Chapter 3: Archaic

[Drake 53]

Tak swung his head, which made more of a flopping motion, to face Deign directly. He forced a smile and concentrated on speaking as clearly as he could. "See...I came here to meet you." Tak snorted in and spat in Deign's face. "I'm a big karking fan." His head lolled back as he laughed.

Deign smirked, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket. He wiped off the saliva and walked over to Cale. Keeping his voice low, he said, "Finish up with him then toss him in the tank. We'll try again tomorrow."

[Chickenman 9]

"Yes sir. We'll be finished in but a moment, sir," Cale replied, unsheathing a vibro-shiv and flicking on the power. As Deign left, Cale crossed the room, slamming the blade into Tak's leg, almost as an afterthought. He let it sit there for a moment, cutting muscle and bone as he used his comlink to call in more of Archaic's thugs. "We're done with the prisoner. Please take him back to the infirmary. And send someone to clean up this mess." Shutting off the comlink, he none-too-gently removed the knife from Tak's body, and traded the weapon for a simple metal pipe. He bludgeoned his restrained and vulnerable prisoner with it. Sometimes the best tools are the simplest. He rained blow after blow from the makeshift torture device. The frusteration of his investigation, of the loss of his men poured out of Cale. He only stopped when the Archaic men showed up at the door. Cale casually wiped the blood off of the pipe and himself as they dragged the prisoner out of the room. Somewhere, in a detached part of his brain, he begged Nasha forgive me. Another detached part of his brain wondered what was happening to him. Most of him, however, just stood there, breathing deeply and staring blankly ahead.

***

"Well, you can count that no one's going to be using Deign's private yacht. We'll make sure of that." He paused, looking around. "Remember no matter what happens to my team, the official mission is your action. The Republic wants to put an end to Archaic's operation, and you're the man who's going to do that. I just wanted to wish you good luck."

Edited February 3, 2009 by Chickenman

[Rogue 4]

"I'd rather the luck goes to Nasrin and Skirata." Nat said after a moment. "We have weapons and explosives on our side. Sir, I know this mission is important. I also know that it was only an afterthought by command, a way to justify our coming here, and to keep us from going rogue like Captain Antilles Squadron did. The real reason we're here, the real reason this whole squadron is here is to make sure that we don't have another Atzena Meling, or Jareth Daragon."

[Chickenman 9]

The memory of Atzena and Jareth's deaths stung. While an officer never got used to the deaths of his subordinates, one had to accept that casualties were a reality of war. Even so, Aeric treated every death as his own personal failure.

"Yes. Well, good luck to both of us then. I'll see you on the other side."

[Drake 53]

Despite the near-paralyzation in his limbs, Takeshi groaned through clenched teeth as the vibroshiv stabbed into his leg. Yet, he did not cry out.

The continued blows with the pipe made him want to scream out all the rage and frustration at his being held captive and helpess. Yet, he did not cry out.

He wouldn't give this hut'uun the satisfaction. He couldn't.

Instead, he stoically suffered through it until he blacked out for a moment, from the overwhelming pain. When he next awoke, Tak was being dragged out, by the arms, by two Archaic men. He turned his head enough, as they pulled him through the doorway, so that Cale could hear his chuckle before saying, "Was that the best you could do? Better luck tomorrow..."

The door hissed closed and Takeshi allowed himself to collapse, letting the men haul his dead weight down the corridor.

[Chickenman 9]

The teams had deployed with lightning quickness, and Aeric now sat in a hovercar, only a few dozen meters away from Archaic's parking garage entrance. Leaning back in the driver's couch, looking bored, he was actually staring quite intently into the car's mirror, which he had adjusted to give him a view of the entrance. Two guards were posted outside, but after Tak's little spat with Archaic security, there were no doubt several more waiting just out of sight.

"Get ready," he muttered to his passengers, "as soon as we get the double click from Nat, we'll be moving."

[Rogue 4]

Nat Riamor's team was likewise assembling on the cliffside where the hologram covering the Archaic hanger was located. It had taken them longer to get there since it involved a little climbing. Quietly signaling to everyone to hold there for now, Nat double clicked his comm.

Then he signalled to Jya that they might need a big boom to make their grand entrance.

[Mara 29]

An hour previously, Kaden had been peacefully staring at the horizon eating, but now he found himself crouched on a cliff near Archaic's hangar with the rest of the team: Jya, Jaim, Szen and, of course, the LT. He pulled out one of his blasters and double-checked the power charge before stretching out his legs a bit to work out the cramps from the climb up.

[Bad furday 57]

Jya nodded at Nat and began setting up an explosive charge. Once, the device was armed, Jya glanced in the direction of the hidden entrance, before looking back at Nat.

"We don't want the entry way caving in on us, so I think that I'll have to run in, affix the charge to the door, and then run back out before it goes off. Say the word when ready."

