Log:Mergers and Acquisitions
A group of Bounty Hunters follow up on a hefty bounty offered for the retrieval of a rogue scientist and a blaster manufacturer's prototype for a modernized weapon.
OOC Date: September 17 and September 23, 2022
Location: Uscru District, Coruscant and Silent II
Participants: Sumi Kora, Amal Jha, Xaz Kisus, Aphelion, Kael Greystorm, Kohnner, Zevin Daodhri, Xana Otir
Part 1
Aphelion has gotten in touch with the two Mandalorians who competed in Hex's little dangerous contest for the vaunted E-Web. Given that they are both bounty hunters and likely would be interested in a job that might be both dangerous and notable, he's had them join him in the Hunter's Howl, the ship barely able to fit four crewmembers, but still large enough that the trip to the planet considered to be the crown jewel of the Sith Empire would be comfortable.
Clad in his bounty hunter's guild armor, he looks between both and says, clearly: "We're going after a rogue scientist who used to work for BlasTech. He's decided to turn cloak and went into a fringe competitor's business, where they'll start building some kind of prototype blaster that might be halfway to a disruptor. Our job is to intercept the contact in Coruscant."
"I expect us to find some moderate resistance, but nothing the three of us can't handle by ourselves. Any questions?"
Xaz Kisus is settled comfortably in his Mandalorian armor while the ship glides through space. Nodding his head as he hears the goal of their trip there is a look toward Xana as he nods in her direction. "I think the three of us should have an easy time with most missions, working as a team." Checking the bracer he wears with its whipcord launcher he seems pleased with it. "We taking this guy alive I take it?"
Xana, too, is settled comfortably in her armor. She's been mostly quiet for the duration of the trip. Tilting her head as she listens to Aphelion, when he asks if she has any questions, she considers, then looks to Xaz. When Xaz asks about taking the bounty alive, she chuckles, quietly, in her help. "I mean - as long as that prototype doesn't get built...." "Yes, his bounty is to be taken alive. So make sure that you set your blaster bolts to stun. I don't care what happens to their escort, and I don't think our bounty holder does, either." Aphelion inclines his head to Xaz, glancing over to his locker. There are quite a few guns in there, most of all associated with the bounty hunter's guild, so it seems obvious that he might get to make use of a few of them in the course of their mission.
"Too easy, kill the escort and capture the scientist." Xaz nods to Aphelion before drawing his pistol and checking it's load, looking down the sight to validate his weapon is good for battle. "Do we have an idea the numbers we're up against?" Slipping the pistol away he turns his attention to Xana adding, "We can all go for the escort first maybe, then black bag the scientist, if he tries to fight we stun him?"
"We don't have an idea, but I have my doubts it will be more than half a dozen, scientist included. If we do this right, they will not be the heavily armed folks this fringe corporation is known to employ but local punks willing to make an easy cred." After making sure his guns are loaded, Aphelion nods to Xaz and Xana. "Sounds like a good option, all in all. Go for the escort first, incapacitate the scientist."
Xana continues to sit comfortably, although she does reach for her pistol, changing the setting from kill to stun, likely. "Do we need to worry about them taking out the scientist if they realized he's going to get caught?" she wonders, tilting her head as she looks toward Aphelion.
"Maybe, but this is why we are going in hot. We'll worry about interrogating the scientist afterwards. If they got the prototype, we might have to raid their HQ." Aphelion replies, before rising to his feet. "Alright, briefing's done, but we'll get there soon. Be ready." Xaz Kisus nods his helmeted head once more and then gets to his feet. Having already checked his weapon, armor and equipment he gets to work helping Xana check her armor while turning to let her check the back of his. It's a normal task the Mandalorian's go through before missions.
Part 2
When the Howl touches down on the rundown starport, they get to surprise the entourage of four coming to board a freighter that is in weight for them. One of them, of course, is the scientist; he looks the part that has been sent to their respective datapads, down to the very recognizable scowl on the man's face. His entourage of three start to bring out their guns to bear, ready to start a gunfight. Aphelion draws his own gun, gripping it tightly for the possibility of combat.
