Every time he needed to get a job done, something or someone always fell through. At least lately it's been this way, not to mention slow in his network of merchants. Its no secret that hanging around Kuzbar's drinking Nikta isn't going to make things move. But Radda needed to meet with Karthata to gain access to the cargo bay, and Karthata doesn't believe in holo-projectors even though he owns one- and apparently punctuality too, which means Radda could be in this cantina for a whole other hour, which means he's going to drink, which means he could definitely be passed out if Karthata ever gets here. So he waits, orders another drink and swivels around on his stool sitting anxiously at the bar counting each drink on the wall for no apparent reason.

Not too long after his eighth drink, Radda decides it best to leave now while he can still walk. He pays his tab and leaves Kuzbar's buzzed, and angry. Then he thinks of something, he goes back in and asks the bartender to relay a message to any Trandoshan named Karthata who might come in. Message reads: "Where the hell were you?! contact me as soon as you get this. Do not waste my time. -Radda."

The city surged around his boozy head with electric fury, occasionally stepping straight into puddles of sick watery mess steeped well with dirt, acids, and probably vomit. It wasn't like him to drink so much at one time. Yes he was considered an alcoholic, but he thought more of a classy alcoholic. He'd much rather stick to his flask, he'd had it since before he started bounty hunting, and it's seen double the use ever after. The thing was made of silver and gleamed smartly in the sunlight, ornate engravings could be seen in the light too. But what made this flask unique was a crater just off center, scarred with black lines all around it, which came from a blaster bolt just three years ago. It was a close scrape, and Radda would count himself lucky to have escaped with his life that day. A lucky flask indeed. It remained in his left breast pocket always unless in use. His hand, dirty and shaking reaches up absentmindedly to his flask in pocket- then his left hand grabs his right wrist and forces it down. "What am I doing?! he thinks in utter upset. Right foot, left foot, right foot- he staggers down the streets in disarray with his right hand resting expectantly somewhere in the middle of his chest.

Radda soon decides he needs to eat something and rid Karthata's inept ways from his mind, then hail down a airspeeder for the rest of the way home. He comes up to the counter of a street stall stationed in one of the busier spots of town. blue and pink neon floods into the muddy streets, creating a color for the dank air you breathe all over this dreary planet. It does help to be eating the fine red noodles and drinking the broth of a fresh prepared meal. Some of Radda's anxiety fades and his head stops swimming, leaving a greater loathing for Karthata- bringing him so close to cutting him out of all future business he nearly chokes on his food at the thought of not receiving his sub-repeating blasters. At Radda's sudden lurch into his bowel, the cook- a Quarren dressed in tattered cloth, wipes up the counter near Radda then addresses him in basic

"I hope you don't mind me saying sir, but you don't strike me as the drinking type, but then again Nar Shadda's full of drunks of all sorts so really what do I know...?" The Quarren trails off into some queer string of verbs as he goes back to wiping.

"Yeah...?!" Radda spits. "You're right, what do you know?"

"I know your food is 16 creds." The Quarren says with an open hand. "Let's have it, before you pass out would be best."

To that Radda delivers the creds and drinks down the broth complete with a loud "slurp!" then slides off the stool to compose himself before getting an airspeeder to his office. The whole day Radda had been eating himself up inside for being so foolish, drinking like he was, it showed great disregard for the many dangers a person like himself could be facing at any one time on Nar Shadda- or anywhere. His eyes should always be on the back of his head and on his trigger. Trouble had followed him throughout the outer rim, and it will follow again. How much was he going to risk? He's known as the hunter, not the hunted... but accidents do happen.

The cold durasteel walls of the office shined in the many lights coming in from the gesticulating greater metropolis through the window. Once closing the door to block the world from his special place of business, he feels a strong sense of power wash over him as he comes over and stands at his coffee machine pulling a cup from it, sipping and sobering himself. He thinks in silence in near dark, seeing the face of Karthata, imagining a laser bolt passing between his eyes. "What's the difference, Trandoshan's all look the same."

Radda drinks down his coffee and boots up his CPU's in hopes that he can access Nar Shadda's central cargo bay database so he can find out if his shipment even made it at all.

Radda stayed at work well into the early morning...

Dragous raised a brow in curiosity, his skin groaning as he pressured himself more into the wall, as if it would make for a better viewing experience the closer he got. The latest addition to the scene only confused him more, the person assigned themselves to the other side of the firefight, yet seemed to speak on even terms. Dragous did not like being confused, it made his head hurt and his pride shudder. "Is anyone else sensing that?" Those words made Dragous quickly and clumsily slide back into the full shelter of the wall, holding his pistol up in front of him with narrowed eyes. Could they be sending him? Technology could sense a lot of things these days... Panic set in, though didn't manage to overpower him for now as he still listened for anything. The best thing to do right now was wait. From his position, any attempt to slink away would put him right in the open for enough time to be spotted.

When he woke he felt pain all through his head and his energy was sapped . Trying to move was hard and stressful to even attempt, like walking up a steep hill backwards. Nothing but noise came from outside his window, and his CPU's hummed in white noise. Somewhere down the hallway a maintenance droid buzzed around, a door slammed up stairs, then a fit of laughter, followed by banter in some language Radda didn't understand. He had had all of the noise he could take, so as a solution he put on headphones and lurked around his office space like the dead, just bending and clawing and shuffling things- putting them in their right place, organizing files.

To his dismay, his query to find his cargo last night was unfruitful. It appeared that no shipment was sent to him and none were expected.. at least thats what the data said, so he broadened his search and called the Nar Shadda cargo company 24/hr help line. They told him they were sorry to report nothing could be found and that if it was something law enforcement would confiscate, they technically couldn't report it anyways. That seemed obvious to Radda, but he'd never be so stupid as to receive "hot" items without stashing them inside a pedestrian cargo. At last they said to Radda that he could leave his contact with them and they will reach him if anything comes in. That's when they asked him what his shipment was, and at that Radda paused for a long second feeling apprehensive and a bit defensive at the same time. The woman on the other side sensed his apprehension and told him in a rusty voice that this was only for insurance and his answer doesn't have to be written in stone. So Radda comes out with it and tells her "Durasteel AC units. They were supposed to come in on a bulk freighter early today."

A few hours, and two pots of coffee later, Radda is pulled between pacing around and paying out credits to a few of his underlings, and in turn briefing others with current bounties, all the while listening to the silence of his head phones. The headphones were corded so instead of it dropping to the ground to be tripped on, Radda wraps the cord around his shoulder and secures it with his armpit. The compression of the cord around his shoulder somehow helps calm him down when it tightens around him. Radda paces around finally into the bathroom to brush his teeth and have a look in the mirror. He's still wearing last nights clothes: a faded gray shirt with plenty of holes, a black leather jacket and a Naboo officers cap he found in a thrift store hanging on a single hook in the back collecting dust. His face is unkempt but under the dirt a good looking face lays beneath with cool gray eyes like enchanted ashes, looking deep into their own reflection.

Right then as he was rooting around the back of his molars with a string of floss, the com unit at his front door buzzed with an urgency that sounded like "Let me in!" Radda threw away the floss and sped to the door, hand reaching at his blaster, and eyes wide open now.

"Who's there, you gotta name?!" He says. Then finally presses the video screen on and he can see Karthata standing there shifting his weight from one leg to the other like he's got to piss.

Karthata looks into the camera and presses the coms audio pad. "It's me Radda, we need to talk, buzz me in."

"Yea... I can see that." Radda says back to the antsy trandoshan. He buzzes him in. "Come up."

By the time Karthata makes it to the door, Radda has taken a few swigs of whiskey from his flask and put away his headphones in a nest of its own cord. The trandoshan comes in and Radda offers him some coffee and has him sit before he makes him dizzy. It's hard for Radda to contain his anger right now. Right now he can only think about how fun it would be to strangle Karthata to death then drink the rest of his coffee. But these where just daydreams, he knew Karthata would best him in a fight.

Finally he gets what he wants out of the creature- the point of him being here. Karthata tells him the shipment was taken, pirates had gotten to it before ever hitting the bay. He couldn't identify what clan they might be from or what species they were, for they were all masked and well trained in sabotage. Before Radda could even ask, Karthata goes on.

"I lived, yes. They left me alive instead of risking killing one of their own. You see there were four of us, we were all well rested and fed from the night before we set off. We were expecting a clean run, none of us thought we'd be boarded.. but it happened. I think these pirates were pulling off planned, coordinated raids on specifically your freighters, and they seemed to know what they were looking for, and they found it-"

"Fuck."

"- Yes, somewhere in your web there will likely be a rat. "

"And you lived how?"

