Chapter 6

 

          When they reached Ord Mantell, everyone except the Tonnage set down on the outskirts of one of the rougher spaceports.  MixMaster jumped down out of the cockpit of the missile boat and was greeted by Gadget and Wendy.

          “Nice flying.”  Wendy commented.

          “Ah, that was nothin’ really.  This bucket of bolts isn’t really built for fancy flying.  Or speed for that matter.  I saw you did pretty well yourself with the Star Duster.”

          “Well, I had a good teacher.” She said with a smile.  Before the prior day’s mission, Wendy had only logged a few hours of flight time.  MixMaster had taught her everything she needed to know to fulfill her part of the mission and Gadget also helped her fly the Star Duster.

          “Well thanks, but you did they flying yourself.  Come-on, lets go meet the others.”

          Everyone else was gathering over by the stolen transport telling their part of the adventure.  When everyone was accounted for, most of the conversation died off and they all looked to MixMaster and DaSquatter for their next step.

          “Congratulations everyone.”  MixMaster started, “We pulled that one off rather nicely, I think.  We’ll have a full debriefing later to analyze our attack and getaway for improvements, but for now, we need to find a base away from peering eyes.”  MixMaster looked around at the faces then noticed Igor was still with them.  “Oh, and Igor thanks for your help.  We can give you a lift back to the spaceport.  From there you should be able to find a ride back to Ando.”

          “Actually, DaSquatter extended me an invitation to join and I would like to accept.  Especially if we get to smash more Imperials.”

          MixMaster smiled.  “Excellent.  You have proven you are good in a fight.  Welcome aboard.  Now lets go find a home for these ships.  I don’t like being out in the open like this.”

 

          The place they found was an old warehouse close to the outskirts of the spaceport.  They had chosen it because it was away from most of the commotion in the downtown district, and the rent was fairly cheap.  It also had a retractable roof so they could easily land the ships inside.  Kthulhu, DaSquatter, and Mort had surveyed the area around and set up small defenses around the perimeter.  Ton had also brought down some of his men for security.

          After everything was in place MixMaster called another meeting.  Everyone was in attendance except for Cheshire, who was keeping watch aboard the Tonnage.  “Alright, I think our mission can be labeled a success, but how much damage did we take?  I used sixteen of the forty torpedoes that were loaded in the missileboat.  That leaves us with twenty-four more.  No other damage to the missile boat.  Vlad?”

          “The transport took a little bit of damage to the hull and engines as the TIE fighters started to catch up to us before Kthulhu and Cheshire bailed us out.  Nothing we can’t fix fairly easily though.”

          “Good.  Ton?”

          “We took a little bit of a beating from the cruiser’s turbolasers, but we weren’t there long enough for them to do any real damage.  We’re still working on repairs to the hull from the Hutt attack though.  She could use a little more firepower to replace the turbolaser cannon we lost.”

          “Right.  Any other problems anyone?”  MixMaster looked around.  For such a high stakes attack, they had taken relatively minor damage.  “Good, then in addition to repairs we need to focus on our next objective: we need a ship that is able to carry our starfighters so we are not crammed in them during long hyperspace flights.  It will also help us reduce fuel costs.”

          “Where are we going to get the credits for that?”  Mort asked.

          “Good question.  DaSquatter, was there anything of value in that transport?”

          “Little bit, not much though.  Mostly just hand weapons.  Concussion grenades, blaster rifles and stuff like that.  I say we strip it down and sell it off.”

          “That’s probably a good idea.”  Mort added.  “We can strip off the two ion cannons and give them to either the Star Duster or Tonnage.”

          “Alright, that will cover some of the cost of the new ship, not much though.  I can cover the rest myself I guess.”  MixMaster said.

          “Wow, that’s a lot, how are you going to cover that much?”  Suicide13 asked.

          “And why not use the clan funds we earned on that cargo haul to Ando?” Vlad put in.

“You haven’t seen this guy play sabacc.”  DaSquatter exclaimed.  “When we first met, he took a group of five for all they were worth.”

“Including you if I remember correctly.” MixMaster added with a grin.

“Heh, yeah, me too.  They were not too happy and had to kill two of them and stole their ship.”  He laughed.

          “I just got lucky, that’s all.”  MixMaster chuckled.  “And we need the clan funds to buy some heavy weapons for our ship and to add more firepower to the Tonnage.  Besides, we are all in this together, it’s a partnership.  Kthulhu and Vlad, your job will be to use your connections and get us the weapons we need.”

          “I think we can manage that.  Just let me know what you want in addition to the replacement turbolaser cannon.”  Kthulhu said.

          “Think you can snag some ion cannons?  They will come in useful for raiding and stealing more ships.” MixMaster answered.

          “No problem.”

          “Suicide13, why don’t you and DaSquatter strip and sell off the transport.  Mort, you slice into the planetary computer and see if you can find any info on Michelle; she is still one of our main objectives.  Igor, you are on first guard watch.  Ton, you work on the repairs to your ship.  And Wendy and I will go see if we can find us a ship.  Everyone got their assignment?”  They all shook their heads in acknowledgement.  “Good, lets go to it.”

 

          A few days later MixMaster was walking down the streets of Mantri City, a large city on the opposite side of the planet, with Kthulhu, DaSquatter, and Vlad.  The transport had been sold for a reasonable amount of credits, and Kthulhu had made preparations to purchase two military grade ion cannons, and two quad laser cannons for the ship.  Now they just needed to find a ship.  What none of them noticed though, was the figure in the shadows tailing them down the street.

          “I didn’t think it was going to be this hard to find a ship,” MixMaster said as they entered a cantina for a drink.  “Wendy and I searched all over half the planet.”

          “It’s alright, I’m sure the next place we’re heading will have something we’re looking for.”  Vlad said.

          The cantina was large and dark.  As always, they headed to a booth near the back where they could watch the entrance for trouble.  They ordered their drinks from the server droid and started talking about the last few days events on planet.  MixMaster was not focused on the conversation though.  He was studying a man who had just entered the cantina and was surveying the area.  He looks familiar, but from where...

