Warframe Beyond the Origin
ESKK: A new Chapter hope you all enjoy it.
(Start Hammerhead)
Veso-R, a former Corpus crew member during the New War, yawned as he made his way through the Hammerhead Cruiser. He rubbed the sleeping sand from his eyes to clear them and wake them up. Many might be wondering what this former member of the Corpus was doing so far from the Origin System aiding the Tenno when the New War had come to an end already. It was the ship's "night" time right now and most of the crew were still asleep in their cabins, leaving only the night watch on the bridge to monitor their progress through hyperspace.
Two days had passed since the battle to liberate a planet from Separatist control and the recovery crew had made off with a large haul from it. They had received a large supply of military supplies and salvage from the separatist base a great number of high-end equipment. Most of the weapons were split and given to either the staff for protection or kept in reserve for when the engineers reprogram the B1 Battle Droids. The idea of using them as extra muscle is a good idea. They could be used in many situations to free up workloads and fill in specific jobs. Especially when the need to do battle comes and can be used as fodder.
Veso had Aya to thank for his survival after Alad-V tried to take the cowards way and betray the Board. She had accompanied him on the Corpus ship when the Sentient had compromised nearly all of their machines forcing them into a dire situation. When he got control back and fired the weapon off on the Sentient ship Aya rescued him by slamming a breathing apparatus on his face and calling Cy to pick him up.
Of course, he lost his job and would have fallen to destitute if the Tenno had not come to him for his skillset. Of course, at the moment he was overworked handling both their tech support and the HR department to ensure the crew was paid properly and fairly. The Tenno were understanding if he needed a break thankfully, but he needed someone else to do HR instead since some of the tech on board required the touch that only a Corpus could provide.
He was hoping to find the Tenno to talk about replacing him in HR when the door opened and from it Aya walked out. "Oh, Veso how are you?" Aya asked as she saw that Veso was out.
"Tired, Ms. Aya." Veso said as he looked to the Tenno.
"I can understand, and we really appreciate all you've done for us." Aya said as she looked to the Corpus member. "Anyway, I was looking for you to give you some news." Aya said as she looked to Veso. "We're working on getting an HR Department proper to handle the ships finances and we were hoping you might be able to train them if the need should arise." Aya said as she looked to Veso.
"Of course, I'd be more than happy to." Veso said as it seems he hardly had to speak to the Tenno about this at all.
"Alright good, we've sent a help wanted add to Corellia which is where we are going next. "A few people have already responded, and we've started to set up appointments to talk." Aya said as she looked to Veso.
"Honestly I'll be grateful for the lighter workload, the pay is good and keeps me from being idle but even I have a limit." Veso said as he looked to Aya who nodded in response.
"That's good." Aya said and thus she took her leave to get her part of the shift over and done with. "Before I forget we do plan to add a few more ships to our group, with this Galaxy at War we currently need to try and deter possible attacks on us if it can be helped." Aya added and thus Veso understood the reasons well enough.
"Alright then I'll be ready for when we have these new ships." Veso said knowing this might mean another all night-er for him to prepare said vessels.
(Scene Break Corellia)
Landing at a Corellian spaceport and disembarking its passengers disembark. Leading them was Mari, Zed, and Akin as they took a look around the planet. Zed was again using Umbra while Akin had Volt Prime equipped, and Mari had Mag Prime at the forefront. "You know I always wanted to visit Corellia back when I lived on Tatooine." Akin said as he saw all the shipyards in the distance with the big ships being built from the ground up.
"Well, they seem to like going big around here." Mari said as she saw the ships in question.
"They also build a lot of small stuff." Came their allies for this excursion. A Twi-lek by the name of Xector Frisk a former officer from the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic), Xector's younger sister Anna Frisk, and the ships requestions officer a female Zabrak by the name of Yuna Lunda.
"Their mainline stock freighters are second to none in the shipwright market, with Kuat Drive being a close second in terms of quantity." Xector said as he looked to the Tenno.
"Yeah, I know." Akin said looking up at all the smaller ships flying above them.
"So where is this friend of yours?" Zed asked as he looked to Xector on this.
"He's not our friend. Only a previous business associate that's been neutral towards my people," Xector said pointing at himself to reference the fact he was a Twi'Lek.
Prior to them landing the crew were told of this Twi'Lek's contact who can hook them up with some ships to add to their growing fleet. Their fleet meanwhile was starting to make a name for itself with just one ship, soldiers of fortune, giving work to the jobless and hope for those in poverty. The good rep they were getting was making a lot of people want to apply for a position and Aya was sorry to have to turn some of those people away.
