Open Terrain

Shooting a glare that could peel paint from walls towards Sim's retreating back, she followed. She was not fond of little nicknames like "sweetheart", only the one that she had donned herself four years back. With a light sigh, she rubbed the back of her neck then let her eyes roam over the ground and security before them. Silently, she scolded those in command over Arakyd's safety. Even if this is the work of catboy's mysterious friend, these people were fools to allow someone so green to watch over the entrance.

Yellow-Green oculars darted left and right, seeing no others within view. As they approached the guards, Y decided to turn on the charm and lowered her eyes, only to gaze at the soldier through veiled oculars. Walking several steps behind Sim, she crossed her left arm over her chest and clutched her right bicep, toying with her bangs with her right digits. She looked to be every bit the pretty, young, and bored companion. Possibly someone sent to finalize a money transaction for a second party, though the land of Geonosis was unappealing to her.

She didn't care if Sim thought her foolish, but in the least she could distract the guards so any searches were not so thorough. They would be focused on the seemingly semi-clothed girl before them, unarmed and seemingly innocent, not on their jobs.

Before they were too close to the guards, Y glanced towards catboy and let an ever so slight smirk touch her lips before she returned to her bored and pouting nature. Upon stopping and waiting for talking to begin, she stopped playing with her bangs and began inspecting her nails, cutting her eyes every so often towards the humans.

The Captain stopped when commanded, holding both hands up to show they were unarmed. Making small steps closer to the squad of guards only made them even more nervous than they were before. Must be their first day, he chided, and considered what he did for lady luck to be so kind on this day. Smiling in a friendly fashion, the Zygerrian started laying on his silver tongue when the Soldiers were within arms reach. "Woah there, calm down friend," he said, patting the nearest soldier on the shoulder in a overly friendly gesture. 'We're just here to meet with Foreman Tyns. I have an appointment .."

Sim finished the statement by producing a short datapad from a pocket on the Duster. Sure, the two of them had every reason to be closely examined. Neither looked to be a businessman (or woman) and neither looked very rich as far as credits went, although Sim had a personal wealth that far exceed his means. The pad was passed in hand to the closest Trooper who read it carefully, obviously more than once, who then returned it to Sim and settled down. "Let them pass," his voice was rough, almost unsure. But Sim didn't argue, and he didn't think his partner would either. The pair of large overbearing doors slid open before them almost effortlessly revealing a mixture of stone and metal hallways leading deeper into the fortress hive. Indicating for them to enter, Sim took the lead once more for his group and trudged onward. From his basic memorization of the Hive, they had to find the nearest turbolift and take it to the twentieth floor, where they would meet with the Foreman mentioned before and be given a brief tour of the weapons department before being taken to an Office somewhere in the building to purchase the supposed missiles. Although the mission wouldn't get that far, Sim had made sure of that.

Casting a final glance towards the guards, Y followed Sim, allowing a pout to form on her lips to keep up her appearances of being a bored woman, stuck with an uninteresting companion. However, behind eyes veiled by lashes, she was taking in every aspect of the area that she could set eyes on. Mentally, she was creating a checklist of places where, if things got rough for them, would provide them with materials that could be useful.

Pulling out a datapad, similar to the one Sim had pulled out, she acted as though she were checking a message. "We'd best hurry, ser," she stated, changing her accent slightly from the Gandle Ott type that adorned her voice (there weren't many that, even in the best circumstances, could get off of the war-torn planet; very few that resembled someone such as herself). "Boss wants the transaction complete by sundown, givin' us about 7 hours, and there's a big storm headin' our way. Scheduled to hit in 3 hours. Payment for the package will be forwarded to your channel when the time comes, and your portion of payment has already been forwarded to your secure channel." Not taking her eyes off the datapad, one would think she were forming a reply to her "boss". Best to keep up appearances in case someone were to overhear them speaking. She would, however, avoid speaking to anyone but Sim if she could help. She was simply there to ensure the transaction was completed It was obvious, by the way she began to carry herself as they came closer to their destination, that this wasn't her first time acting as a middle-man (or woman in her case) in a transaction for precious cargo.

