Outland Mining - Flight 1218 - Blue Star Pirates

[Master Buggie]

**Outer Rim Territories**
**Gordian Reach, Bronsoon System, P-6**
**Bronsoon Trading Post**

"How are we doing on time?" Buggie asked, as he paced impatiently before a group of cargo containers that hadn't been loaded onto his ship.

Bronsoon was, to put it plainly, neck-deep in the Gordian Reach, a section of space that included the majority of systems under Sith control. The Gordian had originally been under Imperial control, before the great conquests of the one called Darth Tormentous swept over the region. Trade still passed through the area, as economies still relied upon the passage of goods that couldn't be found in the Gordian, and that allowed a fairly simple entry into the system for Buggie and Storm, flying under the standards of the Outland Transport Company, a subsidiary of Outland Mining. The defunct Clone Wars-era business had been originally revived to provide Antarian Rangers, of which Storm was a former member, a means of income, since the Jedi had few means of generating their own income. Upon joining the Blue Star Pirates, Buggie had brought with him his own two Action V transports and had continued shipping under the Outland banner. He wasn't quite sure what the Jedi Council made of it, but the Blue Star Pirates had countless shell companies and corporations under their domain; what was one more affiliate in the grand scheme of things?

"We're almost there," Buggie's co-pilot and former Antarian Ranger, Gary Storm, called back, as he strode out from the wide loading dock of the Action V, "We've got eyes on the dock master. If he heads this way, just Force 'em into turning around."

Buggie scoffed, though he would never admit that if things took a turn for the worse, that would most likely be their best course of action. Buggie had an observation droid buzzing around the trading post, monitoring any wandering eyes that strayed too close to the massive landing pad where both of his Action Vs were taking on cargo. Just as the Gordian needed resources that couldn't be obtained on any of its systems, the reverse was also true, though some of those resources had been aggressively regulated by the new regime. What Buggie and Storm were moving out of the system in this convoy would cause an entire sector fleet to pursue them if word ever got out about what they were really hauling. A swarm of loader droids pulled cargo containers off of repulsorsleds and up into the cargo holds of each ship, but Buggie still couldn't shake the feeling of unease being this deep into Sith territory and handling such illicit cargo.

With no other option but to wait, Buggie checked his datapad for the umpteenth time, making sure that the signal to the escort craft was still stable and that they had all reported in to the rendezvous point. They were the only emergency outlet that the unarmed Outland Transport group had to rely on, besides a few smuggler's routes out of the sector that pirate refugees whom had escaped the sector were willing to pass along.

Kilometers away, on the other side of the trading post, more friendly transports were loading up similarly illegal hauls of cargo containers. Buggie sent a ping through his datapad, intending to check their progress. If all was in order, a double ping would return from each of the transports, sent manually from each of the captains involved on this job.

---
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

[Rane DeCola]

Rane stood watch at the bottom of the loading ramp, blaster in hand, providing for some added safekeeping as the crew of the Destitute Spacer loaded cargo into the hold of the Action V transport.

“Hurry up, we’re running late as it is. Get those last few containers aboard,” Captain Molo barked at the ground crew as he paced back and forth, up and down the loading ramp.

“Is everything alright Captain?” Rane inquired.

“I’m fine Mr. DeCola. It’s just that Outland’s last convoy was unfortunately intercepted by other interests. I’m hoping we don’t suffer the same fate.”

“Don’t worry Captain, I’m sure we’ll be ready if we run into trouble, and I’m not expecting any trouble on my watch.”

“I’m sure you’re right Mr. DeCola.”

Rane could tell the captain was nervous, but knew that he wasn’t the type of captain that dropped his shipment at the first sign of an Imperial cruiser, or a Sith one for that matter. He had however heard about the last Outland convoy and had done his homework in putting together the security plan for the convoy. As the officer responsible for security, Rane knew that there was a great deal at stake considering the size of the convoy and the goods being transferred.

