Justice to the Criminals (Nyx Supply Run)

[James Justice]

Location: LC-2
Time: 1:16 AM

James Justice rose from his bed, unable to sleep. The woman of the night stirred softly beside him at his movement, murmuring weakly, "C-cap'in? W-wh--"

He comforted her into silence with a gentle touch of her hair. The weak woman settled back into sleep and he rose from the bed, his weary body aching slightly. The cold air of the station stun slightly on his bare skin as the spacer walked through the halls. The dim lighting illuminated his toned, muscular body as he walked. His skin was flawless except for a massive scar on his right side and a series of jagged lines across his right arm. One was from a firefight, the other was from a torture session with the maniac Thraxis. The very thought of the memory made the air ten degrees cooler and set his face in a grim expression.

The spacer made his way to the empty bar and served himself. LC-2 had been redesigned to his own specifications and the bar had to be close to his bedroom, for reasons like this. As he nursed the glass of Ale, he looked to the mute holoprojector running a few games of Huttball.

His mind drifted to what had him awake at night. It was the first run he had for these new recruits. And the first sting he had for the One Sith in his new plan with Nyx. He would give them weapons as they requested and then later, he would ask them for favors. Yes, he was trying two new untested ponies at once. A new set of smugglers he had hired recently and a new contract at once. The spacer shook his head. They had to start somewhere, but sending them into the heart of the deadly space of the enemy.... he shook his head and took another drink.

He couldn't help but feel that he had signed death warrants. No, he decided turning to the window that looked out to the rest of the Roche Asteroids. They knew what they were getting into long ago. And, more than that, this job had its own problems. It was time he stopped forcing himself to keep this break-neck speed. It was--it was breaking him. It was time for a new generation to step forward more. The next generation of spacers were coming forward and he had no problem helping them, teaching them, giving them work. In turn they would replace him. Then what would he be, James wondered.

No, he had other things to begin turning his mind to. His body could not keep jostling at every single job. He had to trust others to do that now. The spacer set his drink down and stalked back to bed, back to the waiting @Stardust. Curling next to her, he drifted off to sleep once more.

[member="Dia Torr"]
[member="Kiber Thaxton"]
[member="Thalia Kaia"]
[member="Nyx"]
EDIT: [member="Dion Kayl"]

Spoiler

((CUE: Camera pans to you all doing your work I thought I would try a different entrance to this thread))

 

[Nyx]

Unlike her business partner, Nyx was kicking someone out of her room. The Twi'lek girl had been distracting enough, but Nyx had business to conduct, and some random alien girl looking over her shoulder just wouldn't do.
Her second in command, Kath, entered her room just as the Twi'lek was pushed out, an eyebrow raised as she stared at her boss.
"Haven't I seen her in here before?" She asked icily, glaring at the girl's back as she left the cantina. "If I remember correctly, she threatened to castrate one of our boys."
Nyx shrugged, stretching her arms with a moan. "I took care of it. Late-night negotiations happen to be my specialty."
Kath snorted with amusement as she threw Nyx's jacket at her. "Right. The woman who prides herself on being a rather practiced pugilist is a hardcore negotiator."
"Hey, I worked hard for that!"
The redhead rolled her eyes and jerked her head at the door.
"Moxy wants to see ya. Said it's important."

The elderly woman looked up from her datapad as Nyx entered the room.
"Good, you're here. Got a message from [member="James Justice"]. His smugglers are on the way with their supplies."
Nyx smirked, plopping down in a chair and swinging her feet up onto the desk.
"Great! Some of our guns are falling apart."
"That's not all. Sith have tightened regulations. Not to mention, the only place we could get them in without the Sith knowing is in Tunnel Snake territory."
Nyx bolted up, slamming her hands down onto the desk.
"What?! You told them to land in Tunnel Snake territory?! Those wankers have been slamming us for months! The first thing they'll do is hit those smugglers with all they've got."
Before Moxy could finish, Nyx was calling for the Rats to mobilize.
It would take them a couple hours to reach the meeting point, an old warehouse on the edge of Rat territory, bordering the Tunnel Snakes. Hopefully, James' smugglers could handle themselves enough to get there in one piece.

[member="Dia Torr"]
[member="Kiber Thaxton"]
[member="Thalia Kaia"]

 

[Kiber_Thaxton]

[member="Nyx"] [member="Dia Torr"] [member="Thalia Kaia"]

Kiber lead the way, his silenced disruptor pistol in hand, to ward off anyone who tried to tangle with them. "Are you sure this is the way to that warehouse?" he asked Dia, feeling utterly confused by his surroundings, He had been all over the galaxy, but this place had him utterly out of his comfort zone, and feeling rather lost. "Does anyone know where the warehouse is exactly?" the Mandalorian bounty hunter tried to see if he could spot the meeting point. No, it wasn't that warehouse. And it wasn't that one either. They were approaching the edge of the territory, and Kiber's patience was starting to run thin - he did not want to be late and make Justice Shipping look like an amatuer organization.

