HSP Run-On - Adventures in Nar Shaddaa

Welcome to the HSP House-Wide Run-On, brought to you by Dr. Elincia Rei.

Nar Shaddaa was at war. However, this war was not of armies and tanks, of starships and space stations. This war was waged in the underworld, in the Refugee Sector, in the gang culture of the Smugglers’ Moon. In the aftermath of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, a newly formed Hutt Cartel administered the system, safety and security of the sector in the hands of the precise and authoritarian Wakka the Hutt. Despite the grip with which the Hutt attempted to rule over his dominion, Nar Shaddaa will always be Nar Shaddaa, and gang culture was rife in the underworld.

The criminal syndicate Black Nova were the biggest and the baddest, responsible for numerous high profile heists, assassinations, and generally being a giant poisonous thorn in Wakka the Hutt’s enormous side, their elimination was his highest priority. The much smaller Hellhounds, comprised of impoverished alien species known for their aggressiveness and training of vicious animals, were their closest rivals, but always dominated in any gang conflict, they resigned themselves to petty crime and had always been seen as a lower priority by the authorities. The other major gang in the sector were the Wall Breakers. The Wall Breakers were an odd bunch. Their primary aim was conquest of the whole of Nar Shaddaa. They just didn’t know how to accomplish this and failed harebrained scheme after harebrained scheme. By the Hutt, by the Black Nova, and by the people, they were generally seen as crazy eccentrics, which made them very sad, as they claimed to be in possession of a rare and mystical power.

“The sudden disappearance of a weapons cache worth millions of credits from under Wakka the Hutt’s nose threatens to destabilise the underworld,” the smooth female voice of the Nar Shaddaa Holonet News Network sounded across the moon. “The Hellhounds are suspected to be responsible and Wakka’s forces are investigating.”

Fire and restrained anger burned in the dark eyes of Darin Kass. Now was the time for calculated response, not rash action. The intimidating presence of the giant by human standards was balanced by a cunning and calculating mind that had landed him in the most powerful position in the underworld. ‘How have the Hellhounds pulled this one off?’ he seethed. This was his biggest threat since usurping command of the Black Suns. “If the Hellhounds have that cache they could cause us all huge problems,” he communicated to every man under his command. “We need more information as soon as possible. Find out what happened, where that cache is and secure it for ourselves. If you encounter any of Wakka’s men, shoot on sight. They won’t abandon their campaign against us just for this.”

A crash of scaled Trandoshan fist echoed against the oblivious metal of the reinforced durasteel crate. “PASSWORD DENIED?” Kras screamed at the box which showed no signs of giving in to his raised voice. “We need that password now! Find someone with it!” he barked aggressively at no-one in particular with no clear plan in mind.

“This conflict presents us with a great opportunity to assume control,” said Sela Dor, her purple eyes farmed by an odd mess of cyan hair that clashed messily against her long white leather coat. “The narrator has introduced us as the goofy guys. We will use the chaos to dominate Nar Shaddaa, and redeem ourselves in the eyes of the readers!”
“How do we plan to do that?” a lieutenant questioned.
“We could destroy the world!” Sela suggested enthusiastically.
“And then what happens?”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet but making a strong start to this campaign is essential to maintain our status in the plot, and establish ourselves as main characters. I have no intention of being relegated to a comic relief side plot. Do you?”

Meanwhile, in the Cocytus system, the data mining algorithms of Dr. Elincia Rei had flagged the missing weapons cache as potentially important to the house aims. Immediately, she passed on the message to the Quaestor. Soon, another force would be present on the Smugglers’ Moon, seeking the weapons cache.

Emperor’s Office
Royal Palace, Ohmen
Judecca, Cocytus system

“A weapons cache… that presents opportunities. If anything it will annoy those damn slugs,” Xen’Mordin said aloud and to no one in particular. Evant Taelyan shifted his weight, rereading the report before bringing in his own opinion.

“Are we sure Dr. Rei’s algorithms are trustworthy?” Evant questioned. The House and military was always looking for shiny new ways to blow stuff up, but stealing from the Hutts, and the psychotic gangs, was a bit of a risk even for the mighty army of Scholae Palatinae.

“I ran some… tests after she presented its usage. All flagged and signalled as planned. She does seem a bit anal about her research, I don’t think she would accept passing on misinformation. Would cost her her lab. And her life,” Xen flashed a wicked smile.

