A Sea of Sand

[Ughad]

Timing was everything

Kadri had made sure that the areas had been extensively scouted in secret for several days. Information brokered by those wanting a few extra credits had given him what he thought was sufficient information. From what he could tell, the Pirate lord here owned about fifteen freighters in total, and several warehouses filled with rare goods and valuables.

Of course, that many freighters would have been no issue if Kadri was still in command of the entire Primeval Vanguard, but now he was down to only a handful of ships, of which only a few could be risked to successfully gain a rightful foothold here.

The attack would be in the earliest hours of the morning, when the sun had still not risen and the events of the night before had calmed. At that time the ones that were still awake were given the horrid task of the graveyard shift. Any alarms that would be sounded off


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2nd hour of local rotation

The sun had yet to meet the horizon, the stars still shining in the sky over the desert. Many miles above the surface of the planet, a total of three ships dropped out of hyperspace. All of them carried the markings of the late Primeval empire. All of these ships marked for recycling before the self immolation that the former power commited. Now they were valuable resources to the former Warlord

Spoiler: Ship list

1 x Carnage Heavy Frigate

• 7 x GU-55 bombers
• 1 x GU-42 dropship
  50 troops
• optionally +1 guest

1 x Raze Transport

• 250 troops
• optionally +1 Guest

1 x Deluge Assault Frigate

Within seconds a dropship and a host of bombers launched from what seemed to be the command ship, escorting the large transport towards the planet below. Sensors blared on the pirate outpost, within a few more seconds alarms were sounding across the camp, waking the groggy pilots and pirates across. For them, however, it would be too late. The enemy was upon them. The sound of bombers was faint in the distance, but such was the sound of death. Only a lucky few would be able to make it to their ships before the first bombing run.

[member="Mala Arar"] was on one of these transports, if she chose to be so. The gulandi soldiers around her looked a bit too ready to kill, perhaps, but they were loyal and fierce warriors all the same. They all had a simple mission: Capture any pirates they could find- killing only as a last resort, aside from the Pirate lord himself- he was to be brought to Kadri personally. No buildings were to be destroyed if it could be helped and anything of value found was to be preserved, it would all be distributed as Kadri saw fit once the outpost was taken.

He wanted this outpost captured by noon.

[member="Tai Fa"] if he wants to hop in as it is his domain

 

[Darth Imperia]

Mala Arar was indeed aboard one of the countless Dropships, although she wasn't going by her real name, nor was she showing her face - she had a simple black mask to protect her anonymity, and was wearing, instead of her normal outfit, a jet black outfit consisting of utilitarian work boots, black pants, and a jacket (armorweave, of course) with many, many pockets in which to hide nasty things.

Nasty things like spare energy cells and gas tanks for her Blaster, should she need to blow anything up.

That was a last resort, however. Killing directly was such a messy business, and she preferred not to get her hands dirty if it could be avoided - which made her perfect for this mission. All she needed was the Force - Pirates weren't known for their resistance to Mind Tricks, which suited Mala just fine. The rest of her gear was simply a fallback - her DL-44 Blaster Pistol was mostly in case she needed to resort to more traditional means of coercion, or if she simply came across someone who couldn't be reasoned with.

Incidentally, the Gulandi surrounding her were her first concern. She knew little of them or the Primeval Host they once served, but she knew how to read people - these were sadists, full of barely contained rage and an almost suicidal recklessness. Whilst she was fairly certain they wouldn't turn on her, she preferred working with minions who were more mentally stable. This horde was the type not to defend their companions, but gleefully leave them to die.

Mala did a final check of her gear - respirator in her mask was functioning, blaster pistol passed all basic diagnostic checks, and her armor weave didn't seem to have any holes in it. Everything in working order, then.

Time to raid some pirates.

[member="Kadri Ughad"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

​

Lord Fa preferred to keep his activities to the shadows.

In a world of bold Sith Lords proudly showing off their assets the Thirriken enjoyed the long game. This meant that when the time came -- and it always came around -- when the Sith's power was in decline and the Jedi rose again, that Tai would not have to worry about zealots knocking down his door at the edge of the night. It was stability and security in the face of blatant adversity.

The sun rays burned through the skies and heated up the surface of Ch'hodos. Radiation was steadily increasing and made it more difficult to survive out there without proper protection.

This was why the pirates had chosen the world as their outpost. Few, if any people, really wished to walk around there and so they could operate their in comparative privacy. They had this little tangle with a scientific research outpost a few weeks ago, but once a certain peacock had walked into their outpost with words... they had learned their boundaries.

