The Nar Shaada Run- Smugglers/Open

[RC 212]

Location: Srilur

Spice.

It was all the rage right now. With the fall of the law among the Mara Corridor he had it coming in in the tons through his contact at the main port in Srilur. It was what he did for a living, smuggling, the old school way. The vessel in question he was sitting on was an old 720 series freighter. Fast enough, with a few hatches in the floor and loaded down heavy. Right now he was just sitting around waiting for the Hutts slimy port authorities to finalize his papers.

"Hey slimeball, any chance we can hurry up this act? I got places to be bud." He stated. It was a flat tone, all business. With one hand he slung his lever action blaster rifle over his shoulder, glaring at the rodian with brown eyes.

"Zorlac the hutt says dont lose your shipment this time."

"I don't lose anyhting, it gets fracking appropriated when I run into the Techno Union controls with fraked up papers. Tell Zorlac if he want's higher profits, I'm gonna need much much better manifests. Ten crates of Disruptor rifles is a bit hard to pass off as produce. Get my drift?"

The rodian stared him down. He almost mad ea move to draw his pistol except for Jack taking a step forwards and lowering the blaster rifle muzzle first to the ground.

"Uh uh, now gimme the papers."

Finally he handed them off. Jack was gone that instant running into the vessel and slamming the release hatch. He was hours behind schedule now, running a dangerous op and with outdate starmaps/ The patrol routes had changed just last week.

"Got a plan Cap'n?"

"Naw, we makin' a blind jump kid, power up them hyperdrives and lets roll!"

His first mate was a scrawny little farm kid from Dantooine. Looked like a twig next to Jacks three hundred pounds of muscle. With rolled up sleeves he tapped the console bringing p the last known routes and studying them for just a moment as the Kessels Pride lifted off.

Dak, Dak Caren was the first mates name! Ah now he remembered.

"Dak whatcu got for me."

"Hyperdrive is stable this time. You're not gonna make another one of those gut jumps are you cap'n?"

"Can it kid, first off you call me Skipper or skip. Second, those gut jumps are whats gonna get us in system. The nav computers a bit wonky, my charts are old and I aint bringin no damn droid up in here to fix it."

"Alright."

"I said can it, can't focus with you blabbin. Hyperpsace travel aint like dustin crops kid."

His gut told him direction, speed bearing. It wasn't even necessary to have the computer at this point. Mostly he was just jumping with his mind. Physically he'd punch the drive and just end up where he envisioned. Which right now happened to be right outside the Nar Shaada system.

The complication was jumping from inside a system. Which was dangerous as hell, if you weren't super good at figuring out the distance. But he could feel the distance. All of it.

"Ready kid."

"Yeah."

"Punch it!"

There was a lurch as the bottom of his gut dropped out and then slammed into his throat. A few seconds later a flash from iniside the atmosphere tore through the sky, and the Kessels Pride ripped into the void.

Except there was problems at Nar Shaada. An old debtor was waiting....

 

[RC 212]

Location: Hyperspace


The stars were burning by now. A trip to Nar Shaada was a short hop and not that difficult for Jack to envision. What was difficult were the long jumps. Jumps through multiple systems required some serious maneuvering to get around gravity fields, nebulae, asteroid rings. You name it he'd dodged it. Though some just barely.

"How you holdin up kid?" Jack queried, runnng a hand through his hair as he kicked back the seat. They weren't long out now, maybe and hour or two.

"Alright skip. How do you do those magical jumps?"

"Dunno kid, I just do."

Bar none from the fact that his mother had apparently been a force user. It was something he was never really interested in, except he used it almost daily to discharge the duties of his profession. Which was moving illegal cargo from point A to point B nonstop. Every stop was a chance to get caught, so it was straight long jumps, or a shorthop from smaller systems. Anything he couldn't knock out in two jumps or less was cast aside.

