Ask Plot Business As Usual

Kai

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Kessel was known by everybody in Hutt space. It was one of the main sources of spice in all the galaxy and the Pyke Syndicate essentially had a monopoly on it. Now Malakai Beck and his Rodian counter part were flying a a light freighter to the planet and planning on nabbing some of the spice for their own ends.

Malakai stood with his flight suit on in the cargo hold waiting for the ship to be set down. He was not the best when it came to flying and usually let other people do it for him. In this case, he figured the Rodian that was actually part of the Five Syndicates would maybe be taking the lead. Bruggan and Jax were along for the ride. The Kaleesh and the Lepi were always down to assist with some spice dealings. They each had their own space suits since they felt it was not a great idea to travel to Kessel in their Nar Shadaa street clothes. "Man...do the Pykes really have this bad of security? How have they stayed in power all this time?" He thought outloud.

@Ecclessey
 

Preef Callo

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For some reason the Crimson Dawn was leaning heavily on Preef these three weeks. He not only would find himself tasked with taking over an important outpost and three weeks later failing to defend it, but in between they wanted him to accompany a somewhat untrustworthy smuggler type from Nar Shaddaa. Thing is, with the four syndicates taking on the Pykes, they also had to exclude about 80% of the affiliated smugglers and that hadn't left many willing and capable to transport some spice to the Core. For some reason the Black Sun had put the Grysk forward and here they were, approaching Kessel.

Unlike the Grysk and his cronies, Preef had found no reason to put on an uncomfortable flight suit. Stuff that like was for starfighter pilots and people who are expecting to leave the comforts of their ship while in space. Neither was applicable for Preef and thus the only notable thing about the rodian was the blaster hanging from his right hip. "Gosh-" he rolled his eyes after hearing the Grysk 'think out loud', "-a few days ago they were shot in the back by four of the five biggest criminal syndicates in the galaxy." It really wasn't that hard to fathom, "You think they won't regroup?" The rodian shook his head and paused as the ship set down in the sand and the ramp slowly opened. "The hyperlanes are still their territory." He knew he wouldn't have to explain that one any further, for that was exactly where they were headed.

Once the ramp was fully lowered, both the Grysk as the Rodian could clearly see a Twi'lek man standing on the other side of it staring at a datapad. "I've got a shipment of Gliterryll destined for the Revealed Beks Gang on Corellia," he looked up from his datapad and frowned as he saw the pair, "I'm guessing you guys are Malakai Beck and Preef Callo?"

The rodian nodded and walked down the ramp, eager to feel the sunlight on his green skin while whoever the Twi'lek's lackeys were loaded the Glitterryll onto the ship. "That's us. Ship belongs to the Grysk."

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Kai

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Kai brought a hand up to his jawline but a light plink sound came as his hand was stopped by the helmet. He had tried stroking his chin and failed but that was because he wasn't used to wearing helmets. He grunted and decided to take the helmet off at least until they started heading to Corellia.

"Helloooo" He said after introductions and waved from the top of the ramp towards the twi'lek like a friendly tourist. With his helmet off Kai reached for his cigara pack. But then Kai remembered since he had thought he would be wearing a helmet for this trip he only had the flask and other personal vices still in his backpack and not the normal pockets he kept them in. I must be having an off day.

Leaning against the bulkhead of the light freighter Kai didn't feel inclined to help move the shipment of spice. Since the Grysk ironically didn't have any drugs readily on hand he figured it was as good a time as any to do some personal vetting. His own agenda ahead would see him make these people his employees, potentially. What others discarded and forgot, Malakai would take. The force reached out from him inconspicuously and touched the minds of the others to see how they felt and if there was any sensations that might interest him. To the outside observer he was just a lazy smuggler leaning against his ship and watching the others work. But Preef's words had not fallen on deaf ears. Kai knew well enough that the Pyke Syndicates had the capabilities of being a dangerous for an individual like him if he wasn't careful so for now he kept on the alert.

@Ecclessey
 

Preef Callo

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Although he had wanted to enjoy some sun while the lackeys worked, some damned cloud spoiled Preef's fun right away and on top of that the lackeys were shorthanded.

So while the Grysk lazed about, Preef helped secure the cargo containers on the forklift before it rode up the ramp and the Grysk's men strapped it securely in the hold. The thing with Glitterryll, as far as Preef knew, was that the vials could easily break and thus they needed to be secured tighter than bantha's arse. Which didn't say much, come to think of it, but it was better to be safe than sorry. If they lost this shipment they'd both be owing the Black Sun a lot of kriffing credits.

