Ask Pocket Full of Credits

[Crix Dolan]

Crix rolled a credit chit over his knuckles lazily as he watched the progress bar on his datapad fill. His ship, The Freebird, was primed and ready to go just outside the rendezvous zone. From the astromech socket next to him Beegee chirped.

"We'll move in as soon as the payment comes through."

Technically, they were five minutes late and the little droid protested his lackadaisical sentiment.

"Look buddy, we don't work unless we get paid."

Beegee twilled something sarcastic, and Crix ignored him. The little droid's attitude had been grinding on his nerves lately and he considered running the standard memory wipe, but he couldn't do it. It'd been years since the droid had been wiped and aside from his current objections, he was Crix's only friend. The smuggler chided his sentimentality just as his datapad alerted him to a successful credit transfer.

A wry grin spread across his face, "Welp, we've been paid, let's get to work."

Crix pocketed the chit, slid on his helmet, and slammed the throttle.

Blaster fire lit up the meeting point like blinking lights on life day. Beegee admonished Crix, but the smuggler was already out of his chair.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going to the guns, keep your gyro on straight."

Crix jogged out of the cockpit and up the ladder to the dorsal triple-barrel cannon. He settled into the seat, integrated his helmet's com with the ship's and felt the seat unlock as he manipulated the weapon controls.

"Alright Beegee, take us in."

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

THEME
​

Black Hand had officially been a bounty hunter with the rank of Hunter for a few months now and with it came more job opportunities in the Bounty Hunter's Guild. Furthermore, he gained some connections with the Five Syndicates by proxy. Thus he was informed of the scoundrel Crix Dolan. The man was being paid heavily for the transport of tons of scatterweave in long haul containers. With it, House Solus would have effective capabilities of outfitting ships with hidden compartments and coating armor with the synthetic substance. The Freebird was hauling literally tons of the stuff for Clan Solus to Concordia and then on to share with its loyal coverts.

Right now, the nadyc retrofitted fang starfighter peeled out of a mass of clouds over the cold storming sky. Unfortunatly Kotii's shielding was down after taking a bit of turbulence. The rotating blade wings of the black and red craft were a few kilometers away from the Freebird. Lights added to the lightening in the sky as blaster fire tried to hit the evading patrol craft.

A voice in the cockpit of another fang fighter came from a mandalorian in livery similar to that of the ship he piloted. "Black Hand, there are three...no six contacts approaching the package from the air. Looks like Freebird isn't giving up without a fight at least." A hint of approval came from the muffled voice. His Mandalorian helmet perfectly communicated his words to the Alor of House Solus who sat in the co-pilot seat. Kotii saw the three G1-M4s better known as dunelizard fast approaching the lancer class patrol craft. The other trio looked to be M12-L heavy starfighters and naturally, were not as close to the faster ships.

Most of the transport at the Mandalorians disposal were attack craft. Requisitioning a smuggler to complete the job was important given the need. It was better to conduct business this way and level of anonymity given the course of history. "We'll focus on the group closest to them." He answered Aden before connecting his communications with the Freebird. "Freebird, this is Black Hand with Bounty Hunter's Guild and so is my wingman. We're here on behalf of Clan Solus. We'll clear those starfighters off of you. Don't flee the system or we'll be forced to hunt you down." He didn't want a cowardly smuggler to try and dip with their goods, especially after having just been paid, not unless he wanted to be hunted by the bounty hunter and every badger in the galaxy. Blasting with fusial afterburners engaged at 120 MGLT towards the pursuing starfighters, the two ships burned fast towards the nearest trio and opened up the yellow medium laser cannon fire on the tails of their targets. Almost immediately two of the starfighters would jerk and spin before exploding into a cloud of shrapnel and smoke.


@Zay 2 groups of 3 starfighters

 

[Crix Dolan]

The Freebird tore toward the first three fighters with reckless abandon. Crix laid on the trigger sending the trio skittering for cover. As they peeled off he managed to catch the engine of the port side fighter. The ship listed hard sideways and smoke began to billow from the rear.

Crix's ship took a glancing blow off the nose when a frequency started hailing him. The Black Hand let him know that backup had arrived and Crix was happy to have it. Three fighters were no problem, but six on one weren't odds you walked away from.

Crix chuckled derisively, "Does it look like I'm running?" He said over the open comm.

The Black Hand filled him in on their game plan and The Smuggler liked it. "Copy, I'll charge the M-12's and hold them off until you're done with the Lizards,"

He switched to his ship's comm preparing to give orders to Beegee. Crix's eyes darted around making sure one of the Dunelizards hadn't recovered yet. Then to Beegee, "Drop into cloud cover then arc up bud. Let's hit the M-12's from below."

