Tangled Webs

Takes place immediately after the Battle of Yavin
Tales and stories set during the events of Episodes 4-6...

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Mand'alor
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Tangled Webs

Post by Cadden »

What was it that drove him to do this? How come he had become such a machine, that he had surrendered all of his humanity, just to come down to this? Perhaps it was a means of revenge, of casting aside his own destiny because of something that had happened to this man.

The human thug was picked up by the collar, and wound up staring into the empty void behind the visor of the helmet. A helmet worn by few, and feared by many. Unlike the others, however, this one had a unique twist to it. Instead of being dull-colored with trims of another, such as green or blue, this one was the exact opposite. The man’s entire suit was red… blood-red, as red as human blood fresh from a wound, and what could be considered vulnerable spots, such as the majority of the man’s arms, were covered and, perhaps, protected with a black material.

His own reflection stared back at him, as the fear had overcome him. Who was this man? Was he even human, or was he alien… or even machine? He did not hold feelings, he had seemed to have cast them aside for a greater purpose, one of which was completely incomprehensible by one such as him. But, nevertheless, the face reflecting on the black visor simply stared back at him, and he could feel the cold metallic touch of the nozzle of a blaster against his neck.

“What… what did you do to the others?” he frantically asked the armored man, attempting to find an escape, but this one was good. Unlike the local militia, this single man had managed to penetrate their defenses, make his way down here, in the lower levels of their base of operations, and even get as far as him, the left-hand-man of the gang’s leader. But this was no ordinary gang, this gang had been a formidable threat to the people of Ord Mantell for quite some time, even the local police forces could not track them down. But one man, whom seemed to be a walking tank, had managed, and succeeded where others had failed.

“Their… resistance,” the armor-clad individual spoke through his built-in microphone, overlapping his voice in the manner of a comm. system, spoke in a calm, cold demeanor, “was laughable. I cut through your defenses like vibroblade through cloth.” The man’s fear escalated, and the face behind the helmet only smirked slightly. “Your so-called fortress has already fallen.”

The man had gathered enough courage to crack a smile. “Then I will give you a word of caution,” he said, his voice hinting growing fear behind those words. “Our leader will avenge all our deaths. You stand no chance.”

“Strong words.” The thug’s smile quickly faded. “It would be amusing to see him try to kill a man like me. You obviously have a small understanding of who I am, so I will enlighten you. Nothing will stop me, no amount of force, no volume of strength, no number of troops or ships. If you kill me, I will walk again, if you wound me, I will keep fighting. If you capture me, I will escape… there is no way around, or through me. Once you are a target, your fate is already sealed.”

The man’s fear suddenly escalated, his fears and suspicions coming true. “What… what are you?”

“I am a man,” the armor-clad individual responded, still emotionless, not faltering, and dead-serious, “you and your pathetic gang of mercenary thugs are no match for. And I will collect the bounty from your worthless hide.” The man pulled the trigger, and let go of the now-limp body. “Names mean nothing to those who are dead,” he announced to the lifeless thug. “They have no name for me, but those who cannot speak may hear of it… my name is Cadden Blackthorne. May your afterlife be tormented by it.”

He turned, keeping his blaster carbine out. It was a weapon he had grown to favor over the years, and one he had grown quite proficient at using. So… he was indeed not the leader, as he had suspected. But, that meant that there was still a way to the leader. He looked around for a moment, observing the surroundings. Ah… there. Such a pathetic attempt, and such a weak man to hide behind a wall of durasteel.

Walking to the secret doorway, Cadden felt around the wall for a way of entry, and searched for but a couple seconds until he found it. He pounded his fist against the hidden panel, allowing it to come loose, swinging outward, revealing a console. He keyed in a command, and the small display responded with a denied attempt error. He tried another, with the same result.

Two more tries later, however, the door slid open, and grinning, Cadden entered.

