Chapter 8

When dawn brakes everyone was ready for departure. All the armor and equipment where loaded. With spares and raw material resources and other stuff which we might need to do repairs and maintenance on the ship, fighters, droids and our kits. I double check the instructions I have left for the droids, because I won't be coming back here regularly, and I want the base fortifications and construction to progress steadily. When we reach the side air lock of the ship, we are met by ZEM, "All units and required materials are loaded master. All systems are green for launch" he says. "Good work ZEM" then I turn to the guys "This is the Lead unit of our ZEM 19ST droids, I call him ZEM, ZEM these are our squad mates, the rough looking one is Doth, the one in the middle is Subail and the one at the end Vanzii." They all nod at each other. "Great now that we are all introduced let's board the ship, shall we?"

We enter the Side air lock and make our way towards the bridge. when we reach the main common area, on the main deck.

"Thrunn all systems are green and we are ready for launch" came feminine yet synthetic voice through the ships PA systems. I suddenly remembered something. "Oh, nearly forgot, Athena this is my squad, squad meet Athena "

Athena is the character matrix I have installed to run the droid brains I installed on the ship. she speaks through the ship PA system in a calm cool feminine voice "Welcome aboard, I am Athena. Hope we have a wonderful adventure together". The guys give me weird looks, which I can only read as 'Really?'. I quickly say "Athena get everything sorted out and bring up our insignia on the projector, we launch in fifteen minutes". Suddenly the holo projector lights up with an image of a skull, that resembles a human skull, but with razor sharp teeth (imagine the gears of war skull) and down ward pointing curved horns and two Beskad crisscrossing through it from the bottom. All of this in pitch black colour on a foggy grey background. Almost similar to the dark grey skull painted on the front of the Shev'la and my helmet. "This my friends, will be our signet and insignia. We are naming our outfit The Ghosts. We will be what the monsters fear in the dark. While in places where people can over hear us, we will be using code names instead of our real ones. I will be 'Nomad', Doth you will be called 'Shredder', Subail will be called 'Deadeye', Vanzii will be called 'Doc' and Janak you will be called 'Wrench'. This is mainly so that people don't use our names to track down our family connections and business ventures. Plus, I thought it would add to our infamy a little bit and people are always afraid of the unknown". They all nod in agreement.

"I can understand that, we might have cool toys but, if we end up on the wrong side of someone powerful, this will help us vanish from view for a time till the heat dies down. Well atleast until your plans of armadas and armies come to fruition." says Subail in agreement.

Then I signal the guys to gather around a table in the common area, I take out a bottle of tihaar and pour out five glasses. Then we each raise a glass and I say in a somber and serious tone

"This is our maiden voyage. The first step on the infinite road ahead. The path ahead will be strewn with challenges. But we will face them together. There will be threats far greater than we have ever known, but we will face them together. Even in the valley of darkness and death, we stand together and face it together. Come hell or high waters, we face it KRIFFIN TOGETHER. LIKE TRUE MANDO'A." I raise my cup. The others knock theirs into mine, and we roar out a traditional war cry in unison "Vode an", the oath of brotherhood, and down our drinks in one go.

"Now let's get this show on the road" I say heading to the bridge followed by the rest. As we enter the bridge, a white and dark grey astromech droid beep in binary at me * are we ready master? *.

Subail looks at it and asks "what's such an old astromech doing on the bridge?". Teeseven angrily beeps at Subail. I turn to them and introduce "Guys meet T7. His model of astromech droids might be old and out of production, but I have given him a few upgrades and modifications. This little guy has an inbuilt blaster riffle, mini frag grenade launchers, a mini flame thrower and emp generator. He also has an inbuilt shield generator, droid shock arm, flare gun and thruster jets. Plus, I coated him in Cortosis…. You could say he is the Mandalorean of astromech droids". Teeseven beeps happily * I am the best there was and will ever be master*. The guys just look between me and Teeseven ,not knowing to whether comment on my lame ass joke or my inclination to transform every droid I get my grubby hands on into a killer bot, in the end all they could do was shake their heads at me in exasperation .Apparently they had reach their saturation point in ridiculousness for today. Well what they didn't know is that I got the rough location of the star forge from this little droid's memory core.

I sit down in the pilot seat and call the control tower, "Control this is the Shev'la Kyr'am requesting clearance for launch. Over". "This is Eldith control, Shev'la Kyr'am you are cleared for launch. Happy hunting" came the response from the flight control droid. A few months ago, I had dubbed the planet Eldith, just didn't like calling it by the serial number GH-531. This gives it a bit of character. We slowly lift off and head out through the hole that opened up in the shields, when we escape the gravity well, I hit the hyper drive….

