Run [Misfits Prologue pt I]

[Cale]

The sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows across the plains of Ession. It was a peaceful night, the stars starting to shine in the clear skies, the city becoming alive with lights. On the outskirts of the capitol, far from the homes of its citizens, stood a repulsorlift factory, quietly performing its assigned duties automatically. In the road in front of it, about 100 meter distant, two figures walked purposefully away. One was a short human woman clad in powered armor, the other a Selonian who was armed to the teeth, and both seemed relaxed and unhurried as they strode down the street.

Unnoticed by the woman, and mostly ignored by the Selonian was a third figure, a small blue furred ewok dressed in the uniform of a Republic Admiral that somehow kept pace with the two. Whether the admiral was real or not is a matter for debate. We'll let you decide.

A few moments later, the peace of the evening was broken by an eruption of fire, a shockwave, and shards of melting metal spraying across the idyllic surrounds as the factory exploded. None of our heroes seemed surprised by this.

---

Earlier

Amaya sat in the tapcaf, opposite a nervous and pained looking bureaucrat. She was bored and restless, and the fidgeting from her potential employer was starting to drive her up the wall.

"Let's get this straight. You want me to infiltrate this facility belonging to your competition, and sabotage it. And you want me to do it for thirty thousand credits. With a bonus if it happens to be in a manner that can't be traced back to actual sabotage, correct?"

The bureaucrat nodded frantically, and whimpered quietly.

"And you can't tell me if there's anyone else that's been hired because that's above your pay grade. Right."

She sighed quietly, and reached over to grab the handle of the knife that she'd stabbed through his hand.

"Fine. You've got a deal. Half up front though. And I mean right fragging now."

 

[Rom]

Were anyone to enter the parking complex near the edge of the Ession factory district they would see a most curious pair perched on the top floor; a tall armed to the teeth Selonian with a pair of macrobinoculars and an unsettlingly wide grin obscuring his face and a red and gold dome topped astromech droid. Manic cackling and muttering echoed across the empty garage with low scolding beeps filling the silence.

"Brrzt do bweep rzaaa woooo."

"Aye, we could've had a wee bit of an easier time of things if we hadn't demanded half up front, but the boy was reasonable once he realized the situation."

"Bweep wwaaaaaaaaooooh."

"Hehehehe come on McCoy, I had me fingers pinched at the bottom of the fuse the whole time. When was the last time I blew us up?"

"Dooo brzt."

"Yeah, Primeday. And what's taday?"

"Bweep."

"Primeday? Oh...Oh yeah, this morn' in the cargo hold! Come on lad, that was barely even a good handful of Thermite! ....aaand a Waker-Upper or three. Barely enough to rend a bulkhead. We'd have been fine."

McCoy the Astromech released a long exasperated whistle and blew an electronic rasberry at the cackling organic before trundling down the ramp towards the lower floors, it's head swiveling around and releasing another series of beeps and squeals.

"Yes mother, I'll keep me snout clean and attached. The Marshall should be here soon so all'll be right as rain. Keep the ship primed up and load up one of Concussion missiles with the home brew so you can give them a ringing if'n I give you a ring." The droid continued on it's way out of the complex with a low series of beeps, leaving the maniacal giggling and humming Selonian behind.

Finn turned his attention back to his macrobinoculars and datapad, the screens displaying atmospheric and physical data that the sable furred warrior barely glanced at before turning towards the sound of clicking heels on metal growing closer. "Ah, Field Marshall! Good ta see you lad! Are those new?"

An electric blue furred Ewok stood at attention alongside the Selonian, wearing a crisp red and gold Old Republic era Admiral's uniform covered with so many medals and ribbons that the entire doublet and right pants leg were hidden from view, a rounded metal half-helm with a large spike jutting out of the center perched on his head, and a pair of lime green seven inch heels strapped with rubber bands to his feet. Field Marshall Mouskewitz snapped off a rigid salute and glanced down with a bashful expression at the heels.

"Yes sir, a gift from Agent Ramirez... he said that my outfit needed a little bit more color." The ewok spoke perfect basic with a charming drawl that would be right at home on the frontier worlds of the Outer Rim.

"Aye mate, they suit you nicely. Hrm! I wonder if I coul... no, no. Absolutely ridiculous. They'd never go with my coat."

"Maybe it's for the best, sir. Remember the last time you tried to follow Ramirez's fashion advice?"

"Serrah Hamilton wouldn't speak ta me for a week. Your right, best not to cause any stir in the ranks. Now Field Marshall, I believe you have a report?"

