A New Day, Same Wicked Grace

[Malia Afredane]

"Right, so with the Wayfarer, if we can get a couple good ion cannon hits to this area here, then we can disable the sublight engines. Basically leaves her drifting but doesn't compromise the life support systems. Hitting that spot shouldn't be hard, and I expect the ship to be down in no time. If she's shielded, that's another story but Rusty has things that will take the engines out either way."

She moved to a schematic of the interior, and pointed at controls near the back of the ship.

"We've got a couple options here. There are airlocks on both sides, here in the crew cabins and over here in the cargo module. If we can get to these controls either through slicing or entering from this crew side, we can dump the cargo module, pull it away with a tractor beam and leave the crew to get their own help. Or we subdue the crew, and lock them in this meeting room and clean out the ship at our leisure."

Both instances were nonlethal but had their drawbacks. It was going to take a coordinated effort to pull it off.

"I'm also open to any other ideas any one might have."

[member="Kairon Rees"] [member="Rusty"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

Kairon ran a hand across his chin thoughtfully. It was no secret amongst his crew that he'd spent over a decade pirating, but it wasn't something he liked to bring up or draw attention to. Particularly when it came to the gritty details.

"Depends on the crew," he said. "A hardened team of professionals with a reputation to protect will fight to the bitter end. If they're not, once we've disabled the ship we can give them an 'out'. They might take it if we make clear the alternative.

"However, I wouldn't say it's likely. If they know they're working for the Hutt, they know losing the cargo without putting up a fight is as fatal as trying to hold the ship. I'd suggest we prep a message and once they're desirable send it. Demand they jettison the cargo or else we're going to airlock them all. Otherwise I'd say we hit them hard and fast and take control as quickly as possible. Don't try and subdue every last one. There's a good chance they'll hole up somewhere and make it risky to dig them out," he said.

And we don't have spares to throw at them, he added to himself. Going through the breach first or charging the most well defended spots was always the job of the newest members of any pirate crew. Most didn't realise that pirates often weren't hardened mercenaries, but large collections of desperate souls being driven on by a few who collected the largest share of the loot.

"Do you have anyone who can slice?" he asked. "We at least have some welding gear. Every bulkhead or blast door we seal as we go, is a potential route for them to flank us closed off."

 

[Rusty]

"There's slicing," Rusty said, "and there's slicing. I can brute force my way past light security, but I don't have the touch for it."

In truth, Rusty had been slicing so long, he could probably find a backdoor in just about anything, but that wasn't something he advertised, not even for the Captain. There was a lot of money to be made in slicing, but too much and people started to recognize digital fingerprints. That was a sure way to get busted in the future, so Rusty never brought out that skill if he didn't absolutely have to.

"I've got some welding charges that'll seal up blast doors. If they hit the strong points, I say we seal them in and vent the rest of the atmosphere. That'll make them less likely to try anything cute. We can get the goods, then send out their distress call before they suffocate."

Despite popular belief, it wasn't likely that they would freeze. Space isn't actually all that cold, when you get down to it. Vacuum makes for an excellent insulator. As long as they were careful with their air, the crew would survive for several hours or even days inside the strong points, and they wouldn't be likely to try for a breakout if it would mean loosing atmosphere. A few of them might have suits, but no one ever carried full suits for their crews. Emergency masks, sure. They were cheap and could work in a pinch, though the bends were a serious issue. Explosive decompression wasn't an issue so long as the air didn't go all at once, but the decompression sickness could just as easily kill, and almost certainly maim, anyone left exposed for too long.

 

[Malia Afredane]

"The ship is registered to a small transport company on Lianna. Looks like they mostly run routes to the Core. I don't know that these kids know what they are getting into. It could be a cover but it doesn't smell like one. Let's hit with the engine shots, send the message. If they jettison the module, then great. If not, I'm following your lead anyway."

She looked back and forth between Rusty and Kairon to see who would make the call first. In tactical situations like this, she was less than useful. She might have been Navy but close quarters fighting was not part of her job description back then. If she was kit by pirates, she was supposed to just let them take the cargo.

"I'm covering your butts, not leading the assault."