"Alright then we all know the plan, Akin, Xector; Anna we're going to find this contact and see about increasing our ship numbers, Mari you and Yuna will find someone to handle our treasury." Zed said as he had Titus on speed dial once, they have the equipment ready for pickup.
"Alright let's get this done before Titus breaks something." Mari said making a small jab at her friend with those words.
(Later with Mari and Yuna)
Mari and Yuna were currently doing interviews at a nearby diner for someone to help with their treasury. "Thank you for your application, Miss Gale. But this is for a ship position, not a planetary one like you were hoping," Yuna politely said to the tall six-eyed bug alien across from the desk. In response Gale chipped in her native language before leaving no doubt a little upset about this but understanding what the job was asking.
"Well, you don't see that every day." Mari said once Gale was gone. "Thank the Void none of the other Tenno saw her, they'd probably have a panic attack looking at her." Mari added which stated the Tenno in question were afraid of bugs. "I do hope she finds work soon; Void knows a lot of them need it." Mari finished as Yuna looked to the Tenno.
"So do I, Veso has been hounding me none stop to help find someone to handle our finances so he can focus on tech support." Yuna said as she knew the Corpus was overworked.
"He means well, and hopefully this will finally lighten the load for him." Mari said as she knew how the Corpus could be at times.
"Let's get back to finding a money person." Yuna said waving it off to get back on track.
"Yeah, of course." Mari agreed and got back to work. "Thought, I wonder how the others are doing?" Mari wondered aloud knowing curious as to what the others were up to on their task.
(Meanwhile with Zed's group)
"What do you mean you don't have any ships?! You're a ship merchant, Dew!" Xector demanded with irritation clear in his voice. The source of the Twi'Lek's irritation was the blueish black Tyridonion flapping in front of him. Like most of his specie, he hovered around with his short flapping wings as he looked irritated at the upright wolf. He was probably better dressed than most of his kind as he wore a white tunic and silver trimmings. For Akin it reminded him a bit of his old slave master Watto back on Tatooine in his original timeline. Almost made Akin wonder if that guy was still around.
"It's not like have ships to sell, Wolven. It's the ships you want I don't have," Dew responded.
"That's poo do, Dew. I know for a long time you've got a small fleet of Corvettes you've got stashed away for protentional buyers. Mainly of the Corellian military types you've sold to PDFs, what happened to them?"
"Lost, destroyed, or stolen. Take your pick." Dew picked up a data pad and shoved it to the Twi'Lek. Taking it and looking over the info made him raise an eyebrow.
"You lost over fifty ships in a raid?" He said in a surprised tone before passing the data pad over to Zed. The info was a manifest of the number of ships Dew had in hiding that he had hidden from before the attack and included the aftermath casualties. Like many of his trade, they don't store all his merchandise on big industrial worlds with a police force that could raid warehouses with a signed warrant. Keeping them in space and out of the planet's authority range kept the seeder sides of business intact. Just with the added risk of someone finding your stash. Which apparently happened to Dew here, from the sound of it someone jumped in on the location of where Dew kept his high-end ships, he used for selling to those like PDFs.
Looking over the manifest Zed saw that Dew had a fleet more extensive than what he had originally thought someone of his trade would have. 12 CR70 corvettes, all destroyed. 3 CR90 corvettes, two destroyed, and one damaged. 15 Gozanti class cruisers, eight lost, two damaged, and five unaccounted for possibly stolen. YT-1300, SX stock freighters, the list went on.
"How did this happen?" Zed asked as he and Akin were sending the information back to the ship to send it back to the Lotus for a possible mission.
"Trade Federation blokes have always been after my business and their other competitors. Since this civil war started within the Republic, they've been hounding down on hurting their competition." Dew said as Zed saw this as odd for him.
"But why?" Akin asked as he looked to the Tyridonion wanting something more substantial to work with.
Dew waved his hand off as he picked up another data pad. "Who knows, only after getting half my fleet escaping by the skin of their teeth did, they get hit by a pirate gang not hours later, making me lose more money." He ranted but the end of it was not something the group liked. "All I have left is either in repair yards or being recycled to pay the ones in the yards. So even if I wanted to sell you any ships you asked..." He trailed off to which Xector finished for him.
