The Tartarus Salvage Free-For-All

[Jethro Rekali]

TARTARUS FLEET BATTLEFIELD
RISHI MAZE

“Updating log,” Jethro Rekali drawled. He popped the tab on a can of lum and slurped some down. In a cockpit this cramped, on a mission this long, a few creature comforts were essential.

“The client's digging into the salvage pretty well. There's a bunch of other salvage ships around, none that concern me much. Haven't picked up any warships, raiders, nothing like that yet.”

The whole salvage field orbited fairly close to a star - lots of light and heat and random radiation. The client had mentioned something about a Dyson ring around a compressed star, a ring that had melted when the star expanded back to its normal size. Tall tales, far as Jethro was concerned. Now the only proof anything had happened in this system was the debris of the fleet battle.

Jethro chugged half the can and switched the fighter's sensor overlays. “Only real worry is the wrecks. Might be some active droids in there still. Client gave me the basic files on Contingency ships and the fight - looks like seven Centaur corvettes, three Mantle light cruisers, couple of Hydra frigates, one Leviathan cruiser and two Annihilator cruisers. All blown up or otherwise shot to heck. Then there's the wreckage of six or seven ships that weren't Contingency, but I'm not too concerned about them. Good haul for salvage crews if they manage their risks. All quiet at my end.”

The audio recorder shut off with a double click. This old starfighter had a lot of analog controls like that, prone to odd noises and tactile feedback. Most days he found that reassuring, genuine. Today he found it annoying. Artifact of being on edge, maybe, worried that another salvager crew or leftover war droid would take a shot at the client's freighter.

“Screw it.”

He turned on the comms, blasted an old tune, and started singing along. After six days in this cockpit, why the heck not.

https://youtu.be/75dtjFSBsPc

 

[Ben Revan]

The dark lord flew his tie fighter into battle ready for anything the battlefield might throw at him.
As he Flew around the battle it was obvious he could dog fight at a master level

 

[Honus Teach]

The man silently listened [member="Jethro Rekali"] and his...moaning. His eyes scanned his sensors behind his mask but in a debris field swarmed by salvagers it was hard to pick out a potential threat before they started actually making a run.

Given the situation and the fact this was just about the only time he felt truly glad to be alive he turned off outgoing comms and hummed to himself while he did a standard in-flight systems check.

He went through the systems one by one and even let a few bars slip out as he continuted to sit at the ready. A few odd ball hotshots flew through the debris trying to show off their skill. Teach, grunted and rolled his eyes as he finished the checks on his E-wing. He would have rather used an employer provided ship but it was what it was.

He clicked his outgoing comms back active to squad comm.

"Teach reporting." He said through his facemask rebreather, "In-flight systems checks due, y'all. We have a few show-offs and limited scanning due to debris. Stay frosty."



[member="Darth Miargo"]

 

[Jethro Rekali]

[member="Honus Teach"] [member="Darth Miargo"]

The music dialed down, but not all the way off. Regretfully, Jethro stopped singing.

"I copy, Teach." He reached up and cycled the overlay controls again. "Lot of interference like you say. Nothing that looks too nasty apart from a couple starfighters that aren't us. You get a bead on that TIE hotdogging around? What you thinking we should do if he gets too close to the client?"

The client hadn't been terribly specific about rules of engagement. Most weren't. 'Don't let me get shot and don't make me any unnecessary enemies' pretty much summed up the average contract for an outfit like this one. Jethro scratched his week-old beard and slugged back the rest of the can.

"Can't get a clear visual on the model. Doesn't look like one I recognize. Could be anywhere from cannon fodder to elite gunboat, Defender-lite, something like that. There's too many darn kinds of TIEs."

 

[Honus Teach]

Honus flicked some switches to bring up the E-wing's scanner overlay with the recent IFF from BoSS. He watched the TIE move but it wasn't in the recent update.

"You're the boss, Rek." Teach said as he tried to quick search a model for the TIE, "But, if ya ask me. Tibana cost cred and he ain't shootin'. We can run a fly-by if he gets close if ya want."