"Like I was saying, we weren't expecting trouble, but it came and knocked us pretty hard. Before they boarded they hit some of us with tear gas then stormed in, masks on, gunning down the first two ship hands who had happened to be playing cards in the cargo hull where they boarded. I heard the blasters go off from the upper deck so i ran to my cot and grabbed my blaster and came up to the cockpit to tell the pilot. He thought he needed a weapon so he foolishly left the cockpit to grab his own blaster. He got it, but he never came back. After a few dreadful moments I could hear a couple of the pirates outside the cockpit door, laughing and boasting at there take over, telling me to come out of hiding. It was tense, but then as a stroke of luck they backed away and left the ship damaged and bare, and spared me only because they expected I had a weapon and had the tactical advantage as far as I'm concerned."

"...We need to find that rat Karthata, and no, I haven't ruled you out yet. As of now, I'm halting all of my other shipments, and won't be needing you to escort them any further, at least until I get this situation under control yess? Looks like I 'm going after that cargo...those sub-repeaters aren't cheap."

Karthata stopped cold in mid-sip, looking up at Radda. "Going after the car-go?" The last word kind of fumbles out of his carnivorous mouth in two parts of bewilderment.

"Yes, I have tracking beacons equipped with every shipment I come to possess. Now get out of my place, I need to work!" Radda says with haste, then pulls out a cigarette, lights it and brings up both hands to his head rubbing at his temples, sitting forward in his big black chair mad and distressed.

Tatooine System- Orbit around unnamed planet
1500 shipboard time
Prepping for Combat

The three Venator-Class sat in a geosynchronous orbit over the planet below, fighter wings making their patrols as the insides of the ships were a flurry of activity. Aboard the Resurgence specifically, things were hectic. The infiltration of Jacsen Orro’s prison to retrieve Livanni’s daughter had occurred almost two weeks ago by the shipboard clocks and it had been nothing but preparations since. During the infiltration, the scanners had detected a prison ship en route to a rendezvous and, after sending one of the enlisted women to Paradise to confirm, watched a deal go down between the owners of the prison ship, slavers based on their choice of ship, and the Golden Exchange. They’d been tracking the prison ship since and had confirmed that they had hit two more targets, of some sort at least.

Supreme Commander Jason, however, wasn’t in his office waiting for the latest report on the slaver’s location or their crew strength, or the location of their base. No, he was in the training room, putting their newest squad leader through her paces, Moff Livani’s daughter, now renamed Natasha Giovon, having quite the skill for hand-to-hand combat, bladed weaponry, and blaster pistols, and was a quick study. However, she still wasn’t a match for older and more experienced soldier and, after a three minute bout, found herself pinned for the fifth time. After a moment of struggle, she double tapped the mat to admit defeat. As she picked herself up after Jason had stood, he moved to the sidelines, getting a drink of water. Turning the moff’s daughter against both Jacsen Orro and the Empire hadn’t been hard once he’d shown her both sides of the Empire.

She had admitted to being aware of the bulk of the information the public had access to and knew that a lot of it was...well, false, but she’d had no idea the degree to which their atrocities had gone. For some reason, the mistreatment of the Wookies had angered her the most, though she refused to disclose why. She proceeded to confront her lovetoy about, who swore up and down he’d known nothing right up until she put a blaster bolt through his knee, at which point he admitted to helping keep Wookie Slaves in line when the two of them weren’t together, among other malignant actions. Disgusted, she’d personally sent him out the airlock before her training really began.

“Remind me again what purpose these exercises have? We should be bashing in the doors to the Imperial strongholds, not chasing backwater slavers.” Of course, for all the fire that burned in her, all the hate, she didn’t quite have a deeper understanding of the tactics the Republic Remnant were employing, and so Jason explained it with a sigh.

”Many of the remaining Imperial Moffs, primarily those outside of Orro’s influence, still use slavery as a way to keep their worlds in check, along with surprise raids, inspections, heavy handed policing tactics, the usual. GORT, as we’ve learned they’re called, is a primary supplier of slave labor and slaves to several of these Moffs. You take away the supplier…” The change in Natalie’s expression, while subtle, was there.

“You force them to pull more on local peoples, further destabilizing the region of Hutt Space they control. Eventually the populace will riot, including the conscripts that litter most of the personal armies of these Moffs.” Jason nodded as the pair left the training room and headed for his office.

”Exactly. Eventually, the chaos will grow so badly they will seek help, and either the number of conscripts overruns the Imperial regulars, which would allow us to bait out Orro by their call for help, or the rebelling locals call for help, letting us be heroes. It’s a win-win either way.”

Natasha was silent as the two walked, seeming to ponder his answer. She knew that Supreme Commander Je’and would step in and help if the need arose, but she also knew that he wanted the return of the Republic far too much to risk too many soldiers. “You know, there’s the Star Destroyers the Moffs will have in orbit, along with their TIE squadrons.” Jason nodded thoughtfully.

”True, but you have to remember that they don’t want to risk harm to the citizens loyal to the remains of the Empire. While the majority live in upper class areas patrolled by loyal Stormtroopers, there are enough in the...less prosperous sectors of their cities that they would be forced to fight a ground war against the locals and the conscripts.” The entrance to the War Room appeared, which the door was open and revealed that several squads of Clone Special Forces, Republic Special Forces and Engineering Corps squads, with Commander Hammer briefing them, a schematic for the ship that GORT had been using to transport their prisoners on the holodisplay.

“Think that means we’re ready?” Jason smiled as the two entered and moved to take seats at the front off to the side.

”I do.”

Scipio Industries and Finance + Ken Neumann

It didn't take long for Cyrkon's authorities to yield; they were cowards by nature, after all. So as their ships were stocked with supplies and freed slaves and fresh minerals, the last which were were put to immediate use to build new wings of droid starfighters, Leonard sat down on his bridge chair to listen to what his sources of information had brought for his purview over the HoloNet.

At first, the news was not all good; the stock of Scipio Industries and Finance itself had plummented after news had spread of his attack on Kintan and his failure to hold on to it. But the shell corporations he had set up before making his way to Hutt Space itself looked untouched.

One of said shell corporations was Otabek Prospecting and Exploration Firm, a company whose goal was to scout out planets and other celestial bodies for mining and other operations. It did its job well, but also fed Scipio information on various Outer Rim planets. Now, reports from the explorers sponsored by OPEF have shown that Imperial presence in the areas between Tatooine and the 'main' part of Hutt Space was fragmenting. Why was that important? Because between Tatooine and the southern part of Hutt Space were two worlds of importance: Kamino and Scarif. A grin showed on his face at the thought.

His confidence fully regained, he turned to Ken, his boyfriend and lover, grinning from ear to ear. "Say, Ken? Can you contact your Believer friends again? I have a proposal you guys might like." He then leaned in and whispered, "Scarif. Abandoned Imperial Facilities. Probable shipyards and weapons factories that can all be staffed by droids. Think of it."

Ken blinked and said, "You're right; it's not as if there's an invisible wall that keeps us in Hutt Space. But to be honest, there might be complications should we try and move out of the region. But I think the Believers will allow this; it'll be of mutual profit..."

High above Vontor, the Believer strike craft were closing in on the shipyards. The Bothan leader of Vornskr Squadron gave his orders quickly and concisely. “Lock S-foils in attack position, screen formation around the bombers.”

Immediately, the X-wings began to weave around the bomber formation in a seemingly random fashion, though they did not appear disorganized in the slightest. It made them more difficult to target as they protected their charges. Other Believer interceptors flew in formation farther out, but the Vornskr squadron was at the core of their attack.

One of the X-wing pilots was a young Human woman who gave a chuckle as she looked out of the window of her cockpit. “Never would have thought I’d see the day we’d be escorting TIEs.” She said through her squadron’s comms.

”Tell me about it.” A Rodian voice answered back in Huttese, coming from one of the X-wings at the back of their formation.

The Bothan’s voice came in quickly, and firmly. “Clear this channel. Turrets ahead, bearing 324. Let’s thin them out.”

The squadron sprang into action, boosting ahead of the bombers while keeping up their weaving movements. Though, they had no issue coordinating volleys of laser fire onto the point-defense systems in their path. Even with a well-executed attack, they could not destroy them all, but they could reduce the pressure the bombers would face. They kept moving enough to make it difficult for the shipyard defenses to focus down one target, and the shots that did hit were not immediately fatal. For this mission in particular, the X-wings had been refitted to replace their hyperdrives with stronger deflector shields to allow them to be more aggressive in their attack.

