05-18-2021, 07:29 PM
(Jointly written with Lauchenoiria)
The Tiazō, the central square of the Xiomeran capital, was the home of many impressive and important buildings. The Tepotzoyuc, the court building for Xiomera's chief justice, towered over the north end of the square. On the southern end, the Huēyi Teōcalli, ancient center of the Huenyan religion, glowered over the scenery like an animal awaiting prey. Various other buildings, including the Tlālacuetztla Municipal Palace, occupied other plots of land around the Tiazō like proud and sharply dressed children.
The complex at the western end of the Tiazō, by contrast, was not an example of ancient Huenyan architecture like the Huēyi Teōcalli, or elegant 19th century landmarks of Xiomera's headlong rush to modernize after the country opened up to the outside world like the Tepotzoyuc or the Municipal Palace. Built out of bone-white concrete and stone, and clad in relief murals resembling ancient Xiomeran glyphs, its Brutalist architecture was utterly different from anything else on the Tiazō. At just 40 meters high, its main buildings weren't even the tallest on the square. But while those not familiar with Xiomera might mistake the complex for some minor offices, Xiomerans knew all too well what lurked behind those walls - and underneath them. As the team began their approach from different directions, the lights of the Cauhloc glinted off its walls with the shine of a bleached skull.
The team would make their approach later in the evening, when there was much less likelihood of crowds being present in the Tiazō. Tlalmaxxi had instructed them to approach in small groups to attract less attention. Once in the area, they were to rendezvous on a back street near the Cauhloc that she had identified as a weak point in the perimeter and a point of quick access to the underground levels.
That evening, Riley Nelson was making her way towards the back street in question, alongside Samantha Collinsgate. They were pretending to be students on holiday when in public, the pair of them appearing to any onlookers to be relaxing, having fun and a little tipsy. In reality, their hearts were both beating twice as fast as usual and they were stone cold sober.
As Riley and Samantha passed the Tlālacuetztla Municipal Palace, a pair of municipal police eyed them. The male officer looked at them as if judging whether their intoxication level was excessive, before finally simply nodding at them and turning away. His female partner smiled and winked at the two foreigners as they walked past, either as a flirtatious gesture or a jovial sign to disregard her more suspicious male partner.
While that was taking place, another group of the team was making their way to the designated rendezvous point, Huatli and Tlalmaxxi in their lead. The two Huenyans had pondered how best to disguise their group, especially given the fact that Tlalmaxxi was one of the most recognizable people in the IDU. In the end, it had come to them as if from divine inspiration - Amequic had obtained a set of priestly robes for them. Complete with featherwork hats and face masks, they hid the identity of the wearers quite effectively. The disguise also ensured they wouldn't stand out: given that Xiomera's largest and most revered temple was just down the block, groups of priests were an extremely common sight in the Tiazō. Huatli and Tlalmaxxi would make the initial approach to the perimeter guards at the Cauhloc, posing as priests coming to visit prisoners and paving the way for the rest of the team to make the initial breach.
In contrast with Riley and Samantha's hiding-in-plain-sight strategy, Alyssa Robinson, Maricela Tobin, Lily Doll and Xing Yawen avoided any on-street scrutiny by taking a taxi to a nearby building full of offices, chattering on phones about stock markets and the most boring financial information they could.
They would make their way to the rendezvous pretending to be distracted on business phone calls, and anyone attempting to listen in to their conversation would likely have been bored out of their mind. They were the last of the team to arrive at the rendezvous, and then it was time to begin.
*
As planned, Huatli and Tlalmaxxi and their small group, disguised as priests of Huītzilōpōchtli, made their way to the perimeter entrance. “Good evening, sir. We are here to perform ritual service,” Huatli said to the first guard. Even at this late hour, this was not unusual in and of itself. The work of the Cauhloc never stopped, and priests would often be called to do their final work after the ASI agents had done theirs. As the first guard bent down to check Huatli’s forged paperwork, Tlalmaxxi grabbed him by the arm, swiftly injecting him with a hidden needle. The contents of the needle would knock the guard out instantly. Tlalmaxxi made it look as if the guard was walking with them into the guard shack to fool any watching cameras. The other Auroras and Shorn Ones, led by Huatli, followed them inside the guard shack and swiftly knocked out the remaining guards. All of this happened inside the small building, hidden from surveillance.
