira to escape with Venator close on heel.

Sprinting down the hallway, Vakira threw away the dead weight of the blaster, while drawing the blade he'd barrowed from Venator in the first place. Turning a few corners, they ran into virtually no resistance up until the very end. They'd come up to yet another catwalk that overlooked te whole city of fire and ice. Already, Vakira could feel the ventilation systems blowing the noxious gas in their faces. They were up high enough that the ventilation systems were right in their faces. Vakira's lips pressed against the respirator in his possession. Unfortunately, Jack's dead body, still in the restaurant, held the other respirator, leaving none for Venator. And at the end of the catwalk, four shooters blocked off their escape. Vakira was a sitting duck this time without any weapon that he could se to protect himself fromt he fire of the 4 shooters. But at the ver moment he turned around, it seemed that they hadn't made as big of a gap ahead of the other shooters, leaving them sandwhiched between the 2 firing squads. No escape this time?

At their range, they didn't want to risk missing and shooting their other sider partners, and so both squads advanced onto the catwalk.

Looking around frantically, Vakira saw almost exactly what he wanted to find. It was their way out of their mess. At first, it would see like a death wish, but Vakira swung down with the sword into the railing of the catwalk on his side, and with the force he'd put forth into it, the sword cut through all the levels of the metal bars on his side, causing the entire catwalk to sway almost the moment the closer firing squad began to raise their rifles. The catwalk would catch everyone off guard, including whatever Venator was doing, causing everyone to sway in towards the break, threatening to throw them all off the catwalk at once.

Vakira's hand shot to the railing ahead of him, holding on tight enough for his skin to turn white from beneath the fur covering the back of his hand, "Hold onto something," Vakira said while motioning to Venator's lightsaber as if to urge him to slice through the rest of the catwalk with it. Ad assuming that he listened to Vakira, the catwalk would collapse in towards the middle, taking every guard with them, though they swung at the end of the pendulum towards an empty balcony, where the end of the catwalk would only just fall short of allowing them to scrape against the ground of, but the force of the sudden stop would fling them off the railing to their own devices in being able to survive the fall to the balcony.

Tuck and roll... All that was needed to be known... Of 'course, even with the catwalk, they'd managed to build up quite the momentum, that and there was absolutely nothing else around their fall to slow them down. Vakira was going to hurt.

 

[Phoenix]

Spoiler: OOC

Sorry about the slow post. Crazy last couple days. Feel free to finish up with the final post!

The sudden jolt of gravitational force on his body shocked his mind away from calculating an escape plan. His partner was already on it and had managed to knock the platform halfway down. Corvo instinctively bent his knees, lowering his center of gravity as he reached out with his left hand to grasp the railing. From there, it didn't take long for him to figure out what the plan was and jump wholeheartedly into assisting.

With his right hand, he lashed out at the other support, leaving the remaining section of the bridge - the part that was still attached - to finally give way. No more normal force. Just gravity pulling both assassins and the host of guards down to the rooftop below. His hand wrapped around the handrail, but it wasn't quite enough. As the catwalk reached the bottom of its rotation downward, the weight of Corvo's body ripped him free from the railing. While it decreased his force slightly, it left no small amount of his momentum to transfer to the roof. The roof smashed into his back as the wind was knocked halfway from his lungs. That was going to leave a mark.

With the adrenaline pumping, the pain didn't even register all that much. Instead, it was the gasping for air that nearly sidelined him as he rolled to his knees. A gulp of air later and he managed to get to his feet. He could see Vakira making his way back to his feet despite what looked like some pain as well. The guards, however, who apparently hadn't anticipated the move, didn't seem to be faring so well.

At least it gave them the chance they needed to tear away from the security team and make their way to the submersible. The cold water, while it was a threat to possible hypothermia, actually allowed one to hold their breath longer as the cold temperatures maximized oxygen usage. Add that to the fact that Corvo focused the Force through his body and mind to hold out against the lack of oxygen, and he made it to the submersible. Barely. It was the longest short swim of his life, hands down and he'd never been so happy to make it to a (semi) warm vehicle. Let's not do that again. As their ship broke for the surface he radioed his team to move the ship in to track his location and pick them up.

At least they'd made it out, though. Alive and with their mission accomplished. You handled yourself pretty well in there. How would you like a job? I know, a strange proposal, but you know who I am and your work could be of value to the Sith. What do you say? He had a feeling it would be the beginning of a long relationship to come.

 

[Flamjetxx]

Vakira knew he fall was going to hurt. In fact, he held onto the cut railing as best he could, but as the catwalk swung like a pendulum, Vakira prepared to be ripped from the railing and swung into the ground. Vakira tried to hold on as long as he could in order to get as much of a lateral swing as he could, but when you swing down nearly 40 feet to be abruptly handed off to be Gravity's B****, there is only so much hands can do. Unfortunately for Vakira, his trajectory was a bit more downward than he'd intended, and the impact was exactly what he'd anticipated. Vakira rolled as best as he could, but the mere force of the fall sprained his ankle. The pain shot up through his right leg and all the way through the body and out through this left shoulder, where it pulsated right back in for another wav e of pain.

