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Mobus
May 9, 2011 3:28:08 GMT -5
Post by Jaster Chryss on May 9, 2011 3:28:08 GMT -5
Mobus, sometimes referred to as Sanctuary, was a gas giant in the Klasse Ephemora system of the Unknown Regions, orbiting Klasse A.
Mobus had 18 moons, including M-3 and M-18. M-18 was actually the living planet Zonama Sekot when Mobus first came into the awareness of the galaxy. Zonama Sekot, however, is no longer a part of this system.
It had a gem mining station established over it that was abandoned around 25 BBY, due to atmospheric storms.
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Mobus
May 9, 2011 5:07:36 GMT -5
Post by Jaster Chryss on May 9, 2011 5:07:36 GMT -5
"I don't care what you say Shim, this damned shipment is going to get us a lot more trouble than its worth!"
Kal Chryss listened carefully to the reply from the other end of his comm-link, his face getting more and more agitated as the minutes ticked by.
"No! We can't afford another Bespin, this shipment has to get delivered one way or another. You got us stuck with it, and now you find us a buyer!"
Furiously, Kal tossed the comm-link across the room and watched it shatter against the duracrete walls. Sithspit, he yelled in his head. These damn arrogant fools are going to get us all killed. Here he was, a washed up smuggler sitting with a load of glitterstim that would fetch a fortune on any of a hundred worlds, yet nowhere in the known universe could he find a buyer. I should probably just head out into the streets myself and try sell it, he added to himself. And then where would I be? A washed up smuggler foraying into drug dealing. As if the list of crimes he'd committed in the eyes of the Republic and Empire weren't long enough. Not to mention the stint he'd pulled in the Hapan Consortium.
He jumped up out of his chair that he been sitting in and began pacing. Where had he gone wrong? What had he done to wind up here?
Here - here was an abandoned gem mining station, a gem mining station without any gems, that he'd turned into his own little hideout from the galactic eye. Shim, his partner in crime, was off on Nar Shaddaa trying desperately to find a buyer for the metric ton of 'stim resting a few feet away. And what here entailed was sitting around this forgotten hole with nothing to do but count stars and hope that the next atmospheric storm wouldn't shake anything vital to the life support systems loose.
His ship, the Tinnuviel, was a run down old Firespray 31 patrol and attack craft designed by Kuat over 200 years ago. This particular ship had been in his family since before Kal could recall.
From what his mother had told him, the Tinnuviel had belonged to her grandfather's grandfather, which to Kal translated to only one thing: ancient. But despite the age of the ship, she flew, and that was all that mattered to Kal. He'd been just shy of 16 when he'd headed out one fine Dantooine morning with the desire to see the galaxy, and nothing in his way to stop him. Maybe he should have told his parents he was leaving, maybe he should have at least left a note, but Kal had been young and as hell bent on getting away from Dantooine as quick as possible.
I haven't been back there in... has it been that long? The brief wave of nostalgia passed, and Kal grew irritated at himself. He'd just shattered his comm-link, his only means of communication with Shim and his ship, and now he would have to entertain himself until the two got back in a few standard days.
Well, I might as well check the stock, he thought as he began to make his way through the abandoned station...
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 7:42:15 GMT -5
Post by Jaster Chryss on May 10, 2011 7:42:15 GMT -5
Kal Chryss was a methodical man. When he decided to check the stock, he counted every last item in every last box in the storage area. As a result of this, he knew exactly what illegal goods were placed where in his little smuggler's den, and so it came as a surprise to him when he discovered a crate that had been lightly shifted from the last time he been in the room.
Strange, he thought. Not where I left you. What came to an even bigger surprise was the contents of the box. On the outside of the box it was clearly marked nerf steaks, which in Kal's personal code meant the box should contain several bottles of chak-root liqueur that Kal had personally gone through great lengths to obtain from a most inhospitable man on Naboo.
When Kal opened it, he found not a single bottle of chak-root, but rather a lovely collection of durasteel blocks. Lifting one he estimated they weighed just enough to make someone believe the box still contained its original contents.
"Osik!"
The Mandalorian curse left his lips as he flung the crate over and with an emphatic kick sent it flying into the opposite wall. That no good treacherous slime ball of a Twi'Lek had crossed him. Damn it Shim, he thought, what in the name of the Sith were you thinking to steal from me? After all, there was no other explanation. In the past four years the only two people who had been on this station had been him and Shim. And seeing that he had counted the stock of his carefully collected illicit trade goods a few days before she had left, the only logical conclusion was that she had taken the load of char-root and was now off trying to pawn it off for whatever she could.
