Ask Gainful Employment

[Grace Zann]

Kowak | 1500 Hours
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Gainful Employment
The Zygerrian slavers have a small base located somewhere on the planet. Our mission here is two-fold, find their base and kill the slavers, every last one you can find. Secondly, free their slaves and convince them to join us. Offer them food, lodging, and credits for their work. 2-4 Player Characters, Self DMed.
1. @Grace Zann
2. @HK 24
3.
4.
5.

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Grace stood aboard the bridge of the Consortium's Crusader-Class Corvette, stolen not long ago from imperial impound. A crew of thirty Pyke allies worked the ships controls and weapon systems, while another ten of them waited for a ground assault. Along with their crew aboard the corvette, four StarViper-class Attack Platforms had come along to assist, each piloted by one of the Zann Consortium's mercenaries. The small syndicate had brought every last gun they had with them, arming up all their foot soldiers with T-0M E-Guns. They were planning to hit the Zygerrians hard, and destroy their slaving operation in one fell swoop.

Grace would broadcast a message via commlink to all their nearby allies, "Thank you all for coming to assist us in this operation. If we are successful, then the Five Syndicates will grow ever stronger... The plan is simple, the Zygerrians have no idea we're coming. We'll make an attack run with our ships to eliminate any vehicles they have first, then we'll land to clean up the rabble. Between the Pykes and my mercenaries, we have twenty-four soldiers armed with repeaters, not much compared to the size of their forces but we do have superior weaponry."

She would take a look back to a pair of Pyke crewmen carring a heavy metal create toward the loading area of the ship... That was how they were going to win. "When boots hit the ground, our goal will be to free their slaves. We have plenty of extra blasters in the cargo hold of the corvette, send them that way to be armed."

With that, she would end the broadcast, and slowly their ships would enter the atmosphere of the jungle world. It was a fairly bright and cloudless evening, so they would certainly be spotted quickly. As they drew, Grace would see a small number of YV-865 Aurore-class freighter docked a short distance from the main base. Destroying their methods of escape would be priority number one. "Concentrate all firepower on those docked freighters! They'll have a much harder time dealing with us when they have no ships..."

A pair of Pykes would give the woman a nod, kicking off the battle with a volley of shots from their Heavy laser cannons and blowing one of the parked vessels to ribbons.

@HK 24

 

[Harleen]

Harleen flew overhead in her Skipray blastboat, the order had come down to blast the slavers ships, Harleen wondered.. after firing one torpedo and one concussion missile from each of their respective tubes, if there were any slaves onboard those ships at the time.. however as they exploded from hers and the ones fired by the StarVipers the thought left her mind, circling back, as the StarVipers went to make a second pass Harleen would land beside the landing craft @Grace Zann came down on.

Stepping off her ship, Harleen looked back at her army of droids, Watch the ship! She'd yell before walking away chuckling to herself, she had nine droids on the ship, but none of them were battle droids, as if some loadlifters and astromechs would really be capable of defending against an assault..

Boss! Harleen would yell when she caught sight of the woman she worked for. Harleen was going for a softer touch this time around, and had her Peacemaker in her hand, as her typical explosives would likely cause heavy casualties among the slaves here, and Harleen knew Grace wanted them alive.

 

[Julius Arvo]

Jules groaned when Grace ordered the destruction of the ships. So much for his usual bonus he thought. But it was Grace's call and she wanted all the Zygerrians dead so die they would. The Pykes wanted the competition destroyed.

Jules was flying his recently acquired VCX-820. Between the complement of light and medium lasers and the twin launchers with a payload of 16 war heads it was more of a gun boat than a freighter. Following orders he blasted the parked ships then dropped a single war head designed for ship to ship warfare. The results obliterating everything for a kilometer in every direction.

Turning the controls over to his Red headed co-pilot Jules said, " destroy anything in the air that is not ours. He then walked to the boarding ramp and after lowering it he dropped the 50 meters to the ground using the Force to absorb the momentum.