“I can have a team ready to deploy in 3 hours,” Evant said without looking up from the datapad. “It will be in our hands before you know it.” Xen shook his head. He grabbed the cool metal mask he had left sitting in his desk, he didn’t bother to wear it when was just he and those he could trust. He quickly placed it on his head, grabbed his cloak and pulled up the hood. His voice, more robotic from the mask’s vocalizer rang clear with the sound of authority.

“And let you have all the fun? I think not.”

Hanger B
Royal Palace, Ohmen
Judecca, Cocytus system

Xen always found it a bit dazzling how quickly a team could come together for a dangerous mission. He stood at the top of the ramp just outside the doors of the shuttle. He looked down at the team that had answered the call. Each one of them a loyal and hardened member of Scholae Palatinae. Each one of them willing to risk their lives for power and glory. Each one of them, apparently really bored from how quickly they answered the call for a mission.

“My Brothers and Sisters, today we venture into the pit of vile filth and misery that is the Smuggler’s Moon. Today we will take from those greedy slimy Hutts what they would try to keep away from us. Today we bring death and destruction to the ragtag gangs that stand in our way. And when we are done, I promise we will stop and get some grub at Big Daddy’s. I hear they added some amazing new bacon-wrapped shrimp to the buffet lines. Foods on us, and anything else, well you lot got credits, spend ‘em how you like.”

“You do give better speeches then that when we go to war and stuff right?” Elincia asked Xen as she stepped up the ramp for the shuttle.

“I know what these guys like. And that is killing things, all you can eat buffets, alcohol, and glitter,” was Xen’s reply. He stepped into the shuttle and took a seat. Too often was he left at back in the system, playing ruler and keeping life going for the system and house. But not today. Today he had a chance to get his hands dirty. Little did he know, just how dirty they were going to get over the course of this little adventure. If he did, he would have made sure to bring a great deal of disinfectant with them.

VT-49 Decimator Archer
Somewhere above Nal Hutta

“That was a really short trip, I always forget how close Judecca is to this filth infested place,” Evant said despairingly as he looked out the cockpit window of the heavily armed transport at the glowing orange hue of the fully developed moon of Nar Shadaa to the left.

“If you’re going to complain we’ll turn around and cancel this vacation,” Xen’s voice filled the entire cockpit, speaking from the nearby shuttle where he was accompanying the volunteers for the mission.

Evant pulled a small flask from his robes and took a drink, smiling as the amber colored liquid soothingly ran down his throat before replying, “Fine, let’s just get down there and find some lunch, your speech made me hungry.”

“Why are you on the Archer anyways, there’s a full refresher station on the shuttle with scones and muffins?” Xen responded quizzically.

“It just looked cooler alright, leave me alone,” Evant spat out as his stomach grumbled as the Archer and shuttle turned towards Nar Shadaa and began their approach.

Landing Bay 89D-4A
Refugee Sector, Nar Shadaa

If not for the stark white full lab coat, the pale red skin of Dr. Elincia Rei would have been lost in the dirt and grime of the landing bay. Lights flickered in half the bay as they struggled to maintain power. Empty crates were smashed open leaving splinters of material all over. If not for the repulsorlifs on the Lambda-class shuttle pushing things aside there would have hardly been a flat space to land in the small space.

While the rest of the team stayed in the shuttle awaiting orders, Emperor Xen’Mordin Vismorsus slowly walked down the ramp, cape flowing behind him with his head held high as he walked down the ramp and took in the scenery to join the Doctor at the base of the ramp. His mechanically amplified voice hardly audible over the sound of blown bearings on a nearby exhaust fan bringing what was considered fresh air by the standards of the place, “Why am I not surprised that this is where we would end up on the planet?”

Dr. Rei’s response cut through all the sarcasm, in a tone of pure professionalism, “Crime lords and gangs tend to find an easy time avoiding detection by authorities in this sector of the planet, and we are here to find them.”

It was hard to see his facial expression, but Xen immediately realized who he was talking to and for just a fleeting moment missed his Aedile’s own sarcastic responses, especially as he garnered no attention at all for his grand entrance, “Right, of course. That’s why. Where are our other ships? Especially Evant.”

“This hangar bay was not large enough to properly hold all the ships that came on this mission. I do not have sufficient information on all our ships, but the Archer, and Evant, are currently at Landing Bay 87D-9C,” Elincia responded as she slid through menus and information on her datapad.

