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The Orvax IV Slave Fair
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| Lamont_Kruus | Date: Thursday, 21 Mar 2013, 11:11 PM | Message # 1 |
 Lieutenant
Group: Users
Messages: 53
Status: Offline
| Were he a Human, Lamont Kruus could quite well be called the "man of the hour" as the Orvax IV slave fair commenced (at long last) with the usual fanfare and aplomb. Indeed, was it not he who had toppled the Zygerrian Cartel which, for too long, had flooded this venerable event with enormous amounts of scandalously under-priced stock? And in so doing, had Kruus not opened up the fair to former Separatists, such as himself, which the Zygerrians had so cruelly excluded from Orvax IV in years past? Yes, it was he, Lamont Kruus, Captian of the Windfall, self-purported "hero" of the Battle of Kadavo and (accidental) perpetrator of the Zygerrian Massacre, who had done all of this (with, of course, the money of a certain Hutt, the intestinal fortitude of a certain Trandoshan and his celebrated band of mercenaries, and last but not least, the smarts of a Falleen general who hadn't been quite smart enough).
Yet Kruus was oddly absent from the festivities on the planet's surface. His half-dozen Hardcell-class slave ships were there, his 5,000 slaves being sold at handsome prices. But Kruus himself was in orbit, appearing to chafe in the captain's chair on the bridge of the Windfall, his Munificent-class frigate. It was apparent from his blotchy skin that the Hero of Kadavo was nervous, not that this was unusual for a Neimoidian, or even unusual under the circumstances. Yes, he and General Sthena had defeated the Zygerrian fleet, but not destroyed it. And yes, with the presence of former Separatists on Orvax IV being this year's worst-kept secret on the Outer Rim, it was rumored that the Empire could make an appearance (even though, despite the advocacy of the planets Ralltiir, Lorrd, and Alsakan, the Empire had announced that it had no intention of becoming involved).
There were also the usual (and usually empty) threats of slavery-hating worlds such as Ralltiir to disrupt the slave fair. But that's why all the participants brought their fleets with them, including Kruus. That, and to keep each other from getting any ideas about eliminating a competitor or destroying his stock. The presence of so many warships over Orvax IV, and the certainty of mutually-assured destruction, tended to keep the Orvax IV slave fair a peaceful—and profitable—occasion for all concerned.
But none of this is what troubled Kruus. Before him, as droid starfighters occasionally frittered past his viewport, and sales figures streamed across the datapad on his lap, the Neimoidian was witnessing the culmination of his months of stomach-churning battles hard-won for him by other people such as Pekt and Sthena. If all went to plan, this would be the end of it, and the end of his career as a slaver. Ten years since the Clone Wars, he was cashing out of the slave trade. As a grub, he'd eaten all of the other grubs in his hive—he was destined for better than a slaver's life, and if all went to plan, a better life would at last be his.
Lamont Kruus
Captain of the Windfall
Leader of the Kruus slaving ring
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| Rhygar_Valencia | Date: Friday, 22 Mar 2013, 5:21 AM | Message # 2 |
 Lieutenant colonel
Group: Users
Messages: 110
Status: Offline
| If he were still an Epicanthix, Rhygar Valencia would have likely been more cautious. The brush with death he'd survived once had made him arrogant, as did the armored form he wore now. As he liked to boast at times, it would take a fighter-grade cannon to destroy his armor. Nonetheless, as his small fleet arrived at Orvax IV, he felt that old twinge of unease that he hated to feel so much.
Leading from the front, or at least a close proximity thereof, was his personal ship, the modified Vanguard-class gunship Dragon's Flame. To either side, dwarfing his ship, were the Kaloth-class battlecruisers Fang and Claw. Above them, holding a small amount of the slaves he intended to sell today, the modified Kiltirin-class dungeon ship Final Price lumbered along. Then of course, there were the pair of KR-TB Doomtreader transports loaded with slaves and escorted by both pairs of PB-950 patrol boats and TL-118 StarHammer fighters. To the very rear came a half dozen BFF-1 bulk freighters, carrying the main of his cargo and escorted by Lieutenant Tarrington's fighter squadrons, consisting of the half dozen Pursuer-class ships, two squadrons of HLAF-500 fighters and a squadron each of MorningStar-A and B fighters.
Thusly 'attired,' Valencia transmitted his purpose and manifest to Orvax IV Control, listing his cargo as a thousand slaves for sale.
