Soldier of Fortune: Prison Break

[Darth Victress]

.

BANDOMEER
​

The platoon of six Sith troopers had been positioned well, over looking what appeared to be a ravine with centralized clearing. The time of day was dusk slowly transitioning to nightfall as a large train sped towards their position from the distance. The troopers were given elaborate mission briefing as well as specific instructions to follow the command of two Imperial Agents.

Their Holocommunicator would ping momentarily, as a distorted image of the Dark Councilor came into view. Her armored form was visible as the characteristic robotic voice that echoed from within the duraplast helm that shielded her face. "Greetings Agents. Your assignment is simple. There is a prison convey approaching your location. It contains three high value targets, the faces of such men have already been uploaded into your datapads. These targets must be extracted alive under any circumstance. Resistance will be moderate to heavy, eliminate opposition with deadly force if you must. Once you have obtained the prisoners, meet at rendezvous coordinates for transport."

And with that, the transmission cut. The troopers would look towards the agents, waiting for their next orders in the field of battle. @Shax @Pyrenees

 

[Robert Abbotangelo]

Bobs usual internal monologue droned on inside his head. Beer this, wine that, ale for everything else, bollocks to the Empire, hooray for the Empire and make sure to plaster on that big smile. Today was not a typical day for Bob. No, he and his good buddy Beldan were to pull of a heist of some sort. A really ridiculous heist. The kind you expect to only see in holovids or read about in books and stuff. Board the train, extract the precious cargo, and book it before you get caught. Sounds simple.

Wrong, some numskull though it would be a great idea to conduct this operation while the train was moving. As exilerating as this was going to be, and a hell of a story for Bob to tell his many illegitimate grandkids, he still couldn't help but think this might have been done easier while the train was stopped. But what did he know, he was just the old guy with tons of experience in dangerous missions and guerrilla warfare. But screw him right?

"Alright boys, you should all know your jobs. Cover us as we move through the train, two men will stay with the targets at all times. We MUST get these folks off alive. If there are any questions direct them to my good friend Beldan as I watch for the train." Bob finished with a boisterous laugh as he clapped Beldan on the shoulder happily.

Bob was actually prepared for this mission for a change. He was slimming down thanks to all the activity he had been partaking in, so squeezing into his armor wasn't as strenuous as it usually was. His repeater was firmly strapped to the back of his armor, and his knife was placed on his left bicep. He felt forty years younger! He had a feeling that he would feel even more spry when they sprang their little trap, because despite literally any other alternative, the group of operatives were given prepared zip-lines with which to conduct their little raid. Along with a shuttle for extraction of course. Because taking the shuttle both too and from the train would just be too easy.

@Pyrenees

 

[Beldan Bray]

Beldan liked many things, strategy, piloting, dejarik, cooking, Bobert and Bobert's brew - assaulting a target which moved at a high speed, however, was not quite what he usually did to kill time. But, the Gran did, after all, enjoy new experiences and he had Bobert here to keep him company.

The transmission mostly repeated what they had already been briefed on, but he did what was prudent, which happened to be listening attentively until the transmission was over. With his hand clasped behind his back, he continued listening to his friend who carried on by giving the troops more specific instructions which was quite appreciated by the three-eyed alien. The clap took Beldan by surprise, but he managed to keep his balance after releasing his hands from the clasp behind his back. The silence was notable after Bobert had spoken, with the six troopers and Beldan simply looking at each other for a while. Beldan even made a miserable attempt at forming a welcoming smile after a minute or two. Instead of triggering a questions and answers period, the troopers seemed rather concerned about whether the Gran was in pain or not, to witch they received a short and simple "No. My physical health is good" and a retracted smile.

After another couple of minutes of silence, Beldan checked his watch and concluded "The briefing is over. Prepare for work." and with that, he turned to Bobert who seemed to be watching for the train. "Bobert, do you think the rail has anything which can detect large debris? A warning system? A commsystem should work too." he said while gazing out into the distance towards the direction from which the train was expected to come. Having faith in the elder's ability to understand him, Beldan continued"I would prefer if we could avoid splashing against the walls of the train. I am more comfortable boarding stationary trains." he continued with his usual monotone voice and expressionless face.

The train was bound to arrive relatively soon and the Gran felt like a decision needed to be made without delay.