[member="Rusty"] [member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

“Doesn’t waste any of our time to make the offer,” Kairon replied. “We start breaching the hull as soon as their engines are down. That’ll take around a minute, so I suggest our offer lasts that long. Don’t give them a chance to stall. The Quin has two modular cargo holds, but the Wayfarer class doesn’t use a standard fit, so we’ll be making a slow and careful jump with the hold if we take the whole thing.

“If they don’t submit, I say we hit them hard and fast. Weld doors as we go, don’t fanny about with slicing and dump the whole module. Let’s not worry about securing the whole ship if we can avoid fighting through the whole rats nest.

I suppose my last question is: where are we making the hit? We can jam them, but the timing of catching them in realspace before any authorities can spoil the party is key," he said. An image flashed across his mind. A horde of tugs manoeuvring an asteroid into the path of a hyper-space lane. His hands opening and closing, eager for the inevitable slaughter that would ensue. Rees shook it away and waited to see if anyone else had any comment. Jarrick merely shrugged and checked the optical sight on his blaster carbine, which had been set to stun. Kairon's instinct was to tell him to switch it back, but he held back. Crews often laid down their arms when they realised what was truly at stake.

 

[Rusty]

"I'm down," Rusty replied. This guy sounded like he had some experience playing the pirate. "I'm gonna drop a bug into their system to vent if we need to, but hopefully it won't come to that."

The Shard pulled up a holomap.

"If we can help it, I'd rather not catch them in the Tatooine system. While we'd probably be okay, I don't wanna take the chance that one of the local warlords got their hands on a frigate or something. Even if they don't catch us, they might frag the crew to prove a point. Our best bet is to take them here:"

He pointed to the Nar Shadda system.

"My sources say they're taking what should be a brief shore leave there, probably so their captain can line up some shady business on the side. They should, in theory, be leaving out tomorrow, local time, but I'm willing to bet they're not gonna make SP. There's always that one guy that ends up marrying a stripper or something. If they follow a semi-sane vector out of the system, they'll end up here:"

The Shard highlighted a portion of space about three hundred thousand klicks away from the hyperlimit. While it was technically possible to jump in-system, that was considered a risky proposition, something for militaries and folks on the run from them. Chances are, they'd take the safe, well charted spaceways to the edge of the system and go from there. There were escorts for hire who might see them safely to the edge of the system for large sums of money (or else), but Rusty was willing to bet that no one would want to tangle with a Hutt. Not unless they were hired to do so, and no one went through the Syndicate if they planned to double dip, not even Hutts.

"From there, it's like you said. Give them a chance to heave-to, take 'em fast and hard if they don't. If we're lucky, they won't have insurance."

There were many insurance companies who offered to cover piracy. They weren't cheap, but the potential payout meant that most ship owners would rather the crew fight. The more damage, the bigger the payout. There were even rumors that they'd take junk ships with junky crews and hire pirates to hit them just for the payout. Rusty didn't take those rumors seriously, but stranger things had happened.

 

[Malia Afredane]

Mal looked everything over, but something wasn't sitting right.

"So are they on leave now? Here somewhere?"

There was an inkling in her eye about something. She looked back and forth, and sighed audibly.

"Why aren't we stealing it now? Hell, if no one is there, we can stroll on and fly the damn thing off from under them. Leave it abandoned and empty on Nal Hutta and be gone before they realize there's no ship in the bay."

Why take the chance to have to fight them off if you can catch them off the ship.

[member="Rusty"] [member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Rusty]

"There's a difference between lawless and Nar Shaddaa," Rusty said seriously. "We might not have to fight as much of the crew to get the goods, but I'd bet you a weekend in a gambling house that we'd have a hefty bounty before we got back to the Wicked Grace."

For a place known for its rampant crime, Nar Shaddaa was surprisingly safe in some ways. Sure you might be murdered in broad daylight over scuffing the paint on someone's speeder bike, but the spaceports tended to have funny ideas about making sure they were the only ones that got to rip their customers off.

"I say it's safest to hit them where they can't get any backup, and where it'll be hard to get a positive ID."

He turned to [member="Kairon Rees"] .

