The Black Sun Armada

THE DARK SUN STATION The Fallout Chief Engineer Alteki Jrenni sprinted through the hallways, leaping over fallen debris, his lekku twitching madly with anticipation. There had been no response from the command section since they had broadcasted an offline signal. Security holos showed the room littered with corpses. Mostly clawing at locked doors as they suffocated to death in the place they all had begun to call their home. Dark Sun was supposed to be a place to retire, it wasn’t kriffing Dubrillion or the old Black Sun Citadel where you could get bombed every two minutes. And this had been after they had surrendered. Kriff it all. Maybe the propaganda about the Jedi was really true. Then his pink tinged eyes caught something strange. The glow panels that hadn’t been taken out by shrapnel were starting glow brighter. In an almost pulsing fashion. His boots skidded to a stop on the lush red carpeting. He pulled his datapad and scrolled through it until he gasped. The reactor wasn’t showing any signal at all. He pulled his comm out of his shirt pocket and began to run in another direction towards the reactor level. He was shortly joined by the rest of his reserve IT and engineering team. But he couldn't but not think about his Wife and two children hidden on the living level. They hadn't been killed by the Jedi, so he pulled his comm out and dialed the familiar number as they rounded the corner to feel the heat through the large bulkhead doors. As the dial began to sound he gestured to his team, four women and five men. "Get your protection suits on, we have to douse the core before it goes super critical." They were all silent but nodded. Their families were here too, many had children, and Lizza who was tucking her auburn hair into a vacuum suit was just starting to show from the pregnancy that the security chief had given her. The dial connected and before the other end could answer he whispered “Know I've always loved you, through it all, tell them that Daddy’s done well. Make for the escape pods as soon as you can.” Then he slammed his hand over the dial button and left the call without hearing the voice he knew would make him reconsider this next action. The bulkhead door ground open and they were hit with a heatwave that nearly drove them all to their knees. Alteki’s mouth filled with saliva that tasted like copper and duraloid mixed into a slurry. He strode against the pulsating wave of heat, shielding his eyes from the red glow of a reactor ticking its way into oblivion. He looked at the control panel for the coolant system and whatever colour was in his face faded away. Controls were remotely disabled and there was no time. He choked back a curse and turned to his men, most of whom were slumped next to the wall. Kriff The edges of his vision narrowed as he slammed his fist against the controls, his breathing becoming a whine of rage as his throat began to swell and close up. Blood pouring into his body suit from his bleeding gums. As the radiation ate away his cell’s very DNA. Within hours the station was silent as the tomb it had become. Those that hadn’t made it to escape pods were decomposing as the station's reactor slowly ate through the durasteel confinement. To eventually breach into open void.

First on sensors would be the St Cathryne, the old warhorse of the Black Sun, dating back some twenty years to the rule of Smash Daisaku, the sleek curves of Mon Calamari design showing stark contrast to its sisters as the flashed out of hyperspace around the Citadel. Beside it was the twin sister Star Destroyers, Mephistopheles and Holofernes, the wicked edges of their borrowed Sith design bristling with turbolasers and cannonade. The corvette Marie stood at the leading edge of the flotilla its heavily modified sensors laying down a wide field jamming layer as its fast engines propelled it in evasive maneuvers around the leading edge of the mighty fleet. Laid down during the reign of the ‘Old Pretender’ Ronin Wartide at the Red Dawn shipyards on Outremer, the Marie was the ship with the longest history in the Black Sun fleet. It had taken part in the massacre at Naboo, Cloud City, and Gala. The rest of the fleet also was there, in their stark magnificence. Deployed En mass around the Citadel.

The girl smiled widely at the bounty hunter, her eyes returning to their shifting colour spectrum as she accessed records files. "You seek the bounty placed by the Black Sun, as such the information is free, as of fifteen minutes ago he was spotted by holodroids ordering at the Blue Cabana." She pointed a metal plated hand towards the top of a skyscraper some 800 floors tall. "A beautiful scene, healthy food, distractions. Best of luck, and I look forward to your return." She smiled again and itched the holopoint cord that was secured to the back of her head which fed her the information.

