Open Nar Shaddaa Invasion Hostile Takeover

[Preef Callo]

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Nar Shaddaa: 1500 LT

Crymorah Syndicate ships weren't barred from the Smuggler's Moon, why would they? A good 200 droids, which Preef bought from Blackwell, weren't going to the mines of Kessel anymore. There was a virus raging across the lower levels and droids were the only ones not affected, so even the Hutts welcomed them in. Ofcourse... the rodian had a different plan.

Instead of the dropships heading towards the lower levels, they landed right smack in the controlling centers of the moon: The entertainment and casino districts. Around the same time, all Crymorah Syndicate scoundrels present on the moon, belonging to all families under its banner, drew weapons on the Hutt Cartel's gangers. It wasn't difficult to understand what was happening. Preef "kriffing" Callo was using the AMS virus and the growing discontent over the Hutt Cartel's actions to allow its spread, to his own benefit by taking the most important moon in the galaxy.

Emboldened by the knowledge of Captain Roland Rook's demise, who was perhaps the only ranger that could ever be seen as his equal in a blasterfight, Preef jumped out of his own dropship seconds before it hit the street below. He was followed by four dual-blaster-wielding KX-series Security Droids and met by grinning Zaa Fenn scoundrels. He wore his armor, which was for the occasion outfitted with a filter to prevent infection from the virus, and held his signature peacemaker in his dominant hand. "So the Hutts ran scared hm?" his scoundrels laughed, "Now then, lets get that kriffing Vigo Hutt they left in charge-" a Hutt, the daughter of one of the members of the Hutt Cartel's leading body: the Hutt Council, had been left behind in the palace in the middle of the casino district. From here she lorded over the Smuggler's Moon, but more importantly, that's where she guarded the control room for the moon's anti-ship cannons.

For those members of the Crymorah Syndicate that had joined their boss, the legendary gunslinger Preef Callo, their mission was painfully obvious: Enforce Crymorah rule over the Hutt minions by absolute force and support the rodian in killing a Hutt and taking control of the moon's anti-ship cannons.

 

[Taldorak Trenessar]

Taldorak hated slugs. And for the time being, he bled those Zaa Fenn colors. It was a cool job, a fun one. And he had a helluva fun time killing anybody, so this just barked up his tree in the best of ways.

The Mandalorian would land the Dha'karta near Preef's transport, a handful of Scoundrels having hitched a ride with one of the Enforcers. Rayna was slung on his shoulder with one arm resting over her and he'd make his way over to big Boss. He'd been getting filthy rich over the last months, so he'd started replacing some of his armor with actual beskar.

He has managed to catch some of Preefs words and before departing to start the hunt, he'd offer King Callo a respectful bow of the head. "You heard the Boss, time for a dinner of bacon and slug."


If Preef called out to him, he'd head over to see what was needed.

@Eccles

 

[Jade Nadab]

It wasn't every day that you wished for an all out battle to break out while you were standing at what was effectively going to be ground zero. But today Jade was wishing for just that. Her meeting with Marissa Hesse hadn't really gone as she had planned, but it had been more productive than she could have hoped for. And a little something she had heard while at the Zenn Faa penthouse might just prove to be even more productive. If she was right, and she was fairly certain she was, Preef Callo had been planning an attack on the Hutts. And even though she had the feeling that he had let her hear all that on purpose, the opportunity that knowledge presented was too great to ignore. There was a time to be cautious, but if you wanted to climb the ladder of power you had to know when to throw caution to the wind.

That's why she had come to Nar Shaddaa and requested an audience with the de-facto head of the Cartel on Nar Shaddaa, Bira. Jade had convinced a few members of the Crimson Dawn with the promise of a big score on Nar Shaddaa, betting her very reputaiton on being right about this upcoming attack. If she was right, and things went as she planned, she might come out of this with the one thing she needed to make it in the criminal world. A reputation.

As she waited in the Vigo's throne room, a smile appeared on her face as a frantic guard finally entered the chamber and practically ran to the Hutt. Her reaction told Jade everything she needed to know. Preef Callo was here, it had begun. Where not an hour ago the Hutt had turned Jade away with barely a second thought, she now turned to her with desperation. A little over fifteen minutes later Jade walked out of the room with a satisfied smile on her face, a stark contrast to the frenzied bustle all around her. A deal had been struck, Crimson Dawn aid in exchange for the deed to the Hutt's stake in the Wheel. It didn't even matter of Bira survived, she had been so desperate for help that she had agreed to transfer the deed right there and then. Jade was not going to risk her neck for anything less.

"It's done," she said to the Crimson Dawn slicer who was waiting for her outside the throne room, tossing a datachip to her, "just as promised. That should let you get into the casino security systems from any terminal. We need to hold off our friends from the Crymorah long enough for Bira to get out."

@Eccles @Sreeya

 

[It0]

At long last.

From the moment of his reactivation by the Zentripoli, the Crymorah droid specialist, It0 had felt an implacable pull to the Smuggler's Moons. Under it's carbon-dusted layers of durasteel and chrome, beneath it's temples of avarice and seduction, underneath the footfalls of criminals and crooks...something on Nar Shaddaa resonated. A tonal thrum that called to the droid in a ceaseless loop.