"...they'll be poorer quality then what we need." Xector said and thus it was clear that they were in a pickle now.
"Why are you asking for my ships?" Dew flapped closer and eyed Xector. "Last I heard you were in the Republic military, and I see no Republic uniform. That means you are going out on your own, yes? Looking to do a bit private contracting work, I thinks?" Dew said as he motioned his hand down Flisk's attire. Grinning smartly, he pulls out another data pad from a nearby stack.
Keeping his face neutral, with no ships to sell to them, they undoubtedly need more work. Even if it meant with this slime and that was Zed's job. "Depends, what's the job?" Zed spoke as the flying alien saw the Tenno for what he was.
Dew then handed the data over to Zed who took it and looked it over. "The Trade Federation destroyed my ships, but the Pirates captured some of them. And didn't take out all my homing beacons I jacked into each of my vessels. They are hold up on a world at the edge of the mid rim." Dew explained as Zed looked through the data. "The job is simple. Take out the Pirates, and whatever starships or stuff they have left intact is yours," Dew bargained as he knew the Tenno would no doubt make quick work of them. After all stories about the Tenno have reached Corellia long ago and more were still coming in, the benefit to being the home of most of the galaxy's starships.
Looking between Dew and the data pad Zed considered what he was working with. The Tenno knew by experience alone that the job wasn't anything as simple as it could be. Fighting pirates was never easy to deal with, and this group had the skills to board ships and take them. Typically, from what Zed understood about this galaxy, the Republic would handle this but is currently occupied with the Clone Wars.
"We'll see what we can do, but no promises." Zed said as the payment was already there for them. They take out the Pirates and they get the ships in exchange.
(Later)
"Well, this is just great." Akin said as they went over to meet up with Anna. "Why can't anything ever be simple and straightforward?" Akin complained as Zed smirked to this.
"Because you refuse to stay home when we ask you to." Zed quipped as Akin glared at Zed for that one.
Their conversation halted as they soon met up with Anna who was currently bargaining with another employer. Seeing him walk out, she moved away from her current deal to meet with the trio. "Any luck?" She asked him as they exited the store.
"Apparently your brothers contact has fallen onto some hard times." Akin said as Zed passed the info over to Anna. "Much of his stock was lost to pirates stealing from him." Akin added and thus Anna began looking through the data.
"A problem that seems to become more common these days." Anna said as she shifted through the info on the pirates. "Think we should take the job?" She asked before passing the data back to the group.
"It would be difficult with just us and our lone cruiser, but I think we can handle it." Xector said as he gestured to the Tenno. "Did you fare any better?" He asked to which Anna responded with a cute smile that unnerved the boys. She then handed to them a receipt which they all took a moment to look at.
"What's this?" Zed
"There for the purchase of two YT-1300fps, brand new." Anna boasted as it was now bragging time for her. "Showed off a few five-ounce bottles of our coaxium, and they were wrapped around my little finger. Got their control codes and should be on their way to the ship if Titus and his team are on time that is." Anna said knowing Titus normally handled transporting their supplies onto the ship. Also got some fighter-grade concussion missile launchers for a bargain. Figure we can mount them on the ships for some extra firepower." Anna said and thus Akin chuckled to this.
"Better not let Titus know about it then he'll be tearing it off for his personal use." Akin joked as Titus does like causing explosions when the situation allows.
(Later back on the Ship)
The group eventually arrived back onto their ship with a new mission and new supplies. The group arrived to find Mari and Yuna specialist talking to a pair of new faces.
The individuals were quickly identified as both male and female Mirellians from their green skin and the diamond tattoos on their faces as per their cultural traditions. Zed and his group assumed this was their new crew members to fill their financial situation, wearing brown and dull traveler clothing and a set of bags nearby.
"Hey guys!" Mari called over as she waved over to the group. "Come meet the new crew members to handle our financial problem." Mari gestured as so to begin the meet and greet.
"You must be the captain of this ship or fleet as I've been hearing about." The female Mirellian greeted Zed. "I'm Prana and this is my husband Elios, we're the new financial team." The woman now named Prana introduced as Zed nodded to her.
"We have to say, we're looking forward to this new adventure we find ourselves a part of," Elios said as Zed then smiled a bit.
"Welcome aboard glad to have you, the guy who normally handles the finances has been overworked as is so to have you guys here will finally allow him to pass the job to you so he can get to where he needs to be in our tech departments." Zed said as he knew Veso-R will be enjoying the lighter workload.