          “Shivit!”  MixMaster yelled, “We have got to get out of here!”

          “What?  Why?” Vlad asked.

“That man who just entered the cantina is the bounty hunter that attacked my cousin and I a few months ago on Derra IV.  There is a price on my head that he is after.”

          “Sweet, you are a wanted man.”  Kthulhu chimed in. “Welcome to the club.”

“Man, screw that, lets take his ass out.  There are four of us and only one of him.  We got your back, we are in this together, remember?”  DaSquatter suggested.

          “Alright, what is your plan?”  MixMaster said.

          “Lets casually get up and leave out the back and let him follow us.  Then we jump him in the alley.”  DaSquatter answered

          MixMaster looked around at the others.

“Well, he might not be that dumb, but we can take him.” Vlad said.

“Alright, lets go, and Mix, make sure he sees you on your way out.”  Kthulhu ordered.

“Got it.”  MixMaster said as he got up and followed the others out the back.  As he stepped out the back door, he looked back, but could not spot the bounty hunter anywhere.  “Hey guys, I think we lost him.  He must not have seen me.”

The others took a look, but no one could spot him.

“Damn, and I was lookin’ forward to kickin’ some ass.”  DaSquatter said disappointed.

They all started heading out the alley to the street when MixMaster all of the sudden felt a flash of danger.  “Get down!”  he yelled as he dove for the ground, just avoiding a blue flash that flew past him.

The bolt caught DaSquatter square in the chest and sent him to the ground.

“Don’t worry, just a stun bolt, he’ll be alright.”  Kthulhu said.

“Uh, I think we found our lost bounty hunter.”  Vlad commented.

MixMaster looked back at Kthulhu, who was crouched against the wall by DaSquatter’s limp body.

Another bolt flashed down the alley, but they were each hiding behind some crates so it flashed by harmlessly.

“No way out the back, it is a dead-end,” Vlad said.

MixMaster peered around the crate he was hiding behind.  He could see the figure pulling out some type of device out of his pouch, but he couldn’t see it well enough to identify it.  “Lets take this bastard out,” he said, “On three.”

“Three!”  he yelled, and the three of them started firing at the bounty hunter.  The hunter dove for cover behind a crate and started to return fire.

“I think we pissed him off, he’s not firing stun bolts anymore.”  Vlad commented as a bolt hit the ferrocrete wall above his head.

“Quick, fire at the wall above him.  See if we can knock him out with some falling debris.”  MixMaster said.

They fired on the wall above him and small chunks of ferrocrete started to fall on the hunter.  Then an object flew out from behind the crate where the hunter, aimed directly at them.  It looked like a chunk of ferrocrete, but then MixMaster recognized what it actually was.  “Oh shivit!” he yelled.  A blast from behind him hit the object in mid air and it exploded with a thunderous explosion.  “Nice shot,” He said to Kthulhu who was crouched behind him, “That thermal detonator would have killed us all.”  They resumed firing on their attacker, but it was useless.  Both parties had the other pinned.  None of them were going anywhere anytime soon.

The enemy blaster fire stopped for a second and MixMaster peered out from behind the crate to take a look.  He could not see the hunter anymore when suddenly a barrage of laser fire erupted in their direction.  He ducked, clear of the fire, but he could hear someone took a hit behind him.  He looked back to see Vlad holding his upper right arm.  Blood stained the cloth under his left hand that was applying pressure to the wound.

“It’s only a flesh wound.  I’m not dead yet.” Vlad said as he returned fire with his free hand.

“This is no good.  We’ve got to get out of here before we take more casualties.”  MixMaster said.

Then another figure dropped down from the rooftop between the two parties.  MixMaster could not make out much of the man because he was wearing a dark cloak.  The figure threw back his hood and ignited a lightsaber with a quick snap-hiss.  The blade exhibited a silver glow at the core, but the halo changed color as it caught different spectrums of light as he swung it through the air.  He blocked every shot that was fired from both directions.

“By the Force!  A Jedi!”  MixMaster stared in awe.  “Hold your fire!”  The others stopped their attack and the hunter did likewise soon after.  “You two wait here.”  MixMaster ordered as he got up from his hiding spot and headed out the alley towards the mysterious figure.

“What are you nuts?”  Vlad asked.

“Maybe, but I don’t think he is here to get us.  In fact, I have an odd feeling he is here to help us.”

“He’s lost it.”  Kthulhu said to Vlad shaking his head in disapproval.

“Trust me.”  MixMaster holstered his blaster and approached the Jedi.  The Jedi shut down his lightsaber and shadows filled the previously lit alley.  In the distance, MixMaster could see the bounty hunter also approaching the Jedi.

When he reached the Jedi, MixMaster introduced himself, “I’m MixMaster of Clan nWo.  Thank you for your assistance, I think.  You are a Jedi?”

“Well, sort of.  I’m Fast-Choker.  That guy over there,” the man said pointing towards the bounty hunter, “That is my twin brother.”

MixMaster was alarmed by this news and took a few steps back.

“Don’t worry.  I am here to resolve this conflict.”

“That is not very reassuring.”

“Hey brother, good to see you again.” the Jedi greeted the bounty hunter as he fell in line next to him.

“Likewise.” The bounty hunter replied.

“What is your quarrel with this man and his companions?”

“He and his cousin committed a murder on their home planet Corellia.  I am here to collect the bounty on his head.”

Fast-Choker looked at MixMaster.

“It isn’t true.  My cousin and I were set up.”

Fast-Choker paused a second, “He is telling the truth Worsel.  I can not let you take him in.  Plus they would have eventually pounded you if I had not intervened.”

“I don’t think so, and you’re not going to stop me.  I will take him in, and then I will go get his cousin.”

MixMaster was relieved to hear that Gerard had not been caught yet.

“Why are you here anyway?” Worsel continued.

