—Dark Times: Confrontation on Vandor—

Raiding an Imperial conveyex transport; In theory, this might sound like a simple job. But in reality, this is way more difficult than some people might think. These transporters are built to operate in the most treacherous terrains, and are heavily guarded by Imperial Troops and several high-security containers. An assault on one would typically result in the destruction of the person trying to raid the train. If only Quay Sta´nn knew about this before accepting this job. If he wanted to get the credits for this mission, Quay would have to do something he normally does not do: Planning the mission, and putting together a crew. Luckily, he knew a couple of people who could help him do this…

 

First, he went to some old friends of his who were looking for a job. Now that Coruscant is under control of the Empire and patrols of Stormtroopers roamed even the streets of the lower levels of the planet, normal crimes like pickpocketing and scamming people became harder and harder to pull off. So a few old friends of Quay, Jayda Darren, a female humanoid with a green skin, and Tyree Somer, a male Noghri, were more than excited when Quay offered them this job. Next, he knew someone who owed him quite a lot of credits. He came up with the idea that if he let Quay rent a cargo hauler with a cloaking device, he would be free of his debt. The man accepted this offer, and so the crew got something to transport themselves and the cargo on. After this, Quay buyed from his last credits equipment that they would need for this mission.

 

The plan the crew came up with was simple. First, they would need to leave Coruscant and fly to Vandor, where the heist is going to take place. Once one of the trains left the station, the crew would activate their cloaking device to hover above the train unnoticed. Two crewmates would enter the train, while one stays behind to pilot the ship. With the equipment Quay brought, they could enter one of the containers to take everything that is in it. When this is done, the cargo can be stored in the ship, and they will be able to fly back home without too many problems. Sounds like a straight-forwars and safe plan, right?

 

After a couple of hours of flying, the crew arrived on the cold, icy planet of Vandor. It would take a while before the train would arrive, so the crew used this time to play a game of Sabacc and to prepare for the heist. Not too long after the second game of Sabacc they played, they heard the train arriving in the distance. They all jumped into the cargo hauler, activated the cloaking device and went heading to the train. Once they were hovering above the train, Quay and Tyree jumped out of the ship, while Jayda stayed behind to pilot the ship. They secured the ship with cables, so that it could not fly too far away. Trying to keep your balance on this train was a real challenge, but with some grappling hooks it was almost impossible to fall off the train. With some electric equipment, Quay was able to breach one of the doors that was securing the cargo. But when the door opened, they saw the first problem of this mission.

 

¨Well, what is in the containers?¨ Jayda asked through the comms.

 

¨Coaxum, it's all coaxium!¨ Quay replied. ¨The client did not mention a single thing about the cargo being just coaxium! There is no way we can transport this all without being blown to pieces!¨

 

¨Well, check another container then! The client asked for cargo from the train, he didn't specifically say what kind of cargo he wanted!¨

 

Just as Jayda said that, the train took a sharp turn. Quay and Tyree almost lost their balance, but because of the grappling hooks they had the two smugglers were able to not fall to their death. With a lot of struggles, they made it to the second container. But when they opened that one too, they saw that this one was filled with even more coaxium.

 

¨Well, what did you find?¨ Jayda screamed through the comms.

 

¨Even more of that stupid coaxium. If we knew about this before, I could have gotten us a transport fit to store all of this. We could have been rich! But now, we can either leave it for what it is, or we can take the coaxium anyways and risk getting blown to pieces.¨ Quay replied. ¨We could search more containers, but i doubt we will find any goods we can safely transport.¨

 

¨Let's just take all of this stuff. Staying on this train for much longer won´t be too safe either, and I like the risk of this cargo being able to explode any minute.¨ Tyree said.

 

Just as they were in the middle of getting all of the cargo in the transporter, the next problem on this mission arrived. A dozen of little speeders, all piloted by people who certainly looked like pirates arrived. The pirates opened fire on the two smugglers, and this only made things worse for all of them.

 

The events that unfolded after this, could only be described as complete chaos. The cloaking device of the cargo ship started malfunctioning, meaning that everyone could now see it again. A few of the pirates took this opportunity to board the ship, while the others headed towards Quay and Tyree. One of the pirates landed on top of the train, and started shooting at the smugglers. Tyree got out his heavy repeating blaster, and shot the pirate multiple times. The pirate got hit, and lost his balance while the train took another turn.

 

¨Jayda, are you alright?¨ Quay screamed into the comms.

 

¨Can you wait just a minute? I'm a little bit busy at the moment.¨ She replied while gunshots and explosions made her voice almost unable to be heard.

