Azael

Azael chuckled- The woman hadn't been caught completely off guard at least. Not great for her current predicament, but a great sign for a prospective recruit. But she wasn't ready to drop the ruse just yet- First she had to confirm that this was the thief, not just some hired guard. She turned slowly as to not spook the speaker, resting her hands on her hips- close to her shock charges, just in case, but she wasn't ready to throw down just yet. Not unless things got dangerous. "Oh I don't think business hours apply to me any more than they apply to you. Interesting security system- Lots of safeguards. I'm gonna guess that I missed one- Motion sensor? Camera I didn't see? Or just bad luck?" She glanced around- She didn't see any signs of other people, but she didn't know if there were more people coming up from where the woman had materialized. Definitely from the basement. Luckily, if this was a hired guard she didn't think she was in any real trouble. She didn't look it, but she was a veteran of two wars, one as a child, and another as a disavowed operative. Getting around people was easy. Worst case scenario she disabled the woman with the shock charge and knocked her out. "The hidden door is a nice touch- did you think of that yourself or did it come that way?"

Azael watched the entrance to the art expo she'd been tipped off to. While high profile crime like art theft was usually not the kind of thing she troubled herself in, but the thief she was asked to find seemed to have a particular skillset, and she was always on the lookout for new talent to recruit for her team. Apparently, the thief in question had managed to snag a valuable piece that the owner desperately wanted back. When she'd asked what he wanted done with the thief, he'd told her he didn't care what happened to her, just that he got his art back. Honestly Azael didn't understand the fascination with expensive art. For the painters, the chances of making it big seemed relatively small. For collectors, they would always have to guard their collections and would only be able to sell to other collectors. But really it was the thieves who had it worst- They had to fight through all the security rich people could buy and then they wouldn't be able to sell the piece outside of already having a buyer set up. Still, she had tracked the speeder that fled from the scene through Coruscant's traffic data, and it led here. Owned by a Rieva Celwik, which matched the owner of the speeder. Her best guess was that that was the owner of the art gala, and she either paid a thief to steal the art, or was a thief herself. Either way, this would be as a much a test for Rieva as it was a job for Azael. She glanced at the blueprint she had bribed a local official for- it was only two levels and a basement- If the stolen piece was still here it wouldn't be too hard to find. The door panel was easy enough- It was a good system, enough to stop most street rats and even professional heist runners, but it wasn't up to par to stop her skillset. She was used to cracking Sith military hardware on the quick. Civilian software just couldn't compare. It was a two step process- First step was to tap into the connection with wherever the security call was routed to. It would probably detect being severed and trigger an automated response, but she was gentler than that. She tapped the line from her datapad, running a program that would quietly intercept any outgoing alarms and send its own confirmation that the message was recieved. The second step was the easier part- Once the program was running, she could easily brute force the system open without fear of triggering the alarm, and that's exactly what she did. She typed in a few commands, overriding the requirement for a passcode through a manufacturer's key, triggering the door to unlock with a series of chirps and a confirmation message flashing across her datapad. She slipped in, shutting the door behind her quietly- There had been no sign of anyone inside, but she'd only watcher for a few hours. Any longer would have roused the suspicion of any locals- something she wanted to avoid right now, given that she was technically committing a crime by entering the way she did. What she would give to have Jude here, watching her back as she made entry. Still, she was armed, and she doubted her would-be thief was afforded the same luxury. All that was left now was to find the art.

"Sounds like a deal then. it's gonna take me a few hours to cook up passable identification, but while you wait, I can tell you what we're gonna be doing. If you have any questions, feel free to ask." She heard a quiet beep from her communicator, and was relieved to see that Jude had responded already. He was already on world, surprisingly, and willing to meet up. She quickly sent him her coordinates before moving on. They would have time to catch up on their travels. Pocketing the communicator, she motioned for Elliot to follow her aboard her ship. As they walked, she spoke. "I work as a mercenary of sorts- really more of a bounty hunter on a wider scale. The Sovereign Knights offer top credit for anyone willing to help them finish rooting out the influences of the Sith, whether it be pirates and criminals that festered under their watch, or remnant cultists themselves. I heard they found actual Sith at Falleen too." She took a seat at her desk, pulling up a number of documents as she began to work. "It's good money, and it's work that lets us sleep at night. You'll earn equal parts as the rest of the crew, and I'll teach you everything you need to know about this life if you stick around long enough."