It took about twenty minutes to transfer the cargo to the hold and secure it for space travel and by the end of it Preef was definitely a bit tired, wiping off some sweat from his forehead as he looked at the lazy smuggler. "Could've helped, yeknow?"

Ofcourse, at that moment the sun returned, but now it wasn't a pleasant;y hot anymore and only amplified the exertion of manual labor, thus Preef quickly walked back up the ramp for some shade. There he met the Twi'lek who looked at his datapad with a satisfied smirk, "It's all aboard. Now remember-" he wanted to emphasize what came next and made sure both Preef and Kai were looking at him as he said it, "-this goes to the Revealed Beks Gang on Corellia. No one else."

Preef nodded, "Yeah, Yeah-" he said as he guided the Twi'lek down the ramp, "-we'll make sure they get it." With everyone off the ship that didn't also join them on their journey, the rodian motioned for the Grysk to head for the cockpit as he pressed the button to raise the ramp and lock the doors. "Guess this is as good a time as any to lift off."

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Kai

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Kai said nothing as Preef made an observation about the Grysk's apathy. Instead he just took another draw on his cigara. When he heard the name of the gang they were meant to deliver the spice to he chuckled and shook his head. "Was Overt Bastards already taken?" He chuckled at his own joke. "Cuz if not I kinda want to make that into a book club." Kai added in a serious but more quiet tone.

The Grysk followed the Rodian back on board. "Bruggan, hit it." He delegated like a good boss after everything was set as the ship took off. The light freighter would head up into the tunnel like astral formation. It wasn't long before they were heading towards the charted route for Corellia.

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Preef Callo

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Preef cocked his head for a second. What is a book? And why use it as a club when you have a fully functional blaster on your hip? Not one to dwell on things he didn't understand, the rodian shrugged his confusion away and headed for the bar area. This flying thing wasn't really his cup of tea, you see, so he would just have a drink, watch a movie on his datapad and wait for them to reach Corellia. Easiest job he'd ever do, right? Probably not...

The Grysk's pilot got them through the Kessel Run without much of a hitch, but that was to be expected. No doubt news of the attack on Kessel had reached everyone in this sector already and well, smart smugglers would stay the kriff away. The only added risk was that of pirates coming outgoing vessels like moths on a flame. With chaos on Kessel and the syndicates infighting, there really wasn't a higher power to the galaxy's gangs or pirate groups and the latter were known followers of the "every sentient for himself"-creed.

Still, no one would attack them this close to the Kessel Run and thus the small freighter made it comfortably to hyperspeed. Unfortunately there wasn't an easy route from Kessel to Corellia and their pilot would have to leave hyperspeed to switch lanes half a dozen times. For the next four hours they were en route to Randon and they were good.

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Kai

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Kai spent some of the time on his datapad. He still had business to deal with. Even criminals had to do logistical work and had to deal with bureaucracy at times. Getting that out of the way while he had time was the smart play though he didn't enjoy it.

Bruggan would let them know when they were coming out of hyperspace again. The shudder and lurch that accompanied the transition to sublight space was the same as it always was. But what the Kaleesh announced afterwards was not. "I think we've got trouble. Two starfighters are closing fast."

The Grysk tensed and began moving towards one of the turrets in the ship. He connected to the internal ship communications so they could coordinate. "Take evasive manuevers and try to get us out of here" Another hyperspace jump was in order as soon as possible. "Preef, you're on the other turret right?" He said wanting to make sure though figured the scoundrel would have the insight to move to the weapon system.

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Preef Callo

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Crickets

"Now it's time for you, Lone Ranger, to put your blaster down."

"No way, José. You put down yours."

The lone ranger's coat flew open and revealed a spotless chrome blaster pistol. It was the new Nimbus 3001 heavy blaster and the manufacturer (fictional) assured it would blow even a gammorrean right off his socks. Everyone in Mos Eisley gasped, but not the rodian standing twelve paces away from the lone ranger. He-

Preef looked up from his datapad with an annoyed look. "Who's flying this thing!?" He had felt a shudder and lurch that accompanied the transition to sublight space, but hadn't recognized it and his first instinct was to blame someone for piss-poor flying. Then a voice in a box announced two incoming starfighters and a startled Preef jumped up, dropped his datapad and headed for the cockpit for a looksies. "Where?" he asked the Khaleesh, just when the Grysk asked if Preef, too, was manning the guns. "Oh Kriff, where?" the Khaleesh pointed towards the aft turret on his layout screen and the rodian nodded, bit embarrassed by his piss-poor reaction.

