Faction War Pigs

[Skuli Shatterstar]

T A M A N E N
B A V V A

[ whatever ]​

The SS Wretched Wench jumped into the system.

The pirate vessel sailed into orbit of the planet, in open defiance of the Imperial laws that once claimed this area of the Rim. But, even during the height of the First Order's power, Bavva had always been a locale in which the FOSB had looked the other way. It had long been a very lucrative relationship for whatever Imperial governor might claim to be in charge -- though in more recent days, such claims were hardly even lip-service.

The FOSB had faded into little more than rumor. And even if remnants of the First Order did linger, this was Bavva.

A myriad of starfighters and shuttles descended beneath the clouds, as the Craygalon Marauders returned home. As the lead shuttle touched down, a voice could be heard shouting out across the docking bay.

"LOUIS!"

As the loading ramp dropped onto the ground, a Tynnan rogue sauntered out into the daylight with a swagger that belied no small amount of intoxication. "Louis, a bottle of your finest revnog!"

As the Tynnan stumbled into a gold-skinned Nothoiin -- Louis, it seemed -- the pair made their way into the attached cantina, while the pirates began to supervise the unloading of their spoils.

Two Rodians encumbered by shackles struggled to lift a case, prompting one of the pirates supervising to begin shouting in Bocce.

A moment later, a young brown-furred Beorni appeared. A heavy, metal collar hung around his neck. The youth bared his fangs with a snarled lip as he passed by the pirate, before he shouldered the case by himself and started carrying it from the shuttle over to where they were off-loading the goods for sale.

They had been terrorizing the Southern Imperial Trade Route for more than a week. Their cargo holds had been overflowing with the bounty they had pried from the dead hands of spacers across lightyears of the Ivax Nebula. Bavva was where they would return to sell their stolen goods, rest, and then get ready to go do it again.

Plunder and lightning.

Whoever they didn't kill, they'd sell. Everything had a price. Everything and everyone.

Setting the heavy case down, the young Beorni turned and started back toward the shuttle.

The sooner they unloaded this trash, the sooner he could get back to trying to make himself as invisible as possible.

Maroo Valk @RTL​

 

[Blake Araxis]

Blake didn't much like these space bases, the people here sometimes freaked them out, it was a rough life and it made spacer pretty intimidating, you got that was or you died, the arkanian guessed? But as Blake looked at their finance tracker, they were reminded why they were here, they needed this job, for what the bearkin was paying it should be easy money, paid for the inconvenient Location, paid for not asking too many questions, cool.

They sat at the bar and looked at the other pirates and traders about, that guy at the end, the one who looked like he had a gun for a fething hand, he kept eyeing Blake up and Blake could do nothing but give a slightly nervous smile. Chit, why were they here?

There was a sudden moment when the bar came to life and people started running back and forth, a shuttle was coming in, dropping off and selling loot, people wanted work, and they wanted choice pick of the loot, maybe some of them were even after the bounties that pirate crews often enjoyed. Blake needed to join them and made their way out to the shuttle, this should be their ride.

"Hey, wassup! You guys ready for me?" they called over to the small Beorni that was currently being bossed about by the pirates. "I'm Blake, I'm suppose to come with and upgrade your ships or something?" wouldn't be prudent to mention the specific upgrades openly. It was the usual stuff, up to date AI, anti-intrusion stuff and having a general clear out of their overstuffed ship logs. Those often made interesting reading.

Blake waited for a response from Skuli Shatterstar , or from any of the crew for that matter, but they tried to hold themselves as confidently as they could despite the very different appearance between the fashionably dressed Arkanian and the more rugged looking pirates.​

 

[Maroo Valk]

Star Phoenix would dip below the clouds as she came in for a landing in the river, skidding across the surface before slowly sliding to a dock. The large transport had had her launchers traded for extra cargo space in he new life as a freighter. At least mostly traded. Maroo had found ways to make a ship a bit sneakier. The large brown Beorni leaned back a bit as the ship gently came to a halt. An S19 droid gave some annoyed Binary as Maroo got up, grabbing his stuff as he walked to the back of the ship.

"You worry too much Mag. All we need to do is drop this cargo off, and get the poodoo out of here." The droid just shook a bit as Maroo picked up on of the crates by himself, walking over and opening the ramp as he walked out to the dock before making his way to the cantina. That was where he was supposed to take this anyway. Probably liquor or something. Mag would give another series of chittering Binary, making Maroo shake his head. "Nothing bad's going to happen, tin can. Just stay outside if you're that worried." And with that, the Beorni would enter.

