Chapter 2: The Spark of Ambition

Tos parked his speeder near the Basilisk's Head and hefted his blaster onto his shoulder. He walked into the bar garnering a few looks from some of the patrons at his appearance, with the mish mash of plastoid and mandalorian armor pieces. He made his way to the bar, set his blaster against the metal table, and waited for the bothan, who was serving another customer. The bothan did a double take when he saw the mandalorian and smiled, giving the customer his drink and walking over to him.

"So I take it that Dreval will be paying his debt sometime soon?" the bothan asked.

Tos nodded and held out his hand in which the bothan poured a handful of credits into. Tos counted the amount to see if he was being cheated then quickly pocketed the credits.

"Now that you've proven yourself to me, I have another contract that no one has had the guts to take"

"What's the contract?"

"An imperial shipment of spices and other 'valuable' goods is on its way here. Currently it's near Sarapin and its being guarded by a light escort of one Strike Class Cruiser. I need someone to get the cargo but no one's brave enough to mess with the imperials. Doesn't matter when I get them, only that I get them. You in?" the bothan asked with one eyebrow raised.

Tos shook his head in disbelief with a small smile on his face. Of all the things he could've said, it had to be a raid on imperial shipments. He's had a couple of run ins with the imperials, stealing a few ships from them in the past as well as acquiring weapons for the rebellion once. He doesn't care for either side. He's not patriotic nor is he a revolutionary. At the end of the day, as long as he has credits to his name he will work for either side to get them.

"You don't know how long it's been since I had gotten one of those. My skills at flying may be rusty, but I can kill a good number of stormtroopers. How many credits are we talking about?" Tos asked.

The bothan smiled and handed a data pad he pulled from under the counter to the mandalorian, watching the astonished look on Tos's face.

"I may own a bar and work at it most of the time, but I do run a few businesses on the side as well. You can't afford to have drinks as good as mine without some serious credits to buy fresh ingredients."

Tos nodded. He noticed information was uploaded to his HUD on his helmet regarding the mission. He thanked the bothan and walked out of the bar towards his speeder, mounting the speeder and zipping through the lanes of traffic as he sped towards the shipyards. He noticed something interesting on the holo news. It regarded infamous gangster Brimal Hadtoken, a bith who ran the criminal underground in the workers district, who was found murdered along with an unknown compatriot. He smirked. He told the bith that his death would be broadcasted. Oh well.

He made it to the shipyards and slowed his speeder down, slowly cruising along the lines of ships looking for his own. Tos passed numerous ships, some that were large and could hold hundreds of people, while others were just a single pilot ship. He finally found his ship, and frowned. His ship was a Charger C-70 Retrofit, used during the old republic. He had hired a crew to man it but that had been months ago. Now he had no crew and no way to get out of here. His ship was a bit old and was empty on fuel when he checked the power generator. He walked over to a nearby fueling station and attacked the fueling conduit to his ship, dispensing the required amount of credits into a slot on the station. Once his ship was filled he entered the ship, shooting some abnormally large rats as he cleaned the ship.

'The shielding is fine, the turbolaser batteries are operational, and the pods can actually shoot away from the ship. Now I need a crew' he thought.

He locked down his ship and sped off towards a nearby bar, a bar for the lower dregs of society if the lack of decent speeders were any indication. Perfect candidates for this contract. He parked his speeder and put it on lock mode, shooting a Gotal when it tried to steal his speeder. Tos entered the bar and was immediately assaulted by the noxious fumes that permeated the entirety of the bar. He put on his helmet to help filter out the stench and made his way to the bar counter. In the far back of the bar was a red curtain and next to it were a few scantily clad women of various species, mostly twileks and humans. He took his eyes away from the stimulating sight to stand near the counter.

"I'll have a Corellian Brandy" he said to the bartender who grunted and filled him a shot glass, which he drained in one gulp.

Tos discreetly peered into the crowds and tables inside the bar in hopes of finding suitable candidates for his crew. He spotted potential crewmates but they lacked discipline from what he could tell by their drunken ramblings about conquests they have made and the credits they have spent. An hour passed but so far none of the bar patrons were meeting his standards. For the foreseeable future as a bounty hunter/smuggler he wants his crew to be professional, giving a better impression for future clients looking into his services. They must be disciplined under fire in the event that they were boarded, which was highly unlikely but you can't be too careful. They must be able to operate systems related to flight through space, weaponry, and the acquisition of cargo important to future contracts.

