Ask Nal Hutta Yo ho, yo ho, a Pirate's Life for Me...

[Mae Tecono]

In orbit above the planet, Mae sits in her starfighter wondering what her next move shall be. She was supposed to meet her friend at this location as well as a new face and ship. Mae was here to be a fighter escort for a salvage job. She knew that the key to new tech or at least some credits, was through salvaging projects like this . She herself does not have the ship able to salvage the wreckage herself and that is where her friend comes in, the new face however, had the location of the wreckage, so without him, they would be searching the same wreckage that everyone else has a million times before.

It has been nearly 30 minutes since they were all supposed to meet at this location and Mae was getting antsy. She decided to do a checklist instead and looked over her shoulder every few seconds.

 

[Maddie Dawnstar]

Maddie jumped into the system to the point of the meeting with her salvage ship on loan. She was new to all of the controls aboard the ship except for the piloting controls. The ship was like a flying brick with horrible turning, but since they were just here to salvage something, she was not worried about it too much. She radioed over to Mae to alert her of her arrival.

"Mad, reporting in for duty, Miss!" she said with a giggle. She liked Mae, she was a lot like herself and the two worked well together.

 

[Rex WoIfbane]

Rex jumped his freighter in almost moments after Maddie had arrived. He hears her check in to the lead ship piloted by Mae and decides to check in himself "Yea, copy that Maddie, Rex and the Valkyrie reporting to duty too, hahaha" he did not mean to tease too much but it was fun. He could tell the little pilot was new to this just like Mae was new to it not too long ago.

"Showing a small spike in our power usage, Cap" Taz told Rex as he referred to him as Cap, short for captain. Taz only used this type of slang while on the ship and not in front of non-crewmen.

"Anyone using any of our ships systems?" Rex asked over the ship intercom.

"Negative, Sir" echoed from his other two crew members.

"Taz, go research it for me while I dock with the salvage ship" Rex ordered his first mate.

Rex did not like having three brothers as his entire crew, but they have proven trustworthy and loyal. He was hesitant to name Taz his first officer, but he had little choice after loosing his last one to a pirate ship of her own.

Rex took the controls and guided the Valkyrie in for a soft docking clamp on Maddies salvage ship.

"Mae, my other docking ring is set for you to connect and we can go over this plan of yours in person." Rex radioed over to Mae.

 

[Mae Tecono]

Mae, docked her ship easily onto Rex's freighter and instead of stopping in his ship for the meeting, she pulled him along into the salvaging ships command deck to have the meeting with Mad there.

"Okay, so, I have learned of a salvaging location here" she played down a holocron tablet and pointed at the coordinates. "It an old imperial carrier from the Final order. It was blasted out of space by the resistance and left to drift in space. It may contain not only some possible intact fighters and other minor ships, but also some heavy tech ready for the picking. That is the good news. The bad news is I heard that this info was sold to multiple sources, so we are in a race for the salvage and may be in a fight when we get there. We have my assault ship, Rex light cargo, Mads salvage ship and assault ship but no pilot for her ship. How should we proceed?" Mae asked the others.

 

[Maddie Dawnstar]

"I think we need to get things going now if others are on the same loot. Have I need one of Rex's crewmen to operate my salvaging drones and arms. You two will need to take care of any opposition for us and if things get bad, I can always join you from my fighter as well." Mad pointed out.

She did not like taking the lead or try to rush them to their next move, but since others were after the same salvage, than she thought it best to get them moving.

 

[Rex WoIfbane]

"I agree, lets get going. I also agree with her plan" Rex stated firmly as he got up and left to go to his ship. He was tired of meeting with people and wanted to get to action. He returned to his ship and made orders for his crew to take their battle positions. Taz and Mog to the gunner positions, and Rork to the power cell and fire control station and lastly, Rex to the pilots seat.

Rex transmitted the jump coordinates to the others and waited for Maddie to check in before he jumped with the pair of women to the salvage destination.

 

[Mae Tecono]

"Well okay then." Mae replied as their meeting came up alot shorter than she had anticipated, but was glad to be on their way.

Mae got up from the seat and made her way back to her ship. She did not yet have a crew like Maddie or Rex, so she would be relying on her droid to operate her gun turrets remotely.

She punched in the coordinates and calculations that were transmitted from the Valkyrie and made her preparations before signaling to the others she was read and then jumped with the others off to the site.