Dashing like a panicked prey he made his way to the aft turret, climbed the little ladder and sat down in the chair. It took him two seconds to find the the headset and where to plug it in, but once he did he was ready, he thought, to shoot him some starfighters. "I'm here, I'm here-" he cried through the headset, volume slightly high this a loud screeching sound followed before he quickly turned down the volume, "I'm here. Aft turret. All good. Ready."

Meanwhile the starfighters had closed in and were firing at the freighter, forcing it to stay put by not giving it a straight line for going back towards hyperspeed. To a more experienced eye that the rodian's one might conclude they were merely stalling for a bigger, but slower, ship to arrive and commence a boarding operation.

Twenty seconds into the engagement and Preef finally managed to level his turret with one of the starfighters. They were small and agile and fast, which made them in a pain in the ass for getting them into his cross-hair from the slower freighter doing evasive maneuvers. Preef pulled the trigger of his turret and fired four bolts of plasma into the cold back, all four missing the starfighter by at least four meters. Maybe I should fire in front of it?



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Kai

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"Outside the ship you-" Bruggan cut off Kai's obvious and frustrated insult that shouted through the ship rather than the headset. "They're closing in on our port side!" The light freighter adjusted course so that both turrets would be able to fire on the incoming hostiles.

By the time Preef took his seet, Kai was already firing a salvo towards the incoming starfighters. "Eat it" He muttered through clenched teeth. The slightest hints of a smile on his face as he let loose the firepower at his finger tips. But all the shots emptied into the void and the Grysk missed every shot. Kai cursed in huttese and swiveled to fire after the starfighters as they overshot the light frighter. Their speed was definitly making it diffficult for him to hit. Plus the turret's rate of fire was not something he was particularly used to.

"Shields are nearly gone." Bruggan said to the two gunners. Kai's inhaled and leaned forward, craning his neck a few more inches forward and having the worst posture but sacraficing it in an attempt to take every advantage in this suddenly dangerous situation. Kai tapped a few controls as he did his best to adjust the targetting computer before they came around for another attack run. "come on come on come on" The digits quickly returned to the firing controls of the turrets followed by a slight growl from the Sith.

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Preef Callo

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The starfighters danced around the freighter again and Preef, new to this as he was, missed again this time. "Kriffing Kark!" he cried as he punched the ceiling and tried his best to ignore the pain that followed. Surprisingly the pirate starfighters didn't go in for a third pass and simply blocked their path, preventing them from going to hyperspeed while from the aft another, larger, ship appeared. Grabbing his comm link, Preef cried "Ship behind us!" and was about to fire at it when Bruggan's maneuver to avoid the starfighters put the newcomer in the blindspot of both gunners. "No! Turn back turn back!" the rodian yelled, but it was too late.

A breaching pod left the newcomer and while remaining in their blind spot flew over and attached itself to ship. Wasting no time, Preef left the turret for what it was, a useless piece of misaligned metal, and descended the ladder to the ship's main hallway. "Where the kriff are they!?" he cried as he unholstered his pistol. He hadn't been able to see where the breaching pod had attached itself to the ship, but he had felt it shake and knew they were seconds away from being swarmed by pirates.

Instinctively he rushed towards his cabin and barged in with his blaster high, "Hee-ahh!" he screeched, ready to blast him some pirates, but it was empty. Adrenaline now pumping more than ever and his mind stressing over getting jumped at any second, Preef decided he to take cover behind the door and wait for a sign from the pirates. Best to get the jump on them than while searching they get the jump on him.

Unbeknownst to him his excitement gave the pirates the time they needed to override the hatch they had latched onto and enter the freighter's cargo bay in a hurry. It was six of them, all weequays, and their leader looked like he piracy had been in his family for generations. "Make sure this is the spice ship," the leader, Tall Tulo, barked as he aimed his heavy blaster at the door that lead further into the ship.