"What do you think?"

 

[Kairon Rees]

“Techno Union owns Nar Shaddaa now. No governing body in the galaxy more intrusive when it comes to privacy, drones all over the place watching people. They’ve also stuck a hell of a fleet in that sector recently. Might just be me, but I’d rather be able to jump if things go south, instead of being on the ground,” he said with a shrug.

“Maybe if we had some help setting up the job on the ground I’d feel different. It’s not like spaceports are left unguarded while the crew goes drinking most times.”

Mai, the Cathar stowaway sauntered past. She paused to look at the pair on the screen for a moment, before turning her nose up and walking off, feigning disinterest.

 

[Malia Afredane]

"Yeah, yeah. Just a thought. Edge of the sector is good for me if it's good for all of you. We can take off tonight and get into position. Wait it out on one those little moons out there and just watch the traffic go by. Do we have a patrol schedule for the TU in that area?"

She looked to Rusty as he was the one who had gotten the intell on the job. Maybe his contact had given him a little extra.

[member="Kairon Rees"] [member="Rusty"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

“Sounds good to me. The Quin wallows like a pig when fully laden, but when he’s running free she can get up some good speed. If my nephew can concentrate for more than five minutes he’s a pretty good shot with the ion turret too and this thing’s going to be a big target,” Kairon added, waiting for the droid to add more details.

Already his mind was wondering to which bottles of red he had left in the kitchen and how many chapters of his current read he could get through whilst they waited for the vessel. A bit more time before the inevitable violence would be welcome.

 

[Rusty]

Rusty programmed the hologram to show the various patrol routes in the sector.

"Usually, they keep the exit vectors pretty well covered, but, well, space is huge. Even if we get unlucky and one just happens to stumble on by, we have a few minutes to get the heck out of there. As it stands, we're timing this so that any patrol craft should be a good ways away when we hit."

Judging by the routes displayed in red, the craft would have a 45 minute response time, assuming they got the SOS immediately.

"We can buy ourselves a little more time if you can take out their comms first thing, and even more if we set up a distraction a little further away. Maybe hire a kid in an Ugly to fake engine trouble or something for a couple hundred credits."

 

[Malia Afredane]

Mal shook her head at his last suggestion.

"A kid in an ugly is a loose end and I'd rather not have someone who can identify us floating around. If we want to fake a distress call, Gracie is a better bet. She's old as hell and looks twice as bad. But that's if we can get them to stop. They might just radio ship in distress and keep on going. I'm not gonna hinge our success on their altruism."

She pointed to the celestial body closest to the outlined route.

"This moon is close enough to hide behind. We can swoop out from this side and take them. We gotta move quick though and shots have to be right on. If not, we might as well scrub this one."

She looked thoughtful over at Rusty a moment.

"We can't get the goods here, but can we get their hyperdrive disabled while they're in port? Might buy us some time if they decide to defend."

[member="Kairon Rees"] [member="Rusty"]

 

[Rusty]

Rusty scratched his chin for a moment.

"You know, I think I might know a guy who can help with that. He won't do anything major, but he might be able to inject a line of code that'll scramble their startup procedure. Won't stop them from bugging out, but it'll take them time to figure out how."

He wasn't about to go into detail over the comm, but there were a few Shards nearby. They wouldn't blow their cover, but they could probably be relied on for some low level assistance. Nothing that couldn't be attributed to an accident, and nothing that would kill, but scrambling a startup sequence was child's play, especially on older transports.

 

[Malia Afredane]

"Do it. Bug their system up and give us a little wiggle room."

She checked over everything else in the report and cocked her head over.

"I think that's it. We'll get the drive disabled and head out this afternoon, land on that moon and wait. You know how to get me if you need anything."

There was a twitch of a smile as she winked and killed the comlink. She swiveled the chair to Rusty.

"Anything else we need to attend to?"

[member="Rusty"] [member="Kairon Rees"]

 

[Kairon Rees]

Jarrick walked past as Mal killed the comm. “Well they seemed nice,” he said in a high-pitched tone.

