Open Coruscant Propane Nightmares

[Tacitus Agrippa]

Coruscant was a place that kind of grew on Tacitus like a fungus; he hated the place but it managed to cling on anyway and soon he was doing more and more work there. The place was big enough, and deep enough, though that almost none of the jobs he pulled on the planet even felt the same since each level was so different. Higher levels were a completely different world to the mid-levels and the lower levels were beyond even the mid-levels.

But when you could easily consider a thousand levels down as 'mid', there were always going to be stranger things going on further below.

The mission today was on a level 918 - it looked like it was mostly residential which was strange because he was here to break into the main outpost of a drug manufacturing gang, burn all their product and steal all their credits. He certainly didn't expect to find himself directed to a block of apartments... he lit up a cigara as he eyed the place critically.

"Karking dump..."

It was, even by the standards of the local neighborhood, and he could tell by the way people gave it a wide berth that something was up with it. What, exactly, was up with it though he didn't know. Was it the size alone? Nah, he doubted that considering there were other blocks around roughly the same size... which meant he was actually in the right place and the gang operated out of the apartment block.

Well... plenty of levels he supposed.

Tacitus started checking over the ammo count in his blaster pistol, making sure that the two spare ammo clips were strapped in as well as he waited for his backup to arrive. Hopefully someone who knew how to slice at least a little bit better than him too considering he didn't have a clue. Might need to force one of the locals to help if he didn't get friendlies inbound who knew their way around the codes.

Spoiler: Mission Brief

Once again, the influx of 'local talent' from the prison breakout and the loss of evidence held in Ranger HQ has messed with Syndicate operations. A local drug-manufacturing gang used to kick up 30% of their profits up to the Syndicate before they got too big for their boots and thought they didn't need to anymore. Remind them why they do by raiding their largest stockpile, burning their product and stealing their credits by accessing their network through slicing.

@Rhogar

 

[Taldorak Trenessar]

Tal whistled as stepped in beside Tac "Shit, we have got to stop meeting like this." he said with an audible grin. "At least bring me somewhere respectable, yeah?" The Mandalorian was clad in his 'beskar', hand already resting on his Peacemaker. "Quiet? Loud? I just need to know how... expendable this place is." he'd check his chrono "Wonder if Hawk's gonna show up. Dala still owes me some spice."

@Nefieslab @The Captain

 

[Vri Nama]

All things considered, level 918 was actually pretty nice, although Vri was measuring by the standards of her frankly hellish level 1313. No duracrete slugs eating through the foundations, all the carbon scoring on the street signs was old, and the muggers, street walkers, and spice dealers were all lurking in the side alleys rather than shoving past each other on the streets. And best of all, it was just lawless enough that Vri could ride her illegally souped-up swoop bike down the main street without anyone calling the CSF on her. It was a refreshing change of pace.

As she wheeled tightly and loudly around the corner to find her target, and two familiar faces standing out in front of it. Or, rather, one familiar face and one familiar helmet.

"'Sup kriff-kickers!" She hollered over the thrum of her engine as she touched down next to them, popping off her helmet and shaking her mohawk loose. "Looks like we get to cook some shrokkers, again. Maybe this time we can actually get some drinks and spice after this."

This time she was playing it safe, her afterparty stash was tucked into her right boot, along with her spare credits and a concealed blade mechanism. It was funny how much important stuff she kept in that old swooper boot...

@Nefieslab @Rhogar @Kestrel (If you wanna get Pidge in on this)

 

[Tacitus Agrippa]

Well... he had some people to assist at least.

If they were the same people who had helped him smash up the bar? Well that just meant that he had seen them in action enough to know they weren't useless street trash. He chuckled a little bit, smirking ever so slightly at Taldorak.

"If we stop meeting on jobs it means I've run out of work to do and that's a very bad sign." he joked a little bit back, "And nothing fun ever happened anywhere respectable."

He paused before pointing to Vri.

"Also she would probably get stopped at the door." he added to Taldorak before nodding toward the complex, "Alright listen up cus I'm not gonna repeat myself; a local gang owns this whole complex. They make some preem hallucinogens and they've stopped paying the Syndicates their rightful cut."

Tacitus pushed his way into the open courtyard at the centre of the apartment rise. He kept his eyes moving, keeping watch for anyone watching them. So far everyone looked like a civilian but, well, what did that even matter?

