War Room The Fallen Spear Orian System
“Y’thal?” Blackwind uncrossed his arms, leaning over the starmap. “Like Kr’Tal?” The veteran gestured with his hand, the holographic map spinning as he sought out their target, the blue light casting an eerie pallor over his face and greying temples.
Muz stood there silently. They were operating on scant intel, to be honest. He hadn’t bothered with this sort of work for… well, decades really. Even if you counted his machinations with regard to Tempest Omega, it had been a long time. He had pursued his own ends and goals since he left that cursed throne behind. Yet still, the concern was relayed to him. And if it was important enough to tell him, then he would act.
Kojiro watched Darius cycle through probable locations. The call to adventure had reached the youngest Keibatsu somewhere in deep space, where he had been off trying to find himself. Perhaps with a less nebulous target to seek, he could find both. Or at least something to cut his teeth on. Muz watched the man think, considering. He needed a win, that much was obvious. And with the target going out relatively broadwave, there would be no shortage of hunters on the trail.
Muz tapped his fingers on his belt. That greed, the competition and drive to scoop others and claim all the spoils for themselves? He had no care about that. He had what he needed, more than he needed for a thousand lifetimes. Glory and fame, titles and acknowledgement were also irrelevant for him. But perhaps not for them. And as the others would scramble and stab at each other, trying to claim it all for themselves, the Keibatsu would do what they always did.
Ashia slipped through the door, her long coat and robes flowing to the sound of the opening door. She sidled up to the holoprojector, a quick gesture shifting the display to a world on the other side of the galaxy before she looked up at Muz.
The images flowed into his head, A seedy bar, a scoundrel gasping for air, a handful of credit chits clattering to the floor, a blood-soaked dagger, and her smile. He knew better than to ask more. She had her ways.
“Quickly, then.” He kept his eyes on his bride as he spoke, the voice reverberating through ears and minds alike. Blackwind nodded, straightened his back and left the room. A few moments later, the lurch of hyperspace teased the edges of their senses. Muz let a smile creep up the corners of his mouth. It had been too long since they had a chance to play.
War Room The Fallen Spear Hyperspace
It had been too long. Too long wandering the galaxy in hopes of trying to find something, anything that would make the young Keibatsu feel whole. He had delved into tombs, found ancient writings on old empires and peoples and yet still he felt incomplete. His mind hadn’t rested in weeks, if not perhaps months and Kojiro felt restless. Always restless. Even now as he watched the ship lurch into hyperspace he felt his fingers involuntarily tapping on the edge of one of the bridge’s consoles whilst his free hand had already opened and shut one of the pouch buckles on his belt six times in the last minute.
“Calm”
The voice entered his head, it was comforting and it caused Kojiro to look up and meet the eyes of Muz. Only for a moment though, for some reason he found it harder to hold gazes recently. Perhaps he always had, just never noticed until recently.
“I am calm.” He retorted,
“Of course.”
Kojiro closed his eyes and took a breath, forcing his hands to stop as he remained focused back onto the scene out the viewport.
“Why are we going to this place anyway, the mission details sound peculiar. Stealing…whatever is in that cache should surely be left for the clan serfs,” he threw his gaze over to Ashia and Muz before returning it to the viewport and moving up next to Darius. “ It seems overkill for us to attend. Heck, we could walk in and ask them to give it to us and I doubt they’d have much room to say no.”
He felt Ashia roll her eyes rather than saw it and even Darius let out a small cough disguising a chuckle.
“Where’s the fun in sitting back and doing nothing Kojiro? You’ve been idle for so long it makes me wonder if you’ve lost the enjoyment of a mission,” Ash’s voice floated across the war room and Kojiro didn’t take it harshly. She was probably right. “Can’t let the Clan have all the fun.”
A soft shrug swept across Koji’s shoulders. She was right. Of course she was and that’s after all why he was here. Muz had called and he had responded. Why he wasn’t sure. Loyalty in part of course but also something more. Though perhaps it was his imagination.
“You are right of course. I am rusty and it has been too long since I attended to the proper duties of the family. I haven’t felt….much of myself of late, well no for many years. Perhaps it is time for that to change.”
“Good, it is nice to have you with us Kojiro. Remember we will support you as family does.”
The lion’s voice cut through him a bit. He had always felt like he…well no that doesn’t matter.
“So once we arrive at…wherever it is we’re going.”
“Y'thal” Darius chimed in.
