EPISODE 3.07: CHAPTER 12: THE MIND KILLERS Report
General Summary
I thought this assignment to Chalcedon was going to be boring. Really, I thought today was going to be boring. This was not a boring day.
A Bloodsmith Raider strike force arrived at 08:00 Chalcedon time. A Galactic Imperial patrol picked them up just before they dropped from hyperspace. Alliance, Spartan Imperium, and Freedworlds squadrons were scrambled. They hit the first units from the Bloodsmith Raider pirates just past the Chalcedon high orbit markers as the Bureau of Ships and Services locked down Port Etmar's airspace.
I linked in the Roughnecks, since I knew my brothers were already up. We needed to be ready. After all, the Bloodsmiths are pirates. Like any pirate clan, they take 'raiding' to a fine art, so their starfighters were going to be a problem. But the Bloodsmiths were a little different. They were better equipped than most other pirate clans. Even more than the bigger outfits spinward past the Mid-Rim.
It was like fighting the CIS and their droid army all over again in the Clone Wars. That meant landing craft. Which, those were spat out of the Raiders' frigate before anyone could blink good. Those landers had just hit planetside when the situation turned from a mess to a complete jumble.
Ships were still dropping out of hyperspace. Mining Guild fuel and ore haulers, couriers, even Captain Kolene's X-Wing escorting the Kylo's Star were popping in all across the combat zone. None of them had gotten the warning. Which turned out to be the fault of sabotage. Someone had rigged the local space transmitter using a knockoff of the Mentat "Final Solution" jamming protocol.
The battle was a wreck. At one point an overcharged sensor ping rattled every ship in the zone. The source was never pinpointed, but it scattered the fighters all across Chalcedon's local space. Good thing though, between that and Captain Kolene hammering at the Bloodsmith Raiders with some well-placed torpedoes, the path planetside was clear.
I blame a Mentat. They can simultaneously calculate 12 different hyperspace routes but always forget they have the transmission boosted to max before turning on sensors in a wide area scan. Talk about “one ping, one ping only” right in the helmet comms…
Between local forces and a satellite map image of Chalcedon from one of the incoming ships, we pinpointed the Bloodsmith Raiders ground force. Goss said he had that and took off with the others. I should've known better. He didn’t “have that”.
Incoming ships were being cleared and docked as fast as possible. This included the Kylo's Star and crew. I'm not entirely clear on the details afterwards but from Vanya I learned they were mostly in one piece and brought company. Such as a Mando'a Armorer among other people and things. I knew that would get interesting since the Lady Mandalore herself, Asajj Ventress, was on world.
Some, such as the real "General Kerplokin" had shown up and rushed the new command building to talk out the current list of headaches with Chancellor Nalerine Kanter. Scuttlebutt says another dignitary was there, too. Someone named 'Queen Sabine Alita Tri'elle' of the Shalent. I don't know much of anything about them and nothing on her. But it's a frellin' big galaxy out there.
Then there was So'zen. I heard the Jedi took the Mando'a Armorer around through the city. If I had to guess, they were looking for the Mandalore. Funny that the Mandalore was hunting Vanya. I almost want popcorn and a cam-drone.
As for Vanya, she took off toward the ground fighting with Captain Kolene and what I heard might have been a Mentat. They took on the Raiders coming in from the East.
I got to watch that by remote. It turned out that it was Goss' "got that" solution in action. To be specific, he found a way to attract the Aur'rook from the deep desert using automated doorbusters to “thump” the ground… or whatever they were attached to. The idea worked. That was the bad part.
The Raiders got caught between four Aur'rook that were 22, maybe even 24 meters long. Bigger than a lot of starfighters. They rose up out of the sand, pitch dark rubbery black squids with a whole lot of angry. They were big enough they had to be from the deep desert. We were just lucky that Goss' idea hadn't attracted one of the deep desert worms.
