This is the Second chapter to Mercenary Crew. The title kind of gives away the plot to this story.

The following chapters will be controlled by the other players and the only way it can be fair is to do it in the order you joined the first one.
Killwithhonor
Stingerhs
Steven
Extreamjedi
Jokemaster
wildjedi

I will then do the last episode.

When you do your story you are incharge of the main plot I.e where we go what we do and all of the plot sensitive NPC's. However remember Jacen is still the captain so You can either tell me via PM's or try to integrate suggestions into your characters Convos with mine. Also Allow people room to follow there sub plots and character stories (Like wildjedis hawk story.)

O.k if you are going to rejoin just post saying you'll return and i'll start once most of you have rejoined.

sweetness. lets get this party started. :emodanc:

I'm going to be in this one. I might make a second charecter to go along with Graothar.

Yep im gonna rejoin, (sorry about the first one i had no time cause of school) 200th Post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :twogun:

I'll rejoin, but officially start this thing after tomorrow (since my last final is due then :) )

Sorry Extream jedi but i'm sticking to the 1 pc rule from the first one. You can add all kinds of Npc's into your story.

also so we are all "reading from the same page" I've done the best drawing in the world of the inside of the ship http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a353/starmark2k/PhoenixInterior.jpg) (yeah i'm aware its bad but you all get the idea.) If anyone with a desent artistic flair wish's to do drawing's of the ship, crew etc you're mor than welcome.

((O.k here i go with the first story post, I know steven intends to join, but no sight of jokemaster so i'll do the first post without mentioning him as i hope he will return.))

Jacen walked through the annual Anchorhead Market, Once a year all the traders around the planet came here to sell and buy what the planet had to offer. There were jawas selling junk and droids, hunters selling their kills and trying to get rid of some fake dragon pearls, the moister farmers were also trying to sell the fungi that grew off their vaporators. Jacen usally tried to avoid Tatooine as a deal went bad with one of the Hutts that worked here but as the Port was surprisingly busy because of the market he knew he could lie-low.

He was thinking about the past month, all the events since there run in with the exchange on Nar Shaddar. They took the Jedi's body to coruscant, After she saved his life it was the least he could do. They stayed around the core worlds to do legitamate courier jobs for three weeks, But these were only paying enougth to keep the engines working and the life support running. So jacen got Groathar to pilot the ship here.

All had been fine but the last words of the Jedi lingered in his brain, his dreams of the past were also getting more common and intense. He also noticed a change in John, it was like his neaar death experiance had changed him.

Jacen wasn't to sure about the location of the crew, He knew some of them wanted to check out the market so he presumed some of them were around somewhere. While doing the courior missions he managed to get his hands on a remote lockdown for the ship so no one had to stay with the ship when they landed.

Graothar took the 2-man speeder and piloted around the deserts of Tatooine. He kept looking until he found a palace. He went inside and he was greeted with Gammorean Guards. He showed them a badge and they let him see the crime lord Jabba Insila Ailsn(Jabba the Hutt). "Jabba, I need some credits. Could you lend me some?" Graothar asked. "I don't have time for you, but I need a job done and your the perfect Wookie, Graothar." Jabba said. "Tell you what, I'll give you 150000 credits for the job and as many gemstones as you can carry if you do this." "Normally, I wouldn't do a job until I know what it is. Give me details." "Well, the Sith have been messing up my shpments. I want their leader taken out." Jabba said. "Well, OK. They will bother us in space anyway, so I might as well delay them." "What do you mean by 'us'?" Jabba asked. "A crew I'm working for. Well, gotta go." Graothar said before leaving. After a while in the dunes, Graothar thought" I shouldn't tell anyone about this." All of a sudden, a Krayt Dragon appeared out of nowhere and chased the 2-man swoop. "CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!" he said when he saw the Krayt. He shifted the swoop into high gear and drove for his life. When he saw the gates he yelled "HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLP!"