“Well, about a week ago I had a vision of you fighting these guys.  It looked as though you might be in trouble, so I high tailed it here to lend you a hand.”

“I can take care of myself you know.”

“I know.  You were not the only reason I came.  Something in the Force told me I had to be here.  To meet him.” the Jedi said pointing to MixMaster.

“Me?”  MixMaster asked.

“Yes, you.”

“Why?”  MixMaster asked.

“That I do not know yet.”

MixMaster thought for a second.  “Well then, why don’t you join us.  Both of you.  Join Clan nWo.  With you two we could be unstoppable.”  MixMaster motioned the others to join them. Kthulhu and Vlad approached carrying DaSquatter between them. “This is Kthulhu and the big guy is Vlad.  The stunned one is my co-founder, DaSquatter.  The others are back at our base.  Guys, meet Fast-Choker and his twin brother Worsel.”

“Brothers?  They don’t look like brothers.”  Vlad commented.

MixMaster agreed.  Fast-Choker was a half a head shorter than MixMaster with a light but sturdy build, typical of a Jedi Knight.  Worsel had a slightly larger build with long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, and with his battle armor, looked much more intimidating.

Fast-Choker stood there a few moments pondering his decision before he gave his answer.  He looked at Worsel and then back to MixMaster.  “What is it you guys do?”

“Officially, cargo transportation.  Un-officially, smuggling and the sorts.  We have even hit some Imperials and stolen their ships and supplies.  You can continue to bounty hunt, Worsel, and we can provide you with some backup.”

“Don’t want it.  Ever since you and your cousin wiped out those buffoons I hired on Derra IV, I work alone.  What is in it for us, anyway?”

“A cut of all the profits.  Each full-fledged clan member receives a cut of all the profits, but that’s just on the business end.  We have guys with all sorts of skills and resources that can come in handy.  Much better than those idiot buffoons you hired.”  MixMaster answered.  “Come on, you’ve been chasing my cousin and I for months, join us and you will make a lot more than that bounty on our heads.”

The bounty hunter paused for a moment and stared at the four of them.  “Alright.  You talk some sense.  I’ll join.”

“Sense, or is it you finally realized you’ll never catch me?” MixMaster joked.

“Ha!  Everyone makes a mistake at some time.”

“That’s true,” MixMaster admitted, “but now with friends to watch my back in yours, we’re all better off.  How about you Fast-Choker, you in too?”

“Yeah, I’m in.  Someone has to look after his ass.” Fast-Choker said jokingly. 

“Alright.  We will introduce you to everyone else later.  Right now we’re out looking for a new freighter.  Kthulhu and Vlad, get him back to base.”

“You sure?  We just met these two.”  Vlad answered.

“They’re cool, don’t worry.  And get that blaster burn looked at.”

“Alright.  Catch you back at base.” Vlad said as he turned and headed off with the other two to catch the hover-train back to the spaceport.

MixMaster headed off with the two new recruits.

“Where are we heading?” Worsel asked.

“There is a used ship lot on the edge of the city.  We checked their inventory before we left and they have some nice ships on the lot.”

“I have been there before.  They have some good ships, but their prices  can be little on the expensive side.”  Fast-Choker commented.

“Not anymore.  Mort, one of the other guys, sliced into their system and will be able to fix a nice deal for us.”  MixMaster said with a grin.

“Sweet!  I’m beginning to like you already.” Worsel said as they headed off for the lot.

 

When they got to the lot they took a quick look around.  It was obvious which ship they wanted.  An old Corellian Action VI freighter.  It was pretty beat up, but it was perfect for their needs.  It was a large and fairly boxy freighter with a cargo capacity of 50,000 metric tons.  MixMaster liked it because it was of Corellian design, and the Action line of freighters were known to be very reliable throughout their history over the last century.  They could also change the belly cargo hold over to a hanger for their starfighters.

“You two go get the dealer’s attention while I make a call to Mort on the comm.”

“Gotcha.”  Fast-Choker said and headed for the dealer on the lot.

MixMaster pulled out his comlink.  “MixMaster to Mort, come in.”

“Mort here, go ahead.”

“Go to encryption sequence gamma-four.  Gadget will have it stored.”  MixMaster punched in the code for the encryption sequence.  He had added special heavy encryption hardware to his comlink for more secure transmissions.  What they were about to do was highly illegal, so better play it safe.

“Okay, got it,” came Mort’s reply a few seconds later.

“Good.  Now on the lot there is a Corellian Action VI freighter.  Fix the price nice for us.”

“Will do.  Just give me a few minutes.”

“Roger that, MixMaster out.”

MixMaster headed over to where Fast-Choker and Worsel were questioning the salesman about the freighter.  Worsel was asking him something about engine speed, but MixMaster did not care.  With all his experience in the shop back home, he was confident he would be able to fix it up better than new.

“Can we take a look inside?”  MixMaster asked the dealer.

“Yeah, sure, anything you want.” The dealer replied.

They walked around and checked out the ship, MixMaster was being extra particular in order to buy time for Mort to do the price adjustment.  When they were done with the walk-through, they headed inside to the dealer’s office.

“Alright, now the big question.  How much?”  MixMaster asked.  He wondered if the dealer would notice the price adjustment.

“Wow!” the dealer exclaimed.  “What a steal for this one!  250,000 credits for this baby, you can’t beat that.”

MixMaster smiled.  “No, you can’t.  What’s the catch?  Any major damage to it?”  A new freighter of this type would normally cost over one million credits new, even used ones typically went for over half a million credits.

“No, no.  Just some minor details here and there.” The dealer said.

MixMaster knew he was lying because along with the price adjustment Mort had to make it look in worse shape than it was, so the dealer would not get suspicious at the price.

“Alright.  We’ll take it.” MixMaster said as he pulled out a wad of credits and dropped it on the dealer’s desk.  The dealer just stared wide-eyed at the credits.  Most people did not carry that much hard credits with them, but MixMaster had not had anywhere to put it since he won most of it in the Sabaac game.  “Key cards in the ship?” he asked.  The dealer just nodded.  “Come on boys, let’s go.” He said and headed for their new ship.

