Chapter 4

 

          When they arrived in the Tatooine System they did not have to worry about planetary authorities, simply because there were none.  Tatooine is in Hutt controlled space; the Empire and Republic have no control there.

          They set down in Mos Eisley, one of the larger spaceports.  MixMaster left Gadget to guard the ship.  He did not trust anyone here.  He had his blaster in holster strapped to his leg ready and had changed out of his greasy mechanic's clothes.  He now wore his slick black pants with a gray t-shirt and his cargo vest; it was too hot on Tatooine for a jacket.

Mos Eisley had a reputation for harboring some of the worst scum and villainy in the galaxy.  It was the perfect place to find some guys to go along with them.  They headed into one of the more crowded cantinas.  When they entered the place, it was packed with humans and aliens from countless worlds.  MixMaster did not even recognize half of the different species present.

"Lets head for the bar and get some information."  MixMaster said.

"Ae’it."  DaSquatter replied as he followed MixMaster to the bar.

"And keep your eyes open for trouble."  MixMaster warned as he approached the bar.  "Alderaanian Ale." He ordered as the bartender took his order.

"Altarian Brandy, dry."  DaSquatter ordered.

MixMaster scoped the place out while they waited for the bartender to return with their orders.  When the bartender returned with their drinks he handed him a few extra credits for the names of some of the toughest guys around.

"Sorry, I don't get involved with the affairs of my patrons.  You're on your own."  The bartender replied as he walked away with the credits.

"Great, thanks for nothing."  MixMaster mumbled and turned to DaSquatter.  "Any other ideas or you just want to pick a few out of the crowd?"

"Maybe I can help you."  The voice behind him said.  MixMaster turned to see Wendy standing there behind him.

"Wendy?  How'd you get here?"  MixMaster asked dumbfounded.

"You know her?"  DaSquatter asked surprised.

"Well, sort of.  We met on the turbolift at the Rasi Grande a few days ago."  MixMaster said.

"Lets grab a booth, I can explain everything."  Wendy said and headed for one of the dark corners of the cantina.

"Not bad."  DaSquatter whispered and smiled to MixMaster as they followed her.

Wendy was a good-looking woman by human standards.  Tall and thin, with long dirty blonde hair and blue eyes.  MixMaster was actually happy to see her again since he missed his chance to meet up with her back on Rasi.  They sat down at a booth on the far side of the cantina near the band that was entertaining the crowd.  The band was a group of Bith playing some weird instruments MixMaster had never seen before.  The cantina was one large, dark, smoky room, with the bar in the center and all the tables and booths against the wall and no windows.  Smugglers are often looking over their shoulders, and like to keep their backs to the wall so that they can watch the cantina entrances for trouble.  Wendy sat with her back to the wall, with MixMaster and DaSquatter sitting on either side of her.

"Care to fill us in?"  MixMaster asked.

"Well, on my way to meet you the morning after we met in the turbolift, I overheard you two talking about stealing the ship.”

“I told you you were too loud.” DaSquatter said to MixMaster.

“Sorry.”

“Anyway, I made it to the ship before you and hid inside."

"That's why the ship was unlocked when we got there," MixMaster interrupted.  Wendy just smiled.

DaSquatter laughed, "And you had me believing you were some kind of genius lock picker."

"Yeah, well, what can I say?"  MixMaster shrugged.  "This is DaSquatter by the way."

          "Yeah, I figured.  I heard most of your plans on the flight over.  I'm hoping you two can help me out."

"We’re going to have to up the security on our ship I think.” MixMaster said to DaSquatter.  He looked back to Wendy, “I think we can probably help you out.  But first, why are you here, might I ask?"

"Well, it's kind of a long story, but the short version is, I'm trying to find my older sister.  She ran off with some smuggler she met about a year and a half ago, and we have not heard from her in over six months.  I would like your help finding her.  The smuggler’s name is Kyle Kilroy.  I have not been able to find much information on him so far.  I did find out some of my sister’s contacts, and if I can get in touch with some of them, maybe they know what has happened to the two of them.”

