Bilbringi

[Nitestrike]

As the stars materialized once again into his field of view, Brad felt the rush of battle flood his senses. While his time away from the Jedi had been filled with dangerous exploits and small-scale fighting, storming an Imperial stronghold was an entirely new experience. The planet before him was a familiar one, after all Bilbringi was a rather significant world which he had visited before. Unfortunately, he was used to getting in and out below the radar, and as he saw Aryian's EMP blasts strike the Golan platform he knew that his former tactics were no longer a possibility on this mission.

 

Not being behind the controls of the starship he was in made Brad feel rather uneasy, as if he wasn't in control of his own destiny. Relying on others was not something he did, and only in focusing on the weapons systems did he prevent himself from back-seat driving. The Mandalorian did seem to know what she was doing, which relaxed him some. The power of the Force relaxed him further, as he centered himself, suppressing the rush of battle and becoming the calm and collected warrior he once was.

 

The Force opened up his connection to those around him as well, and he sensed the intense focus of those on board both the Rangir and the Blur. In his limited role at this stage of the operation, he attempted to send strength to his companions, especially to the other Jedi on board the Rangir.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

At the same moment the Blur exited hyperspace, the Firespray-class Rangir blinked out into realspace launching out a barrage of fire at the propulsion-enabled mines in its path as it too deployed crates of EMP bombs disabling an even larger section of the mine field as the attack coordinated with that of the Blur, the EMP waves dancing across the shielded hull of the vessel.

 

Mirdala's piloting skills came into play as she skirted the ship around the dead obstacles and simply blasting away those that she couldn't directly avoid. As any Mando'ade would she'd made plenty of modifications to her ship that exponentially improved the base model. Not much that was stock was left on the ship.

 

Inwardly she wondered if the Jetii that were on board were used to such spacial acrobatics. Mirdala lived for it.

 

Once Aryian's EMP's struck home on the Golan platform, Mirdala launched several missiles, striking at the stations hangars as the shields were disabled by the Blur's calculated move.

 

Her mind was sharp and focused as she was fed data from the Blur's AI to better coordinate her flight pattern and maneuvers with the cousin vessel as the two danced and wove, as the Rangir followed the Blur in to the belly of the beast.

[handofthrawn]

((Oops, wrong alias. Disregard this post.))

[Moon Knight]

OOC: I hereby invoke the three-day rule. However, it seems unnecessary to take the whole shipyard in one post, so let's take our time. The rule will negate official Imperial resistance, so we win, but let's post out the op.

 

IC:

The insertion was perfect, even better than either Fett or Darkfire had planned. The EMPs very effectively knocked out as much of the defense grid as was necessary for the Blur and Rangir to make it to their respective destinations. ShadowFett watched most of it from the sensor board as Darkfire systematically wiped out any threat to them. Kandosii, jetii, he thought.

 

But the real work lied ahead. Darkfire brought the Blur into a small periphery hangar that would give them a reasonable amount of privacy mixed with the shortest amount of transit time they could allow to get to the control room. Although they had knocked out alot of the automatic and mechanical defenses, there would be no shortage of stormtroopers in between them and their goal. After hydrogen and stupidity, there were few things in more bountiful supply than stormtroopers. But against a Mando'ad and two jetiise, they wouldn't stand a chance.

 

A unique team emerged from the Blur, one that perhaps the galaxy had never seen. The Mando'ade were known to dislike the jetiise, and Fett had no particular love for them himself. However, he was not too blind to see that a Jedi could be a powerful ally, and not all of them were as arrogant and conceited as several that he had met. He had only known Darkfire a short time, but so far had identified traits in the man that could overcome the obvious shortcomings of being one endowed with the Force. The combat to come would perhaps let Fett identify those traits further.

 

Presently he moved towards the door, slapped a breaching charge on it, and nodded at his allies. Stepping back, he blew the charge and the door, then drew his assault rifle and let Aryian burst through with his lightsaber--into a team of stormtroopers. Oya, he thought. The fight had begun.

