The Rebel Faction

Cyax System 
Da Soocha, Nielsa Settlement
Spaceport
 
Nebael and his crew had successfully slipped past the Hutt ships by masquerading as freelance mercenaries, interested in working for the Cartel. The vessel, by Nebael`s own preference, had already been heavily modified and fit the picture of a mercenary vessel. He had instructed his own crew to prepare accordingly, ditch anything resembling an Enclave uniform, all tough only Ulek ever bothered wearing one. 
 
Nebael himself had acquired a different set of armor and helmet to match. With a new appearance, the Hutt`s wouldn`t be able to tell him from one of their two-bit mercenaries. All tough he felt uneasy about using his crew on the ground, Nebael knew that Joerdan and Linnes could handle themselves. He left the rest of the crew with the distinct impression, that their departure would not be a peaceful one.
 
The Twilek had extensive experience working as a mercenary and Linnes was a smuggler, which meant she usually dealt with every type of scum the galaxy had to throw at her. Nebael entered the docking bay, receiving surprised looks from his two crew members. Apparently they were not convinced by his disguise.
 
"This is insane, we are waltzing into the midst of our enemy. What, if someone figures us out?" Linnes pointed out as Nebael arrived. 
 
"Then we are dead." Joerdan said without batting an eye. 
 
"Do you know what the best part in wearing this helmet is Linnes?" Nebael felt had to interject for once, just to stop the devaronian pointing out the obvious flaws of the plan. 
 
"Can`t imagine I do." She muttered. 
 
"Even if the Hutt knew I was coming after him, which he does not. How paranoid would you have to be have every merc on the planet remove their helmets, in search of a face you do not even know?" Nebael said as he opened a weapon crate, containing a long range blaster rifle. 
 
There it was, the punch line. No one knew and no one would ever know while he kept his face hidden. He could disappear whenever he wanted to with sufficient preparation. How do you find a man, whose face you do not even know? DNA was plausible, but no one got that close either to extract a sample. 
 
However Nebael knew, that his own, secluded, lifestyle did not invoke trust or confidence in the crew, who served upon the vessel. He had rarely even interacted with the crew unless when it was necessary, he simply handed down the orders and they followed. It was an odd dynamic, one which Nebael was unused to. He focused on adjusting the aim on the rifle before glancing at Joerdan and Linnes. 
 
"Besides we already have people on the ground, who know the ins and outs of this place." Nebael said, finding himself slightly stunned that he was trying to reassure the crew of their chances.  
 
"Another Justicar right? Just how trustworthy is this mandalorian?" Joerdan voiced his own suspicions regarding the situation. 
 
Nebael slung the rifle onto his back and checked the blaster on his belt. Nebael was not quite sure about, that either and his silence spoke in volumes. Whatever on this planet caused Grausk to call in reinforcements, it wasn`t the giant slug or the mercenaries. They would need to proceed with caution and judge the situation by it`s own merit, instead of letting paranoia run rampant. Nebael needed his crew to stay focused on the mission and act according to his orders, he wouldn`t suffer any deviations from his mandate.
 
"Grausk`s word is good as long as the money keeps flowing." Nebael was unsure whether the comment reassured or discouraged them.
 
"Remember, stick close and follow my lead. You do what I tell you and nothing else. The appointed meeting place is a cantina by the promenade, Grausk will meet us there so it is safe to assume he has also integrated himself with the mercenaries and has been for some time." Nebael was certain, that meeting Grausk would address any concerns they had about the mission. 
 
"Shut up and follow? Got it." Joerdan said with a degree of glibness. 
 
The landing ramp lowered with a hiss and the trio descended into the hangar, from where they made their way to the bustling promenade. The streets were filled with mercenaries and commoners, albeit each kept to their own groups and creating a clear divide in the masses. As Nebael headed down the street with his crew in tow, he made a note of the mercenaries on the rooftops guarding the central plaza.
 
Their destination laid beyond the plaza, farther down the road in the merchant quarter. The walk remained uneventful, albeit the new mercenaries received suspicious glances yet Nebael figured it was commonplace considering the current events. The cantina was a small, out of the way, joint that simply screamed: "Nothing exciting ever happens here". Nebael couldn`t have faulted the mandalorian, recalling another similar establishment where he had first met the mandalorian. 
 