"If you want identification, I can do that. Hack into the local database, add a name, then whenever someone tries to check your ID they'll see it's valid and registered here on Coruscant. A planet like this, the chances of any local authorities noticing an extra name is pretty small, and even if they do, they'll write it off as one of the other thousand bureaucrats clearing the ID." She motioned at her ship, chuckling at his next offer. "No guns here. She's quiet, and discreet, but if a fight breaks out I hit the gas and run. I know a guy who may be able to help though. His name's Jude, he's a shock trooper for the Sovereign Alliance. We used to run together, take out bad guys the rebels couldn't touch. Smugglers, mob bosses, slavers. We were really good at it, too. But that was years ago by now. Not to worry- he's good people, and he still owes me." She pulled out her communicator, staring at it for a small moment before sending a message to @Larvee. Hey Jude, been a while. I have a job for you on Coruscant if you're interested- Maybe get the old system going again, killing bad guys and saving civvies. Let me know if you want in. "I'll even throw in an offer- Like I said, I'm no good with hardware. Give me a datapad or a keypad and I can hack into just about anything, but if my ship takes a hit or I need to do something mechanical, I'm no good. I could use an engineer. Work for me for a little bit, and I'll get you hooked up with everything you need to be a freelancer. Guns, training, contacts. Credits."

She followed him quickly out, resisting the urge to put a hand on her concealed blaster as he started to wheel the hyperdrive away. She had to remind herself that he was just an excited kid, not used to business like this. The problem with recruiting young is that many had potential, but lacked the experience to capitalize. As he spoke, she raised an eyebrow. He knew more than she did about starships, that's for sure. "I wouldn't know, I know how to find one and how to take it out of a ship, but that's where my knowledge ends. I've always been better with software than hardware. For all I know I took it out of the Queen of Naboo's personal shuttle." She checked her datapad, satisfied to see the agreed amount pending in her account. She met his eyes as he looked her over, crossing her arms as he spoke again. "Well, anything over the crater is a no-fly zone. Too much old military tech for them to let civilians fly around. As far as traffic, in a fighter you'll need some kind of unit ID, either merc or official to not raise eyebrows and get yourself tailed or tracked. That, I can definitely help with. I can make you an ID real enough to get you offworld if you want, or just real enough to get you around the planet. It's up to you."

Azael raised an eyebrow. He was young. Barely into his adult years, if even that old. He flew in a junker, an old X-Wing, probably dating back to the Galactic Civil War. It's probably what he wanted the hyperdrive for- It was the right type, and it looked like he'd put a lot of work into the restoration of the vessel. She hook his hand firmly, motioning for him to follow her aboard her ship, where she had the hyperdrive stored. It was also soundproofed and nearly impervious to audio bugs, which would allow them to discuss business discreetly. "You can call me Azael, Jude calls me Aze, you can call me Zu-Zu if you want, doesn't really bother me. Now, if you've never done something like this before, I'll show you that I have the 'drive, you can inspect it, make sure it's the right type and in working order, then you'll give me the credits and offload it yourself." She climbed aboard, showing him towards the cargo space where she had stashed the hyperdrive. "Finding it was a pain. Had to dodge Sovereign patrols to get into the exclusion zone, and then I had to fight a starfighter that was in-tact enough to be a potential salvage option. Went through fifteen ships digging through hyperdrives to find this one, and even this one took a little bit of work to get back into working order. Here she is." She gestured at the hyperdrive, stepping aside to give the boy better access. "Why buy under the table? Why not a commercial model?"

