Chp-19: Family Time!(violence edition)
Chp-19: Family Time!(violence edition)
Gortaz Bullhorn
Minda System, ZH-40 Tribune-Class Light Freighter Godly Greed
The times were good! Profits were up, and for all that Minda was a prickly fruit of a star system, it was a sweet one as well.
He swiveled around the gunner's turret, looking for the target. As members of The Crowns, the crew he was a part of, the Golden Eyes, were sent to intercept some miners in a far off claim.
"Ships entering sensor range, ratheads! Get yer eyes and guns ready!"
Gortaz hollered into the comms alongside the rest of the crew when he heard the captain get on the mic. He activated the gunnery station, and swiveled the turret in the indicated direction.
The Godly Greed throttled its engines, burning for the miners' positions. Three undefended ships, two miners and one cargo. This would be easy, since the miners would most likely abandon the cargo. All the better for him.
As he opened fire with the ion cannons, he imagined what he would do with his upcoming share. Maybe there was a fine woman aboard the ship, ey? Might take her.
He just shook his head instead, throwing away the fantasies.The Captain got first right, and the seconds she left behind weren't even sloppy, they were just disgusting.
His Captain was an ugly woman, and he'd met his mother, so she had developed a complex of sorts. Was real rough with the newest slaves. Had a…thing… for breaking new slaves in personally.
Not his preferred method, he just wanted a hole and a face. But who was he to judge? Gortaz is a pirate, not a prude.
He's shaken from his thoughts as the ship shakes. Not the normal shakes, from turbulence and fast turns. No, he turns his guns up as a new ship flies into range, firing ion blasts in his direction.
"What the!? Enemy ship! Shoot it down!" He screams into the comms, opening fire as the ship launches ion torpedoes. At this range, he manages to hit one on accident, before the remaining two slam into the hull.
He holds down on the trigger to no avail, cursing as the gunnery system shuts down around him. This thing is barely held together as it is, he's lucky it didn't snap and send him flying into the void.
As he struggles with the emergency release straps, cursing all the way about the many colorful things he'd like to do to the enemy ship, a thump resounds from outside the turret ball.
Looking up, the only thing he saw was the vast expanse of space, and the helmeted head of a Mandolorian.
Oh kriff.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kai Loyu
Minda System, RD-800 StarSkipper Basilisk Hound
Having deposited his two more martially inclined sisters on the hull of the enemy ship, Kai turned the Basilisk Hound away towards the Miners. They had been contracted to deal with any pirates in the claim by the small company, and the only reason he hadn't blasted that Tribune out of the sky was because the Mindan government had put out a call for captured pirate ships.
They could end this job with a little more scratch than before. If the ship was good enough, however, they could get some tax cuts in their mercenary dealings while in the system. The Guild was doing well by them, if nothing else.
As he neared the miners, he commed them. "This is Captain Loyu of the Basilisk Hound. You should have gotten notice of our presence in the area, as we were contracted by Drillers United for protection detail around these parts. You folks ok?"
"Yes, thank you." Sounded a voice from the other end, static filling the channel. "We seem to have taken some damage to the comms of our freighter, so we'll be heading back. Could we bother you for an escort?"
Kai shook his head, despite knowing they couldn't see him. "We alerted the authorities as soon as we spotted them. Our shift is over, but the next crew should be here in a minute or so, they have more ships so they'll escort you out"
"Ah, thank you. Have a nice day then." Phew, thankfully, they didn't insist.
"You too," replied Kai, already tired of this conversation. Small talk. The one part of this job that he doesn't like.
As he turns back towards the pirate ship, he connects to his sister's channel.
There is naught but blaster fire, the constant screaming of both Kay and the pirates, and the quiet sighs of Kel.
He turns the channel off.
The pay better be good.
—--------------------------------
An unnecessarily copious amount of blood covered the inside of the pirate ship. And Kel. A fact she did not voice, due to Kay's current…predicament. Stuck, trying to pry her busted weapon from a Twi'leks skull.
She had decided that, for this job, she wanted to go all melee. A club covered with rotating blades, some hellish thing she had conjured up from a scrapheap a few planets back.
It had done the job, killing its targets effectively. It just so happened to effectively splatter said targets over everyone and thing in the vicinity.
That's why Kel was wiping her visor as she walked over to the cockpit, double tapping every corpse she saw along the way. The Nal Hutta job taught her that.
Tossing the pilot's corpse aside, she sat down and started the reboot sequence. It only took a few seconds for the generator to come online, after which she made contact with Kai.
"Everything good on your end?"
"...Yeah."
She gave a little smile under her helmet. "Had to talk to people?"
"...Yeah."
Not wanting to hurt his feelings, she held back her chuckle. "You'll get the hang of it. Regardless, for all that I like Minda, I'm not sure we'll be staying here for long.
He latched onto the new topic with enthusiasm. Well, Kai's version of enthusiasm. "Unfortunate. The Guild is quite a nice system. Though, we might want to slow down. This will be our tenth captured ship after being in system for just two weeks. Don't want to make a splash."
Kel hummed. He wasn't wrong, but still…"This pirate craze won't last long. Either Minda falls and the number of good contracts goes down, or the pirates are taken care of and the same thing happens. With this ship turn in system, we can milk this area for all we can get, then leave."
"...I suppose. You're the boss, anyways."
She repressed a sigh. Their team wasn't perfect, but they were family. They'd make it through this rough patch, like all the others.