(1week later)

We have been tracking a group of pirates, after accepting a bounty on them through the holonet. We tracked their ships to the Dolla system. "Are we sure these are the guys" asked Subail looking out the view ports, standing next to me. We were looking at a large freighter, converted to a pirate ship. "Yes, all scans indicate, these are the pirates you are looking for. Intercepted transmissions are showing that they are transferring some unknown precious cargo they obtained at Ord Mantel" came the reply from Athena. I observe the ship for a minute more. "All hands combat stations. Athena lock on to the target and hit it with a few rounds from the ion canons on my mark. Instruct ZEM to bring 5 19STs, 15 skytroopers and 4 droidekas. Once you have them immobilized dock with the starboard airlocks. Tell everyone to prepare for a hostile takeover" I give out command as I put on my helmet and double check my gear. Once my check is complete and get a node from Subail. I ask "Athena do you have targets locked in". "Yes, locked in and weapons primed" came the curt reply. "Engage the target" I ordered. Within a few seconds two ion canon shots burst toward the unsuspecting target as we come out of cloaking. The ion rounds hit the target and electric currents arc across the ship, as it shuts down all of its systems.

We make our way towards the airlock to meet our already prepared boarding party. "We can expect contacts on the other side when this airlock opens. I want droidikas up front. Skytroopers breach and clear after wards. Once we clear the immediate area, I want Doth, Vanzii and Janak to head to the rear of the ship. Clear and secure engineering and cargo hold. Take two droidikas and 10 skytroopers. ME, Subail and ZEM with all of the 19STs will head to the front and take control of communications and the bridge. Rest will stay here and protect the insertion point. If you encounter slaves just restrain them, and if they get in your way use stun. Shoot to kill all pirates. Is everything clear?" I ask giving out the game plan. To receive a chorus of 'roger that's and "affirmatives.

"Alright folks let get this show on the road. Athena open it up in ten. Shock and awe people". As on clockwork the air locks open and we are greeted by blaster fire from a group of 10 pirates. The droidikas move in shields activated and lay down suppressing fire.The pirates were surprised by the amount of firepower heading their way. Some of whom were not prepared for the onslaught. Immediately four are gunned down. Now that they are being suppressed, the rest of us storm the area in force. The remaining six pirates didn't even know what hit them. One moment they were in cover, next they are being overrun and shot dead. We start moving to our designated engagement zones. As expected, the bridge was guarded and sealed.

We made quick work of the guards outside the door. Me, Subail and the droids stack up on both sides of the door. I nod and ZEM places a breaching charge on the door. When it goes off, we quickly rush in guns blazing and cut through five pirates. The remaining three had half the brain to dive into cover. We encircle them and a firefight brakes out, for a grand total of one minute.

I run quick face recognition on the pirates and find out all the top brass of the crew were all accounted for.

Then I com in "This is Nomad, the bridge is secure. What's the sitrep, over"

"This is Shredder there was minor resistance at the engine room and the cargo bay is now secure… But…... you may want to come and see this" coms in Doth. A frown develops on my face. "Roger that, be there shortly" I respond.

Just then ZEM comes over "Sir, I have accessed the ships manifest and captains personal journal and found a few points of interest."

This piques my interest and read through the journal first. We had hit pay-dirt. It wasn't about the credits and valuables he had, but, the old pirate captain had come across an old jedi holocron and an old saber. This I can make use of. Another point is that this ship was hauling slaves. That might have been the precious cargo. Sure, I was certain there might be one or two slaves serving onboard, but not this. As I was going through the names, one of them catches my attention, and it just so happens these pirates somehow captured a Jedi padawan and one that I remember, Ayala Secura. This is going to be fun. I turn to ZEM "You, my dear friend, found something that will help us a great deal. Good work"

I send Subail to the slave pens. While me, ZEM and one 19ST head to the captain's quarters Leaving the rest to guard the bridge. We found the safe in the captains' quarters and cracked it open. I find a lot of credit chits and jeweler along with the relics and the lightsaber belonging to a certain padawan. Then I order the 19ST that came with us to take the holocron and both sabers to my quarters. And to store the other valuables in the vault near the armory.

Now me and ZEM make our way towards the slave pens….