Within the hour, the ship was finally loaded and ready.

“Mr. DeCola, signal the convoy leader as well as our escort. We’ll be getting underway shortly. Make sure that the pilot droids have the most up to date star charts in their navcomps and get those jump coordinates programmed as soon as possible.”

“Aye Captain.”

Rane sent the double ping response to the rest of the convoy to signal the Destitute Spacer’s readiness. Right on schedule, it was time to leave.

-----
Transport Vessels:
Action V Transport Destitute Spacer - 320 RU

Pilots:
Action V Transport Destitute Spacer - 4x RX-24 Pilot Droids; Rane DeCola
StarViper Outsider 2 - 1x RX-24 Pilot Droids

Escort Vessels:
StarViper Outsider 2

[Ben Kenobi]

Uncomfortable didn’t even account for half of it. Ben Kenobi stood quietly above a gantry loading dock starring out into a sea of a cargo port that was supposedly one of the ‘good’ outsourcing locations for relief efforts. The Jedi Coalition nor the Galactic Alliance, in political terms, couldn’t approve missions into the Gordian Reach for fear of attraction by the Sith and risk to not only those in need of help but for those volunteers and a chain of other linking subjects; it made things difficult for the suffering people within the Sith-occupied Reach… very difficult. Kalidor Freight, a hauling endeavor owned and operated by a certain private entity, had made the audacious decision to haul supplies in the manner of footstuffs and medical provisions into the Gordian Reach.

This was but their point of drop off, where the supplies went from this point unfortunately was out of Ben Kenobi’s hands but he surely hoped they’d make it to who needed it most or at least to the people who could best see to the distribution. It was this way for the matters of ensuring the safety of the transport and crew to remain in operation and without governmental support. He only could afford to do so much and keep the operation afloat.

Though here amid the Reach, the goods produced within these locales was of increasing value and while Ben Kenobi was no pirate, he had always been one to know that the men and women of the Blue Star were good… despite being an illegal bunch of scallywag ingrates. They were the best means of protection and funding, they were Ben’s means of allocating capital to smuggling these goods into the Reach. In exchange of transporting relief into the Reach, the Blue Star Pirates needed the acquisition and transport of their own laundry list of goods to come back out of the Reach and into their hands.

He sighed at the twists and turns of the situation but in the end he afforded himself a slight smile, knowing that what he was doing made the lives of untold families just a bit easier. That said, he was well aware of the contents of whiskeys and rums being loaded by the pallet onto shuttles for bear to the Kalidor’s Flight, his own BFF-1 Bulk Freighter. But he also wasn’t ignorant to the crates of illegal small arms that were also loaded within. Morally this was indeed a questionable move on his part; doing the right thing the wrong way. But without the Alliance in his corner he needed the Pirates, and they needed their booty in their unending wars of the underworld.

Turning to his datapad he proceeded to check the ongoing operation, this was supposedly the final shuttle to be brought to the Kalidor’s Flight which itself was in low orbit and securing the cargo already produced to it.

OOC:

Shipping: BFF-1 Bulk Freighter Kalidor’s Flight - 298 RU - RX-24 Pilot Droid x3 & Ben Kenobi
Shipping: BFF-1 Bulk Freighter Wing of the Kalidor - 298 RU - RX-24 Pilot Droid

[Master Buggie]

The display on Buggie's datapad reflected that the vessels of Kalidor Freight were still in low orbit, nearly finished with their loading process. Of course, their haul would be quite a bit different than what the pirate group was carrying, but it was all valuable in the end. The process of getting from ground to low orbit in order to meet up with the haulers of Kalidor Freight was simple, but in this dangerous of territory, any additional delay to getting out of the system presented an opportunity for anything to go wrong. Outland Transport's latest hauls were proof enough of that; they had suffered any number of unusual mechanical setbacks, and their cargo was left ripe for the picking. If such a thing happened on this shipment, it wouldn't take long before a battlecruiser would be breathing down their necks, threatening to close any route off back to safety.

