Once upon a Prime... [Yavin Prime][Past]

[Captain Larraq]

Setting: Six years ago, during the chaos that followed the first few weeks of the Netherworld Crisis
Planet: Yavin Prime
Ship: Concordance-class Mining Barge
Location: Suite 006, Larraq's temporary office



As the galaxy fell apart and empire's crumbled, the attention of Rygel Larraq was focused upon one of his many pet projects. The mining of Corusca Gems was one of the most profitable endeavors in the galaxy, but also one of the most dangerous and physically impossible tasks. The Gems were located within the crushing depths of Yavin Prime's atmosphere, a location that could not be safely reached by any ship or technology and a location that required long range and specialized equipment to access. Even just holding an orbital pattern close enough to extend probes into the atmosphere of the planet was extremely dangerous.


And yet, Mandal Hypernautics had pulled it off.

Kinda.

The Concordance-class Mining Barge held its position in the upper atmosphere of the planet and was, very carefully, extending and retracting gravity tethers into the atmosphere in an attempt to fish out whatever Corusca Gems they could find. But as of yet, the ship had not managed to extract even a single gem in the several months it had spent above the planet.

Spoiler

[member="Sar'Talani'Vek"], [member="Triam Akovin"]
OOC; You two should have just completed a raid and be trying to find/contract someone to sell your stash to... but are having a hard time because all of your normal contacts were sucked into the Netherworld.

 

[Cassus Akovin]

Setting: Six years ago
Planet: N/a
Ship: Junk'ed Up Ship (YT-1300 Light Freighter)
Location: In Ship

OOC Notes: Just to put it on your radar, I was told the Netherworld event followed the six years skip here. I'll play along with it though

What to do?

This galaxy was driving her insane, pounding her head in with social stigma and pain. Preliat... how he had broken her heart without knowing it. She still had those bruises, and the emotional scarring. Tears could almost be felt on her cheeks, the grit of her teeth clenched together, her hands tightly contracted into fists and whole body tensed for a fight.

From what she could tell from holoprograms, which she very rarely watched given that they rot your brain, friends did occasionally fight... and sometimes love interests were masked by aggression. This felt different. More intense. Less about the heart and more about the pain within it. She was a fool.

These were things that she felt and said upon her ship, contemplating the course of her future. She had finally reached a point where she fulfilled all orders accept for Popo's and this last one. After that... she was contemplating simply disappearing. She wasn't aware of any major disappearances or indeed, anything happening at all in the galaxy. It simply was for now, and that was okay.

Unfortunately it appeared her latest client got cold feet or something, and no longer required her services... otherwise he would have returned her calls by now. So naturally, having possessed the pitiable amount of material from her raid, she was offering up her services to the next buyer. Open market with a huge "FOR SALE" sign on her face.

It was only a matter of time really until she was picked up by someone... probably anyway. She'd give it a week, then use it for herself or something... or maybe just stockpile it for Popo. Damn that slimy hutt and his greed... she was surprised he hadn't put a bounty on her head yet for being late with her delivery's. Perhaps he would be satisfied with the Phrik she gained for now.

Triam decided to take a nap in her cockpit for now... maybe she would feel better upon waking up.

[member="Captain Larraq"], [member="Sar'Talani'Vek"]

 

[Captain Larraq]

Spoiler

[member="Triam Akovin"] Your character's a girl! D= I feel so bad. I thought Triam was a guy!

Larraq was on his way to the bridge of the Concordance-class Mining Barge to oversee the next attempt and likely failure to harvest Corusca gems when a small beep from his datapad caught his attention. It was a short message relayed through a few back channels. Some smuggler or another had landed a haul but was unable to get in contact with his usual buyers... so was trying to sell his haul on his own. An admirable attempt, assuming his usual buyers never find out. Or assuming that his broadcast does not somehow make its way back to whoever the rightful owner of his haul happened to be.

Larraq was going to dismiss the alert and focus instead on the potential fortune that hid on the planet beneath his feet... But something felt wrong about that decision. For some reason, Larraq felt compelled to humor the young smuggler and find out more about his mysterious cargo.

A few moments of tapping on the datapad's screen later, and a return message had been sent with instructions to travel to the Yavin system and meet with Larraq aboard the Concordance.

