Open Nar Shaddaa Invasion Hostile Takeover

[Salvatore Russo]

For most starfighters, the sniper fire from small arms fire wouldn't be a major concern. The A-9 Vigilance Interceptor, however, was not most ships. The interceptor was made for speed and maneuverability. It was light and there were no shields to speak of. It could level a heavy punch, but it certainly couldn't take it.

Russo had no idea that the snipers were going to take their shots at him, and the first shot took him by surprise. He was an easy target since he was hovering in a single location, battering the ceiling with heavy blaster after heavy blaster, pausing only long enough to keep from overheating the guns. The first sniper shot came in and rocked one of the "wings" that connected the cockpit to the guns. Immediately red lights began to flash and alarms sounded inside the cockpit. He couldn't take many more, so he hard-strafed to his right as a volley other sniper shots flew past the viewport.

"Kriff....thank goodness this thing is fast," Russo said to himself. He swung around to the other side of the building opposite of where the sniper fire came from and again continued battering the buildings with his heavy guns. "Come on sweetheart, just stay in one piece long enough for me to bring this building down and get me the kriff outta here." The entire outer shell of the palace was starting to rack. The outside of the building lost nearly all of its integrity. One of his shots hit a weak spot in the roof and the debris went flying and part of the roof and ceiling started to collapse.

Russo would start to circle around, taking odd dips and dives and elevation changes to make hitting the ship an almost impossible shot except for the the best of shooters as he he tried to draw sniper fire. If he could locate the snipers, he could position the A-9 in a place where he could either take out the snipers or finish taking out building and not be fired upon.

@Eccles @Tic @Morse

 

[It0]

Only the luck of the Gotra allowed It0 and his fellow flunkies to reach the bustling hangar bay before Bira and her retinue arrived. The bay itself was dominated by the squat, rugged shape of her personal craft, a Kappa-Class Shuttle. The trio of Zaa Fenn stood huddled near the starship's cockpit, blasters at the ready.

"The moment they step through the blaster doors, open fire." It0 commanded. Through the great tear in his chassis, smelted circuitry sizzled and popped. His right arm, mangled and crushed, swayed uselessly at his side. This conflict needed to end soon or he would be one more piece of inert machinery rusting away on the Smuggler's Moon. "We must not let them reach the ship."

In his one good manipulator he gripped a blaster and now gestured towards a large loading crane that occupied one corner of the bay.

"Take cover there, behind the crane. Split our lines of fire."

The scoundrels offered a silent nod and sprinted off in the direction of the towering machinery. As they took position, the medical droid tucked himself behind one of the shuttle's landing columns and turned to face the blast doors.

They were rewarded a moment later as the doors slid apart and the repulsive Bira the Hutt came slithering into view, a trio of bodyguards in tow.

"This way your Eminenc--" It0 heard one bodyguard utter before he was abruptly cut down by a well placed blaster shot.

The Zaa Fenn opened fire with a furious volley of shots that sent Bira and her pair of remaining flunkies lurching for nearby cover, desperately scanning the bay wildly for the location of their attackers.

"Master Bira!" It0 cried out, emerging from behind the ship's landing aparatus. "Oh bless the Maker you're here!"

He toddled towards where the Hutt and her men cowered, photoreflectors wide with panic. Stunned, the blaster fire momentarily halted.

"There! Behind the crane!" he trilled. "Oh look what they've done to me sir! The Zaa Fenn swine!"

Bira's thugs squinted toward the crane and opened fire. A firefight ensued but within moments, Preef's men lay smoldering on the hangar floor. Another of Bira's men slumped against the wall, a burnt hole where his gut should've been.

The Hutt her remaining man studied the damage with momentary silence before regarding the droid at their side.

"Are there more?" the bodyguard asked.

"Oh yessir, undoubtedly sir!" It0 replied, blaster still dangling at his side. The bodyguard holstered his weapon and turned towards the shuttle.

"We'd best get you onboard your Eminence." he hissed. "Preef and his traitorous goons will undoubtedly try to wrest control of the--"

It0 whipped his pistol to bear and drilled a hole neatly through the man's skull, not even pausing to watch him crumple before pointing the blaster towards the stunned Hutt.

"Cheeskar goo!" Bira exclaimed, a thin layer of panic-induced mucus materializing on her leathery brow.

"Nudd chaa." It0 commanded, flicking his blaster toward's the shuttle's ramp. "Solo chuba killya."

