Hades shaded his eyes with his hand. He was wearing his customised armour set without the helmet, dual disruptors holstered on his hips and an illegally acquired QuietSnipe on his back. He was here in the city of Harmu on Tadath; his newly hyperspace-capable TIE-interceptor parked in a nearby landing bay. The company that owned the bays charged exorbitant prices for the docking, but Hades grudgingly accepted - this was the only city in Tadath that he could land and accomplish what needed to be done. He was broken from his thoughts by a quiet but steady change in air pressure and a feint rumble running through the ground. Hades squinted into the distance, picking out a black dot just over the horizon. They were on their way. At this the Senior Crewman grinned - it'd been too long. The dot approached rapidly, becoming larger and larger, eventually revealing itself to be -

"No.." Hades breathed, disbelievingly, "It can't be"

The ship that was closing was approximately one hundred meters long, shaped like a manta-ray and jet-black, with turrets bristling from the sides. It was as Hades had guessed - a Vibre-class Assault cruiser. Demetrius shook his head with a feint smile. He had no idea how they'd gotten hold of it. The cruiser roared overhead - only now did the sound become loud enough to be uncomfortable, which spoke volumes as to the silence of the ship's engines. The ship slowed and came in to land in the bay behind Hades, dust rising from the repulsor lifts as it gently touched down - whoever was piloting that thing was an expert. But it was piloted by many, being a cruiser. It sat there for several minutes, before the boarding ramp lowered and a group of figures exited, whereupon they were immediately approached by a company official - YPYP, Hades recalled as the name of the company.

One of the group gave the man a credit chit, causing him to smile widely and shake the giver's hand. They then spotted Hades and headed over. The leader was about Hades' height, but older and skinnier. He wore a suit of armour not unlike Hades' own, but it matched the men around him, save for the green markings on it. There were a few around him that Hades also recognised, but most of them were new faces. The older man broke out a smile as he came closer to Hades. In return, the Starfighter Pilot could not help but grin. When within reach, the older man clasped Hades arm and embraced him.

"It's been far too long, Jarv." Hades said jubilantly. Jarv stood back and surveyed him.

"It's been what.. 2 years?" Jarv said, trying to recall. "Almost three.. you're looking healthy."

"Aye. Almost 3 years since that botched job back home. " Hades replied ruefully. At his comment Jarv gave a conspiratorial glance to the man beside him - a knowing glance.

"Well. I heard you joined up with this Vast Empire.." Jarv prodded. Hades inclined his head slightly, indicating in the affirmative. "Just like you always wanted, eh?"

"Not quite.." Hades sighed quietly, but replaced it with a smile. Jarv gave him a quizzical look, but decided to leave it. 

"Okay. We've got a lot to do and even more to talk about, so let's head to the FOB." Jarv said. Hades merely nodded - Jarv had set up a operational base of sorts here, through his numerous contacts. "This way" the veteran said, leading them out of the hangar and into the sun. Hades took one last look at the Vibre before turning and following them.



1 hour later, Forward Operating Base.
Demetrius Aita listened vaguely to Jarv's mission briefing and intel. He was still stunned from the multiple revelations that Jarv had heaped on him. According to Jarv, the only aspect of the job that was botched was Hades' capture and aside from that, they gained their biggest haul ever. The next revelation was that the biological parents of Hades had passed away and contrary to Hades knowledge - they had left a considerable fortune. A ship and more than 20million credits! He thought, dumbfounded. They'd gotten into the shipping business after Hades had disappeared, made quite a name for themselves then sold the company for 5 million credits, keeping a 25% share in it. The next revelation was that Hades' Youth gang - that is the say the one he ran - had fallen in with the pirates known as "Shadow Wing" or otherwise "Dark Wing". Hades wasn't against this on principle..

The final revelation was that his gang was now known as the Shadow wing, and maintained a sizable fleet. After the leader had died, Jarv had taken command. Above all this Jarv wanted to give command back to Hades - after all these years! - and let things go from there. This was wonderful news and yet.. yet he could not abandon the Vast Empire just yet. He would have said yes, were it not for his intense loyalty to the Vast Empire after they had given them a second chance at life - that and his close friendship with Ryn was what kept him from leaving outright. But Jarv had nonetheless convinced him to take command of this mission... a temporary arrangement, Jarv had said. Hades was awfully suspicious that this would end with him getting dragged back into the Shadow Wing.

This 'job' had two phases - named accordingly. Phase I was a ground op, they were to conduct a surveillance and subsequent retrieval mission on a local Tadath-based gang. They were to follow one of the known gang members, before picking him up and finding out the information they needed. The details of a convoy. This gang was nothing major, but it had ties to a larger pirate organisation, and if they pulled this job up they'd be able to live off the earnings. A simple job. Hopefully. The second phase was a naval operation - or rather, a hijacking mission. Once they'd located the convoy, they would ambush it, board the ships and take them to a designated R.V point somewhere nearby. A massive operation. It would put the Shadow Wing down a considerable amount of credits, but it was worth the risk.