 

[Dion Kayl]

Dion followed [member="Kiber Thaxton"] and the others; he was laden with an extremely large and heavy looking backpack containing some of the smuggled goods (in particular, a large cache of weapons), though the cyborg's posture betrayed no hint of strain. The majority of the other supplies they were bringing to [member="Nyx"] were strapped down and discreetly covered by a tarp on a repulsor-wagon, which the Justice Shipping crew surrounded in a protective formation, Dion bringing up the rear.

His cybernetic eyes glowed orange as he scanned each building they passed, alert for any sign of movement. The territory they were traversing was obviously not friendly-- graffiti declaring the presence of the "Tunnel Snakes" was everywhere. Their small party had managed to land and embark without attracting any attention, but getting from point A to point B was going to depend a lot on their luck holding out. It would be readily apparent, even despite their party's small size, that they were protecting something important, but hopefully any potential attackers would consider it not worth their time and trouble to tangle with a group of armed smugglers led by a Mandalorian.

In response to Kiber's query about the warehouse, Dion re-checked his HUD aerial map-- they were indeed going in the right direction, as he could see their destination point was due west from their current position, and they were headed that way. "We're on track. About 3000 meters to go." There were indeed a lot of large, square, same-y buildings in this area, most of which seemed like they weren't being used. Indeed, there were hardly any people around at all, and it was a bit too quiet for Dion's liking.

 

[Dia Torr]

Dia chuckles and pats the Mandalorian's shoulder. The two of them had started to form a bit of a bond as relative newbies to Justice Shipping. "Don't worry so much, man. It's not like we're gonna miss the warehouse." She looks around the area, taking note of the signs of the Tunnel Snakes' presence.

"So, do any of us know about who we're meeting here?"

 

[Dion Kayl]

To Dia's question, Dion spoke up: "Our contact's name is Nyx, she leads one of the rival gangs on this planet called the Street Rats. My understanding is that the Sith are blockading her supplies, so she must be on their bad side." Dion continued to scan the surrounding buildings-- why was it so quiet? He felt uneasy speaking under such eerie silence, especially considering their cargo.

Suddenly...

Spoiler: Optional Soundtrack

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0ximxe4XtU[/media]

The Tunnel Snakes emerged from their holes-- they must have been lying in ambush with optical and thermal camouflage, because Dion's cybernetic eyes hadn't picked up any heat signatures until suddenly there were many... 24 to be precise. Some were standing on roofs, others slithered out of alleys and popped into the windows of the seemingly abandoned buildings. They were variously armed, and seemed to all share a matching uniform of leather jackets and blue jumpsuits (some tattered or decorated with patches or war paint).

They were mostly surrounded. Still 1500 meters from the destination, the Justice Shipping crew found themselves in a bit of a pickle, though such a scenario was far from unexpected. While it's nice to get paid for a leisurely stroll with no complications whatsoever, any earnest smuggler lives for the thrill of responding to a crisis and coming out on top.

No need to mince words-- Dion tossed a small orb onto the wagon with the stolen goods, which settled in place and immediately projected a solid field of energy with a 5 meter radius; it was designed so that projectiles and energy could escape when fired from inside, but would be repelled from the outside. Such a contraption gave them cover for as long as it would last-- which was usually about 5 minutes, but that depended on how much stress it was put under. Speaking of stress, the roar of an engine drew Dion's attention to the end of the street down which they were heading, where a large hovertruck with a brutally modified, spiked cow-pusher had rolled into view, black smoke billowing from twin exhaust stacks, its bed filled with several armed men who were jeering and waving their weapons. The engine revved threateningly.

Dion, keeping calm, unshouldered the heavy pack he was carrying and opened it as the first few rounds began pinging against the energy shield. With a cyborg's precision and efficiency he assembled and loaded a PLX-1 Portable Missile Launcher, one of the items being delivered to Nyx. To his companions, Dion said evenly, "Give them everything you've got," as he aimed and fired-- the missile streaked down the street and collided with the truck, causing it to immediately explode in a spectacular fashion, sending metal shrapnel and dismembered, burning Tunnel Snake parts flying in a large radius.

That's when they started attacking for real.

[member="Dia Torr"]
[member="Kiber Thaxton"]
[member="Nyx"]
[member="James Justice"]