Zuwa'zae'lnamu stared at the recovering city-world of Coruscant from the cockpit of her shuttle, a modified X-70B Phantom. It had been gifted to her by an anonymous donor, complete with IFF tags for both the Sovereign Alliance, and the Chiss Ascendancy. The latter gave away the allegiance of the donor, as did the encoded message inside. With the collapse of the Sith Empire, she had been reinstated as an Chiss operative, with this shuttle as both an apology, and a way to discreetly perform her duties across the galaxy. Her current mission statement was simple- Ensure the Sith did not return, at any cost. The world before her bore the scars of the Sith regime more readily than most, a massive furrow in the crust of the world from where the planet's own moon had struck a glancing blow. Only now, years later, were the reconstruction efforts starting to show real progress.The rubble was sorted, the dead were buried. Now, once again, spires were starting to reach into the planet's atmosphere. Proof that every world, no matter how injured, could recover. She wasn't here without purpose- She had a job to do. She hoped to recruit a young man who showed promise as an engineer, having fully refurbished an old X-Wing. She had a fighter, Jude, wherever he had gone after Nar Shaddaa. She still had their private line. Her original plan had been to meet with him first, to start working on rebuilding their arsenal, but she'd since been distracted. Later, she told herself. He was sure to have plenty to do, anyways- The Sovereign Alliance had an entire galaxy to secure. Her communicator flashed, and she glanced at it. Got the credits. Where can we meet? She glanced back at the cargo hold of her craft- A small fighter-grade hyperdrive, 'reclaimed' from a downed Sith craft in the exclusion zone of the planet. Being an operative for two galactic powers had its advantages. In truth, she didn't care about the salvage. It was an opportunity to naturally put herself in the path of her target recruit, to offer her her best shot at snagging him. If he declined, well, it would be a shame, but there were millions of engineers across the galaxy. She was sure she could find another to fulfill the role. Hangar 72B, District 3. Room for two ships. I'll have your hyperdrive. She stashed her communicator, leaning forward and putting power to the ship's engines. She'd had a hangar reserved since she arrived, and now she was going to make good use of it. He would arrive to see her waiting, no doubt.

Azael had a shot- She was sure of it. But shooting wasn't her specialty- She couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't end up hitting one of the slaves, or one of the other civilians. Instead, she acknowledged that the better shooters in the ambush would be better prepared, if she could give them the opportunity. With Tilt on the opposite side of the transport, she was sure the trained commando would have a better shot. She leaned out the window, firing her pistol towards the back of the transport, hoping to draw the man's attention towards herself and give Tilt an open shot at his back.

Azael was nervous- these kinds of things weren't her strong suit. She was a lot of things- thinker, a thief. A trickster. But what she wasn't, was an assassin. Storming a stronghold full of hostile combatants with a crew of trained fighters at her back? She could do that. SHe had a purpose then, a way to ensure she was being useful. But this? Slinking in alleys and rooftops and second story windows waiting for a transport to shop up so they could shoot it out? If this was what she was good at she would have taken a very different course in her like. She fiddled with that blaster pistol in her hands, glancing out her own at the place that Jude was hiding. This was his element- This was what he'd trained for. She was just a tagalong, an extra blaster, in case things got hairy. She closed her eyes- She had no qualms about this. The man was vile from what she'd learned in the original briefing, and the kind that didn't get better with a slap on the wrist. She wasn't like a Jedi or an Imperial Knight- the fall to the dark side wasn't her fight. But she worried about the civilians in the street that may get caught in the crossfire. Still, it had to be done. With luck, they'd clear out when they saw the transport. Those men tended to have reputations among the locals.

Azael watch as everything seemed to unravel in slow motion. She and the Jensaarai seemed to see eye to eye for the first time as the blasters came out. They needed to kill these people, and they needed to do it fast. There was no time for communication. And then, as the others leapt into action, she watched as the guard in front of her lifted his blaster. She went to draw her blaster, but Jude was faster, and the Guard was even faster as he mowed down the Jensaarai. Her heart dropped and the baster fire died down. She could hear the alarms inside. She struggled to think about a way out of this, but her mind failed her. She saw the Sith emblem, exposed when the Jensaarai- had she even gotten his name, she wondered briefly- had pulled his weapons off his armor. There was shouting now as the alarms blared. "We need to go now- this op is blown. Pull out, get to the speeders. When you get on, bolt in a different direction. We'll meet back at the ships, and go from there." With that, she turned, blasting the camera for good measure as she did, sprinting for her speeder at the top of the hill.