Inside the shack, the team quickly discarded their priestly garments. Underneath the robes, all of them were wearing ASI guard uniforms, also obtained for them by Amequic and his group of criminals. Some of the Shorn Ones would remain at the gate to pose as guards, in case anyone from ASI came to check on the guard shack. The rest would enter the first underground level of the Cauhloc - level B1, the service level. This level was used as both a storage and transport area. As they encountered ASI guards or civilian employees, the team silently incapacitated them or knocked them out, hiding them as they made their way to level B2. B2 was the security level for the underground part of the Cauhloc - and it needed to be disabled before any other part of the raid could begin.
Using keycards obtained from ASI guards, the team took the elevators and stairs down to B2, making sure there was no possible pathway down unguarded. At the entrances to B2, the team attacked quickly, overwhelming the ASI guards through sheer force and speed. The guards at the Cauhloc were complacent. No one, in the almost 60-year existence of the Cauhloc, had ever dared to attack the heart of Xiomera’s security apparatus. The very idea had been unthinkable - until today. Within minutes, the security level was under control.
Alyssa Robinson ushered Huatli and Tlalmaxxi into the office to get started on their technical manipulations of the security system. She took up her position at the door and nodded to Xing Yawen, who was the last of the group to exit the level into the stairwell. The two Auroras met each others’ eyes for a second, silently wishing each other good luck. They would need this to succeed, and to get out of this alive.
While the others provided them cover, Huatli and Tlalmaxxi got to work. No conversation was needed, nor was it desirable - time was of the essence. They both took a station next to each other, working to get into the ASI network. Tlalmaxxi had more knowledge of ASI protocols, but Huatli was more knowledgeable about Xiomeran computer networks in general. Between the two of them, they had just enough skills to make it work. Huatli hooked up a small USB drive to the portion of the computer system that linked to the video network. She managed to snag enough video of the security levels to create a loop to fool those watching the surveillance cameras, then nodded to Tlalmaxxi. The two of them had to time this perfectly.
With a silent countdown from three, the two of them entered the commands that would cut the surveillance feed from the underground levels to the main security center and began the video loop of the recorded footage. The switch should have been quick enough to avoid detection by those watching - they hoped. With that part done, the two of them began monitoring the network for any sign that the main security center had caught on to the mission, and was going to lock the underground levels down.
The Tiazō, the central square of the Xiomeran capital, was the home of many impressive and important buildings. The Tepotzoyuc, the court building for Xiomera's chief justice, towered over the north end of the square. On the southern end, the Huēyi Teōcalli, ancient center of the Huenyan religion, glowered over the scenery like an animal awaiting prey. Various other buildings, including the Tlālacuetztla Municipal Palace, occupied other plots of land around the Tiazō like proud and sharply dressed children.
The complex at the western end of the Tiazō, by contrast, was not an example of ancient Huenyan architecture like the Huēyi Teōcalli, or elegant 19th century landmarks of Xiomera's headlong rush to modernize after the country opened up to the outside world like the Tepotzoyuc or the Municipal Palace. Built out of bone-white concrete and stone, and clad in relief murals resembling ancient Xiomeran glyphs, its Brutalist architecture was utterly different from anything else on the Tiazō. At just 40 meters high, its main buildings weren't even the tallest on the square. But while those not familiar with Xiomera might mistake the complex for some minor offices, Xiomerans knew all too well what lurked behind those walls - and underneath them. As the team began their approach from different directions, the lights of the Cauhloc glinted off its walls with the shine of a bleached skull.
The team would make their approach later in the evening, when there was much less likelihood of crowds being present in the Tiazō. Tlalmaxxi had instructed them to approach in small groups to attract less attention. Once in the area, they were to rendezvous on a back street near the Cauhloc that she had identified as a weak point in the perimeter and a point of quick access to the underground levels.
That evening, Riley Nelson was making her way towards the back street in question, alongside Samantha Collinsgate. They were pretending to be students on holiday when in public, the pair of them appearing to any onlookers to be relaxing, having fun and a little tipsy. In reality, their hearts were both beating twice as fast as usual and they were stone cold sober.
As Riley and Samantha passed the Tlālacuetztla Municipal Palace, a pair of municipal police eyed them. The male officer looked at them as if judging whether their intoxication level was excessive, before finally simply nodding at them and turning away. His female partner smiled and winked at the two foreigners as they walked past, either as a flirtatious gesture or a jovial sign to disregard her more suspicious male partner.