He still wasn't getting anything on his search so he popped on to closed comm for a second.

"R7, see if you can't get a model or ID on this Hotdogger and get it to Rek." He said before jumping back to squadron comms. "Rek, I've got R7 on it. Model should turn up. Moves like an interceptor though. I don't like that much. I'll keep an eye on him."

Honus fired his adjusters and gained a little space from the client just incase he had to make a quick run. The E-wing was made for escort duties, and had more teeth than some. He would upgrade one day. Just had to keep saving up. Maybe one with a hyperdrive that didn't need half an hour to warm up.


[member="Darth Miargo"] [member="Jethro Rekali"]

 

[Zye Woden]

Family heirlooms. They were worth life, limb, and risking death to recover. They were the thing that families kept with them to remember where they were coming from and where they were going. Zye was on a quest to find one such family heir loom. His ship, The Raven Fang, came out of hyper space not far from the Tartus Fleet Battlefield in the Rishi Maze. Zye rose from his seat in the meditation chamber of his ship and took control of it, bringing the smaller vessel towards the wreckage. As he drew closer the man could see the strewn wreckage across the entire star. He hadn't come here for much, not the turbolasers, blasters or the expensive jewelry that the officers had all but certainly carried with them to show their status. Rather he was just here for a sword. Forged with magma itself, and enchanted by the greatest Force user that House Woden had ever had, his great uncle, Magnus Woden, and was one of the greatest Sithspawn slaying blades made, until it was lost with Magnus Woden.

Zye had come for the blade, for the lost heirloom. He needed a weapon worthy of his name and his calling. As he approached the wreckage, the hunter could see other ships already there. His lips curled downward in a frown. They looked like salvagers, the disgusting lot. They could be a problem, an obstical in his path or a stepping stone. He hoped for the latter instead of the former. He Pinged the largest ship, presumably their leader.

"This is Zye Woden the Sithspawn slayer of House Woden aboard the Raven Fang," he said haughtily, "I have come looking for a family heirloom. I mean you no harm, unless you get in my way," his next words were punctured with ilk, "so don't." he smoothed his tone out to haughty indifference, he knew their type and they were beneath him, always looking just for money. They were so lowly with no real purpose in this galaxy. How uncivilized, "However, if you have the mind for it, we could be mutually productive for the other."

[member="Honus Teach"] I [member="Jethro Rekali"] I [member="Darth Miargo"]​

 

[Jethro Rekali]

[member="Zye Woden"] [member="Honus Teach"]

A new voice came over the airwaves: cultured, hoity-toity, just a little contemptuous. Jethro stuffed the empty can into a cloth trash bag and pulled the drawstring. After six days, the bag was getting a little ripe. He ripped it off a velcro strip and shoved it behind his seat - didn't want the darn thing flopping around in case of nonsense.

Just about inevitable nonsense, looked like.

He swapped to a private channel, with the limited encryption that he and Honus shared. "Don't know about you, Teach, but I feel downright intimidated. Voice like that makes me feel like rubbing some blue on his collar. Bet his shoes cost more than my ship. Eh, screw it."

The old Mandalorian snubfighter accelerated out of its holding orbit, arced around the wreck of a cruiser, and went for target lock on that shiny ship. Jethro switched back to broadcast.

"Mister Wooden Spawnslayer, this is the Bloody Menace." It wasn't, but his old fighter had gone through more IFF telesponders than, uh, a thing which goes through lots of other things quickly. "Power down your shields and prepare to pay a salvage fee."

 

[Honus Teach]

And he had just polished his hull too. Honus broke from his position and took a wide wingman position beside Jethro as he pulled away. He thumbed his targeting system active and heated up his triple medium laser cannons and powered up the proton tropedo tubes.

"Sounds, down right intimidating to me." He said as the R7 unit began highlighting possible weak points in the other ship's design and set the in flight recorder for later use. "Not very amenable at all."

His ship swung out and he continued to move as his computer prepared to lock on. Torps at this range would be messy, but hell, he needed the credits anyway, and he never did like being talked down to. Made him feel down right cranky.



