freedomliveson

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

He had forgotten completely about their canine companions until Ari mentioned her desire to have them as back up, which would have indeed been helpful and would have MAYBE gotten him less of a talking to by his spunky wife. He would worry about the ramifications of his dumb decision on their relationship later, seeing as the Justicar's trigger fingers were getting far too close to letting loose a volley of blaster fire that would more than likely set off a call for more reinforcements. They couldn't afford to start a small-scale assault on contested territory like this, especially with CorSec stretched so thin. They would have to come up with SOME kind of-

A voice dripping with smug confidence bellowed threats from a nearby rooftop, prompting a brief vocal exchange between the Justicars and the voice before shots were exchanged. Yerbol reached for his saber and was ready to ignite it, but it seemed as if the now revealed Sho had intimidated the guards enough for them to slink away in temporary defeat. Yerbol echoed Aria's sentiments:
"Seriously, thank you. Without you I think we would've had to take on the entire Justicar force without back up. That's a frightening scenario." A brow cocked upward at Sho's mention of the break out being "all over the Holonet". He would've expected Garza to keep this quieter...besides, how could anyone know about a secret Republic prison failing and allowing one of the most dangerous human beings in the galaxy to escape? Junoco hadn't leaked the info, had he? Maybe he would kn-

Right, they were moving.

As Sho led them past the entrance, Aria reminded him of how lucky they were for Sho to...well, show up. He returned the teasing smirk as he told her:
I think that the Force might have led her here so that she could save you from your husband's dumb idea.

The smirk vanished upon Sho's proclamation that they were at Nuly's place.
"Can't be easy, can it?" Yerbol drew his saber upon seeing the grisly mess that stood in front of them. Nuly's door had been thrown(presumably) wide open, blood spattered in a random scatterplot that stood out as a stark contrast to the other apartment doors that flanked the place. The trio cautiously stepped past the doorway and almost instantly an acrid stench slammed their senses. With a quick survey of the studio style living space, the source was made clear: charred remains lay right at the foot of what was once a bed, the object mirroring the state of it's owner. Taking a more detailed scan of the apartment with his eyes, Yerbol grunted in realization before musing aloud:
"Nothing else looks damaged. If someone used a flamethrower or even a wide dispersal scattergun, there would've been evidence somewhere on the walls." Sho shot the Qyaari an impressed look, asking how he knew anything about munitions, to which he replied with a chuckle:
"I served in the Republic as a 'squadron commander', which was a fancy way of saying they wanted to use the Jedi as soldiers. I learned a WHOLE lot in the field, believe me." Across from the crisp remains was a desk littered with magazines that, when examined by the Champion, were about weaponry, gardening(?) and a datapad.

Ah.

"Found a datapad." He turned it on to be greeted by a black screen that only had the words "PASSWORD INPUT" in white letters at the very top. No keypad was visible to input numerical or alphabetical codes, which meant that the thing was probably voice activated.
"Right. Unless we can replicate his voice, I don't think we can-" A circular object jutted out from beneath a stack of magazines, Yerbol retrieving it and smiled in relief.
"A holocomm unit. If the logs aren't erased, then maybe we can at least figure out what he was up to." Handing the datapad to Aria, he pressed the "playback" button on the side and heard a warbly, distorted voice aggressively point out:
"You shouldn't be using something like this." Another voice, much less distorted, spoke:
"Come on, you know my track record by now." A sigh from the distorted party before it retorted with a question:
"Has it been altered?"
"Yeah, all done. Should be ready to go by tonight. My guys will make sure the drill goes on as scheduled. But ah...that means your people will be there, right?"
"They will all be disposed of."
"You're sure it won't come to back to me, right? Cause I mean...I can't afford that."
"Your role will be obscured completely. I promise you that."

Exchanging a worried look with his partner, he pocketed the holocomm unit, telling her:
"We'll have to see if we can trace the origin of the call. Maybe head up to the Tower and..." The same chill that he felt during their exploration of the prison returned, this time infiltrating his veins, blood running frigid, hairs standing on end.
You feel that, don't you?

