Laying Foundations: Phantoms and Shadows

[Ned Stark]

OOC: I do need some Jedi and New Republic Resistance for this thread. If the Jedi and NR want in on this PLEASE PM ME as there are certain things you need to know about this...or you can IM me at TaylorMillard. Thanks :) ic:/

Six Weeks after the theft of Thirteen Dreadnaughts from Kuat Shipyards

Coruscant

Didn't we just leave this party? the deep-set eyed man sat in a Class-A Bulk Freighter cargo hold waiting for the freighter to land on the Imperial Center. Correction...former Imperial Center.

Flight Commander Ned Stark stood up from his seat and paced, stretching his legs. All his companions were good people...great pilots...with the attitudes to match. His kind of people.

"All right guys we oughta be landing soon. Let's try not to let them know we're Imperial pilots. Even if we are the best damn pilots out there."

He pulled out a datapad from the pack on his back and keyed up the map on it. It was for one of the Emperor's little 'Treasure Boxes' on Coruscant, a small hangar down near the depths of the the former Imperial Capitol. Rumors persisted the New Republic, along with some Jedi allies, were beginning to get into the bowells of Imperial Center and they were possibly ready to break into the 'treasure box' his group was after.

The freighter set down on the landing pad, and the cargo hold was beginning empty. Stark felt a lurch as the cargo hauler grabbed the container his group was in.

"All right...get ready. Once this container is set down, we're outta here."

The container hit the ground, and the hold opened.

"Let's go."

[Bette Davis]

Bette turned and flipped off Val Torre, for something whispered just prior to the opening of the container. "And keep your hands to yourself, too!" she hissed, and grabbed her blaster.

She ducked and hopped to the ground outside of the container, tucking her blaster into her pants at the small of her back. Her short bomber jacket covered it, and she looked both ways quickly before running to the edge of the warehouse-type room they were inside of.

Far Parker, the non SS pilot with them who had opened the crate, waved the other pilots out of the cargo container. Bette blew Val a kiss and then crept around the wall towards the door out of the warehouse.

[Val Torre]

"Aw c'mon!" He said in protest, getting up from the corner in which he had sat. "You know you couldn't resist these hands!" He joked, showing his hands to her as she concealed her weapon. Likewise, he hid his dual heavy blaster pistols in the sides of his trousers, jacket concealing the shimmer of the dallorian alloy.

Val was for all intents and purposes taking one for the team because if he had his way, they wouldn't be doing this today. How he loved his ships but Phantoms, they are hideous and horrible to pilot! Since his last experience with one of those things he had vowed never to fly one again and he wont. But orders were orders.

"Parker, how far are these pieces of poodoo away from here?" He asked, catching up with the rest, giving Bette a wink in return for her kiss.

[Ned Stark]

"They're about 15 klicks away, Torre," Stark replied, beginning to walk from the freighter across the landing pad. His booted feet made *clacks* across the pavement as he walked.

"And I'm not the biggest fan of the Phantoms either. But Grand Admiral Millard sees it easier if we have them in our possession than in the New Republic's. And I agree with him.

"Besides, if you want, you can be Shooter's gunner. I'm sure she'll like it."

He hid one of his blaster's behind his back and the other in a holster on his back. He checked his datapad, then marched out.

"Besides, if we can figure out how they got the cloaking device to work we can put 'em in our own fighters. Would 'The Fat Lady' look good with cloaking device? Atleast part of the time?"

[Val Torre]

"Hear that Shooter? Looks like we get to be crammed together in a small, clammy, invisible tin; how romantic!" He broke into a smile then turned back to Parker.

"Yeah you're right. They will be beneficial to us and better in our hands than theirs. But the "Fat Lady" would look good in anything--" He paused, turning around to Bette, he looked her up and down then said, "--Even Shooter's jacket!" He gave her a sly grin and then turned to follow Parker.

"Just don't let Maniac get his hands a cloaking device," He said, looking back to catch his teammate's eye, "He'll have us looking for him for hours!"

[Bette Davis]

Bette held her hand behind her back and flipped Torre the bird again as she opened up the side door to the rest of the former Imperial Capital planet. They weren't in Imperial Center, which was just as well, since the NR was taking over that area once again.

