Watch me as I navigate

[Light Rises]

Military acquisitions.

The office for that within the Alliance was something else, mainly Sullustan driven, but there were a few others, like the Quarren, Lopos, yeah, only one name. Formerly a mercenary himself, he was working with military ack in order to grab the best and brightest of the galaxy and push them into service with a contract for the Alliance. Privateers, mercenaries, however. The Merchant Fleet was a big pull, and now with a bit of money, so long as they could fund their own ships and weapons, the Alliance was looking for other avenues.

Sometimes there were missions that needed to be taken that just couldn’t, or wouldn’t, sit well with the brass. That was where people with loose morals like Lopos came in.

Most of these people were just hired and put into service, similar to the Pyre-Protectorate relationship. Lopos didn’t sign up for the ODF, but he had wanted to. Age requirements and the like. Silly stuff.

But right now he had the representative for Shriek-Hawk in his office, recently it was Warbird Wing, Coren Starchaser’s own outfit.

“So, Mr. Skirata, are you looking for a generalized contract to accept jobs with us, or are you looking to work exclusively?”

The meeting was occurring on a starship in Sullust orbit, the primary Alliance Defense Fleet playing ‘Fence’ around Sullust while the Expeditionary Fleet was out… along the borders, from what he saw.

[member="Gilamar Skirata"]

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

Straight to business. It took him by surprise how efficient the Galactic Alliance worked sometimes...Then again, it took a lot of organizing to bring together a group like this. They were quickly growing and quickly expanding, mostly to bring the fight to the Sith. He had heard rumors that the small faction had bombarded the Sith Temple on Coruscant. They had gal to do that.

The old, grizzled Mandalorian in his spacer's leather garb nodded to the squid headed man,

"Aye, we were looking to build a relationship with the GA through a generalized contract. Send some of our boys with your military or be able to call on us for some of the less...savory military activities we all know need to be done."

[member="NPCs by Corey"]

 

[Light Rises]

Lopos was here to work. Half the reason he joined the Alliance was because of that. They were here to do a job, and when the job was over? Who knew. It wasn’t necessary that they were going to run all the worlds for a thousand generations, a la some mystic Republic, because Cthulhu knew that the current iteration was having trouble. A real shame, that, they had potential, but if it was them in charge and the Alliance didn’t show up, he’d be being a merc somewhere, he preferred to do things his way.

Lopos nodded, Quarren, as a squid faced species, didn’t exactly grin, but it would be accepted, the way he was trying to. Probably more terrifying, but the reports said that Skirata was a Mando. They could handle a bit of a Quarren smile.

Now a Quarren slave dancer, well that was something even most Quarrens didn’t want to see.

“Less savory. That’s what we’re all made for, isn’t it?” Talking as a former mercenary himself. “What sort of gear do you have access to? Any task specialties we should be aware of?”

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

The old man grunted and chuckled.
"What can't we do?" He looked back up to the squid-headed man seeing his expression was void of any sort of amusement, his eyes almost commanding him to divulge more information. Specifics. His smile turned into a frown. All work and no play made squid boy a dull boy.

"Tactical insertion, recon personal defense of V.I.Ps, shock trooper deployment, front line assault, defense or support. Most of our boys have their own Bes'uliik too so I suppose Air superiority and droid cavalry wouldn't be out of the question either. Look, here's the deal: We are Mando'ade. Whatever you throw at us we've probably been doing since before you could even comprehend what a blaster did."

He didn't like having his kids or his skills questioned. Especially not by a no name paper pusher who had probably never seen a day in the field in his life.

[member="NPCs by Corey"]

 

[Light Rises]

Very good, this was one of those units. He had seen units come and go that were very particular, they got put in the circular filing folder, and mostly would never hear another word. Sure, Lopos didn’t throw the data away, he kept it all, but just had a folder for the way too specialized. Certain missions the Alliance just weren’t undertaking, having a range made you earn credits.

But this man, this one in front of him, seemed, as far as humans were concerned, to have a no-bullshit attitude. That was good. Meant jobs would be done right and done well. He was doing his best to keep track of all the options and was typing them into the datapad rather quickly, that was until Skirata cut to the chase.

Mando’ade, which until 3 minutes ago, the writer thought was Mandalorian Kool-Aid. But no, Lopos knew what it was. It meant BAMF.

