Chapter 32: Ambush at the Stellar Scrap Fields
Nar Shaddaa was the largest moon of Nal Hutta. The surface of the moon was covered in a metropolitan sprawl. It was a miserable, highly polluted and highly corrupt place. The planet Nal Hutta and its crime-infested moon were controlled by the Hutts, who were not exactly on good terms with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Ashley Katen and Melissa Sledge just happened to walk into one of Nar Shadda's endless grimy cantinas. That the people they were here to meet chose Nar Shaddaa was a little suspicious. The two Separatist officers were wary that this might be a trap and of course weren't dressed in anything that would show their affiliation to the CIS.
"You better watch yourselves, you humans don't tend to do so well here," a Weequay sneered at them as they entered.
Katen let out a huff that indicated she was about to go smash his teeth in. Sledge pulled her companion back. "Not now. We have to take care of business first."
"Fine," Katen grumbled. There were many things in the galaxy that irritated Ashley Katen. But one of the things that angered her most was when random people she didn't know insulted or wronged her or her friends in any way. She just couldn't stand it. Throughout her life Katen had done terrible things to the random people who had pissed her off. Usually her response would be to beat the crap out of any random fool who purposefully offended her. Though Katen never took things as far as killing anyone over it, unless the situation was escalated further.
The two human women continued to scan the cantina for the ones they were here to meet. The dingy cantina seemed to be coated in a dull aura of despondent gray. The entire environment exuded desperation and depression.
After a few seconds of searching they found the two Ithorians they had come to meet. They were easy enough to spot; they were the only Ithorians in the whole cantina. Even if there were other Ithorians around these two would have stood out. The two humans went over and sat at the Ithorians' table. For whatever reason the cantina didn't smell so bad from where they now sat.
The pair the two Separatists had come to meet were the legendary bounty hunter brothers, Onca and Bulduga.
"You the battle droid's girls?" the Ithorian that was wearing a hat and goggles asked.
"Yes," Katen replied. From what the two human women knew, Bulduga was the one with the hat and goggles. Though being able to tell one from the other really wasn't that important at the moment.
"You wanna talk business, you talk with our boss," Katen cut off the Ithorian. "We are not staying on this stink hole any longer."
"Why should we?" Bulduga asked.
"Because our boss is wary," Sledge cut in before Bulduga or Katen could say another word. The Weequay from earlier had gotten Katen into one of her moods and Sledge didn't want her to offend the two Ithorians and blow the meeting. "The prey you offer us is dangerous and promises don't mean much on Nar Shaddaa. You either come with us or no deal. We're very busy and have other things to do."
The two Ithorians turned and looked at each other for a split-second before turning back to the two humans.
"Very well," Onca conceded. "Take us to him."
As the group went to walk out of the cantina, Katen broke from the group and zeroed in on the Weequay from before. The Weequay was now sitting at a table. Katen silently came up from behind (which wasn't hard to do in the noisy cantina) and smashed the Weequay's face down onto his glass on the table. Though the glass cup smashed, large pieces ended up in the Weequay's face. Katen lifted the alien back up off the table.
"Fools who piss me off don't do so well," Katen told the Weequay before smashing his face into the table once again, rendering him unconscious. The other cantina patrons took notice for a few seconds before going back to their own business, the music hadn't even stopped playing.
With Katen's anger satiated, the two humans then led the Ithorians to a purple Gozanti cruiser. The super battle droids hiding inside the ship didn't worry the bounty hunters in the slightest.
After a hyperspace jump, the Gorzanti cruiser delivered the two Ithorian bounty hunters to the Magna Musai, a droid control ship of the 8th Fleet. A squad of super battle droids escorted the two bounty hunters from the cruiser parked in the hanger to a conference room.
While the two Ithorians waited, a PK worker droid offered them beverages but was turned away. A few moments later OOM-9 arrived at the conference room, flanked by two security battle droids. The two security droids took up positions guarding the doorway while OOM-9 moved in closer to the conference table, though OOM-9 didn't take a seat in any of the chairs.