Then, he found them. Three men walked in first, two humans and a rodian, and made their way to the rear of the bar and sat down with their backs faced towards the wall. The three conversed and drank away most of their credits and then just talked to each other. The second group consisted of four individuals. There were two humans, a male twilek, and a bothan. They looked at each other and nodded as they made their way to the bar counter, ordering a round of drinks in celebration of something by the way they were gesturing and toasting. He decided to talk to the first group first as there were fewer of them and needed less convincing. Tos slid over his shot glass to the bar tender and made his way to the table the three were at, taking a seat near the rodian which stopped all conversation as they turned to look at him.

"Greetings gents, the name's Tos. I have a proposition I am fairly certain you will accept" he said.

The rodian started to speak but soon stopped with an exasperated look when he realized he wasn't being understood so turned to one of the humans for translation purposes. Tos glanced at both the human and the rodian as the rodian spoke a few sentences and waited for the human to translate.

"He says that his name is Glii Va Jovani, and he is wondering why you are certain that we will accept your offer" said the human who looked kind of scruffy with the five o' clock shadow.

"Well Glii Va I am looking for crew to help pilot my ship. I recently got a contract that will pay big money if I can pull it off but I am in need of a crew to help me with the endeavor. You will be properly compensated when the contract is finished I can assure you. All I need is for you three to help pilot my ship and help me complete the contract" Tos said, noticing the glances shared between the three.

"How much are we talking in terms of credits?" the human translated.

Tos smirked and wrote down a number and handed it to the rodian who spluttered when he saw it. The other two had similar reactions when shown the amount.

"You three will be able to live comfortable lives and can spend what you make on whatever you want. All I ask is for you to help me on this contract. If we succeed you three will get your cuts and you can be on your way".

The three agreed readily and nodded when he told them which docking station to go to. He watched them go out the door and stood up from the table intending to go to the other group that walked in. He was a bit surprised when they asked no questions about the contract, but they were probably distracted by the crazy amount of credits that they might earn if they completed the contract. He anticipated the next bunch to be a little more cautious, a little more curious about details and such. Tos took a seat near the twilek and was immediately greeted with wary stares.

"Greetings gents, the name's Tos. I have a proposition that you may want to look into" he said.

"What sort of proposition mandalorian?" the twilek asked.

"I was contracted to steal some spices and 'valuable' goods from an imperial shipment headed its way here. Now the intel I got says that only a small escort will be guarding it. Thing is, I'm running low on crew to help pilot my ship. If you are willing to help me in this contract, you all will be properly compensated with your cut of the contract and you will be free to go after this is done." he said.

"How small of an escort? Your version and my version of a small escort may differ, and I don't want my pals here to die because they weren't properly informed." one of the humans said with the rest of the party nodding in agreement.

"One Strike Class cruiser will be guarding the transport. The transport we will be boarding is unarmed and lightly manned. Now if you are willing to help me complete this contract you will get your cut of the pay."

"How much are we talking here mandalorian?" the bothan said.

Tos wrote down the number and handed it to the bothan, who looked at him incredulously before sharing it with his companions. They reluctantly agreed to his proposal and headed towards the docking station his ship was at after he told them. He ordered a strong brandy and gulped it down before leaving the bar and getting onto his speeder and heading to the docking station. As he made his way to his ship he laughed at how easy it was to convince a bunch of people to potentially die for a boat load of credits. Goes to show you that anyone has a price for anything, even their own lives. He reached his ship and was pleased that all seven mercenaries were at the docking station, milling about until one of them spotted him which made all of them turn towards him.

"Alright men, we are headed towards the coordinates provided to me by my employer. The cargo ship is a BFF-1 bulk freighter guarded by a Strike Class cruiser. We need to go in hard and fast. Surprise is our best friend on this mission. I expect you to work and fight to the best of your abilities. When you board the ship I expect you men to have discussed who works what job and where. Load up" Tos said and lowered the boarding ramp to let the hired men on. He entered the ship and closed the ramp, making his way to the bridge and nodding to those he passed. He walked into the bridge and found that the twilek and rodian were there in chairs adjacent to the command chair.