Her mind raced- His reaction didn't surprise her, but it did nearly blow the entire plan. He caught herself before she reached for her weapon- she could still talk through this. They were expected, and she would use that. She played into the idea that she was a pirate with a hot score, scowling at him as he spoke. "Before you arrest us and really piss me off, why don't you do two things. First, actually check the clipboard in your hands, and confirm that I'm on there. Then, if that doesn't satisfy you, call your boss, because we aren't your kriffing redfor, and if we were, he would congratulate you for doing your job by calling it in. If we aren't, then he'll tell you to let us in himself, and then you're not arresting people who are here to do business with him, which would not go well for negotiations. But if you try and lay a hand on any one of us we'll shoot you and all of your friends out here dead, which would be doing both you and your boss a favor by the looks of it, because I doubt he'll take that kind of bungling by you kindly from what I've heard of the man, and then we'll go find someone with the foresight to not arrest their business partners on a whim from the words of a man who's clearly not hired onto my crew for his brains. Now think real carefully about your next move." She hoped that the assortment of people with heavy arms and armor behind her accentuated her point- They were here right now to look threatening, and her language had no hidden meanings- it was time to look threatening.

Azael crossed her arms as the rest of her allies approached. Normally, little jokes and puns like that were right up her alley, but right now, she was playing her part, same as everyone else. She gave him a slight sneer at the pirate for his joke and an eye roll at Tilt for his before she answered. "Azael. I called ahead earlier today- I have business with your boss. Don't mind the loudmouth- he thinks he's funnier than he is." This was where things would start to get dicey. If they played their cards wrong or their cover was blown, they would be right in the middle of a criminal stronghold. They could probably shoot their way out, but it wouldn't be pretty and innocent people would probably die. Her mind raced- She wished that she'd gotten a chance to speak before the man had started talking, but it probably helped to sell them as a rag tag group rather than skilled operatives of the Rebel Alliance. She was trying to think of exit strategies. The compound was big, and uncharted. She'd have to keep note of the path they took going in, or secure a map from the security systems inside if things got dicey. Her foot tapped impatiently, both from the wait and as a side effect of her nervousness. She always got jitters right as things started getting interesting. It helped her stay on her toes, not miss her surroundings. For example, the fellow criminals that were slowly making their way over. Her red eyes shot over towards them for only a brief second, acknowledging their presence, before looking back at the man who seemed to be in charge.

Azael nodded. They were expected- no point in creeping around any more than necessary. She stood, glancing behind her at her three comrades. They had a rough start, but hopefully they would keep their eyes on the prize. This mission was still doable, even if it would be a little bumpy. She gave them a confident smile. "One last refresher- We get in, make the trade, get the slaves. Go back, get them to safety, come back for the ship. We're pirates, they're a criminal syndicate. Match made in heaven. We might see them doing some pretty bad stuff- keep your weapons holstered until the civilians are gone. We'll come back and shoot the place up after they're safe." She climbed down the hill, making sure the others were with her, before approaching the entrance. She was nervous, but she didn't let that show. She walked with the confidence of a pirate who had made a big score- arrogance, a slight belief in their own invincibility. The confidence of a job well done. When she was in earshot, she placed her hands on her hips and called out. "I assume this is the Guild? I called ahead- your boss should be expecting me. These fine gentlemen are my associates." She'd dealt with pirates and criminals before. She knew how these things went. If she'd shown up alone they'd have likely just shot her and been done with it, taking the perceived loot without payment. The group she had likely wasn't enough to kill all the pirates as far as they could tell, but they were menacing enough and dangerous enough that it would be more trouble than it was worth to try.