Jacen Was in the middle of bartering with a pair of jawa, "Look i know it's only scrap metal but you guys are jawas, Thats what you deal with." One of the jawas then started screathing in his language.
"I'm not being xenophobic... Look if you buy the scrap i'll throw the containers they came in."
The two jawas then started screatching at each other then one walked off when the other turned and held out his hand screatching. Jacen then held shook the jawas hand back.
"Deal... the cargo has already been unloaded you guys just need to pick it up." Jacen explained as the jawa walked away. Jacen then turned around and desided to take a shortcut towards the ship. Hee went down a dark alley he walked only a few feet before he drew his pistol and pointed it behind him.
"The last man who tried to sneak up behind me endded up with an extra hole to eat with." Jacen said not bothering to look at the mysterious man who had been following him

"I know Major i was there." the man said causing jacen to turn around.

"Chase, You son of jawa... I thought you were dead."

"hey.. it takes more than a few hundred mandalorians and a mass shadow generator to bring me down."

"how did you get off malachor."

"remember when we got split, well i headed for ship i saw landing , It turned out to be mandalorian but twelve of us managed to iberate it... By the time the republic regrouped you already deserted."

"So Who else made it out."

"Freeman, san-solo, Cist."

"what about Zezva."

Chase feel silent for a moment with a look of sorrow "yeah he made it out."

"Whats wrong."

"He was always loyal to Te-son'aka and when he turned, Zezva followed, He went sith Major. I heard he was at the star forge when it was destroyed."

"Damn it, he was a good man, he just trusted the wrong people... So what are you up to"

"Interesting you should ask, Care to join me for a drink?"

Oddly enough, the moment he learned they were going to Tatooine, Kin had immediately volunteered to stay behind on the ship. He stayed in his room, bouncing a broken round security drone off the wall.

Emma kept to her room as they landed. After all but Kin had left the ship, her door opened and she peeked out, listening. Then, her door closed again. Seconds later, it opened once more and she slipped out with her bag over her shoulder and left the ship.

Graothar activated his com-link. "Can anyone hear me?" he said into the device. "I'm being chased by a Krayt Dragon and could really use some HELLLLLLLLLLLP!" He evaded a claw coming down on him. The head of the Krayt got near his rear. It chomped and missed. "HELLLLLLLLLLLLP!" he yelled into the com-link.

Emma rolled her eyes and hurried toward the gates muttering, "Be glad I brought a rocket launcher. She climbed up to the top of the wall with relative ease after telling the gate guard, "There's a Krayt Dragon chasing my pilot, so if you want it to attack the city, go ahead and stop me."

At the top of the gate, she set her bag down carefully and pulled out the rocket launcher. Bracing herself against the impact, she fired. A rocket smashed into the Dragon's head. A second one followed almost immediately and found its way into the Dragon's mouth, exploding in the mouth, destroying the brain.

With this done, Emma put her rocket launcher away and climbed down the gate to meet Graothar.

"Next time, stay in the city," she snapped at him. "I don't want to save your ass every time a creature thinks you look tasty."

With that, she stormed off toward the cantina.

Graothar turned to the Krayt Dragon's corpse. He examined it closer and pulled out it's stomach. Graothar continued and cut opened the stomach. Inside were shiny stones that shown like pearls. "Jackpot. Krayt Dragon Pearls." he said. He took out the pearls and cleaned them off.

Kin got tired of bouncing the ball and decided to challenge Emma to another turret duel. He had been getting better. He arrived to her room and found her gone. There was no one else on the ship. He shrugged, went into the infirmary and turned on Niomi's holoTV. He'd helped buy the thing, so he felt entitled to being able to watch it when she wasn't there.

Scuzzy finished tightening the last bolt as the panel was installed. "There we go. That oughta hold us over another couple hundred jumps at least," Scuzzy said while he put away his tools. The new hyperdrive Scuzzy bought was the best one he could find even if it had been used on an old Republic Cruiser over 25 years ago. Still, with a couple of parts, some new technology, and some expertise, Scuzzy now had it working better than it had ever been designed for. Well, at least it should work better than that really bloody old design it was based on, Scuzzy thought. At least I got it really cheap.

As Scuzzy finished putting away his tools, he pulled out his flask, this time filled with Qui'haran Schnapps, and took a sip, pausing to enjoy the flavor. Replacing the flask topper, Scuzzy went to his quarters and sat down hunched over and holding the flask.

