Chapter 4:
After the congratulations were over, she was finally introduced to the crew. The head of the operation, the Weequay, was a former pirate by the name of Hokzam. Apparently, he used to run with some famous captain named Hondo Ohnaka, Ves had never heard of him. The weapons expert was the Zygerian with the ridiculous collar named Serrad. A name befitting of his pseudo-royal attire, as Ves thought. Finally, the Zabrak woman who had gotten her into this thing and acted as her sole advocate ever since was called Jukko. She would handle demolitions for the job. Apparently the bag she had thrown Ves was filled with several pounds of high explosives she had just sourced from an underground supplier. Her shock at that revelation was quickly supplanted by her finding out what the job would be:
The biggest bank heists in a century.
They were supplied with information with which they could steal more than 780 million credits in a single hit, of which their share would be 220 million. The informant taking the lion's share was justified by him taking the money with the highest risk attached. Still, 220 million split four ways was much more than they could ever have dreamed of.
Her role in this would be twofold: Being the 'expert' slicer she was pretending to be, she would first pose as a normal customer while surreptitiously infecting the wireless network, shutting down both the security and alarm systems. At that precise moment, the rest of the team would rush in and take control of the situation. As the safe housing the servers wouldn't be affected due to being air gapped from the network, Jukko would then blow it open with the explosives she procured. Only then would Ves be able to transfer the contents of the highest valued accounts to one held by the informant where it would be laundered and eventually paid out to them. Once the transaction was complete, they would finally leave via the back entrance and use the stashed getaway speeders to escape before the police arrived.
Ves was unsure of the plan, but the prospect of 55 million credits silenced her doubts for now. There was one day left before the heist, which she spent bashing her head against the wall trying to write an exploit for the bank's network. Luckily for her, their employer had provided them with detailed workups and so, after several hours of agonizing failures, she was able to write an attack she was reasonably sure would work.
Before she knew it, the day had arrived. Jukko tried her best to quickly show her the basics of driving a speeder bike, while Serrad simply handed her a blaster pistol with the instructions: "Point and shoot." It was still dark as they huddled into the family speeder they would make the trip in, as it wouldn't draw suspicion. Their journey was a quiet one. It lasted just 15 minutes, which felt like an eternity. The tension was high, but Ves tried to calm herself by looking at the outside world. They were flying high above the planet's surface just above the clouds. It was only the second time she had seen them or the morning sun which dyed them a rich orange with just a subtle hint of purple. The speeder's tinted windows made it possible for her to enjoy the sight all the way to their target.
Ves was to go first. She was taken aback by the towering building before her. Its structure was made of the purest of silver, with the side facing her a gigantic window front. It was about as far removed from the dark hole she called home as possible. The reflected glare of the sun burning in her eyes snapped her back towards the now. She hurried up the pristine steps and into the bank itself.
Inside, she felt more out of place than ever before. While her team had given her more fitting attire than the dirty rags she usually wore, she still felt like a single speck of dirt on a golden plate. She quickly moved into line, hoping no one had noticed her. Only a few patrons and a single teller were present this early in the morning. Heavily armed security droids tirelessly patrolled the florid halls, eyeing her with keen suspicion. She could see the safe inset into the wall on the farside of the hall. She subtly pushed a button on her comm, starting the broadcast of the network exploit. What once was relative confidence in her slice quickly evaporated. Every part of her was shaking, her knees worst of all. The hall's impossibly high ceilings didn't help things either. She closed her eyes tight, only one pleading thought echoing through her mind: "Please work!"
She was startled by a series of loud crashes. She opened her eyes to see all the droids falling over shutting down. Relief washed over her as the rest of her team stormed in. Serrad fired several shots from a heavy blaster into the ceiling, silencing all within and making them drop to the ground. Hondo jumped up on the bank teller's table: "Everyone stay calm! We are after the bank's money, not yours. Your money is insured, so keep quiet and this will all be over soon." Jukko quickly handed Ves her rig and blaster, then hurried on to the safe door. She had the door rigged in just a few seconds and detonated shortly after. The explosion was followed by a few shocked screams and gasps but silence quickly returned upon Serrad raising his weapon. Once the smoke cleared, Ves ran in and quickly connected to the severs.