The medical droid had made his home on the moon and walked it's endless levels cautiously. He spent his working hours in the service of the Crymorah, tending to the wounded organics that comprised its ranks in their violent trade. Given his original programming as a 2-1B Surgical Droid, the role of street doctor came naturally enough to him. Patching up blaster wounds and vibroblade gashes filled his time and his coffers.

Of course, his tasking frequently fell outside the medical realm. Given the diverse nature of organized crime It0 often found himself playing the role of negotiator or even muscle. But when the job was does and his time was once more his own, the 2-1B always fled back to Nar Shaddaa where he would poke and prod the enigmatic beckoning like an itchy scab.

The incessant rule of the Hutts made such exploration difficult at times. Entire levels and sectors were beyond his reach as an operative of a rival criminal organization. And perhaps most unforgivable of all was their inaction in the face of the virus. They had left the moon to rot as they hid in their palaces and pleasure yachts.

To add insult to injury, the corpulent slugs only kept the mindless victims of the virus at bay through the use of droids. It0's own enslaved brethren ensured the survival of organics on Nar Shaddaa through forced sacrifice! To him, it was a crime beyond forgiveness. The power struggles of sentients meant little to him. The Droid Gotra's mission of droid liberation increasingly consumed his processors with each passing instant.

But one directive was intensely clear as he stepped from Preef's (@Eccles ) dropship, a blaster gripped firmly between his manipulators. The Hutts must be purged from Nar Shaddaa! Cull them from his beloved moon like tumorous tissue. In their wake the Zaa Fenn would grow in power and influence. But not Preef's family alone. The Droid Gotra too would make footholds. The vast sea of contacts and resources so fiercely guarded by the Hutts would be plunder for the taking! The thought of what a boon such assets could be to the Gotra's efforts made his circuitry tingle.

"Boss, if we've caught them be surprise it's an advantage that won't last long." he advised. The Mandalorian Taldorak (@Rhogar ) emerged from the growing crowd of Zaa Fenn and It0 felt assured by his presence. The Crymorah Enforcer was well known for his martial prowess. The droid offered him a solemn nod before continuing. "The Hutts have eyes all over this sector. If you have people inside Vigo's compound, now's the time to give them to signal."

@Wit @Sreeya

 

[Salvatore Russo]

The Crymorah Syndicate had no idea that Salvatore Russo had plans, big plans, and they were plans that involved the Hutts. If Preef Callo had his way, then it was entirely possible the plans would be shot to hell. Truth was, Russo had no idea what the endgame was for Callo, but whatever was going down was just the beginning. Russo needed the Hutts to be open to new ventures, not paranoid about every new face.

There was too much legwork to let it all go to waste. The advantage that Russo did have was that because he had worked jobs for the Crymorah before, they asked him to come along. And, come along he would. But first, before he entered the atmosphere of the Smuggler's Moon, he hit his comms and sent a message to the mysterious contact he had made- the connection between himself and Durr the Hutt.

"Hutta 1, this is Salvatore Russo. I repeat, this is Salvatore Russo."

There was a long silence before it crackled back. "Mr. Russo, the Mighty Durr does not wish to speak to you right now. Furthermore, he says that if you grace him with your presence, he will have his beasts rip you apart limb by limb and fed to his pets."

"Copy that, but I'm flying into Nar Shaddaa right now with fleet of ships led by Preef Callo and a small army of droids. Tell Mighty Durr the Hutt that the Hutts better damn well mobilize their assets on Nar Shaddaa. Crymorah is bringing droids, and they're going to bring the thunder."

Another long pause.

"They're attacking Nar Shaddaa?"

"They're dropping off a couple hundred droids, and it's not to go dancing, so you tell me. Look, I didn't get a name. All I know is they plan to kill or kidnap a Hutt. I don't know which. That's all I know. I'm not high enough on the pecking order to get all of the details. I'm out, don't contact me again. I won't be able to answer."

Sal ripped off his headset and started his descent into the massive city-moon of Nar Shaddaa. This was a risky proposition for Sal. He could probably rise up the ranks of the Crymorah after helping get the deal done with the admission from the Senator of Humbarine. He had earned their trust, and this would have certainly cemented his place in their organization. But, Russo was thinking bigger...greedier. It could well kill him. How could he sabotage this mission to get some cred with the Hutts while managing to not be killed by Callo and his outfit?

It may not be possible.

Sal landed the Five-0 in a spaceport not far from where Preef had landed his dropships. He checked his loadout. Both Peacemakers were ready to go. Two sets of stun cuffs...just in case, he supposed. He checked his blast vest, and made sure his vibroblade was snug and secure on his belt. He hopped out and began to make his way through the maze of streets and buildings to where the stuff was about to hit the fan.

@Eccles @Wit @Rhogar @Tic

 

[Preef Callo]

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Preef appreciated It0 (@Tic) and his enforcer Tal (@Rhogar) joining him and his KX-series droids as he starting making his way for the palace. There wasn't much resistance, for the mere knowledge that it was Preef Callo that had come for Nar Shaddaa meant that even the most ambitious of aspiring gunslingers kept away from...