“Right, Y'thal. What’s the game plan? March in, blow stuff up, take it. Or we going to go all sneaky sneaky, because I’m not sure I can put sound suppressors on Serax.”
The last time they had been on a mission together was…when? The Nightsister’s own ambitions had kept her busy. Her husband’s quest was all his own. Sanjuro was off to…who knows where. Trying to make a name for himself and not rely on dad’s influence. The rest of them? Scattered to the wind seeking out their own interests.
Ashia drew in a deep breath and looked at the two of them. An eagerness rested on the young clone’s features she had never seen before. He had been restless for a while now. This would do him some good.
Her husband’s somber eyes held hers. Shimmering dark orbs that melted into her every time he looked at her. His hunger for this was apparent to her as well, as he stood there silently. No one else would have guessed it.
“Right, so what’s the plan? I think sneaky sneaky is the best way to proceed and only resort to blowing things up if we absolutely have to.” Her hand drifted to the sabers at her hip momentarily.
The throb in their heads told them that they had made the transition from the grey miasma of hyperspace to their destination, the stars snapping into view as they all turned from each other to the viewscreen. It hadn’t been long, and Blackwind knew his routes particularly well. A planet hovered in the black before them, distant stars burning like pinholes in the backdrop. It was a swirling mess, browns, blues, and greens.
Satellites wove around the world, small ships slipping from the atmosphere and past them as Blackwind made his approach. The scanners in front of them had noted several starports, but really only one major city. The data streamed before them, beamed up into the main viewscreen as they drew closer.
“I suppose that you’ll be taking the shuttle down?” Blackwind’s accent varied based on the word. He was trying. But he was right. The Spear was too large to reasonably land in a city starport without attracting attention, whereas an imperial theta-class would be common enough to not arouse suspicion. Muz let his gaze drift from his wife to Koji, then to Blackwind before giving a brief nod.
“Excellent. I’ll have Doc prep it for launch.” Blackwind continued, tapping out a message on the console next to the captain’s couch. “Shouldn’t be but a few minutes.”
Ashia looked at them both, her mind reaching out. If a picture was worth a thousand words, how many was a thought worth? A second later, the images flowed through them all, the contents of what her interrogation had provided. A vault in a safe house. A few lightly armed soldiers. A few holorecorders. Those were easy enough to circumvent or even remove from play entirely. But the broadwave? That message had gone out to any number of opportunistic pirates, smugglers and scoundrels. If they didn’t get there first, they’d have to track down who did and retrieve the contents that way. And that would be… inefficient.
Muz nodded, turning abruptly to leave the bridge, heavy footfalls as he made his way to the hangar. Hopefully this was as easy as they had hoped.
The spaceport was a bustle of activity. Ashia immediately took to the shadows and wrapped the Force around herself like a cloak.
‘I can’t have anyone recognize me.’ Her thoughts drifted towards the two of them effortlessly.
Pirates and smugglers filled the spaceport. If one of them recognized her, it would drastically screw with her alter ego.
A wave moved through the throng. They naturally drifted aside as Muz’s imposing figure made his way through.
She saw him before he saw them. Or more importantly, saw Muz. Always an imposing figure he was not low profile.
’Three o'clock.’ Ashia’s voice rang out inside their heads as they moved.
He looked about warily as he moved through the crowd then stopped abruptly when his eyes fell on Muz moving towards him with Koji right beside him.
He turned to move the other direction only to find the Nightsister standing there.
“Well, hello there.” her eyes sparkled as she eyed him. He stood his ground, eyes narrowing at her. His Arcona ring glinted in the dim light.
He moved quickly into the crowd and darted into an alleyway.
’He has it!’ Her thoughts left her as she turned on her heel to follow him.
Well, some of it, anyway. The treasure surely wouldn’t have been able to be loaded into a single backpack, even one so bulky as the one the man wore. Muz snapped toward him, his mind reaching out to the air around him, thickening it with his will, coiling it around his fleeing legs. Then, a subtle gesture of his twitching finger sprang the trap forward, sending the man forward to the deck plates hard. The pack lurched up with the connection, smashing into the back of his head and pressing him to the ground.
“Well, I guess that’s one way.” Koji chuckled.
“It beats the hell out of running.” Ashia returned. Besides, the time was ticking. They all knew it. They had to get out of there before however many others would show up to take the prize. She slipped down next to him, moving the bag off of his head and putting two fingers on his throat.
