The Hand that Feeds

[Gunner Stahl]

.

ABHEAN​

Cybernetic replacements fixed and configured, it was time for the shadowguard to return back into the field. It had been a strange few months, perhaps more stinging of his humiliating retreat was the fact that he had been stripped of the very prestige he leaned upon to give his life worth. However, in the actions committed by his superiors, they had created an even more dangerous operative. Now with nothing to lose and hungry to prove his worth to the Empire, the former commander had a massive chip on his shoulder. This would be the first mission to show the galaxy, just who he really was.

He was dressed in an ebony duraplast and steel configured armor, bearing no insignia of any kind on his person. It was as if he was a rogue agent or perhaps a secret assassin tapped for the Empire's dangerous mission. He didn't arrive with his deployed comrades, but instead commissioned a single high speed vessel to fly over the desired coordinates. The team would rendezvous closer to target, as having all three agents arrive in concert would have likely been more suspicious. In the thickness of night and concealment of the void, clouds glistened over pale moonlight as the vessel came to a vertical distance of approximately 300 meters, cargo hold snapping open. The shadowguard leaped from the bay, barreling towards the ground with ascending velocity. Lever pulled across his chest as a large black parachute activated from the back straps, the armored figure gliding until he made contact with the ground and came to a rolling halt.

Parachute dragged behind his body for several meters until he finally disengaged it from his breast plate, preparing his armaments and deployed weaponry. He carried his signature weapon: The Devastator Carbine and loaded an ammunition pack. Two fragmentation grenades, two smoke grenades, a grapple line, twin carbine blaster pistols at his hips, and a vibro-knife concealed on his back. Fingers adjusted the HUD scope, a ghastly green glow radiated from the barrel of his customized weapon along with a fine green laser sighting.

Black armor made him virtually invisible to be seen in the Abhean nightfall, he making his way towards a set of coordinates agreed upon by his teammates for this operation. The Rendezvous point, conveniently located half a kilometer from the outskirts of the settlement. It seemed this Admiral preferred to live in solitude, comforted by the mountains but also secluded from any immediate assistance.

@Gian Greydragon @Luster

 

[Graham Siccaro]

Graham ducked under a low hanging branch as he moved through the trees, making sure to duck lower then usual in order to give the helmet of his Clovoc armor enough room to pass easily. Having spent so much time in his normal ISC uniform and battle dress it felt strange to wear anything else, almost like he was naked. But it had been necessary for him to ditch his normal uniform for this, there could be no link between the target's death and the Empire. So, reluctantly, he had donned the commonly available armor set and come in on a civilian transport bearing a false identity chit of a bounty hunter. The disguise got him some funny looks but enough credits stopped the custom's officer from asking too many questions, and the cover also had the benefit of explaining his blaster rifle, pistol, collapsible vibrowsword, and throwing knives. The frag and concussion grenades had been hard to get through, but some haggling and even more credits ensured that they were still on his belt.

He felt kind of bad to be spending so much of the Empire's money so freely, but it was being put to a good use, security and helping build the strength of the military he had put his faith in. It may also serve another purpose after this night, as any investigation into the admiral's death might look into this unknown bounty hunter and take some of the heat off of the Empire. But just the thought of getting off world and back into a proper uniform thrilled Graham more than the thought of a job wonderfully done. He would get a lot of notoriety in the Empire's command structure which would garner him the respect he deserved, but he really just wanted to be back fighting a real war.

The admiral lived in a mountain villa outside the city itself, and so Graham had set off from the far side of the city that morning spending the whole day moving through Abhean's forests around to the rendezvous point near the villa. He was almost there when he heard the sound of a low flying ship in the near distance, he froze and listened to it near then fly away. It did not seem like it was flying a patrol pattern, so maybe another of the team was heading to the meeting point. He continued on through the dark, until he came to the low hill by the villa that would serve as the team's rendezvous. A quick check of his crono told him he was right on time so he started up the slope to make contact with the others.
​

 

[Tal Onn]

(ooc: One of us should roll for enemy resistance and armament. I will if neither of you want to, but I'd roll 2d10.)

