Ask Guns for Hire

[Quetzalli]

KODA STATION

​

The main cantina on Koda station was a busy place. The station was located out in the boonies, on the edge of even the outer rim, and most of the patrons that made their way here were either farmers coming in from the surrounding settlements looking for a good time, or smugglers stopping by for some libations on their way to or from a job. The odd dangerous type could be found here and there around Koda, but for the most part the people here were in a good mood, just farmers and pilots looking to get away from the daily grind. It was here, on the second floor of the cantina that a woman sat at a table alone, sipping a small but strong beverage and gazing out at the passing crowds. For all intents and purposes she looked human. Long hair that could have been somewhere between light brown and dirty blonde hung down her back in a pony tail, seeming to shift color depending on the light. The woman wore a flight suit with her helmet set on the table to her side and a blaster pistol hung from her right thigh. She wore a pair of tinted goggles raised up on her forehead and a thin black cuff wrapped around the sides and back of her neck looking kind of like a neck pillow. She sat alone watching the various beings making their way past and into the cantina, squinting a bit whenever a bright light from one of the various holograms scattered about the station shone in her direction, though the station was fairly dim to begin with. Next to her adult beverage was a tall glass of water which she sipped on regularly.

As the woman sat in silence a male Talpini in coveralls approached her table and nodded to her. "Are you one of the mercs who answered our call?" He asked in basic with his deep but yet still somehow squeaky voice. The woman turned and looked down on the Talpini. "Yes, I am. My name is Quetzalli. I am the pilot who answered the add." The Talpini nodded and walked over to the chair across from Quetzalli. "You are not the only one to answer the call. We should be joined shortly by two others, though I had hoped for more." The Talpini waved to the bartender who nodded and began mixing a drink without needing to be told what kind. "I am Teelai I am currently the magistrate for Koda Station. It's a pleasure, and all that." Quetzalli raised an eyebrow at Teelai. "You are 'currently' the magistrate? I'm sorry to question, but it's just that when I accepted the job I spoke to a man named Dungo who claimed HE was the magistrate for this station?" Teelai nodded, closing his eyes for a moment. "Yes indeed. I knew Dungo well. Good man. He was indeed the magistrate for the station up until a few days ago. He's dead now." Quetzalli's eyes widened as she frowned for a moment. "Dead you say? How's that? He said he was looking for pilots with combat-capable ships for a job. He said the details were delicate and he would discuss them with me when I arrived and we could settle on payment then. Is this 'job' still on?" Teelai nodded vigorously this time. "Oh yes, the job is very much still on, though whether you'll take it when you hear the details is another question entirely. Dungo's death is actually connected with the issue at hand. But then, I would rather wait for the other two to arrive before we discuss that, so I don't have to repeat myself." The bartender came over with the Talpini's drink and he thanked the man, tossing him a calamari flan for payment. It was certainly interesting how the various currencies of the galaxy made their way around given that they were almost on the other side of the galaxy from Mon Calamari. The Calamari flan was a pretty strong currency right now. If this Talpini was offering to pay in Flan, then Quetzalli was definitely interested. "I didn't come all the way out here, almost past the rim, to leave empty handed. I'm not so quick to shirk a difficult job. At the very least I'll hear you out on the details." Quetzalli glanced out at the crowds milling by and behind herself at the staircase leading up to this second level of the cantina. She wondered who else had answered the call for this job and if they had discussed payment with the former magistrate. Mostly she just wondered how long they would take to get here.

 

[Dax Rau]

Koda, the last stop of known space before the unknown. The Mandalorian know as Dax Rau knew the place well enough. It was a port of harbor for him and those like him. One of many places still out of the reach of the Free World Alliance or the Syndicates. In other words, the perfect place for a freelancer like Dax.

The mando warrior made his way to the cantina from the hanger bay. His dark blue grey armor covered by a tattered poncho. Concealing most of his armor and especially his weapons from the rest of the patrons. Most that is, except for his helmet and t-visor. The symbol that marked him as both hunter and hunted.

Dax made his way to the second floor above the bar. Arriving at the VIP room while the woman and the other alien looked to the steps. The blank glass of the visor first looking to the tiny man, then the woman. Who on his inspection he was able to tell he was not entirely human.

"hmm" he grumbled low, a sound of questioning to himself. Then spoke. "I'm looking for Dungo I don't suppose you're him little man ?" His voice was augmented by the helmet speaker but even so, both could hear the low deep baritone on gravel voice. While under his poncho his hand slide to his pistol. These two could of been the other hired guns or they could be his next victims, depending on their next move.

@Yuan @Trix

 

[Mae Tecono]

Mae jumped into the system a few thousand kilometers from the station. She has heard a few things about the station but local security or scanning ships were not one of them. The station probably did not have a security force or why else would she have been hired to come all the way out here.