Even with the best plan they could execute, the Believers could not make their approach without losses. The bombers were armored, but the station turrets still took out two, and damaged one enough that it was forced to pull out of the attack run. The other interceptor squadrons took a few losses, but they were not the focus of the Cartel forces at the moment.

The Bothan’s voice was loud and commanding over their radios. “Get the heat off those bombers! We won’t be able to punch through the station’s armor without them. We can’t afford to lose too many.”

“And, you know, the people inside them.” The Human woman added.

“Vornskr 3, clear the channel.” He replied tersely.

The X-wings, along with the other interceptors, continued to clear the way ahead of the bombers as best as they could, but were soon surprised with one of the bombers near the rear suddenly exploding. As they had flown past one of the hangers towards their target, a Cartel fighter squadron that had not previously launched with the rest of the fleet flew out behind them and immediately began to target their most vital ships.

“Behind us! Peel back, now!” The Bothan ordered, and in impressively short order, the entirety of Vornskr squadron was pulling sharp turns to meet the fighters head-on. Their ability to focus fire was almost second nature. Three of the X-wings concentrated fire on the closest fighter tailing the bombers, and two targeted the one just behind it. The Cartel squadron were slow, but tough Rihkxyrk class fighters, but the concentrated fire from multiple X-wings tore them apart all the same. The remaining three fighters in the Cartel squadron had only a few seconds to react as the X-wings flew past them, and the decision they made was to keep their focus on the bombers. Despite the armor on the TIE bombers, the heavily armed Cartel fighters had more than enough firepower to take down two more before the X-wings could turn back and get on their tail. However, once in that position, they were in trouble. They attempted to break off and fly around the shipyards to cover their retreat, but the X-wings could easily out-turn them, and Vornskr squadron’s pilots were easily skilled enough to take advantage of the opportunity. The remainder of the Cartel squadron were either severely damaged, or destroyed outright.

The surviving bombers came up on their target in short order, and any remaining point-defense turrets were not enough to stop them from releasing their payload. As they flew over, a veritable rain of proton torpedoes bombarded their target: the fuel storage. For obvious reasons, it was one of the more armored parts of the shipyards, but that was why they were using dedicated bombers to punch through the hardpoint. There was a light show of fiery explosions, melting through the hull and sending pieces flying off into space. All of the Believer ships had pulled away from the station as fast as their engines would take them, but despite everything they had hit the station with, there was no grand explosion chasing them. They had punched through most of the hull and started more than a few fires, but there was no chain reaction with the fuel itself.

As he looked back out of his cockpit, there was a grimace across the Bothan’s face. “Damn, no detonation. We lost too many bombers, we’ll have to pull out.”

The Rodian’s green skin seemed to almost glow orange as he looked out at the fires. ”Are you sure? Look at that damage, the fires. It wouldn’t take much to finish it off.”

Before the Bothan could even say a word, the Human woman’s X-wing was already diving down towards the station. “On it.” She said before promptly lowering the volume of her own headset.

“Vornskr 3, break off! It’s too dangerous!” The Bothan ordered, which was wholly ignored. Though, he did not expect her to listen, in truth. “Sithspit, just…give her cover.”

Some of the faster moving interceptors from the Cartel’s main defense fleet were beginning to reach the station again, but the rest of Vornskr squadron, and the other Believer interceptors, were quick to run interference as Vornskr 3 skimmed along just a few meters above the shipyard’s hull towards the breach, evading blaster turrets and obstacles alike. She kept evasive as her targeting computer made the calculations to lock the target, then, just as she skimmed through the flames above the breach, the craft released two proton torpedoes and pulled up with the tightest turn that an X-wing could manage.

The chain reaction was immediate, and its explosion far larger than the initial bombing run. A large chunk of the shipyards broke off from the detonation itself, and the explosions continued on down the fuel lines for a time before they could finally be contained. There were enough safety features built into the station to at least prevent it from being destroyed entirely by such an attack, but it still caused severe damage.

For Vornskr 3, her X-wing was engulfed by the flames of the explosion as the rest of the squadron watched on, the seconds passing like hours. After a few, tense moments, her X-wing emerged from the cloud, charred, but intact.

“Vornskr 3, you are an insubordinate fool and you’re going to get yourself killed.” The Bothan stated in an almost matter-of-fact tone. “But we have a mission to complete. One more objective. Have you taken any damage, or do we need to get you back to the carrier?”

The Human woman took a look down at the blinking warning lights on her display panels, then muted herself as she gave a glance backwards. “R4, you can get those deflectors back up again soon, right?” The astromech, already dealing with putting out fires and rerouting electronics, let out a few loud beeps that conveyed something close to “absolutely not.”

The Human let out a hum, then flipped back on her radio. “I’m good, we can see it through.” She replied, prompting immediate, angered beeps from her astromech. “Ah, don’t worry bud, I have faith in you.”

Marrick stood up straight, turning as he did indeed sense something nearby. When he turned he saw a frail looking Zabrak, before he made a move towards the alien he sensed something coming towards him. He would have initially just blocked with his lightsaber but something about what was going on didn't seem entirely right, something was wrong. He reached out his hand, and sensed the projectile with the Force. A physical projectile, focusing all his might on the Force he stopped the projectile in it's tracks before letting it drop to the ground. He faced right at the droid, turning to Alyx and then nodded.

Alyx tapped a button on his wrist and the sound of screeching could be heard in the skies above as TIE Interceptors tore through the clouds, launching from the Kaggath in orbit, heading down towards the assassins location.

"Bloody Space Wizard." Willoh said to herself as she saw her shot get stopped in mid air. Considering its speed, he must've sensed the shot beforehand. As she was getting ready to take another shot, gathering some of the ruined metal around her for processing, she heard the characteristic screams of TIE fighters. Looking up, she saw the spherical ships with their silly wings. She never understood why The Empire never put shields or anything on these things if they were supposed to be their primary fighter ships. It was no wonder why they lost the war vs the rebels considering they were so much stronger.

Shifting her colors to a better camo set for the area and turning her other arm into a Gauss cannon as well, she aimed at the TIEs. there weren't that many of them, like 3 or 4, but without bombs there wasn't much hope of them seeing her from that high up. It was a shame there wasn't more smoke around, but then she'd also have some issues with sight as well. Charging up her cannons with a 'vreee' sound as the capacitors were charging, she fired them one after the other in a steady basic rhythm aiming at the TIEs. Considering her weapons didn't glow or emit light like blasters, the TIEs were probably extremely confused when they were flying towards where they thought she was, then suddenly spinning to the ground as their wings were shot off or their engines exploded.

Of course all of her shots made quite a bit of noise, the loud crack of each shot fairly unmistakable from the rest of the background noise. the others down the street no doubt could hear Willoh as she methodically shot down the TIEs, only the last one getting a few shots off in a blind panic before it crashed to the ground. But at this point she looked more like a turret than an assassin droid, with two guns for arms and metal tendrils absorbing whatever nearby metal they could find to fuel the ammunition for her weapons. She didn't need to process them all that much, the shape of a bullet was pretty simple.

When the last TIE had fallen, Willoh set her sights back to the Sith and his ally that had called the TIEs, but kept one gun to the sky in case any more TIEs decided to show up. Again, she kept the same rhythm she used vs the TIEs but this time aiming at the sith. Eventually his 'force' wouldn't be able to block a shot. Although since she was more in a turret mode than a sniper mode, pin point accurate shots weren't really possible. But then all she had to do was hit center mass anyway.

Scipio Industries and Finance + Ken Neumann

But when Ken was next summoned to Leonard's side, it wasn't to discuss the Believers and Scarif. Rather, it was to discuss further plans with Raj Vizsla and Rule Findos, the Neimoidian who helped manage the CEO's economic affairs. Leonard grinned at Ken, saying, "Kenny, we have good news. Granted, it is mostly business stuff, so I'll have to simplify it; no offense. Basically, the Imperials tried to use weather satellites to make Naboo uninhabitable; they were foiled by the New Republic." A thin smile. "This made the Naboo and Gungans very angry, and in their anger, there is opportunity; do you know that the Gungans once defeated General Grievous?"

Ken replied, "At the sacrifice of one of their own. Are you thinking of supplementing our forces further with Gungans?"

Leonard shook his head. "No, but in the chaos of Naboo's liberation, one of my...contacts managed to get schematics of the Gungans' mobile shield generators. While said generators are primitive, if retrofitted with better reactors, better materials, and better circuits..."

Ken smiled, "Your ground forces will not have to fear long-range attacks from enemy artillery or even starfighters!" Good thing you've thrown in your lot with us. "Orbital bombardment will still be a problem, though, unless you increase power efficiency to that of a stationary shield generator."