[member="Darth Miargo"] [member="Jethro Rekali"] [member="Zye Woden"]

 

[Zye Woden]

The two fighters made their way closer to the Raven's Fang. Zye knew he was both outnumbered, and most likely outskilled. He could operate a ship proficiently, but he was not skilled enough for a real dogfight. So when the order came for him to power his sheilds down and prepare to be robbed in not so many terms, he sneered but wasn't surprised.

Pathetically typical, he mouthed to himself.

"Bloody Menace, standing by and preparing for boarding," Zye said, not attempting to hide his disgust. He flicked the switch on his console, and the two would see the shields on the Raven's Fang power down. It wasn't a large ship, barely over 29 meters along the long end, but she did have a pair of docking rings, and Zye prepared both for their use.

If they were hoping to score massive amounts of cash off Zye Woden, they would be tragically surprised--and most likely not for the first time. Since the family's dishonorable ousting from Thule, Zye himself was living from one hunt to the next, doing what he did best. It was fuel cells dumped into the fire of his anger at his family being discarded like dry crusts of bread into the muddy streets. Ages of service and protection from horrors beyond measure were lost and treated as naught, all for political gain. It disgusted him even more than these money-mongering maleficent mercenaries.

Zye swung from his place in the pilot's chair and stalked out to meet his un-wanted guests. On his belt was a light saber, a short sword, and blaster pistol, but Zye didn't plan on using any of the three. His dark cloak fluttered behind him as the black-clad man made his short trip to the docking rings. He stood with his feet rooted defiantly, his shoulders square, his back strait, and his chin high. He was the embodiment of arrogance and indignation.

"I told you to stay out of my way," he would say when his first guests arrived. The man remained unmoved, "I will make my offer once more, but not again. We could effect a mutually beneficial agreement--or this can get savagely messy. Your choice."

[member="Honus Teach"] I [member="Jethro Rekali"] ​

 

[Ben Revan]

The dark lord had spotted a new target [member="Honus Teach"] Flying towards him at rapid speeds At this point they probably would try to identify the model
They would not

It is a prototype built for The Dark lord himself

 

[RC 212]

[member="Jethro Rekali"] [member="Darth Miargo"] [member="Zye Woden"][member="Honus Teach"]

If the salvager's were looking close enough they'd see another vessel enter system. An old beat up Washburn class, it's single drive leaving a burning Ion trail. Behind the yoke a menace to any folk caught too deep in the black. A drinking smoking dwarf with mechanical legs. Courtesy of the Reavers in the rim.

"Well well, what have we got here?" He said to himself.

Monty slammed another beer, crushed the can and tossed it back over his shoulder.

Then he flipped his transponder, to a setting that read "Decoy."

Now he was a simple Transport Vessel called the Red Rooster instead of the Rocket Booster.

And he was closing in on the Sith fella's vessel, ignoring the rest. He had him dead in his sights.

Retracted Ion cannons extended. A little mod he hadn't told anyone about. They were jurry rigged, really and would only last for one shot, but that was good enough. His ship looked nice, and Monty needed some proper weapons and drive cores on this ol bucket.

"Come to papi youn' grasshopper. Let's see if ya got anything good on yur ship."

 

[Jethro Rekali]

Immediate: [member="Zye Woden"]
Nearby: [member="Honus Teach"] [member="Monty"] [member="Darth Miargo"]

"Holy feth on toast, Teach, he actually did it. Looks like he's powered up a docking collar and expects to get boarded. My ship's compatible, sort of, but your E-Wing's not unless you've tweaked it harder than I thought. Screw it. I haven't been out of the cockpit in a week. This is happening."

The old Mando ship nestled up to the shiny personal transport. In short order, Jethro was standing in the airlock, and luxuriating in his verticality. He still wore his flight suit and helmet, not that they'd be much good in a potential fight. He also packed an ugly Clan Rekali Haran'hett 'Hellburner' disruptor pistol.

In person, Wooden Spawnslawyer looked just about as aristo as his voice. Just about, but not quite. A keen eye for poverty picked out telltale signs of a nice ship run by a man who tended to run out of cash. The whole shakedown sort of lost its appeal in that light.