Besides being able to slip into port a bit more unnoticed, the other advantage of jumping in so far out was the fact that it gave Mae the oppertunity to do a systems check of her star fighter.

"First thing" Mae thought to herself "shields" she clicked on her forward and rear deflector shield. It was all one deflector shield, but Mae had recently installed a shield modulator which allowed her to switch to double front/back as needed. After she had turned the shield on and moved it double forward and then all to the back, she flipped it back to full coverage and continued down her check list. "Next, weapons" she again thought to herself as a her brow curled in a sign of concentration. She first asked her droid to move the turrets in a 360 degree motion and fire a burst from each cannon. Next she clicked on her two light ion cannons on and pulled the trigger firing off to blasts from her ion cannons. As she fired the ion cannons, she noticed the spike in her power usage meter, it had dipped considerably lower than when she used the standard light cannons. She made a quick mental note of this. "Excellent!" She thought aloud. Finally, she too turned the cannons off and began firing off quick commands to her Astro droid. Again going down a quick mental list of commands she may need in the moment of battle such as repair this, divert power to this, auto fire and so on. The droid did well and only had trouble with the auto fire command which she discovered that both systems must be activated and not in the off position for the droid to take over, probably for safety and friendly fire situations.

After Mae completed her checklist, she quickly landed in an outer position on the docking bay. She hated being surrounded by other ships, made her feel too confined or something. She told her droid to look after the ship and put it into lockdown mode but ready for a quick and remote start on command. Mae was not used to taking jobs outside of her normal circle of contacts and friends and wanted to be able to get out of a dicey situation quickly if it turned that way. She exited her ship in her black flight suit. She liked how it clung to her body comfortably but still gave her a more bulky look so that others could not see how small she really was. As she excited the docking bay, she removed her helmet and letting her firey red hair loose from its trap. She unlocked her blaster pistol and turned it on in case of needing it quickly as it hung tightly to her right hip.

Mae made her way to the cantena to meet up with her contact. She went upstairs to the VIP rooms following not so closely a person wearing Mando armor. She looked side to side searching and almost walked past the room as she heard a voice say "Dungo" the name of her contact and she followed the voice into the room with the 3 other individuals. She eyed the Mando and decided to declare her presence at a distance before entering the room behind him to give him an opportunity not to be shocked and jumpy at her presence. "Sounds like I am in the right place" she said as she entered. She had her hand firmly on her pistol now until she could verify who she was talking to.

 

[Quetzalli]

Teelai looked up at the two new arrivals and nodded as they made their brief inquiries. "Yes, you two have come to the right place. Please take a seat. order whatever you like, I'll cover your tab with the bartender." Teelai waved to the bartender who approached and stood silently to the side ready to take drink orders should anyone wish to place one. Quetzalli turned to look at her new would-be companions. The woman appeared to be a pilot like herself, despite the fact that her flight suit made her look a little bigger than normal, Quetzalli, also a pilot, could tell that she was not a particularly big woman underneath. Quetzalli herself was probably more than a foot taller than the red-head. Now the mandalorian was another story. He was definitely large, and his armor made him seem even more so. The redhead was resting her hand on her blaster and a vague sense of movement beneath the Mando's fashionable poncho suggested that he was doing the same. Quetzalli was sitting with her arms on the table, and she casually raised her hands, palms out and smirked at the two standing before her. It was a sign of disarmament, though the smirk made it seem almost a little cocky. Then she placed her elbows on the table, intertwining her fingers and resting her head on top. She said nothing but her eyes danced across the two with interest.

Teelai glanced back and forth between the three and finally spoke up. "Well then, time is of the essence so if no one is going to step up I hope you don't mind if I make the introductions. Suppose I should, seeing as how I'm the host and all. This is Quetzalli, Pilot for hire, and I take it she may have some combat experience. This here is Mae Tecono, also a pilot and a decent mechanic if I read Dungo's notes right. And that would make you Dax Rau, Mandalorian fighter for hire." Teelai gave a wry smirk. "I have to say, Mr. Rau, while I had hoped to gather a bigger crowd, I was pleasantly surprised to see we had attracted the services of a mandolorian. I hope you can live up to your people's reputation." Teelai's smirk vanished just a quickly as it had come. "As I was telling Quetzalli before you two showed up, Dungo, the man who hired all of you, is dead. And this is directly connected to why you were brought here. My name is Teelai, and I am the current magistrate of this station and Dungo's replacement. The issue we're having, believe it or not, is with Imperials." Teelai paused shaking his head and took a sip of his drink. "Though it seems impossible after so long, it would appear to be true. For a number of years we've heard faint rumors of imperial ships being seen in the surrounding sectors, but we wrote it off as superstition. Smugglers and freighter pilots tend to be a superstitious lot. Plus they spend long stretches of time out in space on their own. Men like that tend to see things. But then we started hearing reports of attacks on settlements. People were saying that imperial ships and even storm troopers were seen. The reports said that they were stealing supply goods and ships where they could find them, so we got to thinking that maybe it was a band of brigands that had gotten their hands on some old imp gear and were using it to add a new element of fear to their activities. But then, the imps showed up here. It started with some air strikes. They'd come out of nowhere, strafe the station (as a warning I guess), then attack some outgoing freighter, steal the goods or sometimes the whole ship. That's why Dungo put out a call for help and offered payment to any mercy or pilots who would answer. But on their most recent visit, they actually landed troops on the station. They made an incursion into one of our large hangars. I tell you, my assumption that it was brigands was dead wrong. Their pilots are far too accurate. Their troopers far too disciplined." A shiver went up Teelai's spine and he took a big gulp of his drink. "I had hoped that I would never again hear the stomping boots of storm troopers..... Anyway, they stole some construction equipment. Many of us here were too scared by their presence to do anything, but Dungo and a few of his men took up arms and approached the imps to try and demand an explanation for the attacks. They were gunned down."