Xana Otir sets up an Merr-Sonn "E-Web" - 18303, priming the weapon and preparing to deal some heavy damage!
Xana Otir breaks down the Merr-Sonn "E-Web" - 18303 and stows it!
Xana Otir quickly unholsters her MWC "Enforcer" 48 - 13861, the ballistic pistol's safety being switched off in one smooth motion.
Xana, too, draws her weapon - she moves her thumb, as if to set it to stun, but then realizes it doesn't have a stun function. Shrugging, she mutters something to the two to that effect.
Once they are in place and spot their mark and his guards, Xaz gives a nod to his companions and speaks softly over their coms, "I'm going to rush forward and gun for the doctor, Xana can strike the guards, if I don't put the doctor down, Aphelion maybe you hit'm next to make sure the doctor doesn't escape while we fight."
With that said he starts to close in, taking up position when in range and letting loose with his W-35, two stun bolts shot right at the doctor as the opening salvo is launched.
Aiming at one of the guards, Xana lets loose with the pistol. The first two hits strike, taking the mercenary guard down. The last one flies wide, and through the com, she can be heard sucking in her breath through her teeth, annoyed at herself.
As Xana targets one of the mercs, Aphelion targets the other. Stun bolts find their target and soon the man is incapacitated in the ground, after which the more senior of the bounty hunters considers their variety of targets.
The bounty hunters make quick work of the two merc goons trailing after their captain as well as making sure the scientist goes nowhere. With one of the mercs positively dead thanks to a couple of well placed slugthrower shots, and another stunned and out for the count, Dunn tries to book it to the freighter with a shooting retreat. He fires at Xas Kisus once and the shot flies wide.
With the shot going wide, Xaz moves after Dunn and opens fire. The first stun bolt hits while the second goes wide. "Do we want to take this guy alive too?" Asking the question over the coms it seems like he's not worried since they have the target already stunned and down.
"Hm?" Xana mutters through the coms, not quite understanding what Xaz asked, about taking Dunn alive. She trains her enforcer on Dunn, then misses, three times! Pissed, she lets out a string of curses into the com, saying some questionably curious and insulting things about Dunn and what she'd do to his dead corpose.
"There is no need, but it would probably be best if we let that one casualty stand as the only mess we leave behind here," Aphelion watches as the Mandalorians try to shoot at Dunn- he gets dazed by Xaz's shot, but Xana's well-placed bullets don't quite reach the surprisingly nimble but dazed mercenary.
The senior hunter fires thrice at him, and when the final stun bolt does strike a part of Dunn's body, he collapses like a house of cards. "Let's secure the target and leave, go go go." Xaz Kisus makes his way over to the downed group. Slipping the pistol away he starts to secure the doctor. Nodding to Dunn he asks Aphelion and Xana, "Should we bring him in too or leave him here?" Making sure their mark is cuffed up he throws them over his shoulder and waits for the others before heading back to the ship.
"I suppose we can take him in for questioning." Aphelion comments, before nodding to the Mandalorians. They can do the restraining bits; he'll take care of making sure the ship is ready for launch. Holstering his gun, he punches a code on the ramp to allow them to cart the new prisoners in.
"Since I think our employers will want to know what happened to their product." "Someone might pay for him," Xana remarks, using her foot to roll over the other merc, the one she shot, double checking to make sure he's dead and won't cause them any problems. If asked, she'll drag the merc along - otherwise, she'll leave him behind, then make her way to the ship.
Part 3
The briefing is given on the way to this little planet in the Salient System. A nascent arms corporation managed to steal an accurate prototype blaster from BlasTech and was in the process of reverse engineering it when the chief defector engineer in charge of the project was apprehended by Xaz, Xana and Aphelion. Interrogation led them to understand this is a bigger undertaking than any individual or small group can handle; the prototype, the thing that is bountied, is in a top secret, grey-zone compound in Salient II.
Thankfully, they have an access pass that will allow them to lead a transport big enough to fit all of them into one of the hangars. What they do from there, though, is entirely up to the bounty hunters.
