The C-3 passenger liner was a beautiful blend of sleek lines and curves; a feminine appearance in itself. The glittering lights that marked its viewports only served to enhance the craftsmanship that had gone into every line of the vessel. It was truly splendid when viewed from a distance. Splendid, that it, aside from the charred ruin of its communications hub and the immense damage to its engines. The liner was dead in space. The liner wasn't going anywhere any time soon, and even that was an understatement. The attack had been practically surgical in precision, which was odd for pirates.

It was something that Imlo Klapp pondered from the seat of his repainted R-41 Starchaser. This had been an exercise in great patience and teamwork. Hard for four groups of pirates to pull off, but, oh, it was beautiful. Klapp couldn't help but envision the spoils that would be divided! Half of whatever was on the liner was to be theirs. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling in the pit of his stomach. He'd sworn after the Twin Worlds issue in which he'd nearly lost his life that he wasn't going to get mixed up again, yet here he was, approached by the same odd man, albeit over the Holonet, offering data and meeting times and a bonus sum far too big to be ignored.

Klapp and his rebuilt squadron had been joined by his comrade-in-arms from the last debacle, Jal Temps. Of course, their two squadrons were only overwatch for the main body of the deal: a completely black DP20 frigate named Estella. The odd name went well with the ship's odd captain, a career pirate called Phen Tembros who'd managed to do well and somehow survive over the years of the conflict between the Rebels and the Imperials. Regardless, he'd been instrumental in the disabling method of the C-3 liner, blowing away its communications area as soon as they'd emerged from hyperspace towards Spira. They'd never had time to call for help. Now, with the assistance of (oddly enough) swoop gang members and Tembros' own pirates, the C-3 liner was being ransacked and its thousand-odd occupants and crew would be herded towards the center of the ship.

For the final part of the mission, Klapp wasn't too happy. The orders they had been given, along with the repainted insignia on the sides of their craft that marked them as members of the 'Lucian Alliance' didn't sit well. It was all well and good to blow out someone's engines and shake up a few rich tourists, but this business of cracking the ship open when all was said and done? That didn't sit right at all. Still, a job was a job. Now he just had to wait for what he'd been paid to do. Hell, if he was lucky, Tembros' ship could split the liner and it'd be off of Klapp's conscience forever.

Added (14 Nov 2009, 2:15 Am)
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Klapp waited with growing impatience as the second element of Tembros' little fleet entered the system. A trio of Action VI transports escorted by a pair of Muurian transports. It was an odd, but efficient mix that quickly allowed the pirates to gather the accumulated wealth of the liner on board to their holdings before jumping away to safety, leaving the two squadrons and the DP20 behind. It had likely been a long, frightening ordeal for the passengers on board, now herded into the center area of the ship. For them, at least, the ordeal was about to come to and end.

Klapp crossed his arms as best he could as the DP20 pulled back from the disabled C-3, then cracked open its hull in the center with a well-placed turbolaser blast before heading out in the same path the transports had taken. Klapp shook his head slightly. Well, none of those civilians would ever fly the friendly spacelanes again. They'd never be flying anywhere for that matter.

"Hey, Klapp... passenger manifest has a few oddities. Seems there was a New Republic courier carrying records of prisoner transfers and a few other assorted goodies on board. Think we'll get some extra credits for this?"

"I don't know. Let's take it back and see what happens."

Klapp wheeled his craft about, heading out with the rest of the ships. He had a feeling that when the liner was discovered, the Lucian Alliance would rapidly rise to the top of the Most Wanted list. Thankfully, they'd not be able to place the raiders as different; the Lucian Alliance uniform was easy enough to replicate. Cameras couldn't lie, but people could.