Mari and Yuna then cut in to get this show on the road. "Now that we're all here. Let's get you two settled into your new jobs, and we can discuss any new equipment that Titus had gone out to pick up." Yuna said as she had noted Titus had left with a few crew members for the pickup.
(Scene Break Later)
After the Light of Dawn had finished its refueling and resupplying run it had broken orbit and was now hovering over the planet to await its next destination. The group had given the Mirellian couple a tour of the ship and had also learned their background. The two had both set out from their family homes to make their own livings in the universe. Elios as a traveling financial advisor and Prana as a mercenary. The two met one day while both employed within the same group and hit it off. The pair taught one another their trades, Elios learning to fight professionally and Prana on how to handle financial problems. They soon got together and are now happy together and from the sound of things hoping to start a family soon. Both were excited about the new adventure Ruby presented them and the challenges it brought.
Thankfully, their Wookie doctor was knowledgeable enough to deliver if such a thing ever came. The ship had a lot of families on board as is, so the crew made a side note to look into finding a pediatrician. After the tour they made their way over to the conference room to meet with the other department heads. Viso was to get the couple up to date on everything before handing off his workload off to them after getting caught up on anything and making sure they can handle it on their own.
Zed, Akin, Xector, and Anna then told the success of acquiring new supply ships, failure to get the heavy ships they need, and a possible new job to tactically catch new ones.
"A couple of stock freighters isn't much in terms of firepower," Aldon, a human from their Maintenance Crew announced.
The newest member in the group, Elios, was quick to counter. "But are helpful in other endeavors, like cargo transportation to generate more money for our marry band." He said as they had a real good thing going here. The Quaxium had given them an edge most other groups didn't have so as long as they were sound on financial decisions, they should have a business empire within the next ten to twenty years.
"And scouting runs. They could be more easily looked over than a warship with their smaller profile." Xector said as he spoke from his past in the Military. "Also, they're new ships and haven't been profiled by any major factions so that gives them an edge of animosity." He added which gave a few benefits for the small vessels.
"At least it's something. Having extra ships for lighting our workloads will help." Zed said as he knew it was better than nothing. "So, this job Dew offered to us, can we trust it?" Zed asked as he looked to the Twi'Lek.
"Dew has always been honest when it comes to his trade, it's how he's stayed in business." Xector said as Zed heard the man out. "They're the real deal and get things done, so I trust his intel. I just don't like where the ships are currently." He said which got everyone a bit nervous.
"Where are they then?" Aya asked as she felt a tone of concern here.
Flisk tapped a few commands on the holo emitter, and the image of a gray moon orbiting around a sickly green planet came to view. The world was very familiar to the galactic natives. The Tenno were not all aware of what it was but Akin was.
"Nar Shadda the Criminal Capital of the Galaxy." Akin said as he looked to the location. "I heard about it in passing but enough to figure it out, Nar Shadda is the smugglers moon, and it is the largest moon orbiting Nal Hutta, the home world of the Huts." Akin explained to which Xector carried on for this one.
"Nar Shadda is like Coruscant because the whole planet is covered in an overgrown city, only more rundown and filthier." Xector added as all attention went to him. "Plus, this world is outside Republic Jurisdiction as it is owned by the Hut cartels." Xector said bringing up important bits of information for the crew members. "So, with this in mind lawless practices include smuggling, drug running, and slave trafficking are a common occurrence out here." He said and thus this got the Tenno on edge.
"It's a sad thing that happens in neutral worlds outside the Republic's eyes." Anna said with a tone showing she did not like this fact of the universe. "Too few are willing to make a difference these days, and those that do are killed off by whoever has their business disrupted from those good Samaritans." Anna said with a sad tone knowing that far too many Twi'lek are forced into this life of slavery because of these groups.
"Some syndicates are just too strong to handle by themselves." Xector said and thus Zed sighed to this controlling his building rage.
"We can probably take them out on our own but now is not the time to kick the hornets' nest." Zed said making it clear that they had bigger things to worry about. "Set a course for the Smugglers moon, Cy." Zed ordered as Cy heard and was ready.
"Understood." Cy's voice echoed as he began to charge up the systems to go to Nar Shadda.
"If we can't put the galaxy's criminals in the jails they deserve to be in, then we will take away their ability to run their operations." Zed said as everyone got the gist of it. "Head for where the Pirates are based and take the ships they stole." Zed finished and thus Akin smirked to this.
