Privateers & Pirates - Andraste's Angels

[Talik Kru]

Boonta, Dernatine system, Outer Rim Territories

DC THREAD​

Finally, she thought as she hopped in the ship lugging along her gear. A mission where she didn’t have to wear high heels. If she had to smile in the face of some wandering Ya-hoo’s hands at some diplomatic function just one more time…

Well she would do it and like it. This however, was going to be much more enjoyable. Swoop in on the pirates, eliminate the pretentious fool. And make her second in command a nice offer he couldn’t refuse. Quendar O’lar wouldn’t live long enough to realize her mistake in refusing to aid the Republic. Fortunately her man Framdol Blustov was ripe for the take over. Just as long as he understood who was in charge, then everything would be good.

Normally she thought such a mission wouldn’t be worth the trouble, but apparently Andraste’s Angels, as the leader styled her crew, were more than skilled enough to warrant the bother. Once the leadership changed hands, the angels could make their move to dominate a portion of the hyperspace lanes going into the Old Empire’s domain. Naturally the Republic was offering a sweet deal in aiding this pirate crew and many others throughout the Galaxy in their ‘relocation fund’.

It was a plan so old and effective that she wondered why Elix hadn’t employed it himself. An army moves on its stomach, she had heard more than once during her time at the Academy, and though it was unlikely to be that detrimental, trade was crucial. Naturally the first goods to become short in supply would be luxury items, and it was the powerful among the Empire deprived of their exotic fair that would complain the loudest. Just another blow in the confidence ratings of Darth Vrael’s leadership.

Stowing her gear in a storage compartment she moved toward the cockpit to greet Allerius. ”Ready when you are Allerius". He would have the navy cords for the location of the pirate enclave on Boonta. They had only to make the hit on Quendar and let Framdol do the rest.

@Lazy Swordsman

 

[Allerius Katress]

Dressed in long dark robes Allerius was ready for this mission. It would be nice to have a simple infiltration assignment for once. Hidden by his clothing he wore his main lightsaber on his belt while his shoto was held up his left sleeve ready to be deployed by the Non-Electronic Weapon Deployment Assistance device.

Their target today was a strange gang called Andraste’s Angels. The mad fools seemed to think they were all of the same lineage as the Empire’s founder. Which would make them all Drasts. Nonsense of course. The Empire had tried to engage the leader to cut a deal so this sort of assignment woudn’t be necessary but she had foolishly refused. Luckily the second in command was ready to step in and work with the Empire for a mutually beneficial arrangement. Once his leader was done away with which was why Allerius and Talik where here in the first place.

It appeared that all of this was part of a larger plan by the new Empress. She had set out to have her agents hired pirates, or at least to get their service one way or another, then help these new assets occupy border territories or hyperspace lanes that led to the Old Empire. Then the traitors would find themselves suffocating with an ability to get food, fuel and simple goods. The Sith assassin wasn’t sure just how effective such a strategy would be. It was simple and it seemed like it would work however he was no military strategist. Still it was a whole lot more than Elix ever bothered to do for his Empire. It was good to see Imperial Republica was beginning to move against it’s enemies, even if indirectly. Now if they cut just stick their boot up Imperial Hutta’s backend and get it to do something useful for once then the Old Empire would be no threat what so ever.

Allerius’ part in all of this was very small. Just kill Quendar O’lar. Once she was dead Imperial Republica would cut a deal with her successor and that would be handled by others so it wasn’t even the Alderaanian’s concern.

Shrugging he returned his attention back to piloting. Typing on his console he brought up the Nav-Computer’s readings and nodded. It wouldn’t be long now. They had bored the shuttle and his co-pilot, a droid, had been provided for the assignment by Imperial Intelligence.

Hearing Talik as she moved into the cockpit he nodded slightly. “We’ll be coming out of hyperspace any moment now. You might want to buckle in, this old shuttle isn’t going to enter real space very smoothly.”

A few minutes later the shuttle shuddered as it exited hyperspace in the Dernatine System and swung towards the planet of Boonta.

“Atmospheric entry in five minutes.” he said dully. Piloting shuttles couldn’t be more boring. He preferred Starfighters but for some daft reason they had to come in this piece of junk instead.

The pirate enclave was in a port town, one that was rife with crime, although as a former Hutt controlled world that was not surprising. It was a bit of a joke that after 500 years the Empire was still laughably failing to take proper control of the former Hutt territories. Landing the unmarked shuttle in the spaceport he got out of his seat and walked to the back of the ship.

