03-20-2017, 11:44 AM
With the unplanned mass breakout and the ensuing chaos, things were quickly going south for Ghost. Several of the prisoners had armed themselves and were firing at everything and everyone that they perceived as a threat, others were breaking down doors to closed-off areas such as a small break room to find something, anything, edible, to fight over. Ghost's appearance meant that they could not allow themselves to be seen by either side as both would have believed them to belong to the respective other group, or at the very least, when in doubt, shot first and ask questions never. Several bullets had already grazed the infiltrator, but thankfully no major injuries had been inflicted. Once again Ghost thanked their past self for precautiously reinforcing their suit with kevlar padding to reduce injuries. Some of the bullets that left only bruises could have done a lot more damage had it not been for those.
Five 'inmates' had to be put to sleep with crossbow darts before Ghost found the wanted man. He, along with two other people that looked very much like the stereotypical 'scientist' - big glasses, balding, a big forehead and a scrawny body - were hiding in a remote area in one of the security offices, armed with metal pipes that seemed to have been torn off and barricaded behind what looked like a server rack or a metal closet for similar purposes. The door was out of its hinges, so the barricade only blocked part of the doorframe. Presumably one of the men were waiting in the corner to strike anyone who tried climbing over the barricade.
"Stop! Not one step further! We will shoot!" yelled one of them as Ghost approached the door. The shake in his voice indicated how afraid he was. All the more reason to take one step back. People this nervous were unpredictable and they might indeed have a weapon and not just be bluffing. Ghost raised their hands, though they held onto the crossbow.
"I mean no harm to you, gentlemen. I am here on behalf of the Empire."
"The Empire? Why should we believe you?"
"I believe that one of you is Professor Shane? I have here a series of documents detailing your work for the Empire. The implementation of autoregenerative biosteel and self-cleaning glass lenses for the surveillance cameras in Coruscant was your doing." This information had been kept under wraps to prevent retaliation, but it had been given to Ghost by that french-sounding woman that they had met in Carrefore to use as proof. There was no way that the people here would know, unless they had a well-placed insider.
"... how do you know that?"
"A representative of the Empire gave me this information to prove my good will to you. I am Ghost, a bounty hunter enjoying a certain level of trust with Coruscant. That is why I was hired to break you out."
"How do I know you're not luring us into an elaborate trap?"
"I've provided you with proof. If you're not convinced you'll have to trust me. I don't have the time to stay down here and discuss." Another step back to prove that they could just leave at any time convinced the professor, who leapt over the barricade and held Ghost back. "Wait! Just, bring my friends along, okay?"
"Fine, but be careful and follow my orders. The facility is in complete chaos so if one of you goes out without my lead you'll be killed." They checked that the bolt had not dropped out of the crossbow and handed their taser gun, a last-resort weapon for hairy situations, to one of the men. The second kept the gun that he had, which turned out to be a fairly standard pistol, and the third, the professor, kept the metal pipe for close-range work.
In the meantime most of the facility had cleared out. The bottom level with the holding cells was completely empty and the second floor held only a few stragglers - and several unconscious or dead guards. Several of them looked like they’d first been beaten unconscious then killed. The first level was where it would get hairy... if the inmates hadn’t escaped yet, there would be fighting between the guards and the prisoners. Better safe than sorry.
“From here we’ll use the vents. Find some guards with clean clothes and change into those”, ordered Ghost as they recalled the collected floor plans. There were two main vents going from one level to the next, one blowing air into the facility, the other removing it. Those were the ones that they needed to use. Once the men had changed out of their ‘hospital patient’ robes they followed Ghost once again. The vents were found quickly, opened with a fair bit of effort and force, and climbed easily thanks to a row of short bars sticking out of the wall, which presumably were ladders for maintenance. Ghost took the lead, with the man armed with a gun following right behind, the Professor in the middle and the one with the taser in the back. They handed out two glowsticks for the two scientists, who weren’t as comfortable in the darkness as Ghost was.
It seemed like someone had used these, Ghost noted as they crawled through the dusty metal tunnel. There were marks in the dust and spiderwebs were torn up. Maybe other prisoners had had the same idea? Hopefully the guards hadn’t noticed the open vent grates and heard the clanking... they had barely finished thinking that thought through, when, as they were traversing an x-shaped junction of four vents, presumably above a corridor, they heard a shout. “ABOVE! THE VENT SHAFT!” A pair of guards stationed below had heard them and directed their attention towards the ceiling. As the first gunshot was fired one of the scientists screamed with fear and hurried faster, but his colleagues who weren’t as fast were blocking the way. The scream gave the guards more info and they sprayed the vent lengthwise with their pistols, which luckily lost a good bit of their momentum when penetrating the thin metal sheet that made up the vent tunnel but still punched through. Ghost tried to press their body against the side but one of the bullets came in at a lucky angle and pierced their lower leg. Their pained scream was muffled by the helmet whose voice modifier automatically blocked the sound out, so that the guards could hear only a muffled grunt if even that, then more gunshots were heard from behind Ghost and the others, the guards screamed, bodies could be heard hitting the ground, then… silence. Ghost breathed as quietly as possible but it appeared that whoever had shot down their assailants hadn’t taken notice of them. Footsteps could be heard walking away from them after a few seconds.