"Oh, I'm going to love this let's do to them what they did to others." Akin said as Mari smirked as well.
"It's not stealing if they are criminals, right? So, I'm sure the Republic could turn a blind eye to this." Mari added as that was assuming they were even caught.
Those who were former military looked at each other and nodded or shrugged their shoulders at the logic. If they were liberated out of slavery or pirate hands, the Republic tended to look the other way. Only asking that they re-licensed the ships for the new owners.
"Let's head there, see where the ships are located and plan from there." Zed said as they now had an idea on how to operate this mission.
(Scene Break Nar Shadda)
For millennia, this moon housed every kind of criminal activity one could think of racketeering, the drug trade, extortion, and slavery. If it's illegal in the more civilized parts of the known galaxy, it could be found here. Then there are the ones that run organized crime. Organizations like the Hutt Cartel families that own the slave trade, Drug businesses like the Pike syndicate, and the Exchange. Hundreds of billions in currencies of all types circulate through the moon every hour of every day.
Ironically, Nar Shadda has a history of making the most advanced technologies in the galaxy without the tight restrictions and awaiting government approval. Unrestricted technology limitations can do what many planetary governments refuse to do when there are no morals to stone wall scientists and engineers.
The Tenno stood on the ships main deck watching the planet below like a dark version of Coruscant.
"So... this is the criminal capital of the galaxy... neat." Mari said as she looked to her fellow Tenno.
"It's anything but neat," Xector responded as he overshadowed another crew member from nearby while they entered the tracked ships' data. "Nar Shaddaa is just above the biggest slug pit in the galaxy." He said as the group could see the Hutt Homeward nearby. "The Hutts may rule this system, but crime syndicates constantly contest Nar Shaddaa. One day it's the Huts, and next week could be the Black Suns, the Exchange, or some other organization." He listed off as he walked away from the station and to the Tenno's side. "But enough of criminal politics. We got multiple locations of the trackers from Dew's stolen ships." He said and thus Zed nodded to this.
"Where are they?" Aya asked hoping to end this quickly.
"Spread out, some of them are docked on the planet, others are hovering over the planet, and a few are heading away from the planet." Xector said as this certainly complicates things for their mission.
"So, hitting them all; is going to be a problem, great." Titus sighed rolling his eyes a bit.
"He's right if we hit one the others will be made aware." Aya said but Zed began to form an idea.
"Hmm I got an idea short and long term." Zed said showing he might have something that can work. "Xector have the combat able crew meet us in the Hanger if they aren't already there." Zed said making it clear this was going to be an all hands on-deck.
(Later in the hanger)
The Tenno stood before the ship's pilots and fireteams as Zed was the first to speak. "Ok boys and girls who wants to steal from Pirates?" Zed asked with a smirk on his face which was hidden by Umbra. This was responded by cheers from the crew as they no doubt wanted to give those pirates what, for. Nearby Mari was using Ivara Prime while Akin had Loki Prime equipped. Next to them Titus and Aya were utilizing Chroma Prime and Titania Prime for this fight.
"Good, because it's all hands-on deck with this. We need everyone here to help." Mari said which Zed nodded in understanding.
"Ordis." Zed spoke and thus Ordis flew in using the proxy body form.
"At once, Operator." Ordis said and in turn presented the holographic images of the ships for which they were gunning.
"These are our targets the pirates have them spread out between orbit and on the ground so that means we can't hit them." Zed said knowing if they had all those ships parked in one spot, they could possibly take them all but not like this. "But what we can do is take what we can and make their lives miserable doing it." Zed said and thus began to pull up the next bit of data.
"We'll split up to cover more ground, Titus and Aya will be dropped off in one of our new freighters carrying two squads of fire teams, two squads of reprogrammed Battle Droids, and a group of pilots where we will extract our targets." Zed spoke showing the plan they were using. "Meanwhile Akin, Mari, and I will lead the attack on the third target in orbit." Zed said and thus got down to the mission briefing. "From the scans we have, several targets of opportunity showed themselves. Aya Titus you two will take your ships and attack these targets. Zed said as three Gazonti cruisers appeared. "Our freighters will only get to nab one, possibly two, from the pirates. The third will undoubtedly wanna fight or run, depending on the pirate captain in charge." Zed said reminding them it was a coin toss on how the pirate in charge will react. "Either way, we don't want the pirates getting away. The choice is yours in how you want to handle this." Zed said as the two Tenno nodded in understanding.
