Lux in Tenebris
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Background: After a combined force of Jedi Aces foiled a pirate syndicate's attempt to seize a luxury yacht and its wealthy passengers wholesale, Mykel and elements of the Spare Fleet moved swiftly to interrogate the captured raiders. What they uncovered was far worse than opportunistic piracy. Beneath the failed heist lay the scaffolding of a vast, multi-sector trafficking and ransom network operating with chilling precision.
Months of careful sleuthing, financial tracing, and quiet follow-up operations led Mykel to what he now believes is the nexus of the entire enterprise. At the ragged edge of the Unknown Regions lay a repurposed asteroid mining colony. Officially registered as "Driftpoint Mineral Reclamation Platform Aurek-9", it is better known among its current crop of shady inhabitants as Gravepoint Drift, or simply the Drift.
A clandestine operation by the Spare Fleet is set into motion. The objective is twofold: confirm the station's role as headquarters of the trafficking ring, and trace the current whereabouts of abductees rumored to be imprisoned there and scattered across safehouses throughout the galaxy. Mykel travels to the station with a small team of elite Antarian Rangers, posing as a prospective buyer for a wealthy client in the Outer-Rim.
Elsewhere, a different trail of desperation unfolds. The daughter of modest Bakuran merchants vanished when her transport freighter was seized during her first assignment as a junior officer. The pirates responsible, The Cinderjacks, demand a astronomical ransom her parents cannot possibly afford. With no fleet at their disposal and no political leverage to wield, they gather their remaining savings and place their hope in a single, well-known abolitionist and rebel fighter willing to take on the search alone.
Both missions lead to the Drift.
Synthflesh Disguise (Chase Dubears)
Trouble began as soon as Mykel landed his YT freighter on the ugly rock. He had purposely chosen one of the saddest most unimpressive examples of transportation he could find, the devastated scorched brick looking like it was held togther by nothing but duct tape and a prayer. Still, he was met a wide variety of covetous eyes as he stepped off the ramp in his flowing trench coat.
It didn't matter how crappy the ship. If it flew it, then it was worth something to those who had nothing, and to those who always craved for more.
Fortunately, many of those eyes became downcast as marching down right after him were a pair burly looking Mandalorians nursing absurdly large Auto Rippers in their arms. A new ship was nice, but avoiding disintegration was even nicer. One Mandalorian hovered near the ramp while another continued to follow Mykel. More bodyguards remained within the freighter, one giving the underslung laser turret a cheeky swivel of greeting to their new neighbors.
Beyond the upper hangar deck, Gravepoint Drift unfolded as an architectural argument no one had bothered to resolve. Makeshift terraces stacked at impossible angles. Corridors bent around exposed asteroid stone. Shanties of repurposed hull plating and scrap clung to structural pylons like metallic barnacles. It was labyrinthine not by design, but by decades of careless accumulation.
After a bit of aimless wandering, he paused before his first junction where crude signage had been bolted up. Large, messy Aurek lettering painted in aggressive neon brightness directed traffic toward major wards and the bigger shops as a rudiment of guidance.
He scrolled down the list.
Jack's Empty Boot...
The Grinning Rancor...
Boover's Universal Emporium...
There. Boover was his destination, the front location for traffickers.
With a vague idea of where to go next, he continued on the move with his "bodyguard". The Jedi didn't really need the disguised Ranger at his side, but part of this mission was all about selling an appearance.