As Y became more business-like, she continued to scan the area with her eyes will ticking away at the datapad. She could await the next step of the task.

"Ah! Here we are," The feline piped, stopping midstride in front of a double set of doors to a rather imposingly large turbolift. Large enough for at least ten people, the two of them took little room within the small iron box. Running his hands over the console, Sim programmed it to take them to the floor they desired and stepped back. Immediately rewarded with a ding the doors slid closed and locked with a hiss, the lift suddenly rising up quickly to ascend them to their destination. Taking this moment to recollect himself and confirm his weaponry were still in place, Sim nodded towards his companion to do the same, lest they have forgotten something back on the ship - however unlikely that was. Once complete, they had arrived on floor twenty. Ding! The lift sounded as the locks clacked open, doors parting to reveal a bustling hallway full of businessmen and women. Grabbing Y by her arm, Sim struggled out into the crowd and looked both left and right, gaining his bearing in the overcrowded hallway. Overtop a door to their right was a sign which read Office of Foremen Tyns. "This way," he said quickly, pointing with a free hand towards the room. Taking off, aimlessly pushing their way through the throng of civilians going about their business, the two entered the room quietly, closing the door behind them.

"Welcome, welcome." *Came a sudden and unexpected reply that made Sim almost jump around and withdraw a weapon. The voice was from the Foreman, Tyns, his name was. Dressed in a white jumpsuit, lined with black with the Arakyd emblem on the sleeves, the Foreman was a human male of about thirty years. Short scruff covered his chin and his skin was tanned considerable, evident of his life spent on Geonosis. Striding across his office, the man took his time introducing himself to both Y and Sim, shaking their hands and offering them both refreshments and a place to sit, both of which they shortly turned down. They weren't here to make friends and relax, they had a job to do.* "What can I do for you two?" *He asked, looking at Y, posing the question to her rather than Sim. Her job of acting business-like apparently was paying off.*

Glancing up, Y finalized whatever she was doing on her datapad before tucking it away once more. Now she leveled her gaze on the foreman, crossing her arms across her chest. "You may call me Y, Foreman. Now, if you'll check your list of appointments for the day, you'll find that we have one under the name of 'Sim'. We're here on the part of the Whisper Man," she said the name of the Man that no one knew the identity of but she had done work for in the past. She had told Sim about a few of the heists and transactions on the part of him (or her, no one was quiet sure). "We're to have a tour of the facility and see if there is anything else that would interest the Whisper Man. However," her voice had become decisive, "we're here to complete the transaction for the collection of the ST-2."

Her response was straight to the point, what was to be expected. Her gaze had become cold, precise. "If we may proceed, Foreman. We've a schedule of our own to follow, a storm to avoid, and deadline to complete this transaction."

"Riiiight," *The Foreman said, scratching his head gently. Returning behind his desk he quickly scanned through his appointments for the day and checked off their own. Completing a full circle around the desk, the Foreman smiled brightly and replied.* "Follow me, please. We'll get the tour started and be on our way."

Sim rose from his seat and followed the man out of the room, Y in tow behind him. The door slammed shut behind them and the hiss of it locking could be overheard over the din of the overcrowded hallway. Following the Foreman as he wove in and out of the thick crowds, both Sim and Y went down three flights of stairs before exiting the stairway into a large open room, filled to the brim with rockets, missiles, and other assorted weaponry. The pair of them would be quite astonished at the sizable armory the Arakyd had collected over their time.

*Waving his arms about in both directions, show casing the room, the Foreman grinned.* "Here we are folks, now about that tour."

Y let her eyes roam over the assorted weaponry, silently commending Araykd for being able to carry and protect, to a degree. Making mental notes of the inventory, she made sure to include anything that could be helpful in the future. "Hm. There seem to be a few items that the Whisper Man may take interest in," she stated to the Foreman, emphasizing the word "may", still keeping up the pretense of being their for business, accent and all. "However, for that to occur, the right price must be named. For now, we are here for another purpose, and that will take precedence over anything else."

Pulling out the datapad, she seemed to check something. The corner of her mouth twitched down into a frown, as if unhappy with whatever message displayed on the screen. "We've only two hours before the storm reaches this facility and by then we must be leavin' this area or at least have the package loaded up for transport."