Message now sent, Larraq returned the datapad to his breast pocket and made his way to the bridge of the Mining Barge. Down a hallway, up a lift, ride the tram, go up another lift, down another hallway, and get through security at each point... it took nearly half an hour.

 

[Cassus Akovin]

Spoiler

That's okay Triam gets that a lot lol One time another female character tried to flirt with her despite them both being straight lol

Unfortunately her nap was short lived as she received a message regarding an interested buyer. It felt she couldn't get a break these days, especially after the infamy of her days in the Cauldron skyrocketing her social position in the galaxy. That wasn't even to mention the Republic bounty she had on her head.

When she sent out the notification she had a haul open to potential buyers, she made sure one of the other smugglers in the convoy did the messaging, seeming as she didn't want to attract too much attention to herself. That had become sort of her goal nowadays, to keep a low profile. It was difficult, considering her popularity in the tournament, and the massive publicity her loss covered.

There was an influx of sales and requests, but she couldn't handle it anymore. There was too much stress to deal with, and her loss at the Cauldron severely hurt her confidence. It would come backs surely, but she was in sorry state. Her survival alone was mind boggling difficult to the point where she wasn't even sure how she survived. No one did. They merely chalked it up to her title: The Relentless. Nothing could stop Triam Akovin, even when she brought to her lowest point she never stopped fighting.

In some ways then, one might consider her fight with Mikhail Shorn still ongoing. Having supposedly never submitted to him and remaining alive afterwards. It was difficult to process, and she needed time.

There was still work to be done however, and although it wasn't in her usual niche, she'd do it. After all, she needed to empty her ship of this ambiguous material, it was really jacking up the prices for fuel. However, the potential buyer was slightly worrisome, considering that it was within Mandalorian space. She had nothing against them of course, she even had a fairly close friendship with one... or at least, she thought they were friends, though she wasn't so sure anymore, but the Mandalorians were fairly close with the Republic if not allies... and Mandalorians have been notoriously stereotyped to bounty hunters.

She have to work even harder to draw attention away from her bounty. She opened the channel that broadcasted to her convoy.

"Alright boys, I received a ping from an interested party. We're headed to Yavin."

[member="Captain Larraq"], [member="Orick T'ane"], [member="Shane Byrnes"]

 

[Orick T'ane]

Orick yawned and opened his eyes, he had fallen asleep at the controls waiting for some sign that they wouldn't be dead in the water wit hthis much cargo. He had no idea how their original contract had fallen through, but he knew enough about this business to know that being at the top of the mountain only meant that you were the biggest target.

"Alright boys, I received a ping from an interested party. We're headed to Yavin." He heard over his com and he smiled. He could handle a trip to Yavin.

" Mando space? Who is Mando space can afford this?" He asked. He wasn't really concerned about how they got paid, as long as they got paid. Mando's were jumpy at the best of times and he hoped that whoever the buyer on Yavin was would at least let them land uncontested. The idea of spending time in a Mando jail didn't sit well with Orick at all. He just wanted one run this year to go the way it was planned. Pick up, drop off... why did it always end up getting so complicated. He stretched and wandered into the small kitchenette for a fresh beer, he knew he would be needing it before the run was over. He sat down and started tapping info into the nav computer, trying to find the fastest and safest route to Yavin.

[member="Triam Akovin"] | [member="Captain Larraq"]

 

[Captain Larraq]

While Larraq waited for his guests to arrive, we went about the task of making himself even richer than he already was.

"So which plan are we enacting today?" Larraq asked as he strolled through the bridge and approached the captain of the ship.

"Cable five has finished replacement." Said the Captain without turning to look at the approaching owner of the ship. "Electromagnetic head and vacuum tubing down the middle."

"The one with the webbed fingers?" Larraq asked as he stepped up to the Captain's station and peered over his shoulder.

"If you want to call six kilometer long, segmented cables connected by multiple, smaller cables ranging from dozens to thousands of meters long 'webbed fingers', then yes." Said the Captain with more than a hint of frustration.

"And it looks like a flipper." Larraq said with a hint of a smile. "How long until it's deployed?"