It was only a few months since finding the Raxis homestead. Vassara had left a datapad there with a whole bunch of random locations, starchrats and a little on her biography. One group kept coming up over and over. The Underground. She wanted the kid to seek out Jorus Merrill or Coren Starchaser.

Never heard of em.

"Alright kid, we're gettin close, fire those inertial dampeners on my mark."

He'd been musing too long, hours slipping by.

"Roger Skip." Daks nimble little twig fingers hovered over controls.

"Cutting power and...... FRAK!"

They sailed just clean over the nose of a Techno Unions patrol craft. It was a smaller one, but it opened fire immediately upon seeing the 720 Class drop into the system and buzz it.

Green bolts raked at the shields, flashing blue archs across the hull ignited.

"Kark, kid fire up that hyperdrive again, we gotta make a micro jump and lose em!"

"Aren't we too close to the planet?"

"Can it kid! I'll worry about the damn detail!"

The hypersdrive whined as it powered up and Jacks fullattention went to the other side of the planet. A hyperspace collision was like an asteroid times ten. So he very, very carefull to project his thoughts along the bend of the atmosphere, and right to the other side, slightly at the pole.

"Ready!"

BEEP BEEP alarms were flashing.

"Hit it!"

[member="David Abarth"]

 

[RC 212]

Location: Right outside of Nar Shaada

The Kessels Pride came ripping out of the Void again, flashing into existence and then alarms sounded once more. Jack grasped the controls with white knuckles and pulled up as hard as as humanly possible. Eyes wide like saucers, because they were about to crash full speed into the ground. Full speed impacts were not good, not his style anyways.

"Hit the inertial dampners kid! Quick!"

Dak scared out of his mind slammed the control panel, firing reverse thrusters and the plunge slowed as the bounced up barely and inch from the ground. Jacks jaw was clenched shut as hard as a rock and he was sweating now, letting little drops fall from his forehead into his eyes.

"Gah! Damn sweat!"

"We got a starport about five klicks out Skip. Is that the one?"

Between the adrenaline pumping through his veins, roaring blood in his ears and the damn sirens he barely understood the kid. He cast a glance sideways as they began to lift off, moving farther from the perilous landscape of the ground and skimming the very tops of the buildings.

"Is it port 36 Alpha?"

"Says here it is!"

"Yeah thats the one."

He spit sideways into a can at the bottom of the chair. He had a bad habit of doing that when he got too nervous. Something about saliva production ramping up.

"Alright brings us in and hit the crypt net. Tell Ben we made it down to Smuggler town."

A code, for Hey buddy I got your karking stuff.

"Will do skip."

"Stop being so happy while you're at it. We almost bit it twice kid, and you're gonna need a stone cold face when you deal with these folks. They suspect anyhting they might just vape us on the spot. Happy is suspicous."

 

[RC 212]

Location: Nar Shaada

The Kessels Pride landed safe and sound. Under Daks capable hands of course. Jack didn't like the landing part. Too much maneuvering for his tastes, though he would if absolutely necessary. The back ramp hissed open and Dak lead the way. Jack was right behind him, Antique blaster rifle riding on his shoulder. The starport was small, and the customs office was way smaller.

Ben the Toydarian was there, flanked by two giant men with disruptor rifles. Seemed like the Syndicates in this area had a stranglehold on the government. It came as not even surprising to Jack, they'd been paying off port authority for years. Paid em so well there wasn't any around even.

"Ah Jack M'boy!"

"Ben."

"Ima guessing you have a my shipment eh?"

"All five tons of it. You got my credits?"

Jack was a cut to the chase kind of guy. The Toydarians flapping wings annoyed him, his face annoyed him. Hell even his voice pissed him off. But that was the price he had to pay to make his loot. Ben dropped the credit satchel into his palm and he leaned down to Dak.

"Tuck these away in a hidden spot kid, might not be such smooth going here."

"Ahh Jack I have a some bad news."