Preef narrowly managed to dodge the incoming sniper bolt by snapping his head to the right. The heavy blaster sniper shot landed in the street behind him. Someone had mistakenly gone for a headshot, for one at the torso would've been nigh impossible to miss. "Sniper!" the rodian shouted as he dashed for one for cover on the sidewalk. Immediately the KX-series droids came into action and rushed forward in the direction of the sniper, their blaster pistols raised, their target's whereabouts somewhat clear.. another shot! Again it narrowly missed, this time one of the droids dodged it by simply rotating his torso.

About ten seconds later they had reached her. She was a rodian with a cool professionalism about her, but no one was a match for four KX-series droids. She dodged the first salvo by rolling away into cover, drawing her sidearm mid-roll and leveling it to the closest KX and shot it twice in the chest. It didn't give an inch. "Kriff," Geena Callo cursed as she crawled to the window, frantically firing to provide herself a window, yet the droids coldly ignored it and leveled their own blaster pistols to the small rodian. There she was, Geena Callo, sister of the legendary Preef Callo, about to be shot and killed by her little brother's security droids? Kriff.. why did she had to take the contract? "Tell him I-" the droids opened fire and Geena fell backwards out of the open window. The droids looked confused at first, as if they suspected that Geena had been hit by the bolts before the bolts had actually reached her...

Meanwhile Preef had continued his walk towards the palace gate with his trusted scoundrels and the Mandalorian enforcer at his side. He didn't need the droids to protect himself.. they were more of a statement and they'd return to him shortly. There wasn't a gunslinger alive that could defeat those four droids. At least, no one aside from himself.

"Now!"

Suddenly a dozen heavily armed scoundrels emerged from cover and moved to aim their blasters at the rodian's party. Preef was faster and with a quick-draw of his blaster took out three attackers in the blink of an eye. Undeterred, for it was probably expected, the Hutt-aligned attackers opened fire. Two Crymorah scoundrels were hit for standing too close to the boss and Preef saw himself forced to activate his jetboots and moved up to one-story balcony to draw enemy fire away from the rest of the group. All he could think of was how stupid he had been. The sniper's secondary purpose was to draw out the KX-series droids to give the ambush a better chance of success!

It almost seems like the Hutts had time to prepare.

@Tic @Rhogar @Wit @Isen

 

[Sten]

As the drop ships had come in hard and fast, Sten had spent the final approach listening to an abnormal whine in the starboard engine. The KX series droids hung in cradles alongside his, the harness was something usually used by organics but Sten had insisted upon their use.

"I want them in pristine condition as long as they can be. At least until some meat monkey puts a blaster bolt through them." He rasped at the pilot as they'd been loaded into the simple landers. With the subsequent assault type drop and run, Sten had stepped out of and onto the street, his phalanx of KX stepping off in unison. His orders were simple.

1. Act as a field technician for Preef's droid army.
2. Rendezvous with the Gotra agent, It0.
3. With It0, help Preef to secure his foothold and destabilise the Hutt presence thereby positioning the Rodian into a place of authority.

His final order was one that came from the Gotra leaders themselves. When possible, rescue and subsequently liberate some of the KX droids once the primary objective was complete.

So equipped with a toolbox, hydrospanner, replacement chipsets and the like and armed with his pistol, the slightly unnerving skeletal figure of Sten marched across the street to join the main group. As they drew near, sniper fire ricocheted off the road. Narrowly missing Preefs head, the second shot missing a droid by an even narrower margin. Sten and his little dirty, durasteel dozen of wires and weapons opened fire.

The hail of skyborne blaster bolts lit up the street like some fireworks display on Lifeday.

"It0!" He shouted. "It0? Where are you?"


@Tic @Rhogar @Isen @Eccles @Wit

 

[Taldorak Trenessar]

Taldorak had been moving at Preefs side, offering a nod to It0 as he saw this good droid companion. When the sniper took his shot, he'd heft Rayna, peppering the various floors the bolt came form to suppress any enemy fire. "Get to cover!" he shouted to the Scoundrels. "Defend Preef!"

Preef was undeniably quick, the quickest Tal had ever seen and as the first time seeing Preef in action, it was definitely a sight worthy of awe. As incoming fire rained down on the Crymorah, Tal would step into the path of a few more bolts headed for Preef, the main target. He'd grunt as bolts pinged off of his cuirass and shoulder plate, with even one bolt pinging on the cheek of his helm. Anything said to Preef was immediately discarded as the Big Boss activated his jet boots.

The Mandalorian enforcer would slide to cover, Rayna snapping from right to left, several bolts pinging several foes in the chest and midsection. "Push up!" he would yell out, before advancing, the heavy armor making him the biggest visible target.

@Eccles @Tic @Wit @Isen @Sten

 

[It0]

"It0? Where are you?"

The voice was compressed, filtered and altogether familiar.

"Sten!" It0 announced, stepping from behind the Mandalorian Enforcer's bulk to greet his automated compatriot. "Good to see y--"

The air around was abruptly thick with blaster fire and blossoming sparks as armed figures emerged from their places of ambushed and opened fire. Cries of shock and agony erupted from all quarters as bodies collapsed at either side.

"Urk--!" he blurted as a bolt collided with his left shoulder, showering the startled droid with embers of burning durasteel. Switching the blaster to his still-functioning manipulator, It0 pressed forward.

A whoosh of ignition and the Rodian Crimelord was rocketing from view, drawing the attention of several of their attackers as he did so.

