Chronicles of Ranes | Stories of the FTA and Firestar Enterprises

[RanesDsane]

Name:  Ranes Dsane
Sex: Male
Race: Human, Unknown Planet of Origin
Profession:  Outlaw Tech/CEO Firestar Enterprises
Personal Ship:  Modified YT-1300 Class Light Transport - "Blue Comet"
Owner:  Void-class Assembly Ship - "Errant Falcon"

Name: Asani Kafil
Sex: Male
Race: Sullustan
Profession:  Outlaw Tech/Businessman

_{(more to come)}

[RanesDsane]

Early History

Ranes showed a technological and mechanical aptitude at a young age.  Though his parents were not rich they were well enough off to afford sending him to a private school where he could get a focused education on his interests and talents.  Ranes excelled in classes and quickly climbed to the highest levels of eductation and work available to him in the school.  While still young, he exhausted the school's ability to further teach him and left. 

An old family friend had a starship mechanic's business that Ranes signed up to "apprentice" with.  The apprenticeship was just a technicality as he was too young to officially work.  While working here, Ranes made some of his first contacts with less-than-legitimate business people.  The friend was happy to take advantage of Ranes' innate technical and mechanical abilities while working on the starship.  Because of Ranes, business was booming and making a good amount of profit.  Ranes was paid well, though off the books because of his age.

Most of his initial money went to his parents, helping them get set for retirement and pay off some of the debts incurred by his education.  They were resistant in receiving the money, but relented in those areas.  Other than helping his parents, Ranes invested in some specialized tools and equipment for his work and then invested and secreted away the rest of his income for future use.  His true love was always mechanical and technological things, so he spent little money on anything else.

The down side of a ground-based business that is so popular is that it draws unwanted attention as well as the desired business.  Eventually, local law enforcement noticed that the clientele list of the business contained a number of suspicious people.  They set up surveillance and attempted to infiltrate the business.  Their infiltration was unsuccessful, as the business was not hiring anyway.  However, they continued surveillance of the goings on and tried their best to track who and what was entering and leaving the business.  They were never able to prove anything, though their suspicions were high.

[RanesDsane]

Law and Independence

One day, a few years after Ranes turned of legal age to actually be employed by the shop, an old customer contacted him.  He was in need of some repair work and Ranes agreed that they could do it.  Unfortunately for and unknown to Ranes, and the business, it was the local government was the cause of this damage.  The old customer had been caught smuggling and managed to evade the local patrol at that time.  In the flight, he blew up one of the patrol vessels, but not before it got off a message confirming his ID.

When the customer showed up at the shop, Ranes opened the roof to allow him to land.  While the roof was still closing from the landing, local law enforcement hit the shop with an elite squad of troopers.  They entered using explosives and blasters and arrested everyone present, including Ranes and the customer.  Ranes, furious that the customer had brought law enforcement to the shop through his own stupidity, put up no resistance.  Everyone in the shop was loaded into speeders and taken away to the local law enforcement headquarters. 

Shortly after leaving the shop in the speeders, a massive explosion was heard, and felt.  The explosion leveled everything for a block around it and severely damaged buildings for several more blocks.  The speeders were still close enough to take a lot of damage and crashed, killing the driver and guards.  Ranes and the shop employees that he was in with were bruised, but not severely injured.  They were able to pry open the back of the speeder using the broken benches from the back of the speeder. 

None was prepared for what they saw when they got out.  They had been in the lead speeder and were the only speeder still mostly intact.  The others behind them were burning wreckage, as was most of the city block behind them.  Ears still ringing, the group found the key for their cuffs and escaped into the chaos.  Ranes sent the crew to their homes to gather what they could and their families and told them to meet him at the starport as soon as they could make it. 

Ranes did not go to his home, instead he went to his parent's.  He quickly explained the raid and that local law enforcement would likely be after him soon, and would likely try to blame him for the damage.  He went into his old room and pried a wall panel off, producing a small bag.  He gave it to his parents, encouraged them to go retire, away from here, and departed quickly.  He hoped they would take his advice, and the extra credits, and disappear.  He was sad to not be able to take him with them, but they would not be able to leave as quickly as him, and while the local authorities would likely arrive looking for him, they had no reason to harass or detain them further when he was not found.