Vakira rolled around on the ground, his heart beat thumping louder than any other noise around them, oblivious to the several thumps that silence the falling screams of the guards that were unfortunate enough to have walked too deep onto the catwalk to escape gravity. Many of them caught broken limbs, but the few unfortunate others caught the uncontrollable fall on their necks. And from the rolling and Vakira's pain he could make out only a few other crumpled bodies on the ground. The rest must have fallen down the rest of the couple of floors to their deaths. Rolling onto his in tact shoulder, Vakira's mind went somewhere else. The balcony disappeared, his environment was something completely different. The urban outcrop of the failing, underwater, city faded out, and Vakira could hear them... They were following him, and they wouldn't let up on him until they had him dead. 5 Years ago, there was a room, where Vakira was only just learning the finer tuned methods of escape, and that the only way to survive was to steal the food from the tribesmen. All in all, things hadn't gone as well in attaining a meal, that the tribesmen wanted blood. Vakira had been caught and gotten injured.

The very same limp plagued Vakira, where the adrenaline of the moment allowed Vakira to limp his way through the pain and injuries. Above all though, Vakira was running at full speed away from no one chasing him, and fueled by endless endurance and adrenaline, he was easily able to make his way ahead of Venator. But for Vakira, he couldn't even hear the Sith after him, but rather he believed that allowing him to catch up would mean Vakira's death.

For the amount of pain Vakira was experiencing, he'd made it down the building to the streets below, and to the lower levels of the compound in great time, only to become lightheaded from his efforts. Ironically, the delusion of his past faded upon regaining his composure in which he realized that he was attempting to push over some shelving in order to slow down whoever he thought was following him. Fortunately, he'd caught himself, before Venator could fully put together what exactly was going on, because from any other point of view, it might look as if Vakira was attempting to ditch the Sith.

Vakira's vision was blurred a bit still, and the heart beat that plagued his ears was slowing down as he attempted to regain control of his own perceptions. Waving his hand at Venator, Vakira ushered him past the shelf before knocking it over. At least, it would serve a purpose that was more believable than what seemed to be post traumatic stress... That, and it seemed like a few of the rioters were getting curious and appeared behind Venator in the cramped hallway. Thankfully, the path to the hatch was hidden behind a false door that looked like a wall safe. Of 'course, opening the safe wouldn't grant anyone access if they didn't know what they were looking for, particularly when finding out that the doorway-sized safe had nothing that seemed to be of value... just a few trinkets. At least, Vakira's employers had a well placed bribe to get the information to and from the safe.

Getting past, Vakira didn't have time to strap on any of the subaquatic gear that would have protected them from the cold and the immense underwater pressure that was sure to threaten to crush them. Instead, Vakira pulled the hidden submersible into view and hopped in after Venator where the icy water seemed to freeze his already stiff joints solid. Getting on board, Vakira was practically frozen solid and almost completely incapacitated, so disarming the boobie trap he'd set up earlier was a more challenging task than he would have wanted.

"Don't-t-t-t start-t-t-t-t the sub yet-t-t-t-t," Vakira shuddered to Venator. Fumbling with triggers in the ignition and other various traps, Vakira's fingers certainly tried everything to not cooperate, especially considering his shoulder was still not set yet. Finally disarming the explosives set to blow up the sub upon ignition, Vakira flipped the heaters onto full blast, and slumped into the seat at the back of the sub meant for passengers, but at least the bomb was deactivated.

Hearing Venator on the com with someone that was going to pick them up, Vakira took the time to set his shoulder back into place, while he contemplated the same thing. Should he contact his handlers? Was it even worth doing? After all, he had set himself up perfectly to disappear right off the map, and who even knows what his employers had planned for him. Vakira's contemplation would continue as he limped over to the passenger side seating at the cock pit, and only when Venator spoke to him did he make his decision.

"I think that we cold very well have a very promising future ahead of us," Vakira stated in response to Venator. It was time to come clean to him, "Look Venator," He started, "My handlers will think I'm dead after everyone on that base is found out to be dead, unless I contact them to check in," he holds up his com link.

"The training program I went through had some issues in which left me unable to remember the juiciest parts of the training. The man you killed when we first met was trying to help me remember those things. Lucky for me, it seems that you seem to know as much about, if not more, than he did about what I need to remember. I have nothing to gain by going into business with the Sith, so if I do get a job, then I will need to be under your supervision the entire time. The way I see it is that you owe me that training seeing that I got you off that base, and considering that you killed the person that was supposed to do it. I need to remember that training more than you realize. Those are my terms," Vakira explained, setting the com device under his heel, preparing to smash it should Venator's answer be yes.

Spoiler

*OOC: Giving the condition of the Base, it would only be a matter of waiting for all life forms on the base to cease to exist before anyone can go back into the base. The escapes are unusable and the inhabitants will be dead within a few days, depending on how long it takes for the gas to kill everyone. All Vakira and Corvo have to do is monitor the base to ensure that no one comes, getting curious, and to ensure that no one surfaces alive by some miracle they end up escaping. From the surface base, the Icy weather would snow over the exploded remains of the small set of Hangars, all inhabitants inside dead or hidden. It would look abandoned, leading any pirates looking for the base to believe it was compromised in some way or another.*

//End Thread