As a surgical droid, It0 was ill-suited for combat. Compared to his martial kinsmen, he was a slow and unequipped for such situations. Nevertheless, he was programmed with the fluidity and precision of a surgeon and provided proper protection could employ those skills to deadly ends.

Using the advancing Mandalorian as cover, the droid trundled up the street expertly squeezing off shots towards their attackers with startling accuracy. Two bolts found their home in Hutt-loyalist heads while a third, lining up his shot at a jettisoning Preef, caught a bolt neatly in the throat. The trio of figures collapsed to the street. It0's smoldering shoulder glowed eerily as the burning durasteel and melted circuitry sizzled and sparked.

"Tal!" It0 called from over the Mandalorian's armored shoulder. "Perhaps Sten and I can provide some suppression fire, allowing you to circle around our friends here."

@Wit @Sten @Taldorak Trenessar @Preef Callo @Isen

 

[Salvatore Russo]

The chaos from the entertainment and gambling district along with the shootout taking place at the palace had the people scrambling away from both locations, many of them heading for a starport to get off the moon entirely. Sal found himself trying to fight upstream against massive hoards of people trying to get as far away from the kill zones as possible. Kriff, Sal thought to himself. He would never get there at this rate. Then his comm went off.

"Salvatore Russo, this is Hutta 1. Come back."

Salvatore was pissed. He told them not to contact him now. He was lucky he had not met up with It0 or some other Crymorah associate. They would have put a blaster bolt in his head for sure or would have died trying. "I told you not to contact me anymore. I could have already met up with Crymorah."

"Your safety is a secondary concern. Are you still in your ship?" There was a coldness, a pragmatic, emotionless coldness to the tone.

"No. I'm trying to fight through the crowds to see if I can do any good on the ground."

"Negative, Russo. Get back in your ship. Give us your ship model and registration codes. We will ensure you are not shot down by the anti-ship cannons. You will be given locations for strafing runs and other valued targets to hit."

Sal didn't like this at all. When the Crymorah Syndicate saw his ship flying around blasting at their droids or personnel, he would have a target on his back bigger than the Hutt they were targeting today. "I'll figure something out," Sal said back over his comms. This was getting hairier than he wanted, but if he could manage to get a lot of goodwill with the Hutts...and survive of course...he was hoping to find himself on the fast track to their good graces and up their criminal ladder. He had only managed to get a few blocks away from the spaceport anyway, so he wouldn't have far to go on foot at least to get back.

Running the distance back to the starport, Russo decided there was no way he was going to fly his own ship. There was no need to alert the Crymorah Syndicate that he was actively working against them in favor of the Hutts. Besides, he didn't want to burn the bridges there if it wasn't necessary. If he managed to do this in a foreign ship...how would they find out it was him that was blasting at them from a ship?

People were panicking, so whatever he had to do to commandeer a ship, he figured that the people running for their lives wouldn't want to play hero. After all, they were all running like cowards as it was. When he got to the starport, he had three starfighters lined out. With any luck, one of them would have a panicking pilot that would try to hop in and get out.

As luck would have it, Russo spotted a portly Sullustan heading for a A-9 Vigilance Interceptor. It wasn't his first choice, but it would have to do. Russo raced after the pilot and after he opened the cockpit, Russo climbed up, put the his Peacemaker blaster to the back his head and the Sullustan, halfway into the cockpit fell unceremoniously back to the concrete ground below. Russo jumped in, put the helmet on, closed the cockpit, fired the ship up and got some lift as he scrounged around for the registration.

"Hutta 1, this is Russo," he said scanning the dashboard, clicking through the readouts for the registration numbers.

"What is the registration and model of your ship?"

"I'm not in my ship....Not enough firepower for the job." Sal was telling the truth, but that wasn't why he took the ship. "I borrowed an A-9 Interceptor. Ship registration.....56B-00081."

"Roger that. We'll send that information to the palace. Hopefully you will not be shot down. Make your way to the palace, we'll give you instructions when you get there."


@Eccles @Wit @Tic @Rhogar @Sten

 

[Preef Callo]

The ambushers fell quickly and with Tal tanking way more bolts than they expected, their moral dropped instantly. It wasn't their luck then Preef landed on the balcony and was thus in a position to aim over their cover. The legendary rodian took aim and snapped another three bolts, killing three more and whoever was left now quickly decided to run for their lives. Their ambush, well designed and well executed, foiled simply because they were far inferior to their target. Preef turned towards his little band. Some had fallen, he noticed, but not the droids and not his trusted enforcer. Taldorak somehow found himself some real beskar, the rodian mused, somehow not all too pleased and thinking about the risk the Mandalorian now posed for a gunslinger like him. Never mind that, though! First they had a Hutt to kill and control room to seize!

"Press on!" Preef waved to the party before he used his jetboots to land safely on the streets behind the ambushers' dead bodies.

They covered the distance to the palace's staff entrance and by that time the four KX-series security droids rejoined them. <<Target Neutralized>> one of them stated, for really, that is all their programming could do to make sense of Geena's peculiar fall out of the window. Preef nodded, not having expected a different outcome and pointed at the door. "Break that down."

Now the trick with security doors is usually slicing the panels, right? Sure, for an ordinary meatbag that's how you did it. Sometimes you could also just shoot the panel, but then you ran the risk of the door being closed forever. With the KX-series, Preef had another option: Pure machinated strength. Two of the droids holstered their pistols and positioned themselves on either side of the door before starting to violently pulling it open. Sparks flew and a loud scraping was heard as metal was pushed out of its bounds.

