Chapter 59
"Move it slave!" The huge Nikto pirate shouted as he pushed the young boy in front of him into line with a large group of scared slaves.
The pirate didn't notice the flash of anger and resentment on the face of the young boy as he was used to the slaves brought onto Nar Shaddaa to have looks of defeat and resignation and so didn't pay them any attention.
"Ahh excellent, the new products have arrived!" the booming voice of Krayn, the crime lord and shadow ruler of Nar Shaddaa, sounded as he walked towards the line of slaves. Followed closely by a group of his most trusted pirates.
"Yeah boss, this lot don't seem as good as the last ones though." One of Krayn's loyal pirate captains said.
"True… probably won't get much from selling them… put them to work in the mines, that's all they're good for." Krayn said after examining the line of terrified slaves.
Krayn and his minions walked off after deciding the fate of the newly captured slaves. Not caring about the suffering those slaves were about to experience.
They didn't notice the glare one of the slaves, a young boy, shot at Krayn's retreating back.
-
"Obi-Wan. The situation on Nar Shaddaa has gotten worse than we thought. You are to go to the moon and end the slavers operating there once and for all." Jedi master Ki-Adi Mundi ordered from his seat in the high council chamber.
"Understood master," Obi-Wan said bowing slightly to the members of the jedi high council, "Will I be given any assistance? My padawan was captured by the pirates on Nar Shaddaa while we were on our previous mission, and I am worried about his safety. Especially if a battle with the pirates breaks out."
"Your padawan was captured due to his own rash actions. He should have listened to your instructions, then he wouldn't have ended up imprisoned. Consider this a teaching moment for both your padawan and yourself as his master." Jedi Master Windu said with contempt.
"Unfortunate it is, that captured young Skywalker is. But alone you must go, as available help is not." Grand master Yoda announced in his own peculiar way.
"Yes masters, I understand." Obi-Wan said, bowing once more before leaving the council chamber.
-
Anakin was angry.
He was angry with himself at being caught so easily, angry at the pirates who had captured him but that didn't compare to the sheer rage he felt when he saw Krayn.
Anakin had just constructed his lightsabre after visiting Ilum with his master when they had been given a mission to act as escorts for a group of Colicoids leaving Coruscant on a diplomatic mission.
They hadn't been far into their journey when their ship had been attacked by pirates. The Colicoids ship had been outgunned by the pirates and so Anakin and his master had boarded the pirate ship, with the aid of a small star craft, so that they could disable the ships weapon systems.
They had succeeded but when they had discovered that the pirate ship had been transporting slaves Anakin had wanted to try and free them.
His master had told him that they couldn't do anything for the slaves and needed to return to the colicoids ship so that they could retreat and escort them safely back to Coruscant, but Anakin had stubbornly insisted on trying to help the slaves.
This had led to his capture.
His master Obi-Wan had escaped and returned to Coruscant with the Colicoids but one of the pirates had grabbed Anakin before he could join him.
For reasons that were unclear to Anakin the pirate, who the others called Zora, lied to the other pirates and claimed that Anakin was one of the slaves that they had been transporting who had escaped.
The fact that she had hidden that he was a jedi was confusing to Anakin but he was distracted by being annoyed that he had become a slave once again.
That was until he saw Krayn and all he could feel was rage.
Krayn was responsible for many raids on Tatooine when he was growing up and he had abducted, or killed, a lot of the slaves living there. Including the mother of his friend Bene.
Anakin glared at the huge blue skinned T'surr and swore silently that he would kill the pirate.
-
"Ha, and you didn't think we would have an epic battle!" Opal grinned at Renn who just rolled his eyes.
"How was I supposed to know we would actual find a pirate overlord?" Renn said as he sat cleaning a blaster pistol.
"To be fair with Renn's luck if he has a chance to find some sort of fight, he will," Seela said from beside Opal.
"Yeah its brilliant, so much potential for violence." Shae said grinning as she made an adjustment to one of her armour's gauntlets.
"Well now we have a choice. We came to get some combat experience and we did that against those pirates. So we can either leave now or go to Nar Shaddaa and get rid of the pirates there." Renn said placing the blaster he was cleaning on the table in front of him.
The others looked at him in silence for a second before speaking.
"I vote we keep cracking skulls" Shae said surprising no-one.
"This Krayn is a slaver, I think we should stop him and rescue the people he has enslaved. Like we did on Tatooine." Seela said.
"Yaaay! Let's over through a planetary government!" Opal shouted happily and everyone looked at her strangely.
"Its not a proper government, Krayn is more like the 'power behind the throne' of Nar Shaddaa." Sapphire announced from the Speedy Vagabond's speakers.