He ducked as he went under the door ceil, looking around inside. He was extremely surprised to see a young Beorni there, one with a collar around his neck. He never liked folks who kept slaves, but seeing another Beorni out here was already a rare sight. As a slave..... While the pirates may not've seen it, he was balling his free fist a bit. He just walked up to the bar, placing the crate down on it before looking for the owner or bartender. He was about to say something t the young Beorni before an Arkanian walked up to speak to him, or the others? Whoever. He'd have to wait for now he guessed.

Skuli Shatterstar Blake Araxis

 

[Tahraqos Yvarro]

SCOUNDREL + REBEL
BAVVA

Skuli Shatterstar | Blake Araxis | Maroo Valk

​

Raq made it a point to stick around Tamanen for a long while. It wasn't the kind of place he ascribed to be in, sure it had some great booze, and was an excellent spot to fence items. Just wasn't his scene, was all. Plus, with a name like Yvarro people either loved you or hated you around these parts. Not that it mattered much, he let the pilot settle the ship down into a hangar bay. The young man didn't say much, he just moved as fast as he could to the back of the cargo ship. Grabbed the boxes, and once the ramp was down, disembarked the ship.

As he turned around he noticed the ship's ramp go up, "ah c'mon! C'mon!" Shouted the young man, Raq grumbled and practically stomped his way toward the offloading area. There wasn't much he could do about it, still made him mad though. Raq had to think about how the was getting off Bavva, one of his least favorite places along the Ison Corridor, right next to Hoth. He couldn't call his aunt to save him, or any of his cousins they'd rat him out to his mother so fast his head would spin.

Once he entered the bar, he gave a look around, still holding the boxes until someone told him where to place them. It was after setting them down and taking his quick payment, he noticed two Beornis. Not unlike the Bear-folk he knew on Needan, but they were different enough. These likely weren't going to spit metaphors and pass poetic wisdom every second he was there. Or at least, he hoped. Just like he hoped that he wouldn't have to call Kurayami Bloodborn to come pick his sorry hide off this swamp-infested planet.

​

 

[Skuli Shatterstar]

"Hey, wassup! You guys ready for me?" they called over to the small Beorni that was currently being bossed about by the pirates. "I'm Blake, I'm suppose to come with and upgrade your ships or something?" wouldn't be prudent to mention the specific upgrades openly. It was the usual stuff, up to date AI, anti-intrusion stuff and having a general clear out of their overstuffed ship logs. Those often made interesting reading.

The young Beorni's amber eyes glared up at the newcomer.

Then the youngling just rolled his eyes. His soft, round ears twitched in irritation as the bear-like alien turned his back and continued on with unloading the crates and equipment.

A Transdoshan pirate wandered over, speaking in Bocce but gesturing to indicate that the Arkanian cyborg could begin their work. Under supervision, of course, but Blake would find that his minders were in varying degrees of intoxication and less interested in him than they were in talking about their plans for hitting the town later.

"...there was this Loronar explorer we hit in the Ivax Nebula. Nubian parts! Quite nice, you'll like," the Tynnan captain was boasting in the middle of the bar. One hand was wrapped around the neck of a bottle of blue-green liquor, drinking it straight from the bottle as his other arm was still trapping the cantina owner. "Had a Duros for a captain. Ha! What do you imagine the Duros said before he died?"

The Tynnan pirate let the morbid joke hang in the air for a moment, before he took his arm from around the Nothoiin's neck and used it to grip his chest dramatically as he cried, mockingly, "Ack!"

The pirates shared a laugh, as the Tynnan took the bottle to his head again.

Slinging down another crate of stolen parts, the Beorni just rolled his eyes again.

Maroo Valk Blake Araxis Tahraqos Yvarro​

 

[Blake Araxis]

Blake didn't understand the language of the Trandoshan but there were enough hand gestures to give the correct indication, so they got to work as instructed. The pirate machine was old and in interesting condition having had a hard life. Blake quickly jacked themselves in via their N2. They needed to be careful to avoid hostile infrastructure, but their N2 was cutting edge and would keep them safe enough for something like this. It looked like at some point the systems had been partitioned to store covert information packets, but the partition had become corrupt so was leaching memory use off of the main drive.

Blake looked at the drunken handlers as they worked, the others werent interested in the arkanian and Blake was more than happy with that situation. Reaching across to their water bottle they took several sips, jacking in dried the mouth, or maybe it was the nerves, or perhaps the low levels of heavy metals in the air at the badly maintained outpost.

