Nar Shaddaa

For millennia, this moon housed every kind of criminal activity one could think of: racketeering, the drug trade, extortion, and slavery. If it was illegal in the more civilized parts of the 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.

High above the smuggler's moon, Ruby watched from the bridge of her ship as it found its place above. The planet reminded her of a darker version of Corecuant as it hovered almost in the shadow of the Hutt homeworld.

"So this is the lawless crime-building world of the galaxy… neat."

"It's anything but neat," Flisk responded. He overshadowed another crew member from nearby as they entered the tracked ships' data. "Nar Shaddaa is just above the biggest slug pit in the galaxy. 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 walked away from the station and to his Captains' side. "But enough of criminal politics. We got multiple locations of the trackers from Dew's stolen ships."

"Where are they?" Ruby asked.

"Spread out." He went over to the display screen and punched in a few codes. An image of Nar Shaddaa appeared with several indicators. "The ships the pirates stole from Dew are in different sectors. Some have landed planetside, others hovering in the air, and a few are detected heading away from the planet. Overall, it's going to be a problem hitting them all. Because when we hit one, the others will know about it. Any chance of stealth will be out the airlock, and the rest will either fight us or flee."

Ruby looked over the screen, seeing the ships on the ground and in space. The Beacon student tried to formulate a plan. "Call Veena and Raymen to meet us in the Hanger if they're not already there."

Soon the two and the rest of the ship's pilots and fireteams stood across from Ruby and Flisk.

"Alright, who wants to steal from some pirates?" Ruby announced, receiving several cheers from the crew. "Good, because it's all hands-on deck with this. We need everyone here to help. Flisk."

"These are our targets." Flisk activated a hologram between them. "The pirates have them spread out between orbit and on the ground." He pointed towards several ships that hung over the planet and a few dotting over the planet's surface. "We can't hit every target, so we take as many as possible. We're going to split off into three teams for three targets."

Ruby pointed at Flisk and Veena. "You will be flying one of our new freighters and drop Flisk, two fireteams, two platoons of reprogrammed B1 battle droids, and a group of pilots down on the planet. Where they will extract your targets. Then Veena will link up with Raymen, the other freighter, and half our starfighters. Once you link up, you will go after your own target. Meanwhile, I will take the Beacon and the other half of our starfighters and hit a third target in orbit." Ruby explained.

"Surprised you didn't want to lead the ground mission, Captain," Veena commented.

"I... thought about it. I'm better at leading on the ground. But I choose to remain on the ship because I need to spend more time leading in space rather than just going wherever I feel like it. Can't be stuck having all the fun." Ruby explained. "Flisk?"

Flisk moved on with the mission brief. "From the scans we have, several targets of opportunity showed themselves. Veela, Reyman, you will take your ships and attack these." The image of 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. Either way, we don't want the pirates getting away. The choice is yours in how you want to handle this." The two nodded in understanding.

Flisk then brings the attention to their Captain. "While you two are engaged with the Gazontis, Ruby and the ship will hop to this ship-breaking yard." The image was replaced with 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.

Ruby took over this portion of the brief. "We'll scan to see if the ships are still usable. If they are, I'll dock our ship to the station and proceed on foot through the station with a team to back me up." The image shifted to the Hammerhead and several starfighters appeared over the station. "Once aboard, the Beacon 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. The Beacon will use its tractor beam to pull each ship from the station. To prevent the pirates from retaking them. The Beacon has more than enough firepower to deal with them should they challenge us."

"What if none are any good then?" A soldier asked.

"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 Veena and Raymen to assist in securing more of their ships."

"What are you hitting down on the dirt, Black?" Rayman's question to the Wolven.

Flisk hit a few controls to show 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.

"Those don't look too good, and it looks like the Pirates are scrapping them," Veena observed the location. "Might want to hold off on this one. Just saying."

Ruby rubbed her chin in thought. "You might be right. But if they are operational, then we take them. If not, it's his choice on what to do next."