Pearing over at his footlocker, Scuzzy noticed it was open slightly. Cursing under his breath, Scuzzy reached over and opened the lid. Moving around the clothing that had been in the way, Scuzzy caught sight of a holocron, making his heart seemingly skip a beat. Pulling it out, Scuzzy paused as images began to filter into his mind. As he slowly closed the lid on his footlocker, Scuzzy gently placed the holocron on top of the lid. Pressing a button, it began to play.

A faint blue image appeared and focused into the shape of a beautiful, smiling woman. Closing his eyes, Scuzzy felt a lump form in his throat. "Hey, it's me again. I just wanted to let you know that I'm fine, and so is little Clara. So far, the new hands we got a month ago have turned out to be pretty good. They seem to know how to handle a harvester pretty good, and despite what you say, I still say they'll turn out to be better than an army of droids," the woman in the hologram stated as Scuzzy turned to look at it. "Anyways, it looks like this year's harvest is going to be the best one we've had in the last couple of years."

The woman sighed and looked down for a moment. Looking up, Scuzzy could see the sorrow in her eyes, and the lump in his throat got larger. "I wish you were here, Scuzzy. I just hope this war hurries up and finishes and that you could be here. I love you, and so does little Clara. Come home soon. I love you," the woman stated. Scuzzy then turned away from the holocron as the hologram collapsed and turned off. Placing his face in his hands, Scuzzy could feel the tears begin to roll down his cheeks once again.

The cantina was crowded, but there was a sort of intensity in the air that could almost be cut with a blade. Hawk was in the room. Nobody dared approach, not even security. Many of the patrons worried that they were her target, but she seemed to be ignoring them all. She sat in a corner alone with a small drink. A daring news reporter inched forward, his cameraman trailing only slightly behind you.

"May we have a word?" he asked politely. Hawk glared at him and shot the camera, sending cameraman and reporter scurrying for the door. Hawk finished her drink and rose to find that another camera had been watching her. She shot it as well and left. The patrons breathed a sigh of relief. None of them was dead... but wait. That pile of rags... oh, great. A dead body. The cantina erupted into a madhouse of noise. Hawk had struck again.

------------

Ten minutes later, Emma returned to the Phoenix, bag over shoulder and headed for the infirmary when she heard noise coming from there. She entered and saw Kin there watching the holoTV. "Hey," she said.

Before he could say anything, the TV showed a breaking news story... about Hawk. Emma stared.

"Oh," she said quietly. Muttering a string of alien curses, she headed for her room to dump her bag.

Jacen was sitting with his old comrade, Chase, in one of Anchorheads many cantinas, They had a table in the middle of the room. The room was filled with people all enjoying the drink,entertainment and company around them. Around the bar was a Holo-band playing traditional cantina music, A few patrons were watching a news report about an assasination that happened down the road in another cantina but this didn't concern Jacen.

Jacen and Chase were laugthing about old times back at the corellian military acdemy and the active service... before the war. "Haha, So you never answered my question what do you do now." Jacen asked

"We'll i work for the guy who owns the biggest courior and transport service in the outer rim, He has contracts with the Hutts and Czerka. The thing is this is his legitamate front. He is a man who can get things, no matter how difficult or illegal he can get it... for the right price. now i'm the unofficial manager of the side of buissness. Anyway two months ago a man aproached my boss about receiving a certain artifact... Have you ever heard of 'the bank'?"

"Yeah there's one down the road."

"not a Bank, 'the Bank'?"

"ohh, The impenitrable Vault built into the asteroid field in the onderon System, Which holds the planets treasury ans well as some of the more wealthier citizens most prized persessions, including the royal families... Yeah i heard of it."

"Well the man wants the stone of onderon, Which is locked in a vault in 'the Bank'. Now my boss can't afford to use his own resources, It will be traced to him, However if we employ a private party, say a Small medium freighter and crew, like yourself. It will be more difficult to trace. This is why i tracked you down."

"You want meto break into the most secure facility in the galaxy, thats impossible."

