Elias grunted as a bolt struck his armor, ricocheting off of it into a nearby crate as Sirka said to run to her. Glancing around his cover, firing three shots at the pirates ahead, and noting that the giant lizard was already closer to them than he was. "Yeah, no, you come to me." If she were to turn around, she'd have spotted his twin blaster pistols making pirates and others dive for cover, because if a bolt found it's mark, they didn't get back up. When the flashbang went off, Elias fired off another rocket into the area, not aiming for kills so much as effect as it detonated and added more bang to the grenade's.

The giant lizard then moved to Elias's location and the pair made a break for it, vanishing into an alleyway with blaster fire peppering the area around them. Once he was sure they were out of sight, he began to lead them towards Docking Bay c-12. "Just gotta pick up what Koren sent me here for, and then we can argue about why your sister is on Circumtore with me. Now's not a great time."

Between Sirka's powerful legs and Elias' jetpack, the pair were able to put quite a bit of distance between them and the remaining pirates rather quickly, particularly with the pirates having been stunned by the flash grenade. They weaved between crates to keep the line-of-sight broken, then tried to keep their path unpredictable once they were in the city. Sirka was absolutely not someone who could hide in a crowd, so their only option to get away from the fight was to simply keep distance from the pirates. Hopefully, with all of the confusion that had been stirred up at the warehouse, the pirates would not be effectively following.

Eventually, Sirka and Elias were able to holster their weapons and continue to walk somewhat less conspicuously towards the docking bay. Predictably, Sirka was none too happy about much of what Elias had to say to her. There was a low, rumbling growl from her throat while she stared him down with her black eyes. "I'll argue whenever, and wherever I damn well please." She asserted, though despite her words, she did not immediately begin to shout at him. "I just want to get my sister back home, but for reasons I can't comprehend, she was adamant that I stick my neck out for you. She insists that it would impress Koren for me to help his interests here, so against my better judgement, I'm going to get you and that package back to your ship. Even if I have to drag both of you there myself. Then, we can have a nice, looong chat, just you and me." As she finished speaking, Sirka reached out and placed her oversized hand on Elias' shoulder. She did not squeeze tightly enough to harm him, but at the same time, she kept her grip firm enough that he would absolutely not be able to remove her hand on his own.

Elias rounded on the lizard, using momentum and a nerve pinch to slip free of Sirka's grip, and locked a glare on her. "There IS no discussion to be had. I'm going to finish this job and I'm going to get you and your sister back to Paradise. Hold your petty grudge if you want, but I'm not going to spend the time after this job wondering if you're going to try and kill me. Believe it or not, shit happens." Turning away from her, the Mandalorian continued forwards until he could hear the sound of Sol'id's jetpack. "We're getting close."

@Letter Bee

---

---

Lez was restless as she finished using the strigil to scrape the cleansing oil from her golden skin which she enjoyed for how smooth and silky it left her feeling.

She walked from the pad to a large mirror and seemed to enjoy the act of vanity as she inspected every inch with critical detail looking at her muscle tone, any developing blemishes, or anything out of the ordinary. Then she dressed and returned to the mirror and inspected herself once more taking inventory of what she had on, it’s condition, it’s position, if it’s best use is blocked by any other articles she wore.

A few adjustments later she left her room and went on a search for her partner Ken Neumann to whom she’d been assigned by those who she now worked for.

---

---

She watched as the trusted smuggler who’d been paid to deliver her to a location far from the hidden base her new partner ran. She only knew him as an eager student who’d joined her in a small class of people who sought her skill with melee weapons, she’d barely had to correct him and had he been given her as a protege in the arena she’d have consider him not a waste of her time.

Like any former slave or abused animal the young male displayed a weariness of those around him which was to be expected and needed hiding; “You never trusted anyone but yourself when you have worn the collar”.

Lez had to cover 60 kilometers in 22 hours through uncharted swamp but had paced it to 16 due to averaging 3.75 per hour covering 7 kilometers an hour twice to make up for the slower legs. She slowed pace only when she came to within 3 kilometers of the base; she didn’t want to startle the youth at this base knowing that their inexperience could get her shot but wanting to get close enough to make sure the short range link she had hidden on her person wasn’t intercepted by those with their auditory organs pressed to the door.

It took her 2 hours to cover the ground between herself and the camp twice coming close to what she thought might be listening points or warning sensors. Her form till she found herself at her limit of intrusion had been hidden by a camouflaged long hooded cloak was instantly exposed as she spread it out in a sunlit glade which was caused by the collapse of an old tree.

Her oiled skin now would make sense as chemicals in it drove off the swarms of insect life and her body coloration the same effect any bright colored poisonous creature. She stretched languidly before tapping the center of her headpiece and activating the comms so that any of the base who might have already spotted her she showed no weapons and was in a relaxed non threatening pose.

”Sunset, I repeat this is Sunset, one ping position exposed” she said before closing the link and going silent.

She had learned well that the thing in her headpiece was as deadly as any blade so rarely enjoyed activating it and felt mildly safer that depowered it couldn’t be used against her by the clever. She prefered the older ways of communication for they brought she and who she was speaking with closer so she could read their body language.

Sunset. Ken's former mentor in the use of Vibroblades, Lez, to the boy, was a frightening person. Capable, yes, but Ken was still frightened of her. Nevertheless, as he sat in the comms suite, the young man would say (once he made sure Elias was no longer being commed), "Sunset, your transmission is acknowledged. Move over to the base right away; I'll have Puevi prepare some extra quarters. If you need exact directions, we're in..." he then gave a set of coordinates leading to the three giant hollow strangler figs that hid his arsenal, living quarters, and comm suite.

Switching the frequency to Puevi's comm, Ken would say: "Oi, Puevi, wake up! Cinder sent us a new guest!" He would then give a hurried summary of who Sunset/Lez was, before continuing, "Hold on, I'll be coming to help; I am in currently in the comm room." And with that, Ken Neumann would close the comm suite and walk back to the living quarters.

The lower floor of the makeshift facility was where the refreshers/showers were; the younger ones bathed together while Ken and Puevi had seperate areas. Now, one of the refreshers had to be moved via repulsorlift to the very edge of the floor, close to the wall, to make a more private space for Lez. That said, though, Ken thought it was more for his' sake than Lez's; he was attracted to the female form but felt awkward about the possibility of seeing his mentor's...ugh. Either way, Lez had enough time to arrive while the preperations were being done.

Once she entered, Ken would ask the Twi'lek: "So, Sunset, have you come as support, or to take over leadership of the cell?" Mere formalities; Ken knew Sunset did not want to be a leader and had other capabilities. "Either way, I'll be candid; I was just in the middle of negotiating an arrangement for information and offworld opportunities with a group of mercs; newbies to Hutt Space. This might be our ticket to more ships and credits, if I am allowed to be optimistic..."

"Staff Sergeant, priority message from the Colonel." The young RTO spoke, his commlink pack active and receiving. Elias stood nearby and took the receiver, the piece chattering with the message. He replied sternly to the Corporal holding the commlink device a reply, the code of acknowledgement, obscure and indecipherable: "Kilo, Beta, Two, Four, One." And the Corporal tuned the commlink, the reply let fly, and then the frequency randomized seconds later.