 

          When they arrived at base, the freighter was too large to land in the warehouse, so they were forced to land in the canyon on the outskirts of the spaceport.  The canyon was a good place to hide the ship while they worked on it and set the ion cannon turrets in place.  Over the next few days they worked on the ship fixing it up.  The weapons Kthulhu promised arrived on time and were quickly set in place on the ship.  The two ion cannon turrets were placed on the top front of the ship, one port, one starboard.  Both were retractable in order to take an enemy by surprise.  The quad laser cannons were placed on the sides of the ship, one starboard, one port, in zero-gravity gunwells.

          “Let's coat her in reflective scanner paint.  It makes the ship black, and almost invisible in space.”  Fast-Choker suggested as he watched the last quad cannon being placed from the canyon floor.  “Plus the reflective elements in the paint mess with scanners and make the ship harder to track.”

          “Yeah, that would be really cool.  It’ll have to wait though.  We are really low on credits right now.”  MixMaster replied.  “Hey Mort!”

          “Yeah?”  Mort answered from not too far off.

          “How is the ship’s new id coming?”

          “Almost done.”

          “Good.  Later on, when you get a chance, see if you can make some fakes for her and some of our other freighters.  It never hurts to have multiple identities.”

          “Sure, no problem.”  Mort said and headed off to the ship.

          “What name have you given her?”  Fast-Choker asked.

          “Night Stalker.”

          “Nice.  The name will be even better with the new paint job.”

          “That’s true.” He replied.  “I’ve been thinking.  We’re going to need more troops.  Troops for boarding parties and crewmembers for the larger ships.  Ton has a good crew for the Tonnage, but we are going to need at least a skeleton crew of six for the Stalker.”

          “Where are you going to get these men?” Fast-Choker asked.

          “For now, we’ll borrow some of Ton’s men.  Later, we can recruit a few from whatever prisoners we take.  We will just have to be careful who and how many we take.  We will also have to install some surveillance on the ship so we can monitor them.”

          “Sounds like a pretty good plan, although, I bet I know a better place to get recruits.”

          “Yeah?  Where’s that?”

          “Slaves.”

          “Uh, I’m not a big fan of slavery, actually, I hate it.”

          “No, not using slaves, freeing slaves, I’m sure many of them would be happy to join us.”

          “Ah, excellent thinking.  We will have to keep that in mind for future missions.”

“Okay, what’s our next move then?” Fast-Choker asked.

          “Time to take out some small time pirates.  Eliminate the competition, and recruit some men.  Maybe even free some of those slaves you suggested.  You and your brother both have ships, right?”

          “Yeah, I’ve got an old Firespray-class attack ship, and he’s got an old first production run X-Wing.”

          “Wow, I didn’t think any of those were left.”

          “Well, he has put a lot into this one.  It still flies pretty nice, although its not quite up to today’s standards.”

          “I will have to help him out with that.  Why don’t you two go get your ships and bring them back to the warehouse.  I would like to check them out to assess our firepower for our next move.  The Stalker should be ready in a few more days, I want to be ready to go when she is.”

 

          Worsel and Kthulhu sat at a corner booth at one of the local cantinas drinking their ales and surveying the crowd.  The atmosphere was dark, just how Worsel liked it.

“Look.  He’s leaving.”  Kthulhu pointed out motioning to a short gray haired human who getting up and heading for the exit.

Worsel recognized the man from the bounty they found posted on the bounty hunters guild database.  They had been tailing him around for the past few hours since they had spotted him.  “Lets go.”  He said getting up.  He tossed the barkeep a few credits for their tab on their way out.

“There he goes,” Kthulhu pointed out as the man headed down the desolate street.  “He must be heading for his speeder.”

“Right, lets beat him there.”  Worsel broke out into a run and cut down an alley and up a parallel street.  They had been scoping the man out for a while and found where he parked his speeder.  They made it there before the man.  “You hide between those two speeders, I’ll hide on the other side of his between those two.  When he gets here we’ll jump him from front and back.”

“Right on.”  Kthulhu replied.

Worsel crouched down behind a SoroSuub X-33.  He saw the man enter a few minutes later.  When the man passed by Kthulhu he jumped out from behind the speeder.  “Freeze!”

The man drew his blaster and fired at Worsel.  He dove for the ground.  He saw the flash of Kthulhu’s stun bolt but the man continued on.  Must have body armor on.  He then felt a bolt bounce off his own shin guard.  Pissed off, he dialed his blaster rifle up to full charge.  “Aw hell!”  He cried and fired, opening a giant hole in the man’s chest.

The two of them walked over to the body.

“Good thing the bounty read dead or alive.”  Kthulhu stated.

“I always prefer the dead ones.  Especially when they’re bitches like this.”

“Right on.  I think we’re going to work well together.” Kthulhu said with a rare smile.

“Lets go collect.”  Worsel replied as he headed for the man’s speeder and got in.  “And for us, an added bonus.”

 

          Three weeks later MixMaster sat on the bridge of the Night Stalker and stared out the view port at the mottled lines of hyperspace.  Repairs to the Night Stalker had taken longer than expected.  There were also a few tasks that had distracted them from their work.  Suicide13, the second best mechanic in the group, had gone with Vlad on a smuggling run to earn them a few extra credits for supplies they needed.  Worsel and Kthulhu had been gone sporadically in pursuit of small local bounties they could collect on to help out.  Ton and Cheshire were busy with repairs to the Tonnage, which left MixMaster with only DaSquatter, Wendy, Mort, and Fast-Choker to work on the Night Stalker.  MixMaster had also been giving DaSquatter, Mort, and Wendy more flying lessons in the Star Duster.

          Now they were on their way to Ralltiir.  Located along the Perlemian Trade Route, it would be a good place to look for information on Michelle due to the high volume of space traffic through the area.  The main reason for the trip was to ambush some pirates preying on vessels leaving the system.  Pirates were notorious for preying on ships traveling the trade routes, and MixMaster had seen some news reports on the Holonet about increased activity in the area.