Teelai paused and looked down, a look of sadness washing over his face. He took another big swig of his drink. "Many of those men were my friends..... Anyway. Those of us who live here full-time are scared shitless, and as word of the attacks has been spreading, we've been getting fewer visitors coming through. This sort of thing could shut down a way station like us, out here in the middle of nowhere. Maybe that's what the imps want, to drive us out and take control of the station. Who knows. But anyway, whatever they want, we can't afford to give. That's why we need your help. The Free Worlds Alliance doesn't operate out here, and we haven't seen any Sector Rangers in many years. Even if we sent either of them a request for help and told them what we were facing, it could take months for them to get investigators out here and longer to get any sort of fighting force here... We need all the help we can get. Right away."

 

[Kaarz Pollux]

Boots thudded on metal plating as a black-armored figure made his way past the entrance and into the cantina proper. He was a tall one, his helmet poking out through the crowd as he moved towards the bar. With gentle turns of his helmeted head he glanced about the place, drinking in his surroundings and the sea of drunk-fauna that enveloped him.

With a small motion he pushed aside his shoulder cape to retrieve a small holopad from his utility belt. Thumbing through it till he found the description he needed, the man glanced about, looking for a very distinct looking alien; a Talpini named Dungo, requesting help for an obscure muscle job. He was short on credits, but not so short on muscle and combat prowess, so the man resign himself to sc continue to scan the crowd for any Talpini.

His eyes finally rested on a small group of four, nestled at the back of cantina, where a Talpini seemed deep in conversation with the three that surrounded him. A mando in the traditional armor that befitting of their kind, a common sight in such a seedy place. The next was a human-looking woman in what appeared to be the usual goggles and flight suits that most pilots deigned to wear to show their profession without even talking. The last one, a human woman as well, seemed to be a merc with the way her hand stayed on her blaster.

There they are.

With a few quick and sure steps, the armored man stopped just in front of the group his hands crossed over his chest as he silently regarded them for a moment as Talpini finished his speech. Without a word he shifted his shoulder cape slightly enough to reveal a blaster pistol at his hip, before finally introducing himself.

"Name's Kaarz. Looking for a Talpini named Dungo, don't suppose you're him?

Kaarz's helmet betrayed no emotion beneath as he regarded the four before him, a rather ragtag crew in his opinion, but credits were credits, and he had none.

 

[Rex WoIfbane]

Rex landed his ship in the hanger, he was late to the scheduled meeting time. He looked to his first officer, Taz, and said "Fuel up and get our rations filled too, I am going to take Mog for backup" before he turned and exited the cockpit. As he lowered the ramp he looked over to Mog and told him to tag along.

The two massive beings stood out like a Wookie among Jawas, as they walked along their long path to the cantina. Rex did not bring his helmet with him but the rest of his normal uniform and get up was worn along with his blaster pistol in its holster on his hip. Mog carried a blaster rifle flung over his shoulder and also a blaster pistol on his side.

As they entered the poorly lit bar, Rex sharpened his gaze at each of the surrounding figures. None of them matched the description of his contact. He decided to head upstairs to the VIP rooms to see if he had picked a more secluded spot. Sure enough only a few rooms past the stairs he hit the right room. It was not the contact that he recognized but another in the room that caught his eye. A friend that he had not seen in months. He knew she was trying to branch out, but to take a contract like this on the rim did surprise him a bit. He thought she would have started small but then again, that was never her style.

"Stay here and watch the door" Rex ordered Mog. Mog turned to face away from the room and removed the rifle from his shoulder and held it in the typical way a guard would.

Rex entered the room and inspected those who filled it, two women with flight suits, a short man wearing worn armor and a dirty yet intriguing designed shoulder cape. Lastly, as Rex entered the room further, he made out a Mandalorian standing in the center hiding what must be his contact behind him. Rex looked down at the Mandalorian and thought he was a statue at first but was glad to see him move a bit. Rex winked at the ladies before introducing himself to the group but mainly aimed his introduction to the contact handler.