Rule Findos interjected, "We still cannot do that, but nevertheless, it's an increase in the efficiency of our forces especially if we use only Battle Droids. But the most promising outcome of this conflict has been the exodus of plasma merchants from Naboo with as much of their cargo as they can take with them." A frown. "This means that for a short period of time, plasma is cheap as there is more of it. Then it will become expensive again. We bought it while it is cheap, and are now hiring smugglers and other discrete people to bring it to Scarif."

The Neimoidian then brought up a hologram, this time showing Lothal.

"The disorder of the Galaxy and the lifting of Imperial communications blackouts all over the Outer Rim has also proven one thing: the planet of Lothal is free and has been since before Scarif. And more importantly, not all the Ore Crawlers brought in from the Imperial occupation have been scrapped during the liberation and the years afterwards." A hologram of the Ore Crawlers began showing. "These too, will be smuggled into Scarif."

Leonard then reclaimed his position as 'main expositor'. "And finally, I've been having my shell corporations buy up various mining and construction starships and having them go to, well, Scarif. These will then make use of the planet's abundance of materials that can be used to build new vessels."

It dawned on Ken. "So, just in case there isn't anything useful to discover or salvage in Scarif, you're planning to use it as a place to construct a Navy. But wait, what will the Believers' place be in this plan?"

Leonard went over to his lover and patted his shoulder. "Tell me, how would you like several thousand tons of blasters, body armor, explosives, and an even better version of the personal shield generators you favor so much? All you have to do is rise up in the ranks and keep attacking the Hutts with guerilla strikes while I build up my forces. This isn't even underhanded; both our factions stand to profit."

A smile from Ken at that.

”As you can see here, the engineering deck is split between the middle and bottom levels, with the majority of it focused in the bottom, most likely for ease of access to the bulk of the fuel reserves and maintenance of the laser cannons. If it comes to a fight, and I’m pretty sure it will since Slavers aren’t known for standing down if their profits are at risk, we’ll be dropping two teams via boarding pods straight in. One team will be lead by Squad Leader Natasha Giovan and will be responsible for securing the main engineering level. The second squad will secure the second level, with two more squads landing in thirty seconds after the first to provide additional support.” Hammer turned to the four Commandos who’d retrieved Natasha and nodded to them.

”Epsilon Squad, you’ll land directly on the bridge. Secure it and seal it off from any crew not inside it We’re not entirely sure what inner defenses the slavers left when they took over the ship and did some of their overhaul, so we’d rather not take chances.”

Winter glanced at Sharp, Eighty, and Niner, flashing a few hand signs the squad had created for silent communications during briefings. After a brief debate, it was agreed the Commando squad would take no prisoners but the captain of the ship, unless ordered otherwise. Hammer watched, but wasn’t sure what was said, only that Niner wasn’t necessarily happy about the outcome. He continues on regardless, watching the troops. ”Once the bridge is secure, move through the rest of the ship, sweeping for guards and, for those on the deck with the cells, freeing the captured. No survivors but the captain, and even then, if he proves too much trouble, put him down with the rest. If their leader’s with them, capture for interrogation if possible, put him down if not. We clear?”

There was a chorus of yes sirs and then it was a flurry of movement. Spec Ops moved to arm and armor up, Natalie’s Headhunters, as the squad of Assassins under her command were called, moving to a separate part of the armory. Epsilon Squad retrieved their personal armaments from the Commando section as the fleet set course to intercept the GORT ship.

Natasha herself was nervous as she placed the blades on their position on her armor before sheathing the knives she’d chosen in the small over her back and placing the vibrosword on her back. The last weapon, a light blaster pistol that they all carried, went on her thigh on her right leg. The last piece was her helmet, but that would wait until they were ready to launch pods, a trip that would last for several hours. She only hoped she was ready when the time came.

Boqo stood at the top of the ramp and waved Delni up it. “Come on! Come on! It’s rude to keep Mr.Graeff waiting, the pays good but he’s come to expect a certain standard of work.” Before Delni was even up the ramp Boqo turned back into the craft and walked back in it, as Delni no doubt climbed the ramp he re-appeared shoving some blaster resistant clothing into her hands before disappearing again. When he re-appeared this time he carried a holo tablet, again thrusting it at her before turning to the turbolift to take them to the cockpit. When Delni arrived in the cockpit Boqos hands had already expertly glided over the controls of his vessel, running the pre-flight procedures.

“So we’re going to Nar Shadda, you’re going to do some slicing. Then once we’re finished slicing we’re going to return with the information back here, sounds easy right?” He chuckled slightly. “It should be but it probably won’t be. So how’d you land this gig?”

Although she, in theory, knew what she had been signing up for, it was still something of a shock for her to suddenly be thrusting herself into mercenary work. This pilot certainly seemed to be in a hurry, which made sense, and seemed to expect that Delni already knew what she was doing. The best she could do was to act like she did and hope she was not as far off from the reality of it as she feared. She did not even know why he had forced a new set of clothes into her arms, but she did not question it and found a place to change into them before he returned. She was glad that they were quite a bit more modest than the clothes she had borrowed from Elias.

In the cockpit, Delni mostly just stayed out of the man’s way until he finally addressed her directly. “Oh, well, guess you could say it was a...recommendation. My sister earned some trust from her recent job for Koren, and she recommended me for this one.” She explained. It was a simplification of the situation that left out exactly how Sirka felt about her taking jobs like this, but she figured that the pilot was not looking for her life story.

“Ahhh, the old. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Boqo pulled a lever flinging the ship into hyperspace, before leaning back in his chair. “So the jobs pretty simple, there’s a small ex-Imperial mercenary gang that the boss thinks has ties to the Pruidii Verda. The boss isn’t a fan of there being things he doesn’t know, and this group is a threat to everything he has planned. They’re infiltration specialists, they can effectively destabilise a small government in a week before anyone knows what happens. This isn’t a group that can go unchecked, as such the boss wants all the information he can get on them. Even the cards a little bit.”

Delni found the nearest seat to her as the pilot was explaining the job. It did sound dangerous, or at least, this Pruidii Verda sounded dangerous. As long as they were not going anywhere near them on this job, she supposed it would not matter. “Dangerous infiltration specialists? Well, they sound like people who would have actual good security on their computer systems, though I suppose that’s why we’re not going after them directly. I’ve never known smaller groups like these ex-Imperials to be very security-savvy. Especially on Nar Shaddaa. Usually, they focus a lot more on their ability to shoot things, and just put whoever they have who happens to have worked the most with computer systems before in charge of maintaining it. I remember, back when I worked in that field, that I was usually hired to help fix things after something had gone horribly wrong.”

Boqo shrugged. “That’s why you’re going in to assist, if this was surgery consider yourself the nurse assisting the doctor who does all the heavy lifting. In terms of security, we’ll be alright. We’re not going near their base of operations, because we frankly don’t know where their base of operations is. That’s what we’re trying to find out, the best we know is that they are based out of their old spaceship.” Boqo leaned back from the controls and clapped his hands. “Well I’m going to get some shut eye before we get there, feel free to help yourself to a bunk.” With that Boqo stood up and walked towards the lift. “You got anything you want to ask before I get some shut-eye?”

Delni shook her head. “No, I think I’ll be fine. It all seems pretty straightforward. I don’t know if I’m tired enough to sleep, but I might just lay down for a while on the way. I’ll see you when we get there.” She replied. Of course, since the bunks were not in the cockpit, Delni ended up, somewhat awkwardly, taking the very same lift down with him in silence before they finally parted for the journey.

The ship dropped out of hyperspace in orbit of the chaos induced Nar Shadda. Boqo sat in the cockpit and pinged Delni to come up at her earliest convenience. Boqo swung the ship down into atmosphere, cutting through the stratosphere as it headed towards the spaceport. Landing it’s legs extended and it touched down gently. Boqo then escorted Delni to the ramp. At the bottom of which stood a Givin escorted by two commando droids. He nodded his head slightly in a graceful manner. "Greetings. In the equation A = (π/1012 × 16,072)(R×R)(E∞)², can you tell me what the value of A is?”. The Givin didn’t truly expect the correct response, he had lived among non-Givin long enough to understand that not everyone conversed in the way of complex mathematical equations.