"Systems check, make sure your station is working and report to me the condition of your station" he announced over the ship wide PA system.

"Turbo lasers operational"

"Navigation systems online"

"Point defense laser cannons are ready"

"Shields are up at 100%"

"Boarding crew is ready"

"Engines are primed and ready!"

Pleased with the results he powered up the engines and with the help of the two new crew members lifted the ship out of the port and into the atmosphere. As they were exiting the atmosphere of Mandalore he caught sight of an Imperial I Class Star Destroyer orbiting the planet, the imposing size nearly gave him pause as to whether or not to continue the mission. He shook off those doubts and entered the hyperspace coordinates and prepared for the jump. He glanced at the two occupying the auxiliary command chairs to his left and right who nodded at him, indicating that they were ready. He nodded in return and pulled the lever that activated the hyper drive, and they disappeared into the vast darkness of space.

Near Sarapin

As they exited hyperspace Tos was a bit miffed that the cargo ship and her escort weren't there. He was about to call the bothan when he was called over to the nava computer that the rodian manned. During the hyperspace jump he accessed the holonet from his helmet and downloaded a translator for any and every language known to the galaxy. He would purchase an actual translator that can attach to one's helmet at a later date since the ones you get on the holonet took a sizeable portion of your storage space in almost any device, but for now he will settle for the holonet translator.

"Sir we are getting readings that two ships are about to exit hyperspace near our position. Could it be the targets?" the rodian asked.

"It could be but it also may not. Just to be safe we are going to move our ship a fair distance away from the signatures in question" he said.

The rodian nodded and relayed the command to the crew. Tos went back to the command chair and moved the ship a few clicks away from the exit point of the hyperspace readings. Two minutes later their quarry showed up, one Strike Class cruiser and a BFF-1 bulk freighter slowly moving into hyperspace positions.

"Sir, what class is this ship" the twilek asked in a nervous tone.

"It is a C-70 consular class retrofit. It was used by the Old Republic during the Clone Wars. I got it at a discount because the owner thought it to be a piece of junk. I used the remaining credits I had to fix her up and now look at her. Why do you ask?" he said.

"N-no reason sir" he responded.

Tos turned to look at the freighter and its escort. It will take herculean effort and skill to not be blasted into space junk by the cruiser. It has the advantage in terms of sheer firepower and armor, but it lacks in speed and maneuverability which their ships excels in. He gave the order and their ship flew at high speed towards their target. The closer and closer they got, the more the imperials began to take notice. The cruiser began to move to intercept their ship.

"Sir, we are receiving a transmission from the imperial cruiser" the rodian said.

"Reject it" Tos said.

The transmission was terminated and they pressed on towards their target. Soon the cruiser's batteries opened fire and Tos began to weave the ship through the spread of plasma blasts which increased the closer they got to the freighter. TIE fighters began to swarm out of the cruiser, about 18 in total which formed up into attack formations and flew towards their ship. The streams of green plasma that found their mark were absorbed by the shields.

"Open fire! I want those fighters out of the way when we begin to board the freighter" Tos ordered.

"Yes sir. All laser cannons target those fighters!" the twilek ordered over the ship's PA system.

The men manning the lasers opened fire on the fighters and were soon thinning the numbers of imperial fighters. The last few TIE fighters retreated back to the cruiser who moved to attack their ship, which began to focus its fire on their ship rather than sending out a spread of plasma. Tos weaved through the streams of deadly plasma with little difficulty, narrowly missing some ion blasts while having his ship return fire. The ship's turbolasers came to life and started to pound at the Strike Class's shields but with little effect. Tos maneuvered the ship to bypass the cruiser in favor of their intended target who was slowly trying to flee the scene.

As they passed the cruiser their port side was hammered by the near unending stream of plasma blasts which resulted in their shields momentarily failing, allowing the hull to be damaged.

"Status on the port side" Tos asked.