Blake risked a quick glance around, there was an inebriated man making awful jokes to feigned laughter, probably the captain, best to avoid annoying them and get work done quickly. A little spark made Blake flinch as they grabbed the faulty memory unit that they had detected in the jacking. Blake looked at it, it was military, stamped with First Order, and the rest of the unit was not. "Do you want replacement or repair, I can toss this memory unit and replace it with something more compatible before I install the new software, or I can patch up and get it running. Option A is more expensive, but option B might cause problems along the line when you layer on more software." Blake finished speaking before they realised that theory handlers probably did not either understand or even care about the answer. "Who is your usual techie?" Blake asked, hoping to be able to interact with someone who already knew the systems, a pretty little wallflower desperate for intelligent conversation, they hoped with a grin.
​

Skuli Shatterstar Maroo Valk Tahraqos Yvarro

 

[Maroo Valk]

Maroo looked over to where the young Beorni, walking over as he looked over everything the pirates had as he quietly nudged the kid a little, before quietly speaking up.

"Don't see many of us around the galaxy. Seems like you've been dealt a rough hand though." He looked at the collar, seeming to be eying it for what to do to remove it. He then picked up one of the heavier looking items. Seemed like so sort of high pressure fuel line, looking back at the collar again as he seemed to look around. "And take it that isn't jewelry."

Skuli Shatterstar Tahraqos Yvarro Blake Araxis

 

[Skuli Shatterstar]

He was surrounded by idiots.

The white-haired human, near-human, maybe human... whatever was making attempts to communicate, but if he thought that there was any intelligent life to be found, then was he ever in the wrong place.

"Do you want replacement or repair, I can toss this memory unit and replace it with something more compatible before I install the new software, or I can patch up and get it running. Option A is more expensive, but option B might cause problems along the line when you layer on more software."

With a sigh, the small bear made his way over, speaking in the same language as the Transdoshan had been. And then turning it into a conversation because Blake Araxis had used some big words -- really, they weren't -- and so the translation was turning into a bigger explanation than it needed to be.

When then bear finally turned back to the Arkanian, he merely shrugged and translated, "Basically, they said just make it work."

The Transdoshan uttered something else in Bocce, before walking away. Rolling his eyes, the bear's ears twitched in annoyance. Glaring at the pirate's retreating back, the boy quietly added, "Personally, though, I wouldn't recommend Option A. The last guy that gave the captain sticker shock wound up going for a spacewalk without an e-suit."

"Who is your usual techie?"

The young Beorni just gave the man a deadpan look. "Are you kidding? These guys just patch a ship until it can't be patched anymore, then steal another," he supplied, as he stepped away to get back to work unloading everything.

He was uncrating some shield generators when he felt a nudge. "Don't see many of us around the galaxy. Seems like you've been dealt a rough hand though."

Peered up at the towering Beorni, the juvenile cub's ears went back in amazement. The boy just gave a huff, trying to play it off. Doubtless, Maroo Valk would be able to ears the body language to know that the boy was more excited than he wanted to let on.

Getting one's hopes up only led to disappointment.

"And take it that isn't jewelry."

Jewelry? A flash of irritation ran through the boy. His head turned, as his tongue started to lash out with a crude comeback as he began "Are you..."

The drunken Transdoshan shouted something in Bocce over at the pair, brandishing the rifle as if to intimidate one or both of them.

The cub just shook his head. "They don't like me talking to you," he offered with an eyeroll, as he went back to uncrating the shield generators.

 

[Maroo Valk]

Maroo was quick to notice the boy's annoyance, but that was soon interrupted by an angry Transdoshan. Maroo looked back at the cub, speaking up a bit knowingly.

"Tell him I was asking about the generator, and you looked like the only one who could understand me. Should cool him off long enough." Maroo continued looking, grabbing and examining a part that was hanging on the shield generator as he checked the collar again. That might work.... He looked back at the cub, again giving the collar a quick eye.

"If you didn't have that... think you could make the docks. You know, have a bit of a good time somewhere easy to spot?" Even after saying this, the Beorni would look back at the bar. "And Louise, got anything good for clubbing by chance? Not sure these guys do." He was just waiting for the kid's answer really. He could tell he wasn't happy. But hopefully he'd catch on a bit better to what Maroo was actually asking him.