Only to be greeted by half a dozen thugs – two Trandoshans, a Rodian, a Weequay, two Humans, and a Zabrak. “Ah, the bounty hunter,” a voice spoke from behind the thugs, whose blasters were pointed directly at Blackthorne. “Disarm yourself, now.”

“I’m impressed,” Cadden admitted, “too bad you’re criminals, however.” He had thought they would attempt something like this, but he was prepared. “I have nothing to gain from surrendering to the likes of you.”

A firefight ensued, but was quickly over. The mercenaries had managed to get a couple shots off, but the majority of the shots, six of the ten total, had come from the blaster carbine Cadden was holding. Each shot was fired with a deadly precision, and the result was each of the thugs crippling to the duracrete floor. He brought up his carbine, aiming directly at the source of the sound. Another human, he noticed through his infrared vision, built-in to his helmeted visor.

“Now, now… don’t be so rash…”

“The bounty calls for you dead,” Cadden responded. “They have no use of you behind bars. They just want you out of the picture… you have caused enough trouble around here for such pleasantries as prison.” He pulled the trigger one more time, and approached the man’s dead body. Taking out a holorecording device, Cadden flipped the corpse over and held it over his lifeless face. “Target, Juman Raskmin. Status, dead.” He flipped off the recording device and discarded it. “The price on your head isn’t much, but it will do.” He got up, and made his way outside the facility, stopping and looking up at the midday sky.

Ord Mantell and he had no more business to attend to. Once he claimed his prize, he needed to leave the planet. Leaving a double life tended to get… complicated at times.

Nearly half an hour later, a single YT-1300 left the planet, and prepared its jump to lightspeed. The local patrols identified the ship as the Hyper Lightning, and allowed him his leave. Then, the ship burst forward into lightspeed, enroute to the remote planet Dantooine. He had some final business to conduct there, before returning to Corellia.
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Post by Cadden »

Tatooine

The dark streets of Mos Eiseley were quiet, almost abandoned. As the man continued to run down the alley, he spared a glance behind him, and noted that he had lost his pursuer. He knew that the shortcut through the marketplace would get him out of harm's way. Now, to make his way to the checkpoint.

Rounding the corner, however, he found himself face-to-face with his pursuer. "Im... impossible...." he muttered. He made a quick sprint, but tripped, and fell face-first into the dirty street. Trying to scramble away, he noticed a wire wrapped around his ankle, and muttered a curse. "Wh... what do you want?" he demanded.

"The local authorities put a price on your head," the masked man responded. "I'm here to collect."

__________

Back onboard his ship, Cadden seated himself in the cockpit and brought up his computer display. A frown creased in response. He opened the new message. Unusually, it was an audio playback. The rough male voice began on the queue.

"Good day, Mr. Blackthorne,” the voice greeted with unnerving enthusiasm. Cadden turned his focus to the cockpit controls, preparing the Puruser for lift-off. "We have a mission for you that is of great importance. My name is Melkin Lorray, and I work for a private organization known as the Triad.

"Let's just get right down to business, Mr. Blackthorne, shall we? I'll put all formalities aside. We have become aware that a small-time criminal organization is about to make a huge leap forward. They have discovered a substance that could, possibly, make them the most threatening force in the galaxy. A stimulant known only as Chronic. Like the name would suggest, this drug is supposedly able to increase its user’s every attribute. Speed, agility, stamina, intelligence... everything would be enhanced upon consuming Chronic. This group is believed to be researching into its use to create the ultimate warrior.

"The problem lies in that, if our investigations prove true, then even with a small sized army, these individuals could pose a threat of galactic proportion."

Cadden raising an eyebrow. A map appeared of a quadrant of the galaxy which was where the group was suspected to be hiding. "What a surprise. And I suppose you want me to go in, apprehend these criminals, secure the cargo, and return directly to you for my nice, handsom reward?"

