Snipes stood on top of one of the tallest buildings in the Outskirts. Which wasn't saying much all in all, but it did give him a decent view of his surroundings. The Outskirts were littered with parts of crusader and Osk ships alike, some of them already turning into part of the town as people began to squat in the unused craft, some of which were still mostly complete.

This was the kingdom he was left with after the Crusader occupation. It had grown in The Kings absence, perhaps it was growing closer in size to a true city now, with bazaars and markets scattered across it. Some might not view it as much, but to Snipes it was the whole galaxy.

"Sir! Come down! We can talk about this!"

"It's not worth it, Snipes!"

Snipes turned his head to the rabble of pirates behind him and raised an eyebrow. Did they, did they think he was going to jump? Snipes chuckled to himself; jumping was the last thing he had in mind. Snipes continued watching what passed for the sky of Eyesore. The dark browns and greens of the clouds were pierced frequently as ships exited or entered them, flying too and from the myriad of small docks and ports that had been hastily erected around the makeshift city.

Then, after a few moments, a shape Snipes recognized very well pushed it's way through the clouds, trailing pieces grasping at it's hull, reluctant to let go, like a lovers hands; only to be burned off by the heat of reentry. It took only a moment, but at that moment Snipes knew what ship was going to take Corellian Hound's place as his flagship, for a time at least. He smiled, until his new monstrosity was running anyway.

He turned quickly in a swish of great coat and ponytail, he darted down the cobbled together building, using piled boxes, hastily cut windows, drain pipes and anything else that could be used as a hand hold until, at last he stood among his people.

"Whatever are you people looking at?" He asked with a grin, a hand from the crowd lit the cigarette that had been hanging out of his mouth for well over an hour, "Alright, you, you and you; come with me, the rest of you, go about your business."

Snipes strode with purpose down the twisting streets and dank alleys of The Locker, weaving he way slowly back to the heart of his power, the throne room in The Locker Proper. He looked on as people parted around him and his three press-ganged lackeys. He smiled at the women and tipped his hat to the men; he mostly ignored the children. He wasn't sure why but children absolutely frightened him.

In his wandering, weaving path back to his throne he made a short stop at a bar that, it seemed, had gathered some renown amongst his captains. The Red Harlot was where he was told he could find Kami Sharpe, and often as not, Yuri Blass, as well as a few of the other Captains when the need arose. Right now they were not who he was looking for.

Snipes picked out a group of soldiers sitting idly in a back booth, "You, yeah, you guys, you're Stray Dogs, right?"

"Aye, Boss, whast up?" A sergeant, probably, some of the group wore their old uniforms from other organizations and were not always right.

"Have someone find Yuri, let him know I'll be on board Charolette, that is all, thank you and good night." And with no more flowery prose Snipes turned and he left.

As he walked he filled in his recently appointed lackeys on what exactly he had in mind for them. They, to a man, groaned, almost like one groan from many voices. Snipes pulled out his flask and passed it around, that seemed to help, although the scraggly one still looked rather down trodden.

* * *

Snipes didn't recognize the bridge as that belonging to same vessel he had purchased so long ago. For one, it was clean. For second, everyone seemed sober. He wasn't sure if that was a point in it's favor or not. Either way they did not seem to be expecting him. That wasn't a surprise, nobody ever expects the. . .King.

Snipes lifted a hand and motioned the men behind him forward as he stepped from the door and into the bridge to be confronted by. . .a woman, a very stunning woman. Snipes didn't recognize her but she did smell very nice.

"Your Lordiness" Snipes detected a hint of sarcasm.

"Um, hello."

"Might I ask what you are doing on my ship?"

"Your ship? I seem to be confused, I could have sworn this was Charlotte and therefore my ship."

"Captain Jegora Fal is in charge here, he's out." Snipes also detected a hint of anger in those piercing blue eyes.

"Lovely, well then it'll just be a surprise. . .then,"

"Surprise? What kind of surprise." She didn't look happy, all things considered that was not the surprise.

Snipes looked down at her from his full height, "I'm making a small modification to your bridge." he said with a smile.

Snipes excused himself from the bridge not long after they entered hyperspace. The atmosphere had become rather. . .stuffy. Snipes wasn't one to impose himself on people, well, actually he was, but he'd been expecting a bit more fanfare, maybe even a cake. One could never rule out the possibility of cake. The point was that he had been expecting to get on board an Osk vessel, but this was paramilitary discipline. Snipes didn't regret his rash decision to make this vessel his home as he walked down the halls; as a general rule he didn't ask for the loyalty of the crews that occupied the fleets vessel. The majority of the ships were owned by their captains or other captains in the organization, Snipes asked only their loyalty, and barring that their coin. Charolette was different, however, it was not the ship of some rotten toothed brigand, it was a company ship, that made it his ship.

