Log:Sending a Message

Rebel Yell takes down two crooks who hurt their own - at a cost.

OOC Date: February 10, 2016
Location: Nar Shaddaa
Participants: Stavros as GM and himself, Uli Gosse, Kelnas, Lowkeyyy, Kasia Ciph

It's late - late enough that even the night owls among Rebel Yell have crept off to bed. Uli's been planning this a few days now. He heard all the speeches about not doing things alone and not letting people push him around. Or rather, he //heard// the first, but he absorbed the second. That's why, geared up, he sneaks across the tarmac. It would have been easier to sneak from the apartment he shares with his sister, but then he would have had to explain why he was taking his armor home.

Given Uli's protests, which weren't necessarily overcome but did eventually stop, this was not entirely unsuspected. It might even have been anticipated. Or Stavros is simply on his way back from partying while flashing his Rebel Yell tags. Regardless, he is in his full armor, including the vaguely bubble-ish helmet, and the HUD shows him more than he would usually see, including the thermal image of a certain pickpocket trying to sneak across the tarmac. He moves to try to intercept. "Uli?" When did he start wearing armor? Never. "Uli!" he whispers urgently. "Expecting a fight?"

Having been given the high sign from Stavros, Kelnas has made his way out into the Tarmac as well. Dressed in his own Armor with a Holocaust style cloak over that, its with less than stealthy feet that the Wroonian approaches. Tripping over the edge f the damned thing, he stumbles forward and bangs into a crate while patting himself down for a lighter. "WEll...shit. that could have been a better entrance."

Lowkeyyy has just returned from a trade run to Kash and was finishing up his work with the market, the wookiee is usually always in his armor, but rarely does he have on his helmet, tonight he does and he really hadn't had much notice to get ready when Stav sent word around to be prepared for something. Low hears Stavros' words and the wookiee steps away from his spot near the hangar for the Rebel Yell, he is an extremely disconcerting sight to suddenly appear from the shadows, well over 7 feet tall and over 300 pounds, wearing heavy armor to boot, with a bowcaster strapped to his back and a massive sword on his right hip. Lowkeyyy strides in the direction of Stavros, covering the distance in more or less half the steps a normal person would take. "Slice and dice time?"

With word passed around that something was happening, and not wanting to miss out or not help, Kasia is there as well. In pants. Well, armor. Pants alone are unusual, armor is something that almost never happens here, but she's in it tonight as she too slips out from her hiding spot at the sound of Stavros addressing Uli. She doesn't say anything just yet, but merely continues to approach the others.

Uli freezes. Then he lets out a low hissing sound when he sees all the people emerging from the dark with their gear on, all dramatic-like. So busted. Ultra-busted. He looks at them all, then straightens up. "I'm impressed that you all suited up to stop me from going. Yes, I am that much of a badass." He gives Stavros A Look. "Look, I wanted to take care of this without getting anyone involved."

"Yeah," Stavros says dryly. Very, very dryly. "I know. But we are involved, because we've got your back, whether you like it or not." He puts his hands on his hips. Well, his armored hands on his armored hips. "There may come a time when you really, honest-to-fates do not want us to have your back anymore." He looks through the transparisteel dome at Uli. "We'll cross that skyway when we come it. Tonight, you're stuck with us." He starts leading the way down from Parmac's, beckoning the others with a small wave. "Did you have a plan? Kelnas found out about a transaction happening tonight. We've got the location where the Nostri brothers will be. What all we do-" He glances back at their little team. "That depends on what you want. They beat you and cut you; I'm inclined to be a little rough." He continues walking, though. "I know a guy, taxi pilot. He can get us where we need to go. He's waiting near the station for me to call him."

Falling in step with Uli, Kelnas grins as his lights his cigarette. "Yeah. your buddies are meeting up to clear a shipment of black market motivators through a warehouse I heard about...or Motivate a herd of Black market Twi'leks...It wasn't really clear but they're going to be there..."

