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Extending the Olive Branch to Xalden
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| Blackfire_Contacts | Date: Wednesday, 13 Jun 2012, 11:08 AM | Message # 1 |
 Lieutenant colonel
Group: Users
Messages: 110
Status: Offline
| It was roughly a week and a half since the bounty had been pulled on Xalden the Black; a week and a half since Blackfire vessels had fought against Xalden's forces and, in the end, snagged an IPV-1 and more or less carried it away on a corvette. The ship (sans crew, which had been forced out at gunpoint) was now being refit as a Blackfire vessel. However, this didn't mean that Xalden wasn't still a valuable resource, being a Hutt. It was to this end that a solitary transport; a demilitarized Lambda-class shuttle, emerged near Cyborrea. Naturally, the occupants expected that Xalden's forces would be on alert from the attack, so they broadcast as soon as they reverted.
"To any forces orbiting Cyborrea: greeting. I bear a visitor and emissary who wishes an audience with Xalden the Black, Lord of Cyborrea." The pilot's voice was crisp and strong as he prepared to jump away if absolutely necessary. His passengers, an older man in his forties who went by name of Fifty-six and four human guards who were dressed in various Clone Wars-era trooper suits, were calm within the back as they waited to see what response Xalden would give.Added (23 May 2012, 8:58 AM)
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Apparently Xalden had no ships in orbit, which was strange. Was he keeping them hidden, pending the left of the last vessel he'd lost? Were they perhaps elsewhere? Fifty-six couldn't say. Nonetheless, since nobody had responded, the older agent tapped the pilot on the shoulder, motioning for him to break atmosphere and find a landing zone near Xalden's rather enormous palace. Perhaps Xalden had abdicated his throne and gone elsewhere in the galaxy? Perhaps he was dead? Only an investigation would tell them one way or another. Added (13 Jun 2012, 11:08 AM)
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Xalden's palace was strangely empty. There were no guards outside the front gate, nor was there any real radio activity from within. The doors stood slightly ajar, almost as if someone had just entered... or perhaps departed. This was a mystery indeed! As such, Fifty-six would call for a small probe droid that could be utilized to check the interior of Xalden's palace; largely for traps or explosives. It would take a bit of time to do such; a matter of hours, but Fifty-six had patience. It would also do quite well to discern what life-signs could be located within the palace; if Xalden was injured and present, he might need help.
The Citadel's Contractors
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| Xalden | Date: Friday, 15 Jun 2012, 10:00 PM | Message # 2 |
 Lieutenant
Group: Users
Messages: 48
Status: Offline
| The only reason Xalden wasn't there was simple, he had left the world and gone to bring the recent attack to the attention of the Hutt Cartel, whom had let the attack happen without any response to those attempting to push into Hutt territory. The Palace though was not left unguarded, only a fool would think that the area was void of any life and that no one was present. The Lamdba shuttle, still on the landing pad which it had deemed to merely let itself land rather than waiting for a proper greeting would be the first target of the guards of the palace which had merely been lying in wait as they were trained. The shuttle would quickly find a tractor beam projector locked onto its hull, holding it in place as the roof of one of the many towers of the palace slowly opened. A Dual Light Turbolaser tower appeared from its protected position, its barrels aiming at the shuttle. In tandem, a second roof opened, revealing another hidden Dual Light Turbolaser tower, both now aimed at the unshielded shuttle that had landed on the landing pad. In a quick burst, the two towers let out a three burst salvo from each, sending a total of twelve laser burst from each tower, more than enough to rip apart the unshielded shuttle and turn it and anyone left on board (presumably the pilot) into nothing more than smoldering debris. For added measure, one of the large statues out front lifted up for a moment to reveal a hidden Anti-vehicle cannon which fired off two rounds in quick succession to the belly of the shuttle.
Within the palace, directly behind the four guards and this agent Fifty-six (presuming still that the pilot was on the shuttle) one Anti-infantry laser cannon dropped from it's hiding place in the ceiling, its cannon letting off a rapid fire salvo of six bursts into the closest guard, cutting down the unsuspecting being. The cannon then continued to fire in quick short bursts towards the group, keeping them pinned in the hallway. (As no location was given to them being inside or outside of the palace, it is assumed that they stepped inside to launch the probe droid) The probe that they had called for would prove useless to Fifty-six and his remaining guard. While it was rounding one of the corners, it would meet with a well place blaster bolt from a concealed snipers nest at the end of the hall, the trained mercenary guard being cautious and sending a second and third bolt through the probe droids body to keep it down.