"It's already unspooling." The Captain said as he stepped aside and pointed to the relevant data on his console. "Thirty minutes until she's at optimal depth."

 

[Captain Larraq]

Larraq stood and watched as the several kilometer long gravity tether descended into the depths of the turbulent gas giant. Winds and lightning strikes lashed out against the intruding object as it groped ever closer to the planet's metal core. The deeper it traveled, the stronger the planet's gravity pulled upon the tether and the ship it was connected to. The deeper it went, so too did the crushing pressure of the surrounding gasses squeeze the synthetic intruder. And yet, it continued to descend and the Concordance Mining Barge held against the tug of the planet upon her cabling. She was designed to tare entire mountains of rock and metal from the surface of a planet, Larraq would have been offended if Yavin had been able to pull her down by those same cables.

Most habitable planets had an atmosphere that extended more than 400 kilometers above its rocky surface. Though, only the bottom 16 to 24 kilometers of atmosphere actually mattered on most planets. Typically, a Concordance would lower itself as deep into the atmosphere as local gravity would allow before starting to yank up the desired chunk of rock and ore. If the local conditions demanded it, a Concordance could extend her gravity tethers from as far away as 60 kilometers.

But on a gas giant, 60 kilometers was barely long enough to tickle the upper atmosphere. Modifications had had to been made to the design for this job. Even so, 180 kilometers of cable could dangle beneath the Mining Barge as she herself rested twenty kilometers into the turbulent storms that were Yavin Prime's atmosphere. Eight such cables could be dipped into the crushing depths of the planet, and of them only one would be operating today. At the end of which, an experimental net one kilometer long and six and a half kilometers wide would be dipped into the atmosphere like a deep sea worm probing for food. The net would extend, create an electromagnetic field ten kilometers wide, and then close upon itself and retract into the extra-wide, modified gravity tether where a series of vacuums would suck whatever Corusca Gems and Corusca Dust had been found up through itself and into the eager and waiting Mining Barge far above.

 

[Captain Larraq]

Thirty minutes had passed before a chime and a yelling junior officer signaled that the cable had reached maximum depth. It had taken another thirty minutes for the netting to fully extend from the gravity tether and magnify itself, which made Larraq vaguely wonder how long it had taken for the length of cable to fully extend itself...

For the next hour, various sensors switched between green and red and green again as the cable and netting was rocked by the storms of Yavin Prime. Every now and then, a particularly violent tug upon the cable would cause the ship, a mere 1,600 meters long, to dip and bob against the strain of the 180,000 meters of cable beneath her. There were emergency release buttons set throughout the bridge. If it ever looked like the ship herself were in danger of being dragged into the crushing depth of the planet, any one of them would physically sever the cable, the crane, or even the entire gantry from the ship itself if it meant saving the ship, the crew, and whatever cargo she had managed to gather up until that point.

So far, the need to press one of the large, red buttons had not presented itself.

Larraq and the Captain turned their heads as one when a chime went off.

It was time to check the nets.


"Captain. Mr, Larraq. I'm picking up Hyperspace Signals." Called out one of the young crewmen that sat before the dozens of screens that filled the bridge.

He and the captain glanced at one another before Larraq finally sighed and dipped his head. "Tell our guests to dock in the primary hanger." He said to the comms officer. "I'll meet my guests in the hanger." He said to the Captain. "Retract the netting and get down to the cargo bay. Let me know what shows up."

[member="Orick T'ane"], [member="Triam Akovin"]

 

[Orick T'ane]

Yavin Prime

Orick was in Mando space again for only the second time in his smuggling career. He made ti a habit to avoid their space, mostly because he didn't want to end up in some Mando jail. He had the coordinates to the meeting place and he was concerned, not that they wouldn't get in, but that he would have to fly the Ranger through that soup to get there. He had only owned the beat up ship for a few months and he was always weary of what she would do if he wasn't careful.

He also had a cargo hold filled with ultrachrome and a rather crazy partner in this scheme, and he only wanted to get paid and get out before something went wrong, because these kind of deals never go as they are supposed to. He followed the nav point that had been set for him and he dove into the gas giant's atmosphere. He already hated it and he hoped that if he did business with this unknown Mando again that they would conduct it in a place that was at least marginally hospitable.

