Nixing Nixor

[Alexander Ayers]

At first there was nothing in the void of space surrounding the world Nixor. But that changed in an instant.

The stars that created the twinkling backdrop seemed to bend and twist. They vanished from sight in an instant as a series of ships dropped from hyperspace. Frigates, corvettes and associated support craft dominated Nixor local space. They made no move to attack, but their weapons and shields were powered and online. The threat was not subtle. The Galactic Alliance had business here.

Alexander Ayers and his partners on this mission sat aboard an armored transport that broke from the hangar of the primary frigate and headed into Nixor's atmosphere the moment the carrier reverted to realspace. He was mildly apprehensive about this mission, having spent time on Nixor years earlier as a young man. It was a wretched place, rife with crime and violence. It was run by a series of warlords who kept the world only so that they could use it as a transport midpoint. As it was, that transport hub was their target. The Galactic Alliance was making its first push into Empire territory to liberate the world of Mimban and Nixor sat squarely between that world and their holdings in the former Imperial Hutta space.

As they continued their way to their landing point, Alex looked over to his partners. Arda he knew but the other woman, Vesper, he had only met once and very briefly at the meeting where he had proposed this plan to the Alliance. He hoped that they would be able to work together as seamlessly as they'd need to to take this world quickly and efficiently. "I haven't been to Nixor in years," he said, striking up some conversation as the ship bumped and burned through the atmosphere. "Not the nicest place...and just so you know: Don't drink the water or eat the food. Everything is riddled with parasites."

@GABA @Logan

 

[Vesper T'Rahmmmmmmmmmmm]

_________________

For most of the time spent in transit Vesper had chosen to remain quiet. Truth be told, this would be her first official operation as both a Jedi and a member of the Galactic Alliance. Up until this now, Vesper had sort of gone out of her way to keep her ties loose - approach her training in a way that was almost blase despite her somewhat obvious naivety. Recent things had made her change her mind, though. There was no point in being a Jedi unless she was going to put all of herself into it, and that started today.

Thanks for the head's up, Vesper said to Alexander. She was not particularly familiar with either of her mission partners, but they both seemed nice enough. Vesper vaguely remembered their faces from Ifrane, but so much was said by so many there it was hard for her to keep track. Never been to Nixor, though I have heard about it's reputation.

Vesper paused for a moment, thinking about their objective. I've negotiated with pirates and thugs before. Do we have a back up plan in case our leverage isn't as.. leverageable as we hope it to be? Vesper grew up on Nar Shaddaa and was involved with various gang activities until she was a middle-teenager. In her experience, you always needed a plan B when dealing with scum and criminals. Probably a plan C, too. Snakes will be snakes. Always good to have something in your pocket in case you get bit.

Vesper went back to being quiet again. They'd be landing soon enough, and she was already prepared to disembark.

@Lucid @GABA

 

[Arda Breaux]

Everyone was quiet and Arda wondered if everyone was thinking about the same thing in regards to Nixor being next, if not top in scum and villainy in the galaxy. She had heard rumours about the isolated world from smugglers on Corellia, but had yet to see the place for herself, not that it was at the top of her list of places to visit. As they came out of hyperspace, the transport broke free from the cruiser, Alex broke the silence, introducing his experience to Nixor and the padawan smiled when Vesper, a padawan that Arda had only met just hours prior thanked him for the advice. She inquired about their plan and Arda frowned, "If it doesn't work, then it clearly would turn to more aggressive negotiations if needed to be."

She said flatly, knowing in her own experiences when negotiations failed, people died before being able to report back, "I have exactly what I will need in my pocket." she brushed her side where her borrowed saber was concealed beneath her spacer's jacket. She still hung onto the blade that Alex had lent her until she was able to build her saber; it was probably something she should take the time to do instead of running across the galaxy. The shuttle rocked through the atmosphere and the girl adjusted her stance in order to keep balance.

"We get in, get out, super quick, like 20 minutes." she optimistically stated with a hint of sarcasm, though she knew it would probably not be that easy or that quick and certain today was going to be interesting.