The observation droid reported in at that moment, a window popping up on his datapad with the translation being beamed from the small orb-like droid. It appeared that a Sith official had been spotted performing manifest spot-checks at landing pads nearby. While the official was currently tied up with the pad two spots down from Buggie and Storm's, it would not be out of question for the Sith authorities to request a scanning party board the haulers, particularly with the amount of cargo they were hauling. That message was all Buggie needed to see, as he looked up from his datapad, found Storm, and signaled to him, raising one finger in the air and circling it. This, of course, meant that they needed to wrap up operations-- now.

Moments later, as they strode toward the boarding ramps of the transports, Buggie ordered, "Let's get all remaining cargo onboard on the transports. Don't worry about securing it, the droids can work on that once we're in the air, but that means you'll have to supervise from the Outland 01. I'll take the Outland 02, no slaving the navigation this time. It's too much of a liability if we need to split up."

Storm gave an affirmative and trotted off to his own transport. Buggie was soon aboard the Outland 02, riding the lift that would take him to the bridge, where he'd pass up his usual co-pilot's console for that of the vessel's pilot.

Adjusting the comm frequency to that of Kalidor Freight, Buggie commed, "Kalidor, we're coming up in moments. Stand by, we've got a nosy official headed our way, so we're burning for orbit. We'll meet you on the way."

Observation droid aboard and repulsorlifts engaged, the Outland Transport group began to slowly rise from the landing pad. Too slowly, Buggie felt, but he knew their cargo was yet unsecured, despite the constant efforts of the loader droids.

[Rane DeCola]

Rane looked over the cargo that had been loaded into the cargo bay of the transport. All systems had been checked over and the pilot droids preprogrammed with the necessary hyperspace coordinates to take the Destitute Spacer to the ship’s final destination.

“Did you slave that StarViper into our system yet?” asked Captain Molo.

“Not yet sir, I’ll slave it before we jump out of the system. That way, if there’s trouble, the fighter may create enough of a diversion to let us get away.”

“Good thinking. I’m glad someone’s got a head on their shoulders around here Mr. DeCola.”

"That’s why they pay me the big bucks Captain," DeCola responded with a grin on his face.

As he was finishing his conversation with the Captain, his own datapad chimed loudly.

“Time to get out of here Captain. Seems our eyes on the ground has signaled that the natives are getting restless.”

Rane made his way to the cockpit of the large freighter. He wasn’t used to flying a ship this large and was glad to have the help of several droids to assist in the matter. He gave the command to request clearance for departure which was quickly granted, and upon notice of authorization gave the command to engage the freighter’s repulsorlifts. The vessel shook mightily as the Action V transport was loaded to the hilt with whatever cargo Outland Mining had decided to load her up with. Rane didn’t make note of anything special on the manifests. He knew that they were all forged and that bothering to read through them, as well as take the time to properly inspect the cargo prior to loading, would only cause him to dwell on the fact that getting caught with whatever they were hauling would likely get the Captain and everyone aboard thrown in jail.

“Raise the deflector shields, and engage sublight engines, quarter throttle. Let’s not go whizzing out of here too quick.”

The droids responded as commanded and looking out the viewport, Rane could see the other Outland Mining freighters in the convoy heading skyward as well. The StarViper was already in high orbit, in a powered-down state, to hopefully avoid detection by anyone that might be looking for it. For the time being, everything seemed to be going as planned.

[33-5H4]

Within one of the many hangar bays of the Reverent, the ever-zealous battle-droid-turned-wing-commander 33-5H4 was running through his sledge of a daily routine with naught but a metaphorical smile upon his face and the dogma of the Empire spewing from his vocal box. His fellow pilots of Baktoid Wing stood readily at attention, soaking in their robotic commander's speeches and showing off their parade dress to their less capable organic counterparts elsewhere in the hangar. 33-5H4 was mid-sentence when his resident M-3P0 liaison came to visit.