"We find the stash and burn it all." he declared bluntly, "We access their network and steal all their credits. Sound good?"

@Rhogar @The Captain @Kestrel (why not!)

 

[Taldorak Trenessar]

Tal would laugh at Tac's response "Yeah, I figured as much. Can't have them stopping the spice head at the door, how else we gonna enjoy the pretty lights?" his visor would drift to Vri, the grin audible "Kriff, looks like Hawk made it. Try not to get shot again, yeah? It's bad for the spice."

He'd quiet as Tac laid out the plan, seemed decent enough. They were there to collect but to him, collect could mean blood as well as creds, right? Yeah, why not. The visor would shift to each civvie as he drew his peacemaker "Suit, I think we should take out the witnesses." He'd mutter. "Any one of these junkers could be lookouts for these scumbags."

@Kestrel @Nefieslab @The Captain

 

[Vri Nama]

"Hey, don't either of you start, I'm still mourning my Novajack." That was good spice, not the stuff the Son-Tuul cut with cleaning products and baby powder, it was genuine Kessel-cut powder. Maybe she'd get a chance to pinch something from this gang's stock before the fight was over. Hopefully Suit wasn't one of those super-retentive, Syndicate-before-everything types and wouldn't mind Vri grabbing something to go.

At least the plan itself was simple enough, basically the same as last time really: kick down the door, kill anything that moved, and make off with all the valuables. In fact, this was going to be even better since the valuables were credits and drugs instead of whiny, sweaty wannabe crime bosses. You couldn't rip a line of poser with your friends at a dance club, at least not without a vibro-cleaver and a food processor, and that was a messy process.

"Ah, let 'em look. If they didn't spot us coming up the walk then they really got this coming." Vri rolled her shoulders, raised a defiant, profane gesture to the people watching from their balconies, and switched on her voice scrambler. She didn't care about being identified, she just thought the voice mod was cool as kriff.

@Nefieslab @Rhogar @Kestrel (Once more for the road)

 

[Tacitus Agrippa]

Tacitus didn't have any issues with either of them having some spice for their troubles but he would very much prefer it be an 'after-job treat' rather than a mid-job snort. Sometimes spice worked well on a job and other times it made everyone dealing with it act like R2 units with half their central units blown off or something.

"Speaking of spice; you can take whatever you can carry." he told them both with a shrug, "What we can't take we burn so no karker else gets it either."

After all - why should they have nice things?

At the mention of the onlookers, Tacitus looked around at the people watching them from their balconies and from the communal areas. He had literally no objection to killing them all save for practical objections... such as not turning the entire place against them.

"Even if only one in five have blasters; if we start murdering them all, we're suddenly up against thousands of gunmen rather than just the gang." he argued as he headed for the lifts, "Anyone pulls a weapon on you? Light them up. Otherwise?"

He smiled as the lift arrived and he scared a couple of old ladies out of it before stepping inside and pressing the button for the top floor.

"Leave them to their gawking. We got kark to be getting on with."

@Rhogar @The Captain

 

[Taldorak Trenessar]

Taldorak nodded as he mulled it over, blowing a kiss to one of the old ladies as they got shooed off. "Talk to anyone, Betty, and I'll butcher your whole family, yeah?" he mused as he rolled his shoulders. Gods above did he love what he did. "So, once we get up there though, no reservations? Everyone is expendable?"

He didn't seem to have any express immediate comments on the free snatch and grab bit, he just figured that was standard syndicate reward. As the lift began to go up, he'd whistle his own tune, coincidentally it was the same song that played at the bar before they went in.

@The Captain @Nefieslab

 

[Vri Nama]

So this was functionally an all you can steal spice buffet? Suddenly Suit was looking a lot less like some stuck-up junior crimelords. Well, he still physically looked like one, but giving them free reign to cart out as much extra spice as they could carry certainly improved Vri's opinion of him.

"Boss, you help me cart out a good score and I'll let you do a line off me at the afterparty." Vri just couldn't let the opportunity to slip a little reference to their first meeting in, although whether or not that was a genuine offer would depend on how this all went. Watching him scare a couple of helpless old ladies out of their lift only polished the human's image, since watching the two geriatrics tripping over themselves to escape was hilarious.

"Shoot anyone we don't like, gotcha."