 

[Maddie Dawnstar]

Maddie was shocked that the others were so quick in following her idea. Made her feel a little bit more in command of her own actions as well as momentarily the others too.

She had Jim man her gunner position and Fin on the robotic arms and salvage drones. She too punched in the destination and mechanics for their jump and radioed to the others that she was ready for the jump.

As the three jumped into hyperspace almost at the exact same time, they too entered their destination about the same time too.

Mae used her sensors to scan the debris field. "Looks like we are in the right place, a battle definitely took place here" She said over the comms.

She scanned for power signatures and thought that would be a good start. She was successful in picking up a few very faint ones and also a few strong ones which she thought was odd for a nearly 100 year old debris field.

"I think I found the debris we need to start at, but I'm also picking up active power signatures from deeper in the debris field, I don't think we are alone nor the first on the site" She radioed to the others.

 

[Rex WoIfbane]

"I read them.... initializing scanners" Rex responded as he pressed the appropriate controls.

"That is a confirmation, I am reading another salvage freighter and support ships in the area." Rex again replied with annoyance. They were too late and the info he had bought was apparently sold to another interested party.

"Should we try to contact them or just butt in on them in surprise fashion?" Rex asked the other two captains.

 

[Mae Tecono]

"Well that is a disappointment. No, we better introduce ourselves and find a reasonable agreement."

She could not believe her own words even when she spoke them, but she was hopeful that the others may be a salvaging corporation and not a pirate ring.

"What do you think, Mad?"

 

[Maddie Dawnstar]

"Seeing how I am sitting in the least defend-able ship, I believe diplomacy works best for me."

Mad was a bit shaken that there were others in their spot. As if someone had set up camp in her own backyard.

"Jim, Fin, better get ready in case this goes south." She told her gunners.

"My scanners are picking up the Carrier, what looks to be a medical or supply frigate and their salvage freighter. The other ships are masked from my scanning, they maybe to close to some of the debris to differentiate between the two." She radioed to the others.

 

[Rex WoIfbane]

"Copy that." Rex replied before sending out a message to the other ships in the area.

"This is the Valkarie and company, we have a stake in this salvage as negotiated with the local authorities of the Bespin Salvaging clan." He lied, even making up that last bit, but thought it might make their claim a little more stronger if these others are of the more honorable sort.

"Negative, this is our claim, exit the area or be destroyed" Came a quick response to his request.

"Roger that, we will do not want conflict, we will go elsewhere. Please allow us a wide berth as our salvage rig is slow to turn." Rex replied, again lying.

Rex then sent a coded message to Mae to ready weapons and he was waiting her command.

 

[Mae Tecono]

War Baby Star Fighter v38 VCX Starfighter VCX-820 ESCORT FREIGHTER

 

[Mae Tecono]

Mae coded her plans to both Rex and Mad. *Mad, turn port as if we were following their orders, then hit your thrusters to max and flank them around the debris field. I will go straight at their fighters while you, Rex, follow Mad for a moment before banking back into the fight.*

As she saw her two partners start their rotation and flanking maneuver, May picked her targets. The three closest fighter escorts were a War Baby Star Fighter and two v38 's. She knew her droid would not be able to make up for the speed of the fighters but hoped the flurry of laser fire may catch them.

She pressed her attack, taking one of the v38's off guard completely and it's explosion not only alerted the others of her plan, but alerted Rex to start his banking turn.

The War baby caught on quick and strafed Mae landing four of its six shots lowering her forward and shields to 70%. The second v38 quickly followed but Mae was able to dodge most of the shots by a spin move while simultaneously landing a flurry of shots to his shields.

Before she was about to turn sharply and follow the two, she saw their main ship which had salvage drones out on both the carrier and the medical ship. she contemplated using her ship to attack, but instead, decided to follow the threat of the escort.

 

[Rex WoIfbane]

Rex did as he was instructed, and after a quicker than he thought flanking motion, he turned the Valkyrie into the fight. He headed straight for Mae and the two remaining escort ships attacking her. His flurry of fire from his two turrets did nothing more than frighten the two pilots away from Mae, but this did give her a chance to get a better lock on one of them at the least.

The v38 then turned his way and made a strafe and disabled his missile tubes. They were pretty useless on his ship as his targeting computer was not the greatest and it was more suited for a larger and not as quick target.

 

[Maddie Dawnstar]

Maddie started her flanking turn and had not fully got into her new path before Mae had started the engagement. Mad was not pleased as she sighed in disbelief. The slow engines of the salvage ship propelled her very slowly around the the salvage target. As she came around the stern of the once powerful carrier, the other salvage ship came into sight. She instructed her forward gunner to open fire.