"Lieutenant," the droid began in a moderately enthused tone." Imperial Intelligence has provided us with a highly probable pirate shipping route in the Outer Rim territories - previous expeditions and analysis predicts a convoy of notable size. Elements of Baktoid Wing are to be dispatched to accompany other Imperial Naval elements to intercept the convoy and prevent the shipment from reaching it's destination." Pausing for several moments to let the information settle, the M-3P0 then resumed speaking.

"Co-ordinates have been sent to your ship's navi-computer, along with a debriefing on the elements you are supporting and the expected resistance you will encounter should our predictions prove correct. You are due to leave as soon as able. Good luck out there, Lieutenant."
Immediately upon hearing this, the Lieutenant knew what to do. Rounding up the first pilot that volunteered and ordering them into their newly-acquired Trilon Aggressor, 33-5H4 and a second Baktoid Wingman boarded his premiere Scimitar and powered up the ship. The two craft launched themselves out of the hangar as the rest of the Wing returned to their pre-assigned duties, dispersing into the halls of the Reverent as the two ships blinked away into hyperspace.

-------------------------------------------------
Raiding!

33-5H4 and (NPC) BD-1492 piloting a Scimitar Assault Bomber,
(Pilot Droid) BD-9782 flying a Trilon Agressor,
and a Flight Simulator!

[Ben Kenobi]

Asori Spero, Jedi Knight and typical companion to accompany Master Kenobi on his many adventures, sat in the co-pilot seat of the second BFF-1 Bulk Freighter within the employ of the Kalidor Freight designation, she lounged lazily with the seat set into a reclined position. Having been along for a tedious mercy mission wasn’t usually her speed but she understood the importance of not always focusing on hunting down evil and striking it with your lightsaber until it died… but also that acts of compassion settled the restless wandering that Ben tended to breed into his Padawans due to his own affinity for roaming and exploration.

At the notice of the comm’s activation she sat up but once she heard the report coming from Outland Flight’s notice she frowned. A Sith official could mean dozens of problems in their near future and none of them good. Especially when they were loaded down with tones of cargo and devoid of their more mobile starfighters. She took a breath and calmed herself, there was no need to get excited here, it was probably no more than a routine check on their part as the Blue Star Pirates were very careful in their actions and getting sold out wasn’t typical of their… pirates… her eyes narrowed.

Of course it was typical of them! They were pirates and any number of rival pirate organizations or even an inside job looking for credits or position could have set them up to the Sith authorities. Regardless of the causes due this inspection the facts remained clear: they were in no position to oppose the might of the Sith Empire here. She keyed the system in reply, “Thanks for the heads up Outland, we’ll get things underway as soon as you arrive in formation.” Without awaiting any response she switched the frequency over to the shuttle traffic.

“Master Kenobi, Outland reports we have company.”

Ben tore his gaze from the datapad screen and he glanced behind him as the final pallet was being strapped down into the loading brackets of the shuttle. “Not entirely unexpected. Sith? What’s their disposition?”

“Non-hostile at the moment from what it seems. Likely routine checks.” She hid her covert suspicions as they were unnecessary at this moment in time.

“Alright then,” Ben replied and shook the Blue Star Operative’s hand and bid him goodbye, “we’re all wrapped up here. Coordinate with Outland, please, obtain a jump point and get the navicomputer to start calculating the jump to hyperspace. I’m on my way now.”

With a firm hand he hopped onto the loading ramp of the shuttle and slapped the icon to raise the lift and seal the airlock door. On whirring pistons the ramp accomplished its’ task as the twin engine shuttle lifted off the flight deck and gently rose into the busy starport skies on a course that would take it to the two Kalidor Freight BFF-1’s to download its cargo for transit out of the Gordian Reach and towards a Blue Star haven.