She could hear Val chuckling to himself as she walked out of the warehouse, looking both ways for 'droids or maintenance personnel, of which there were neither. She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and grabbed Zephyr by the arm as he emerged from inside the cargo area. "The 'lifts are over here...not enough room for all of us in them."

Slayn Cloak, Bette and Parker crammed into the tiny turbolift on the right, the doors closing in front of Val and the others. They began their descent down into the crusty underlayers of Coruscant, the further south the 'lift went, Shooter could smell the change in the air. "Yeach, but that stinks. Worse than you guys do."

[Val Torre]

Laughing discreetly to himself, Val let an interesting comment about the finger she kept flipping him slide for the sake of peace. She would have the last word this time, even if she did shut the lift door in his face. There was always another time.

"Kam, Tod, care to join me?" He gestured to the second lift. He leaned over and glanced down, with an exasperated look he turned back to the others. "Looks pretty far, the other lift should be back in a minute, as will this one just after. See you guys down there."

With that the three aomehow managed to fit inside the tiny lift and began their decent into the putrid depths of the lower levels.

[Kam Dapp]

"I get trapped in a lift, but is it with a Twi'Lek dancer, noooooo.." muttered Kam as the lift slowly rattled down. Slowly touching his right sleeve, he felt the bump of his hidden weapon close on his forearm. He then reached into his open jacket, checking the handle of his blaster was at reach.

"And do we get to come first class? Standard? Cheap? Frell no, we get to ride a cargo container! Next time we come, I'm finding my own way here" he continued, as the lift came to a stop.

[Maia Tharrinn]

Maia stood next to Kindo. Her face lost in contemplation. She came here on the mission to help the NR find some Imperial bunkers. It was all new to her being on this type of mission. She was used to being at the GJO training her padawans and relaxing with Dios. He had been away for a while so she had taken this task to give her some time away from the comfort of home.

She watched silently as the NR scouted the area. She watched for any sign of danger. She was here to help and protect, as was Kindo. She felt better having him with her.

Leaning close to Kindo she whispered. "So how are you likeing Rogue Squadron?Is it everything you thought it would be?"

[Ki-Adi Kindo]

" It is not an easy task, but I am enjoying it. Has long has it helps bring peace into the Galaxy. "

The Commander of the group of New Republic Soldiers than had came along approached the two Jedi.

" We have found nothing within this vicinity. "

Kindo momentarily closed his eyes, allowing insight from the Force to come to him. Moments later he pointed out towards a warehouse type structure about half mile away.

" Commander, gather your soildiers. We are heading off there. "

The Jedi Padawan still pointed out towards the facility so that the NR Soildiers would catch view. The team of NR Soildiers and Jedi began to walk in the direction of the building.

[Elessar Stavit]

Elessar Stavit was the youngest of the Shadows, and the last out of the cargo container. He cast a wide-eyed gaze over Coruscant- marvelling at the beauty over the distance.

Stavit was used to seeing beauty such as this, being from the Hapes Cluster, But he'd never seen Coruscant, and he was happy to see it.

"Hey Frosty!" Tamara Farnsworth hissed at him, "Get your ass in gear...ya can stare at the skyline later on."

Stavit nodded and walked quickly across the deck to the waiting lift. He tucked his blaster behind a bomber jacket and ran a hand through his short hair.

"Thought we'd never get outta there."

Tamara nodded, "Yeah...although I ain't for tight places either."

She and the third female of the squadron Rain Hapes squeezed into the lift with Elessar. Rain smiled as she stared into Elessar's brown eyes.

"Hey brown-eyes...ready for some fun?"

Tamara hushed them quickly, "Get your head in the game...we gotta job t'do."

"Yes sir."

"Yes sir."

The lift opened and the trio exitted.

"So," Stavit asked, "Where next?"

[Slayn Cloak]

Bette was holding his arm, this was different, but, in that he felt comforted on some level. The lift was fast, but to the others seemed to take forever. Slayn could feel some jedi about, in fact there were quite a few in the vaccinate, none he had met, and perhaps not of much importance. His mind strayed to Naviria for a brief moment, but quickly went blank, their connection was far to powerful, and he couldn't have her knowing what was going on. The lift came to a slow, then a gentle stop, as the doors opened Slayn stepped out, tugging at Bette to stay close.