          “We’re about to revert back to realspace.”  Came Cheshire’s call from the helm station.

          “Good.  When we revert to realspace, keep us just outside the system on the secondary exit vector.  Be sure to stay on the very edge of scanner range.”  MixMaster responded.  On the trade routes, there were standard travel routes, which ships would follow from one system to the next.  Secondary vectors were the less traveled routes, and usually more dangerous, whether it be pirates or anomalies.

          “Why the secondary vector?” Wendy asked.

          “The main route is too well traveled.  Pirates don’t show their faces there too often.  The secondary routes carry less traffic, so there is less of a chance a pirate will run into the authorities.  Unfortunately for them, they will be finding other problems today.”  MixMaster said with a smile.

          “Us.”  DaSquatter finished.  “Lets show them who the real power is.”

          MixMaster watched as the starlines reverted back into tiny specs of light as the re-entered realspace.  “Now, we wait.  Power down all systems to standby, and relay that message to the Tonnage and Kamikaze.”  They had left the Star Duster, and Fast-Choker’s ship, Choke-I, back in the warehouse on Ord Mantell because they needed the extra crew to run the Night Stalker.  A few of Ton’s men would be guarding them and the warehouse until they returned.  The two X-Wings, Kthulhu’s Y-Wing, and the missile boat were all in the converted cargo hold ready for action, which left only MixMaster and a few of the others on the bridge of the Night Stalker.

          “How long do you think we’ll be waiting here?”  Wendy asked MixMaster.

          “I don’t know.” He responded.  “A few hours probably.”

 

          It had been a standard day since they arrived, and they had not found any action yet.  The only ships passing by, a few small freighters and transports, were not worth their or other pirates’ effort.  MixMaster was not concerned, but some of the others were getting restless.

“I say we just jump the next ship that comes through.”  DaSquatter suggested.

“We must be patient.”  Fast-Choker argued.  “Our chance will come if we just wait as planned.”

Just then the sensor board lit up.  “I’m picking up an outbound freighter.  It’s a mid sized Gallofree transport.”

“Well this is interesting,” MixMaster said as he walked over to the sensor station to peer over Mort’s shoulder.  “Those ships used to be used primarily by the Rebellion.  Is it a New Republic ship?  What are it’s markings?”

“The ship is transmitting and independent signal.”  Mort replied.  “I can’t get a full scan on it’s cargo without the possibility of revealing our position.  Shall I continue?”

“No.  I want to stay hidden as long as possible.”

“If we wait too long, they’ll be able to jump before we can get to them.”  Cheshire added.

“Hold on a sec, another ship just dropped out of hyperspace.” Mort exclaimed.  “A Corellian corvette.”

“New Republic?” Wendy asked.

“No.  Its markings are independent also.” Mort answered.

“Most likely a pirate ship.”  MixMaster answered.  “When it rains, it pours.  Power up all systems.  Now is our chance.  All crew to battle stations!”  MixMaster ordered.

“You want to take on a Corvette?  Are you nuts?  With the shape the Tonnage is in, we’re not much of a match for a corvette.” Cheshire asked.

“Trust me.  With that missile boat we have, this will be like taking credits from a baby.  Gadget plot us an intercept jump and execute.  Relay course to the Tonnage and Kamikaze.”

The droid beeped and affirmative and they were sent into a split second jump that brought them in on the two other ships.  Out the front view port they could see the corvette blasting away at the transport with its turbolasers .

“MixMaster, I’m picking up more signals.”  Mort warned. 
Six starfighters, also attacking the transport.  Various configurations, looks like they’re uglies.”

Uglies were often used by pirates, a mottled mess of various starfighters thrown together into something flyable.  Flying death traps.  “Tonnage and all fighters launch immediately and engage the uglies.  Igor, use your torpedoes and take out the corvette’s shields.  Utilize the corvette’s aft blind spot to get in a few clean shot.”  MixMaster ordered.  “Kthulhu, as soon as those shields are down engage the corvette and use your ion cannons to take out the corvette’s engines and weapon systems.  I want it disabled before it can make an escape.”

MixMaster watched the screen as the corvette captain, taken by surprise, tried to regroup and launch a counter assault.  Unfortunately, he was too slow.  “Move in and give them a taste of Ions.”  MixMaster ordered.  He watched through the view port as four hits from Igor’s proton torpedoes took out the corvette’s shields.  Corvettes carry heavy deflector shields, but under a quick consecutive bombardment of torpedoes such as the one Igor just dealt out, the shields could not divert enough power to compensate, and a hole opened.  Kthulhu and the Night Stalker then laced it with blue energy from their ion cannons.  The corvette never had a chance.  “Worsel, report status.”

“Four uglies destroyed, one disabled, the last is fleeing, shall we pursue?”

“Negative.  Let him go.  Patrol the area for any other hostiles.”

“Roger that.”

“Mort, get the transport on the comm.”

“Too late.  They have already escaped to hyperspace.”

“Damn.  Oh well, Ton, prepare your boarding party for the corvette.”  MixMaster ordered.  “Lock a tractor beam on the corvette and lets tow her out of here before the local authorities arrive.”  MixMaster was surprised when he learned a tractor beam was one thing the Night Stalker had come equipped with.

“Yes sir.  Tractor beam locked.”  Cheshire replied.

“Mort, make sure they do not try to power up systems again.  If they do, tell Kthulhu to give them another taste of his ion cannons.”

“You got it.”

 

When they had towed the corvette a considerable distance away from the scene of the action the Tonnage docked and Ton’s troops boarded the corvette.  They met heavy resistance however, and were not able to get much farther beyond the airlocks.

“Ton to MixMaster, we are meeting heavy resistance.  Cannot make it to the bridge.  Request further instructions.”

MixMaster looked at DaSquatter.

