Star Wars - Piracy(GCW)

Out of Character

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It has been nine years since the fall of the Republic into the new Galactic Empire, and Piracy has never been harder. Even with the Empire using the majority of its fleet to finish the conversion of the last stubborn worlds rejecting Imperial Rule and finding Separatist strongholds the Emperor has devoted entire task forces to tackle the problem of Piracy. Though Pirates never really know when to stop, a small pirate base has established itself in the asteroid belt in the Muunlist system and has expanded its reach out to the two nearby systems, Bastion and Yaga Minor. Though these, prosperous times will be short lived. The Imperials have taken notice..."

Tyrell Lorne

Tyrell sat in a circular room at the top of the station, glass windows looking out into the asteroid belt. He looked around the now empty room. Alani, his twi'lek had just left for whatever reason which gave him this time to himself. He watched as one of the turbo-laser batteries opened fired on an asteroid that began to stray to close to the city station. He sighed, in a way he had become much more than a pirate and a Captain, he was more of a governor with all the issues he had to deal with on a daily business, at-least he still got to do the occasional raid.

He walked towards the window and looked out, the pickings had become harder as the Empire slowly grabbed more and more control over the sector. He picked up a holo tablet looking at the registered activities. They had only done two raids this week, he would have to step up his game if he wanted to retain control over the station. He looked out again at the asteroid belt, offering them protection from the Imperials. What they needed was a good raid, something daring. He believed he had just the target, but he'd need a good engineer. He opened the door and spoke to his current first Lieutenant, a tall slender woman. Known for her... callousness towards advances from male attention. Though she seemed to prefer the company of her female captives, something Lorne never really wanted to look into.

He looked at her as she did a mock salute and a laugh. "What can I do for you Captain?" "Oh shut up, go get me an engineer." She did another salute. "Yes Sir."

Issharra, or "black" as most people called him cause of his fur color, was currently at work helping calibrate the weapon systems on the turbo laser battery. A month ago they had found a drifting chunk of a battleship from the clone wars. Aside from raw scrap value, they still had an operational droid control system inside. At the moment he was testing to see if the turbo-batteries could be slaved to the greater control system so that the automated defense systems could be improved with things like 'leading targets' and 'crossfire' without some ghost in the machine taking over everything.

His claws clacked against the lenses as he tried to rub the bridge of his nose without moving the goggles first. He removed the goggles completely and stood up to his full height to grab a overhanding pipe then hang from it for a few moments. Slowly rolling himself backwards through his arms to stretch and pull like an athlete as he used his own weight for the resistance needed before pulling himself back through his own arms. His arboreal anatomy of longer than usual arms made these movements possible as he set his feet back down on the deck plate. with eyes closed he took a deep breath of the area and tried to find any scents in the recycled air.

Moff Vor’tzhen

Tedious. Moff Vor’tzhen had always considered these formal meetings between his fellow sector Moffs to be a waste of time.
‘I don’t see the point in continuing this discussion, you can see all the necessary detail in my reports,’ Vor’tzhen said.
‘But the increased pirate and smuggling activity in the Obtrexta Sector has the Muuns worried, not to mention the constant pressuring of the Senate into action!’ Moff Garret Callron of the Clacis Sector yelled, ‘The Emperor entrusted you to keep the sector devoid of any pirates, and Sate Pestage does not appreciate the IGBC’s bankers complaining to his office every day!’
‘The problem will be dealt with, as I have already written in my report. I have entrusted the task of finding the pirate ships and any bases they may have to a taskforce.’
‘Have you moved more ships into the Muunilinst system?’ the Moff for the Myto Sector inquired, in his usual monotone drone.
‘No, there is no need. The pirate activity is not present there, only a small space station. Granted, it is full of scum, but the Muuns have allowed them to gather there. Apparently it prevents unwanted visitors to the surface…’ Vor’tzhen explained. ‘Besides, the Muuns may not like an increased number of Imperial ships, the corvettes will be sufficient.’
‘I for one wish your expediency in exterminating this rabble,’ said the Braxant Sector Moff, ‘there have been increasing numbers of pirate raids on my side of the sector border.’
‘I know. I trust in the abilities of the ship captains. I estimate that the pirates will be eliminated within 2 standard months. Now, if we have nothing else to discuss, I have an appointment on Kuat…’ Vor’tzhen said as he stood up, relieved that the meeting with the insufferable Moffs was finally over.
‘One more item Aldrjan. There is still the matter of the implementation of Decree 1537c-453…’
Vor’tzhen imagined strangling the Myto Sector Moff. This was becoming unbearable.