[Kitt]

From inside the Rangir, Kitt saw some small group of TIE's making a run at the two vessel that entered their territory. They came in the standard Imperial formation, leaving them exposed to a cluster of fire, to which they would scatter. Both ships made their fire run at the TIE's to have them scatter, but Kitt who had drawn on the Force quickly tugged at remaining TIE's to pull them into each other. The final three that had remained after they scattered were quickly finding themselves having to eject as their crafts were now colliding with each other.

 

As both ships made a run towards the main goal of the op, Kitt drew on the Force to see his way down. Pointing his hand in front of Mirdala.

 

"That platform will have the least resistance."

 

Kitt didn't bother to get a confirmation from the mandalorian woman, he knew she would move in that direction. As the Rangir made it's way towards the platform, Kitt could see through the Force that there were now a few stormtroopers gathering on the platform to give them a welcome. The groups welcoming party however fell to the ground once the Rangir came into firing range. Kitt reached out and pushed them against the walls of the facility, knocking them out.

[Nitestrike]

"Great spot here chief, separate me from my part of the mission," Brad called over the comlink, somewhat jokingly to Kitt. "All style and no substance," he sighed to himself as he checked his weapons, preparing to leave the ship. During the flight, he had donned the battle armor he found, and his face was hidden by the armor's helmet, and ammo was stowed in the appropriate compartments. Activating the helmet's HUD, he saw two blips appear indicating the location of Aryian and Fett.

 

Holding his rifle at the ready, he opened the hatch and stepped out, quickly checking the platform for any resistance. Reaching out with the Force enhanced his awareness of his surroundings, and he felt drawn to another part of the planet in a different direction from that of Fett and Aryian. Trusting the Force, the Jedi knew he was being drawn towards his objective. Brad opened his comlink to Fett and Aryian informing them of his situation. "Fett, Aryian, this is Warren. I'll meet up with you at the objective, don't wait for me."

 

With that taken care of, he hastily set off towards the objective, going as quickly and discretely as he could. The Force was an invaluable tool in making himself not seen, as he navigated through out of the way places towards his objective. Soon, the target was in sight, and he held position behind a nearby building. "I'm at the objective, can I get an ETA on you two?" he inquired towards his partners for this stage of the mission.

[Moon Knight]

OOC: Nitestrike, this is a shipyard, an orbital space station. I don't think there's "nearby buildings", only corridors and blast doors.

 

IC:

ShadowFett frowned when Warren separated himself from the group. He decided not to say anything this time, at least not right away, but he immediately recognized the jetii's woeful inexperience. Even though he had fought alone for so long, Fett had a strong grasp of squad tactics, not only from his original Mando training but also from his time with the Black Sun. He couldn't expect Warren to have a similar grasp, but he should have thought it pretty obvious that when your whole team was only three people, you didn't split up.

 

Moon Knight still was a little preoccupied with the stormtroopers arrayed against him to put too much thought into it. He found that Darkfire was quite advanced in the art of blocking and redirecting blaster fire--a shab'la handy trick if Fett had ever seen one--and was capable of choosing to block even more bolts, including ones that wouldn't otherwise hit him. This meant that, while Fett preferred solid cover like walls and bulkheads, he was also pretty well off shooting from behind Darkfire. It didn't quite feel like real cover, especially since the jetii couldn't block all the bolts and Fett didn't know which ones would get through, but in some tactical situations it was the best option.

 

And so the two handled a few squads of Imperial stormtroopers in that fashion, Fett scoring most of the kills before they closed and Darkfire tearing them limb from limb once he got close with his lightsaber. The Mando'ad had to be careful in how he picked his targets once things got close, since he didn't want to kill off his ally. So he simply tended to take down targets on the far side, often moving at angles to keep Darkfire between himself and those targets until he had a clear shot past whatever cover they were using. It was simple and effective, and it got the job done, troch.

