Ask Black Peggats

[Pellios]

Today was a good reason for Pellios to decide to always sell quality merchandise. The Devaronian was the one responsible for selling the HMP gunships at auction awhile back. Now by no small amount of coincidence was he flying with the droid vessels on a mission to raid the Black Sun's vaults. Another team was already taking out the leadership of the criminal organization but it was up to Pellios and his Toydarian companion to comeplete their half of the job here on Mustafar.

The heat was not an issue for the Devaronian. He was capable of withstanding high temperatures and Mustafar's ambient heat was not as bothersome for Pellios as it was for some. Inside his custom YV-865, the Gackling Bandara, the temperatures were better than they were outside. But the HMP gunships would not be uncomfortable in the atmosphere of the volcanic world. Though they would need to fly a little below their maximum speed to keep their aging engines from overheating.

The group of ten gunships and the light freighter were keeping low to the ground to avoid long range detection. They were quickly approaching the underground cave system. The Black Sun were known for having starfighters of all kinds but they would have limited usefulness in the close quarters of the underground caves. This also meant that Pellios and his companions would have limited room to maneuver but that was something both his ship and the droid gunships excelled at.

"Keep an eye out for cloud cars. All units check in. How are we looking?" He called out over the short range comms. +Unit 1 standing by+, +Unit 2 standing by+, and so the confirmation went until all of the HMP gunships confirmed they were ready. Hopefully @Vako Yizok was as well. If everything went according to plan then this would be a great haul and the Black Suns would be one less source of competition.

@Morse

 

[Vako Yizok]

Vako Yizok had always been a believer that Preef Callo was dead. He spoke it loudly and often. Their paths had only crossed once, in a battle of Nal Hutta where Vako was on the other side. He always was opposed in principle to the disruption that the gunslinger had brought to the Syndicates. In many ways Vako held him directly responsible for their fall from prominence. And the rumors of his death seemed fitting and for the course of someone that lived such a life.

But willingly working the job was on the first irony for Vako being there. He was also tasked with striking the Black Sun. Some years earlier Vako was being considered a middling broker for them of some prominence. The would be arms dealer attempted to handle an auction... which was less secure than he had intended. Most of the product was stolen by raiders before it could even be shipped off, Vako held mostly responsible.

And then that Vako was working this mission with a far more successful arms broker and auctioneer... who had sold him the very craft Vako would be utilizing here.

A very strange day it was indeed.

Vako had no more trust for the organization than he had years ago, and witnessed first hand what those HMP Gunships could do and quickly when ordered to. He did not want to be solely reliant on them. Vako had landed the Atherwing far off on a stable and less volcanic plateau, so as to not risk all of his possessions, and deployed his LAATs to catch up quickly.

Each LAAT carried a squad of brigands and bandits. Not the best trained, but certainly well experienced in violence. That was the kind of company Vako kept, and the sorts he used well.

"Coming on your left, Pelios." Vako called out over the comm, the LAATs forming into position. Diving into line amidst the volcanic rocks and lava flows.

"Before we jump in there, I'd like to know why you're here. Is it just the money, the violence, or you got a different motive?" Vako asked. "Helps build a certain type of trust that we aren't gonna get in each other's way in there."

@Darasuum

 

[Pellios]

As if to further prove his earlier thoughts, Pellios's counterpart was accompanied by LAAT/I gunships. The craft sold through the Devaronian businessman would make the flying formation more than a match for the defenses they intended to encounter. It was certainly an ironic sight to see the droid gunships flying alongside similar vehicles they would have fought against during the Clone Wars. Now both ship types were working together for the sake of their criminal organization.

"Sure the money is part of it." He would not downplay how greedy he could be. Pellios's crew was getting paid for this job but there was also the consequential profits to be had for the arms dealer after the Falleen ran syndicate was dealt with. "But I started working for the Black Sun a life time ago. There's been plenty of times they've done me wrong and I've personally grown a bit tired of them. Not to mention I'm getting on in years. I can't do this kind of thing forever you know?" He also had previously had a chance to work for the Zaa Fenn crime family and had not made a notable performance. Maybe this time he would get an invite though he was unsure if it was the best option. A momentary pause hung in the air before the horned scoundrel returned the question to the Toydarian. "What about you Vako?"

The grouping of ships would soon enter the canyons with lava rivers flowing beneath them. Collumns of smoke and ash dotted the landscape but the smoky horizon was soon lost as the gunships light freighter adjusted their formation to fly between the volcanic walls. Pellios kept an eye on the temperature gauges and shield readings just as much as he was careful to nimbly guide his boxy ship through the precarious terrain. On their present course they would soon arrive at an entrance, unless they came across some hostiles before then. But

@Morse

 

[Vako Yizok]

The rumbling whirr of the LAAT repulsorlift engines forced Vako to put a finger up to his head to hear the response to his question. He could hardly hear what he was saying himself when he spoke it out loud. He was not sure if that was a design feature or if it was a result of the age of the machine he was on. Either way he raised his voice in response.

"Money." Vako answered. "I've done my share of work for Black Sun myself, and haven't had the worst of dealings with them." The Toydarian looked back to the tailgun of his craft. "And I have a deep and abiding hatred for Preef Callo and his Fenn Ferrick followers. The amount of beng skezz they kicked up in the Syndicates has made my life complicated. And I hate complicated."

Vako reduced the flapping of his wings and had a moment to sit down on a bench in the cabin. The swearing and harsh words he had for their employers gave away his anger at them very clearly. "But money makes things less complicated, so here I am."

