Tempest Omega - Team #6

Courscant
First Alliance Bank
50th Floor
Internal Audit Division

Evan rubbed at his eyes, checking the time for what appeared to be the hundredth time today.

“Half an hour to go” he muttered under his breath, none of the other workers bothering to acknowledge the sound. There were only a few of his co-workers even in today, most off on assignment or having already gone home for the night. Evan had only been in the Audit division for a few months, and was still getting accustomed to the workload. He was finishing up a preliminary report for his Manager, his eyes glazing over the numbers the floated before him.

It was this unfocused gaze that found a pattern in the number. Evan blinked rapidly, sitting up a bit straighter as he studied the links that had formed for just an instance. His hands reached for pads that littered his desk, calling up previous reports. Hours passed, Evan never bothering to look up as all the others said bye to him on their way out. The lights had been dimmed as night progressed on further. His small desk stood out, the various pads and screens glowing in the dimness. It was sometime after midnight when he called his Manager, rising him from sleep

--||o||--

Antei
Dark Hall
Grand Master’s Office

Both men had been conversing for some time, going over all of the latest updates across the Dark Brotherhood. It had only been a few days since Halcyon had been named Deputy Grand Master once more. He ran a hand through his emerald hair, picking up another pad from the ornate desk in front of him. It had been sometime since Sarin had ventured into his own personal mission, and there was much to be caught up on.

“That should be the last of it”, Muz stated from his seat, two black pools peering out from the strands of hair that covered his face.

Halcyon had begun to glance over this final set of information, eyes flashing in surprise as his head shot up to look at the Grand Master.

“Interesting, yes?” Muz grumbled as he pushed back his seat and rose, turning away from his newest Shadow Hand. “This information came in only yesterday, and we’ve verified it. Within the week we should have lost access to all of our funds”.

Nearly a decade ago then Grand Master Jac Cotelin had re-initialized the operation called “Tempest Bravo”. The objective was to procure funds for use by the Brotherhood. Although the main thrust of the operation had ceased, remnants remained, which were then used as the main source of income for the Dark Brotherhood. In recent days all of the accounts stemming from Tempest Bravo had begun to be closed, and all access to these funds denied.

“Have they tied them to us yet?” the veteran Councillor asked.
“No, but they’re quickly going through the various shells. It’s only a matter of time before that information is found out. I have already contacted the Master-at-Arms and the Fist to prepare us should we be found, but I want this handled before we reached that point”.

The Grand Master had turned with those final words, his meaning clearly conveyed to his second-in-command. Halcyon nodded his head as he rose, moving quickly to the exact. Darth Ashen watched as the other Sith Lord made his exit, moving toward his console to put his own actions into motion.

--||o||--

The call had gone out to the Brotherhood, calling on it’s members to perform a mission for the Dark Council. Halcyon now addressed those who had responded, his holographic image flickering before those who had accepted the mission.

You and your team has received the mission details. Although seemingly simple, the mission itself involves the very future of the organization. Fail, and we will see a battle on two fronts; both militarily and financially. Either will ruin us. Both will see we have no chance of success. You have all the assets of the Brotherhood at your disposal. Know that you are not alone in this mission as others will be working to see that our enemies don’t succeed. Others will want this glory to themselves. Only success will see that you achieve it alone.

Contact me regarding what you enquire. Time is of the essence.

The image suddenly winked out, leaving those listening to immediately set their plans in motion

Frigate Deep Ice
Undisclosed Location

The image of the Deputy Grand Master flashed off and Callus sat in contemplation for about three seconds before moving into action. He grabbed his datapad and transferred all the vital information to it, he then quickly punched out a message to four other Revanites that he felt were right for the job.

SUBJECT: Sigma Horizon
- A situation has arisen and your particular skills are requested for this assignment. Sigma Horizon protocol has been enacted. Rendezvous in 3 standard days. Coordinates: 0-0-0
*Message will be deleted in 30 minutes after reading*

Callus stood, with one hand he grabbed his ready packed bag with a change of clothes and an assortment of identification credentials and weaponry. He slung it over his shoulder and exited his small room and the door wooshed closed behind him. He walked at a normal pace to the turbo lift and stepped on it with several other crew members. The structure of Revan would appear unorganized to other members of the Brotherhood but for the elite that were Revan it was perfect. As it was now Callus was the only official member of the House on the Frigate everyone else were merely support staff. In the grand scheme of things they were insignificant but they did their job well and were loyal to the house. Some of them knew who Callus was and others were oblivious, by his dress he looked as commonplace as any mechanic or crew member. "The beauty of Revan, Callus thought to himself, was that they were everywhere -- and nowhere."