“Sounds like it might be a wild nerf chase.  How are we supposed to find two people in this huge galaxy without much of a lead?” DaSquatter asked.

“He’s right, we don’t have much in the way of resources right now.  I’d like to help, but I don’t know if we’ll be much help to you.”  MixMaster added.

“You guys are my only hope right now.  Plus, my father is the owner of the Rasi Grande, and he has put out a substantial reward for anyone who finds her."

MixMaster and DaSquatter looked at each other and both shrugged.  "Sure, why not?" they both responded.

"Who are these contacts you know of and where can we find them?" MixMaster asked.

"Well the two we have the best chance of contacting are Mort and Prince Vladomir.  Mort is an expert slicer from Trymorus Prime.  He's known to frequent the cantinas of Mos Eisley quite often.  Vlad is a Prince from the planet Yoltax.  He is known for sneaking off planet and mingling with the 'commoners'.  He can also be found around Mos Eisley frequently.  My sister has acquired rare items for him from time to time."

"Well, I can have Gadget check with the spaceport central computer to see if either of them have been around lately."  MixMaster said.

"That won't be necessary." A voice said from behind him.

MixMaster whirled around in his seat to face the booth behind him, his hand at the ready by his side.

"Relax," the man said, "I believe it is me you are looking for.  I overheard my name in your conversation, but I can't say I know who you are."

"I'm Wendy, I'm looking for my sister Michelle, I believe you know her.  Who are you?  Are you Mort?"

"Yeah, that's me.  Can't say I've seen your sister in a while though."

"Man, we're just running into everyone today."  DaSquatter commented.  "Who's your friend over there?  Why don't you two come join us."

Mort looked over at his companion who just shrugged.  "Sure, why not." He replied.

"This is Dic-, uh, MixMaster and DaSquatter."  Wendy said, introducing them.

"Suicide13, they call me," Mort's companion said.  “So what do you two do?”

“Well, we just started a new, business lets call it.  Shipping and the works, with a little side business if you know what I mean.”  MixMaster explained.

“What do you do?”  DaSquatter asked.

“That’s not your concern.”

“Cautious, that’s good.”  MixMaster replied.

“You know, we are looking for a few guys to join us.  You interested?" DaSquatter asked.

“Both of you that is.  We hear you are a pretty good slicer Mort.”  MixMaster added.

“What is so special about your group, why would we need your help when we are doing fine on our own?”  Mort asked.

“See, we figure, most smugglers, work alone, but if we work together, we can beat out the competition and make more credits.  Mort, you with the slicing skills that I've heard about would be of great value to us, and Suicide13, well, I’m sure you have some good contacts and other skills." MixMaster replied.

“And we can supply more ships and backbone to help form a solid group that won’t get beat out by other organizations.”  DaSquatter added.  "Well, you two want in?  All clanmembers will split the profits of each endeavor, so there's a chance to make a lot of credits.  The only rule thus far is, MixMaster and I lead the organization."

The two strangers looked at each other and nodded.  "Sure, I'm in." Mort answered.

"I guess I can give it a try." Suicide13 replied.

"Excellent.  Our first job is finding Michelle for Wendy here.  Mort, you can come back to our ship with me.  From there you can access the spaceport central computer to see if you can find any information on her.  The sooner we get that reward money, the sooner we can expand our operations.  Suicide13, who else do you know that might want to join us?  I want to find people with a variety of skills that will be useful to us."  MixMaster asked.

"I can think of a few that might be here on planet and interested in joining."  Suicide13 replied.

"Great.  Why don't you go with DaSquatter and Wendy and see who you can find while I go with Mort.  Come meet us at the ship when you're done."

"Well let's get to it." DaSquatter said.  They all left the cantina set on the tasks at hand.

