Mos Espa

In a galaxy full of strange and amazing things being normal can be a pain. There are beings out there who wield inexplicably powerful forces and who can slice you into little bits with a shaft of light. In a galaxy like this being normal has a distinct disadvantage. For us normal folks, knowledge is power. Of course it can also get you killed if you’re too cocky.
My name is Rik Idannian. I specialize in rare often dangerous acquisition and liquidation. That’s just a fancy way of saying I steal and sell cool shiny stuff that’s likely to get me killed. On the up side I usually get paid ridiculous sums of money to do so. If you need it, I can get it to you… for the right price of course. In my line of work it pays to know what’s what and who’s who. For example my latest caper.
My latest employer was a particularly up tight kind of guy. You’d think a body covered in black and red tattoos would be a dead give away on someone’s personality. Geesh. Anyway, Darth Angy-face had contracted me to pick up a particular item of interest from the ruins of a vaguely described temple. So far, par for the course. But he did fail to mention that said “Item” happened to be a Sith holocron possessed by a particularly angry dead guy. A semi-corporeal entity trying to kill you while going on about true power and ruling the galaxy with an iron fist can really get on the nerves. So I blasted his holocron to atoms. Let’s just say angry dead guys don’t like getting killed. Who knew he would try to bring the temple down on my head out of spite?
Needless to say Darth angry face lived up to his name when I broke the bad news. Don’t ask me why our meeting place was in a dark alley on a backwater like Tatooine. I can’t know everything.
“Look,” I said. “Don’t look at me like that. If you want a job done right I need more information. Specifics man! Would it have killed ya to give me a heads up about the ghost? Not exactly the blue milk run you made it out to be.”
“My master will be most displeased due to your incompetence!” Darth Angry-face fumed. “I will deliver him your head for this!”
Crap, I thought. Instead of showing how terrified I was I decided to go with offended. So I crossed my arms over my chest, conveniently placing my hand near my shoulder rig. “Hey, we had a deal, you pay me and I get you the possessed cube. Now I’ve already returned your money. There’s no reason we can’t both walk away.”
“One does not betray the One Sith without paying with his life!” Angry shouted. A manic grin split his features as he activated his lightsaber with a snap his that left me feeling incredibly insecure. With a massive leap Darth angry shot toward me, crimson blade raised in a strike that would split me right down the middle.
I told you knowledge is power. Though I can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound or shoot lightning out of my fingers I do know how to shoot. Really well. So I pulled my revolver out of its holster and took aim at Angry’s forehead. Then I pulled the trigger. A blue mote of light and death sprang from the polished barrel and toward Darth Angry. Did I mention Sith are really quick too? The jerk effortlessly moved his blade to intercept my blaster bolt. Except it wasn’t a blaster bolt. I’ve had less then pleasant run-ins with lightsaber wielding jerks of all sorts. In a fair fight I would die every single time. But that’s why I don’t fight fair. My revolver isn’t a blaster. It may look like it but it fires armor piercing slugs sheathed in a corona of energy. The suckers can even punch through personal energy shields. This particular slug also happened to be my very last cortosis plated round.
As Darth Angry’s saber came into contact with the slug the metal’s incredibly useful quality came to the fore front. His lightsaber flickered out. Not long but just long enough to put a neat little hole between the Sith’s burning yellow eyes. The force of the blast didn’t stop his decent but it did flip him into a back flip so that his corps landed bonelesley on his face less than a meter from my feet. I reholsterd my revolver with a sigh and released all the pent up tension of the moment. I don’t like killing. Sometimes its simply about survival. No more Sith, I though. Never again. Then I pulled the blaster at my hip and shot Angry three more times. And then again… Hey, it pays to be sure.
I looked up at the twin suns. Their light turned everything around the same shade of blinding. I squinted a then started off down the alley. It’s about time to see a man about a new ship.

*I surveyed my newest acquisition. It didn't look like much and I still wasn't one hundred percent sure it had it where is counts either. That being said, it certainly made a statement. I found it sitting in the back of some junk dealers den on the outskirts of the city and just couldn't say no. It was an old Gozanti cruiser. Someone had run the thing ragged because there seemed like more carbon scoring on the hull then the original tan and red paint. I sighed. No she didn't look like much but she felt right. The previous owner seemed to have used it more as a strike cruiser than a freighter which happened to suite my tastes just fine, yet it still retained a decent cargo hold for just about anything I could think to haul. The engines had been completely reworked to keep up with modern tech and I kid you not the thing had twice as many laser canon turrets as was the standard and 2 quads on the dorsal and ventral hulls. I had no idea what it was doing with 3 turbolasers and two concussion missile launchers but you wouldn't hear me complain about it either. I smiled as the last of the work crews departed after just installing the new sensor suite, curtest of a now very dead Sith flunky. I figured his ship wouldn't need it any more... Only one thought ruined what otherwise would have been a great days work:
"How the heck am I going to fly this thing by myself?"

*My newly acquired co-pilot was a bit odd. We sat in the Dunamai's cockpit running through pre-flight. I glanced over at him. He was a little short for a Verpine. His name was Veep...I think... His olive green, chitinous body glinted slightly as he moved his diminutive limbs over the controls. Though he was small, he came highly recommended...and oddly cheap. His only pay was to be money and time to modify any ship he served on. It was a wonder no one scooped him up before I did.
'Maybe it's his voice', I though.
Though Verpines couldn't speak basic, this little guy had his own translator that rapped around his neck like some kind of loose collar. Veep simply had to project what he wanted to say though his natural radio waves and it would translate for him. Only the voice was totally out of proportion.
It was a rolling basso that invoked thoughts of pain and suffering to anyone who crossed him. It really had no place coming from the mere meter tall bug.
"Ready to go?" I asked
"All lights are green, Captain," Veep rumbled. "Authorization received from traffic control, or at least what passes for it on this planet."
*I grinned to myself. This was going to be fun*
"Lets go catch us a train!"

Kolga the Hutt had grand plans of reunifying Hutt Space and ushering in a new era of Hutt hegemony, and Tatooine was to be the first world brought into line. However, none of this mattered much to Terrak. The mercenary was a native to this region, and this was just another job for a local crime boss. Seemed to be a simple enough job at that, take a detachment of ten bad men and set up a base of operations on Tatooine that Kolga would operate his forces out of in the future. First things first, Terrak would need to get the lay of the land. Guiding his VCX-700 heavy courier through the atmosphere, he lands it on the outskirts of Mos Espa far enough away from the build-up that the ship could not easily be approached without being observed. Gathering his own gear , Terrak exits the craft and waits for Kolga's men to join him. After a few moments, the kitted out mercs join him and await instruction.


All you dregs, tip of the spear, you know the drill. Half of you, get out there, gather intel, recruit locals, find me supplies. Lets not raise any alarms just yet but this isn't a clandestine mission. Recruit any loyal Vodran, Nikto, or Klatoonians you find and route them here. The rest of you, set up a perimeter and start digging in.

With various grumbles of acknowledgement the Red Nebula troopers set about their tasks. Five split up and head into town to gather information and supplies, while the others begin setting watches and offloading the ship to create a small camp.