He also knew when they actually opened the bag that they would find more than just credits.  The bag contained false identity papers, credits, transportation documents, and the location of a contact that could provide them with safe transport and housing to setup a new life.  The bag also contained a single data chip, which held the only way they would be able to contact their son in the future.
Ranes arrived at the starport to several of his crew already there.  They were shaken, a few with crying children and wives, and only a minimum of luggage.  He took them to his personal ship that he had been working on; an old YT-1300 series freighter that was currently sitting in the middle of a standard long-term parking bay.

Ranes keyed his access code into a panel beside the ramp and it lowered.  He quickly ushered everyone on and toward the acceleration couches.  Once everyone was on board he closed the access ramp and brought the ship up to full power.  He keyed the comm, calling central traffic control for departure clearance, giving a pre-established false name for both the ship and himself.  Ground control gave him immediate clearance to depart and he did so, warning everyone in back to make sure they were strapped down before he punched the throttle.

There was no sign of pursuit, or that the local authorities even know the ship was his, or carrying him, but he was still nervous.  He put on the max speed that the freighter should have empty, though it was capable of much more, even with the load it had.  He'd hoped he would never need to do this, but he had been prepared should he have to.  He brought up the pre-calculated Hyperspace path and jumped as soon as he was clear of the planet's gravity well.

[RanesDsane]

Establishing A New Life
(months later)

Ranes and Asani set down the Blue Comet in a small forest clearing.  It was tight, but they slid down between the treetops easily.  Ranes was not happy.  The location of his meeting was less than a kilometer north of here, but that was too far for his preference.  They said they'd send a speeder for him, but the location gave off a tone of distrust, which, while understandable, did not bode well for the upcoming meeting.  Ranes could only hope that his appointment's reputation for paranoia was the explanation of the landing location.

A few minutes after touching down, the ship was secured and set for a quick getaway, should it become necessary.  Ranes had Asani keep everything ready for a quick getaway and gave him orders that he was to be left behind if necessary to save everyone on the ship.  Ranes lowered the ramp and a pair of security guards were standing at the foot waiting for him.  They ushered him onto a speederbike with one of them and they were all off into the forest before the ramp finished closing.

An uneventful ride later, Ranes was seated at a long table with Talon Karrde and several of his associates.  Ranes hopped to offer his and his crew's skills in exchange for safe haven for the families.  Karrde had dozens of mechanics of his own, but Ranes though he was probably better than most, if not all, of them.  Karrde was skeptical, but fortune smiled on Ranes.  One of his light freighters had gotten into a scuffle with some Imperials and had just made it back from it's circuitous escape route.  It needed repairs and upgrades, and Ranes agreed to a demonstration.

Karrde agreed to move Ranes' ship into the camp itself and provided reasonable, if temporary, living conditions for the crew and their families.  Ranes and his team did a quick inspection of the ship to be repaired and made out a rather lengthy list of required materials, parts, and tools.  Ranes doubted that Karrde would be able to provide half the parts and expected to have to fabricate the remainder.  To that, he was rather surprised when it all showed up later that afternoon.

Ranes set most of his team to doing the routine repairs, such as fixing the hull breach and replacing burned out equipment from the fight.  Meanwhile, he and an assistant set to making the special modifications Karrde had requested.  It was delicate work, but well within his abilities.  The repairs and upgrades took a week, but the ship was virtually new at the end of it.

Karrde was impressed and agreed to take on Ranes and his team as employees and to provide housing and protection to the families. 

[RanesDsane]

Acquisitions
(in the somewhat distant past of a few years ago)

"Come on Karrde, I KNOW it's there, I just need help getting it!" Ranes complained.  Karrde studied him, his fingers steepled in front of his face, his arms resting on his desk.  Ranes had been petitioning him for weeks on this matter, and he was growing tired of it.  He glanced to his side, briefly, at the black-clad red-haired beauty beside him.  She didn't move.

"How are you so sure?  How do you know that your source isn't lying to you, or, worse, luring you into a trap?" Karrde inquired.  The questions were fair, Ranes knew, but he also was positive the information was correct.  He couldn't say why, he didn't know himself, but he knew.

"It's not a trap ... I just know.  I just need enough crew to get her up and running and to a safe spot, nobody'll get hurt!  She's mothballed, not even a guard!  They assume that her location is a secret and that it stays that way better with fewer people knowing about it!" Ranes asserted.  He felt he was making a little progress and he hoped Karrde would trust him with just enough men to do this right.  And...he hoped he could trust Karrde not to steal the ship out from under HIS nose....