 

[Dax Rau]

Dax cocked his head to catch the approaching female. Taking note of the flight suit and little else, save for the blaster. The little gremlin would then suddenly start to explain the situation to them. Appearing to assume that the three standing before him would be all who would show.

The mando took a mental note of everything the man said but turn to put his back to the rail of the vip area. This allowed him to face outward. The stairs on his left shoulder, the rest of the room to his right. The stairs would then become more crowded. The helmet of a Death Trooper peered upward before the rest of the scrap set of armor. Dax was not all that impressed. Allowing the armored merc to pass and enter without so much as a hand twitch.

Finally the mountain of a man followed. Bulky and covered in muck and ding. If the mando had to guess, the man was some manner of pirate. In any case he head nothing, only winked at the ladies before taking a seat. That made five. Weak tea, even for a target like imp remnants. But Dax could hardly scoff at any payday at this point.

Turning his head to look directly at Teelai, and then spoke. "We don't need a back story. We need details. Where can we find these Imps, if they are really imps?"

 

[Mae Tecono]

There was alot going on in such a short time. Amount of time, two new men had joined and the Teelia had spilled the beans on the general background of what was going on. Seeing Rex sit down and kinda relax the tension between the group and the Mando was a relief and Mae was able to take her hand off her blaster and take a seat herself.

She heard the Mando ask his question and was interested in the same and decide to speak up on it herself.

"Also, where are they located, are they coming from a space based outpost or something that will involve a ground attack?" Mae asked. She was a little concerned with the latter as 5 vs an entire outpost was alot of work not to mention very risky. However, if it was a space assault, their ships would give them a multiplier that would help greatly.

She winked back at Rex, thankful that he did not do his usual of running up to her and picking her up and embarrassing her. She appreciated that he was letting her spread her wings a bit on her own.

 

[Quetzalli]

​

Teelai glanced up as two more new arrivals came in. "Ah, so it seems Dungo's message reached more ears than I had realized. Well, I can imagine you can introduce yourselves just fine once I'm done, and since you seem eager to get started, I'll cut straight to the point." Teelai finished his drink and reached into the pocket of his coveralls pulling out a hologram puck. Placing it on the table, Teelai tapped the device and the hologram of a planet flickered into existence hovering just above the table top. "This is Dosuun. A planet not so far away from here. Grid coordinates H-20. Though the planet is habitable, it is uninhabited. Sometime towards the beginning of the Imperial reign, an imperial base was built there. Not a large one, mind you. More of an outpost than anything. Though there was supposedly a garrison stationed there and possibly some long range communications or sensor stations. None of us really know. Honestly, we don't know anything for sure, but we figure that is where they are operating out of." Teelai tapped the the hologram puck again and a little red light started flashing on the surface of the planet. "This is supposedly where the old base was located back in the day. I don't know what you'll find when you get there. Doesn't make sense to me how the imps could have survived there for over a hundred years. Not unless they colonized the place. Made it self sufficient. But then why would they-" Teelai stopped and shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Not worth trying to puzzle out. Point is I can't tell you what you'll find when you get there. I can tell you, from the attacks on Koda, that they have TIE fighters and those Gozanti freighters. Don't know how many though. Sorry, I'm not a military man. Dungo was. He probably could have given you more details from what he had seen. When they boarded the station, there must have been at least 20 storm troopers. And a couple of guys in those greenish uniforms the imp officers used to wear. They stole some construction equipment. The heavy stuff we used to haul cargo around and make repairs on the hangars and stuff."

Teelai hoped down from his chair and pulled a little data pad out of the chest pocket of his coveralls. "I've got to get going. Running this place is a nightmare I never asked for. Especially with everyone freaking out about the imps. If you need me for anything else, just ask anyone who works on the station where to find me. They oughta be able to tell you. As for your payment, I can pay in Calamari Flan. I assume you won't have any problems with that. It's a damn strong credit. But I won't be paying until you get back from the mission. I'm sure you think I'm being cheap, so I can hold on to the money if you die. But the fact of the matter is, if I load you up with credits and then you go dying on Dosuun, then I basically just financed the imps. Also, they might be able to trace it back here to Koda Station, and I'd hate to bring that kind of hurt down on the spacers here." Teelai tapped on his data pad and turned, walking between the legs of those standing to the door. There he turned back to the group. "Like I said, I've got your bar tab, but I told the bartender to cut you off after two drinks. I don't need you getting toasted right before you go take on the imps. Nor am I paying you to sit around and waste time. Also, I've sent out an announcement to our local vendors to aid you if they can and extended a line of credit for you to resupply as needed. However, we aren't a military installation. We don't have any weapons or ammo that isn't privately owned, so it'll mostly just be fuel and basic repairs. Good luck to ye. Keep me informed of your progress." With that said, the little talpini turned and made his way down the stairs, back out to the station corridors. They could see his small figure down below, yelling at droids in his squeaky native language as he made his way to another section of the station.