Skuli Shatterstar Blake Araxis Tahraqos Yvarro

 

[Blake Araxis]

Blake didn't need to be told twice, they would get the thing working, if it failed later on it wouldn't it was their problem and Blake didn't much fancy being spaced or worse. Slicing back in, Blake began to work, there was a slight grimace across the face of the arkanian when the larger beorni make a crack about the slave collar on cub's neck. Truth be told, Blake hadn't even noticed the collar before, but to bring it up, dam, that was cold. But then something else, was Maroo Valk actually just asking as a set up to bust the little guy out?

Blake looked up at the towering Beorni with a little anxiety, clubbing? Blake hoped the bearmen knew they weren't with the pirates, Blake couldn't give a stuff who won a fight between these guys, but would rather not have their skull crushed just because they were in the way. If Blake had been a force user, they totally would be willing the big bear to know that they were unaffiliated.

"The hardware is installed, your systems are going to be a bit erratic as it all initialises, you might find things popping on and off for about five minutes but then you are all good." Blake spoke to the pirates who just grunted. Blake shook their head and leaned against the edge of the ship as the software did its job.

Skuli Shatterstar Maroo Valk Tahraqos Yvarro
​

 

[Tahraqos Yvarro]

SCOUNDREL + REBEL
BAVVA

Skuli Shatterstar | Blake Araxis | Maroo Valk

​

Raq found himself where he didn't want to be and that was somewhere and nowhere. He wandered the area, by wandering, he paced and then made his way where more unruly characters were likely to be. Where he was the man couldn't be certain except that as Raq glanced around he formulated an idea. There needed to be a way off this swamp-rock and a way back into a civilization that was anywhere and everywhere that wasn't here. He couldn't get any boat here, but he could maybe get onto a boat and off here. There in the bar was a rather rude bloke mocking how someone died, and rather than take his chances there. Raq moved away from their line of sight and heard a Trandoshan yelling.

Casually, the young man pulled on his jacket and headed toward the Trandoshan. He noted the Arkanian, near the two Beornis, one of them had to have a way off this rock. He still held onto the boxes from earlier and to be honest he needed somewhere to throw them. Raq had been pretty good at reading situations, like when his aunts were about to chew him out from one end of the Southern Imperial Trade Route to the other. Or, when his mother was about revoke all his digital privileges. Or, when all the school bullies were about to corner him. He would have to sell whatever half-arsed plan had been formulating in his head.

So got as close to what could pass for a rope, cable, cord, what have you on the ground. Stumbled forward and tossed the boxes he had been holding toward the Trandoshan, and shouted as genuinely as he could, "look out!"

​

 

[Skuli Shatterstar]

"Tell him I was asking about the generator, and you looked like the only one who could understand me. Should cool him off long enough."

The cub's head went back, almost doing a double take as he regarded the larger Beorni first with surprise, then with no small amount of skepticism.

Okay, maybe the Boomer wasn't a complete idiot.

Turning his head, the boy uttered something in Bocce, holding out his arms as the attitude continued to drip like venom from each utterance. As he spoke, Blake Araxis came over to update the boy on the status of the upgrades.

So... the pirate's tech was going to be borked for the next five-ish minutes?

The cub just blinked. A side-eyed glance toward Maroo Valk as the boy's mind was starting to question whether it was worth it to try.

As Skuli started to translate what Blake had said, a strange human stumbled in.

So got as close to what could pass for a rope, cable, cord, what have you on the ground. Stumbled forward and tossed the boxes he had been holding toward the Trandoshan, and shouted as genuinely as he could, "look out!"

The Beorni just blinked.

Feth it.

The cub took one step back, pivoted, and then dropped onto all fours. That looked like as good of a distraction as he was going to get if they were doing this.

Were they doing this?

He guessed they were doing this.

The old man had said the docks? Skuli was moving as fast as his short limbs would take him. And then he'd hope that this old ass Beorni dude wasn't just talking chit.

 

[Maroo Valk]

Maroo watched the kid as he was finally given the bottle he asked for. The older Beorni popped the cork and quickly checked both the glass, and the flavor of the drink before watching Skuli bolt for it. He smiled, giving Louis a nod as one of the pirates seemed to turn to try and get after the kid. He smiled a bit, quickly smash the bottle over the pirates head before throwing that fuel line he'd found at one of the others before he started to run for the door. With any luck he wouldn't have too much trouble getting out of there before the pirates would catch up.

Meanwhile, if he got to the docks, the young Skuli would likely notice two things that you didn't see often near the water. An old S19 droid, and the large sublight drives of the Star Phoenix as it casually floated by one of the largest moorings the dock had. Obviously a weird spot for most spaceships. Hopefully he'd get the idea as to why Maroo talked about the docks though.