Money Talks- Act 1: Recruitment

[kozeph]

Well it seemed that Grendelev was far more knowledgeable than Kivesh had originally thought he knew the human was well connected and that he probably had lived through some rough patches of life, but still that he had worked with other Ubeses intrigued Kivesh. As for his warning he did not care "I told you I agreed to your terms" he said uninterested in a conversation he had expected once Grendelev mentioned once he mention he wanted to talk in private "But I'll say it just so we are all in the same page" he spoke watching both Grendelev and Nikki his mechanically amplified voice rigging through the room "I do not care about you or your past forceling, nor do I care about the republic or the sith, I will follow you human without complains as long as you keep being a capable leader...I'm even willing to work with others, since this is a rare opportunity" his eyes flashed like a that of a feline stalking its prey yet he remained passive he spoke calmly and coldly with no aggression or hatred for both his companions and neither did he looked down on them, it was just that there was no reason to befriend them.

"So there you have it, I'm here for the job I'm not interested in mindless slaughter or fighting for a cause long lost. Or even for something that has no profit in being hunted" he said the last part watching the mandalorian female "Is there something else human? I'd like to see the equipment you provided for us before we head out" as always he spoke coldly, out of interest and with no intention of being friendly with people he had yet to respect. Sure he recognized their talents and they probably were people he could work with but for now he had no intention to socialize with others.

[Cirith An'Gol]

"Backup, Miss An'gol?" he asked politely. "In this instance there isn't much we can back up to; we'll be in the middle of enemy territory, indeed at the heart of their fastness. If we're caught, all you can do is run like hell and hope not to die." After a second he smirked, and shook his head. "No, no. I have a plan, don't worry, but you shouldn't be worrying so far ahead when the game hasn't even started off. Focus on your part, and make sure you're ready for when the ball gets rolling. I have it all in hand, don't worry."

Arwyn nodded satisfied that for the moment everything seemed to be planned out. She intended to do some research of her own though. She wanted to have a plan of her own if things went south. She exited out into the lobby, asked Shev for something to eat and drink and went over the mission information again in the privacy of her helmet. Shev it seemed was more than pleased to render his services, and returned a few moments later with food and some kind of beverage, Arwyn didn't notice what it was, she'd been too busy listening and watching the footage of the meeting on her HUD.

"Will that be all Miss An'Gol?" Shev had said politely though the Mandalorian hadn't heard him. He rapped on her shoulder plate grabbing her attention, flicking the video on pause Arwyn looked at the meal and thanked Shev as she proceeded to take off her helmet. "Sorry Shev, trying to prepare for this job. The meal looks great, thanks and yes that will be all, thank you" she said before she sniffed the food like she was a professional connoisseur and then took a bite of her toasted grilled bantha, bacon and letuce sandwich with fried chips and a Rodian moon ale to drink. Arwyn chewed happily, enjoying every bite, which Shev seemed to appreciate. She finished her meal and went back to work, placing her helmet back on her head and resuming the video. She paused the video after a few moments when she got to a good view of the Bank of Nations, called up her AI, Winter and said "Winter, I need you to draw up all the schematics and information on this bank and transfer it to my HUD as soon as you can please."

[glow=lightblue]"Ofcourse madam, anything else?"[/glow] the AI said over the com frequency.
"No, that's it for now, thanks" Arwyn said reflexively. There was a pause before the com crackled to life.
"Arwyn, is something wrong? You aren't normally this nice" Winter said drawing out the normally not so obvious. Arwyn looked up for a moment before emitting a long laugh "Y'know, you're right but, no nothing's wrong. Actually everything is going smoothely for now. Keep the ship secure and get me that information, I'll check in if anything happens. Arwyn out" she said getting up from her stool at the bar and making her way to the hotel and her room that had been prepaid for her to stay in. Once she entered the lobby of the hotel she approached the check in and out counter, where a very frightened and nervous hostess waited.

The hostess slowly stood "W-Welcome to the Plaza Hotel, how can I help you?" she said, her bare knees noticeably knocking. Arwyn simply shook her head, they probably didn't get alot of customers that arrived in full battle armor. Aryn took off her helmet to put the waitress at ease, which seemed to help atleast a little bit "Relax mersheb, I'm not here to rob the place, I'm with a group under the name of Grendelev, I'm told you have a room for me and my friends, I'd like to check in."