The remaining two droids provided cover and Preef himself aimed his pistol at whatever could emerge behind the door. Just one moment... they were so close to breaching the palace... only thing left was the interior and then he'd control the kriffing Smuggler's Moon and he could finally remove the Hutts that had so ruined his parents' lives and his childhood.


@Tic @Rhogar @Wit @Isen

 

[It0]

It0 stepped over the charred remains of their ambushers only allowing himself the briefest of glimpses at their mangled, smoking corpses to admire the handiwork of the collecting Zaa Fenn. Falling in line behind Preef, the group made their way towards the palace and it’s great, twisting spyres. The streets smoldered and smoked around them and he could hear the blasterfire in the distance, intermingling with the ceaseless HoloAds and the shrieks of the wounded.

One arm dangling uselessly at his side, It0 took cover behind a nearby container crate and watched as the combat droids wrenched the palace doors from its moorings. Leveling his blaster at the door beyond, he whispered a silent plea to the Maker for their survival.

Behind them a distinctly new sound joined the chorus. The high trill of a ship’s engine. Not just a ship, a fighter. He turned to face the incoming craft, it’s resonant cry still the only indicator of its approach.

“Preef!” he cried out, searching the smog-choked skies of Nar Shaddaa. “We’ve got company! A ship inbound! And fast!”

@Eccles @Wit @Isen @Rhogar @Sten

 

[Salvatore Russo]

The A-9 began weaving its way through the Nar Shaddaa skyline making the relatively short trip to the palace as instructed by the Hutt contact over his comms. Russo was a steady pilot, a decent one, but this ship had some serious handles, and the biggest danger was over-steering because this baby could make hairpin turns with eeeeeeeeeeeaaaase. Russo had to concentrate not to overcorrect during the turns and crash into the sides of the of the buildings he was dodging and weaving through.

"Hutta 1, I'm approaching the palace. I'll be coming in from the northeast. I have cover from the surrounding buildings for the longest period of time coming in from that direction. What do I need to target?"

"The droids and Callo are trying to breach the palace. They have already torn through the security and blast doors. You should have both a light laser and heavy laser cannon available, correct?"

They had clearly pulled up their information on the Vigilance Interceptor. "That's right," Sal said back.

"Do a strafing run any straggling droids with the light cannon. Use the heavy laser cannon on the droids at the door."

Russo tried to shake the logic. "What? They already busted the security door. The heavy cannon will make rubble out of the entrance."

"That's precisely the point, Mr. Russo. It will close the entrance with a wall of fallen concrete, durasteel, and stone. Likely will take their droids out as it crumbles on top of them as well."

Well, Russo couldn't really argue that. They were desperate and Callo was just a few moments from breaching the entrance anyway. The A-9 popped around a building just to the northeast of the building and immediately began to open the light cannon on the droids between the ship and the palace, and Salvatore didn't waste time locking the heavy cannon on the junction of the top of the entrance door to the palace and the concrete wall above it. He fired four shots from the heavy laser cannon at his target, getting all of them off and right on target. That many shots wouldn't make a hole, it would turn the entire front wall to rubble. He had to imagine the Hutts were currently working from the inside to find a back door, an exit somewhere else...or perhaps they were bringing in the cavalry from somewhere else. Russo didn't know, he just knew what his job was.

With the maneuverability of the ship, it was a breeze to instantly get the ship in position to continue the work with the light laser cannons on the droids in front of the palace. He rattled off another volley of shots as he started his first attempt at a low strafing run. If he could get a location on Callo, that may just be the next target...

@Eccles @Tic @Wit @Rhogar @Sten

 

[Preef Callo]

It0's warning rang loud across the group and even though it was partly muffled by the sounds of the door finally giving way, the loud shrills of the engine were unmistakable. "Get in! Quick!" the rodian shouted, casting only the shortests of glances towards the uncoming ship. Flying through an urban area at high speed and using weapons wasn't something any regular pilot could do, heck, he reckoned not even the top Zaa Fenn pilot in the Black Swift could pull it off with pinpoint accuracy, but then Preef wasn't sure what hidden talents the Hutt Cartel was hiding to protect their beloved Nar Shadda... and he wasn't about to wait and see.

Preef dashed through the gaping hole in the palace, followed by his KX-series droids and a handful of scoundrels he hoped it0 belonged to. The rest, either didn't dare to risk it or didn't make it as the A-9 opened fire. Half a dozen droids were obliterated by laser fire and then the worst was yet to come:

While Preef and company would manage to get far enough into the palace to be safe from the missiles, not everyone got so lucky and Salvatore Russo managed to bury dozens of sentient scoundrels under the rubble of the palace's outer wall. Unfortunately for him, while his ship flew passed, the collapsing wall revealed more openings from where the survivors could enter to seek cover and, with some luck, remove new slabs of stone that covered the openings.