Aphelion glances out the viewport, preparing his Glie-44. "Do we go loud, or are we taking the sneakier route this time around?"
<"I do not sneak,"> Sumi indicates in a dull voice, rising up and walking a small distance while checking the load in her enforcer's cylinder. When she spins it shut noisily, the weapon is guided back to a holster on her side, and she brushes her cape over to cover it. Each step she takes after is percussed with the jingle-jangle noise of spent shell casings she's accumulated and stored in a dump pouch on her belt.
The only thing CHON KOHNNER did was LOUD. <<"I vote for violent smash and grab. Sends a message but then again, I'm biased.">> The Klatooinian said from behind the helmet of his void armor, the hood of his worn, torn, and tattered beige cloak resting over that helmet he wore. He had his sword with him, the pommel of which stuck out just a tad from beyond the cloak's opening.
There is a look to Sumi, a low growl or howl of approval in her words. A hand moves to rest leisurely upon the exposed hilt of his blade. He waited for others to speak.
<<"Load works for me.">> Xaz speaks calmly in response to the question posed from Aphelion, his features hidden behind the Mandalorian armor helm he wears. Checking his weapon he switches the toggle to kill then slips it back in the holster at his side. The armor is checked as he nods to indicate he's ready when the group is ready to move.
The white skinned, white haired, white clothed Echani looked up from where she was attaching a series of oddly iridescent plates to her bodysuit, glancing over at the array of bounty hunters collected in the rear of the transport, "I lack the ability to 'go loud'." Indeed, she looked no different than she ever did, and carried neither greater weaponry than her usual, nor armor, "I will defer to the consensus of the group."
Kael listens to the briefing for a bit and shrugs, "I'm fine with whatever however I'm thinking why bother with sneaking we know we're going to go loud after a bit." He does tap his pistols to make sure they're secure before checking his sword as well, "I'm also not really worried about the loud or not."
"Like a good sneak, m'self." Zevin was definitely standing there the whole time, he's just been quiet, perhaps even stealthy. He's leaning slightly against the wall with one shoulder, his right foot crossed over his left with the toe facing the ground, arms crossed. "But I kin read a room. Sounds like we're blowin' the front door off its engines." He wiggles a few fingers at Amal Jha, but says aloud, "Ah'm sure we kin use our ind-ev-id-ual skill sets - app-pro-priately."
"All right, the people have spoken. In a manner of speaking." Aphelion switches his gun to 'kill', because let's be honest. Everyone doing security in a shady compound is likely to be expedable or sinister or a little bit of both. This might as well be a fully criminal enterprise. Because Sumi is the senior bounty hunter, he entrusts her with the security pass the previous recon phase had secured.
"Let's get this on the road."
And once they leave the transport, they are greeted with a mostly empty hangar. There are droids putting pallets and containers in their due places, but otherwise, there is little in the way of living population in this particular side of the facility. The gate leading to what is identified in a sign as 'main hallway' appears to require a card, while a glimpse in the durable transparent window makes it clear that there -are- some patrols in the adjacent area.
Sumi steps off the transport and lands heavily on both feet. The way her knees bend, and how she rises slowly back up, are all indications of age and the toll it took on old knees. Still, Sumi takes to walking ahead, having tucked the keycard in a pouch on her belt for safekeeping. She did not brandish a weapon, yet. Her focus was on their surroundings for the moment, studying the droids going about their tasks with the pallets. She takes notice of the gateway requiring a keycard and walks toward it, chancing a view of the guards patrolling.
Enhanced optics afford Sumi a better look at their demeanor and outfit, cluing her in on the fact that, <<"These guys look like hardened vets; scuffed armor, scarred.. call it intuition.">> Sumi's comment is shared over comms, not aloud thus confined to her helmet. She fetches out the card and prepares to use it to get inside..
Chon steps down right after Sumi, nod drawing his sword just yet. He looks around, attempting to find a computer port of some sort. Perhaps some information can be gleamed from the central computer. However, he finds nothing just yet. He turns his head back to Sumi as she speaks on the guards beyond they gateway. <<"Then we shall stay frosty.">> Kohnner's stomach growled. He was thinking about Ice Cream again.