Crix switched back to Black Hand, "We're about to have a swarm and visibility is shit, try not to shoot me."

The Smuggler's grin widened into a smile as the heat of battle set in. The sensation of freefalling overtook him as his ship dipped and then arched back up. Lightning cracked and thunder boomed as they ripped through the clouds. Crix's hands white-knuckled his controls as a bead of sweat slid down his face. Just as the veil was pulled back, he pulled the trigger. His advanced targeting computer helped him adjust his fire and the center M-12 went up in a conflagration of slag.

"Woooo!" Crix hooted as he swiveled in the gunner's chair keeping the triple-barreled light cannon aimed toward the remaining M-12's.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

"Watch out for those ion cannons." Black Hand replied to Crix after the smuggler replied over the ship to ship communications. They have a dozen concussion missiles each which was nothing to scoff at. Hopefully this pilot was good enough to keep them from landing a hit on it. In any other YT light freighter, Kotii would have had his doubts but in a lancer class like the Freebird, the Alor hoped expected to get his credit's worth.

The scoundrel's ship dove into the clouds and disappeared from view. The two Mandalorian fang fighters piloted by Aden and Kotii disengaged their afterburners as they closed the distance with the Freebird's last position on approach with the Kimogila heavy starfighters. None of them seemed to want to pursue Crix and began gaining lock on the Mandalorian starfighters still engaged with the last starfighter. Its smoking wing crippling its mobility and allowed it be swiftly finished off by Aden's expert skills before banking to return to his fellow bounty hunter on his tail.

The distance between him and the dunelizards was at the edge of his weapons range. Without any of their friendly starfighters nearby they won't hold back. "Taking evasive action." he said as the center kimogila was destroyed by the cunning maneuver pulled by the smuggler. That wouldn't stop the two remaining M-12 heavy starfighters from unleashing a volley of heavy laser cannon fire, ion cannon blasts and once they achieved lock, assuredly a missile. The same could by said for Aden's fang starfighter. The rotating wings of the craft spun rapidly and made the ships swing out of the way of the initial barrage.

"I can't get a bead on them!" He said as he focused on avoiding taking any hits while closing the distance. A splash of yellow laser cannon shot from the tips of Black Hand's starfighter only to hit the enemy craft's shields and do no real damage. His hands gripped the controls of his ship. He would be lucky if a single hit didn't take out his ship outright.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

The flurry of ion cannon's made The Smuggler nervous. If they were hit Beegee would be immobilized along with the ship, and there'd be no way for him to make it to the cockpit before they crashed into the ground. The two remaining M-12's seemed hellbent on taking out his reinforcements.

Crix locked his seat in place and hopped out making for the cockpit. On his way, he said, "Beegee, take the two forward light cannons and activate the groundsweeper."

By the time he finished talking he was already sliding into his captain's chair. Any confusion he'd caused by destroying one of their comrades was gone and the remaining Kimogila were on the warpath. Crix went into evasive maneuvers, the military maneuvering jets on The Freebird hadn't had a workout in a while, but they were earning their keep today.

Ion blasts narrowly missed their mark as he corkscrewed through the volley, but the Kimogila refused to let him escape unscathed. Laser fire rocked The Freebird as it took a direct hit. The ship's klaxon wails of alarm told Crix another hit like that would rip through his shields and do real damage.

"Well, I guess we're gonna have to actually work today Pal," Crix quipped to Beegee as he dove into another patch of clouds.

His little trick wasn't paying off as well as it had the first time. The two heavy starfighters were on his ass and we're determined to take him out. Crix banked hard to the right, then up and back. He knew the starfighters could match him in speed, but was confident he could outmaneuver them. One tried to follow but banked too wide sending it out of the cloud. The other kept moving forward and as it emerged from cover, Crix lit it up.

Both light cannons and his groundsweeper laid into the Kimgolia rendering it slag. Before Crix could celebrate The Freebird was clipped by an Ion blast.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

The alarm of a the M-12 Kimogila locking on to his starfighter made Kotii grit his teeth. A growl escaped his mouth as his body was straining with the gee forces. The ship helped compensate for it but the Mandalorian knew what was coming next. A readout in the cockpit flashed, visually alerting him to one of the concussion missiles firing at him.

The man's head turned to the side and saw Aden's starfighter similarly trying to avoid damage. But Aden was a better pilot than Kotii was in many respects. Troubled by the fire and forget ordnance, the two Mandalorian starfighters banked to either side of the M-12s. The missiles tried to turn and follow the highly maneuverable starfighters but instead banked only slightly before losing their targets from limited view and continued to fly across the sky.

