The Rebel Faction

The night before, after Dante had left...

"Well Niox, if I'm understanding things properly you'll be transporting a large number of Barabel, I'd suggest you begin by prepping your ship, activating the extra life support systems you were good enough to include in the design. I'll help you in dealing with them, and I'm sure of course that Dante will leave instructions for them as well. I'd imagine that will make things much easier for us."

Blackkon unconciously stroked his goatee while he thought. "Now, after the tournament tommorow I'm going to leave and organize things for my part of this operation. My men will also go, they have jobs to do as well. I'll return the next morning with a few to help with the organization, and we'll get going from there."

The Corellian paused for a second, deciding on a plan of action. "Once everyone is loaded aboard your ship and comfortable, we'll launch. By the way, I should say that the "Blackk Night" and one other shuttle will need to be held in your hanger bay, for a short time. As I was saying, we'll launch and then make a short jump to coordinates I'll provide you. Is this agreeable?"

Following the tournament...

Arthorn had packed before going to bed the evening, and taken his gear to his Lambda shuttle that morning. Thus, the "Blackk Night" was outbound while Dante was packing, enroute to the "Eclipse". There the former Admiral informed the rest of his crew of thier current mission, and set them into preparations. He was still on the bridge as Dante's Phoenix Hawk transport left the planet, shooting past the cloacked ship as it made it's way to it's jump point. Blackkon nodded in respect as he watched the ship leap away in the forward viewport. Things were certainly going to be interesting.

Finished with his preparations, Arthorn returned to the planet, sleeping aboard his shuttle that night, awaiting the events the next morning.

In reply to Niox...


Blackkon laughed at Niox's requests, not mockingly, just finding it humorous. "Scans are fine, the second shuttle is a standard Lambda, and you won't catch anything special off the 'Blackk Night', as most scanners would with your ship." His eyes twinkled as he looked at his fellow Corellian."

"As for the Barabel, I doubt they'll be a problem. Dante would be very displeased if they caused trouble with his new business partners, and even Barabel need to breath right?"

The day after the tournament...

Arthorn awoke to beeping, as one of his men currently on guard duty sent him a message. "Blackkon here," he called out, rising from his bed and pulling on his clothes.

"Sir, we have a Barabel here to see you," the guard said, "he's waiting at the main hanger entrance.

"Very good, I'm on my way," the Admiral replied, punching the button to activate the boarding ramp and grabbing his coat and duffel on the way out. The Barabel was waiting patiently where it had been told to, two guards a few meters away. Blackkon immediately recognized the sentient as the new Khan, he was still wearing his medal, and held his head high. The large being carried a bag over one shoulder, and was pulling a repulsor cart carrying a large footlocker behind him. As Arthorn approached the lizardlike creature reached into his robes and retrieved a datacard, handing it to the human as he approached. The two moved back inside the "Blackk Night" to speak.

"Master Dante left this datacard for you, he said you would know how to access the information on it, and that you would need it to make the proper preparations to leave." Blackkon noticed the Barabel lower his head as he mentioned Dante's name, an admirable show of respect.

"The Master also left instructions to give you his belongings, to take with you. What I brought along is what he indicated to send."

Arthorn instructed one of his men to load the bag and the footlocker into one of the shielded cargo spaces aboard his shuttle and popped the datacard into his pad. On activating the disk a three dimensional symbol came up, and when clicked on a simple word input box appeared. Blackkon only needed a few seconds to figure out the password, it was a certain item Aeten II had once been famous for, a simple but extremely little known fact. Had it been more known the world would be a highly prized bauble rather than a forgotten relic.

The former Admiral shook his head at what he saw was held on the pad. It held a very thurough, though slightly outdated contact list for the criminal underground throughout the galaxy. As the Barabel had said, it also held information that would be needed to get the Barabel off planet. Once he'd taken it all in Blackkon looked back up to the Khan. "Thank you, you've served Master Dante well. Please have those assigned to come with us gather in the arena this afternoon at 1500 hours."

The Barabel left and Blackkon called Niox. "Niox, meet me at the arena at 1400 hours, the Barabel that are going along with us are gathering there so we can prep them. I'll see you there then. Let me know if you need anything."

Blackkon was just setting the "Blackk Night" down in the bay Niox's ship occupied as the smuggler arrived at the arena. It had been childsplay for one of his men to slice through the measly Mon Cal security that protected the bay. Arthorn new from memory that Niox's ship wasn't going to be that easy. Knowing this, he was pleased to see one of the hidden access doors open to allow his shuttles access. Glancing to his right the Admiral noticed his comm light was blinking, a message from one of Niox's automation droids telling him just that.

Fifteen minutes later Blackkon was walking in the door of the arena, having landed his ship and activated it's security devices in Niox's ship. His men followed him in as Arthorn approached the smuggler. "Good afternoon Niox," Blackkon called out, in order not to startle the other man as he walked up behind him. "Nice timing on that order for your droids to let us aboard, just as we landed in the hanger. So, ready to transport some Barabel?"

His voice was a lot more positive than he felt. While the Barabel had orders to listen to Niox and himself, they were naturally aggressive, and Blackkon didn't like some parts of what Dante had outlined, they would make life difficult for him. Putting off those thoughts he shrugged, and began talking over the last details of the plan with Niox. That was simple, and at 1500 the Barabel arrived.