@Trix @Taz @Reddsentinel @Coach

 

[Rex WoIfbane]

As the little man left the group in the room together with a very vague detail of what their mission was and the intelligence on the mission even smaller, Rex raised an eye brow in surprise and said "Well, that was brief. Imperials? They have long been gone for over a hundred years, could this really be a colony untouched by the rest of the galaxy until now? Only two things make sense of this to me, one being they have been self sufficient until now for them to be lashing out at civilization near them that they have not done so in the previous 100 years or two, they just acquired the tech to lash out recently. So if they really do have the storm trooper armor of old and the same age of TIE fighters, I am thinking a brigand group may have stumbled upon an abandoned outpost with tech left behind or we are dealing with a 3rd generation of the original occupants of the outpost. The second of the two scenarios would suggest that the organization, and command structure has been passed down, but the military tactics would also be the same which would be beneficial to us. The Imps back then depended on overall shock and fear to be their greatest weapons with those giant planet killing stations of theirs, and they don't have that here. They are trying to establish the fear of old by raiding this station and killing any who stand in their way. That is also good news for us, because killing unarmed and scared civilians is much different than the 5 plus of us who know better and are more equipped for the situation. "

Rex paused a moment before looking over at Mae and continuing "You brought up a good point, many of us have our strengths in our ships, and seeing how they are a ground based installation, we are going to have to have men and women, on the ground, however, this does not mean we wont need a few of you in the skies providing air support in case they scramble their TIE Fighters."

Rex then looked at the rest of the group, and asked them "what kind of training have each of you received and are you more comfortable in the cockpit of your ships or on the ground? What ships do you have and what are their capabilities? What crew have you brought and their capabilities? "

Rex was not asking to put himself in charge of the mission, but more to start organizing it so who ever did take lead could use the information to make the best plan to fit their assets as a group.

"I will start it off by saying I brought a VT-2000 light freighter, equipped with medium shields and two triple medium cannon turrets. I also brought a crew of four including myself who are well trained for a ground assault but can stay on our ship if needed." Rex said before looking over at Kaarz and Dax for them to give their info.

@Taz @Reddsentinel @Yuan @Trix

 

[Kaarz Pollux]

Kaarz silently listened to the small Talpini and the large man's reply to such a daunting task, lightly tapping his breastplate as he waited. They both seemed to think that a full frontal assault, either on the ground or in space, was the arguably small groups only choice. Kaarz had studied lightly on the Empire during his education, and if the Talpini's description of the raiders numbers and training was correct, he and this ragtag band wouldn't survive to make planetfall.

Clearing his throat Kaarz stepped forward, placing his hands on the table as he surveyed those gathered around him.

"Is a full-frontal assault really necessary? Looking around we simply don't have the numbers to simply show up at their front gate guns blazing, and even if our strength is in our ships they'd likely swarm us before we had a chance to react."

At the back of his mind Kaarz recalled the aged casualty reports from the Galactic Civil War a century ago. One sided massacres clearly stood out to him at the beginning of the war, and the Rebels had been better armed than this motley crew.

"The matter of the fact is, it would be better to sneak on planet and blow the base, or arrange an ambush using the station surrendering as bait. We don't even have a sure count of their fighters or true troop strength, and I for one would like to spend my credits, not have them paying for funeral expenses or lining the pockets of these raiders."

Not once did Kaarz's voice deviate from an icy efficiency. From his point of view a full-frontal assault would be a death sentence, especially when they only had two ships and nine total counting the large mans crew. Kaarz also didn't feel like being stranded when either of the ships went down, seeing as he didn't own as ship, as well as lacking the credits for any transportation or parley if the thing did go south.

"With things the way they are, I don't see us making planetfall, or even reaching the atmosphere without possibly being swarmed. That Talpini left out crucial details; a mistake that could cost lives."

@Coach @Yuan @Trix @Taz

 

[Quetzalli]

Quetzalli had remained quiet, listening throughout the Talpini's explanation and the other mercs started discussing the issue. The big guy who had come in late started the conversation. Then the other later comer spoke up. Quetzalli had been glancing at him periodically. His armor seemed almost imperial in nature. It had been far too many years for him to have served with the imps. Perhaps he had found the armor or bought it off some private dealer? There were even rumors that some of the manufacturers who had mass produced armor for the empire were secretly trying to sell off their remaining stock. Secretly, because to do so openly would likely be considered to be in poor taste by most groups throughout the galaxy. Anyway, point was there were a number of ways he could have come about the armor, but it was still a peculiar coincidence that they were going up against imps here and this guy happened to show up in imp gear. He was worth keeping an eye on, but too much unwarranted suspicion could hurt their odds.

