Behind the parade

[kozeph]

"Welcome to Zeltron ladies and gentlemen" Madeline said speaking in her ever present accent of high galactic, an accent of nobility and higher something that fit someone like Madeline. The Colonel was like most of her operatives was dressed in more civilian like outfit, a red vest covering a simple loose long sleeve shirt that hid a wrist launcher. Her lower section had a simple utility belt with a holster for her pistol and below her belt she wore a light purple pants with black high boots.

She stopped looking out the small frame window of this Sith incursion transport and turned around to meets its occupants. A low altitude vessel, used by private military groups or security forces rather than fully equipped faction like the Sith or the republic. The transport slowly climbed down quickly made its way to a small park big enough to act as landing zone, it was already past nine in the evening. But this city was not sleeping tonight, no there was full parade going across the city. Even if the Sith were kilometers way from the heart of the celebration, the uproar, the cheering and the fireworks could be heard clearly.

"I don't believe I have to go through the debriefing in detail again, so I will just point the highlights" Madeline spoke in her usual commanding voice, her underlings should know all the relevant details about the mission.

"This is Ulkair Tarkos" Madeline said as a holoprojector lid on and showed the face of tonight target. "Human, Caucasian male, blond hair and strong features. Corellian C-sec training, infiltration, sniping, former republic captain in the assault corps before being reassigned to the special departments and so on, I don't need to say he is a man of many talents" The Sith Colonel paused giving the man one look, they would soon be meeting face to face if everything went according to plan.

"A couple of months ago he defected the Republic side and secretly became an agent for our group and acted as a double agent for us. Three days ago he betrayed both our side and the Republic for a foolish reason" Madeline pressed another bottom and the hologram changed to that of the face of a Rilan Twi'lek "This is Captain Alyn Servara, former security officer for one of our installations and Ulkair's new lover and the reason for this mess. Tonight objective is to retrieve our run away agent, he knows some of our secrets and of our enemies, which makes him a sensitive case... we are to retrieve this man alive if possible or permanently silence him"

The pilot signaled that they where approaching the landing spot in two minutes.

"My spies have tracked Ulkair and miss Alyn to a small hotel near the outskirts of this city, you will be dropped off two kilometers away from there. Task group Xray will be moving through here" The hologram changed yet again now showing the area around the hotel, a path was highlighted that ran through alleyways and a market "task force Bravo will go around the alleyways next to the main street and you will arrive bia the back of the building. Miss Yin, you will be leading Xray and your objective is to secure the target, Alyn is optional and her fate is up to your discretion. Mister An'Gol, you and your Mandalorian allies will act as group Bravo and will provide support to task force Xray as needed." A new path was highlighted leading away from the hotel the target was currently using as refuge.

"Once the target is secure, Xray will move our guest to the extraction zone, here to this parking lot one kilometer away, northward"

The low altitude transport finally landed and the boarding plank came down, a dozen agents dressed as civilians came out armed only with small arms, such as carbines and silenced slughthrowers.

"Remember the priority is to scort Ulkair out of the planet, but if he proves to troublesome or tries to escape again you have authorization to eliminate him. Do not expect a swift response from the local security forces, but don't get carried away. While most of the local law enforcements officers are located near the main event in the center of the city some patrols are bound to appear, so do not open fire with your laser weapons unless you have to"

Madeline slowly made her way to the border of the ramp and looked at her gathering of agents "I will provide live feedback but don't expect additional support, we only have two transports and you are all the people in this assignment" She lied, there was a third ship with another squad of agents waiting for the right signal to be sent. Madeline was always one to have an extra card in her sleeve. She wasn't one to tell all the details to her people.

Madeline turned around and gave one look at the other epicanthix girl in her team, younger looking and smaller than the red madame. "Miss Yin I expect good results from you, some of your superiors speak well of you and I would hate to stop relaying on your order, for this kind of missions" She gave the woman a smile and then turned to face the Mandalorian mercenary "Am sure you are aware that this mission will put in your people in a good light with the empire, so show me some of your Mandalorian discretion and professionalism I expect much from you and your three companions" She said nodding at the other Mandalorians under the command of the Cirith.