"On contrary of such information, Mr. Blackthorne, you have been selected for a different duty." This was unexpected, and the man now had his full attention as broke atmosphere. "During the past week, we’ve been receiving reports of murders galaxy-wide. Not only in the Outer Rim Territories, but all around the galaxy. It’s no coincidence these murders are linked to the Chronic case, and it is safe to say that the people responsible for the smuggling of the drug are working under someone else. Someone who can keep themselves hidden."

So, his job was a tad bit different than he thought. He had assumed a search for traces of Chronic, and dealing with those invovled, but this was highly unlikely. "Therefore, Mr. Blackthorne, We are asking for you to personally investigate this matter. The map will provide you with the coordinates of where we believe they might be staging their smuggling runs. You should be able to trace them back from there."

Cadden observed the map for a moment. Carratos? he thought. What the hell is on Carratos that’d be so important to Chronic smugglers? Carratos was a planet in the Inner Rim, roughly 40 parsecs from Coruscant. It was a heavily urbanized world under Imperial control, with high taxes laid in place for purposes of those wishing to leave the world. Cadden also understood that it was becoming a strategic point of interest for Imperial operations in the Inner Rim territories.

"We have provided you will objective details and bounty rewards for various smugglers, as well as a substantial reward for their leader's capture," Melkin continued. "If you are willing to take on this assignment, respond to this frequency with the phrase, 'Standard Blue Milk Run'. I trust, Blackthorne, that you will not speak of our contact together. You are amongst the best in the business, I would hate to see your reputation come to an... unfortunate end." The transmission ended abruptly afterward.

Cadden leaned back in his chair. It was a wealth of information, which meant that they were sure he was going to accept. However, he also figured that, with the apparent resources that these fellows have at hand, they could take him down if he refused, or spoke of them to anybody.

"Survival of the fittest," he commented dryly, and proceeded to reply to the message.
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Post by ZeekBlitz »

Zeek did not know the name of the planet they were orbiting; he also wondered what was so important with the couple of boxes that were brought on board from a ship that came from the planet. Zeek seen his father...Captain get quiet after the strangers who brought them in whispered the contents and something else horrifying regarding the boxes. He wanted to ask the Captain what the stranger said, but he remembered being beaten for less important matters, so he held his tongue and looked the boxes over.

The boxes were nondescript gunmetal grey. They looked new from the factory by the absence of dents, scratches, dings, and the still shiny exterior. The most eye catching thing about the boxes was the heavy duty multi-key/code locks on them usually reserved for containers that carried very important or very dangerous objects.

Zeek wanted to look inside a box, so did the rest of the crew, but the Captain had told them all if any of them so much as rubbed a hand on a box, he would be needing a replacement hand or to learn to hold his breath in deep space. This was more than enough to spur Zeek away from the boxes entirely except to sneak glances at them and dream what they contained.

Weapons? Old Mandalorian armor? Credits? Secret documents to be used for bribing an Imperial Official? Zeek was excited thinking about all the possibilities...
Hate is a place where a man who can't stand sadness goes.
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Post by Cadden »

OOC: Apologies for the long delay. I'm sure you know why.

IC:

Carratos

Carratos, a typical Imperial garrison of a world. Cadden observed the bustling inbound and outgoing traffic with little interest. The Empire taxed the residents heavily for leaving the world, and evidently encouraged those unfortunate enough to make this their destination to land freely. The ultimate money-making scheme.

Which warranted the question of how these Chronic smugglers were capable of operating on the world to begin with. With such a heavy garrison in place, it was hard to imagine anything happening underneath the Empire's noses, here. It would be the equivelance of housing a galaxy-reknowned terrorist organization on Coruscant - it just doesn't work that way.

Then again, it was known to happen with the more well-organized criminal syndicates. According to the briefing, however, this did not seem like an organized attempt.

According to the briefing.

As his ship was tagged as a bounty hunting craft, Cadden received a text-based message from the local government. Evidently, there have been instances where supplies have... disappeared... from their freight lines. Cargo, foodstuffs, military weapons, everything of the sort. Recently, there were two nondescript metallic crates, fresh from the factory, carrying valuable cargo that had been stolen in orbit. No doubt away from the Empire's prying eyes, which meant that whatever was going on was well-coordinated to keep from being blown to space-dust by Imperial customs.