Lowkeyyy seems inclined to do some cutting himself, and so Low is hoping more toward Uli saying he wants to cause some damage to the Twi'lek gang. The wookiee glances sidelong at Kasia and offers her a smile, he appears to be waiting for her to step ahead of him and he'll take up the rear of the group as they head down out of Parmac's.

Kasia falls in step with the others as she simply listens for the moment, not having any intel of her own to share on this. It's only when both Stavros and Kelnas finish that she looks over at Uli, smiling. "Of course we're here. Besides, if your sister found out that I knew you were doing something dangerous and didn't do something to at least help you stay safe, I'm fairly certain she'd kill me."

"I know they're out on a job. That's why I was going to sneak in and rob them while they weren't there. Maybe turn the place over. I know the tag of a rival gang. Try and start a war, you know?" Uli lifts a shoulder. "Felt like a one-man job. Sneak attack. Are you saying we come at them directly? Show our faces?" See, that kind of tactic would be unheard of for him in the past. You don't go kicking hornet's nests when you're only one guy. He barks a bit of laughter at Kasia's words. "You do realize that she'll also kill you for helping me, yes? She'd prefer it if you sat on me til I got the idea to do anything at all out of my head."

"That could work. But they won't know it was you, then," Stavros points out. "The point of sending a message is the return address. I mean, we can try to ransack the place," not subtle, "But then if they do realize it's you, they come after you. We want them too scared to do that." He adds, "Or too dead." As they reach the traditional spot to board a taxi, he talks into his helmet comlink, "Rujah, come on out. Time to fly." And the taxi arrives, turning its in-service light on only when it comes to rest in front of the group. A hatch opens, and Stavros starts tapping people to go in. "When we've taken care of them, we can go back to their place if you like. It'll definitely be easier then."

Nodding at Stavros' words, Kelnas drags on his cigarette and lets the smoke roll from his nostrils. "Personally I think the aim is to remove them from the moon one way or the other. they don't do good business and it gives us legitimate criminals a bad name."

"Don't you want to see a wookiee make someone bleed?" Low asks Uli as he is tapped into the taxi. The wookiee adjusts a few pieces of his armor suit for comfort and takes in a deep breath, his heavy wide chest filling out with air. "We're smugglers, Kelnas... not criminals exactly."

Again Kasia smiles at Uli, a wry twist of her lips as she nods. "Yes, I'm well aware of that, but really, the only way that would work would be if I sat on you until they weren't around anymore, and that might get a little bit awkward after a while. This way at least you're less likely to get quite as hurt in it all."

"We'll go with your plan," says Uli. "But if my sister ever finds out, you have to tell her this was all your idea." He glances to Kelnas, Kasia and Lowkeyyy. "You guys really don't have to be doing this," a beat, "But...I appreciate it." With a deep breath, he drops into the taxi. "Listen, these guys are ruthless. They'll probably have some illegal weapons designed to cause a lot of pain...before they eventually kill you." He makes a cutting motion with his hand. "Also if they have you in a corner, they're going to they and make you hurt. That's when they could be vulnerable. The taller one especially. He's the one who cut me." Kasia gets a wry grin. "If you've talked to Yvie for more than five minutes, you know she won't buy that explanation."

-- One taxi ride later --

The warehouse here is a bit out of place, near as it is to the Entertainment Plaza, but even nicer areas have things to store. There's foot traffic along the road - people going back and forth to nearby apartments, generally - but the warehouse is well-lit, from the outside. There's a large double-door in the front, the side for a speeder to haul things out, and a smaller door to the right of it. There is someone in the uniform of a private security officer hanging around directly in front of the door, watching the people go by with a bored expression.