"Pyke 3 on the ground , cleanup beginning. " Jules said into his com link

 

[Mae Tecono]

Mae remained on her ship. She was unsure if they would call in backup or not and was far more comfortable behind the controls of her ship then she was on the ground. Besides, they could not leave the job of protecting their air space up to a bunch of droids and mercs. They had to have one set of experienced eyes watching their backs.

After Jules cleared the ground of freighters and forces able to do anything in flight, Mae turned the rear of her ship to face the planet, and put her eyes on her scanning computer for any unwelcomed guests. She still had her communications patched into her ear piece so if they needed a precise bombardment of a particular spot on the ground, she could easily make it happen.

 

[HK 24]

There was a gentle hiss as the embarkation ramp of one of the ships thumped down onto the surface of Kowak. With a series of loud 'clunks', HK-24 made his way down the ramp and scanned the surroundings, his DC-17x in a rifle setting clutched in his hands. The mission was a clear one - extermination.

It was one of the droid's favourite pastimes, and something he was exceptionally good at.

With the Pykes moving quickly to disable the Zygerrian vessels, HK-24 and the ground forces could enact their mission with impunity. His scans showed a degree of panic spreading through the encampment, the speed of the Pyke attack sowing discord within the ranks of their enemies. He spotted a detachment of Zygerrians, blaster pistols and energy whips in hand, charging out of the main entrance to the Zygerrian Ziggurat, a modestly appointed building that seemed to dominate any and all slaver outposts.

He snapped his rifle up and fired a single shot through the torso of the leader of the group, who HK identified owing to the man's fancier armour. "Instruction: Low your weapons, and surrender to the Syndicates." he boomed, his voice coder turned to the maximum so as to create the effect of shouting. "Resistance is futile." he added, continuing to blast at the Zygerrians, who ducked for cover.

 

[Grace Zann]

The corvette would fire off several more shots toward the Zugerrian's base as it would land roughly one hundred meters away. Meanwhile, the small wing of Starvipers would attempt an attack run against several E-Web emplacements that were attempting to fire on their air support. This would lead Grace to announcing, "Mae, those repeaters are going to cause problems for our fighters. See if you can get them offline."

Just as her corvette touched the ground, word for Jules would come over the comms to which the woman would quickly respond. "Good work Pyke 3, the warehouse just north of the slaver's base. Fight your way there and point the slaves in the direction of our corvette... We have plenty of extra blasters for slaves who want to join the fight."

As she spoke the crusader would hiss as it's doors opened. The combined Pyke and Zann forces would make their way out of the ship with their repeaters, Grace would be the last to exit. As she did, she would come to find Harleen on the ground already with a compliment of droids to boot.

The consortium boss could only smile, "Good to see you old friend, well have to catch up later though... The slaver base is to the north, but I'm sure they saw us land."

The woman's yellow lightsaber would ignite as she began a steady march to the base. Hopefully their fighters would be able to provide a distraction for the ground force's approach... Some distance away, the Zygerians would begin taking cover behind various tree trunks and boulders in the jungle. many of them were lying and waiting as consortium forces approached. A mercenary with a pair of macrobinoculars would point this out, "Boss, the slavers set up a defensive position in the jungle. Getting to the warehouse from here will be a tough fight."

Grace would give him a nod, and then turn to Harleen. "Alright, Lets send your droids and myself in first. We'll draw their attention while the rest of our mercs free their slaves, sounds like some of our people have already started an assault against the base..."

@Mad Dog @Trix @Nor'baal @Wayrider

 

[Harleen]

Harleen must have confused Grace, as none of Harleen's droids were battle able, I got this.. Harleen said, her HUD going to work as she leaned forward toward the tree line where the Zygerrians were hiding, half a second later the missile, tucked into the top of her jet pack, started to ignite and flew quickly in that direction before exploding, Harleen followed it up with the missile attached to her left wrist that slammed into the area just after the jet pack missile. A vicious crack echoed through the area was followed by the groaning of two trees that just a moment later gave way and fell to the ground with a earth shaking thud....