"Mild damage to the hull on the port side sir, the shields are now at 50% and climbing" the rodian said.

"Now that we have passed the cruiser I need the boarding team to get ready. I will be joining them so I am leaving you in charge of this vessel while I am aboard the freighter. Keep this ship functioning and flying when I comm for extraction." Tos said while grabbing his blasters.

The rodian nodded and took the command chair and sped towards the freighter, blasting one of the two engines to slow it down. Tos made his way to one of the docking bays where the boarding team was assembled. About four men in total would be capturing the freighter, all armed with an assorted array of weaponry. Some carried imperial model E-11 blaster rifles whilst others carried corellian blasters. He pulled out his DC-15a blaster rifle and got ready to board.

"Sir, docking procedure under way. Good luck sir." the rodian said.

Tos grunted into the comms and cut the connection when he heard the sequence beginning. The men tensed in preparation of the fight to come, arming their blasters and pointing them at the door. Tos pointed his own blaster at the door when he heard the final sequences of the docking procedure. The door opened to reveal a hospital white corridor and floor. In the middle of the hallway stood about five stormtroopers awaiting for their arrival who pointed their blasters and fired, releasing a torrent of red plasma fire down the corridor to their position. One of the boarding party went down and Tos fired his blaster, the blue plasma bolt hitting a stormtrooper and laying him out on the corridor floor. Both sides opened fire and the corridor quickly turned into a scorched battlefield.

Tos fired a few shots and hit two stormtroopers, leaving two left to stand in their way. He rushed up the corridor towards their position with the boarding party laying down cover fire, pinning the stormtroopers. He hit a stormtrooper's helmet with the stock of his rifle and quickly ducked under a shot fired by the other stormtrooper, which hit his comrade. He turned and fired into the midsection of the trooper, blasting him into the corridor wall, slumping down with no further movement.

"Men secure the rest of the ship. I'm heading towards the bridge to take out the commander of this vessel. Once you cleared the ship I need you to secure the cargo and make them ready for transport." he said.

The men acknowledged his orders and went off to secure the ship. Tos ordered their ship to depart and to keep away from the cruiser and await further orders. The docking platform retracted into the consular class and the ship sped off to escape its pursuer. He jogged towards the bridge meeting a few stormtroopers on the way. With a few well placed shots from his blaster he cleared his path towards the bridge. He saw an elevator up ahead and walked towards it, pressing the button that called the elevator to his floor.

As he was waiting for the elevator to arrive he heard the tell tale sounds of armored feet and turned around, finding four stormtroopers marching towards him seemingly not seeing him. He pulled up his blaster and shot a furious burst of plasma bolts in their direction, downing about three of the four troopers headed his way. The remaining one opened fire on his position, with him returning fire.

Tos fired ten shots each at the stormtrooper's positions to act as suppressing fire making the trooper hunker down behind its cover. He heard the elevator's distinctive sound and moved from cover while keeping the stormtrooper behind its cover with rapid bursts from his blaster. The elevator door opened and he rushed in and pressed the button dodging the red plasma blasts fired by the stormtrooper. The door closed just as the trooper was close enough to hit him accurately and he relaxed. As he waited for the elevator to reach its destination he checked is plasma charge count and made sure he packed extra power magazines and tibanna gas cartridges in the utility belt that wrapped around the waist of his armor. Certain that he would last about seven more firefights he returned his attention to the elevator as is neared its destination. The door opened revealing several imperial crew members at their station, tracking his ship as it outran the slow cruiser. Two stormtroopers were the only military personnel armed in the room, and they needed to be taken out. He quickly raised his blaster and shot the two stormtroopers in the helmet causing them to crumple to the floor. He rapidly relieved the ship of the crew on the bridge, shooting the commander as he made his way to the cargo terminal which projected an image of his men dragging numerous imperial corpses towards the walls of the cargo bay.

'They secured the cargo, I'll contact the ship and let it know to rendezvous with the boarding party in the cargo bay on my signal' he thought as he sprinted towards the cargo bay.

As he made his way to the cargo bay he ran into a few imperial patrols but slipped past them. Once he entered the cargo bay he ordered his men to move the target crates into position.