"I'll probably throw a detonator or two in each wreck to make sure they don't get any use out of them," Flisk responded. "If nothing else..."

"One more thing."

Everyone looked to Ruby as she held all their attention. The teen collected herself as she tried to channel her inner Goodwitch before speaking out.

"Under no circumstances are you all to take unnecessary risks. No heroics. You are not a Jedi, so don't expect you all to deflect blasters by waving your hands." This got a few laughs from the men. "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?"

"Yes, ma'am." Her crew responded.

"Then to your places, people! We have pirates to steal from." Her cheer made the others respond in kind before moving out to their areas.

The Wolven smiled and nudged the redhead. "We'll make a proper ship captain out of you yet."

The Wolven's comment made her smile. "Thanks. Be careful down there, Flisk."

"You too, alpha." Flisk teased before leaving, making Ruby's cheeks redden more. She shook her head to clear off those strange feelings and focused on the operation.

Freighters and starfighters soon left the ships' hangars and went to their separate targets. Ruby eyed them with a bit of worry. Was this what it's like to be in Ironwood's position? If so, Ruby didn't like it much. Instead, she much preferred her old team. But it was due to how she knew so little about her troops. But that was a package deal, wasn't it? So many people with so little time to know them. Luckily, she didn't have to think about them for long as one of her bridge staff alerted her.

"Captain, our target is coming up," the crewman said.

"Understood. I'm returning to the bridge. Julia, can you join me there?"

Looking at the shipyard, they're approaching. It was an extensive octagon ring configuration with faded yellow and black paint. It was probably from a previous owner, some would guess. From Ruby's view of the scales, it was big enough to fly a Republic Star Destroyer through and looked like it was running on minimal power with its lack of running lights. Four of its sides showed open cargo ports.

"Get me a scan of that thing. Find our ships," Ruby ordered.

The crewman at the scanning station began their work. "Starting a scan...Scan complete. Bringing it up on the monitor."

Ruby looked at the holo of the station. "Can we highlight our targets?"

Of the ships attached to it, only a trio was highlighted. Seeing this and the diagnosis from them made this a little worrying. Julia then made her appearance and looked over the data.

"That's what's left?" The engineer said, her tone dripping with disappointment.

"It is. Why? Do you recognize any of them?" Ruby inquired.

The alien girl nodded. "If you're going for firepower, those aren't the ships you want to go into combat. Those are Mark III Heraklon-class transports, and they will get you shot out of the sky if you take them into battle. They have no weapons and won't be of any use."

"So worthless to us?"

"Worthless and a waste of time."

Ruby sighed heavily. Already this operation was going sideways. "Then let's move and assist Veena and Raymen with their targets. We could capture all of their ships if we joined forces. Helm, bring us around and towards team two's mission area." The huntress ordered.

"Yes, sir!"

Down below in the crime-ridden metroplex. Felix leads his two fire teams, a group of pilots, and a company's worth of B1 battle droids through the city with no one even batting an eye in their direction. Approaching their destination, Flisk pulls out a set of binocs and looks for their targets.

"You see them, sir?" One of the pilots asked.

"I believe so," Flisk responded.

The targets were coming from the direction of a couple of corvettes parked at the edge of a junkyard. Flisk spotted what looked like a pair of AA-9 Coruscant freighters, but one had some unknown modifications he didn't recognize bolted to the hull. Alongside it was a badly yellow-painted CSS-1 Corellian Star Shuttle. It had armaments similar to the variant used by the Judicial Forces back in the Stark Hyperspace War, probably a wreck the pirates salvaged from. Next to it was a familiar Gazonti that was under some repair. A row of old Aurek tactical strike craft and dagger-class starfighters was just a short distance from them.

"Quite a sight, but I don't think we can take them all."

"Agreed." Flisk hands the binocs to the pilot. "You recognized those mods on that transport?" He pointed at the modified AA-9.