"The famous bounty hunter brothers Onca and Bulduga. You know where the pirate lord Dool Pundar is?" OOM-9 asked.
"We know where he is going to be," Bulduga corrected.
"And why are you willing to give this information to me?"
"We did a job for him. But he shorted us on our pay and ended our work arrangement early. Your humans promised you would pay well," Onca said. During the ride in the cruiser to the 8th Fleet, Katen and Sledge had told the bounty hunters that they would be well paid.
"Where is Dool Pundar going to be? How can you be sure he won't change course in case you go after him?"
"He doesn't consider us to be a threat. Or that we'd be able to find anyone skilled enough to take him down. But you've hunted him before," Bulduga answered.
"What about our credits?" Onca asked.
"You will be paid after Dool Pundar is dead and the Lucrehulk battleship he stole is in my possession."
The two Ithorians hesitated for a moment and exchanged glances with each other. They didn't like the prospect of not getting paid if the battle droid screwed up his attack, yet this was the easiest and most effective way to get back at Dool Pundar.
"All right, we have a deal," Bulduga said.
"Where is he going to be?" OOM-9 asked again.
"He is supposed to be at the Stellar Scrap Fields in three days."
Three days didn't give OOM-9 much time to prepare.
The Stellar Scrap Fields were one of the galaxy's dumping grounds for garbage, similar to Raxus Prime or Ord Mantell but in space.
But on the day that Dool Pundar was supposed to show up, the Magna Musai was not in or even near the Stellar Scrap Fields. The Magna Musai, as well as the majority of the 8th Fleet, were far from their target destination.
Onboard the Magna Musai, General OOM-9 was busy having a conversation with Baroness Zada Zincer of Zakkudos, by way of a large view screen. Zincer's outward appearance was the same as it ever was. Her dagger-sharp, dyed blue, short hair combined with the eye patch over her right eye and a red cybernetic left eye gave the appearance that she was angry, and she often was considering how the war was dragging on without a clear sign of victory.
"You keep costing the taxpayers a lot of credits. You may not have to answer to the people, but I do!" The money Zincer was referring to had been used to procure and transport gravity well projectors to the Stellar Scrap Fields.
"Not to worry Baroness, I am about to provide the people with another heroic war story."
"What does this have to do with the war? You're finally reacquiring a battleship that was stolen from the Trade Federation a decade ago."
"Even if I'm temporarily taking a break from destroying the clone armies of the Republic, I'm sure the citizens of Zakkudos will be glad to hear news of a victory. And this Lucrehulk battleship I'm about to reclaim is filled with droids," OOM-9 stated. "Droids your taxpayers won't have to pay for."
"You'll want those old droids upgraded. You want everything upgraded," Zincer complained. "I know your army and navy is highly successful but the costs of your droids and vehicles are staggering."
"I'll take care of it myself. I can handle that on Eos. You won't have to worry about any additional costs on your part."
"Good. This war is dragging on too long and my people are getting tired of the higher tax rate. My popularity is starting to show signs of slipping. I am not looking forward to any assassination attempts, it's bad enough I have to worry about the Republic trying to kill me." Baroness Zincer was a target of the Galactic Republic, but she was still popular with the people of Zakkudos and an assassination attempt from within the CIS was just the wild imaginings of Zincer's prolific paranoia.
"Don't worry, with anther ship and more droids under my command, I will be sure to provide your people with more stories of victory against the Republic soon."
"You had better. No one else is. This is ridiculous. We should have conquered Coruscant by now, instead we're barely breaking even against the Republic."
OOM-9 had placed gravity well projectors in the garbage of the Stellar Scrap Fields. There was the issue of whether the equipment could become damaged or destroyed, but the garbage floating about the Fields wasn't whizzing about space at breakneck speeds. It wasn't dangerous in the same way an asteroid field was. The idea was that the gravity well projectors would rip the ships of the 8th Fleet out of hyperspace at specific points near the Stellar Scrap Fields in order to quickly box-in Dool Pundar's small fleet of pirate vessels.