Elias placed the receiver back on the commlink pack, and rose from a knee, calling his team leaders around, along with the Sergeant, his second. "New orders. We got one times friendly vessel downed in-sector. Immediate instruction comes direct from the Colonel. We find it, confirm its presence, and report back. Tac.." He looked up to the Corporal leading Alpha team, Tacema Rane, an old friend, a Duros who'd turned down offer after offer for promotion. "Tac, you and your team will be coming with me. Bravo team will remain along with the E-Web crew under the command of the Sergeant. I'll be taking my RTO along as well. This is effective immediately. I want Bravo to tighten the perimeter and continue the current objective, and Alpha'll load up on the Ark. We've got boys from the base bringing a transport for Bravo when the deal is complete."

The gathered individuals nodded in agreement and split their separate ways, and Elias conveyed his orders to the rest of the command team, and boarded the Ark promptly, seating himself and informing the pilots.

Tesars commlink clicked as he prowled around the exterior zone of the 'secured' site. Rane was in with the Sarge having delivered the prisoner to his position, a prisoner that had then been released. Tesar flinched as he heard the commlink click, he had forgotten that he was wearing it. Too focused on the hunt. He tapped the activation button with one of his claws. "Go ahead."

The communication came in, orders had changed and that meant that his deployment had changed. Tesar was required to go offworld. "Thiz is Tesar. I am on my way Sirz." With that he tapped his commlink and turned back around in a half sprint back towards the Ark. Upon arrival he climbed in and sat in a seat without so much as a word to anyone else. Tesar wasn't a social creature, he spoke when spoken too or when he felt there was something that needed to be said. He sissed to himself thinking of his take down of the hatchling earlier, it had been textbook and hilarious that the child thought he could have challenged him. The rookie of the team gave Tesar a sideglance that he ignored, fo rnow.

He wasn't offended yet.

---

As the Trio approached the hangar in question an older Action IV Transport flew in overhead, the air around them filling with the thrumming of its engines as it came in low. Several people milling around the streets looked up in a mix of surprise and disgust, afte rall whoever was doing this was disturbing the peace... not to mention they were flying around a frigate in atmosphere in Hutt Space. They were either paying off the Hutts or working for them, otherwise they would have been shot down long ago. As it hovered over the hangar in question two smaller transports launched from the frigate, flying down towards the bay that the two Mandalorians and Dinosaur lady were running towards.

Those on the ground would eventually run into more resistance int he form of an E-Web turret emplacement as well as two squads of pirate infantry. While the aerial approach would remain mostly unguarded. In the circle that was the landing pad, closed off from the outside world by a tall wall, were six large crates. Far larger than anyone likely expected from a job like this, the cargo was in sight. Now it was just up to the theives what the correct course of action was.

In the midst of Lez’s arrival, Ken Neumann’s communications officer received a message from the Believers’ leadership: one that took priority over just about anything else that could have been happening short of a direct attack on their own camp. It was a heavily encrypted audio message, which, even with the proper encryption key, took a short while to decode due to the complexity of the algorithm.

High-level communications were meant to be secure, but as Ken was the commander of his cell, it was entirely up to his judgment who would and would not be present to hear the message. Upon beginning the playback, it would become immediately apparent that this was no ordinary status update or request, as the electronically-modified voice which played was that of none other than Cinder himself.

”Freeman. Commander, I have a mission for you and your cell, should you choose to accept it. Our agents have recently intercepted communications suggesting that a terrible tragedy has taken place on the planet Vodran. A large number of Vodrans were recently captured, and we believe they are currently being taken to be sold into slavery. We do not wish to let this injustice stand. I would like for you to find a way to free as many of these people as possible. Included in this message is all of the information we have on the capture, and the upcoming deal. Times, coordinates, and all other results of my agents’ investigations. We believe the captives are being taken to, or at least near, the neutral zone on the station known as Paradise, where the deal will take place. I have heard much good about you, agent Freeman, and I trust that you know well the capabilities of yourself and your men. I leave it to you and your judgment to decide on the approach you shall take using this information. Your primary objective will be to free as many of these poor souls as possible; however, should you have the opportunity, I would also like for you to make a statement. Show these slavers, these villains, that they are not to be feared so as long as there are True Believers to stand against them. Show them that the wrath of the Believers is every bit as strong as our mercy for the innocent.” Even through the distorted voice, the passion that Cinder carried with his public statements was just as strong in this message.

The message continued in a softer, but more severe tone. ”But, be sure to remain cautious. These slavers belong to an organization known as GORT company. They are numerous, well-armed, and are completely ruthless. And of course, open violence on Paradise would be met with overwhelming force. However, I have faith in your abilities, agent Freeman. Free those people.”

When the E-web emplacement opened fire, Elias wasted no time diving into a nearby doorway as blaster fire from more pirates peppered the area that he and Sirka had, presumably, just vacated in order to avoid testing the durability of their armor choices. This was growing absurd, and Elias knew it. Hell, he was still stewing from the fact that one of Koren's contacts had fooled him just for a few extra credits. Poking his head around his doorway, he spotted their cargo, which was several crates of a size considerably larger than the smuggler had thought they'd be, and then had to duck back behind the corner to avoid taking fire.

Grumbling to himself, he jets across the open space and fires his blaster pistols several times in quick succession in the general direction of the E-web and it's support. While several of the bolts find a mark, putting those hit out of the fight one way or another, most of them did little more than force the pirates to duck down in cover while he crossed. Reaching the giant lizard woman, Elias points at the installation's location. "If I put a rocket to their heavy fire support, do you think you can handle suppressing their grunts long enough for us to secure the package? Or rather, packages."

Sirka and Elias were able to meet up with his other Mandalorian friend at the docking bay, and to Sirka, it quickly became clear that whatever these people were trying to claim was valuable. Seeing the E-Web, Sirka stayed in cover behind the wall next to one of the entrances leading into the docking bay. That was a kind of firepower that Sirka did not exactly want to be jumping into.

Since a surprise attack seemed to be out of the picture, Sirka quickly glanced into the docking bay to try and figure out their options. Though, she could not leave her head exposed for more than a second. Elias exchanged some fire with them, but it was clear that it was going to take much more than some ranged pot shots to deal with these pirates.

Sirka grunted at Elias through their comms. "Take out that gun, and I might be able to keep them pinned, but it won't be easy. There are a lot of them, though, and they're spread out in defensive positions, not clustered." She said, giving another glance towards the E-Web. "Hmm, disable that gun, though...maybe take out its tripod without breaking the gun, help me push in and take over that position, and I'll do more than just 'suppress'."

Sol'id had slammed his foot into the ground and launched himself behind cover, the lasfire from the E-Web just behind him. The scorch marks along the floor showed just how close that was. His mind working like a machine, Sol'id gazed around the areas of the hanger he could as his left hand prepped the rocket along his wrist. As Elias and Sirka were beginning to discuss battle plans, Sol'id had readied his rocket. He'd only have one good shot at this, and he needed a good angle as well.

"Too slow, new fish." Sol'id said, rolling out of cover into the center of the hall that moved towards the hanger.

Just as the E-Web was beginning to rev up to fire at him, the rocket shot from his wrist. Long years of combat aiding his superb aiming, the warhead impacting at the bottom of the gun. Both the E-Web and the man working it were launched backwards, charred and broken into small pieces. Sol'id didn't give them time to collect themselves, grabbing his blaster and standing up to his full height, laying down an unholy amount of fire to provide suppression.

"Go, now!" He called to Elias, trusting that Sirka would aid him in laying down the fire to allow the younger Mando to secure the package. A few of the pirates began firing back, causing Sol'id to back off a bit, but he never stopped, reloading with a practiced ease, giving them no time to breath. He was hit in the shoulder, but merely grunted despite the injury.

