Nar Shaddaa 
Enclave Tower 
Office of Commodore Frey 
 
"Come in." The Evocii commodore beckoned as he opened the doors to his office. 
 
"Commodore sir, we have intercepted a distress call from a convoy in the Rorak System. The contents of the message indicate, that one of their ships has suffered engine damage and they require an escort. We can assume the Hutt`s will dispatch ships to escort them." A human officer explained as he approached his superiors desk.
 
"Any indication of their destination?" Frey asked as he leaned back in his chair, already mulling over the news and thinking of the benefits, these news would bring.
 
"None sir, but it`s safe to assume they are heading to Rorak IV." The younger officer stated with a blank look on his face. 
 
"What`s our closest asset to the convoy? Are we able to intercept the convoy before the enemy reaches them?" Frey was starting to feel uneasy and he had a profound reason. They had been raiding, that particular sector for months in hopes of evoking a response from the Hutt`s yet the planetary crime lord had not made a move, contrary to their expectations.  
 
Rorak IV was prominent as an industrial planet, close in proximity to Nar Shaddaa and also one of the most slave populated worlds in Hutt Space. The difficulties of waging a direct assault against the system were plentiful, most importantly the local boss was not a fool and the space station, Rorak V, orbiting the planet granted excellent defenses to the already bolstered fleet surrounding the planet. 
 
With assets being currently tied down in places such as Da Soocha, where the pacification progress had begun after the assassination of a Hutt crime lord, Rorak was currently being kept in check by other methods. Methods that commodore Frey was not at all pleased with. 
 
"The frigate, Maroon, would be able to intercept, but they are currently escorting a convoy of ours. However... there is another ship in that sector able to intercept the convoy." The officer delivered his assessment, but almost did not offer up the last piece of information out of sheer meekness. 
 
"What ship?" Frey demanded with a growing apprehension. 
 
"The Red Talon under the command of Free Captain Rac Fegal." The man said, almost sounding like he had failed at his task.
 
"Pirates..." The commodore muttered, not pleased with the new turn of events.
 
"Sir, I recommend we act regardless of the circumstances. The sys.." The officer was cut off with the wave of Frey`s hand.
 
"Yes, I know!" The Evocii practically shouted, venting his frustration over having to hand the convoy to bottom feeding slime like Fegal.
 
However despite what Frey was feeling, he knew that they could not allow any ships to pass through the net they had cast. The idea was to conduct a form of mobile siege, raiding enemy convoy`s before the reached their destination. This way, a stranglehold could be enforced on enemy system and agents of the Bureau of Special Affairs could be sent in to spark civil unrest, primarily slave riots to destabilize the system. Due to the limited number of ships available for the operation, The Free State Enclave Navy had to find more ships to bolster their numbers.

An essential part of this plan was relying on the Free Captains, the same scum, who were in business with the Hutt`s themselves and did not care damn about the evocii plight when they were condemned to slavery. Fegal, the ever vigilant profiteer, who had plundered several of the core worlds, was by far the worst.

Frey sighed, he was not looking forward to seeing the smug look on Fegal`s face when he delivered the news.


Rorak System 
Talon Class Escort Carrier, The Red Talon 
The Captain`s Cabin 

 
The dug spun around in his chair and pressed a button on the console, the image of Commodore Frey came alive on the comm unit. Rac Fegal smirked, at the sight of the regional commander, and leaned back in his chair. He savored these little moments when the navy came to him, begging for his help, or that was at least how he wanted to see it. 
 
"Commodore Frey, I see you caught the scent as well then?" Rac said, jovial at the fact that Frey had very little to offer him. The look on the evocii`s face was mildly surprised, but not amused. 
 
"So you know of the convoy as well?" Frey asked, puzzling over Fegal`s intentions.
 
"I do, we picked it up only moments ago. Five transports, very light escort and headed for the Rorak IV as far I can tell." Fegal regaled Frey with his analysis of the situation. 
 
"We would like you to intercept it, given the circumstances we cannot reach it in time and the Hutt`s may have already dispatched ships to intercept. Time is running out." Frey requested, obviously having to swallow a lot of pride.  
 