"Yes Captain Dondaerrion sir; the target factory is about half a kilometer across the plains to the east. Winds are blowing to the south which should prevent any fire from spreading into the rest of the district. Forecast calls for some light showers later this evening so that should help as well."

"Well, suppose tha's that then. Dispatch Ramirez to keep an eye on the comms chatter and you get ready ta follow me in; sabotage is all good and fun but getting ta blow things up AND make it look like an accident? Tha's a whole other game entirely."

The Selonian unconsciously snapped off his datapad and macrobinoculars and adjusted his commlink into scanning mode, deep belly chuckles and jolly tuneless whistles filling the silence left over from the one sided conversation any passerby may have witnessed as Finn Dondaerrion checked his gear and prepared to start the fun.

"Hi ho, hi ho! It's off to war we go...."

 

[Cale]

Impulsivity, a distaste for lawful behaviour and a reckless disregard for ones own safety do not make for healthy choices. Thus, for a measly 30,000 credits, Amaya was planning on infiltrating, sabotaging and preferably escaping the repulsorlift factory. Almost certainly as it burned. For that reason, as a certain Selonian planned his own assault on the installation, the heir to the Kevara fortune was checking that her armour was properly sealed and online. Once the diagnostic gave an 'all clear', she smiled almost gleefully beneath her helmet. It was time to begin. And by the Force, this was going to be fun as hell.

There was a hissing click as she deployed the climbing claws. They were relatively long, and wicked looking things. The kind of tool that could be utilised as a weapon if need be, especially given the serration on some of them. With a whoop of sheer joy, she sprinted forward, gaining speed with every stride. The mechanical amplifiers helped accelerate her to almost dangerous speeds, giving her the run-up needed to launch herself into the air, higher than any normal human. She collided with the wall, slashing forward to dig the claws into the ferrocrete. It was almost like a lightsaber passing through butter as the claws dug into the material, and dragged downwards as she fell. There were grooves. But after a short distance, the claws did their work, anchoring her in place.

Stabbing her toes into the wall came her a few precious foot-holds, and a place to balance as she slowly pulled herself up, arm over arm, towards the roof. It was slow going, but she didn't seem to tired, or need a break until she reached the roof, where she stopped for a moment and breathed heavily. The stale taste of recycled air took a little getting used to, as Amaya had barely worn her armor since she'd left Tattooine in the company of a complete band of lunatics and misfits. She kinda missed those days.

Maybe she'd find new excitement soon. She certainly hoped so. It was dreadfully boring at the moment, and the space princess could not handle boredom. Especially in a constructive manner. But here she was, on the roof of the building. According to the schematics, this was the least defended position in the complex. The roof was meant to be practically inaccessible from the outside, accessable only by air, and if an aircraft was aiming to target the building, it would soon face all sorts of traffic biolations, and angry trainee pilots. That hadn't stopped a dedicated climber with more money than sense taking the helm.

She kicked the door in with a thunderous bang and made her way into the complex, ignoring the quiet whooping noise. Hopefully, no alarms had been set off. Judging the flimsy nature of the door, she didn't feel like the a stranger in a stranger land, seeing to do harm. And now it was time to blow this place sky high.

She crept down the corridor, alert for any sign of trouble.

 

[Rom]

The trick to any successful covert infiltration is to look like you belong and to not draw any attention to yourself. Only by blending in could a person maintain their cover and get in or out with an infinitesimal chance of success.

"So, you're just going to walk through the front door?"

"Naturally."

"What about the security droids, sir?"

"You leave that ta ol' Finn, mate. Ah've got a plan."

"Does it involve the thermal detonator you've been tossing back and forth like a hackey sack?"

"It doesn' not involve the thermal detonator..."

"Just don't get the rest of us killed, sir."

"Why does everyone keep assuming Ah'm going ta get us all killed? Ah'm not tha' bad."

"Esseles, sir."

The uniformed ewok adjusted the straps of the butterfly wings on his back and resumed flying around the Selonian's head, pinching it's snout with a sigh of exasperation as Finn collapsed into a fit of giggles at the base of the stairs leading up into the factory.

"Sir, you're going to get us caught. Again."

"Ahaha-quiet you-hehehahahooo. Okay, Ah'm done.... bahahahahaaaaa. For real this time, Ah'm cool."

A booted foot filled Finn's vision from his place on the ground, leading up to a bored looking Rodian with a hard hat and a tag reading "Foreman" pinned to his coveralls.

"What are you doing here? This is private property."

