Milk run delivery (open to all)

[Dunames Lopez]

Ah. The Bowser being equipped with two dual turbolaser turrets, covering the port and starboard arcs respectively, almost 180 degrees apiece, it began firing at the pirate ship, but the Bowser is being out-maneuvered. After raising shields, the Bowser took a few turbolaser hits to the aft corner; many pirates that have the foolhardiness to engage cruisers with a Pullman-sized ship have at least one of torpedoes or turbolasers, and this one had twice the shielding power of the Pullman of Teth. Then again, a Pullman-class ship could withstand hits from a quad laser, such as the ones used for point-defense, but could not take more than two or three turbolaser hits before the shields fail. Dunames had her newly purchased MR-73 loaded and ready, set to kill.

"We've been hit on our aft quarter! We have to work together, mercenaries, you and crew, if we are to repel the pirates. Estimates are that they carry about a dozen pirates onboard, while still having enough room to steal 135 tons or 55 cubic meters, whichever happens first"

If they only had enough room to steal 135 tons off the hold, there's still quite a bit left even if they successfully escape with 135 tons of ore, so long as they haven't captured the ship, Dunames thought. And the security deposit would be withheld on a pro-rated basis of the cargo being stolen vs. the total cargo under Secret Courier. There were 6,000 tons of ore onboard, and the pirates could only make a small dent into the cargo. Clearly they're sending in everything they can if they can put a human-sized hole inside the engine room, in an attempt to capture the ship. She turned to Merrily, even though she didn't normally trust a WA-7 service droid to pilot their way out of a combat zone, she feels like she has no choice but to entrust her the cockpit, with the starboard turbolaser turret requiring a few dozen shots before landing one salvo on the enemy shields.

"Merrily, normally I wouldn't do that but, because it's an emergency, I'm entrusting you the cockpit"

"Roger, roger"

Dunames turned to the mercenaries that boarded the flight and that are not simply there for the purpose of providing security for the ship; they found a new contract on Nar Shaddaa in an attempt to get back at the One Sith. It seems that, if you are a mercenary in the current context, either you are with the OS or against them. And Acaleus, too... as well as Dunames herself.

"The enemy has hit the engineering section; prepare to enter the engineering section and blast the pirates out of space!"

[member="Acaleus Thorn"]

 

[Acaleus Thorn]

"Follow me to the engineering section" told through the radio running with the mercenaries towards the engineering section. If there were a dozen of them, then they would brought a lot of armor and weapons. Enough for them to start a pandemonium "Everyone in team of fours, nothing of small blaster guns, only repeating blasters. Dont dare to fall back, they will kill you or take you as a slave. I was a slave for ten years and i wont recommend any of you that" spoke while reaching the location. He didnt saw the first bolt, and it strike an ally beside Acaleus.

Everyone went to cover themselfs behind walls on either sides of the hallway "Stop them right there. Dont let them advance!" his first though was going to the ventilation system and thats what he do. With a small force jump, he reached the ceiling, destroying part of the duct system with a punch and entering. In a moment he could watch the enemies with an armor big enough to resist a dozen of bolts "But not against a lightsaber" in a moment he was on the ground, without any of the pirates noticing. He could watch the mercenaries covered on the other side "Stop shooting and leave this to me" communicate it by the radio.

He raised his hand and stabbed in the back and the neck of the pirate. The smell of burned meat filled Acaleus nose, a recognized smell. With the one beside him he simply jumped and kick him, with the power increased by the force, breaking the neck of the other. The only reason why his leg wasnt broken was because of the practice using the force to endurance his body "ADVANCE!" ordered to the others.

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

While Dunames was outside the cockpit, she was nervous about Merrily piloting the ship, a task the WA-7 service unit was not programmed for. The gunners were trying to hit the pirate ship with a turbolaser hit, in an attempt to deplete their shields. They knew that, once the shields were down, the Ghtroc 8675 would take only one or two turbolaser hits to take down. And, in the meantime, the pirate ship took a hit, but not enough to take it down. But, in a bid to slow down the pirates from even touching the passengers, with the mercenaries close to the aft doors leading to the engineering section, she had a trick up her sleeve.

"Activate privacy panels!" she screamed in Merrily's direction before getting to the emergency conduit, with her MR-73 sniper rifle activated and ready to fire, but still at the other end of the ship.