The forward cannons repeated medium bolt after medium bolt into the stationary target ripping it apart but not coming close to destroying it. "Target the cargo bay doors and salvage arms" She ordered her gunner. "If we cant destroy the ship, we might as well disrupt it and convince them that their profit is done here"

The gunner obeyed her order and started targeting more exposed parts of the ship. Once a few of the salvage drones and cargo bay entrance had been destroyed, the ship recalled its remaining drones and made an attempt to flee.

"Mae, the salvager is making a run for it. Once it clears the debris, it will make a jump for hyperspace. Can you reach it in time?"

 

[Mae Tecono]

"I'm on it" Mae replied. She was still in the thick of it with the two escort ships so she decided to fly close to Rex on the way and let his flurry of laser fire deter them from following.

As she passed Rex, she was successful in ditching one of the followers but the second was not as easily frightened nor, as it turns out, as lucky, as it is ripped apart by Rex's flurry. Just before the unlucky foe met his demise, he lands a very accurate salvo of medium laser fire on Mae's exposed engines. The rear shields only absorbed part of the impact as one of her main engines is disabled.

Mae limps towards her target, hoping she can at least get a firing solution before it jumps away. She targets the engines and fires 4 Ion-tipped warheads. As they zoom to their target, she crosses her fingers and takes a deep breath of hope.

BOOM - The warheads meet their target disabling the fleeing salvage ship.

With all lost, and no hopes left, the remaining v38 flees and shortly after jumps to hyperspace.

Mae takes a brief moment to calm down from the recent excitement. Then she quickly returns to the radio to organize their next steps. "Rex, board the disabled salve ship before it recovers from the ion blast" She ordered. She knew that Rex had the most crewmen for the boarding operation. "Mad, set up shop and get an inventory on what we are looking at here while you get your crew to start recovering any worthy assets out there."

"I am going to set up a patrol path around the salvage site in case our v38 comes back for revenge and try to stabilize my battlefield damage."

 

[Rex WoIfbane]

"Great shooting back there!" Rex yells to his crew.

As the battle concludes, Rex finds himself taking a breather himself while Mae relays her orders. When she is finished, he pilots his ship over to the disabled salvage ship and docks to the left of it. "Grab your weapons and meet me at the docking tube, boys, we have a ship to take! Which reminds me, Mog, grab the slicer on your way."

As they cut their way through the docking ring doors of their target, Rex sets up a light turret with a light shield facing it. He wanted to make sure that the enemy was surprised and not the other way around. When Mog was don, Rex instructed them to step behind him as he used the blaster turret do the final 'knock' to the door. The door came down hard and as Rex had suspected, blaster fire came from the other side. Rex opened up with the turret and spray and prayed through the open gap until the return blaster fire had stopped.

Taz first threw a smoke grenade through the opening before throwing a stun grenade. Once both had gone off, Rork manned the turret while Rex and his two brothers stormed into the ship. Rex and the others stepped over a body of an unlucky crewman and two outdated battle droids on their way through the opening section. As they made their way down the hall to the bridge, they met another choke point and exchanged blaster fire before he heard a faint voice yell out to them "Parlay".

"Come out where I can see you!" Rex commanded to the unknown voice.

"How do I know you wont kill me" the voice replied.

"You want to parlay, ill honor it"

The man the voice belonged to stepped out into the open with his arms raised and Rex did the same but without his arms raised.

"I suppose you wish to surrender" Rex said with a smirk.

"I will as long as you let the remaining crew live"

Rex noticed that he said remaining crew and not his crew live. This might be a small detail that most would over look, but he believed there was another meaning for it.

"Are you the captain of this ship?" Rex asked.

"No, you killed the captain upon your entry into our ship"

"In that case, yes, if the remaining crew comes out peacefully, their lives will be spared."

"Do as he instructed, come out, unarmed." The man said sternly looking at one of the remaining crew members.

Rex took note of that gesture too, possibly some loyalty dispute or something. Maybe the man was hot tempered like Rex's crew-member Mog.

Rex had the remaining crew of the salvage ship come to the entrance part of the ship and sit in front of Rork and the blaster turret while he and the others scoured the ship for other crew or surprises. When nothing came up, he sent Taz to the bridge to give him a rundown on the ships shape and repair needs. He had Mog trade off with Rork and sent Rork to do an inventory of the ships 'harvest' and goods.