Fegal smirked as he speculated on Frey`s intentions, it was a well known fact that the Evocii did not like the Free Captains and he had ambitions about climbing the ladder. Frey was spoiling for a fight, a space battle between his flotilla and the Hutt`s, where he would emerge victorious and receive a hero`s return on Nar Shaddaa.
 
Yet obviously Rorak IV & V, were far too well protected for Frey`s limited assets to capture. The commodore might just get his wish, if Fegal felt so inclined. Yet Rac knew he had to concur with the Evocii and that infighting would ultimately get them dead, if not nowhere.
 
"It`d be a shame to leave that convoy without an escort, wouldn`t it?" Fegal mused, already imagining his share of the loot.
 
"You do that, Frey out." The image disappeared and Fegal wasted little time, immediately contacting his second-in-command.  
 
The quarren, Jezk appeared on the comm unit. Fegal`s lieutenant had long been an associate of Fegal`s operations, ever since his early days as a smuggler and through his time as an entrepreneur in the core worlds. Fegal had, half expected, that the squid would have tried to stab him in the back, a dozen times over, but Jezk had remained loyal. A keen reminder, that Fegal had more business sense than most and inspired some measure of loyalty in others.
 
"Boss?" The quarren gurgled in basic, clearly proficient yet uncomfortable with the language. 
 
"Frey contacted us, head for the convoy and tell our outlying ships to home in on the signal." Fegal instructed with a predatory look on his face.
 
"Understood, is Frey going to give us trouble?" Jezk inquired, clearly curious about the exchange between the two. 
 
"Not likely, but if the opportunity presents itself, he will try to hog all the glory." Fegal said, convinced he had a bead on the commodore and his habbits.
 
"Course is set, anything else?" Jezk checked a few consoles around him before the ship jumped into hyperspace. 
 
"Contact Godwin." Fegal said thoughtfully as he glanced into space, from the window of his cabin. 
 
"Godwin?... You do know how the men hate to share?" The quarren sounded worried despite his quip, treating the name Godwin as tough it were a curse.
 
"Just to be on the safe side, we may have to tangle with incoming Hutt ships so..." Fegal said, leaving the thought to hang in the air. 
 
"We need some muscle of our own to match, got it." Both of them knew, that sharing the loot with the pirate was far more sensible than tangling with enemy ships without any back up. 
 
After all they were smugglers at their very core, despite raiding enemy ships, Fegal and his men were hardly cut out for prolonged space battles. The very first instinct of a smuggler should be to flee at the sight of a hostile warship, flight before fight. Pirates on the other hand, they were slightly different, albeit of the same breed.
 
Once Godwin and his men caught the scent of blood, it was going to be hard to dissuade them. Like a hungry pack of carnivore`s pouncing on the wounded herbivore, too weak to run. Granted that herbivore`s rarely had laser turrets and shields, but on the other hand neither did the carnivores.

Fegal had an apprehension, that events were about to be set into motion in the system. Events, if interpreted correctly, could lead him to earning a neat profit.

(OOC: Haven`t been able to get a new profile up for this character so I`ll post it with this one)

Rorak System 
Bhaal Class Star Destroyer, The Merciful One 
Airlock B 
 
Hallway leading to the airlock was unusually busy considering they were in space and there were no ships docked with the vessel. Four men waited, for the captain, on their knee`s with their hands cuffed behind their backs. They were guarded by three other pirates, two humans brandishing blaster rifles and the third, a weequay, armed with a stun batton.  
 
The weequay stood silent, stoically staring at the men with spite. One prisoner could not help himself and trembled with fear, knowing they waited the captain`s verdict on their fates. The leader of the mutineers glanced angrily back at his whimpering compatriot. Aboard the vessel there were very few rules, but any violation was dealt with swiftly and without mercy. These men stood accused of plotting mutiny and attempting to assassinate the captain, Rhys Godwin.  
 
At that moment this aforementioned emerged from the other end of the hallway, sporting a gleeful smirk on his face as he slowly walked towards the mutineers. If one had to describe what indicated Godwin as the captain of the vessel, that person would not nominate Godwin based on his outward appearance. Godwin stood at 186 cm, almost skinny, dressed in a dark brownish business suit with a white collar shirt. His messy dark brown hair were carefully combed to the side, creating an image, that he was an almost respectable businessman. 
 
