Ev'ryday I'm smugglin'! (OPEN TO ALL DLA)

[BlackAdder]

Flashback

Vam sat on the ramp of the Black Krayt, his stock XS Freighter, waiting for his clients to arrive. The cargo was already stowed on board the ship, but there was still one last bit of business his employers wanted to see to before he took off for Dantooine. As he waited, Vam ran through the job in his head. On the surface, it seemed simple enough. He would take food and medical supplies to the people of Dantooine. Piece of cake, right? Except for the fact that Dantooine was controlled by the Sith Empire, a fact that was not lost on the young pilot. That was where the challenge lay, and that was the reason his clients had come to a relatively unseasoned smuggler. All the more experienced freelancers decided twenty thousand wasn't a high enough number to fly in and out of Sith territory. Fortunately for his employers, a small group of semi-wealthy individuals with familial ties to Dantooine, Vam was desperate enough to take the job.

The young man closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. 'What have I gotten myself into?' He took a deep breath and opened his eyes to see his clients walking toward him. There were six of them, all Human. Five were wearing fine clothing, each outfit a rich, vibrant pallet of complementary colors. The sixth, a dark, stocky man, wore a flight jacket, and Vam could see the butt of a pistol sticking out from underneath.

"Mr. Rinav, it's good to see you again." The speaker was an older, balding gentleman whose garb consisted of an assortment of purple hues. "I assume everything is ready?"

Vam stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. "Your cargo is safely on board. All I need is my payment and the drop-off coordinates, and I'm good to go." One of the perks of this job was that, due to the situation of the people on Dantooine, Vam would be getting paid in full, in advance, so regardless of how the job went, he got paid.

A light smile touched the elderly man's lips. "Because of the," The man seemed to be searching for the right word, "delicate nature of the situation, we will be sending along Ulric here," he motioned to the man in the flight jacket, "to act as a representative on our behalf. He has your money, and he has the drop-off coordinates. You will receive the latter when you take off, and the former when the job is complete. We are taking a leap of faith in hiring you. Please show us our faith is well placed."

Vam took a sideways glance at the large Human. 'That man could break me in half if he wanted. Better not give him a reason.' He cleared his throat and nodded at Ulric. "Go ahead and make yourself comfortable." As the dark skinned man lumbered up the ramp, Vam turned to his employers. "I'll take good care of this shipment. You have nothing to worry about." He turned toward the ship and started up the ramp. As he closed the door, he felt a lump grow in his throat. They didn't have anything to worry about, but he sure did.

Present

The Black Krayt dropped out of Hyperspace well outside Dantooine's orbit. Even at this distance, Vam could make out the multitude of Sith cruisers and warships. He shot a nervous glance over at Ulric. Ulric was a quiet man, but Vam had grown to like him over the course of the trip. "Ready to have some fun? Go ahead and input the coordinates." Ulric just grunted and did as he was directed. Vam flew wide around the planet, studying the blockade and the coordinates. The planet's orbit was thick with Sith ships. It looked as if there was no way in. "Well isn't this just a b-..." Vam's eyes widened, and a smile grew on his face as he noticed a relatively lightly guarded gap in the blockade. "Looks like they left the back door unlocked!" The youth brought his ship into a wide arc, aimed right at the gap, and cut power to everything except life support.

"What are you doing!?" Ulric had broken his silence, and his skin look unusually pale, especially for a man of his complexion.

Vam sat back in his chair. "I've cut off everything but life support. This way, we're harder to pick up on their scopes. Once we've hit atmo, I'll switch everything back on, and we'll fly overland to our destination." He looked over at his companion and, noticing his skeptical expression, added, "It's a little something I picked up from my mentor."

The XS drifted past the sparse, distant ships that made up this part of the blockade. Vam held his breath, waiting for some fighters to come blow them out of the sky. Minutes seemed to drag on for hours, so when the Krayt finally entered the planet's atmosphere, it felt like they had been drifting in the dark for an eternity. Gravity immediately started taking effect, and the ship started picking up speed as it fell to the surface. Vam attempted to restart the ship, but no joy. He tried again, but still the engines remained silent. He could hear Ulric screaming unintelligibly as they hurtled downward. Again and again he tried to start the ship, but he had no luck. The pilot closed his eyes and breathed deeply, focusing on the task at hand. Ulric's screaming, and the sound of the craft falling out of the sky faded, and Vam put in the ignition sequence on last time.