He saw the whatever it was in the distance. It was huge and he guessed ti was a mining ship of some sort, but he had never seen one that size before. " Control, this is the aimless Ranger. I have a special delivery on board. Where would you like me to put it?" He toggled his comm to receive any message he was sent and sat back and coasted through the murky gas to the huge ship.

[member="Captain Larraq"] | [member="Triam Akovin"]

 

[Cassus Akovin]

Yavin Prime...

Crazy indeed. Don't even ask how she got this much Ultrachrome, you'd probably not even believe it. She was just that good. They didn't name her Relentless without reason. However, she wasn't quite prepared for... whatever it was the Mando ship was doing to the planet. Her mining techniques certainly did not include any of that... though maybe some day? It looks rather neat, she remarked.

Her partner, Orick, signaled a communication with the ship/mining barge/sorta-thingy. They were quickly directed to land in the cargo bay of the vessel for delivery, and followed the careful instructions of the bridge crew in silence. Not once did she mention who she was exactly to anyone in her convoy, or to her employer, utilizing other hired smugglers as her informal middleman for communication... and also as cargo mules.

Her crappy ship, with her crappy flying skills, was very cautiously in the approach of the other vessel, and with beads of sweat trailing down her face, she was finally able to dock. She let the others dock first however, just in case she took too long simply to land. That would certainly be quite embarrassing.

------

Once that was over, Triam essentially rushed out of her ship with a sort of relieved glee, and practically jumped through the bay doors that lead to her filled up cargo hold. How long had she been cooped up in there anyway? Force only knows. Her eyes frantically searched for the buyer, and upon his/her/its identification would walk at a heightened pace to meet them.

"We've got a delivery for you, sir." She called out.

[member="Captain Larraq"], [member="Orick T'ane"]

 

[Eddie]

Setting: Six years ago
Planet: Yavin Prime
Reason: Roaming about the galaxy
Objective: Unknown

OOC Notes: I figured I'd do one better, [member="Triam Akovin"] and be at Yavin Prime rather than on a ship I hitchhiked onto, seeing as I would probably be on Yavin Prime just exploring the galaxy as a whole seeking wonders. Besides, good chance to meet ya anyway. xD

Mazarr lurked around on Yavin Prime's moon, going around the galaxy seeking wonder and possibly a good fight... however there seemed to be no good opponents for a brawl here, so that will have to be held off for another planet.

 

[Orick T'ane]

Orick let ot the breath he was holding in as the Ranger landed with a soft thud. He was still getting the hang of the temperamental ship and it was proving to be mroe of a challenge than he originally thought when he purchased it. He slipped out of the pilot's chair and grabbed the heavy pistol he kept in the cockpit at all times. He pushed it roughly into the worn holster he wore on his hip. The short walk to the cargo door was spent going over the many things he wanted to fix on the old girl, one day he hoped to have enough to get a full refit and maybe even reinstall the missing weapons systems. He slapped the control panel for the cargo door and winched a bit as he heard the loud squealing sound the hydraulics made as the door opened.

He stepped off of the ship and onto the hanger floor and he smiled as he saw both his partner and the buyer were there. He hoped that meant that he was getting paid. The lack of security was a good sign for him too, he was thinking that this would end up in the win column for him. " Well, I can't say that I've ever seen a ship maneuver through this much soup so well before" He said as he walked up to the two of them. " Must be one hell of a navigation system aboard."


[member="Captain Larraq"] | [member="Triam Akovin"]

 

[Captain Larraq]

[member="Orick T'ane"], [member="Triam Akovin"],


Larraq had arrived in the hanger only a few short moments before the smuggler's ship(s?) flew into the hanger and landed. No mention was made as to the pair of privately owned battleships parked a short distance from their current location, or to the prison ship that parked just a few orbital positions further than the battleships. These men where here for business. And hopefully, they knew what they were getting into. "Welcome." Larraq said with a bit of genuine warmth as he greeted the pair of men. "How about you show me exactly what you're looking to sell?" He said as he got strait to the business at hand. As much as he was sure he would be interested in what the pair of men were selling, he would be lying if he didn't admit to having a greater interest in the potential success of his ship's mining operations. "What product, what quality, and in what quantity are you looking to peddle?" Larraq asked as he glanced at his datapad. The ship's captain had, apparently, just arrived in the cargo hold.