That seemed to put the hostess at even greater ease "Oh ok, give me just a sec and I'll pull up the information" she said typing away on her computer and after a few seconds said "here it is. Your room is 637 on the 5th floor, if you need anything don't hesitate to call" she said handing her a door card. Arwyn nodded, tucked her helmet in the crook of her arm and headed for the turbolift. A second later the lift wisked upward five floors and the female Mandalorian got off, passing an elderly higher class woman on the way that scoffed at her appearance muttering "Unbelievable" just loud enough for Arwyn to hear. The Mandalorian stopped for a moment after the old woman passed, her nose in the air as the woman continued making her way down the hall. Arwyn fingered her E-11 blaster rifle, tempted to shoot her nose off for her. She resisted the urge however and continued on to the room. She arrived at the room and swiped her card, the light on the door lock went green and she pushed the door open, stepping into a very nice room with relaxing tan colored walls, sea blue plush carpeting and mahogany framed furniture.

Arwyn stepped in and closed the door, she was going to like this.

[Karl the Unfettered]

Konstantin nodded slightly in acknowledgment of both their statements. "Thank you, Mister Geeve," he said gravely. "It is indeed a dead and useless issue, but I had to make absolutely sure; believe me when I say there is no room whatsoever for infighting and backstabbing on our team." He glanced at the door, and his brows narrowed. "As for the weapons I have provided, they are in your hotel room. Peruse them at your leisure." He waved a hand in dismissal, and sat back.

Once Kivesh was gone, he turned to Nikki. "I was aware of your POW status, Sergeant Styx," he told her, "but I did not wish to reveal it before everyone without your consent. However, since we are alone I would offer you a choice. I sense that money means little to you, so if you wish I will give you an alternate deal; I have contacts in places that don't exist, and these contacts wield great power in certain circles. If you perform to expectations during this mission, I could call in a few favors, spread some credits around and have your status revoked. Perhaps even citizenship granted instead.

"Do not answer me right away, but think about it. Do not reply in a rush, do not get ahead of yourself. This is not something I offer lightly, and if you accept this I will not be able to pay you the credits I mentioned before. Consider your rewards carefully, and consider how far you will go to attain them."

There was nothing more to say, so he stood up without another word and left the room. There was much to be arranged, much to see to before their departure.

((Sorry for the short length. One more post from everyone and we can move on to the next phase.))

[Miri Mojito]

Nikki was shocked with the oppurtunity she was being offered. Naturally she relished the chance to have her name cleared and her honour restored, but to go so far as to become a citizen of the republic again. It felt odd to even think it could really happen. She had been hiding so long now, spending her time wondering when the republic soldiers would arrive and try and send dher back. And now with this mission her fears could be erased forever. Then again the credits would certainly go a long way towards doing anything she wanted. There would be no way she could decide on this on the spot, and Grendelev seemed to pick up on this as he advised her not to do so.

Without being able to think of anything to say in response she only nodded her head respectfully. She waited for Grendelev to leave the room before proceeding to do the same. As she left she caught sight of Shev the barkeep, he payed her no heed though, obviously unaware of her departure.

Once outside Nikki began to dawdle, walking slowly ad stopping every so often. SHe was doing this puposly to buy herself time to think on what was al going to be done, and what all needed to be done. SHe would need to prepare her gear, and get some rest for sure. But she would also need to know more about the reliability of those she would be working with. This would require getting to know them, or atleast observing their interactions with eachother. At this point she immediatly thought of the Ubese and his peoples grudge. While he had expressed no interest in her he was still unsettling and she made a note to atleast keep an eye on him for both their sakes.

An hour or so after leaving the Cantina Nikki arrived at the hotel. Upon entering she was greeted by stares and whispers. The sight of a mandalorian often cause a stir, but she assumed most of these whispers were a result of her being the second Mandalorian to walk through these doors. AT the reception desk she was greeted by a scared looking woman who seemed to immediatly pick up on what she wanted. "here you go... 5th floor, room 636" was about all she could say. Nikki nodded silently and took the key card with out wasting much time.

Nikki arrived at her room, and wasted no time locking the door behind her. She was after all in republic friendly space, and that meant she was not safe for fear of being discovered. The room itself was much to her liking having nothing more than a simple bed at the far end. Aside from that there was no other furniture or any form of clutter. On the bed sat a pair of weapon cases. In the first sat a pistol similar to her brylar pistol, but a bit smaller. Along with that there were several magazines of both fast acting tranquilizers as well as shock cartridges. Both types of ammo could drop a full sized man with little trouble.