@Shax

 

[Robert Abbotangelo]

"Hah! You and me both my boy. But we've just got to have faith that these wires are setup correctly. They might have some kind of early warning system, or they might not. Doesn't matter now, we can't change our plans from here." Bob said, giving the Gran a reassuring smile before placing his helmet onto his head.

The train was coming in fast, and the countdown timer that was doing all the timing for them was ticking dangerously close to the appointed time to jump into the fray. Literally. Bob clipped himself onto the zip line, which was using a smart system that would unclip him once he was at a point that would allow him to safely land on the train. Following Bobs lead, the rest of the troopers clipped in as well.

The tension mounted fast as the timer ticked down. That uncomfortable pressure in your chest asking you for that unexplainable reason you were about to do what you were about to do. Bob would have started bouncing on his feet or rocking back and forth on his heels if he wasn't so old and wasn't so aware that he could injure himself like that.

Ten seconds before the time to jump, Bob said "Alright boys, good luck to each and everyone of ya's. I want to see us all come out of this alive, you hear me?" The troopers nodded, their posture relaxing slightly as that brightened their mood. Once again, Bob spoke, as the timer reached its last seconds. "First into the fray my friends!" Bob hollered, belting out a laugh as he jumped off the cliff, barreling towards the train.

@Pyrenees

 

[Beldan Bray]

Perhaps more time would've been needed in order to make the train stop for them and create a more comfortable boarding experience than the one they were about to have. Nevertheless, this extreme way of boarding might have its benefits as he didn't expect any of their foes to notice their presence in the same way that they would if the team just walked aboard a stationary train. With that, he followed Boberts lead and performed the seemingly suicidal task of jumping onto a train running at full speed.

Whether it was somehow the will of the force or the high tech equipment, it seemed to Beldan that they had made it onto the roof of one of the train's carts. The landing was harsh an violent - the Gran had no doubt in his mind that some bruises were to be expected. With a grunt, he rose to his hands and knees and started to look for the others - it seemed as if they miraculously made it too, bar one of the troopers who didn't look very operational at all. The poor guy had landed on a hatch which lead into the cart below them and the uneven surface along with the long fall and high speed had not been merciful on him. After looking at the corpse for a few moments, Beldan concluded that there was nothing which could be done about it, sadness or mourning had no place here.

The group slowly made their way towards the hatch, taking great effort not to be blown off of the train whilst moving. After removing the body of the perished trooper, Beldan drew his rifle and hopped down into the hatch. The cart was dark, to say the least, the scramble of smaller metal objects could be heard but more importantly, it didn't contain any guards. After acquainting himself with the darkness, the Gran concluded that it was some kind of storage facility for tools and a bunch of crates of which he didn't know the contents. "All clear" the monotone voice could barely be heard from the outside, but the comms certainly made it audible enough.

@Shax

 

[Robert Abbotangelo]

Often Bob cursed the Empire, he cursed it when he leapt from the cliff, despite his manic laughter as he slid his way down the wire. He cursed it again as the poor soldier made a bad landing and ended up broken and dead on arrival. Years of life and love, thousands of hours of training and experiences, gone thanks to some kooky officers grand idea to have an action movie for a mission. He took a moment to sigh at the sight of him, before he grabbed his holo-tags off his armor and stowed them away inside his own suit of well balanced yet old set of armor.

Bob followed Beldan into the hatch, weaving his repeater in the cramped space with obvious years of expertise at his back. They had landed at the second to last car of the train, the sound of the hover-train was paradoxically loud. The simple act of the wind whipping against the high speed vehicle and the rattling of the vehicle itself would and should hopefully mask any blaster fire short of Bobs repeater. With a quick message to the troopers, three moved to the last car to make sure it was clear.

Three shots sounded off dimly throughout the car Bob and Beldan were in, though not loud enough for the rest of the train to hear. And the three troopers came back with an all clear. Bob nodded, and spoke quietly into the squad channel. "Alright boys, only one way to go and its forward. If we find any of our targets, one of you troopers will escort them back to this car, and once we have everyone we came for, we'll make our way back here and bug out through the hatch. We'll call for the shuttle once we are all back here. Sound good?" Bob asked, glancing to see each trooper nodding their heads.