The door to the apartment slammed shut and three forms emerged from various points in the room, each garbed in jet black armor traced gingerly with red and blue on the shoulders and chest pieces. Each had a saber hilt in their hands, igniting simultaneously.
"Oooof course." No words were exchanged, but the forms moved in sync with the other, two going for Sho while the third threw their saber at the Champions, hoping to distract them long enough for the initial duo to dispatch Sho. To counter, Yerbol threw up a barrier around Sho and Aria momentarily, ducking the saber as he shouted:
"Keep them off Sho, I'll handle this one!"

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

I'm alive! Thanks so much for your patience over the past couple of days. I really appreciate it :)

Post up and Yerbol got them into trouble xD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Junoco's nearly smug demeanor hadn't changed, although there was a scar that now adorned his chin. Yerbol filed that bit of knowledge away for now, reminding himself to poke fun at the smuggler for "getting his hands dirty" another time(which he, as Yerbol remembered, profusely hated doing). Thoughts about the smuggler's face were thrown aside rather quickly upon entering the drab prison, a sudden chill coursing through Yerbol's spine and down through his legs. Something had gone horribly wrong here. Thankfully Aria talked the droids down to make up for her partner's momentary lapse in attention, Yerbol apologizing:
"Sorry, but I just got this...well, for lack of a better term, chill. It's almost the same feeling that I got when we first encountered the Xiis." Not wanting to follow up on anything Xiis related, the Champion didn't carry the subject further, instead choosing to follow Junoco to a reception area with steel chairs bolted down in rows of three in the square shaped room along with a terminal behind a desk nearby.
"Just give me a moment and I'll...see what I can...do..." Already the smuggler slash hacker was busy hammering away at the keys on the terminal, humming a soft tune to himself while the duo investigated the room. Yerbol had been on the other side of the room looking at the blank walls for ANY sign of a fight when Aria not only informed him of trace amounts of blood, but also a theory that made sense.
"Well how else could Soto break out? It's not like the prison is easily accessible...for most people." Junoco snorted a chuckle.
"Maybe the network has agents inside the Alliance and we don't even know it." The thought of having to uncover ANOTHER governmental conspiracy prompted an inward groan of annoyance, so he changed his focus to the lack of struggle on his side of the room:
"I've got nothing here. Maybe we can get to the cells, see where Soto was held? Could've been slipped something while inside."
"That she was." With a crack of his knuckles, Junoco motioned for the duo to come to the terminal before telling them rather triumphantly:
"A maximum security facility like this keeps logs of EVERYTHING, including food distribution, guard rotations, shifts and....well, you get the point. See this here?" He pointed at a list of names along with two columns marked "shift 1" and "shift 2". The list was dated for last month.
"This is the shift schedule for the guards here. Seems like they had two crews that shuffled personnel around. Except for..." He cycled through each week's schedule, two highlighted names popping up on the same shift.
"Weird, isn't it? Jones and Mattias on shift two(which, as you can see by the abbreviations next to each shift, is the night shift) every single week. That doesn't seem like protocol. It was almost as if someone manipulated the rosters to where these two were on the same shift every week for the past month."
"So who changed them?"
"Looks like...well, based on this change log that's only accessible by the Warden himself...the Warden. Yep. The change occurred a few minutes before the logs were released for public viewing. Name of the Warden is Nuly. See?" The name popped up next to every single change that had occurred to the logs, prompting a curse from Yerbol.
"So we ARE dealing with corruption."
"Don't sound so surprised. Not all Alliance personnel are trying to establish the glowing new world order that your people and Saresh are advocating for."
"Just tell us where we can find Nuly."
"Easy enough." With a few clicks, Junoco had brought up Nuly Surian's profile, a surly looking male staring at them with blank eyes.
"Address is listed as a tenement in Justicar territory. How fun for you both!"
"You're not coming?"
"Oh no. No no no, not down there. Haven't you people kept up with the news? The Justicar's made a huge comeback after those blue demon things nearly tore a hole in the planet. People down there are happy to have them around, but their brand of justice is...excruciating. Alliance personnel have been trying to push them back for weeks now, but no luck. Maybe they'll let you two in cause, you know, you've got lightsabers."
"Just give us the bloody address and we'll be on our way."
"Fine, fine, don't be so touchy. I'll always be available to help-"
"Unless you're not."
"See?! Not hard to understand." After relaying the address to the duo and nearly skipping out the door, Yerbol told his partner:
"Before we go interrogate Nuly, let's check the cell out. I'm just...curious." After ascertaining it's location, the duo found themselves at the end of a wide hallway, containment fields that were once firmly in place now flickering in submission. The cell that Soto was listed to be in looked no different except for scorch marks along the edges of the field.
"Odd." While all the other fields were at least attempting to revive themselves, there was no activity here. If Junoco was accurate, then no one else could have altered the containment fields from the outside.
"More evidence that we need to talk to Nuly, eh?"

