Contract 006 - Archer Merchant

Marick's fingers danced frivolously over the keys of his console. He had a lot of work to catch up on, and knew that he had to keep up on all incoming contracts to keep the Contract Bureau running. Not to mention his duties as Captain of Oblivion Brigade and the revitalization of the Arcona Arena, which was next on his agenda. The Hapan enjoyed his workload though, and figured he'd grow disinterested without it. The mini-control freak inside of him was content.

A contract request popped up on his terminal, just then. A grin formed on the Arena Master's face.

"Archer Merchant, huh? I think I have just the thing."

Marick tapped a few buttons then slammed his pinky finger down on the "send" button, transmitting data directly to Archer's PDA. Marick had updated the clan's devices to receive contracts OTA (over the air) and was quite pleased with himself.

"Science." He mumbled happily to himself.

|===O===|

Contract 006
Security
B-CLASS

Mission: Protect the VIP

Sar'a Winters is a highly respected senator in Estele City. She has been an advocate of many reforms and movements that benefit Arcona's operations. Needless to say, her safety is imperative. Your mission is to act as Sar'a's bodyguard as she makes a trip from Estele to one of the borderline cities. She currently has her own detail, but we have good Intel that the Black Suns mercenary gang has been contracted to eliminate the senator. Under no circumstances is this allowed to happen. She said that she would feel safer knowing a member of the brotherhood was with her.

Attached is a dossier of Sar'a. Do not let me down on this, Archer.

----
Name: Sar'a Winters
Race: Twi'Lek
Age: 34
Bodytype: Slender/Blue

Charisma: ***** (5/5)
Appearance: ***** (5/5)
Melee: * (1/5)
Ranged: * (1/5)
Force Aptitude: (0/5)


Black Suns:

A band of back world castaway's and ex-cons, known to take on small jobs. Nothing a Guardian in the brotherhood couldn't handle.
|===O===|

Estele City

=Hour One=
Archer adjusted the collar of the outfit he was forced to wear, his body not used to the lightness and lack of protection provided by the high class suit worn by the senator’s guard detail. He edged closer to the female Twi’lek, extending his hand in formality as she shook it nervously.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Senator.” Archer casually withdrew his hand. “Just relax, my job is to get you to your rally safely and it’s what I intend to do.”

“Thank you, Mr…” The Senator realized there had been no introduction. “You know I just realized I didn’t get your name.”

“It’d be better if you didn’t,” he added. “Call me Smith. The transports are downstairs and waiting.”

The Senator simply nodded as she bowed her head formally, the two moving toward the exit.

=Hour Three=
The ride could barely be felt from the rear seating of the transport, two of the guard detail sitting in silence opposite the Senator as Archer casually sat beside her. She began to nervously recite her speech for the fourth time since they had left.

“Just relax,” Archer added as his eyes floated about the buildings surrounding them before he focused on the Senator once more. “You’ll do fine. You look very nice by the way.”

“Why…thank you,” she replied curiously.

“Don’t mention it. We should probably have a code phrase for you to speak on the off chance you notice anything during your speech. Maybe orange or indigo-” Archer’s senses immediately jolted to life as he leaned toward the driver. “Stop the car!”

“Sir?” The driver added in confusion.

“Slam the brakes now!”

The transport slammed to a halt as a rocket collided with the escort car before them, sending it tumbling off the road in a mass of fiery debris. Then not a moment later came the laser fire, one volley after another striking against the armored transport.

“Crash into the lobby over there.” Archer pointed off toward a nearby building complex. If they hadn’t hit them yet it meant they were still reloading, which meant a small team.

“But-” The barrel of an Intimidator pressed against the driver’s temple urged him not to question further as he turned the wheel as instructed, accelerating to full as the transport crashed through the lobby of the four story building.

As the two escorts exited with the Senator, Archer grabbed a sequencer charge and retrieved his DLT-20A sniper rifle, slinging it to his back.

“You, over there.” He signaled one guard before looking to the other. “You, take that spot. They’re regrouping it won’t be long. I’ll see to the Senator.” He eagerly took the Twi’lek’s wrist as he dragged her toward a flight of stairs that lead to a balcony and into a second floor hallway. He overturned a table, setting the rifle against it as he covered the lobby. “Hide in that room behind me, and be ready to run.”

=Hour Four=
It wasn’t more then ten minutes later when the team stormed the building in full force, a grenade lobbed into the lobby sending up a cloud of smoke to cover their entrance. It was enough to confuse the remaining guard detail that was killed within moments as they blindly fired into the haze, though not Archer. He took a deep breath, his senses augmented by the Force as he watched the glowing silhouettes of the small squad of five men move into the room. He squeezed the trigger, a shot tearing through the chest of one attacker as the Krath pivoted the rifle to the side and repeated the process, a second falling to the floor lifeless.

The smoke that filled the lobby only masked Archer so much as the remaining three attackers raised their carbines and opened fire at the above balcony. Archer ducked behind the overturned table, pulling it with him as he retreated for the hallway as he left it blocking the entrance. Pressing the sequencer charge against it he switched it to automatic, moving into the room the Senator was hiding in. He overturned a table and the couches inside, forming a barrier.

“Whatever happens, stay behind me.” An explosion told Archer someone had been unfortunate enough to try and move the desk. If he was lucky it would have taken out two, but his senses took him past the wall to the silhouettes beyond it, and he could see that it had only been one as two were still approaching. One was even attaching something to the door itself. “Get down!”

Archer tackled the Senator behind the couch as an explosion tore through the door, a second thud echoing about the room as a small grenade rolled in and exploded with a deafening pop. The Krath angled his Intimidator over the couch, opening fire as the two men stormed the room, killing one of them instantly. The other charged onward, carbine firing heavily into the furniture as Archer gestured with his hand, the man suddenly jerking from the floor as he was hurled through a nearby window with a loud crash. And then it was silent.

“Is it over?” The Twi’lek sat up from the floor.

“Yes, Senator.” Archer let out a deep sigh as he took a seat on the floor.

“Please, call me Sar’a.”

“Sar’a.” Archer tilted his head formally. “Authorities should be here shortly, we just have to wait. Might even make that speech of yours yet.”

Debriefing:

As per the contract request, objective was completed successfully. The Senator was unharmed, and will continue to be an aid to Arcona. Good job, Archer.

Missions Grade: "Satisfactory"

Notes:

Technical - Very sound. No glaring errors. Easy to read, good sentence structure.

Story - The only weak part of the mission. Very blunt/simple, but I still enjoyed reading it. Very good job of taking me by surprise with the missile impact.

Style - I like your writing style a lot. Combat made sense to me, never had to re-read anything to figure out what was going on. You wrote your character accurately and used your surroundings very well to handle the situation. Never once did I feel like my suspension of disbelief was removed.

Other Thoughts:

I really liked this. It was simple and to the point. I would have loved some more depth of interaction with the Senator. That's all that was missing from an E grade.

-W