Harleen pushed on her Peacemaker taking pot shots into the center mass of any of the Zygerrians she could see.

 

[Julius Arvo]

Grace had given Jules his next objective. Jules began heading the direction killing every Zygerrian he saw that was armed. Most of his opponents died before they realized that Jules was even among them, their intrest locked on first the explosion and then the landing Corvette.

Jules did pause momentarily to destroy an E-Webb as he passed by. Reaching the warehouse he simply killed his way in. The Zygerrians were completely confused and most did try to run away but Jules had his orders. So shooting them in the front or back really didn't matter to him.

Entering the warehouse Jules found only one Zygerrian. When the idiot pointed his pistol at Jules he died his head exploding from the heavy blaster bolt that Jules peacemaker sent. The room went completely still. Using the Force to augment his voice so that it was heard by everyone in the building he pointed and said," that corvette has weapons and equipment, if you want your freedom you are going to have to fight for it!!"

Jules then stepped back out of the doorway and reloaded his pistols watching first as a small trickle of slaves turned into a torrent charging through the door heading towards the Corvette.
A young human female with red hair around 19 or so was knocked to the ground in the rush. Moving quickly Jules scooped her up and set her on her feet.

"You can stay with me if you would like," said Jules. "What can I say," he thought, "I have a type" Handing her one of the freshly reloaded peacemakers, he said, "I'm Jules. " and then headed towards the next group of Zygerrians.

 

[Mae Tecono]

"Offline?" Mae thought to herself. They must be tied into the bases energy grid. Mae made a few passes of the base, receiving light to minimal fire from those below. On her third pass, she spotted the energy nodes that would be located next to the generator. She first fired a missile but the building it was in was well shielded. She decided to climb to a high altitude and make a long drop on the target with maximum fire power. Her medium double quad-medium cannons pummeled the shield until it collapsed and the remaining bolts went straight into the generator and it blew. Mae pulled up with plenty of time to spare.

"That do it?" She asked Grace over communications.

 

[Grace Zann]

Grace would scratch her head for a moment. How did she miss the fact that Harleen's companions weren't battle droids? Maybe the stress of the whole situation was getting to her. Regardless, her friend seemed to have a solution to the Zygerrian's defensive positions. Two large explosives would send many of their soldiers tumbling back, and would even destroy some of the foliage used for cover. This was the perfect opportunity.

"Smooth move... Everyone, charge!" She would shout. The woman's lightsaber would spring to life as she ran forward. The large compliment of mercenaries would be close behind, all giving suppressive fire as they advanced.

Meanwhile an E-web would turn it's gun toward the attack force, only to suddenly shut off as the result of a generator explosion! Mae would come over comms causing Grace to give a victorious smirk. "Nice work Mae. See if you can take out some infantry from up there, but make sure not to shoot the slaves..."

The woman would bat away several blaster bolts as she approached the warehouse with her mercenary army. As she did, their group would pass the retreating slave force. that was their back up. They needed to buy the slaves time to get armed.

Reaching out with the force, Grace would cause a pair of large trees to fall over, creating a barricade for her troops to take cover behind. She would explain over comms to the whole crew, "We need to distract the Zygerrians while we arm their slaves. Hold them off as long as possible. Reinforcements will be ready soon..."

@Mad Dog @Nor'baal @Trix @Wayrider

 

[Harleen]

Harleen charged on, side by side with Grace. As the woman's lightsaber twirled and twirled, Harleen would fire multiple bolts from her Peacemaker, catching three more Zygerrians, one in particular taking the heavy bolt to the mouth, Harleen grimaced at what she saw before returning her attention to the matter at hand.

Grace had bought them some cover, and some time, when Harleen spotted a group of the slavers trying to come around the downed trunk of the tree she took aim with her right wrist, firing off the missile embedded there, as it soared through the air and smashed into the ground at one of their feet she followed it with a bolt from her pistol, the resulting explosion eviscerated two of them and sent two others flying.

