Contract 012 - Talos Omerta

`CC`

20-02-2011 06:53:44

Zandro was indulging himself in a few precious moments of daydreaming, his mind meandering through the ether as he waited for the Commissioner of the Arcona Contract Bureau to arrive.

Not the most normal of missions ahead of him, but he's more than capable of doing it.

The request had come through an hour or so previous and Zandro had known immediately that it would be the ideal fit for the Arconan Equite. A knock at the door sounded and brought the Arconae back to reality with a shudder.

“Come in.”

The humanoid came through the door and approached the desk behind which the Arconan leader sat, picking up the datapad that was slid over to him and opening it to begin reading it's contents.

“Well Talos, your mission is pretty simple. We have a request from a prominent leader of a major Commercial organization for a bodyguard to be provided while he makes his way from the spaceport to the Citadel for a meeting with myself and some other members of our Government. You're to keep this guy safe while he makes his way here and make sure that whatever tries to harm him fails. Good luck and happy hunting.”

=====-----*-----=====

Name: Roth Gradel
Race: Human
Greeting Phrase: The Drexl flies high in the daytime.
Procedure: Head to the spaceport, identify yourself and keep this guy alive. Good luck.

Zod

22-02-2011 22:04:46

Giletta Spaceport
1300 Hours


Obelisk Templar Talos Omerta’s Force-enhanced voice boomed throughout the crowded lounge:

“Roth Gradel, by order of the Army Corp, you are under arrest! Sergeant, take him”

Talos, dressed in his black Army officer’s uniform, clasped his hands behind his back as two armored soldiers, actually commandos of the Summit Guard’s Reserve Unit, slapped the mortified businessman into vibrocuffs and none-to-gently escorted him out of the lounge. As for Talos, he smirked, nodded at the hostess on duty, and then turned sharply on his hell, following the soldiers and their “prisoner” out into the Spaceport proper.

Military Police Hovercade, Transport 2

“I demand to know on what grounds this is based on!” wheezed Roth Gradel, holding up his shackled hands.

Talos merely winked and put a finger to his lips, the universal sign for “shush”. Thirty seconds later, the MP hovercade, comprised of two Aratech speederbikes and one Chariot-class landspeeder, began to move.

“Lieutenant!” Gradel protested when no answer came after 10 minutes of travel. Omerta shook his head as the landspeeder banked to the right and began a steady climb upwards, towards the Citadel of Arcona.

“Uhh..Lieutenant, the Army Detention Center is that way” Gradel continued, looking out the window and gesturing, with some difficulty, to the left.

At last, the disguised Dark Jedi spoke:

“True enough Mr. Gradel. But you can see the drexl flying high in the daytime so much better from higher up” the Army Lieutenant said, smiling as the overweight businessman visibly relaxed at the uttering of the greeting phrase that Zandro Savric Erinos Arconae had assigned the young Mandalorian.

“I didn’t realize that I warranted a military escort…” Gradel said.

“You don’t. But whatever you’re going to show Governor Erinos has put a price on your head. Your “arrest” should discourage anyone who was going to try and waylay you” the Equite explained, chuckling at Gradel’s inflated opinion of himself.

No sooner had Talos Omerta spoken than the Chariot landspeeder was rocked by the aftershock of a large explosion and the lead Aratech speeder was engulfed in flames. Before either protector or protectee could react, another explosion detonated and with a sickening squeal, the landspeeder pitched forward.

Through the ministrations of the Force, neither Talos nor Roth was hurt and in the blink of an eye, the Obelisk was pulling Roth to his feet while simultaneously ripping off his officer’s tunic (which had caught fire) and revealing the Mandalorian armor he had worn underneath.

“Roth! Get down, get down now!” Talos roared. He shoved Gradel down to the street, using the overturned landspeeder as cover. Knowing that he couldn’t reveal draw his lightsaber or publically use the Force, the Bureau Commissioner cast about for a weapon.

“Perfect” he muttered a second later as his eyes came to rest on a matte black scattergun, most likely belonging to a now-dead Summit Commando.

The Mandalorian picked up the stocky weapon and pulled back the slide…just as a Lethan Twi’lek rounded the corner and saw the Equite and his charge.

“Over here! They’re ove—“ the Lethan began to shout but before he could finish, Talos pumped him full of metal pellets and the Twi’lek went flying back. His body came to a rest some feet away, contorted in a way that would have been impossible in life.