Taking a look, the pilot frowned when he scanned over the ship. "Yeah. I do. Those are short-range gravity tethers used in asteroid mining to keep payloads in place. I have a cousin who does that and has seen similar setups with his operations. The pirates looked like they jury rigged a set to one."

"Why would they do that?" A member of the fireteam asked.

"Think of them as short-range tractor beams with only about a 150 meters max range," the pilot responded. "Don't know why they hooked them up to that thing."

Thinking of it from a tactical position helped him figure out why. "Because it is a boarding craft, and with how many pirates that thing can carry and the ability to latch onto any ship and offload its payload. That would be a dangerous fight for anyone on the receiving end."

Flisk gathered the group together.

"Alright, here's the plan. Our targets for extraction are the CCS-1, the Gazonti, and the non-modified AA-9. We'll torch and burn the rest on the way out."

"That's pretty risky. How are we going to pull that off?" A pilot asked.

The XO pointed at the B1s. "I'll take the battle droids and direct an assault to lure the pirates. I'll pressure them and break for the Gazonti. We don't have a command droid, so I have to direct them manually." He then pointed at the team leads. "Meanwhile, each fireteam will clear the other ships and prepare them for takeoff. Bora, lead your team to the AA-9, Header, the CCS-1. When you take off, arm their weapon batteries and open fire on the pirate's strike craft. Taking them out will help us escape into orbit."

"So, no new fighters for us?" Another pilot asked.

"We're running out of hanger space for new ones. Any more will be a tight fit."

Understanding the reasoning. The teams soon split off in two directions.

Flisk led the B1's over to a two-story warehouse abandoned near the pirate base. Going up to a nearby empty office on the second floor showed a decent view of a courtyard leading to their target's landing pads, along with two platoons' worth of scum hanging out in the open, which was odd to the former republic servicemen. They were just bunched around in groups conversing with each other. Was there a meeting among the pirates? He admitted he doesn't know much about what scum like them do when they aren't going out plundering the galaxy or going to a bar and drinking their life away. Considering this bunch attacked Dew and stole his ships, they were more professional than most. Having a safety brief wouldn't be outside the realm of possibilities.

Would it?

Pushing aside the distracting thoughts when he got a beep from his com unit. A signal that the teams were in position and ready to take their targets.

"Time for some chaos." He brought up a touchpad and keyed a few commands. "All battle units, move silently to position and be ready to engage the pirates on command."

Behind the building, over a hundred B1 battle droids were crouching. Unlike the separatists that paint the B1s in a tan coating, these were freshly painted gray with a republic red secondary.

"Roger. Roger." The droids clanking feet marched up the road in quads as they tried to silently move about to their target. Something that made Flisk's ear twitch. Something that also drew the pirate's attention.

"So much for being silent. All units attack!" The B1s soon began firing a wave of red blaster bolts at the surprised pirates, surprisingly nailing a few before the rest took cover behind anything they could find. The battle droids advanced up the street and to the courtyard. A few droids with detonators threw the explosives that took out several more enemies and toppled over a watch tower. Trailing behind them, Flisk looked at the targeted ships and saw more pirates coming out from them to fight. The pirates being reinforced put new pressure on the skinny battle droids. Seeing the droids slowly getting pushed back, Flisk joined in his part of the battle.

Running up from behind, he fired a few shots at a pirate that made his way to a toppled tower. Taking cover behind the fallen structure, firing a few potshots in the pirate's direction. Flisk surveyed the battlefield to find a semi-safe route to his target. Finding one with decent cover behind a couple of speeders.

Making his way to them, he waved around the battle and reached them.

"Hey, who's that?"

Flisk cursed when he turned to the voice and saw two pirates had taken cover behind the speeder next over.

"He doesn't look like one of us. Get him!" One pirate said, and they raised their guns on the Wolven. Making him duck under their poor aim before firing back and hitting the two in rapid sequence. Taking the pirates down, he moved toward his target, killing anyone trying to stop him. Reaching halfway, he was stopped by a team's worth of enemy fighters pinning him down in cover with blaster fire. Hiding under cover by a few shipping containers, it was being peppered by the pirates.