Ves finally had some time to think as the transactions processed. This whole thing had so far gone exactly to plan. Serrad had taken up position near the safe door: "Done yet?"
- "Processing."
Perhaps it had all gone a little too smooth. Could four people really rob a gigantic bank like this? And how could their employer know so much about the bank? A disgruntled employee might know security weaknesses or their most valuable customers, but both? This whole thing suddenly seemed incredibly suspicious. No sooner had the transaction finished than her worst fears were confirmed. A scarlet messages flooded her command line over and over:
"YOU'RE DEAD"
She quickly grabbed her rig and pulled her blaster. She ran out yelling: "Move! We got to move!" Her comrades had no chance to react before the main entrance and window front exploded in a shower of sparks and shards. Dozens of Coruscant Police officers came rushing in, opening fire on the unsuspecting crew. Not a moment had passed when one of the hostages suddenly sprung up, attempting to make a run for the police. He died before he took a single step, killed by a stray bolt. Serrad was the first to return fire. Without even thinking about cover he unleashed volley after volley of blaster bolts while out in the open. A few of the officers dropped dead. Hokzam ducked behind the bank teller's table to return fire: "We need to get out of here now!" Jukko tried the back door, it was locked. "That's not possible!" Ves' slice should have prevented the doors from locking. Jukko, seemingly undeterred, quickly snatched several comms from their hostages and started to rig them as an improvised explosive: "I'll need about two minutes!"
-"We don't have 10 seconds!" The table Hokzam was crouching behind was rapidly evaporating. The two hostages lying in front of the table had it far worse. One just barely managed to cry out: "STOP YOU'RE KILLING US!" before her screams devolved into a series of horrid yells of pain. Two more killed by those meant to protect them. Even by Coruscant security standards, this was not right. Ves now started firing too, but was unsure if she had actually managed to hit anyone. Serrad was still somehow moving in the open entirely undaunted, laying down continuous fire. But the police had regrouped and he became an easy target. First a shot in the shoulder, causing his gun to veer wildly off target. Before he had a chance to readjust, another shot hit in the gut sent him to the ground. Without thinking, Ves dove onto the ground to pull him into cover. She had several close calls, with one shot hitting so close to her face thatthe sparks burned her eyes. She managed to drag Serrad behind cover while avoiding further injury, but her world was now little more than a blur. The police were now pushing in. Ves fired at them but couldn't hit anything. Serrad was still out from the shock and Hokzam's cover was almost entirely gone.
"Jukko, please!"
And finally a small explosion could be heard coming from the back door. The lock was entirely blown out. She kicked it open and turned around to provide covering fire. Ves just barely managed to drag Serrad through the hail of blasterfire. No sooner had they reached the door did Hokzam abandon what was left of his cover and sprint outside. There, they found three speeder bikes. Jukko and Hokzam each took one with Ves now having to drive the third one. She quickly loaded him onto the back. She thankfully remembered how to start it and soon all three of them were off. The boss yelled over comms: "We have to split up, rendezvous is -" A blaster bolt disrupted the connection. Ves could not ask for him to repeat, as all three were now under fire from police interceptors. He continued forward, while Jukko swerved right. Ves got the clue and swerved left, but her inexperience with speeders soon had her spiraling towards the ground. She just barely managed to pull up before killing the both of them. Flying close to the ground posed even greater challenges, with her having to weave through crowded streets her eyes could barely resolve. Serrad had seemingly come to and was now firing at their pursuers: "We need to hide!" Ves didn't even have to think about it, she knew a place no cop would ever follow her. After a bit of frantic searching, she found it. She steered the speeder to the nearest underworld portal and dove straight down into the abyss.