The turbolift doors opened at the hangar and Callus stepped off. He walked to a section of the hangar that was frequented very irregularly and found the ship he was looking for covered in a dusty tarp. He extended his hand and with a little flick of the wrist the tarp seemed to fly off of the now ancient Z-95 Headhunter. She may be old, but she was aging as gracefully as possible. He jumped up onto the hull and released the canopy. He pulled the seat forward and put his bag in the small storage space behind the pilot's couch. Callus replaced the seat and slid into the cockpit. It fit him like a glove. He began powering on the fighter and running through the pre-flight checks. Callus activated his comlink and signaled the ship's captain on his private channel. A second later captain Pantaro was on the other end.

"What can I do for you?" The captain asked.
"Need immidiate clearance for my fighter," was Callus' reply.
"Not a problem." There was a short pause. "Everything is good to go."
"Good. Don't burn the place down while I'm gone."
"I'll do my best. Clear skies."
"Clear skies." Callus replied with the traditional spacer's farewell as he cut the comlink.

Callus looked down at his control panel and saw that everything was green across the board. He brought the repulsors online and maneuvered the ship toward the hangar bay doors. When he was directly in front of the doors, the mag-con fields came online and Callus engaged the thrusters of his fighter and gently eased himself out of the hangar. When he was the optimal distance for a hyperspace jump, he entered the coordinates in the nav computer and engaged the hyperdrive; within six seconds he was gone.

Safe House
Coruscant

Callus arrived at the apartment in the financial district that was maintained by Sun-Manadyne Advanced Logistics Services for use by their employees when they had business in the galactic core. It wasn't often.He entered the code and the door unlocked and slid open. A rush of air and dust hit Callus square in the face as he entered the room. It had been quite sometime since anyone had set foot in this apartment but for current needs it would do nicely. He sat his bag down on a table and plopped down onto a couch. The dust cloud that this elicited was massive, Callus waved it away and through use of the Force activated the air recyclers and set them on the 'high' setting. He plunged his hand into the bag and removed his datapad. There was still time until the others would arrive he would take this time to compile a list of resources and go about collecting them.

He propped his feet up and began writing.

Unidentified Safe House
Salas V

Tyre woke up in his bed to the sound of an incoming message on his datapad. Quickly jumping out of bed, he lit a cigarette and made his way to the kitchen to make himself some breakfast before checking out his messages. As he passed a mirror in the hallway he checked out how he looked, his eyes were still half closed and his hair was a mess. The smell of the cigarette smoke started to fill the house blending in with the smell of the breakfast that was cooking. Arriving back in his room he picked up the datapad and checked what messages he received.

SUBJECT: Sigma Horizon
- A situation has arisen and your particular skills are requested for this assignment. Sigma Horizon protocol has been enacted. Rendezvous in 3 standard days. Coordinates: 0-0-0
*Message will be deleted in 30 minutes after reading*

Tyre yawned and started talking to himself.
“Oh great, I just came back from a mission and now I’m called upon again…Those coordinates, Coruscant…”
Tyre sighed and started packing his bag. The man he came across on his last mission was an employee of Sun-Manadyne Services and was kind enough to give Tyre a uniform of the company, after some persuasion and threats to the man’s life. His bag was nearly packed when he noticed a burning smell coming from the kitchen and immediately dropped the bag to check out the source.
“Oh great, there goes breakfast, guess I’ll catch something to eat on Coruscant.”
Tyre slowly walked back to his room and finished packing for the upcoming mission all the while wondering who else was invited to the party.

Lighting another cigarette, Tyre swung the bag over his shoulder and proceeded to walk outside. The sun reflected of the clear metallic hull of the Bloodhound, a YT-1930 freighter that he had recently acquired. Sitting in the cockpit he looked down at the controls and let out a sigh, in his opinion it should be forbidden to call upon someone this early in the morning. Hitting the controls and checking the systems, Tyre prepped the Bloodhound for flight. Once he was a safe distance away from the planet he punched in the hyperdrive coordinates for Coruscant and the ship’s hyperdrive screeched to life.

Safe House
Coruscant

Tyre stood before the door that served as an entrance to the safe house and sensed that there was already a man inside. Taking a step forward the doors of the apartment opened and he saw Callus Bo’Amar, the man that left him the message. Raising his hand Tyre greeted Callus in a jovial manner but wasn't met with much enthusiasm

Bowing his head down Tyre spoke.
“Tyre Arvalis, ready for your command. Why was I called upon?”
After speaking the words Tyre raised his head waiting for an answer before taking a seat.