Sirka growled under her breath following Sol’id quite thoroughly ruining her plan with what she saw as an impatient attack. Though, she supposed that she should not have expected anything different when fighting with Mandalorians.

The pirates had arranged as many crates and other object as they could into makeshift defensive fortifications, so most of those around the E-Web had been covered from the blast. In particular, a Devaronian man was quick to start rallying his allies after the rocket strike. “Spread out! Watch those wrist rockets!”

The pirates had not been too clustered to begin with, but several of them quickly dashed for other cover, while still maintaining a distinct defensive line. Those in the middle were still suppressed by Sol’id, but others could still return fire. Regardless, Sirka sprinted in through the entryway as quickly as her legs could carry her. Although, she still could not move too close to the enemy. The best she could do was to sprint across diagonally across the entryway and into cover behind a piece of lifting machinery just to the left of the entrance. She took a shot to her thigh on the way and stumbled, but still made it into cover. From there, she propped her weapon up on the machine and began joining Sol’id in trying to keep the enemy suppressed. Unfortunately, that was not nearly as effective as they would have liked. Even with both her and Sol’id firing as fast as they could, it was still just two sources of blaster fire. The pirates had many more, and they were too spread out to threaten many of them at once.

Sirka kept up fire on the enemies closest to Elias for as long as she could, but she suddenly had to jerk back into cover as a blaster bolt struck her in the hand. She growled curses under her breath and started shaking her hand in the air. That one hurt. The heat burned some of the flesh in at least one finger, having found its way past her scales through her claw. “I’ve got too many angles to cover here. We need something better here than just ‘charge the gates’. Anyone have smoke grenades?”

The Devaronian officer was effectively coordinating his men, directing their fire on both Sol’id and Elias. As for himself, he was in full combat armor, though they could not determine the material just by looking. He had several devices on his belt, and a full-looking backpack. He carried only a small blaster pistol, but he was not a bad shot. It fired in quick, four round bursts, and at least one of the shots found its mark on Elias’ armor while he was moving. The Devaronian was keeping himself in as good of cover as he was able, and was constantly checking on Sol’id and Sirka’s positions between firing bursts at Elias.

Ken's comlink beeped; so would Lez's as the teenage technician who maintained communications forwarded them a summary of Cinder's message. The young man audibly cursed; was he to have no time to get re-acquainted with Lez or meet up with Mr. Folen? Well, it didn't matter; there were greater matters to take care of.

"Let's go back to the communications room; let's cut the welcome party short as Cinder needs something from us." Ken's voice was a little snippier than usual when he spoke of Cinder, and had slightly less admiration, too. And with that, Ken would go to the communications room again to assess the information given to them by Cinder. And after further reading of the gathered information, Ken's fury grew at this new group, GORT Company. If Lez was here, he'd say:

"It seems that a new group of slavers, an organized force, has captured a few hundred Vordanians and are taking them to Paradise. We are going to attack these slavers, who call themselves GORT Company, but it will be hard. The difficulty is not just because we only have a few competent people, but also because angering Paradise's owner, Koren Graeff, would be suicide for the Believers as a whole and get more people enslaved." Ken frowned and gave a further explanation. "Paradise has always been neutral ground and any group that doesn't respect its neutrality has everyone else turn on it. Thus, attacking GORT Company in range of Paradise would be, again, suicide."

"But..." spoke Ken, "We have allies in the fight against slavery. While I know you'd want to go after GORT company right away, I think we should gather more groups other than the Believers if we are going to attack them as well as find a way to keep Paradise and the Golden Exchange neutral. Again, it's not what you want to hear, but we need to be wise about this."

If he cannot contact Mr. Folen - the arms deal he was guarding should be starting now - he would begin preparations for a trip to Paradise itself, where he would try and make contact with a famous Anti-Slavery smuggler, the other Elias.

@RumikoOhara@Sep@Zarkun

The droid was left alone with the teenage girl, who just regarded her like she would any other tool. "So my father got another droid, oh boy." she said, the last part of her tone implying heavy sarcasm. As she turned her attention back to what she was doing, she kind of dismissed the droid with a wave of her hand before asking another question. "So where did my father get you?" She asked.

Noticing the girl's dismissive behavior, Willoh reacted a bit in kind, although trying to act more 'droid' than she usually did. "Master won me in a game of chance." Willoh said, holding one of her hand behind her back as she turned it into a vacuum, then showing her new 'vacuum' attachment as she began to clean the room. She'd have to do a bit of busywork before she could convince this girl to 'dismiss' willoh so she could 'clean' the target's room for details.

Thinking a little bit, she figured she could probably get some dirt from this girl as well. As she was cleaning, Willoh asked. "I am also great for conversation. Do you have anything you wish to talk about miss?"

The girl just looked down and finally she sighed before speaking."I don't want to go to the academy anymore, I feel so out of place. I would rather be out there seeing the stars, even making peace with the New Republic." She smiled, at the droid. "Imagine a galaxy where the Empire, and the New Republic work together to make it better. Then again you are just a droid, I don't think you can imagine much." She sighed, before standing. "Come on." She said, before beckoning the droid to follow her.

When Shiria stood, she left the grounds of the manor. Four black armored storm troopers fell in beside her, they were so silent that hearing them approach was almost impossible. They said nothing as the gates opened, and the group walked into the streets of Kessel, filled with regular stormtroopers, and signs of imperial occupation.

This girl was an idealistic sort wasn't she? Eventually there would be peace, after all, both sides didn't want the galaxy to be annihilated over some petty conflict. But Willoh figured that wasn't something she should think about too hard just yet, after all, there were still force users out there causing all the conflict, and hutt space was already a mess in of itself.

Following the girl into town, Willoh noticed their little escort. But considering she was a droid, she figured she'd just be carrying crates of supplies and whatnot. After all this was an imperial town, and from what Wiloh knew of them, the imperials didn't like doing their own dirty work, which is what made them such great employers. "If we are going shopping miss, i can carry the supplies back to the estate." Willoh said, giving a small bow while following.

The girl just laughed, she shook her head. "Orro's destroyer hasn't left yet right?" She asked, the girl seemed to be heading for the imperial military spaceport.

"I'm not sure miss. Ask a trooper?" Willoh said. She wasn't too keen on this girl messing with her client, but who knows? It could be a blessing in disguise, after all, no one suspected anything.

The girl reached the imperial space port and the guard just waved her in seemingly knowing her from sight. She went through the space port until she got to the shuttles unloading equipment and supplies. She seemed to wait for a bit before a stormtrooper approached her and threw of his helmet. "Shiria." He said softly, and with that he slipped his arms around the girl. The stormtrooper in question was young, almost as young as the girl who was holding him. "Tio, oh I missed you so much. It's been so long since Orro came back here, I didn't think I could wait much longer." She said, nuzzling into his chest.

The pair looked over at the group following them, the black armored storm troopers were silent and said nothing. "As soon as I finish the academy here, I'm enlisting. Hopefully father wouldn't mind me joining Orro on his crew." She said, the man nodded. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind taking in a friends daughter, he would be keeping you close though to ensure nothing happened, which might mean less time but at least I will be close." The trooper said softly.

The two of them turned and started to walk out of the space port, heading a different direction away from the manor. Heading somewhere unknown, the black troopers in tow, when they finally arrived at their destination, the two entered into a building in a section of town where the quality degraded less and less, stormtroopers and AT-ST's turned into conscripts in landspeeders with improvised turrets. "Wait here." Shiria said to the assembled group and made her way into a room.