The bounty offered more than made up for the hassle of a side job it would have presented itself. Cadden decided that it would be a good way to lean in on this whole Chronic case, and opted to take the offer. He and a few others, he noticed, were already on the case. Checking the available names, he noted two from the Guild, and three independents, much like himself. Fett was nowhere to be seen. Good, he mused. Fett was notorious for coming out ahead of even the best of his competition, and it would have been humiliating had he ousted Cadden in something as trivial as this.

The outgoing starport would suffice as a place to start, and so Cadden plotted course for the whereabouts of the ship's origins on the surface below. He requested permission to dock, and began his approach.

The trip to the surface was uneventful. No attacks, no unusual activity, nothing. It was going to be a slow start, but he was confident that things would heat up the deeper he dug. There could have been a connection between this case of disappearing cargo and the Chronic smugglers, and if so, he could use that lead. Since the Chronic case was of invite only, it was solely the most reputable hunters, and those not occupied performing other tasks of equal or greater improtance, that were assigned to the job. Which meant Cadden was stuck with the elite few in the trade. Less competition, but at greater volume. Wonderful odds.

As he touched down in the docking bay, Cadden unstrapped himself and made his way to the ship's entry hatch and descended down the built-in boarding ramp. There he met with the starport's officer, who requested a docking fee. Unlike the less appetizing sectors of the galaxy, however, this fee was reasonable, which prompted Cadden to cooperate and hand over the sum requested.

"There was a ship that left port some time ago," he mentioned, after ending the docking business. "It was carrying cargo which disappeared in orbit. What do you know about this?"

The man shrugged. "I know what the Holonews reported," he responded earnestly. "Otherwise, you might wish to check with Operations." Cadden nodded, and made his way to the new destination at hand.

He had to go through security checks, of course, and much of his weaponry was confiscated. At least, that which could be detected. When he was deemed clean, Cadden was allowed escorted access into the Operations section of the starport. There, he prompted the same question to the officers running the location, and work was promptly made. Evidently, Cadden was not the first to ask. He'd have to catch up to the competition in order to make it to the mark first.

The information was relayed. It was a YT-1300, carrying private cargo of great worth. The reporting agency went by the name of Min-Tulskar Corp, a small-time manufacturing and shipping company of personal goods and items. Headquartered here on Carratos, it typically shipped items out daily, but with the increased pirate attacks, it was closer to twice a standard week.

It was as good a lead as any, and with the information in mind, Cadden proceeded back through the security check points, securing his weaponry in its place before heading out to take on the bounty.

OOC: I'll stop there. Any longer and you'll probably decide it's not worth RPing, Zeek. :) If you want to make another post, feel free. Otherwise, I'll have Cadden close in during the next two or three posts.
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Post by ZeekBlitz »

OOC: Ya, you could probably put this as a rated R post but I really think it is needed to fully emphasize Zeek's mental problems and why he has them. I'm sorry in advance for anybody who is made uncomfortable by reading this, anybody who liked it well...rock on lol :D

IC: A flash of pain shot through Zeek's daydreams. He felt an overwhelming sense of dread and his visions began to flash violently in his head. The two crates appeared again unopened in front of him...then the locks popped open and the lids slid open on their own accord. From this angle Zeek couldn't see what was in the boxes but now he was sure he didn't want to. He then felt he was being dragged forwards by a unknown force, struggling the whole way as much as his frozen muscles would allow. The boxes slid towards him as well with nothing, as it seemed, forcing it onwards. He could see now that there was a dark unmistakable fluid oozing out of the top and down the sides.

Zeek tried to look away but it was too late he already seen what was in the boxes. There in a disfigured jigsaw jumble was several body parts, probably enough to make four or five whole bodies. They were covered in each others own bloody liquids.

