Diamonds Are Forever.

Eludajae

13-10-2009 10:34:08

As each of you arrive at this distant space station orbiting a little known moon, in a system that is primarily a shipping lane stop over, it’s a small place even by space station standards. Nothing but a bunch of Tramp Freighter captains and their crew, the guys that make the economy roll along but no one wants to see, be seen with, or get too close, the smell you see.

You all received a priority message on the secure OpNet of the Brotherhood to be at this place, at this time, in the third room of the cantina. Since there is only one cantina on the whole place you assume that this, “place” must be where you’re to meet whomever contacted you. Some of you are experienced member of the Brotherhood strange messages and clandestine meetings are standard operating procedure, but never been in a toilet like this place before.

You enter the cantina is it a seedy little place, even by most standards is a [Expletive Deleted] hole. You look around and there is everything you can imagine going on, the hologaming tables are packed, every other table has either a Pazak game going or the local harlots are plying their trade. Everything in this smoke filled place screams, loser.

You move through the crowd with your abilities and awareness at an all time high you move through them as if they were not there, you move around the circular room to the third room off the main hub, as you move in you see several people you recognize from the Brotherhood other still scream Brotherhood to you. The moment you enter the seedy band stops and all the dancers move away from the stage and the door shuts and the stage lights up to a hologram image. A table is cleared near the image and one of the dancers a sexy Zabrak motions for you to sit. When all of you take a seat the room darkens and the image becomes clear.

“Welcome Brothers and Sisters, The Grand Master has need of your services,” The hooded figure says in a sing song voice, some of the older members and a few others of you recognize the voice of the newest Tribune, Eludajae. “As you know our recent war to retake the home world of the Brotherhood was taxing on all of our reserves. Thus we must find innovative ways to refill the coffers of the Brotherhood. So the Dark Council can continue to make all those lovely capital ships you all via for. Well every once in a while we need a more direct influx of resources and wealth. Thus, why you are here today with us.” She waves her hand and your tables top becomes a holo-viewer. A world appears on it.

“This is Arkania, it’s a fairly unremarkable world except for two major factors, first it’s not a member of the New Republic or Grand Alliance, second its single major export, Diamonds.” Eludajae hesitates just long enough for the more experienced of you to get mildly annoyed at the dramatic tactic, “You are going to assist the Brotherhood in liberating several metric tons of them form the Arkania mines.”

The image of the planet goes into a localizes view the planet is nothing more than one massive glacier with a network of closed tube access ways connecting the major clusters that make up both the minding operations and the various settlements be they small minding coops or the planets three major cities. “As you see the world is nothing but a ball of ice, perfect for the creation of diamonds, and the minding camps are connected directly to the star ports via enclosed tube access ways that have electromagnetic railway systems within them. The trains for lack of a better word travel back and forth between the mines and the cities, a break neck speeds I might add. However as with all systems of transportation and mining there are openings for those that have the volition and ambition to exploit them. There are three possible locations that you can exploit to achieve your goal, of robbing the diamonds from the Arkania’s and return with them to the reassigned location.”

The holovid again changes as Eludajae speaks giving you a full 3D view of the largest Mining operation on the planet, The Eastern Mining Platform is the largest mining operation on the planet it produces on the average a full 35% of all diamond mined by the Arkanians yearly, which amounts to a net weight of around 300 metric tons. This is one of your exploitation locations, here two forms of transportation is used, the railway system, and small tramp freighters, this has a small port where sanctioned freighters can land and take on cargo directly, some of the Arkanian’s less than savory business partners use this method as with all smugglers and criminals there is little trust in their line of work. Landing here will be the easy part; it’s the acquisition of the diamonds and the leaving the port is the hard part. It is heavily armed with blaster cannon turrets and concussion missile launchers, none exceptional by our standards but present none the less. “ Eludajae waves her hand and the view changes yet again.

“This is the north west plateau, it is a 175 mile stretch of the railway system that is open air, it’s used a natural coolant system by the railway, there are several open air stretches but this is the only one that is significant enough to grant an opportunity to seize the diamonds from the train. It’s temperature is of course below freezing at all times and the weather can be inhospitable as one could imagine, traveling at approximately 250 kilometers per hour from the moment the nose of the train enters this open air area, till the end car enters the other side’s enclosed area is exactly twenty one point seven minutes. Granting you a sizeable amount of time to move in and extract the diamond cargo if you’re fast enough.”

Again the holovid changes and you see space platform above the planet, “This platform is a fixed orbital platform. It is your third area of opportunity. It is highly automated, with security being primarily old Separatist combat bots. They use a thing they call a space elevator to actually lift the cargo from the ground to the platform at which time the automated platform moves the magnetically sealed cargo crates to the heavy freighters waiting for their cargo. We do not want this to turn into a pirate operation that will attract the attention of the Grand Alliance ships in the local area. We want this to be a theft from a non Grand Alliance planet which the Grand Alliance will write off as an internal affair, once you attack these heavy freighters bound for the Grand Alliance territories it becomes their business. That is not an acceptable risk. The diamonds have to be liberated from the Arkanian platform prior to their making it aboard one of those heavy freighters.”