Jack tightened his jaw, muscles twitching a bit. He had guessed this was next.

"Such as?"

"Im a gonna have to turn you in. Ya see your debtors... well... they are not so happy about you stealing their ship."

There was a standoff for a brief moment. The black armored Syndicate raised their disruptor rifles and Jack lowered his blaster, pumping the lever once to cycle the gas. They were muzzle to muzzle, and he was bluffing. He was a crap shot, but he could sling enough rounds to send them ducking to cover and that was all he needed.

"Fraid that's not gonna happen. I've always enjoyed our relationship Ben and I'd like it to continue. I'll need you to let me go."

"I cant do that."

"I figured. Sorry ol' buddy. NOW KID!"

As if he was a bat out of hell Dak came roaring down the ramp, Twin westars blasting. The guards fired, Jack fired, sending volleys of rounds into the first one. Ben was running for the door. It was chaos, smoke screams, crisscrossing beams. Two of his own shots landed dead center at last taking down the first thug.

He suffered his own wound as the disruptor blasted a chunk of flesh out his right side. But he was stronger than that. Gritting through the pain and ignoring the wound he sprint after Ben, catching the Toydarian by the wings as if from some unnatural burst of speed.

"Sorry ben!" Jack roared, swinging the Toydarian round and round until he tossed him. His face impacted with the side of the customs ofice wall. A sickening crunch , marked the shattering of the little buggers skull and Jacks drew his Besk'ad slinging his rifle.

The last thug was running now, except he didn't get far. Jack managed to hook his leg with a reverse swing and trip him, whilst Dak made a fist sized hole in his back.

"Nice shot kid! Into the ship, lets fraking go!"

 

[RC 212]

Location: Nar Shaada

So Nar Shaada was out of the question. Jacks debtors were obviously still very angry. Zorlac wuld be angry too if it weren't for the fact that Jack had jetted right out of there with the credits. The best part was he still hadn't even unloaded the cargo, which meant he a crap ton of spice in the hold and was dangerously meandering through Techno Union space with the the crappiest shipping manifest.

As the Kessels Pride tore away from the planet, Jack tipped her nose straight up and slammed the thrusters full burn. Power was drawn from the shields and the weapons, set to reroute to the main engines. She was flying fast and hot, ripping away at twice the speed any kind of pursuing craft could match. Except interdictors. If they got interdicted they were dead in the water, and Jack was going to be in some serious Osik.

"Got any ideas Dak?"

"Nothing off the top of my head Cap'n."

He would be a dead man before he returned to Zorlac with a shipfull of spice AND payment. No he had made the run, and the payment was in. The spice was his by rights.

"Hit the Darknet and see if we got any fences in the area. We need to offload this crap pronto kid!"

"No kidding, looking now, turning manual and secondary over to you."

Jack kept the vessel straight in line, blasting farther and farther out and hoping to high hell no interceptors were on the way. Dak made short work, coming up with a list of known names in the 'verse that might be interested in such things.

"Got it."

"Whatcu got for me kid?"

"Got a list of known gangsters and business men of less than reputable status. What now?"

"Shoot a message out across the Cryptnet, let em know what we got, and ask for a quote. Highest bidder wins."

"Too easy Skip."

Jack was working on powering up the hyperdrive as Dak typed away on the encrypted message.

"Sent."

"Nice. Hold on to your Shebs, here goes!"

It was a reflex jump, no calculations, no nothing. Jack wasn't gonna stick around in these waters. As soon as the Hyperdrive competed its warm up ccyle he grabbed the lever and slammed it back, ripping them a wormhole into hyperspace.