A few hours prior to [member="Kadri Ughad"]'s assault on said pirate outpost, Tai had landed near the research facility.

Completely coincidental, of course. But at some point the pirate king would probably desperately try to make contact with Fa. It would be interesting to say the least.

 

[Ughad]

The transport lulled behind the very bombers that were escorting it, by some standards it probably wasn't considered an escort anymore, but that was besides the point. For most of the area the only thing that would break the silence of the morning was the scream of bomber engines on the planet below. The pirate base stirred with the sudden awakening, shunted from their sleep by someone that thought that they carried a stick twice as large as it really was. The reaction of the pilots and soldiers on the base were rather mixed. Given the time many of them fled for cover, yet other crews made mad dashes for their ships in order to strike at the enemy before it was too late.

The bomber engines were like clocks ticking down on a timer of their life.

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There was one crew, under the captain Duke Moonsprinter, that was better than the rest. It wasn't kept secret, really, just never talked about. No one really knew where the flying ace and his crew had come from, some even said that they were all jedi at some point. There was really no doubt in the hideout's mind that they could probably outmaneuver a TIE with a civilian freighter as long as Duke was behind the controls.

Without words, the crew climbed into their Darvro-class light freighter. Preparations were made. With nods and instinct the thrusters were given full power, engines humming and squealing as the ship took off.

Engines down, shields up, weapons online. They were ready before the bombers were.

As they swooped in for their targets, the single ship that had taken off already was firing at them. One of the bombers took one too many hits and then clipped in the wing, sent careening into the pirates' base at full speed and an explosion of flames. Without hesitation the other bombers made their run, avoiding laser fire all the same. What followed was a spire of fuel-fed fire reaching into the skies, debris of seven of the freighters raining down in an area several hundred meters wide.

[member="Mala Arar"] | [member="Tai Fa"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Kadri Ughad"]

"Tai." The growly ursine roar of Vnut sounded in his ear. Vnut of Garnib was his Balinaka bodyguard or used to be, before his company had grown exponentially. Now he had little need of one very competent bodyguard. Now he needed more, he needed a sentient who could oversee all security measures.

That sentient was Vnut.

He ensured that everything went according to plan or at least comparatively so.

"Yes?" The Sith asked over the sheets of paper on his desk. He kept scribbling, of course, but the fact that he wasn't employing his haikus on Vnut was all the sign anyone needed that there was clear respect between the two.

"The pirates have been hailing us for the past ten minutes."

"Oh?"

There was silence while Vnut looked over the datapad in confusion. Reading the reports brought over to them in interest, before shrugging.

"Seems like they are on the attack and are asking for help."

"Help?"

Lord Fa was many things, but chief among them a Sith of unknown reputation. He wasn't a Sith in the vein of the Zambranos though, slaughter for slaughter sake had never interested him. He could offer assistance, if the price was right. If there was a clear reason to get involved.

"They fear this might be too much for them to handle alone."

The Thirriken thought about that for a moment. An attack such as this one did not come just out of nowhere. The Silvers were cast out of the Sith Worlds, minus Dromund Kaas itself.

So other pirates? Probably not strong enough to truly contest the pirates dug into their base here.

"A rival Sith, then?"

"Possible."

Lord Fa pondered on that.

"Get us some eyes there. I want to see what we are dealing with."

 

[Ughad]

The transport would get ever closer to the surface of the planet as the bombers would go for another run on the ships that were beginning to take off, taking out another five. What bombers had not dropped their payloads were fighting off a single freighter that was managing to evade their fire one by one. Another bomber was taken out with little retaliation, their numbers down to 5 now. The bomber careened into what the pirates had used as a comms tower, whatever signal being sent to the Sith on the planet suddenly cut.


From the skies above the two frigates would begin to drop out of low orbit and head towards the planet below. Surely it would not be long now that the pirate annoyance would be taken care of, Kadri's prize claimed, and a good number of prisoners and slaves to capitalize upon. Kadri frowned under his mask as reports of destroyed bombers began to come back to him. If anything it was possible that he could resort to sieging the base from above. But he would rather not have to deal with broken buildings. Hopefully the arriving transport would be able to deal with whatever was taking out his ships.

====================================

From above laser fire would begin to come down upon Duke's ship. He began to take evasive maneuvers from the transport quickly approaching his base. For the first time in a few years he began to wonder if he might die. These ships were far more powerful than the occasional pirate ship or freighter that he raided against in the past.


[member="Tai Fa"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Kadri Ughad"]

"Sustained concentrated efforts, Lord Fa." The Balinaka reported after ten minutes. "They seem serious about this."

This was the moment of truth for the Thirriken.