“Quickly… move before they send backup”, said Ghost, taking advantage of the adrenaline coursing through their body and numbing the pain. “I need to find an exit and leave the vents for a minute. I have to patch this up and the guards are bound to have heard the gunshot.”
Only when no initial reply came did they turn around and see that the man behind them, the scientist who had screamed, was dead: shot through the heart, it would appear. The blood was dripping off through the holes that the bullets had made, but most of it spreaded inside the shaft. Ghost shoved the body down one of the side vents to free up the path. “Move! Don’t think about it. We have to get out of here!”
The other men hurried along faster than before, crawling as best as they could, although Ghost slowed them down a bit. Eventually they knocked out one of the grates and dropped into a conference room on the first level, then used the few medical supplies on them to disinfect the bullet wound and bandage it. The initial adrenaline was already wearing off and pain was starting to spread. They could not go on through the vents in this state. “Everyone, drop down. We... have to finish this on foot. Professor, could… agh, please you give me the metal bar? I’ll need a crutch for this.” They needed regular breathing breaks and pressed out words between them.
They were luckier than expected: the fights seemed to be going on behind them. No bodies were littering the impeccable floors, save for a seemingly unconscious one at the reception, and an unarmed woman cowering behind the main desk, apparently paralyzed with fear. She may have been held at gunpoint… you never get used to looking down the barrel of a gun pointed at your face. She didn’t react to the three of them passing through. Ghost also noticed a missing panel on the vent there. So that was where the mysterious tracks in the dust they had seen earlier led to… and from what it seemed, their author had been injured. There were droplets of blood on the ground, leading towards the exit. They packed away their crossbow and put the taser back into its holster before exiting the facility. Here, they turned the comms back on and addressed the two remaining scientists. “Well, we have... an issue. My vehicle can’t hold... all three of us, but I will call... and arrange for a pickup.” They were meanwhile walking towards Ghost’s hiding spot to find the speeder, as there were better supplies for first aid in there. Well, things turned out way different. Ghost noticed the blood trail leading outside, into the dunes… and towards the area where they had parked the speeder. It stopped abruptly where it had been parked, the camo blanket had been tossed aside and the light burn marks on the ground indicated that the machine had been started. Someone had driven it away. That mysterious fugitive who had knocked out the guards and crawled through the vents?
Ghost cursed. How that person had noticed the camouflaged rock among all the others was a mystery to them, but if the winds had maybe blown the blanket away, or they just had keen eyes... well, no use thinking about that now. The getaway vehicle would just need to transport three people rather than one or two.
“This is the Imperial Peacekeeping Department, Endless Dunes branch,” a voice spoke, indicating that Ghost’s call had been picked up.
“Hi, this is Ghost speaking. Can I please speak with...” They went through the records. What was that french woman called? Her name had appeared in the files somewhere. “... Miss Marina Grandpi, it’s very important.”
“One moment, please.” The line went mute while Ghost sat down and after a few seconds was picked up. “Zis is Marin-”
“Miss Grandpi, Ghost here. The one you hired to break out Professor Shane.”
“Ah, oui, monsieur Ghost, of course I remember you! Vat can I do for you?”
“We have problems with my transport, I need pickup for four people. Professor Shane is in good health and with me, but I have here another gentleman that I believe is part of your missing-people list too. And please arrange for a Peacekeeper patrol to come here. There has been a breakout and the guard posts are occupied with getting everything under control. You may be able to storm the place.” Luckily sitting down made the injury hurt less and Ghost could speak without breaks.
“Oh my. I vill arrange for a rapid pickup, but it should take ‘alf an hour. Please keep monsieur Shane safe in ze meantime.”