While that was taking place, another group of the team was making their way to the designated rendezvous point, Huatli and Tlalmaxxi in their lead. The two Huenyans had pondered how best to disguise their group, especially given the fact that Tlalmaxxi was one of the most recognizable people in the IDU. In the end, it had come to them as if from divine inspiration - Amequic had obtained a set of priestly robes for them. Complete with featherwork hats and face masks, they hid the identity of the wearers quite effectively. The disguise also ensured they wouldn't stand out: given that Xiomera's largest and most revered temple was just down the block, groups of priests were an extremely common sight in the Tiazō. Huatli and Tlalmaxxi would make the initial approach to the perimeter guards at the Cauhloc, posing as priests coming to visit prisoners and paving the way for the rest of the team to make the initial breach.
In contrast with Riley and Samantha's hiding-in-plain-sight strategy, Alyssa Robinson, Maricela Tobin, Lily Doll and Xing Yawen avoided any on-street scrutiny by taking a taxi to a nearby building full of offices, chattering on phones about stock markets and the most boring financial information they could.
They would make their way to the rendezvous pretending to be distracted on business phone calls, and anyone attempting to listen in to their conversation would likely have been bored out of their mind. They were the last of the team to arrive at the rendezvous, and then it was time to begin.
*
As planned, Huatli and Tlalmaxxi and their small group, disguised as priests of Huītzilōpōchtli, made their way to the perimeter entrance. “Good evening, sir. We are here to perform ritual service,” Huatli said to the first guard. Even at this late hour, this was not unusual in and of itself. The work of the Cauhloc never stopped, and priests would often be called to do their final work after the ASI agents had done theirs. As the first guard bent down to check Huatli’s forged paperwork, Tlalmaxxi grabbed him by the arm, swiftly injecting him with a hidden needle. The contents of the needle would knock the guard out instantly. Tlalmaxxi made it look as if the guard was walking with them into the guard shack to fool any watching cameras. The other Auroras and Shorn Ones, led by Huatli, followed them inside the guard shack and swiftly knocked out the remaining guards. All of this happened inside the small building, hidden from surveillance.
Inside the shack, the team quickly discarded their priestly garments. Underneath the robes, all of them were wearing ASI guard uniforms, also obtained for them by Amequic and his group of criminals. Some of the Shorn Ones would remain at the gate to pose as guards, in case anyone from ASI came to check on the guard shack. The rest would enter the first underground level of the Cauhloc - level B1, the service level. This level was used as both a storage and transport area. As they encountered ASI guards or civilian employees, the team silently incapacitated them or knocked them out, hiding them as they made their way to level B2. B2 was the security level for the underground part of the Cauhloc - and it needed to be disabled before any other part of the raid could begin.
Using keycards obtained from ASI guards, the team took the elevators and stairs down to B2, making sure there was no possible pathway down unguarded. At the entrances to B2, the team attacked quickly, overwhelming the ASI guards through sheer force and speed. The guards at the Cauhloc were complacent. No one, in the almost 60-year existence of the Cauhloc, had ever dared to attack the heart of Xiomera’s security apparatus. The very idea had been unthinkable - until today. Within minutes, the security level was under control.
Alyssa Robinson ushered Huatli and Tlalmaxxi into the office to get started on their technical manipulations of the security system. She took up her position at the door and nodded to Xing Yawen, who was the last of the group to exit the level into the stairwell. The two Auroras met each others’ eyes for a second, silently wishing each other good luck. They would need this to succeed, and to get out of this alive.
While the others provided them cover, Huatli and Tlalmaxxi got to work. No conversation was needed, nor was it desirable - time was of the essence. They both took a station next to each other, working to get into the ASI network. Tlalmaxxi had more knowledge of ASI protocols, but Huatli was more knowledgeable about Xiomeran computer networks in general. Between the two of them, they had just enough skills to make it work. Huatli hooked up a small USB drive to the portion of the computer system that linked to the video network. She managed to snag enough video of the security levels to create a loop to fool those watching the surveillance cameras, then nodded to Tlalmaxxi. The two of them had to time this perfectly.
With a silent countdown from three, the two of them entered the commands that would cut the surveillance feed from the underground levels to the main security center and began the video loop of the recorded footage. The switch should have been quick enough to avoid detection by those watching - they hoped. With that part done, the two of them began monitoring the network for any sign that the main security center had caught on to the mission, and was going to lock the underground levels down.
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