Godwin stopped right in front of the first mutineer and unannounced, back handed the nautolan across the face. The alien fell onto the ground without a whimper, grinding his teeth as blood spattered onto the ground. Godwin held his hand with a confident smirk on his face as he glanced at the weequay, Lobros, his second-in-command. 
 
"Good morning, Lobros." Godwin said as casually as he had just hit the mutineer. 
 
"Morning, boss." The towering humanoid bellowed back at Godwin before grabbing the fallen mutineer by the collar and pulling him back onto his knee`s.    
 
"This is everyone?" Godwin said, sounding disappointed as he began walking down the line of prisoners with his right hand in his jacket pocket. 
 
"Everyone, who was at the meeting." Lobros confirmed sternly.  
 
"And the last one here....is?" Godwin asked as he recognized the duros at the end of the line.  
 
"The snitch." Lobros brazenly blurted out, which immediately caused a chain reaction of heads turning to stare back at the end of the line. 
 
Looks, filled with disbelief and anger, were directed at the duros pirate, who hadn`t even flinched throughout the whole process. Godwin motioned for the Duros to get on his feet and unlocked his cuffs, with relief washing over the pirate`s face. Godwin grabbed the alien by the shoulder and handed him a stack of credits as a reward for his loyalty. 
 
"There we go.. I remember those, who are loyal to me. Good work." Godwin said with praise in his voice. 
 
"Thank you, boss." The pirate thanked before he was let go and sent down the corridor, back to his post. 
 
The three others had a look of disbelief on their faces as Godwin turned to look at them. The third mutineer was about to burst into tears, a human lad barely 20 years old, which immediately caught Godwin`s attention. He crouched next to the runt, placing his elbows against his own knee`s.  
 
"How old are you, boy?" Godwin asked with inquisitive eyes. 
 
"21 years... sir" The runt blubbered, fighting back the tears. 
 
"21 years... you really drew the short straw on this one, didn`t you?" Godwin stated, drawing breath through his teeth with an apologetic look on his face.  
 
"Ye.." The runt tried to answer out of sheer panic. 
 
"Rhetorical, idiot, but I tell you what. My first officer there has told me, that you are brash, ignorant, young man." Godwin began, motioning towards the stoic Lobros and receiving a quiet nod from the runt. "So as a show of leniency, I am going to let you go." The reaction on the runt`s face was priceless, confusion followed by sudden and overwhelming relief.  
 
"Thank you sir!" The runt uttered, scarcely believing his good fortune. 
 
"Yes, yes. I can`t go killing everyone aboard this vessel, lest I want it crewed by corpses. Slap a slave collar on him and put him to work in the slimiest place you can find." Godwin said to the two guards behind the mutineers without a shred of shame. 
 
The look on the runt`s face turned to that of sudden horror, making Godwin wonder, if it would have been more merciful simply to toss the idiot out of the airlock. The two guards grabbed the runt and dragged him off, accompanied with desperate pleas. The two left turned their attention again to Godwin, who straightened himself and put on an innocent smile.  
 
"Well, I couldn`t just let him stroll around without a punishment." He defended his actions and shrugged. 
 
"How would your masters feel, if they knew you are employing slave labor aboard your vessel?" The first mutineer finally spoke up, clearly the ring leader of the mutiny. The bleeding nautolan with light green pigmentation, formerly the third officer of the vessel.  
 
"I`ll take it off eventually, but not before he learns his lesson. For you, I had a more permanent solution in mind." Godwin said before drawing his blaster from his shoulder holster and executing the other, human mutineer. The nautolan silently, without a shred of emotion, stared as his co-conspirator hit the floor and was dragged off by Lobros towards the airlock. 
 
"You realize, that you are just inciting more mutineers by doing this?" The third officer said, convinced he was in the right, obviously having little taste for slavers. 
 
