Adseg, Nephalem, Walterodim, Ghreen, and Mattman all stood there arguing over what the next move would be. They all knew the goal was to get off the prison ship, but each one had a different plan on how to accomplish the goal. Walterodim suggested that they climb to the highest point of the ship and rain death upon the enemy. Ghreen’s idea was to take a calm organized approach, preferably using as many sleep darts, mind traps, and concussion missiles as possible. Adseg and Nephalem wanted to use the ole one two combo, and Mattman wanted to just use his stealth to sneak past everyone. They argued about the correct strategy for several minutes until Mattman suddenly said, “hold on, do you guys hear that?” They all stopped and listened.

“Is that what I think it is?” Questioned Adseg with a bit of worry is his voice. The almost inaudible humming and beeping of an X-70B Phantom’s targeting system honing in was what he thought he heard. “But wait, there is something different about it.” The giant sith pureblood thought out loud, “There’s more than one?” His thought process lasted only a couple of seconds then the realization hit him.

“Everybody get down,” Adseg warned “synchronized orbital strike!” The spacers dove for cover as every Phantom class starship in the Zergadin’s fleet dropped an orbital bombardment on the prison ship.

Melamamas and Zyley orchestrated this bombardment from the command deck of the Black Talon. Entire decks and cell blocks began to collapse aboard the Paartharnox. Every alarm on the ship simultaneously erupted with ear splitting sirens. A hole was punched through the decks directly above the Zergadins, and they could see strait out into open space. It quickly became apparent that every ship in the Zergadin fleet was present, and assaulting the heavily fortified prison ship. Laser cannon fire streamed through space in every direction.

Then, a figure appeared out in the middle of the chaos. It was General Panzer Dawnstar. He was using his jet pack to descend into the prison ship as he launched a flurry of rockets from his weaponized armor. As he neared the group they saw that the General had brought along every available Zergadin he could muster. Dredge was there, firing missiles and rockets. Along with the other guns for hire Katman, Mantula, Buhrn, and Assn’inc. Even Growlz was with the group, holding a blaster in one hand and using the other one to cover a wound on his side. Walkhard, also unleashed a deadly salvo of rocket fire into the fray.

A strike team of snipers boarded the bridge deck by repelling strait through the main observation window. Then they began expertly picking off the scrambling cartel soldiers. Al’ressun lead the deadly firing squad which included Susannah, Chavala, and Phazer. Phazer’s white hot rifle beams ripped through a cartel captain just before he got to the ship’s self destruct console. Phazer looked over his scope to see the target hit the floor, and he blew the victim an arrogant kiss.

The cartel army was forming up a perimeter around the main control tower. If this tower was taken every prisoner in the ship could be released and the battle would be lost for the cartel. So they were piling all their remaining forces into defending this position. The Zergadins had all formed up and were fighting the entrenched army from range. The fight had come to a stalemate, and Panzer gave the Zergadin strike team an order “Hold your fire boys, we’ve got one more trick up our sleeve.” the blaster fire slowed down for a moment. The general put his hand to the side of his helmet and activated an earpiece he used to communicate with his second in command. “Saybur, we are ready for operation buttfuck!”

After giving the order the general climbed out of cover for a better vantage point. A few blaster bolts zinged off his armor, and an explosive charge went off a few meters to his side. The General only scoffed at the pathetic attempts to hurt him, and then stood tall with one leg propped up on a piece of scrap. His intentions were to make sure he looked good at the moment of his victory. He was certainly successful in this.

A boarding pod slammed into the wall right behind the cartel army. As soon as it opened Saybur Silverstrike came leaping out in full battle regalia. He was closely followed by the rest of the Zergadin melee specialist. Newo’s saber emerged first, flying out and severing the head of a panicking thug. Then it boomeranged back to her and she came flying out of the vehicle swinging two light sabers that devastating the fleeing cartel soldiers. Dreadnok was next. His battle cry was so loud and full of force power that is collapsed an entire squad of cartel troops.