"You're singing the siren song of profit, mister, and my partners and I just love the opera. What you got in mind?"

 

[Honus Teach]

Honus marked the new ship on his scanners but didn't bother to engage at present. He kept his ship relatively still, weapons hot but hands off the triggers. He heard the comm from Rekali and tried not to chuckle.

"Yeah, my boat don't hook up with random ships." He said calmly. If fact his an E-wing was near impossible to modify to that extent with out serious overhaul to the frame. "I'll cover you an watch these nut jobs out here, yeah?

He popped a can of stim caff and opened his helmet's rebreather before closing it back in place. He watched the other ships and almost laughed at an old beater chasing a custom TIE. And it had to be a custom job, because R7 turned up nothing. Since he was going to be a minute he decided he was going to listen to Rekali's music and do another systems check.

He methodically ticked off his check list on his data pad and looked at the recent pictures of his kids way back on Empress Teta. With the money from this job he may just be able to afford an upgrade. Maybe a new sound system for the old boat.


[member="Zye Woden"] [member="Darth Miargo"] [member="Monty"] [member="Jethro Rekali"]

 

[Zye Woden]

"You're singing the siren song of profit, mister, and my partners and I just love the opera. What you got in mind?"

Just as Zye had thought, they were nothing but money-mongering malefactors. He, as usually, wasn't impressed. Its not like he had made a massive leap in guessing they would come dancing to the tune of the jingling credit purse. Only one ship had docked, Zye didn't know why but if he were to guess, it was for insurance purposes. As long as there was another ship around, target locked on the Raven Fang it was a firm deterrent from violence getting out of hand.

"Obviously, this battlefield is requite with wealth and scavenging opportunities," Zye said gesturing toward the view port to his side that overlooked the scrap piles, "But I have only come for a family heir loom. A short sword of little consequence to you. There is, however something that might be of value to you," Zye had the intention of gathering this for himself to help with his money situation, but now there was nothing to be done of it. He plucked a hand-sized holoprojector from his belt and thumbed it on. A gem, carved in the likeness of a human's skull appeared between them. "They call it the Mind of Abelron, its gem value alone is worth a small fortress, regardless of what else it may entail. Legends state that it gives one the ability see into the future, and to other places. Historically it was held by Officer Gaut van Hertz, and he perished within this very battle. I am sure with the funds from this auction you could purchase whatever your heart desires," Zye let the information sink in for a moment. "All I request is assistance in acquiring a lost family heir loom."

[member="Honus Teach"] I [member="Jethro Rekali"] ​

 

[Curupira Hawk]

Nearby: [member="Jethro Rekali"] [member="Darth Miargo"] [member="Honus Teach"] [member="Zye Woden"] [member="Monty"]
Addressing: No one, open to being contacted.

The Ceta exited hyperspace, slowing down as her pilot made the rest of the way into the field slowly. The star behind it cause for the extra care in her maneuvers. There was quite a few of them actually, Curupira noticed she took in the entirety of the wreckage. She hadn't come looking for anything particular though, her work was more about finding sell-able or used as materials to create things from so really, every salvage mission was more of an adventure of what she would find. Either would be fine in reality but she did prefer the second idea these days since it kept her busy and she was no longer salvaging solely for a day's meal. The Dathomiri had long progressed from that into making this an actual job. Her first actually, if one didn't count being mated to the former Viceroy of Ryloth. Most wouldn't but Curupira had often found herself only one present to handle day-to-day tasks so it kind of was.

Her HWK-290 Lighter Freighter had certainly seen better days, purchased used but it was fine enough to keep her moving from place to place. Sometimes, that was enough. Right now though, the current situation required a bit more of a creativity in acquiring, she realized as she glanced back at the prepared Enviro-suit hanging in the back.

She'd spotted the additional ships around, they had gotten here sooner than her. "Let's get some work for Ruudimentary," Curupira happily told herself as she made the Ceta steer further to the right, putting some distance from the functioning ships already there. Her line was open if any of them wanted to put in some claim to any of the wreckage, it had happened before but Curupira mostly focused on what she was doing, something she had grown to do in the recent years. Actual focus and getting the job done. A completely new feeling for her really.