OOM-9 had some of the 8th Fleet's Trade Federation freighters, super freighters, missile frigates, and repair ships roaming around the Stellar Scrap Fields. The idea was when Dool Pundar showed up, he would try to capture and plunder the small Trade Federation ships. When the small, seemingly defenseless convoy lured Pundar's ships to a certain point, the larger ships of the 8th Fleet would make micro-jumps and be ripped out of from hyperspace at specific points by the gravity well projectors hidden in the Fields.
OOM-9 absolutely despised the very idea of having to engage fellow battle droids in combat. Every circuit of his being was completely repulsed by the thought, yet he would have no choice.
"Remember," OOM-9 addressed his officers. "Aim for the arms and legs when dealing with the B-series battle droids. Droidekas are too dangerous to show any leniency, destroy them as quickly as possible. Our infiltration teams need to move quickly once inside the Profit, this is a Lucrehulk battleship we are taking, not some pitiful Acclamator assault ship. Our fighter groups are to try and avoid shooting down their droid starfighters, but do not compromise the safety of our own fighters. I want Dool Pundar and his command staff taken alive if possible but under no circumstances should he be allowed to escape." OOM-9 ended his transmission.
In one of the Scrapyard's hangar bays Major Ashley Katen was meeting with the members of the Violent Violet Star Squadron. Katen was not particularly enthusiastic about the upcoming mission for the specific reason that she did not want to go into battle against battle droids that should have been her allies. Though Katen still hated Dool Pundar just as much as OOM-9 and all the others. Katen's uneasiness surprised OOM-9 (even Zako was going to take part in the boarding action on the Profit), but the battle droid general was willing to let her join KJZ-8267 in leading the starfighters in the battle that was sure to occur in space. While Katen might still have to shoot down old Vulture droid fighters, there were more than enough pirate vessels she could focus on. OOM-9 had chased Pundar around before and knew well enough that Pundar had amassed a small private pirate fleet composed of much more than just Vulture droids and the other Trade Federation fighters that were on board the Profit when the Neimoidian stole it.
But Katen forgoing direct combat with a hated enemy wasn't the only unusual thing going on in the hangar. The fact that the Violent Violet Star Squadron was there was extraordinary. That particular squadron was not a normal part of the 8th Fleet; OOM-9 had called them in for this specific mission. The Violent Violet Star Squadron was the best fighter squadron the Confederacy of Independent Systems had. It was a recently built squadron hailing from the planet Zakkudos in the Zalost system. They were built specifically to be the best in the galaxy, though they were mainly used to perform fantastic aerial stunts at shows to boost morale for the citizens of the Confederacy. The few combat missions they flew they were astonishingly deadly and never sustained any casualties. The Violent Violet Star Squadron consisted of twelve members, two of which were Vulture droid starfighters. The other ten were pilot battle droids. Each of the pilot battle droids bore the traditional blue markings applied to all pilot battle droids, though the ten members of the Violent Violet Star Squadron had custom paint jobs, each individual droid has his own unique marking set. The two Vulture droid members, VB-11 and VB-12, were painted black with violet stripes and had purple eyes rather than the more common red.
The ships they flew were varied, and like the two Vulture droids, were all painted black with purple stripes. The ships the pilot droids flew came in pairs: two Scarab starfighters, two Mankvim-814 interceptors, two E-STAP droid starbombers, two shielded E-STAP droid starbombers, and two advanced E-STAP droid starbombers. Altogether the twelve ships that comprised the squadron could take on a variety of missions.
"You're primary objective will be the elimination of enemy starfighters," Katen told the group of pilot droids before her.
"You're aware of our abilities, Major?" the squadron leader, KVB-1, asked. "The Confederacy could stand to lose scores of stolen droid fighters."
"Yes, you are to disable Trade Federation property if you can. Eliminate the pirate fighters with extreme prejudice."
"Isn't the Profit the main objective?" the pilot droid KVB-2 asked.
"We have plenty of other flyers to help disable the Profit's main guns. You just worry about those fighters."
"Roger roger."