Delni was surprised enough by the sudden question from the strange, almost skeleton-like being that she did not even stop to consider why he would be asking such a thing. Fortunately for her, Boqo handled the greeting quickly, as they needed to get on their way as soon as possible. She was going to be slicing into the computer systems of an ex-Imperial mercenary gang for any information they had on this “Pruidii Verda”. It required them to get close to the gang’s outpost, but fortunately, Koren’s people had already done enough scouting to find the ideal spot for Delni to do her work. As with most places on Nar Shaddaa, the mercenaries’ base was in an old building of questionable construction, cramped close together with spaces owned by many other people. It just so happened that the mercenaries’ base was on the same physical network as a droid repair shop on a lower floor of the same building, with their computer systems being separated only by software blockers. It was a huge security flaw for the mercenaries, but one that Delni had seen plenty of times on Nar Shadda. She guessed that, at some point, someone had owned both spaces and never bothered separating the networks before selling them. In any case, it was an opening for Delni to be able to slice in. The shop owner had already been paid off to allow it. If all went to plan, they would be in and out without notice.

---

“This is nothing like the plan! Nothing like what you said! It was supposed to be safe, supposed to be...not like this!” Delni shouted in a panic, holding her hands to her ears reflexively after a frighteningly loud shot from some kind of weapon outside. She was in the droid repair shop, crouched down by the electrical panel she and the Givin had been working on since they arrived. At first, everything had seemed fine. The shop owner had been perfectly cooperative from the moment they had identified themselves. He had even taken the liberty of exposing the panel for them before they arrived. Now, he had locked himself in one of the back rooms of his shop, fearing for his life. Just like Delni was.

Boqo, kneeling down beside Delni, put a firm hand on her shoulder and spoke quietly, but seriously. “I know, I know, but quiet down, would you? They haven’t noticed us yet, and if we stay hidden, we might just stay out of this.”

Outside the shop was like a warzone, even before the bombing that practically took down a nearby building. There was some kind of fight going on in the wide alleyway just outside the windows of the shop. She had only caught glimpses of those involved, but this did not look like the average gang fight. Now, she could swear she could even hear TIEs overhead, and she just wanted to be anywhere else aside from where she currently was. Unfortunately, leaving the shop would just so happen to put them right into the line of fire.

Nar Shaddaa

"I believe now is the time to make our exit. Our target seems to have taken the opportunity to flee as well." ZD-6R said matter of factly as TIE fighters descended from the clouds and began firing. He was still trying to analyze what had happened and who was shooting down the TIE fighters but that wasn't his concern at the moment. He managed to rise to his feet and activated a flash grenade and held it in his mechanical hands.

"Hope you appreciate this. I could have blown us all up." The droid said simply as the flash grenade detonated and ZD immediately armed his weapons systems as Strakisssh appeared next to him with a squirming human male. ZD analyzed the human male and his ocular sensors flashed blue. "You found him. This was unexpected."

The Trandoshan flashed a toothy grin. "He was knocked out by one of the blasts from the TIE's. We should get going though. I have a feeling it's going to get even worse around here."

Agreed."

The two mercenaries turned and began to run from what was now a war zone. They stopped at the sight of people holding blasters who had the insignia of the Hutt Cartel on them.

ZD spoke up as he re-armed his weapons systems. "It appears that we may have to fight our way out." The lizard man next to him threw the unconscious former Imperial to the floor and grabbed his blaster rifle. "Find us cover and keep the bounty safe. I'll try and buy us some time."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't get yourself killed. There are far too few of us these days."

The Trandoshan smiled and pulled two grenades off his belt as the droid grabbed the out cold human and began to head for cover.

"I'll do my best."

Between the chaos of the firefight and the bombings, the Hutt Cartel was not going to remain uninvolved forever. Following the sounds of explosions and blaster fire, several squads of Cartel mercs began to descend upon the alleyway, from both angles. It only further served to complicate the situation. Granted, the mercs were hardly in the most organized state, given that their headquarters was the target of the Believers’ bombing. For the moment, they lacked communication with their higher-ups, if they were still alive. However, they still had their squad commanders, and their orders were to comb the streets looking for any trace of who was responsible.

Although Alix and Marrik had not been at all involved in the bombing of their headquarters, that did not much matter to the squads of mercs that were now descending upon the scene of the skirmish. For that matter, no one in the alleyway was free of suspicion, but it was those two that their attention was firmly on at the moment. The squad leader of the merc group coming in from the north side of the alley, a Weequay, widened his eyes in disbelief of what was before him. “Is that...a Jedi?” He exclaimed, though he only froze up for a second before raising his blaster. Given the reputation of the Jedi, or what he perceived to be a Jedi, it was easy for him to believe that the force-user before him was responsible for it all. “Kill them!” He ordered.

There were two squads of mercs moving in from the south side of the alley as well, though Alix was quick to begin addressing that issue. Meanwhile, Marrik was practically growling through his menacing teeth towards the Weequay. The notion of being called a “Jedi” by itself was enough to enrage him. “No, I am no Jedi. You are not so fortunate.” With his pulsing yellow lightsaber in one hand, he deflected the first volley of blaster bolts fired at him, while with the other, he lifted up some of the larger pieces of rubble behind the group of mercs. They were grouped in a tight formation, which made it all the more effective when Marrik pulled the rubble into them from behind. Whether immediately lethal or not, it did not matter, as none of them were in a position to return fire as Marrik unleashed his anger through the lightning that he poured over them.

Tarion, who had been investigating the remnants of a battle outside the arena, including the bodies of those fallen during the battle, when he felt it. The familiar creeping sensation of chill darkness as the Darkside was focused on unfortunate souls who had angered the wielder. And, as he focused in on it, the user was close. Turning from his investigation, he leapt to the top of a nearby building with the aid of the Force, sprinting across it and leaping to another. After several minutes, he stood on a roof overlooking the remains of what used to be part of the industrial area, a Sith wielding a yellow saber with twin blades, though far from traditional for one, was blasting some of the Hutts’s muscle with lightning. Pulling a small rock from a nearby pile of rubble and, with a Force Enhanced throw, flings it at the Sith.

”You willingly endanger the Balance, Sith. I can’t allow that to go unchallenged.” Pulling his twin tonfa free of their clips, he activates the twin silver blades, their lengths going along his forearms as they crackle. ”I can only hope you’re as good with that blade as you think you are.”

Marrik felt it just shortly before the rock landed near him. The power, the energy of the Force. Even for one such as him, it was momentarily startling, given the rarity of those who could even feel it. However, he needed only look up to see that his senses did not deceive him. Upon seeing the lightsabers, his thoughts of the Pruidii Verda, and of the irritants that were the Cartel mercenaries, fled from his mind. Regardless of the importance of their mission here, it was this Jedi that consumed his attention.

Marrik gripped his lightsaber tightly, scowling at the force user above him. “Jedi!” He growled, not caring to give any eloquent response. It could only have been the strange machinations of the Force that brought him to this place. For what purpose, he was unsure, but it would undoubtedly be a challenge for his strength. Marrik gave no hint of hesitation before he unleashed another storm of lightning at his new target.

As the lightning surged toward the Guardian, the ghost of a smile tugged at his lips. He strode forwards the crackling Force energy with confidence, the Sith unable to see the beginnings of Lightning at Tarion’s fingertips through his own storm. ”You think me a Jedi?” His left hand shot forward, the blade deactivated and his own storm of lightning clashed with his opponent’s, the two forces cancelling each other out after a brief struggle. The deactivated lightsaber tonfa sprang to life once more, their hum joining in filling the alleyway. ”That would be your first mistake, Sith.”

For at least a moment, Marrik was caught off-guard by the force-user’s response, though not for long. A fight against a Jedi would have been one matter, but this man being a dark force-user cast an entire different light upon the battle. The Jedi, though more worthy opponents compared to the more common denizens of the galaxy, followed a foolish code. This man, however, was not so restricted, and therefore more dangerous. It also made his motives less clear, though it was possible that he too sought the mantle of the Sith. That was something that could not be allowed.

Marrik gripped his blade tightly and barred his teeth. “Even worse…a rival.” With no further hesitation, Marrik charged forward, swinging low towards the man’s waist.

The right hand tonfa lashed out in response, catching the yellow blade on it’s silver one and then spinning, deflecting the blow into the ground off on Tarion’s right. This allowed the Guardian to slam the blunted side of his left tonfa into the Pau’an’s face. ”And still you mistake my identity. I am no rival either.” The left and right blades spin in an intricate pattern, putting the Sith on the defensive with blows coming rapidly from both sides.

Marrik recoiled briefly, though only from the force of the strike itself. The pain only served to fuel his anger. “It does not matter what you call yourself; you are my enemy, for the rest of your short life.”

Despite the Sith’s threats, he was clearly being pushed back by Tarion’s sudden aggression. He was quick and precise, and though he would not like to admit it, more practiced in lightsaber duels than Marrik ever had the opportunity to become. He needed to end this quickly.

