Faction Midnight Space Cowboy [OPA]

[Eldin Daine]

"Skustell Brier"
OPA Wild Space

Play my music in the sun ...

In a patch of wild space between Yvara, Bith and Utapau, is a place known by locals and OPA as the Skustell Brier. It has a mysterious history, ships going missing never to be seen again, or reappearing after much time had passed. It is all legend, folk tales in the tomes of fantasy filled with ghost stories, phantom ships and all manner of creepy. And the strength of the fear and caution that surrounded this patch, the travel warnings and the superstitions had long faded away.

Until now.

Through the cantinas of the Outer Planets Alliance, talk had started to filter through again, that the Skustell Brier had begun to claim victims, disappearances of ships large and small that venture to deep into that part of wild space. However, they would resurface eventually having gained the attention of the OPA Judge for illicit smuggling and subsequently impounded. But regardless of their whereabouts having been explained, the tales of the Brier were beginning to gain traction.

A report had come through to Bespin, the file hitting the empty desk of OPA Judge Eldin Daine. In the file were the details of three ships that had reappeared in the Brier seemingly abandoned, this time with physical evidence of their existence, attached with stories of ghost ships, he decided this time it might be worth checking out. One bulk freighter, a medical ship and one old SSD, their got to be worth something.

There maybe some of value to salvage from them, or if the ships were intact, they might be useful to the OPA or fetch a nice price on the open market or .. the black market. Eldin posted a bulletin out for help, packed a small bag and headed out to Brier territory in his YV-666 Rusty Bucket, and waited at set co-ordinates on the edge of the Brier for help to arrive. From this spot in wild space, the group would make their way deeper into the Brier to the last known location of the three ships.


Calder Hutne

 

[Arryn Jhanson]

Employer: Outer Planets Alliance
Present Company: Eldin Daine

For all his talk about steering clear of government types, Ajay seemed to be getting more and more involved with the likes of the Outer Planets Alliance than what was considered to be comfortable for the Outlaw. Atleast among the Judges the lines seemed to be blurred and there was room to skirt the rules unlike the larger authoritarian regions of the Galaxy these days. It also helped that they paid him well for his...'Expertise'; It was often amusing to Arryn how valuable governments found criminals-for-hire when the agenda was on their side of things.

This time around they were apparently scouting some unknown region of the Outer Rim Territories, the Skustell Brier. From what he had gathered, it sounded like some form of nebular formation that ships found themselves lost within, though God knows what happened to the crewmen of these vessels, the drifting bodies of Starships found empty, abandoned and seemingly untouched. It didn't make much sense to Ajay, although there sounded to be a great potential profit to be made in being a part of the salvage team.

"How many we got on hand?" Ajay asked Eldin Daine, the other man being someone Arryn had only met twice and both times involving some sort of scuffle with imperials or cantina occupants; "We expecting any sort of push back when we get out there?".

 

[Calder Hutne]

Even Calder didn’t know what to call himself. Hunter, Warden? He figured if he was anything to the OPA he was a Hunter of the Fringe, armed with high tech and fancy Force powers to help keep the darkness away from the core. And he was the type to venture around the OPA worlds doing what he could to help keep peace and justice flowing. People who were running for the wrong reasons would be taken in for their bounties, the ones who were deemed okay by him? They were given a free ride. But monsters. From the Force or whatever creatures the OPA unearthed, those would be hunted for those requesting their removal as long as he could score some talons out of the job to make it worthwhile.

He’d been around the OPA a fair spell and when he was starting to make a name for himself helping chase Force nasties off of some of the worlds, and making sure to get his mark, with a mixture of skill, technology, and pure luck, but it must have been getting his name out there. He was getting contacted by various Deputies and Judges for assistance, and had even managed to score a retainer on specific removal tasks from the Alliance Remnant around Coruscant. But today was different.

Today he heard a message coming from Judge Eldin Daine regarding the Brier. Spectacular. He had prepped the Burst Caller, his hot-rodded Lancer Pursuit craft, the ship black, green, and silver, and made his jump to lightspeed, towards the rendezvous. After the ship reverted to real space, Calder hopped on the comms.

“This is Hunter Calder of the Burst Caller. I see you out there, Rusty Bucket. What we up against that you needed a Hunter?” He was laughing over the comms, his ship pulling up closer to the Bucket. Maybe he should activate the cloak?

