First Crew Mission….Hoth Space, Several Months after Alexandra official joins the Maw….

“BR-16 oscillating-gas infused plasma pistol. Only operates in two modes, safe and fire. I kinda like it, the gas chamber is way too small. Eats power cells like a mother. Whoever designed it, had no idea how to balance gas and power usage at the same time.”

“BR buddy. Bilringhi Rifling. Good at the long guns. Crap on handhelds. That thing smells.”

“Gas chamber, man. Tibanna ain’t pleasant. Overfill it leaks, underfill…plasma scatters to hell and back. Ain’t enough gas in there to fuse a bulkhead. Much less a charge outta this power cell.”

“Take a look at this. Old faithful. All’a hugh youngsters can keep on keepin’ on with them whiz bangy blasters. Ain’t no leaks from a sword. All I gotta worry about is changing the power cell every week or so. It's never on long enough to need a daily cell. Nothin’ beats a vibrosword.”

“Yea, but ya gotta git close. Look at me…I’m a runt.”

“I gotcha back brother. Ain’t tha’ right boys!!! We got his back!!!”

A cheer went out among the men. They talked randomly, mostly to hide the anticipation and fear. Even though they were pirates, they still had it. Lining up in the pod, holding on to the troop straps as it shook against the hull and locked in. The pod’s mouth like pincer opening digging into the offenders hull and prying it open enough to create the seal. When the door opened, it was game time. There was an unusual amount of tension rising among them all. Alex, the new runner for that particular squad of the crew was known, but unproven. They talked, loudly. Boisterously about random things. The three ‘W’s’ mostly. Weapons, Women and Wine. When they had something to say about her and started whispering or conspiring together, she knew. Rumors surrounding her abounded.

There should have been something to say to her crew, they all lined up at the airlock waiting for it to open. Alex could sense their angst as some of them bounced the vibroblades in their hand or gripped a little tighter on their blasters. Nothing came to mind, it was dishonorable work. Work she found herself doing as a penance for allowing her husband to be killed, for allowing her daughters to be taken from her never to be heard from again. This was her life and now she had to give all to it. There was no other way to live. The ‘All or Nothing’ days. The ‘there was no in between’ days. Alex was in and had no intention of getting out.

The airlock slid open and Alex was the first one through, much to the surprise of all those on her new crew. Even the ‘crew runner’; a Captain type figure responsible for the rights and wrongs of the squad had to go on the attack. But upfront? That was unusual. In her mind, Alex was responsible for no one but herself. She didn’t lead from the front because she was trying to show the crew how it was done or lead by example. Nor was she wanting to take the job of ‘Captain’ away from her new leader or challenge her crewmates. Alex did it because she had a deathwish and simply didn’t care. As one of her fellow crew mates raised the blaster to fire, she quickly slapped it back down shaking her head, “No! The Captain said hand weapons only.” The one who was slapped down, a burly Nautalian, grimaced at her narrowing the lids of the big dark pools it called eyes; shaking its head in return. Figuring out the nuances of the various species assigned to her was part of the fun. Alex noticed the rebuke in the Nautalian’s look, but said nothing His part of the team pressing forward. It was a Republic freighter, straying too close to the posted limits of the quarantine zone of Hoth. A zone clearly marked for the Republic, by the Republic, to stay out of due to piracy.

Blaster bolts began to splash behind them lighting up the accessway as they sailed overhead. The crew of the Republic vessel was trying desperately to fight them off, but they were untrained as far as Alex could tell. Republic troopers would never miss that badly. They pressed toward the cargo hold, half of the team splitting off to go and seize the bridge as the feeling hit her. Alex turned with a start and looked back at the direction the other part of her squad split off toward. She opened her mouth to speak just as the Jedi rounded the corner, his green saber leading the way. The Jedi hurled it Alex’s direction, cutting the several of her crewmates down. It was then that the attacking Jedi caught the glimpse of the blue plasma in her hand. He frowned at her, apparently assuming that she had somehow mistakenly gotten possession of two sabers she couldn’t possibly use. No Jedi would be caught dead on the side of Pirates.

