Shadow's Company (Complete)

[Ragnarok]

A Skipbray Blastboat known as 'The Shadow Lancer, move peacefully through space. The medium class fighter wasn’t near any planets at the moment and only stars surrounded it. Inside the thickly armored shell the crew was doing what they normally did

Ragnarok. The captain of ship. sat in the pilots chair with a datapad in his hand. He was reading a message he had received from a man who was interesting in hiring him and his crew for a job. The crew of the shadow lancer where mercenaries, they did all sorts of Jobs from assassination to driving off space pirates

Rag heard a sissing sound behind him. It was the Maz-Nav or Kronos which was his code name. Maz-Nav is a large Barabel Male who was busy cleaning his weapons and making sure they where in working condition "Could you be a little quieter back there Kronos" He said in his monotone droid voice. Kronos replied with a little more sissing and then was quiet

"Whatcha reading Captain?" came a female voice from behind Rag. "Not much" He replied "Just some guy on tatooine who wants us to smuggle spice" He let out a robotic sigh. "Well, What’s the problem then?" Shi'Rasha slipped into the co-pilots chair next to Rag. She was a red skinned Twilek, do to this the crew called her scarlet. She was wearing a black jumpsuit that contrasted well with her red skin . "Its a shipment thats going to Gurba the Hutt" Rag said before punching a few buttons on the pad and handing it too her

Scarlet read over the message without a word "Sounds a little risky" She said atlast "I don't think the credits are worth getting Gurba more mad at us" Gurba was mad at them already for helping a group of space pirates capture a supply transport of his "Why don't you have a look Kronos" She said and threw the data pad over her shoulder without looking back

They didn't hear it hit the ground and safely assumed that Kronos had caught it. "This one thinks it sounds too easy" He said after a moment of silence "Could be a trap"

"This is getting us nowhere" Rag said after staring out at the stars "Where is Hawk?" He said as he turned to face Scarlet "Uh, last I saw him he was sleeping in his bunk" She said with a little smile. The fourth member of the team was Jackson Hawkins or Hawk. He was in charge of navigations, at least when he wasn’t sleeping

"Someone go wake him up" Rag said as he turned to his controls "I need a last opinion" He heard the sound of Kronos getting to his feet. He soon returned with sat down to work on his weapons again.

Hawk walked sleepily into the bridge. Rag turned his chair around to face Hawk "What do you think of this?" He asked and motioned for Kronos to hand Hawk the datapad. "Sounds like fun" Hawk said after finishing it "I think we could pull this off and Gurba wouldn't even know we did it."

"The guy wants us to meet him on Tatooine" Rag turned his chair around to its normal position behind the controls "Plot of a course Mr. Hawkins". "Aye Captain" Hawk said before jumping into his chair at the navigation computer and inputing the coordinates to Tatooine "Ready when you are" He said after he finished

Rag looked over his shoulder to make sure everyone was in their proper places. Kronos was up at the turret controls, Hawk at his station and Scarlet was sitting next to him with a broad smile. "Prepare for lightspead" He said as he pressed the activation button and sat back in his chair as the stars turned into solid streaks.

[Ragnarok]

In a few hours the crew of the Shadow Lancer where sitting at a table in the Black Womprat Cantina on Tatooine. "When is out client going to show up?" Hawk said before lifting his mug of correlian ale to his mouth "I don't like sitting here doing nothing"

Rag heard the door open and turned his head to the side to look at who it was. There where a bunch of men in black coats. He looked around the room until they spotted the Rag and his crew

The group split up and positioned themselves around the dimly lit cantina. The other patrons suddenly got up and left. some not bothering to pay for their drinks as they ran for the exit. "Stay alert" He said in a low voice to his crew men "These guys look like their itchin for a fight"

One of the men moved forward and stoped infront of Rag "Hello there stangers" The man said with a fake smile "I hear you here to meet a man for a job. Well, how would your crew like to work for me instead. I'll pay you twice as much"

Rag looked the man over "Sorry. But we'd rather take the first job" The man smiled strangely and backed away from their table "Sorry friend. Wrong answer" He nodded his head to his men and they all pulled out blasters

Rag was on his feet in a second. Pulling out his repeater rifle and opening fire on the nearest target. The man fell to the ground with several burning holes in his body. Soon both sides where firing at each other. Hawk and Scarlet had upturned the table and where firing over it at the black clad men

Kronos had jumped behind the bar and was firing with his own repeater rifle. A few shots connected with Ragnarok's body but did little damage to his thick armor platting. He returned fire and dropped two more goons as Kronos dropped another

The leader of the pack was running for the door but Scarlet jumped to her feet and threw a throwing knife that stuck into the man's back. The man dropped to the ground and didn't move. Hawk jumped out with his blaster rifle and blew a hole through the last goon's chest

Rag moved over to where the leader had fallen and pulled the knife from his back and handed it over his shoulder to Scarlet. He searched the man's pocket and pulled out a holocube. He pressed the activation button and a holographic image of a man appeared


"Gurba wants the Lancers dead. If you can pull this off we'll split the reward money. They will be at the Black Womprat contina." The holo faded out as the message ended.