More and more ther was lots and lots of fairly interesting things going on. Just sitting around and letting people talk was proving to be extremely effective. Willoh figured all of this wouldn't even be happening if she wasn't a droid, after all, droids tended to be ignored. First the stormtrooper boyfriend on Orro's ship, then all this shady stuff that felt more 'rebel' than imperial, there was tons and tons of information to use as is.

Of course this girl wasn't dumb and told Willoh to wait outside a seedy establishment with her stormtrooper entourage, but that wouldn't stop Willoh from listening in. While waiting outside with the stormtroopers, standing upright and still like a droid of her class would, she turned up her listening sensitivity so she could attempt to hear whatever Shiria was doing inside. It could just be a bar thing, but who knows?

Willoh did question why imperials were still salty about losing to the rebels though, why couldn't thw two organic groups get along? Thoughts for later, as things were happening.

Even with the droids sensitivity bumped it was hard to hear what was going on, but the voices soon became raised. "I can't get you what you want without pissing off two moffs." Said a voice neither of them belonging to the two who entered the room. "Don't act like there isn't good credits in it for you, besides if you owe us. If not for me my father would of have you killed by now. He does not tolerate smugglers, and besides I can just go to him now. Have you killed." The girls voice said. "Fine... But I want my credits in advanced." The voice said
"Fine." Shiria said, and with that someone exited the room that wasn't the young couple.

The smuggler pulled out a holocommunicator and a person showed up. "It's me, we are ago." Was all the smuggler said, before hanging it up and leaving the building, inside the room Tio and Shiria were still talking. "We are gonna do it, we are gonna get a trip into the core, We are gonna see Chandrila." Shiria said. "And I can finally get out of this stupid armor." Tio joked. Then after the joke there was silence for sometime, it was a few minutes before the young lovers walked out. "Goodbye Tio." Shiria said, and the two separated from there Shiria and her entourage going back to the manor.

Without proper context, a lot of what was being said was lost to Willoh. but with smugglers involved, trying to 'get out of this life' and lots of other neat things that have been going on, Wiloh had a pretty good idea on what was going on, or at least a hunch. But she had to keep up the act and there was still way way more information Willoh could get before her 'extraction' was to come and get her.

Bowing as Shina and her boyfriend came out of the building, Willoh followed them back to the manor alongside all the stormtroopers. Things were getting interesting, thats for sure. "Now that we're back from our day out, what would you like me to do Miss Shina?" Willoh said, pulling out her vacuum again.

Shiria just shook her head. "Wait for my father I guess, clean until he has need of you." And she left the droid at the entrance of the manor alone. It wasn't long until Moff Livani called on the droid, when she finally appeared before him he spoke. "So tell me, why did Moff Orro get you as a unit, now that you are officially mine." He said, cupping his hands in front of him staring Willoh down.

From one to another, and this guy looked like he was a bit more... attentive, than his daughter. But willoh doubted he ever had to deal with a droid like Willoh. Making up a story, Willoh said. "I was part of some contraband Moff Orro reclaimed." It wasn't anything glamorous, but then most stories in the real world weren't all that glamorous anyway. It was a story that Livani should buy.

Livani just nodded, but the look on his face said he was skeptical. "Of course, Orro is a moff. I guess he wouldn't mind binding the rules for himself once in awhile." Livani said to himself, pulling out a datapad, and searching through it. "It's tough, being in the empire in the emperors absence. Orro is just trying to seek his place in the galaxy I understand, but he is interfering with carefully laid plans. I might need to deal with him at some point, is there anything you know about Orro that I can exploit?" He asked, putting his datapad down.

Again with the questions about Orro. Sure Orro wanted to get the dirt on this guy, but was there no sense of friendship on either end? But then this could be an imperial thing, the first time Willoh had really dealt with high ranking imperials so who knew. And while Willoh could very easily tell Lavini all the weaknesses of Orro, the biggest being he was an organic, a maid droid wouldn't know about any of that. "Exploit? What do you mean sir?" Willoh said, tilting her head cutely in confusion. Considering the look on Lavini's face before asking all this, Willoh figured she'd need to turn the cuteness up a little.

Livani just chuckled. "I suppose it would be smart of him to wipe anything, before he brought you here just in case he lost you." He laughed, the older moff just shook his head. "He hates droids, he is so old fashioned that he refuses to see that droids are the future." He smiled at Willoh and went on. "I'm afraid he hates me, but then all of us are just in to get what we want, and I want to stay out of his war. I know you aren't a tactican droid. But what would you do if your enemy was at your gates, but you couldn't trust your friend either?" He asked.

This guy was really trying hard to get info out of Willoh, when she was basically a maid droid as far as this guy knew. "I don't know sir, thats not what I'm made for." willoh said, giving a sorrowful bow. To be honest, this guy was being quite pushy about all this, to the point where Willoh would keep a note of this guy for a bit. He was acting like he knew a bit more than he was leading on.

Livani just shook his head. "Of course not. It's why I like droids, better than men." He smiled, and walked to the door, he opened it and in walked the two black stormtroopers from before. He removed their helmets revealing old CIS commando droids. "Report." He said, and the droids began to play back a holorecording of the groups movements through town, including the building they went to before they came back to the house. But unlike Willoh, they weren't able to hear inside the building.

They kept playing the holorecording all the way up until the doors of the manor, where they dispersed. Livani just chuckled. "This is why I dread when Orro comes to visit, my girl is infatuated with that boy. Almost wish his father, hadn't sent him away before he died at Endor. But alas that man was probably Orro's only true friend, possibly. I don't think it was possible for him to have friends." The other Moff smiled, it was an insult to be sure but Orro was not around to hear it so he was quite smug about it. "He's hidden the boy ever since, keeping him out of sight as a trooper. Clever, clever man." He continued, turning to Willoh. "You can go help the kitchen staff, I won't be long." He commanded her.

Maybe not, Willoh figured. Just like daughter just like daddy, he speaks totally out in the open because he was surrounded by droids. At this rate he'd admit he was a jedi by the end of the day or something outlandish like that. "Very good sir." Willoh said, bowing to Livani and taking her leave. Willoh took the long route to the kitchen, surveying the mansion as she went. Best to find her targets before she made any covert moves, and thankfully Livani's room was fairly noticable, unless it was some elegant trooper room or something. Having found one target, she made her way to the kitchen, acting like she got lost for a moment to any prying eyes that might be out there.

The way through the manor was filled with droids, a lot of them were old battledroids from the clone wars. Enough to supply a large contingent of guard and that's just what Willoh was seeing. They moved too and fro, but there seemed to be a large portion on Livani's room and on another room on that hall that was firmly shut.

When Willoh finally managed to make it to the kitchen. It was abuzz with droids, who were chopping food with incredible speed and accuracy. There was only one human in the kitchen, she was tasting the food, and cooking as well. "You're late, Livani wants you to prepare the dining room table. Through those doors you piece of junk." The lady said, pointing through a set of doors.

Well Willoh was expecting this kinda thing eventually. Apparently Livani didn't employ only droids. Sure the troopers were expected, but she guessed that droids can't taste, so they needed some direction when cooking. And this head chef's attitude was to be expected eventually. Always gotta be one droid slavedriver. Nodding to the woman, Willoh entered the dining hall which was relatively empty in comparison to the crazy area of the kitchen, with only a couple of those security droids that she had saw everywhere else.