 

Back aboard the ship MixMaster, Mort, and Gadget sat in the cockpit.  "The computer has no records of Michelle or Kyle being here in the last year.  Someone must be hiding their tracks though, because I found an anomaly in the computer, like someone has been altering records.”

“You think it is related to Michelle or Kyle?”

“Well, the anomalies appeared under a few different searches and traces I did looking for the two of them.”

“Well, then lets assume they have been here sometime within that time.  It’s a start at least.  Any chance you can track who sliced it?”

“Not much.  The data trails are pretty old, any chance is pretty long gone.  So what's our next step?" Mort asked.

"Well, just in case, can you plant a program in the computer to alert us if either of them do show up?" MixMaster asked.

"Yeah, no problem.  It'll just take a minute or two."

"Great. Next thing we need is a new ID for this ship."

"Why's that?"

"Well, it's kind of stolen." MixMaster answered with a grin.

"Sweet!  I can hook you up, won’t take too long."  Mort replied.  Just then they saw the others enter the docking bay with two new faces in the bunch.

"Recognize either of them?" MixMaster asked.

"Nah, can't say I do."

"Well lets go check them out then." MixMaster said and headed for the landing ramp.

Outside they met up with the others.  The first newcomer was a human male, a little bit shorter than MixMaster with a light complexion and dark hair.  He was dressed in black from head to toe and carried a standard issue Imperial Stormtrooper blaster rifle on his right hip.  From the looks of him though, MixMaster figured it was not the only weapon he was carrying.  The other new recruit was much bigger, in height and mass, than MixMaster.  He wore his dark hair long and tied back.  He was also dressed in all black, but also wore a black cloak.  MixMaster couldn't see if he had any weapons concealed underneath.

"MixMaster and Mort, meet Kthulhu and Prince Vladomir."  DaSquatter introduced them.  "Kthulhu here is into heavy weaponry and does various work from sabotage to assassinations.  As Wendy said, Vlad here snuck away from home to check out life on the outside.  He's a good pilot and also highly trained in hand to hand combat and melee weaponry."

"Impressive.  Glad you could join us."  MixMaster turned to Suicide13. "Now we need a job.  Know where we can find something?"

"Well I'm supposed to make a pickup later today,” Suicide13 suggested.  “We can see if there's any more cargo to haul while we're at it."

"Great.  Lead the way."  MixMaster said as they all set out for the downtown district of the spaceport.  "So who here has their own ships besides DaSquatter and I?"

"I've got my own Y-Wing." Kthulhu answered.

"Nice, a starfighter will make a nice addition to our group." MixMaster replied.

"Well then you'll be loving my X-Wing I bet." Vlad countered.

“Yeah, you should see it, it's still all shiny and new and shivit." DaSquatter said.

"Cool, you guys will add some punch to our group." MixMaster said.

"Hell yeah we will!" Kthulhu replied.  "I've put so many modifications into my Y-Wing, most people don't even know what hit them until its too late."

"Excellent, that's what I like to hear.  As soon as we finish a few big jobs we'll have to get a large freighter and convert part of one of the cargo bays into a fighter hanger."  MixMaster said.

"Hey, my freighter packs quite a punch too you know.  I put a lot into it after my first pirate encounter. Two Taim & Bak Ht-12 Double Heavy Laser Cannons, one top mounted SW-4 Ion Cannon, and two 2 Concussion Missile Tubes." said Suicide13.

"Whooh!" DaSquatter whistled.

"Yeah, that's quite a load you carry." MixMaster added.

"Yeah, well that ship has saved my ass quite a few times.  They left the spaceport docking area and headed down the dusty streets of Mos Eisley.

 

As they walked down the streets Wendy pulled MixMaster aside, eager to find out any news of her missing sister.  “Did you guys find anything out?”

“Nothing specific.  Mort thinks she may have been here, but someone has been altering records, so it is hard to say for sure.”

“Oh,” she said with a sigh.

“Don’t worry.  It is a start, and things are moving along a lot faster than I anticipated for us.  We’ll have her back in no time.” He said trying to cheer her up.