Gulping audibly, Bira did as instructed and slithered shakily toward the starcraft. It0 stepped over the dead Hutt bodyguards, paying them as little attention. The pair ascended the ramp and entered the shuttle's dimmed interior. As they did so, It0 traded his blaster for a modular syringe attachment stowed in his torso's interior compartment.

Lurching forward, he plunged the needle through into the Hutt's thickened hide and deposited its load. Bira spun around, face blanched with shock.

"Nok!" she cried out, but already her features slackened and her voice thickened as she lost consciousness and she slumped to the shuttle floor. It0 monitored her motionless form for a moment, her throaty snores filling the craft.

He activated his commlink.

"It0 to Preef." he called as he worked the control console on the wall and watched the shuttle's ramp slowly grind to a close. "I've taken Bira...alive. Unfortunately my fellow Zaa Fenn were killed in the confrontation. I'm in the hangar bay, aboard Bira's ship and awaiting your command."

@Eccles @Isen @Morse

 

[Vako Yizok]

Vako could hardly comprehend the amount of money that was transferred to his account after Bira slithered away. The terms were simple enough, Vako had a squad of thugs, goons, and idiots with rifles that were blocking the door in. Bira was unarmed and did not have the firepower that Vako had. life was more important to most then money, and a little money went pretty far for lower end thugs such as those before her.

But when he put a rifle on what was now his former boss, that made his value, or at least his danger factor become something not to be trifled with. He demanded she pay the toll, and pay the toll she did. An extreme amount of money, more then he'd ever seen in his life. Now he could have demanded more, but Vako was a beggar, not much for choosing.

With a wave of his hand, Vako and his thugs scurried down a hallway, weapons still on the Hutt as she passed through the doors. They were getting out of sight and out of mind in the biggest hurry that they could.

"Alright boys! Let's get to the speeders and make tracks!"

The speeder hanger was not far off, and Vako was not waiting with the others. Toydarian wings could fly fast with the shaking rubble and soot coming from the ceiling it felt as though the place was going to break apart. There would be so much on the mind of the Hutt that it wouldn't matter that Vako was on the wrong side of her. There were other families and rivals out there that he could shift over to.

Everyone was just trying to outrun the blaster bolt that was fired at them from birth, and Vako flew fast.

There was scattered thugs around every which way in the palace, and Vako took lower tunnels to get out. There were speeders in a sort of structure at the end of the tunnel, which was rattling what felt like to pieces from the structural damage that had been done by something on the outside.

But when Vako made it to a speeder truck, he waited just long enough for truck to be filled up. The others would catch another speeder if they were fast enough to avoid the rubble. Vako was in the drivers seat, and he slammed the to accelerator to zoom out of the small structure to the outside.

From here Vako could see what was going on. The building was pummeled, smoke rising all around. A fighter flew around and Vako was not sure what to make of it all.

"Yizok to anyone out there. This buildings coming apart. Droids are swarming the thing. Best grab it and go if you wanna get out alive. Heading to the safehouse now."

Vako was fishing for news really. He and his heavily armed thugs were wary of anything at that point and he just needed to know if going to the safehouse was actually safe, or if that would be a worthy distraction to make a real escape and divide up the cash.

 

[Preef Callo]

Suddenly the screens in the control room lit up and Scratch uttered a relieved sigh as she leaned back in her chair, "Bossman, you have control." It had taken her a bit, but the Zaa Fenn slicer had just wrestled netsec and won. Marissa would be proud of her and Preef would be sure to relay to her their slicer's accomplishment once she got her on the holo again. For now, though, the rodian quickly jumped behind the controls and opened a channel on all frequencies:

"This is Preef Callo, I have control of the anti-air guns-" he paused as he took the dual joysticks in his hands and selected the first confirmed Hutt craft, using his famous blasting skills to accurately factor in the ship's movement and then he pressed the firing button, sending a dozen lasers and splitting the ship apart in what was a very visible explosion. "-seize firing and land, or die."

All over the moon, Hutt Cartel craft raced to leave the moon's orbit as the next point of focus for the rodian was finding the one responsible for the structural damage to his new palace. By now only the area he was in didn't have at least some cracks in the ceiling, but he worried for- Bzzt Bzzt, his comm buzzed and he patched his loyal droid through to hear that he had captured the Hutt. "Good work, it0-" he ignored the part of two of his scoundrels kicking the bucket for they weren't the only ones that died to get him his moon. "I'll send men to return her to her throne room," suddenly a weight was lifted on his shoulders as he thought of the consequences of what he had done and was about to do. A public execution of a Hutt would enrage the Hutt Cartel and trigger an all-out war between the syndicates, while holding her hostage might give him enough time to fortify on Nar Shaddaa and get the other syndicates on his side...