Arryn Jhanson

 

[Lilia Arma]

Location: GLD Outrider w/ stealth modifications
Equipment: Infiltrator Armor, Blue Dual-bladed Lightsaber
Tags: Eldin Daine Arryn Jhanson Calder Hutne
​

Lilia was meditating in her quarters on one of the many ships owned by the Galactic Liberation Division, the outrider was outfitted to be an efficient stealth ship and was good for missions involving infiltration or exploration. This was an OPA op with many hands here on deck and she got the coordinates to the ship while she was returning from busting a spice dealing ring that was more or less successful. So she figured with her blood pumping as well as her comrades on board, they collectively decided it was best to hang around for this op and try to make some friends in the OPA. Lilia had been spending time with her own crew anyway so this was ideal.

Also it wasn't often you get to explore the Outer Rim like this. One of the perks of living there is seeing what the bloodsuckers in the core haven't discovered yet and it was to be achieved by those who lived in the backwater worlds of the galaxy that no one cared for, and that was just fine for Lilia. But this wasn't really exploration, it was an investigation to see what happened to these marooned ships, an odd trio really, especially an SSD in the middle of stark nowhere, definitely something worth had to be on there.

When in range, Lilia exited her quarters and went to the cockpit of the outrider to contact all present company. "This is Lilia Arma of the Invisible Womp Rat, ORION operative wasn't busy so I thought you boys might've needed a hand."

​

 

[Stephanie Swail]

The old Silver Jedi starfighter drifted in space; a tiny dot in the sea of dark. The engines were cold and the former markings that made it Silver craft were etched away, modified and covered with fixtures to make it harder to identity from any logo or emblem. The craft was once proudly piloted by Jedi Padawan Stephanie Swail many moons before, crossing systems like a spear seeking out those who needed the strength of the Light to save them in dark times.

Now, it was piloted by a Knight of status, but devoid of home or Order. Stephanie Swail was asleep in the cockpit. Her head lolled to the right, her breathing deep, a long braided ponytail tossed over her shoulder. She seemed to be at peace, but inside was a broken, fragile and hurt solider.

There was no need to think about what had happened in the Silver Jedi Order or why. She knew. That was enough. And she would find answers.

With no luxury of home or hiding place, Stephanie made her craft her home for now; a place to sleep if needed at the drop of a hat, or if a break was needed in travel. Stephanie had been asleep for coming up to 40 minutes now, her face glowing with lights that flicked on and off in the small cockpit; greens of radar, reds of communication interception and blues of fuel system. Right now she had stopped in wonderful view of the Skustell Brier, a huge nightlight that she had spent forever gazing at before falling asleep, wondering if the tall tales and rumours were true. Forgotten craft and ships vanishing, and then emerging as a shell of what they had been before.

But before she carried on following her clues, sleep took hold.

Even when she felt so alone, she never felt as alone as she did when just a pinprick in the infinite blanket of space.

--

​

Eldin Daine | Arryn Jhanson | Calder Hutne | Lilia Arma

 

[Eldin Daine]

Mood



“To be honest I don’t know what to expect”, he looked sideways at the man sitting next to him in the cockpit. “All I know is, that these ships appeared outta nowhere. No sign of any life on board any of them. And the registration on them ships is old, like very old”. It was all very weird and only got weirder looking out the cockpit window to follow Arryn’s gaze. However, the medical freighter has blast marks on the side, the engines burned black and it listed. “I don’t suppose.”, he mused. “I don’t suppose that SSD did that?”, he pointed toward the engines. Naw, Eldin shook his head, that was too farfetched.

Hunter Calder Hutne pipped up on the comms. “Welcome to the party Calder. We could use all the help we can get”, Eldin pushed the Rusty Bucket forward. “Movin’ closer slow ahead. Be prepare for flank speed”. The Bucket did not have the ability to cloak, but if Calder’s ship did, it might be prudent for him to use it.

Out in space, there are always surprises, and what came next was one of those times. ORION operative? All the way out here, oh there must be something of interest in this turn of events. “Got you on sensors Invisible Womp Rat”. He turned to Arryn and silently mouthed the name again as if in disbelief to the crazy name for a ship. However, the woman had a lovely voice, a lovely name, and Eldin's imagination developed a lovely image, he grinned. “Reading no life forms or power source on board any of the three ships, can you run a double check?”. Just in case the Bucket missed something.

As the Bucket approached, Eldin positioned to make a pass, around the medical freighter, it was not until clear on the opposing side, did a fourth ship appear on the scanner. This time there was a life form, and power source. “What the hell”.