" This area's heated"

The Dark Jedi spoken in a low soft voice, it didn't seems to be one of caution, but a monotones warning spoken almost in vein. He then reached out to Bette's mind and spoke softly in it. This time their was emotion...

" You can handle this, still stick close. If you get yourself into a tight spot, just relax, try to concentrate, think of me and speak... I ensure you I'll hear it."

[Bette Davis]

Bette punched Zephyr in the arm. "Knock it off, you know I hate that." She wrinkled up her nose, and walked to the next junction, peeking around the corners into that hallway. "Clear."

Parker reported from the other end of their hallway, "Clear." The second lift hit the level, and Razor, Maniac and Mapp exited. Bette was already skulking down the next passage, her hand itching for her blaster.

[Val Torre]

"I'm not complaining," Val replied to Kam and with a smirk added, "The in-flight entertainment was pretty good, I mean what with travelling with you two clowns!" He laughed as the trio began tossing friendly banter back and forth as per usual. nearing the bottom, they all calmed down and went quiet, stepping off the lift silently, Val turned and with the flick of a switch sent the lift back up to the others.

"Where's Shooter and Parker?" He asked, Slayn who gestured in the appropriate directions. With a nod of thanks, Val turned and made his way round to where he would find Parker. Without a sound he tapped the man on the shoulder and as he turned he gestured upwards towards a couple of New Republic troopers doing their rounds. "Looks like the New Republic are getting closer to the jackpot. We best make haste."

[Slayn Cloak]

As Slayn continued down the hall behind Razor he noticed the man pointing to something a level up. It was a few NR soldiers, and an opportunity for fun. He waved his hand and created a clammer of behind the pair of men. They turned and looked for a minuet, as Slayn gave them the impression that they were forgetting something; The two quickly headed off in that direction. As Slayn stepped behind Val, he nodded and spoke.

" Easily diverted Razor, but you have a point."

[Bette Davis]

Bette looked back around the corner and glared at the men standing there chit-chatting. "Don't you five have somewhere to be?" She ducked back around the corner as the 'lifts came down once more, spilling eight more people to their level. She didn't want to think about the tight squeeze to get all eight down in the two turbolifts.

Bette walked softly down the hallway, following the map she had memorized prior to this mission. If the map was in her head, then no one could steal it from her. Well, that was the theory at least. She wiped a hand on her forehead, leaving a streak of dirt in the sweat. The others were following her, for the moment at least, until Ned Stark caught up to her.

He motioned to a side hallway, and she nodded. They left the main passage behind...and found themselves on the edge of a buried chasm. At least seventy feet deep, and spanned by a few rotten bridges, it didnt' look like anything she wanted to mess with. Granite slugs had gotten to the bridges, and they just waited for an excuse to crumble.

She walked to the edge of the walkway on their side of the cavernous hole in what had once been a marketplace, or something, and looked down. Frell knew what was down there...seventy feet! Bette didn't even want to imagine the horrors that had evolved in the depths of Coruscant.

[Elessar Stavit]

"Frosty" had his blaster out, as he and his fellow Shadows came down the steps onto the catwalk and a few of the destroyed bridges.

"Look at the size of that thing," he gaped as he looked at the hole, "I bet a Star Destroyer could fit in that."

Stavit looked towards his fellow SS members as they stared across the gap to where they needed to be.

"How we gonna get there?"

[Val Torre]

"Shooter could always try a jump. If she makes it, great. If she doesn't, well, we'll have to find another way to get across." He said, holding a serious look as Bette shot him a glare, as she turned back a grin crept across his face.

"Seriously though, how we gonna get across this chasm? I mean, surely you must've seen this on the map - there must be another way."

[Kam Dapp]

As a knowing smile crept accross Kam's face, he felt Bette's hand on his shoulder turn him to face her.

"Ready to rock and roll Oddball?"