*Nodding at key points of Y's speech, the Foreman said little to nothing except for allow his eyes to gave out across the sea of packaged crates and machinery. When the girl brought up the ST2 missiles his eyes darted across the room to the stack of crates marked "ST2 ROCKETS". Again, she mentioned transport, and his eyes once more betrayed him to Sim as he glanced across the room, right, to the airlock where a Shuttle Transport capable of carrying several of the large overbearing rocket crates. Sim noticed his movements the entire time, watching from afar as he pretended to inspect a powered down Mechanized Assault Vehicle. Sim signaled to Y, indicated that he had all the information he needed from the man. She had done her job well, distracting him with fake business talks. Now Sim took the action he needed.*

*Crouching down, he pretended to relace the boot on his left foot, instead reaching down deep within to grasp a hold on one of two knives buried in his footwear. Gripping the knife so that the entire construct was hidden from view, the handle tight in his hand and the blade running up the length of his fur covered wrist, he rose from the position and meandered through the hold, keeping the weapon from the Foremans view. Arm tight against his side, Sim leapt across the remaining space (roughly a meter at best) and jabbed the serrated edged blade deep into the Foreman's throat, midword.* "Achk.." *The only noise the man got out before Sim dipped to a knee, catching the man midfall and covering his mouth tightly with the other hand, still holding the now bloodied dagger. Sim tossed the weapon up in the air, indicating for Y to catch it, before dragging the dying man across the room to a hiding place. A thin, dark red trail followed the pair as he disappeared around the corner. Only to return moments later, bloody palmprints layered on his pants legs. Slightly heaving from the effort to carry the heavier deadweight man across the warehouse floor, the Zygerrian wiped his face with the back of his hand, sighing loudly as he did.* "Find some means to moving these boxes," *pointing to the stack of crates they came for.* "I'll find a way into the transport."

*He didn't wait for her reply, instead simply spinning on point and marching across the warehouse towards the indicated airlock earlier. They had maybe an hour, two tops, until someone would come check on them from the Office.*

Catching the tossed blade with easy, she shrugged and tucked into the pouch at her side. In turn, she then drew out the blades from the small of her back and her inner thigh. Her eyes, quick to pick up anything that may be useful, searched the area for some sort of mech or lift. Finally, Y found what she was looking for and headed towards the mechanized lift, formed like a giant claw to pick up two boxes at a time. An aggravated glint entered her eyes as she realized the unit was powered down. Fools...They knew someone was coming to 'buy' something. Did they expect us to carry it by hand?

Kneeling down, she popped open the control console and began to work at cutting it back on. A few defense shocks and a numb hand later, she finally managed to complete her task, the humming signifying she had done it. Getting back to her feet, she cast her eyes in the direction of Sim. She wouldn't move the lift until he was ready. The sound would be hard to mask, and they didn't want any company.

*For a few breathless minutes on Y's behalf, Sim finally poked his head back around the corner to catch her attention. Once doing so, he nodded furiously and motioned for her to begin loading the Lift with the missile crates. He had found a way in.* *Rushing ahead to secure the door to the airlock, Sim happened across the pile of wires he had dug out and been sorting through, hoping to come the bright orange cord that signaled door access. He had, as luck would once more in his day, found the cord in the midst of rainbow cords and wires. Drawing other the twin to the first, Sim hacked angrily at the wire cable, slicing it through in several quick successive slashes.* *The Captain was reward immediately with the hissing of the doors unsealing. By now, Y would have been half way through loading the first set of two, out of eight, crates onto the Lift. Rushing through the now opening doors, Sim spotted the Transport, loading bay already lowered, in the foreground of the hangar. Knowing what lay next, he spent no time boarding the crafting and familiarizing himself with the cockpit and controls.