Being part of the IFL came with a certain freedom of dress, not having a single uniform, which meant he simply had to take off the imperial insignia on his breastplate. After paying off a freighter to take him to Abhean, he made his way to the predetermined rendezvous about a day before his comrades. As the first man (@Luster) came into view, Tal had been lounging about in a tree, flipping one of his Bayonets through his fingers.

"Makin' good time, bo'," he said before jumping off of the branch, and holstering his bayonet in its sheathe, next to the others, and his two frag grenades. His carbine was secured on his back, and his two pistols each were situated in holsters near his ribs, for a cross draw. Also on his back were his two Cocobolo long knives, and finally his Vibro-machete, was secured on his left hip. He wore a balaclava instead of a helmet as well.

"I'm guessin' number three was in that ship 'at jus' flew by. I'll fill y'all in when he gets here."

 

[Gunner Stahl]

.

The ebony armored assassin soon came into full view, easily seen by the lieutenant and the shock corps member; his armor was uniquely defined as if there were perhaps independent funding that went into designing it. This would be the first time the three soldiers would meet in battle field, though it was expected that those representing the Empire would put aside any discomfort for the goal of executing a flawless objective. "Greetings gentlemen..." Came his voice, moving straight towards business as he displayed a hologram view off his datapad. "Our target resides in this compound, well guarded with approximately five heavily armed personnel. Expect full heavy armor as well as perhaps repeater fire. I will scale and attack from the rooftop, the two of you can slip in through the side passageways as detailed here. Remember, failure is not an option. We do not take survivors.."

With their debriefing completed, Gunner checked the ammunition pack on his devastator rifle as he motioned to the others to begin their advancement towards the guarded estate. Their paths would be well concealed in the several brushes and nightfall, all men dressed in black as even guards up on top with spectacles would have difficulty identifying their presence. The team split apart as Gunner had advised, the shadowguard moving towards the eastern perimeter while the others would attack from the adjacent side. Grapple line engaged and fired towards the top balcony pillar, hoisting his figure upwards as he used his feet to glide himself to the edge and pulled himself over. Free hand slowly wrapped the grapple hook back into place as he croutched stealthily towards the most nearby enemy. His prime objective was to sneak up without notice and finish the man off; arm wrapped around the neck suddenly, shrugging his prey to the side as the two men wrestled for several moments. Unfortunately, his target was stronger than he appeared, a solid elbow to the gut forcing Gunner to release him from his grasp. The guard retaliated and shoved his rifle towards the Imperial's face, he being able to dodge the blow and swept the man's leg. A thud on the balcony floor was sure to attract some attention, forcing Gunner to move quicker in efforts to end this confrontation. Vibro-knife pulled from his back, a humming noise erupted as the weapon engaged only to be met with a vibro-sword from the guard. As his opponent slashed wildly, the shadowguard moved in calculated finesse, pivoting to the side to block the blow and counter quickly with a vicious stab at the torso. Blood spewed from the wound but instead of collapsing into his opponent's frame, the guard shoved Gunner away. The force of the blow was enough to make him stagger backwards. "No!" Gunner yelled, attempting to grab the guard before he tilted over the railing and fell several hundred feet to his demise below. The screams of his descent as well as the loud noise of impact made sure to alert the others of intruders' presence.

Perimeter lights would begin to flicker on the outside of the compound, "Damnit.." Gunner snarled to himself as he began to pace quickly in efforts to rendezvous with his team before they were met with heavy resistance.

@Luster @Gian Greydragon

 

[Graham Siccaro]

Graham looked over his comrades briefly before they got deep into the operation, as he had not served with either of them before. The one who had been waiting in the tree, Tal, was a little wild looking and his speech was hardly professional but that meant little outside of parade. He moved well as he leaped from the tree and landed, and if the man could handle every weapon on his person as well at that bayonet then they should get along just fine. Gunner was much harder to read in his armor, he was cold, professional and right to the point which were all qualities that spoke well to Graham. The meeting was short and the plan was simple but effective, hit from multiple angles and strike fast from above and the side entrance. He waited for Gunner to finish before nodding in approval and understanding, still staying silent in case Tal had anything to add.

