Prologue 1A
KilroywasNOTHere
"BEEP!"
Tokada gazed at the window from his captain’s chair gazing at the window of his Nebulon-B escort frigate. In truth business had been slowed to a crawl, Pirates had become frequent ever since the fall of the empire and as a result it meant more competition and less juicy targets.
The crew was getting frankly reckless. They had sailed the vacuum of space with not so much as a credit to their name. He had to find something and fast. If he remained empty handed for much longer than the next thing that would be taken would be his head.
“Are you alright captain.” His first officer asked. Tokada’s face crumpled into a hard scowl. “I’ll be alright when we have credits in our pockets, and a ship to sell. You know as well as I do that there have been mummers on the ship. They question my competence as the captain of this vessel.”
“Shall I make a public example of one of your detractors?”
“and paint an even bigger target on my back. Are you trying to get me killed? No what I need is a catch. A cargo ship, heck a nice merchant ship or heck even a dancer’s caravan ship would be nice, something to sate the crew’s appetites. “
Suddenly the scanners of the ship began to give loud beeps, scanners showed a ship heading passed them.
“Looks like we may have gotten our wish.”
“What is it?” Tokada asked.
“Light freighter, looks to be K-42.”
“A jellyfish? What’s the cargo?
“Can’t tell but it looks like there is roughly 40-60 tons.”
A smile came across Tokada’s face. “Whatever it is there’s lots of it. Get the tractor beam going.” The captain then turned on his comlink. Gather round boys, we got a live one.”
The pirates gathered around the fighter bay reading to jump whoever came out of the ship.
Tokada readied his rifle holding up his right arm as a means to say hold. The jellyfish opened with a loud hiss, Tokada found his mouth go agape. Out of the ship stepped to be a figure clad in Mandalorian armor or at least some makeshift version of it, painted in a mixture of purple and silver.
Tokada continued to signal his men to hold. He didn’t want the men to start shooting until he knew for sure what exactly they were dealing with. He then walked forward.
“I do apologize, whoever you are, but your ship and cargo is now property of the Hearthstone Pirates, surrender it quietly and we will let you live. Should you decide to resist, things shall get….ugly. “
The Mandalorian however did not move a muscle beyond just standing there. The Pirate couldn’t help but move a little bit closer. “Did you not here me? Your ship and cargo is now property of the Hearthstone Pirates. Surrender it or get blasted!
Still the mando did not move. The captain got closer but admittedly more hesitant as he got a better gage of her true size. She stood at over 2.05 meters and had a strong bulky frame to match. Still he did not back down .
“Not much of a talker eh?”
“you can either leave warm, or leave smoking. You’re choice.”
Tokada laughed. “Are you threating me? Do you know who I am. I death warrants in every major sector in the galaxy! I outnumber you 100 to 1. You are in no place to negotiate!”
The Mandalorian once again became silent. Tokada signaled his men to scan the ship for the cargo. The officer came back out with a grimace on his face. “It’s just fruit.”
Tokada couldn’t help but chuckle. “A Mandalorian playing grocer, Oh how the mighty have fallen.”
The trooper then gazed at the mandos armor. “Real Beskar? I thought the empire confiscated all of it. It must be worth a fortune. I wonder if it will keep its worth after we peel it off your corpse.”
Tokada raised his blaster only to howl as his whole body became engulfed in flames. His body crumpled in flame within seconds. The pirate crew looked at the horrific scene with such shock that they found themselves unable to move.
The Mandalorian pressed some buttons on her wrist as several dozen small metallic bombs launched from her jet back. Sticking to various parts of the ship. The officer eyes widened in horror when they began to rapidly beep.
“Sticky bom….!!!!”
“KABOOM!!!!!!”
The Mandalorian landed The Kast’s Honor gently on the landing platform. a grizzled Rodian met her with shipping droids at the ready. It was customary of her work place that the client reciving a greeting as a way of making sure the contract had been fulfilled.
“Got your shipment. Hopefully everything was intact. I was sort of held up."
“Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you! Ever since the empire fell, shortages have been frequent and pirates frequently sacked the local trade planets. But at least now we have enough to survive the winter. I’m surprised the Fighter’s Guild sent a Mandalorian of all people to do this job….a large one at that.”
The Mandalorian didn’t respond to the remark “Sign here and here.”
“oh, of course.”
Without so much as a word the Mandalorian headed back to her ship.