Bob thumped his fist against Beldan's shoulder and announced that he would be taking point. He could have told the troopers to do it, but he hadn't seen them or Beldan fight. As far as he was concerned, if you wanted a job done right, do it yourself. With skill that utterly belied his copious mass, the heavy armor and the heavy weaponry Bob carried, he moved almost completely silent. One foot in front of the other, Bob moved into the next car. He scanned the area, finding it much the same as the car they had just left and had designated as their fallback point. In other words, a storage car.

He continued on methodically, checking each corner by instinct until he reached the end of that car. He didn't need to see the others following him, he was confident they would. He glanced through the window of the door to the next car, and saw four men lounging around in what seemed to be the security hub car for the train. Bob glanced a Beldan, and tilted his helmet as if to ask how Beldan wanted to handle them.

@Pyrenees

 

[Beldan Bray]

Beldan was quite happy that Bobert was taking point instead of himself and moved just a few steps behind the old man. In truth, he would have preferred for one of the troopers to take point as he didn't care much for their well being other than what their worth was to the Empire. Bobert, however - Bobert made the most wonderful brew and had a mind that was worth way more to the Empire than those of the troopers which accompanied them. Their move through the carts were methodical, efficient and relatively quick as each and every one of them knew what to do and had a good idea of what position they had in the formation.

It was surprising and impressive how silently the elder in front of him managed to move, not only was his armour and weaponry heavy, but he was old too. Beldan even had to be careful not to create any noise in his medium armour. Eventually, they reached the fourth to last cart where Bobert managed to spot hostile occupants, prompting the troopers to quickly move into relative cover, making sure that they couldn't be seen from the fourth cart. The Gran who was hiding just by the door, opposite to his comrade in arms communicated in over the comms with a whisper, trusting his low voice and the noise from the train to keep him from being heard. The entire team had their targets assigned and with that, Beldan raised an arm, signifying 'stop' to the squad as his palm faced them. With his other hand which also held his rifle, the three-eyed alien pressed on the button which opened the door to the fourth cart, prompting the crew to look in their direction.

The lazy residents of the fourth cart seemed to dismiss the opened door as some kind of bug and soon returned to their tasks. Two or three minutes passed until one of them finally got up from his seat with a grunt, too bothered by the sounds coming from the cargo hold to remain indifferent. Upon reaching the door, Beldan removed his palm which consequentially made one of the troopers shoot the man. Immediately after, Beldan plopped in to shoot another crew member.

@Shax

 

[Robert Abbotangelo]

Bob waited for Beldan to give the signal, and as the first man fell to one of the troopers, and the second fell to Beldan's own blaster fire, Bob leapt forward. He threw his repeater directly into the face of the next man, letting the heavy weapon smash into the unprepared mans head before Bob landed on top of him. Bob placed three stabs with his knife to the neck and heart of the man before he rolled off of him, prepared to pounce for the next soldier, though that proved necessary as one of the other troopers had managed to land a direct head shot on the poor man.

Bob got up and retrieved his repeater and cleaned off his knife on the clothes of the man he had just killed before sheathing it back in his arm sheath. Once again he methodically began clearing the room, making sure no one was hiding in any lockers or cupboards that may or may not be there. Until eventually, just like the last car, he reached the end and glanced into the next.

Thankfully, one of the targets they had come for seemed to be the only one in there. As far as Bob could see, there was no one else, and the man was just pacing back and forth nervously. Quickly, Bob opened up the door and pounced on the target, letting the troopers flood into the room as Bob pinned the man to the ground and restricted his movement. They weren't given a reason as to why these people had to be retrieved, so at this point Bob was simply going to treat the targets like prisoners. With a swift and methodical motion, Bob had slapped on a pair of cuffs, and was hauling the confused man upwards. He passed the man on to one of the troopers, each of whom knew their jobs, and went to rejoin Beldan as he secured the car.

@Pyrenees

 

[Beldan Bray]

Their progress was fast and efficient, just like Beldan liked it. The needless chatter was kept to a minimum and everyone did their job rather well, in fact, they did much better than the Gran had initially expected. Bobert proved to be a fierce fighter as he had apparently decided to use his heavy weapon as a blunt throwing-weapon before stabbing the foe to death with a knife. Beldan didn't mind the peculiar method at all - not only did he get to observe a rather unique fighting style, but the elder also executed it efficiently enough to do his job quickly and in a rather silent manner. While the rest was clearing the room, the three-eyed alien tried to see what he could find at the computers.