"Fireteams, what's your status?"

"This is Header. We've reached the landing pad of our target. Most of the pirates had left to fight in the compound and were about to take care of the rest."

"Bora here. We boarded our target, but the crew hadn't all left the ship. We will have to clear it before take off."

"Understood. I'm nearing my objective but could use help, as the droids have taken most of the pirate's attention. Assist upon completion."

"Roger!"

Firing another shot and ending another pirate of life. Flisk wondered how this little op was going for the others.


In space with those others, a deadly exchange of lasers was exchanged on two sides. Veena's attack forces 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. Fearing to be overrun, Veena was about to call for a retreat before her Captain showed up with the Beacon and exchanged fire with the pirates.

"We'll hold them. You get the prize!" Her Captain ordered. It surprised the woman, but she wouldn't turn away an opportunity. Detaching their first prize, they sped out to their next target.

Ruby was busy calling out orders from the Beacon's bridge deck to her staff. "Shift shields to double front, have the fighters clear out of our firing lane, and cover our rear."

"Pirates are launching concussive missiles!"

"Have the gatings intercept those missiles."

"One of our Z-95s has taken a hit and requests an emergency return."

"Send it. Get them back on board."

Despite the chaos around her, Ruby felt relatively calm. People were dying in space, but she kept a level head and gave orders as clearly as she could. No different than when she fought with her old team against Torchwick and the White Fang. Only now, she had a bigger group, and her team was kicking pirate butt.

"Captain, one pirate frigate is trying to get to Veena's ship. They have just run and latched themselves to their second target ship." Lisa

"Get us between them and prepare a full salvo of torpedoes. They could be in trouble if they get close to Veela while her team is in action."

The pirate frigate moved to attack the light freighter but was blocked by the Hammerhead cruiser. It moved sideways to keep its forward weapon sections on target. The pirates fired their medium turbo laser batteries on the Beacon, but her shields held strong as the green lasers bound away at them. "Torpedoes ready, Captain!" A crewman shouted.

"Fire!" Ruby ordered, and eight proton torpedoes launched out of their tubes. The pirate ship had little time to evade the incoming attack but it was for nought, as seven out of eight impacted the nose head-on. The freighter stalled as explosions rocked the front, its decks decompressed, and the ship vented air and bodies into the void. A chain reaction of electrical fires encompassed the ship before its reactor detonated.

Seeing the pirate ship blow up caused many of the crew to cheer.

"Don't celebrate yet. What about the other ship?" Ruby ordered.

"The pirate frigate and the third target are leaving the area," Lisa responded. She put her hand over a headset as new info came in. "Veena's team has reported that they have taken their target but have sustained injuries. They are wondering if they should go for the third target ship?"

Ruby got off her chair and moved to the Wolven. "Tell them no. We are done for the day and are spent. We should regroup and plan from there. Any word from your brother?"

"Flisk reported that they'd taken three ships but had lost many of our new battle droids. They're on their way up to meet us." Ruby nodded in satisfaction.

"Tell him to link up with us, then we'll jump out of the system and head to Naboo."

"Naboo? Why are we heading there?" Lisa asked.

"Senator Amidala offered to help us if we asked. I hope she allows us to sit in her system and gather supplies. Also, I need to get in touch with General Skywalker, and I still need to see who my Republic rep will be. So that's another reason to head to Naboo."

Soon The Beacon and Veena's two Gazonti were joined by Flisk's group. The sight of a CCS-1, AA-9, and another Gazonti brought cheer and celebration as the six ships left the system. Unknowingly starting a new underworld war in the background.


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.

"We don't know whom, but we believe it was mercenaries hired by the previous owner. The ships they took were empty, so no product was stolen."

The leader only scuffles at that but holds a bit of interest. "They either didn't know, or their intel was terrible. 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. Send the bounty."