Preef had a tough choice to make, but right not he finally spotted the culprit firing upon the palace (@Isen) and he didn't waste a second, lining up the turrets he began firing at the small fighter. Four bolts coming roughly from the ship's eight 'o clock would burn the occupant alive if he didn't stop his bombardment immediately.



@Isen @Tic @Morse

 

[Salvatore Russo]

Well, so here it was. The great Preef Callo had control of the anti-ship cannons and was threatening to shoot Russo down. There was no chance that he could defeat Callo in this confrontation. Russo was a good pilot, not a great one. And Callo wasn't a great shot, he was arguably the best in the galaxy. Then, Hutta 1 chimed in.

"This is Hutta 1. You need to take out the anti-ship cannons so you can continue to bring that building down."

Russo didn't answer. He did stop shooting. That was all that Preef commanded at the moment. He had to think this through. How could he not die here at the hands of Callo shooting him down and yet keep his standing with the Hutts. He needed to think fast.

"Russo. Do you copy? Take out the damn anti-ship guns! Now!" The situation inside must be dire. It was all but over. It had to be. Why else would Durr's personal contact be in such a frantic panic? But if he fled, then what happens with his deal with the Hutts and the teamsters? Russo did the only logical thing...

He lied.

"I have to bail, Hutta 1. My wing has been shot, and I tried to hold on, but I'm about to lose my wing. I have to fall back."

"No! Russo, do not turn b..."

"No choice, Hutta 1. I'm losing altitude!"

Russo dove it hard left and toward the ground, so close to the ground that the loud alarms in the ship started going off which was exactly what he wanted. He started weaving back and forth between the buildings toward the spaceport where he parked the 5-O. As he approached the spaceport, he clicked the comms back on.

"Hutta 1, I'm going to have to eject! Critical failure in the wing!"

Russo hit the ejection seat as he neared the spaceport and let the A-9 fly unmanned and unpiloted until it crashed into one of the tall business district buildings on the Nar Shaddaa surface. He left the comms on for some extra drama and at Durr's palace, they would hear the alarms continue to ring until the explosion. Then the comms turned off due to being blown to bits. Sal directed the ejector seat thrusters toward the 5-O where he parked in the spaceport. He was about to get off this damn rock, and with any luck, Crymorah would never know who the pilot of that ship was.

@Eccles @Tic @Morse

 

[Preef Callo]

One by one the Hutt Cartel's valiant credit-motivated defenders either fell or surrendered and the Crymorah Syndicate appeared to rule Nar Shaddaa by violence and the threat of violence. Soon that would change, ofcourse, for Preef was known as a much more fair boss than the Hutts ever were and... well, considering the AMS virus running wild on the lower levels and all around the moon, someone who has droids to defend the local sentients would soon be regarded more as a savior than a conqueror.

First action of the new ruler of Nar Shaddaa? Preef smiled as Shere Zaa Fenn showed up in the throne room. "Preef, this place is a mess-" he was referring to the damage that lone fighter had done before Preef had shot him down, "-but they've already started to hail you, the Zaa Fenn and the Crymorah Syndicate as their saviors down in the overcrowded middle levels." The downside of quarantining the lower levels in fear of the virus' spread was that billions of people were suddenly forced to overcrowd every hotel and literally camped on the durasteel streets amid the moon's acid rains. The middle levels, therefore, had been hurt considerably by the Hutt's approach and Preef intended to change all of that. "The palace could've housed a lot of them," the rodian sighed, internally cursing the reckless actions of the Hutt lackeys, "but let the Blackwell droids takeover the checkpoints and let the people in. I'm sure the casino's and high end hotels will let them squat for free when they get word that's what Preef Callo wants."

They had to be careful not to let the infected in, ofcourse, but the droids could easily filter them out. The aging Cathar nodded in approval and he had already given the orders, expecting the rodian to still be the same person that freed slaves and not be too wrapped up into his own legend. He was half-right, for Preef suddenly grinned at him mischievously, "let Crime Watch News send over their reporters, take a look around Nar Shaddaa. I have a surprise in store."

Kriff. That was bloody ominous.


/ END THREAD

@Isen @Tic @Morse @Wit @Rhogar