The Profit screeched out of hyperspace, a dull gray colored gem amongst the background of millions of stars in space. The Profit and the small fleet of pirate vessels surrounding it (which included YT-1300 light freighters, CR70 corvettes, and CR90 corvettes) were quick to recognize the small Trade Federation convoy and moved to capture the ships.
The various ships in the Trade Federation convoy moved towards the debris of the Stellar Scrap Fields. Dagger starfighters, Dianoga assault starfighters, MorningStar-A starfighters, CloakShape fighters and Vulture droids were launched from the Profit's various hangar bays. The pirate ships continued to close in on their targets.
Then the Scrapyard was yanked out of hyperspace directly behind the Profit.
"Well, at least Pundar still hasn't painted our ship in any ugly pirate colors yet," Commander OOM-8 stated.
Then the Lucrehulk battleship the Glaciarium was ripped from hyperspace above and behind the Profit. The Saak'ak came out behind and below. The Banking Clan frigates Komusai, Kuzack, and Executioner came out from the sides. Then the three Commerce Guild destroyers, Wertizlan, Enzack and Khassez were revealed. The 8th Fleet's four Hardcell interstellar transports were the last to be ripped from hyperspace by the gravity well projectors.
"Launch the fighters and bombers!" OOM-8 commanded.
Hundreds of CIS aircraft left the hangar bays of the Scrapyard and the other capital ships: Vulture droid starfighters, Scarab starfighters, Mankvim-814 interceptors, and all three variations of the E-STAP starbomber series. Only Vultures and Scarabs that were painted in the blue and gray coloration were launched, to help prevent confusion on who was on what side of the fight since Pundar also had Trade Federation flyers under his command. Pundar's stolen ships still bore the regular old Trade Federation color schemes.
Even the three variants of the E-STAPs the 8th Fleet launched were dark gray and blue in order to clearly define who was whose side. What was notable about the E-STAPs being dark gray and blue was the fact that up until now, most of the E-STAPs the 8th Fleet utilized were the painted in the old Trade Federation brown. The E-STAP starbomber series had a very low causality rate in the Clone Wars so far, which was even lower in the 8th Fleet. Combined with the fact that after OOM-9 won his battles any and all E-STAPs (and other damaged vehicles and droids) were salvaged and repaired, meant that the 8th Fleet's E-STAP losses were almost nonexistent. Thus all the bombers were still in the old Trade Federation colors. New E-STAPs were of course being manufactured in the Zalost system, and OOM-9 had requested many with the new color scheme specifically for this mission.
Lieutenant KJZ-8267 led the starfighter horde from a dark gray and blue advanced E-STAP starbomber. The mission was too important for a skilled pilot like KJZ-8267 to utilize a regular E-STAP like he often liked to do. Though Katen outranked him, there was an unspoken agreement that KJZ-8267 was the de facto leader of the fighter horde.
"Are you sure you don't want our help?" Onca asked.
"That would cost us extra," Z23-Y75 held up his hand. "Your combat services will not be necessary. We can handle this ourselves." Z23-Y75 had been charged with overseeing Onca and Bulduga while the operation was being executed. Just in case the information they gave them was bad or they switched sides Z23-Y75 and his squad of super battle droids had orders to kill the two Ithorians. OOM-9 wasn't being particularly trusting of bounty hunters at the moment, especially bounty hunters providing information on the movements of Dool Pundar.
With the Violent Violet Star Squadron leading the way, the CIS fighters were demolishing the pirate ships that swung around the meet them. The CIS-aligned capital ships behind the Profit began firing upon the Lucrehulk battleship.
It wasn't probable that the capital ships of the 8th Fleet could be safely placed right in front of the Profit because of the debris field, but it also acted as a barrier, trapping Pundar's flagship. But rather than turn to face its attackers, the Profit started to move into the scrap field.
"He's running for it!" Captain Sledge said from the bridge of the Kuzack.
"The odds of a ship that size successfully navigating the Stellar Scrap Fields with no hull damage is approximately three hundred and fifty-two to one," TH-1066 stated from the bridge of the Komusai.
"We knew Pundar was daring enough to try this," OOM-8 said. "After him! He will not escape us this time!"