The hall which Fifty-six and his remaining guards were in would soon find itself covered from their only exit. Two flash bangs would be thrown down the hall, one going off after the other. A couple seconds later two mercenaries would appear from cover, firing down the hall and striking two more of the guards (surely disoriented by the flash bangs) before they would pull back into cover, leaving only Fifty-six and any guard that had somehow managed to survive the rapid assault of the Palace defenses. Fifty-six though would be able to consider himself lucky to a point, as he was not being directly targeted, however it would be hell if were to be captured.
Xalden the Black
Lord of Cyborrea
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| Blackfire_Contacts | Date: Saturday, 16 Jun 2012, 4:37 AM | Message # 3 |
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Lieutenant colonel
Group: Users
Messages: 110
Status: Offline
| Fifty-six and his guards would not be caught as unaware as Xalden's forces might think. True, they'd entered just beyond the entryway of the palace to launch the small, spherical probe droid, but at the pilot's first panicked cries that there was a tractor lock on the shuttle, they'd already begun to turn about. Presumably, the shuttle was fired upon about the same time that the anti-infantry turret dropped down from the ceiling. Fifty-six's four guards, as mentioned, wore clone armor from the war; two in blaze trooper suits and two in the rarer shadow trooper armor.
The blast of the exploding shuttle caused all five to flinch, which was why the turret managed to get off the first lucky shot. Six bursts was enough to throw one of the heavily-armored blaze troopers into the closest wall; he wasn't dead, for his armor was quite strong, but he had a broken arm and several cracked ribs and his armor wasn't likely to take another hit. Still, the time lapse was enough that one of the shadow trooper-wearing guards could snap a quick rocket from a PLX-1 launcher into the turret and thereby, disable it. Even so, Fifty-six and his additional pair of guards were moving for the exit, a few bare steps away, being followed by the badly injured blaze trooper and the second shadow trooper. When the flash bangs went off, it was these two unfortunates who caught the brunt of them and, in turn, were cut down from behind. This left Fifty-six and his pair of remaining guards outside. Incidentally, the shots from the pair of mercenaries did manage to rupture the blaze trooper's flame pack, resulting in an explosion that filled that section of the hall with flames, cutting off Fifty-six's path back in... and cutting off the mercenaries from coming out.
Once outside, Fifty-six and his pair of remaining guards would move to seek the nearest cover possible while looking for a means to escape.
The Citadel's Contractors
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| Xalden | Date: Saturday, 16 Jun 2012, 1:57 PM | Message # 4 |
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Lieutenant
Group: Users
Messages: 48
Status: Offline
| ((Because I have found no record of the Blackfire Contacts having requested the Blaze Trooper armor, nor the Shadow Trooper armor in any of their requests, I must say that your previous post is invalid (in so far as the armor being unapproved of as such armor would need to be approved of) however I would be willing to rewrite my post if, again, if you can prove to me that the armor was requested and approved of by management, so until then I'll be assuming that Fifty-six's guards are wearing only regular Phase II clone trooper armor.))
The guard wasnt as lucky as Fifty-six thought, the Anti-Infantry laser cannon would tear through the Phase II armor that the guard was wearing, killing the man instantly as the laser blasts tore through his body, leaving him to limply fall to the ground in a mass of broken bones. The Guard was lucky though, getting off the blast from the PLX-1 which managed to strike against the underside of the laser cannon which had been reinforced to keep it safe. The weapon though being disabled was pulled back up into its hiding place for later repairs as it was taken off line. The two flashbangs that went off caught the guard completely, blinding him and disorienting him and making him easy prey for the two mercenaries within which cut him down with their blasters, leaving Fifty-six with only two guards left taking cover near the wreckage of the shuttle as there was nothing else to be used for cover outside on the landing platform.
This was a problem though, as with it being the only cover left available, the tractor beam that had been holding the shuttle in place was now being used to push the wreck off of the landing pad, letting it fall into a gorge below the landing pad. This would leave Fifty-six and his two remaining guards in the open with out any cover as the two Light Turbolaser Turrets took aim at the group. From their flanks, and behind the cover of large planters off to the sides that graced the wings of the large palace came four mercenaries, two on each side that had taken cover. From high above in one of the other towers of the palace a window swung open, followed by another on the opposite tower as two snipers took aim at the two guards, placing them in their cross hairs before a message was voiced from a loud speaker.
"Surrender now and you will be treated kindly as a prisoner as long as you cooperate. Do this and you will not be harmed. Snipers have taken aim on your last remaining guards." As a precaution, to ensure that they didnt run off the landing pad and into the gorge below, the edges of the landing pad where slowly pulled up, placing them at an angle to prevent anyone from being able to climb up it, and forcing Fifty-six and his remaining guards into a box with only one way out.
