The plastisteel turbolift slowly ascended the tall tower of the Senate building. Outside, the early morning sun glinted between skyscrapers. The steady stream of rush hour traffic passing between the structures. The turbolift was crowded with four people. A rugged smuggler, a young Jedi padawan, a soldier with a five-o-clock shadow, and a man with bandages wrapped around his eyes all packed inside.
This message was last updated by the GM at 14:49, Tue 22 Jan 2019.

Kibur stood silently, shifting from foot to foot. He barely knew this group, who seemed to have some sort of history together.
“So...” he ventured eventually, “been on Coruscant long?”

"Long enough..." Alan let out a sigh before he continued, "to get into plenty of trouble."

"You?" Alan said not taking his eyes off the door of the turbolift.

With arms folded across his chest, Kami'atra smiled to himself at the human need to make small-talk even in these awkward situations. His farseeing mind remained stalwartly focused upon the meeting that lay ahead of this group. This meeting with Chancellor Valorum hung heavily upon his heart since he had always had a strong distrust for all things political - let alone the figurehead of the Galactic Republic.

"Never anywhere for long," Kibur said.

The silence grew again.

"Arcturus says this should be a good job. The Flail's been causing disruptions all over the city."

"I'm in the mood for anything well paying," Alan let out a sigh before he continued,

"My energy clips and grenades are getting a little light."

Page hated to admit it, he may have been a soldier but as a Merc he could actually pay the bills and even eat occasionally.

The doors slid open as the turbolift drew to the top of the tower. Maroon carpet stretched out before them, descending a few steps to lead to a large ornate Homogoni desk. The high-backed chair faced the large window behind the desk. Slowly, the man in the chair turned to face the group. His face was weathered, his hair white. He looked very, very tied.

Chancellor Finis Valorum stood. His face was serious.

"Captain Arcturus tells me you're my team," he said, stepping forward to shake each of their hands.

"It is a pleasure to meet you and provide any aid we can, chancellor" Alan said as he shook the leaders hand last.

"What details do you have for us?"

In reply to Kibur Blastblade (msg # 3):

Irulan looked piercingly at the gunslinger. "A bit too long if you ask me."

As Irulan's hand touched the Chancellor's, a flash of - something - passed before her eyes. But before she had time to understand what she had seen, the vision was gone.

She stepped back, heart racing. Swiftly she used a Jedi technique to control her breathing.

"We are at your service, Chancellor."

With a knowing glance and minimized gesture toward Irulan, Kami’atra shook the Chancellor’s hand firmly with a slightly clenched jaw as his vision passed through Valorum without any outward signs. He never fully appreciated being in the presence of career politicians, yet he patiently awaited whatever task the Chancellor would place before them.

The Chancellor sighed.

“This terrorist group has begun plaguing the Senate District for weeks! Random fire bombings in Colocaur Heights, a speeder crash near the Heorem Complex... luckily, no one has been hurt, but it is only a matter of time. The Corsican police force has been useless.”

He sat back down at his desk.

“They’re making me look weak. What good is a chancellor who cannot defend his own people?”

Valorum slid a data slate across the desk.

“I’m worried they’ll try targeting the weather control systems around the Capitol region. Their comm traffic suggests as much.”

"Chancellor, I have assessed your weather systems and its liabilities. I agree the Flail will most likely strike there." Alan said before retrieving a holocron from his vest pocket,
"your transportation system, specifically your taxi service is too easily compromised." Alan straightened up and pointed to the areas he'd felt most at risk in the hover transport grid.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:19, Fri 01 Feb 2019.

Kami'atra picked up the data slate to read the content for himself as he nodded affirmatively to Alan's assertions.

"Yes, they certainly are taking an interest in the weather, but they must have additional plans in the works... They will desire their plans not be thwarted again."

“This is what I was afraid of,” the chancellor said. “If you can stop The Flail from whatever it is they’re up to, the Republic would be in your debt.”

Kibur nodded.

“We can check out the Weather Control Matrix on the north side of the Senate Plaza,” he said. “If nothing else, we can secure it in case they try to arrive to sabotage the system.”

“Thank you,” the chancellor said.

“May the Force be with you.”

“I’ve got a speeder in the garage,” Kibur said as they stepped back into the turbolift. “The matrix is only a half our flight from here.”

"Kibur, does the Flail have any major player's?" Alan asked as he checked his blaster clips energy for the third time.

"Any intelligence on their better killers, or just mercs and thugs?"

“From what I’ve seen, they’re mostly low-quality thugs, with a few idealists amongst them,” Kibur said. “Their manifestos after causing trouble are about ‘disrupting the system,’ and about corruption in the Senate.”

"Mistress Jedi, you ready for a bit of mercenary work against common thugs?"

Alan asked as he thought about her and Kam's noble work against the late Senator Krug.

"This might be a step out of your comfort zone"

Irulan laughed lightly. "I think I can take on the challenge." She clipped her lightsaber tightly onto her belt.

The turbolift arrived beneath the halls of the senate to a sprawling speeder complex. Droids valeted the vehicles around, making quick work of it.