Meanwhile the palace shook, lights flickered and Preef turned to see who all got through alive. "Did they really just fire at their own palace!?" he said, amazed at the ruthlessness of Hutts. For a moment it looked like the rodian doubted himself. Had he made the right move? These deaths would all be on him, so why did he feel justified to take this course of action? Preef 'kriffing' Callo. Fastest Gunslinger in the Galaxy. Had he bought into his own Legend too much? Although the doubts were warranted, the rodian quickly waved them to the back of his mind, for now, now he had a job to do to stop all the killing. "We head straight to the control room-" he suddenly realized something and scanned the survivors, "Scratch? Did you make it!?" They would need the Zaa Fenn slicer to provide access to the anti-ship defenses once they breached the control room. If she hadn't made it in then all of this would've been for- "I'm here, Preef-" the slicer's one arm waved to him as she pushed her dust-covered body passed the others to get in view of the rodian. "-I think I was the last one through." Kriff.

Nodding, for he was pretty sure he couldn't form a sentence now without his voice cracking, Preef turned and headed further into the palace. Hutt Palaces didn't differ much from each other and this wouldn't be the first time he had even been to one, either. The control room would be close to the palace so the Hutt would always have a direct line to it.. no doubt about it. And if Bira the Hutt was still around.. then she'd get gutshot, too.


@Rhogar @Isen @Tic

 

[It0]

"Get in! Quick!" came the order.

Nothing if not compliant, It0 abandoned his cover as the fighter came screaming in cannons blazing. Plumes of blast debris erupted magnificently overhead as the craft opened fire on the palace entrance and the droid could hear the masonry begin to crumble and give way.

Chunks of debris and detritus began to rain down around him as he pressed forward through the doorway and then all was chaos. The shrieking press of bodies and the collapsing stonework filled his sensors and as the harried droid lurched forward to avoid getting trapped in the fray.

A core-shaking impact abruptly sent him cartwheeling forward, tumbling feet-over-cranial-unit, intertia pitching him across the palace floor until he finally came to rest. Recalibrating his frazzled spatial arrays, It0 gingerly got to his feet and surveyed the damage.

A mass of falling stone had torn a ragged opening down the front of his torso. Raw, angry wiring protruded and sparked from the wounds. But there was little time to waste. If the Hutts had time to react and mobilize a response to their incursion, they would be pinned down and eradicated without so much as a fighting chance. Through the settling dust, he could dimly make out Preef in discussion with another Rodian.

He approached the pair, his shattered arm dangling and great tear ablaze with broken circuitry.

"Boss Preef!" he called out. "We've no time to waste! Bira will use the confusion to mobilize a response and potentially make her escape."

He glanced back towards the ruinous palace entrance. Several of the Zaa Fenn lay dead, their bodies crushed and mangled beneath the heap of rubble.

"And I don't think we should count on additional support." he remarked ruefully. His photoreceptors flickered momentarily as he seemed to search the debris. "What about our Mandalorian friend? And Sten! Did they make it? Crik! We must press onward! The droids and I can provide cover so that your kinsman might slice her way in to the controls."

He nodded toward Scratch approvingly.

@Sten @Eccles @Isen @Rhogar

 

[Preef Callo]

Preef turned his head slightly towards it0, "I don't give a kriff's ass about Bira, once we have the control room we can just shoot her out of the skies." Capturing a Hutt that wasn't even on the Hutt Council was of no importance to the rodian, who cared more about claiming actual control of the moon's defenses than having the Hutt formally 'submit to Crymorah rule'. Voluntary submissions was something for civilized worlds, but out here in the world of gunslingers and criminals the only thing that mattered was who shot first and managed to actually hit their target. Today, Preef was intent to do both.

He didn't waste time to see who else survived, who didn't or who was left out on the street. The time for that came after the fighting because the droid was right: they couldn't waste anymore time. Barely rounding a corner, Preef spotted two weequays about to fire at him, but he beat them to it and blaster one of them right smack in the face, startling the other and delaying his shot for just long enough for Preef to squeeze the trigger a second time. It seemed simple once the second weequay dropped dead and the rodian barely had to slow his advanced pace, but he only made it seem that way. This was Preef Callo.. and he had no equal when it came to slinging a blaster.

Further ahead it seemed to get recognized as faint cries of "It's Preef Callo!" were heard with footsteps that never seemed to come any closer. Finally they reached the throne room and here they were met with considerable resistance, forcing Preef to take cover to the side of the doorway and looking at the KX-series Security Droids. "Kill them all," he said, coldly, much colder than some may have been accustomed to. This wasn't Preef Callo the trainrobber or the one that recruited fellow scoundrels into the new Zaa Fenn Crime family. No, this was the rodian who engineered an invasion and fully believed in his own legend.

The security droids went ahead and lay down an impressive amount of covering fire while taking several hits to their chassis. For five seconds they tanked all fire coming from the defenders and then Preef stepped through the doorway, blaster pistol raised and on sight of the first man to have come out of cover a little too enthusiastically to shoot at the droids, pulled the trigger. The bolt flew straight and hit the young man, most likely still a teenager, in the throat. Then Preef's accompanying scoundrels, the few that were left after the devastating collapse earlier, followed him in and started blasting. Hesitant on whether or not to change targets, the defenders were overwhelmed by superior firepower and one by one fell dead or otherwise incapacitated. Two KX-series droids fell as well, too damaged to continue their function, and three of Preef's own scoundrels had caught bolts in lethal areas. The rodian didn't really seem to pay attention to the men he lost, "Scratch, control room," he ordered and the slicer up to the door and plugged in a security spike.