At a break in the two men's conversation, Quetzalli cut in. "All due respect boys, but I think you two are leaning to the extremes here." Quetzalli's voice proved that Dax's suspicion of her not actually being human was dead on. There was a peculiar reverberation to it. Almost as though there were two people talking in unison, one closer and one further away. This was a common effect with species with two active sets of vocal chords. "Big guy, as our black armored friend here pointed out, your breakdown assumes quite a bit of luck on our part. We know that they have air support, but we don't know how much. For all we know, we could make the jump to Dosuun and find ourselves face-to-face with a star destroyer. I doubt it. I doubt that they could have kept something that big hidden, but frigates, corvettes... If we get there and find a single capital ship, the mission will be over before we even touch the planet. We'll be lucky if we all get out alive. And you... less-big guy... I think your approach is a bit too cautious. Sneaking onto the planet is all well and good, but again, we know they have air support. Even if we were able to successfully sneak down to the ground, there are two issues. Firstly, we don't have vast quantities of explosives on hand. I don't have any. Do you? Secondly, even if we did have some explosives at our disposal, if we snuck onto the planet and blew up some or all of the base, if they had ships in the air or in orbit, how would we get away? Assuming we would have snuck onto the planet in a single ship, which we would basically have to if we wanted to avoid detection, we would have to pray that we could run the gauntlet of whatever ships they have and make the jump to hyperspace. And then pray that their ships didn't plot our course based on our trajectory and track us back here. All of that of course being a moot point because again, we don't have the explosives. Your second idea about the ambush is pretty good, but if they do have heavy ships and they show up for the party, we're screwed, and even if we run, we will have delivered our employer's head up to the imps on a silver platter."

Quetzalli downed the last of her drink followed by a big swig of water. "I believe if we are going to launch any sort of attack on the base, then we will need take care of their air support first. I have a theory about this group. Teelai said that the base went silent for a number of years after the empire fell. This could be an imperial sleeper cell we're dealing with. A small group of imps goes into hiding after the battle of Endor. Makes their way to the outer rim to avoid detection by the new republic. Ignores the call to arms of the First Order and the Final Order. Continues it's own existence by recruiting more members as time passes. Looking for a place to set up shop and they find info on an old imp base out in the middle of nowhere with room to expand without being noticed. They've been stealing supplies because they aren't fully self-sufficient. They're stealing ships to scrap for parts or to sell on the black market so they can finance larger operations. Teelai said that they stole heavy construction equipment last time they were here. They risked an incursion to get them. I'm willing to bet that they just got to that base not so long ago and are still trying to get it up and running. Maybe expanding it a bit to better serve their plans."

Quetzalli tapped the table top where the hologram still sat. "I don't have all the answers, but here is what I am thinking. If we make our hyperspace calculations carefully, we could jump into the system right behind this moon and hopefully avoid detection. From there we can send one ship out to survey the situation. If we see capital ships, we bug out. If we see some massive fleet of smaller ships, we bug out. But if the forces we see are manageable... Our survey ship turns to run, they give chase, make a run back to the moon where the rest of us are waiting in ambush. Take them by surprise. Could turn the odds in our favor. If we're successful, then we could strafe the hell out of that base and then head in on the ground to mop up whoever's left."

Quetzalli leaned back in her chair, putting her hands behind her head. "That's what I'm thinking at least. my rig is a BNG Y-Wing Recon. She's not quite as fast as those TIE's, but she can give them a run for their money, and she's well armed and shielded. She's a fast gunship. Maybe not as good for taking on the base as a Y-Wing star bomber, but for taking on TIE's and Gozanti's, she'll be real good."

 

[Dax Rau]

The mandalorian stood like a statue in his corner of the vip room. Like durasteel, he stood. Enduring the long winded short scruff of an alien. Who had little idea of what he wanted or even expected from the group of them. Only that he wanted the problem to be solved for his tiny little space station. How this nurf herder managed to become the boss of this place was suddenly becoming a question to the mando.

Once Teelai took his leave then came the running ideas of poodoo. The pirate wanting to hit it hard and fast. The imp helmeted merc wanted to slip in the back. The other woman seeming wanted to take a path that was a bit more of a combination of the two. While the pilot seemed to have little to no opinion at all.

Hearing enough from the group, Dax finally put in his own two credits. "If they are thieves they are not real imps. The Empire and the Order were about oppression and control. Not stealing equipment. Likely the human mountain over here was correct with the first idea. Pirates who found an old outpost and using it as a base of operations. "

Dax took charge then, turning his helmet to look directly at Quetzalli. "Your ship is a recon boat. You'll jump in and do a quick sweet with your sensors. If it's hot you jump back, job done." The mando then looked to the rest of them. "The rest of us will pile into the pirates' ship. If the recon ship gives a good report, we jump in. Quickly land, at the hanger or pad. Take what ships are available and use them to put the hurt on the rest of the base. Then jump back here to the station. You can keep the ships or sell them to the station for security."