Ghost grunted. “Yes, of course. Ghost out”, they said and cut the line. Then they pointed to the blanket. “You two get underneath that thing, it’ll protect you from the heat and camouflage you. I’ll stand guard.” They laid down on their stomach and pulled their sniper out, aiming it at the entrance to the facility to keep an eye on things. Half an hour... they set a countdown timer to prepare for the anticipated arrival time and forced themselves to relax. Luckily they were vaccinated against tetanus, so the bullet injury would not entail anything else... with any luck they could even spare themselves a visit to Doctor Parnelle. Then again, a checkup may be in order, and they could combine it with a visit to the mage from the Nexus. See if she had improved at all.
Five 'inmates' had to be put to sleep with crossbow darts before Ghost found the wanted man. He, along with two other people that looked very much like the stereotypical 'scientist' - big glasses, balding, a big forehead and a scrawny body - were hiding in a remote area in one of the security offices, armed with metal pipes that seemed to have been torn off and barricaded behind what looked like a server rack or a metal closet for similar purposes. The door was out of its hinges, so the barricade only blocked part of the doorframe. Presumably one of the men were waiting in the corner to strike anyone who tried climbing over the barricade.
"Stop! Not one step further! We will shoot!" yelled one of them as Ghost approached the door. The shake in his voice indicated how afraid he was. All the more reason to take one step back. People this nervous were unpredictable and they might indeed have a weapon and not just be bluffing. Ghost raised their hands, though they held onto the crossbow.
"I mean no harm to you, gentlemen. I am here on behalf of the Empire."
"The Empire? Why should we believe you?"
"I believe that one of you is Professor Shane? I have here a series of documents detailing your work for the Empire. The implementation of autoregenerative biosteel and self-cleaning glass lenses for the surveillance cameras in Coruscant was your doing." This information had been kept under wraps to prevent retaliation, but it had been given to Ghost by that french-sounding woman that they had met in Carrefore to use as proof. There was no way that the people here would know, unless they had a well-placed insider.
"... how do you know that?"
"A representative of the Empire gave me this information to prove my good will to you. I am Ghost, a bounty hunter enjoying a certain level of trust with Coruscant. That is why I was hired to break you out."
"How do I know you're not luring us into an elaborate trap?"
"I've provided you with proof. If you're not convinced you'll have to trust me. I don't have the time to stay down here and discuss." Another step back to prove that they could just leave at any time convinced the professor, who leapt over the barricade and held Ghost back. "Wait! Just, bring my friends along, okay?"
"Fine, but be careful and follow my orders. The facility is in complete chaos so if one of you goes out without my lead you'll be killed." They checked that the bolt had not dropped out of the crossbow and handed their taser gun, a last-resort weapon for hairy situations, to one of the men. The second kept the gun that he had, which turned out to be a fairly standard pistol, and the third, the professor, kept the metal pipe for close-range work.
In the meantime most of the facility had cleared out. The bottom level with the holding cells was completely empty and the second floor held only a few stragglers - and several unconscious or dead guards. Several of them looked like they’d first been beaten unconscious then killed. The first level was where it would get hairy... if the inmates hadn’t escaped yet, there would be fighting between the guards and the prisoners. Better safe than sorry.
“From here we’ll use the vents. Find some guards with clean clothes and change into those”, ordered Ghost as they recalled the collected floor plans. There were two main vents going from one level to the next, one blowing air into the facility, the other removing it. Those were the ones that they needed to use. Once the men had changed out of their ‘hospital patient’ robes they followed Ghost once again. The vents were found quickly, opened with a fair bit of effort and force, and climbed easily thanks to a row of short bars sticking out of the wall, which presumably were ladders for maintenance. Ghost took the lead, with the man armed with a gun following right behind, the Professor in the middle and the one with the taser in the back. They handed out two glowsticks for the two scientists, who weren’t as comfortable in the darkness as Ghost was.
It seemed like someone had used these, Ghost noted as they crawled through the dusty metal tunnel. There were marks in the dust and spiderwebs were torn up. Maybe other prisoners had had the same idea? Hopefully the guards hadn’t noticed the open vent grates and heard the clanking... they had barely finished thinking that thought through, when, as they were traversing an x-shaped junction of four vents, presumably above a corridor, they heard a shout. “ABOVE! THE VENT SHAFT!” A pair of guards stationed below had heard them and directed their attention towards the ceiling. As the first gunshot was fired one of the scientists screamed with fear and hurried faster, but his colleagues who weren’t as fast were blocking the way. The scream gave the guards more info and they sprayed the vent lengthwise with their pistols, which luckily lost a good bit of their momentum when penetrating the thin metal sheet that made up the vent tunnel but still punched through. Ghost tried to press their body against the side but one of the bullets came in at a lucky angle and pierced their lower leg. Their pained scream was muffled by the helmet whose voice modifier automatically blocked the sound out, so that the guards could hear only a muffled grunt if even that, then more gunshots were heard from behind Ghost and the others, the guards screamed, bodies could be heard hitting the ground, then… silence. Ghost breathed as quietly as possible but it appeared that whoever had shot down their assailants hadn’t taken notice of them. Footsteps could be heard walking away from them after a few seconds.