Peace. The concept was very much over rated. What was there to do, when there was nothing to do? Flying your ship around the system so the locals knew they were safe, was nothing more than boring. The Frontline was where she wanted to be, to be fighting who there was to fight. Come to think of it, was there anyone to fight? There was only so many Separatists hold outs left, eventually there would the none left to kill, because they would all be dead. Of course you had your odd system who fancied them selves the next big revolutionary. All they achieved was tightening the Empire's grip on those systems. It wasn't exactly easy to rebel either, considering the Imperial Security Bureau had their fingers in many pies. There was nothing you could hide from those guys, and they damn well knew that.

Those weren't really thoughts she liked to dwell on, one wrong word to the wrong person and she'd find her self with the men in suits at her door. Frankly, she didn't want to see that happen. She just wanted to do what she did best, command. In the Imperial Navy getting command of your own ship would be the big break you would need to make it to the top, the only thing was there was millions of ships. Now the only positions that mattered were Star Destroyers and anything that was bigger than that. She would like to say she commanded a fine ship, that knew the face of battle - But then she'd only be lying to herself.

The Enervator was hardly a state of the art ship o' war, and she was hardly a great ship. No, instead she was just a Immobilizer 416 Cruiser. It wasn't exactly the kind of command she wanted, but she knew she'd just have to suck it up and deal with it. She wasn't in the position to be asking for her own commands, nor was she in any ones good books either. The mere fact she had remained as a Captain in the Imperial Navy was a small miracle in it's own right. Still, the ship had never done her wrong before, and she wasn't going to let it do that any time soon either.

Returning to her senses she remembered where she was, almost asleep in her cabin. She looked around her, sat at her desk the realization that she had forgotten to clear up had hit her like a bucket of cold water in the face. She was the captain of an Imperial warship and her cabin of all places looked like it belonged to a cadet. She wanted to get up and clean the mess, make sure her bed was ready for her in a few short hours. But she simply couldn't be bothered to do it. She was almost drained of all her energy. Running drills all week tended to do that to you, even when you are the Captain.

Her ever so holy thought process was interrupted by something, had she known what it was she might of just thrown something at it. Thankfully the logical part of her mind, reminded her she had a computer and people can do this amazing thing called contacting her with it. Opening the device up, she was pleasantly surprised at what she had seen. Orders from the Moff himself, not from the Office of the Moff, or his secretary but the man himself. That was ... different to say the least. This was quite possibly the first, and probably the last time a Moff would ever contact her. The feeling was different, never before had she been contacted by such a man. Infact until this point she didn't even know his name, she just hadn't cared enough to remember it.

'Take a deep breath, and just read the orders you stupid girl' said her 'mind'.

ORDERS://9/3/1/4//32//17-26///PRIORITY/MOFF-2//
ISSUED BY: //MOFF/ALDRJAN/VOR’TZHEN/SECTOR-OBTREXTA//
++++++++++++
ONLY TO BE READ BY CAPTAIN CLARA DONOVAN – I.S.S. ENERVATOR
++++++++++++
The pirate situation in the sector (Obtrexta Sector) is becoming increasingly problematic. I have appointed you to be Commander of the Anti-Piracy Military Taskforce to aid the Imperial Customs of the sector, as they are proving to be inefficient. You will retain the rank of Captain, unless on approved missions, where you will be Acting Commodore (of the fleet assigned to the mission) for the duration of the mission. You will be exempt from orders by Admiral Hyendal until the pirate menace has been sufficiently suppressed, unless in emergency conditions or I expressly order you to obey orders from him.
The ships assigned to this taskforce are:
- I.S.S. Sprinter-VII, CR90 Corvette
- I.S.S. Castell, CR90 Corvette
- I.S.S. Watchman, Guardian-class Light Cruiser
These vessels and their Captains are directly sub-ordinate to you. You have the authority to deploy them in addition to your own vessel, the I.S.S. Enervator, as you see fit in order to deal with the pirates. You have the authority to cross into neighbouring sectors IF the said Sector Command allows it, but you do have the authority to pursue known pirates.
You have the authority to: destroy any vessel engaged in piracy; board and detain any vessel suspected of having engaged in piracy; detain indefinitely any civilian suspected or known to have engaged in piracy; execute civilians known to have been engaged in piracy, but ONLY during combat. NOTE: Do NOT take any action against MUUNS, unless it is proven that they are engaged in piracy.
I trust that I do not need to remind you that the Muuns are very particular of the Imperial presence in the Muunilinst System, hence I will limit the number of vessels to 5 military ships at any time, unless an emergency occurs. As of yet there is no pirate activity in the system, so I suggest you begin your search in the other systems.
I expect you to have dealt with the pirates within 2 months.
++++++++++++
END OF ORDERS
++++++++++++