"I know… Calling it a coup just sounds more fun," Opal said slightly sulkily.
"Alright then let's stage a coup." Renn said grinning at Opal.
"Yaaay!" Opal said throwing her hands in the air in excitement while the others just laughed.
-
The Speedy Vagabond orbited silently above Nar Shaddaa, its cloaking device obscuring it from the view of both sensors and sight.
Renn, Opal, Seela and Shae were stood around the Holo-table in the conference room With Alpha and the rest of the droids while Sapphire projected her avatar above the table.
A Holographic image of Nar Shaddaa floated next to Sapphire.
"This is Nar Shaddaa, also known as the smugglers moon." Sapphire said gesturing to the image. "A lovely place filled with crime of all varieties.
This is the pirate overlord Krayn," a holo-image of a large male T'surr appeared. "He is the secret ruler of Nar Shaddaa and is in charge of multiple criminal enterprises, such as piracy, slavery, Drug manufacturing and stuff like that. Overall, he's a dick."
"So, we just need to shoot him and his men and rescue all the slaves they are holding captive." Shae said.
"Yeah, just like that. The only problem is the slaves have tracking chips implanted in them which are armed to explode if they escape, as well as the fact both Krayn's headquarters and the slave areas are crawling with both pirates and security droids." Sapphire told them.
"We'll need to take control of the command centre then before things escalate. Once we are there we can disable the slave's tracking chips, or if that isn't possible Sapphire will be able to upload herself to Krayn's computer systems and figure out how to do it." Renn said.
"That will still leave the droids and the pirates to deal with." Sapphire said.
"We'll need to split up. Scythe and Earl will take control of the command centre and upload Sapphire to the computer systems.
Spark and Crow will then create a distraction after we get confirmation that the pirates have lost the ability to kill all the slaves. And after that they will start killing as many pirates as they can find.
Me, Shae and Alpha will then search Krayn's main compound for the big boss and any other important pirates and get rid of them. Hopefully if the rest are scared enough and if all their leadership is dead they will give up. If not well will just have to kill them all.
Opal and Seela you guys will have to stay with the ship in case any pirate ships turn up or if we encounter any major problems on the ground. In either case we'll need you to fire some missiles at it and hope they solve things." Renn told everyone his plan.
Everyone nodded in agreement and began leaving to get ready.
The Speedy Vagabond began its silent decent through the atmosphere, still invisible to both sensors and the naked eye.
The pirates on Nar Shaddaa were just beginning their days and had no idea what was about to happen.
-
A disguised Obi-wan was walking down a corridor behind Aga Culpa, the puppet ruler of Nar Shaddaa.
After being ordered by the Concuil to resolve the situation on Nar Shaddaa Obi-Wan had done some investigating using his contacts in the Coruscant underworld.
He had learned that the Colicoids, members of the republic senate, had seized control of the spice mines on Kessel in an attempt to be the biggest supplier of the illegal drug.
They had then entered into an agreement with Krayn to use his factories on Nar Shaddaa to produce the drug and in return solely buy slaves from him. Slaves that they would then use as forced labor in the mines on kessel. Despite both slavery and spice being illegal in the republic.
Obi-Wan had disguised himself as a slave trader and been hired by the Colicoids to inspect Krayn's slaves before they finalised their agreement. He was using this as an excuse to first locate his wayward padawan before he continued with his mission.
He had been given free access to the slave facilities but he wasn't able to find Anakin anywhere. He could only hope that the pirates hadn't discovered that Anakin was a jedi and that he would locate him soon.
He wanted to find Anakin as soon as possible. He was still upset with himself that he had been forced to leave his padawan behind during the fighting on the pirate ship and he was determined that that wouldn't happen again.
He was just about to try and see if some force enhanced persuasion would make Aga Culpa open up to him and reveal any information about Anakin when a the sound of a massive explosion ripped through the morning air.
Alarms started blaring as both Obi-Wan and Culpa rushed to the corridors windows to look out at the city below them.
A large building that looked like a warehouse was on fire and Obi-Wan could see the distant tiny figures of pirates running about in confusion and panic.
A second explosion, or more accurately explosions, detonated and a row of buildings that Culpa had pointed out to Obi-Wan as spice processing factories erupted in fire and fragments of building.
The panic seemed to intensify and then despite the distance Obi-wan made out the unmistakable sounds of blaster fire as red bolts of energy began cutting through the distant figures of the pirates.
Without a second thought Obi-Wan slammed Culpa into the wall and began using the force to make him answer any questions he had.
Krayn was under attack and Obi-Wan was going to find his apprentice before all hell broke loose.