Xaz Kisus draws his pistol as they all start to plot their moves. Looking to those gathered he falls in line with his gun at the ready, not speaking just yet but ready to act should it be needed. Turning his head in Sumi's direction as she speaks over the coms he nods in agreement with bot her and Chon's words.
Amal, exiting with the rest of the team, moved towards one of a similar of the passkey terminals to Sumi, recalling, perhaps, the information that had been passed on to them about the entry access they had been given. Light, gloves fingers moved over the panel as she brought up the relevant information, "It appears that there are a number of passkeys which will grant access to the areas of the base. We have access to research and staging. Anything secured will require either a different key, or to alter this key to add that access ability."
Kael hops down after the others arm over his head as he stretches a bit, "Oh fun. Professionals for once." Arm loosened up he relaxes he's not the one running point on this Op so he's going to defer to the ones handling the lead but like some of the others he's got no weapon in hand but that's par for course for anybody that knows him.
Zevin's face disappears inside his helmet as he tugs it down into place. He is content to let others walk in the vanguard, sticking to the side away from the window. His steps take him next to the gate as Sumi gets the security card out, tilting his head just so to give a few through the gaps in the gate, examining the corridor.
<<"We might need extra access inside R&D, too.">> He also favors comms over the distorted voice from the helmet that can sometimes carry a little far. A small nod forward and his hand falls next to where his riot baton sits, retracted, on his thigh, and a blaster pistol. <<"Doors on both sides, but there're some lockin' mechanisms on the /hallway side/,">> he emphasizes. <<"Get what I'm sayin'? Might be holdin' prisoners, or maybe researchers stay in for months at a time. Seen that a few times before.">> The ultimate in compartmentalized security is, of course, a sealed compartment from which nothing leaves.
When the gate opens with a mechanical hiss, one typical of both hydraulics and pressurization, they are faced with a hallway where about two or three of them can walk shoulder to shoulder. As Zevan mentioned, six doors on either side seem to be absent of a lock or any kind of opening mechanism from the outside, the doors made of reflective and reinforced durasteel.
A couple of guards seem to be making their way to their periphery, armed with rifles.
Aphelion turns to the others, looking at Sumi, waiting for the senior bounty hunter to make the introductions of the Guild to these glorified mercenaries.
When Amal addresses the concern about the security card, Sumi acknowledges with a quiet nod. <"Do you think you will be able to add access? Or should we just lift cards off the dead?"> Regardless, the door opens this time and Sumi turns to look down the corridor, spotting several mercenaries stepping into range. At this distance, Sumi has enough time to clear leather and fire, and that's evident by the poor marksmanship that follows.
She brandishes a night-sniper pistol, toggling silent and firing a trio of times. The blaster doesn't make a single sound until impact. One bolt pelts a mercenary, but the subsequent hammered pair are only successful in delivering sparks that shower over the group.
Sumi calmly indicates, <"Contacts. Weapons free.."> Meaning it was time to go to work.
As soon as Sumi lets loose her volley of blaster fire, Kohnner is running towards the freshest target he can smell. His booted feet thud with the heaviness and violent purpose of a canine on the hunt, about to tack their prey. His right hand slips off the hilt of his sword and instead grabs the vibroblade there. With a quick flick of his thumb, the High Frequency Resonator kicks on and the blade starts to ungulate violently. With a powerful arm, He slashes the short blade across the throat of the guard, still recovering from the hail of sparks caused by Sumi's missed shots. Throat severed, hands drop the rife he was carrying as they find the wound, attempting to keep the bubbling blood grom leaving. The attempts were in vain. The Merc collapses to the ground, gurgling and spitting up blood all while trying to gain breath. <<"Herm...">> Kohnner ponders as he looks at the blast-doors through the hallway.
Xaz Kisus watches as Sumi and Kohnner attack the guards. With one still up he lifts and takes aim with his pistol, firing two quick shots that finish off the wounded guard. Looking around to make sure they haven't been made just yet he keeps guard for the others to check the guards for gear.