 

Warren dropped them another comm, reporting that he had reached the target, and Fett's HUD map confirmed that Warren was ahead in the place where he and Darkfire were headed. They weren't far, actually, and it only took another three minutes and six stormtroopers to get there. Warren was indeed waiting before a blast door, which was sealed tight. Fett nodded at Warren, then pulled out a military-grade thermal detonator and looked at both jetiise. "Well? Lightsabers or ordnance?"

[Nitestrike]

"Lightsabers. Much more subtle. Just try and cover me," Brad chided them, slinging his blaster rifle and drawing his lightsaber from his side. The blade activated with its characteristic snap-hiss, illuminating the armor's faceplate with a bright green glow. With that, he plunged the blade into the seam of the door and began to slice it open. It would take a few seconds for the blade to cut through, after all it was the thick plating of blast doors.

 

As he cut through the door, Brad made sure he was aware of what was going on around him in the Force. He was unsure on whether or not to trust Fett or even Aryian, despite the fact he had worked with Aryian before. A life of crime and deceit had taught him many things, and one of them was never be too trusting. While it would take him time to feel comfortable with trusting his teammates, until then Brad would just have to watch his back.

 

Sensing his work with the door was complete, the Jedi kicked open the hole he created in the plating. "In we go," he said, deactivating his lightsaber before diving through the hole in the door. He emerged on the other side in a roll, coming to his feet again with his lightsaber ignited and at the ready. "Here's where the real fun begins."

[Moon Knight]

Moon Knight followed the jetii through the hole... and into a firestorm. Lightsabers were quieter, definately, but they were still very noticeable, and the cut took time that allowed for forces on the other side to prepare. A detonater was loud, but it was fast, and the attackers could have gained a moment of surprise to get in and into formation. Another lesson for next time, Fett thought as he scanned the group of stormtroopers waiting for them and the room beyond.

 

Their intel had been right. This was the central control room for the Bilbringi shipyards. There were multiple banks of controls and an array of computers that ran the whole station, and controlling this room could mean controlling the system, if they were able to slice into the network. Of course, that was something the Mando'ad knew they had come prepared to do, and as he rolled to his feet, so did the jetii bringing up the rear, the expert slicer Aryian Darkfire.

 

Without cover, Fett took a partial step to take advantage of Warren's flashing lightsaber. He still had his thermal detonator in hand, so he tossed it into the disciplined stormtrooper formation. They split and dove for cover, but the explosion disintegrated two or three of them without causing collateral damage to the surrounding computer systems thanks to the grenade's expanding particle sphere. Wonderful weapon, the verd thought as he drew again his assault rifle and started gunning down Imperial troops.

 

Once Darkfire got into the fray with his laser sword, the battle didn't last long, and they were left staring down a bunch of beaurocracy and business types who had no will to fight. Hu'tuune an, in Fett's mind. Cowards all.

 

Darkfire told them he'd slice into the computer, then asked Warren to stash the business types somewhere and Fett to hold the door. The Mando'ad nodded and turned to face their entryway, crouching to see through the hole Warren had cut and training his assault rifle on it. This wouldn't take long, then they could put a call out to the Republic to come in and finish the job, after the team had pacified the system's defenses.

[Nitestrike]

Nodding, Brad directed the hostages towards an interior room he found in the complex. Ushering them in, he locked the door, making sure to tell the Republic they were in there. It was best to keep them shut away for now, after all they would be unable to call in reinforcements in their current situation. "I tucked them away in a room and locked the door from the outside, just try to watch the camera in there and make sure they don't do something heroic. Now can we deliver the good news to the Admiral?"

[Moon Knight]

ShadowFett blasted another incoming stormtrooper with a quick shot from his assault rifle before glancing back at Warren, tracing tracyn across the trooper's white chestplate. "First Darkfire needs to get into the system. We also need word from Ad'goran and Fitt that they've secured the power core," he said. If either of those things didn't work out, the system would be truly taken, and they wouldn't have completed their mission. The Mando'ad wasn't quite sure why he had had to explain that, since Warren ostensibly knew the plan as well as he did.