Trying to disarm her, the Jedi Guardian thrust out a hand in an attempt to pull both sabers from her. When his power reached the durasteel wall that was Alexandra, he lowered his hand slowly. Force on Force. Alex resisted the pull, placing a little of her own power into holding on. The rest of her crew moved past her to go toward their objectives leaving her alone with the Jedi in the gangway. “It is never too late to come back to the light. We don’t have to do this….” The Jedi spoke softly, still raising his saber up to guard. Canting her head, Alex smiled. ‘Did she ever sound that loathsome?’

Perhaps it was the calm in his voice. Or even the tone that set Alex off. It could have been the centuries old linage of the Dark Side that ran through the De’nabre line of Jedi in her family. Maybe it was the sense of loss and betrayal that Alex felt at the hands of so many. That Jedi on that particular day, unlucky enough to be the total embodiment of all of her angst. Even more, it could have been that Alex simply could not distinguish Sith from Jedi anymore. Or that she just didn’t care.

Alex leapt at the Guardian, her blades twirling in a pinwheel fashion out from her arms in a circular spinning blur; she realized the reason she went on the attack. Alex had chosen a new destiny. One free of the former constraints of a life that no longer held any meaning for her. She screamed, tears flowing down her face as she caught the Jedi unawares with the furiousness of her attack; striking him down in the first assault. One blade slicing cleanly through the sword arm of the Jedi Guardian, as he turned to swing the stump; not quick enough to realize Alex’s other saber was already slicing horizontally through his midsection. With the killing, Alex passed the threshold. There was no going back and even if she could; Alex wasn’t sure if she would want to. There was nothing there for her anymore.

The moment froze Alex in place. She watched the body drop, heard the Jedi’s green saber shut down. Closing her eyes, Alex wished him well. A prayer in the Unity. Miral’s national religion. “…go with your ancestors…’Jedi’.” The last word, ‘Jedi’, spoken louder and with a hint of malice. Praying over him was more for herself then the Jedi she slain. One part of who she was that would never change, her devotion to the Unity and the belief that there was some higher power. Only, the higher power be it the Force or whatever someone would believe picked that day for the Jedi to meet his maker.

Alex made her way to the bridge; the rest of her crew started to move the cargo from the freighter to their ship. The ones looking over the Republic passengers all looked to her. The others coming back from transporting the ‘booty’ all looked to her; the entire crew was looking to her. Alex had slain the Jedi, the same Jedi who killed their buddies. Once again proving herself and justifying some of the rumors that flew around about her. Unproven when the door to the pod opened, Alex wasn’t unproven anymore. Alex….was officially their crew runner now.

“I…uh--what do you want to do with the passengers….” One of the crew, a burly human holding a blaster rifle over the kneeling crowd asked as Alex looked up and over at them.

“Kill them all…all but one and then bring him or her to me. Let them all know MY name….” Alex looked at the passengers as they looked away, some shuddering at the thought that their lives were about to end. “I am ‘L’…Pirate to the White Maw, we will not bow to the whims of the Republic any longer. Whoever the survivor is….you return to your masters and you tell them…stray into our territory and we exact a toll in blood. The White Maw fears no government or authority. Out here….I AM the authority….”

--

Korriban space….’The Karolin’, Alexandra’s pirate vessel enroute to the shipping lane….two years later….

Korriban, ancient birth place of the Sith. How Alex once hated that place, now it was just another planet. Just another rock like all the others. Drogan told Alex the Sith were rearming, but as ‘The Karolin’ entered the shipping lane she saw nothing on scanners. Signaling her Comm Officer, Alex stepped down out of her command chair and paced, “Scan for residual hyperspace trails…set the scanner for medium yield and back it off chronometrically. I want to know if you do find a trail, how old it is…” Alex scoffed. All of it looked like a waste of time. That area of space was silent except for the occupying Republic and she was keeping ‘The Karolin’ well away from them.

“Captain. We have something….long range, bearing two-two mark one seven-seven….”

Alex dipped her eyes low to the screen tracking the incoming trace on Comm-scan. Her red irises allowing the image to burn into her. The object was too large to be a freighter. The signature of the incoming ship had power levels that were almost off the chart. It was bristling with weaponry. There was no way it could have been a Republic vessel. Alex was familiar with those. The shape started to emerge more definitively on comm-scan. Slim, angular. Maybe a private vessel, something the Hutts put together. “Have they detected us?”