"Like that Duros, just now?" Godwin laughingly mocked. "Smart man tough, he knew when to cut his losses.... but.. I can`t leave him just strolling around either, now can I? Oh well, I`ll just have to make sure he gets assigned to a boarding party next time and get caught in some friendly fire, Lobros make a mental note of that." Godwin rambled on, lost in his own thoughts more so than the conversation. 
 
"You do love the sound of your own voice." The nautolan said with spite as he was being grabbed by Lobros.  
 
"You try managing a crew of pirates." Godwin said without a hint of humor." I swear, it`s like they are children. Me, me, me! The only way I can keep them all in line is reminding, that I hold the whip and that the course I set guarantee's our continued survival. Savages! The whole lot of you!" Godwin began suddenly shouting in a psychotic fit of rage, pointing his blaster in the nautolan`s face.  
 
The alien`s eyes were wide open from the sheer surprise of how the captain lost control of himself. The upper echelon of the crew had known Godwin was slightly unhinged, but this was a whole new aspect they had not seen before. Lobros however did not seem surprised, or even care, when he saw the captain frothing at the mouth. 
 
Taking long, deep breath`s Godwin forced himself to calm down and slowly holstered his blaster. He dropped his head and sighed before looking at the nautolan with a friendly smile, arms raised as tough in surrender.  
 
"Just business." He said with weary tone. "Nothing personal. Toss him out of the fucking airlock already, please."  
 
He said, motioning with his hand at Lobros. Godwin had a penchant of executing disorderly crew members by tossing them into space, considering it a fitting death and burial, all in one. The nautolan went to his death without another word, but struggled all the way to the airlock, but in vain.  
 
Godwin turned away as his comm unit beeped, the image of the ships human navigator appeared and she greeted the captain, receiving an uninterested stare from Godwin. 
 
"Boss, I have a message from The Red Talon, Fegal`s vessel" She reported. 
 
"What does he want?" Godwin asked, too distraught to even ask in greater detail.  
 
"They are offering us a share of a convoy, they`ve spotted. Supposedly one of their transport is damaged and has slowed their journey, Hutt interceptors possible." She said with a frown while going through the information in front of her. 
 
".... Fine... tell him with a 50/50 split, he has a deal." Godwin said after a moment of silence. 
 
"Will do boss... and we have a deal, I assume you will be joining us soon?" She asked with a moment of apprehension. 
 
"Yes, yes." Godwin muttered as he cut off the comm unit and headed towards the turbolift.  
 
He was getting weary of running after enemy ships in the system, he wanted something definitive, a worthwhile target. Events were not playing out as he had hoped, ever since he had left The Exchange, he had only run into trouble and raided petty targets. He had hoped the Enclave Wars would have provided him with rich Hutt targets, but those were either already plundered or guarded closely by the enemy, just beyond his reach. 
 
He needed something definitive, to prove that this enterprise was worthwhile and that he was cut out to be the captain lest the crew turn on him.   
 
Rorak System 
Bhaal Class Star Destroyer, The Merciful One 
The Bridge 
 
"Well gentlemen, there it is.... fire at will, mind the merchandise." 
 
Godwin said with an apathetic face as he leaned back in his chair on the bridge, surrounded by his senior crew. The star destroyer, eclipsed the convoy as it emerged onto their path. The pale ship charged up it`s shields and the turbolasers opened fire, concentrating on the lead of the convoy. A nebulon-B frigate, which turned to face the threat as the five heavy freighters began to prepare their escape. Godwin quietly examined the situation and glanced at his second-in-command, who gave a nod of confirmation. 
 
"Launch the fighters, distribute ion cannon fire to disable the freighters." Godwin instructed with a calm voice. 
 
"Sir, incoming enemy fighters!" Natalia, the navigator informed with a collected tone.  
 
"Ignore them, concentrate fire on the frigate and the freighters. The quad lasers will hold those pests off long enough." Godwin said, leaning slightly forward in his chair. 
 
All that mattered was for them to make certain the freighters were disabled and the frigate was taken out of the picture, the enemy fighters were ultimately fighting a losing battle. In terms of brute firepower and shields the Baal class was the superior ship by far, the frigate would fall soon enough.  
 