Then they moved out, going down the hill and to the wall of the compound, following it around to the left and away from the main gate. Just like the map had shown there was a small gate on this side of the wall, possible a service entrance, that would open up onto the compound's courtyard. If they could unlock and open the gate silently then they could enter and eliminate what guards were on patrol at the moment before moving on toward the Admiral's quarters. Then something caught Graham's ear, sounds of rapid movement, no a scuffle followed by a long and loud scream. There were a few shouts from inside the compound and lights began to flick on. "Fek. There goes the stealthy option."

Raising his blaster rifle to his shoulder Graham quickly blasted the lock on the gate, kicking it wide and rushing through, hoping Tal would be right on him to cover. Clearly visible from the light of a doorway were two guards who had just come running out of the main building to investigate. Add them to the guard who had been by the main entrance and one currently along the far wall that made four targets. Instinctively Graham dropped to his stomach so quickly it knocked the wind out of him, but it also made him a much smaller target. He took quick aim at the lead guard coming through the door, triggering three shots, the first just barely grazed the mans leg but the second hit him low in the abdomen and the third impacted his chest, dropping the man to the ground.

​

 

[Gunner Stahl]

.

Hands clasped the rails as he peered over to watch the man fall and smack the ground on his death. He chuckled lightly but also knew that he had likely compromised their stealthy option. Oh well, they would have to do with their victims knowing that doom was impending. He snapped quickly back and began to dart into the interior corridors of the secured compound. He tapped the comm link button several times but roared in anger as it seemed his device was not working and could not relay signals to his comrades. Realizing that he had no way to coordinate his actions with Graham or Tal, he snarled and muttered, "Must I kriffing have to do everything on my own?!"

Removing a ventilation duct, he crawled into the circuit before suddenly smashing through several cooling unit covers mounted on the ceilings. Soldiers were taken off guard, as there were only four of them in this adjacent room prepared to defend against the armored assassin that had magically just appeared. Quickly engaging a smoke grenade, he hurled it onto the ground and dove for cover; coming to a rolling knee as blaster bolts sailed to the side and above him. As billows of smoke covered through the room, Gunner still kept his keen senses keyed on the location of targets. Devastator rifle shot forth, ghastly green glow echoing with the powerful 3 round burst that sang forth to the tune of deathly melody. Bodies sank to the ground with injuries, one soldier attempting to engage the lethal shadowguard in a melee match but found himself severely outmatched. Gunner ducked under the vibroblade blow, solid butt of the rifle smacking at the chin of his opponent in a punishing uppercut. Dazed and confused, he was further rifle-whipped in the back of the head before Gunner's forearm wrapped around his throat and held him as a meat shield.

Taking his hostage to the next room, he smacked the man's face against the retinal scanner and simply stood as the doors slid open. Two further guards were in the other room, beginning to shoot towards the intruder but instead decorated their comrade in friendly fire. The Admiral was also inside, visibly shaken from the massive conflict that had been brought to his doorstep. His body began to move towards the exit; however Gunner would allow no one to escape unscathed, especially not the man he was assigned to murder.

Hurling his meat shield into the other two, momentary distraction gave him enough time to toss both fragmentation grenades into the room as his body twirled to the outside perimeter wall. A massive explosion and screams rang forth in a brief second, as the assassin slowly crept back inside with rifle in hand. Admiral's body struggled, crawling on the tile floor with stained crimson and half of his limbs intact. Eyes wide open as he glanced at the masked face of his killer but the Shadowguard said nothing and rather executed him with several burst shots from his signature carbine rifle.

He merely stood in the dusty room for now, reloading the Devastator and glancing back at his malfunctioned comm link. A slight smirk came to his face and he remembered the soft flesh of his twi'lek lover. After all this killing, he needed two things: Booze and Ass.

// end thread

@Nefieslab