The group soon stormed in and secured one of the targets, with Bobert leading the charge. With one trooper dead and one having escorted their prisoner to the fallback point, they were now down to only six people. Beldan had hunkered down by the door to the next cart and began speaking in a low voice over the squad comms as his companion arrived. "There are supposed to be two in this cart" he said with a nod towards the cart ahead of them. "And then one in the cart behind this one. I saw it on the computer"

A quick peek into the cart revealed two of their targets eating away at a small table but there were also six armed enemies scattered in the room. The risk seemed to be great as any stray shot could end the mission as getting the targets out alive was a prerequisite for success. "We could pick our targets again, but be alert for if someone misses" he said, thinking out loud while preparing his rifle.

@Shax

 

[Robert Abbotangelo]

Now how were they going to tackle this one? Eight on six weren't the best odds, but Bob was betting he could down at least three of the enemy goons before they got him good. Hopefully they wouldn't have to worry about that, however. "Any of you lucky bastards have any flashbangs?" Bob muttered into the comm's, using the generic term for any grenade that makes a big flash and bang, blind the recipients that were in its radius. Four voices responded with an affirmative, and Bob grinned as this had just gotten a whole hell of a lot easier.

He held out his hand for one of the troopers to pass the grenade down to him, and when he felt one of them put the light item in his hand, he dropped to the side of the door and began counting down from five. On four he primed the flashbang, on three he retrieved his knife once again, on two he opened the doors to the next car, and on one he threw the flashbang.

Even in the other cart the effects could be felt, but they were dampened by the armor the Imperials were wearing. Shaking off any minor effects, Bob rushed into the cart and much like in the previous carts, pounced on the first enemy he saw. With a quick slice, the man was dying from a slit throat and Bob was onto the next person. The rest of the troopers poured into the room, eliminating most of enemies, though one managed to regain his bearings, and was about to shoot Bob in the back as he went to secure the targets.

@Pyrenees

 

[Beldan Bray]

Bobert never failed to impress and had the bright idea of reducing the efficiency the enemies inside the next cart before attacking. The troops seemed happy to comply and soon, the plan was in action. Beldan had his three eyes closed tight as his comrade in arms threw in the well timed grenade-like device. Soon, Beldan saw the old man rush in, well ahead of the troops, seemingly intent on defeating their enemies with knife. Although he would hardly think of doing the same himself, the Gran appreciated Boberts care not to risk damaging the targets beyond repair.

Agent Bray saw a couple of his allied troopers fire one bolt each through the open door soon followed by another two rushing in to subdue the targets with Robert. As the Gran rushed in right after, he could feel another bolt swoosh right past him, hitting the enemy which he had intended to target himself. He quickly ran the number of bodies against the number of expected enemies in his head, one was still missing. In a few seconds or perhaps a minute, the eight foe appeared from behind a few fallen stools and a table - he was still a little disoriented but managed to point towards Bobert with his gun before being shot down, first by Beldan, and half a moment later a trooper, and then another one, and then another one. The fellow was peppered by numerous bolts as the troopers fired both one and two bolts on him. "Moving on" he said with his usual monotone voice, feeling that they were wasting both time and resources in the harsh retaliation against their enemy who didn't even manage to fire of a single bolt.

Once again, each prisoner was escorted by a trooper of their own to the gathering point leaving the group with just four people. This resulted in the clearing of the cart taking a little longer, but the group eventually reached the door to the next cart. This time, however, the door was not transparent and Beldan couldn't think of anything special being said about the room on the computer. "The fourth target should be behind this door, but what else is behind it is unclear. I suppose another flashdevice could work. Taking a look from the outside might have some value too" he said over the comms, keen to hear what Bobert had to say.

@Shax

 

[Robert Abbotangelo]

Bob was a little - definitely not pissing his pants startled - startled when Beldan saved his life by taking down the final enemy. It was a little unnecessary for the rest of the troopers to take their own shots and the very very dead man, but Bob wasn't about to stop them from avenging his memory with violence. Though should he truly kick the bucket, he wanted people to go out and get blitzed out of their minds drunk and have a jolly old time. He turned and gave each man a nod and a smile they most likely couldn't see thanks to his helmet by way of thanks.

As two of the troopers left with the two targets back to the evac car, Bob took count of who they had left. Four soldiers, including himself and good buddy Beldan. Not great odds should they have to fight straight up, but Bob was confident they would pull through no matter what.