The Dragon of Zonju V
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| Shiva | Date: Friday, 22 Mar 2013, 5:29 AM | Message # 3 |
 Major general
Group: Users
Messages: 386
Status: Offline
| Despite misgivings from Kali, Shiva had come to the Slave Fair. He only had a small amount of slaves; five or six hundred captured folk from a number of places, but this was a chance to show he was still alive, more than anything. He arrived in one fell swoop. The Divine Shadow, the Sword and the Shield all at once. Standing on the bridge, he looked at the varied amassed fleets before him and took a deep breath, then exhaled. His attention was on a ship he could identify; the Windfall, and he gave an order to open a comm channel to the vessel.
"Captain Kruus. A pleasure to see what you've done with the place."
Shiva
The Shadowlord
The Lightbringer
Separatist High Commander (former)
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| Lamont_Kruus | Date: Tuesday, 26 Mar 2013, 9:13 PM | Message # 4 |
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Lieutenant
Group: Users
Messages: 53
Status: Offline
| "'Shiva,' you came!" Kruus exclaimed, his lithe fingers dancing on his datapad and assigning priority to Shiva's channel. The Neimoidian still couldn't quite pronounce the 'Shiva' without a dubious tone of voice—he would never accept that 'Shiva' was the man's real name, if he even was a man—but aside from this, Kruus sounded almost pleased to hear from him. Surprising, considering that Shiva had quite recently sent assassins here to Orvax IV, presumably to kill him. Perhaps Kruus, who was already starting to look upon his career with a sense of hindsight, was just pleased to hear from another erstwhile Separatist. Perhaps all was forgiven. He had invited Shiva, after all. "What have you brought to Orvax IV...?" he considered adding 'old friend?' but supposed they'd never been friends. "I wish you a profitable stay, naturally. But say"—a thought seemed to occur to him—"do you have a moment to talk?"
Kruus issued a terse order in Neimoidian that translated to "all of you, shut down at once." And the various droids on the bridge of the Windfall went dormant. He and Shiva were alone, the latter now appearing large on Kruus's liquid holographic display, the Neimoidian's plush command chair rotating to face him. "It would seem the Separatist cause is dead, no? Some retrospection is possible now, I think." He proceeded in a thoughtful tone, "Tell me 'Shiva,' why didn't we ever work together? You, me, anyone else who's left. Did the Empire win, or did we lose?"
In his contemplative frame of mind, Kruus had seen, but not noticed Rhygar's arrival. He had a formidable number of ships, though. Second only to the Trandoshans, perhaps. No doubt, he would be cleared to land and a lot in the sprawling slave market would be offered to him at a modest price, so that he could unload and sell his stock in the fair. Shiva would be cleared too, though he would find that Kruus already had a reserved lot for his fellow Separatist in an excellent location on the main esplanade, not far from Kruus's lot in fact.
All along the esplanade, an atmosphere of pageantry—music and sweet smells of exotic foods in the air—made it easy to overlook the morose expressions on the faces of the thousands of slaves on display. Each lot along the main esplanade was generally divided into three categories; slaves for labor, service, or pleasure. Slavers shouted gaily to attract the attention of would-be customers, some with the aid of wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube men. Well-dressed merchants and nobles perused the selection of poorly-dressed or, more likely, not-at-all-dressed slaves. And although the Empire would never, ever participate such an event, there were undoubtedly individuals in the crowd who were authorized to make purchases on the Empire's behalf.
Kruus's stock, even though it was somewhat under-fed, was selling rapidly. The only holdup he'd experienced was when a group of Twi'leks refused to leave one of his Hardcell-class slave ships because, after so long aboard, it was too bright for them outside. Kruus's hired-on Trandoshans, replete with stun batons, got the slaves moving. It was a good day for all concerned—except the slaves, of course. But Kruus, for now, was preoccupied with his conversation with Shiva.
Lamont Kruus
Captain of the Windfall
Leader of the Kruus slaving ring
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| Captain_Romes | Date: Tuesday, 26 Mar 2013, 10:39 PM | Message # 5 |
 Private
Group: Users
Messages: 1
Status: Offline
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* * *
Ralltiir had been a thorn in the side of Rhygar Valencia for some time now. Not as big of a thorn as it had wanted to be, though. Captain Romes of the Ralltiir Relief Force—a small, dedicated anti-piracy and anti-slaving fleet—had shadowed Rhygar's slave ships across the stars, a constant reminder that he and his Lieutenant, Tarrington, were being watched. And Ralltiir had loudly threatened to disrupt the Orvax IV slave fair. It was understandable that Rhygar would bring all of his ships with him. In fact, it's what Ralltiir had counted on.
The Broadside-class cruisers Clement and Carlton appeared from hyperspace over Zonju V, in the far reaches of Wild Space.