While his crew was busy, Rex pulled the man aside who had surrendered to him.

"What is your name and rank among this crew?" Rex asked.

"My Name is Zeke, and I was the first-mate here until you made me captain"

"Well met, Zeke, I am Rex. You and your men fought well today, any interest in joining our crew or are your loyalties to your old captain too strong?"

"I appreciate the offer, Rex, and I may just take you up on that. I was loyal to my late captain, but my true loyalties lay with my crew, what are your plans for them?"

"Well, if I can trust them like I feel I can trust you, I would be honored to add them to our ranks as well. Am I able to trust them?"

"Yes you can trust most of them, Captain, I give you my word on that. A few of them, however, are not good at following orders and are even worse with change. I don't see those few going along with you peacefully, but I may be able to convince them. Better chances to convince them if they know they did not lose completely out on their spoils this trip, can you offer a share at all?"

Rex raised his eye brow. This man knows how to bargain and Rex liked it. He could never trust a man to do anything for free.

"Ill tell you what, you point out the crew that need convinced, so I know which ones to keep my eye on and give special assignments too and I will give you and your crew a 5th share to split, after we pay up our expenses that is."

Zeke looked at Rex with thankful expression and agreed before nodding his head to a corner with a large Karkarodon in it.

"He is one and the other is his buddy sitting next to him"

"Good. I will let you fill them in and sell them then."

Rex sat back while Zeke sold the crew on joining the ranks of the new organization. When all had agreed, and signed their mark upon the tablet of loyalty, Rex put them to work repairing their ship and helping Rork in his inventory task.

 

[Maddie Dawnstar]

After being introduced to Zeke, by Rex, Mad was able to fill in some of the gaps to what she had found and also not found in the wreckage. She had an extensive list of items but had a smaller list she was now able to go over with the others while she sat back, comfortably in her pilot seat.

"Okay, ill try to make this as quick and easy as possible. After talking with the first mate of our new comrades, I was able to find out that they have been working this site for weeks. With that said, some of the more rare and profitable salvage has already been picked and sold. That list includes the primary hyperspace engines for both of the large crafts and all of the fighter and support ships within the hanger of the carrier. The secondary hyperspace engine for the carrier is damaged with out the possibility of repair. The list also includes most if not all of the components of the medical frigate that make it a ship including the engines. The only remaining working parts of the medical frigate are the medium deflector and cargo shields as well as the class 14 backup hyperspace engine."

Mad paused for a moment, feeling like she has been talking a mile a minute. After a deep breath to calm herself, she continues.

"The list of missing and sold includes 90% of the small arms from the crew areas of the carrier, all of the external laser cannons of both ships and about 70% of the internal storage of warheads and missiles, the military grade shield generator, long distance communications, life support systems, and power core."

"Now to the good stuff" She says with a little excitement.

"I know you are thinking what in the word can be good after hearing all that negative mojo, but we still have 20% of the small arms and 30% of the warheads and missiles. And!! the best news of all, about 30 fully intact and 15 destroyed VCX Starfighter s."

"Before you ask, yes the hyperspace engines have been removed from all of the starfighters, and yeas 15 of them have been destroyed, but.... the ships can still be used in close proximity to a mother ship and the 15 destroyed ones can be used as spare parts down the road."

"To cap off my list, I have a brilliant idea for the medical frigate. Wearing a control suit, and after being tugged out and lined up, I can pilot the ship using its backup hyperspace engine, home. And just wait there is more, even though the ship has been gutted, we can transport the starfighters in its open frame freely with minimal reinforced bindings."

 

[Mae Tecono]

Can't believe I am posting this over a year since this thread occurred. Closing down and submitting the thread as complete.

Brief narrative wrapping it up:

Rex, Mads, and Mae, return back to home base with the hallowed out medical frigate, the 45 VCX Starfighters in different stages of condition, the opposing pirate salvage ship, 8 new NPC crewman, a few tons of small arms and warhead/missiles.

Most of the small arms and warhead/missiles were sold off to pay off the syndicate member who loaned us the salvage ship and to the new 8 crewmen as promised by Rex. The medical frigate and opposing salvage frieghter were returned to home base where they sit until one of the 3 captains can get to retrofitting them to syndicate use. The starfighters are either being scrapped for parts or used as security but a majority of them will also be passed on to the syndicates for their cut.

***Thread closed***