 

[Mae Tecono]

Mae sat back listening to everyone's ideas. She had some of her own but wanted to hear from the more experienced members of this group before she mentioned anything.

She looked over at the Mando who was a mountain of a man himself, and spoke. "I like your idea, but when we land in their hanger or on a pad, how do we know they do not have some kind of defenses in place that will blow the ship out of the sky before we take a step off the craft?"

She thought for a moment before continuing "What if we take a step back for a moment, and think of something that does not involve rushing into something that we do not know anything about. How about a bit of recon? " She paused and looked over at the man wearing the old imperial looking armor. "What if we have him" she pointed at the same man she was looking at "impersonate an Imp type person and make contact with the base? We could gather a lot from even the shortest of conversations with them. If we are lucky, they may even invite him down to the base for a face to face in which he can get a bit of a visual recon of the base layout and its defenses." She paused again for a moment unsure if the man would even be comfortable with such a task. "Maybe he is not comfortable in doing this, but we should do something similar to really see what we are up against before we go rushing into our possible doom."

Mae then sat back in her chair letting the others continue the discussion, hoping that what she said may help change their charging behavior.

 

[Rex WoIfbane]

Rex liked what the other woman in the group had as a plan. He wanted to include his ship in the ambush. He then gazed over at the Mando as he made his plan, he nodded as the man spoke. He liked what this guy was saying and was excited to get his ship into the fight. Before he could speak up to confirm his interest in the Mando's plan, Mae spoke up which caught Rex off guard. He shifted his gaze and interest to her as she spoke about getting some reconnaissance. He was surprised once again as she normally was one to rush into a situation gun blazing. He again raised an eye brow and nodded to her input.

It was clear that everyone had interest in taking care of business but each had their own plan about how to accomplish the mission.

"Although I like where your head is at, little lady, doing such a task may alert the brigands to our presence and plan. I do like the idea of getting a little more info before we go rushing in though."

Rex looked over at the Imp armored looking dude.

"Are you comfortable at all with her plan? Is it something your capable of?"

@Reddsentinel @Yuan @Taz @Trix

 

[Kaarz Pollux]

Kaarz's eyes narrowed as he saw hotter heads prevailing. He was no coward, but he was careful, and careful meant not rushing headlong into firefights, even if the numbers were even. Any chance he could have at avoiding drawing a blaster he would take, especially when it was possible for a direct cut to the throat so to speak.

Then the conversation shifted, the small pilot woman had perked up and suggested a plan involving Kaarz impersonating a fellow raider and gaining some intel. An idea he was not opposed to, that is, if the raiders truly were Imperial descendants. The red-haired woman's plan seemed to hinge on whether or not the raiders were just playing at being Imperials, or were descendants of the real thing. A fact Kaarz would rather be sure of before he went headlong into "negotiations."

This job seemed less and less worth it as planning went on, although Calamari Flan were certainly worth the risk, and he was sure some salvage wouldn't hurt his credit-account either. Exhaling through his nose, Kaarz regarded the very large man and the smaller red-haired woman, and once again prepared to speak.

"The impersonation plan isn't a bad one. Though we're still divided on one thing; whether or not these raiders are true Imp or Order descendants. I'd be fine playing 'negotiations' with them if I knew that answer. Otherwise I'd rather not risk my hide knowing I was possibly on my way to become a blaster target."

Kaarz shrugged his shoulders, he wasn't one to take unnecessary risks, especially when the client himself left out suspiciously key details. Shaking his head slightly Kaarz focused on the Mandalorian before them, who seemed convinced the raider weren't real Imperials.

"While the two were about controlling star systems and oppressing planets, those days are long gone, a hundred years long gone. An assumption that because they steal they're just pirates playing pretend at being Imps would lead to some unneeded underestimation of their forces. Another thing that'll get people killed. I'm not saying they are, but we just don't know. A recon mission while we lay low from some sneaky navigation, like the miss over there said, would be our best option."

At this Kaarz nodded towards Quetzalli, though he had not yet caught her name.

"Simply put, we don't know enough about our quarry to charge in with light recon and expect to blast through them. Those in orbit could call for more fighters if we do somehow turn the odds in our favor. Heavier recon is our best idea, unless you want your credits being sent to next of kin."

Kaarz once again folded his arms, and stepped back to regard the group as a whole. While he didn't discount their abilities or ships, he knew that if hotter heads prevailed here, it would be a short trip to the vacuum of space.

 

[Dax Rau]

Under his helmet the Mandalorian was growing irritated with the stand still. It was he who first expressed the idea of sending in the recon ship. To in fact recon and get a lay of the land, scan for targets, forces, emplacements. Anything to provide them more information. But the group of nurf herders were to busy being scared to understand a sound tactic. Caution he understood, fear of the unknown he did not. Nor did he have time for this verbal back and forth.