@Nefieslab @Rhogar

 

[Tacitus Agrippa]

Tacitus chuckled a little bit at the fact that neither of his allies seemed disturbed by the request to make sure they killed off as many people as they could when they reached the spice den. In fact they were eager… which was exactly what he wanted in the people he was storming the castle with actually since it made it so much better. He grinned a little bit.

“We’ll see how the spice flows – it always hits different depending where you take it from.”

He was firmly of the opinion that spice you paid for in blood hit so much better than spice paid for with credits or another form of currency. Checking his blaster pistol was alright, Tacitus kept an eye on the floor numbers and hit the emergency stop the floor below the top level. The doors opened on the second highest level and he could already hear shouting from the floor above them.
Moving out into the corridor, he noted the main staircase down from the floor above and nodded to his companions.

“Take cover with a shot on the staircase.” He told them with a smirk, “When they come down they’ll be like fish in a barrel…”

Moving behind a corner, he readied his pistol, leaning out from around the corner slightly to keep an eye out for when they started moving down. If anyone came down the stairs? They were getting roasted. Might be that they were innocents and not part of the gang but, well, Tacitus didn’t much care if they were or not.

@Rhogar @The Captain

 

[Taldorak Trenessar]

Taldorak would position himself to the front, being the voluntary shield. Peacemaker drawn, his visor would stay focused on the stairs. He could hear the patter on the steps, three, maybe four.

With a final bound, the group would turn the corner right into view of the landing. Taldorak saw ink on one and that was all he needed. He started to blast holes in the inked human male, then the woman beside him, before he realized it was three adults and a kid. There was a scream of surprise from the other male as he grabbed the kid defensively. "Either get in the fight or leave!" Tal would shout as he began to advance.

@Nefieslab @The Captain

 

[Vri Nama]

She'd take the suit up on that idea, provided this mission went smoothly. Their last op had a few hiccups, besides the tragic loss of her spice of course, and it was hard to enjoy a victory party when you were bruised and burnt. So in order to make sure that didn't happen to them this time, Vri decided to keep her wits about her and stay more on script, taking a position opposite from Suit on the door as the Mando stepped forward.

The first people down the stairs turned out to be a family and a youngster, one of which got shot dead before the rest were let go. The next people down the stairwell, on the other hand, were more dangerous but not much brighter, a trio of strung-out looking gangsters with pistols, all screaming and firing inaccurately and getting cut down by Vri.

"Runts, looks like these guys want us to come to them." She knew enough about street gang culture to know you didn't send the kark-kickers into a fight you thought you could win. They were a sacrificial bantha, sent to see who was coming up the stairs and what kind of firepower they had.

Kriff.

@Nefieslab @Rhogar

 

[Tacitus Agrippa]

Tacitus might not have any problems with killing men, women or kids in a moral sense but he wasn’t about to waste ammo shooting them when they were doing their best to run the hell away from him and his team. They weren’t enemies and they weren’t obstacles so he didn’t have any issues with them being let go. That one of them was still gunned down before their affiliation, or lack thereof, could be confirmed?

Well… sometimes it do, indeed, be like that as the kids said.

Hawk had a point though; they were throwing down punk kids with blasters and balls and nothing going on in their heads. Didn’t stop him joining in on the action of blasting them apart though. Instead he growled in mild annoyance before turning to his allies.

“Hawk – with me. We’re going to scale the building from the outside.”

Thank kark for fire escapes.

“Mando – I need you to start slowly pushing up the stairs. Make it look like we’re going to do this the hard way so they keep their eyes on the stairs before we knife them in the kidneys from behind.”

He paused for a moment, looking at the team members with him before adding.

“Name’s Tacitus by the way. You got names?”

Calling them by their characteristics was getting a little old.

@Rhogar @The Captain

 

[Taldorak Trenessar]

Tal would look to Tac "Taldorak, those that kill with me can call me Tal though." his helm would hide the ever growing grin on his face "Like actual slow? Or can I still steamroll the cannon fodder they're throwing at us?" He would laugh like a madman as he gave his kit a once over. He didn't need to hear the answer. "Eh, I'll just have fun with it, yeah?"

Was it a march or powerwalk? Who knew, but off Tal went, peacemaker blowing a hole through the first person he saw as he began to climb the stairs. "Yooohoooo, scumbaaagggss! Come out and plaayy-aaayyyy!" there came that laugh again. He could hear the cannon fodder start to lose their cool as he crested the landing. Shaky hands would squeeze the triggers, the resulting bolts going wild. Tal would look around him "What are you guys even aiming at?" Grabbing the first one, he pushed him through the window and down down down, he fell. The second one was dropped by three bolts to the gut before that corpse was also discarded through the window.