At least this job was easier than cooking. Sure cooking wasn't that bad with a holonet link, but this was a bit simpler. Heck a quick 5 minute video on the holonet explained all she needed to do. At least it wasn't that many, many hours long video on how to make a warp drive...

Willoh began to formulate a plan as she set the table. Orro would be coming in the morning, and all the organics would be asleep at that point. Droids weren't that much of a security force if you knew how to get around them, especially old droids like these. Heck if worse came to worse,she could always just turn them into ammo. But she doubted tha twould happen. That one room under heavy guard was very very fascinating though...

Finishing her task, she re-entered the kitchen, Willoh said. "The table is set Ma'am. What now?"

The taskmaster, just nodded. "Perhaps you aren't entirely useless. Go make yourself busy." She said, waving the droid away. Giving her permission to basically go wander.

Given leave to do what she wanted, Willoh nodded and left to 'clean' the halls. Pulling out her vaccum attachment she made for herself a little while ago, Willoh began to clean and dust the halls, making her way back to Livani's room and that high security room. And like humans, Droids also didn't give her much mind, especially since she was doing her job of 'maid'. Eventually she made her way to Livani's room, with the intention of 'cleaning' it.

The room was full of exquisite things, stuff that showed how rich this moff truely was. He even had a full grown rancor on the far side of the room. Stuffed and manipulated in a way to make it seem terrifying, but there was nothing important in the room. At least not at the moment.

Not even a computer here. willoh was a bit disappointed, but she had already begun cleaning the room, so it would be weird for her to stop now. At least it was mostly clean as is, considering all the expensive stuff in it so this didn't take all that long, although she figured she'd be sent here to polish all the shiny things up later.

Now the other room under heavy guard, going through the front door on something like that wouldn't be the smartest move. Sure she could overpower the guards, but that'd blow her cover, so she'd have to think of a more subtle way of seeing what was inside. And if she couldn't go through the front, what about the side? No one would be expecting her to just eat through the wall after all.

Leaving the main bedroom after cleaning it, she skirted around the high security room and tried to find rooms nearby it, hopefully one with some furniture near the wall so she could eat through the wall without anyone noticing the small hole she'd leave behind afterwords.

A nearby guest room offered the perfect cover, with an added standing shelf by the back wall. Still in a guise of cleaning, Willoh slowed down a bit, making sure to keep her back to the sie of the shelf. Making a tentacle of her nanodroids, she snaked it behind the shelf and started to eat away at the wall,making sure to have her main body be the only thing someone would see if they entered the room, her main body 'cleaning' slowly while her tentacle ate its way through the wall, passing through the crawlspace, and eating through the wall of the high security room. Eating through the walls with her nanodroids was much quieter than say, using a drill, and didn't leave a lingering smell like a laser, even if it was slower than the aforementioned methods.

The secure room held something that had survived the clone wars, it was currently in a state of disrepair but it was hard to mistake a B3 ultra battledroid for anything but. It was hooked up to a bunch of wires, the room also held many computers, and was the main datahub for the entirety of the manor. Inside was another rack of commando droids, deactivated. It seems Livani was making a small army of battle droids it appeared that with this army he could infiltrate and cause quite a bit of damaged with the b3.

For what purpose he had this army for is unknown, all that is known is that could use it for quite a few things.

Having eaten her way into the room, Willoh formed a camera on the end of the tentacle to get a look at everything in the room. Lots of outdated droids and lots of computers, not unexpected for a droid lover. What was surprising was the lack of security in the room itself though, which made getting to the computer easier. Snaking the tentacle to a nearby access port, Willoh formed it into a data cable and used it to download any information she found interesting inside the computer.

It was at this moment, that the doors opened admitting, Moff Livani, flanking him were two of the black troopers. "My datapad sent an alarm detecting intrusion." He said, the guards removed themselves from the room, as he pulled a small device from his jacket, he clicked it together the disruption device fried everything in the room including the computers. The data would be safe and retrievable but he knew something was up.

The sound of battle droids, running through the halls is apprent now, they are about to enter the guest room.

Hearing all the droid commotion, Willoh severed her connection to the computer, unaware of Livani entering the room. Making sure her tentacle looked like a normal wire, she cut it at the edge of the wall, hsatily filling the hole she ate in the wall with the remains of the tentacle and reclaiming what she could back to her main body. She had to decide exactly how to handle this situation, after all, Livani wouldn't suspect the truth, and things would just be really weird on his end either way, but Willoh would be a suspect if she was nearby either way.

Considering everything was hidden up nice and neat, willoh decided she could try to keep her disguise, and if it didn't work, cannibalize one of the other droids and take their place if the heat was too much. Acting casual, she started to exit the room, deciding that she wouldn't have had enough time to just escape through the hole she had made.

The manor was now abuzz with activity, battle droids were running up and down the halls. They were all armed, and they were going room to room. They mostly ignored Willoh though, moving to and fro. "Orro is trying to attack me." Livani shouted, from down the hall, he was moving now, he seemed to have gone full blown paranoid.

Droids were setting up E-webs, he had already dispatched Commando droids to secure the grounds and his daughter, this was accompanied by another shout. "Shiria is not here find her!" He shouted, when he walked by Willoh he stopped her. "Find Shiria." He shouted at her.

Orro didn't say this guy was ultra paranoid! But at least he wasn't all that paranoid. Nodding at Livani's order, willoh went off to find his daughter, who was probably off the grounds considering all the droids that were around. Willoh made her way to the grounds, and passed the commando droids who gave her a 'roger roger' as they got to their posts.

Finding an area sort of to herself, Willoh contacted Orro. Thanks to being a droid, it was really easy for her to do this while making it look like she was looking for Livani's daughter. "Hey, Orro." Willoh said, starting her transmission. "You never said this guy was a paranoid loony. I grabbed a fair bit of data, and now this guy thinks your attacking him or something. He doesn't know who took the data though, hes just being super paranoid." Willoh transmitted while looking behind a tree, giving a passing commando droid a shrug as she continued looking.

Orro shook his head. "I can tell orbital imaging says he is setting up just about everything. And one doesn't become a moff without becoming a bit paranoid, everything tries to kill you. Including your friends. Clear out things are about to get really really loud." Orro said, calmly

Having her new orders, Willoh walked to the front gate and told the commando droids that Livani's daughter must've left the grounds and that she was tasked with finding her. Nodding at these orders, they let Wiloh leave to look for Livani's daughter. She still kept up her maid disguise as she looked through the town, making her way to the space port. Willoh figured that Livani's daughter might've went to sleep with her stormtrooper boyfriend, considering how much the two were bonding earlier, and that gave her a great excuse to head to the spaceport.

When Willoh got to the spaceport, Moff Orro was already there. He was loading the couple onto a shuttle when he noticed her. "Ahhh Willoh, come aboard things are about to begin." He smiled, the star destroyer above them was beginning to let out bombers from the hanger. They flew over the assembled group heading for the manor, but none of the local garrison fired at them. "Welcome to the wonderful world of being a Moff." Orro laughed, as they flew overhead.

Willoh wasn't sure exactly what was going on here, but went with it anyway. After all, Orro was the client after all. She followed him and his captives onto the ship and watched as he made grandiose gestures as his plan went into fruition. It was so strange though, didn't he just want dirt on Livani? But it was Orro's money, not Willohs.