 

¨Tyree, quickly, get on the speeder! Quay yelled to him. ¨If we stay here, we probably won't make it.¨

 

¨But what about the coaxium? We can't just let that all stay here.¨

 

¨Take it with you, we might be able to use it against out opponents.¨

 

Quay took the steering wheel, while Tyree took the passenger seat. He started the speeder, and they went flying through the air.

 

¨You know that coaxium is pretty explosive, right? If you throw a few of those small bottles at the pirates, we might be able to take them out.¨

 

 

Tyree took Quays advice, and he threw a small container at one of the other speeders. It created a small, but powerful blast which most likely killed the pirate. One of the other pirates saw what was happening, and tried to flee the conflict. Quay saw this happening, and started chasing him. Just as Tyree tried to throw a container at the pirate, Quay saw that the cargo ship Jayde was piloting was catching fire, and that the train stopped moving.

 

¨Jayde, come in! Are you okay?¨

 

¨Could not be better.¨ She replied, while Quay immediately knew that she was not fine. He turned around and went to the ship. When he arrived, Jayde was standing near the door. She was coughing up blood, and had a few nasty wounds on her body. The two smugglers let Jayde step onto the speeder, but she immediately collapsed from the exhaustion.

 

¨I took out those darn pirates, but the engine got hit pretty hard. The ship can explode every minute, and especially with all of the coaxium onboard this is gonna be a big explosion. Get us out of here, fast.¨

 

Quay raced towards the spot where they originally landed with the cargo ship, and parked the speeder. While Tyree quickly set up a small camp with what they had left, Quay laid Layda down and tried to stop her wounds from bleeding.

 

¨My god Jayda, how many times did you get hit?¨

 

¨Way too much.¨ She replied, while awkwardly smiling and coughing. ¨You know, even though i'm literally dying here and i just murdered a few people, i really enjoyed this mission with you guys. It had been such a long time since we all committed small crimes back on Coruscant, and i really missed that all.¨

 

Tyree stopped with setting up the camp, and walked towards the two.

 

¨I'm really sorry if this event will lead to you two having to spend the rest of your lives in an Imperial prison somewhere. Just don´t start blaming yourself for all of this, this has been my fault.¨

 

¨It's okay.¨ Tyree said. ¨We were all fully aware of what kind of risk we were taking when we accepted this job, so we will also fully accept the consequences of our actions.¨

 

Quay and Tyree waited for her to respond, but she didn´t. Jayda still had a smile on her face, but the life was drained out of her eyes. She was dead.

 

The two didn't say a word to each other for a few minutes. Quay had gone through so much pain when he lost his parents, but he was not prepared for this. Someone he knew ever since he became a smuggler died because he thought it would be a good idea to accept this job. Before this, Quay never realised what kind of stakes there actually were with these missions. But now, he knew that these missions could become fatal to the people he loved.

 

 

The silence was interrupted by the sound of metal boots walking through the snow. Both Quay and Tyree jumped up, with their guns pointing at the sound. The figure that was walking towards them, was dressed in a similar way as the pirates.

 

¨I'm guessing you guys are the ones who tried to raid that Imperial transport?¨ The person said, with a voice that was certainly distorted by a vocoder.

 

¨And i'm guessing you are the leader of those pirates who attacked us?¨ Tyree replied. ¨The one who caused all this mess?¨ He pointed at the destroyed train and the burning cargo ship in the background.

 

¨Indeed, i am. And I'm sorry that your friend died. It wasn´t the plan that anyone would die on this mission. As soon as I get back with the others, i will inform them of this.¨

 

¨Eeh, yeah, about that….¨ Quay said, just as the cargo ship exploded with full force in the background. ¨I think you might want to look for another crew.¨

 

¨Whatever, I got what i needed. I secured some of the coaxium while you all were busy fighting each other. Oh yeah, here, take this. As a compensation for the loss of your friend and the cargo.¨

 

The person handed the two a few small coaxium containers, and 10.000 credits.

 

The two smugglers were speechless. Why was this random person so generous towards them?

 

¨Why did you give us all of this stuff?¨ Quay asked.

 

¨I already said that.¨ The person said while walking towards her speeder. ¨As a compensation for the loss of your friend and the cargo. And the fact that I have known you guys for a while might have helped in this decision.¨

 

¨Wait, but who are you then?¨

 

¨I'm pretty sure you know that already, deep inside of you.¨ The person replied, before driving away on her speeder.

 

Well, that didn't make Quay and Tyree any wiser about the person's identity. Before they left this planet, they buried Jayda´s body in the snow, and made a little memorial for her. This job taught Quay a few important things he would definitely use in the future. Now, the two just needed to figure out a way to get off this planet..

 

Done