“Unidentified ship, this is Sheriff Eldin Daine Judge of the OPA. State your business and identify yourself”, the call when out to old Jedi star fighter in which Stephanie Swail relaxed. What had they all gotten themselves into, the hairs on the back of Eldin’s neck kept prickling, and the alert through the force would not be silenced. Eventually, the group would have to board one of these three ships to investigate further.



| Arryn Jhanson | Lilia Arma | Stephanie Swail

 

[Calder Hutne]

While he wasn’t necessarily the greatest about caring for the governments, the OPA made it easier. They gave him jobs, they paid him, and he was able to hone his skills. What he had right now were basics, and a moderately sized gunship with a cloaking device. It allowed him a certain level of freedom and a certain level of terrifying if he was out hunting marks in space. He was here as assistance, and he was definitely okay with that. What he was hoping for was to learn a bit about what was ahead of him, and at least prove to one Judge or another that he was worth being hired.

“I am on your wing, Bucket.” He was waiting to see if he would need the cloak, but it did block out his communications at the moment. Something he was going to have to update. Maybe he could at least get something to intercept communications, if not be able to talk to other cloaked ships. That would be really useful, and potentially deadly on anything he, or a group like him, were hunting.

Keeping his hand on the stick, he was seeing another ship enter, then another. This was Daine’s mission, but he was still hovering over the target lock, waiting to activate it so he could get his turrets swung around. “Contacts incoming.” He said at the same time the Judge was calling to the fighter.

Arryn Jhanson Lilia Arma Stephanie Swail

 

[Eldin Daine]

There was no answer from the unidentified ship, Eldin sent the message again but before him loomed the medical freighter. Calder's ship engaged weapons, control panel flashing on the Bucket but on Eldin's scanner there was nothing. No sign of contacts incoming. He gave the sensor panel a thump with his fist, the scanner image glitched for a second before coming back on line but still nothing, no signs of any other ships advancing toward them. "Ya sure?", he replied to Calder. "Nothing showing on my scanners". The Brier is infamous for such things, illusions and tricks of the mind, maybe that was Calder's problem.

"Check it out, but be careful the Brier can play havoc".

The Medical freighter was dead, just listing there in the arms of space, the other two ships equally lifeless but still Eldin moved to dock with caution. He heard the sound of the clunk as the Bucket turned on its belly and engaged. It was time to suit up and go see what the hell was happening out here. "I am going in Calder, could use a wing man in there", he informed the rest of them before existing the cockpit.

This was not the first time he entered an unknown ship, dead as a dodo. The last time, on the Kessell Run he had come across a .. well not sure really what it was, but the hairs on the back of his neck prickled then as they did now. Eldin made sure all guns on his hips were primed and loaded for any 'surprises'.

Calder Hutne | Stephanie Swail | Lilia Arma | Phalsi Drynchen you want in?

 

[Stephanie Swail]

A message jarred Stephanie awake, half-way through transmission. How long had she been out?

With a few blinks, she sat up in the pilots chair, her neck stiff and back tight. She stretched her body this way and that, cracking her fingers and wiping the mist from her eyes. Looking out into space, she squinted at the ships that had amassed. A large freighter it looked like, and small craft dotted around in the distance. Stephanie scratched her cheek and flipped up the com.

"This is Stephanie Swail. Merchant. Not here for any trouble. Please identify."

It seemed she was in the middle of something, but what? Of course, she wasn't a merchant but what could she say she was? A hunter, looking for trouble? A former Silver Jedi? There was no flashing of lights or warning systems in the cockpit, so she hunched forward a little to watch the dots in the distance, yet she was ready to move out in a heartbeat.

Eldin Daine | Calder Hutne | Lilia Arma

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Phalsi dropped back into real space, watching her sensors as she came into the Brier. Apparently there had been vessels coming back from some unknown place, and they were big. At least, that was what the report she had skimmed from a local officer had said. Judge, not officer. Terms out here were still knew to the young jedi and Abaigeal had been doing her best to show her the ropes.

A ship popped up(Stephanie Swail) on her scanners, dangerously close as the freighter skimmed by the seemingly derelict vessel, hull passing over it's cockpit as Phalsi listened to her sensors scream at her about proximity. Pinging the little craft, she hailed it as she eased back on the engines, sighting more alerts on the sensors as her hand sealed the mask to aid with her false identity. She set the vox modulator to sound like a young male before speaking through the link.

