Hawks and the Alliance

[Coren Starchaser]

Another part of the game, being back with the Alliance, was making sure things were working properly. Coren Starchaser knew what he had to do, and a lot of it was dealing with the right people. He had some contacts that he needed to chase down and stir back up. One of them was that Skirata, and the Hawks. Sure, Coren’s methods weren’t always sound, but the way the Alliance worked? He needed some other special teams. That was what he was doing here. Off on the border of Coalition and Alliance Space, Coren was setting up a meeting.

But first, it was going to be a sit down, a recap of what had gone on during his time away, what the Shriek Hawks had been up to, and what they were aiming to do within the Alliance now.

Sure, they were getting paid, but if they could bring some fighting force that was needed? Coren had no qualm with setting up a rogue’s gallery of support. Hell, he was part of that, if one were to really boil it down to its base parts. Sipping his drink, he was just awaiting the contact, while skimming the data on his datapad. Just confirmation and a re-upp for good work.

 

[Atsushi Ono]

Gilamar Skirata was not a man to take his position seriously. He preferred to fly in old freighters with secret hideaways than roll up in an expensive shuttle or well armed escort.

Dorn was not that Skirata.

The well armed and armored Mandalorian shuttle docked with the station. Before when Gil first started the Shriek-Hawks the Galactic Alliance were some of the company's first customers. Mel was with him today. She had been part of that first force, the leader then of just one squad, now a lieutenant. He hoped a friendly face would keep the Alliance's trust.

The pair walked down the ramp, both clad in their beskargam, Dorn's short white cape flowed behind him.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

It was a Skirata on the call for the Shriek Hawks again. That should be fine. Coren had worked with Gilamar the first time, same guy, right? Maybe, about a 50/50 chance. Well, maybe more if he didn’t see who it was. But that didn’t matter, the job was simple for him. Represent the Alliance and the Merchant Fleet to get some more help. To reaffirm he could call on someone during the rough times ahead in the war. He sipped at his drink another time, as he watched the holoscreen before him.

“Can I get another one of these?” He asked the bartender. “And keep an eye on the door. Supposed to be meeting some colleagues. I have a feel you’ll know when they are here.” He wasn’t going to keep looking over his shoulder. And well, the Force could only extend him so far.

Right, the SH team had done a lot of work. He really was hoping they’d stay.

[member="Dorn Skirata"]

 

[Atsushi Ono]

The Mandalorian duo of Dorn and Mel walked through the doors of the station's bar. Less crowded than he'd thought it be, but then again the hangar wasn't particularly full when they had arrived. He glanced from side to side looking for the contact. Dorn had never met Coren before, but he felt he would at least be able to tell the difference between rifraff and an Alliance contact. A few minutes of browsing and...

Maybe not.

Mel sighed and sidestepped Dorn and took a seat next to Coren. She hadn't ever spoken with him directly, but she knew the face. She took her helmet off, a slightly fake smile more along the lines of a mischievous smirk met the young man.

"Coren Starchaser?"

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

This nice thing about being Coren Starchaser was that through his own history and his networks, he knew which ports were going to be a bit more quiet than others and when. Sure, it was a lot to manage, but when you broke it down, really pretty simple. Still, the bar he was at was mostly quiet, and a great meeting place. He wasn’t sure if Skirata was siding with the Mando Empire, but he was hoping not. They needed the help in the Alliance.

Looking up when he heard the two enter, he waited to see who sat down. Mostly recognized her, but that was like a face-in-a-dream. Sipping his drink, he looked over. “Depends who’s asking.” He grinned, only being annoying on purpose a little. He looked over his shoulder to the other person as well.

Shriek-Hawks, almost definitely.


[member="Dorn Skirata"]

 

[Atsushi Ono]

Dorn glared behind his T-shaped visor.

He didn't like him already. Gil had strange tastes in clients. He sat on the other side of Starchaser, trapping him in what some would call a Mandalorian Sandwich.

"I understand the Alliance has undergone several notable losses in the early battles of this new Galactic War of yours." Right to business. Mel shot him a look, but he was the boss here, not her. "I also understand that under Gilamar Skirata the Shriek-Hawks had a small part in the GA's initial expansion and keeping your space lanes safe. A whole task force and everything." He paused and ordered a drink from the bartender. "We also incurred our own losses on what we thought was a regular patrol that ended up being a full on invasion of sector I-49. The Task-Force we were providing is not equipped for battles of that scale. If we are going to do business we need to know more about what we're up against and we're going to need a better deal so that when my men go marching towards the Manda among foreign stars, their families and vod know why." A clear and strong smelling drink slid across the bar towards Dorn and he caught it in his left hand.