Torrents of ion and laser cannon fire light up the clouds and helped locate where the Freebird and her attackers were. <"Make sure you've got a clean shot."> He said to Aden though he knew well enough. The last thing he wanted to do was rake the side of the ship they were supposed to be protecting. As if on queue, one of the heavy starfighters made itself an easier target as it 'skidded' out of cloud cover. Both of the starfighters focused their twin-linked cannons on the engines of the heavy starfighter. The numerous impacting laser blasts punctured the Kimogila's concusion missile magazine causing it to explode more violently than any of the other ships thus far.

Kotii made sure he was transmitting to the smuggler's light freighter. "Freebird, are you still flying?" At a glance it looked like the scoundrel would be fine. Black Hand did not see any more contacts on his scanners. Only the two modified fang starfighters and the lancer patrol craft were in the immediate vicinity. Hopefully it would stay that way.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

A litany of curse words flew from The Smuggler's lips as he watched his controls flicker and then blink out. Beegee seemed fine, which was good, but the quiet that followed the lack of light was not. Beegee twilled nervously.

The nose of the ship began to dip and the severity of the situation slammed into the duo at the same time. In unison, they both flew into a panic as they started trying to restart the engines. Beegee wailed, Crix screamed, The Freebird fell. The ship lurched as the planet's gravity took hold and threw The Smuggler to the ground.

Crix scrambled on all fours for his emergency first aid kit. Beegee spotted what he was clawing for and whistled excitedly. As he made it to the kit, Beegee pulled open the main console and revealed the battery core for the ship's systems. Crix ripped out a battery-powered defibrillator and sprinted back to the console.

As the high pitch whine reached it's zenith he dove screaming, "CLEAR!"

With arms outstretched, the pads hit the core and shot electricity into it jump-starting the main console. The lights flickered rapidly like an old engine trying to turn over then Beegee plugged into the astromech slot managing to bring the systems completely back online. The Freebird's sunlight engines roared to life as Crix pulled himself back into his seat. Alarms blared on repeat, sweat poured down his face and the veins in his neck bulged as he pulled back on the controls.

The cloud cover of the skies had evaporated and the ground below was coming up fast. The nose of the ship finally began to respond leveling out meters from the ground. The Smuggler kept the controls pulled back forcing the ship into a climb. As he did his comm went off and Blackhand spoke.

"Barely," he grunted in response. Crix was pissed. He scanned the radar and adjusted his flight path. The numbers looked to be even which meant The Blackhand and his wingmate could fly. A wry grin spread across Crix's face. This was where the fun started.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

The engines of the Freebird dimmed from what Kotii could see and it began to lose altitude. Kotii's eyes widened in worry as the light freighter dipped. "Freebird-!" He said over the commlink but the pilot probably didn't hear him. For several long heartbeats he wondered if the pilot and his ship were going to crash.

But the ship's nose pulled up just in time and the voice of Crix came over the ship to ship communications. Three contacts remained on the scanners and a torrent of laser cannon fire narrowly missed Black Hand's ship. Gritting his teeth and hauling on the controls, the starfighter banked smoothly as its pilot took evasive action.

"I've got an idea. Stay low and fly towards me." His ship continued to be chased by the last Kimogila. The heavy starfighter's barrage of laser cannons streaked after the engine trails of the fang class ship. Its spinning wings danced among the torrent of red lasers fire. One dunelizard was engaging Aden with some difficulty. He managed to straff against the Kimogila persuing Kotii, splattering its hull with yellow cannon blasts and causing it to fly off course only momentarily. The last dunelizard was chasing after Crix's ship now that he was alone.

Proton torpedoes acted differently than missiles. Normally they wouldn't be much use against small craft but the kimogilas were heavy starfighters and maybe just slow enough to get caught in the damaging explosion of a proton even if it wasn't a direct hit.

"I'm arming my proton torpedo. Maximize your shields to aft try to bring your tail in front of me." The mandalorian starfighter did not move too fast, wanting to keep the slower starfighter close enough that his plan would work. The hidden compartment in the nadyc retrofit of the fang fighter opened revealing a launch tube that was hidden before. Even if thurough scans and an up close and personal investigation had been performed, the presence of the weapon system would be a surprise for the attacking brigands.

Kotii had to time this just right. The Mandalorian pulled the trigger. A hallow launch sound as the blue orb of ordenance blazed ahead of the plummeting starfighter. Behind him, the starfighter that had chased him continued its pursut. But unlike Kotii it didn't have the speed or manueverability to avoid the comming damage as it entered the blast zone of the proton torpedo behind Kotii. The ship at the badger's control rattled and shook causing Kotii to grit his teeth once again and hope he wasn't meeting his ancestors soon.