(POV Ayala)

This must be the force testing my resolve. This was supposed to be an easy operation. Me and my master went to investigate reports of pirates on a colony planet. It was just supposed to be an easy investigation, but we got ambushed and I got separated from my master. As I wandered around, I somehow came upon the pirate ship. In all my infinite wisdom I thought I could capture it . They were just some measly pirates, how can they stop me, atleast that was what I thought. Until I went and got myself captured. These pirates used the slaves lives to threaten me, then while I was distracted, they stunned me. Atleast I will remember not to leave back exposed from now on. When I woke up, I was in a slave pen, with a force suppression collar on me and my light saber missing. All I could was wait and hope to find an opportunity to escape or that my master finds me.

But things took a surprising turn when the pirates themselves got boarded and killed. Now all I could do is hope that this turn of events works out for the better.

From what I could see these guys were no pirates. They were something else altogether. They are too well armed too organized. The way they moved and the aura they gave off was different. If I had to take a guess, I would say they are some sort of special ops team.

I could see the guy with the heavy weapons calling in something through his coms. From the way they were acting, it was apparent they were not expecting a ship loaded with slaves.

After a few minutes, a guy walked in. He was different. His armor and presence giving off an ominous aura. Like I am looking at a cold and calculating ancient beast. From the way he walked and how the others acted around him, I could understand that this guy was their leader. Sure, all the others had that warrior's aura and pose, but this guy was different. I try and sense him through the force. All I got was a void, like he didn't exist at all. When I opened my eyes, he was looking straight at me, it felt like he could see right through my very being, it sent shivers down my spine. He gives some orders to his people and then looks at us again.

Then he steps up to speak...

(POV Thrunn)

I look around and it was obvious the slaves were scared shitless. I mean they were already doomed to be slaves for life. Now that too was thrown down the shitter and they didn't know what would happen. An unknown group, with unknown purpose, now had control of their lives. And it's often the unknown that scares people the most.

In between the slaves I caught sight of the blue skinned twi'lek. I couldn't help but snicker under my helmet.

I step forward "For those wondering who we are, you may call us The Ghosts. And if you are wondering what we are, you can rest assured we are not pirates. You will be freed when the we get to republic-controlled space". The relief that washes over the slaves is palpable. Then me, ZEM and four skytroopers walk up to Ayala. "As for you my dear padawan you will be handed over to your order." I turn to ZEM "Please guide our guest to a holding cell on our ship, and make sure she is under tight guard and 'protected' at all times". Ayala looks somewhat dejected. I think she realized I wasn't going to simply let her go. Well atleast I wasn't going to sell her off as a slave. She should be happy.

Then I addressed the slaves "You don't need to worry, the padawan will be returned to her order in due course. And you will be taken and handed over to republic authorities in Eriadu"

After everything was sorted out. I comed Athena to jump us to Eriadu. I also ask Athena to run ECM suites so that they can't get a proper read on our ship. In 30mins we reach our destination. As we exit hyperspace, we get a transmission through coms. "This is the Eriadu planetary defense fleet frigate Orpah. You are to be power down all systems and be prepared to be boarded".

"This is Captain Nomad of the Shev'la Kyr'am. We just captured this pirate vessel and have brought it in for collecting the bounty. Be advised there are a lot of slaves onboard and they might need medical attention" I comed them back. This most likely caught them off guard as there was no reply for a few minutes.

"Captain Nomad, this is Captain Welham of the Orpah. Prepare the pirate ship for boarding action. Once we have confirmed the details, you shall receive your bounty. That is all". Came in the next set of transmissions. To which I replied with an "Affirmative, Port side airlocks are clear for docking."

We wait as defense fleet frigate pulls alongside the pirate freighter. I was waiting near the airlock with Subail and Janak. When the captain and boarding party arrive. We greet them and take the captain to the slave pens. They went on to confirm the authenticity of our claims. While he and few officers were looking over the slaves and questioning them ,an officer comes in. "Sir the bounties have been confirmed. A total of 60,000 for all the pirates and the ship."

The Captain confirms the money transfer and we transfer control of the ship over to him. As I was leaving the captain tries to ascertain our true identities a, but I deftly side stepped those land mines. With all the official protocols done with we depart. Once back on the ship I check that our passenger is safe and extra secure. I didn't want her trying her space magic and damaging my ship in an attempt to escape. You can never be too careful.

We gather in the common area and Subail asks "So what do you plan to do with our little passenger?"

I smirk and reply "Why, return her to her precious order ofcourse. After they pay a small fee for her rescue". They all smirk in understanding "Also I got my hands on a holocron and old jedi saber. And it just so happens I know someone who will be interested in them, and will pay a hefty price for them". For our first foray the bounty was exponentially great.