Outland Mining - Flight 0219 - Blue Star Pirates

[Master Buggie]

**Mid Rim Territories**
**Vorc Sector, J-7**
**Station 88 Spaceport**

Continuing their journey which had nearly begun with disaster after an ambush on Seeratter, Buggie and Storm were preparing to debark from Station 88 Spaceport in their damaged Action V transports, Outland 01 and Outland 02. Due to the damage that the heavy freighters had sustained, Buggie was flying in Outland 01 in order to make sure that none of its systems failed while in flight. Since the Action V transport usually had its navigation slaved to Outland 02, there were typically no organic lifeforms aboard the vessel to look after it. Repair droids were charging, per policy, but Storm and Buggie had agreed that one of them managing the droids would be for the best. Once their cargo had been sold on Station 88 Spaceport and they, in turn, received their loadout of cargo and a top-up on fuel, Storm and Buggie began their pre-flight checklists in preparation of a push toward the Core.

Within Outland 01, Buggie stood before the bridge holoprojector, the device beaming an image of Storm from the shoulders up and a map of their charted route. Their discussion back and forth focused on the route they'd take, as well as any intelligence that they had gathered from the local spacers on Station 88 on fleet movements, patrols, inspection checkpoints, and all other matters a smuggler had to consider. Their route would take them west on the last legs of the Celanon Spur, through the Vicondor system, Myomar system, and the home system of the Kel Dor species, the Dorin system, where they'd link up to the Namadii Corridor and ride it all the way down to Coruscant, the former galactic capital.

With that decided, it did not take the duo long to push off from Station 88 and begin their journey. Goods needed to be delivered to the beleaguered planet, and if they didn't get there first, someone else would be getting the credits in their stead.

---
Transport Vessels:
Action V Transport Outland 01 - 320 RU
Action V Transport Outland 02 - 320 RU

Pilots:
Action V Transport Outland 01 - 4x RX-24 Pilot Droids
Action V Transport Outland 02 - 4x RX-24 Pilot Droids; Master Buggie

Escort Vessels:
TBD

[Jak Bexel]

The Nice Jacket rounded a fierce hyperspace through Keitum to Ansion. Business on Keitum had gone well, just a little bit tense on Cartherston. Tensions between Kanjiklub and the Blue Star Pirates having been heated, it was incumbent upon Jak and the gang to run a little demolition tour of their facilities outside the city. Their next course following Ansion was a straight shot through Glee Anselm that would land the new crews of The Jacket and The Other Bandit square in the rendezvous with Outland Mining. It was not their first, nor their last, but the faces were new and so protocols had to be re-established amongst Captain Jak Bexel's crew.

The Imperial attack on the dry dock reshuffled the deck for a number of small outfits inside the BSP. Losses in all corners caused Jak to absorb some old hands in the field, all welcome additions considering the gaping holes in his crew. None filled the hole in his broken heart, but that was a story best explored at another time.

"OB, sending encrypted coordinates," Jak said over the secured comm between them. He looked over to his empty co-pilot seat onboard the Nice Jacket, which didn't stay empty for too long before a tall Duros stepped over it to take his place. "I want you to send pings to Outland 1 and 2. Let them know we are within range."

"Gotcha Captain. Not my first rodeo, I'm sure you're aware," He answered tersely and followed through. Jak shook his head in a secretive manner, not taking to any of these new recruits but trying to fight his insecurity to accept that they were neither "new" nor "recruits", just different. As his RX-7 pilot droid rolled into the cockpit to take the third seat, he comms piped up with Van Kleef. She was now the captain of Other Bandit.

"Message received, Bex," She replied. "I miss escorting. Reminds me of better times, no?"

Jak did not respond.

====

Escort ships:

YT-2000 Freighter The Nice Jacket: RX-7 Pilot Droid, Jak Bexel
Skipray Blastboat Other Bandit: RX-7 Pilot Droid

[Xerxes Nova]

Xerxes stretched in the cockpit of the Aoife’s Grace currently transmitting as Bronze Goddess, he’d not had to fly it in quite a while. He’d been tending to his duties as a midshipman within the maintenance teams of the Aurek fleet ever since his sabbatical to train with the good doctors H’ril and Gorman. Time well spent he thought but, now he was being asked to fly escort once more and not only that but for the one person in the fleet he was trying to avoid. Few in the fleet knew he was Force sensitive, yet alone force trained, and that was the way he liked it. That meant however, being extremely cautious around the verpine Jedi Master, or was that former Master, he wasn’t sure. Add to that the fact he’d been asked to pilot a fighter as an escort something he hadn’t done in months and was relatively inexperienced in he found himself itching to reconnect to the Force but suppressed that urge as best he could. Taking a deep breath he sent an encrypted ping to his crew aboard his prized ship the Rust Bucket although the transponder was current identifying it as Ferrum Lance.

“We got’cha Kid, naw wor’ies her’” came Tex’s reply, this was protocol for them, the last few checks on the comms array to ensure communication wasn’t lost. Xerxes smiled and nodded and led the way to the rendezvous point for the shipment. Soon enough after making headway they saw the large Action V’s looking a little worse for wear. He hated to speculate over what had happened but supposed that was the reason for the call for reinforcements with the escort. He was about to open a channel when he remembered the plan he and the droid had devised to limit his contact with the Force Master and left the comms to Tex in the larger vessel, after all communications had been one of Tex’s primary directives, until Xerxes had gotten his hands on him and started his attempt to create manumission droids. “This her’s the Ferrum Lance and Bronze Goddess we’ve ben sen’ ta render assistance in case o’ further molestation o’ ta convoy.” Xerxes chuckled hearing this announcement. Tex had once been nothing more than a protocol droid but, once he got his voice back after a few early mishaps he’d taken to trying to sound like a spacer but every now and again a few words would just catch, render, assistance and molestation in this case sounding rather incongruent with the drawl that Tex normally spoke with. Well not that it mattered Xerxes pulled into a portside scouting position of the furthermost vessel while Tex brought the larger gunship to the starboard flank between the two freight craft in a position they could accelerate to assist the forward or pull back towards the rear with comparable speed to react to whatever came their way.