_____

"Back away, Qyaari...real slow." Yerbol shook his head in frustration, hands up as they complied with the directive of one of the three armored Justicars, all of which were holding massively oversized rifles that could have been mistaken for assault cannons. This blockade was directly in front of the entrance to what was once another expansive residential section for the middle class, but had been taken over by gangs, then the Justicars, then the Xiis and then...well, back to the Justicars.
"We're not here to cause trouble."
"Uh huh." Yerbol looked back at the empty taxi pad, chiding himself for taking such a stupidly visible route into enemy territory. He would need to rely on his stealthier counterpart to bail him out(she was going to give him grief for this):

I wanted to slip in a lot more quietly than this. Any ideas?

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

update: 95 essays in 24 hours. Will be in a coma until tomorrow XD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

So it's the end of the semester and I need to grade the last half of my FINAL essays for this year. Will post Tuesday and I'll have a LOT MORE TIME after that, so yay! :D :D

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

No worries. Rough night for me last night, so I'll catch you on Monday.

Mind the mess [Freedomliveson x Fabricant 451)

Clark sped to the entrance, noting the bodies strewn across the marbled floor with alarm.
"Your mother's personal guard." He muttered, noting the more ornately crafted armor and badges of honor that were ingrained on their chestpieces and braces. If the Shadows could eviscerate even Hippolyta's personal guard, then-

Another scream of pain assaulted their ears, the duo speeding around a corner to find the heavy wooden double doors that led to Hippolyta's personal chambers flung open, the circular shaped room filled by several Shadows surrounding two Amazonians, blood seeping down from their shoulders as they wielded their blades, forming a protective barrier around Hippolyta, her salt and pepper hair matted with blood oozing from a head wound.
"Get your mother out of here! I can handle the Shadows!" Although referred to by name, the assassins didn't take heed of the Man of Steel, instead choosing to further their assault on the besieged survivors. Clark shot two of the attackers out of the air with heat vision before slamming their heads into the ground, the marble cracking on impact. Behind him, a Shadow attempted to run him through with his blade before watching it split into several pieces. Whirling around with a vicious elbow, Clark knocked his third attacker out of commission with little effort. This show of force prompted one of the survivors to reach into a pouch located within his vestments and throw a circular object on the ground, thick plumes of smoke filling the room that made even Clark disoriented for a moment.
"Diana?! Tell me that your mother is ok!" As the vapors cleared, their attackers were gone...and so were several trinkets and objects that had been mounted on the walls of the chamber.
"Why would they..." The best person to ask about motive, he assumed, would be Talia. Maybe he and Bruce could team up on this one...with Diana. Of course. Hopefully when they confronted Talia, Diana didn't snap the woman's neck on the spot.

Hopefully.

He looked behind him at the hall to confirm no other attackers were coming before heading to Diana's side, where he hoped she could get her mother to recount events as she remembered. Maybe they could get some clue as to how the Shadows overpowered one of, if not THE most, powerful race of people on Earth.