"Anyone in that little thing? You alright?" She had been working on her phrasing, the young male voice still not convincing to her ears still. Couldn't be helped coming from the inner system as it made it difficult to match the innate drawl that some of the people in the outer rim had. It would likely sound almost forced to the woman on the other end, the vessel slowing in between the two as Phalsi scanned the three derelict vessels hanging in space.

No lifesigns. Well, one in what she guessed was the medical frigate. If she had to further guess from the still warm ship that was clinging to it. There was another pair of ships hanging around beside the one she had hailed, and her hands worked frantically over the controls to make sure the weapons seemed offline but were warmed up. She knew one being here was likely to be a judge, being the one she had skimmed the notice from. The other two were unknowns, and she wasn't going to walk into that kind of ambush in the far flung reaches of space.

She hadn't been in OPA space long enough to garner bad attention, and maybe they could use someone to do a bit of digging. She brought her freighter to a halt between the old jedi ship and the derelicts, sending a hail to Calder Hutne and Lilia Arma while still behind the fake male voice. "Saw the bulletin, you all uh, need some help?"


Eldin Daine Arryn Jhanson Calder Hutne Stephanie Swail Lilia Arma

 

[Calder Hutne]

Calder shook his head as he tapped on the screen that was his contacts. Were there people out there. “I… Bucket I’m not sure what I’m reading. I think the sensor’s are bust out here.” The Mirialan stated as he hated when his ship wasn’t working, but he was sensitive enough in the Force to reach out to be able to see if anything was coming… Well, so he thought. As he closed his eyes to concentrate, his ship was jolted, disturbances in the Brier. “Yeah, negative on that scan…” He muttered as he rolled his Lancer to keep up with the Bucket.

“I’m on your wing.” He called out, hearing static crackle before he heard the voice of a merchant. “Come again, Merchant?” Calder responded back as he kept to the wing of Bucket.

“I’m hearing more people on comms, Bucket. Someone else is out here…” His ships scanners were already getting to work to try to read the broken frigate, hopefully the trip was going to be worth it, and hopefully he wasn’t going to get his ship too banged up in the process. This was an OPA flight, and he didn’t out rank Daine, so he was defaulting. Plus, as a Hunter, he may not be the best face to put forward.

Eldin Daine Stephanie Swail Lilia Arma Phalsi Drynchen

 

[Eldin Daine]

While pulling on his environmental suit, and zipping up the front, Eldin heard several voices over the comms. Calder was right, new contacts arrived but whether they were hostile he did not know. Freakin’ Brier.

“Anyone got any handy skills to get this freighter back ta life?”, He could go it alone but would take hours on his own. And quite frankly Eldin did not fancy that one bit. He strapped on his twin pistols around his waist, the last thing he grabbed was his helmet and torch. A sharp puff of his cheeks before opening the docking bay door to the dead ship.

He felt the hiss on his body, as stale air flooded in, black as the void of space stared back at him in a gapping hole. What the hell am I doin’ here. He stepped off the Bucket.

His torch did very little to throw light along the narrow corridor, there was small particles of dust floating before his helmet, it almost seemed like ash. He raised his hand to let a piece settle on his gloved palm, but it disintegrated on impact. The beam of his torch flashed up down and around the walls, there was no sign of any damage, it just looked .. old.

“Okay I am goin’ in”, he gulped.


Calder Hutne | Phalsi Drynchen | Stephanie Swail | Lilia Arma

 

[Christine Dellard]

The tounge of the canine creature felt wet and rough against her fingers, as it carefully licked them in a caring gesture. Pleck, her vulptex companion and 'partner in crime', laid in the co-pilots chair while Chris maneuvered the sleek sleuth through the treacherous Brier to the sound of one of her favourite artists tracks playing in the cockpit. They were going to meet up with a few fellow Judges investigating the presence of three derelict vessels. She were excited about it and ready to for some action already in her custom built and slick armor, except the helmet. Mysteries was always exciting and it was going to be fun working together with Eldin and the others again, she thought as the interface picked up the vessels and the other Judges starships.

With a pat on Pleck's head, she leant forward and lowered the volume of the music before switching on the comms.

''What have you got yourself into now, Eldin?'' she taunted in a jokingly manner, looking out of the cockpit window while circling the medical frigate and seeing the Rusty Bucket docked to it.

''Sorry I'm late, but you know what they say... So... You guys have a plan for this, or what?''

Eldin Daine Calder Hutne Stephanie Swail Phalsi Drynchen Lilia Arma