The privacy panels she got Merrily to activate extend all the way to the top of the second deck. The passengers now being isolated from what's happening in the aisles, the pirates need to crack open the soundproofed privacy panels to get to the passengers. But as Dunames makes way through the cramped venting conduits, she realizes the pirates' armor is perhaps a little too heavy for her to use a sniper rifle to shoot at them...

[member="Acaleus Thorn"]

 

[Acaleus Thorn]

"Dunames! Need backup here!" said moving a wounded mercenary to the back. They were losing the fight even with having higher numbers. The freaking pirates had a stronger armor against blaster weapons and Acaleus couldnt get closer again, as they mined the ventilation systems. In other times he wouldve exploded the alley, but a explosion so big could take down the walls that divided them from the dead of the space. He heard that Dunames had activated a panel to divide them from the passenger, but that wouldnt matter if they lose.

Acaleus had to retreat to the cargo bay with a dozen of mercenaries "Cover fire, i will try a frontal attack" Some nodded, some were in fear of dying. Acaleus created a small force shield in both arms and make a run for it. The shield survived the bolts until the assassin was on the middle of his targets, but it wasnt strong enough. The one in his left arm banished and he received a bolt in the shoulder. Acaleus took cover on the side of the hallway, protecting himself with the shield of his other arm. He was pin down

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Upon hearing the mercenaries call for backup, Dunames had to go to the forward storage for duty-free to get her hands on something that was more suited to fight pirates with heavy armor, almost Mandalorian in make: the repeating chaingun. It had more penetrating power than a MR-73 did, but was a lot heavier. And Dunames would aim for the joints because the breastplates would be one of the stronger points. She could let off a dozen shots per second, but with ten pirates still left, it was not going to be any easier. But to aim for the joints she would need to be crouched, or perhaps even laying on the floor. She would be most likely to aim for the shoulder joints or the breastplates if she was standing.

"I'll cover you"

But a mine was set off inside the venting conduits as some turbulence caused baggage in an overhead bin to trigger one of the mines, piercing the bin and making the baggage inside the bins closest to the mines fall to the floor, which Dunames used for cover while setting up her repeating chaingun, so as to fire at the knee joints of the pirates' armor. She wasn't used to repeating chainguns but one more mercenary falls to the floor when she finally gets ready to fire the repeating chaingun.

[member="Acaleus Thorn"]

 

[Acaleus Thorn]

There were eight pirates left. Killling more of them would make the pirates retreat, as they wouldnt have enough men to take the ship, only to steal some cargo. Acaleus stood up, but had seconds thoughts. Engaging or advance, and the assassin liked the hard way. The only thing was that he couldnt move his left arm so he retreat once again to the safety of his allies. He took out a magazine and reloaded his blaster gun. After seeing how Dunames was taking them down, he imitate her "Nicely done" said shooting at the knees or arms. Acaleus took cover and wrapped his arm, he wouldnt be able to use two handed weapons but now his arm wouldnt be a problem.

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Dunames may have aimed for the legs or arms because they were joints and chinks in their armor, but the main thing with a chaingun was that one had to expect shots to fall within a cone centered on where you aimed it. But the magazine of 300 shots that came with the chaingun was rather rapidly exhausted. If she killed an extra pirate or two, she would be able to limit how much they could steal, but with thousands of tons of ore, which is taking up way more than 55 cubic meters, there was only so much they could steal until their ship was filled. As she reloads the chaingun, the pirates put holes into the privacy walls close to Dunames' position as well as holes into the suitcases used for cover, thanks to blaster fire from their part.

"Now, pirate clankers, eat repeater blaster fire!"

The overconfident pirates left in their ship outside had to face the horrible reality: their shields are now down due to some lucky shot by the starboard gun. But while Dunames had some skill in using a chaingun, or other long-barreled weapons, she was most at home in a cockpit, and probably more so as a capital ship pilot than in a starfighter; she feels that a starfighter is a little too fragile and its controls are much more sensitive and/or delicate compared to that of capital ships. With a lot of near-misses around her, she had to fire without setting off one, especially if some stray shot went below the floor and hit a mine embedded into the venting systems.