 

Meanwhile, Aryian was doing his job and slicing into the computer, using Force-enhanced intuition and a highly technical mind to make short work of the Imperial encryption system, locating the key and and using it to decode the rest of the system. Once he had access, he immediately started shutting down external system defenses, starting with the Golan platforms, then moving on to the rigged asteroid field and other secondary defenses. Since he was in the system, he activated ray shields in the corridors approaching the control center, locking out additional Imperial forces. "Done," he said.

 

Now they just had to wait for Mirdala and Kitt. ShadowFett didn't know Mirdala well, but she was mandokarla, and he knew she wouldn't have any problem reaching the power core. They just had to give her a little more time, then they could hand the rest of this operation over to the Republic, which would really just be mopping up a few stormtroopers. The entire system would be delivered intact, defenses and all. That would be satisfying.

[Kitt]

Kitt flashed his way out of the Rangir with lightsaber in hand. To his surprise was that most of the stormtroopers that would have been present for a fight he had already knocked out of a possible fight. Looking towards the ramp of the Rangir, he waved Mirdala on as an all clear. He quickly made his turn to open the main door they would have to take towards the power core, and Kitt thought it might be a straight shot at it from the hanger they had landed in. Without waiting for his Mandalorian companion, he lifted his blue lightsaber into a defensive position and he began to make a run through the door and on to the power core.

 

As he made his way, his thoughts began to wander to the end result of the mission. What's to stop the Empire from reclaiming the planet after we leave? Pushing the though aside, he had to focus on the task at hand and worry about end results at the end of the mission. Now wasn't the time to wonder about the occupancy of the planet, but merely the liberating aspect of it. The power core was needed for this mission to be a success, and it was his job to make sure that Mirdala got there in one piece to deal with it.

 

Turning a corner, Kitt found a group of six troopers prepared for a fire fight setup behind creates of some kind. As they raised their blasters to open fire, he realized that the shots were not aimed at him, but instead Mirdala who followed behind him. The distinct sound of blaster fire echoed out as four of the stormtroopers opened fire. Kitt moved himself into the right position and deflected the first shot, and then moved in a spin to deflect the fourth shot. The second and third shot presented neither him nor Mirdala any harm, so Kitt let them fly carelessly into the walls behind them. Upon landing after his spin, he lifted his hand and a sound of a great wind flooded the hallway as the six stormtroopers and the creates they hid behind flew backwards into the wall behind them. Kitt knew the blast would leave them knocked out for some time, or at least long enough for the mission to be accomplished.

 

Coming to the wall were he threw the stormtroopers, he faced a two way split. One direction held a door at the end of the hallway. On the other side of the door was the power core, and the objective for him and Mirdala. On the other side held a few squads of stormtroopers, already making their way towards them. He lifted his right hand with his lightsaber to deflect blaster fire, and with his left he signaled Mirdala in the direction of which she was to head. He couldn't aid her much once at the power core in setting up a defense, and he would be able to hold the stormtroopers at bay for a much longer time then what Mirdala would need to set up a solid defense against any head on attacks at the power core. He would stay and hold them off long enough until she needed him.

 

(Edited for poor wording.)

Edited July 22, 2009 by Guest

[Moon Knight]

OOC: Brief oversight I need to correct.

 

IC:

Aryian was also certain to jam all Imperial transmissions. He was able to leave open the codes that the team was using to communicate with each other, but they didn't need the Empire finding out about all of this. He would probably need to cut the jamming to send a message to the Republic, but it should be short and sweet and not give the Empire any time to report this incident...if they hadn't already.

 

Of course, he noted, if the Empire showed up with a bunch of ships, the Blur and Rangir were still loaded with EMPs, and a fully functional Republic fleet would annihilate a bunch of disabled Star Destroyers.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Mirdala set the ship down and replaced her buy'ce on her head as she utilized her new gadget to begin the ships lock-down while she ensured that she was properly outfitted before stepping towards Rangir's exit hatch. With but a nod in Kitt's direction, she burst forth and with pinpoint accuracy borne of years of training under her strict perfectionist buir she took out the curious Imperials that had come to check on their comrades.