"The gang member that we will be picking up is known as Riko Marr. A nasty character, but weak enough that he's an easy target." Jarv explained as a holo-image of the man popped up. "He's the gang's logistics officer, per se - he handles, as the name suggests, all the logistics of the gang.  That means shipping, deliveries, supplies.. and money."

"Wouldn't they have a treasurer for that, or something?" One of the Shadow Wing pointed out.

"Normally, yes. But this gang isn't too bright, which is why they're exceedingly paranoid, distributing knowledge and power to only a select few individuals, thereby making our job easier." Jarv continued. "Now, he may have protection that we will have to deal with, but they will be lightly armed and unprepared - they're cocky and this is their territory, so they're not expecting an attack, much less a kidnapping. We'll follow him to a secluded area and snatch him there. Once we've snatched him, we'll bring him back here for interrogation. Hades here is supposedly qualified in that department, as am I."

"Now, once we've gotten our information - that is the location of the convoy - we'll be heading out immediately. The rest of Shadow Wing's fleet waits just outside Tadath for orders to move. We'll be using the Ion Fury as the main support vessel - meaning we will use its extraordinary capabilities in commercial raiding to take down any potential threats, along with the Pincer and the Ion Rage. We'll have a squadron of six upgraded TIE interceptors as starfighter support - but that'll be all, and we can't afford to lose any" Jarv referred to the Vibre-class they had arrived in, the Ion Fury, and Hades assumed that the Ion Rage was a sister ship. A chorus of affirmatives ran throughout the group. "And Hades will be in command"

Hades had known this was coming as he gazed at Jarv. All eyes turned on him, warily. Most of them did not know him, but they seemed to trust Jarv, and Jarv trusted him without borders. Still, the young Senior Crewman would have to prove himself worthy of leadership.

"Commander.." Jarv looked him directly in the eyes "anything to say?"

"We'll be using the armoured speeder with sniper support. But we'll want one speeder on back up to protect and retrieve the sniper team if and when we snatch this guy. Apart from that the plan's good. Let's get this done - We're going in precisely, with speed, and with force. Let's do this." Hades said as he ran his eyes over the group. There was a cheer that ran through them, and Hades smiled to himself, glad that he had made a good first impression.

20 minutes later
"Sniper team in position," Shadow wing member 'Scimitar' said quietly over his encrypted comlink. He was lying on a rooftop approximately 700 meters away from the target area, in the shadow of the billboard that he lay slightly under. Beside him lay 'Rapier', another human sniper. 'Scimitar' looked down the scope of his fully assembled Verpine rifle - a beautiful weapon - sighting the target area. No movement as of yet. Panning right he found himself looking at what seemed to be a gang stronghold, estimated 500 meters from the target area and several blocks away. It should be no problem...

"Confirm no contacts" 'Rapier' murmured to him, as he panned back to the target area.

"Confirmed. No contacts on scope." he relayed this message to the new commander - 'Hades', he was called.

"Roger that Scimitar. We're in position now and watching the square." Came back the clear, assured voice of Hades. Scimitar panned - downward this time,  where he spotted the armoured speeder van. Across the street he could see Hades casually leaning against a wall, a coat covering his weapons and gear. Several other Shadow Wing troopers were scattered around the area, well hidden and yet not too far from Hades.

"Confirm contact. Multiple inbound from North/North east, heading toward snatch team. Looks like our guy." Rapier nudged him. Scimitar again panned back to where Rapier had marked the target. He zoomed in, and caught a look at the man's face. It was him alright.

"Confirmed - target is in sight. Two armed hostiles accompanying" Scimitar again relayed to Hades. All he got was a confirmational click, this time. Hades was in battle mode.

"All elements, target is in sight. 100 meters and closing. Prepare for snatch." Hades relayed to the others. They did not move, not in any way to suggest that they were hostile to the gang, anyway. The target had just about reached Hades by now. "Move in."

Hades drew the disruptor from his belt, firing a single slug into the face of the first guard. A Shadow Wing trooper shot the next guy in the back. The target had covered his head with his hands and was cowering.

"Move, move, move!" Hades yelled over the comm. He rushed the target, backhanding him powerfully and sending him sprawling. He pulled stun-cuffs from his coat and placed them on the man's feet and hands, before picking him up in a fireman's carry, hurrying back to the speeder van. A burst of blasterfire got Scimitar's attention, and he unleashed his first round on an unlucky witness - a gang member who had decided to react. The man's head exploded in a fountain of blood and the snatch squad retreated, providing cover fire as they leapfrogged each other in the retreat.

Hades tossed the man unceremoniously in the van - another gang member coming from the other direction found himself on the unpleasant end of a Verpine rifle as Scimitar took aim and fired again, this time passing the round through the man's heart. Scimitar was an excellent shot; he was an ex-Stormtrooper sniper-turned-pirate. He had had the best training and was proud of it.

The rest of Shadow Wing piled into the van, powering it up and lifting it above the rooftops, immediately heading off in a Southern direction. No speeders lifted in pursuit, but one did appear from behind Scimitar. He whirled around, coming up onto one knee into a firing position - to find that it was the extraction squad. That allowed him a brief exhalation of breath. He and Rapier entered, and the speeder sped off after the van that had just taken Hades away.

OOC:

Wordcount: 2,144.

Part 1.