Xalden the Black
Lord of Cyborrea
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| Blackfire_Contacts | Date: Saturday, 16 Jun 2012, 8:43 PM | Message # 5 |
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Lieutenant colonel
Group: Users
Messages: 110
Status: Offline
| (( To the best of my knowledge, neither the blaze trooper armor nor the base shadow trooper armor require requesting as they are older-model tech and, as such, are likely to be found scattered throughout the galaxy, much like clone weapons, battle droid rifles, etc. If this was necessarily true, then every NPC would require exact gear requesting down to the very minute details. However, I'll let management comment on this before I post. Or I may just post and await management's opinion either way. ))
The Citadel's Contractors
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| Karth_DeQora | Date: Saturday, 16 Jun 2012, 9:02 PM | Message # 6 |
 Colonel general
Group: Administrators
Messages: 1157
Status: Offline
| The only time I would require armor and weapons being requested for NPCs is if the designs are non-canon or the weapons/armor are significantly overpowered. ))
Man, Myth, Administrative God. Also plays a mean kazoo.
Jace Varitek: In Northern California we just have gangs of vigilante interior decorators.
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| Blackfire_Contacts | Date: Sunday, 17 Jun 2012, 6:47 AM | Message # 7 |
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Lieutenant colonel
Group: Users
Messages: 110
Status: Offline
| (( Thank you, Karth. Carl, two days seems fair. I'll give you two days to modify your post and then I'll post. If it's not modified, then I'll just go ahead and post my modified response to it. ))
The Citadel's Contractors
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| Xalden | Date: Sunday, 17 Jun 2012, 8:10 AM | Message # 8 |
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Lieutenant
Group: Users
Messages: 48
Status: Offline
| (( Or you could check the Extending the Olive Branch OOC ))
Xalden the Black
Lord of Cyborrea
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| Blackfire_Contacts | Date: Sunday, 17 Jun 2012, 9:31 AM | Message # 9 |
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Lieutenant colonel
Group: Users
Messages: 110
Status: Offline
| (( You are correct, Carl. My apologies for missing this. )) Added (17 Jun 2012, 9:31 AM)
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(( In fact, we can continue to debate the armor types and whatnot, but I'll post off of your last post with the Phase-II armor. ))
Part of the problem Blackfire had in hiring on small mercenary groups was that not all groups took good care of their equipment. Clone armor, now ten years out of date, was not always the best to utilize and in poor condition, such as this, could not always deflect blaster bolts. If anything, it was sometimes easy enough to shoot through a person, despite their armor. That was the case for today. The mercenary who'd been flashbanged had half-turned, preparing to bring up the rear behind Fifty-six, who would be following the surviving two guards. This particular soon-to-be-deceased mercenary was one of those who was more fond of cleaning and caring for his weapon than his protective gear; an unfortunate trait. His armor was shabby, shoddy and not well maintained at all. As such, when Xalden's forced opened fire on him, the blasts cut through the man, rather than simply impacting the armor or, in a normal worst-case scenario, burning through the back plate and killing him.
By the time several of the shots struck Fifty-six in his unprotected back, for he'd worn no armor, they did not have enough force to fully penetrate and then exit the front of his body. However, they did have the killing power to burn his heart in his chest; a luckier hit, and cause minor damage to several other organs. Fifty-six, however, never knew what killed him as he simply pitched forwards in mid-stride. This left the remaining pair of guards who ran for their lives and were even now, being forced into a bad spot. Seeing that their employer was dead and the majority of their group killed as well, the surviving pair dropped their weapons and raised their hands. Mercenaries were mercenaries, after all, and there was no reason to fight to the death in this case.
The Citadel's Contractors
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| Neese | Date: Monday, 18 Jun 2012, 4:24 PM | Message # 10 |
 Private
Group: Users
Messages: 14
Status: Offline
| Too little too late, perhaps, the Marauder-class corvette BeWilder emerged from hyperspace. Xalden had succeeded in gaining the attention of the Cartel and hitched a ride back to Cyborrea in the corvette garishly painted in Huttese lettering identifying itself immediately as a vessel of the Hutt Cartel. (It was not unlike another vessel of its class, the Wild Thing, in this respect.) True, Xalden had no kadijic and, true, he'd stirred up a feud between the Anjiliacs and the Desilijics that Njon had to deal with, and true even that Xalden, in part, had brought this attention on himself—but he'd done so for reasons he believed would benefit the Cartel.
Ultimately, Xalden paid his dues to the Cartel and was entitled to its protection, and a move on him was a move on Hutt Space. So the BeWilder was dispatched to Cyborrea as a gesture of its support, though the delay in doing so also expressed Njon's displeasure with Xalden's recent behavior.