 

[Orick T'ane]

Orick looked the man that was their buyer over, he didn't look like much on his own, but he was obviously doing well for himself because he commanded a rather large gas mining operation. He nodded at the greeting and was happy that there wouldn't be any of the usual small talk. He liked when business was just that, business. " Why don't you come over here and have a look, trust me when I say it'll be worth your time." Orick didn't waste any time wandering back onto the ship, he stopped at the closest crate and tapped in the code to open the sealed container. The top popped open and he pulled it fully off and stepped to the side of the large box. " We happened across this not long ago."

The container was filled with what was unmistakably ultrachrome, filled to the top. " Every shipping container is exactly like this one, two ships worth of it." He grinned and leaned up against the container, his hands gripping the sides. He was watching the man's face to gauge his reaction. Orick was sure that someone that had the capital for a mining operation like this would have the means and probably the use for a shipment of this size and quality, they just needed to not come across as desperate to get rid of it.

[member="Captain Larraq"] | [member="Triam Akovin"] |

 

[Cassus Akovin]

Triam was fairly glad that her partner decided to take on the task of the sales pitcher. He was a smuggler after all, and would be better suited with sort of bulk shipping than she was. How in the world did they get this much material anyway? She was just that good she supposed, but it was more of a lucky break really.

This would be a good ending to her career... at least for awhile.

There wasn't much to say, he pretty much said it all. Though she did need to boast a little.

"I did most of the work by the way... but he did most of the shipping." Hopefully, that wouldn't come off as too rude, but she really didn't have much to say, and felt like running her mouth at least a little bit.

[member="Captain Larraq"], [member="Orick T'ane"]

 

[Captain Larraq]

[member="Triam Akovin"]

Rygel Larraq followed the man aboard his small ship. The walk up the main ramp and through the tight confines of the smuggler's ship was uneventful, but left Larraq with the unshakable recognition of Corellian engineering. The ship could easily have been from somewhere else, plenty of shipwrights copied one another, but everything from the shape of the hull to the color of the plastic seats left Larraq quietly displeased that he was standing on a ship not designed to Mandalorian standards. The thoughts were lost however, when [member="Orick T'ane"] opened the first contained. <Ultrachrome?> Larraq thought to himself. The metal was rare and ancient. About as old as beskar. He had heard rumors of its particular properties and was well aware of its value on the open market. While he had never worked with the stuff, he was more than familiar with the profit that could be made from working with Beskar and Phrik on various sales projects.

He couldn't think of any immediate projects that could benefit from the material's inclusion in one design or another, but was sure he could think of some means of using this supply to vastly increase the sale value of a future project. "Alright." He said after staring into the crate for quite a few moments. "What are you looking to get for this?"

As let the two smugglers contemplate their answer, he pulled the datapad from his pocket and tapped at the screen until the quiet beeping of an awaiting message silenced. The captain wanted him to drop everything and come to the cargo bay. Which could only mean something very good or very bad had just occurred down there. Bring it to me. He messaged back to the captain. No matter what was going on down there, it could wait a few more minutes.

 

[Cassus Akovin]

"How does a lot work for you? After all, we've gotta split whatever we get paid three ways. We have another member in our little convoy. Where is that droid anyway?" Triam looked around, trying to figure out where there tardy member was. It was difficult working with strangers, as they often went unnoticed if you weren't careful.

Triam was very careful, or at least, tried to be as best she could. She wasn't a machine of course, as much as it may be difficult to believe with her constant use of armor and technology in obsessively excessive quantities.

She looked over to [member="Orick T'ane"] to see if he knew where [member="Break"] was, and back to [member="Captain Larraq"] hoping to find an answer on what "a lot "meant to him.

Once again, Triam was pressed for any other words to say. She just wasn't in a talkative mood it seemed.