"Well. Looks like we came here for nothing" Scarlet said as she cleaned the knife off on the man's coat and returned it to her belt. "This one thinks we should get out of here before more goons show up" Kronos was looking out the door "Lets go" Rag said, standing up and sticking the holocube into the pocket of his black trench coat

They soon arrived at the docking bay 193 and boarded the Shadow Lancer and as soon as their flight path was clear, headed for space.

[Ragnarok]

The Shadow Lancer left orbit and entered the darkness of space. “Bogeys coming in on intercept course” Scarlet said as she watched the scanners. “Looks like a few outdated X-wings and head hunters” She said turning to look at Rag “What are your orders, sir?” Rag spent half a minute to think out the right course of action “We’ll let them show themselves hostile before we shoot”

The blips grew closer “Their shields are rising and their charging their weapons” before she even finished Kronos was bringing the mounted laser cannons on the top of the blast boat and started firing at the blips and an x-wing flashed out of existence

“Scarlet, bring the shields up and Hawk, get me a emergency jump coordinates incase this gets too hot” Rag said he brought the Lancer around in a tight turn to avoid a shower of laser fire. Another blip disappeared to Kronos’ cannon

Rag brought the Lancer around to face the incoming ships. He fired the ion cannons that where on the tips of the maneuverable curved wings. The ion blasts went right through their shields and destroyed the two ships

Rag moved the ship into a steep climb and then brought it around to face the enemy ships. “Arm a the concussion launcher and fire at these coordinates on my mark“He said as he relayed the information into Scarlet’s computer “Kron, Fire into the midst of them” He increased the ships speed “Mark”

The enemy ships streaked away from Kronos’ laser fire and half the group moved into the path of the missile. A head hunter exploded and caught the adjacent ship in its explosion

Rag moved to attack the largest group of remaining ships, and with the combined power of the ion cannons and the cannon turret, soon reduced those ships to space garbage

“Incoming fire!” Hawk shouted. Rag turned the “fins” from vertical to horizontal and let the laser bolts, that would have hit the top fin, pass by harmlessly. Kronos brought the laser cannon around and blaster the two incoming ships into nothingness. “The last two ships are heading back toward the planet” Hawk said as he studied the console in front of him “Both are head hunters and I’m guessing they don’t have hyper drives”

Rag raced the ship after them “Something is coming out of hyper space. It’s a howlrunner and a another squadron of X-wings and Headhunters” Scarlet said before she fed the information into Rag’s console “I don’t think we can win this fight” He said and soon had the Lancer turning around and heading away from the approaching ships

“Plot us a jump to Corascant” He said and the taping of Hawks fingers on the his console was the only sound in the cockpit. “Jump trajectory laid sir. Ready to go at you command” Rag punched the correct buttons and they where streaking off to the galaxy’s core.

[Ragnarok]

The Shadow Lancer exited hyper and headed for Corascants orbit. After waiting for clearance they cleared the atmosphere and headed toward their docking bay. The docking bay roof opened up and the shadow lancer dropped down through the opening and into the dark building

After the ship set down, the lights on the hangar came on and lit the ship with their white lights. The landing ramp lowered and the Lander’s crew walked down it and onto solid ground “Home sweet home” Hawk said as he walked to the only door in the hangar

The door opened into the small building that was home to the lancers. It had a few bedrooms, A few still unused upstairs. and kitchen, living room, and training room downstairs. Hawk went to the kitchen to grab something to eat while Scarlet went up to her room and Kronos went to the training room. Rag went to the stair case and walked up it and made his way to his room. It was one of the smallest room but he didn’t need space anyways. The walls where a dull gray color and instead of a bed a large recharger unit sat against the wall. On the opposite wall, was table covered with weapons and equipment of all sorts. Rag moved to the Recharger and pressed his back against it and let the it plug itself into the power feeds on his back