“I hope so.” She replied.  “Thanks for your help.”

“No problem.  Plus, you still owe me a tour of Rasi.”

 She looked at him with a warm smile.

“This is the place." Suicide13 said from the head of the pack.  He was pointing to a run down little shop on a deserted street.

 

          A few hours later the cargo was loaded onboard Suicide13's ship, Kamikaze, and MixMaster and DaSquatter's newly named ship, Star Duster.  They had worked out a deal to transport the cargo to Ando, in the Fakir Sector, for a reasonable price.

          "We're at the rendezvous point now.  All ships accounted for." DaSquatter said as they rounded one of the small moons.

          "Good, Gadget plot a course for the Ando System and relay the nav info to the others."  MixMaster said.

          "Course laid in.  Following our current trajectory, we will be at the jump coordinates in a few minutes."  Wendy said from the passenger's seat behind them next to the nav station.

“Great, the sooner we get this cargo delivered, the sooner we can get on to real business.” DaSquatter said from the co-pilot’s seat.

"Hold on a sec, I'm picking up a distress call."  Wendy interrupted.

          Wendy put the message on speaker, “...under attack...damage...help...”

          MixMaster looked at DaSquatter.  “Gadget, plot an intercept course and bring up a tactical readout on-screen.”  The tactical display showed a lone Corellian gunship being attacked by a large space yacht and four Z-95 Headhunters.

“What are you doing?”  DaSquatter asked in protest.

“Making friends.  That Corellian gunship is a nice ship, I wouldn’t want to see it slagged.”

“Good point.  Let’s do it.” DaSquatter agreed.

“Kthulhu, make a run on the yacht and take out their cannons.  Vlad, assist and provide cover for Kthulhu.  Suicide13 and I will take on the Headhunters.”

          “Good as done.”  Kthulhu responded as MixMaster saw him fly past the view port.

          “On your wing.”  Vlad replied, and followed suit.

          “DaSquatter, man the top gun.”  MixMaster looked at Wendy, “Can you handle the belly turret?”

          “Yeah, sure.  Just give me something to shoot at.” Wendy replied as she ran aft to the gun-well.

          “Oh, you’ll have plenty I suspect.”  MixMaster yelled after her.  “Gadget, shields to maximum and charge the main guns.”  Looking out the view port he could already see Kthulhu and Vlad engaging the yacht.  Sensors scans labeled it the Duchak, Durga the Hutt’s ship.  “Oh, man, a Hutt.”  MixMaster muttered to himself.  Hutts were notorious for not forgetting an incident like this.  “We’ll just have to make sure we teach him good.”  MixMaster said to Gadget.

          MixMaster closed in on one of the Headhunters that was making a run on the gunboat’s port side.  “I’m gonna pull in behind him, then he’s all yours.” he said to his gunners.  MixMaster saw the red laser fire spray from the top gun-well as he closed in, then the Z-95 erupted into a giant cloud of gas as the lasers pierced a fuel pod.  “Nice shooting ‘Squatter.”  Gadget whistled a warning, and MixMaster looked at his display.  “Wendy, we picked up a tail.”

 

 

          Kthulhu saw the Star Duster pass over the gunboat and arc up and around towards the yacht.  MixMaster had picked up an unfriendly on his tail.  Just one more pass, then I can help them out.  Kthulhu aimed his Y-Wing straight at yacht’s one remaining turbolaser.  He dodged and juked, but the turbolaser was too big and slow to hit him.  Blue ion cannon fire laced out from the Y-Wing’s top gunmount weakening the yacht’s shields, then when the shield started to fail, he switched over to lasers to finish the job.  Green laser fire poured out of the Y-Wing’s nose melting and burning holes in the yacht’s armor.  As Kthulhu pulled up and circled around, he saw Vlad pour a quad burst of red laser fire into the cannon blowing it to bits.

          “Boom!  Yeah Hutt!  There’s more where that came from!” he yelled over the comm.