 

She ran a scan of the facility, matching it against the pre-existing schematics in the HUD display of her buy'ce. She nodded to Kitt and indicated their direction, taking point as the two made their way towards their ultimate target.

 

Meeting a little resistance the Mando'ade looked at her compatriot curiously from behind her buy'ce

 

Who's watching who's back? She thought as the Jetii made quick work of the current occupant's attempts to thwart them. She was quick to disarm the unconscious stormtroopers as Kitt moved ahead and down the corridor, taking quick but great care to scan them thoroughly to ensure that they no longer posed any less of a threat other than with hand to hand, plus some back-up weapons wouldn't be bad for fortifying their position once they arrived.

 

Moving down the pathway that he indicated, she took aim at a few of the stormtroopers and utilized her precision shooting to take out three of the semi-advancing force. There was something that buzzed in the back of her mind that told her that there was a curious surprise at the odd pairing of Mando'ade and Jetii, or perhaps it was their movements that gave that impression to the young but observant Mando'ade woman.

 

Utilizing the implant's link with the other team, she transmitted their status.

 

"Blur Brigade this is Rangir Regiment, she began in Mando'a, using the first names she could think of for the respective teams, then continued in her native language, "we've reached our objective and are about to commence the defenses. Will coordinate with you through the systems to bring them to bear in our favor for the defense of the power core. What's your status?"

 

As she waited on a response, she took out some various quick-setting epoxies and various bits of metal pieces and began to fashion mounts for the weapons that she'd absconded with earlier, her practiced hands quick and nimble in creating their make-shift defense system as she used her HUD display to create an appropriate cross-fire spray trajectories for maximum coverage of the power core's entrance.

 

While the epoxies set she went to work networking them through the bases systems, locating the stations own defenses and tying them into her own.

 

"Jetii-vod, send some of those crates my way!" she shouted, pitching her voice so that it carried over the sounds of the thrumming lighsaber and pinging of blaster fire.

[Kitt]

Kitt moved form right to left, spinning, dodging, and doing whatever moves he could to evade, and deflect the blaster fire that was being poured in his general direction sending it right back into the assailants weapons, leaving them injured, confused, and disarmed.

 

Over the loud noise of his lightsaber whines and hums, he was able to make out Mirdala's shout for the creates that he had discarded and was now using himself as partial cover. Taking his left hand off his hilt, he reached up and through the Force broke a pipeline that was nearest to the approaching stormtroopers, shattering it in a loud ear popping sound. With the noise also came a spray of dangerous gas that forced the advancing troopers in their tracks.

 

Quickly switching hands, he used his right hand to lift and send three creates back towards Mirdala's direction through the Force. Even as he did that, he began to slowly walk backwards towards her with his lightsaber held at the ready. If the fight advanced anymore, he would need her fire to hold a strong defense.

[Moon Knight]

Power core is secured, ShadowFett thought when Mirdala's comm came through. Defenses are shut down, communications are blocked, and everything's intact. Now we call in the Republic to do what we can't with five people. I only wish we had a bow to put on their new present. It was actually a little strange, he noted, that suddenly he was on the Republic's side, of all the factions. He had worked for the Black Sun, the Link, and the Empire, but never before the Republic. Instead of serving a war machine, he was serving droten, and he was fully behind the movement... sort of. He didn't think the Republic really worked and he thought Starlisk had no backbone, but right now he hated the Empire and Sith much more, and he was Moon Knight. It just sort of worked out to put him where he was now.

 

Presently, the Mando'ad got a nod from Darkfire and made the call to the Republic right from his buy'ce. When he finished, he spoke into the group comm. "Republic's on their way," he said. "Hold position until then."