After a few hours Rag clunked down the stairs and into the living room. It was the largest room in the building. It had a few couches and chairs and a holovid projector in the middle. The Holovid was on and Hawk was sitting on one of the couches. scarlet was laying with her head on his shoulder, asleep. Rag had long ago noticed that the two seemed attracted to each other from the moment they met and now the two shared a room. Rag didn’t care as long as their relationship doesn’t cost the success of a mission

He walked past the two and headed into the training room. It was full of exercise machines and a few free weights. Kronos was currently lifting a heavy weight with ease. Rag walked past him and moved into the medium size room adjacent to the training room

Rag punched in the code to open the lock and the door slid open. He stepped inside and turned on the lights. The room was plain and had no windows. It was full of tables and covering those tables where weapons and equipment of all sorts. Rag had brought his repeater down with him and now was removing its energy pack and placed the repeater on one of the tables and the spent pack on a low shelf

He grabbed a new energy pack and set it down next to his repeater and then left the room and locked it behind him. He walked through the training room and the living room and into the small room that served as their communication center. It was mostly just a bunch of computer consoles lined against one wall. Rag moved over to one and sat down. He accessed his private message channel that only him, his crew and their friends used

Normally he didn’t receive much through this channel but today there was a interesting message.

This is Raven. The eclipse syndicate is after me. I was hired to hack their computers for information for another syndicate and they found out it was me and are trying to kill me. I do believe to still owe me for saving you on Nul Hutta and I could really use you assistance. I’m hiding in the apartment complex across from the Jawa-Jam Cantina

Please Hurry
Butch “The Raven” Ravenna

Rag didn’t even waste a moment to think it over. He moved into the living room and after turning his vocal volume higher then normal shouted “Lets get going crew. Raven is under attack and has asked us to aid him in his flight from the Eclipse Syndicate!” Hawk and Scarlet where on their feet in a second and running for the weapons room where Kronos was already getting their weapons ready

In a few more minutes they all jumped into the land speeder that Rag and Kronos had modified and soon they where cruising down the street and toward the Jawa-Jam Cantina

[Ragnarok]

Ragnarok steered the speeder down a few levels and then parked It front of the Jawa-Jam Cantina. They all got out and took a moment to look around. Rag turned to Scarlet and Hawk “I want you two to snoop around the cantina and see if you can’t learn a few things. Me and Kronos will see if we can find Raven”

The two pairs walked off in opposite directions. Hawk and Scarlet entered the cantina and walked right up to the bar, where they sat down. Scarlet motioned for the Bat tender, a scruffy looking guy with a scraggly beard, over to them “Two glasses of correlian Ale” She said and slid a cred chit to the man. The man left and came back with their drinks “Could you spare a moment” She said and the man stoped and looked at her “Sure” Was all he said. “I’ve been hearing that things are heating up around here. Some kind of fighting between a guy and the eclipse syndicate. Ya know anything about this?” The Tender stood up strait and looked around the bar before bending down close to Scarlet’s face “Whats it to you?” He asked and Scarlet only smiled and pushed the another cred chit across the counter “Lets just say it interests me” The chit disappeared off the counted “The syndicate has contacted me and asked me to be on the look out for a guy by the name of ‘hawk’. I havnt seen him and the syndicate says they’re going to into the apartment complex across from here and pull the rat out of there. Me, myself, I don’t care much. Just as long as the fighting don’t stop my costumers from comin in here”

“Thank you for your time” Scarlet said and the tender only smiled and said “It was my pleasure” and walked away. “Did ya hear that Hawk….Hawk” She looked to the side and only saw his back. She pushed her chair back and looked around him to see what he was looking at. There was a scantily female human dancing on a small stage in the middle of the room with men sitting in chair positioned around the stage.

Scarlet smacked Hawk on the back of the head. “Hey!” He said as he turned to look at her “What did ya do that for?” He asked as he rubbed the his head “Oh, I think you know why. If you wanted to watch someone dance you could have just asked me” She glared at him angrily “Well, I would but I don’t think you’d be up to it at the moment” He drowned his drink and stood up. Scarlet did the same and walked toward the exit with Hawk next to her. Hawk smiled to himself and reach behind her and pinch her buttocks. She jumped and little and looked shocked and surprised

The two exited the cantina and as soon as they where out they saw a few speeders drive up and stop in front of the apartment complex. Armed men jumped out of the vehicles and headed into the complex “Time for a little fun.” They both said together.