“Mando’ade, then. Very good. Very useful.” Try to not make him angry, Lopos. “We have a flat fee that we use for the majority of our teams, clean results ensure continued employment. More effective you prove, the more the flat fee goes up. You cover repair costs and ammo costs, we reimburse fuel, and foodstuffs for longer engagements away from Alliance bases.” The Quarren took a second, blinking and thinking. He knew that this man would have questions that he wasn't even thinking of. He'd have the answers though.

[member="Gilamar Skirata"]

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

Gil leaned back in his chair before reaching into his shirt chest pocket and removing a flask as the man spoke. His eyes narrowed as he listened to what the fish man had to say while simultaneously unscrewing the cap from the beskar flask. The strong smell of ne'tra gal filled his nostrils before he tipped the iron flask back, letting the black ale rush into his mouth and sending it on a one way trip to warm his belly. He looked at his flask, a look of satisfaction displayed on his face.

"How many other teams are you working with right now? I assume quite a few with your military being quite new and more or less inexperienced."

Of course there were always veterans leading the troops, Nemo Ven was no slouch after all. But the green horns, the ones that would make up the bulk...Many of them had probably never fought a real battle before; enlisted but always on base somewhere away from the real horrors of war.

[member="NPCs by Corey"]

 

[Light Rises]

Lopos was doing the work that came to him, and some of it was easier than others. He looked to the Mando and watched him drink down the liquid. One of those, that was good. Lopos understood that certain men took their lives very serious and it was created by the idea that certain things, among humanity, were considered masculine. And Lopos tried to understand those thoughts. Drinking from a flask was one.

“We’re working with a few, our main contributor being the Omega Pyre, but then there are smaller units that pop in and out of service and usefulness. You are standing to be a bit more useful than the others.” Because those are NPCs.

He considered the second statement and nodded. “It is true, we’re new on the field, bringing in new soldiers and boosting our numbers with experience. What we lack in numbers, we make up for in experience and patriotism.” Sometimes bordering on fanaticism, if you look at Coren Starchaser.

[member="Gilamar Skirata"]

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

"Omega Pyre..." There was a name he hadn't heard in a while. The Mandalorians had worked with them on several occasions in both of their incarnations. Good people, also expensive, which meant well for the Shriek-Hawks. "Good people, that lot." He nodded in approval.

"Alright." he clapped his hands together. This meeting was getting dull, it was time to stop beating around the bush, "You've got openings in your teams I'm assuming. What are ya looking for, now that you've got a little better understanding on what we're about at Shriek-Hawk Mercenary Company."

[member="NPCs by Corey"]

 

[Light Rises]

The Pyre had been there since the beginning of the Alliance, at least according to the department he worked in. The Prex was seen walking around with Commander Starchaser and Supreme Commander Ven, and discussing how they were all going to be working together. It was a nice thing to see, more than just a certain few coming together to fix the galaxy.

“They’ve been very helpful and are running operations at a few of our more Coreward worlds.” Lopos nodded. “What we’re looking for are the types of people who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. Can work with Jedi, or… non Jedi, but they’re light sided.” He rolled his eyes as well as a Quarren can. “I’m not a sorcerer, but there is this whole ‘don’t harm civilians’ mantra going around our armed forces. Quick, contained and lethal is what we’re going for.”

[member="Gilamar Skirata"]

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

"We can do that. Quick, contained, lethal." he knew at least one of his Shriek-Hawks that fit that bill nicely. "You and your alliance have got yourself a deal. I'll let my men know. See who picks up the job. You weren't looking for resident mercs were you?" It was an important question, one that would run up his price a hell of a lot more if the answer was yes.

[member="NPCs by Corey"]

 

[Light Rises]

Lopos looked at the man in front of him, the Mando who was running a new unit for the Alliance. “We have the Pyre on retainer, as a result of pulling some of the former Protectorate worlds. So, if you are looking for a permanent home, we can provide missions, as we are taking the fight to the One Sith and anything that rises up in what my superiors are calling ‘the dark side.’ While we’d be able to use you as resident mercenaries, we understand you may have other contracts and we don’t want to keep you away from taking what jobs come your way. So, the short, is no, but the long is when we call, we better know if you’re taking it or not, so we can continue on to the next contractor.

“That work for you?” The Quarren looked at the human.

[member="Gilamar Skirata"]

 

[Gilamar Skirata]

The Mandalorian nodded.
"It looks like you've just got yourself a deal! I'll let my boys know." He put out his hand for a shake. On this day a new bond was formed between his mercenaries and the Galaxy at large. Hopefully this went well for them.

"Haat, ijaa, haa'it. Truth, honor, vision."
[member="NPCs by Corey"]