All of this was nothing compared to the faces, some whole some not. They all looked into Zeek's eyes, he fancied even deep into his soul and they screamed and pleaded for their lives...some even pleaded for their own deaths to stop this torment.

He couldn't take it anymore and slammed the lids down as hard as he could. Just as they touched and locked back up, another pain exploded into Zeek's mind and he woke up.

He must have fallen asleep while daydreaming, but now the Captain was standing over him with a grim and angry expression on his face. Zeek knew his face was covered in tears and sweat; the tears were there before the Captain hit him.

"Boy, I don't know what your problem is; but if you don’t get up and go back to work, you'll get something even worse for your trouble"

"Yes...fath...I mean Captain..." Zeek got this out of his mouth between sobs.

Just as Zeek whispered these words, seemly right on cue, good old Larz walked into the room. He beamed a smile at Zeek and a nod at the Captain.

"Larz, I want you to make sure Zeek gets back to work" the captain said as he left the room after returning the nod.

"It would be my pleasure" Larz said with another smile.

When the captain was completely gone, Zeek stood up and ran to Larz who just opened his arms and accepted the bear hug he was about to receive. After a few more moments Zeek and Larz pulled apart, but Zeek avoided looking into Larz's eyes, not because he was supposed to, it was because he was ashamed of what went wrong with him.

"Having those dreams again little Zeek" which was almost a contradictory phrase because Zeek was almost Larz's size by this age.

Zeek just shook his head in agreement, not letting his gaze waiver above Larz's shoes.

"Let's work on your reading lessons than, while no one is around" Larz said with a huge smile on his face. Larz knew Zeek wasn't supposed to be able to read, but Larz taught him it anyways. Zeek also picked it up quick which was an added bonus. "Besides it'll help you forget what you've seen"

Zeek nodded in agreement and Larz pulled out a data slate and started in.

Zeek knew that the lesson was going to be easy now that he had had all this practice, and also he knew that it would help him forget for a little while, but one thing Zeek would never forget...

...are the screams and the faces, because they all belonged to just a small portion of...his victims...
Hate is a place where a man who can't stand sadness goes.
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Post by Cadden »

OOC: Meh, better late than never.

IC:

Several leads were coming up dry, but Cadden was bound and determined to get to the bottom of the missing cargo case. He had even gone so far as to contact Min-Tulskar Corp about the missing cargo. They had given him little information, but also made sure not to disclose the contents which the freighter was carrying.

Annoyed at his lack of progress, Cadden ultimately decided there was only one way to get to the pirates. He found out from the docking records that an other freighter was due to leave the planet later that day. The cargo could be deemed worthy enough of being picked up, which would be enough for him. It was a gamble, and if he lost, he would be way off-track. It was that or nothing.

Bartering with the pilot, he offered to pay the man twice his fee if Cadden's plan would not work. Reluctantly, the man agreed to the offer. He was already shook up with the possibility of being boarded right in orbit, as it was. Now, he had a notorious bounty hunter breathing down his back.

Cadden sat in a passenger's seat in the lounge for a time, as the ship lifted off and left the planet's atmosphere. When they entered orbit, he got up and proceeded to a less secure location for a hiding spot. He would need the element of surprise if he were to make it through this alive. Finding himself in the engine room, a place where only one man would look and not two, Cadden waited paitently for the trap to be sprung.

Soon enough, he could feel the ship vibrating under the pressure of a tractor beam, and the bounty hunter grinned. That's right, he thought. Bring it in. You'll soon find this is the last cargo you'll ever take on.