Hopefully he had caught more than the last heavy starfighter. But his shields were toast and a few thrusters were damaged along with his fusal afterburners. Even without capability in his ship, Kotii began to bank around and make his way towards Aden if it looked like Crix was handling himself fine. Maybe the one chasing Crix wasn't dumb enough to get caught so close to the ground.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

"Copy," Crix responded, hands already going into motion. He shifted his flight path and diverted all of his shielding power to the aft. The Dunelizard behind him wasn't making it easy for him to focus, but that wouldn't be a problem much longer.

Crix watched The Blackhand's dive and as he passed underneath he saw the flash of blue and for the second time, today unleashed a health slew of swear words as he pushed his ship's engines to their limit. The Dinelizard never saw the torpedo coming. It was vaporized on impact as the conflagration of the blast zone consumed the ship chasing the Blackhand.

Over the com he said, "Remind me to use this payday to get a couple of those, you crazy bastard."

There was one ship left and it was tieing up with the Blackhand's wingmate. Crix swung The Freebird around coming at the pair from the portside, Arden spotted him and adjusted placing the final enemy between his backside and Crix's guns. The Fang starfighter whipped hard to the right shaking the Bogey on his tail and as soon as he was clear The groundsweeper and both forward light cannons opened fire.

The ship's already wounded shield gave way and soon after it combusted in a spectacular display of ruined metal. Crix bellowed a victory cry and pulled a somersault. Once he steadied out he spotted a clearing not far off.

Over the com, he said, "Blackhand, there's a clearing three clicks northwest, Let's meet there and do this exchange."

A few minutes later he'd set his ship down and was unloading the shipment. By the time the Blackhand and his wingmate joined him, he'd be just about done.

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

Recovering from the dangerous maneuver, Kotii came about to approach the last remaining Dunelizard attacking his comrade. But the smuggler beat him to the assist. He replied with a grin underneath his helmet to Crix. "Heh, they're worth every credit."

The raining chunks of debris and dispersing cloud of wreckage would be in the rearview as the two nadyc retrofitted starfighters came along either side of the Freebird. Kotii's looked a bit worse for wear compared to Aden but the two of them were still in one piece.

"Sounds good. Lead the way." The man would say over the link. The starfighters moved to trail a little behind the light freighter and match pace. Kotii would activate the advanced sensor suite, checking primarily for life signs first on their approach in a focused sensor sweep. The Mandalorians wanted to know if there was wildlife or others waiting for them after upon arrival. This slow fly over would see to it that the Freebird also had its escort making sure the area was safe.

The topographical display showed no strange terrain or hidden spaces. The landing zone seemed safe for all intents and purposes. Kotii was satisfied and brought his damaged ship in for a landing near the pursuit craft along with his fellow Mandalorian. As he did so, he sent a long range encrypted message to the next system over so that the Mandalorian transports could arrive in the system to take the cargo from the system.

The canopy of the small craft opened to reveal Kotii in his flight suit. The armored attire was dark but served to protect him when working on extravehicular missions. Aden was similarly garbed in pilot appropriate armor and functionality. Smoke would rise from the torn and jagged parts of Black Hand's ship. His shoulders rose and fell as he sighed at the sight.

@Zay

 

[Crix Dolan]

Crix was just finishing the unload when the Mandalorian's landed. At first, he wondered if he was going to get ganked, but neither seemed to be going for their blaster, so that was a plus.

As he placed the final container, he wiped the sweat from his brow and lit up a cigarette.

"Hell of a job, normally I'd ask for more money, but," he gestured toward The Black Hand's ship and said, "That's not gonna be cheap."

Crix took a drag and shrugged, "Welp, here's your stuff. Good luck."

There wasn't much more to say. He'd done his job and for the most part, they'd been helpful in keeping him alive. It wasn't every day he had to take on six fighters. Then again it wasn't every day he had back up. As he made his way up the ramp he waved, flicked the cigarette from his hand and that was that.

Just another day in the life of a smuggler.

//thread​

@Darasuum

 

[Kotii Solus]

This was the first time that the Alor had hired Crix Dolan for the work he had done and he had ended up pulling through on his end. There were a lot of things that could go wrong when it came to this sort of business. Kotii could respect it when someone was professional.

"Accept a bonus then..." The badger replied and produced an extra pouch of a few hundred golden peggat inside. It had been tucked away inside his starfighter already in addition to the normal payment. "...good work is hard to find." The man wanted to be able to hire him again after all. If his ship was in bad shape then he wouldn't be in business. "I might have need of your services in the future, if your available." He said and would make sure to ask for the man's contact information. His own would be provided in kind before they went their separate ways.

After the smuggler left, Kotii and Aden would be joined by the arrival of a light freighter accompanied by two more fang starfighters. The pick up group team hadn't encountered problems and there wasn't any ambush waiting for them. It was an extra layer of caution the Alor had taken but now the clans would be better equipped.

//thread//​

@Zay just wanted to add a little extra