“This way,” Kibur said, leading them down the labyrinthine corridors of vehicles.

As they approached one particular speeder, they could see the hood was propped up, with loud noises rumbling from inside.

“Everything ok here?” Kibur asked.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:03, Tue 05 Feb 2019.

“Joppa!” The Dug swore as he shot up knocking hood with his head. His hand swung round, knocking free the rod holding it open. It slammed down on the blue creature’s head. Long digits took hold and repropped the panel. Another limb shot out and took hold of the cylindrical put droid and placed it up the hood.

He popped the head with his hand and it stood up drunkenly and after lengthy instruction it stood tall, holding it open. The goggled, blue skinned duh let him self down from the engine and wiped his four sets of fingers on a cloth. He scowled at the four of them, patiently waiting for him to address them.

“Five9 blew a transistor tube monitoring local scans. Good news is, nothing is permenantly damaged. Bad news is, local law has been watching you for the past hour now.”

Kibur nodded. “They’rr Probably upset the Chancellor doesn’t trust them for this job. I imagine we’ll have quite a few eyes on us to make sure we get this right.”

He turned to the group. “This is my friend, Bax. You’ll get used to him.”

Thoroughly laughing on the inside while keeping his countenance serene, Kami’atra nodded to the freshly acquainted Dug before them.

”Pleasure to meet you, Bax. Always grateful to know more technically-minded individuals - We all have our unique expertise and mine definitely does not fall in that arena. . .”

"Bah!" Bax said, throwing up his hands. "You get these hands, and these feet. But only if you pay for them."
He throttled the droid, pulling him clear and letting the hood slam shut. Then he flung the little droid into the arms of the larger droid sitting in the passenger seat. The cylindrical head of the IG model spun around and look at the gathering of people.
Grrrrr ...tch. Gwuonnnnng. the droid spewed out a long line of incomprehensible gibberish that sounded like a vox recorder picking up an engine grinding a gear. Bax stared at the droid and then began to laugh. Or bray. They couldn't tell.
The dug and droid fell silent. "Five9 said you ... nevermind. Where are off to? And we are getting paid? I still need to get the MSE-6 out of hock."

Yeah, we're getting paid. Last I checked none of us work for charity around here..."

Alan said, as he took a seat next to Kibur

"Unless of course we screw this up."

The speeder rocketed out of the hangar bay, into the skies of Coruscant.

"We're heading to the Weather Control Matrix," Irulan yelled at their new companion, over the roar of the speeder engine. "Do you know it? Apparently the Flail is planning some kind of... sabotage."

"If I were them, I'd arrange for hail," Bax said. "It'll cause plenty of damage, and probably knock out grids with electrical overloads from the lighting. But that means they'll need moisture. And lots of it."
The dug laughed to himself. "We could sabotage their sabotage. Anyone interested in going for a swim in the treatment plant vats?"

An explosion rocked the speeder, sending it careening.

“This is a problem!” Kibur shouted as the speeder spun out of control 900 feet in the air.

Irulan closed her eyes, focusing her senses, drawing the Force around them, trying to steady the hurtling vehicle.

A moment later, the Dug leapt from his seat and dove out the car, disappearing over the side. A lurch told the others he clung on underneath. Speeder continued to shimmy, smoke gouting out the back. A pair of flailing limbs hung from the pit droid that unfolded as it was tossed back up onto the speeder. It landed drunkenly, and then began to clamber over the seats onto the back. It chirped at the legless droid sitting in the back. Then it took the hammer offered to it and began to beat the panel over the engine until it opened and shoved its hand in, pulling out the wires it took hold of.
The smoke stopped.
But so did the engine.

The speeder was in complete free fall.

Kami’atra shook his head at the fate that led them to trust a speeder jury-rigged by a previously unknown Dug. . . He folded his hands across the ancient tome lashed to his belt and began to hum in a nigh inaudibly low tone. Redoubling Irulan’s efforts to control the hasty descent of this rickety speeder.

Though the team was still falling, after a few moments the vehicle’s pitch began to elevate beginning at the place the forward bumper should reside and their speed slowed even if only imperceptibly. Despite outward tranquility, the fervency of his prayers intensified and his throaty intonation lowered further into something of an elongated growl.

Bax's head appeared in front of the vehicle, and hand over hand he pulled himself over the windshield, swearing to himself. He clambered to the rear and looked at the little droid who was holding out the torn wires as an offering.
"You little..." he swatted the frayed wires away, and then took the droid in his hands. He then forcefully shoved the leg of the droid down into the engine. The droid jolted at the shock of electricity that coursed over its body. Then the engine chugged back to life and then began to thrum with power.
"Just in time, too," Bax said. "You might want to pull up. Or find something to hold on to."

Blasterfire rained down on the speeder, peppering the hood and plastisteel windshield.

"It wasn't Bax!" Kibur shouted, trying to steady the speeder while pulling away from the complex. "It's coming from above!"

Indeed, blaster fire was raining down through broken windows high above, obscuring the assailants.

Irulan climbed onto the edge of the speeder. As the vehicle swung near an open window, she leapt.