The glance from Muz asked the silent question. Ashia just nodded, then pulled the pack off of him, glancing inside. Dozens of small cases glittered inside, each holding large gemstones. The glow from several whispered in her thoughts, marking them for what she knew at least some of them were: kyber.
“This can’t be all that there was.” Ashia let her mind reach into Kojiro and Muz’s thoughts.
Muz shook his head to agree. Even though this bag was worth at least a million, maybe a million and a half credits, it didn’t track. The vault would have had four or five times that at the very least. Especially to gather the attention that it did. “He has to have a ship.”
Ashia nodded, fast hands sealing up the pack and sliding it to the side as Muz wrapped his mind around it to hold some of the weight before he shouldered it. Blinking, pale fingers frisked the unconscious Arconan, feeling for an activation cylinder. If they found the journeyman’s ship, it wouldn’t do them any good if they couldn’t fly it out of there.
And there it was. Nimbly, she slipped into the pocket and retrieved the cylinder, a thin chain attached to a stuffed Wookiee slipping out behind it. Ashia stood smoothly, eyes darting around to make sure that they weren’t followed. Satisfied, she looked back to her husband.
“I think I have an idea what he was flying…”
Muz nodded, then looked at Koji. “Go with. Buy her time.”
The Zabrak moved swiftly, sipping back into the shadows. Koji followed in her footsteps as best he could, not being built for stealth.
She scanned the ships in the docking bays until she found it.
’There.’ she pointed. Koji nodded as they moved in. She pulled the activation cylinder out and clicked it. A low hiss erupted from one of the ships nearby as the boarding ramp lowered and a couple of lights blinked.
That’s when she saw them, Two other journeymen looked around as the ramp lowered, seemingly surprised as their mate was nowhere to be found.
Koji hit one of them like a Rancor in heat, knocking him to the ground with an audible thud as the wind was knocked out of him.
The other one turned to run in shock only to receive a flying kick to the dome. Both were rendered unconscious within seconds.
The two boarded the ship and after a quick search, they found what they were looking for. In the cargo hold was the rest of the vault’s contents.
A small smile crept onto Ashia’s visage as her eyes shone bright in the dull light. She looked at Koji as he nodded in silent agreement and reached out to Muz.
’It’s here.’
’Can you fly it out of here? We’ll pick it up with the Spear.” Came the reply.
’We’ll bloody well try.’ Ashia responded this time, all too giddy at the prospect of stealing yet another freighter.
Koji slipped into the co-pilot seat as Ashia maneuvered herself into the pilot’s chair. Panels flickered to life as both of them worked seamlessly, suddenly the ship lurched:
“Either that’s her ready or we did something wrong,” Kojiro muttered, catching a sideways glance from Ash and he raised his hands. “Hey, I’m hoping it’s the former. But it’s not like these cretins have a decent ship here.”
Ashia didn’t reply as she had pushed herself up to glance out the cockpit window, throwing a cautionary glance to ensure there truly was nothing wrong before lowering herself back into the chair. Suddenly a static shot from the radio and a barely audible voice rang out.
“Where do you think you are going ship 2447-Zeta? You don’t have clearance to…”
Click
Kojiro hadn’t moved but Ash was positive he’d turned the radio off.
“Must be faulty eh?” she was met with a wry smile before the ship finally decided to lift off. A forward push of the controls and it sauntered into the air as if it had the entire day to do so. “Come on, move your backside you piece of…” by this point Ash had already hit the controls on more than one occasion as the ship seemed to almost rebel against the pairs touch.
“Situation?” Muz’s voice entered both their minds as the ship took to the sky.
“Everything is fine, mild road rage but we’ll be hitting orbit soon.”
Kojiro could almost feel the eyebrow being raised at the rage comment.
“Understood. See you at home.” With that the distance Kojiro was able to communicate diminished as the shuttle broke orbit and they set their path to meet the Spear.
They travelled in relative silence, and as they approached the Spear’s hanger Kojiro switched the radio back on, they were met by the sound of Blackwind who sounded slightly vexed no one had been responding to him. He was shot a quick apology and the ship was brought into land with a soft thump. They descended the ship’s ramp, moving to find somewhere to sit and wait for Muz to return.
“Well, that was fun. Mission over and all that. Guess I can go disappear for a while again…hey ouch,” Ash had slapped his arm at his comment. “Fine, fine. It was fun being home. Even if we’re not really home. Then again, I guess home is always going to be where the family is.”