"I was born ready" he said, as she pulled something out of her clothing. Slowly walking near the edge of the Gap, the pilot pulled off his jacket, and let it drop to the floor with a clang. Taking a small Vibroknife out of his boot, Kam cut out the fake lining, and began to take out and put together a series of small objects. He then took out the final item, a strong cable, and slotted it inside it's launcher.

"Dont worry Razor, some of us are employed for our intellegence" he said with a smile, as he took aim across the chasm. Firing, he watched as the End hit the wall on the other side, activating the magnetic coupling. Taking the other end of the cord, he threw it behind him, being sure that it stuck higher than before. Putting his jacket back on and reaching into his pocket, Kam pulled out two pairs of handles, throwing one to Val.

"Some of us are always prepared" He said smiling, as he hooked the handles over the wire, and began to slide down to the other side.

[Ned Stark]

"Yeah," Stark said, pulling his own grapple gun from his jacket.

"If you two'd been paying attention during briefing and not trying to frell each other, ya might've come prepared."

Firing the gun, Stark began his own trek across the chasm, barely beating Dapp across. His blaster was out instantly the minute he got across, as he listened to the sounds around him.

"Datapad says the hangar's about 10 miles away. All right, once the others are across let's move. We don't have a lotta time 'ere. We've all ready made closer contact with the NR than I want to..."

He turned towards Slayn and Sincere, "You guys sense anything else?"

[Tod Marr]

Tod stepped up behind Bette at the edge of the crevasse. He grabbed her shoulder and moved her forward slightly before ragging her back.

"Watch yourself sexy - I ain't goin' after ya if ya fall!"

Grinning, he turned away and moved back over to Val, pinching her ass as he did so. As he spun away from her, his brown trenchcoat flailed upwards. He took a grappling gun from his belt and loaded it. Bette glared at him.

"She on the rag or what?"

...he said to Val, hoping Bette heard it. God she looked good. Steaming! Like her attitude!

"C'mon ladies, what is this a goddamn oil painting!!?"

That last sentence was said in mid-run as Maniac jogged backwards before launching into an all-out run and lept off the edge. He heard one of his team mates call out to him as he fell. Aiming upwards with his grappling gun he fired.

It hit. Thank God! The air hit his face. He lost his breath. What a rush! After a few more seconds he landed on the other side. He hurt his leg as he landed but at least he was in one piece! Standing like he was drunk as he reeled in the hook, he shouted over to them - bloody hell that was a far gap!

"That was so cool. You guys gotta try that. Val, keep your eyes open on the way over ya big wuss!"

[Slayn Cloak]

Slayn who had taken the bridge across for amusement, answered first.

"There are some Jedi with the NR, I can't be sure of theirs purpose, but one could easily guess..."

[Bette Davis]

Bette grimaced at Maniac, and clipped her own handle to Stark's line. Without another word she launched herself across the chasm, and amused herself by looking down. Half way across she spat, and tried to see if she could see the saliva land.

She couldn't. Feet firmly planted on the other side, she unhooked and shrugged at Zephyr. "Jedi or not, I doubt they have any idea where they're going." Bette waved at Val, still on the other side. "You coming or what?" Tamara and Rain had already traversed across on their own line, and the others were not far behind.

Thankfully no one else tried Todd's jump. Bette shoved him hard as she walked past him. "You almost ended up a smudge on the oil painting. You maniac."

[Val Torre]

"What I would do without Tod here to keep me amused." Val thought smiling to himself. He loved it when he did things like that to Bette and the other girls, he just didn't care what people thought. An admirable and probably essential quality to have in Shadow Squadron.

"Yeah, yeah; don't get your panties in a twist." He said quietly on the other side of the chasm whilst Tod and Bette shouted over. He was checking the handgrips, he hit them a few times to make sure they were safe then in a non-flashy way, clipped the handgrips to the zip-line and pushed off the floor. His stomach churned sickeningly as the wind howled between the enormous structure. He hated feeling vulnerable like this, he didn't like hanging hopelessly above an unending drop.

"There!" He said, mainly to himself as his feet were back on the ground again. He saw some had taken out their weapons and he frowned.

"Isn't that a bit conspicuous?"

[Kam Dapp]

Kam held his palms up at Val to show his hands were empty.