OOC: It's not much, but it gets us moving again.
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Post by Dahdtoudi »

OOC- Hey, so about that competition you were talking about... =P
I bet I have less than half as many posts as some of the people who've been here less than half as long as I have...
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Post by ZeekBlitz »

OOC: ...are we waiting on me?
Hate is a place where a man who can't stand sadness goes.
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Post by Cadden »

OOC:

Zeek, I figured it was obvious that it was your pirate ship he was ambushing. ;)

Dahd, jump on in. Aside from the grand outline, is' more or less open-faced.
You have a right to remain silent... I hope to God you use it.
Xanamiar wrote:Cadden is a comical genius.
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Post by ZeekBlitz »

OOC:...ya I understood that...i'm not dumb...I think lol ok let’s do this then

Sirens blared all around the ship, interrupting Larz and Zeek's lesson. They both knew that this was bad news or profitable news...both if you looked at it the right way.

"All hands to the armory, suit up and get into your positions, we have a visitor" The Captain yelled all that through the comlinks built into ship, with a sinister emphasize on the last word.

Zeek jumped up and ran to straight to his "room", which was nothing more than an over-glorified storage closet, dodging men hurrying to get in their practiced positions. He hurtled his bed, opened his storage chest and pulled out his tactical armor and his vibro-sword.

The armor was standard military grade armor (the pieces that weren't changed out for better or augmented) with a mesh weave of metals, that Zeek had no idea what they were made of, that helped spread the heat of blaster shots and also turned vibro-swords away for glancing cuts. The very special thing about the armor is that the captain installed a small cooling unit to it that made Zeek invisible to heat sensing equipment if he kept still.

He slipped into it with ease, pulling his helmet over his head and made sure all the seals were connected or the cooling unit wouldn’t work. With a flip of a switch on his belt his body was submerged into a cold that only the tundra's of Hoth could boast greater (even though Zeek had only been there once). He hated the feeling but he had to wear it to do his part of the missions.

He ran to the airlock where the poor docking ship's crew would emerge out of and flipped a hidden panel open just a few feet away from the door. He punched the code into it and watched a portion of the wall quickly recede into the ceiling. The small room was a freezer that was only big enough for Zeek to ready his sword. He pressed the button inside the room and the wall came back down.

On the outside of the room it would look like a regular wall, hiding the secret danger within. With a click of a button he would be told to spring out and kill whatever wasn't an ally.

"Good luck Larz" Zeek said into his comlink with a whisper

"I'll stay alive for you, little buddy"

Zeek for some reason wasn't sure that would happen...

OOC: I wrote all that real fast cause i didnt want to keep you waiting, sorry...o and kill them all lol
Hate is a place where a man who can't stand sadness goes.
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Post by Dahdtoudi »

Dahdtoudi watched the blip on his scope move slowly through orbit, gradually making its ascent into the emptiness of space. He had tagged the freighter when it was in port after hearing reports of pirate attacks on ships with valuable cargo. The freighter fit the bill, and was the only one leaving for a while. If it didn't pan out, Dahdtoudi would head back to the planet's surface, and try again.

He had a feeling it would work, and soon enough, his feeling was confirmed. The scopes beeped as another ship came into view, grappling the freighter with a tractor beam. Dahdtoudi smiled, his grin only illuminated by the faint red glow of the Praetor's interior lighting. Looking out of the ship's canopy, he could see the two specks in the distance slowly moving toward each other. Pirates, Dahdtoudi thought leeringly. They would hit ships until they were hit, trying to make bank as quickly as possible before being forced to run.

Dahdtoudi watched as the pirates latched onto the freighter before rolling his own ship over, the belly facing the other two ships. The the flip of a few switches, power was cut, and Dahdtoudi was drifting through space, slowly and silently making its way towards the pirates. Going quiet wouldn't get him all the way in, but it would buy him enough time.

As he grew closer to the two ships, he gently fired a few small maneuvering jets to adjust his positioning. The two ships were small, so this was going to be tricky. The freighter was larger, so the hunter made that his target. After a moment, he lost sight of the ships as the passed below his Maccrow, so he watched his scopes as the inches closed. Dahdtoudi took a deep breath just before the collision shook through his ship, and the loud clang of the maglocks engaging rang through his hold.

And then, just like that, he was attached to the trapped freighter on the opposite side of the pirates. He'd have to move quick.