The next floor would have much more resistance. Over a dozen thugs with holdout blasters and about four with lead pipes. Lead pipes? What were they thinking this was, a shitty holoflick? As the four charged, he'd pull his dagger free, sliding it across the gut of one of the thugs. As the man dropped, so did Tal, using the corpse for enough cover to just pull out the now sliding free intestines of the screaming human. "Oops.. I thought I could put it back in.." The second pipe would swing way wide, probably losing his spice induced courage as he got the shakes. The dagger would find itself planted in the jugular before it was used to pry off the head. Then came the sudden whack.

Tal would hit the wall, a nice welt forming on his side from the pipe swing that landed. "Oh-ho.. now you got some fight in ya.." the next swing of the pipe clashed against the wall where his head was just seconds before his duck. The dagger plunged upward, sinking into his chest. The man yelped and writhed, his struggle ending as the Mandalorian tossed him through the window. Another one. Man it was wild how convenient these windows were.

With most of their friendlies out of the way, those with the holdout blasters would begin to fire, rude. Taldorak, slipped behind the forth pipe wielder, as bolts pelted the mans body. "Sorry mate, one of us has to make it out of here and I got a date with spice and a slick Rodian body." The dagger was sheathed and the free hand would hold up the meat shield as Tal advanced down the hallway, Peacemaker firing with precision. "Four more floors... hopefully they're enjoying the breeze." he mused.

@The Captain @Nefieslab

 

[Vri Nama]

Looks like it was time for a change in strategy, the unfun kind as it turned out. Vri was all for sucker punches and blindsiding people, but kicking down the front door and lighting everyone in the room up was always the more entertaining option. Ah well, she wasn't here to make the tactical choices, she was here to help kick street punks to death, and as long as she got that chance she was happy.

"Name's Vri." She grinned under her helmet before adding: "So sorry your folks hated you that much, Tac."

Tacitus was a mouthful, and someone born in her old neighborhood with a name like that would have lost a mouthful of teeth by age ten. A prestigious, multi-syllable name like that was undeniably a sign Tac came from a very different world than hers, and even if he was the boss she wasn't above poking fun at him for that.

While Tal broke off to head up the main staircase, Vri took point on finding the fire escape up to the next floor, since she had spotted the escape while flying past on her swoop bike and a place like this was unlikely to have good signs up. The fire escape was at the far end of the hall behind a window that was either painted black or so filthy that it turned black from grime. They would never find out, since Vri kicked out the cheap window and climbed through rather than fiddle with opening it.

"Hmm?" The sound of screaming and blaster fire drifted down the hall. "Sounds like Tal is having fun, time to haul-shrok, Tac."

@Nefieslab @Rhogar

 

[Tacitus Agrippa]

Tal, Vri and Tac walk into an apartment block – there was a bad joke in there somewhere but Tacitus wasn’t feeling in the mood to tell it. Instead he nodded to Tal and thought about it for a moment before shrugging and gesturing vaguely to the stairs.

“Go as fast as you want just so long as you keep their attention firmly on you.” He explained with a chuckle, “Make a LOT of noise.”

He moved over to the exterior wall, the one with the fire escape along it’s side. Watching and letting Vri make their exit, he followed her out quickly. The cold of the exterior was… bracing but nothing he hadn’t expected.

Though he made a mental note to start upgrading his suit if he was going to be doing things like this more regularly.

“My father had delusions of grandeur.” He admitted to Vri as he started taking the steps two at a time, “Got me into a lot of fights – start winning them so I guess he might have had a point when he named the kid in the backstreets of Corellia something so ‘grand’.”

Reminded him about that old joke about the gunslinger who had named his son Sue so he could toughen up… or because he thought it was funny? Tacitus honestly didn’t remember much about the joke. Reaching the right level, he waited to one side of the window so that Vri could take the other side.

“After you Vri – let’s not let Tal have all the fun.”