The engines came to life, and Vam pulled the ship out of the freefall with room to spare. The smuggler whooped with delight. "What did I tell you!? What did I tell you!? I knew it would work!" He looked over at Ulric, and one glance told him the big man was seconds away from being sick, so he steadied the ship and set it on autopilot to the drop-off. He walked over to Ulric and put a hand on his back. "Breathe deep, buddy. Just breathe." He guided Ulric in breathing for several minutes, stopping when the computer indicated the rendezvous point was near. Vam strapped back into his seat and began his landing sequence and put the ship down on the edge of a small wooded area. Hopping from his seat, he grabbed Ulric by the arm and pulled him to the ramp. "Come on, the job is almost done!" He could barely contain his glee as he opened the ramp and nearly ran down. "Ah, hell."

Nothing could have prepared Vam for the sight that awaited him. A small squad of Sith soldiers had their rifles trained on him. His hand twitched as if to go for his sidearm, but he realized the odds were against him, so he raised his hands and put them behind his head. A small group moved in and secured his hands. A man who appeared to be an officer stepped forward and relieved Vam of his pistol. "I don't think you'll be needing this." He tossed the Nazzpa to one of the grunts. He looked curiously at Vam's chest. "Oh, what have we here?" He pulled Vam's knife from its sheath under his jacket. "A little surprise? I think I'll hold onto this for now." He grinned evilly as Vam heard a noise come from the ship. Five men were bringing Ulric down the ramp, three of them actually restraining him. The officer looked at one of the soldiers. "What's on board, Private?"

The Private motioned toward the Krayt. "Seems to be just food and medical supplies, Sergeant."

"Is that so?" He turned his attention to Vam. "Your ship and its contents are now property of the Sith Empire. You and your associate are spies, and therefore enemies of the state, and will be dealt with accordingly." As he spoke, Vam watched as Sith soldiers got into his ship and took it away. The Sergeant motioned to his men, who came forward to put Ulric and Vam on their knees. Vam watched in horror as the Sith Sergeant walked up to Ulric, drew his sidearm, and shot the large man in the heart. Ulric slumped to the ground, never to move again. The Sergeant walked a few steps to where Vam was kneeling. Now Vam was staring down the barrel of the Sergeant's pistol. He closed his eyes, waiting for the void to take him.

[Meira]

Mo had woken early that morning, before the sun was up, and prepared a speeder bike to head out for a bit of hunting. This day, she was going to track some game far away from Homestead. She made sure the hunting parties didn't overuse the areas around their hidden home. So on occasion, they'd make their way out about half a day or so and do their work.

Unfortunately for Mo, today was looking like a bust. She'd only managed a few glimpses of suitable kills, but they'd all spooked before she could get a good shot on any of them. She was feeling well off her game. Dejected, she resorted to lounging around in a tree for a few minutes before heading back home. It would be a fateful decision indeed.

As she lay sprawled out on a thick branch, the tell-tale sign of a ship flying ever closer came blowing with the breeze. Immediately, Mo sat up and surveyed her surroundings. She activated her comm and called glitch, who informed her that it must be a smuggling ship that was meant to bring in supplies for the DLA. She said a small group of members was already on their way to meet the ship. Once Glitch had given her the coordinates, Mo realized that she was very close to the rendezvous site and decided to meet her people there and help out.

When she arrived at the coordinates, Mo was shocked to find a detachment of Sith soldiers waiting about. Oh no. Mo concealed herself in the trees as best she could and called the DLA scouts, telling them to hurry up and be ready for a fight. Luckily, it seemed the Sith hadn't brought much firepower to this party. This, matched with their patented element of surprise might be enough to give them the upper hand.