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Kai

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The Grysk fired with growing frustration as the ships flew by as both he and Preef missed several. Remind me to calibrate the targeting computers before each venture He thought to himself. The jarring sensation of a ship docking forcefully made him swear. "Bruggan, lock the cockpit. Preef..." All he hear in response was a yell that sounded straight out of a holodrama.

There were still other starfighters in the void around the ship. They continued to circle and one came in at a new angle. "One of you is more than enough." Kai said, blasting the approaching ship into slag. Small fragments of the ship bounced against the hull of the ship and its shields. He fired after the other, keeping it on an away angle approach for the time being. "Preef! Check the hold!" He yelled as he got an alert on the hull's integrity. As a second thought he made sure his armor seals were set just in the odd event that everything depressurized into the unforgiving vacuum of space.

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Preef Callo

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As Preef's turret didn't have fancy alerts on hull integrity and he had already left it and its headset behind, Preef didn't hear Kai yelling into their shared comm line about checking out the cargo hold. Instead he now slowly made his way through the hallway between what were his personal quarters and the engine room, blaster drawn and breathing slowed down to aid his hearing. If there was any suspicious sound he'd pull the trigger first and ask questions later..

Meanwhile the pirates went to work and opened up the first crate of spice to their own excitement. "It's the stuff, Tulo!" one of the weequays beamed and Tall Tulo limped over to look for hisselfs. "Well done, boys-" the quartermaster grinned, "-but ye can space me if that's the only one they got!" They all laughed, ofcourse they did, for one didn't dare not laughing at the jokes of Tall Tulo Turner, the quartermaster of Mean Jon Splint.

Preef entered the engine room with a quick movement and held his blaster high. Kriff, it took him a moment to confirm his suspicions but he was sure there weren't any pirates there. Thus, without wasting any more time he turned around and headed for the cargo hold. It would make sense that was the pirate's goal, but then somehow Preef had figured they wouldn't have breached in through the cargo hatch because that was for.... oh kriff...

The pirates prepped the first crate in the middle cargo hold, making sure it was sealed completely so the short transfer through the cold black of space wouldn't ruin the spice inside. It was a common technique, throwing the valuable cargo out into the endless black, tracker in place, and have the main vessel go fishing with the tractor beam.

Here's to hoping Preef would reach the cargo hold in team to prevent a loss of third of its illicit cargo.
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Kai

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Kai continued to stay on the turret. Strobes of laser cannon fire chased after and eventually caught up to the last ship that wasn't attached to the light freighter. That left only one vessel. The Grysk swiveled and angled the turret towards the pirate ship. There was no response from Preef and his turret had not continued to fire so that meant he had was somewhere else. In the silence his mind focused and he sought out answers for what was where. The interal layout of the ship became visible in his mind's eye along with the bodies inside it. "Bruggan. When they detatch...make a hard turn and I'll be able to blast them."

Turning back towards what was going on inside the hip he brought his mind towards the pirate vessel. Closing his eyes Kai went into a trance and began to project his likeness into the vessel. But it was far from his normal appearance. Altering the physicality to be more terrifying was the goal. Meanwhile it would advance on the crew inside, causing them to scream and shout, firing blasters at the projection that only hit the walls around them.

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Preef Callo

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Bruggan was waiting for something that wasn't going to happen any time soon.. at least, not before they lost all their cargo and worked up a hefty personal debt to the Black Sun. Kai might think he was getting quite cozy with them, but losing a shipment of spice was a simple and straightforward death sentence anywhere in the galaxy.

Preef wondered why he was still the only one actively searching for these pirates. None of the Grysk's crew or the Grysk himself had joined him in the hunt for the cargo thieves and that didn't speak highly of their loyalty to the syndicates. It was kinda typical that the rodian gunslinger would once again take his blaster to overwhelming odds in the hope of coming out on top and with the comfort of knowing that if he did he'd still be nothing more than an indentured blaster living a life he wasn't so fond of anymore. Finally reaching the door to the cargo hold, Preef was startled by a sudden onset of loud screaming and blaster fire.

"kiiiiiiiilll iiiiiiit!" one of the weequays screeched as he blaster wildly into the apparition. Three others joined him in his despair while the remaining two merely looked at Tall Tulo for leadership. The quartermaster's eyes were wide open and he noticed the bolts making contact with the wall behind the projection which threw him into a right fit of rage, "STOP THAT-" he bellowed and all three weequays stopped firing immediately, cowering in fear over the quartermaster who was known for his keen mind and sharp tongue. "-can't you see that's just a defense mechani-ism?" his voice wavered at the last word, but as all six now looked at the apparition they noticed it wasn't actually attacking them. It just stood there, being scary... much like Mean Jon Splint did, but then the latter could actually push them out into the cold endless black of space. "Now go on," Tulo slapped the neck of the overanxious weequay in front of him, "Go prep that second crate for the black."