OOC- Is that too much?
I bet I have less than half as many posts as some of the people who've been here less than half as long as I have...
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Post by Cadden »

OOC: Sorry 'bout that. RL swamped me, had to prioritize my postin's.

IC:

Cadden mentally counted down the seconds. The boarding ramp lowered. The footsteps arrived. He listened as they worked their way into the cockpit and, harshly, interrogated the pilot. By the sounds of it, he was lucky, they left him alive. The boarding crew continued to inspect the ship, until they came to the engine room.

Sithspit, Cadden mused. Both of the boarding crew were here. He was going to have to do things the hard way.

The door opened, and two blaster shots could be heard from the docking bay. Then the bay went into a frenzy. Cadden sprung from his position, blaster carbine in hand, and sprinted for the boarding ramp. "Get out of here, while there's still time!" he yelled to the pilot. If he needed an escape, he'd make one. He may have been a notorious bounty hunter, but that did not mean he lacked a conscience. Without waiting for a reply, Cadden bolted out of the ship, took aim, and fired at the pirates who were still scattering for cover.

The return fire was inevitable, and Cadden activated his jetpack to get out of the way. "It's Blackthorne!" one of them yelled in the commotion. It wasn't hard to distinguish Cadden from the few other Mandalorian bounty hunters, especially Boba Fett. Cadden wore a blood-red suit, making him especially unique from the rest of his kind in that it was also the hardest genuine color to get a hold of. He had been the fortunate one.

Cadden landed on a raised platform, took aim, and fired down on those exposed before him. That marked five kills, ten to go. He continued to move, to avoid return fire, as he made his way to another vantage point to take on more of his adversaries. As he ran across the catwalk, Cadden took aim and fired at two pirates who were unfortunate enough to not be as fast as he was. Cadden vaulted himself on the top of his freighter, which had just begun to power up its engines, and proceeded to sprint across the top to the other side, and landed on the ground, rolling away as the freighter lifted off.

He made no effort to make sure that he would get out safely, as Cadden was focused on his threat at hand; the pirates. The moved freighter exposed the position of four more individuals, whom Cadden quickly gunned down and took cover from his remaining four behind a large crate. There, he waited. Ten, nine, eight... he counted the seconds down to zero, then rolled around and took two pot-shots at the two pirates who were repositioning themselves. One laser blast hit a pirate in the neck, the other in the leg. He ducked behind once again and waited. This time longer, near a minute. Repeating the process, Cadden easily downed the remaining two pirates.

The wounded pirate was crawling for cover as Cadden approached. He gripped his nearby blaster pistol and pointed it at the bounty hunter, who in turn shot it out of his hand. The freighter had left, by now, and Cadden heavily doubted he would see the pilot again. Regardless, he made a mental note to find the pilot, and deliver his promise. Cadden always paid off his debts.

Cadden gripped the pirate by the collar and lifted him up to eye level. Or, in his case, visor level. The man was petrified. "Where's the cargo your crew has recently acquired?" he demanded through the voice distortion unit. The man hesitated to answer, and Cadden slammed him against a nearby crate. "Answer me!"

"It... it's in the aft cargo bay," the man replied, terrified. "No doubt... heavily guarded. Cadden tossed the man aside and started for the docking bay exit. Something in the back of his head warned him of the danger, and Cadden turned to see the man lifting his pistol. The pirate never got the chance to aim, as a single blaster bolt penetrated his chest.

Blackthorne left the now-unoccuped docking bay, en route to his destination.

OOC: Okay... got this back up and running. Zeek... feel free, when you get the opportunity.

Dahd... not sure if you were sneaking onboard with Cadden or not. If so... we can improvise.
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Post by Dahdtoudi »

Dahdtoudi drifted out of the Praetor's airlock, the maglock boots of his power armor connecting to the hull of the pirates' ship. He was more vulnerable now than ever, and only had so much atmosphere stored in his suit. The hunter could see the pirates' airlock from where he was, and carefully ducked out from under his ship to make his way. He needed to take a chance for the sake of speed. His boots disconnected from the hull, and gently, Dahdtoudi pushed himself through the emptiness of space towards the airlock.