“We’re in the town now. Lead on, you’ve the directions to the enclave itself do you not?”

@Kayenta Moenkopi

 

[Talik Kru]

Talik was quick to heed Allerius’ advice, moving back into the bay and strapping herself in. Her own attire consisting of a brown padded doublet that folded over her torso secured at the waist by a black leather belt. It was a bit worn looking being one she often wore when sparing with Allerius. The long sleeves of her cream colored shirt were a little billowy but fastened at the wrists to avoid entanglements. Tan trousers tucked into knee high boots were her choice as well, this mission being no place for a skirt.

Allerius kept up a commentary on their approach, sounding rather bored by the affair. Not that she could blame him, it was not very challenging to pilot the craft. Though she was a bit skeptical about its ability to stand very many more leaps through hyperspace. She supposed it was worth a little bump and rattle if it kept them from drawing too much attention while landing in the port city. Nothing screamed Sith more than one of their crux-class star fighters. They only held one passenger anyway and that would have meant securing two fighters without raising suspicion.

At any rate they landed in one piece and she moved to grab up some of her gear from the storage compartment. She took out a pugio blaster and secured it to the belt, then slipped a dagger into her right boot. Her lightsaber would slide neatly into an inner pocket of a short cape of brown. Tying the cape in place, she turned to face Allerius as he came out of the cockpit. Half tempted to tease him and respond by saying she thought he had the directions, she smirked lightly and refrained. Of late it wasn’t as much fun to bait him with childish taunts as it once had been.

She did bring up a concern that had been nagging at her. ”Yeah it shouldn’t be too hard to spot.”, she replied not thinking much of this gang of pirates. Apparently this Framdol Blustov was already on board with changing territory, expand to new feeding grounds as it were. Why wouldn’t he be? It was a sure way to power for him within his own circle of pirates. Only…

”This is an awfully neat package, don’t you think? Why do you suppose this Framdol doesn’t just kill Quendar himself? Surely for one that has her confidence it would be easy enough to take her out.”, she asked him finding the pirate despicable for not taking care of this matter himself. But then she didn’t really understand about what passed for Loyalty among pirates either.

@Lazy Swordsman

 

[Allerius Katress]

“Right. I hope so too.” Allerius responded as he followed her out of the shuttle, pausing to grab a securely sealed brief case next to the top of the ramp before continuing. The Assassin had been distracted as of late with the death of Eddard, the usurpation of the Throne and his meeting with the Empress. As such his usual biting wit was gone. He wanted this assignment to be completely as cleanly as possible so he could return to greater concerns. Pausing the human glanced at his alien companion, he’d yet to reveal to her how his meeting with the Empress yet. He had learnt from his fellow Imperial Intelligence workers that Talik had likewise met Lyanna and she had yet to reveal this information to him. He couldn’t blame her, she hated him after all but he would need to sit her down soon and extract what she’d been told. He was curious what the newest top Drast was scheming.

Walking silently next to the Twi’lek he glanced at her as she spoke and give a shrug. “Who can say? Cowardice perhaps, after all he’s planning to sell his own gang out to the Empire as soon as he’s in charge which doesn’t exactly speak of his bravery no matter how useful it is to us.” he responded distractedly as his gaze returned to the street before them. “Or perhaps it’s a sense of misplaced loyalty. Some foolish belief that to kill his superior would be treachery but by letting the Empire do it he remains loyal in some twisted sense. Or maybe it’s even a test, a challenge, and if we’re unable to remove his boss then we’re unworthy of his service.”

Allerius slowed his step slightly to let an elderly couple walk past him before resuming his previous pace. “Even simpletons tend to have many layers to their motives even when their reasoning is faulty. Something to keep in mind, it’ll serve you well.” he muttered as he cast a glance down the alley. “We’re near their hideout aren’t we?”

Glancing at Talik again “Look I want you to take the lead with this assignment.” he said, despite her constant bickering with him in private when they were on assignment she tended to defer to others, he needed to get her out of that habit. The Empire was changing and he wasn’t sure if it was for the better, his partner needed to be tough enough and self-sufficient enough in case he wasn’t around forever. “We aren’t going to be able to get in through talking so let’s try to see if there’s a side door, window or preferably roof top entrance we can utilise… and when we’re ready to try breaking in I’ll need a few moments to get ready.” he added with a shake of his briefcase.