 

[Ben Revan]

The dark lord noticed the chaser And turned off his thrusters dropping behind the ship now starting to chase him
Still remaining in complete silence
He fires two protons At the ship
[member="Monty"]

 

[RC 212]

[member="Darth Miargo"]

"Hmphh, wasn expectin tha."

He cut his own engines, then reversed, shooting backwards and flying past the other vessel. Now he was in his sights again. Quick flying, but god work. Not good enough

"Get some!"

He squeezed the trigger, sending blazing white Ion beams towards the other ships rear....

 

[Jethro Rekali]

[member="Zye Woden"] [member="Honus Teach"]

"Lots of ambiguity there," said Jethro, "but you've got my attention. Gimme a sec."

He backed up to the airlock and keyed his helmet comm. Something rattled on the ship's hull - debris maybe, but it sounded more like bits of shrapnel.

"Hey, Teach. Guy's got a lead on a big heckin gemstone, says it belonged to a Gaut van Hertz who died here. Says we can keep it and all he wants is a dang sword. Now, the Contingency wasn't known for fielding organics, so that narrows things way down. Got a real shot at real value here. Oh, uh... How's things out there?"

 

[Honus Teach]

The heat of blast bloomed on his scanners and he grabbed the yoke and hit the attitude adjusters to spin the E-wing. It didn't take long for him to pick out the sources. He opened his broad range comms and heated up his engines.

He wasn't picking up chatter but there was no doubt a pair of knuckleheads had decided they felt the need for a dog fight in a damn lucrative debris field. A switch hit the squad comms and he spoke to Rekali and their employer.

"Rekali, whatever you're doing y'all better wrap it up." He said already preparing his ship for engagement. "We got some hard cased shooting in the debris field. If we don't get them to pack it up we may lose whatever it is we came to find. Their gonna spread the salvage out over half the system."

He dialed in his cannons for low yield to try and avoid big blast and fired his thrusters to make his way back to the client. He didn't want to engage yet but if they got too close he was gonna have to.

He changed back to broad wave transmissions and began to comm the area in hopes the meat heads would see some sense.

"This is Honus J. Teach of the 'Empress' Pride' to all parties." He began as he pounded out a firing solution, "Remove your hostilities from this salavge site or we'll be forced to engage. This is your only warning. Remove yourselves or be removed."

He slid down the visor on his flight helmet and began to move his ship toward the debris field. He didn't want to engage but protocol said it was his job. And he took his jobs seriously.



[member="Zye Woden"] [member="Curupira Hawk"] [member="Darth Miargo"] [member="Monty"] [member="Jethro Rekali"]

 

[Mia Monroe]

Angelica was bored. When she'd signed up to join Jethro and Horus she'd not anticipated spending six days cooped up in a cockpit playing guardian for some salvage operation that she wouldn't get much of a look in. She'd volunteered to do a 'perimeter' check before Jethro started his daily monotonous update, and muted her comms before skirting round the edge of the salvage site. She pinpointed her re-entry point and kicked her thrusters into full power.

Hairs rose on the backs of her arms, smile tugging on her lips as the little interceptor weaved through the wreckage's, cutting fine lines between floating debris, testing both herself and the little ship. A shiver of fear would crawl up her spine when a jagged piece of metal scraped along the hull, sending sparks across her screen. A soft giggle, and a sharp reminder to trust her instincts she eased off the thrusters a little, flipping the ship on its side to glide almost effortlessly through a gaping hole in a ships skeleton.

A white-blue flash in the corner of her eye, and she dropped her speed, flicking her comms volume back up in time to catch Horus's threat to the dog fight below her. "Aw, feth." she groaned, looping round to trail the dogfight, settling herself behind the Washburn class, and flicking open their private line. "I'm in pursuit. Sorry...I uhhh...got distracted."

[member="Honus Teach"] [member="Jethro Rekali"] [member="Monty"] [member="Darth Miargo"]