This fight was taking quite some time, they needed those slaves armed, somehow the Zygerrians numbers didn't seem to be depleting, How many of these guys are there?.. Harleen asked, ducking behind the tree for a moment.

 

[Julius Arvo]

Jules lopped along after the slaves providing cover fire when needed. The Zygerrians loathe to damage their merchandise let them go uncontested believing that they would recapture them later after all where could they go.

Unfortunately for the Zygerrians that meant another 30 of them would die as Jules simply killed each one he passed. Making it to the boarding ramp of the corvette just over two hundred were armed and charged off to wreck havoc upon their former masters. The remaining hundred and fifty or so slaves were herded onto the corvette for protection.

Turning Jules reloaded his peacemaker dropping the nearly empty magazine on the ground. He went slowly enough that the little red headed female could see every thing he did. Resheathing his vibro blade he handed a new magazine to his current companion and waited while she reloaded hers. When she was done she looked up and said, " I'm Rechell." "There is a mine entrance about a kilometer that way."

Nodding Jules began running that direction at a pace she could keep up with.

@Mae Tecono

 

[Mae Tecono]

Mae was happy that she had helped take out some of the main guns, but as she peered below, she saw Grace or someone drop some trees down for cover. This helped secure them from direct fire, but as Mae continued to scan the battle below, her eyes lined up with a large mortar emplacement rotating to take aim at the now tree covered position of her companions. She flung the ship around to lock some rockets on the position but the thing was protected by its own ray and energy shield making it impossible to destroy even with her double quad medium lasers. As it rotated its last few degrees to line up with Grace and her position, Mae had to make a split decision. She dived directly at Grace and the fallen trees, and as the mortar lined up it fired a barrage of five shots. Mae had maneuvered her ship down within meters of the ground above Grace and Rafe. So close that Rafe had to have ducked to avoid a bad concussion, as the mortar round landed the the top of Mae's ship, mostly absorbed by her shields but some bleed damage made it through and sent her spiraling upward and away from the conflict. Circuitry and gases exploded into the cockpit and various compartments of the ship as the damage had taken its toll on the ship. She was about to radio to the others about the mortar placement, until before she flew out of the area, saw a group of freed slaves over run the emplacement.

@Where

 

[Grace Zann]

Grace and her forces were holding out well against the slavers, and thanks to the good work of her associates the operation was going smoothly. Harleen had managed to take down even more of the zygerrian forces. Jules meanwhile lead the small slave army toward the corvette to be armed. Finally Mae... Where was she?

Grace would look to the sky just Mae's ship came flying toward their forces. "Holy Kriff!" The ship would take a shot from a powerful mortar blast not too far away. They hadn't spotted the emplacement prior, but thanks to the pilot's swift actions, their force had been saved.

It wouldn't take long for the slaves to arm themselves, and many would run to supplement the Consortium's forces. There were still many more slaves who needed freeing, but at least the odds were starting to even. The entrance of the large ziggurat would soon open, as a large force of armored Zygerrians began chagrining out with Blaster rifles in tow. Many of the liberated slaves and consortium mercenaries would begin to advance in response.

Moving past the fallen tree barriers, they would take cover behind other patches of foliage, slowly gaining ground toward the temple. "Looks like they sent out their best. Concentrate all your fire power on the entrance of that temple. Those look to be their best defenders."

@Mad Dog

 

[Harleen]

Harleen ducked down low when the ship came down, so close she could hear the buzzing of its shields just before the impact echoed around the area, she couldn't see what was happening but could venture a guess @Mae Tecono was using herself as a shield, likely saving them all from a certain death..

Thankful, Harleen switched to her Micro Missile guns, and began dual firing toward the bulk of Zygerrians near the entrance, luckily nearly every other person on their side was doing the same, shredding the slavers to bits as hundreds of blaster bolts and Harleen's micro missiles hit them and the area around them. With the slaves at their back their force had more than doubled and was apparently large enough to just roll through what was left of the slavers.