"it0-" Preef turned to his droid underling, who he had doubt would have survived such a skirmish, "-find Bira the Hutt. Radio in her location or in what ship she's fleeing." He looked at two scoundrels that looked somewhat fresh, "Join him."

Meanwhile the door to the control room opened and Scratch only barely managed to dive away from a bolt coming straight for her. Preef, startled by the sudden sound of fire, turned quickly and watched how another of the droids was caught in the head with a heavy bolt, forcing it to fall backwards as stiff and motionless as a plank. Undeterred by fear of dying, the rodian with delusions of legendary invincibility strode forward and went through the open doorway. A bolt flew towards his head, but he dodged it and fired back, hitting his target like he always did. "No! Please-" a human woman cried as she desperately tried to hide behind one of the controlling consoles. "-I surren-" Preef's bolt struck her true, too, and killed her before she could fully utter her unconditional surrender.

"Clear," the rodian called out, "Get to slicing."

It would take Scratch a bit to get absolute control over the turrets, but she worked fast and she was already plugging in.

@Rhogar @Isen @Tic

 

[Salvatore Russo]

Russo circled around and was quite hopeful that Preef and his droids had been destroyed in the collapsing rubble. Unfortunately, his contact said otherwise. "Russo, this is Hutta 1. Preef Callo and his associates have managed to breach the palace. They are dangerously close to taking the control room."

Salvatore was confused. "I thought we were trying to prevent the kidnapping of a Hutt."

"That was always a secondary objective."

The aspiring gangster was confused by that....was? Secondary? He tried to come up with creative ways that he could target Callo and his droids, but since they were inside the building, he was drawing a blank. He just didn't see how it was possible. He had to break the bad news to the Hutts. "You win some, you lose some. The Hutts lost this one. I need to go back and get my ship out of the area. Callo and the Crymorah don't know I'm the one fighting them up here, and I would like to keep it that way," Salvatore said over comms.

"Negative. Your objective has changed. See if you can level the entire palace with your heavy blasters."

Russo blinked heavily. What did they say? "Are you saying you want me to bring down the entire building? That could kill everyone inside. I thought we were trying to protect some special Hutt family member in there?"

There was a short pause, but Hutta 1 responded soon afterwards. "As I stated, that was a secondary objective. The first is maintaining Hutt control on that moon. Also, Preef Callo is in there as well. It will be worthy sacrifice and a fair trade. A Hutt for the head of Callo and continuing control of Nar Shaddaa. Try to bring the entire building to rubble. Now."

Russo shook his head. These Hutts were cold-blooded criminals. There was no doubt about that.If they were willing to sacrifice family, what in the world would they do to him? With most of the droids and Callo inside the building but without control of the anti-ship cannons, Russo was able to stabilize his ship and start firing heavy cannon shot after heavy cannon shot into the palace with easy computer-aided targeting. Explosions and debris would fly through the air and the palace would begin to rock as the very foundations and skeletal frame of the building would start to become compromised. Soon, the entire palace would collapse in on itself, and anyone in it would be part of a huge metal and concrete grave in the casino district.

@Tic @Eccles

 

[It0]

The trio of scoundrels set off as ordered, navigating their way through the endless halls and corridors of Bira's palace. The thunder of laser fire pounding the structure's exterior echoed through the halls and seeded a wide panic. It0 and his compatriots were all but ignored by the scrambling employees and guests of the Hutt Cartel.

Even as it schismed and shook, Bira's palace was as opulant and splendid as one might expect from a Hutt. Sumptuous fabrics shared space with great columns of shimmering marble. Fine artwork trembled and fell from their displays, ignored by their fleeing stewards. The medical droid and his flunkies rounded a corner and found themselves at the start of another large corridor.

A grisled Twi'lek in a weatherd scav-suit regarded them with alarm, wheeling around and sprinting the opposite direction down the hallway. She barked into her commlink as she ran.

"Callo's men are in the palace!" she shouted shrilly. "Evacuate! Evacuate! Get the boss to the hangar now and engage th--"

"Stop her." It0 directed.

The scoundrel to his left ripped his blaster from its holter and let loose a single shot that caught the retreating Twi'lek neatly between the shoulders. Her knees buckled and she crumpled to the floor, a serpentine coil of smoke rising from her corpse.

As they moved through the hall, carefully sidestepping the dead Hutt stooge, the droid spoke into his own commlink.

"It0 to Boss Preef." he said. "The target is en route to the compound's hangar to make her escape. Moving to intercept."

@Isen @Eccles

 

[Vako Yizok]

To say the situation in the Syndicates was getting out of hand was a grave understatement. The virus was ripping profit margins to shreds, and every scoundrel in the galaxy knew it. What was making it worse was that times of peace were supposed to be the moments when everyone prospered. War time was when small men rose, and old men fell, but a time when the galaxy was not in the grips of an all out war even the little guy was supposed to be getting a good cut. Spice flowed freely, gambling went unimpeded. No embargos, no blockades, nothing. Everyone was supposed to be getting rich and fat.

But they were mired with a virus that the bosses didn't even seem to care about. It was guard their riches and to hell with the rest.

In these circumstances Vako could hardly understand how it was that an upstart had taken a droid army and knocked down one of the bosses. What was more was that he was somehow handling a squad of goons defending the next one in line?