Snipes sucked on a tooth as he thought, carefully winding his way towards the hanger, his only companion was the ever constant gurrcat, Fury. He was trying to think, to run through possibilities in his head. Trying to make heads or tails of Jegora Fal. He wished, for the first time but not the last, that Kami had come, she would know what to do. Snipes was not the kind of person to plot and make ploys, he just wanted to fight. It was what came naturally to him and was the only element in which he felt fully comfortable. He took a long swig from his flask to facilitate the 'thinking' processes.

Snipes plodded his way into the hanger with many questions plaguing his mind, so lost in thought that he walked past not only his vessel but two others that made Charolette's hanger bay their home before he realized his mistake. He turned around feeling a fool and with embarrassment still fresh on his tongue, and distracting him from the more troublesome (but infinitely more important) issue of who exactly was commanding his fleet, he made his way up the gangplank.

Queen Teta's Revenge was a ragged a ship, and old. It had been brand new in the years preceding The Clone Wars, time and hard use had done nothing to improve it. The ship was a combination of rusted bulkheads and new patches, aging equipment and parts next to new. From the outside it was difficult to tell exactly what kind of ship it was with the larger engines and the dome on the top separating it from all other Citadel Cruisers.

Not too long ago, maybe two years ago, it had been home to Wraith Squad; now there were a full squad of Stray Dogs populating the cabins Wraiths had once slept in, the paint was fading over a hatch in the deck where Arnaut had fallen through the floor, Yuri Blass was sitting a chair that had once held the a trick some gambler in a large hat.

Snipes smiled as he entered the small common area of the ship, Yuri sat with a glass in hand at the table. Snipes gave a half-hearted wave as his gurrcat padded over to nuzzle Yuri's leg until the mercenary started scratching him behind the ears. Snipe took a seat across from him, the man raised his glass silently in response and shoved his cigarette into the ashtray with vague anger.

Snipes lit his own cigarette and Yuri slid the bottle over to him, Snipes didn't even bother with a glass and drank the whiskey straight from the square bottle. When Yuri saw that he pushed himself further back in his chair and pulled another out of the refrigeration unit and refilled his glass.

Captain Yuri Blass was a unique man, couldn't be older than his late twenties at most, but he lead a mercenary group of no small success, he'd lost an eye but that hadn't stopped him. He sat across from Snipes with his combat boots crossed on the table and dressed in green fatigues, a bandolier held ammunition pouches and connected to his belt through a thick knife known in the outer rim as a "Bowie Knife", on his right thigh he had a blaster holstered in a tactical brown holster.

Snipes stretched his arms wide, stretching fatigued muscles and opened his mouth wide in a long yawn, half way through his own Fury picked up a toothed one of his own before Yuri started fighting a yawn of his own. As hard as the mercenary captain tried, however, he couldn't hold it back. He leaned his head back in the chair, the thick metal ring at the end of his braid making a 'tink' sound as it touched the ground.

"Don't do that." He said once he was finished.

"Can't help it" Snipes sighed.

"Long day?"

"Aye."

"Hard or boring?"

"Boring, very boring." Snipes said, taking another swig from the bottle.

"Ah. Well it's been non-stop excitement here, whooo." Yuri said monotonously, twirling a finger in the air.

Snipes took another drink from the bottle, the brown liquid burned all the way down and tasted faintly of melted plastic, but he was beginning to feel a warm glow, which was definitely the best he'd felt all day.

"Got a deck of cards?"

"Why? Feel like a game?"

Snipes shrugged, "I was a soldier once too."

Yuri laughed, "That you were, Boss, I'll have to try and remember that," He reached behind him and grabbed a deck of cards off the counter after only a few moments of groping blindly.

Snipes and Yuri settled into their card game, joined eventually by several more Stray Dogs, Snipes found himself laughing and throwing things in no time at all. They told horrible lies about battles they'd been in and girls they'd wooed, argued over the dealer, the bet, the chips and even brands of cigarettes. Fury lay under the table, whisking his reptilian tail back and forth and screaming at anyone that dared step on it or accidentally kick him. Snipes won Yuri's hat, before quickly losing it after a couple rounds.

When the chips were down and the participants either broke or passed out Snipes had lost more than he'd won, Yuri had passed out on the table and Fury had wandered off in disgust after the second time someone had tried to ride him.

Snipes stumbled his way into the turbo lift and up into the dome that made up the top floor of the ship. The ceiling was low, the dome met the deck at a sharp angle and in all but the center area Snipes had to stoop or crouch. A set of tiger striped Storm Commando armor and a set of 210 Personal Armor languished on stands furthest from the lift, covered in a layer of dust and cobwebs like the weapons on racks or scattered around the perimeter of the room. They shared space with a dusty desk and chests overflowing with swag and random pieces of machinery, gadgets and jewels. The only parts of the room not covered in dust was high backed chair in the center of the room and the small stand next to it that held only an ashtray, bottle and empty glass. Light from the small circular window almost spilled over the chair, highlighting only the top, if Snipes had sat it might have graced his head. The other thing not covered in dust was a small cot with a hard mattress and moth eaten blankets that was pushed against one of the sides, Snipes made his way over to it and collapsed fully dressed.