@Lucid @Logan

 

[Alexander Ayers]

"Didn't you say that on Dantooine?" Alexander asked sarcastically as the ship touched down. All had gone well and they had landed just within the boundry of the transit hub. Alexander didn't expect the locals to take kindly to their primary source of income being forcibly seized by a 3rd party. But they'd get over it. "Alright guys," he said as he checked his gear and pulled a backpack over his shoulders, "let's get going."

He led the trio down the boarding ramp and along a path they had covered in their briefings. Everywhere around them people were running too and fro, apparently the Alliance fleet in orbit had caused quite a stir. They made it farther than Alexander had been expecting before someone noticed they were not of the local population. Or maybe it was just the lightsabers they were all carrying. One man, the leader of a group of goons walked up with his chest puffed out like an irate bird and demanded to know what they were doing.

"Well that's a difficult question, isn't it?" Alex's hand fell lightly to the top of his lightsaber. "I could lie and tell you something nice but you'd find out the truth anyway." Alexander faked an expression of internal turmoil before adding: "We're here to take this facility for the Galactic Alliance."

The man's face went red and he bellowed like a startled animal before charging straight at Alexander and his companions. It was a heroically foolish move and with the snap hiss of an igniting saber one of the man's arms went spiraling off into the distance. His group of goons took offense, naturally, and the rest came charging in.

@GABA @Logan

 

[Arda Breaux]

Arda grinned, knowing very well she said that on their last mission together, "Time's ticking." she hummed as they exited the ship, her senses alerted her to the unusual amount of tension in the air, but then again a Rebel fleet had arrived and it wasn't that one would see too often. She walked along Alex's side, quiet as she anchored herself, observing their surroundings until they were spotted by a rather ugly looking thug who knew they were not part of the locals who resided on Nixor. Though Arda wondered if his lack of looks was because of the parasites that were in the food and water; internally, she grimaced thinking about what could be growing in his stomach. However, as Alex responded to the goon, a sense of danger grew and Arda had a feeling this was not going to go as smooth as they hoped.

The man charged, bellowing as though it would give him super strength to take out the Jedi he was about to encounter, however, with Alex's reflexes, his saber met the man's arm, clearing it from his body and sending the rest of the gang into a rioting uproar. The lightsaber ignited in Arda's grasp, "You could have at least tried talking some more!" she shouted to Alex as she reflected blaster bolts back to the thugs that tried to overwhelm her. The Jedi stepped into the waves of the Force, feeling the energies extend from her free hand as she sent a wave into a few of the thugs that tried to gang up on her.

However, Arda pushed forward, their goal was to take the transportation hub and a few of these banthawipes were not going to get in their way.

@Logan @Lucid

 

[Vesper T'Rahmmmmmmmmmmm]

____________

Oh jeez, the mission seemed to devolve into brawling way sooner than Vesper would have thought. As the initial bruiser blusteringly charged forward only to promptly lose his arm, Vesper's lightsaber snapped to her hand. With a flip of her thumb she ignited its sapphire blade, feeling the force begin to swirl in and around her. Vesper wasn't really the kind of person who would go out looking for a fight, but she certainly wasn't the kind to shy away from one either.

As each of her compatriots contended with their own baddies and their thuggery, Vesper engaged with a rather swole looking man wielding a vibroblade. Running forward, she swung her saber toward's the man's upper body only to have him catch her blade with his own and parry her attack away. With all the speed and grace of an overweight bantha, the thug tried to bring his sword over his head for a massive downward chop-like thing.

Being much smaller and therefore much faster, Vesper was able to bring her own blade back in, slicing horizontally across the man's waist. He sort of stood there for a moment, face contorted in a mixture of surprise and shock, before falling into two seperate pieces; torso going one way and legs going the other. The man's blade clattering to the ground, Vesper looked over towards Arda and Alex to see how they were faring - though her attention was pulled elsewhere quite swiftly.

More goons had showed, this time up in the rafters of the spaceport. They had large rifles.. and Vesper swore she might have just seen a rocket launcher.