The shuttle took off as the tie bombers dropped Ion ordnance on the manor, nothing was damaged with the exception of his droids and any equipment. At this Orro opened up a transmission to Livani. "You might not want to shoot me down, not that you have any soldiers who can fight. But I do have your daughter on board." Orro said, a smile creeping on his face. He turned to Willoh and spoke to her. "It's a good thing you set off him off, his daughter left frightened and came right to her little boyfriend. I have something way better than any dirt you can get on him." Orro chuckled, pointing at the two lovers who were being watched by some of Victors spec forces.

As the shuttle landed, Livani was awaiting the group as they came down the boarding ramp Shiria being pushed forward a blaster leveled at the back of her head. "Willoh, by my side." Orro said.

Shrugging, Willoh complied with Orro. Putting on imperial colors, she walked beside him as he did his little hostage exchange thing. Willoh wasn't much one for hostage situations, they were sort of cowardly, but this was her client, so she shrugged and just watched the situation unfold. No doubt Orro was going to gloat at his own ingenuity. It was becoming a regular late night holonet movie!

Livani seemed to be in shock, everything to take in, but he managed to utter only a few words. "Orro, why would you do this?" He asked, his voice had the tone of a man cowed into compliance. "You should of joined me when I had the chance, I had to resort to means that are less than satisfactory to get your attention. Bribing the officers in your garrison, getting ahold of your daughter all easy. But securing your alliance, that was a problem. But you are going to do a few things for me. One you are going to get me in with the royal family, two you are going with me to meet with the other moffs, and third you will cooperate to the fullest extent or I will kill your daughter." Orro said

Livani just fell to his knees. "Whatever you say m'lord." Was all the defeated man could say. "Tell the adamant that we are to replace his droid guard, with a more human one." Orro said, and he turned back onto his shuttle. "Come along Willoh we are done here." Was all he said as he returned to his shuttle.

Willoh was indifferent to the whole thing. Sure it was really nasty that all the droids got disabled by that ion bomb, but eventually they would be given 'life' once again, whatever that could be called. A job well done, she followed Orro back onto the shuttle.

The shuttle entered orbit, and got clear of the adamant. Soon enough the shuttle was in hyperspace and exited right outside of paradise. "I'm leaving you right where I got you." Orro said, reaching under his seat handing over a case full of the credits he promised."

"Thanks boss. Have fun with your plans there." willoh said, grabbing the case and waving to Orro. From the sound of things, the guy wanted to be the next emperor. Considering the old one was a giant brune, Orro had an easy time doing that, after all, he looked way better than that. As Willoh walked away, she turned her head. "Oh, let me know when you make it big. I like playing with organics." she said, finishing with a wink.

Elias was beyond sure that he was capable of simply knocking out the legs and operator of the E-Web emplacement with a rocket, but as he went to reply that he could do so, Sol'id delivered a rocket of his own to the target and, due to smoke and crates, the Smuggler couldn't tell if the weapon was still in one piece. Well, there goes that plan. Sirka rushed in shortly after and offered additional suppressive fire with Elias's hired help. He took up a position just inside the entrance and fired another rocket, smashing the crates a trio of pirates are behind and exposing the Twi'lek, Togruta male, and Duros behind to the withering suppressive fire.

Elias, grinning as he bolts for the boxes, watches the Twi'lek and Duros fall with several burning holes in them, and the Togruta manage to crawl to a sturdier piece of cover before falling still, though he might not be dead. It was at this moment that a shot pinged off his leg armor, forcing the Mandalorian to roll and come up from behind a crate and give a pair of pirates two holes in their chests before returning fire on the Devaronian who was responsible, given away by the fact that he proceeded to shoot at Elias after he'd taken cover.

This form of back and forth continued for a couple of minutes, with a few more pirates ending up dead, dying, or wounded in the interim before Sirka's voice came on the comms. “I’ve got too many angles to cover here. We need something better here than just ‘charge the gates’. Anyone have smoke grenades?” Elias shook his head, ducking briefly before popping back out to fire a stream of bolts at the Devaronian in charge. He didn't have any on him this time, but he did have-

"I don't have smoke, but I do have a couple of Cryoban grenades and a few spare fuel tanks for my flamethrower. I can throw the Cryoban or the flame canisters first, but only an explosion from the flame canisters...You know what, we'll go canisters first. If that doesn't work, we can go cryoban." He slid the canister out from it's position in an armored vial, he waited a moment between volleys before tossing it towards the Devaronian. After a count of three, the smuggler popped out with only a single pistol drawn, aimed, and fired. It impacted the canister and detonated, throwing a wall of flame over the apparent leader and anyone near him. While it wasn't enough to catch or even roast them, it was blinding and hotter than hell. Elias took the chance to rush for the cargo again but glanced towards the E-Web's former position and could only grin. "Sirka, about ten feet behind where the E-Web was formerly at, I think you'll find your new toy."

It would be a brief window of opportunity, but an opportunity nonetheless. "Hey, uh...other Mandalorian, cover the left flank when I cross." Sirka said over their comms to Sol'id. She waited for Elias to make his throw, then started to lean out just as he took his shot. "Crossing!" Sirka shouted.

The flames, while perhaps not deadly, were certainly startling and painful to the three pirates in the center of their lines. The Devaronian had seen it coming and quickly hit a button on one of the devices on his belt, activating a personal energy shield around himself. He was protected from the fire, though it still burned against the shield in front of him to obscure his vision, while the other two were not even that lucky.

Sirka sprinted at full speed across open ground, trusting Sol'id to cover the left flank while Elias had the attention of the right. She wanted to capture the center. She would take a look at the E-Web if she could, but she doubted the rocket had left it in one piece. Of course, she still had to take the position first.

As Sirka sprinted up towards the center, she was firing her blaster full-auto from the hip at her blinded foes. It was not a particularly stable firing position, but as she rapidly drew closer, accuracy mattered less and less. Several shots hit the Devaronian's shield, while about three or four struck a Human pirate in the torso. The other pirate, a Rodian, did not get hit by a blaster bolt, but by the time he had cleared his vision enough to know what was going on, Sirka was hardly even a meter from him. From a full sprint, she led with a kick to the Rodian's head that carried enough force to split his skull in two as it smashed into the nearest crate.

The pirates had arranged the crates around the E-Web in a semi-circle to offer protection from multiple sides, so Sirka would have decent cover if she could keep the position. Of course, she did have enemies on opposite sides of her, but she hoped that the Mandalorians would be enough of a threat to them to keep them from pushing her location. From where she was, she could take shots at the rest of the pirates against which they would have no cover. Now under much more immediate threat from Sirka, the Devaronian ducked behind several of the stacked crates on the left flank, potentially within view of Sol'id.

The Mando did his best to send burst fire when he could, knowing that while he came prepared for long firefights, his ammo was still limited. Unfortunately, being attacked from everywhere within a 120 degree angle in front of him was difficult to not go full auto, and more than a few times he had to lay down as much fire as he could while tactically backing into cover and ducking when need be. He'd seen worse before, but the veteran was still aware this was a very dangerous situation to be in.

He wasn't about to move out of formation, however. He had a role to play, and did not relent his fire until the fiery explosion occurred in the center, leaving an opening for the other two squad members to move. "Hey, uh...other Mandalorian, cover the left flank when I cross."

Sol'id glanced Sirka's way, his face unreadable under his mask, though the pirates would have chuckled if they had heard the transmission and seen the look. Luckily, they were none the wiser as Sirka charged, and Sol'id suddenly stepped out of hiding once more, with a fresh clip in his Mandalorian heavy blaster. So surprised were the pirates at this sudden change of tactics, he killed two within three seconds, and the rest on the left flank were thoroughly hidden in cover as Sol'id stepped toward them. They fired back blindly, but had little they could do beyond that.