"Move those crates! The ship has a small enough window as it is, she doesn't need a smaller one with the time delay. If the ship is destroyed then there goes our ride home!" he shouted.

The men moved at a faster pace, quickly moving the carts into position. They were just finished when red blaster fire streamed over their heads, making them duck behind cover as stormtroopers flooded into the cargo bay. Tos raised his blaster and fired, taking down about four stormtroopers before he was forced to take cover. When he was firing he counted about thirteen stormtroopers were left after he killed four of them.

'Thirteen against four, sounds like even odds to me'

The three members of the boarding party were returning fire and holding back the tide of imperials, killing about four before the imperials got into proper firing range. They opened fire with a wave of red plasma taking down another member of the boarding party. Tos rose up from his cover and fired off five round bursts from his blaster, suppressing the imperials as well as killing a fair number of them. About five stormtroopers were left standing when the cargo bay doors opened and the consular class hovered near the ship, using its tractor beam to pull the cargo from the ship into its own cargo bay. Tos and the rest of the boarding party hopped aboard a few of the crates being pulled to the ship, activating their vacuum sealed armor before they left the safety of the freighter.

"Once we are safely aboard the ship, destroy the freighter" Tos said into his comm unit.

"Acknowledged captain. Prepping turbolaser batteries now" the twilek said.

Tos watched from the ray shielded cargo bay as their ship opened fire on the freighter, taking a small amount of delight watching it explode from the plasma blasts. Soon the ship was dead in space, aflame and inert, and the ship flew away from the carnage as the Striker cruiser finally caught up to it, sending volleys of green plasma their way. Tos piloted the ship towards a suitable spot for a hyperspace jump and input the coordinates. He lost two men during the daring raid against the imperials. But their deaths weren't in vain since they got the cargo.

Speaking of which, he put the ship on autopilot and made his way to the cargo bay, intent on finding out what are these 'valuable' goods the bothan was so keen on getting. Ten crates in total were gathered in the bay, and so far they were spices. Seven out of ten crates were what the bothan said they were, but the final three he wasn't too sure about. He pried them open and was stunned momentarily at what he saw. Entire sets of clone trooper armor and clone blasters were sent to Mandalore to the illustrious "Lord Pharren" of clan Skirata. The skirata clan were not to be trifled with unless you had a death wish. But the bothan need not know that his 'valuable goods' were in his possession, he would simply state that the other crates were destroyed by the imperials.

He chuckled at his luck and closed the crates, moving the last three to a hidden portion of his ship. He would be keeping them for personal use, but the spices the bothan could keep. He felt the near undetectable lurch of the ship exiting hyperspace. They must have reached Mandalore. He returned to the bridge to find the planet in his sights. Tos guided his ship into port and was pleased to see the bothan awaiting his arrival with two thugs by his side. As the ship landed he lowered the ramp and had the crew unload the crates onto the platform. As his crew pushed and shoved the crates out of the ship he made his way to the bothan, who had a pleased smile on his face.

"Well, it seems I was right to trust you. You did well mandalorian, the credits are in those two chests over there. Five million credits as promised." the bothan said.

Tos nodded and had his men move the chests into the ship. As he was headed towards his ship a hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and was turned towards the accusing eyes of the bothan.

"Where are the others. I specifically asked for ten crates in total yet I only see seven of them."

"Sorry boss, the imperials blew the last of the crates in an effort to deny us of anything valuable." Tos said apologetically.

The bothan searched his eyes for the slightest hint of treachery. Luckily Tos was all too familiar with this tactic and had perfected his poker face, revealing nothing to the other. Seemingly satisfied with what he found the bothan let his shoulder go and ordered his body guards to start moving the crates to his warehouse. Tos climbed aboard his ship and told the crew they would be staying here for the night. They dispersed to their bunks, and Tos went to the captain's quarters. The bed was moderately comfy, a little stiff from lack of use but he has slept on worse. He closed his eyes and began to dream, dream of a galaxy united under one man, Mandalore.

Holy moly that was a long chapter. I have seen the reviews for Fall of the Jedi, and rest assured, the prospect of another chapter is high. Leave reviews and suggestions on how to improve my writing style if it needs improvement. Ciao