“No, Captain…”

Slapping her hips, Alex grasped at the saber hilts on each side attached to the low slung belt and smiled. Flipping her dreads out of her face, the beads in her hair clicked. “Keep close to the far side of the moon. Use it to cloak our presence and approach. Come up alongside the moon and under the Dreadnaught…” Based on the size, Alex assumed what class the ship was. The bridge crew nodded returning to their stations. “Careful….” Alex spoke softly once the ship started moving again. “Once we come out on the far side of the moon, the other ship will be past us. Go to station keeping thrusters…signal the boarding party to assemble outside the launch, I will be leading the party myself.”

The large Gammorean, who traditionally sat still on the bridge; a self-elected bodyguard to the ‘Captain’ stood and grimaced. Alex couldn’t tell him to stay, she tried that once. It didn’t take. Anytime Alex was going near danger, the Gammorean was there. Unfailingly loyal. Fanatically obedient to Alexandra, she looked at the pig-faced creature giving him a wicked grin. “No, Tras’goh…you stay here. I am not doing anything today more unusual than any other day.” The Gammorean refused, just as she thought he would. Leaning in, Alex brought her lips close to one of his ears, blowing slightly before giving the creature a soft whisper. “I need someone to take charge of the ship, while I’m gone…” The two exchanged a look once Alex backed up. “Can you do that for me?” Sitting back down, the Gammorean folded his arms and grimaced. His beady eyes still fixed on her. Looking out toward the forward viewport Alex watched as her ship slowly listed over the last part of the moon’s surface. The Dreadnaught passing on the other side. Looking down at comm-scan sharply, Alex could see the other ship had not yet detected them. ‘And they won’t…’ she said to herself, ‘…not till it’s too late….’

“Captain, we’ve passed the moon’s Terminator…..”

“Steady…steady now….” The bridge fell silent once the ship passed the Terminator of the moon and emerged on the other side. Alexandra gripped her sabers, her lips getting tight while she watched, “Keep it slow…no need to rush it. Any moment now….” All of the patience was rewarded with a shadow. At first, small. As it grew, the light reflected off the moon’s surface, illuminating the bridge went out. The larger ship’s silhouette cutting all light off from outside. ‘The Karolin’ was traveling so close and under the other ship, they almost looked as one.

Alex moved to the bridge exit and waved behind her, “Moving below decks…have the extraction party on stand-by and have the rest of the crew assemble at the airlock. We are going to need some back-up for this.” She closed her eyes reaching out in the Force before allowing the door to close behind her. She could feel the angst of her crew. Assaulting a ship of that size was not going to be easy. But she also felt the unawares of the other ship; the crew, the confidence of them. The other ship had no idea they were coming. And that would be enough of an edge that size didn’t matter. The other ship was not Sith, nor were they Republic. The ship was a private corporate entity. Either raiders or mercenaries; paid contractors. Her type of people. Easily persuaded that nothing they were carrying or being paid to carry was worth dying for. It wasn’t for ‘king and country’ like it was for the Republic, their duty was bought and paid for in credits. If it was going to be a scrap, Alex had the element of surprise.

--

A delicate procedure that Alex refined into fine art. Setting the droid’s plasma torch on one side, Alex set the explosives on the hull opposite the droid on the other side of the lock. Stepping back into the airlock tunnel Alex turned around and looked at her engineer, nodding, “Cut it. Detonate on my mark.” Raising her wrist, she watched the distance count down between her ship and the target finally in meters. They had to almost be touching to get a solid lock. In her other hand she held the comm device, raising it to her lips while she still watched the target. “Ok…now…” A vibration echoed through the hull and the preparation lock. ‘The Karolin’ firing a proton missile almost point blank into the engine intake of the other ship. It wasn’t a very big target, for good reason. But as close as they were to the target, it was a sure shot. The larger ship shuttered. Out of the top of the airlock Alex looked up to see the other ship visibly slowing. “They are going to think something went wrong on their end.” Firing distance to impact was almost instantaneous. No time for the offending ship to track any incoming fire from an enemy vessel.