Escort Ships

Bronze Goddess - Mytil Starfighter - Piloted by Xerxes Nova and RX-24 Pilot Droid
Ferrum Lance - XG-2 Nighthawk Assault Gunboat Piloted by RX-24 Pilot Droid

[Master Buggie]

**Expansion Region**
**Deadalis Sector, J-8**
**Dorin System, Deep Space**

The twin freighters of Outland Transport coasted through the Dorin system, its most notable planet, Dorin, a distant speck on their starboard side. Traffic was moving neatly through the system, and Buggie and Storm found themselves within a queue to jump to lightspeed down the Namadii Corridor. A Baleen-class heavy freighter lurched ahead of them toward the nearest navigation buoy, its aft cargo hold full of multicolored cargo containers.

"How would you like to fly one of those tubs?" Storm asked Buggie, as they both stared at the back end of the ship up ahead.

Buggie cocked his head, considering it, "Ugly, ugly, ugly, but... I think I could get used to it."

The Baleen-class heavy freighter sported a forward control section that could act as a hangar bay or salvage collection system. That was a benefit, compared to the Action V transports that Outland Transport utilized. On the other hand, the Action V was capable of atmospheric travel, whereas the Baleen-class heavy freighter was designed to never enter the atmosphere. That capability had ultimately attracted Buggie, as the ability to directly load cargo without having to rely on a tug was more useful to him, especially when it meant that he could land at a smuggler's port, pick up cargo, and depart all at once.

"If you hid a StarViper or two in that forward hold, it'd sure make getting an escort that much easier when traveling the lanes," Storm commented, looking from Buggie to the viewport before adding, "I'm not su-- oop! Looks like we're next."

Indeed, they had reached the navigation buoy. Storm and Buggie worked the Outland 02's console, preparing it and the Outland 01 for their simultaneous jump to lightspeed. Moments later, once their navigation had been locked in, the twin freighters departed the Dorin system.

[Master Buggie]

**Core Worlds**
**Deep Space, K-9**

Two trade routes crossed in deep space midway between the Twith system and the Velus system, which contained the notable aquatic world of Velusia. Here, ships moving down the Namadii Corridor made their final push toward Coruscant or chose to continue to the Galactic East, toward Velusia. At this deep space exchange, there were no formidable deep space stations, just a queue of ships heading toward their respective navigation buoys under the purview of the local Imperial patrols. These patrols were by and large outdated patrol craft classes that weren't equipped for much more than surviving long enough to call for help from one of the larger system defense forces. Hyperspace capable fighters weren't spared for this deep space crossover between the Namadii Corridor and the route that crossed it. Those, by all estimates, had been dedicated to the stalemate against the Galactic Alliance.

"It has been a while since we've been to Coruscant last," Storm idly commented.

That much was true; the world was surrounded on all sides by hyperlanes leading to systems still under Imperial control. While the Blue Star Pirates and the Galactic Alliance were able to liberate it in the Galactic Alliance's name, any follow up offensive to catch the Empire on their heels had been called off once the damage and destruction on Coruscant was fully realized.

As the twin freighters of Outland Transport reached their navigation buoy, they made the final jump toward Coruscant. Buggie prepared himself for the state of the former galactic capital, where the supplies he was carrying were needed in order to help the world's populace survive the hardship it had endured ever since its liberation.

[Master Buggie]

**Core Worlds**
**Corusca Sector, L-9**
**Coruscant, Orbit**

Circular patterns of light on the surface that once indicated where the world's sprawling metropolises were located now had a sort of splotchy, incongruent look. It would take years, perhaps decades, for the planet to fully heal at its current rate, and it wasn't for certain that the ecumenopolis' lower levels would ever recover. Entire cities' worth of sentients at the lower levels were rumored to have disappeared instantly from the crushing blows that the Sith bombardment had dealt, and the Galactic Alliance and the Empire warring on the surface didn't help matters either. It had been the Blue Star Pirates that shouldered the brunt of the load for the lower levels of habitation, but even then, a pirate group could only deliver so much aid to those that needed it. For those on the surface of Coruscant, looking out over the cityscape from their high-rises, the sentients that lived in the sub-levels were dead and buried already by the new construction and development that had replaced the gaping gashes that war had gouged out of the surface and it was more convenient to forget about them altogether.

"I just hope these shipments do some good," Buggie commented.

Adjusting the ship's engine power, Storm nodded and replied, "Sure wasn't hard for us to slip through the Imperial net from Station 88 with what should have been identified as contraband. I saved all the sensor data we collected. Once we're groundside, we can pass it along to our allies in the subterranean levels."

"Good work," Buggie praised, nodding in approval, "We can only do so much, but if there's any other smugglers out there that want to take a run at Coruscant, data on a lightly patrolled route might be exactly what it takes to convince them. That, and the money the Galactic Alliance is willing to pay for essentials."

Flipping on the navigational computer to the next hyperspace route in the queue, Storm commented, "What's our next destination? Back up the Namadii for Reecee?"

Buggie confirmed his co-pilot's inquiry. He had received a message from a fellow pirate about a job on Reecee, which was up the Namadii Corridor to Palanhi, then due west along the Shwuy Exchange. With any luck, the patrols along the Namadii would be as light as they had been for this journey.