Azael nodded. They were back on track, and able to coordinate. She was embarrassed to have talked about her experiences in the way that she had, but it had seemed to work. She began speaking again as they headed outside. "First, if the Sith hear tales of people impersonating or attacking Sith officials, they'll just kill everyone. They've never struck me as the kind of people to launch a proper investigation. Other than the fear factor, that's why we shouldn't be dressing as Sith. We're here to protect them, not use them as scapegoats. At the very least, cut off those insignias. Lends us more air as rouge pirates than an intact uniform would. Our priority are the civilians inside the structure- All of this means nothing if the people suffer for it. I've sent word to the crimelord that we'd like to do business. Trade the ship you brought for whatever slaves they have. Once we've gotten them to safety, we come back, kill the pirates, topple his network, take back your ship. We'll give the locals a story to give the Sith, just in case. That Sith loyalists attacked the stronghold and took back the ship. The civilians are spared, at least for a little while, the crime lord is dead, and the Sith are none the wiser to our presence in the Outer Rim or on Ryloth." She glanced at the clone, her brow furrowed. "If you're confident in your men, we can leave them inside a cargo container as a hidden surprise. Have them hit the pirates from inside as we slip back in. For all intents and purposes though, this is our recon. Get in, look around, make the deal, get out until we're ready to come back and kill the scum." She climbed onto the speeder bike, looking at the otehrs. "Jude's got the comm frequency. Patch into that and we'll talk as we go." She hit the thrusters, and the speeder hummed to life, shooting off into the distance.

As the weapons were drawn, what remained of the crowd hastily made their exits. Nobody wanted to be around when the Sith got into gunfights- not only did they seldom care about collateral damage, but even if the Sith were the ones killed, there would be bad times to follow for anyone who witnessed it or was perceived to have taken part in it. In moments, the once busy speeder shot was empty save for the operatives, and Azael let out a loud curse. She had put together that these were her contacts, she'd heard the code phrase, but had she been told that one would be wearing a Sith insignia she would have declined the help to begin with. "Ktah!" she shouted, the word foreign to her. It was a rare curse in her native tongue, as to use such vulgar language was frowned upon. But it had been a long time since her Ascendency days, and her vocabulary had relaxed. "Put your kriffing guns away! We're on the same side!" Her palm went to her forehead in consternation, brushing a loose strand of hair out of the way before she pointed at the Jennsaari. "Why did you think showing up to a world on the brink of war in a hostile uniform was covert in any way? Aren't you supposed to be a master of infiltration? These people are fleeing for their lives as planets burn under Sith occupation, so of course when they see one in uniform here they're going to panic!" She wheeled the finger to the troops behind the man who had drawn their weapons. "And then you draw your guns when we move to make contact? Do you have any idea what these people are going through?" She took a moment to gather herself, to catch her breath. "Let me give you an idea. I grew up in the Chiss Ascendency. I'm twenty four. Twenty years ago, the Sith infiltrated our people and slaughtered us by the tens of thousands. I was barely four years old when I watched my people die horrible death the those monsters, watched my parents get cut down for trying to protect me. It was the most horrific experience of my life. These people are experiencing that right now. The Sith have shown up, unannounced, and begun a bloody conquest throughout the Outer Rim, slaughtering anyone who dares get in their way. Necromancers on Aaris, the subjugation of Falleen. Even now, there are reports of Naboo burning. These people are scared, and are hiding on one of the few planets they can afford to reach that aren't owned by the Sith. So when you walk in here, looking like that, drawing guns and threatening patrons, they panic. They run, scared for their lives." She took another deep breath, calming herself. "We're here to do good for these people. To kill a crime lord who has them living in fear. What's the point of that if they just end up fearing us instead?" She spoke openly now that the store was empty. Even the owner had left once the weapons were drawn. Still they had a job to do. She placed an abundant amount of credits on the counter, paying for two extra speeders, and jerked her head towards the exit. "What's done is done. We can't re-do this, so let's do what we can to salvage it. If you change out of that uniform, we can pass it off when we arrive as a misunderstanding. They think we're pirates, let's use that. If you show up in a sith uniform though, chances are they'll just shoot you before you get the chance to explain. the compound is about two klicks out. Grab a speeder, and I'll brief you two on what we know so far. Probably best to leave the boys with the ship for now- People don't like the Sith around here, as I've mentioned, and we don't want it getting jacked before we can finish our deal."