The next act was going to alert them. But they would be inside and through the ship before a solid response could stop them or any emergency bulkhead doors could cut them off. Alex moved to the end of the airlock and extended it toward the skin of the other ship. The torch droid moved out, quickly drawing a line along the edge of the airlock seal, but within it. Before turning back, the droid placed the detonite charge on the hull and waddled back toward them. Closing the blast door, the engineer covered his ears and laughed. “I love this part….”

Imploding outward, shards of the hull exploded into the corridor. Alex and her pirates were greeted with a barrage of blaster fire. ‘So much for the surprise…’ Alex thought, waving her arms for the droid to come forward. It was utilitarian. Serving as a ‘breacher’ both to get in and to clear the same entrance. The same droid who cut into the hull lowered the cannons onto its arms and stepped forward past Alexandra blazing a trail ahead of them, taking the majority of the incoming fire. It was enough, the offending blaster fire withered and died. The ‘breacher’ having done its job, the droid finally succumbed to enemy blaster fire falling to its knees. But they were in and spreading out. There was a reason she picked that spot on the ship. A crossroads in the schematic that allowed her access to all of the vital areas. Without hesitation Alex moved forward picking up the cannon from the droid arm to continue the attack; until there was no more incoming fire. “COME ON!!!” a scream both for her men and for the ones attacking her. Alex was angry, frustrated and wanting to move further inside; out of the crossroads of the kill zone.

Blaster fire began on both sides. More contractors responding to a ship wide alert. There was nowhere to go in the breach. Those that started to spread out down left and right corridors soon found themselves running back to the safety of the breach. The contractors were fighting much harder than Alex anticipated. “More!!!” Alex yelled into the comm, back to the bride of her own ship. “We need more!!!” The target ship had the pirates located and were sending everything they had Alex’s direction.

“Captain!!! We have got to get out of her—“ Her flag bearer, the yeoman that always kept Alex’s ledger was struck as he moved close to her in order to yell a warning. Glancing right, she watched him fall. Sneering Alex reached down and picked up the ledger and the small tattered flag he always carried with him. The skull and crossbones that they added a skull to after every capture. Alex stuffed the flag in her belt activating one of the Azure blades in her other hand. Alex had enough, pressing forward she saw why they were having so much trouble. Armored warriors, their armor emblazoned with the colors of yellow and green set up a hasty barricade; most of her pirates returning fire was being absorbed by the barricade. Starting off at a run Alex started down the passageway. Jumping into the air once she got close and landing amongst the troopers. It was so fast they didn’t have time to track her as she thrust her blade into one of the chest plates of a trooper, ripping the blade out to slash another trooper’s head from his torso. Glancing behind her as the other troopers moved away Alex screamed at her pirates again.

“Get kriffin’ moving!!! Bridge team get out of there…clearance team with me…”

--

It would mean termination, the Czerka currier knew that and as he set the last of the charges on the servers surrounding the circular room his head snapped toward the distant sound on the other side of the door. Blaster fire and explosions. Then silence. The currier let out a sigh of relief. They were well armed with the semblance of a personal army onboard. No doubt the contractors took care of any of the fools who would dare board them. It was good to be prudent and proactive in any case. The currier knelt down and continued priming his charges around the servers. Just in case. No one was going to be getting the information.

A blue plasma blade jabbed sharply through the currier’s side of the door. It started moving in a circular pattern, the currier jumping to his feet to look on in horror. No amount of locks or encryption was going to keep whatever was wielding the blade out. Czerka always thought of everything in protecting a shipment. How could they not anticipate a lightsaber? Stepping back, he held the detonator in his hand. The explosion would consume him and the data, as well as the one wielding the lightsaber. In a strange way, he held off pressing the button just to see who it was. A colored blade meant Jedi. ‘Did they have a Jedi onboard?’ His death, a small price to pay considering his family would be taken care of for his sacrifice.

The door dropped inward. Much to the currier’s surprise, he turned to face the terrifying green skinned beast who stepped through the hatch. Looking down at what the currier was holding, Alex immediately jerked the controller out of his hand in the Force and pointed her Azure blade toward him. Simultaneously, the currier without missing a beat drew his own blaster placing it at his temple. “There is enough poo-doo in here to wipe out the galaxy…”, the currier spoke as Alex paced toward him slowly. She smiled wickedly keeping the blade up toward him.

