The Quest for Ionite

[Shia Kryze]

"Who's the greatest tracker in the galaxy?"

"You are, oh most eldest of sisters."

The paper report flew through the air and connected squarely with Shia's head as she ducked and laughed. That was a good thing, there had been too little laughter lately. Even the latest party had been blood sports and Sith Lords.

"So?"

"There's transport belonging to a crime gang delivering Ionite on the sly to the Sith due through the Mara Corridor next week, timestamps as follows."

"It would be a shame if something were to... happen to it."

"Why the obsession with Ionite, anyway?"

"Have you seen the weapons potential of this stuff? Kryze has got to get in on it - you can probably build a frigate that can take out the shields on an SD with a good enough torpedo volley! Then think of the other uses - perfect shield penetration, no fuss, no muss. Small-arm slugs with shield penetrating rounds?"
"Okay, okay! When did you become Miss Corporate Designer?"

"When they put the weight of House Kryze, then the Mandalorian people on my back. Riding the owls and playing with fancy toys is about all the fun I get these days. All the hot chicks are evil. Or taken."

"There's the short one with purple hair?"

"Alora? She's not interested."

 

[Shia Kryze]

"Interdictor fields up, ad'alor."

"Very good, launch fighters and arm the nets."

If anyone caught wind of what they were doing... well, actually it would be a minor diplomatic incident compare to the stunts the Sith Emperor had pulled, but it would still look bad. They were not in Sith space, this wasn't a Sith ship. But a fairly major dark lord had paid for the shipment.

And the target was overdue. Sweat was beginning to fill the air.

"Contact! Interdictor generators in recycle."

"Subluminal contact... YT-2400 freighter, plus escorts."

"Open..."

"CONTACT! Multiple subluminal contacts. Looks like an escort corvettes ad'alor, she's moving to engage."

Chit. Typical. Actually defending their shipments.

"Sith?"

"I... don't think so."

"Thank non-existant gods for that. Manuver to engage the corvette. Signal our support, looks like we're going to need to go in heavy."

The Guardian class corvette wasn't built to do two things at once.

"Disengage the turrets?"

"Yes, bring the Ion-cannon online and bring us to bear."

 

[Shia Kryze]

Space was filled with a volley of turbolaser, laser and ion fire as the two covettes manuvered to engage one another. The heavy capital-grade ion cannon on Shia's vessel ravaged the shields and systems of the enemy corvette, but her own piecemeal but highly effective and illegal weaponry punched holes through the port shields of Shia's vessel and dug deep into her hull.

Shia groaned, this was not going to plan.

"Ad'alor, support indiciates they are unable to reach us."

Well what's the point of having them, she thought.

"Target the corvette's engines."

The lash of blue-purple fire stabbed out and lanced into the rear engines of the enemy corvette.

"Course 250 by 20, maximum thrust, put us up on the YT-2400."

"Ad'alor? The fighters?"

"Ignore them, target their shields then prepare the boarding grapples. They won't fire on their own prize ship."

The next few minutes were a tense hell of close running snubfighter attacks, torpedos and lasers slamming into the corvettes rapidly decreasing shields and armour, but... they don't make 'em like Mandalore does.

"Ad'alor, enemy corvette has engines online."

Too late.

Shia's vessel fired, blue-white fire ravaging the helpless transport until her engines flared and died.

"TRACTORS AND GRAPPLES! Boarding parties to station. Al'alor - you have the bridge, put us in close aboard that transport and opposite to the enemy covertte. I'm going for our prize."

 

[Shia Kryze]

"You useless karking dogs, get over here before..."

The freighter captain's words died as the nameless Sith apprentice wrapped gentle fingers of telekinesis around his throat and choked the life from him as the crew watched, terrified.

He gently leant over into the comm.

"Support, engage the enemy vessel. I will deal with their borders."

*CRUNCH*

"... sooner than I expected."

He turned in a swirl of robes and stalked out of the bridge. It was profoundly insulting for one of his rank to be on such a lowly mission as to supply rare materials to the Imperial Warmachine. But order and unity was paramount.

He stopped, confused, sniffing the air. Burning. That wasn't right, he must be closer to the...

*CRACK*

A metallic fist came out of nowhere, the voidstone field produced by the mechamiri backpack preventing him from detecting the attack coming, and the on-coming Mandalorian woman caught him the jaw with a right hook that would have broke it, were it not cybernetic.

"Mandalorian scum! The Emperor will..."

Snap-hiss. Not his lightsaber, the darksaber? Didn't Lord Ferro own that? Was this an inside job?

"... find out nothing, dar'jetti. Your corpse will be another monument to the folly of your beliefs, and the supplies..." The woman charged and he instinctively brought up his blade to parry, as she closed, the force around him weakened, making it hard for him to use any of the more aggressive attacks, his blade also wobbled slightly as his connection to the future slid slightly. But the Mandalorian woman - surely not a force user? The Empire had... no, she was using the blade without error, it's short length flashing to deflect every one of his attacks. But still, he could hold his guard and...

*BLAMBLAMBLAM*

Three blaster shots from her handcannon caught him in his chest, the first burning away the armour, the second penetrating the cybernetics and the third blowing his heart apart.

"... are already being loaded aboard my vessel. When you see the netherworld, give my regards to your fellows."

Then she was gone, her voice faintly audible as his soul slipped away.

"Alor to salvage party, front decks secure, move the crates now."

 

[Shia Kryze]

By the time they were back aboard their own vessel, lifter droids carrying box after box of highly rare - and highly dangerous - ionite, things were not looking good.

They were looking worse when Shia got to the bridge, as hit after hit pummelled into the ship.

"Report!" She snapped.

"Ma'am, when you brought the ionite aboard it reset our shield polarization."

Oh. Oh. Oh chit.

"Crybay." She snapped. "Cut the tethers, maximum accleration, power from cannons to lasers, get those fighters to back off."

The vessel streaked away, leaving behind it the box of electronics and signal processing that accurately recreated a duplicate signal of it. It didn't fool anyone for more than five seconds, but five seconds was enough to break target locks and for the lasers to power up, and several snubfighters pulled off sharply as a wall of fire launched into their face.

That gave everyone aboard precious seconds to think.

"Flares."

The space around the corvette lit with light as massive em radiation flooded the area, Shia watched the tactical plot with single-minded focus. Her ship was Mandalorian, true. But there were thousands of these ships and many of them were in pirate hands, and they'd taken the time to paint pirate colours and were running with a... borrowed pirate transmitter, the dead didn't need it. So...

"325 by -30, take us down and then put us on a hyperspace track for Ossus."

"Oya, ad'alor."

"Fighters?"

"Back in range in ten seconds."

"Our SLAM still working?"

"Yes ad'alor."

"Punch it, then take us to hyperspace."

There was nothing quite like the feeling of being hit with that much sublight thrust, then it slackened as the SLAM cut out, a few seconds passed, and the starts blurred past the bridge.

Shia sighed.

"Remind me to, uh... apologise to the Orbit Guard for what happened to their ship. Maybe we can come up with a slightly less binary design someday."

But for now, mission successful.