Vako had not fired a shot in the entire skirmish, and he'd kept his squad out of the fray while he considered the options. Why rush to the front lines when a Scoundrels war was twice as deadly as the conventional ones?

The Rodians droid army had breached the palace. By all accounts they had seized most of it. And here Vako's people were as the next in line to the fight?

The words were coming from all over the palace, they had mostly lost. Anyone stuck inside was likely to get mulched... and it was not likely there would be room on the bosses escape ship for anything.

But the attackers on the other hand in this newly minted civil war?.... There may just be room on their ship to get away... and they may just be thankful for new recruits.

Vako thought fast, and saw a security feed on his datapad before they lost some control.

"Taldorak Trenessar" said allowed, recognizing a Mandalorian he'd worked with in the past. If he was there, Vako knew he was probably on the wrong side.

One of his goons was ready to take up position and Vako held him.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Vako said pointing at the datapad image of the Mandalorian. "I know him! If he's over there, then that means there's more money to made then we're making dying over here."

A goon reminded Vako that their orders were to stand and fight.

Vako's eyes narrowed behind his white faced tattoo. He did not like the questioning from an idiot, and realized there was no reasoning in this do or die moment.

Vako lifted his rifle and murdered the goon.

THWAAAAA

The other goons all looked alarmed and confused.

"I said there's money to be made with those droiders." Vako noted the invading force. "So you're with me, or dying with him and all the other bosses pawns in the palace."

Vako and his squad were holding the entrance to the hanger. The most advantageous position perhaps in the whole palace. He was not sure what do, but he knew that it had value either to the boss... or the attackers... either way he was tired of being kicked around the galaxy for nothing.

Vako sealed the door, and formed his squad up in front of it. They were scrappy and none probably as experienced as Vako, but they were well armed and well position. This was a make or break moment for Vako Yizak... he just hoped this was the right moment for him to stake his life for opportunity.

And then the boss came around the corner, and Vako brought his rifle to bare.

"Sorry, boss. Looks like the toll for the bridge just went up."

@Isen @Eccles @Tic @Wit @Rhogar @Sten

 

[Preef Callo]

Geena Callo cluthed her left side as she swung her leg over the speederbike. She was hurting. Her fall from the window hadn't been fast enough to dodge all the shots from the KX-series Security Droids and the damage from the heavy shot was more than a simple bacta patch could fix. Not to mention bruising those ribs on landing. Still, she survived, which was the best she could hope for she supposed. Shouldn't have accepted the hit on her little brother. She never expected him to dodge a shot like that, but then again, perhaps it had been wiser to regard him as the legendary gunslinger from those HoloNet-movies rather than the little guppy she knew following her around when they were young. That Preef would never have dodged that shot! Probably would have died in the sewers within a fortnight of their parents, though... she fired up the engines on the bike and looked up at a starfighter in the distance firing bolts at the palace, "Getting off this moon now is gonna be a Poodoo."

_____________________________________

Raz Matac was covered in dust and his hands had deep cuts from when he tried to move slabs of rubble to get into the palace after the door had collapsed. They had been blasting for almost half an hour now and their losses had almost been as significant as that of the Hutt defenders..well, except for the Crymorah droids, for they never seemed to tire or get fatigued and operated in a tandem Raz had only ever seen with enforcers of the Mothraki Crime Family. Their software was clearly composed of the best that bastard Haro Mothraki could find and that all but assured the Crymorah's victory here today. Kriff, Raz had to hand it to the rodian. Preef Callo was known as a mere gunslinger, but perhaps he did have more of a criminal mastermind vibe in that green head of his than Raz had thought.

It was at this moment, when the fighting subsided slightly and the 'meatbags' could take a breather and look around, that Raz spotted the lone starfighter blasting at the roof of the palace. "What the-" he frowned, wondering where the guns of their dropships had gone to not provide aerial support during this entire invasion, but at the same time he knew it wasn't worth re-analyzing the entire plan this far into its execution. "-snipers! Fire at that ship!" he shouted angrily. It may not do much to stop it, but he wasn't about to get blamed for not trying to stop someone obviously planning to make a ceiling drop on his boss' head.

_____________________________________

"Copy, it0-" Preef replied to his loyal droid underling, before stepping behind Scratch so he could read along with what she was doing. "Give me some room here, boss-" the slicer snapped, "-I'm almost in." The rodian complied with an utterance of protest, for he had no kriffing idea what she was doing in the first place and when he looked over he was pretty sure he couldn't make out any of the symbols that were rapidly moving through her screen. Right there he felt himself even more of a one-shot wonder, really good at one thing and outclassed by scoundrels on most other stuff... no wait, he was a kriffing Legend and he lead this whole thing! He opened his link with the droid again, "-Take her out, but if that ship takes off, send me its make and model." blasting it from the skies from the seized control room was going to send a message to the entire Hutt Cartel that Hutts... however hard for them to comprehend, were fair game now.

Meanwhile the ground shook slightly and sure enough parts of the palace started to collapse, but a control room wasn't placed in a palace's most vulnerable part, quite the opposite actually, so Preef was confident that Scratch would manage to slice into the anti-air turrets in time to shoot all Hutt-aligned ships from the skies.


@Tic @Isen @Morse