@Kayenta Moenkopi

 

[Talik Kru]

Talik turned her head to look up to the man when he moved to join her, their strides soon fell into an easy pace that looked natural rather than in step like soldiers on parade. As he shared his reflections upon Framdol and his motivations, she hoped it was something a little more thought provoking than mere cowardice. They needed a worthwhile asset after all.

As they paused while the elderly couple crossed in front of them, she pondered his lesson of the day. He was always trying to teach her something and though she had balked considerably at accepting his tutelage, she always listened. It was indeed something to consider and if even simpletons had layers how more so then the devious? Resuming their former pace they moved through a rougher looking neighborhood of brothels, cantinas, gambling dens, and other nefarious businesses. At last these began to give way to warehouses, abandoned and otherwise. Following the intel provided by this pirate traitor she knew the old track lay on the outskirts.

The Twi’lek stopped walking when Allerius asked his question to reply, ”Near enough. By what I can gather the gang is held up in an old abandoned swoop racing stadium with Ms. Quendar O’lar occupying the old Hutt’s viewing salon at the top.” She pointed down the alleyway toward the direction of the pirate base. It served well enough for their needs providing plenty of space for storing contraband, ships, swoop bikes, and residential quarters. The place was practically its own tiny village.

As they drew near she began sizing up the place noting one discernable entrance on the ground floor, at least on this side of the massive structure. Naturally that entrance appeared to be heavily guarded confirming Allerius’ directive about having to find an alternative entrance. It was remarkable that the arena still have all its walls in tact for it looked as though it had definitely seen better days. Portions had obviously fallen in at some time in the past by the mismatched repairs that dotted the length of the stadium’s walls.

Lifting her eyes skyward as they continued to move about the structure she contemplated a rooftop entrance. She sighed and said, ”What a huge pain. I don’t suppose you thought to bring any climbing gear with you?” She could see what looked like a small space dock to the penthouse salon. Despite the size, the place seemed to be fairly quiet at this time of the morning and she had to wonder how that might differ come nightfall. Who knew what sort of sports Andraste’s Angels might indulge themselves with out on that old track.

@Lazy Swordsman

 

[Allerius Katress]

“I see.” he replied as he glanced in the direction she pointed. He hadn’t had a chance to read the Intel as thoroughly as his partner so he would trust her advice on this. It was also all the more reason for her to take the lead. Drawing near the place he whistled softly at the size of the building the gang was using. Glancing at the guards he frowned slightly, it appeared the pirates where more cautious that he had suspected. They could use the Force to get inside whether via brutal methods or something more subtle but Allerius preferred to take a less direct route.

Allerius was already drawing on the Force when she asked him if he saw another entrance. Nodding slightly he had a look around as he observed his surroundings to try and find a secluded spot in an empty alleyway. Moving swiftly he leapt from one side of the wall to another and found his way up the building however his progress was slowed due to the briefcase in his hand, something the Assassin had stupidly not accounted for. ♦

Eventually reaching the top Allerius moved quickly and opened his briefcase and disrobed. By the time that Talik would reach him the man would already be dressed in his armour, the red lens of his helmet gleaming slightly as he turned to look at his comrade.

“Over here.” he simply said kneeling down beside a skylight and began picking the lock. Reaching out with the Force he could sense an alarm mechanism within and it only took a simply flick of his mind, a slight exertion of will, to disengage the electronics through the Force. He felt the power go out of the little device and Allerius opened the unlocked skylight. Pulling it open quietly he silently dropped inside, his feet barely making a sound as he landed in an empty room. Looking around the assassin confirmed that the empty area was being used for storage.

Waiting for Talik to join him he messaged her over the communicator again. “Waiting for you to lead the way boss.” he said urging her once more to go and take the lead, she hadn’t done so yet but now that they were within she had no obstacles to making the decisions for the pair of them.

 

[Talik Kru]

Talik would move into the alleyway keeping watch from the ground as Allerius began his ascent until he was half way up then began her own. She had an easier time of it that he did, but then again she was not encumbered by a brief case either. She blinked upon reaching him atop the roof and smirked, ”Quite the quick change artist, aren’t you.” All the while she thanked her lucky stars for waiting on the ground a bit before making her climb to the top.

Kneeling beside him as he unlocked the skylight she began to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach but was unable to make heads or tails of it. Soon enough Allerius got the latch open and slipped down into the room below; his signal prompted her to join him. Turning round, she squatted on her feet letting her hands grasp the lip of the skylight’s frame and rolled backwards to land lightly upon the floor below. Walking toward him that feeling hit her once more, but this time she recognized what it was.