Upon entry Nebael scanned the bar and spotted a mandalorian in full battle armor with dark hair, that had a few strands of grey. Nebael motioned for his crew to follow and headed for the table, but something suddenly caught his attention and made him stop. He found himself being stared down by a trandoshan at the counter, who had just turned to leave. The reptile was well armed and armored, worst of all Nebael recognized him as Slazsk, a bounty hunter.
 
Without a word the trandoshan brushed past him and Nebael headed towards Grausk, finally he knew why this assignment was as difficult as it was, bounty hunters. Only a very small number of bounty hunters remained loyal to the Hutt`s, each for their own reasons, and in most cases it was not the money. Nebael didn`t imagine, that he would have to face off against other hunters in his new profession. 
 
Nebael sat down across Grausk, who immediately looked like he was about to pull a blaster on him, but Nebael laid his hands on the table to calm the mandalorian. Grausk`s helmet laid on the table, spotless and shiny.
 
"We got your message old man, I am here to help, unless you want me to point a gun at you like the first time we met." Nebael informed bluntly. 
 
Confusion and revelation registered on Grausk`s face as he realized with whom he was speaking. 
 
"Nebael, I like the new look, are you exploring new career options now?" Grausk quipped with a weary disposition. 
 
"I think we both know, who has the best offer on the table." They both had realized, who was going to win the war and both of them were survivors. The tenseness dispersed and Nebael`s crew members joined them, sitting around the table.  
 
"So..." Grausk began."You saw Slazsk by the counter, I assume?" Grausk grabbed his drink, whirling the liquid in it. 
 
"How many others?" Nebael asked, fearing that the trandoshan was not the only one on planet. 
 
"Four" Grausk muttered as he sampled his drink. 
 
"Four what?" Linnes interjected agitated, that she was being left out of the conversation. 
 
"Bounty hunters, five in total. They are acting as Lorko`s personal guard these days." Grausk said, flashing a big smirk. 
 
The Devaronian`s expression would have been enough to melt ice, obviously this was more than she had ever bargained for. Whenever smugglers were caught trying to steal from or cheat a crime lord, a bounty hunter was usually sent after that smuggler. The food-chain in essence and now she was going to witness bounty hunters going head-to-head with each others. 

Joerdan placed his hand on her shoulder and Nebael glanced at her without a word before continuing.
 
"Anyone of note, that we know besides our scaly friend?" Nebael asked with his attention fixed on Grausk. 
 
"Three other guys, who are just punks, not worth knowing... then there is Alen Toares... If memory serves me correctly you iced his brother on Tatooine when this whole war began." The mandalorian chuckled, clearly having found an amusing aspect to this whole affair. 
 
"Punk came at me, swinging with an electrostaff, my hands went numb from stopping the damn contraption. After that I made him choke on his own blood." Nebael sounded almost amused about killing the man. Yet tough he didn`t like to admit it, but he had heard rumors regarding the brother, but had mostly ignored them. 
 
"Well his big brother didn`t appreciate the gesture, ever since then he`s been gunning for a chance to kill you. Finding you appears to have been his biggest problem." The mandalorian said before finishing his drink and placing the empty glass on the table.
 "What about you? Do the Hutt`s know where your allegiances lie?" Nebael asked, knowing that the aforementioned trandoshan was familiar with Grausk. 
 
"Not as far as I can tell, they`ve been content in letting me be since I`ve stuck with the other mandalorian mercs." Grausk was far from reassuring, but having a contingency of mandalorians as back up did not seem like a bad idea, if possible.
"We need a plan." Nebael said after being silent for a moment, weighing the risks and rewards of the operation in his mind. The hunters would be difficult opponents, but the chance to kill one of the troublesome Hutt`s was too tempting a prize to pass over. 
 
"Naturally and I have one ready, but before we get into any of that... I want to talk to you about my original mission here." Grausk concurred before bringing forth a datapad and sliding it across the table. 
 
"Original mission?" Nebael asked with slight confusion as he grabbed the datapad. He began skimming through the information as Grausk continued talking.
 