“Well that sounds close,” Xen responded, looking around the hangar bay trying to piece together different things that may have happened there from carbon scoring on the walls and cracks in the permacrete.

“Actually, it is not close at all by consideration of time relative to our current position. It is two concourses away and four levels. By foot, it would be at least a half an hour walk,” Elincia responded, her eyes never leaving the datapad. For a moment Xen wondered if Elincia wasn’t a droid and started to wonder how he was going to get everyone back together in the same place.

HOLONET NEWS REPORT

Tensions between Black Nova and the Hellhounds reach critical levels over a missing weapons cache stolen from Wakka the Hutt.

Hanger Bay 48C-1F
Nar Shaddaa

The news filtered in slowly, and then in torrents. Open gangland warfare was upon
Nar Shaddaa with the forces of Wakka the Hutt sitting back letting Black Nova and the myriad species and racial factions that comprised the Hellhounds tear each other apart. It had been 48 hours since Scholae Palatinae forces had arrived on the Smugglers’ Moon and they had little to show for it.

To be accurate, many scouting and infiltration teams were dispatched to return information on each rival faction. This had not been utterly unsuccessful, each of the three gangs had brethren in their midst. Yet, Wakka the Hutt’s inner cadre could not be breached for obvious lacking of a Hutt member in the group.

Dr. Rei sat amongst her data arrays and scientific apparatus, slowly taking in the small talk between Zagro Fenn, Kor Vaal, and Koryn Thraagus. The Rollmaster was put in charge of the assembled think-tank whose job it was to compile all information and piece together a coherent assesment of where the weapons cache was and then formulate a basic outline of a strategy to the War Council.

"It is not enough. The Wall Breakers are mad, we cannot make heads or tails of their plans. They simply do not seem to realize a war is going on. One would think they are laying low but a group that small would not be able to hide such a cache or move it undetected. Black Nova and the Hellhounds are too busy in turf annexation and defense. If one faction had it, shouldn’t they have a clear advantage in this melee?"stated the Rollmaster.

“Master…I did not wish to do this, but I have no choice. I grew up in Hutt Space, Nar Shaddaa is home to me after Hapes. Allow me to infiltrate Wakka’s organization and I will hack her entire information grid. My connections here are still reliable and it is impossible that Wakka is not looking for master slicers to gain intel on the rival gangs and retake the cache.” offered Fenn.

The control center stood silent as anxiety gripped all parties. “Make it so. But you are taking Kor Vaal with you. If you dont kill each other, I believe you will be able to keep each other alive. You have 24 hours to establish contact or we are pulling you out…this is unnerving nothing seems to be happening regarding the cache and our importance here. Hopefully the other teams have found better information that is actionable,” answered Koryn as the two Jedi Hunters walked off.

HOLONET NEWS REPORT

Wall Breaker preacher warns of dark times coming to Nar Shaddaa. Arrested, but later released.

Landing Bay 89D-4A
Refugee Sector, Nar Shadaa

It had been over 55 hours since the members of this strike team landed on Nar Shadaa. Xen had received word that Zagro Fenn and Kor Vaal were now working their way into Wakka the Hutt’s organization. The Hutts all valued power, and to keep it they had to have a myriad of information about all the local gangs and safehouses. It was a solid plan from the Jedi Hunter, but time was ticking. Xen wanted those weapons so he could go home. Plus they were now out of scones and muffins.

Then he heard the sound of a commotion from outside the shuttle. Kicking his feet up and pulling up his hood he wandered down the ramp into the hanger bay.

“M’lord, we just captured this Wall Breaker lurking about outside the hanger,” One of the soldiers explained as Xen made his way down the ramp. It was as if he didn’t think the Emperor could understand how one goes about capturing someone. Xen peered from behind his mask taking in the disheveled man in front of him. The man looked up and stared slacked jaw through the eyes of Xen’s mask.

“Oh look a nerdy man pretending to be Emperor,” the Wall Breaker said nonchalantly. Xen cocked his to the side.

“Nerdy? I do not know this word. Is that Huttese?” Xen asked. The soldiers shook their heads, not knowing. Xen took a deep breath before continuing, “As for pretending to be Emperor well… I think these fine gentlemen here are going to show you how very real my authority is.” With a wave of his hand the soldiers began beating the man. Xen took a lap of the ship muttering to himself about how every seemed to lack respect these days. Xen found himself quickly back to where he had started and motioned again, this time stopping the soldiers.