[Rogue 4]

Nat gestured everyone back behind cover, leaving room for Jya to join them. "It's all yours, Officer."

[Bad furday 57]

Picking up the explosive charge, Jya sprinted for the hidden entryway. The rest of the team watched as she seeming walked right through the solid rock.

The set of doors greeted Jya, as she entered the cave's mouth. Quickly taking a look around to make sure she was clear, Jya removed the adhesive strip and attached the explosive to the seam between the set of doors.

Setting the timer for ten seconds, Jya turned and ran for the exit.

Seconds later, Jya emerged from the holographic entryway, and joined the others behind their rocky cover.

A muffled "WHUMP!" was heard, and dust began drifting from the mouth of the cave.

"We'd best go in now, before they send someone to check it out," suggested Jya.

[Chickenman 9]

Upon receiving the double click, Aeric at first did nothing, slowly counting backwards from one hundred and twenty. When he had reached the five mark, he hit the ignition, and at zero the hovercar inconspicuosly merged with traffic. He continued down the street, out of view of the parking garage guards, then made a right turn, circling the entire block before once again arriving before the garage again.

***

Pakan Zart's life story wasn't an unusual one for an Archaic guard. He had been raised by a single mother after his father's arrest for the armed robbery of a toy store. His mother had tried to make ends meet, dancing at a local cantina in little to no clothing. One might say that this sort of home life is what lead Pakan down the road that had ended with employment with Archaic. That "one" would be wrong. Pakan watched far too many violent holovids at a very impressionable age, which lead to a childhood of shoplifting, bullying and burning ants to death with a magnifying glass. This childhood had lead to an adult life of robbery, spice use, and burning ants to death with a magnifying glass. Some habits die hard. Still, as far as Archaic scumbags went, he wasn't exactly the scummiest. He paid his taxes, attended church twice a year, and always had a kind word for the poor, that word usually being the advice to get a job.

He stopped the approaching hovercar with a raised hand and was about to tap on the glass to make the driver lower the window, when to his surprise the man behind the wheel stepped out out of the car. This ever so slightly irked Pakan, as he had prepared a lovely little speech about how this was a private garage, and would you please be so kind as to turn around, when the man spoke.

"Hi, please don't scratch the paint," he ordered, dropping his keys at Pakan. Pakan was too busy watching the keys and trying to catch them before they hit the pavement, and so did not see what the man's other hand was holding, which was nothing, but it was balled up into a fist. Pakan instead gained this knowledge when an uppercut caught him under the chin, causing his skull to rattle around inside his helmet like a spasming rodent inside a hamster ball.

He must box, thought Pakan as he blacked out. The last sound he heard was the garage complex erupting into blasterfire.

Edited February 3, 2009 by Chickenman

[Princess 35]

Nima took up her position and started laying cover fire all over the garage. Her accurate fire had guards dodging for cover. She managed to hit a couple of them and advanced forward toward the entrance to the rest of the base. She squatted by the door and shot out the control panel, causing the door to open. "Let's go!"

[Mara 29]

Ducking behind the large rocks, Kaden shielded his eyes for the explosion that was to come. And it was a big one. He could feel the earth vibrating underneath him.

He joined the others of his team in standing up and checking their weapons. Tightening his bag's strap securely, Kaden hefted a blaster in both hands. It was time to prove himself. Now or never.

[Rogue 4]

Nat cradled his blaster rifle as he moved towards the entrance, using the wall for cover as he leaned past the holoprojection and inside. The doors had blown a good distance away, and the people inside the hanger were just begining to understand that they were under attack. Nat put two bolts into a Trandoshan who was leveling his own blaster in the lieutenant's direction before gesturing the rest of the team forward to join him.

When they were near him he spoke loudly enough for them to hear.

"Eleven, I want you to stay with your wingmate, and Ten, you're with me." Nat let out another couple of bolts at the enemies that were already finding cover, then ducked back behind the cliffside just in time for a bolt to whizz past his head. "Seven, use your grenades as you see fit, but let's try and keep Argos' private yacht for ourselves. Nothing risky, people. Let's just do our job and all go home in one piece."

[Drake 53]

The entire corridor vibrated for a moment, causing Deign to pause in his step. Seismic tremors were not uncommon in many areas of Corellia. However, Tyrena was nowhere near a fault line, which meant that this was something man-made and close.

He grabbed his commlink and was about to call his security chief for a status report when he received an incoming call first. "What the hells is going on?" he asked

"Sir, we are under attack," came the voice of his security chief. "An explosion just took out the bunker door to the hangar. Our men are now trading fire with the attackers both there and in the garage."

"The garage too!" Deign shouted. "Damn it! How did they find us?" His mind flashed through all the possibilities but came to rest on two. It's her damn squadron. They've come for her! and They've come for him. How could I have been so sloppy? But it wasn't him. He didn't bring them here. That had been Jaing Skirata's doing. Damn bounty hunters....