Soon, the incoming ship was landing. Mo watched, her heart rate picking up. She couldn't do anything on her own. The others had to hurry. The landing gear was down, the ship settling. Then the ramp lowered. Mo was circling the clearing, staying in the cover of the trees. Relieved she decided to bring an explosive arrowhead, she was knocking the arrow to her bow, holding it at the ready. The pilot came bounding down the ramp, stopping suddenly when he recognized the mess he'd landed in.

The Sith took him into custody. A few moments later, another man was pulled from the ship. The Sith were speaking, one barking orders at the rest. Where were the scouts? Suddenly, the ship began to come to life, and then was lifted off the ground. They were too late. These men would be arrested and-

BANG! The shot rang out, startling Mo and sending a few birds in the area into flight. The man that had been brought out of the ship by force was now a motionless lump on the ground. Wide-eyed, Mo stared in disbelief. No interrogations? No threats? She thought the Sith were cruel, but this was a new low.

"Guys, I'm gonna need you here now!" Mo said into her comm in a harsh whisper. The officer was leveling his blaster at the pilot. It was now or never. Mo pulled back on the bow, angling it up slightly, and then let the arrow loose. It sped over the head of the sith, landing behind them on the opposite side of the clearing.

The explosion did exactly as expected, all the Sith present, officer included, turned toward the blast. Some had even been thrown by its force. Mo utilized that second of distraction to move and knock another arrow. In two blinks of an eye, she had the bow drawn and then released. The second arrow was plain, but still deadly enough as it ripped through the officer's chest. He stumbled a step or two, then dropped his pistol and fell to the ground.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Nom had been sitting in a corner twiddling his thumbs for the better part of an hour. Very quickly he had adapted to the role of medic in the DLA, and had taken it on to organize what passed for an infirmary, as well as doing an inventory of the supplies. They were rather minimal, and it hadn't taken particularly long.

For the remaining hours he'd managed to avoid serious work, and he was bored out of his mind.

One nice thing could be said. He was out of that garish Republic armor, and wearing something remotely sensible. Fatigues were nice, though they reminded him of training on Toprawa.

It was on his third cigarette that a call came in, and Nom grabbed a medkit and dashed out to a speeder bike, which he had to share with some gruff-looking fighter whose name he'd never caught. Naturally Nom was forced to sit on the back, which hardly thrilled him. Reminded him of Mo sticking a bag over his head and dragging him all over creation.

It was along the way that Mo called in and requested more people, and Nom's comrade in arms acknowledged before throttling up so fast the Republic medic almost fell off.

They were there mere instants later, dismounting a short distance away. Nom's escort ran ahead with a blaster rifle and left Nom in his dust before the medic drew his own blaster pistol and headed up more cautiously.

He threw himself behind a rock as he drew closer and squeezed off a few poorly aimed shots that would hopefully provide cover-fire for the others.

[BlackAdder]

There was a loud noise and a sharp pain in the young smugglers... face? He opened his eyes to see the Sith officer standing in front of him, looking bewildered. After a moment, Vam saw the cause of the Sergeant's confusion. There was an arrow (an arrow?) protruding from his chest, the crimson stain on his uniform growing ever larger as he sunk to the ground. Not one to pass up a good opportunity, Vam dove forward and grabbed the fallen officer’s weapon. Rolling onto his back, he put three shots into the soldier who had been holding him on his left, another two into the one on the right. By this time, gunfire began to fill the air, but it was directed into the tree line. The smuggler took his knife from the dead sergeant, and then crawled on his belly to the man who had put the restraints on him. He searched frantically for something to release his binds.

’C’mon c’mon c’mon…’

Finally, he found what he was looking for. He immediately freed himself before taking time to look over at Ulric’s motionless form on the dirt.

”I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Looking around, he spotted the soldier who had his Nazzpa. Like the rest of his fellows, his attention was firmly on the mystery attackers in the trees. Leveling the sergeant’s pistol one more time, he put two rounds into his back. Vam ran in a crouch to the fallen soldier and retrieved his sidearm.

”That doesn’t belong to you.”

Satisfied that the Sith were occupied enough with the unknown assailants, Vam sprinted to the tree line opposite of the firefight. He tried to keep thinking of the positives. Sure, he was stranded on a Sith controlled planet in the middle of a gunfight, but hey, at least he wasn’t dead. Yet.