Remote Labatory
Salas V

Tsingtao stood behind a long table filled with monitors. He scanned the results from various test as they scrolled on the displays. His comm link sounded breaking his concentration. He deactivated the device and turned towards a technician standing to his right.

“Excellent results, having a working prototype for project Alpha 2-C. I want in working in one week,” he said as he dismissed the technician. Tsingtao watched the technician hurry away as he himself left the room to his private office.

The office was new and uniformed. A few crates still lined the wall, and sevearl paintings leaned against one another next to the crates. One day Tsingtao will have the time to decorate his office to his liking, but duty always came first. He reached his desk and activated his station. He had a priority message waiting.

SUBJECT: Sigma Horizon -A situation has arisen and your particular skills are requested for this assignment. Sigma Horizon protocol has been enacted. Rendezvous in 3 standard days. Coordinates: 0-0-0

*Message will be deleted 30 minutes after reading*

Tsingtao studied the contents more closely. Finally he activated his comm link, “Have my shuttle prepped and ready to leave in 10 minutes." Tsingtao did not wait for a reply as he left the room.

Safe House
Coruscant

Two individuals were already in the apartment as Tsingato arrived to the designated location. By the looks of things, one member was already settled while the other appears to just have arrived. As he approached he recognized both individuals. He walked up to Callus, "I am here to serve."

Post 4

Corusant undercity

The undercity was an unclean polluted place but, was where information was leading apprentice Kel Kaveel. To a cantina run by a Twi’lek by the name of Garrus Dra’kavi, a person known in illegitimate circles as an information broker. The codename, in which he was supposed to use to contact him, was divulged by one of his “gatherers” in his last seconds told him “Rancor”.

The cantina, from what the apprentice could tell, was full of non-humans. As he approached the bar a blaster shot rang out from the direction of the sabacc tables. Unclipping his blaster, but sensing no danger, called the barkeep.

The Iridonian barkeep being rather calm about the murder asked, “What do you need boy?”

“A hit of Juma and I have business with the Rancor.” The apprentice said with a smirk.

He received his drink and the Iridonian walked into the back to inform Garrus that someone wanted to see Rancor. As he drank he observed the inhabitants of the cantina, looking for the quickest escape route just in case. The Iridonian walked up with a very beautiful Twi’lek servant girl approached.

“This girl will take you to the pit.” The Iridonian said already resuming his duties.

As she took the apprentices arm she said, “You are better looking than most that come in here, ask for Elana when you are done in the pit.”

The apprentice with a coy smile said, “I might have to when I am done with your boss.” The pit was more of a luxury suite, rather opposite of the namesake. Plush couches for beings not on business with Garrus, with a dancing stage in the middle. A private sabacc table in the corner, but what dominated the room was a desk with monitors on both sides and a bar behind it.

Garrus already at his desk gesturing the apprentice over saying, “Sit down, care for a drink?”

As the apprentice sat down shaking his head, “I hear you are the one I need to talk to for Intel on certain things.”

“Depends on how many credits you have or what you can offer me in return.” Garrus said, then drinking from his glass looking me over to measure the apprentice out.

“To be specific I need information on the current Jedi Order.”

“That is dangerous information to obtain, so for a fee of ten thousand credits I think I might be able to get the information you seek.”
As the apprentice was reaching for his for his data pad he noticed the notification light. “I have urgent matters to attend to, but I will be back in five days so have the information ready.”

After leaving the cantina, reading the message on his way to find “cheap” transportation. He input the coordinates into the newly acquired speeder. Taking in the night air in the open cockpit he thought about the upcoming mission. Pulling into a garage within walking distance of the safe house he grabbed his bag and proceeded onward.

Safe house Corusant

Arriving at the safe house and opening the door, he was startled by the sight of Master Bo’Amar and two other brotherhood members. He approached Master Bo’Amar kneeling before him said, “What is thy bidding my Master?”

Undercity
Nar Shaddaa
Hutt Space

“No, I don’t think you’re getting the gist of what I want,” the wiry Wookie intoned, obviously annoyed and getting upset. “I’m willing to pay a fair price, but I want quality parts. This stuff you’re trying to push is bantha poodoo and you know it. Let me see your good stuff, Menko.”