“Lets do it” DaSquatter said.

“You head the man, Cheshire, dock us, we are going in.  Wendy, you stay with Cheshire and guard the ship.  Igor, return to the ship and meet us at the airlock.  The rest of you, to the airlock.”

“Now we’re gonna have some fun.”  DaSquatter said with a cheer.

“Hell yeah,” Fast-Choker added, “Lets fuck up that corvette!”

“Yeah!  Lets fuck up that corvette!” everyone yelled and they all ran to the airlock.

 MixMaster opened the weapons locker full of blasters taken from the stolen imperial transport and passed them out to everyone, except Fast-Choker who opted for his lightsaber instead.  When Igor arrived, DaSquatter hit the button that blew open the corvette’s airlock and charged through.

MixMaster followed him through the airlock, but they were met with no resistance.  They had entered through the airlock to the forward hold, which the pirates had subsequently sealed off from the rest of the ship.

“Looks like a dead end.”  Igor speculated.

“Looks can be deceiving.”  Fast-Choker countered as he walked over to a crate and jumped up on top of it.  “We go up,” he said as he ignited his lightsaber and started to cut a hole in the deck above him.

“The bridge is two decks up on deck two,” MixMaster said.  “There are bound to be troops on deck three above us.  Igor, got anymore of those concussion grenades?  That should take care of them.”

“Yeah.” Igor replied.

Fast-Choker beveled the deck plates as he cut through so the disk would not fall on top of him when he finished the cut.  “Ready with that grenade?” he asked.

“Whenever you are.”  Igor replied.

Fast-Choker motioned with his hand, and the deck plate lifted out of the hole and was tossed to the side.  As he was doing so, Igor lobbed the grenade through the hole.  MixMaster could hear the pirates yell in surprise “Lookout!” but they were too late as the grenade exploded tearing up the corridor in which they were trapped.

“Nice shot,” MixMaster complimented Igor.  “Be ready though, there may be some left up there.”

Fast-Choker closed his eyes and stretched out with the Force.  “I’m not sensing anyone else in the immediate area, so it should be safe.”  He switched off his lightsaber and climbed up through the hole.

DaSquatter looked at MixMaster in confusion, “How does he know that?”

“Must be a Jedi thing.” MixMaster replied.

“Pretty handy.  We should get more of them.

“Easier said than done.  Lets go.”

MixMaster motioned to DaSquatter and followed him up through the hole.  He cringed as he got a whiff of the rank air.  The corridor stank of ozone and charred flesh from the concussion blast.

“Okay, the bridge is one more deck up.  Same plan.”  MixMaster said.

“Wait, there’s one problem,” Igor stopped him, “I’m out of grenades.”

“That’s alright, it’s too risky to use a grenade on the bridge anyway.  We don’t want a hull breach.  Other options?”  MixMaster looked around at the group.

“I got these flash bombs,” DaSquatter suggested.  “I picked them up on the stormtrooper transport.  I’m not sure exactly what they do, but I think they should be just enough to knock the crew out for a few seconds.”

“Excellent.”  MixMaster said.  Flash bombs were low power bombs that emitted a bright flash and loud bang that would disorient the crew long enough for them to get up there and take control of the bridge.  “Fast-Choker, it’s all you.  Stand back everyone.”

MixMaster watched again as Fast-Choker carved up the deck and used the Force to lift the plug out of the hole.  DaSquatter then tossed up two of the flash bombs and they all stood back as a few blaster shots flew at them out of the hole before the bombs went off.

“Go now!”  DaSquatter yelled as soon as they heard the loud bang and the blasters stopped firing at them, he jumped up and climbed up through the hole.

Fast-Choker followed him through in one swift jump, followed by Igor, Mort, and MixMaster bringing up the rear.  MixMaster could hear blaster fire as he pulled himself through and rolled to the right.  He saw one of the pirates raise a blaster at him and flinched as he heard a shot fire.  The pirate fell to the deck with a giant hole in his chest.  “Thanks DaSquatter.” He said.

“No problem.  Anyone else who dares to resist us will join him.” He warned the crew.

MixMaster got to his feet and surveyed the bridge.  The rest of the crew had thrown down their weapons and were grouped at the rear of the bridge.  They looked to be in bad shape to MixMaster.  Some of them were rubbing their eyes and a few had blood dripping from their ears.  MixMaster figured they had been right next to the flash bomb when it had gone off and it had blown their eardrums.

“You are now all prisoners of Clan nWo.  Captain, order the rest of your troops to surrender.”  MixMaster commanded.

“Never.”  The old scraggly looking captain responded.

Before MixMaster could even reply, DaSquatter blasted the captain square in the chest.  “Second in command, give the order, or you will all join your captain.”  DaSquatter demanded.

MixMaster, surprised by DaSquatter’s actions, stood back a second and let DaSquatter handle the situation.

The first mate, a younger man, stepped forward in defiance.  “What’s in it for us?”

DaSquatter leveled his blaster rifle at the man.  “Your lives.”

“Wait!”  MixMaster stopped him.  “Surrender, and you will all live.  Some of you will be given the opportunity to join us.  The rest of you will be set free when we leave.”

The man stood and looked around at the rest of the crew and then at DaSquatter’s blaster.  “Very well,” the man said as he stepped over to the comm.  “This is Lieutenant Craco,” the man said over the ship’s loudspeaker, “Our captain is dead.  Surrender now and our lives will be spared.”

A few seconds later MixMaster’s comlink beeped and Ton’s voice came over the comm, “Ton to bridge.  Nice work, the crew has surrendered to us.”

“Good, round them up and hold them in the lounge.  Have the rest of your men start transferring their cargo to our ships.  I want everything.”

“Got it, Ton out.”

“Fast-Choker and Igor, would you two escort these men to the lounge please.  We’ll hold all the prisoners there until we release them.”

“Sure thing,” Fast-Choker replied.

“Hold on, one more thing,” MixMaster motioned Fast-Choker off to the side.  “See if you can sense who might be willing to join us, who we can trust.  No more than a handful though.”