 

[Break]

Setting: Six years ago on a strange man's ship
Planet: Yavin Prime
Reason: Hired for tech services and defense
Objective: Earn credits/make friends

The more simplistic designed Break peeked out from the hiding places he had found. Devoid of any of his upgrades and armor he looked less like a battle ready hero... and more like his normal 12 year old boy looking self. He looked more skiddish and timid than the more experienced version in the future. On his back were a few supplies and weapons. He had only just started making a name for himself as a boy genius but that didn't stop him from joining this party. He offered whatever services he could to his employers and still in fact had no idea he was a droid yet. Physical inhibitors may have severely weakened his physical strength but his mental capacity was limitless. With data pad in hand Break looked around at his company not many with a friendly face but he kinda liked [member="Triam Akovin"] the most out of the people in to room.

"Is there something you need?"
He said rather quietly he wasn't used to this kind of mission and he wouldn't admit it but he felt uneasy about this plan. It was working so far however.
"If not I can go back to doing calculations and such...or perhaps you just wanted to speak?"
He stood finally looking at the place he was hiding again possibly longing to go back, but he was out now and it would do little if people knew where he was hiding.

 

[Cassus Akovin]

"I dunno kid, do what you want. I just figured you'd like to see how your business in all of this is being conducted. First hand and all that, and perhaps not through the data on your pad there. Do you think you have a price listing for these crates and crates of ultrachrome for this guy?" She said, turning to the boy.

It was dramatically ironic that she had called him a droid, since the boy was in actuality a droid, though no one apparently knew this. She had given him an all too fitting nickname, based solely on his seeming need to calculate and his innate understanding of other machines. The little guy was pretty useful getting this stuff, but he seemed far too reserved to actually make it anywhere in the galaxy, at least from her limited perspective.

So, business conducted between the four simply continued. Four total strangers, just looking to make a profit somewhere, and making connections along the way as well.

If any of this would actually progress, that is.

[member="Orick T'ane"] | [member="Captain Larraq"] | [member="Break"]

 

[Captain Larraq]

Rygel Larraq tapped his fingers on the side of the container. <'A lot.> He thought to himself. He glanced up at the small child... robot? No. Android. He glanced at the android and the woman, then back to the man that was closest to him. They were docked on his ship with two battleships and plenty of starfighters between them and open space, and they wanted 'a lot'. Larraq couldn't blame them. They looked nervous and hopeful. But mainly nervous.

Larraq drummed his fingers on the edge of the crate again. When his datapad beeped at him, informing Larraq that the ship's captain had entered the hanger, Larraq leaned back from the container and made his way towards the main ramp of the smuggler's ship. "Excuse me." He said before he turned to leave. "This will take just a moment."

The captain of the mining barge approached Larraq at a slow trot, a brown bag large enough for a human head held from his hands with something obviously heavy pulling at it from the inside. "We catch something?" Larraq asked from the top of the ramp. The captain said nothing, instead quickly ascending the steps and handing the bag to the owner of Mandal Hypernautics, and thus the ship he commanded. Larraq opened the bag and stared into the swirling colors of its contents. Corusca gems ranging in size from that of a pea to that of a large marble filled the bag. Absolutely filled it.

Larraq marveled for a moment before glancing up at the captain. "We got all this?" He asked, impressed at amount they had fished up. They weren't the largest Corusca Gems he had ever seen... but the bag was full of enough gems to make a planetary lord weak in the knees. "No." The captain said as an ear-to-ear grin found its way across his face. "We've got a couple tons of those." He said as Larraq's eyebrows arched and the grin grew even wider. "And one of these." He proclaimed as he pulled from his pocket a Corusca Gem the size of a grenade.

A long, slow whistle escaped his lips as Larraq stared into one of the largest Corusca Gems he'd seen in his entire life.

"I want the rest of the gravity tethers retrofitted and operational within the week." Larraq said as his eyes darted back and forth between the bag of gems and the massive one in his employees hands and tried to decide which of the two was worth more. "Put that rock in my office." He said at last, deciding that he knew which of the two he was more likely to get more of. The walk back into the tiny ship's cargo bay was a quick, and oddly uplifted one. "A lot." He said to [member="Triam Akovin"], [member="Break"], and [member="Orick T'ane"] as he sat the bag on a table and let its contents roll out for them to clearly see.