"The information you recovered from Kern? Turns out he had some leverage on the local boss, something that could ruin him in the eyes of his men and the public. I was sent here to use, that leverage and make the local boss submit without a fight, offering him a place in the new order. The usual, kill him, if he proved useless.
 
Yet everything went haywire when Lorko showed up, pulling rank on the local boss. That is why we need Lorko out of the way as soon as possible." The mandalorian`s story was no surprise, naturally, the other justicars were busy at work undermining whatever possessions the Hutt`s had left.
 
"Makes sense, I suppose the mercenaries need to be clear out as well?" Nebael suspected, that the mercenaries would pose a problem, if left unchecked. Fighting them head on would only be a wasted effort when they could easily remove the source of the trouble to begin with. 
 
"Once Lorko is dead, the mercs should disperse on their own, but just in case, I called on our Bureau friends to begin a spreading rumors, that a fleet of Enclave ships is on it`s way. That should make the mercs think twice about sticking around, no point in fighting unless they get paid." The mandalorian`s judgment was sound, after all bounty hunters were exceptionally close to being mercenaries thus they could relate. 
 
"What about the Hutt, do you know where he is?" Nebael asked,  
 
"Who doesn`t? It`s common knowledge he is staying at the Hutt Temple in these parts. I suggest we kill the slug tonight and get this done with." Grausk expressed his impatience at the delay in his schedule, glaring at the crowd behind the others. 
 
"Agreed, the longer we stay, the more we risk exposure... we need to careful, newcomers don`t seem to be welcome. We might blend in for now, but we might be exposed under closer scrutiny. Meet me at my ship in two hours and we`ll hammer out the details." Nebael had the same sentiment, the Hutt should have died at Nyrvona and it was something he held himself responsible for. 
 
"You won`t stay for a drink?" Grausk jested. 
 
"I like my head clear, thank you." Nebael said in a polite manner before leaving the table with his cohorts. 
 
The devaronian and twilek glanced at each other quietly, then the mandalorian at the table. Neither of them seemed comfortable with the situation they found themselves in. Nebael instinctively sensed, that and could not blame them. As far he was considered he was flying blind into this one, acting on information provided by someone he did not fully trust, again.
This post was edited by Nebael (12:32pm 20/11/13, 12 years ago)

Da Soocha, Nielsa Settlement
The Hutt Temple

The group arrived at the perimeter under the cover of darkness. Nebael glanced at the mandalorian`s, trust was something he did not have in ample quantity and they deserved none of it. Grausk eyed the defenses before giving a signal to his men, who activated a jamming device, which scrambled the perimeter sensors. As the soldiers on the perimeter took note of the anomaly, the mandalorian`s had already moved within striking distance.  
 
The four guards posted at this checkpoint fell to coordinated blaster fire. As the guards slumped to the ground, Nebael and the rest of the group moved past their corpses. The group slip up as they entered the collection of outlying buildings, using them as cover. A few guards impeded their advance, but were quickly silenced with knives and darts. Everyone stopped as they arrived at side of the main compound, towering over the rest of the buildings.  
 
Nebael glanced at his crew members, who were accompanied by three mandalorian`s and gave them a clear nod, signaling that they could split up and head for their objective. Nebael turned to Grausk and the rest of his men, who were already scaling the side of the building, exploiting the windows for easy access. Nebael followed their example and fired the wire concealed in his wrist armor.  
 
The room in, which they arrived was empty. There was no furniture or even storage being kept there, Nebael was already wondering whether this was an elaborate trap to lure them in. The mandalorian`s secured the door and moved into the hallway without interruption with Nebael at their heels. Grausk knelt and stopped to check their bearings. 
 
"Our target should be a floor below us, 100 meters to the west. We need to bide our time before moving out, otherwise we might trip an alarm." Grausk informed the group, pointing in the direction they would head.  
 
After a brief silence, they could hear blaster fire coming from below them. Obviously the other group had run into trouble, things were not going as smoothly as they had hoped. Nebael barely managed to try hail Ulek when they came under fire from an unknown assailant. The group lunged for better cover in the previous room as one of the mandalorian`s was killed by the blaster fire. 
 