The human twitched, still somewhat uneasy that the Wookie spoke Basic, despite it coming from an implanted vocator. It was just unsettling for a Wookie to not be speaking in their native language. For a second the Wookie thought that the hesitation by the human meant that he was actually going to reach for a weapon or something equally as foolish, but instead he merely removed a heavy tarp off of some goods in a dark corner.

“I can’t promise that they’re 100% working, but it’s virtually new.” The human sounded as if he was going to add something else, but then decided against it.

The Wookie decided to take the bait. “Why didn’t you just tell me so instead of playing these games?”

“Damn it, I wanted this for myself. You know these are hard to find, especially in this condition. I think all I need is a condensing capacitor and it’s done, ready for installation. You know the Salleen could use the upgrade.”

The Wookie thought for a moment. “Yeah, but I also know you have that gambling debt to pay off.” He made a snap decision, feeling magnanimous. “I’ll pay the entirety of your debt. You know you won’t get that kind of offer anywhere else, regardless of the condition of the part. You can take that heat off your back, and start anew. You can’t tell me that that’s not more than fair.”

The surprise in the human was evident on his face, but that gave way quickly to some suspicion. “Why are you willing to pay so much, eh?”

The Wookie shrugged, “I like you, Menko. You’re honest and fair and generally try not to play games. You’re just trying to make your way in the world. That’s pretty refreshing in this place,” gesturing towards the decaying city.

The human smiled. “That I am. Okay, I’ll get this over to your ship,” he said as he started to put the tarp back over the part. The Wookie gestured at it and said, “Take this back to the ship, ASP.”

A robotic “Affirmative” was the only sound that came from the labor droid, and the ASP-7 came forward, grasped the pallet the part was on, and started to trundle off. The Wookie passed over the requisite amount of credits to the human, and departed after the droid with no other words.

--

The cargo was stowed in place, and the Wookie was getting ready to depart when a blinking light caught his eye. He hit the transmission switch, and a hologram materialized with a message.

It finished playing, and the Wookie merely started to punch in new coordinates, pulling the hyperspace vectors from the local spaceport records. He sealed off the ship, and the YT-2000 lifted off, clawing for deep space. He cleared the shadow mass of the moon behind him, and the Wookie hit the lever for hyperspace.

--

Polar inbound point
Coruscant

The CEC-designed ship dropped out of hyperspace right where it should. The Wookie requested landing in the financial sector, and was given clearance. It landed without incidence, which was expected, despite the illegality of the recent part he had purchased. This military-grade shield generator was going to be a welcome addition to his ship.

The Wookie powered down the ship, set the usual automated defenses up, and left the ship. Twenty standard time parts later, and he arrived. He entered the apartment, and saw an old friend.

“…And now we are finally complete,” the young human said as he acknowledged the Wookie’s entry. He exchanged a friendly handshake with the Wookie, and the Wookie himself exchanged quick pleasantries with several of the members assembled.

“Okay, on to business,” the human said, command of the situation evident in his voice. “Callus, you’re the lead, please commence the briefing.”

The Epicanthix nodded. He concisely detailed the information passed down to them via the Dark Council, his military training evident in the format, context, and content of the briefing.

“This being said, here is the plan. Here on Coruscant we have a regional Sun-Manadyne facility and the Galactic Alliance Bank headquarters. We’re going to break into the Galactic Alliance building, put some slicing in place that will skim some of the daily transaction money that goes on, and place it into a Sun-Manadyne account that we own. The slicing program is virtually undetectable, and we’ve been given this by the Dark Council, so take it as gospel. That being said, we’re going to have to divide up into two separate teams. We need a stealthy entry team to put the slicing in place, and we need some sort of distraction team to keep their defenses oriented elsewhere. Volunteers?”

The Wookie raised his hand. “I’ll take the distraction duty. I’m too big for sneaking about in the shadows,” he said, which caused some of the more senior members to laugh a bit. Even though he was big, the Wookie had a talent for stealth.

The Wookie's movements and the seniors member's laughs caught the interest of one of the newer members. His gaze was met by Callus who silently nodded. The recently promoted Tyre would join the Wookie.

“Very well,” Callus said. He took further volunteers, and once everyone was settled in their role, they got down to serious planning. Callus was ready for them with detailed plans, holomaps, and with a grin, a virtual armory hidden behind a wall panel with caused them all to grin as well.

“Very well, we have very little time. We need to execute this plan tonight. Lambow, you might as well leave now with your team, you have more to accomplish.

The Wookie nodded, already loaded down with weaponry. He made a few quick burst transmissions from his handheld comm unit, and departed with his team. He knew this was going to be fun.

