Open A Suitable Foundation.

[Neffy Whilstradt]

The Whilstradt Manor​

Neffy threw the weights back on to the rack and sat up on the bench and subsequently pulled out his datapad at the same time. Several emails had already come through by the time he had finished his workout and none of them particularly interested him. He exited the home gym and made his way to his office/bedroom, cleaning himself up and drenching himself in water. He was bored. Even his father knew it. The thought of being home and finally being able to rest was the original plan, but his father had other plans. He had requested (in a meeting the previous day) to find someway of setting up a space station to help contain all the extra manufacturing droids as well as boost the level of production within BlasTech factories.

Neffy has no idea where to even begin to look for a space station. He could easily buy one that was abandoned but it would need a lot of work and Neffy wasn't in the mood for it. He thought about buying a few large colony vessels and just turning those into a factory but that wouldn't work either. It had to be a space station. Whilst browsing his usual sites, he found a new request had been posted. A small asteroid had been discovered on the outer rim, yet somehow a group of space pirates had already formed a base of operations on the asteroid. The request was simple, take out the space pirates and whatever else you find you keep as a bonus. Besides the fact the pirates were a nuisance, if they had indeed formed a small base of operations already, it would provide an easy foundation for building the space station. He had the funding for it and he could easily gather materials via multiple markets and contractors no problem. Jobs like this always sound too good too be true. But Neffy couldn't miss the opportunity. He typed a response on the page, and left his contact info and headed off to his armory to gather his things and ready his ship.

(@Nor'baal, @Nefieslab.)

 

[Hypaxian]

"Three cycles we sat there, waiting for this Bantha farmer to sell up!" Hypaxian chortled over the holo to an old business associate "Then we swept in, bought the place and turned it into my personal sauna. Oh, the luxury!" he laughed. Hypaxian had arrived at Whilstradt Manor a few hours ago, his yacht parked up as he waited for his 'business partner' to signal they were clear to go.

This particular engagement had been a long time coming, and the diminutive alien was keen to get underway.

"Anyway," he clicked the holo off "What's taking them so bloody long, we need to get going damnit. The hounds get cranky when they don't get let off the lead." he added, referring to the three Correllain hounds he had bought along as his contribution toward the forthcoming skirmish. Bored, he grabbed the control stick of his hoverchair, and made his way to the front door of the vast manor, his butler, Frooj, in tow.

Frooj knock on the door for him.

"Oi!" Hypaxian shouted "Let's get moving! I am sure you little summer house is lovely, but we've got a job to do!"

 

[Neffy Whilstradt]

Neffy had just finished gathering his things by the front door, when he heard someone knock at the door. A Weequay (who introduced himself as Frooj) was stood on the other side, and Neffy peaked around the corner and looked at the yacht. "For some reason I was expecting something smaller than that." Neffy gestured towards the ship "I apologize for all of my crap, I decided to bring most of my usual equipment for this...including this." Neffy held up the sheathed sword that belonged to his family. He strapped it to his back and carried his things to the yacht. Neffy's servant had shut and locked the door behind them.

Neffy tucked the pair of earphones into his jacket's pocket before proceeding with Frooj towards the yacht.

@Nor'baal

 

[Hypaxian]

"Smaller? Any smaller and there'd be no room for my collection!" Hypaxian chortled, turning his chair to head toward his vessel. His eyes fell on the sword Neffy had bought along with here, and with all the subtlety he could muster, licked his lips. "It's quite alright, tell me, what is the significance of the carvings on the hilt?" he added as he reached the boarding ramp of the ship.

Frooj headed in first, to make preparations for take-off, leaving his master at the bottom of the ramp. "And, tell me a little more of this mission - what can we expect to face?"

 

[Neffy Whilstradt]

"Smaller? Any smaller and there'd be no room for my collection!" Neffy placed his belongings on the ship's floor and made his way further inwards, following Frooj. "It's quite alright, tell me, what is the significance of the carvings on the hilt?" "Hm? Oh there's no meaning to them, it's just simple decorative stuff that people put on swords. If it did have a meaning I wouldn't know, this sword has been in my family for generations, I think?" Neffy drew out the sword and put it on the table for the Hypaxian to examine further if he would've liked too. "And, tell me a little more of this mission - what can we expect to face?" "Well, from what I can gather it seems a bunch of pirates have formed a small station on an asteroid somewhere on the outer rim. I have a vague set of co-ordinates for it. But once we clear it out, I would eventually like to turn it into a fully functioning station. Mostly for BlasTech purposes, but you would be able to use it as well if you needed to."

Neffy found a chair and sat in it, whilst he waited for take-off. He wasn't excited about this mission at all, but it had to be done regardless.

@Nor'baal

 

[Hypaxian]

"Pirates?" Hypaxian sounded somewhat surprised "My father, Dominar Hypaxian the Twenty-Sixth, had a great way of dealing with Pirates. Indeed, in his illustrious reign he often had to see them off the trading posts that dotted our asteroid belts. Blighers would sweep in, take what they wanted, and then vanish back into belt, out of the range of our scanners." Hypaxian continued, floating his chair up next to her "So he baited them out, used his own yacht to do it. High stakes, but once he had them right where he wanted them," he slammed his pudgy first on the surface "BANG! Like wamp rats in canyon!"

He barked out a burst of laughter.

If there was one thing Hypaxian enjoyed, it was taking about his families exploits. Suddenly, a thought struck him "Maybe the same tactic could be employed here no? Bait them out into the open, and the strike?"