Uh.. guys? Was all that she could muster out before yes indeed - a rocket flew over their heads and exploded in a wall several dozen meters behind them. Luckily the guy seemed to be an absolutely terrible shot.. though Vesper was hoping they wouldn't jsut stand around and give him a free second go.

@Lucid @GABA

 

[Alexander Ayers]

@GABA made me do this

"Because this is Nixor, Arda!" Alex yelled to his companion as he spun away to the side, cleaving another unfortunate goon in half and batting away some opportunistic shots from a random person off to the side. "Talking doesn't work here!" The people of Nixor were a bit like a feral tribe. They responded well to overt shows of dominance and Alexander felt that with his two companions they could easily do that.

That said, the rocket was perhaps a bit much. Alexander felt himself start to grin as he heard Vesper's comment. It was just a rocket launcher and the offending party (and his buddies) were probably drunk and high on god knows what. As he suspected, the rocket went wide. The wall its struck crumbled, revealing a half naked man striking a pose in a mirror and staring critically at his body. It was unexpected and amusing, but Alex couldn't spare the situation much attention as the rocket man's buddies fumbled with their guns. Plasma rifles by the looks of them...and how stupid could they be? They had left the dust caps dangling from the muzzles.

"Vesper, baby, be cool," Alex called to his companion as he deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it easily back to his belt. The doofuses with the plasma rifles let off their first volley which went wide and opened large craters in the pavement of the street. One shot hit a water main and geyser like jet rocketed up into the air. The artificial rain didn't bother Alex, he was focused on the dust caps dangling from the muzzles.

With a sweep of his left hand, counting the recharge time in his head, he used the Force to flip the caps back over the muzzles as his countdown ended. His hand flattened in the air as he kept them firmly over the muzzles. The guns tried to ignite the reaction that would cause the concentrated blast of plasma, but with the caps on and held firmly in place, there was nowhere for the discharge to go. The reaction raced back down the barrels of the guns, blowing them and their handlers to smithereens in a blinding flash of white light. Rocket buddy didn't fair much better, caught as close as he was to his vaporized friends.

Pleased with himself and the area currently devoid of people who thought it was wise to charge a trio of Jedi, Alexander continued on his way as though nothing had happened. The entrance to the spaceport offices were just ahead. "Come on ladies! Nixor's water isn't the best thing to have be raining down on you..."

@GABA @Logan

 

[Arda Breaux]

Arda wasn't sure if could accept that answer, but before she could do much more she heard the jets of a rocket propel overhead, missing the Jedi trio and hitting the wall of a building and sending debris and rubble in every direction. It seemed to have caught the attention of the goons who were firing at them also, taking a moment to admire their teammate's lack of aim. Arda raised her eyebrows, but her attention was pulled back to the fight as a blaster bolt flew past her head, reminding her they were still actively engaged with fighters. Alex called out to Vesper not to worry while some of the thugs took out new weapons, aiming rather poorly, Arda wondered just how much they had to drink before this all occurred or if they were just naturally this terrible.

The shot of plasma blew a hole in the duracrete, water raining down as Alex took care of them resulting in a white flash of light and dust. Arda grimaced at the sight, but she was glad it was them instead of herself and her companions as they continued to the spaceport.

"I'm sure its not as bad as swimming through the Corellian waste waters." Arda quirked an eyebrow as they neared the spaceport just ahead. A couple alliance fighters flew overhead as they reached the offices; Arda nearly walked into the door as the automatic sensors were not working properly, "Kind of rude, but Nixor has not been that impressive." she said pulling her blaster and shooting the control panel, shortening the circuits that kept it locked. Arda stood to the side, letting the doors open, and luckily so as blaster bolts from nervous officials came flying out the door.

@Logan @Lucid

 

[Vesper T'Rahmmmmmmmmmmm]

____________

Needless to say, Vesper was highly impressed with the aptitude of her friends. She would have never thought of Alexander's solution to the rifleman, not to mention getting two birds with one stone and getting the rocket bros too. With a shrug of her shoulders and the surrounding area seemingly free of attackers for now, Vesper followed Arda towards their next goal.