Karrde studied him further, debating if it was worth the risk.  After all, he wouldn't be getting the ship, just a discount on future work and a future favor to call in.  Then again, Karrde dealt in futures, and in information.  And, his information showed that Ranes was probably right.  "She's a prototype, how do you know she runs?" he asked.

Ranes grinned, "She got there somehow.  And if she doesn't run, you know I can make her run.  You've seen what I can do!"

Karrde had indeed seen what Ranes could do.  He'd done some modifications to his ships that he thought impossible.  He nodded slightly and turned his head to the woman again as he scratched the head of one of his pets.  "Take two of the skiprays and put the men he needs on his ship."  She nodded a barely perceptible nod and departed. 

Ranes wasn't excited about having her along, he didn't trust her, but he sensed he didn't have any say in the matter, either.  She probably didn't trust him, for that matter.  He reminded himself that it was only a couple weeks and he'd be done with her and have his new ship.

The next morning, Ranes took off from the makeshift landing pad with a freighter full of people and a pair of skipray blast boats flanking him.  It'd take them three days in Hyperspace to get to their first transit point, and another four after that to make it to where the ship was supposed to be located.

A week after departure, Ranes was getting tired of all the grumpy, cramped-up crew that was on his ship.  His only relief was that they were almost to their destination.  He keyed his code and the cockpit door opened, at least he could escape to here.  He stepped inside and let the door lock out the noise and crowd behind him as people prepared to exit hyperspace.  He settled into his seat and gave the two minute warning.

Two minutes later, Ranes pulled back on the hyperspace leavers, letting the ship exit back to normal space, and a perfect view....  It sat exactly where it was supposed to be, in the middle of nowhere.  His two escorts exited hyperspace fractions of a second after him.  She was beautiful, to him at least.  The only Void-class Assembly Ship in existence, as far as he knew.  The ship was a prototype built by KDY long ago as a proof of concept.  The Empire decided it didn't need such 'sneaky' technology with the power it held and the project was mothballed.  KDY still hoped to develop her in the future, so they mothballed her here, in the middle of nowhere, where nobody was supposed to be able to find her.

Unfortunately for KDY...  Ranes got word about it and had the best slicer in the galaxy help him find her.  Ghent found the KDY security to be no challenge and he quickly located what Ranes was looking for.  He even came away with a bit of a bonus from the operation.  Ghent had been able to retrieve the plans of the ship along with it's location.  He also kindly erased both from all of KDY's systems, permanently.  As far as KDY's computers knew, the Void-class Assembly Ship didn't exist.

One of the skiprays opens a comm channel and a female voice came across it, her voice, "Congratulations, it appears you were correct," she said flatly.  Ranes accepted the congratulations for what it was, and directed his ship to the rear landing bay.  Area scans showed no other ships or masses in the near vicinity and the ship appeared to be dead, but the two skipray still took up defensive positions around the ship.  Fortunately the ship's lifelessness was just appearances.  The ship was in a "deep sleep" that minimized power use, but still kept critical systems such as life support and the force field keeping the atmosphere of the ship contained within the docking bay.

Ranes set her down easily and keyed the ramp open after re-confirming the atmosphere in the bay.  Two security troops filed out first and secured the bay best that they could.  Ranes and the rest of the crew onboard exited and headed for their assigned areas, mostly in the engineering sections.  Two others went on to the main security station to ensure they wouldn't lose control of the ship if someone managed to accidentally trip some sort of security mechanism.

Ranes led the final group of three up to the bridge.  Just before he got to the bridge the lights in the ship all came up.  Apparently the Engineering teams were making good time.  Ranes stepped on the the bridge and surveyed it.  Located high and on the rear of the ship, it afforded an excellent view of the construction and repair areas.
 
"Alright, lets get her under way," Ranes announced after taking in the view.  The three crewmen moved to their stations and began bringing the engines up from their sleep mode and waking up the navigation computers.  Ranes walked over to the NaviComputer's station and plugged a small device into one of the ports.  Tapping a code on the base of the device, he checked the computer and saw that it had a good connection with the droid brain running his ship in the bay.  The link should help bring the ship's computer up to speed on navigation charts and speed up the hyperspace calculations to leave their current location.

Ranes didn't expect anyone else to show up here, but you never know what inopportune thing may happen on a job like this.  He wanted her operational and off to a different part of deep space as quickly as possible.  It took another hour to bring the ship to full functionality.  Being cautious, Ranes set a jump point just 10 light years away.  Plenty of distance that nobody would trip across them should they decide to visit the storage spot, but short enough that nothing too bad could happen on the jump.  After a successful test jump, they were off, she was his...