Quote (Eli_Fitzgerald) But even if it hadn't succeeded in finding the slaver's base of operations, the Clement hadn't completely failed; with reasonable confidence, it had narrowed down the location of the base to one of few inhabited systems in Wild Space. It had also made its point that Ralltiir wouldn't let up on slavers and, moreover, spread the word in common slaving grounds that Ralltiir would pay for leads into the whereabouts of slaves and their captors. This would make it easier for the Clement to find Tarrington the next time someone hard up for credits recognized his ship or ships and decided to call it in.
Weeks ago, in a dusty cantina on the planet Terminus, Romes had finally discovered the location of Rhygar's slaving base. The Zonju system was one of a handful of places it could have been, having been narrowed down to that vicinity thanks to Lieutenant Tarrington's fleet movements. But the informant on Terminus had confirmed it: Zonju V, a haven for criminals and, in this case, slavers. Romes ordered the Clement's and Carlton's complements of Ye-4 gunships to deploy as a sensor sweep was conducted. In moments, they should have a readout on Rhygar's planetside base.
Nigel Romes
Captain of the Clement
Ralltiir Relief Force
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| Shiva | Date: Wednesday, 27 Mar 2013, 5:48 AM | Message # 6 |
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Major general
Group: Users
Messages: 386
Status: Offline
| True, Shiva had sent would-be assassins after Kruus, but not out of a personal reason; to Shiva it had just been business, and as they had never come across Kruus, Shiva reasoned no hard feelings were in order. "I brought a few slaves for sale. Nothing of exceptional stock; simply captured folk from one of the operations my pirates are running." The slaves in question were only part of the profit; scrapped ships and the like were another part of the tidy little operation he was running between Havoc and the Mynocks.
As a landing craft, converted from carrying droids to slaves, began ferrying the living cargo down to Orvax IV's surface for processing and sale, Shiva considered Kruus' question. It was curious how, furthermore, Kruus had deactivated all his droids. Kruus had no reason to trust Shiva, of course, but Shiva had reason to hide his scarred and gruesome visage and anonymity had kept him alive; anonymity and a dwindling supply of body doubles. Only six left and he would be out of escapes.
"The Separatist cause died long before the Clone Wars ended, Kruus. They died with Dooku and they died with Grievous. As for why we never worked together?" Shiva's laugh was mirthless even through the mechanical vocabulator that helped him speak. "We didn't travel in the same circles. Some beings got the honor and some got to run around and do all the messy work the CIS didn't want people to know about. As for the rest of it? Does it matter who won or lost? Truly?" Shiva shrugged slightly. "History will paint us as villains and bastards for all time. In that regard, we lost. And who is left anymore? I haven't heard from Sthena in a long time. That old rat Mallix has been silent too. Who knows who is still alive or not. You and I, that is for sure. And perhaps one or two more I have come across."
Shiva's stock of slaves, a mix of men, women and children from a dozen races were some of poor stock and some of good; some old even. To Shiva, whatever didn't sell was likely to be jettisoned into space but for now, they were up for their auctions under the watchful eyes of a dozen or so organics and twice that many B2 battle droids. Shiva himself was not quite ready to go planetside while such a conversation with Kruus was going on.
Shiva
The Shadowlord
The Lightbringer
Separatist High Commander (former)
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| Rhygar_Valencia | Date: Wednesday, 27 Mar 2013, 6:12 AM | Message # 7 |
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Lieutenant colonel
Group: Users
Messages: 110
Status: Offline
| The KR-TB transports would begin landing their loads at the designated areas before returning to dock with and unload the BFF-1 freighters that held, if one pardoned the small pun, the bulk of his slaves. Once that several hour task was complete, they would take the remaining slaves from the Final Price and remain landed, along with Tarrington and the pilots from the Pursuer enforcement ships with a dozen helpers sent down from the battlecruisers. Rhygar himself intended, for now, to relax and watch the sale of his stock, which included no shortage of nubile Twi'lek females.
Back on Zonju V, a large portion of Valencia's mercenary and slaver affiliates were not expecting the arrival of two such vessels, nor the deployment of gunships. A dozen freighters of CEC make and a single Action IV transport were in orbit, but the element of surprise held them in place for now. As the sensors in Zoronhed picked up the arrival, the small control room operator hailed the vessels. "Arriving vessels, this is Zonju V Control. State vector for route guidance." on the payroll of Valencia, the man was rapidly sending an urgent text based message to Valencia's primary house in Zoronhed, a sprawling manor that took up four city blocks with its own rooftop landing pad that could accommodate a single shuttle. Valencia had only left a token guard force behind of two dozen men; with swoop gangs from the canyons in his payroll and crime and smuggling in his grip, the slaver hadn't worried about too many intruders after all.
The Dragon of Zonju V
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