In the other weapon case were close range weapons tailored to Nikki's fighting style. A shock baton not just over three feet in length emulated her sowrd use very nicely. Along with the baton was a shock staff that collapsed similar to her spear. When acivated it reached a similar length of nearly 7 feet. No doubt the electrical current of these weapons could paralyse an opponent easily, rendering them useless for several hours. the perfect non fatal weapons. Nikki made a note to thank Grendelev for the consideration in weapons.

With little else to do now aside from wait Nikki moved the cases off the bed and lay on it. She was still fully armored, and this is the way she intended to stay at least until she was off this planet. While she lay there she activated her earlier recording and watched it on a loop over and over again, analyzing the outer structure of the building as well as the images of the security team waiting for a moments notice to kill them all. Sleep soon found her though and her HUD powered down with her. It would be a long restless nigth for the Mandalorian.

[kozeph]

Kivesh simply turned around and began walking away as the subject died and faded into nothingness "I will take my leave then" he said without looking back at his employer or his forceling companion. He really had no reason to be this social with them so he took his leave wishing that the day would end soo. although he might not hold a grudge against them but neither did he like them enough to be willing to waste his breath, so he decided to keep to himself and enjoy the ride Grendelev had been so kind to prepare. This would defently be more exciting that shaking off a group of republic agents and a republic fleet and in the end coming out it alive and with no strings attached.

The ubese hunter made his way out the bar and headed for the hotel Grendelev had stashed the equipment for this mission. The dark figure made his way to the lobby and addressed the young woman sitting there, who like many of the people occupying the room looked quiet nerverus. No doubt they had seen a number of heavily armed strangers come and go during the last couple of minutes "Mr Grendelev has a room for me" he said his eyes looking down from above the female bothan receptionist that was sitting behind the counter who obviously was a bit shaken under the stare of the Ubese "Under the name of Kivesh, Kivesh Geeve" he said again not letting her speak, she quickly looked for the keycard of the room between the list and handed it to the dark figure before indicating which room he had been assigned too.

After several minutes Kivesh found the room and entered, a simple yet decent room nothing that impressed or requiered the attention of the hunter, he spotted a three cases, one being large while the other two smaller. He walked there opening one at a time, finding a pair of force pikes an excellent choice to replace the pair of echani swords that the hunter carried around allowing him to both stun or paralize his targets or in the off chance everything went to down hill to use them as real lethal weapons, the Ubese nodded and went over to the next case finding a pair of blasters with the option to stun or act as a regular blaster it was a nice addition to his gear so he would take it, the next case really did surprise the Ubuse enough to make him smile. Inside the case was military grade hacking and security slicing equipment, advance enough that even in the black market it would be hard and expensive to find equipment of this level of quality. Kivesh nodded at himself equipping his new weapons and putting the hacking equipment back in the case, he hid his new weapons below his dark cloak and took the case leaving the room. He left the hotel and went to the room he had already rented it was a small and extremly cheap hotel, he walked in back into his room and sat removing his heavy cloak, as a morning ritual he began checking his room for listening or recording devices finding nothing "Hmm meaby I was expecting too much" he smirk below his mask as he double checked his room finally sitting down and removing the dark armor he wore... he sat and waited for the day to end once more.

[Cirith An'Gol]

Arwyn spotted the three cases on her bed immediately but, didn't open them upon first spotting them. Instead she checked the room for listening devices, using her helmet's Terra Hertz Medical Scanner to look through solid objects like walls and the few furnishings there in the room. She didn't spot anything out of the ordinary, though she did notice the form of Nikki in her Mandalorian armor across the hallway directly across from her room.

Arwyn shrugged not thinking anything about it and went to sit on her bed, and look at the stun weapons held within. She popped the latches on the cases and was pleased to find a pair of blaster pistols with stun capabilities, along with a stun baton in one, Ion and flash grenades, with a highly upgraded datapad and slicing equipment in the second, and a pair of shock boxing gloves in the third. Each of the weapons had their own holster as well, making transport easier.

How did he know of my computer skills? The only ones that I know of who know of my skill are the Otani's and my family. Not that it matters I suppose. This Grendelev is full of suprises Arwyn thought as she examined the items and set them aside. Then her HUD gave a small blip as it began uploading the information her AI had gathered. She immediatly she began reading the information on the bank in question, first taking note of the information's scource and then moving on to the rest.

There wasn't much information on the building in particular at all. The safe door was made out of cortosis, the inside was lined with pressure plates and multiple lazer sensors that were imbeded in the walls, floor, and ceiling. The same material was made for the control room door as the safe's door. Ventilation ducts were standard small, only about 3 feet wide, maybe a little more give or take and 2 feet tall. The buildings frame was reinforced, able to take a shot from a cruiser from orbit and still keep standing. Lots of damage would still be done to the building but the frame would be fine. Other than that it looked like everything else was up to par in it's construction.