In answer to Sumi's question, Amal offered, moving into position, and drawing her rapier from the sheath hidden beneath her duster, "I see no reason not to attempt both. They will know we are in the building in any case." She did not engage the incoming security directly, nor even give much of a reaction to the bodies dropping to the floor, save for a sidestep to avoid a spurt of blood. Clearly, the goal was not to require a dry cleaner this early in the operation. Instead, as the team move forward, Amal bent to strip the dead of any security cards they might have had on their person, tucking the cards away into a pocket of her duster. A tip of her head, and she lifted a hand, signaling, as, while she did have comms, she did not have a helm to mask the sound of her voice. Three fingers, drawn down in a straight line towards her body. The signal was clear, 'Three targets, incoming, corridor. Towards us.' That same hand lifted to her ear, tapping the comm unit there and them her mouth, 'Talking to others.'
Kael chuckles as things kick off his own X-8 coming up into his hand the other hand remaining empty for the moment watching as the others rapidly drop all the current guards then a quick glance over as Amal handles the gathering of security cards and then just sadly looks around some. At the call from Amal about folks heading their way he moves off to the side and preps his pistol for silent shooting.
With all hostiles in sight down, Zevin proceeds down the corridor, following Amal Jha as she appropriates what these guards no longer need. When she signs the approach of more, he moves at a half-crouch as quickly as he can while staying unheard. At the intersection, he pulls his riot baton free without actually thumbing the activator, listening for the sound of approaching footsteps. The baton stays off, not letting the electric current that characterizes the Z6 when it's live compromise the stealth of his approach.
Aphelion gestures for the other hunters to move forward, should they wish; he'll cover the rear. Such as it is, it won't take long until they hear the buzz of an emergency alert resound through the hallway. That means that they hear a lot of steps, but the three closest to them were already seen; this is no issue to hunters who have gone loud. The three have blaster pistols drawn and at the ready, no requests for the invaders to stop or surrender are given.
Ready to open fire as soon as they see their possible targets, the telltale hiss of an inside-deck door opening reveals the quarters of two armored officers, bearing carbines, and training their guns at the group from the flank.
With his Glie at the ready, the private investigator turned full bounty hunter trains his weapon on one of them.
Moving forward at a casual clip, Sumi holsters the night sniper pistol and unhooks the baton on her belt. A press of a button, and the weapon SNAPS, extending forward with its end unfolding into a serrated edged mace. Once extended and deployed, she spins the weapon, charging it to the point electricity begins to crackle from its serrated end. <"Come on then; line up to die.."> Sumi is in no hurry to close the distance, there's more than enough to go around!
Kohnner turns towards the coming mercenaries as they make their way towards then. The alarms don't surprise him, them not going off sooner did. There is a glance to Sumi as she unleashes her Z6. Chon sheaths his vibrodagger after turning the resonator off, then slowly draws his long blade. <<"Perhaps I should have brought my own Z6. Sharpened steel will have to do.">> He chuckles, huffing a laugh with those large teeth he has getting in the way.
Amal, having secured the cards, rose to her feet. She took the time to scan the hallway for access points for the cards, clearly thinking of a plan, but moving as she did, as she took off at a run down the hall towards the incoming troops. "We need to buy time to lock down these doors so that we control the terrain, and not the security teams." All of that, as her rapier snapped to life, the normally silvery blade bleeding that odd cross between arterial crimson red and that pink foam of bubbling blood, lighting the side of her white attire with reflected red as she advanced on one of the guards, stabbing at gut first, and then, on the upswing, as she withdrew the weapon, slicing at throat, opening the flesh to the bone, a foot rising to kick away the corpse.
Kael's pistol would snap off with a pew pew sound three times except it was on silent mode so it was a barely audible click of the trigger moving three times as the red bolt flies off at one of the guards hitting a solid two times before the third hits the wall behind where he used to be standing, "Tango down."