The Aur'rook churned up the sand, sinking the Raiders' vehicles disabled by Captain Kolene and that Mentat with her. Vanya, being the Jedi General that she is, raced out there to calm the situation down. It gave the others, along with the Republic troops and a Qo'shasot named Satina, time to haul those Raiders out of harm's way. Mostly.
After the Aur'rook buried the Raiders' gear, they left. None too soon. I like Aur'rook, but at a distance. I'm not sure they always remember we are a lot smaller than they are. The dust was still settling when Vanya took off, hunting for Goss who was busy up on the Northern side with another round of fighting.
Just in time, too. I picked up something in-bound at that moment. Nothing I could put a name to, or much of a shape. It wasn’t anything I’d seen before. As I’m recording this, Vanya has a head full of Jedi-steam and is charging North. I hope the others tag along. Maybe get Sir Tam to slip out there and do his “infiltrator” thing.
I can’t shake that I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
Related Reports
I just got a massive data burst from Vanya. She's making sure as many people have eyes on her intel as possible. That makes sense since she's got that twisted Mentat, Almond D'Joy almost right at the top of her 'problem to squash' list. Trouble is, the man's tougher to stomp than a Mustafarian Fireroach.
It also might mean she doesn't have her old and busted datapad with her, again. I think I'll get her one of those floating dictation droids.
Attaching her list here from Mystic Mob Investigations...
The To Do Lista continuing collation by Mystic Mob Investigations in no particular order:Finish the job we owe to late Captain Zaine Antara: transport archaeological Jedi artifacts to Allandor. Broadly ruin the entire year for Almon d'Joy, since he requested this of us so strongly. Make sure Almon d'Joy does not get another try at laying a "buffet thisaway!" beacon series pointing at Nar Shaddaa or anywhere else for that matter. Locate and support any surviving Crimson Knights while determining and halting the ongoing massacre Something something the whole "Special Antique Map" issue. Solve the creepy puppeteer parasite thing. Rescue Gaius Efran Fellfury, Jedi Knight Mez'zazo, and associates from whatever is going on at the Secret Eborrean Base on one of Monorik's moons. Conveniently located within Chalcedon system! Get the Eborreans and Exclamation Points to knock it off. Particularly get the Eborreans to stop eating people. Stop the Thousand Stars ship from messing around on Yavin IV. even if that means rescuing Caressa Drakon from herself. Contain the Tor Ceti critters. Get them veterinary care. Rescue the Gamesman, Jem Vandos Also rescue Champion Genog Druqod. Maneuver the Bloodsmith Raiders into disinfecting themselves AND ALSO into getting some danged Talk Therapy. Keep Lady Zaye and her children alive. Find out what Lady Zaye actually wants in her life. Give her a better future than "attached to the life path of a stranger". Get Piotr Sparaval to stop basically everything he's been doing, including hive-mind-cloning himself. Rescue Ivan Vorpatril Rescue Lord Ivan's paramour. Introduce the Armorer Anatoli Cuylin to The Mand'alor. Also return her property to her. Remember Vishan Pel? Maybe we should tell Lady Ventress about Vishan Pel. Just for fun. Support the nascent Freedworlds Republic probably by asking Derma the Orchid Loving Hutt if he still wants us to transport his life offworld, get bellowed at, and then keep ourselves out of the way. Our Lord and Master wants this trade agreement with the Freedworlds Republic. We probably have an obligation to make it work out for both sides. Locate and rescue Bishop and Omatron Are Galactic Star Consort Yeager Lexics and Revived Sorcerer Errol Vondromas drinking buddies yet? Bugfix whatever keeps interfering in Holonet message systems. Arrange a backtrace on the Thunder Maiden's cargo and itinerary, with special emphasis on "wtf was House Vormecetti doing and, separately, what did they THINK they were doing?" Restore Lord Solicitor Londo Mollari to his regular routine Get Hicks a better vacation to replace the ruined one. Check up after the fact on the continuing security of Pek Rondoon and Sector Ranger Andan Jouric