“There. Lesson learned I think. Now tell me about the weapon shipment.”

The Wall Breaker lay quite still on the floor.

“I think you are being a bit harshly unfair in how you are treating me. Just because I’m not your character doesn’t mean you should let me be beaten senseless. What if I was here to give you information to begin with? Maybe you should try thinking about that, Mr. Too-cool-to-let-his-face-be-seen,” the Wall Breaker managed to spurt out after several moments.

“Not my character? This is going to be a long and frustrating conversation isn’t it. Someone should message Dr. Rei to get over here. I’m sure her uptight attitude would make a wonderful clash against this nonsense. And get me some popcorn. This is going to be quite entertaining.”

Elincia had already researched the Wall Breakers’ ideas and philosophies before leaving for Nar Shaddaa. The Wall Breakers had no concern for science, logic or reason. She knew he would have no useful information to give. This was a distraction and a waste of her time.

“A scientist?” the Wall Breaker scoffed. “Is this run-on failing so badly you have to give an NPC a major role?” An awkward silence fell on the room.

“This is irrelevant,” Elincia said with an assertive tone usually reserved for off-topic students, wanting to move the topic on without caring about what the crazy man meant. “We need to know more about the Hellhounds and the missing weapons cache.”

“THAT is irrelevant,” the captive cunningly retorted. “We don’t concern ourselves with such trifling side plots. We only care to use the chaos to take control of this moon, and then the rest of the galaxy.”

“You’re not going anywhere until we have the information we want,” she said clearly. “We don’t care about your delusions of world domination. All we want is the weapons cache.”

“Even real scientists have more personality than you.” Elincia glared at him, jumping him on topic. “We don’t know or care about the weapons, all we know about is the fallout. Wakka the Hutt’s enraged about his stolen weapons, and Black Nova are terrified that the Hellhounds will start to emerge as a major power. This gives us the perfect opportunity to launch our grand scheme while everyone is distracted by what they think is the main story!”

No-one really cared about the Wall Breakers’ threat of world domination but it seemed almost certain that the Hellhounds were in possession of the missing weapon cache. Unfortunately, everyone already knew that and it seemed increasingly likely that the Wall Breakers were the least productive gang to investigate.

Gaseous Rancor
Refugee Sector, Nar Shadaa

“Does this table look crooked to you?” a Twi’lek stammered as he crouched beside a table and peered over the surface intently over-analyzing its relation to the rest of the room with a hand over one eye.

“You ignorant tail-head!” a pale yellow Zabrak shouted much louder than necessary from a chair near the table, “if it was crooked, all our drinks would be falling off.”

The small crowd of Wall Breakers had begun to garner unwanted attention from the rest of the patrons. Although nobody really took them seriously and gave them little concern, their party was getting a little out of hand. Fortunately, they were loose with their wallets and the drinks flowed so management was not inclined to kick them out. This only served to fuel their obnoxious behavior.

“Look, we must solve this problem with science. New guy!” the Twi’lek stammered as he pushed off the table to his feet rocking all the drinks and spilling a mixture of alcoholic beverages everywhere.

Across the table a small framed human with bright green eyes leaned forward, a cheesy grin on his face as he looked around like a puppy ready to serve his masters, “Oh yes! I’m good at science. What’s the plan guys?”

As if eating up his ambition the entire table burst into laughter as they downed their drinks just ahead of another round. The bartender carefully collecting a few of the empty glasses and waiting around to take new orders from the table.

“You know what barkeep, let’s close out this tab, your tables suck,” the Zabrak announced to collective giggle from the table.

“Yeah and, there’s, uhm… too many… drinks,” a rather nervous looking Bothan sputtered from the corner of the table. Another bulkier human in a collection of used mercenary armor slapped him up the back of his head with a look of disapproval.

“Shut up Bura,” the Zabrak shooting his own glance as he downed the rest of his drink, “Let’s take new guy back to our base and introduce him to the boss. He will love him, I can’t believe our luck to find a ship Captain in these slums, we’ve needed one for a while now.”

Collective cheers came from around the table, as well as the rest of the cantina at the realization that the collection of Wall Breakers was about to depart. As if unwilling to leave peacefully the Twi’lek fell as soon as he stood up, into the table knocking it over and ensuring he would be wearing what remained of the groups drinks for the trip back to their base. Loud, moronic and smelling like a mix of liquor and rotting meat, the group poured out into the night time streets of Nar Shadaa.