Marrik just barely managed to parry the incoming strikes and could not find the opportunity to counterattack with his blade alone. After one of Tarion’s strikes came close enough to glance through his armor, Marrik pulsed forward a push with the Force to try and throw his opponent off-balance, then committed to a thrust straight towards his chest.

The pulse knocked Tarion back more than off balance, but rather than trying to counter the overly committed thrust, the Guardian opted to leap up and over the Darksider, landing behind him facing him. ”I see you Sith still lack a code of honor. Pity, I had hoped you’d be different.” After focusing briefly, Tarion unleashes his own Force Push into Marrick, sending him flying through the shop window in front of him. However, before he can follow up, a pair of brave Hutt employed mercs wielding vibroswords moved to engage him, slowing his momentum in his attack.

The Sith was unable to resist being thrown through the shop’s window. In fact, he ended up flying near to the back of the shop’s front room, over the counter. He started to pull himself back up to his feet after a moment, only to have the sudden sense of imminent danger come over him. He raised his blade on instinct to deflect a blaster bolt from, of all things, a commando droid only a meter from him. Why there was not one, but two relics of the Clone Wars in the shop with their weapons trained on him, he did not know, but they would be no match for a Sith. For the nearest one, he used the Force to pull it directly into his blade, and for the second, his lightning wreaked havoc onto its electronics.

It took only a moment for the Sith’s eyes to scan across the small shop. There was a Givin fleeing out of the front entrance, though the window he had been thrown through. However, closer to him were two others: a Togruta and a Mirialan.

Delni was beyond terrified. She and the others had been hiding in the shop…behind the very same counter that the lightsaber-wielding man had been thrown over. The droids did exactly as they were programmed to deal with an imminent threat, but they were not much of a match for him in close quarters. The rest of them had tried to run, but Delni had hardly got beyond the counter before tripping over a disassembled droid in her path. The Givin kept running out of the shop, but Boqo had stopped to try and get her to her feet. Unfortunately, the Sith was a bit too quick in dispatching their bodyguards.

Still on the ground, Delni frantically drew her blaster from its holster. She had looked it over after Sirka had given it to her, though she could not remember if she had left it on the two-burst setting, or four. Boqo tried to stop her and get her moving, but regardless, she aimed the blaster shakily at the Pau’an.

“No! Wait, let’s just…” Boqo began, but Delni had already pulled the trigger. She was surprisingly accurate for her panicked state, but still, Marrik needed only deflect one shot of the burst.

“Insignificant wretches.” Marrik growled. “Out of my way!” Extending his free hand, Marrik lifted Boqo into the air before he could even draw his weapon and slammed him into the nearest wall, all while stepping forward closer to Delni on the ground. She aimed at him again, but again, he telekinetically pulled the blaster straight from her hand. With the other Force-user just outside, she was hardly a concern for Marrik, but for daring to attack him, he could take an extra few seconds to execute her. As he started to walk past her towards the exit, he raised up his blade over her and swung down towards her neck.

Fear was all that Delni was capable of feeling. She had hardly even been able to hear Boqo’s warning, despite him shouting it right next to her. She was acting on nothing but instinct to get herself out of danger. It did not occur to her that the man likely would not have even cared about them had she not threatened them, because her instincts had been telling her to at least try to fight back once running failed. “Please!” Delni had shouted as the man walked up to her. When he raised up his lightsaber, she closed her eyes and held up her hand. “NO!”

Instinct was what ruled Delni’s mind in the moment, and what guided her actions. It was her instincts that reached down into the core of her being, tapping into something that had always been there, but that Delni had never recognized. All of her luck, her natural aptitude, came from a place of power that, in her most desperate hour, allowed itself to be unleashed. When Delni extended out her hand, Marrik found himself being pushed straight out of the shop’s other window, and back into the street.

“You know, we had the target, we could have simply leave.” ZD-6R commented as he continued firing at the pursuing forces with his free hand’s built in blaster behind them with the former Imperial General slung over his shoulder. “But you had to investigate. You had to try and find out what was going on. We should have simply left once we found an opening. Sometimes I wonder why we stay together.” Strakisssh turned and glared at the droid as he threw a grenade behind the fleeing pair and heard the satisfying sound of shouts of panic at the appearance of the explosive device. “We stay together to avenge our comrades.” The droid’s optical sensors began to flash repeatedly as a familiar sound filled the area. “I believe our Sith friend may have found us.” The droid spoke up a moment later after the sound was identified.

“Does he still have his lightsaber?”

“It sounds like he does.” ZD responded as the Sith suddenly appeared in front of them after being apparently launched through a shop. Please don’t tell me we’re dealing with another Force-user… The Trandoshan thought as he took in the sight of the Sith and his lightsaber. ZD’s scanners were running as he picked up life-signs as he let the out-cold general hit the floor and powered up his weapon systems. The droid’s sensors caught a quick glimpse of movement from who or what had launched the Sith towards them and he felt the droid equivalent of shock.

It was the Togruta from Paradise

She was force sensitive?

“You know...I never did like Imperials.” The droid said in a surprisingly pleasant tone as he began to channel all of his reserve power to his built in blaster cannon. “Strakisssh, I will handle the Sith. Please try and get his intended victims out of here.” The droid’s sensors immediately began to pick out possible weak points. The droid’s optical sensors flashed once as the built in blaster cannon began to fire at a rapid pace. “Redirecting all power to weapon systems.” The droid intoned as the rate of fire began to increase even further.

Willoh had her optics trained on the street after having dealt with the incoming TIEs. She had noticed some commotion between her target and another lightsaber user earlier, but was too preoccupied to do much of anything. Unfortunately they had disappeared after entering a building, and while she was on the lookout for them, she heard commotion nearby. Begrudgingly she shifted back to her normal form and used her perch to take a look at the loud commotion coming from behind the area. She saw some cartel forces combing through the area behind her, it was about time they had arrived! But them Willoh was sure that they would probably see her as a threat considering she had been scavenging the area beforehand.

“I’d better… move. Maybe find that sith guy and get a bounty before leaving.” Willoh said to herself, moving through buildings but keeping her distance from where she knew the force users had disappeared. As she made her way through the buildings, only crossing otu of cover when she had to, she saw one of the force users having been thrown out of a building, and inside the building was a familiar face. That sister to that lizard lady on paradise. What was her name… Delni? What was she doing here?

But there wasn’t much time to think about that as the force user was right there, and the other was probably nearby. At least Willoh was still a good distance away, but not a snipers range like before. She formed her other arm into a rapid fire weapon alongside her scattergun. The introduction of Delni into this situation made things a bit different. After all, that sith may or may not have had a bounty, but Delni most certainly means favors. Plus she was fun.

The duel with the brave mercenaries was relatively short, as despite their skill with the blade, it was clear they’d never faced someone wielding tonfa before, and the Jedi hadn’t been seen in the greater galaxy for over twenty years, so the tricks and techniques for countering Force powers were no longer as well known. The first merc was quickly downed by a well timed use of Force Fire, the flames engulfing him and cooking him in his armor. The second was still locked with Tarion’s blades with the Sith flew between them, locking eyes briefly with the Pau’an as he flew into a wall. The distraction was all it took to finish the fight, the left hand tonfa spinning counter-clockwise to disarm the mercenary before the right one slice through his neck, beheading the man before he could cry out.

However, instead of heading after the now likely dazed Darksider, Tarion looked towards the shop that he’d previously knocked the Sith into. A rather powerful Force presence had risen inside it just moments before the yellow-lightsaber wielding brute had flown back out the way he’d come. Moving inside, he found a Togruta woman staring at her hands in disbelief and an unconscious Mirialan male. Needless to say, he knew which of the pair to approach quickly. ”Judging from your look, that’s the first time you’ve ever used a Force Push then?”

Delni, at the moment, was dazed into a veritable stupor out of adrenaline and fear. She did not quite understand what had happened, or what she had even done. Indeed, she was not even currently aware that she had done anything at all. “Force...what? No, no I’m not a Jedi. I...you saved me, right?” She began as her eyes finally opened. Though, upon seeing Willoh just outside the shop, she looked even more confused. “Wait, you’re that droid...what’s going on?”

Meanwhile, Marrik was slowly recovering and dragging himself to his feet as ZD took aim and began to fire on him. However, it was hardly able to fire but a few shots before a startlingly well-aimed blaster bolt struck its built-in blaster cannon from the side. A short distance down the alleyway, Alix had returned to the fray, holding his spear under one arm, and a freshly-fired blaster in the other. Behind him was an alley full of injured or dead mercs, while he appeared unharmed. His helmet hid his features, but Marrik could feel his eyes on him. “It is time to go.” He said tersely, pressing another button on his wrist. Seconds later, a shuttle flew from nearby to land further down the alley. Pursuit would be possible as the pair retreated to their ship, but it would be risky.