"Hmmm..interesting" she said to herself as she continued reading. She came upon the Iotran Guard in the information, it seemed they had lockers, armories and patrol routes that were seperated from the rest of the guards. Probably private military or ex-military personell her thoughts were interrupted again as her HUD gave off a small blip. It was her AI, apparently he had found something else.

"What is it Winter? Found something else?" she said into her private com to her ship's AI.
"Yes Arwyn, I thought you might like some information on the Iotran Guard since they came up in the information I uploaded to you about the Bank of Nations" the AI said in reply, she could tell something had peaked his interests. "Alright, thanks Winter, go ahead and upload it" Arwyn said. A moment later the information filled her HUD. If possible there was even less information on the Iotran Guard than there was on the Bank of Nations.

She filed the information away into her backup files and got up from the bed after placing the holsters for the blasters on her hips, placing the holster for the stun baton cross-wise at the small of her back and holstering each of the weapons. She put the grenades and slicing equipment in her belt and checked her wrist mounted rocket launchers. They were full. Then she took off her helmet and began stripping her armor off, placing it in a neatly organized stack beside the head of her bed. All that was left was her body suit now, which fit like a second skin but, was also made from a beskar fiber weave, it wasn't as resilient as the beskar plates but, it would still offer some protection from blasters. She still wasn't sleepy though, so she started checking her ammo packs. When that was done she set her alarm in her HUD to wake her at 0500, a full hour before they were to leave and placed her helmet on the stand beside the bed.

Then she stripped her body suit and slipped under the silky sheets and fell right to sleep.

[Wayra]

Erikis fired a few more shots into the holographic target down range. They all hit center mass. He was taught in Recon basic that headshots were only used if the target was standing still, and the sniper had orders to make sure said target never got back up. Otherwise, aiming for the largest part of the body worked best. If one had the right training, it was hard to miss the torso.

Placing the pistol into it's appropriate place within the padded case, Erikis closed it up and moved further back along the range. When he'd reached the furthest booth, the targets down range could be the size of minuscule ants on the horizon; at least, from his perspective. Erikis flipped open the case and pulled the rifle from the case. He sat down on a nearby bench for a moment, and simply looked and held the rifle. Good weight, sturdy.. adjustable electronic sights, very nice. Sling strap, bipod, useful. He spent a moment aiming down range with the sights. He adjusted them to his preferred settings, then increased the zoom, looking straight at the target down range. The man then spent another moment figuring the best way to hold the weapon. He settled for a basic grip, only slightly modified. His right-hand thumb, which was the one on the handle, pressed closer to the stock, rather than the grip. His other hand simply supported the weapon, steadying it.

Erikis took a deep breath, then took the rifle with him down to the ground. He stuck the butt of the weapon to his shoulder, and kept his right hand on the same grip. He adjusted his left arm, though, pulled the bipod down. His left hand then found a light grip on the underside of the forward part of the weapon. He steadied his breath, checked his heart rate, and then fired. The weapon kicked a bit, but remained in place. The bolt of energy flew down range, eventually hitting the target's shoulder. He adjusted for the kick, and fired once more, hitting the upper torso. After doing this for a good deal of time, he tried and practiced many variations of sniping positions. One sitting upright and laying the rifle on his knee. Another crouching down, and then another standing straight up. He practiced these variations more, assuming sometime during this mission he wouldn't have the opportunity to lay down and line up a perfect shot. After practicing these for awhile, he practiced them some more later, this time with a variation. He let the rifle lay on the ground as he did some exercises, large measures of jogging, sprinting to a distance then back, push ups. These were all meant to elevate his pulse and his breathing; forcing him to take shots while in this state to simulate such situations where he would be undergoing strenuous activity while preforming his role.

This went on well into the evening, and Erikis only left when the range closed, a short time after the sun went down. When he returned to his room he placed the case next to his bed. He unstrapped the holster on his hip, taking the blaster within and placing it on a small table next to his bed. He laid the holster, and his boots, next to the gun case. He took off his jacket and over-shirt, placing them on a chair within the room. He set an alarm on the clock next to his bed, set for five in the morning. Ample time for him to eat, dress, and take care of his hygiene before leaving. He was soon asleep, simply laying on top of the bed, and not under any sheets. He was warm enough with the portion of his clothes still on.