"Failure is not an option, you either capture him or terminate him. Expect company, if my agents located Ulkair so fast then I would expect that the republic would too. This is one of kind opportunity I won't wasted and am sure the Republic won't be far behind.

Cheers could be heard from afar, the night was still young...

[Cirith An'Gol]

After the events of Two Cultures, One Banner on Togoria

Cirith flipped a couple switches and pulled back on the Verd'ika's throttle and yoke, pulling the heavily armored craft out of hyperspace. The planet Zeltros loomed before him. The party planet. It was an odd place to mount a super hush hush military grade operation.
Cirith put the thoughts out his mind, made contact with the docking authorities and set down in the appropriate landing sector. A few moments later he met up with his employer, a Sith that went by the name of Madeline. A few minutes after that he boarded another transport, this one though was teaming with atleast two squads of people, all in civilian garb. They weren't civilians though, they were Sith soldiers and operatives. A team of Mandalorians was also aboard, Cirith gave each a curt nod and took his place near Madeline as she began the briefing. The coal gray and maroon colored Mandalorian's mind took in all the necessary details, name, race, military background and mission objectives.

Madeline had a good point, if the Sith had located Ulkair so easily, that meant the Republic wouldn't be too far behind. That complicated things a bit but, he'd just have to react to the situation as it unfolded. He didn't know the Republic's deployments or their numbers, so there was really nothing he could do about it, atleast until the opposing forces physically met. Madeline spoke to the only other Epicanthix in the transport briefly before turning to him.
"I am sure you are aware that this mission will put in your people in a good light with the empire, so show me some of your Mandalorian discretion and professionalism I expect much from you and your three companions" she said.

"Heh. Right. We'll do our jobs, don't worry, you just make sure that your friends do theirs" Cirith said, his voice sounding deeper and more menacing than it actually was as it went through his helmet's audio speakers. The ship finally landed and as the landing ramp lowered cheers from the city could be heard as the nights events started to pick up. Cirith turned to his two men and nodded towards the lowered ramp telling them in Mando'a to shift it. The two relunctantly made their way towards the ramp and waited outside.

Cirith then looked to Alyn and said "I'll need your com frequency if you want our support."

[sparrow]

Even as far away from the parade as they were, the streets were still filled with people and partygoers dressed in brightly covered clothes and costumes. Zeltros was always festive, but tonight more than usual. Puffed sleeves, feathered headdresses, colorful makeup, and paper masks,... not to say that there weren't any more simply and ordinarily dressed civilians about, but it was clear that it was not an ordinary night.

Zarene Yin stepped out of the transport, followed by the operatives of Xray squad. She walked forward, picking up a small paper-wrapped package of the ground. Tearing away the wrapping, she switched on the datapad inside.

"Any change in conditions?" Nidao was the commanding officer of the squad. He was dressed rather simply, with only a few streaks of face-paint and a few slashes of color in his vest signifying his status as one of the partygoers. The garb of those who stood behind him ranged from normal-looking civilian mechanic to full-blown gaudiness.

"No. Everything appears as expected," she replied, switching the datapad off after deleting the report. "Move your men out as planned, Nidao."

Nidao nodded before quickly flashing a series of hand signals. The men had been well trained. They knew what to do. Moving forward, they seemed to melt into the crowd.

Zarene smiled has she adjusted her mask. Bone-white, it covered half of face, hiding the scars. It also served as part of her costume, resembling the mask worn by a character in a highly popular musical that had been performing in the Core worlds and was currently touring the Inner Rim. She spotted more than a few people, both men and women, wearing similar pieces. Gloves and a long-sleeved coat, with just a bit of embroidery on the edges, helped conceal her mechanical hand. All in all, just another young woman participating in the masquerade and wanting to join the party.

The men would be moving into various positions around the city, some around the hotel, others in strategic lookout spots. There was little doubt that the Republic would also be making a move today, though it was unknown at this point how they would choose to do so. But these operatives were good. They would be prepared for whatever it was.