“May I ask what your name is?” The rodian asked. “I’d like to request you again for future jobs if the need arises.”
“Baask, Baask Kast.”
[
]
The crew was getting frankly reckless. They had sailed the vacuum of space with not so much as a credit to their name. He had to find something and fast. If he remained empty handed for much longer than the next thing that would be taken would be his head.
“Are you alright captain.” His first officer asked. Tokada’s face crumpled into a hard scowl. “I’ll be alright when we have credits in our pockets, and a ship to sell. You know as well as I do that there have been mummers on the ship. They question my competence as the captain of this vessel.”
“Shall I make a public example of one of your detractors?”
“and paint an even bigger target on my back. Are you trying to get me killed? No what I need is a catch. A cargo ship, heck a nice merchant ship or heck even a dancer’s caravan ship would be nice, something to sate the crew’s appetites. “
Suddenly the scanners of the ship began to give loud beeps, scanners showed a ship heading passed them.
“Looks like we may have gotten our wish.”
“What is it?” Tokada asked.
“Light freighter, looks to be K-42.”
“A jellyfish? What’s the cargo?
[
]
“Can’t tell but it looks like there is roughly 40-60 tons.”
A smile came across Tokada’s face. “Whatever it is there’s lots of it. Get the tractor beam going.” The captain then turned on his comlink. Gather round boys, we got a live one.”
The pirates gathered around the fighter bay reading to jump whoever came out of the ship.
Tokada readied his rifle holding up his right arm as a means to say hold. The jellyfish opened with a loud hiss, Tokada found his mouth go agape. Out of the ship stepped to be a figure clad in Mandalorian armor or at least some makeshift version of it, painted in a mixture of purple and silver.
Tokada continued to signal his men to hold. He didn’t want the men to start shooting until he knew for sure what exactly they were dealing with. He then walked forward.
“I do apologize, whoever you are, but your ship and cargo is now property of the Hearthstone Pirates, surrender it quietly and we will let you live. Should you decide to resist, things shall get….ugly. “
The Mandalorian however did not move a muscle beyond just standing there. The Pirate couldn’t help but move a little bit closer. “Did you not here me? Your ship and cargo is now property of the Hearthstone Pirates. Surrender it or get blasted!
Still the mando did not move. The captain got closer but admittedly more hesitant as he got a better gage of her true size. She stood at over 2.05 meters and had a strong bulky frame to match. Still he did not back down .
“Not much of a talker eh?”
“you can either leave warm, or leave smoking. You’re choice.”
Tokada laughed. “Are you threating me? Do you know who I am. I death warrants in every major sector in the galaxy! I outnumber you 100 to 1. You are in no place to negotiate!”
The Mandalorian once again became silent. Tokada signaled his men to scan the ship for the cargo. The officer came back out with a grimace on his face. “It’s just fruit.”
Tokada couldn’t help but chuckle. “A Mandalorian playing grocer, Oh how the mighty have fallen.”
The trooper then gazed at the mandos armor. “Real Beskar? I thought the empire confiscated all of it. It must be worth a fortune. I wonder if it will keep its worth after we peel it off your corpse.”
Tokada raised his blaster only to howl as his whole body became engulfed in flames. His body crumpled in flame within seconds. The pirate crew looked at the horrific scene with such shock that they found themselves unable to move.
The Mandalorian pressed some buttons on her wrist as several dozen small metallic bombs launched from her jet back. Sticking to various parts of the ship. The officer eyes widened in horror when they began to rapidly beep.
“Sticky bom….!!!!”
“KABOOM!!!!!!”
The Mandalorian landed The Kast’s Honor gently on the landing platform. a grizzled Rodian met her with shipping droids at the ready. It was customary of her work place that the client reciving a greeting as a way of making sure the contract had been fulfilled.
“Got your shipment. Hopefully everything was intact. I was sort of held up."
“Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you! Ever since the empire fell, shortages have been frequent and pirates frequently sacked the local trade planets. But at least now we have enough to survive the winter. I’m surprised the Fighter’s Guild sent a Mandalorian of all people to do this job….a large one at that.”
The Mandalorian didn’t respond to the remark “Sign here and here.”
“oh, of course.”
Without so much as a word the Mandalorian headed back to her ship.
“May I ask what your name is?” The rodian asked. “I’d like to request you again for future jobs if the need arises.”
“Baask, Baask Kast.”
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