The man was always training her, even in the most mundane manner and were it not for Lysanna’s probing question concerning her relationship with the man, she may have missed it completely. He was pushing her to take the lead because he knew they would part. Of course the Empress had probably said as much to him. It was annoying that everyone seemed to think she would be helpless without him. ”Sure thing, I’ll message when it’s all clear”, she replied as she moved to the door of the room.

Pausing she listened for obvious signs of movement beyond, but also drew upon the force holding its threads feeling for the vibrational pings that might tell her living people were on the other side. Sensing the immediate area was empty, she pressed the control panel on the wall to open the door. To the left she recalled the small dock was situated and the inner track of the arena was opposite that. Miraculously the corridor that ran around the entire level was empty. Either the gang was away on some heist or they had a rough night of it and couldn’t manage waking so early.

Taking off to the right she passes several doors that were on the outside wall of the hallway but paid them no heed. It wasn’t until she came to a hallway leading into the center that she found what she was looking for. Cuing her comm link she messaged Allerius, ”I found access to the air ducts. Take the right hall. You can’t miss me.” Using the force she would cause the screws to loosen themselves drawing them into her hand letting the access panel swing down to hang upon upon its hinges secure to the ceiling. A short leap and she had grasped the lip of the duct and pulled herself into its metal confines. Regardless of how deserted the hallway appeared, she didn’t think the woman was stupid enough not to have guards stationed at her private quarters. Hopefully the woman was there and not engaged in other activities elsewhere.

@Lazy Swordsman

 

[The Storyteller]

Another boring day on watch. Gork, the man in charge of guarding the front door to the base of Andraste's Angels today, was having another uneventful shift. He and his squad of five other pirates were looking for something to do. Unfortunately, nothing presented itself. They continued watching the area in front of the main door, and waiting. How dull. Gork spat out a thick glob of phlegm, and wandered into an alleyway to take a piss. How was he ever going to get a promotion watching a dumb old door?

Further in, the base was teeming with pirates. There were a lot of members in Andraste's Angels, they were one of the biggest outfits in the area. Each pirate was armed with a variety of random weaponry and gear, for they had no standardised equipment or way to manufacture their own stuff - it all came from raids. Consequently each and every one presented a new and different challenge, were some interloper to decide to try and fight them. In addition, the place had been fitted with alarms - not automated, and the panels to activate them were few and far between, but should a pirate spot an intruder, or an enemy gang member, and make it to a terminal? All hell would break loose.

Murk, brother of Gork, was wandering the upper hallways of the stadium. He had a couple of friends running a card game somewhere up here, and he was trying to find them so he could play a few rounds. He had a DH7 blaster pistol, vibrosword, and a pair of frag grenades with him - not on guard duty, just looking for his friends in one of the rooms up here - away from Framdol and Quendar, who would no doubt yell at them and get them to look busy.

Murk had kids - six of them with four different women. He was a busy man already, he didn't need the bosses making his life anymore difficult. Frak those guys.

He wandered from one hall to the next, then heard the metallic grating noise of an old, poorly maintained panel sliding over rusty, cheaply fitted metal sheeting. Wondering if it was his friends, Murk went to investigate. The power was off on the door systems up here, so he pushed the door aside manually, before entering the hallway where he'd heard the noise. An air duct panel had swung off its hinges, apparently of its own accord as nobody was around. Weird. Grabbing a nearby sturdy looking box he hoisted himself up to get a closer look, examining the duct - and noticing the missing screws. He narrowed his eyes, something was going on here...

Elsewhere, Quendar and Framdol were in what served as the pirate queen's private rooms discussing their next moves in a small turf war that had been going on for a few weeks. They were heavily guarded by a full team of six pirates on the outside, each of which fully equipped in a variety of different ways but all heavily. The room was almost directly in the centre of the base, just in case a rival outfit decided rockets might be a good way to knock them out. Quendar carried her signature vibrosword - an ornate piece she'd stolen from a rich trader years ago, as well as her brace of DH7's. Framdol had an A10 long rifle, a DH7, two frag grenades and a concussion grenade. Neither went anywhere without their guns - the paranoia of a pirate leader knew no limits. @Kayenta Moenkopi

 

[Talik Kru]

Talik had been in some tight places before, but the air ducts brought with them their own peculiarities to crawling around in an enclosed space; these metal airways were prone to buckling creating noises with the potential to echo throughout the duct work. As a result the going was slow with careful attention to displacing her weight evenly to avoid that scenario. Fortunately the duct work was hidden within the ceiling rather than exposed to the interior of the room over which she slow crawled.