The Scrapyard lurched forward after the Profit as it went into the Stellar Scrap Fields, the Kuzack and Komusai quickly followed. The other capital ships of the 8th Fleet stayed and finished off the CR70 and CR90 corvettes that weren't able to make it into the debris field in time.
The 8th Fleet was indeed prepared for this scenario; they were even expecting it. Vulture droids in walking mode that were hiding amongst the scrap had now converted to flying mode and were harassing the pirate fighters that fled with the Profit. Vulture droid starfighters were not the only ones hiding in the floating scrap. Droch-class boarding ships and rocket battle droids also revealed themselves in short order, screeching towards the Profit like angry winged insects defending a hive from a large predator.
The engines of both the Scrapyard and the Profit huffed and wheezed as the two Lucrehulk ships were pushed far beyond their intended speed settings.
The Droch boarding ships started to slam into various parts of the Profit, injecting marine battle droids and BX droid commandos into the Lucrehulk battleship.
The Trade Federation super freighters and missile frigates that had originally fled into the Stellar Scrap Fields had turned around and started to attack the Profit. Not having any offensive weapons, the regular Trade Federation freighters and repair ships did not pursue the pirates but did stay nearby.
"We're running out of room," a pilot droid crewman warned OOM-8.
"Then make some!" OOM-8 commanded. The Scrapyard starting blasting away at the debris that was directly in the way.
The Profit did not stop; its quad turbolaser cannons were also blasting a path through the randomly floating junk. The Scrapyard was having a more difficult time, being a droid control ship; it had the extra antenna that the Profit didn't have to worry about. OOM-8 forced his ship to keep up. The Kuzack and Komusai were doing a stellar job of avoiding any large pieces of debris, and were steadily gaining on the Profit.
"Fire, fire! Take out the engines!" Sledge ordered the crew of the Kuzack. "I want that ship disabled now!"
The CIS and pirate fighters continued to buzz around the capital ships and the floating debris. There were no casualties attributed to the flying junk, but the pirates' were going down in a hurry thanks to the Violent Violet Star Squadron.
One of the members of the Violent Violet Star Squadron, the pilot droid KVB-6 was so skilled he was able to take his E-STAP droid starbomber and pass over a YT-1300 freighter, dropping a plasma bomb right on the ship which destroyed it in a single blow.
The two Vulture droids VB-11 and VB-12 chased a trio of Dagger starfighters, destroying two of them. The third Dagger panicked as it tried to evade the black and purple Vulture droids and accidentally flew into a passing MorningStar fighter. The MorningStar survived but was soon blasted to smithereens by KV-8's black and purple Scarab starfighter.
Several of the various gray and blue E-STAP bombers that had been deployed were specifically targeting and destroying the Profit's quad turbolaser batteries.
Despite taking minor damage and losing most of its starfighters, the Profit finally made it through the Stellar Scrap Fields. Pundar's stolen ship made it through only to end up in front of the Magna Musai, which had been ripped out of hyperspace by the gravity well projectors. OOM-9 had always suspected Pundar would run through the field and thus kept the Magna Musai in reserve until they could observe his intended path through the junk field. OOM-9 had the Magna Musai placed further from the scrap fields in order to be able to effectively move the ship depending on where Pundar was coming out. The Magna Musai had enough time to get in front of the Profit to block Pundar's escape.
Pundar was no fool to try and ram his Lucrehulk battleship through a Lucrehulk droid control ship. Though Pundar brought the weapons systems to bear on the other ship.
The Scrapyard, Kuzack and Komusai exited from the Stellar Scrap Fields and the other capital ships of the 8th Fleet were starting to approach from around the field. The Profit was getting boxed in.
A horde of various types of boarding craft left the Magna Musai. The ships didn't have far to travel and were easily able to land in the hangar bays of the Profit without getting shot down.