Whether they wanted to think it or not, Grausk and Nebael knew what had just happened. A Bounty hunter. 
 
"They certainly didn`t take long..." Nebael uttered, surprised by the suddenness of the attack. 
 
"We must have tripped a silent alarm along the way, bastard got Kaevan." Grausk said, grinding his teeth. 
 
"He`s yours to kill then, I`ll be going on my own from here on out." Nebael said with a shred of hesitation before re-entering the hallway, firing blindly towards the direction of the attacker, while steadily walking backwards.  
 
When he was far enough, Nebael slipped behind a corner and headed towards the target. Suddenly the entire complex suffered a power outage and he could only assume this was Ulek`s handiwork. Nebael stopped for a moment, listening to the sounds near him and trying to hear whether there was anyone moving in the vicinity. Arriving in a luxuriously decorated room with various art pieces, he glanced around the room and just as he stepped in the center another person entered.  
 
The man wore a simple armor over grey clothing and in his hands, he had an electro-staff. He had short blond hair and his eyes seemed glazed over. Nebael cursed silently inside his helmet, either he had been set up or this hunter had been going after him specifically and singled him out for moving alone.   
 
"Are you the one calling himself Nebael?" The hunter asked, raising his voice. 
 
"Or just a man wearing a helmet?" Nebael taunted the man, whom he had identified as Alen Tomares, the one seeking to kill him. 
 
"Care to show your face then?" Tomares asked, activating his electro-staff. 
 
"I`d rather not do that." Nebael said nonchalantly, tilting his head as he drew his vibroknife. 
 
"So you really are him. I heard that you were after Lorko on Nyrvona, seems like coming here was the right call." Tomares eyes narrowed, filled with hate, as his suspicions were confirmed. 
 
"In the flesh and you are Alen Tomares, the grieving brother, I hear." Nebael said, nudging in the hunters direction with his knife. 
 
"Your damn right, I´ve been looking to kill you some time now." Tomares seemed like he was going to lunge at Nebael at any moment. 
 
"Making you another prissy brat, who ju...." Nebael said, remaining calm and taunting the younger hunter. 
 
"Enough of your bullshit." Tom interjected, seemingly insulted by Nebael`s very existence. 
 
"What I did to your brother was nothing personal, he got between me and my objective. That made him fair game." Nebael admitted, almost sounding sincere. 
 
That was enough to set Tomares off, who lunged at Nebael screaming bloody murder and swinging his weapon in a wide arc. Nebael activated his weapon and blocked the imminent blow directed at his head while stepping forward slap Tomares across the face. The unorthodox method caught Tomares off guard and sent him reeling back a step, holding his face in shock as Nebael skipped a few steps back, perfectly calm. 
 
That should piss him off, his brothers murderer is literally slapping him in the face. Nebael thought to himself, amused by the simple mindedness of the younger upstart. Tomares however did not lunge at him like before, but took a more careful approach, starting to circle. Nebael cringed behind his helmet and drew his blaster to force the hunter to respond.  
 
The young hunter quickly closed the gap between them and swung his weapon in a spinning motion just as Nebael fired a burst of laser fire. The staff absorbed a few bolts, but one caught Tomares in the side yet he showed no signs of stopping. Nebael was forced to retreat as the staff came flying at his head, torso and legs in succession. The vibroknife was not going to cut it, but he had very little room for anything else. 
 
Tomares suddenly changed his attack pattern catching Nebael off guard, directly hitting the justicar in the ribs and sending him tumbling. Nebael could feel a rib cracking and the air escape his lungs as he hit the ground. The electro shock was not pleasant either, luckily the exposure was short term. The younger hunter was immediately trying to cave his head in, but received a kick in the gut based solely on instinct.  
 
Nebael had bought himself some time and reached for his wrist, aiming his hand at Tomares. He fired a wire, which wrapped around the hunters ankles and allowed Nebael to trip the man with an arduous pull. Nebael held his ribs, catching his breath for a second before tumbling onto his feet, reaching for his weapons on the ground. 
 
"I hate those damn things." Nebael muttered menacingly and he glanced at the weapon, while it`s owner had managed to cut the wire around his feet. 
 