The Selonian carefully pushed himself onto his feet, brushed the dirt off of his coat and revealing a bandolier of explosives and knives crisscrossing his scarred armor, and reached out a paw with a warm smile to shake the bug eyed aliens' hand.

"Finn Dondaerrion at yer service, mate. Ah'm here to blow up this facility and make it look like an accident."

"You're.. I.. what?"

"It's quite simple, Ah'm here to blow up this 'ere factory."

"But.. but you can't! I can't let you do that!"

The dark furred Grenadier grinned widely and slung an arm around the Rodian's shoulder and started to pace in a zig zagging triangle in front of the door.

"Sam - may I call ye Sam?"

"But that's not my na..."

"Ye see Sam, time's are a wee bit difficult these days. An hones' explosives specialis' can barely find a steady job. Mostly on account of it blowin' up, but Ah'm sure ye can sympathize with mah plight. Now, Ah am really cravin' a nice big explosion, so Ah'm gonna need ye to let this happen, laddie."

"Mr Dondaerrion si..."

"Call me Finn, laddie."

"Okay then Finn.... I kind of need this job. Very badly. I've been saving up for a new fuel converter to replace the busted one so I can get off this rock and this is the only place in town that would hire me."

"How much do ye make at this place, Sammie boy?"

"1,100 credits a month.."

"And how much is that part ye be needin'?"

".... 12,000 credits."

"Alright Sammie mah boy, Ah'll make ye a deal. Ah'll give you 15,000 credits, righ' now, in exchange for yer security pass and your silence on this matter. If anyone asks you were doing an exterior patrol when the place goes boom."

The Marshall flew up with a squeak of anger from his perch on the stair rail, waving his cane to punctuate his argument. "Sir, that is the entire advance on this job! We need that money to fuel up the Cannonade and go find the..."

Finn turned with a furious growl, ignoring the sudden whimper of terror from the Rodian still held in the madman's vice grip, and put a clawed finger under Mouskewitz's nose. "Ah know that! But the rest of the money will cover the fuel! It's either tha' or kill Sammie here and use his body as kindlin'! Helpless Victim Explosions Day isn't until Primeday, and ye know Ah hate the smell of cooked Rodian!"

Whipping his head back with a manic grin, as if he had not just expressed the only reason he had for not killing the Rodian was the smell his flesh would make as it burned, and pulled him into a tight one armed hug. "So what do ye say, Sammie?"

---

Ten minutes later and fifteen thousand credits poorer, Finn Dondaerrion walked passed a pile of hacked apart security droids and out of the security checkpoint into the upper floors of the factory.

"I still don't understand why we gave him those credits, sir. Today is Primeday. And we needed them for the ship."

"Field Marshall, yer forgetting yerself. These jobs 'ave never been about the money, or a message, or a creed. It's not part of our mission. We do this 'cause it's a load of bloody fun!"

The Selonian whistled a short tune as he moved across the factory, a long cord falling from a wounded spool clutched in his hands, and turned a corner into Corridor B only to walk chest first into a small metal-clad person. Dropping his spool and wheeling his arms to try and recover his balance, Finn fell backwards onto his tail and started cackling.

"Stars and stones, tha' old gypsy woman was right! Ah found an Iron Maiden on the B-side!"

 

[Cale]

She had been cautious. She had been careful. She had placed an inordinately large amount of explosives on the various walls of the factory, which made a lie out of those first statements. At this point in time, it was mostly just security droids, which she'd managed to avoid, and the odd worker still performing the occasional task. She'd probably let them know to leave. Probably. The detonations would start at the centre, after all, and work their way outwards. So if they ran, they'd probably make it out. She didn't really think about it too much. Business was business, and whilst she felt a little bad for ruining lives, she had to eat, and that meant credits.

She was so absorbed in her daydreams of explosions that she didn't notice the ridiculously tall space otter until they collided. Instantly she was on guard, stepping back from the impact, her weight on her back foot. Her arms came up ready to defend or strike as necessary. Then the lunatic opened his mouth, spewing nonsense about some sort of woman. A Jip See? Whatever the hell they were. And an Iron Maiden. The scene was so ridiculous that she couldn't help but laugh, especially when she noticed the det-cord spool that he'd dropped.

Apparently she wasn't the only professional explodinator to be given this job, though the question remained as to whether it was the same employer.

"You did find me. Or I found you. Maybe I was looking for you." She smiled behind her helmet, looking down at the cackling selonian. "Are we blowing this place or what? Because these corridors would look so much better if they were on fire, and I'm getting really bored just walking around."