          “Nice work Kthulhu and Vlad! Take out their engines so they can’t escape now.” MixMaster called.

          “You okay with that tail of yours?” Kthulhu asked.

          “Yeah, its under control.” Came the reply.

          “Then consider those engines good as junk.” He replied and circled around towards the yacht’s aft.

 

          “Suicide13, report.”  MixMaster called.

          “One down, but I can’t shake this guy on my tail.”  Suicide13 replied.

          Just then MixMaster felt the ship shake as laser fire from the Z-95 on his tail splashed over the aft shields.  He looked down at the control panel, the indicator read aft shields were down to 34 percent.  “Damn!” he exclaimed as he looked all over the control panel.  There was no switch to channel energy from the forward shields to the back, in order to keep equal cover on the ship.

          “What kind of retard built this ship?” he asked Gadget.

          The droid beeped an unknown.

MixMaster pulled away from the yacht and headed towards Suicide13.  “Suicide13, vector in on me, trade targets.”  MixMaster ordered.  “DaSquatter, target the Headhunter on Suicide13’s tail, Wendy keep our tail occupied, the shields on this bucket won’t hold up to too many more hits.”  He spun the ship around on its axis in an attempt to avoid more fire from his pursuer as he went head to head with Suicide13.  “Suicide, on my mark duck under me and take out my tail.”

          “Roger that.” Came the reply.

          MixMaster watched as the range finder counted down the distance between them.  Optimum firing distance for most cannons is about 250 meters.  Hopefully these cannons are standard.  MixMaster watched as it read, 500, 400, 300.  “Mark!”  he yelled as he cut the spin and pulled the ship up just a few meters to clear Suicide13’s ship and give DaSquatter a clear shot at the Headhunter.  Red cannon fire splashed all over the headhunter and through its shields before it could react.  One bolt sliced right through both cockpit and pilot, finishing him off.

          “Yeah!” MixMaster heard DaSquatter yell over the comm.

          “Sweet maneuver.”  Suicide13 commented as he finished off his new target.  “Scan reports no more Headhunters, and the yacht is dead in the water.”

          “Excellent.  Set up a patrol and watch for trouble.  Gadget, try to restore communications with the gunboat.”  MixMaster looked at the display.  The ship’s transponder id labeled it the Jolly Tonnage.  “Jolly Tonnage, this is MixMaster of Clan nWo.  What is your status?”

          “zzzszzzzssss...sss...zzz...This is Captain Ton of the Jolly Tonnage.  Thank you for the assistance.  We have heavy damage to our starboard hull and deflector shields.  We also lost a turbolaser battery.  Other than that though, all major systems are in order.”

          “Glad to hear it.  We’d like to meet with you.  We have a proposition for you.  Do you have a boarding party ready to raid the Hutt yacht?”

          “I think that can be arranged.  You may dock at the port airlock, I’ll meet you there.  My men are ready and we’re moving into position to board the Hutt ship.”

          “Excellent, we’ll see you there.”  MixMaster answered as he flew the Star Duster to its rendezvous.

 

          A few minutes later they were docked and back in the cargo compartment by the airlock.  MixMaster checked the charge on his blaster pistol, then walked over to the weapons locker and pulled out a blaster rifle and handed it to Wendy.  “Stay on guard, you never know when these pirate types might pull a double cross.  DaSquatter, you watch our rear.”

          “Got it.”  DaSquatter replied.

          “Lets go then.  Gadget, open the airlock.”  MixMaster said, and proceeded through the airlock as it opened.  When they entered the Jolly Tonnage, a huge figure stood before them.  He was fair skinned with light brown hair, and stood taller than MixMaster, and out weighed him by at least double.

          “Greetings.  I’m Captain Ton, this is my first mate Cheshire.”  The man said referring to the man standing at his side.  “Welcome aboard.”

          “Thank you.  I’m MixMaster and this is DaSquatter of Clan nWo.  This is our friend Wendy.  We’d like to discuss the possibility of you joining us.”