"Sir?" The voice of the security chief cut into Deign's thoughts. Apparently he had missed a question.

"What?" he asked.

The sound of blaster fire was heavy over the commlink. Apparently the chief was holed up at one of the locations under attack. "Sir, we need to fortify our positions and drive them off. I'm not sure how many of them there are but my guess is at least two dozen."

Deign growled under his breath. "Split our forces. Half to the hangar and half to the garage. Stop this mess before they get too far!" There was the sound of something exploding over the commlink which no doubt drowned out the chief's 'Yes, sir.'

He picked up the pace down the corridor. If this was the infamous Revenant Squadron here for their missing member, he would not make it easy for them to get to her. A minute later he was back at his quarters. He barely glanced at the two guards outside before walking through the door.

Deign found the two women and his daughter back on the couches. He was pretty sure that Sena and Ayana hadn't moved since earlier. Trying to calm his voice as much as possible, he smiled and said, "Layla, I need to speak with you in the kitchen for a moment."

[Rogue 4]

Layla could tell as soon as he walked in that something was happening. She had felt a slight tremor before, this part of the base was away from the entrances, and she guessed easily that fighting must have been going on at one of them? Had the squadron really come for her?

With all the mistakes she made in her past, she found it hard to believe. That didn't of course mean that she wasn't grateful. "Ayana, stay with Sena a moment." Layla said calmly, as if she didn't have any idea what was going on. She rose and walked to the kitchen with Deign.

[Drake 53]

He waited until the door closed before saying, "It would seem that some people have come looking for the prisoner we captured last night. Most likely his criminal friends. I need to bring you, Ayana and Sena somewhere safe in case they come for looking for me too. My office is more secure."

[Chickenman 9]

Cale didn't recognize the man in the mirror. He ran the faucet and splashed the city's less than pure water onto his face, but it did little to revert him back to the man he recognized, save for washing off the last of the prisoner's blood.

He didn't know what was happening to him, but he did know that he was changing. Under Archaic's thumb, he was growing viscious, becoming more brutal than he could have ever imagined. Yet, at the same time, he was growing more aware of how...wrong it felt.

Cale had some thinking to do. He would not get time to think, however, as his comlink buzzed.

"Sano."

"Sir, we're under attack!"

"What? Where?"

"The Hangar, sir!"

The moment of emotional turbulence disappeared, replaced with a cold resolve.

"I'll be right there."

***

Aeric hoped Nat's team was providing them the distraction we need. He popped up from behind his cover, a parked Archaic hovercar, and sent a few blaster bolts the way of a particularly dug in guard.

Using a flurry of hand signals, he ordered Nima and Arlan to lay down supressing fire, ordered Atuarre to break for the door, and ordered Aston to flank the guard. Aeric was just about to add his own fire to Nima and Arlan's when he heard an engine revving. He turned in time to see a hovercar bearing down on him, attempting to slam him between itself and the car that Aeric had thought was a decent set of cover only a few moments before. Lightning fast and without conscious thought, Aeric brought his rifle to bear and fired at the car's windshield.

He missed the driver.

"Damn," Aeric muttered as the car sped towards him.

Edited February 5, 2009 by Chickenman

[Rogue 4]

"That's impossible." Layla said, placing her hands on her hips. "Nobody's broken into Archaic headquarters since it moved to Tyrena. And if they did, shouldn't our focus be getting out of here? Or was everything you told me before just a lie?"

[Drake 53]

Deign sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "If it comes to that, yes. I have a means of escape. If it looks like they're coming after us, we can get out but for now, I have a duty to my men to lead them through this. Regardless of my wanting to leave or not."

[Rogue 4]

"Strike a deal with them." Layla advised him, leaning back against the counter. "If you're worried that they're going to break all the way in to here, then strike a deal and give them what they want."

[Drake 53]

Deign shook his head. "You know me better than that. You know those criminal types better than that. It's in their nature to attack even if I return their man and it's in my nature not to appease people who break into my base and kill my men. Now, I'm running out of patience so get your sister and our daughter and let's go."

[Rogue 4]

Of course you're running out of patience, because they're not just after the prisoner, they're after me too. Which means that prisoner really is a member of the squadron... Layla pushed off the counter and turned towards the door, walking out. "Sena, we need to go." She looked over to Ayana and knelt down to pick her up. "C'mon baby."

As they left, Layla asked Deign, "So who are they coming after that's so important?"

[Drake 53]

As they walked out into the corridor, Deign spoke to the two guards, "Remain here. If they come, defend the room as though we are still inside. If it gets too much, fall back."

The guards said their yes, sir's as Deign and the women started down the hall towards his office. Once on their way, he shrugged. He honestly didn't know the answer to Layla's question. "We haven't gotten much from him yet. As far as we can tell, he's the son of a crime lord in the Corporate Sector. He was involved in the death of one of my top enforcers last night at a cards tournament. It looks like he has more friends here than I thought."