The young slave gave the traveler a very blank look, the LED lights in her eyes flashing a rainbow aura as she processed his answer for signs of a questions, while the human side of her smirked right on back at him in an effort to convey that she agreed with him. "There are many dining establishments on this beautiful world of Chandrila, but sadly I cannot accompany you though like everything from my owners, I am for sale if you have the credits. Is there anything else I can assist you with good sir?" Her eyes stopped on a pale red and her smile returned to a blank slate.

"Tah tah!" Waved the information broker who was shooing off the crowd of Rodians who had just paid heavily for some scandalous information regarding the Mothma family. Her cybernetic pink eyes flashed as she scanned the spaceport for any new customers. She was a spindly girl, a slave that had been brain drained, and a 33422 cybernetic unit bolted into the back of her head. Her memory was downloaded and uploaded through a neural link every few hours, and was maintained by the Black Sun criminal network. Those amethyst eyes found Kail and her arm limply pointed to the sign above her head that read. 'Information Broker' In crimson neon. "You look lost traveler, need directions to a hostel to stay in?" Her voice was soft and carried with it a smile that was not sincere.

The Armada had served its purpose. Though there were many casualties, the battle of Kuat was at its end. Many Sith, Imperial Knights, troops, and black sun mercenaries had fallen in the battle, but the Axis had succeeded in holding the field. They had even captured the Empress, and now as salvage tugs began to pull in ruined starships to the orbital rings, and shuttles picked up EV pilots Kuat returned to work.

The Black Sun agent laughed heartily, the jowls along his neckline jittering up and down like the leather push to an organ. He strode forward and extended his hand to the young smuggler, his eyes not showing at all the mirth in his laugh. “Well you smuggle right. See that's what the Black Sun is interested in, and I may have overblown your significance in the smuggling world and if so I apologize. But the Black Sun can give you the opportunity and monetary ability to make a name for yourself in the lucrative world of smuggling.” THen it was Melania’s turn to take the smuggler’s hand and she also snatched the cigar from his hand and took a draw. Her smile on her face plastique and foreign as she talked to Malin. “Well there are multiple jobs available, for instance we need some corrupted bacta smuggled into nar shaddaa, and also some liquid explosives smuggled onto Thyferra. You interested Malin?”

The Black Sun Agent lifted her hands in mock surrender a sly smile on her lips. “Then you will find them on Coruscant, where they are beginning their first baptism of fire. Attached is your contract, please sign and return the slip to me or drop it in the phrik box over there” Her thin finger pointed to the box that was labelled “receipts.” “We also have several ships available should you need them in the hanger, now shoo.”

“Well….” The agent’s eyes flickered for a moment as the AI implanted inside her skull searched the archives of the Black Sun. Compiling and cross referencing her file, editing a bit, then releasing the information it was able. “Her contract was up and she had a chance to renew but the Blood Prince decreed that she should return to her people and make them strong again as a darkness was coming to the galaxy.” The Agent smiled wryly, “Or at least that is what the file says, perhaps she will tell you more. She is called Mandalore the Heartless for a reason.” The agent pushed forward another credit chip but kept her finger on top of it. “Would you like payment up front?”

The black sun agent smiled warmly as she accepted his holovid card. She inserted it into the console at her fingertips and quickly replayed the footage from the battle and smirked as the Tusken was taken out like a bantha in a slaughter pen. She compared the stills grabbed of the face of the tusken with records. She clapped her hands twice and smiled. “Bounty Review!” Then she looked off into the distance as the computer chip in her brain calculated bonuses and licensing rights for the snuff footage of the tusken to be sold on the dark holonet. When the funds had been transferred to the credit chit on her desk, she lifted the golden card and placed it before the bounty hunter. “You will need to be more specific, there are currently ten thousand individuals registered as Canderous of Mandalore. It seems to be a common name. Though if it is the person seen in the early section of the footage presented that would be Canderous Bralor. A well renowned ex Mandalore of his people. Currently serving with on of our ex agents Terra. Named Mandalore the Heartless. Would you be interested in joining them on behalf of the Black Sun? An agent to inform us of their movements as necessary. We will pay you a retainer of one million credits per six months of service should you be interested.”