I hate every single one of these people. It will take every ounce of my energy not to kill every last one of them at their base. At least their taste in liquor is good or I would have killed them already.

Evant Taelyan had no idea what to expect from the rest of this random impromptu assignment, he hadn’t even planned to infiltrate their ranks and hadn’t even bothered with a disguise, but they seemed to not really care either way. Yet curiosity led him away to their base.

Landing Bay 87D-9C
Onboard the Archer
62 hours after landing

Delak thrust his training saber at Kell using sho-chi form. Kell blocked and sidestepped quickly bringing his saber up and back down onto the back of his apprentice.

“Good I feel you getting angry. You have forgotten much that my father and you learned when you were training together as apprentices in the old days. You need to relearn much of once you once knew.” Kell stated.

“My saber techniques may be out of practice but i have retained much of my command of the force.” Delak stretched out with his mind and allowed tendrils of the force to grasp the handle of one of the training sabers on the wall and commanded it to fly towards Kell. The saber hurtled itself through the force at the back of Kell’s head. Sensing the saber heading his way Kell turned around to block the saber with his own blade and suddenly felt Delak’s training saber in his back. “Your dead my master. Your father has taught you well but I had my own times where i needed to best your father. Do not underestimate me so easily.”

“You don’t realize that i sensed your movements as well? Look behind you.” Kell commanded.

Delak stretched out with the force and could feel the vibrolance at the back of his own head.

“Touche` Kell. This has been productive, let us continue later. Have we heard anything about these missing weapons yet?”

“There has been no word yet. We know there are two jedi hunters heading into Wakka’s organization. They have been out of contact for a while which isnt unusual in deep cover operations. I remember stories my father told me from before the time of the Exodus. He told me of your many adventures in the Hammer’s Fist. He told me how many times you and he went deep under cover during Operation One Shot One Kill where you were sniping and he was spotting or vice versa. You spent weeks on a planet getting your own intel just to get the chance for a two second sniper. Then you would spend another week evading the enemy to make it back to your ship to escape the planet.” Kell finished.

“Those were the good days. Your father and I were the best of friends, I mourn him often. I try to visit his burial mound on Caina as our duties allow. I do miss his long winded talks and his laid back easy attitude about the universe. The universe is a lesser place with…” Delak was interrupted by Kell’s holocommunicator beeping.

“This is Kell.”

“This is your emperor, we have news gather your battleteam. We have a mission for you.” Xen cut the communications abruptly.

“Sounds like its time for a little fun.” Delak chuckled.

“That’s the Delak dad always warned me about.”

Nar Shaddaa
Hutt Cartel Warehouse
Midnight

The two journeyman waited for what seemed an eternity. Amidst the stone edifices and cavernous rows of shelves were arrayed all multitudes of nefarious caches. Narcotics, weapons, illegal spices and alcohol were all within reach for the illustrious and scrupulous Hutt Cartels.

“Zag, it has been a long time friend, what favors do you need now? Who are you hiding from? It will cost you to have our protection these days now that you are no longer a street urchin,” laughed Saleen the Hutt, “do I miss you, by the gods, welcome home.”

She was a slender and graceful looking Hutt. Sickly by the corpulent standards of the race, Saleen was more cosmopolitan than most. Kor Vaal wondered how Knight Fenn knew such a low, debased, criminal associated.

“It has been too long, Leen. I can never repay your kindness in taking me in as a child. You have come a long way, a full associate now? No Leen, my partner and I want to freelance, if the price is right. We can find the weapons cache the Hellhounds stole.” Stated Zagro Fenn in an unassuming manner.

Saleen the Hutt laughed a guttural laugh that echoed across the storerooms. The two Nikto guards at her side perked up at the demeanor shift.

“Zag, silly Hapan boy! Do you think we would allow those rabble to steal our shipment of weapons? Huh! It was a clever rouse to set the gangs against each other and pull in as many bounty hunters to their death as well. The Cartel is cleansing the moon, Zag. No, the weapons are here under my watch. I could use you and your man here to help with the…clean up work however.” Announced Saleen proudly.

Zagro used all his energy to restrain his demeanor and compose himself, hoping the Jedi Hunter at his side had done the same.

“Leen, where do we begin?”