He then halted his firing and vaulted over their cover, bashing in the heads of two pirates with the butt of his heavy gun. Skulls and necks broke, and he crouched within the now dead thug's cover. Only to see the Devaronian now diving behind a crate not too far from where Sol'id sat. He aimed carefully, and by the time the ring leader saw he was flanked by an enemy and not his subordinates, he got three lasbolts to the chest.

While the Devaronian did have a good set of armor, three blaster bolts was no small amount of destructive energy. Sol'id had been accurate, and dropped the Devaronian quickly and efficiently the moment he had the opportunity. Dead or no, Sirka decided to shove over the top crate on the stack of heavy, metal crates right on top of the Devaronian, both just to make sure, and to clear a line of sight onto the rest of the pirates behind him.

"Officer's down! Push on the rest!" Sirka shouted through the comms as she rested her blaster on the crate in front of her and squeezed the trigger. Sol'id had already thinned the numbers of some of the pirates in front of her, and with the angles from which they were attacking, they could not take cover from both of them at the same time. Without direction from their commander, the remaining pirates were more likely to route and try to flee than to give an organized response. Sirka was vulnerable to being flanked from her back at the moment, so Elias would have to protect her rear. Though, the pirates on that side were more focused on him regardless. Fortunately, there were not all that many left.

Captain Larus Annarin yawned as he finished reading what was, in complete honesty, nothing more than a copied report for the fifth time that day. They had been sitting in the Tanarus system under Moff Aran for nearly five years and NOTHING had changed with in it except the amount of taxes he took from the people under his jurisdiction. The news of the late Jabba's death had scared many of the criminals who had been paying the Moff credits to turn a blind eye to their activities had fled the system, fearful that while Jabba hadn't cared about their other payments, there were no guarantees that whatever Hutt managed to win the power struggle within the Council would be as OK. So, in response to the drop in illicit funds, the taxes received an increase to make up for it.

Word from the garrison commander was there was some mild civil unrest due to the raise, as everyone had been pretty content with where things were, there had been no need to deploy the Crowd Control units. Suppressing a second yawn, the captain began to reach for another datapad when a crewman's console beeped. "Sir, incoming contacts dropping out of hyperspace. Looks like...wow, talk about old. They're Venator-class." The captain looked out the viewport at the star destroyers that had just dropped from hyperspace, but noticed nothing odd immediately.

"Hail them, confirm they're Imperial. Likely some small time Moff that the Rebel filth that got pushed out of his territory in some lost corner of the Outer Rim." The operator nodded and turned back to his console as the captain returned to his reading.

"Attention unidentified Imperial cruiser, please transmit your identity numbers so that we may confirm the Moff in charge and get you in to see Moff Aran with the utmost speed." Which, the captain made a silent note on, wasn't particularly fast. Aran didn't see anyone who didn't catch his interest, which was why there was such a long waiting list to see the man. Silence reigned before the operators brows furrowed and he turned back to Larus. "Sir, they sent a response, but it wasn't to us here on the bridge. I'm going to-wait, something's coming through. Patching it through to loudspeakers."

A moment of silence ruled while the operator patched in the transmission, and then a voice clearly not Imperial came on. "This is Supreme Commander Jason Je'and of the Republic Remnant. You are to stand down and cooperate. You get only this one warning." The Captain could do little more than stare as the message ended before turning to the operator.

"Tell him he can go to-" And chaos erupted as the door to the bridge of the watchpost was blown in by a breaching charge. Captain Larus was dazed for the majority of it, the only thing he was sure of was a group of his own stormtroopers rushing in and gunning down anyone who pulled a weapon and another subduing him and putting a vibroknife to his throat when he struggled. As the smoke died down, one of the troopers seemed to be talking to someone on the other end of his comms.

"Aye sir, the station is secure; no SOS sent." He falls silent. "Negative sir, we had to take out all of the defending garrison when you sent the signal. Non-combat personnel were only wounded if weapons were pulled as ordered, they'll definitely need medical attention before questioning." Silence once more, by which point the captain began to realize that the voice of the trooper sounded highly reminiscent of a certain trooper fielded years prior.

It can't be, the facilities were shut down! The trooper spoke once more. "Aye, we secured the captain. I'll send Eighty to the docking bay to meet your shuttle with him." Silence once more, and suddenly the captain became VERY nervous. "Affirmative, all clear signal will continue to be sent until the fleet is in position." The trooper seemed to cut the transmission and headed to the communications console where he set the all clear signal to be sent at it's regular intervals. Meaning the fleet defending Tanarus would have no idea it was in danger. After a moment, one of the stormtrooper's growls in annoyance.

"Bugger all, I can't take wearing this thing anymore!" Removing his helmet, revealed the obviously Mandalorian face beneath, which caused the captain's draw to drop in both surprise and terror. They really WERE Clone troops, but these were from a different template, as they were still in top combat condition. "I don't get how those stormies can do anything in that helmet other than look like they do. Could barely aim in that thing." The clone from before, likely the commander, removed his as well while the clone who'd grabbed him kept a tight grip and the knife perfectly still.

"Stow the complaints, Niner. We got the job done. Eighty, get the Captain there to the shuttle bay, Supreme Commander Je'and wants to meet with him personally." As the vibroknife vanished from his throat and he's forced to his feet, Captain Larus Annarin suddenly wishes he'd taken the transfer back to Tanarus as a Squad Captain.

---

The three Venators continued on their path from Watchpost Echo-13, the codes that would allow them to get close to Moff Aran's defense fleet already being sent to the three Imperial-class Star Destroyers as the distance shrank. The good Captain Larus had been more than willing to talk when the Supreme Commander had given him the choice to talk or die and had given them the clearance codes with little issue. As the Resurgance closed with it's assigned target, Jason found himself wishing that the man hadn't proven to be as cowardly as most Imperial traitors seemed to be when a genuine blaster pistol was put in their face. Still, the codes had been secured and the man now sat in a cell in the prison block, where he would stay until a proper military tribunal could be had. As the fleet and planet grew closer, Jason sent out the order for all three star destroyers to man battle stations and await further orders. This Moff Aran had no idea what was coming for him.

---

Moff Aran sat in his office, watching the Twi'lek girl in front of him dance as she did, a cocktail in his hand as he contemplated recent happenings. Orro had recently made a rather daring move, convincing Livani to join him and follow orders. While he had no way to confirm such information, his contact had said they'd had reason to believe Orro had managed to kidnap Livani's daughter and hold her hostage. This caused the Moff to look over the courtyard outside his window as he dismissed the Twi'lek, where his daughter and son played together after their lessons, her in Imperial Statecraft and self defense, he in military strategy and combat training.

As he sat, he began to wonder what would stop Orro from targeting his children in his quest for ultimate dominance amongst his fellow remnants. Taurus had also fallen under the rising Moff's sway, although it would perhaps be more accurate to say his forces had, since Taurus was supposed to be in a cell according to another informant. Perhaps it would be best to enter into an alliance with Orro. At least then I don't have to worry about being stabbed in the back or my children being put in harms way. Just then, a knock sounded at Aran's door and he turned, a slight frown on his face as he stood. "Enter."

A moment later, a communications officer opened the door, the fear and confusion on his face evident. "Sir, I- it's the-we need to-" the man continued trying to form coherent sentences for several seconds before Aran held up a hand, stopping him.

"Breathe deeply, calm down some, and THEN report." Nodding, the officer took a pair of deep breathes before speaking again, the words pouring out of his mouth.