Willoh wasn’t too sad to see the sith retreat. She was debating shooting a few slugs his way, but considering she was in her actual form, she decided against it. That and there was the cartel forces approaching the area, and unless she cannibalized a cartel droid, she doubted she could sneak out that way. Now, Willoh wasn’t so sure about this other force user around Delni. But considering he wasn’t straight up killing Delni unlike what that sith was up to, Willoh was tentative. Plus, she doubted sith would fight each other out of the blue without some serious history. She gingerly approached the shop, forming he rother hand into a scattergun as well.

Staying hidden far out of lunge range, Willoh observed this force user and his interaction with Delni, making sure to get a good angle on him so that her scattershot was very unlikely to hit Delni if she had to open fire. If these two looked like they got along, Willoh would introduce herself in kind. But if they took too long, she had a plan to get out of this place before the cartel descended upon them all.

Tarion shook his head, offering his hand to the young woman. ”The misconception that only Jedi and Sith use the Force is frustrating, but regardless, no, I did not. I was in the alley way until recently. But we must depart and do so quickly, the Cartel is cracking down on the area due to the explosions. Is the Mirialan a friend of yours?”

ZD’s optical sensors flashed in rapid succession as his sensors attempted to keep tracking his two targets as he analyzed the damage done to his built in blaster cannon. The damage was extensive, he was lucky it could be repaired but it would take quite a bit of time and credits. The shot had hit in the worst possible spot. He analyzed the area around him and his metallic footsteps were barely audible over the sounds of chaos that seemed to surround the area. He stood in front of the Togruta and pointed his optical sensors towards her and quickly scanned her. “Are you alright?” he asked simply as Strakisssh appeared walked up to him with their bounty thrown over his shoulder. “We need to leave.” The Trandoshan hissed. “It seems the Cartel isn’t too happy with what happened here.”

When the man mentioned a Mirialan, Delni’s attention finally focused on Boqo on the ground near to her. He was not moving, and for just a moment, Delni feared that he was dead. Frantically, she crawled over to him, but was relieved to see his chest rising and falling with his breaths. “Yes, but...we need to get him to a doctor. He looks like he needs help.”

As Delni was coming more and more back to her senses, she also finally recognized the droid that was with the Trandoshan that had suddenly approached them. It was now the second droid from Paradise that she recognized, and it was starting to seem like more than a coincidence. “Wait...you too? I recognize you. Really, what is going on?”

Unfortunately, the situation unfolding around them was prohibitive to any sort of long-winded explanations. Just as soon as Delni finished speaking, a loud, artificial voice boomed through the district, playing from speakers, screens and even advertisements commandeered by the Cartel. “A lockdown is now in effect. Everyone without specific permission is now required to stay indoors until told otherwise. Cooperate with our enforcers and turn over anyone associated with the terrorist group, the ‘Believers’. Anyone found on the streets will be detained for interrogation.”

So, apparently this force user wasn’t an aggressive type like that sith was back there. A few more people came out of hiding, one of them being another droid.and his master. Considering the speech coming from where Willoh saw the cartel forces advancing from, there wasn’t much time to really verify much of anything. Turning one of her hands back to normal, she approached the group from her hiding spot. “Hiya Delni. I’d like to say more, but we’ve gotta get out of here. That cartel force is a lot closer than you think and they aren’t all too happy.” Willoh said. Willoh’s method of escape would be to use the sewer system or maintenance tunnels and just float down them as goo or consume a cartel droid for its codes or what have you.

Considering those options wouldn’t work for these guys, and they all needed a way out, she said. “So… do any of you have an escape plan, because if not,.I can probably come up with something, but I don’t know how well I can carry 4 people.” Willoh said. She was sure the force user could take care of himself, but the injured person, Delni, and the other mercenary were an issue. If it was only Delni, Willoh could easily carry her away. But the others…

Tarion didn’t immediately reply to the droid, instead turning towards the fleeing Sith and Imperial Guard and drawing his blaster. ”Don’t think I’ve forgotten you, Sith.” He squeezed off three quick shots, on at the guard and two more at the Sith, one for his right shoulder, where he would have to move quickly to get his saber up in time to deflect and one lower at his right thigh, which would be easier to block. He would have to choose one way or the other.

Tarion’s voice was enough to alert them before the shot, even without considering Marrik’s senses. The Sith reacted predictably, turning and bringing up his saber to deflect the most immediately threatening shot towards his shoulder. However, Alix was more surprising. He shifted his upper body down to duck under the shot flying towards him, but he did not stop there. Though they had only been in proximity to one another for a brief time, Tarion would not have been able to sense any trace of the force within Alix, which made it all the more unbelievable that, on his reactions and skill alone, he intercepted the blaster bolt aimed at Marrik’s leg with his spear. Moments later, they were around the corner of the alley, and out of sight.

Delni gave no attention to the Sith; she just wanted to get to safety. She did have the presence of mind to grab some of the belongings she had dropped: namely her blaster and the datapad onto which she had downloaded the information on the Prudii Verda. However, her next priority was to try to pick up the unconscious Boqo, though she was hardly the most well-suited person for that task, out of everyone present. “I…don’t know. We have to get out of here, but I don’t know how we would get to a ship without getting noticed, especially if the mercs are getting closer. Maybe…well they said that they want people indoors, so maybe we can just duck into one of the buildings nearby? You know, get inside, give ourselves more time to think, and plan, and…stuff?”

Willoh wasn’t that surprised that the force user took a few shots at the escaping sith, who blocked them fairly easily. She figured he’d do this. After all, he stopped a sniper bolt going at over 100x the speed of sound from an assailant he never even knew existed. “I could’ve told ya that would’ve happened.” Willoh said casually. She noticed Delni’s frantic pace. What happened in here to get her so rattled up? From the look of the destroyed droids around the area, that sith probably did something pretty bad.

Willoh moved over to pick up Boqo, considering Delni was having so much issue with it. Hoisting him over her shoulder, she said. “So… We could move from building to building or something like that out of their eyes, or go down a few levels and find an escape route that way, or something. Worse comes to worse, I’ll just eat their droids while you guys deal with the security force. Hiding won't do much since we don’t have credentials. Either way, that star destroyer overhead that the sith is escaping to will give us some time.”

Tarion takes a moment to look outside before turning to the group he suddenly found himself with. ”I think the Togruta has the right idea. They’re only searching the streets for now, so finding a place inside and away from here is a good idea. However, perhaps leave shooting anyone as a last resort? We are trying to be stealthy.”

With Cartel mercs closing in, there was little time for debate. Everyone present might not have known each other, but they would all become targets of the Cartel if they remained out in the open. If there was one single advantage they had, it was that the escaping shuttle the Sith had boarded provided a useful distraction while they slipped away. The shuttle was immediately targeted by the Cartel’s fighters and anti-aircraft emplacements as it tried to leave the district. Regardless of who was piloting it, there would not have been too much of a chance of an escape were it not for the fact that they were able to call in TIE fighters to cover their retreat.

Fortunately, they did have some luck in being able to find a usable interior space, even if it was not particularly glamorous. In fact, Delni was not entirely sure that the abandoned apartment building they had hidden themselves in was safe to even be in. It was falling apart, with no power, and had the faint, but constant sounds of vermin scurrying in the walls. But, it would at least keep them out of the open for the time being.

"So..." Willoh said, looking around the building they had escaped to. It wasn't the best place, but there was a lot of scrap to use if she needed it. "Anyone got some plans on how to go from here? If there was only one of you I could probably smuggle you out, but more than 1? Not a chance." Willoh said, snapping her view back to the group. So far they had made a fair good distance away from the cartel forces, but they had a good ways to go until they were in a 'safe' area.

Unless the injured person regained consciousness and started to make his own decisions, Willoh could probably keep him and herself safe through whatever plan someone came up with, although with reduced combat effectiveness. But then stealth rarely ever needed combat.

Paradise - In Hyperspace

Koren held the mercenary with both hands grabbing onto his shirt. He pulled him right up to his face. "This is the last time I ask nicely, where is she?" The mercenary simply spat in his face. He threw him against the back wall. The mercenary moved to stand up and the two droids that stood in the room bashed their electrostaffs against the ground and they activated, they made to move forward and Koren halted them with raising one of his hands. The mercenary rushed him, moving to punch his gut with his left hand. Koren moved his hands to bat the assailants hand to the side, locking the mercs arm between both of his own. Bringing his arm down, as he raised his knee. There was a snap and a crack, the mercenary screamed as the bone was broken. He yanked his shoulder, bringing him to the ground. Kicking him in the ribs as he went passed him onto the ground.