A message went out across several networks. It read

<< To Whom it Might Concern,>>​

​

[member="Sempra the Hutt"] [member="Vincente Zann"] [member="P.R.I.M.U.S."] [member="James Justice"] [member="Olan Teff"]​

​

Captain Jor Kel and company have come into the possession of ten tonnes of Grade A Glitterstim. Seeking to offload discreetly. Highest bidder will win, please send bids to Cryptnet channel 333.22.1234.A.​

​

<<Message end >>​

 

[James Justice]

James ducked under the blaster bolt and sprinted for cover. His body hit the trench and he rolled over, just in time as the explosion behind him rocked the space station's air wildly. He groaned inside. Why did they always have to be this dense--and short sighted? Never blow a hole in a space station you are on unless you are the one in a space suit.

As the oxygen began to fly out of the air the spacer gripped the flooring for dear life. Furnature, bodies of the living and dead, and bits of shrapnel began to fly out the new hole into space and hurled themselves planet bound. A piece of metal sliced through James' shoulder and slid out into space. James bit out a curse and hurled himself into a nearby room to safety. Blood streaming out behind him. His fist slammed the control console and closed the door behind him. The suction stopped and he had a bit of air still left with him. Thank the gods, he was getting too old for this pirate work, damn it. He had to find out how to get himself to stop.... someday.

As the station began to tilt, James felt the wrist comm buzz; a message from Jack. Grade A Gliterstim. He shook his head, nice but not his catch. "Maybe next time," he tapped in the reply and looked around.

Sirens began to blare, planetfall was inevitable. Right. He just had to find a way out of here before shattering on the world. Oh and find the survivors of his crew. And somehow haul a few million dollars of jewels off before impact as well.

Right.

No sweat, he thought rising to his feet.......

[member="Jack Raxis"]

 

[P.R.I.M.U.S.]

[mood]/interested.

PRIMUS received the Glitterstim auction message on his crypt pad as he sat outside a cantina a glass of chilled vodka sat on the table in front of him. He couldn't drink, but important business was often conducted in cantinas, so he often order vodka and smuggled it away in a canteen in his coat to barter with later. The Setting twin suns of the planet reflected off some of his durasteel parts as he read the message and pondered a bit before replying: "Starting at how much?"

[member="Jack Raxis"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="P.R.I.M.U.S."]

Location: Hyperspace

"Got a Captain Primus on the line."

Jack was rooting through old files in the nav computer, eyeballs whizzing over the information he had stored there. There was was probably a handful of places he could offload, but he didn't want anyone to know. Word got around and the last person who needed to know about independent profits was his boss.

"Whats he say?"

"Asks how much."

Jack leaned back and ran a hand along the stubble of his beard. He already had the payment, and a cut of that would be his. Credits were credits and there was no need to be greedy.

"Tell him deep discount, five tones for sixty thousand. That's about fifty percent less than what it'll fetch on the market."

"Sounds good, sending now."

The message fired back to his mysterious contact and Jack leaned forwards again, putting his concentration back into the Nav Computer.

 

[P.R.I.M.U.S.]

[mood]/happy.

"Done. Pick a secure place to place to rendezvous. I will be happy to take the product off your hands." PRIMUS' photoreceptors glowed a sunshine yellow. He got up and poured the liquor into his flask and threw down a few credits and left the cantina. PRIMUS headed to his ship. "Cookie! We got a run to do."

The stout Toydarian stuck his head out of the ship. His trunk swayed with his two beard braids. "Yes, captain. About time too. You've been getting restless eh boss?" PRIMUS let out a mechanical laugh "Indeed, Cookie. You may be right there. Prepare for take off."

"Aye captain! heh heh heh"

[member="Jack Raxis"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="P.R.I.M.U.S."]

"Got em."

Jack leaned over taking stock of the newly acquired buyers name and number. He sent a quick message back, setting a point just beyond the Roche Asteroids. A good place to duck and hide in case of foul play.

"Fire her up kid, we're jumping again!"