[Nitestrike]

Letting out a sigh, Brad said, "And now we wait." Hoping the admiral would not take long, he relaxed slightly, glad that his part of the mission was virtually done, but disheartened in the fact that the possibility for things going wrong was going to be increased very soon. In his experience, the Republic never delivered satisfactory results in battle, especially not an offensive one. While the team was technically a part of the Republic, he felt them separate and above them in terms of efficiency. "If only we had some capital ships ourselves..."

[Onderin Starlisk]

The New Republic proved that it could be prompt when the situation warranted immediate attention. The arriving force was large and powerful, the kind of group that could batter down Imperial forces and attempt to take a shipyard like this that was fully operational. It was newly rebuilt, and the officers were the best and brightest the military could offer.

 

Aboard the bridge of the flagship, the Flash Taxso, Admiral Onderin Starlisk looked out at the Bilbringi shipyards, one of the best-defended locations in the Galactic Empire. At least, normally.

 

"Admiral, the defenses are dark," the sensor officer reported. "There appears to be little power except from the building complex itself."

 

The Jedi Master nodded. It was amazing, but Darkfire's people had really done their job as the Mandalorian had reported. "Good. Move in towards the administrative section, nice and slow. Keep your eyes open for any defenses that remain operational," he ordered. "Give me a few squadrons of E-wings to run point. Also, get the troops to their landing barges. The defenses out here may be out, but we're still going to have stormtroopers on our hands."

 

Onderin glanced at Kirlocca. "This is amazing work," he marvelled before turning to the communications officer. "Give me a channel to the shipyards."

 

"Channel open, sir," came a moment later.

 

"M--" Onderin cut off. He had almost said 'Master Darkfire', but he realized that he needed to keep the identities of the commandos secret. He didn't know who else was listening. "This is Admiral Starlisk," he said instead. "We're moving in to start putting troops aboard. Any intel you can give us on what to expect would be welcome."

 

As he spoke, the Flash Taxso approached the main section of the shipyards and troop transports started to launch....

[Wookiee Jedi]

Kirlocca stared out of the viewport looking not at the planet itself, but the defenses that shipyard held around it. He was even more amazed at the fact that from what he could tell, only one of the Golan's had been hit by an EMP, or only one showed the damage from an impact of one.

 

Turning to face Onderin, he had to admit he was impressed. A normal commando squad would have made a slightly bigger splash then what the current one did. They clearly had a plan on who would do what, and where they would strike, almost as if they were guided by the Force itself.

 

However, Kirlocca's mind did begin to doubt the way the Empire acted upon this. Normally, upon losing communications, a Star Destroyer would have been sent in to find out. Whether or not they had beat them to the punch was still yet to be determined.

 

Kirlocca let out a growl, which was quickly interrupted by a droid that he was unaware was even on the bridge with them. "Oh yes, Master Jedi, I do agree. One must know who these commandos are!" Kirlocca made a frown, but not at the droid, but more at himself for not realizing it was there and being taken off guard by it.

[Ary the Grey]

OOC: WJ, there was only one Golan posted as defense, and i believe I helped neutralize it rather thoroughly in the post that Fett threw up for me.

 

Everyone, good work.

 

IC:

 

Aryian wiped a bit of blood from his lip, having to smash his head against one of the stormtroopers in their skirmishes, not because he wanted to, but because his other limbs were busy. It would heal soon, but it was almost a pleasant reminder of what had just occurred. He clapped Fett on the shoulder, grinning at the Mandalorian compatriot.

 

"And that's how it's done. Shame our face doesn't get plastered on the newscasts...it's just another glorious victory for the Republic."

 

[Edit]

Aryian walked over to a control terminal, establishing communication on one of the few secure unjammed frequencies with the forces in orbit.

 

"Should be mostly light resistance, Admiral. Recommend tech crews begin immediate repair and reactivation of the orbital defenses. For now, they're under our control, the half of them that are operational anyways. Everything else should just be routine police work as far as planetside. Bilbringi's yours."