Nebael pointed his blaster at the hunter on the ground, starting to fire shots in a steady phase. To his amazement Tomares somehow kept them from hitting him in the vitals with that infernal weapon of his. How Tomares kept the cumbersome weapon in motion was a mystery.

Nebael stopped for a moment, clearly he had draw the short straw on this occasion, this pest was going to keep him from his objective and might even hold him off long enough to cause a problem in their plan. 
 
Nebael promptly lunged at the hunter and sunk his knife in the hunters foot, cutting into the joint of the armor. Nebael however received grazing blow to his helmet, causing him to roll backwards, landing on one knee. 
 
"Boy... you really are something else. Ignoring pain like that... hehe.." Nebael said admiringly, even chuckled at the reason behind the hunters tenacity. "You pump yourself full of combat stimulants to block the pain." 
 
Nebael never used stimulants, all tough they might give you an edge over your opponent, he never found them to help quite that much. However Tomares`s leg was a bust, he wouldn`t be able to stand properly. Nebael fired again, this time aiming for the legs. The shots found their mark and the hunter finally screamed in pain and his movements began to slow down. Nebael aimed for the head, but hesitated, wondering whether there was any point in beating a dead horse.
 
However whatever argument he made against killing the poor sod, he knew that if left alive, the kid would simply come again at him and might just succeed. Nebael hated when past mistakes came to bite him in the ass, maybe for once he had the foresight to eliminate the problem before it got out of hand. The whole bloody fiasco of revenge was all too familiar to Nebael, at best he could put Tomares out of his misery.

Nebael fired, killing the hunter before stepping over his corpse. He could finally kill Lorko and be done with this place. As he headed for the target, somebody hailed him over the comm, but he ignored it just as he arrived at the entrance to Lorko`s room.
 
A shot from a high powered rifle rang out just as Nebael opened the door. The Hutt`s fat head was pierced by the shot and the slug slumped dead to the ground. Nebael charged inside and killed the two guards posted there with his blasters, receiving a burn on his shoulder as a result from their fire. Nebael glared outside where a figure was descending from a nearby guard tower, someone else had planned on getting to Lorko before them. 
 
Nebael glanced at the dead Hutt and fired at the corpse twice, just to went his anger over not having killed the Hutt himself. Grausk emerged into the room and was equally baffled by the dead Hutt, but thinking Nebael killed him.  
 
"Damn, you got him." Grausk said, disappointed for losing the race.
 
"No, someone else shot him through the head just before I got here." Nebael admitted, not having the gall to claim a kill, he had not earned. 
 
"Someone else?" Grausk was even more confused now. 
 
"From the Bureau I suspect, sent after us to make certain we did not fail."  
 
It was the best Nebael could come up with, who else would want to see Lorko dead and know the exact time of their attack? The BSA had needed bait, to lure the bounty hunters away from Lorko and to lower the defenses surrounding the compound in order to carry out the assassination. There had been a shield protecting the room, disabled due to Ulek`s slicing, and the windows left limited options for a sniper to have a clear shot. Grausk nodded, seemingly equally upset about the outcome.
 
Nebael glanced outside with a grin on his face, there was one particular intelligence officer, who owed him some answers. The two justicars left the room and headed for the roof, as expected their escape vessel came roaring down onto the platform.

Only three of the mandalorian mercenaries had made it out alive, Grausk had tangled with the trandoshan and supposedly beheaded the lizard, Ulek caught a blaster shot in his thigh and Nebael swore he could still taste blood in his mouth. Despite his injury, Nebael sat down in his captain`s chair, staring at the short battle ensuing as they ran through the Hutt ships.
 
The gunships turrets kept their attackers at bay and Jodon even got to blast two Z-95 fighters to dust on their way out. Despite his misgivings, his crew had performed well, save for Ulek`s injury and they had gotten out alive. Yet he couldn`t fault Grausk or his men for not doing their part, without them none of this might have been possible. 
 
As they cleared the final Hutt fighter off their tail, they jumped into hyperspace and slipped away from the Hutt`s. Nebael had a feeling, that he might get impulsive in the near future and toss a certain intelligence officer off the top of The Enclave Tower.