“First things first, the Hutt ship is waiting.  Would you like to join the raiding party?  They’re just about to board the Hutt ship.”

          “I’ll go.”  DaSquatter nodded at MixMaster as he replied.

          “Alright, Cheshire, take him with you.  I want you to squeeze every credit you can out of that Hutt.  He messed my ship up good.”

          “Consider it done.  Follow me.”  He said to DaSquatter and headed off down the corridor with DaSquatter following.

          “Follow me to the briefing room,” Ton said as he headed the opposite way down the corridor as MixMaster and Wendy followed.  “I must say, I’m impressed at how quickly you dealt with the Hutt’s defenses.”

          “And I’m impressed at the sight of your ship.  With a little more support, she could really do some damage.  Which is what I would like to talk about.  I would like you to join us.  Together we would have enough power to take on some much larger convoys and make a larger profit.”  MixMaster looked over at Ton as they walked down the corridor.  He was quiet, but seemed to be interested in the deal.  “As far as profits go, after every mission, you will receive payment for all your operating costs and salary for your crew, and then the remaining profits will be divided among each of the clan members.  If you join us, I think we have the potential to really clean up.”

          They reached the briefing room and Wendy and MixMaster sat down at the long table with Ton at the head.  MixMaster studied him and waited for his reply.

          “Before today, I wouldn’t even have considered your offer.  But after that Hutt surprised us with those heavy turbolaser cannons, I’m inclined to think twice before making another mistake.”  Just then, the comlink on the table lit up.  Ton hit the button and said, “Go ahead.”

          “Ship is secured Captain.” came Cheshire’s reply.  “Minimal resistance, and zero casualties.”

          “Excellent.  Load us up so we can get out of here.”

          “Yes sir!”

          “Sorry about that.  As I was saying, I’d like to accept your offer.  After you saved our asses today, how could I refuse?”

          “I thought you’d see it that way.”  MixMaster smiled.

          “Would you like to take a tour of the ship?” Ton asked as he got up and motioned to the doorway.

          “Yeah, that’d be great,” MixMaster answered as he followed him out.  “A Corellian gunship is an impressive vessel, and I have never gotten the chance to see one up close before.”

          “Yeah, well there aren’t many of them around anymore.  They used to be a staple of the Old Republic’s fleet until the Empire came along.  I was lucky to snag this one from an orbital junkyard.  A relic from the days of the Clone Wars.”

“Wow,” Wendy commented, “that is old.”

“Yeah, but they’re sturdy ships.  I would like to see how we may help out her offensive and defensive capabilities.” MixMaster said.

          “Well, all of her systems are not in great working condition anymore, and we lost a turbolaser battery today, so now we are down to two turbolasers, and 4 quad laser cannons.  We have a concussion missile launcher, but it is also offline at the moment, and it is too hard to get the missiles to use with it anyway.”

          “How bad was the damage to the starboard hull?”  Wendy asked.  “I thought I saw you leaking atmosphere as we were docking.”

          “We took some heavy damage to the hull, but no critical systems were hit.  The atmosphere you saw was probably from one of the cargo bays that took a hull breach.”

          They stepped through a doorway and onto the bridge.  “Well, looks like you’ve got a fine ship and crew here so far, but the rest of the tour will have to wait.  We need to get out of here.”  MixMaster said as he surveyed the bridge.  “We’re currently on a cargo delivery to Ando.  Since that’s in Imperial occupied territory, your ship will have to stay clear of the system in deep space to avoid trouble.  I’ll have my astromech send you the jump data for your nav computer.  We’ll meet in deep space outside the system before the cargo drop to discus our next move.”

          “Sounds good,” Ton said.

          “I would like to get back to my ship right now and go over a few things.  I think I have an idea for our next mission that I want to go over, and I’m sure you need to see to some repairs.  I’ll leave the rest of this mess of our spoils for DaSquatter to deal with.”  MixMaster said with a grin and headed for the airlock.