Brute force was a great tactic, which is why it was still used. Once Harleen's guns were empty she switched back to her Peacemaker and kept firing. The smoke was clearing as bolt after bolt fired through it slamming into the walls and the bodies of the Zygerrians. Harleen would actually chuckle softly, the poor slavers had no chance, they didn't even know who to aim at as the now considerably larger force bore down on them.

Then it happened, their force broke and Harleen charged forward, alongside what had to be dozens and dozens of men and women armed as best as they could be given the circumstances. Whatever was left inside didn't stand a chance...

@Wayrider @Where @Trix

 

[Julius Arvo]

As he arrived at the mine the Zygerrians had apparantly been called to reinforce their base. This unfortunately for them had bunched them at the mine head trying to all arm themselves at the same time. The confusion just added to Jules opportunity. He doubted that they even realized they were even in trouble when two thermo detonator grenades exploded at head level.

The blast littered the area with charred remains and even removed a large section of the front wall. Shouting into the mine head, Jules called, "If you want your freedom follow me!" Three children exited, then were joined by six more. In less than a minute there were more than fifty.
His fury mounting Jules turned to Rechell and said," take them all to the ship and stay with them. "

Slowly releasing his pent up breath cause the Red head to catch hers as she watched the total dead look sweep over Jules features. Jules then bolted toward the ziggurat his Force enhanced speed moving him at a speed that no man could match.

Jules lept nearly 12 meters landing on a firing platform on the ziggurat's side the blaster bolts that were fired at him he simply slapped to the side with his open hand. When his pacemaker had fired its last shot he holstered it and grabbed up a discarded pistol, which he also fired dry. Death walked through the structure merciless and implacable. He replaced his pistol this way four times killing every thing that crossed his path.

When he could find nothing else in the entire structure to kill he sighed once again then retrieved his com link from his pocket.
"Pyke 3 I'm coming out." Only then did Jules notice that he had been hit several times by blaster fire. Continuing to use the Force to control the pain he exited and called for his ship ro meet him by the Corvette thinking he would be spending the next several weeks in a bacta tank.

[Exit thread]

 

[Mae Tecono]

Mae pretty much left to high orbit at this point. Her and her ship licking their wounds. She had her entire crew working on making temporary repairs until they could reach home base for a complete over haul.

Mae listened to the radio traffic from the surface below, it sounded as if everything was mostly under control or in complete chaos with the freed slaves. She assured herself that Grace could handle the fall out on her own or at least with Harleens assistance.

She punched in her hyperspace coordinates for Trinity station and punched out.

[Exit Thread]

 

[Grace Zann]

Slaves were arming themselves by the dozens as Jules lead another large group of them to the corvette. The Zygerrians were officially being outgunned by the sheer number of blasters on the consortium's side. While the slaves were by no means skilled, the repeating nature of the T-0M E-Guns, assured they didn't have to be.

On top of that, Harleen would put in some serious work with her micro-missile guns, thinning their ranks even further. On top of the slavers' Ziggurat, several freed slave would begin dumping carts filled with mined spice on top of their masters. The remaining Zygerrians would begin to panic, with many surrendering or being blasted to bits in the chaos.

Eventually, Grace would make her way up the steps of the structure, before turning to face the massive force of freed slaves. "You are all free... I am Grace Zann, leader of the Zann Consortium. As of this moment, you may all leave Kowak if you so choose. However, I seek to right the wrongs these people did to you. If you choose to stay on this world, I will make sure you are all well paid, well fed, and well treated. I plan on building a great shipyard. One that will make us all rich. Who will help us?"

The crowds would pause for a moment, but soon a single voice would speak up, "The galaxy out there never showed me kindness. I'll help if you'll pay." Soon, many would repeat a similar sentiment. It seemed the slaving operation was no more, and Kowak was under new management.

Soon, a new shipyard would stand where this Ziggurat once did...

[Exit/End Thread]