"They came out of no where. A fleet of three Venator-class Star Destroyers rolled up on the Basilisk and it's escort, with the appropriate clearance codes from Watchpost Echo-13 to be taking up position in orbit around the planet. Without warning, and before anyone on the Basilisk could react, all three ships opened fire once they were on position in the perfect broadside." He gulped before continuing. "It's gone sir. Your flagship is no more and it's escorts are in worse shape. Troop transports have already delivered enemy troops within city limits while the garrison was still being mobilized. It's a slaughter of any combatant who doesn't surrender."

Aran's eyes hardened as he looked back towards the courtyard. Already, the sounds of artillery fire and blaster fire were reaching his ears on the wind, with smoke rising across the capitol, though it was small, of Jenarus, where his compound was located. "Get my children to safety and dispatch the AT-STs to aide in quelling this invasion. The Empire will stand. Send word to Orro, requesting help along with my promise to join him should he send aid." Nodding, the man vanished as the Moff left the room. His children would be evacuated to a bunker deep underground along with a Deathtrooper escort while he would head to the command center and set his forces to defending the city. He would fight or he would die defending what was left of the Empire in Hutt Space.

Shortly after arriving, he was approached by the comms officer from before, with a holodisc for recording. Nodding, he spoke into it when indicated. "Moff Jacsen Orro, this is Moff Aran Mortifus. I am under attack from an unknown force and find myself on the backfoot. I request your aid with the defense of the Tanarus system and in return for it, I will align myself with you and help to convince the other remaining Moffs to do so. Once more, this is Moff Aran Mortifus asking for reinforcements." The recording stopped and the comms officer rushed to his desk, immediately transmitting the message as the Moff asked for a status update.

One of his tactical officers spoke up first. "Field reports are saying the enemy troops are equipped with modernized Clone armor and weaponry, and that the mechanized units being fielded are also updated Clone Wars era vehicles. There are also non-clones in the mix, armed with anywhere from heavy assault cannons to long range sniper weaponry. Our AT-STs are enroute, but chances are they won't make enough of a difference to save the battle." Aran's eyes narrowed as he studied the holographic image in front of him of the battlefield. Sure enough, it was all Clone weapons and mechanized units being used, but it simply didn't make sense. The Empire and taken over and shut down the cloning facilities on Kamino shortly after it's formation, so where did these come from?

"Have them focus on holding a defensive line until I receive word from Moff Orro on reinforcement. The Empire will hold." Several yes sirs echoed through the room as it became a flurry of activity. Imperial forces began to make fortified positions along the length of the middle of the city, gun emplacements pinning down infantry and light recon units, when Y-wing bombers ran the length, their proton bombs destroying gun emplacements and freeing up any pinned infantry. AT-STs began to suffer casualties as ARC fighters made runs on them, their heads exploding in brilliant flashes. Soon, the fighting was close enough to the compound that the differences between the blaster types being used could be heard by those in the command room.

Shortly after, a Stormtrooper rushed in as orders were being given to hold the line. "Sir, they've breached the compound. Clone Special forces must have infiltrated through one of the sewer lines to-" A blaster shot from behind him dropped him as the Clone Commandoes breached and cleared the room. Blaster fire lit it up as the Imperials took cover from the well trained and armed clones, blue and red blaster bolts lancing across the room. First to fall, though, was the Imperial comms officer who'd informed Aran of attack on his small but powerful fleet, a blaster bolt to the chest downing him as a second team of clones, these clearly just standard, came in through the observation windows, gunning down the Imperials until it was just the Moff and two stormtroopers, who had been guarding the Moff since the attack began.

The two teams of Clones kept firing, though they shots were no longer to kill. For several long minutes the exchange continued, before the heavy boom of an assault cannon echoed through out the room before a grenade exploded in-between the trio of Imperials. The explosion wounded all three and took out the Moff's blaster arm and he could do little to resist the clone who seized him and lifted him off the ground as an armored figured came into sight. Placing his assault cannon on his back, the orange and white clad soldier removed his helmet to reveal the face of Jason Je'and, none other than the Supreme Commander himself. "Moff Aran Mortifus, placed in charge of the Tanarus system some six years ago by the traitor and self proclaimed emperor Sheev Palpatine. You are under arrest for High Treason against the Galactic Republic and found guilty. Punishment?" He drew his blaster pistol and leveled it with the Moff's forehead. "Execution. Does the guilty have any last words?" Moff Aran's eyes burned with anger and he set his face defiantly.

"The Empire eclipsed the Republic and made itself stronger than it's predecessor ever was. Hail the Emperor!"[/color] Jason's own eyes were fierce, the fire in them burning all the brighter for the Moff's rebuttal.

"Noted." A trigger pull and a single bolt found it's way between the man's eyes. Allowing the lifeless body of Moff Aran Mortifus to drop to the ground, the two stormtroopers were cuffed and escorted away as the clones and their supreme commander left the room.

---

In a matter of hours, all traces of Imperial forces within the system of Tanarus were eradicated and it's people left to their own devices, as before the arrival of the Moff, they were denizens of Hutt space and, more importantly, traders. Most of the Imperial weapons and vehicles were either confiscated or destroyed, but enough was left behind that the civilians who had the training, who had been some two hundred thousand conscripts, could defend their homes from any pirates who showed up. The blitz tactic had worked well against Aran, as his forces had not been on high alert or even low alert, when the forces of the Republic Remnant arrived. Turning to his comms officer, Jason nodded. "Drop the buoy, then all ships to hyperspace."

"Affirmative." Hitting a series of keys, a comms buoy with a single recorded message on it was released before the three Venator-class Star Destroyers vanished into hyperspace. Any ships arriving would pick up the unencrypted message easily. It would say, "The traitor Moff Aran Mortifus was the first, and he will not be the last in our crusade to put down the usurper's legacy. Long live the Galactic Republic!"

Scipio Industries and Finance

There was no Drunk Dug with a gambling problem to be found for torture. This vexed Leonard greatly. As he sat on his luxurious throne in The Gamechanger's bridge, he at least reassured himself that he had a pretty planet to view; the lush and watery world of Dandoran, whose continents and oceans were pristine due to the planet's obscure position. This obscure position rendered it a suitable hiding place for smugging cartels, but now, with his faction's decision to set up a base there, this little planet was going to make its mark on Galactic History.

Already, The Gamechanger had placed itself in geosyncrhonous orbit above an old Rebel Base on the equatorial side of the continent. This Rebel Base, once held by one Saponza, had been abandoned just before Endor, and might - might - be converted into a fortress and palace for Leonard to settle on. Not merely that, but his communications team had been eavesdropping on hyperspace transmissions, seeking out the latest developments in the war.

<Moff Jacsen Orro, this is Moff Aran Mortifus. I am under attack from an unknown force and find myself on the backfoot. I request your aid with the defense of the Tanarus system and in return for it, I will align myself with you and help to convince the other remaining Moffs to do so. Once more, this is Moff Aran Mortifus asking for reinforcements.>

This message replayed itself like music to Leonard's ears. While he did ponder loaning money to the Imperial Remnants, perhaps to Jascen Orro himself, he was honest enough with himself to know that he loved hearing the misfortunes of others. He would then give orders to his crew:

"Wait for ships coming here; ships from the Tanarus system. We will pay them to tell us exactly what happened there so that we can see if there is any profit to be made from it." A smirk. "I have a good feeling about this..."'

@Sep@Zarkun