Mind the mess [Freedomliveson x Fabricant 451)

Grading papers today, so might have to get back to you tomorrow

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Mind getting us to the prison? :)

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

"From what we were told by General Garza, the underground prison that she was being held in featured some of the best security in the galaxy, including cells that were lined with electricity and other incentives for prisoners to stay put instead of trying to break out. It bothers me that a supposed maximum security facility could be disabled from the outside so easily." She snapped her fingers in recollection.
"You might want to bring in that hacker friend of yours, the one that Voldon mentioned as the 'skinny twat who saved our lives' at the Alliance tower. He might be able to help you pick up a trail." Yerbol groaned inwardly at the thought of having to look at Junoco's smug face when they came to him for help AGAIN, but Malu was right; they would need his level of expertise.
"One more thing: Garza told us that the entire facility was empty. No guards, no prisoners, nothing. It was as if the entire facility had been abandoned. They haven't been able to find missing personnel or captives since then, which makes me think that this was a coordinated effort by a group of professionals who went out on a limb to free Jean." The Elder shook her head as she motioned for them to go.
"Just leave now. I'll make sure that your classes and arses are covered for a few days while you sort things out."
"I don't like doing this behind the Council's back, Malu."
"Neither do I, darling. But if my suspicions are correct about who's behind this, then I hope our little ploy will make sense."
"I do too."

______

"It still stinks." Yerbol muttered, walking up the reconstructed ramp that led further into the Undercity of Coruscant, eyes attempting to adjust the lower level of lighting that was emitted from crooked street lamps and neon lighting from a few newer looking clubs that weren't there before the Xiis attempted to destroy the infrastructure of the planet. Maybe more people felt like they needed to get away now? He would've thought the successful government would drive people AWAY from establishments that had holograms of scantily clad aliens and humans of both genders suggestively motioning for them to come in, but then again, whether in success or failure there would still be the perceived "need" for establishments like these.
"And now it's gotten even seedier." To their left had been an empty loading area, but was now converted into one such club, two hostesses standing outside and welcoming a few uniformed officers that came from a corridor just off the main thoroughfare the Champions stood on. As the hostesses walked away, Yerbol looked for a brief moment and nodded before making eye contact with his partner and smirking:
"I think that an outfit like that would look amazing on you...Although I do remember seeing something similar a couple of weeks ago that was quickly removed..." He trailed off, obviously enjoying their relationship status as they hung a right into a slightly narrower interior hallway that branched left and right, the occasional droid skimming around them to deliver whatever message they were programmed to. The Champion dug into his pocket and withdrew the miniature nav unit, map projecting from the circular object.
"So this was where he said he'd meet us." A red blip indicated the spot Junoco wanted the two to be at once they arrived, promising that he would be able to deliver "the kind of info that'll knock your bloody sabers off!" before adding he would even be doing this "free of chrage" due to the kind of threat Soto possessed.
"Why am I not surprised he hasn't shown up yet?" He blew out a sigh, feeling out his environment with the Force to no avail.
"I knew we should've taken along that Alliance tech specialist." When they had arrived on Coruscant and spoken to General Garza at the Alliance tower, she had not only given them the location of the prison on their map, but also wanted to send a tech specialist to help them with whatever they needed. Knowing that Junoco probably had a rap sheet the size of a small asteroid field, they had turned down her offer and said that they had their own source that was "trustworthy"(in hindsight, maybe Yerbol shouldn't have used that word). Even though Junoco had indeed helped thwart the Xiis, Yerbol had a feeling that throwing his name into the open as one of their allies might not have been the wisest choice with the Alliance attempting to build an image of honesty and integrity. Integrity, of course, was a trait that the smuggler did not seem to possess in the highest amounts, proven by his tardiness to their meeting.
"I say we head to the prison and hope he catches up."
"Well that's no way to greet an old friend, is it?" The voice was tinny, seeing as it came from speakers embedded into the nav unit, but it was unmistakable.
"Junoco, what-"
"I'm already at the prison. Decided that it would be easier to, you know, scout the area out before you lot came around. Just follow the path laid out for you on the map that should appear...now." A red line ran from where they stood down a number of different corridors before finally reaching an end point that matched up exactly with the coordinates Garza gave them.
"This should make your path much less conspicuous. See you when you get here!"
"I'm not even going to ask how he found out about the location."