“Oh dear god!” muttered Roth Gradel from his crouched position; Talos whirled around and threw him a confident smile…something that he wasn’t quite feeling on the inside.

“Perhaps I spoke to soon…cheeky di’kuts” he said as he cocked the scattergun again.

“Stay here” he ordered. Roth Gradel could only nod vigorously and take deep gulps of air as his bodyguard smiled again and then vanished into the wreckage of the Chariot landspeeder, thick plumes of black smoke obscuring him from view.

Talos carefully picked his way over the wreckage of the landspeeder and speeder bikes, keeping the butt of the scattergun in the nook of his shoulder, finger never far from the trigger.

“Hey! Who are you!?” a new voice said from his left. In answer, Talos turned and squeezed the scattergun’s trigger; five metal pellets ripped from the muzzle of the weapon and found purchase in the chest of a Human, who was clad in the simple armor of a mercenary.

The Human looked down at the five holes in his chest and then fell backwards...at the feet of three more mercenaries, two Humans and one Bothan. Each wore similar attire to that of their now-dead comrade and had ugly scowls on their faces.

“Well, well, well, what’s we got here?” one of the Humans, drawing a wicked looking vibrosword from a scabbard on his waist.

The human slowly advanced on the Mandalorian as the other two mercs flanked him, modified A280 blaster rifles at the ready.

“Looks like a Mando boy who can’t afford leg armor” laughed the other Human in a distinct Southern hemisphere drawl.

Talos glanced down and felt his cheeks flush with color; his top half was covered by his gray and green Mandalorian armor, but from the waist down, he was still dressed in his military trousers and soft leather boots.

“No matter” the Bothan rasped. “That chest piece will fetch a nice price with Hugo” he continued.

Feeling somewhat brave, despite the odds, Talos spat back a reply:

“I’m sure it would. Unfortunately, none of you will be around to sell it to whoever this Hugo gangster is”

The mercenary trio stopped dead in their tracks and quickly exchanged glances with each other:

“Hey…that guy made fun of Hugo!” the Bothan said in disbelief.

“Yeah…get him!” the first Human ordered and without further preamble, he charged at the scattergun-wielding Obelisk, vibro-sword raised high.

Calling on what he had learned from Sashar, Talos waited until the last possible moment and then ducked under the first Human’s attack; he twisted around and in one fluid motion, drew his combat knife from its boot sheath and plunged it into the back of the assailant’s neck.

Not even pausing long enough to reclaim his knife, Omerta, who was alive with the Dark Side, went prone as a flurry of crimson blaster bolts flew by overhead and, still prone, turned over on his back and fired off two shots of his scattergun. This utterly decimated the Bothan rifleman’s torso and ended his life.

The last mercenary standing, upon seeing the ease with which Talos dispatched his compatriots, threw down his blaster rifle and started to sprint away from the Mandalorian. The Human might have made it to safety if Talos had not picked up the dead Bothan’s A280 and with the aid of the Force, put a bolt right between the runner’s shoulder blades.

“Yeah…you’re not getting my client or my chestplate” Talos muttered as he threw down both the A280 and scattergun. Taking a deep breath, Talos Omerta turned and walked back to where Roth Gradel was still crouched behind the overturned Chariot.

“Come on” the Mandalorian said, holding out a hand. “You’ve got a meeting to get to”

Citadel of Arcona: Board Room

“Mr. Gradel, Lieutenant Omerta. A pleasure for you to finally join us” Zandro Savric Erinos Arconae said from one end of a large synth-wood table. The one-eyed Quaestor was surrounded by four other organics, ranging in species from Human to Devoranian, and all stylishly dressed.

“You’ll have to forgive us, Lord Qua--Governor” Talos replied, nearly addressing the Battelord by his Dark Jedi title. “We had a slight..traffic jam”

Zandro smirked: “So I’ve heard. That’ll be all, Lieutenant. You may go”

Talos Omerta came to attention and gave a crisp salute before turning and leaving the board room.

`CC`

23-02-2011 09:32:39

Contract Grade: Excellent
Comments: Talos, my sweet Talos, that was f*****g awesome. I saw only 1 or 2 small spelling mistakes, the story was involving and extremely fun to read and you made the contract a good length. Honestly, all I can think to say is recommend maybe trying an S Class in the future and if you do, give it a bit more length, but that really was one of the best contracts I've read on here. Very well done.