And she has my ship! The thought occurred to him, perhaps later than it should have. My ship! There was no way that she would be coming back with it, no way she could expect Kal not to find the stolen goods. Which meant she had gone full rogue, committed a complete mutiny.
And that meant that Kal Chryss was stuck on an out of the way, hard to find, completely off the grid station, where no one ever ventured, with nothing but a few supplies and a store room full of goods that seemed a lot less valuable all of a sudden.
It did not matter that the smuggled goods could probably float a small city for several weeks on their current market value alone. All that mattered was that Kal was stuck, because someone had crossed him. And no one ever cross Kal Chryss and lived.
"Mando'ad draar digur..."
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 9:15:11 GMT -5
Post by AtraVentus on May 10, 2011 9:15:11 GMT -5
A young Mandalorian sat in silence within the confines of his dark cockpit. His systems were disabled and his Firespray-class fighter had been set adrift. The man had long since given up vocalizing his distaste for the current situation and now sat capmly with his arms crossed, keeping an eye out for any activity.
It had been a stroke of exceptionally bad luck that his ship's hyperdrive had been damaged during his encounter with some rather angry space pirates. It was another hit when he found out it was damaged by his ship's systems overloading during hyperspeed. Checking his instrument panel once more Kel'Noct Ren grumbled a Mandalorian curse and glanced out to set his eyes on a derelict looking mining station.
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 9:26:09 GMT -5
Post by Jaster Chryss on May 10, 2011 9:26:09 GMT -5
Kal was still sitting in the storage room cursing his lungs out when he heard a beeping sound coming from the sensor unit mounted in the next room. Probably another damned asteroid, he thought as he got up to check the system.
What he found though, surprised him. There was an incoming ship, Firespray-class by the looks of it, and it was heading right for Mobus. Wait, Kal thought, not right for Mobus, but definitely towards it. His scanners indicated that the ship was adrift and its systems were down. From this range the mining stations scanners were too weak to pick up any life forms, but Kal could hope that someone was aboard or that perhaps he could get the ship functioning again.
Kal started on a brisk jog across the station to where the tractor beam controls were situated. He'd tested the thing once when he'd first come to Mobus, but had found no use for it since. Now, he hoped it was still operational. Flipping a few switches he brought the primary power through to the beam. So far the systems were running as well as could be expected. Lets see what happens, Kal thought as he tried to lock onto the Firespray ship...
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 9:41:08 GMT -5
Post by AtraVentus on May 10, 2011 9:41:08 GMT -5
As Kel'Noct eyed the mining station he felt his ship give a slight jerk towards it. He raised an eyebrow, curious as to what would wait for him if the station was indeed trying to pull his ship in. After several tense minutes of on again off again movement towards the station the Firespray finally came to a stop in the hangar.
The Mandalorian quietly slipped his armour's helmet back into place and slipped into the darkness of the cabin, his blaster trained on the slowly opening entryway to his ship.
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 10:09:09 GMT -5
Post by Jaster Chryss on May 10, 2011 10:09:09 GMT -5
After Kal had set the tractor beam to bring the ship to the hanger, he went about getting ready for whatever kind of visitors he could be expecting. He double checked that his blaster was loaded, and thought for a moment about saying a quick prayer to whatever space gods were still out there. To hell with them, he added, they'd abandoned him years ago.
Kal was not about to go rushing head on into a ship that had just happened on out of the blue. He hadn't survived this many years smuggling by simply being reckless.
He keyed the comm to the hangar and allowed his voice to be heard on the comm system.
"If there is anybody aboard the Firespray, step outside where we can see you. We have you surrounded."
He added the last bit as an afterthought, after all, it wasn't often that anybody came to a mining station and found it deserted. Usually these places were bustling with people, and he hoped that whoever was aboard the new ship would be thinking the same.
Kal set the comm to repeat the message on a variety of languages, and simultaneously stepped around into the hanger door, from where he could see the lowering ships boarding ramp...
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 10:22:43 GMT -5
Post by AtraVentus on May 10, 2011 10:22:43 GMT -5
Kel'Noct raised an eyebrow as he heard the hangar comm system relay the message. It was all he could do not to scoff. Surrounded? The fine layer of dust he could see with one quick glance around the hangar, as well as the level of disuse about him told him a much different story. He was a Mandalorian and could not be tricked so easily. Still, even if he wasn't surrounded he had no idea if there were any more people than the voice on the comm.
With that in mind, Kel'Noct Ren activated his armour's wrist blaster just in case and holstered his blaster. The clank of armoured feat could be heard echoing in the emptiness of th hangar as Kel'Noct made his way down the boarding ramp.