In truth he could probably repulse this attack if he committed his own forces. It would conceivably be the... morally right choice, considering the past agreements made and such. But in truth the pirates had been unwilling to venture past this world, making it their sole mission to simply linger in this system and fish around for scraps. Not exactly a sound investment.

Nothing useful about it.

And Lord Fa hated uselessness.

"Do you wish to deploy?"

"No."

Vnut of Garnib knew better than to try and argue with that. Instead, he simply waited for the next order to come. Because there was always something else coming, always another idea or plot twisting around in that little avian head.

"Please make contact with this hostile party. I think it is better if we speak to them directly."

Seconds passed.

"And if they don't respond?"

Lord Fa cocked his head in wonder at that. It didn't even come to mind that he could be ignored, but that was part of the arrogance instilled in him by his upbringing amidst the rest of the Thirrikens.

"No point in speculating, old friend. Relay the call to my office, when it goes through."

 

[Ughad]

"Commander Ughad! A we are being hailed!"

"At least the pirates are willing to make this easier for me."

"It's not the pirates, sir! It's coming from further away."

The old Umbaran wondered for a bit. Who else could be on this forsaken ball of sand? "Let it through then. Let me see their face."

He sat up straight in his chair and smoothed his kept-pristine uniform with his hands before the pale blue hologram of his image would appear before whoever was calling him

"Greetings. I am Kadri Ughad, commander of the pitiful thing you could call a fleet orbiting above this planet. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?" With that he crossed he locked his fingers together in front of him and leaned back in his commander's chair, waiting for the hailer's response.


=======================================

Meanwhile on the planet below the bombers continued to make another run as a lucky shot to the engines successfully disabled Moonsprinter's ship and sent it flying into the desert sands below. If they were slightly lucky, they would probably all surivive to see the sun rise. The transport and dropship began to make their preparations to land. The soldiers within ready to fly out the second that the doors in front of them opened.

[member="Tai Fa"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Kadri Ughad"]

The face was that of a Thirriken.

Few sentients have seen those within the Galaxy as they prefer to stick around isolated and far-flung regions of space. But words and whispers of these creatures followed them wherever they went. They were ambitious. Patient. Calculating. They cared little about the lesser evil, if it advanced the greater good. Their greater good, whichever that may be.

Lord Fa studied the masked form of Ughad. Not much to go on here, but the silky voice gave him little pushes in the right direction.

​

"Who am I, you ask?​

He who claimed those you attack.​

I know of you, yes."​

​

"Ughad. Host. Executor."​

​

"What could bring you here?"​

Always another plan.

The pirates had been unacceptable as friends, associates... minions. This man, stepped out of the legends of the great host. The Primeval Crusades burning through Wild Space fueled by zealots and worse.

He could provide better friendship, perhaps.

 

[Ughad]

"Hm Hm Hm" The man chuckled, "I see that my reputation precedes me, but you have still to answer my question."

The thought that maybe this thing was just someone's pet passed through his mind for a brief moment, but one could not assume anything in this galaxy, especially in Sith Space.

"I could easily ask you the same question, bird. What brings you here to this ball of dust? What makes you want to make cohorts out of lowly pirates? I am going to assume that you are sith as this is indeed the Caldera."

The old man studied the bird a bit more, trying to recognize a face. He definitely felt something sinister from the bird, but he could never place exactly what that was.

"I would think that if my assumption is correct, then we are both here seeking power. Am I wrong?"


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With a mechanical whir the transport's doors opened swiftly, the sound of blaster stuns ripping through the air immediately followed suit, met quickly with the sound of blaster fire from the other side. Combatants began to quickly fall on both sides. A good number of these pirates, however, had seen little actual combat in their lives. With luck maybe a good chunk of the attackers would die. But this was no longer a queston of 'if' but more of a question of 'when.'


[member="Tai Fa"]

 

[Jairus Starvald]

[member="Kadri Ughad"]

Power came in many forms.

It flowed from patience and discipline.

Perhaps this man understood that or perhaps he did not, only time would tell how much use Lord Fa had in him, but at the end of the day there was one more thing that set him aside from the usual Sith. He did not mind to take a chance, one born out of careful calculation, of course, but a chance nonetheless.

"You are not wrong there.​

I seek friends in strange places.​

Sometimes it works out."​

​

"Sometimes it does not."​

​

"My name is Lord Fa.​

If we are to be neighbors.​

We should discuss things."​

There was silence for a brief moment.

It was understood that Fa would not intercede on the behalf of his failed minions. They made their grave the moment they were incapable of protecting themselves or be helpful enough to qualify for outside assistance.