"With a draw like mine, why get a gun out ready?" He said cockily, hoping noone had seen him try to pull his pistol out, only for it to get stuck in his jacket.

"Shall we keep moving?"

[Tod Marr]

Bette knocked into him. Ouch! That hurt!

"Smudge? That's rich, comin' from you! My canvasse is pristeen, baby, PRISTEEN!"

His voice echoed slightly...

"Hey Kam keep it down, you're gonna get us caught!"

Val touched down behind them. "Isn't that a bit conspicuous?". Cautious as ever!

"Yeah guy's, lets practice a little stealth and covertness here, huh?"

He eye's Bette suspiciously...

"Anybody seen my disruptor rifle?"

He winked at Val.

[Slayn Cloak]

Slayn often found it hard to relate to his squad, but he cared for every one of them, and would fight for them if need be. He never liked the reactions they gave to his abilities, and there constant mockery of the force. He then spoke in reply to Bette. " The Jedi most likely don't, but just as I knew I could cross that bridge, they may very well find their way."

[Bette Davis]

Bette rolled her eyes at Maniac, and returned her attention to Slayn. She didn't understand his abilities, and it was taking some getting used to it. But he was a good pilot, and came in handy on the squadron. "Yeah, I'm just glad Frosty didn't try to follow you."

Stark frowned at them all, and she shut up, following the older man through an old shop front, and out into a small alleyway through the back of the store. "Just be glad there isn't much vent crawling in this mission." She shuddered.

[Pierce Tondry]

"Okay, gents," Pierce Tondry said as he pulled down his blast helmet. "Faceplates down, and take cover. We go live in fifteen."

Today, Pierce was in a full combat powersuit, armored to protect against heavy laser blasts and demolitions explosives. The reasons for this change from the norm were simple: the team he was with were finding their way down into one of Coruscant's unused subsections hunting for certain caches of Imperial equipment, making use of drilling lasers and shaped charges as necessary.

Which was not to say it was necessary very much. Things had changed since Pierce's last occupation, but these secret passageways belonging to Imperial Intelligence were mostly intact.

Intact, of course, was a relative term, subject to change at the appearance new walls put in place by construction droids.

Pierce scrambled for cover back along the hallway amusingly noting to himself that the ysalamiri in his armored backpack had a greater chance of survivng an explosion than he himself.

Then fifteen seconds was up and the charges exploded, cutting a large circular patch through the wall that was blocking their progress. Bits and pieces of rubble clattered to stillness and smoke hazed the top of the impact hole, but it was easy to see that the way through was clear.

"Another fifteen just to be safe, then we move again," he ordered, unaware of the Dark Jedi or the hired guns that were layers of construction above them.

[Maia Tharrinn]

Maia closed her eyes and let the force fill her. She had a feeling there was more to this mission than met the eye. She turned toward Kindo and caught his arm. Leaning toward him she whispered.

"I think we need to be very prepared, I have a feeling things are going to get bad very fast." She said in a low tone. Unclipping her lightsaber she held it ready without igniting it. She looked in the direction that Kindo had pointed to.

[Slayn Cloak]

Slayn stepped ahead of Bette as she tried to take more ground. The second he had done so something was different. It seemed to him that the entire planet gasped and he passed...

" ... "

Everything was still, Bette was about to say something, her expression had changed. No doubt she was about to make some kind of foul statement to ensure her farce of dominance, and still- nothing moved.

" !!! "

Slayn had his hand extended and before even he had though it, Eternity was in his had, and he had ignited the double saber. Slayn was already in the middle of a maneuver before he knew what was going on, the party was under fire; More precisely he and Bette were. A hallway had opened up to the left, this void housed several NR troupes and some kind of sentry weapon. The saber was being spun around, as Slayn himself also stepped back and forth turning his torso with every movement. A large portion of the primary shots were returned and struck two of the three soldiers dead. Slayn force pushed Bette back into the corridor they had exited, just before turning that energy on the small turret and hitting the remaining trouper with it.