Several blue Sheathipede shuttles and type B escort shuttles landed in the main hangar of the Profit's right docking claw. OOM-9, KLO-657, SSA-719, and 3B3-888 exited together from one of the Sheathipede shuttles. Several Z1 battle droids and HouseKarls accompanied OOM-9. Many B1 battle droids and B2 super battle droids left the other shuttles. All the B1s featured the black and gray camouflage color scheme and all the B2s were painted in the rare shadow color scheme. OOM-9 chose droids with the rare color schemes to board the Profit in order to easily differentiate them from the old droids that Pundar was commanding. Of course 3B3-888, SSA-719 and OOM-9 were in the tradition color schemes, though they did have the CIS emblems on their shoulder plates that helped them stand out from the other droids. There were also a few crab droids and dwarf spider droids in the battle group.
The battle droids carrying E-60R rocket launchers or E-8 heavy projectile launchers didn't need to be told to shoot the ceiling-mounted heavy turrets first. The CIS droids with heavy weapons immediately went for the turrets, they were the currently the biggest threat to the Separatist shuttles landing in the hangar.
Dool Pundar wasn't stingy when sending out battle droids to repel the CIS invaders. Battle droid was pitted against battle droid in a reprehensible battle that never should have happened in the first place.
"This isn't like fighting clone troopers," 3B3-888 said.
"What's wrong Sergeant? Can't stand a challenge from time to time?" SSA-719 asked. The old battle droids were doing decent considering that OOM-9 had brought in so many of his best fighters. OOM-9 and his army were always ready to crush clones, fighting against their own kind was something else. It was especially hard since they were trying to land shots that would disable their opponents so they could easily rebuild them later. Pundar's troops suffered from no such restraint.
Enemy droidekas soon rolled in after it was clear that legions of B1 and security droids were not doing the trick. The Z1 dwarf spider droids (and the regular dwarf spider droids) were more than powerful enough to take care of the droidekas themselves, but OOM-9 had also brought some of his own destroyer droids.
The opposing droidekas cancelled each other out. The Z1 and standard dwarf spider droids put the CIS over the top. The various other infantry were content to fight with each other.
"You move like you have malfunctioning density projectors in your feet. Double time!" OOM-9 urged his troops onward.
The docking claw hangar bays of the Profit were gigantic, as was usual with all Lucrehulk battleships. Now accompanying the legion of pirate battle droids were STAPs, AATs, and MTTs.
"Pundar doesn't want to make this easy," Commander KLO-657 said.
"He's only making it harder on himself," OOM-9 answered.
Neimoidian transports from the Magna Musai had brought in dark gray and blue colored AATs, ASTs and GATs to fight on behalf of the CIS. Now AATs fired upon AATs as battle droids fought each other. The ASTs chased the STAPs around while the GATs attacked the MTTs.
The battle in space had not slowed down. The Profit had not launched all its fighters at once, but had begun releasing nearly everything it had left in reserves. Most of the newer pirate flyers were Vulture droids or the old Trade Federation droid bombers, but there were also some more Dagger and Dianoga fighters.
"Watch out, two coming in from below," Lieutenant KJZ-8267 warned Major Katen and her squadron of Mankvim-814 interceptors. The Techno Union interceptors were able to dodge the two Dianoga fighters that had come at them. KJZ-8267 and his two wingmen were able to blast the assault fighters.
"Enemy Vulture droids coming in at point 06," Katen warned. Some of the members of the Violent Violet Star Squadron disabled most the incoming enemy droids.
"They're heading for the Khassez," KVB-3 commented about a group of Trade Federation droid bombers. "Major Katen, turn to point 13. We'll cover you."
"Roger." This was precisely the situation Katen had wanted to avoid, but she was in the best position to take out the droid bombers. KVB-3 had kept at pair of CloakShape fighters from getting near, and Katen was easily able to overtake the five droid bombers as they approached the Khassez. Katen only hesitated a split-second before firing on the droids. She didn't want to destroy them, but she knew she could not allow them to harm the Khassez and its crew.
Katen destroyed two of the droid bombers but they kept going forward towards the Commerce Guild destroyer. She managed to destroy a third right as the bombers made it to the Khassez. When she started firing on the last two the bombers broke away at the last second and pulled off. The droid bombers never laid a single bomb on the Khassez and Katen was relieved to allow the last two to run. She turned her Techno Union interceptor around, hoping to find some Dagger fighters to shoot.