He took his usual position by the door, and listened to Beldan intently. "I'm not sure what your smoking buddy, but the briefing said there would be three targets, where did you get this fourth target from? Suppose it doesn't matter, can clear the next car just to be safe before we make like trees and boogie our way out of here. Fritz," Bob addressed one of the troopers. "You wanna pass me another of them banger's and we'll get ready?" The trooper wordlessly nodded, handing him another cylinder and backing up back into his original position. Bob got ready, priming the flashbang, wordlessly looking to Beldan just to make sure that they really needed to clear the next car, but still willing to do so just to be safe.

@Pyrenees

 

[Beldan Bray]

Beldan simply looked at Bobert, almost as if in chock. Beldan had been utterly convinced that there were four targets but his friend said that there was only three. A couple minutes passed as the Gran just regarded his comrade and blinked hard a few times until he finally concluded that Bobert must be correct. "I see" he said, whilst hunkered down by the door to the next cart with his rifle at the ready. He looked at the man on the opposite side of him, and as much as he wanted to deny it, the three-eyed alien was touched that his friend was willing to brave another cart despite being able to leave already.

"I was confused." he said as he recovered from the shock of being so wrong. What fourth target he had seen on the computer earlier was a mystery to him, but whatever was inside the next cart didn't matter too much to him right now."The only reason to still go through the door would be to prevent being attacked while waiting to be evaced but seeing as this door is both thick and non-transparent, I think we will be safe." With that, he stood up and let his rifle drop into a casual position in front of his waist "Let's go home" The Gran's voice kept its usual monotone as he raised a hand for the others to move on ahead - he'd be staying at the back of the line for the trip back to the cart with their captured targets. All-in-all, it seemed like the mission had been a success.

@Shax

 

[Robert Abbotangelo]

Bob just nodded and disarmed the flashbang before handing it back to the trooper who gave it to him. He wasn't wholly convinced that the rest of the train wasn't alerted to their presence, as even the loud as all hell train would have a hard time hiding the sound of a flashbang and blaster shots for too long. They could only hope that the rest of the trains occupants passed the noise off as natural sounds coming from the train or the cliffs around them.

They moved their way back to their first car quickly, not taking time to carefully move, instead making their escape as quickly as they could be expected too. With a few clicks on a certain frequency on Bob's communicator, he had signaled the shuttle to come in and pick them up. By the time they had reached the original car, the shuttle was maybe a minute away.

Bob turned to the five remaining troopers, who were currently covering the three targets and the door they had come through and said "Myself and Beldan will go up top and wait for the shuttle, we'll signal you all to come up when it arrives. We'll also be watching for anyone trying to sneak up on us from the top of the train. You five will make sure the targets are covered and no one comes through that door." Bob finished, pointing to the only door people could supposedly go through.

With that, Bob began moving boxes to allow easier access to the hatch at the top of the train car, before poking his head out of the hatch. He found it clear, and so hefted himself out, before reaching a hand back into the hatch to help lift Beldan up. Just being a really good pal all the way around.

@Pyrenees

 

[Beldan Bray]

Everything was going along smoothly, just as if on rails. Beldan made sure to close the doors behind the group as they moved back to the original cart and put on a lock on the already closed doors from the control centre. Even if anyone was on their trail now, it would take a while before they'd get through to the group. It seemed as if Bobert was taking care of the planning and calling for the shuttle, which allowed Beldan to keep an extra close eye at their surroundings, but everything was as it should. The dead bodies wouldn't rise and there were no closets from which new ones could emerge.

The Gran thanked his friend after having been helped up onto the roof of the cart. The wind still blew hard as the train swooshed through the landscape of the planet. but they stood steadily and there were a notable lack of bumps to throw them off balance. Soon, after just a minute, a shuttle could be seen in the distance. It didn't have any lights turned on which could give it away, but with his excellent eyesight, Beldan could spot it without too much difficulty. "It is time to come up now" he said in a blunt monotone as the remainder of the squad and the targets came up one by one.

After all the prisoners were aboard the shuttle, Beldan and one of his fellows quickly picked up the corpse of their former comrade and dumped it on board the shuttle. Despite not caring too much about the sentimental values some might have over holding a burial for the man, he did care about the equipment attached to the soldier and also saw the possibility of the loss of moral resulting from the death being diminished.

Once they were all in the shuttle, Beldan looked to his friend "Mission complete he said with a nod.

/End Thread