Zarene started moving. She had her own position to get to.

[Karl the Unfettered]

The Sith were correct; the Republic was in fact on the scene, and had arrived ahead of them. Well, one of them anyway, a much older man with steel-gray hair and one false eye, known to some as Captain Grendelev and to others as Officer Pico, monitoring radio and holocom traffic at an illegal signal-hacking device installed in a secure safehouse. Or it would be illegal if more than two dozen people in the whole galaxy were aware of its existence. He was expecting the Sith to arrive sometime soon, to take advantage of the local festivities; Zeltros wasn't usually the sort of place one would pick for covert action, but quite often one didn't have the luxury of being able to pick where one had to act.

He thought of the mission, of his target. Ulkair Tarkos, a former Republic agent who had by all accounts defected to the Sith and played at double-crossing his former allegiances; recently he had fallen in love with one Captain Alyn Servara, a security officer from some unimportant Sith base. Tarkos was a dangerous man, but his knowledge was even more dangerous; he could blackmail both sides of the war with impunity if he wasn't dealt with, and people of very high standing in Republic Intelligence had been debating how to pull off just that for a long time.

Supposedly they hadn't gotten very far, until the Servara woman entered the picture. The old man snorted; emotions clouded judgment, made a man sloppy and prone to mistakes, and Tarkos had made a big one in allowing people to get wind of his travel plans and location. The old agent had been deployed with all haste and secrecy, only six men knew he was here, but it was likely the Sith would expect a Republic presence anyway regardless of discretion.

Frowning in concentration he twirled the knob, zeroing in on a new set of signals; docking instructions for a Mandalorian-sounding vessel. A tingle went up the old man's spine and he zeroed in further, following the vessel's progress; a quick series of keystrokes brought up the vessel in question, the Verd'ika, registered to...

Oh, by the Force. Not him.

Cirith An'gol. A known Force-user, and one of the most psychotic warriors he'd ever heard of. The old man had worked with his sister Arwyn recently, who was a much better person on the whole. The old man wished he could pin down the identities of the actual Sith operatives, but seeing how they had brought in a man like An'gol did not bode well; they were clearly taking this seriously, very seriously indeed. The old man experienced a brief moment of doubt; would he have to take these people on by himself? He hoped the others they told him were coming would show up soon.

But he couldn't wait much longer; he had to move out quickly, before the Sith mobilized into the city. He checked his custom pistol, the worn grip so comfortable in his hands it was like an extension of his will; it went into the holster beneath his shoulder, and he ran a hand along the magazines of custom darts attached to the webbing across his chest. Against his usual protocol he had a compact shotgun for this outing as well, though he had rubber knock-out slugs instead of the usual buckshot, as well as shells filled with disabling foam (meant to cover the target and harden within seconds) and plain old rock salt. He wasn't quite as good with the larger gun as he was with more subtle weapons, but his enemies wouldn't notice the difference tonight.

Finally, in a leather satchel at his side he had a large number of grenades. Concussion, flash-bang, cryo, and especially ion and EMP charges... none of it lethal, but if any of those Mandos had fancy systems in their armor they wouldn't be much good after a blast of these, and if there were any lightsaber-wielders they'd be out of luck as well. The old man had to be careful, though, since his own prosthetics (save his arm, which he had deliberately ordered to be somewhat archaic in case he ever fought foes with EMP or ion weaponry) were vulnerable to that sort of thing; they were designed to reboot and reactivate quickly in case they were disabled in that fashion, but still.

At his belt was a number of little gadgets, always handy; portable signal jammer, secure two-way radio linked to his earpiece, noise-maker, grapple gun. He pulled his battered black coat on, a bit heavier than most due to the ballistic mesh weaves integrated into it, put the shotgun in its holster inside the coat and threw the satchel about his shoulders; finally he pulled a simple black watch cap over his head, made a last quick check of all his stuff, and slipped out the door. The safehouse was on the third floor of an anonymous apartment block, and he hurried down the stairs and into the festivous night; celebration was the last thing on his mind as he hurried through the streets toward the target, though.