Astounded by his own genius, he sat back in his chair, and began to fiddle with the navi-computer. The sooner they got underway, the better.

 

[Neffy Whilstradt]

"Pirates?" The Hypaxian sounded surprised at the thought of having to deal with pirates. "My father, Dominar Hypaxian the Twenty-Sixth, had a great way of dealing with Pirates. Indeed, in his illustrious reign he often had to see them off the trading posts that dotted our asteroid belts. Blighers would sweep in, take what they wanted, and then vanish back into belt, out of the range of our scanners." The Hypaxian floated about raising the height of his chair "So he baited them out, used his own yacht to do it. High stakes, but once he had them right where he wanted them," The Hypaxian slammed his fist onto the table and made Neffy jump slightly "BANG! Like wamp rats in canyon!"

The Hypaxian burst out with laughter and Neffy smiled slightly, already uncomfortable. Something seemed to have clicked with The Hypaxian as he said "Maybe the same tactic could be employed here no? Bait them out into the open, and the strike?" Neffy thought about it for a moment "Quite possibly, we'll have to see when we get there what it's like. I assume you have enough pilots available just in case something goes wrong. I'd feel a bit uncomfortable if it was just this yacht. We could always keep a squadron at the ready in a nearby system, that way they wouldn't be detectable." It was a good strategy, risky, but good. Although it could go horribly wrong if they get overwhelmed by the pirates. Neffy was beginning to feel incredibly nervous about this, he had a bad feeling about it all.

@Nor'baal

 

[Hypaxian]

Hypaxian shuffled nervously in his seat at the suggestion he had a small fleet of pilots just waiting to leap in and save the day. However, not being one to admit his shortcomings, he merely smiled through it "Yes, certainly. A band of sky-jockeys the likes of which I bet you've never seen!" Hypaxian grinned "They'll be ready, mark my words." he added, floating into the yacht and shouting over to pilot "Get this vessel in the air!"

His instruction was met with a tired beep, and the sound of the engine whirring into life.

Soon, they would be space-bound, Hypaxian sitting in the cockpit, hovering just off the pilot's right shoulder. "Anyway, you obviously know my name? Tell me a bit about yourself?" he asked his travelling companion.

 

[Neffy Whilstradt]

"Yes, certainly. A band of sky-jockeys the likes of which I bet you've never seen!" The Hypaxian smiled "They'll be ready, mark my words." Neffy watched The Hypaxian as he floated upwards towards the pilot. "Get this vessel in the air!" The Hypaxian looked behind him "Anyway, you obviously know my name? Tell me a bit about yourself?" "Well uh..." Neffy always gets a bit anxious when it comes to talking about himself, he always gets carried away or ruins something. "There's not really much too it." The ship shook as they kicked off the ground and exited the atmosphere into the darkness of space.

"I'm the eldest of three, my father is the CEO of BlasTech uh..." Neffy scratched the back of his head and looked away from The Hypaxian hoping he didn't see Neffy's growing anxiety problem. "I mostly work on my own designs for various guns or I work out in my home gym and listen to music." He flexed his biceps and then realized he was still wearing his jacket. He took it off and hung behind him on the seat. "I have pretty shit aim so don't expect me to hit enemies at a distance, I mostly rely on hand to hand combat and my sword. I very rarely have to use my blasters. I don't have many friends, nor do I have any relationships. I'm attracted to most men who have a similar body type to me." A nervous chuckle left Neffy's mouth and he smiled awkwardly. Hopefully that was enough. He waited for The Hypaxian's response and was unsure of what his reaction would be.

@Nor'baal

 

[Hypaxian]

Hypaxian wasted little time on their journey, flicking through the information he had available on their mission as his compatriot filled him on the details of her own background. Whilst the tell-tale streaks of hyperspace filled their viewports, Hypaxian listened as the eldest child of the BlastTech CEO spoke, realising as he did that this specific relationship could become quite handy if well managed.

A designer of some sorts, she appeared to be an heiress more than a warrior, but the diminutive Dominar didn't see that as an issue.

Her lack of combat skills was...not ideal, however, especially given it was just the two of them on this specific assignment, and, despite his bluster, Hypaxian had no form of support on hand, at all. "Well," he blustered "...here's hoping we avoid trouble eh?" he added, as the ship punched out of its short hyperspace jump, and over their intended location.

 

[Neffy Whilstradt]

"Well," Neffy noted the slight pause from The Hypaxian "...here's hoping we avoid trouble eh?" Neffy sighed. The bad feeling growing bigger and bigger. He really hoped this would go smoothly. The space pirates had already began to turn the asteroid into an ideal spot for a space station. The ship jolted and shook as it exited hyperspace. Neffy got up and looked towards the asteroid. He could see Naos in the distance. He was a bit surprised that the asteroid wasn't already claimed by a mining company. After all asteroids this size are rather valuable.

Neffy took out several weapons that he brought with them and put them on the table. He checked through them and made sure each weapon were loaded and ready. He even brought with him a shatterbeam rifle that had recently arrived. He hadn't been able to test it properly before this mission, so Neffy hopes that it won't backfire on him. Neffy only bought this rifle so he could alter it and make his own version of it. A unique one of kind shatterbeam rifle. Instead of it being designed for long range, he was going to make an alternative close range variant. Similar to a shotgun. I guess I'll have to wait before I attempt to make that. Neffy didn't have much patience so he hoped he wouldn't have to wait long. The thought of making a new weapon excited Neffy. It always did, but this time even more so than it did before.

@Nor'baal