Silently the hunter glided within reach of the ship's hull, covering ground he'd never be able to make on foot. It only took moments before he was grappling with the linkage surrounding the airlock, and with the use of an automated slicer unit, the lock cycled open and he was inside.

As his boots clanked heavily on the metal plated floor, Dahdtoudi began cycling through sensor modes, scanning around for anything looking for trouble, and listening. There was some sort of chaos happening on the other side of the ship. The faint ring of blaster fire reverberated through the hull, and his passage through the ship was unabated. Someone, somewhere, was having a bad day.

The hatch in front of Dahdtoudi slid open, and the hunter had to duck to pass through it. Just in front of him, two pirates were crouching behind a box, blasters ready, hawkish eyes peering over, searching for a target. Dahdtoudi cocked his head to the side curiously. They were facing the wrong way, their backs turned to him. They were expecting company from the other side.

But the sound of the hatch cycling didn't go unnoticed, and one of the pair turned to see who had come to help. His face went from shock to anger in half a second. "Blackth--!" the pirate began to shout, before stopping suddenly, his angry battle face melting into confusion. The other pirate turned to look as well. Dahdtoudi had a feeling his free passage had just ended, and took advantage of the pirates' moment of confusion.

A swift backhand, the strength of which augmented by the power armor, sent the first pirate flipping backwards through the air before landing with harsh thud before sliding across the metal floor. The other began to raise his blaster before the hunter's armored boot pinned his shoulder against the crate behind the pirate. Dahdtoudi didn't hesitate to press down, crushing most of the bones in the pirate's shoulder. Screaming in agony, the criminal dropped his weapon, and Dahdtoudi passed by.

The shout had caught the attention of several other pirates, turning from their points of cover to investigate. Dahdtoudi already had his rifle ready, and dropped the guards mid-stride as he walked through the now open chamber. They must of been guarding some sort of chokepoint, judging by their positions. They all seemed to be focussed on one door.

Dahdtoudi could either turn and continue searching the ship, or he could go and investigate what the trouble was that the pirates were waiting for. Dahdtoudi chose the latter, and made for the door.
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Post by ZeekBlitz »

OOC: wow im sorry for the absense, life gets hectic you know lol nobody posted in a while and i forgot a little...i dunno where technically everyone is in relativity to Zeek in the ship...i had plans but cadden took a different way in i guess and Dahdtoudi didnt fit into my plans but i guess he's running into the ambush from the flanking side...am i right?
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Post by Cadden »

OOC: Sorry about the long hiatus... I'll eventually pick this back up, honest! I take it Dahd is probably no longer in this, as I don't recall seeing him around recently. So, if you're still poking around, Zeek, we'll continue this soon as I get my bearings once more... and enough free time to post something good.
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Post by ZeekBlitz »

OOC: Just to verify to ya Cadden, im here and still poking around on both tales and getting antsy lol ready when you are and i need to be reminded of wats going on a little because im confused of wats going on...i think i misunderstood who was ambushing and boarding who...im so confused at this point lol
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Post by ZeekBlitz »

OOC:umm...someone needs to spring the ambush or foil it...Zeek is ordered not to do anything until someone goes through the door...
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Post by Cadden »

OOC: Sorry, man. Been busy with school. Hardly had the time to keep up on my other, faster-moving threads, as it is.
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Post by ZeekBlitz »

OOC: No hurry really, i understand, i was also trying to explain why i havent contributed much so far...Zeek is kinda freezing as we speak lol and I can't do much about it till then, I just noticed you had a plot hole in your wiki story over this with me in the middle of it lol
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Post by Cadden »

OOC: Heh, yes and no. Just the thread hasn't caught up with the Wikia. :P I'll try to get something in before the week's end.
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