[Ki-Adi Kindo]

Kindo instantaneously felt a rapid disturbance within the Force, for he had grown very perceptive to it's immediate presence. He expeditiously obtained his silverish handgrip from his utility belt, emmiting a saffron beam from the steel hilt. With a clamorous shout, he summoned the primed troops.

" They are in that old warehouse! "

[Val Torre]

Val had been just behind Bette when the door slid open, they came under fire but from whom? Val couldn't see their attackers from where he was, then Bette was thrown into him and he shifted his arms so that he they slipped under her armpits to stop her from crashing to the floor. Shifting his weight he brought her to her feet and looking up saw that Slayn was finishing off the soldiers.

"What the frell!" He said with disbelief, looking in on the trio of corpses and sentry gun. "Looks like the New Republic have had them stationed there to stop anyone stumbling upon anything they might want. A bit greedy, wanting to keep every little pot of gold to themselves." He walked over to Stark.

"We definately need to pick up the pace now. How many levels down do we need to go?"

[Tod Marr]

Maniac's eyes widened instantly upon hearing the fire.

"Oh hell no! Wrong floor - I wanted lingerie and bedding!"

He sidestepped rapidly behind an outcropping of wall. It was actually the metal frame to a large door. God knows what was on the other side. There was a disused control panel covered in dust right next to him which he banged his elbow on as he moved there.

"Screw you! Republic Pansies!"

He never had a weapon - so harsh language was the best he could do!

"Hey, this is an XP-3 unit! I can get inside this baby!"

He opened the terminal whilst simultaneously looking around. There was Bette and Val a short distance behind him. he ran over to her and removed her hairpin.

"Mind?"

He skidded back to the terminal and began messing with the wiring...

[Bette Davis]

Bette roughly pushed herself away from Val's arms, and frowned as Todd loosened her hair. Part of it fell in her face, and she wrinkled her nose, and then peeked around the corner again. "Zephyr...thanks. Wow, you really got them."

She walked slowly over to the sentry gun, and tried not to let her distaste of the dead bodies be seen. She'd killed her share of people, but it was always a little detatched. She was snuffing out an enemy snubfighter, not slicing a man in ..two..

Bette averted her eyes and stepped over a leg, turning back to Stark. "I don't think they had time to call for help. But if there are Jedi around, they probably...'felt' that."

[Kam Dapp]

Stepping up to the corpses, Kam dug into their pockets, and checked for any keycards or anything else that they may find useful. Finding nothing but a spare blaster clip, Kam pocketed it and shrugged.

"Worth trying"

[Pierce Tondry]

The smoke cleared and Pierce pointed with two fingers, then waved his hand. The pointman and engineer began to move through the newly created entryway.

Then, Pierce did a quick locational check. According to his readings, there were two ways down to the cache he'd been hunting for- one was the Intelligence secret corridor he'd been taking. It would take less time overall, but had certain points that had recently been constructed near or around, thus meaning the original tunnel may not have remained intact. Blasting their way through safely would take time.

The other way was through a rather well-traveled section of a privately owned electronics firm that hired their own security. Not a very good route to take, and the military had agreed not to use the route, but had put the company on notice that possible demolitions were going to be occurring in the area.

Then, several lights blinked out in one area of his map.

Pierce stared at the area, hoping that it was merely a technological glitch and the lights would return. He gave the unit a hard whack just for good measure.

"Clear!"

The engineer and pointman had done another quicksweep of the hallway beyond and were now returning. "What's our next move, Lieutenant?"

Pierce dropped his arm. "I just lost several friendly markers on my OT HUD. I don't think it's a glitch. Commy- get a line to the monitor and get them to check those missing signals. They were just standard sentries and an AFS cannon, but you never know."

At least, you never know on Coruscant. "The rest of us move out by the numbers," Pierce said. "Now move. The sooner this is done, the happier I'll be."

[Morgan Evanar]

There was a smooth mechanical click as a magazine of ceramic jacketed slugs slid into a sub rail-rifle. Decked out in dark matte grey fatigues with ceramic armor underneath, the two meter Jedi Master looked extremely intimidating as he stalked down the corridor with the rest of Tondry's squad.

"There's a Darksider near by. Thats not an equipment error. And..." Morgan closed his eyes. "five or six others near it. Darksider's male, I think."