At least a thousand of them marched in, in neat military fashion. They had thier orders from thier master, and they were ready. The new Khan ran them through some rituals to prepare them, but following that he bowed respectfully to Blackkon and Niox, had that bow returned, and was gone.

"Well then," Blackkon said, "Let's get to it." It took about half an hour to split the Barabel into groups, and each group was organized by two of Blackkon's men. Once this was finished Arthorn addressed the group again. "Thank you all for your patience. Within the hour we'll be outbound, thanks you your organization. I'd like to ask everyone to break up now, and quietly make your way to the docking bay you were provided a moment ago. There please regroup as you are now for boarding. Thank you."

While the Barabel scattered, the former Admiral motioned to Niox. "We should probably get there before any of them. Let's go."

OOC: Do the loading and take off, including the small hyperjump I mentioned to you please. I'll finish up the thread from there.

They had only set-up for a short jump, only a half hour into an empty area of space. Blackkon had not toold Niox the purposes for the jump, only instructed him to do so and gave him the coordinates. He'd left the smuggler in the dark for effect. He wantedto see how the slightly younger man handled a surprise.

Precisely on cue, the Action IV transport dropped out of hyperspace. Standing behind Niox's seat in the cockpit, the former admiral smiled at what the sensors showed, and what he could see out the viewport ahead of him. Utterly nothing, the area around them was completely empty, or at least it seemed to be.

Suddenly, a light signaling a hailing frequency lit up came up on the comm system just as the sensors began wailing warning. In front of Niox and Blackkon's very eyes, there was a shimmering followed by the appearance of a number of ships. The majority of these ships that had suddenly appeared were Skipray Blastboats, the "Blackkon's Blades". But they were there to fly cover for thier home ship, the Xylx-class Battlecruiser "Eclipse".

A mere three-hundred meters shorter than an Imperial Star Destroyer, the "Eclipse" was a grand ship in it's own right. Painted black from bow to stern, it was a fearsome weapon of war. In fact, it was the very ship from which Blackkon had singlehandedly brought Serndipal into the New Alliance. That had been Arthorn's favorite mission while serving the Alliance, and he'd grown fond of the ship during that time. Thus, when the Alliance joined with the New Republic, the "Eclipse" was Admiral Logan's method of rewarding Blackkon for his loyalty.

The ship now was very different than it had been in those days, having undergone a number of modifications. Her hanger-space had been refitted to maximize the amount of fighters the ship could carry, which had increased significantly. Her weapons package had been redone as well, now boasting more weapons and capable of better overall battle performance. Improvements had been made in most all other aspects of operation as well, the "Eclipse" was almost an entirely new ship.

Before Niox could full react, and bring weapons systems online, Arthorn spoke up. "Be calm Niox, it's simply my ship, and our home for the rest of the voyage. No worries."

This said he simply flipped on his comlink, which was routed through the communications system in his shuttle. "Attention 'Eclipse', this is Admiral Blackkon, aboard the freighter. We'll be docking in the main hanger, Blade squadron one please escort us in. Once we're aboard begin preparations for departure."

There were no arguements from the Xylx, they'd checked the codes that transmitted along with the message, it certainly was the Admiral. Twelve Blastboats broke away from thier patterns as Niox got the ship moving once again, and escorted the hundred-meter transport all the way in. The others began coming in as well, so that they could depart as soon as possible.

Things ran smoothly, and as the ship sat down inside the bay, Arthorn spoke to Niox again. "If it's all right with you Niox, please follow me, I'd like to show you around."

Niox followed, and Blackkon marched out of the ship, first informing the Barabel of what was going on. He still doubted they'd be trouble, they had thier orders, but it was just common courtesy. Then off he went, saluting to the men who even seven months later still insisted on it. There were a number of guards around, even a few of the ships complement of Dark Troopers, and a single Titan walker. Obviously the head of security was paranoid the Barabel would be a problem.

Blackkon made his way to the bridge, with Niox in tow. He gave the smuggler a tour as he did so, and asked him a question. "Your obviously more than welcome to stay aboard your ship if you like, but if you'd like, I can also arrange for a suite, whichever you would like."

Now they were on the bridge. Arthorn took the conn, gave navigation the coordinates, and ordered them to plot a route with half a dozen stops, in case they were being followed. His executive officer reported to him a moment later that everything was ready, and the order was given. The "Eclipse" shot off into hyperspace.

"Very good," Blackkon answered in reply to Niox's decision to stay aboard the ship. "Whenever your ready, Ensign Aurige will take you to your rooms."

At the mention of his name, a young officer watching over other bridgecrew spun on his heels and saluted, holding it smartly until Blackkon returned the gesture. Then the young man returned to his other duties, keeping an ear perked for Niox's voice.

It was Arthorn that spoke next, while the smuggler was looking over the bridge. From the command chair the Admiral addressed his fellow Corellian, pulling a datacard from his pocket as he did so. "Now Niox, I have your next mission explained here on this datacard. A simple pick-up, though I would like the cargo kept quiet. Like I was saying, the card holds the coordinates you'll need, and instructions on proper handling of the cargo, in case you don't have this information yourself. Drop the cargo off at our final destination, and of course don't let anyone know of those coordinates."

"I'll be leaving for an operation of my own at our next jump point. If you like you can come along, we should be back by the time the 'Eclipse' reaches home."

Calling the barren system that they were headed to still sounded foreign to Blackkon, but that's what it was to be, thier new home. It certainly wasn't Corellia, but it would do. It had other advantages.