Xaz Kisus with everyone having finished off the current guards he gives a salute to his group with his pistol. Motioning in the direction they need to move he turns and starts to move off to to face the remaining guards and others. Amal Jha dashes past him and slices through one. Kael steps around the corner and shoots a second one down. His thumb flips the actuator, extending the baton to its full length, as Zevin wheels around the corner. He knocks the blaster out of the last guard's hand, sweeps his legs out from under him as the muscles convulse, and then a final brutal strike against the fallen guard's head with the full strength of a punch, but carries by the frame of the weapon. That last strike might even have been unnecessary, but better to confirm.
The two that come out do so shooting. Aphelion is shot badly to the center mass, staggering him back despite the protection afforded by his guild armor, while the other shoots at Kael. Blood isn't leaking everywhere yet, but there is a hole where some non-essential part of his organs should be. The more newly minted bounty hunter than the others tries to manage a shot back at one of the chiefs, trying to ensure cover fire for them even as he's wounded.
Meanwhile, the sound of boots comes from around the corner, which means that they'll need to move along quickly to get to the objective before it's too late.
The Security chief is not long for the world when he crosses path with Sumi Kora. A single blow from the baton jettisons the chief to one side, caving a portion of the wall in to cradle his body and absorb the kinetic concussion of his impact. He fell from the cradle, landing on the ground and struggling to rise back up. Sumi strikes a second time, under the chin, killing him with a blow that spilled the contents of his head in a mural along one wall.
Her attack is not done as she twists in place and swings at one of the four mercenaries, but it seems they had the presence of mind to back away from her thus leaving the final blow a whistling miss that left Sumi's cape partly airborne and shifting with her momentum.
Kohnner keeps moving, coming into contact with some of the trained Mercenaries they've been running through as they try to get to their objective. The Space Ronin hefts a powerful swing, easily dodged. However, his follow up is far to quick and accurate. His blade slices through the shoulders, sharp metal ripping through one side, rising again, and ripping through the other. Kohnner's hands bring the blade down in a double handed chopping motion. His cloak flows as he moves.
As more of the security force moved into position to engage the incoming hunters, Amal moved as well, sidestepping the bodies at her feet to engage with the mercenaries being directed towards them by the security chief now having been decommissioned by Sumi. A single lunge that opened a wound in one of the mercenaries chests and created an exit in his back sizzled with the smell of burning blood, before Amal kicked that body away as well, a flick of her wrist clearing the weapon a swing missing, but pushing back another.
Kael looks over as the officers pop out firing moving off to the side slightly his left hand reaches down and draws the Sentinel IV at his hip coming up he squeezes the trigger and just drops the one who thought it was a good idea to fire on him. Then the X-8 comes up and squeezes off another two shots one hitting one of the mercs with a solid hit before he looks around, "Guess we move on now yes?"
Seeing everyone handily dealt with, Zevin just holds up his arm and leans his hand forward, the universal sign to advance. <"We poked the nest, folks. Let's get it done 'fore the whole place falls on us."> He returns his baton to his side once it stops bearing a current and pulls a blaster pistol out. As he moves past each door he covers it, in case someone jumps out - again. Only two mercenaries of the four are left, and then they are taken out in short order along with the security chiefs who had flanked the group are dead. Aphelion nods affirmatively to Kael, trying to make a run with the rest of the group. It is hard, however, to run when you are wounded almost to the point of incapacitation. That's how bad that chief got him.
The next few hallways seem winding, but a sign and the glimpse of a R&D hallway indicates they're in the right direction. Then they face some locked double doors with an access pass.
Amal, seeing that, for the moment, the way was clear, lowered her weapon to low ready, as she headed down the hall, making a straight line for the control panel, slipping one of the cards she had retrieved from the guards from her pocket, "I will do what I can to open the way towards the item that we need." While Amal was not known to be a slicer of any great merit, the echani had at least some skill as she worked, "We should have a way through now." The rapier lifted, and she used it, much like a baton, to gesture that the team should proceed ahead.