[Ragnarok]

At the same time as Scarlet and Hawk exited the Cantina, Rag and Kronos where standing outside a door. Rag knocked softly on the door. No one answered the door. “Its me Raven” Rag said to the door. From inside came the sound of footsteps approaching the door. The door opened and a tall man with a heavily scared face looked out “Well, Tis a good thing you guys showed up” Raven said as he lowered his blaster and ran a hand through is black hair “We better get inside”

The comm on Rag’s belt beeped. Rag reached down and plucked it from his belt and lifted it up close to his face “Captain here” He said using his comm Name “Bloody Mary and Bird Boy here” Came Scarlet’s voice, she also was using her and Hawk’s comm names “We are outside the Jawa-Jam and have sighted many armed men entering the complex. I’d advice you to grab Raven and get out of there before things get to hot”

“I understand. Captain out.” He deactivated the comm and placed it back on his belt “We have armed personnel in the building. I can only guess that they are with the Syndicate. We have to get out of here now Raven” Just as he said this a crimson bolt zipped past his head, missing by centimeters. Rag spun around with his repeater blaster already in his hand and fired a quick burst that the dark stair well and a the thumps of a body falling down the steps told the trio that Rag had hit the unseen attacker

Shouts came up from the story below “Lets go!” Rag turned and ran toward the stairs that let to the next floor. As soon as his feet touched the first step, many armed men appeared at the top of the stairs and fired down at him. Rag jumped back, away from the stairs, and back away slowly “Ok, Lets go down instead” He turned to Kronos and Raven “Ok, I’ll do a Shock Drop maneuver. Kronos, You watch out back. Raven, You cover me”

Rag ran over to the top of the stairs that led to the story below and jumped right off the top step. He said through the air and landed at the bottom of the stairs right in the midst of a group of syndicate soldiers. He brought his fist up to the closest one and hit the man in the chin and several feet into the air. He lashed out a foot and broke another soldier’s leg. He brought his Repeated up and blew holes through three men before they turned and fired on him. A few crimson bolts sailed down from the floor above and felled two more soldiers. A few laser bolts hit Rag. He faced the remaining guards and opened fire and four bodies fell to the ground. From behind Rag a soldier was pulling out a explosive grenade. Raven managed to hit the man in the head and the activated grenade fell to the ground at Rag’s feet

Rag looked up from the grenade to see another group of men charging toward him. He kicked the grenade. It soared through the air and landed in the middle of the group. Rag jumped behind a support pillar. The Grenade went off, and when Rag poked his head out , there where no living beings where the group had just been. Only bits and pieces revealed that they had ever existed

“All clear!” Rag called up and Raven ran down the steps. A few shots where heard from above and Kronos ran the the stairs and slid down the hand rail and fired up the stairs as he slid. He reached the bottom and all three ran off to the next stair case and where soon standing in the lobby. They moved out the door and looked around. Bodies layed on the ground and Scarlet and Hawk where standing nearby with smoking blasters “Nice work” Rag said and all five moved toward the speeder. As soon as they where all seated several more syndicate speeders showed up “Get us out of here captain” Hawk said and Rag pushed the accelerator to full and sped off down the street

Two syndicate speeders chased after them “Can you get them off out tale?” Rag said as Scarlet grabbed a long range blaster rifle and turned it around. She aimed and fired and the pilot of the first speeder ceased to have a head and the speeder decelerated and stopped. A soldier in the second speeder stood up and started firing. Rag started weaving through the street “I can’t bloody well aim when you move so much” Scarlet shouted over the noise of the speeders’ engines. Rag stopped weaving and drove strait. Scarlet aimed at the pilot of the remaining speeder. He was sitting low in his seat and was impossible to hit. Scarlet turned her blaster on the speeders engines and fired. After a few shots the Speeders left engine exploded in a fiery blast

Rag piloted the speeder away from the burning wreckage and back to their base. They soon where inside the garage and piling out of the speeder. They went inside the main building. Kronos stayed inside the garage to fix up and damage the speeder had taken. Scarlet grabbed Hawk by the collar and pulled him pulled him toward their room. Rag turned to Raven “You can hide out here aslong as you want” He said and Raven looked relieved “Thank you. I don’t think I’ll be staying long. I’ll be out of here as soon as I can find a new place where I can hide until the Eclipse Syndicate forgets about me” Raven smiled and ran his hand through is black hair “I think this makes us even” He said and patted Rag on the shoulder “Yes, indeed it does” Rag led Raven into an empty room for him to use before heading to his own room to recharge.