[/edit]

 

He reached out with the Force, implanting a message in the thoughts of those present.

 

Excellent job. Let's go back home. Rendezvous at these new coordinates.

 

Aryian used his implant to connect with his ship, generating new coordinates in dead space at random, well away from the Enigma's last location, and had them fed them into Mirdala's helmet computer, as well as relaying them mentally to the Jedi Master present on the Republic cruiser ((Wookiee Jedi)).

 

As a platoon of Republic troops finally made their way up to the command room, Aryian already had his helmet on again, and he handed control of the situation over to them. He doubted the prisoners would be of any serious value, but that wasn't his concern. Nodding to Fett, he began to walk back down to the ships, mentioning something about buying the first drink.

 

 

EDIT: Response to the comm.

[Onderin Starlisk]

((This post will summarize the next few days. Feel free to post in the "present" as though the op just ended.))

 

Onderin smiled when Aryian confirmed the fleet's appraisal of the situation. There were entire Star Destroyers that had been knocked out by the EMPs, as well as ones that were partially built. No doubt Bilbringi had been hard at work recovering from the Imperial loss at Selvaris. As Republic dropships landed, they found the resistance sparse and unorganized due to communications blackout and strategically placed ray shielding.

 

It was a smart, clean operation, and the fleet Onderin had brought for the task was more than sufficient to complete the military part of it. It wasn't long before he was sending for new workers and non-military personnel to maintain Republic presence on the station and on the world below it. Most of the Bilbringi shipyards' personnel had no connection to the Empire and were happy to continue working there under new leadership, which they found to be just and reflecting of the Republic's ideals rather than the strict militarism of the Galactic Empire.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Mirdala held out her foot, stopping each of the crates as they slid quickly towards her, Kitt not too far behind them.

 

Quickly she shifted them into equidistant positions so as to provide better cover for herself and the Jetii. Of course just in time for her to have gotten the two of them into a defensible postion, she recieved the call to stand down from Darkfire.

 

Though she would have loved more of a fight, she knew that it was to be counted as a good day as they'd taken the base with little resistance, testament to better planning and utilization of skill.

 

"Come Jetii-vod, our work here is done. Let's see what other trouble we can get into, huh?" She reached up and clapped him on the shoulder just as a group of Republic soldiers came around the corner.

 

It was Mirdala's quick reflexes and the gentle nudge from her "other sense" that kept the team from being peppered with the blaster spread that she'd rigged up. She deactivated the link for the auto fire sequence and strode up to the very shocked-looking commander who wasn't quite sure what to make of the petite Mando'ade that was now approaching him, holding out a make-shift link to what looked like a jerryrigged firing system, crude but no doubt effective.

 

Damn, Mando inginuity at work, glad he's on our side, he thought wisely to himself, more than a little curious as to what the pint-sized warrior looked like beneath the T-visor of his helemet. Weren't Mandalorians usually...well...taller?

 

Mirdala could sense the man's curiosity and was glad for the privacy of her buy'ce to hide her amusement, as she walked casually past him and his contingent of subordinates as they cautiously wandered over to the crudely fortified position that she'd set up, muttering to themselves a mixture of curiosity and complaint about having to figureout how to properly dismantle it.

 

An indicator popped up in the link between her new implant and her HUD display alerting her to the new coordinates of the group's most closely guarded secret. Remotely she powered up the Rangir and made her way back to meet up with the others.

[Moon Knight]

ShadowFett appraised the Republic troops as they proliferated the station and the surrounding area. They were professionals, he noted, but hardly verda. To be realistic, it was actually the best choice for a faction on the Republic's scale to have a large army of lesser-trained men, since they needed to spread themselves across the galaxy, rather than a small force of elites like Mando'ade. But that didn't mean Fett thought highly of the men or their leaders. But that's why they have us, Fett thought.