“Not a problem.  Actually, I think Lieutenant Craco there might be a good first choice.”  He said as he headed for the blast doors.

“Mort, open the blast doors for them.  Then run a full scan on this ship, I want to find every last thing we can take with us.  Strip it bare.”

“Sure thing.”

“Craco, you stay here.  I want to talk to you.  Suicide13, get aboard.  I want you to help in removing the hardware from this ship.”

“Roger that MixMaster.” Came Suicide13’s reply.

 “Good.  Now, Craco, you’ve got balls.  I’ll tell you what is in it for you.  You can join us, or you can float home in an escape pod with the rest of your crew waiting to be picked up by the local authorities.”

“Or you could go home dead.”  DaSquatter added with a grin and a tight grip on his blaster rifle.

The man looked back and forth between MixMaster and DaSquatter, then asked, “Why me?”

DaSquatter raised his blaster at the man.

“Lay off a second would ya?” MixMaster asked him.  Turning back to Craco he responded, “Simple, we need some experienced crew members for our ships.  Pay is good, and I think you’ll do well for us.  I’m serious though, don’t mess with us, or I’ll turn DaSquatter here loose on your ass.”

“Well, put that way.  I accept.”

“Good.  You won’t regret it.  You will remain unarmed until you prove your loyalty to us though.”

“I understand.  What shall I do first?”

“As your first duty, I want you to download this ship’s memory core to our ship.”

“Consider it done.”

“Good.  Get to it.”  MixMaster looked to DaSquatter.  “Well, lets get to work on the rest of this hunk of soon to be space junk.”

 

          A few hours later MixMaster stood back on the bridge of the Night Stalker watching the abandoned hulk of the corvette float off into space.  They had taken just about anything that was not bolted down, and even that had not stopped them in some areas, such as the two double turbolaser cannons, a single turbolaser cannon, the sensor dish, and the disabled uglie, good for spare parts.  Craco had also helped prove his loyalty by handing over a case of illegal spice that the captain had hidden in a small smuggling compartment.  Other stuff they had gotten included all the ship’s food stores and fuel.  They had taken all the ships spare parts, and had even started ripping parts out of working equipment to take with them.  They had gained a fair amount more hand weapons from the crew, which were always useful, and if not, could easily be sold.  One of the most important things though, were the five crewmen they had recruited out of the thirty-four survivors.  In addition to Craco, two gunners, a trooper, and the ship’s engineer had signed on.

“Has the entire crew been evacuated into the escape pods?” he asked.

“All survivors have been evacuated, and the escape pods are a safe distance away.”  Igor said from the sensor station.

“Good.  Tonnage, you may fire at will.”  MixMaster ordered.  He watched the viewscreen as the turbolaser batteries on the Tonnage opened up and started ripping the corvette to shreds.  Without shields it did not take long before the corvette was almost unrecognizable.  “Gadget, plot us a course back to Ord Mantell.”  The droid chirped a quick affirmative and the course showed up on the nav computer.  The starfighters had already been recalled, so they were ready to go.  “Relay course to the Tonnage and let’s get out of here.”

“Tonnage acknowledges orders and is following course.  We’ll be at the jump point in two minutes.”  Cheshire said.

“Good.  Takeover, I’ll be in my quarters if anyone needs me.”  MixMaster said as he got up and left the bridge.  His quarters were just aft of the bridge, what normally would be the captain’s quarters.  Since he had fronted most of the credits for the ship, he got first choice on quarters.  The door slid open.  The room was quite spacious for starship standards.  It even had a private refresher located off of it.  He walked in and sat down on the crate that was a chair.  He would have to go through the stuff they raided from the corvette and find some real furniture.  Luckily, there was at least a bed in the bedroom.

He looked over to his bag lying in the corner.  He got up and walked over and sat down next to it and opened it up.  He pulled out the wooden box he had taken with him from back home on Corellia and opened it up.  Inside lay a gleaming lightsaber, his grandfather’s lightsaber, given to him by his mother when he turned fourteen.  MixMaster had never known his grandfather.  Ali-Mai MoonFlyer, his grandfather, had died fighting in the Clone Wars when his mother was fourteen.  Beside the lightsaber lay a Jedi medallion.  He pulled it out and flipped it over in his hands examining it closely.  One side had an engraving of what MixMaster assumed to be an old logo of the Jedi, perhaps the Jedi Council.  The other side had an engraving of a man, but not one that MixMaster recognized.

The sudden appearance of Fast-Choker, had piqued MixMaster’s interest in the Jedi and the ways of the Force, and after the day’s display of Jedi skills, MixMaster was more intrigued than ever in the Jedi ways.  He had always wondered if he had the ability to one day become a Jedi Knight like his grandfather.  Not today though, he thought as sleep called to him.  The past day and a half had been exhausting and he needed rest.  He put the wooden box down on the deck next to him and drifted off to sleep on the floor.

 

          “Dicky. Wake up.”

          MixMaster woke, startled to see Wendy kneeling beside him on the deck.  “What’s going on?” he asked her.

          “We’re here.  Some of the others have already taken their ships down to base.  They asked me to get you on their way out.”

          “Oh, okay.” He said sitting up.

          “What’s that?” she asked pointing to the wooden box beside him.

          “Oh, that’s nothing.” He replied.  “You called me by my real name, why?”

          “I like it better,” she responded, and then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.  “See you back at base.” She said as she ran out the door.

          What the heck was that?  MixMaster headed to the bridge.  He found Wendy attractive, and they got along real well.  Thoughts of pursuing a relationship with her had crossed his mind, but too many other things had kept him busy recently.  I’ll have to find time.  When he arrived, he found it all but deserted except for Gadget, who was plugged into the astromech station.  “Gadget, where are we?” he asked, looking out the view port.  A planet lay before them, far off in the distance.  “Ord Mantell?”

The little droid chirped an affirmative.