Her feet landed on the window ledge. "I'm going up," she called out as the speeder flew past her. With a flash her lightsaber ignited, casting a green glow in the darkened room. She ran towards the staircase.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:14, Sat 16 Feb 2019.

Page fired a volley of his own at the assailants as he leapt unto the floor behind Irulan.

Shifting his prayers toward another aim, Kami’atra projected an energetic shield around the vehicle as he turned to Kibur.

”Get us out of this, Kibur. . .” he shouted over the din of sharp blasts, some of which glanced across the force-imbued shield while others penetrated to strike only the inanimate among them.

Irulan sped up the stairs, ascending the levels of the building quickly, until she neared the top floor. A door at the end of the hall was shut. She ran towards it, piercing the lock with her blade, then kicked the door open.

Kibur whipped the speeder around wide, swooping around the back of the building. "I'm going to try coming up on them from behind!"

Four armed men turned, clad in laminated armor. Their DTL-20A's swung around as they paused a moment, surprised by the hum and glow of the padawan's lightsaber.

The speeder swept around the back of the building and banked up. As it crested over the rooftop, they could see the scene below.

The rooftop was covered in all kinds of aerials and pipes. On one side, the doorway from below was blocked by Irulan, her lightsaber ignited as four heavily armed armed troops moved toward her. On the opposite side of the tower stood a group of armored men setting up some sort of device.

Alan was a few steps behind Irulan when she cut her way through the door. He stopped as he reached the doorway. With his blasters drawn, Alan, standing a few feet taller then his Jedi companion, leaned out of cover and fired right over Irulan's head.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:23, Fri 03 Jan 2020.

Two objects fell from the speeder, one a disc shaped object, while the other fell with limbs flailing in every direction as Bax tried to right himself.
He disappeared into the web of pipes.
Several long moments later and a spray of steam shot up into the air. Then another. Then several more.
Finally one spray shot up into one of the armored men who spun and shot wildly into the obscuring whiteness.
A few more well placed gouts of the harmless sprays and chaos ensued as the aggressive shooters split their attention between the attacker’s coming through the door and whoever it was irritating them with sprays of steam.

"End of the line!" Kibur shouted over his shoulder to Kami'atra. He brought the speeder down, pulling up next to the rooftop.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:12, Sun 03 Mar 2019.

The soldiers on the rooftop were cut down, struggling split their fire between two different angles of attack.

With a subtle nod to Kibur, Kami’atra lept to the rooftop and dashed toward the closest cluster of armored men in a relatively crouched position that kept him rather close to the surface. With one hand upon the scabbard of his ancient blade and the other on its hilt, he swiftly appeared in a flash from behind one of the soldiers out of the sudden spray of steam that Bax unleashed into the fray.

The soldier gasped and cried out as he fell to the rooftop with an armor-plated crescendo. One swift motion of Miralukan steel sliced through the gaps at the soldier’s right knee and elbow in a crimson spray that sputtered in the face of his nearest comrade. The man continued to wail as his remaining hand attempted to clutch at both severed limbs simultaneously and Kami’atra refocused on his next foe and jumped back through another screen of elicited steam.

Page could hear footsteps behind him. A contingent of armored trandoshans and rodians advanced up the stairwell. They stood, their energy shields interlocked, steadily advancing forward as one wall of force.

"Ah hell..."

Alan hissed as he pushed Irulan out of the doorway before slamming the door shut, but not before tossing a flash grenade down the hallway at the advancing troops.

"Seal the door with that saber!" he yelled over to Irulan.

Through the spray of steam that covered his position. Kami’atra crouched low and surveyed the scene within the time of three slow breaths. Peering effortlessly through the fray he placed about the rooftop looking for what these marauders were congregating about here at this otherwise nondescript locale.

Kibur looked over the charts.
“We’ve got the control center a floor below,” he told Kam. “They’re probably operating out of there.”
He glanced over the side of the building, which descended a thousand feet to the streets below.
“Kam, can you get downstairs?”
This message was last edited by the player at 11:09, Sat 13 Apr 2019.

Kami’atra rushed to the precipice of the rooftop and sheathed his blade with a resonant hum. Peering over the edge, he glanced back at Kibur with a knowing nod as he took a deep breath and placed both hands firmly upon the surface and disappeared over the ledge.

With the deeply flowing energetic coalescence of the Force, he clung to the vertical wall as an archaic arachnid. He descended head-first toward the next level’s window and viewed inside to scan the arrangement therein. However, as soon as his head cleared the duraplate framed glass, a loud blast of repeater fire volleyed his way only missing its target by such a narrow margin. In the deafening din of blaster bolts and shattered glass, his hands slipped their hold and he fell hard upon the ledge another level below him.

Kami’atra rolled perilously from the ledge and only caught himself by three gauntleted claws like nails on dense gemstone!

Standing over Kami'atra, a rodian aimed his light repeating blaster over the ledge. "Tee-tock nee choo, kung," it muttered, tightening down on the trigger.

In reply to Alan Page (msg # 59):

Alan heard the explosion of the flash grenades before turning his attention back to his companion,

"Jedi! I need that door sealed now!"