Two squadrons of Z-95 headhunters and three squadrons of M-wings, versatile fighter-bombers, swarmed forth from the hangar. The headhunters engaged the enemy squadrons while the M-Wing raced for the freighters. All that was required was for the fighters to disable the freighters before they could escape. 
 
The heavy turbolasers ripped hammered the enemy frigate until the ship shields began giving way, in a short moment the frigate was already limping, having suffered a few direct hits to it`s hull. It would have been preferable to capture the ship intact, but Godwin did not feel he had the luxury of time and let his crew deal the coup de grace. The frigate limped on a short distance before being obliterated. 
 
"Damage to the shields boss, minor, they are holding. Three squadrons of enemy fighters remain. Two of the freighters have been incapacitated." Lobros reported with a pleased expression on his face, a rare occasion. 
 
"Wipe them out and move in on those freighters.... any contacts, friendly or hostile?" Godwin inquired, feeling concerned, that someone was going to arrive to spoil his fun.  
 
"None so far." Natalia reported with a look of relief. 
 
Godwin visibly relaxed and got up, walking towards the center of the bridge with his arms crossed behind his back. The entire affair seemed laughably easy and having to wait for something to occur was frustrating, Godwin nervously tapped his forearm with his index finger. One freighter had been destroyed in the battle, an acceptable loss, and the rest of the Hutt fighters scattered when they had nothing left to protect. Godwin glanced at the monitors, pondering. 
 
He had considered the possibility of a trap, but it was hard to imagine the dug trying to rid him with a childish ploy like this. He would have his answer as soon as new contacts appeared on their long range sensors and two Talon Escort Carriers emerged from hyperspace. 
 
Godwin walked back to his chair relieved as the face of Rac Fegal appeared on the comm unit to the left of his chair. Godwin gave courteous nod at the dug, who seemed to busy monitoring the situation. 
 
"You`ve been thorough." Fegal complimented with a flat tone. 
 
"No sign of Hutt ships." Godwin said, almost sounding disappointed. 
 
"The commodore shares your sentiment." Fegal stated with a smirk on his face, being of the opposite school of thought himself. 
 
"I don`t keep in touch with the navy that much." Godwin admitted as he kept a close eye on the transports. 
 
"Neither do I, but this one was handed to us by the commodore himself." Fegal said, lying through his teeth as he would have known even without Frey`s help. 
 
"We have boarding troops already on the way, you need not bother." Godwin abruptly changed the subject, having noticed Fegal sending ships towards the transports, clearly not trusting the pirate to share the spoils. 
 
"No, I think we do... but regarding this latest development. I believe, that both of us are well aware of the current situation in the sector. I`d like to discuss, that face to face." Fegal offered, making his best, vague sales pitch. 
 
"Where?" Godwin inquired with a frown, he did not trust Fegal one bit. 
 
"Aboard the thir... oh you managed to lose one, a shame." Fegal pretended to be surprised, making a backhanded insult in the process.  
 
"The second one, then?" Godwin said before the dug managed to dissuade him for the meeting. 
 
"20 minutes, bring a guard." Fegal said before abruptly cutting the communication. 
 
Godwin glanced at Natalia, one of the few members of his crew, he actually trusted to an extent. He needed Lobros on the bridge to handle any problems, that might arise while he was away. The invitation seemed suspicious at best, but Godwin always imagined Fegal to be a businessman, he sought accord not destruction, which was what he would face, if he dared challenge Godwin. 
 
Godwin motioned Natalia to follow as he headed for the turbolift. 
 
"Can we trust anything, that creep peddles at us?" Natalia asked in the turbolift, tilting her head inquisitively, obviously having overheard the conversation. 
 
"I don`t think there is a sentient being in this galaxy, who would in their right mind trust Rac Fegal." Godwin chuckled, full well knowing Fegal`s past and reputation.  
 
The turbolift descended into the hangar where they would board a shuttle, Godwin had the feeling that, if Fegal wanted him dead, that the shuttle would be the ideal target for his ships. Yet he doubted Fegal fancied the idea of suicide. He, if anyone, was well aware of The Merciful One`s capabilities.