Back aboard the freighter, Asori linked back up with the Outland Flight and once the link was established she reported to them that the final shuttle was on its way to the BFF-1, as well she requested a general convoy flight plan so that the navicomputers could sync up and start establishing hyper buoys outside of the gravity well of the planet where the convoy could make its first jump out of the system.

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden sat in the cockpit of the Firehawk, a tight smile on his face. Imperial Intelligence had traced what was supposedly a large convoy of pirate vessels. Supposedly the convoy was lightly defended, which meant a large amount of goods were up for easy grabs. Now the pirates were the ones about to be robbed, how fitting.

He opened a comm line to Lieutenant 33-5H4. "Lieutenant," he said, his lip twisting as he remembered the last time they'd met--when he'd still been a Commander. "YT-2000 Firehawk and Starwing joining formation, let's hunt some pirates." Rhoden said, his voice level but a private fire burning inside him. He had much work to do, and many enemies to deal with. His demotion was a setback, but one he fully intended to overcome.

Raiding:
YT-2000 Firehawk
XG-1 Starwing Assault Gunboat

[Master Buggie]

((OOC: Let's be cool and slow-play this engagement, since we each have at least 8 posts left to make. No need to shoot your wads this round.))

The R1-series astromech droid that was bolted to the floor next to the pilot's station was busy calculating a jump to lightspeed from the convoy's position in Bronsoon. Buggie monitored its progress as he studied the navicomputer in an effort to decide which route would present the least amount of risk. The convoy was largely unguarded, and this deep into Sith territory, avenues of escape could close quickly. A route Galactic West was immediately ruled out; that would take the convoy along the Junction-Tierell Loop past several Sith-controlled systems, only to spit them out at Celanon, where they could lose themselves within the pipeline traffic of the Hydian Way, but only if they didn't run into any Imperial entanglements in any number of checkpoint systems. A route Galactic North would do even worse; as that would only bring the convoy further into the Gordian Reach with no prospect of friendly systems along the way.

A route Galactic East had its benefits, though there were plenty of stopovers from Bronsoon to the nearest outlet in that direction, Little Capella. The Korphir Trace and Feena Run bordered a star-filled nebula known as The Roil. The nebula was considered all but impenetrable, and spacers traveling along either lane tended to stick as close to the nebula as possible if they wished to avoid patrols. Spacelanes such as these were difficult to monitor for authorities, and that in itself was promising for a convoy such as the one Buggie was currently a part of. Unfortunately, on the downswing, the Ardan Cross offered none of the same benefits, and the convoy was as likely to run into a Sith patrol in this segment of the journey as they were heading west to Celanon.

No, Buggie decided, the best bet was to run through the fewest systems as possible, and that meant heading due Galactic South from Bronsoon to Maridun, and then following the little-used trail from Maridun to Phindar, where the convoy could hop along the Salin Corridor past Sith-controlled Vjun and Lucazec. Once they had passed through those systems, which would be no small feat, considering one of them was a former throne world of Darth Vesper, they could safely veer off of the Salin Corridor and forge their way to Rhen Var and the relative safety that the Galactic Alliance salient offered. All it took was getting there.

By the time that Buggie had settled upon that course of action and shifted his droid's efforts toward calculating a series of jumps along that route, the Outland Transport group had already rendezvoused with the other elements of the convoy, and together they had pushed into orbit, beyond the reach of Bronsoon's gravity well.

The coordinates set, Buggie shared navigation data with all other parties, including the lone fighter that served as their protection.

"We'll jump on my mark," Buggie voiced over the communications frequency that the convoy had adopted, "Three, two, one... mark!"

And with that, the convoy disappeared into lightspeed, headed directly along the spacelane that linked the Bronsoon system to the Imperial-controlled Maridun system.

[Master Buggie]

((OOC: Honestly, I don't think maintaining post order is super important here, as long as you're not sneaking a march on the other side, so to speak. If you have time to post, I'd recommend that you post. The priority is qualifying for the generation at this point.))