Looking at Uli, Kelnas smiles humorlessly his usual good natured features taking on a harder set as he leans towards the kid slightly and speaks softly. "Point him out to me when you see him. I don't want him getting off easy by getting put out quick by Low." As they approach the warehouse, the Wroonian nods and grins. "Yup...This be the place. still standing. walls....doors...funny little window up on the roof...security..." the drifting tone of his voice as he speaks the last denotes that possibly he forgot about security.

Lowkeyyy hmms as there appears to be security out front. "Well this just got a bit more interesting," Low says as he eyes the security officer. The wookiee bares his teeth as if the Security guy can see. "It may be quick, but it will be messy." He then looks at his bff, Kasia. "Don't judge me based off what you might see tonight." The wookiee informs her and then glances to Kelnas, Uli and lastly Stavros, waiting to see how this will play out.

"Okay, so." Before the taxi door opens, Stavros goes over the plan again. "Kelnas finds a back way in, Rujah tries to drop me off on the roof, Kasia distracts the guard, and then- only then - do Uli and Lowkeyyy go in the front door. Kasia covers from the front, I cover from up top, and Kelnas makes sure no one escapes from the back. Uli, when they realize it's you, they'll suspect you brought a wookiee as backup. So make sure you're in cover until Kelnas and I hit them. Okay?" Only then does he push open the door for the others to get out.

"And Lowkeyyy - smash and cleave."

Nodding to Stavros, Kelnas offers a half salute and heads off into the dark. Jogging lightly, the Wroonian makes it to the back of the warehouse and heads for the door. Rounding a cargo crate, Kelnas grunts as he runs into a guard. literally. Taking a step back, the man smiles and looks around. "uh....got a light?"

Rujah kills the lights on the air-taxi and brings it around to the back, but at the opposite side from Kelnas's planned stealthy insertion. As the taxi lowers, Stavros pops the hatch, and sees the man on the roof. There's always someone on overwatch, isn't there? But he sees the man before the man sees him - and he has that handy nightvision in front of his eyes. He steps out onto the roof and fires a stun shot. It'd be obvious to anyone who sees the blue lights, but hopefully there was only the one sentry up here. He ducks down, finds the door leading back inside, and starts to move down the steps. "Stav in. Go for it, front folks."

As with others on the street, Kasia moves along at a casual pace in front of the warehouse, appearing to barely be giving the building or the bored man in front of it any attention at all. It's only as she's about to walk by that she glances up at him, doing a feigned double-take before slowing to a stop. "I know you, don't I?" she asks, turning on the balls of her feet to face the man. She takes a few tentative steps nearer as she looks up at the guard with a slightly bashful smile. "You look SO familiar."

Uli Gosse hangs back like he's told, hand on his weapon. He's not really keen on other people fighting his battles for him. No matter how many times they tell him he's part of a team, it's going to take him awhile for this not to feel...wrong. It feels like he called an authority figure to take care of his problem for him, instead of dealing with it himself. Every instinct says that he doesn't want to be responsible for anyone else. His fingers flex against the handle of his blaster. He exhales. Before things really get started, he says to Lowkeyyy, "I suppose this isn't the best time to mention I've never really been in a firefight before?" Being shot at while he runs away with the goods doesn't really count.

Then, when it looks like Kasia has the way cleared, he moves quickly forward, past the guard and into the building proper. When he enters the complex (and he's been here before) he skids to a stop. Oh. Shit. And then he's immediately diving for cover. Hopefully there is some.

Something was clearly wrong with the intel. The Brothers seem prepared for something - or someone. A whole squad has their weapons trained at the door.

Lowkeyyy smirks a bit at Uli's words. "Im not shooting." Lowkeyyy informs the kid with a wink and follows, hunched over behind Uli. Lowkeyyy, perhaps was hoping that Kasia was going to flash some bewbs when she was goin about distracting the guard, but no such luck. With the guards' attention turned to her, Lowkeyyy pulls his massive heavy sword out of its sheath and with three long quick strides, Kasia is talking with the guard and more or less before the guard can even respond, the wookiee lops his head off in such a nonchalant manner, blood spewing out and he shrugs at Kasia. "Hope it wasnt a good conversation." Lowkeyyy turns to follow Uli into the door and stops momentarily before raising his sword back up to charge.