@Rhogar @The Captain

 

[Taldorak Trenessar]

Tal had lost count of how many bodies he dropped but he just wanted more. Three more charges of his whistling birds exhausted and his flamethrower needing some time to cool down, he was down to daggers and his trusty peacemaker. Tac had given him the go ahead to make as much noise as possible and Tal didn't need so much encouragement to do so. All this killing was really making him hungry. And tired. Hell, he could even use a beer or two, or spice.

It seemed the grunts were just getting dumber and dumber or maybe they were just hoping he was running out of weapons, which to say he wasn't getting low would be a very fat lie. Cresting the final landing, all he saw was hallway, a window with two familiar and dashing companions, and a door to his left. Body of a dead compatriot in hand, he dragged the poor sap all the way to the door and knocked with the head, just over the peep hole. "Ohhh Rufus! Housekeeping!!" he would yell out with a characterized voice, some laughter as he heard muffled cries of alarm and surprise. Using a dagger to pin the body to the door, he stepped back down the hallway a bit.

Sending a nod to Vri and Tac, he gave his jetpack a little spurt and did a side flip in the air, catching the metal ceiling with his mag boots. Now upside down, and out of the way of any friendly fire, he would then remote activate the detonator in the corpse, blowing the door inward and killing whoever was behind it. His pair of westars drawn, all that remained was to let the poor fools run out and kill themselves.

@Nefieslab @The Captain

 

[Vri Nama]

Vri somewhat tuned out as Tac explained the origins of his name, as she barely cared about where she came from, let alone her most recent boss in the Syndicates. She did snicker a bit when she heard him mention 'backstreets' as it was hard to envision this coiffed and cuffed gentleman getting into back alley fist fights. Of course, she'd also seen him lead vicious and highly effective assaults on the enemies of the Syndicates with only a handful of semi-sober thugs to help him, so maybe she wasn't giving him enough credit. He certainly was a dangerous one.

"Alright, get ready." She stacked up on the other side of the window, just as opaque and filthy as the last, and began to push it open. When the window only responded by straining and rattling, however, Vri quickly got impatient and smashed out the glass with the barrel of her carbine before ducking down to look inside. The room itself was empty but the gang had apparently knocked holes in the walls to make it easier for them to get around.

"I think Tal's got their attention, I don't see anyone." She eased herself somewhat awkwardly into the room, keeping her guns up and her wits about her in case someone was nearby and heard them come in. There was a key difference between a quiet room that looked empty, and a quiet, empty room.

@Nefieslab @Rhogar

 

[Tacitus Agrippa]

Well Tac was happy that they were ready to actually spring into action - there was only so much small talk he could make while scaling the side of a building after all and he'd never been a talkative person by nature. More of the 'shout orders and run in' kind of person by default. Rolling his neck, he popped a few kinks out of it as he took a deep breath to smooth out some of the adrenaline that was already starting to flow.

"Let's get going."

Waiting for her to break herself in, Tac followed behind her and immediately straightened up with his pistol at the ready. Not seeing anyone, he drew a vibroknife with his off hand.

"Then let's follow the sounds of explosions and carnage until we find our missing Mando."

Following the explosions was actually rather easy but they didn't need to go through the main corridor like Tal did. Instead, Tac led the way through the holes in the walls they'd helpfully knocked through for them. While a room full of enemies were emptying their rifles into the smoke and dust of the door that had just exploded? Tac and Vri came in from the left, with Tac already firing.

Firing twice, he blew apart a man's leg at the shoulder and another ate a blaster bolt to the jaw that sent him spinning away to the ground. Moving into the room, Tac knelt down on the throat of the man he had downed, choking him with his leg before stabbing down with his knife to impale him in the chest.

"Kill them all!"

@The Captain @Rhogar

 

[Taldorak Trenessar]

Tal would wait for the reload and the shout before he walked to the doorway, westars aimed at an angle, he'd begin to fire through the smoke, bolts ripping the first and second gunman to shreds. Deactivating his mag boots, he'd do a cute little flip to land on his feet, grunting as the bolt pinged his helm, the only real piece of beskar he owned. Advancing through the smoke, his westar would move from side to side, either blowing holes through an enemy or forcing them into cover. He didn't care, either way it was just a grand old game.

"Someone call for the artillery?!" he yelled out with a whoop over the blasterfire. Only when he wielded dual blasters did Tal, get real fancy with his blaster play, spinning the blaster between every other shot. It would slow down the rate of fire a bit, hell even the aim, but boy did he think he looked something sexy with it.

@The Captain @Nefieslab