Preef was incredibly lucky and not only because he believed the pirate about it being a computer-generated projection, the poor rodian wouldn't have ever recovered from the shock otherwise, but all six weequay had turned away from the door in there moment of relief. The rodian gunslinger walked right through Kai and shot one of the rodian pirates in his back before aiming his blaster straight at Tall Tulo Turner. For four of the five remaining weequays this was the second shock on the nerves in too short a time and they were stunned, barely able to look at Preef let alone raise a weapon. Tulo was a different breed of pirate, however, and his eyes looked hungry. "You'll pay for that," he gritted his teeth and slowly lifted the blaster pistol at his side.

"This is a Five Syndicates ship-" Preef said and fired a warning shot just inches from Tulo's pistol, "Drop that." Tulo wasn't so inclined and grinned maliciously, "We heard Five Syndicates was at war with itself. Looking to push out the Pykes." he said with a slow shrug, "We figure no more protections."

Preef shook his head, "Figured wrong."


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Kai

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Could tell the projection wouldn't last. He had the being phase through the floor like phantom and out of sight. Dropping down from his turret spot he pulled out his blaster pistol and vibro-blade, preparing for a scuffle in tight nit quarters. A surge of blaster shots had followed him ceasing the force projection. He came into the cargo hold to see Preef holding the pirates at blaster point. Kai stood there, listening to the tail end of Preef's words. Damn...whatever he had been saying sounded kinda cool.

"Dead wrong."
Kai added and fired a blaster bolt into Tulo's chest. The weapon remained up to see if the remaining pirates would either run or try to fight. If anyone tried anything he would shoot them too. "This is the part where you all give up."

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Preef Callo

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The bolt coming from behind him startled Preef and before he knew what was happening Tall Tulo collapsed with a dramatic "Ugh!" The remaining four pirates looked at the Grysk, seemingly recognizing him from the projection and fumbled for their weapons. "Kriffing kark!" Preef cursed and shot the fastest draw in the chest before realizing he was firing lethal bolts, "Ahh kark!" he shook his head and switched his blaster to stun, "don't go for those blasters." He had wanted most of them alive, especially their leader, and use them as bargaining chips. Preef had seen the larger pirate vessel and it had the capacity to obliterate them if it wanted to... and the rodian had a feeling that losing an entire boarding party was plenty of reason to try and salvage some goods from a scattered wreckage. Unfortunately the three remaining highly emotional weequays continue to stumble with their blasters in an effort to shoot the rodian and the Grysk, thus Preef was forced to stun all three in just as many seconds.

Sighing as their unconscious bodies dropped to the floor, Preef turned to the Grysk with an irritated look. "I've seen enough holoflicks to know-" he started moving towards the breaching transport to figure out how he could detach it without lasting damage to the ship and forgot what he had wanted to say, "-kriff, you think we can get to hyperspeed with this thing attached?"

They didn't have many options. They weren't a match for the larger pirate vessel and although they could no doubt delay it for a few minutes if they woke up one of the stunned weequays, once whoever captained that ship asked for the one Kai had killed... well, they'd all be dead. The only viable option was to outrun it..


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Kai

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While Preef fired into one of the freaked out pirate Kai did as well. They both shot him in the chest. Kai shot another even as Preef struggled to get his stun setting ready. But the other pirates went down"Hit it. Bruggan." Kai said over the commlink. The ship had been ready for lightspeed and without the starfighter keeping them from jumping they were in the clear. The attached section would require Bruggan to make minor adjustments but he was good at his job. None of the crates had been jettisoned from the light freighter yet though. But it was clear what the intention had been. The next few moments would be tense as he waited to see if the larger ship would fire on the light freighter but thankfully it didn't. Instead it would watch the momentary stretch of the ship and then watch it disappear into hyperspace. Preef went elsewhere in the ship, leaving the pirates on the ground. Kai wondered if he would end up just dumping them out the air lock too. Maybe he would try to find out which band of brigands had been after them and deal with them later.

//end thread

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