There's a laugh from the taller twi'lek in the back. His manner is as cold as his skin is blue. "Uli Gosse? Are you serious? This is the feeler we hear about?" He asks his brother.

There's a moment of uncertainty when the Guard and Kelnas stare at each other for a moment, followed by a flurry of movement as the pair try to get the upper hand. finally the guard goes down with a brass knuckle imprint in his forehead. a Smiley face perfectly embossed in the bruise.

Slipping in the back door now The wroonian slips forward quietly. Brass knuckles slipped away and replaced with a pair of long blades, Kelnas seems to nearly float towards the stage in front of him. Drifting towards the 2 nearest guards, Kelnas reaches around one slowly, wraps an arm around his throat, rests his head on the Guard's shoulder and speaks just loud enough for the brothers to hear. "Not just him, chief."

Sinking a blade into the guard's sternum and dragging the other across his throat, Kelnas shoves him forward and swipes at the next clearest, the nasty blade finding it's way into the tendons of the next man's forearm and tearing out sideways.

Stavros comes down the steps as far as they go, then slides down the ladder at the bottom, arriving on the catwalk at the top of the facility with a loud metallic CLANG of armor boots into metal grating. It's loud, and some of the gunmen aim their guns upward immediately, firing towards the catwalk. Stavros can be heard over the comlink saying, "Shit shit shit-" as he tries to stay ahead of the blasters, backing down the catwalk as he fires at the guards below. The fire fails to hit him, and he fires down below as he goes, taking down two of the goons with his fire and wounding another. "Uli- now!"

"Nnnoo, I don't think it was a club," Kasia's brows furrow a little, and her head cants to the one side. "Unless it was a while ago. I don't go to clubs that often." Shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she steps to the side, out of the main walkway so she's not impeding movement on the sidewalk, and conveniently closer to the guard. "I used to when I was younger, but I prefer quieter settings now." Like the sidewalk outside of the building where the firefight is taking place. She doesn't add that last bit, though, and simply dons her most beguiling smile for the guard at the door.

Flirting is, of course, a lot harder to do when the person you were in fact talking to no longer has a head. Which is definitely startling to Kasia, but she's at least cogent enough to not make sound enough to alert anyone that something is amiss. Not that she would NEED to with people inside prepared and all, but she doesn't, so that's something. Right? Right. With that bit done, she does as told to and lingers near the door, on the outside for now.

Now? Now what?! What is the plan? What are they supposed to be doing? Uli sits there for a few tense moments, back pressed against the container that serves as his cover. This really isn't the way he attacks. He sneaks. He avoids getting into firefights. He's only fired his weapon a few times in his life, and mostly in self defense. Which is why both of his shorts go wild and fail to hit his target. His lack of strategic ability means he doesn't dive for cover quickly enough. He gets a rifle blast squarely in the same cut shoulder. The force of it is enough to send him spinning through the air. He lands hard on his other shoulder and doubles over. Oh...that's...that's really bad. It doesn't take an armor expert to know his armor is compromised.

Lowkeyyy charges in right behind Uli, the wookiee told Uli that he'd be there for the kid, and despite having ready and armed men standing behind the door, it doesn't make Low hesistate. The wookiee continues his rush, out of the corner of his eye he catches sight of Uli being spun through the air. Low manages to dodge around one shot, or it just plain misses him, he's rushing right in at the twi'leks. Right as he raises the Ryyk blade up to swipe at the unwounded shorter twi'lek, Low is hit and hit hard. Low stumbles in his rush, howls in pain and slices out with his weapon, cleaving into the twi'lek, dropping the twi'lek. He has to pry the heavy sword out of the collar bone of the twi'lek. Low is in serious pain, but not as much as the twi'lek who is bleeding out on the floor.