Needless to say, this wasn't something she had expected to see. She was actually getting a Fleet command, as well as a billet rank. Maybe the gods were looking upon Clara and giving her the big break she had needed. Pirates weren't exactly the frontline, but hey, it was somewhere. Plus, they had the habit of being tricky to catch, or kill. How do you capture a pirate, who is anybody in the whole system? That was a question for later, she decided.

With something to actually do now, now was a probably good time as any, to actually let her crew and her new fleet (it felt so weird thinking of that), that they had new orders, and a new commander. Today, or what remained of the day was beginning to start looking good for Clara.

Sam

Sam looked at her comlink as it buzzed, groaned slightly then answered it, to Lornes voice. "Sam, after you've finished spying on Alani send her and her escorts my way, then go get your engineer, alright?""Yes Sir, you know me too well.""Yeah, I guess I do." She ended the call then sighed, she had indeed been watching Alanis room, only one of the guards standing outside. She would have to check later that nothing had happened, she would be the one to spoil Alani. She walked up-to the guard standing outside the room, he smirked a second seeing the woman walk towards him, then immediately straightened up when he realized who it was.

"Lorne wants to speak to the Twi'lek""Ye...Yes Ma'am." She turned and walked away, twirling her knife smurking to herself. She always managed to petrify the younger ones. I guess that was the benefits of being the second in command in what could only be referred to as a pirate colony. She walked down the hall and into what was once the main hanger, but now was more a store of spare parts, the occasional ship was allowed to land here but only if it was incredibly damaged. Then she saw the one she wanted, a Wookie. Everyone knew him, there was only a couple of wookies on the station and none were the same color. She walked up-to him, "Hey, Black!".

Black detected the scent of the one eared woman approaching just a second before she came around the corner. It was always odd going from ship to ship, each one had different ventilation systems so it was always almost impossible to catch someone upwind or downwind with enough time to plan. Being nearly nine feet tall didnt make the woman any less dangerous, she was the beta and had earned her place including to get her ear taken by the alpha when she disobeyed as it established her as the beta under him as the absolute alpha.

"Hey, Black!"

He spun around as she called him out, setting down the droid brain and grabbing his bag of tools, expecting something needs to be fixed already. His mind went over what could need to be fixed in the laundry list each ship had, it was a mess. He shook his head of what it could be and waited to just be told what was up.

"Wwwut?"

It was a rough way he had tried to learn how to annunciate some words of galactic basic. He got the ways to ask questions in the way of sounding out 'wut' 'wo' 'wer' 'wen' 'wy' 'hou'. It was his effort to try and bridge the gap just as some had tried to learn how to understand his shyrriwook and learn the occasional word here or there. When in doubt, they could communicate on typing pads.

Boltshka

Cli-cli clat.

"Confound it!"

If one squinted, there was a chance they could see Boltshka's corpulent form through the motley of pots and pans that littered the islands of the ship's galley. A thick steam clung to the mechanical, whirring ceilings, a steam which smelled of roasting vegetables and animal stock. Boltshka, a heavyset older woman, traipsed through the jungle of kitchen appliances with relative ease, but that didn't stop the rivulet of sweat that made its way down her forehead from running.

"Where in God's name is the vigor spice?!" she screeched, waving a spoon in her left hand and flailing the right one upwards in an attempt to grab a hold of an overhanging pan. "Technological miracles being granted throughout this entire universe, yet no one's made it any easier for me to find anything in this hunk of junk!"