The tip of a straw popped out of the side of his helmet so he could pull it to its full length.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Santa Claus was coming to town…

Wait, no. He couldn’t think like that, not with some Mandos. He knew there were a few that were jacked into the Force and could maybe hear thought. And being the turkey of the mando sandwich was not something he wanted to be. But when they started speaking he clearly tightened up his own story. “Yeah, the beginning of the war has … we’ve had some rust in the gears, that’s true.” He took a sip before looking between the two.

“Being without a fight seemed to make the Alliance a bit soft. I’ll give you that. Right now, I am doing my best to collect data, but it seems we have the Sith, the First Order, and that damned false Empire to the south of us to worry on. Easy enough to call them all hostile nations at this point.

“What can we give you besides intel when its confirmed to assist you?”

[member="Dorn Skirata"]

 

[Atsushi Ono]

Before Dorn could make the conversation any more dull than it already was or seem any more threatening and angry, Mel stepped into the conversation.

"Credits. Even though the Mandalorians are remaining neutral so far as we know, there are more Mandalorians than I can count that wouldn't love a chance to crack a Sith's skull in. But we need credits to field more ships and fill them with mercs. We love a good fight, but we don't fight for free."

Dorn glared over again. "We just want to sign a new contract for more troops. Having access to Alliance Military ships and military gear would also put less strain on our own resources."

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Credits. He could do that. Make sure the right amount of capital got put into the hands of the Shriek-Hawks. The thing was that Coren normally sent these kind of trips out to minions to make sure everything was handled. With the Shriek-Hawks though, he wanted to give them the benefit of working with someone who knew them well enough.

“We can get you the credits. If you provide me with what ships you need, I can work a deal to get you postings on them. And see what we can actively provide. Also, we heard tale that some of your Empire had turned against us on Dagobah, can we get any confirmation that won’t happen?” He understood following the Mando Leader. It was what kept them together. But to pay people and lose them in battle? Not something he was hoping to have.

[member="Dorn Skirata"]

 

[Atsushi Ono]

Mel winced. She had actually fought against Ra during the Civil War and despised what the Mandalorians were becoming: Opportunistic raiders. Dorn on the other hand was a staunch supporter of Ra and the Mand'alor which made what happened next surprising even for her.

"I can. I won't deny that there has been a shift in culture since leadership has weakened. Opportunistic and selfish, but a Mandalorian's honor will always rise above petty skirmishes. Outside of all out war with the Galactic Alliance I can say without a doubt the Mando'ade that fight alongside the GA. We won't fight our own though. We won't be the cause of another Civil War. But Ra understands business, and I believe the only reason for his raids is because we ourselves lack the infrastructure on our destroyed homeworld to support our people, and the Civil War itself along with years of stagnation have spread our people to the winds." He sighed.

"Once we've regained our economic stability I'm sure the raids will stop. On the bright side it doesn't seem like we'll be taking sides in this war any time soon."

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren winced at his own words there for a second. He knew that the Mandalorians favored honor above all else. The Hawks hadn’t given him any reason to doubt their loyalty to the mission, and tasks that the Alliance provided them. “I want to apologize. I spoke out of turn. The Hawks have never given me reason to doubt. Its just… recent wounds. And I would never be so crass as to send the Hawks against others of the Mandalorian Empire. I’m not that foolish.

“Not having your people active in the war does make things tricky. I can understand stagnation, when the Alliance was formed, we needed a target, we eventually forgot that. Growing pains are not easy.” He nodded to Mel and Dorn. “I can get you ships. Do you have any idea what you will be needing for material?”

[member="Dorn Skirata"]

 

[Atsushi Ono]

"Its understandable, no need to apologize," though he was glad he did, "I'll make sure to get you some sort of manifest, but truthfully I was simply asking to be given access to those ships as before getting on board an Alliance warship was...Well lets just say there was a lot of red tape."

He swirled the drink in his glass a little bit and took a swig. The Tihaar here was good, he'd have to remember this place. While Ra's actions did make things a little harder for his company, it was also a sort of free advertisement. Nobody wanted the ferocity of the Mando'ade against them, so why not pay them off? Either way it seemed that for now the war would have no impact on his business.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]