Tosbesjian and Restive entered the battle more subtlety. They sneaked out of the pod and found an area where the enemies retreat was being bottle necked by the constant fire of the Zergadin’s ranks. This is where they decided to unleash their carnage. Their double bladed light sabers made quick work of the enemies. Body parts and blood flew in every direction as the two assassins stood back to back slicing the remaining enemy forces.

A cheer of victory was heard throughout the ship as the hundreds of prisoners realized the ship had been taken. Some of the Zergadins began to light cigars and Susannah even popped open a bottle of Alderanian champagne. Mattman’s mood was not so jovial, the fact that his long time partner and friend Azhi Dahaki was still missing weighed heavy on him. He seethed in the background of the celebration. Trying to figure out what could have happened to Dahaki. A voice came over his earpiece.

“Matt, this is Melamamas, I’ve just received intelligence that Azhi is abound that ship, most likely in solitary confinement on the lowest maximum security deck.”

“Where did you get this info Mel?” Starbanger questioned.

“I have a contact who smuggles for the cartel, all I can tell you is he goes by the code name ‘eggs’, and I trust him.”

Mattman raced down the long hallways of the ship, prisoners were cheering him on and screaming to be let out. He had no time to waste however, and he continued on without any backup. Soon he reached the back of the ship and found an elevator shaft. The elevator itself had obviously been rendered useless by the battle and he decided to jump down the shaft. He soon regretted this decision as he was obviously falling further than he had intended. The landing injured him slightly and he continued to limp through the long dark insides of the Parrtharnox. Only a few lights flickered on and off but it was enough for Mattman to see a few prisoners in cells. These men were not as enthusiastic as those on the higher decks, and it became apparent that they had been down here so long they had either lost hope, or detached themselves completely from the reality of their dire situation. Emaciated prisoners cried and reached for Starbanger as he made his way slowly down the hall.

The smell of feces and death was thick down here, and Mattman’s anger grew dense as he could not imagine his friend being put through such torture. The flickering light revealed a slimy path on the floor. The unmistakable trail of a Hutt slithering around. “Corgez, that fat piece of trash” Mattman thought to himself, “he wouldn’t be down here unless there was something valuable he planned on taking with him when he made his escape. What could be more valuable than Azhi, the Zergadins fiercest warrior who was wanted by the entire galaxy for being a total asshole.”

He was now certain Azhi was down here somewhere in the bowels of the prison, and his rage consumed the pain of injury. Mattman’s limp disappeared and he began to follow the trail faster and faster. He approached a slightly open door and could hear two voices on the other side speaking Huttese. He peeked through the opening just in time to see a flamethrower spew fire all over an enormous Hutt. He opened the door and found Corgez writhing in pain. A bounty hunter stood there behind the flames laughing at the dying Hutt. It was Bonanza, the Chiss powertech made famous for being on of the deadliest heros ever to wear the Zergadin colors. When she saw Mattman open the door she clicked a button on her wrist and stopped the flamethrower.

“What are you doing here?” Wondered Matt.

“Commander Saybur sent me a credit chit and requested that I hunt down this Hutt.” Bonanza explained.
“I guess he failed to mention that we needed him alive for questioning.” Mattman responded.

“No, I asked him a few questions then I realized I’ve never had the opportunity to roast a Hutt” said Bonanza. Mattman shrugged, this did seem like a pretty legitimate reason. It certainly looked like Bonanza had an awfully good time scorching Corgez, and Mattman Starbanger was the last guy to deny somebody a good time.

“So what did you learn from him?” He asked.

“I learned that Corgez knew nothing of Azhi’s whereabouts, but I got us a lead. It seems Azhi Dahaki had taken an apprentice named Chupakatbrah and was training him to be his Huttball teammate. Chupakatbrah’s last know location was a museum aboard the Ziost shadow. Apparently there was a legendary datacron that could only be unlocked by learning secrets of the force contained somewhere in that museum. If we can find this chupakatbrah and this datacron we might be able to find Azhi. Until then the search for the Dahaki will continue.”