A simple design, he thought running his hands over and along the edges of the flying console. Imperial design, stark white, although missing its weapon systems. Refitting it with tractors instead. Large spacious bay, wide enough to fit the crates and then some. Engaging the engines and powering up the shields and tractors, Sim took back off for the warehouse to assist Y, leaving the ship to power up without interruption.*

As Sim had thought, the first two had been loaded. The second set were now in transit to join the first. With a huff, Y blew her bangs out of her eyes but didn't let her attention stray from her objective, despite a part of her paying attention to the entrances to ensure no unwelcome parties. Once the transport would be placed, Sim could take over watch and she could focus on what needed to be done on her end. They would have to hurry, last she had checked the storm was rolling in and in was rolling in fast.

"Sim!" she called out, "take over guarding; I need all my attention to get this done as quickly as possible." The lift itself moved painfully slow but slower still if someone couldn't concentrate fully on working the controls.

*Answering only with a stern nod, Sim withdrew one of the pistols in the lining of his coat. Hugging the wall nearest the corner to the lift the feline barely poked a whisker out of the corner, carefully watching the life for signs of movement, biding Y the time she needed to finish loading the massive shipment of rockets into the Transport.* *Eyes kept peeled on the door, Sim gripped the pistol tightly, still shifting the knife in his other hand tightly, always confirming its location in his palm.*

*The merc known only by the nickname Red Dragon found himself wandering around the terrain of Genosis though not hunting anything for once. He was actually out here because of his hobby finding stuff then fixing it up maybe make a little profit out of it. He had known Genosis a long time ago had been part of a huge war called the Clone Wars so he was trying to see if any ancient technology was left lying around. It was a huge gamble to try and find some stuff that old but he was putting some good effort into it.

He had been wandering out here for hours occasionally digging something up from the ground as his scanners in his HUD picked up something odd. He had found the occasional droid part or old weapon nothing that can be scavenged though and so he kept on going. Eventually in his trip around Genosis his scanners started to pick up that a storm was coming in and even though his powersuit should protect him it was best to find shelter from it. So he started to look fr a cave or something to hide in to let the storm pass by and then he would continue his search for something useful.

It didn't take him long to find something of use as he found a ship sitting out in the middle of nowhere and so curiosity getting the better of him he made his way towards it. When he got over to it he started to walk around examining the make of it and everything his helmet was taking scans of the thing as well. Then after like ten minutes of doing this he remembered why he had came over to the ship and headed over to the landing ramp and slowly walked onto the ship though knocking on the hull as he went up to see if anyone was there.

He was sure if the members of this ship saw him they would get a good shock as he was dressed in a full suit of armor carrying an A280 blaster rifle with a shotgun on his back and a pistol at his side. He also had more weapons than that installed into the gauntlets of his armor and he had a knife too. Of course the armor being like a second skin to him he noticed none of this and thought he looked perfectly normal and so didn't even take his helmet off to try and seem non hostile.*

After what seemed like ages, Y finally finished loading the crates. "Sim, let's go." Returning the knives to the proper sheathes, the female cut the power back off on the lift, as though she had never been there. She then lept easily in the back of the transport with the crates and drew out a pistol, simply positioning herself to cover the rear as the transport moved.

*Snapping off of the wall with little time to waste, Sim dashed across the warehouse like a bat out of hell, clearing the ground in no time. Leaping aboard the transport, the pilot rushed to the cockpit and fired up the engines. Strapping himself in, he flipped the nessecary switches to close the bay doors while lifting off with the already primed engines.* *It began as easily as hovering inches off of the ground, until the Transport was nearly five feet above the ground. The bays doors creeped open slowly, spilling pale orange light across the random collage of crates. Leaning forward slightly on the control sticks, Sim eased the beast out into the glowing skyline, passing through the doorway within minutes. Free of the Hive hangar, Sim engaged the repulsor engines and pushed off, the Transport lurching forward and away from Arakyd. It would take them less than an hour to realize they had lost an honorable Foremen, as well as losing a large sum of ST2 rockets, all of their stock, if Sim's calculations were correct. It could be months before that office could get another shipment. Ships would have to go elsewhere, and Arakyd would suffer financially. By robbing the Bug weapon masters, both he and Y had began a chain of events that would devastate the company for more than a month. People would lose their jobs, starve, die, all because they had chosen to pirate several cases of missiles. Food for thought, perhaps.*

*On they went, through the skies of Geonosis. No one crossed their path as they crossed the great diving sands they had previously crossed on foot.*

Y lurched slightly as the Transport started to move, the movement jerky at first. Once they were on their way however, the ride was smooth and uneventful. Once it was obvious they wouldn't see any trouble, she slipped the pistol back into its holster and made herself comfortable leaning back against the back of the bed and gazing out as the landscape as it passed. She was pleased with how they had managed to pull off the heist with only one death, her positive emotion radiating off her strong enough to reach the cockpit and Sim.