The Farstriders Rest the crescent shaped space station that hosted the finest illegal gambling halls, trading stations, exotic dancers, and the largest slave market on its lower levels drifted in the orbits of Tatooine. IT also had no ties to the Enigma or prior establishments on tatooine but was only named such a way because its designer, Delta, had thought it was a cool name. That and he had seen some holos about a crescent shaped space station called Montressor Spaceport but hadn't wanted to be sued for copyright infringement. The Black Sun Security officers walked always pair by pair as they patrolled the many kilometer long corridors of the bustling station. It was two of such agents, Melania and Barron Viliksbaren, that escorted the Black Sun Viceroy Yelna to meet the intrepid smuggler Malin. She bowed her golden head as she interrupted his conversation, “The Black Sun are interested in your exploits, how available are you for jobs?”

“Yeah bacta is pretty expensive, in fact it costs globs of cash just to treat some poor sod that got hit by a stray laser. Which is why we want to control every aspect of it, sell it for cheap to our allies, exploit the shit out of the colonies and lesser regions. You know, make so much money we can buy two super star destroyers. How cool would that be?” Her eyelids fluttered for a moment and she stood stock still, her hand still in the process of loading an anti-speeder rifle. “It looks like the Black Sun fleet and the Sith Armada are heading to engage the Imperium at Kuat, which means there will be little galactic response should we get into a prolonged firefight. We also may have another new agent joining us as well as a Vigo which could get really exciting.” She looked at the girls lightsabre and chuckled. “Of course that’ll do the trick if we get up close and personal. Do you know how to use it though?”

“Well!” The girl smirked as she pulled down a heavy grenade launcher and opened the port with a ‘thunk’ of metal on metal. “The Thyferran league are a group of stupid corporate leaders on the planet Thyferra which are in charge of of the growing, production, and distribution of Bacta. Bacta can only be produced on that world, and as such we are going to kill the whole lot of them and seize the companies while other agents begin sabotage work on the crops to destabilize them for the buyout and takeover. And if the buyout doesn't work, without corporate leadership, the military of that world will fall to pieces and we can waltz in and take over without any hassle.” She blinked her large eyes at the other girl and smiled broadly. “What kind of weapon takes your fancy?”

The Black Sun Agent with whom miss Celora Karth was currently attached to let a simple grin roll across her face and she clapped her bloody hands in front of her with a ‘eep’ of joy. She reached out and grabbed Celora’s hand and dragged her through the underlevels until they arrived at a storefront whose sign was the many pointed star of the Black Sun. The ancient organization that had outlived the other syndicates, including the Crimson Dawn which had been incorporated several decades prior under the Six Vigos; Mindan Bretch’ll, Piccolo, Jacen Onnd, Kayal Crindon, Delta73, and Crosa Hoverich. The founders of the Modern Black Sun. Of whom only one remained. His statue stood in the foyer, holding a marble gungan head and standing upon the carved grave of Padme Skywalker. THe Agent pointed to it as she dragged Celora by, her voice in reverence. “That memorializes the last SCORPION raid, in which the Sith and the Black Sun solidified their friendship and Vigo Delta established himself as the blood prince. Pretty cool huh?” She pressed her eye against a socket in the wall and a large room opened before them, stocked with every type of weapon and armour imaginable. “We are going to assassinate the leaders of the Thyferran league and their families. You down with that?” _____________________ The receptionist looked up at Qi'Nali and its photoreceptors blinked lazily. Its voice rasped through seldom used voice reflectors. “Krales is not here, Agent Corun is here and can discuss any business that you may wish, he is in office 34-1 please prepare whatever plan or mission you have cooked up for his review. Thank you.”