[member="Acaleus Thorn"]

 

[Acaleus Thorn]

Acaleus watched as Dunames nearly didnt missed any shots, He wanted to know what kind of things did she have to do to learn shooting like that. In a moment, he sat on the floor and concentrated on the pirates bodies, searching for any weakness. He saw that the back was a bit lighter that the front "They have a lower defense on the back because of the weight of the armor. We just need to make them fall and shot them on" told to everyone near him. He stood up and with his only good hand, he force pulled the feet of the pirate more close to him, making him fall down. That was a risky move as he was let vulnerable but it was worth. The mercenaries blasted his back off in seconds, then retreat.

There were only five pirates left, their ship was almost done so they wouldnt have a escape route "Stop firing!" he ordered the mercenaries and they obey, then he screamed towards the enemy "Drop your weapons now!" he didnt heard anything for a moment, maybe some whisper but the sound of burned meat and heated weapons didnt let him hear.

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

And Dunames ceased firing when she finally hears the command "Stop firing". But when firing ceases, she appeared to have hit an extra pirate in the knees and the remaining four pirates are cornered in the engineering section. How quickly the tables have turned for the pirates: a mere moments ago, the twelve of them were hunting down mercenaries, without the One Sith interfering in their affairs, but now they lost two-thirds of the boarding force, and the One Sith scrambled fighters to engage the pirate ship left adrift. Merrily thinks that they cannot afford to risk incurring the One Sith's wrath by now, she had the aft shields reinforced so as to prevent cargo leaking from the ship, knowing that the ship was in danger of losing cargo due to damage the pirates caused to the tensor field generator in their attack. Normally the tensor field generator would ensure that the contents of a ship do not leak into space but shields could be used as a backup measure in this regard.

"Captain, the One Sith appears to be taking on the pirate ship: preparing jump to hyperspace before they target us, too" Merrily told her over comlink.

"Good job Merrily, you have cut off their escape route and left the pirate ship adrift for the One Sith to shoot down"

Nevertheless Dunames was nervous for the rest of the flight, especially as it pertains to their arrival over Nar Shaddaa: she may cause the ship to overshoot Nal Hutta or Nar Shaddaa, much like RX-24 did while flying Star Tours flight 45 to Endor so many centuries earlier. She then turns to the six R9 units stationed onboard to deal with such emergencies like in-flight repairs.

[member="Acaleus Thorn"]

 

[Acaleus Thorn]

Seeing the One-Sith ships on the window was weird. He wouldnt comment on the fact that he was with the Republic nor the fact that he fought with a Sith apprentice, but even that turned good.

The pirates threw their weapons to the floor and kneel with an angry look on their face "Go go go!" ordered to the mercenaries and they arrest the pirates. Acaleus would act normal but if something happened he would have to fight his way out....or maybe pay them or talking his way out. He was gettimg nervous

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"R9 units! Repair the aft hull panels and the tensor field generator; after that, repair the privacy panels and the overhead bins!"

The blue glow of hyperspace jumps began to appear around the ship as Dunames gave her instruction to the R9 units stationed onboard. Now that the jump to hyperspace was made, they manage to evade the One Sith a mere two seconds before the One Sith fighters would have come within effective range of the Bowser, after taking out the space turtle out of space. And, of course, since Dunames had no use for a chaingun anymore, she puts the chaingun back into the storage area of the ship from whence it came, and putting it immediately for sale. Plus it was rather heavy and she couldn't see herself using one on a regular basis in combat. Sure, she could have some level of precision with a cone surrounding the targeted area, but she didn't see herself as a shock trooper the way she pictured Jedi or Sith to be, no more than she could imagine herself piloting a starfighter the way they do.

She also pictured the One Sith to be very short-ranged with an hyperdrive if the fighters were equipped with one; refueling a fighter costs precious time and Nar Shaddaa was a hive nest of pirates who would love nothing better than a shot at taking out One Sith fighters because each One Sith fighter pilot came with its own bounty, with an extra if the fighter pilot was Force-sensitive, although the value of the bounties varied by the bounty provider. That, knowing that bounties on One Sith personnel were usually made public on that world. But there was one thing the One Sith couldn't do: fight in hyperspace. The passengers, especially those with side windows, breathed a sigh of relief upon jumping to hyperspace.

"Nar Shaddaa, here we come!"