Tyre and Lambow exited the room, leaving Callus with Tisingtao and Kel to execute the more sensitive part of the mission.

Callus sighed and dropped back down onto the couch where he had been sitting previously. He reclined and threw his arms over the back of the couch, "Well," he said addressing his team, "looks like we get the fun job. I'm sure I don't have to explain what is at stake so we have to make sure everything goes down according to plan." Callus groaned, leaning forward with exaggerated effort. He reached out and activated the small holoprojector and brought up the schematic of the bank.

A green wireframe structure manifested its self before them. Next abright red line appeared and began snaking its way through the building, and eventually ended up in an auxiliary computer room where they would be able to upload the code and have a measure of privacy.

"The idea is simple enough though the execution may be a different matter." At Callus' words another set of lights appeared, this time white spots all along their path. "These markers are where we know security measures exist, anything from motion sensors, cameras, even laser grids. Our job is to circumvent them without alerting security. Luckily we have several choices to do so."

Callus zoomed the diagram in to a section where a white pinprick was obstructing their path. The area was a maintenance corridor, little used but it still warrented a security camera and motion detector. Callus stood and walked to another room in the apartment, he came back carrying two blue jumpsuits with janitorial credentials attached to them. He tossed them onto the couch and made his way back to sit down.

"One way is to disguise ourselves, though as you see we only have two disguises with legitimate identification credentials. Another way of course is to use the force to move the camera away from us, though if anyone was watching the camera they would know something was up. What I suggest is this, we 'acquire' another disguise and credentials and that will get us passed several of the checkpoints. The other problems I think we can handle when we run up against them."

Callus leaned back and waited for a response from either of the other two members of his team.

Safe House
Coruscant

As Tyre closed the apartment door he gazed over at Lambow; he had never heard a Wookie speak Basic, he was surprised to say the least. Lambow looked at him while slightly tilting his head as if he wondered what the young Umbaran was thinking.

“So you’re a Wookie that can speak basic?” Tyre was pretty direct when it came to questions.
“With the help of this vocalizer yes.” The Wookie pointed at his throat where the machine had been implanted.
“I have a rather silly question…can we get something to eat? I rushed over here when I received the message and I burned my breakfast.” Tyre scratched the back of his head as the Wookie laughed and nodded.
“We still have some time before the mission starts; I already put the droids I reprogrammed on hold.” The Wookie let out a sigh and gestured the young Umbaran to follow him.

--

The sun shone brightly as the unlikely duo made their way across the busy streets of Coruscant. The planet had notably changed after the Yuuzhan Vong incursion, as fauna and flora were starting to become more abundant on the planet. The Wookie stopped at a typical cantina and turned to Tyre as he nudged his head towards to door. Both of them made their way inside where they were greeted by Mon Calamari waiter, getting directed to one of the tables in the back. Tyre ordered a whole blue milk and A Ho'Din-style veggie omelet while the Wookie friendly shook his head when the waiter took the orders. A few minutes passed as Tyre was gobbling down the meal when he notices the Wookie hitting a few buttons on his handheld comm. unit. When asked about it he mentioned that he was preparing the droids he had salvaged for action.

After paying for the meal the Umbaran and the Wookie made their way to the financial district with the use of an airbus, intending to start the operation.

--

Safe House
Coruscant

Tsingtao and Kel both nodded at Callus, they knew what they had to do. The three of them swiftly left the safe house and went in search for the third set of credentials. Time was running short, and they knew that they had only one chance to execute the operation.

Callus transmitted a message to the whole team telepathically, “It’s now or never guys”

“Well if we only have two janitorial credentials and uniforms, we should make the third uniform we get be like a tech specialist uniform with proper credentials. That way we can all sneak in and the janitorial crew can play lookout for the specialist.” Apprentice Kel Kaveel said, “We can also time the arrival of the tech specialist with the attack of the other group so they won’t think twice about calling ahead to check to see if they are scheduled to have auxiliary computer mainframe checked out. Also if need be the janitorial crew can create a second diversion to take all suspicion away from the specialist so he can make a clean get away. I think this is the best option but it is up to you Master Callus. I am just proud to serve.”


"I think that since we only have the two credentials we should send the two in and have the third run interference." Tisingtao spoke in a devoius manner, "I believe that Kel could run the little distraction for us while we implement the plan, this way the security force would be have to be on two fronts not knowing exactly which threat is more harmful whether it be on the inside or the threat on the outside. Kel could use the airducts to sneak around and take out some of the security and possibly take control of the security room so we have control of the security cameras. This way we have total control of the situation making the mission that much easier."