After a successful pass through all three entrances, it became clear that the twi'leks were tipped off. They knew someone was looking for them, and they laid a trap. The mostly-empty warehouse gave them a good killzone, and they and their people had the advantage of elevation from a row of crates in the back, forming a sort of 'stage.'

Kelnas overpowered a guard at the rear, even though the guard saw him coming, and took down a mercenary with his blades, chopping up another's forearm. Stavros drew everyone's attention with a complete lack of stealth, but managed to avoid return fire while taking down two more of the goons from the catwalk. Uli shot at the assembled firing line, but took a shot to the shoulder that burned him even through the armor. Lowkeyyy charged with his blade, taking down the shorter twi'lek with the burned face, though he too received a severe wound on the approach.

Now there's two injured goons, barely able to hold their weapons, and the taller of the blue twi'leks, holding a vibroblade riddled with gemstones. The twi'lek's eyes are wider, and he says, "What do you -want-? You can make money out of this, but only if you let me go." He is apparently selling out his brother, who is unconscious and bleeding and unable to hear the act of betrayal.

Looking at the taller of the Twi'leks, Kelnas frowns and shakes his head. Flipping one blade in his hand to reverse it, he speaks softly. "You attacked one of MINE." Lurching forward as the Twi'lek moves to attack, Kelnas drives a blade into the underside of the man's bicep. Another strike bites into tendons along the back of the same hand before the Wroonian slips past him low, sliding on a knee as his blade bites into the soft part at the back of the Twi'lek's knee. none of the atacks designed to kill, but to maim and cause severe pain.

With their leader down on the ground, unable to stand or hold a weapon, both the remaining gunmen raise their hands and drop their weapons. "No job is worth this," one mutters.

"Kasia! Uli's been shot. Lowkeyyy too." Stavros slides down another ladder. This time the thud of his landing doesn't matter. He walks over to the mercenaries, holding his rifle up. "Look," he instructs the two men. "Look at your boss. This is what happens when you turn on Uli Gosse." He nods at Kelnas. "Finish him." When the job is done, he tells the surrendered men, "Spread the word. And get OUT." Then he speaks into his comlink, "Rujah, land right in front. We need to get out now."

Kasia is at the front still, bouncing on her heels a little to try as she looks up and down the street. Hearing her name called, she starts and turns, saying, "Right. On my way in." She draws a breath and pulls open the door and slips through, into the warehouse, gaze sweeping around until it lands on Uli, and it's to him that she moves first, hurrying to his side to check that he's still alive. BE ALIVE ULI! Crouching, she reaches out to check him over, to try and determine just how bad his injuries are. "Uli? You still with us?"

"Is that Takmo?" says Uli with a pained laugh where he lies behind the crate. He clutches his shoulder and sits up straight. "You just got blasted into a corner and you knew we were coming. How embarrassing is that?" He can't see from his position, but he does hear the screaming and the scuffling. Oh. Um. Someone handled it? Good...good job team. He slumps back and blacks out for a second.

He's woken up by Kasia calling his name. "Yeah, yeah, I'm just...blasted. A little." Grunt. Just a little.

"Okay, Lowkeyyy, easy," Stavros tries to assist the wookiee as much as he can. "Get them into the taxi." At Rujah's protest, Stavros sighs and says "I'm sorry! I'll cover the upholstery. I promise. Just get us back Parmac's, fast and smooth, okay?" He helps get the wounded in, and then, looks back inside. "One sec."

The stuttering sound of blaster shots comes from inside, and then Stavros is dashing back out to the taxi, holding a beaded choker necklace in his hand. "The other twi'lek was moving." He hands the choker - another badge of victory - to Kelnas. "Hold it for him. Steady, Uli," he says quietly. "We've got you."

The taxi zooms away.