He then leaned down and grabbed him by the hair. "I know what you are, I know exactly what you are. You're a coward, a mercenary. What you do, is you get your credits from taking out targets. I'm both impressed that you managed to beat people I had guarding my daughter, and disappointed in their abilities. Don't worry, I'll have my words with them soon enough." He let go of the mans hair, his face falling towards the floor, moving his good arm to catch him he twisted to look up at Koren. Groaning slightly. "I accept that you maybe don't know where they took her. I just need to know how you were hired, by who and by where." Koren took a knee as he leaned down to look right at the mercenaries face. "Don't worry, I'm not going to torture you. I just had a little bit of pent up anger to work out." He stood up and walked to the door, as he reached it it slid up to reveal a Khaleesh warrior standing in full warrior garb with a white menacing mask.

As Koren walked out the door he indicated his thumb to the Khaleesh. "He's going to torture you." He then walked out and the door closed beside him. Immediately he was met up by Aurrie and Besh. "I need every single report on Hutt activity now. Every ship, transfer and movement from Nal Hutta since she was taken. Every eye and ear we have on Nal Hutta needs tied in now. Put out a general call, all trusted Mercs are to meet me in the Holsko system. I'm getting my daughter back, and the Hutts are going to pay for crossing me."

"Anyone got some plans on how to go from here? If there was only one of you I could probably smuggle you out, but more than 1? Not a chance."

ZD turned to look at the other droid and for a brief moment thought about scanning her but decided against it. It could be taken as a hostile action and they didn't need any more issues then what they already had. "I would rather not try to fight our way out of this situation but at the moment it doesn't appear the odds are on our side. If I could repair my blaster cannon I could provide a distraction but it is currently beyond my ability to repair." The droid stated as it filed the image it had of Alix and stored it under his "High Priority threats" category. It should have been impossible for the shot to hit the weak point of his armor but he had.

Strakisssh thought for a moment before placing the captured target on the ground and checked to see how many grenades he had left. "I have two thermal detonators left. Maybe I could cause a distraction and draw them away from here. But we still don't have transport out of the immediate area."

Delni took in a few deep breaths, her eyes closed, and her mind clouded in fear. She was sat in the corner of the room, which was lit only by whatever lights the group had with them. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and her datapad in her hands, the light from which allowed her to see Boqo laying on the ground next to her. From everything they could tell, he seemed to be fine; he had awoken briefly, but was now resting.

It took a while for Delni to start concentrating on what the others were discussing, which was what she had been thinking about to begin with: how to escape. Naturally, it was everyone's priority at the moment. The Hutts were going to be outraged by the bombing on their property, and Delni had lived on Nar Shaddaa more than long enough to know how bad things could become when the Hutts were angry. Considering that they had all been wrapped up in a fight out in the open, she worried that they would not care about the fact that they were uninvolved in the actual attack on the Hutts.

"I...well, Boqo has a ship. A fast one too, but I mean...you saw what happened when that crazy dark jedi escaped in that shuttle. They tried to shoot them down immediately, and we won't have an army of TIE fighters helping us. I, um, I sent a message to my sister. Maybe we can try getting help from the outside? Let me check..." Delni began, her voice trailing off as she picked up her datapad once more. However, her expression became increasingly more worried, and her desperate button-pressing more rapid. "Can anyone else get a connection to the holonet? It's not working for me now."

Regardless of what they tried, no one else would be able to establish a connection with anything but local devices, since all communications out of the district were now being jammed.

Elias had recieved word that Koren had arrived back on Paradise almost fifteen minutes before, and he was still figuring out the best way to approach the no doubt angry father. Failing to think of a decent approach, the Mandalorian finally accepted that it was going to be a shit show and headed to the man's office. At least I know he won't kill me right away...hopefully. Elias had worn his armor in it's entirety just in case Koren decided to take a shot at him in frustration, but, as he reached the door and knocked, he didn't count on it. After a moment, it slid open and the smuggler walked in, remaining standing as he looked at Koren, waiting for him to say something.

Silence reigned for several minutes before the Mandalorian finally broke it himself. "Look Koren, I know your upset, especially with myself and Willoh, but I might have some information that you'd like to hear. After the smoke cleared, I grabbed a Weequay, took him back to my ship and...interrogated him. He didn't survive the encounter, but I got what I was looking for. The group that hired him and his friends were former Imperial, even set up the information that got Loretta to go to Grakkus' Arena. All the group that attacked us had to do was wait and set up contingencies. I know it's no consolation, but it might point you in the right direction."

---

Tarion remained silent until the others were done, watching out the window as Cartel mercs swept the streets and knocked on the doors of the buildings that were clearly lived in. He knew what would come once the streets turned up empty and the people in all the various stores and apartment buildings shared what they knew and he knew they wouldn't want to still be in this building when it happened. "The Sith had a cover for his escape, though I wonder if they were piloted by people or simply remote controlled. We don't need a distraction, as you could end up pointing them in the right direction entirely by accident. As for a ship...I have one, outside the district in the spaceport. But getting to it will still prove an issue, as they will have the district cordoned off."

He noted her concern that she could no longer connect to the holonet and watched a group of mercs, lead by a rather large human wielding a large blaster cannon, approaching their building. "And we are out of time. They're beginning to search the abandoned buildings. We'll need to slip out the back and do so quickly."

Nar Shaddaa

"You know, we seem to have the worst luck."

Captain Alran Haltres who normally enjoyed the opportunity to leave his vessel and get field work done turned from his view of the space-port and glared at the second in command of his recon team and shook his head before responding. "I didn't think the Believer's would actually hit the Hutts in the heart of their territory. Don't get me wrong, I admire what they're doing but they should have known the Hutts would get pissed off and take it out on the population." The five man team was hiding out in a deserted building near the space-port and since the attack, had been trying to find a way to get back to their shuttle.

The second in command motioned towards the space-port where the small civilian shuttle they had arrived in was docked. The shuttle was heavily modified with extra armor but lacked a good deal of weaponry. It could take a fair share of hits, but it couldn't do much in the way of fighting back. "Any chance we can get to the shuttle?"

Haltres shook his head. "Not a chance. The Hutts have most likely locked down the space-port. No way we can get near it without getting seen. Knowing how happy the Hutts probably are at the moment we'd most likely be either shot down or captured and interrogated. It's too bad we weren't able to install the remote access systems on it." He said as he raised his eyebrows and looked at his Second in command who shrugged. "We were short on time. And we did get most of the system installed. Problem is we need a direct line of sight to activate it and as you pointed out, the Hutts won't let us near the space-port.

Haltres could seen that the majority of his team was exhausted by the running they had been forced to do. "Alright everyone, time to take a break. "We're going to take turns on lookout duty. I'll take the first shift. "Get some sleep boys and girls. I'll let you know if and when something comes up."

The rest of the team saluted him and began to look around the room for a place to rest. It wasn't exactly a hotel but it was better then being out on the streets. Haltres couldn't help but shake his head.

Such a great time to visit Nar Shaddaa

Willoh noted everyone's plan to get to the space port and onto their respected ships. Sadly Willoh's ship was still on Paradise, although she doubted it would survive a focused Hutt assault, she wasn't the best pilot around. "I'm with the light saber guy. A distraction should be the last thing we do. Stealth is probably the best." Willoh said. Looking at the other droid, she noticed his blaster arm was a bit damaged. "If we do get in a firefight though, we should have all the guns we could use. Let me fix that for ya buddy." She said, moving over to the other droid. Willoh used her nanodroids to repair the other droid, but made sure to make it look like she was welding him.

"If we can somehow get one of their droids by themselves, I could steal their codes and disguise us so we can get into the spaceport." Moving to the back wall as per the request of the force user, Willoh put her hand on it. "So, lets start creeping around." Popping a cutting tool out of her hand, Willoh silently cut a hole out of the wall for the group to travel through. Hopefully they wouldn't get spotted by the encroaching forces as they made their way to the next building.

"C'mon guys, time to get moving!" Willoh said, gesturing to everyone else. She wasn't really interested in getting captured. If the hutt forces open fired on her and the group got wiped out, she figured she'd just play dead. Such a trick often got her out of bad situations, since most people never gave a second thought about what they assumed was a destroyed droid. But she wasn't all that keen on losing these people, after all, they could be good allies or even friends down the line.

If worse came to worse, Willoh could hide one, maybe two of them and disguise herself as a crate, but she'd prefer if she didn't have to show everyone what she really was. Although at this point, she was debating it. Needing to constantly make her random attachments look normal was very annoying .