“Quickly… move before they send backup”, said Ghost, taking advantage of the adrenaline coursing through their body and numbing the pain. “I need to find an exit and leave the vents for a minute. I have to patch this up and the guards are bound to have heard the gunshot.”
Only when no initial reply came did they turn around and see that the man behind them, the scientist who had screamed, was dead: shot through the heart, it would appear. The blood was dripping off through the holes that the bullets had made, but most of it spreaded inside the shaft. Ghost shoved the body down one of the side vents to free up the path. “Move! Don’t think about it. We have to get out of here!”
The other men hurried along faster than before, crawling as best as they could, although Ghost slowed them down a bit. Eventually they knocked out one of the grates and dropped into a conference room on the first level, then used the few medical supplies on them to disinfect the bullet wound and bandage it. The initial adrenaline was already wearing off and pain was starting to spread. They could not go on through the vents in this state. “Everyone, drop down. We... have to finish this on foot. Professor, could… agh, please you give me the metal bar? I’ll need a crutch for this.” They needed regular breathing breaks and pressed out words between them.
They were luckier than expected: the fights seemed to be going on behind them. No bodies were littering the impeccable floors, save for a seemingly unconscious one at the reception, and an unarmed woman cowering behind the main desk, apparently paralyzed with fear. She may have been held at gunpoint… you never get used to looking down the barrel of a gun pointed at your face. She didn’t react to the three of them passing through. Ghost also noticed a missing panel on the vent there. So that was where the mysterious tracks in the dust they had seen earlier led to… and from what it seemed, their author had been injured. There were droplets of blood on the ground, leading towards the exit. They packed away their crossbow and put the taser back into its holster before exiting the facility. Here, they turned the comms back on and addressed the two remaining scientists. “Well, we have... an issue. My vehicle can’t hold... all three of us, but I will call... and arrange for a pickup.” They were meanwhile walking towards Ghost’s hiding spot to find the speeder, as there were better supplies for first aid in there. Well, things turned out way different. Ghost noticed the blood trail leading outside, into the dunes… and towards the area where they had parked the speeder. It stopped abruptly where it had been parked, the camo blanket had been tossed aside and the light burn marks on the ground indicated that the machine had been started. Someone had driven it away. That mysterious fugitive who had knocked out the guards and crawled through the vents?
Ghost cursed. How that person had noticed the camouflaged rock among all the others was a mystery to them, but if the winds had maybe blown the blanket away, or they just had keen eyes... well, no use thinking about that now. The getaway vehicle would just need to transport three people rather than one or two.
“This is the Imperial Peacekeeping Department, Endless Dunes branch,” a voice spoke, indicating that Ghost’s call had been picked up.
“Hi, this is Ghost speaking. Can I please speak with...” They went through the records. What was that french woman called? Her name had appeared in the files somewhere. “... Miss Marina Grandpi, it’s very important.”
“One moment, please.” The line went mute while Ghost sat down and after a few seconds was picked up. “Zis is Marin-”
“Miss Grandpi, Ghost here. The one you hired to break out Professor Shane.”
“Ah, oui, monsieur Ghost, of course I remember you! Vat can I do for you?”
“We have problems with my transport, I need pickup for four people. Professor Shane is in good health and with me, but I have here another gentleman that I believe is part of your missing-people list too. And please arrange for a Peacekeeper patrol to come here. There has been a breakout and the guard posts are occupied with getting everything under control. You may be able to storm the place.” Luckily sitting down made the injury hurt less and Ghost could speak without breaks.
“Oh my. I vill arrange for a rapid pickup, but it should take ‘alf an hour. Please keep monsieur Shane safe in ze meantime.”
Ghost grunted. “Yes, of course. Ghost out”, they said and cut the line. Then they pointed to the blanket. “You two get underneath that thing, it’ll protect you from the heat and camouflage you. I’ll stand guard.” They laid down on their stomach and pulled their sniper out, aiming it at the entrance to the facility to keep an eye on things. Half an hour... they set a countdown timer to prepare for the anticipated arrival time and forced themselves to relax. Luckily they were vaccinated against tetanus, so the bullet injury would not entail anything else... with any luck they could even spare themselves a visit to Doctor Parnelle. Then again, a checkup may be in order, and they could combine it with a visit to the mage from the Nexus. See if she had improved at all.
"(Note to self: insert quote & picture once I find stuff)"
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