The hologram goes dark, “The method of how you chose to achieve your goal is your own business. You were selected because you all have shown the ability to independently act on a mission without constant hand holding. Good luck your transport is waiting in bay four.”
The hologram of Eludajae disappears, the rooms lights go back up and the band and dancers take their place on the holovid pad and begin to play as if nothing ever happened, the people around you begin to act in the same manner as all the other cantina patrons you walked through, playing Pazak or engaging in drinking or carnal displays. You take a moment to look at your members at the table, then walk to bay four to see your transport.

When you get into the hanger several of you with knowledge of history and lore will stop and look at the ship before you, someone has taken a great deal of pains for this ship to resemble, remarkably resemble, the legendary Ebon Hawk.

Someone is playing both with you and anyone else that would identify the ship that raided Arkania. You enter the ship and begin to talk with your fellows. The first question that comes to mind is, “can anyone fly this thing?”

`CC`

13-10-2009 23:35:37

“I call pilot.”

The rest of his newly created ‘squad’ turned to look at Zandro with looks that ranged from incredulous to downright hatred. The Arconae smirked and stretched his arms out behind him, acting as though the looks had been nothing more than a momentary hiccup in his plans to pilot the freighter.

“Why you? You don’t exactly look like an experienced pilot.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Kyra gave him a quick once over before sneering in dismissal.

“You’re far too young. Have you looked in the mirror lately?”

Before Zandro could reply one of his clan-mates stepped in for him, Sang stepping forward to impose himself between the Arconan and Kyra.

“He’s one of the three Aces of the Brotherhood, I think that more than speaks for itself.”

“So you can fly, how do we know you can fly this type of vessel?”

“Oh, you mean the dynamic-class freighter? Not quite as complicated as an uneducated person might think, despite its look it is a fairly basic freighter. That is kind of the reason it’s been in use for over a millennia now. Might be a slightly tight fit with six of us, but maximum capacity could be a lot more cramped I suppose.”

A moment of silence spread between the group before Windos nodded once at Zandro and turned to the others, a quizzical look spreading across his face.

“We have our pilot at least, now what do we do?”

Kira Starr

17-10-2009 14:42:58

"We should get on board," blatantly stated Kyra, "for one I want to check out this ship."

No one argued with the Tarentum Knight as they began to move up the boarding ramp and enter the communications room. Zandro headed to the cockpit while Kyra glanced at him, "now we will see if you can fly this thing," she reiterated with a slight smirk while the Arconan Battlemaster rolled his eyes.

The others took a moment to inspect the ship and afterwards Windos and Jade called everyone to gather around the communications console. "We need to plan our route to Arkania," stated the Tarentum Battlemaster. They all looked at the map display and went over the best course to take.

"Won't this ship *not* attract attention, it being a cargo vessel," Sanguinius the other Arconan stated, "besides the quicker we get there the more time we have to get those diamonds and get back."

"The most direct route would work, as long as we don't cause suspicion" replied Windos, "Zandro get into the pilot's seat and prep for takeoff."

"Once we are in hyperspace I suggest we get to the business of planning how we are to extract the diamonds," stated Jade.

The team strapped themselves in while Zandro took the ship away from the landing platform into orbit. In orbit the hyperspace coordinates where entered and the Ebon Hawk and its crew were on their way to Arkania.

As the ship began its course each mamber sat contemplating the mission and thought of a strategic plan to bring the Arkanian diamonds back home to the Brotherhood.

Sanguinius

20-10-2009 04:58:52

Sanguinius chuckled to himself as he reflected upon the little tirade between Kyra and Zandro, of course he was going to side with the Arconae. The Aedile had plans, plans that needed the Arconae's support in the future. So he had to keep them sweet and happy in the present. These Arkanian Diamonds were a means to an end, not important in themselves to the young Qel Droman, but the favours he would gain from retrieving these valuable items would reap wonders for him in the future.

He was jogged from his thoughts by the minor discussion going on between Windos, a Tarentae known to Sanguinius as a fanatical member of the ancient Clan, and the Sadowite, Jade Sadow. Those two were certainly dedicated to their respective clans to have been gifted with those titles, but the Anaxsi wondered how well would they work together in this incursion. Power alone wouldn't give them what they wanted. Teamwork and certain sacrifices needed to be made. Sang was adamant he wasn't going to be one of those sacrifices. The thought made him grin slyly. The silent Severus was an enigma to the Knight, a Protector on this mission? Well, he knew a good person to sacrifice for his own escape if needed.

The Aedile unbuckled his safety harness and stalked off towards the cockpit, he needed to talk to someone he knew he could rely on, an Arconan.

Methyas

20-10-2009 13:54:18

The group had been intriguing to follow thus far, the young Protector had been silent as he followed this powerhouse group. He had intended to speak up on multiple occassions, prefering stealth to knocking on the front door. He knew as he sat silently amongst the group he was the FNG, but there was little he had in common with the higher ranking members of the Brotherhood.

He was trying to remain focused, hoping that his lifeblood wouldn't become a problem within the mines as he appeared a beacon, a fountain overflowing in the Force. As much as the others were just as much a focus in the force they could at least surpress it, unlike himself. He sighed to himself as he looked over the ragtag group, hoping the mission would be a success as they approached their destination, the Arconan an excellent pilot of this aging frieghter.

Amongst the group the only person he recognized, even in passing, was Jade Sadow. Even she seemed daunting amongst the rest, it made him question why he was sent. Sure he could bluff well and his control of the force was great, but compared to this power-hitters he was just a fledgeling. With a little shuffle he sank lower into his seat, hoping that he could try to ease his troubled mind in the remainder of the trip.