 

More interesting perhaps were the looks the troopers gave him. He could tell that most of them had never seen a Mando'ad, since they were somewhat scarce in the galaxy at large, but their faces told everything. Their attitudes towards Mandalorians were exactly what you'd expect from a soldier for the Republic--it was a mix of old anger that never died since the Mandalorian Wars, a healthy respect dating back to about the same time, and some sort of fear that he would for some reason snap at any moment and start fighting them. Of course, the third was totally unfounded, though Mandos were known to have short tempers and long memories. But even as Fett coolly observed it he decided that it wasn't a bad asset to have.

 

Presently Fett returned Darkfire's nod and headed back the way they had came from the Blur. They passed more Republic troops on the way and the Mando'ad realized just how many troops Starlisk had brought. At least the man grasped the good advice "P for Plenty", a phrase around which Fett based the sum of his resource allocation. In a tough galaxy full of powerful threats, there was no reason to give yourself any less of an advantage as you could have.

 

Now he reached the Blur, the walk uneventful, and boarded behind Darkfire. As usual, he did all this wordlessly.

[Wookiee Jedi]

Kirlocca became grateful upon hearing and recognizing the voice on the other end that spoke to Onderin, even though few others would have. Aryian was a long time friend, and one that clearly wanted him apart of what he was doing. So my miss in deep space wasn't as big of a miss as I thought. Interesting. Kirlocca turned and bowed his head towards Onderin and growled his thankfulness for letting him come along with him. He was sure he would end up being slightly occupied setting up a strong defense here, and there wasn't anything Kirlocca could do to help him.

 

Taking his leave off the bridge, he made his way down to the hanger bay where a StarSword waited for him. He made sure to not speak up about where he was going, as he was now sure that Aryian wanted it kept a secret, and keep it a secret he would.

[Ary the Grey]

His teammate aboard, Aryian fired the afterburners on his ship, cooking the deckplates as he maneuvered out of the hangar. It wasn't too difficult to make it past the orbital defenses, and as soon as he was able, the Blur slipped into hyperspace.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

As soon as her travelling companions were back aboard the Rangir it too, slipped quietly with a kurchunk into hyperspace.

[Onderin Starlisk]

Once the planet had officially changed hands and the defenses were brought back online, Admiral Starlisk no longer had a reason to remain at Bilbringi, so he took his command fleet and left the recently-liberated world, heading back to the capital.

[Black Sun Operative[s]]

A dozen and a half Black Sun Operatives, brought in with Admiral Starlisk's change over and new recruitment for workers onto the shipyards, start their own work alongside the workers for the Galactic Republic. Sensing the opportunity from this change over in management, they start to purloin equipment and data for sale on the black market, using very, very careful double-book accounting, coded signals, and an interlaced network of 3 agent cells, with only one agent in a cell knowing the another agent in the other 5 cells to discretely obtain materials and data and smuggle it out of the shipyards.

 

While this continued theft has minimal, if any noticeable impact on the shipyards due to the operatives careful and selective nature of their theft and the means of covering it up, it does help Black Sun make a fair sized amount of money, free of income and sales tax.

[Black Sun Operative[s]]

Emboldened by past pilfery, as well as payments from interested parties, the score strong Black Sun Operatives begin stepping up their theft of ship parts for sale on the black market, removing a few choicer and rarer components for sale. As this goes on, orders are made for additional shipments of supplies and cargo to be delivered into the shipyard from interested parties and Black Sun affilitates.

[Onderin Starlisk]

At first the thefts were barely noticed. Bilbringi's installation was huge, one of the biggest shipyards in the galaxy. There were any number of things that could displace a part or two, and frankly, the management hadn't been losing enough money to start a full-scale investigation just to make it stop. However, once some of the more expensive things started to disappear, it became clear that there was some sort of crime ring thriving out of the shipyards.

 

A methodical investigation began as workers were checked and double-checked to make sure they were legitimate Bilbringi or New Republic personnel.

 

OOC: Leave or step back down to lower-profile thefts and things will turn out fine for everyone.