The ships weaved through the volcanic trench. The rocks exuding a dark and ominous air, but hiding perfectly the attack that was on its way. Nothing appeared on the scopes for Vako's crew, though they were hardly considered reliable.

And then from around a bend they entered a sort of small volcanic valley, where at the lava pooled and broke off into a number of tiny streams. But ahead of them there was metalwork and alloy formed nicely to show them they had arrived at the base itself.


@Darasuum

 

[Pellios]

Vako had a personal vested interest in this operation. The Devaronian ship captain could respect that. Life tended to get complicated and one reason the aging smuggler had survived this long was because he played it safe. At least, safe as far as a smuggler is concerned. But safe did not make for good paycheck these days so here he was.

Pellios knew there was not going to be much of an element of surprise. The boldness of what they were doing had a level of chaos that could startle and make most people have second thoughts. But the Falleen crime syndicate would recover and make a counter attack if not dealt with appropriately. "Right on."

As if to speak to this, three cloud cars appeared on scanners a moment before they zoomed around the corner of the canyon. The gunners of the three cloud cars racing towards the convoy of gunships and opened fire almost immediately with their twin blaster cannons. The leading HMP droid gunship spoke a droid speak word of warning and swerved in time to narrowly miss the barrage and returned fire, launching missiles and firing its laser turrets towards the enemies ahead. The second HMP gunship however was not so lucky and took a few grazing shots from the blaster cannon and began to loose altitude but remained in the air and mimicked the leading gunship and open fired. "They know we're here if they didn't before!"

Third in line was Pellios's ship which thankfully had shields. While the boxy ship could have potentially avoided the damage, the pilot let the ample shields of his light freighter absorb as much of the damage and tank the aggression to allow the other eight HMP gunships to maneuver around and begin dogfighting with the trio of cloud cars. The chin mounted laser cannons on the Gackling Bandara fired a few shots that made the enemy pilots swerve to avoid getting hit. The dorsal turret swiveled to target a cloud car once it got within its firing angle.

The cloud cars were just the tip of the iceberg as three other contacts appeared on the formation's 6 o'clock. Approaching on their rear was another three cloud cars but were followed by three Kihraxz light starfighters. Each of the blacksun ships fired their laser and blaster cannons respectively on the trespassers. "HMPs, six through ten, move to cover our flanks." The droid gunships would divide their numbers to engage enemies in front and behind. Pellios was prioritizing the lives of the scoundrels onboard the LAAT gunships since they were the ones that would be able to storm the actual vault and help load the treasure into their many ships.

@Morse

Spoiler: Enemy defense

Barely a success: 33/100

 

[Vako Yizok]

The LAATs that Vako flew had been in pristine condition when they were purchased. But today they were not in the greatest of repair. The dropships had a very intensive maintenance process that were well beyond the capabilities of thugs and bandits he tended to hire. Such things were why pirate ships tended to look like rusty welded wrecks, as those that got their hands on serious hardware seldom had the funds or experience to handle them.

For that reason Vako was not surprised that their own sensors had not even picked up the incoming attack craft. Maybe it was something to do with the volcanic rock around them, but most likely it was that they were not running the right amount of power to the sensors themselves.

"Get evasive!" Vako ordered the pilot, who then started flying the LAAT in a way that it was not intended to be. The ship bobbed and rocked, jerking violently, forcing those inside to hold on tightly while their legs and gear shifted about the cabin.

Laser blasts strafed the LAATs, but the maneuver seemed to work as none of them precisely struck the LAATs beyond the heaviest part of their armor.

"Target in range!" The pilot yelled.

Vako held a hand on the handle above him and turned around to face his assault team.

"Get you're legs and load up!" Vako screeched. "No prisoners, no survivors. Just guns, gold, and glory." He looked back at the console. "15 seconds!"

The LAAT came over a landing pad that was well concealed in the volcanic space. It was made of volcanic rock and steel. It had almost no shielding, which made it all the harder to detect since it appeared to be a natural formation on the scopes. But the intel let them know it was exactly what they sought.

The LAAT opened up with the full force of its laser cannons, obliterating a pair of turrets that seemed recently manned. The smoke and fire had not settled at all when the LAATs came overhead.

Their doors opened up, and out poured over thirty bandits and thugs that were ready to get paid.

@Darasuum
Landing Assault Black Peggats
Morse threw 100-faced dice Total: 50

 

[Pellios]

All weapons were firing from the light freighters and the droid gunships. The laser cannons were going in all directions it seemed which left little room for the cloud cars to evade. The defensive craft were blown out of the sky one way or another thanks to the coordinated effort of the Vako and Pellios.

The devaronian captain knew they needed to protect the LAAT gunships. Aside from the Gackling Bandara the ships piloted by the scoundrels were what they would use to carry their spoils from the vaults. With the majority of the enemy aircraft come from their backs he moved to cover the gunships as they landed.

The gunships moved into position and began offloading raiders just as planned. The alerts of a target lock appeared on Pellios's dashboard and one of the Black Sun starfighters launched concussion missile. Pellios pressed the firing studs and fired a barrage at the starfighter attempting to lock onto his ship.

BOOM!​

Another Black Sun pilot turned into a fireball along with their craft. The remaining cloud cars and Kihraxz starfighters wove around the droid gunships. The fighting was intense but it would be screen the Black Sun defenders from attacking the landing area directly. The defender's numbers would dwindle and allow the Gackling Bandara to fallback and join the landed LAATs. Inside the cargo hold of the light freighter were binary load lifters ready to begin moving heavy materials and loot from the platform onto the ships. "Let's go, let's go!" Pellios yelled to the others and waved a hand forward before repeating himself in Huttese.

@Morse