Fort Kesslar, Vandor
Dev felt uncomfortable in the coat he was wearing. Of course, Rexa had adamantly insisted, rightfully so, in making sure the two SpecForce soldiers looked more like thugs and mercenaries and less like New Republic forces. Of course, this meant that Rexa made sure that Dev wore a long leather duster and a wide-rimmed hat like he was some sort of mercenary. Hit's attire seemed similarly uncomfortable, with a series of overlapping cloaks covering her form. The two looked like proper vagabonds, and even seemed to fit in. Of course, the clothing also helped to hide that they were both strapped in terms of blasters and explosives. After all... they were going to make quite an entrance.
Fort Kesslar lived in a ravine between two adjoining mesas, with wooden walkways joining different platforms and buildings. Hit and Dev were making their way to one of the larger buildings, where the most noise seemed to be coming from. As the two approached, it became clear that this was some sort of gathering hall. The sounds of carousing were echoing across the ravine walls, with the sound of laughter being the most prevalent. Of course, Dev wasn't there for pleasure. He was eyeing the two guards at the entrance to the hall, and the one posted on the rotary blaster cannon on the third floor balcony. His eyes were also drawn to the side of the hall, where large metal supports were drilled into the icy terrain to keep the building up. Of course, this is where Dev found himself gravitating towards, walking past the guards with a slight nod as he approached the side of the hall. Hit knew her mission, and quickly rounded towards the other side. Captain Arx checked his six to make sure the guards hadn't followed, and smiled as the coast was clear. He reached into his coat and pulled out two detpacks. He pressed two buttons on each of them, and two red lights began to glow faintly on the explosives. When placed inside behind one of the large metal joints in the support structure, Dev heard the detpacks magnetically lock into place. They were armed and ready to go. All that was left was making sure Kesslar was inside.
Dev waited for a few moments, walking over to the railing at the edge of the platform to look down at the ravine below. Once he had figured enough time had passed, the Captain rounded the corner and made his way into the hall. The guards gave no resistance, and simply eyed the stranger as he entered. The hall had two visible tiers, with the first floor serving as a more open tavern while the second floor seemed to have more decked out mercenaries watching the revelry below. Dev's attention turned to the patrons of the first floor. There wasn't a whole army of mercenaries in here... but there had to be about twenty patrons scattered about on this floor. Too many to engage in an all out fight, especially given they were all strapped. And that wasn't including those upstairs. Dev and Hit grabbed a couple seats near a table in the far corner, passing by the eyes of a few curious individuals. Once seated, Dev's attention turned to his slicer.
"If he's here, he's gotta be upstairs. Any ideas on how we could get up there?"The Zabrak shook her head.
"I saw stairs near the entrance, but there was a guard at the top. We could try and talk our way into a meeting with Kesslar, pose as mercenaries looking to join up with his band?"Dev shrugged, taking a look around at the patrons. They all seemed to be minding their own business... but almost intentionally so. And that's when Dev's eyes focused on two mercenaries from the second floor making their way to the stairs. They had their weapons drawn and visible, and were glancing down at the two strangers. Dev's gaze fell back to Hit.
"Looks like they're coming for us. Come on." Dev, without another word, got up from his seat and crossed the hall again towards the stairs. Hit followed shortly behind him, and the two stopped as they were greeted by two Zabrak mercenaries at the bottom of the stairs. They simply nodded towards the stairs, and the two Republic soldiers were able to put the pieces together. They followed the two mercenaries up the first set of stairs, and onto the second floor. Tucked away behind that stairwell was another stairwell up to the third floor, where they were being led.
The stairs led up to a small landing with two blast doors and a single chest. Once at the top of the stairs, one of the mercenaries piped up. "Weapons go in the chest. All of them." Dev and Hit shared a knowing glance, and the two reluctantly removed their blasters in compliance. They had both only carried in a blaster pistol and a blaster rifle that were clearly visible upon a quick pat down from the mercenaries. Dev raised an eyebrow to the mercenaries when finished, and they both nodded. One of them gave three quick knocks on the blast door leading towards the center of the building, and a moment later it was opened. Dev and Hit entered a poorly lit, window-less office. As soon as they were inside, the blast doors shut closed behind them.
The only individual in the room was a rather large human wearing space leathers. He had a large eyepatch over his right eye, and had a menacing grin as he looked up at his guests. He remained planted behind it as he motioned towards two chairs in front of the desk.
"Please... have a seat. I'd offer you a drink, but I'm sure your commanding officers wouldn't want you drinking on the job."Hit made a slight, barely audible gasp as her walk tensed up. Dev, on the other hand, seemed rather unphased. Dev remained silent as he walked up and took a seat, with Hit following her Captain's lead. Kesslar raised an eyebrow at this, but his grin remained as he took his own seat.
"It's your walk that gives you away. A very rigid, steady pace." Kesslar held up a finger for a moment, before reaching into a drawer of his desk and pulling out a small metal disk. As he set it on the table, a holographic image of a destroyed
stealthipede shuttle appeared.