“Mhmm,” Kairon murmured, refusing to be baited by the old mercenary. “Get the Twins to load a couple of Cry Babies down to the port cargo bay and get them set,” he instructed curtly.

“Do we have enough info on the target ship to match her?” he asked.

Kairon checked over the datapad. “Yeah,” he replied, handing it over. The beacons would deploy a trickster decoy when activated, mimicking the target vessel both electromagnetically and visually through the use of holoprojectors.

He headed for the cockpit whilst his second went to set the beacons. He ran his hands over familiar switches. Sher hummed with a familiar resonance and the repulsors powered up. Rees gently eased up her off the docking pad and started to ascend. He was by no means an expert pilot, but he was used to this ship. The sound of the wind rushing across the hull slowly abated, the stars came into view. The Quin was truly home when she was in the stars. There seemed no reason to stay grounded, when they could do some drills in the hold in space. Less chance of the boy sneaking off and making them late too.

 

[Rusty]

Rusty knew what his job was from here.

The Captain could handle all the flying. That was her thing, and she could put the Wicked Grace through the teeth of a rancor and come out without a scratch, assuming they found a big enough rancor.

His job was to shoot, and he wasn't about to take any chances. It was time for Gertrude to play.

He fished the massive rifle out of its resting place on the hull and brought it onboard before they took off. She'd need to be cleaned an inspected, especially if he was firing nonlethals. The old girl was tempermental when it came to those, and he didn't want to be stuck wondering what happened when staring down the barrels of a few laser cannon.

Of course, he also planned for lethal alternatives. A battle box loaded with lethal frangible rounds was coming as well. When they struck something solid, they'd come apart in a find spray of metal rather than punching through bulkheads, but they had a tendency to make soft targets, like bodies, explode.

 

[Malia Afredane]

That was apparently a no. After the hyperdrive business was taken care of, they took off and headed out for the ambush site. The traffic was somewhat quiet on that route for most of the evening, and Mal left Gracie drifting in the shadow of the moon so she would be less visible to passing patrols. Rusty was getting ready and Mal ran some diagnostics on the systems to make sure she would be in fighting shape when the time came. She let one run while she went and checked the docking rings and clamps for attaching to the Wayfarer.

So far everything was looking fine. She was nervous though. This was a test. And Mal hated tests. She was also a little nervous about Kairon and his crew. Enough so that she asked the question that had been unsaid since they met them at Lucky's.

Rusty was playing with Gert when she walked up.

"What's the story on the Quin's crew? I'm sure you ran them."

Rusty ran everyone. Other crews, bar owners, caf shop baristas. Called it being cautious.

 

[Rusty]

"Some history of piracy on their captain, though the records say he wasn't a high value target. A lot of pirates are into the whole rape-pillage-and then space the lot thing, but by all accounts he didn't kill if he didn't have to."

The big rifle checked out fine. She'd need an overhaul once he opened shop, but there were no major issues.

"The rest of the crew seemed pretty solid. A couple of petty crimes here and there, one of them has been taken to civil and divorce court many times, but nothing that suggests they're any worse than their captain."

Rusty motioned for the Captain to pass over her sidearm. As was customary, he'd inspect all her weapons before they started the mission. He doubted she realized it, lacking the background in high end firearms that he had, but most of her pieces would fetch a princely sum on the market, even used. They were all optimized to point that they could have been used in any precision marksmanship competition.

"They seem to be as honorable as any group of thieves and smugglers is likely to be."

 

[Malia Afredane]

She handed over her weapons and they were broken down and inspected again. Could never be too careful.

She was relieved to hear about the crew of the Quin though. She figured they probably checked her and Rusty out too. She would have. Rusty looked like something out of a nightmare. He wasn't exactly subtle in appearance. That tended to make people remember the pair of them.

While he was working on the guns, Mal changed clothes and headed into the cargo bay for a brief workout. Nothing strenuous, mainly stretching and some breathing techniques to calm her mind and limber her up. She felt good and exhausted when she was done so she got a quick shower and sat down at the common area table with a deck of cards, a beer and a musci player, softly playing something she knew they would both enjoy. She dealt herself some solitaire, watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"You reckon this is gonna go off alright?"