"While you two are engaged with the Gazontis, me, Akin, and Mari will be going to this ship breaking yard." Zed said as an image was replaced by one of a space station that gave it a wide octagon profile. An end had an umbilical at each corner that branched out and connected with a shipping line. Several ships of different classes grouped together were highlighted for the crew. "If our ship is still good, we'll proceed on foot and work our way to take that ship." Zed said before the image of the Hammerhead and several starfighters appeared over the station. "Once aboard, The Light of Dawn and our remaining fighters will detach and wait just above the station. We will clear out each pirate's ship individually, then detach them from the station where the Light will use its tractor beam to pull each ship from the station. To prevent the pirates from retaking them The Light of Dawn has more than enough firepower to deal with them should they challenge us." Zed said as he looked to the crew.
Just then a soldier raised his hand with a question. "What if none are any good then?" A soldier asked as he wanted to know what they should do then.
"Then we'll leave them alone if they pose no danger or blow the ships from a distance. Can't leave them to chance. Otherwise, we'll head over to Titus and Aya's position to assist in grabbing those ships." Zed said as he then brought up another bit of information. "Also, we have this." Zed said showing a platform with a few corvette classes on top. Nearby were a small number of ancient Aurek-class tactical starfighters scattered around nearby smaller platforms. "The pirates seem to be scrapping them but if they are operational then we need to take them and if not, this will be up to Titus and Ava to decide." Zed said making it clear he wanted efficiency for this mission.
"I'll probably just blast them to make sure the pirates can't use them once we make our getaway." Titus said with a smirk from his tone alone.
"Under no circumstances are you all to take unnecessary risks, no heroics." Zed said urging them to exercise caution. "You are not a Jedi, so don't expect you all to deflect blasters by waving your hands." Zed added as this got a few laughs from the men before Aya cut in.
"What we are doing is a bad thing to some bad people. So, when we go in, I expect everyone to come back, whether you have the ships or not. Is that understood?" Aya asked wanting everyone to come home safe and sound.
"Sir yes sir." The soldiers responded and thus they were ready to move.
"Then to your places, people! We have pirates to steal from." Zed announced and thus the crew cheered ready to take back what these criminals had taken. They all headed to their ships and were ready to depart to start putting their fleet together.
Nearby Akin was grinning as he went to a nearby tarp and tore it off what it was hiding. It looked to be a Jedi Starfighter but with massive hyperdrive engines attacked to it. "Akin... where did you get that?" Zed asked when he saw the ship.
"A gift from Anakin Skywalker, apparently he drove one just like it near the beginning of the Clone Wars... so I got the blueprints off him, built the Jedi Starfighter and then built this all in my free time." Akin said as he looked excited to be piloting it.
"You're going to need an astromech droid, Akin." Zed said pointing to the slot the droid goes in.
"Way ahead of you." Akin said waving off Zed's concerns. Zed rolled his eyes and headed up to the bridge to see if the space station was worth hitting or not. If not, they move on and deal with a disappointed Akin later, if they are then they have to deal with a possible dog fight.
(Scene Break on the Bridge)
Zed enter the bridge, as he went up to the captain's chair as someone called out while he did, "Captain on deck."
"At ease, give me the report of the team," Zed said as crew member said to him, "Well it seem the Tenno group of Titus and Aya has already departed to the planet surface, with many troops already?"
"Alright then, what is the status of the ships at the shipyard?" Zed said a soon enough the screen shows the ships that were stolen as they soon got scan to tell him what they were as someone said, "They appear to be transport ships, captain."
Zed sighed to this as he hope the ships that he was promise were some sort of fighter ships or something, but that didn't mean they were completely useless, as the build of the ship themselves were not decent for combat, if they scan them for their blueprint and modified them, he then can have the star forge make them as he said, "Get a scan on them then, after that we'll blast at them so they cannot be used even as transport ships."
"Right away sir!" the crew member said as they started the scan as Zed soon let everyone else know the situation on private com signal.
(planet surface)
(Titus)
With Titus in his Chroma Prime, leading his squad of soldier to the area were some of the ships were held at, as Titus got a look at them, seeing many transport ships, modified or about to be as he use his scanner to get a better look as he can tell.
He knew that they were only after ships with decent fire power on them, but then he saw something that made his blood boiled, as he saw cages of people, many people of different races, gender, and ages, no doubt some of them were families that were capture and being treated as slaves or about to be slaves.