Commander EEK-176, Dr. Quartz and Commander Zako led the attack on the Profit's left docking claw hangar. While OOM-9 was gunning for Dool Pundar in the bridge, EEK-176 and his troops were escorting Quartz and a team of Neimoidian technician and human engineers to the Profit's main control computer to alter the command signal to get Pundar's battle droids working for the proper team.
Squads of heavily armed and armored Separatist shock troopers and some Z1 battle droids protected the tech specialists. Larger groups of CIS aligned B1 and B2 battle droids engaged in the heavy fighting while the elite team kept pressing on.
The battle was fast and fierce, especially when the opposing AATs and other tanks started to fight. EEK-176's team was able to steer clear of the vehicles made it through most of the hangar before having to take a detour through the various hallways of the Profit. The fighting in the hangar was the most dangerous, but it was also the fastest way to get around the massive battleship.
A few times EEK-176's group crossed paths with the marine battle droids and BX droid commandos that had been inserted into the pirate vessel by the Droch boarding craft.
The closer they came to the main computer, the more enemy battle droids they encountered. The CIS troops also started encountering more and more flesh and blood pirates to shoot.
When they finally reached the main computer, there was only a pair of destroyer droids blocking the way. The Z1 droids were able to deal with the droidekas and the tech group went about their work.
The command computer on a Lucrehulk battleship was nowhere near as powerful or sophisticated as a central control computer on a Lucrehulk droid control ship. Not even Quartz and Zako's team of techs could hack into one of those monster computers, not in any kind of reasonable time frame, but infiltrating a computer on a regular battleship was possible for a team with their skills.
It quickly became apparent that the pirates had figured out what the Separatists were trying to do. Endless squads of battle droids rushed to stop the technicians and engineers.
Zako and the others were struggling to keep up with the blinding speed of Dr. Gatling Quartz. The Skakoan went about his work with blinding speed and precision while the others struggled to keep up with him. Dr. Quartz really had expected better from Commander Zako in this situation.
"Commander, if you don't hop to it, I'm going to test whether one of my wrist rockets will encourage you to go faster," Quartz threatened.
"I'm trying!" Zako snapped back.
EEK-176 and the others were doing a fine job of keeping the techs safe.
A few frantic moments later and they had wiped Pundar's altered programming of the Profit's battle droids. The CCCs on the Magna Musai and Scrapyard immediately took over the pirate battle droids. The Separatists no longer had to fight their droid brothers, and the CCCs transmitted a signal to all CIS forces that Pundar's droids were now fighting for the Confederacy.
With no battle droids fighting on behalf of the pirates, the battle quickly came to a close. The pirate fighters in space got a huge surprise when their allied Vulture droids and droid bombers suddenly turned on them. The space battle was already going really well for the 8th Fleet and was nearly finished. Some of the pirate fighters broke away and tried to flee into hyperspace, but the gravity well projectors still in the Stellar Scrap Fields prevented such an escape. All remaining pirate fighters were mercilessly hunted down and destroyed.
OOM-9's team was nearly upon the main command bridge. They moved much faster now that the battle droids that had previously barred their way now allowed them to pass. Once OOM-9 and his confederate droids passed the old droids turned and followed.
Only organic pirates stood as a threat now. There were Balosars, Bothans, Cereans, Gamorreans, Gotals, Nikto, Twi'leks, and Weequays. But none of them were a match for the Separatist battle droids.
OOM-9 and his troops made it to the entrance to the command bridge.
"They've closed the blast doors," SSA-719 observed.
"That won't save them," OOM-9 said as a pair of Z1 battle droids tried to blow the doors open with a detpack. It didn't work. Then the droids tried slicing their way through, and were successful.
The command crew was hardly ready for a fight with OOM-9, KLO-657, SSA-719, 3B3-888, the HouseKarl battle droids and the Z1 special ops battle droids. A surprising number of the crew were Neimoidians, former Trade Federation members that had sided with Dool Pundar when he had stolen the Profit.