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 10:44:20 GMT -5
Post by Jaster Chryss on May 10, 2011 10:44:20 GMT -5
What Kal saw surprised him. A man dressed in full Mandalorian battle armour came walking out of the Firespray and down the boarding ramp. As Kal saw this, he noticed the Mandalorian symbols along the hull of the Firespray.
He had thought that most of the Mando's had either gone to ground completely after the last war, or were simply extinct. When he'd seen the Firespray on the scanner he'd not thought this was a Mandalorian ship coming, he'd thought this ship was probably just another piece of debris from the past, something that had been forgotten.
To say he was surprised would be an understatement. To say he was happy, well, that might be closer to the truth. Perhaps just walking forward and greeting a Mando in full gear was not the smartest of things to do, but it had been so long since Kal had seen one that he forgot all sense of protocol.
If, however, he was wrong and this person wasn't actually Mandalorian, Kal would probably find himself in a lot more trouble than he currently was. He held his arms a part in a friendly gesture and spoke to the man on the boarding ramp in Mando'a.
"Su cuy'gar!"
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 11:02:12 GMT -5
Post by AtraVentus on May 10, 2011 11:02:12 GMT -5
At first Kel'Noct was schocked to be greeted in Mando'a. It had been so long since he left his home that he thought he would never hear it spoken again. Relaxing his guard he disabled his wrist blaster and nodded his greeting.
"Su'cuy! Tion'ad hukaat'kama?"
Responding in kind Kel'Noct surveyed the open hangar, running through a militaristic set of checks in his mind.
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 11:14:17 GMT -5
Post by Jaster Chryss on May 10, 2011 11:14:17 GMT -5
At the Mando'a response Kal allowed the last of his suspicion to ebb away. He strode the rest of the way towards the Mando and reached out to clasp his forearm in the traditional Mandalorian greeting.
<"I wish I could say somebody, ner'vod, but to tell you the truth I believe I was just betrayed by the last person I felt I could trust in this world.">
Kal continued in Mando'a, the language coming out slowly at first as he recalled how to use it. It had been many years since he had spoken it.
<"What brings you all the way out here? And in Firespray that looks as if it has seen better days!">
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 11:38:29 GMT -5
Post by AtraVentus on May 10, 2011 11:38:29 GMT -5
Hearing Kal's words brought a grimace to Kel'Noct's face, hidden behind his mask.
<"So few have honour in this galaxy, it is shameful you were betrayed.">
Glancing back towards his Firespray he crossed his arms, triggering a key on his wrist that caused his helmet to seperate and retract into his armour. His tightly cropped red hair seemed to ignite the scars on his face, burning red in his pale flesh. His green eyes looked wearily upon his broken ship.
<"I'm ashamed to say my story is much the same as yours. More to the point, my hyperdrive was damaged and shorted out my systems.">
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 12:17:12 GMT -5
Post by Jaster Chryss on May 10, 2011 12:17:12 GMT -5
Kal beckoned for the new arrival to follow him as he turned around.
"Well, I'm sad to say I do not have much here in the way of spare parts, I myself had a functional ship until it was stolen."
Kal swore silently to himself. That woman would pay for this.
Shortly, they arrived at the area that served as an eating area.
"Can I offer you anything to eat? I don't know how long you've been a drift in space for, and I was just about to have a meal before you showed up."
Kal began preparing some nerf steaks he had kept saved away for a special occasion.
"So tell me of your troubles ner vod. What happened?"
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 12:36:54 GMT -5
Post by AtraVentus on May 10, 2011 12:36:54 GMT -5
"I don't know exactly how long I was adrift, but food certainly appeals to me right now."
Taking a seat Kel'Noct contemplated how to explain his shortcomings. He had turned mercenary since leaving his home in search of glory, finding the so-called 'peace' not to his liking. Mandolorians were meant to be in battle, glorious and beautiful battle.
"I was hired to do a job, they needed some intimidation factor I clearly awarded them. When the deal was over they decided they prefered a three way split to four. Those hut'uun tried to blast me outta the sky.'
Eying the nerf steaks hungrilly he began to think ahead.
"Perhaps this meal will put us in a mind to fix that hyperdrive of mine.'
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Mobus
May 10, 2011 13:20:06 GMT -5
Post by Jaster Chryss on May 10, 2011 13:20:06 GMT -5
Kal dished up enough food to feed two small families for each of them, and carried the plates over to the table. He put a plate in front of the Mando, and then sat down opposite him with his own food.
"Your ship is functional except for the hyperdrive? I don't know what parts I have, but there isn't much in this place except exotic goods and a Sith-ton of spice. "
Kal began to cut through a piece of nerf steak, the vibroblade slicing through it as if it were nothing but bantha butter.
"Ner vod, it seems in all this excitement I clean forgot to introduce myself. The name's Kal."
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