As Amal took the initiative to lead the way, Sumi passed the KEYCARD to AMAL so she could use it in the event it quickly got them through locked doors. Sumi turned to the team and motioned with great enthusiasm that they move. <"Let's go, people. Assholes and elbows, stay with Ms. Amal. /You/.."> Sumi indicates Aphelion, <"Are with me."> She takes hold of one arm and casts it over her shoulder before assuming the majority of his weight to offset his wounds and compensate any struggle he had in moving. In her free hand, she held her melee weapon just in case, the electricity still sparking.
<<"I will have a hard time deciding whether I am an Asshole or an Elbow... such a philosophical conundrum.">> Kohnner mentioned as he moved forwards as Amal and Sumi instructed. His tone was so dead pan it was hard to tell if he was serious or joking. There really was no way to tell, especially with his helmet on.
Kael moves over to a separate control panel as Amal works on getting the team further in Kael looks towards the direction that folks would be chasing and gets a bit of a grin on his face as he starts to dive into the system annnnnnd click... "That should slow 'em down just a bit. As much as I love shooting some mercs in the face I really don't like getting shot." Zevin gives a quick look at Kohnner. <"Oh, elbow, definitely."> How did he come to that judgment?
Nevertheless he's off running, armor not slowing him down. While Sumi is helping support Aphelion, he takes the role of rear guard when they reach the gate and Amal Jha gets to work on it, backing up and aiming down side corridors, covering Kael while he closes off avenues of pursuit.
<"How's it lookin'?"> He still has his back to the important work. Does he suspect they'll come through the vents, or that they're in the walls? "Thanks," Aphelion mentions to Sumi, with a firm nod, looking a little worse for wear. His helmet shields some of that 'worse from wear' from plain sight, but it's clear that his vitals aren't top notch, given the nasty blaster hit that he took.
As the door is locked, the guards that were shut out from the hallway try to bang on it, to no avail. The further they get into the hall, the closer they get to a white room of sorts. Before they can get to it, they hear a mechanical whirr.
<"Don't thank me yet. You're still bleeding, and we're still getting chased."> Despite the seriousness of the situation, Sumi isn't all that fazed or concerned about being in a bad situation. She /trusts/ Zevin with their six and doesn't even spare a glance back, knowing the Mando has them covered and if he didn't, he'd say so. <"Danger ahead.. turret by the looks of it."> Sumi pauses a moment to resettle and redistribute Aphelion's weight before moving again.
Kohnner steps aside to allow others in and start to clear the room. He keeps his blade at a mid to low guard. As movement happens on the cieling, canine eyes pick it up, head turning to see the turret. <<"I see it...">> He stops in his tracks and watches it move, hoping perhaps his lack of movement will spare him an attack while others more suited disable the turret.
Amal's head snapped up, as she caught sight of movement above her head, Sumi's words narrowing her focus. "I think they have ideas about you locking them in their rooms." That, she offered to Kael, as he announced the lockdown, and Amal stepped forward, a flick of her wrist snapping the rapier into its whip form. "I really hope we are close to the end of the line." Thankfully, the echani was tall for a female, and wearing heels integrated into her bodyglove (so fashion!), so that as she spun to gain momentum, that the whip was high enough that the vibro weapon wrapped around the turret, and the edges of the electrified blade sheared through the housing on the turret to cut it from the ceiling, as Amal completed the turn, using momentum and her own body weight to do the work of bringing it down. Another flick of her wrist returned the whip to its rapier form.
Kael's head snaps up to the movement over his head as well the Sentinel IV aimed at the turret and then the chain whip comes through knocking it out of commission and he chuckles, "Nice." The pistol comes back down and reholstered so that he can double check what he'd done on the computer for just a moment, "I need to get me one of those one of these days."
Everyone's saying they see something, but Zevin, despite a quick glance to the side, does not see it. He's just watching that they don't get ambushed- then he hears the sound of the an overpowered plasma-driven weapon slicing through - something.