"It's a shame about Minister Kaal. I take it the local government has had enough. Reached out to the rebels, willing to sell this planet for their own lives. Imperials have been focusing on cleaning out and waiting for more Imperials to rescue them from this frozen waste, but they've been giving us plenty of credits to do the dirty work of making those scumbag politicians think twice about signing on to join any cause. And that now brings you two right to my door."Dev's expression was hardened and rather difficult to read, thought Hit was clearly more than a bit nervous. The Captain leaned forward in his chair, placing his elbows on his knees as he looked Kesslar in the eye.
"Are we going to try and work out a deal here, or are things going to get ugly?"Kesslar's grin faded, his expression growing rather serious as he stared the Captain down.
"The only thing that'll be ugly is tossing your corpses down the ravine."The next moment went by before Hit even had time to react. Kesslar's hand had slipped down to grab a scatter gun lying openly on the desk. Dev was equally quick on the proverbial draw, managing to stand up and grab the scatter gun around its center from across the desk. The Captain reached his other hand forward and wrapped his fingers around the clip of the gun while pointing it down, managing to slip a finger over to the mag release button with lighting fast accuracy. With a quick pull, Dev managed to swipe the magazine from the scatter gun and toss it behind him before Kesslar could fire off a single shot. Of course, this didn't phase Kesslar much, as he managed to shake Dev's grip from the gun so that he could wield it as a small club. Kesslar rushed around the desk and swung the club down towards Dev. Dev responded by sidestepping the swing, but wasn't fast enough to dodge Kesslar's shoulder check. The soldier was knocked back over his chair and onto his back, only able to watch Hit rush in and deliver a quick strike towards Kesslar's jaw with blurred vision. It was a good hit that knocked the mercenary's head back a little, but that just seemed to make him more angry. Kesslar swung his club quickly towards Hit, who managed to lift up her left arm to stop the swing from following through. She stumbled back a step, and Kesslar took the opportunity to swing his right fist towards the Zabrak's gut. She managed to lower her right arm to block the blow, and delivered a quick jab to Kesslar's nose to knock the mercenary back a couple steps.
This gave Dev enough time to quickly reach into his boot and pull out a small vibroknife while getting onto his feet. The Captain rushed forwards as Kesslar was winding back for another swing, and Dev managed to sink the vibrating blade into Kesslar's neck just before the mercenary could swing. The Mercenary grunted and gurgled as he reached up towards the wound, and Dev quickly removed the blade as he got to his feet. Hit quickly grabbed the scatter gun that Kesslar had dropped and used it as a club to knock the mercenary unconscious, leaving him to a less painful death. Dev gave a small nod towards his Zabrak comrade.
"You kept your right side guarded." He pat her on the shoulder briefly, and the two soldiers began heading towards the door.
Hit tossed the scatter gun aside as she got in position, with the two soldiers standing on opposite sides of the door. Dev counted down with his fingers while his shoulder hovered over the activation switch. After reaching 1, he quickly shoulder checked the button and the door swung open. The two Zabrak mercenaries didn't even have time to turn around before the Specforce soldiers in unison put them in chokeholds, quickly kicking out their legs to keep them from standing. It was an impressive display, as the two mercenaries were released as soon as their bodies went limp. Dev and Hit quickly opened up the chest, grabbed their blasters, and opened the next door.
Out on the balcony of the third floor, the single guard watching over the rotary blaster quickly spun around upon hearing a noise behind him. His eyes widened as he saw a human and a zabrak with blaster rifles pointed in his direction, and didn't have time to swing the blaster cannon around before he was shot down. Dev nodded towards the railing on the side of the balcony as he fired a quick shot at the door controls, locking the door the old fashioned way behind them. The two soldiers rushed to the railing and pulled at the grappling lines on their belts. After quickly securing it to the rail, they pulled out their blaster pistols and climbed over the edge, rappelling down quickly. Just as they were reaching the bottom, the two guards from the front of the hall circled around to the side and raised their blasters. With a quick exchange of fire between the two sides, the guards were down and Dev had received a grazing hit on his right bicep. He shook it off as best he could, the coursing pain running through his entire arm and shoulder. The two soldiers quickly unclipped their grappling lines and made a dash along the footbridge. They heard commotion behind them as the mercenaries from the hall began emerging with their weapons drawn. Dev and Hit reached towards their belts and pressed a small button on their buckles as the blaster fire from behind began spraying around them. The two soldiers dove onto the connected platform across the ravine as they heard metal twisting and ice cracking behind them as the explosive charges detonated. The mercenaries spun around in horror as they felt the ground beneath them begin to shake, before the whole platform and connecting footbridges began to crumble and break as gravity pulled it down hundreds of meters below. Dev and Hit took only a moment to recover their breath before getting up and making their way along the path to leave Fort Kesslar behind.
Just another small-time mercenary band crossed off the list of New Republic detractors.
Qia
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Achronum
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