-- Back at Rebel Yell's hangar --

The world is very fuzzy around the edges. That's partially due to the searing pain snaking out from his right shoulder, partially because of whatever emergency drugs they pumped into him that only sort of dulls the aforementioned searing shoulder pain. He has no idea what's going on. He's vaguely aware of a cab ride, muffled voices and being manhandled into a place that smells like engine oil and metal. He's being very cooperative and is mumbling things in an accent thicker than his usual. Yeah. It's been a bad night filled with revenge and blood.

Uli, that is.

Following the others into the hangar, Kelnas moves quietly. Wrapped in his cloak once more, the Wroonian Helps move Lowkeyyy towards the medical bay speaking quietly to the Wookie.

Kasia is moving with Uli, helping him as much as she can help in an attempt to go in the direction of the medical facilities. "You're going to be fine," she assures him, quite probably for her own reassurance than for anyone elses.

Stavros is, meanwhile, with Uli. He points at two mechanics at work and says, "Stretcher. Now." Uli is not really walking at this point, and he's just doing his best to keep him conscious. "Uli? Look at me." He snaps his fingers twice in front of the pickpocket's eyes. "We're going to take you back, they're going to get you tucked in, dull the pain." He nods. "Kasia's right. You're going to be okay." He is concentrating on Uli's eyes the whole time.

When the requested stretcher arrives, he lets the others handle levering Uli into it, and wipes a tear from the corner of his eye. "He will be okay, Kasia." Stavros takes a deep, shuddering breath.

Getting Low settled onto a stretcher of his own, Kelnas pats the Wookie gently on the arm and nods. "You'll be fine man." As the whel him away, the Wroonian looks around, then just crouches down, resting his arms on his knees as he rests.

Kasia is right there on the other side of Uli, and when the stretcher arrives, she lends a hand getting him onto it. Once that's done, she draws back, watching as Uli is taken away. "He'll be okay," she repeats softly, but she's worried, and she makes no effort to hide it as she looks up to Stavros. "They both will." Right? She hopes.

Stavros looks at the two of them as they disappear towards the medbay, then back at Kasia and Kelnas. "I was sure this was the right thing to do." He sighs, takes off his helmet, and cradles it under his left arm. "But they knew we were coming." He corrects himself, "They knew -someone- was coming." He shakes his head. His eyebrows furrow, and he takes another few deep breaths. Trying to be a bastion of calm patience and sharing that with the others is taking its toll. "I... am going to go to bed. At least the Nostri are dead."

Looking at Stavros, Kelnas raises an eyebrow. the makings for a cigarette appearing in his hand, he begins to roll a cigarete in his left hand before he speaks. "Don't do that Stavros." Attention turning to Kasia, he adds. "The kid will be fine. The pain will pass...he will heal...and his monsters are slain."

"I thought so, too," Kasia replies in a low voice, the guilt of that fact creeping into her tone. She makes a face, a scrunched up sort of face that isn't quite a 'I'm about to cry' expression, but more one of distinct displeasure. "Maybe it was, even if it-- if we hadn't been there, he'd have gone in alone. He was going to do this anyway." Her gaze lifts at Kelnas' words, and after a moment she nods. "I know. I know he will heal, and it's better that those two aren't out there." She sighs, a hand lifting to try and give Stavros a gentle pat on the arm before he goes. "I'll just feel better about it all once he's recovered."

"Yeah, I know," Stavros says in a tired voice. "Second-guessing won't help." He rubs his hand across his eyes. "Kelnas, tag me tomorrow. There's a job that needs doing, and I think it's right up your alley." He adds, "Nothing to do with this. Just a favor." He smiles a little at Kasia. "Thanks. Thank you both. I think it would have gone a lot worse if any of us weren't there." Another deep breath, and then he walks on. "I think someone should stay with them. Do it in shifts? I'll take second or third, whichever. Buzz my comlink. Goodnight."