 

[KeCholo]

Ke'Cholo was awoken from his sleep on his custom Geonosion starfighter when his datapad lit up with a discounted ad for spice. Barely having time to react to the 60,000 credit listing the offer closed. ''Someone really want some spice'' he said to himself ''So does I'' Ke'Cholo sent an offer to the seller ''65,000 credits, no questions asked'' [member="Jack Raxis"]

 

[RC 212]

@Ke'Cholo [member="P.R.I.M.U.S."]

Jack pinged the second associate back and it read this.

"Sorry bub, but I can get you a shipment, just name the location. I'll give you twenty percent off the top for missed opportunity."

They exited now from hyperspace, reverting with a slam. Jack was on the scanners right away, making sure they were clear.

"Steer us round the edge of the asteroids and get ready to jettison the boxes. They can pick em up themselves. As for us, ask him to transfer the credits via wire to our holding account on Nar Shadda. Number 3467."

Dak sent the message out, steering them true whilst Jack kept a wary eye out for trouble, and their contact.

 

[P.R.I.M.U.S.]

[member="Jack Raxis"]

[mood]/happy.

PRIMUS' ship dropped out of hyperspace not far from his supplier's but not close enough to be threatening. PRIMUS pinged the other ship directly, "Understood. I have just deposited 30,000 into your account. For assurance purposes please drop the shipment, or if that is not agreeable, part of the shipment, so that I may inspect the merchandise. If everything checks out, you will receive the other 30,000 immediately."

PRIMUS turned to Cookie, "You take control of the ship. I don't suspect any foul play but better cautious than dead."

"Yes, Captain." The Toydarian replied as he plopped down into the co-pilot's chair.

Turning back to his comm, "You should see the money in your account now."

 

[RC 212]

[member="P.R.I.M.U.S."]

Good faith was a thing among spacers. Fellow Captains kept their words to each-other as if they were law. Break the system and everything would descend into chaos and people would die by the droves. So Jack powered down his weapon systems and moved to the back of the cargo hold.

As soon as he had the containers in the airlock, he motioned to Dak with a nod, whom activated a purge. The doors whooshed shut and the first batch of shipment whooshed into space, with a slight cruising speed towards their new found friend. Jack flipped open his datapad, checking the credits. It was all there.

He tapped the headset on his brown messed hair and opened a direct line to the other Captain.

"Greetings. Didn't catch your name bub. Captain Jack Raxis of the Kessels Pride. I'm loading the other half of the shipment now, hold on."

And he began moving crates in the oddest of manners. With his mind...

 

[P.R.I.M.U.S.]

[mood]/happy.

"Greetings, Jack Raxis of the Kessels Pride. This is PRIMUS of the Brick. receiving the first shipment now."

PRIMUS turned around in his chair to watch Cookie bring the crates in. The Toydarian cook and first mate hefted the boxes into the ship with a series of grunts and snorts accompanied by heavy breathing an punctuated with curses. While PRIMUS never pondered it much Cookie was probably one of the strongest Toydarians anyone had ever seen. Most toydarian's legs were useless since their wings did most of the work in supporting their body, and their arms, while dexterous, were often nearly as underdeveloped as their legs. Not so with Cookie. Years of working on ships and hauling, gave his arms a near human thickness and his legs were more than just twigs. Still, Toydarians were not built for such things and so he slumped down, chest heaving once he had the boxes on board.

"Good work Cookie. Now open up one of those crates and make sure everything checks out."

"Yes...haa....haa....boss...haa...haa... sure...haa...thing." Cookie pried open on of the crates and sifted through to the bottom. "Everything...haa...checks...out."

PRIMUS finally relaxed. Turning back to the comm, he spoke, "Everything looks good captain. I'm sending the remainder of the payment now, go ahead and send the rest of that shipment. A pleasure doing business with you."

[member="Jack Raxis"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="P.R.I.M.U.S."]

Jack nodded. He checked the account, it was all there.

"Alright then."

Jack fired the last of the boxes from the lock. Dak and him streaked away.....

Inside the Boxes the Pirate Captain would find a piece of paper Jack had planted, with his personal commlink number.