"I can see why you hired them, Ran, they're good, I'll give that even if they are suicidal levels of crazy" Xi'an noted as the crew entered the structure, at this level, a seires of tight, underlit and utilitarian corridors that looked like they could have been ripped straight out of an Imperial Star Destroyer
"you can talk, and I still don't like having to split our pay 2 more ways" Qin grumbled
"shut it you two, Ran, which way to the database console?" The Mandalorian reprimanded, checking a corner for hostiles
"according to the tracker down that corridor" Ran answered, pointing down a long corridor from the end of which a blue light and low mechanical humming were emanating
"easy" Qin said
"seems that way. you and Xi'an, cover our flank" The Mandalorian commanded
"who put you in charge?" Qin argued
"jus' do it, getting ambushed before we even know where our prize is would be a real bad way to start" Ran interceded
"Fine" Qin complained, the crew making their way down the long corridor, heads on a swivel for any enemy contact.
After a slow and steady march down the corridor, the crew arrived at the database room, a small but tall room in order to house the tall databank column which glowed a stark blue
"Mando, see if you can get what we need from the console" Ran called as they entered the room
"On it, just cover me, this could take a while" The Mandalorian replied, making his way to the console and began to search through it for the location of the crown and AA control systems, filing through structural integrity readouts, crew rosters, inventories, communication transcripts and flight registers among other now useless bits of data.
"whats taking so long?" Qin complained as The Mandalorian continued to Siv through the digi-trash
"give me time, this place was obviously a hub of activity during the time of The Empire and whoever oversaw this databank obviously wasn't very good at file management, so some patience would be…" The Mandalorian started before a footstep sound came from down one of the leading corridors and grabbed the crew's attention.
After a seeming eternity of baited silence, a clearly drunk Trandoshan in pirate's garb stumbled out of the shadows of the corridor into databank room and looked lazily around the room seeming not that perturbed by the crew's presence
"hey… you guys aren't supposed to be…" the Trandoshan started groggily before Xi'an cut him off by driving a dagger into his neck and dragging him silently to the floor
"I was hopeing for more of a challenge, but a kill is a kill" Xi'an said nonchalantly, breaking the silence
"honestly, I'm just glad that guy was a drunk as he was, otherwise that could have severely complicated matters, Mando, you got what we need yet?" Ran stated after taking a deep breath of relief
"I have, the crown is 6 floors above us, Level 5 Initiative Assets, whatever that means and the AA guns are controlled from the, well, control centre on the top floor, sending the data to the tracker, which one should we go for first?" The Mandalorian replied
"AA guns first, once we grab the crown, we might need to scram in a hurry, now, which way are the turbolifts?" Ran decided
"they are down the corridor that Trandoshan came from" The Mandalorian stated
"ah," Ran started, "well lets hope that guy wasn't having a party with some friends, come on" he finished, gesturing for the crew to follow him, which they did, skulking down the shadowed tangle of hallways that, according to the tracker, lead to the turbolifts. After many slow, silent minutes the crew found the turbolift which was, as Ran had predicted, occupied, fortunately, they were both even more black out drunk than the first one they met, seemingly not even conscious, but just to play it safe, and also because she liked doing it, Xi'an swiftly sliced both their throats as Ran called a lift down.
"I hate to agree with my brother, but this is seeming way to easy, even accounting for my well-honed skills" Xi'an noted as the crew stepped into the arrived lift and sent it up to control centre
"those 3 were black-out drunk, I doubt all of them will be in such a state considering how much fear they seem to strike into the locals" The Mandalorian countered, checking his equipment
"personally, the sooner we find the crown and get paid the better, all this sneaking around is just grinding my gears, not that I'm some no-good rust-bucket" Ran complained, cracking his knuckles
"good, I would have to kill you if you where" The Mandalorian replied flatly
"that a threat?" Qin retorted
"you really are quite dense aren't you, Qin?" Xi'an barbed, balancing her dagger
"that's a threat" Qin spat
"stop squabbling, we're almost to the top" Ran interceded, gesturing to the floor indicator, which opened in short order to reveal the control centre, currently occupied by 4 relaxed but sober Spikesharks fiddling with various consoles in the room.
"hey, you hear that they've moved the captives to the upper floors, that's in our patrol circuit" one pirate asked another
"might get to have some fun with 'em" another salivated
"keep it professional, ya slobs" reprimanded a third
"ah, let them have our fu-" started the fourth before one of Xi'an's dagger struck straight into his jugular
"hey, what the-" the second started before he was domed by an amban sniper bolt to the head, shortly followed by the third and first getting stunned by Qin vaulting over a bank of consoles, kicking them both in the chest, and then downing them with a burst of laser fire.
"that was dramatic" The Mandalorian stated, in reference to Qin's battle gymnastics
"I'll take that as a compliment" Qin sniped
"come on, let's find us an AA control console" Ran said, beginning to search the room, followed by the rest of the group. All functions of The Bastion truly were controlled through here: lights, doors, cameras, turbolifts, intercom as well as a few external functionalities: service trench status, a distress call button and communication consoles with other Imperial installations, The Citadel on Scarif, The Keep on Gan Moradir, The Fortress on Nur and The Castle on Mustafar (this last one had a holo-note attached to it reading: FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, DO NOT CONTACT EXCEPT WITH GOOD NEWS).
"good thing these guys weren't paying attention, there are a million ways for 'em to see us coming" Ran noted, continuing to search the rows of consoles
"lucky us, you think all these installations are filled with treasures so lucrative someone is willing to pay us 2 million credits a piece?" Xi'an pondered with a ravenous glint in her eyes
"let's go find out how much these are worth first because," Qin started before destroying a console in a hail of laser fire followed by the sound of depowering electronics, "I just disabled the AA systems"
"wit? From you Qin? I am impressed" The Mandalorian quipped
"lets go get that crown before I punch you" Qin retorted, making for the Turbolift
"I concur" Ran said, filing into the turbolift followed by Xi'an and The Mandalorian.
The crew mulled in silence, checking their weapons as the turbolift descended to Level 5 Initiative Assets, the doors parting to reveal several branching corridors. After the crew swiftly dispatching the 2 pirates who were supposed to be guarding the lifts, Ran checked the tracker for which corridor the crown was stored in before gesturing for the crew to follow him down the furthest left one.
The corridor was long with many doors on both sides marked with ominous but vague names of various imperial projects: Auger, containing nothing but old knick-knacks, Veil-Piercer, containing ancient religious texts, old journals of deep-space travellers and musty star maps attempting to chart the Unknown Regions, Stardust, containing sheets of quadanium steel and storage crates that all glowed from within with different but equally ominous colours, Star-Wraith, containing a skeleton attached to various inscrutable contraptions that kept vanishing and reappearing in different parts of the room, War-Mantle, containing a pedestal atop which stood a bejewelled crown.
"I think this is the one" Qin called, gesturing to the crown
"payday!" Xi'an laughed ravenously
"careful now, we don't know what security measures might be in place" The Mandalorian cautioned
"shut up Mando, we are getting paid," Qin retorted, smashing the door down and the grabbing the crown from its pedestal, "see? Easy" Qin gloated
It was at that moment a deafening cacophony of alarms exploded around them.