"The lot of you are about as useful as the senate was to the kriffing clone war. The contact with all the useful data is dead, the half wit running this station knows nothing and the rest of you refuse to use sound tactics. Freelance work is dirty. Risky. I for one plan to get back to it."

He was done. Nothing left to be said and no point in wasting more time wondering or planning for a move none of them were willing to make. Dax pushed his way past them and headed for the stairs. There was other work in the rim and he intended to find it.

 

[Mae Tecono]

Mae rolls her eyes, when has trying to come up with a plan a bad idea or at least worse than rushing into a fight blindly like the Mando was trying to have us do?

She quickly thought about it and hopped out of her seat and chased the big guy out of the room and caught him before he reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Hey! Wait up there bug fella" she said with a slight smile on her face. She did not go full smile because she thought he might try to slap her for stopping him and was on guard still.

"I understand your point back there, but for us to pull this off, I think we are going to need a bit of both strategies, recon and a bit of charging. And we will definitely need all the skilled muscle we can get" she said that last bit softly taking him by the arm "and that means you! Because I don't know him much I can trust that guy wearing the Imp armor in a fight, but I know I can always trust those man enough to hold to the Mandolorian code to also hold his ground when it comes to a tough situation. Now, if your worried about compensation and it being worth it to stay, I will give you my share of the credits to stay and lead us. I am getting enough gain through the experience and free fuel and supplies to make it worth it to me, plus, like you stated earlier, I may get a bonus of some tech on our raid." Mae believed she had put the best possible offer on the table for him not only to rejoin the fight but also possibly lead the mission.

"What do you say? Want to come back and take care of business like Mandalorians are known for and double your credit share, or continue to go down that path empty handed" she ended as she shared a glance with Mando in the empty path ahead.

 

[Dax Rau]

He was down to the last few steps when the pilot came after him. If she were bold enough to take him by the should or arm at that moment, he likely would of put her over the rail. Out of sheer reflex if for nothing else. Instead she wisely lead with her soft voice, asking him to wait.

He grumbled and turned to her. The sound audible from the tiny speaker in his helmet.

Dax stood then, hands resting on his belt under his poncho. She was surprising disarming in her tone. Seeming careful to pick her wording to not only appeal to his merc side, but that of the warrior within him. He continued to listen without interruption as she offered her share to keep him around and going so far as to explain she would make more then enough of the looting. Which he agreed with, it was likely they would make far more from the ships. If they held to his plan and managed to succeed in stealing them.

"I won't take your share," he finally spoke, "Not all of it. " The then reached out his arm back up the stairs as if you offer her to go first. When they returned to the rest of the group Dax laid out his intentions and plan one last clear time. "This is the way it is. I'm in charge of this mission if you want it done right with all of us alive at the end. I take my cut plus ten percent of each of yours for the trouble of putting my ass on the line to make sure the job is done. The loot gets split evenly among us all if we manage to salvage anything. NOW, Fish girl (@Yuan ) takes point with the recon ship. Jumps in solo to do what recon ships are suppose to. If she gets any heat at all she jumps back and the job is off. If she gives the gives us the go the rest of us will be on the pirate ship waiting( @Coach ) .

"We jump in and land while the recon ship gives cover. Red (@Trix ) , the mountain (@Coach , the supertrooper (@Reddsentinel and I will off load. The pirates stay and holds security in case we need to fall back. The four of us on the ground will make our way to the ships they might have. Take a couple if we can, use them to do as much damage as possible. Destroy their power and supplies will be the primary target. That's as much as we can do within reason. When that's done we all jump back here. Off load the ships on local scum or syndicate broker. Once the credits are in hand we all go our own way. If this plan doesn't work for you then I'll let lot of you try it your own way and I'll take my skills else where."

 

[Quetzalli]

Quetzalli raised her eyebrow. There was certainly a lot of drama around here all of a sudden. As the Mando made his way back in to the room and made his demands known, she glanced around the room at the others. The red-head pilot Mae seemed to be alright with the armored warrior taking the lead. The other two were a little hard to read, but she figured if they were going to get this done someone would have to take the lead. After all, if the Mando was feeling comfy with the idea of Quetzalli rolling out in her own ship and him running the ground operations, that suited her just fine. She was more comfortable softening up the enemy with her Y-wing anyway than charging in commando-style.

Quetzalli nodded to the Mando. "Fine then, Mando. I'll accept your terms and your lead if you feel that strongly about it. With one condition." Quetzalli nodded to Mae, where she stood by Rau. "If Red over here has a fighter, then she jumps in with me. She can land with you boys as planned like you want, if we get down to the ground alright, but if we encounter airborne resistance I could use a wingman to watch my back."

@Taz @Trix @Coach @Reddsentinel