"Ahem. Please apologize for any inconvenience this pirate attack may have caused. Now that the pirates have been repelled, the auction of these two items may begin. The first item being auctioned today is this Hellgun S-151-A chaingun blaster, used to repel the pirate attack this very ship. Bids start at 2,000 credits"

Of course, she expects the chaingun she just used to go for more than 2,000 credits, and perhaps even more than 6,000 credits, which was its factory value. The last item she auctioned onboard was a Coruscant typewriter, and even that went for more than its factory value of 1,500 credits. But the disassembled lightsaber would certainly go for more than the 1,250 credits she paid for, even though its only distinguishing feature was that its blade was orange with a black core and that its hilt was otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. She kept it for last for a reason...

"Merrily, lower the privacy panels!"

[member="Acaleus Thorn"]

 

[Acaleus Thorn]

Acaleus was about to pass out. With every lair of his armor was hit or rubbed by bolts. Also he received punches from the pirates, that would have been easy to avoid, but their tech made them faster and their damage higher. His right arm wouldnt react or move, but Acaleus knew that with a night of sleep "Or maybe a week..." said walking on the hallways while the mercenaries celebrate the victory on the food court. He should be going to the medic to check his wounds but he saw that a lot of people were running towards a hall. Once he got there, he heard screams "2000 CREDITS!" "5000!" numbers, money.

He entered the room, tired, at the edge of passing out and with his last force he screamed "20 000 CREDITS!" and then the world went upside down, black and he pass out.

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"IM-6B, please check every surviving mercenary's injuries" Dunames asked the medical droid to check on Acaleus, who just pass out after placing a bid for 20,000 credits. while the auction is still in progress. "20,000 credits, who can do better?"

While IM-6B went far enough back the ship to find Acaleus alongside a throng of injured mercenaries, there was only one more passenger willing to give up on the lightsaber and go all-in on the chaingun, which was a lot heavier to carry around than a lightsaber was. Dunames had difficulty holding one for long; she had to put it on a stand to be able to aim it properly when she fought with it. "25,000 credits!" the passenger flying in Pullman class screamed when the medical droid passed to that passenger's left, willing to at least get something out of the ride to Nar Shaddaa to show for it, if only something as cumbersome as the chaingun that allowed the flight to arrive safely at Nar Shaddaa.

"25,000 credits, once, twice, thrice, sold!"

That passenger got to the cockpit shaft to collect an almost-new chaingun whose weight was almost as much as that of the total carry-on baggage allowance of one passenger; on Star Tours flights, passengers are entitled to one suitcase in the overhead bin and an additional bag, whose total mass was 25 kg, and two bags (three for Pullman-class passengers) each 25 kg maximum, as checked baggage, with some stipulations on the size of the baggage. And the cycle of screams, money, begins anew when Dunames announces the last of the two items being auctioned. Of course, lightsabers are, to non-Force-sensitives, perceived as luxury curio items, but for Force-sensitives, they are must-haves for combat, regardless of which side of the Force they fight on.

"Today's final auctioned item is this gift-wrapped lightsaber kit, which is purported to have an orange blade with a black core. Bids start at 5,000 credits"

[member="Acaleus Thorn"]

 

[Acaleus Thorn]

The place he woke up was his own room with bandages in his arms and legs. His head was spinning for the medicine and he didnt had any force to stand up yet. Acaleus ordered himself to sleep and so he did. He woke up again with more vitality, and so he stood up. The first thing he wanted was to eat seven plates of food and the second would talking to Dunames about the status of his cargo after the battle with the pirates. The good thing was that he was better than other times.

The assassin walked towards the pilot room, thinking that he would find her in there. He founded a droid "You are...Well i dont know. Do you know where Dunames is? I need to speak to her"

[member='Dunames Lopez']

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"Captain, this is Merrily, Acaleus is asking for you on the bridge" Merrily asked over com-link.

"Coming." Then Dunames turned to the crowd of hagglers, with the gift box containing the lightsaber. "There has been a few issues in the cockpit, please apologize for any inconveniences these issues have caused"

While going up the cockpit shaft, Dunames finds also IM-6B climbing into the shaft a little above her. Obviously IM-6B had a few problems with one of the injured mercenaries that may require a diversion to another planet, unless Nar Shaddaa was somehow close enough that the patient's condition could be stabilized for the journey to continue to the very end. This ship wasn't equipped with a bacta tank; did Acaleus' injuries require a bacta tank for complete treatment? While she could appraise the cost of a bacta tank treatment, she needed to know in what condition he was to do so. But knowing him, it might have to do with the cargo as well.