Talk about the understatement of the century there, Arda. Vesper would have used a few more choice words to describe Nixor, none of them as nice as "not that impressive." Hopefully we can get out of this crap factory sooner than later.

As the blaster bolts came screeching from inside the space port, Vesper sighed with minor annoyance. If everyone would just calm down for a hot second they could probably get through this part without so much violence. Though she supposed expecting to talk with a person and not the business end of a blaster was probably too much for the denizens of Nixor.

Reaching into a pouch on her belt, Vesper withdrew a concussion grenade. Priming it, she hucked it into the space port as far and accurately as she could manage. It didn't take but a few more seconds before a loud pop was heard, followed by a bunch of angry screaming and numerous expletives. The blasters firing out of the door ceased for now. Vesper gripped her lightsaber and went inside, unsure of what she would find outside of a bunch of momentarily blinded criminals.

@Lucid @GABA

 

[Alexander Ayers]

Mood Music

In the moment after Vesper's casual concussion grenade, Alexander put his hand on the young woman's shoulder and said, "If we're going to do this, it had better look real," He pulled his blaster, ignited his lightsaber and winked to his friends. "Just play along."

With that, Alexander moved swiftly, sure of himself and the role he was playing now, he was truly in his element. The people Vesper had blinded were starting to regain their senses with a series of moans and much cursing. Alex took advantage of their half bind state to pump a stun bolt into one unfortunate man's face. In their confusion, he doubted any would notice that it hadn't been a kill shot. Moving down the hallway, he slashed viciously with his lightsaber at any who came near him, but never made contact. Instead using the Force to knock them to the side or redirect their weapons. He thought that maybe it would be good to address the assembled.

"Alright! Listen the kriff up, everybody!" He bellowed, holding a man hostage at the end of his lightsaber. "Everybody be cool! This is what you call a hostile takeover! Any of you fucking pricks move and I'll execute every motherfucking last one of ya!" He shot another person with a stun bolt at point blank range and the rest seemed to get the idea. He smiled down at the man who was a hair away from having his nostrils involuntarily widened by Alex's lightsaber and said, "Your access pass please," the man didn't do anything so Alex sighed and it would be apparent to the girls that he wasn't really that into what he was doing. "GIMME THE KRIFFING KEYS, MAN." The poor petrified man slid the key pass and his wallet across the ground. Alexander used the Force to call it to his hand and toss it to Arda. He kicked the wallet back to the man with a roll of his eyes.

"I think they understand what's going on here. Go finish up."

@GABA @Logan

 

[Arda Breaux]

Arda watched as Vesper primed the grenade and threw it inside, subduing the agitators long enough for Alex to take on a more theatrical demand. At least with his no bullshit acting, maybe everyone would start taking them a little more seriously now. Though as Arda followed inside, her own saber still ignited, she watched as he stunned several individuals, putting on a show that was fairly believable; he demanded the access pass and though the man was hesitant, he gave his wallet as a precaution in case they were after anything else. Arda just as well rolled her eyes as Alex kicked back the wallet and handed her the access pass.

The blue blade retracted into her hilt and she clipped it to her belt as she went further inside the building. The Force rippled around her as her senses arched outward, looking for anymore who would try to play hero or were looking for a fight, but it seems they were a bit tuckered out as they realized what was happening here at the space port. She waved the access key by the lock which allowed her access into the radio tower. The Alliance fleet waited for the signal as she typed in the transponder code that would grant them access and ease security that might think otherwise with the arrival of the fleet.

She waited quietly until her senses perked up, a presence approach and the door opened as quickly as Arda drew her blaster aiming at a rather roughed up looking Gand who raised his hands showing he was not there for a fight, "Quite the show, Rebel, we've been waiting for the Alliance, its about time you guys showed up." he said extending his hand.

Arda paused, sensing no deception, she holstered her blaster and took his hand.

"Nixor will support you in this fight."

/END THREAD