OOM-9 let the bridge crew and his droids fight, he was searching specifically for Dool Pundar. OOM-9 found the traitorous Neimoidian, in the back of the bridge. Pundar was encased in combat armor rather than the traditional dress of a Neimoidian officer.
"OOM-9!" Pundar shouted and proceeded to shoot at the battle droid general. "You never give up do you? You just can't let it go."
"What did you expect?" OOM-9 fired back, but missed hitting Pundar on purpose. "Did you really believe that the Republic's armies would keep me from finding you and taking back the Profit?"
OOM-9 continued to advance on Dool Pundar despite taking a few hits. OOM-9 wasn't damaged or slowed down and was soon upon the Neimoidian. OOM-9 took out Pundar with a powerful punch and the fight was over.
It wasn't long after Pundar was captured by OOM-9 that the entire battleship was taken. The pirates had been overrun when the former pirate battle droids joined with the CIS forces. Pundar and the command crew had been taken alive, exactly as OOM-9 had wanted.
OOM-9 and his top soldiers had taken turns giving Pundar and his crew savage beatings under the guise that they were extracting information on how the pirates had altered the Profit over the years. They were able to the needed information quickly. Pundar and his pirates hadn't altered the Profit much. The battleship required more repairs from the battle with the 8th Fleet than from any alterations Pundar had made over the years. Old security footage from the Profit's computers showed that the crew that was loyal to the Trade Federation had been ejected out an airlock by Pundar and his group of traitors when they had first stolen the ship a decade ago.
Armed with what they needed to know, the beatings continued anyway until the time had come to finally take care of Dool Pundar.
OOM-9 had ordered Dool Pundar and his command crew be taken to the same airlock where Pundar had ejected the Profit's crew that remained loyal to the Trade Federation.
"Wait! Wait! I could be useful! Have mercy!" Pundar pleaded as the door was slammed shut. OOM-9, OOM-8, EEK-176, KLO-657, SSA-719, KJZ-8267, 3B3-888, Dr. Quartz, Zako, Katen, and Sledge all watched the panicking pirates with malevolent joy in their hearts.
"Mercy? Why should I show you mercy when you shown none to the crew of the Profit who were still loyal to the Trade Federation?" OOM-9 countered. "You ejected them out of this very airlock. And I am going to do the same to you."
OOM-9 pressed the button and spaced Dool Pundar and his traitorous command crew; their dying screams were swallowed by the great galactic void. Many others had wanted to press the button that would end Pundar's life, but this was one thing that OOM-9 had to do himself. OOM-9 transmitted to Z23-Y75 that Onca and Bulduga be paid and allowed to leave.
With Pundar and his pirates all finally dead and the Profit retaken, there were much congratulations going around the group with plenty of hand shaking and shoulder patting.
Though OOM-9 noticed that Katen seemed to be sulking away from the group. The battle droid general went over to his friend.
"What's the matter Ashley?"
"I feel bad about those droid bombers I had to shoot down."
"You did what you had to do," OOM-9 told her. "You may have to do it again in the future." OOM-9 didn't expect Katen to take the situation so hard. "Pundar and his crew have been punished for their crimes. I know you can't let go of the pain they have caused you. But we need to keep our anger bottled up and unleash it upon the guilty at the appropriate time. And we have certainly done that today."
"Yes, sir," Katen still oozed her melancholy moodiness.
"Things will get better, Katen, you'll see. We still have much to do and many millions more to kill!"
That comment finally put a small smile on Major Katen's face.
Author's Note: Onca and Bulduga first appeared in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode The Box.
Dool Pundar first appeared in Dool Pundar: Pirate Lord. Pundar later appears in The Clone Wars: Strange Allies comic. In Strange Allies, Pundar is taken prisoner by the Galactic Republic. I had this chapter planned long before the comic ever came out and I decided not to change it. For OOM-9's Revenge, I've tried not to change established canon too much but the Clone Wars era keeps changing around and I'm not trying as hard to make it all fit together anymore.