MixMaster walked over to the sensor station.  The Tonnage lay in orbit a few hundred meters off their starboard bow.  Just then Fast-Choker entered.

Gadget beeped and MixMaster walked over to see what was the matter.  Sensors showed a launch from the hanger.  Scans showed it to be a TIE-Wing, the half TIE Fighter half Y-Wing uglie they had captured from the pirates.

“Crazy girl.”

“So what is going on between you two anyway?” Fast-Choker asked.

“Who, me and Wendy?  Nothing.”

“Sure doesn’t look like nothing.”

“Well, nothing yet.”  He replied with a grin.

“Go for it man, she likes you.  Even someone without Jedi skills could tell you that.”

“Hehe, I was never good at picking up on that.  I’ll have to talk to her sometime.”

“No, no.  Less talk, more action.  Go take her out somewhere.”

“Alright, you’re the older and wiser one.  Gadget send the others a wake up call and have them meet us on the bridge.”

“Sure thing,” the astromech translator read on the console.

Where did he pick up that lingo?  MixMaster thought.  “Jolly Tonnage, this is Night Stalker, come in.”  He called into the comm.

“This is Ton, go ahead.”

“We’ve got two turbolaser batteries over here in our hold that need a home.  Follow us in behind the small moon orbiting the planet.  We’ll install them there in private.”  Zero gravity work would take longer, and be harder, but behind the moon they should be assured the privacy they needed from peering eyes and scanners.

“Just lead the way.”

Just then Craco entered the bridge followed by Mort, and Igor.  “We’ve got some work to do before we head down to planet guys.  Craco, take the helm and follow the course laid out for you by Gadget.  Once the turbolaser batteries are in place on the Tonnage, we can sort through the rest of the crap we picked up and decide what stays and what goes.”

Installing the two double turbolasers should not be too hard, MixMaster thought.  The turrets were pretty standard connections, and a Corellian Gunship, normally held eight turrets, which meant there were currently six available on the Tonnage after the destroyed one was removed.  Once a turret was set in place with Night Stalker’s tractor beam, they just had to manually lock it into place and make all the power and control connections.  The last single turbolaser would be traded for another ion cannon, and some other parts they needed.

 

          The turbolasers were installed on the Tonnage with no problem.  After the wreckage of the destroyed turbolaser was brought on board, they left their hiding spot behind the moon and the Tonnage set in a stationary orbit over the base while the Night Stalker set down for the canyon on the outskirts of the spaceport.  On the ground they were met by the others, who had landed their craft at the base and ridden out on two SoroSuub landspeeders they had stolen.

          DaSquatter jumped out of the lead one as it stopped a few meters away from the landing ramp.  “Yo, wassup guys?”

          “Hey, nothing much.”  MixMaster answered.  “The new turbolaser batteries are installed on the Tonnage ready to go.  Now we have to unload all this junk.  What have you guys been up to down here?”

          “Hit a few bars, had a few drinks, you know.”  Suicide13 said with a grin.

          “Slackin’ you mean.”  MixMaster said.

          “Well, not totally.”  Vlad countered.  “I’ve been reading through the sensor logs from the corvette.  According to its scans, that transport that escaped was carrying a cargo of Mag Pulse Missiles.  Ever heard of them?”

          MixMaster thought for a second.  “I have actually,” he answered, “that would have been a nice catch.  Possibly worth millions, depending on how big a shipment it was.  Mag Pulse Missiles were developed by the Rebel Alliance a few years ago in their war against the Empire.  The missiles are similar to concussion missiles, but with a disabling effect like an ion cannon.  They knock out all the electrical systems in a ship.  Their weakness is that they are pretty ineffective against shields, but once a ship’s shields are brought down, they can be rendered harmless with one or two hits.”

          “How do you know all this stuff?” Suicide13 asked.

          “Both my father and grandfather were engineers for the Corellian Engineering Corporation.  I used to read a lot of the technical journals that my father left lying around the house as a kid.  Information can be a powerful weapon.  That is why I had Craco download the ship’s memory core before we trashed it.  People will pay for information, and as long they have credits, we will supply it to them.  We need to start generating more credit flow.  We have been spending most of our credits on getting started, now is the time to start collecting.”

          “What are you proposing?”  Mort asked.

          “We’re near the Imperial boarder.  I say we go out and rob a few Imperial high class snobs.”  DaSquatter suggested.

          “Hell yeah, I’m all for that.”  Kthulhu put in.

          “Lets get those bucket-heads!” Igor cheered.  Everyone fell silent and looked at him.  “What?”

          “Bucket-heads?”  DaSquatter asked.

          “Yeah, you know, stormtroopers.”  Igor responded.

          “Where the hell did you come up with that?”

          “I guess I was hanging out with those rebels on Ando too long, huh?”  Everyone laughed.

          “Well, that sounds like a good plan to me.”  MixMaster said.  “I’m going to have to sit this one out though, there are some other things I have to take care of.  Mort, I could use your help in searching for Michelle.  Finding her is still top priority.”

          “Sure, no problem.”

          “I’ll stay too.”  Wendy volunteered.

          MixMaster was happy to hear that.  “Okay, the rest you can use whatever means necessary to collect, I just have one request.  Don’t take the missileboat, we’ll need her proton torpedoes later on.”
          “Shouldn’t be a problem with those new turbolaser batteries we’ve got on the Tonnage now.”  Ton said as he stepped forward.  “The Tonnage can spearhead the attack on any ship, with Kthulhu, Vlad, and Worsel flying cover.  The rest of you can ride with us on the Tonnage and join the boarding party.”

          “What about the Uglie?”  Igor asked.

          “I wouldn’t fly that thing in battle.” Suicide13 answered.  “They’re unreliable, and not the best built fighters.  Our best bet would be to sell her off and put the credits to better use.”

          “I agree.  Now lets get some of this stuff unloaded into the warehouse before you guys leave.  Then you can take those two speeders off-planet and sell them.”  MixMaster said heading for the cargo hold of the Night Stalker.