"I'm here, Acaleus. I think the reason why you called me up there has to do with at least one of cargo or medical issues"

[member="Acaleus Thorn"]

 

[Acaleus Thorn]

He was a little angry for not being noticed about the status of his cargo. During the battle, even with the mercenaries controlling the pirates on the hallways, they couldve planted bombs and maybe one of the prisoners had the detonators. The thing that bother him the most was the fact that Dunames attention was on an auction instead of checking those things "I want to check the cargo bay and need the help of your men to do that. I have very unstable materials on the crates and its better for the ship safe to know their condition"

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

"I understand your anger about the status of the cargo. Because you know the cargo better than anyone else, I will let you accompany my men to the cargo hold" She turned to the com-link and turned on a different channel for the security guards posted onboard. "Security, inspect the cargo hold for structural damage to the cargo and also, take R9-C4 with you to detect the presence of bombs"

R9-C4 was the only droid onboard programmed and equipped to detect and disarm explosives. Well, not the only one, but the one best at detecting explosives; IM-6B could also do it, but not as efficiently as R9-C4 did. Not only 900-year-old Merrily was not programmed to do so, Dunames couldn't detect explosives for herself. whereas the contents of the crates may not be explosive per se, combined together, some of them may prove to be. Usage of the Secret Courier meant that she didn't know what the exact contents of the cargo were, since the cargo manifest listed more generic categories in which the actual cargo fell into, for example chemicals or ores. Which means that Acaleus used his own cargo manifest to go inspect cargo hold for any damage to the crates, due to the increased accuracy of that manufest.

[member="Acaleus Thorn"]

 

[Acaleus Thorn]

"Now i can do this without anyone to notice" thought to himself, walking with the mercenaries...his own mercenaries. Buying them a month ago was far more easy than he expected, but of course he kept a track on their location and who and what they were talking to. Once week passed and everything seemed normal, Acaleus knew he had them on his side. A group of hackers would help him with the cameras, freezing them and de-activating things from the ship. The reason for all of this was changing a crate ownership for Acaleus. It was from a rival company on Nar Hutta, that had schemes for new weaponry and fighters models, and the robbery of their materials would delay them, losing customers and money. Maybe lead them to bankruptcy.

The mercenaries position themselfs on the doors around the cargo bay while Acaleus made a sign in his radio for the hackers around the ships to take the cameras and lights of the ship down for a moment. That would create chaos around the Bowser in seconds. Acaleus quickly took out a data pad and changed trade the numbers of the crate with the schemes with one similar. He expected that nobody would notice, as the pirate ship created some damage to the Bowser and that could cause malfunction on its systems.

[member="Dunames Lopez"]

 

[Dunames Lopez]

Panicked, the passengers were running about the passenger deck when the lights went out. All that they did notice before the lights went out was that security would go down to inspect for bombs and checking on the structural integrity of the ship. However, what the passengers didn't notice was that the security cameras went out - and most of the passengers didn't quite seem to care about those. R9-C4 may have detected a bomb that was close to the security camera circuits and/or the lighting circuits for what they knew. Dunames may have appeased the main cargo owner for now, but she would hazard a guess that the main cargo owner wouldn't be back up until the issues surrounding the cameras and the lighting have been resolved.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there has been a reactor spike; this is the reason for the lights going out. Please stand by while the maintenance droids take care of the reactor spike. On a sidenote, we shall arrive on Nar Shaddaa within an hour or two"

Even though said "reactor spike" is actually the result of a slicing attempt, after the damage the ship has taken due to the pirate attack over Onderon, the passengers could believe a reactor spike could have caused some issues with powering items of lesser priority.

[member="Acaleus Thorn"]

 

[Acaleus Thorn]

Acaleus walked into his room and took out his datapad to talk to Dunames "Apparently there was a small droid downloading a virus. It was left by the pirates after their attack, so one of the mercenaries has taken the droid down" said while entering the room and gathering his things and walking towards the main hall. They wouldnt notice about the change until the fake crate has reached its location. With this schemes his company would be updated and win clients. Venus should be waiting with a small team ready to pack up the cargo towards Enryu Corp. Nar Shadda was a dangerous planet because of not having police, only the hutts mafia controlled parts of the planet, since the hand of their large empire didnt reached the planet.

[member="Dunames Lopez"]