Once more she relied upon the force to guide her toward the signs of life she could detect, noting a greater concentration in the general direction of where she knew the private salon to be. At last she came to be over the room itself, looking down from the ceiling vent upon the scene below. She could sense the men waiting outside the room but curiously only the two were within view below her. Readily identifying the two leaders of the angels, she listened to them discussing some upcoming strikes against a rival band of pirates.

A variety of scenarios presented themselves to her in rapid succession each one discarded only to be replaced by another as she surveyed the scene. She could blast the wench and play havoc trying to get out of the air ducts before the guards rushed in and blasted the ceiling to bits. Inwardly she smirked wondering how Allerius would feel about his investment then? No doubt it would take him 2 seconds to nab another tool to employ in his service readily enough. Compelling Framdol there to do his own damned killing would rather leave the Republica without much of a hold on the man negating the whole point of the mission.

She could flay the woman with force lightning but she wasn’t yet strong enough to kill with that and it would surely create such a ruckus as to draw the crew in from the exterior chamber. Were she stronger she could have had Quendar call for a guard and then force the man to shoot her when he entered the room. But that was some legendary stuff right there. The answer lay with the woman herself, Talik was sure, and she began gathering more of the force in response to her need. The Sith had decided upon what action she would take; she would choke the life right out of her.

As focused as her concentration became, Talik’s penetrating gaze may as well have bore a hole through the vent. There was an endless well of hatred for the woman to draw upon, to feed into the force and send out to her will, the greatest source of her hatred being he who had decided Talik would take point today. Quendar became Allerius in her mind, her upper lip quivering lifted at the corner into a leer of delight, as she tightened the flows of the force about the woman’s neck to choke the life out of this pirate queen. Imagining this victim was her partner only made it all the more delightful.

@Denzein

 

[The Storyteller]

Murk had put his thinking cap on. He'd been a pirate with the Angels for as long as his alcohol soaked mind could remember, and was fairly confident there wasn't a part of this base he'd never seen before. He knew the base almost as well as if he'd seen blueprints...

And he knew where that air duct went. Furthermore, he could hear noise coming from it as he peered into the darkness and listened intently. It was faint, almost muffled and very careful, but he could definitely hear something. Frak, he thought as he pulled his pistol, Tooka again. He took the edge off his annoyance at having to play pest control again by rationalising that he would at least eat well tonight. Sometimes he came up good.

He knew where the vent went - and that the next grate was in Quendar's own quarters. Frakking perfect... If that little Tooka fell out of the vents onto her bed while she and Framdol were... At it again... There'd be hell to pay. It'd be worse even than if he burst in on them - at least he had an excuse for getting a peek at the boss.

The guards at the door saw him coming, pistol drawn, looking at the ceiling, and assumed the worst. Drawing an assortment of weaponry, the four men on the door (plus Murk) unlocked it with a click, and entered.

The moment the door opened Quendar rounded on the intruders - not that she and her second had been up to anything compromising, but she'd given strict instructions for only the two on the inside of the door to remain in the room. She didn't want eavesdroppers today, they were conducting important planning. Two on the inside plus the five coming in meant seven guards were now in the room, plus QUendar and Framdol.

The look of irritation on Quendar's face vanished quickly, for at that moment she opened her mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again like some kind of puffer fish. Her left hand went up to her throat and her knees buckled, dropping to the floor. Framdol, no wiser than any of his guards, had no idea what the cause was and rushed to her aid - catching her before she fell. She appeared to be choking on something, and so he began firmly applying anti-choking manoeuvres to try and get Quendar to cough up whatever it was stuck in her oesophagus.

There was nothing there but the force. The guards (and Murk) rushed in, surrounding their choking leader - wanting to do something but completely helpless. They'd all seen her fine, standing beside Framdol, before collapsing choking on something. Perhaps she'd swallowed a tooth... Or maybe Framdol had done something? Poison? Two of them raised their rifles at the back of his head, even as he pumped away at Quendar's stomach.

Quendar was turning pale, gasping but unable to draw air - bruised and in pain from the genuine attempts of Framdol to save her life. For his part he had no idea what was going on - and even though he of course got eyes on commanding Andraste's Angels, he was worried that this might look too convenient. Might he get killed, right here and now by these guards? Might they suspect he had a hand in all this? Desperately trying to figure out how to both avoid the blame and become leader, he continued trying to save Quendar's life.

@Kayenta Moenkopi