“I assume by ‘Bantha poo-doo’ you are referring to that mush you call a brain?” She glanced at the servers lining the walls and back to him. The currier was dressed in the corporate yellow and green of the Czerka corporation. Not something Alex expected, the ship was a Corellian Arms dreadnaught. The Czerka corporation and Corellian Arms were somehow in league with one another. A bit of information for sorting out later. Looking at the blaster wielding currier again, Alex smiled. “I take it, these servers mean nothing. Otherwise, why shoot yourself? Not that I care, I was going to kill you anyway.” Alex smiled again. Stalling, Alex reached out. Searching the currier for some hidden sign. A cybernetic implant. Some kind of code cylinder device. Anything that would give her a clue as to why the man wanted to kill himself. The currier solved the mystery himself as Alex continued to circle the room slowly. The currier following her with the blaster still pressed against the side of his head. “There is a ‘kill switch’ attached to this implant. I die….the information dies with me.” Alex narrowed her eyes.

“You don’t want to die…otherwise you would have pulled that trigger already.” Alex had the layout of the ship before her pirates breached the hull; a little slicer trick they all picked up from another prize seized by the White Maw. Alex flexed the fingers of her other hand, laying them on the blaster at her hip, facing away from the currier, “Let’s be reasonable…you lower the blaster, we let you live. That’s the deal…the best one you’re going to get.” In the Force, she could feel his heartbeat increase, the tension on his trigger finger as the currier stepped back and started to slowly close his eyes. The thoughts ranged from regret to sorrow and then happiness. Happy that his sacrifice was about to secure the future of others. The currier was going to do it.

“Goodbye, my lov—“ Alex raised the pistol spinning around toward the man with a lightning quick move. Shooting the currier’s hand holding the blaster, “NOOOO!!!” The currier fell as Alex leapt forward. A quick flick of the lightsaber and the offending hand came all the way off. Alex kicked the severed hand away. It still held the blaster. Lightsabers cauterized wounds. She didn’t want the currier getting some resolve and leaping to the severed hand to try and pry the blaster from the fingers.

Kneeling down, Alex held the blade out to her side and shook her head at the Czerka man, “Ordinarily, I would kill you where you lay, but…I sense you have something I need.”

--

The entire operation took thirty minutes. Once the contractors realized that nothing they were carrying was worth dying for, the fighting stopped. Alex stood on the bridge of the enemy vessel, her hands on her hips as she looked at the vessel’s manifest. Prisoners were being carted out. Her slicers began their work and Alex turned; manifest in hand as she smiled at the Corellian Arms Captain, “Your vessel is now mine…cooperate and I will spare ‘some’ of your people. Don’t and you all die…that’s the deal, there is no other one to be had here.” The Captain returned the smile with a deadpan gaze.

“You should just kill us all. There is no way we will not resist.” He was hiding something and as Alex moved toward him, she raised a hand his direction lifting him off the ground in the Force.

“AND You should know…I can see inside of your mind. I know what you hide in there…” Clenching her fist, the Captain grasped at his throat at the unseen hands choking him, “…not you, but everyone else…” She grimaced continuing to hold him in stasis, “…nah, you’re just a Captain, not vital in any way to our plans. In fact, you know nothing about what you have on board this ship, do you?” She clenched her fist in a rapid motion, the crunching sound of sinew and neck bone popped loudly on the bridge. The crew turned to see her drop the lifeless body in an unceremonious fashion. “Get me out of here and set course back to Hoth…have the stay-behinds move ‘The Karolin’ back to base. I will Captain this ship…” She looked down at the lifeless body, “It needs one…”

Corellian Arms, Czerka, Arcnet….various corporations working together for one client. Drogan was right. The Sith were rearming. Planning a War or engaging in war required a massive amount of men and material. The logistical train of any military force was always larger than the actual engagement force. Alex folded her arms across her chest looking down at the lifeless body of the Captain and the scattered prisoners still being removed from the bridge. This was a covert transport. Flying under the table and part of some kind of secret network rearming the Sith under the noses of the Republic. AND in Korriban space. The Republic was controlling Korriban space. How could they not know? The fact made Alex laugh.

“Captain, we have something…the slicers have reported ‘extraction’ from the currier as well as spike data from the servers.” The man reporting gave a wry smile as his eyes got wider, “You are not going to believe this….”