Titus though on this carefully as he try to think of what to do to fulfill the mission and save those people, as they always put people first, as Titus look back over to the ships, as he can see they were mostly transport ship themselves, some with blasters on them, but others did not, no doubt they weren't modified yet as he had a thought as he turn to the troops and said, "Alright men, listen up, there's a change of plan. IT seem there are people in cages, no doubt about to be ship off to be sold as slaves. So, we're turning this into a rescue mission now, we'll free the people and loaded them onto the nearest ships to take off and scrap the rest, we cannot let anything stopping us, who's with me?"
The troop give a silent nod to this as they knew they were in enemy territory, as they all agree knowing that the people comes first as Titus soon said, "I'll cause a distraction, while the rest of you wait for my signal to move in, and believe me it would be noticeable, understand?"
Once again they nodded as they held up their weapon and prepared to fight if needed as Titus soon take off and began to cause a commotion as he use his warframe ability to hover in the air as he summon forth wings of light before shooting out flames below setting things aflame before something blows up, causing all the pirates, raiders, and other scum to come running to the area as they saw a lot of things aflame and went out to help put out the flames the best they can.
Soon enough as the area was mostly clear of pirates, the soldiers took this as the signal and move in, quickly taking out the guards with fast strikes to their heads and move onto the cages where the prisoners were shocked and surprise as one of the soldiers said, "Don't worry, we're here to help."
Cages were open with the slaves and prisoners were led to Gozanti, AA-9 that wasn't modified with weapons, and a CCS-1, while some of the soldiers decided to take some of the fighter that the pirates left unattended as well as not everyone can get onto the transport ships.
Soon with the last person got on the transport ships, enough engines roar out with many of the pirates that were still nearby heard this as they quickly took notice and shouted out as they went after them, but it was too late as the transport ships took off with many fighters ship too, as the soldiers took this moment to use their ship against them as they blasted the other fighter and transport ship to cripple their transportation while also fire a few shots at the pirates themselves.
Titus took notice of this as he nodded in approval, as then he suddenly got a call as he hear Zed speaking up saying, "Titus… why am I getting reports of many of the ships you were supposed to take losing their signal, and why are we getting many signals of fighter ships using our signal?"
"Oh well, let's just say there was a last-minute change to the plan, and I saved a lot of people," Titus said as he can hear Zed groaning over the coms and said, "Just… just go help the others, and get as many ships as you can, we're going to need a lot more now."
"Got it, Titus out… Better go before he more upset," Titus said as he take off again to help his teammates.
(Aya)
With Aya side of things, as she was shooting at a lot of pirates that were onto the team now as she take out many pirates while her troop were loading up onto as many ships as they can and fly out, even a Gozanti that had some unique fighter ships attach to them.
With many pirates try to follow after them in their fighter ships, Aya took notice of this as she brought forth his archwings and take off after the fighter's ships, as she brought out a large gun and started firing at the pirates' ships making them back off from the other ships and converge onto her as she take off while firing away.
Taking out into space itself as the pirates didn't give up and keep on shooting at Aya as she dodge their fire well on her own, while using homing missiles to take out as many pirates as she could before she joins the Gozanti ship as she call out to the others, "All ships obtain, heading to rendezvous now."
(Meanwhile in space)
In space with those others, a deadly exchange of lasers was exchanged on two sides. The combat unit lead by Mari and Akin had successfully ambushed the pirate ships with a shock-and-awe strike and captured one Gazonti. It wasn't long before the pirates got their act together and returned fire with turbo lasers and fighters. It got worse when two interceptor IV frigates appeared from the system's edge and added firepower to the pirate's side, taking out two fighter escorts. The main difference is that while Mari was using her Archwing for this fight Akin was using his newly acquired modified Jedi Starfighter. Akin currently had Styanax equipped as he flew inside the starfighter he got from Anakin.
But where the Astromech port was things were different as instead of an astromech droid was Akin's Hound which had been modified to compensate for the Astromech position. He flew around the space firing on the Pirates fighters getting their attention with the other starfighters. As he flew across the battlefield, he found several pirates on his tail as Akin smirked to this.
"Ok I almost forgotten what it was like to pilot a starfighter." Akin said with a smirk on his face as he had the Pirates on his tail.
"Need a hand, Akin?" Mari asked as from above Mari flew in with her Archwing and began to slice through the pirate's snub fighters before using her Archgun to fire upon them. From what Akin could see Mari currently had Voruna in use for this battle. This stemmed the numbers of enemies Akin had to deal with as they kept the pirate's attention on him.