"It's easier than you thank, You see things have happened or are going to happen which has the potential of giving an eighty-seven minute window to break in and out."

"I'm listening..."

Graothar finished putting the Krayt Dragon Pearls into the bag. He jumped back on the swoop and headed back to the ship. He saw Emma looking into Niomi's Room and Kin watching Niomi's holoTV. "Who is that guy?" Graothar asked pointing at Hawk.

Niomi appeared behind Graothar "Thats the imfamious Hawk. She's some assassin Emma knows. I just saw her shoot some camera guy."She looked at Emma while speaking "She's a good shot. Funny how news gets around so fast with that Hawk character, huh?"

"Yeah. Funny." Graothar said in sarcasm. He turned towards Emma. "I wanted to thank you for saving my life." Graothar told Emma. He pulled out a Krayt Dragon Pearl. "This is from the Krayt you killed." The Pearl glowed in the light "These gems are valuable. It is said that they can be used as lightsaber crystals." He put the Pearl in Emma's hands. "Take it." Graothar said.

Emma smiled. "Thanks, Graothar." She pocketed the Pearl and turned back to the TV with a thoughtful frown.

"Hawk's getting pretty well known around the galaxy," she said slowly. "When she attacks on Tatooine, it's only natural it would be breaking news... after all, nothing like this ever happens here. Kin, did they say who she killed?"

Kin shrugged. "Some guy, hasn't been identified but they say he may have been someone who stole something from someone important." His face grew serious. "However, we've got a bigger problem."

He grinned and in a sing-song voice said. "You've got an assasin stalker"

Emma made a face and retorted, "Maybe she's stalking you!" She shook her head. "But seriously, Kin, this is only the second time she's been in the same place we have. Do you really think she's stalking us?"

"This is only the second time she's struck since you joined us."

"That we've heard of," Emma retorted.

"Oh c'mon, the moment she kills someone the press is on the scene! She couldn't be subtle to save her life."

Emma frowned. "I guess you're right..." There was a long silence. "But you don't really think she's stalking us, do you?"

"Not us, you. From what you've told me about your history with her you, maybe she is."

Emma looked confused. "Why would she do that?"

"I don't know. But she always seems to be around you."

Jacen walked into the ship through the front loading ramp followed by Chase, he moved towards the nearest intercom. Jacen Hit the fall ship button "All crew report to the Breifing room... We've got a job."

Jacen and Chase then went up the ladder and entered the breifing room, He put a datadisk on to the console connected to the holo-projector.

Scuzzy shook his head. No point in dwelling on the bloody past, Scuzzy thought as he picked up the holocron. Holding it for a second, Scuzzy looked at it again as the lump in his throat faded. He prepared to throw it against the wall, but hesitated for a second. "But sometimes, I guess its always good to remember something that was more precious to you than life itself," Scuzzy said softly to himself. Lifting the lid to the footlocker, Scuzzy hastily put away the holocron as he heard Jacen come over the intercom.

Heading out of his quarters, Scuzzy went to the galley. "Jacen, I got that new hyperdrive installed. She's an older model, but with a couple of upgrades that I gave 'er, she'll give any ship a good run for their money." Pulling out his flask again, Scuzzy sat down in a seat as he downed a quick sip.

Niomi came to the briefing room and slummed down and asked "Who's this guy and can we trust him? Remenber what happened the last time you got a job from a complete stranger?"

"Thanks Scuz, We'll see what we can do about those parts you need and Niomi don't worry, We can trust this guy, He's an old friend of mine."

Chase walked over to Niomi "Hi I'm Han Slice, but you can call me chase. I must say it's an absolute pleasure to meet a women of your Radiance." He said in a charming fashon

"Chase she's my medic and not stupid, turn it down." Jacen shouted

"Sorry Major, I can't help myself."

"you'll never change will you."

"You know don't fix what aint broke." He said with a charming smile

Emma entered the galley saying, "A job, eh Cap?" Then, she saw Chase. "Who's this?"

"An old buddy of the caps. Emma this ''Chase, visa-versa" Niomi leaned back "Whats the job? Smuggling jedis for the exchange,again. Hunting some bounty? Breaking into some bank?"