Boltshka pulled open a couple of drawers in her search, but only found a couple of yellowing bundles of what she called "oran herb". With an eye roll and a quick crack of her knuckles, the woman tossed a couple of slivers of the herb into a pot filled to the brim with a fulvous liquid. Boltshka sighed as a tension in her back seemed to lessen and her stance slackened a bit.

A second later, Boltshka pulled out a little silvery transceiver from the front pocket of her mussed apron. "I've finished making the dinner for today! If ye' want to eat, just answer me 'n all bring ya' some grub." She paused for a moment to wipe some sweat off her brow. "If not, you can starve 'fer all I care!"

Sam

Sam looked at the wookie, watching him immediately expect something to be broken. "Calm down Black, nothings broken as far as I know. Lorne wants to see you in the penthouse suite." She smirked slightly, as far as she knew Lorne still didn't know that the floor he occupied near the top of the station was referred to as the penthouse. She looked at the Wookie again, he was one of the few people she was never able to read in terms of his emotions and motives. It made her wary but at the same time made her like him, and she didn't like that many people.

"He's got some project going down, could be a raid or something. We've not been too active off late. I guess he wants to get us out of this dry spell."


Lorne

Lorne passed through the halls, most people moving out of his way. A couple looking at him in discontent. After the Empire had secured its hold on piracy it had been hard on the station, thankfully most things such as food were free. People were able to eat and sleep for free. Though of-course a lot of the best accommodation was either fought over or paid for. He walked towards the kitchen complex and walked in, pushing the pots and pans out of his way and seeing whom most just referred to as "Momma". He never really joined in with them but he understood why, she was like a mother to a lot of the younger people on the station.

"Hey. I'm looking for any form of red spice, I need it for a meeting I'm having, got any laying around?"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by EvilScottishGuy

Sam

Sam looked at the wookie, watching him immediately expect something to be broken. "Calm down Black, nothings broken as far as I know. Lorne wants to see you in the penthouse suite." She smirked slightly, as far as she knew Lorne still didn't know that the floor he occupied near the top of the station was referred to as the penthouse. She looked at the Wookie again, he was one of the few people she was never able to read in terms of his emotions and motives. It made her wary but at the same time made her like him, and she didn't like that many people.

"He's got some project going down, could be a raid or something. We've not been too active off late. I guess he wants to get us out of this dry spell."


Lorne

Lorne passed through the halls, most people moving out of his way. A couple looking at him in discontent. After the Empire had secured its hold on piracy it had been hard on the station, thankfully most things such as food were free. People were able to eat and sleep for free. Though of-course a lot of the best accommodation was either fought over or paid for. He walked towards the kitchen complex and walked in, pushing the pots and pans out of his way and seeing whom most just referred to as "Momma". He never really joined in with them but he understood why, she was like a mother to a lot of the younger people on the station.

"Hey. I'm looking for any form of red spice, I need it for a meeting I'm having, got any laying around?"

---

The old woman sighed, undoing her apron from the hips and folding it across her arm.

"Ah'd gladly give you some, Captain, but it 'pears that ah can't seem to find anythin' in this Godforsaken kitchen!"

Boltshka grabbed a stray bowl and ladled some of the thick stew into it, leaving a bit of the reddish liquid dripping off the edges. "The spice was here one minute, gone the next! N' don't even ask about the snow-beast meat!" She tapped her foot in a way that left a metallic ringing in her ears before handing it to Lorne. " 'Ere. Eat up. After all, yer the one in charge 'o this whole operation. Can't 'ave ya steeeervin' on us, can we?" A few feet away, a kettle started to hum in a low tone, but the cook ignored it for the time being. (That, and it would have been hard to get to, given that the path to the stove was blocked by a few crates of vermillion fruit.)

"So!" she exclaimed, putting both of her fleshy arms on her waist. "What're said plans for the next few weeks anyways? Alls ah know is that somethin' big is 'bout to 'appen."

Black nodded and gave her a salute as her station demanded. He watched and waited to see if she was supposed to lead him or if she was going to go off in a different direction. If she left him, he would have to wait a minute to fish out the map on a datapad to know which way to go to get to the penthouse, hopping from so many ships often left him disoriented against different deck plans.

It had taken him a half hour just to get to the right storage level for the droid system then another to drag it all the way here to these batteries. He cast a look behind him to the work he was on, not wanting to leave something half finished or a battery misfiring if it was needed to defend where they lived. He looked back to the beta to take a cue from her lead.