 

[Rom]

"Ye know ah said the same thing to an interior decorator once, and they just kept yelling about calling the authorities and asking where their family was. No' the friendliest folk, but that's what the 'Verse is comin' to these days. Unfriendly decorators and fire."

Finn nodded at the detpacks and det cord scattered around them, his tail smacking rhythmically against the ground as he considered the situation. It was only when he turned to face back the way he'd came that the Class A thermal detonator being tossed into the air behind his back by the motion of his tail was revealed. The Selonian nodded once, turned to face Mouskewitz who was perched on the armored woman's shoulder and released the full manic laughter that had been bubbling up in his chest.

"Field Marshall... shall we entertain the lass?"

The Ewok nodded and removed the metal sabre from the scabbard at his side and flourished it towards the walkway running over the factory main floor that branched off into the interior corridor they stood in. "Fire when ready, Sir!"

Finn caught the baradium explosive, flourished it for the Iron Maiden's approval, and then with one smooth movement depressed the trigger, dropped the thermal detonator in between them, and with a swift turn batted the grenade down the corridor with his rudder like tail and watched it fly out of sight to the factory floor below.

"We should probably start running now."

---

"So maybe blowin' up the path ta the front door was a bad idea; how was ah supposed ta know that the iron lady 'ere had come in through the bloody kriffing roof?"

Mouskewitz didn't even bother responding, his sigh of exasperation lost behind the cup of tea he was angrily drinking as a blaster bolt whipped through the air and burned into the desk Finn was using as cover. The Selonian's complaints were spoken with excitement, eyes alight with manic glee as he parried the thrust from a shock stick and blasted the head off of one of the dozen remaining security droids that had converged on their location halfway to the exit. Despite having never met her before, the pair fought well together; Finn's training and long experience as a member of Archer Team left him automatically moving to cover the young woman's blind spot and taking advantage of the wide corridor to throw himself fully into the fight, his blastsword carving and blasting through the enemy with his right hand and using his heavy pistol in the other to take pot shots at the security drones hovering out of range.

Severed limbs and slagged droid chassis were strewn across the corridor, manic laughter echoed over the din of battle, and the synched detpak at their feet showed 6 minutes and counting before detonation.

"If ye 'ave any bright ideas lass, Ah'd love to hear 'em."

 

[Cale]

Amaya slammed her fist into one of the security droids, discharging enough electricity from her gauntlets to shut the thing down. She was having a tremendous amount of fun, the adrenaline rushing through her and pushing her to her limits. She stepped forward with her right foot, pivoting as her left leg came up. She swung around, slamming her foot into an incoming droid in a textbook perfect roundhouse, knocking it back into a pair of others. Then a bright dart of energy crashed into her chest and she stumbled backwards. Warnings popped up on her HUD, detailing the extent of the damage caused by the blaster bolt. Her armor was holding, but it certainly didn't appreciate the punishment it was receiving.

She murmured a quick thank you to daddy for making this for her, and then glanced around. There was a doorway leading into one of the engine rooms just nearby, and a gantry up above that that could lead them up to the second level. And if she remembered correctly...

"Babes, there is a balcony on the outside of the upper level. It's high, but survivable. We could always jump. Assuming we get there." Because marching down the corridor was another set of security droids, levelling weapons in their direction. Fighting was going to slow them down, that was damned certain.

"Kriff it, I never wanted to live forever. How about you?"

 

[Rom]

Finn rolled out from his cover with his heavy pistol up and fired down the corridor, overcharged shots from the modified DL-44 burning through the power cell in just four shots. The first shot through and throughed one of the flying security drones, the second took off the head of the lead Security Droid, the third melted through the chest of another, and the fourth exploded against the door control on the opposite wall, closing the bulkhead with a muted clang.

"Ah never wanted to live forever, but dyin' to these bastards isn't how ah plan on meeting the rest of Archer Team in the afterlife. Make fer the balcony, I'll cover yer back."

The ewok at his feet coughed loudly and gestured at the Blastsword clenched in the Selonian's hand with an expectant look.

"Argh... fine, ye win Mouskewitz. Here lass, use this; it's a fair bit faster than trying ta bunch yer way through." Finn gently tossed the customized weapon to the young woman, the insanity burning behind his eyes fading as he stared into the visor of her helmet. "Take good care of 'er, ye hear? Ah'll be wantin' her back once we're outside."

Finn flipped backwards over the desk, rolling to his feet and burying another bolt from his pistol into the approaching droids.

"Move like ye got a purpose, lass!"