Kin saw there was someone else in the galley and froze. He quickly stood in the shadows of the galley, close enough for them to see his was there, but not close enough for the stranger to see who he was.

"Smuggling jedi?" Chase said surprised at Niomis Statement

"It's a long story." Jacen Answered.

"So you have two attractive women on your crew, You are a lucky man Major."

"Cut it out chase."

"Major!?"Niomi asked in suprise when Chase finished his sentance. "And dont try anything you may want to reget Slice"

Graothar looked and seen Chase. "Who are you?" Graothar asked.

"Well, this isn't going to involve us fighting for our lives and running at full burn from a squadron of bloody fighters?? 'Cause if it is, you can count me in," Scuzzy stated with a smile as he downed another swallow from his flask.

"Chances are it may end up like that but we may get lucky this time." Jacen Held his hand out and pointed at chase "This is Han Slice but everyone calls him Chase. He's Our conntact for this job. He works for the owner of outer Rim transports, You've proberly heard of it. The owner Is also known as a man who can get things but he needs our help to get somthing." Jacen presses a few buttons causing the holo-projector to show an image of an asteroid with structures built in. "We are going to break into 'the Bank'."

Jacen knew this would cause some reaction so h desided to let his crew get there questions and statements out of the way.

"Wait, wait. We're breaking into 'The Bank'!!? Are you crazy!? That place is like one of the most heavly gaurded places ever... By the way witch bank are we on about?"

Emma pointed at the holo-image. "With a holo like that, do you think he's talking about anything but the Bank?" She turned to Jacen. "And I agree with Niomi... you're out of your mind."

Chase looked at Niomi and then Emma "After Jacens finished explaining you'll be crazy not to take this opportunity."

"Thanks chase but i can handle my crew... Before i explain the how, I'll tell you Why. He pressed another couple of buttons and a new image appeared, The Image was now a sphere with a diamond sticking out of the top of it, The sphere itself had some kind of ancient text on it that hadn't been used in almost a millenia "This is the 'Onderon Stone', It was discovered about 5 decades ago by one of the beast rider scouts on the highest mountain on the planet. If you beleive the legends it has the power to ressurect the dead, Although this has been universally condemed."

"And I thought I was the only one to flip their bloody lid every once in a while. Wait, a sec, though. All the guards are going to take a lunch break at the same time, right?"

"Thats lovely and all but why would we be crazy not to take the opporunity? The place is a death trap...I think..Whats our pay anyway. It'll better be worth it."

"That day's weather forecast shows insanity with a good chance of death," Emma muttered, leaning against the nearest wall with a frown on her face.

"O.K Payment wise we are getting 20'000 credits, Yes i know thats not much but thats not all, He is also supplying us with all we need to do the job. Also well i'll get to that later." Jacen said pressing more buttons causing an inage of the inner part on the onderon system to appear. The system showed the sun then an inner planet followed by the asteroid field then Onderon and Dxun. "Aswell as being defended by the asteroid field there are also defence turrets connected to some of the stationarry asteroids, There is a hanger door aswell to prevent assults. The drift chart, turret and door controls are stored in the command deck. 5 days ago 2 members of security and 2 system opperators were fired as they tried to steal some credits. The possitions have been filled by people who do not exsist... yet, four of us will take these identities. This will give us access to the command deck. However if we try to get An unauthorised ship to land a onderon task force will attack... However the sun is due to have a solar flair in 3 days , this will create a sensor gap which just so happens to cover the area of 'the bank'. The four who get into the command deck will lower the defences to let the pheonix in. However We still have one last obstacle, The Onderon Stone is stored in a vault which can only be accessed by a member of the royal family, It is an hack able. But Our employer has given us enougth explosive to blow it wide open. Now this is where the real money comes in." Jacen pesses another few buttons and brings up a schematic of 'the Bank' "As you can see it is split into four sections Command, Hanger and Vault V and Vault M, While the crew who have flown in on the phoenixs go to vault V to blow it open and get the stone, The covert team will go to vault M and take all the credits we can carry."