As she turned the pirate ship to align with Ugea, she could only hope to one day not fear for her family again.
Only, later that day, when they left the Guild after completing their bounty and turning in the ship they captured, did they get a surprise. The Guild Girl at the desk told them they had an appointment in the Imperial Tower.
As Kai looked at her with a smug face, she sorely wished they didn't have to hide their armor on the ship, so she could hide her grimace.
Not one smooth job, huh?
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was piloting my L-99 into Ugean atmosphere, Commodore Veers sitting in the copilot's seat as she taught me how to fly. Finding out that she actually knew how to pilot on a professional level was impressive, as most Navy officers don't bother learning more than the basics. What's the point, when you're going to be giving commands to the pilots instead of sitting in their seats.
It also kinda scared me. Just another point towards her being ambitious as hell. The drive of this woman was insane, and I could only hope that I didn't end up in her path one day.
For now though, she was my flight instructor. And a good one at that. Very calm and understanding. Though that's probably because I'm her boss.
"Now" she said, "hit the comms button and signal Ugean Traffic Control"
I started to tilt my head before - "Without looking" - I tilt my head back down and cautiously lift my hand.
Feeling around the buttons, I settle on one.
"That's the headlights"
I shift my hand slightly.
"Flares"
Odd position for flares.
"Ejection seat"
God awful placement, I should get a refund.
"Correct"
Pressing the button, a bored voice filters in through the comms.
"This is Ugean Traffic Control. Please state your name, ship type and reason for visit."
"My name is Las Mola, my ship is an Incom L-99 Executive Transport, and I'm returning to work"
"Understood. Your transponder checks out with Imperial codes. You're free to land on the Islands pad. Good day governor."
Huh. They maintained that bored tone the entire time, even after finding out I was the governor. Good man. Should get him a raise for being so impartial.
It was as I was making the descent that my personal PDA rang with a notification. It was a Priority 1 ping, which meant that it was important, and I should pick up immediately.
Shifting control over to the Commodore, I get out of the pilot's seat, and move towards the cabin proper while I respond to the ping.
Sitting down in the luxury seats, I look through the info, reading through a few small messages before getting to the big one. I then toss the PDA onto the coffee table, and pour myself a mug of hot cocoa. It is the only time I regret not having alcohol here, even though I never drink.
"Are you ok, sir?" Veers calls back.
"I'm fine. Just more work." I respond, though internally I know that she will be thrilled. All the more opportunities to move up the chain.
A small family of Mandolorians were found doing merc work in the system. While their beskar was technically forfeit by Imperial law, I didn't care much. I would probably still hire them for the job I had in mind.
Then came the last message, the actually important part. The infiltration team had succeeded in gaining access to The Crowns Lucrehulk, a ship called The Duet's Dominion, and had been able to slice a panel, gaining access to their internal files(pirates have shit cybersecurity). Apparently they somehow managed to get the whole exterior painted gold.
Probably because of their backers. The fuckers known as the Zann Consortium. I never played Empire At War, on account of the fact that I was born a year before it was released, but I had done my fair share of wiki diving. They were a smuggling ring of sorts, with their leader being fucking insane enough to hijack Old Man Palpies personal Star Dreadnought, then just give it back. They also don't operate on this side of the galaxy. In fact, none of the major crime syndicates operate much on this side of the galaxy. Yet Tyber Zann and his people decided to expand.
By funding the fucking Crowns.
?
Can't have shit!
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there, folks! Sorry for the late chapter, but today was the last day of PCC's winter semester so I was taking a final. Of course, the spring semester starts next monday, but that's what I get for not talking to a counselor at the start of college and wasting two and a half semesters on useless classes.
Now, to address some things I have seen in the comments, because I read all of them. It's a hobby now. Anyway, I saw that some of you had an interesting discussion about the morality of torture over on QQ. Riveting stuff, I assure you, but I'll clarify some things since my writing failed to do so.
In the scene where Las gets on video call with Kaela, and he holds back a wince at her appearance, then suggests better torture hygiene? That's not him wincing at her being dirty, that's him wincing because he has once again been reminded that his top Army officer is insane.
Does that mean he cares about the person who got tortured? No. To Las, he only cares that Kaela is both capable, willing, and downright eager to torture people. It scares him, which is in line with the fact that he is driven almost entirely by fear. The only reason he hasn't run yet is because he fears being tracked down and killed.
Regardless, it's not as if he can't feel sympathy or empathy. He can, for sure. I am not writing a sociopath. But again, he doesn't care for the person that Kaela messed up. To him, that person barely exists, as the only evidence of their existence to him is the blood on Kaela's face. He has seen no video, heard no screams, hell, he never even saw a bodybag.
To top it all off, it was a pirate. A person actively working in such a way as to make his life harder, therefore increasing his chances of dying. If he had spared it any more than a passing thought, he would have dismissed it as a benefit to his chances of survival, which to him are priority No. 1.
With that finished, I got a question for y'all. While it's still a ways away, since the Pirate Arc is still in it's beginning stages, I want to know what kinds of natives you want to see on Minda 2. I have yet to decide, so any submissions for culture, appearance, unique traits/artifacts/abilities are all the more likely to be taken into consideration.
And finally, while I have been using this site for around a year now, maybe a bit less, this story is my first time posting. Ever. Never even commented before this, or liked either. So any information on how the site works, tips and tricks, and patience when I inevitably make mistakes is appreciated.
Thanks for reading!