The "captain" of the BeWilder, a characteristically foul-tempered Dug chosen more for his loyalty to Njon than for his tactical skill, was at Xalden's service for the time being, as were the motley array of starfighters, from beaten-up Y-wings to Y-TIE monstrosities and the occasional TL-118, their pilots a veritable rogue's gallery of unsavory characters.
Neese
Hired Gun and Representative of Njon Anjiliac
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| Xalden | Date: Monday, 18 Jun 2012, 4:47 PM | Message # 11 |
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Lieutenant
Group: Users
Messages: 48
Status: Offline
| The two groups of four which had moved to cover watched as the two mercenaries dropped their weapons, raising their hands as the two groups came from cover. The two snipers kept their scopes on them as a precaution in case either attempted to pull out an explosive device. At that moment two mercenaries stepped out from the palace, each holding a slug thrower, though the ammunition they carried was harmless. They brought up the two weapons, aiming and both firing in tandem, shooting out two beanbags that would strike the two mercenaries in the gut to bring them to their knees and knock the wind out of them, bringing a stop to any kind of thoughts they might have had. The two groups of four mercenaries quickly fell upon the two prisoners, grabbing their arms and pulling them back behind their backs as they were restrained and dragged from the platform which was returned to its former position.
At that moment the BeWilder was picked up on the Palace sensors, the vessel being followed by the remainder of Xalden's vessels which dropped from hyperspace and began to take up positions around the planet in orbit. One of the mercenaries opened the channel to the vessel. "This is Cyborrean control, we see that Xalden's vessels have returned, and we hope that Xalden is with you. We would like to report an unknown group that sought to enter the Palace. Three are killed, two have been captured and their vessel destroyed. The two remaining Mercenaries will be turned over to Njon as a gift, he may want to question them."
Xalden the Black
Lord of Cyborrea
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| Blackfire_Contacts | Date: Saturday, 23 Jun 2012, 6:58 AM | Message # 12 |
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Lieutenant colonel
Group: Users
Messages: 110
Status: Offline
| The mercenaries that remained were captured without incident. Questioning, however, would likely bring little in the way of answers; the mercenaries were hired on without knowing the essential name of their employer, and Fifty-six did not precisely carry an identification card that screamed Blackfire. To all appearances, it would seem a case of trespassers simply putting their noses where they didn't belong. Added (23 Jun 2012, 6:58 AM)
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Perhaps six hours after the hubbub had died down, a solitary MorningStar-B starfighter dropped out of hyperspace, some distance from the planet; perhaps twenty-thousand kilometers away. Engaging engines, it would move towards the planet at half throttle, providing no other craft were in the immediate vicinity. Were there other craft, it would engage full throttle and the pilot would try to determine intent. Its aim, though, was to gain close enough access to the planet to ascertain what ships might be present, if they were Xalden's and furthermore, look for any sign of the shuttle that had been sent.
The Citadel's Contractors
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| Neese | Date: Wednesday, 04 Jul 2012, 9:32 PM | Message # 13 |
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Private
Group: Users
Messages: 14
Status: Offline
| The Hutts weren't fooled, and nor, it seemed, was their commitment to Cyborrea a fleeting one; six hours after the "hubbub," the MorningStar-B would find the situation the same as it'd been before—the BeWilder remained where it was, along with an assortment of Xalden's vessels. It wouldn't get too good of a look, however; having been very recently burned by a MorningStar fighter hovering about inconspicuously, the Hutts wouldn't be so easily fooled again. Within a few moments, a TL-118 and a pair of Y-wings approached the MorningStar in attack formation, not bothering to establish communications before opening fire.
Blackfire, however, was a party to certain information that Xalden wasn't; namely, the assurance from Njon himself that if, in three days from now, the Hutt Council wasn't able to resolve Blackfire's grievance with Xalden, "Blackfire couldn't be blamed for proceeding at Cyborrea." It was possible, even probable, that the fighters were there to make a show of support to Xalden and not much else, but either way, they'd not sit idly by and let Blackfire continue to surveil the planet with impunity—nor, for that matter, to line up the sights of another superweapon as they had at Nar Shaddaa, with the Wild Thing.
The Dug captain, in the meantime, expressed his gratitude to Xalden for custody of the captured operatives. He did so love an interrogation.
Neese
Hired Gun and Representative of Njon Anjiliac
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| Blackfire_Contacts | Date: Friday, 06 Jul 2012, 10:56 AM | Message # 14 |
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Lieutenant colonel
Group: Users
Messages: 110
Status: Offline
| Even as the Huttese vessels approached, the smaller craft fled on an escape vector, narrowly getting away with its skin intact, so to speak. As it stood, Blackfire was not about to continue operations until either Njon contacted them with some form of resolution or until the three days were up. After that, all things were up in the air.
The Citadel's Contractors
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