He accidentally bumps into Kael as he's backing up, since people stopped to deal with the turret. <"Ah, pardon me.">
<"Still nobody reachin' us back here."> He lets out a sigh. <"I gotta bad feelin' 'bout this.">
Reaching the white room with the prototype is easy, after that. The clear indication the prototype is not yet assembled, but in the pieces that were requested by the bounty, is the suitcase-looking container in the center of the room. It has been open, and it is under study, but it appears as if the room has been evacuated.
On the other hand, there is an abomination marching into the room. More machine than man, this individual appears to have once been a soldier who got the worst side of a deal.
Whether to engage him or not is up to the hunters; certainly, they do have a clear way out if they seek it out. "I think you're right," Aphelion comments to Sumi upon spotting the abomination. It's just with a bit of a sour note, but he nods to a corner. "I'll get myself some cover, let you guys engage it, provide support if I can. Better off out of its sight, though," he speaks into his comm to the lieutenant.
Sumi helps Aphelion to cover before joining the other warriors in combat with the abomination. Her swings are feral, wild, and wholly avoided, but Sumi is giggling as she spins in tandem with the technoadept. A challenging fight is the best gift a Mandalorian can receive! Sumi's boot soles squeal along the floor as she slides, then she twists, her cape going wide for a second before settling again. <"WOO.. loving this.. let's go!"> She motions the others to jump in on it!
"Take the package, we'll hold this thing off." That was all of the warning Amal gave, before she raised her weapon, moving in to attempt to flank the soldier, if possible, using the longer reach of the rapier to her advantage as she sought for the places where metal was grafted into meat, stabbing, rather than slicing, as that was what the weapon was best at. A flick of her wrist to clear whatever it was that passed for its blood, before she pivoted, to find another angle. This is not the command you're looking for. (Try "help" or "+help" for help.)
The Technoadept was about to engage and did engage, its servos fully turned toward Sumi while they had their little dance. It left it fully exposed to Amal's flanking, and then Kael's shots, and finally Zevin's zapping of it. As it falls into a messy pile on the floor, it could still be recovered by DynaGuard, perhaps. Even adapted, made even less human... or had another biosystem (read: living, thinking person) integrated to the existing shell with some adjustments.
Whatever it might happen to it down the road, the sound of boots just outside the door the Technoguard came in from hints that their time is short.
But with the cargo acquired, they can waltz right out. Aphelion's busy laying down cover fire as the first few officers march out the door, gesturing for the others. Sumi has charged through and past it, Amal Jha is making neat stabs that bubble pitch as she dances with it. The way Zevin moves is somewhere in between, gliding forward on even steps that wouldn't be out of place in a formal duel, but attacking with what's best described as a mace covered in electricity in a forward punching-motion that goes wide.
He pirouettes under and to the side, in the opposite direction the Echani did, disengaging the weapon's lock so that the 'hammer' flips out and around to hit the TechnoGuard with even greater force when it finally connects. For a moment it seems electricity is flowing both from the cyborg to the Z6 baton or from the baton to the cyborg, but the cyborg gets the far worse end of the deal.
He tries to slam the thing again, but he expects movement and misses - because it's not moving anymore. He tilts his head to the side. <"For real? Sheee-it, this company was gonna be a penny-stock soon 'nough even with/out/ us.">
Kael turns towards that whatever it is because it's not quite a droid and far from a biological creature anymore and just starts unloading with his pistols the Sentinel IV barking once before it's followed by two bolts of the X-8 silent but deadly as they fly towards the thing and pinging off the armor but still leaving burn marks on the armor.
Several personnel at DynaGuard dead, one prototype recovered, Aphelion is wounded but this isn't new to him in this new turn of careers. He'll have to learn to dodge blaster bolts if he wants to survive further engagements, but the Bounty Hunters did waltz into a highly secured complex, retrieved their target, fought a wicked prototype and nobody even died.
As for DynaBlast - a subsidiary of DynaCorp - after their rogue engineer and the prototype were apprehended, their tibanna-recycling blaster was unable to make it to production. BlasTech, of course, bought the prototype -and- the engineer from the originating corporation, so their TL-32 will be released to the marketing in... ten or so years, when the New Republic, or some other power, looks to make themselves some new standard issue gun.
All in all, a job well done.