She sighed as they reached the ship, almost wishing that the ride hadn't come to an end. The wind through hair had felt relaxing.

*Sim remained silent on their descent down to the Silver Arrow, still nestled in her rock hollow. Twisting the transport around in tight circles, killing what speed was leftover, Sim touched the bulky transport down on the rough terrain and relaxed as the crushing weight of the ship rested in the springy landing pads. Rising with no sound, he walked calmly to the bay and lowered the doors, the harsh wind rushing in as the storm was growing ever closer.* *Grabbing a case with both hands, Sim awkwardly walk-carried the case over to the Arrow, intending for Y to follow suit.*

Mouth twitching slightly while fighting a smile, Y picked up the second crate and followed suit. The two carried on like this until all eight crates were aboard the ship and stowed away for later use. Now, stretching, Y grimaced as her arms complained of such use after carrying such heavy crates. "I could go for a drink right about now," she said, to no one in particular, listlessly looking up at the ceiling as the ramp was raised. "Care to join me for a celebratory drink?" she asked Sim, without casting a look to him. Her eyes were now turned towards the heart of the ship. Something didn't seem to be quite right about the ship at the moment. Perhaps it was just resonate nerves from the heist, but to her it seemed to be another nearby.

*Again, Sim returned Y's questions with only a muted silence. He knew something was wrong. He could feel it. Not just because he had grown to love the Arrow after stealing it, but he knew when something was wrong with his property. Drawing his pistol out quickly, Sim slowly crept toward the forward hallway. Motioning for her to follow...* *The pair creeped their way up the hallway until they arrived in the entrance of the common room. Standing there, off to the right of the middle table, was an armored man looking slowly around the room. Sim walked into the room, pistol held errect - the barrel aimed at the mans head.*

*He had spent some time while the owners were analyzing the ship just enjoying himself as he looked around the place. Of course the whole time he did he had wondered what was a ship doing out here in the middle of nowhere and where were the owners. It wasn't long before he found out as his helmet started to make sounds at him as it picked up motion behind him. It appears whoever owns the ship had returned or had always been here and had been waiting to sneak up on him with what was this a tiny pistol?

He just turned around to look down at the man and his ridiculously small weapon and was about to show him the error of his ways of trying to sneak up on him when he noticed a girl was following him. Immediately the thought of all hostile action left him and he basically thought the man wasn't there anymore a typical moment for him. He let his rifle hang from his left shoulder as his hands went up to his helmet as he suddenly become aware of it being there and slowly took it off to reveal the red face of a Zeltron with a bad case of helmet hair.*

Ah please forgive my intrusion but as you can see there is a storm coming and I had nowhere else to go. I had also ended being fascinated with this ship and well had let my HUD take in many scans of it and its systems. But where are my manners my name is Andrew but some refer to me as Red Dragon for what I would assume is obvious reasons. *As he spoke he basically just walked right past the man pointing the blaster at him and up to the girl and bowed as he spoke literally to just her.* It is certainly a pleasure and honestly a life saver to have met you and um...your sidekick? *Andrew gestured slightly back at Sim as he said Sidekick making it clear he thought Kenna was the one in charge and Sim just the muscle around here and possibly her bodyguard.* It is rare to find anyone out here and but it appears I may be in your debt for if I had stayed out there during the storm I probably wouldn't last long enough to find a place to hide from it and my armor would certainly eventually give out as the sand would do horrible things to its systems causing it to eventually fail and with that would go my life support making it nothing more than an over sized suit of metal plates instead of an environment suit. *Of course it was just like him to go on some techish rant at the end of him trying to explain things to people but he couldn't help it he was just a tech freak to most people.*