"Show off!" Akin responded when he saw this and then had an idea. He looked to a nearby ship and began to smirk to this when he saw the launch pad was open. "Word of wisdom never leave your doors open." Akin said as he then flew straight for it. With the snub fighters on his tail Akin used his boosters and flew straight towards the pirate ship before firing at the shield generator. This would force the ship to close the hanger due to all the air escaping from it and just as he expected it did so. Akin then got ready as the snub fighters chased after him.
"That's right follow the leader." Akin said avoiding enemy fire with ease.
His Hound began to cry out as Akin knew why he did this. "I know, I see them but wait." Akin said as he kept going faster. "Come on... come on." Akin said and in turn he was ready. "And NOW!" Akin said and thus he pulled up fast at the last possible second. He was able to make the sharp turn and fly upward but most of the Snub Fighters ended up crashing into the wall being destroyed. Akin wasn't done as he then deactivated his thrusters allowing the Pirates to fly right on past him.
Once they were through, he fired his rockets at them taking several of them out at once. The space was more or less cleared of snub fighters, but they still had to get that ship. Akin reactivated his thrusters and rejoined the dog fight to take the ships from the Pirates. "Mari skies are almost clear, but the pirates are going to be bringing in backup soon, where the heck are you?!" Akin asked wanting to know where his partner for this mission was.
(Meanwhile with Mari)
Mari landed inside the ship and after taking care of the crew inside had made her way to the main controls. She swung her axe, Sarofang through the Pirates as they tried to stop her. Moving in with her unite Mari made a beeline for the main command deck of the vessel. Running to said controls she fired her gun Perigale into the heads of several pirates before jacking her Parazon into the console. Once inside she activated the needed systems and began to detach from where it was docked.
"I'm in." Mari announced as she got the vessel to start moving. She then zoomed in on their third target and cursed as she saw the ship was leaving the area.
(Back with Zed)
"Captain, we got a comm from Mari, she's asking go for the third target." A crewman said as Zed considered the options available to them. They already got more than what they could have hoped for and pushing their luck was just asking for trouble. More so they had people who needed medical attention first and foremost so for the time being its best they leave with what they had rather than risk it all and get nothing from it.
"Tell them no." Zed said as he looked to the crewman on communications. "We're done here we've gotten more then we could have hoped to get." Zed said and thus he had one final bit to say. "Have all units regroup on the Hammerhead so we can depart for lightspeed." Zed finished as he rather saved the use of Void Jumps till later.
"Once all units are back on the ship plot a course for Naboo." Zed said which confused the crew a bit.
"Why, sir?" They asked as Zed then smirked to them.
"Easy... we need supplies, and we need to see if the Republic has work for us." Zed said as the crew nodded just happy to have a stable job now.
(Back in Space)
Soon the Hammerhead were rejoined by the ships taken by Titus and Aya and the ships taken by Akin and Mari. The sight of a CCS-1, AA-9, and another Gazonti brought cheer and celebration as the six ships left the system. But as they left, they made one error in this entire mission, they had unknowingly started a new underworld war in the background.
(Scene Break Mustafar)
On the distant world of Mustafar, with a black fortress that was in control of the Black Sun syndicate. A meeting between two leading members of the Falleen spoke about a matter.
"Who is responsible for stealing my ships?" The senior member demanded of the other clearly angry over the lost vessels.
"We don't know whom, but we believe it was mercenaries hired by the previous owner." The other reported as he kept a neutral tone when speaking to his boss. "The ships they took were empty, so no product was stolen." He added which was good news in of itself.
The leader only scuffles at that but holds a bit of interest. "They either didn't know, or their intel was terrible." He scoffed wanting to know who or what had taken his property. Whoever did it heads were going to roll and if not, the folks who took his ships then it was going to be those who failed him. "Even if they didn't get the merchandise, this is still an attack on the Black Suns, and we will not be taking that lying down." He said and thus wanted to know exactly who did it.
"What do you propose we do?" The other asked with concern over their next course of action.
The leader was silent for a few moments before looking to the other member of his syndicate. "Send the bounty." The leader said and thus he had every intention of making these attackers into an example.
(TBC)
ESKK: This took us a while to get done but here you go a brand-new chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it and will remember to leave a review on the way out, so again I will say here, ja-ne.