Summary
The Void-class Assembly Ship 'Errant Falcon' is acquired by Ranes.  She is singularly unique and Ranes/Karrde* are the only ones with her plans.  The Void-Class Assembly Ship is capable of starship construction in deep space.   Stats to follow after final approval.


* Ranes is not actually aware that Karrde has a copy of the plans.  He, however, would not be surprised to find this out as Ghent works for Karrde and it's hardly surprising that he kept a copy of the data for his true boss.

[RanesDsane]

Departures and New Beginnings

(Deep Space, a few days later)

The Void-class Assembly Ship, newly dubbed the 'Errant Falcon', exited hyperspace.  It wasn't supposed to yet, at least, not officially.  However, it exited exaclty where Ranes wanted it to be.  The crew that boarded with him earlier was carefully chosen from well trusted friends, family, and employees.  They would keep the ship safe, jumping with it occasionally on a pre-arranged schedule to deter anyone trying to find the stolen vessel.  Ranes doubted anyone even knew it was missing, but until his tech crews had an opportunity to examine every millimeter of the every part of the ship, he would not trust that it was not being tracked.

Their orders understood, Ranes left behind the bridge and boarded the Blue Comet and exited the docking bay.  Within minutes, he was back in hyperspace and catching up to the escort of the Errant Falcon.  The timing as near perfect.  He would exit hyperspace half-a-minute before the escorts, and then there would be confusion....

The Blue Comet drops from hyperspace invisibly.  Precisely thirty-seconds later the two skipray blastboats that had been escorting the Errant Falcon exited hyperspace.  They found the Blue Comet sitting where the Errant Falcon should have been, and the com lights immediate lit up.  Ranes answered all the calls at once, and and chuckled softly at the questions flew, all on top of each other.  "Ladies, Gentlemen, the ship is safe, just not here.  Sorry to disappoint."  He cut the com as the objections rolled in and started toward the planet.

(Later, on the planet.)

Ranes walked into Karrde's office to a fuming redhead staring at him.  He smiled politely and turned to Karrde.  "That you for your assistance, Karrde.  As we agreed, the funds are transferred, and you know how to contact me about the rest of it, when you're ready."

Karrde frowned, but nodded.  "I don't like being manipulated, Mr. Dsane.  Ensure that you do not cross me."

Ranes nodded slightly, keeping his face neutral, "Of course not.  I've been upfront with you all along, I can't help if any associates make assumptions."  He glanced to the redhead standing next to Karrde and was met by a stare of pure venom....  He knew his move was risky, but he deemed it no more risky than actually bringing the ship back.

Karrde glanced to the redhead and then looked back at Ranes.  "Use caution, but we are clear for now.  I assume you'll be off on your own now."

Ranes nodded, "Of course, no hard feelings, I'm sure you understand the move.  I will be off, but we'll be in contact.  I'm sure we will continue to have mutual business interests."

Karrde agreed and Ranes headed back to his ship.  Several people were waiting for him, and he smiled.  After some brief discussion, Ranes indicated the ramp and his crew is bigger.  He was expecting it, and was happy for it.  He knew others would be joining him, but had some things to finish up before they could leave.

The birth of Firestar Enterprises was in progress, the core was in place, now to see if he and his staff and crew could make it work.

Summary
The Errant Falcon is now out in Deep Space and under the control of Ranes, though not yet fully operational (it's not building yet).

[RanesDsane]

The Creation of Firestar Enterprises

With his, thankfully, amicable split with Karrde, Ranes set out to use his still ample savings to set himself up in business.  With the acquisition of the 'Errant Falcon', Ranes has an advantage that none other can offer, mobility for security.  His operations would be hard to track, and harder yet to disrupt.  He and those who came with him setup home on the 'Errant Falcon' and settled in.  It took another month to bring the ship fully out of its "mothballed" status and to like-new operations.  Through the process, Ranes kept the ship jumping regularly, not yet satisfied that they were completely away and clear.  Though, by the end, he was satisfied that they were as safe as they could be and he reduced the frequency of jumps.

With everything set, Ranes let out, quietly, to select contacts and friends (Karrde included) that "Firestar Enterprises" was now open for business.  During the final setup of the ship, Ranes used Karrde's contacts and help to setup a communications network of his own.  Carefully following instructions, potential customers would be vetted, and then put into contact with Firestar to discuss business.  Finally, arrangements would be made for the customer to come to the 'Errant Falcon' for their work.

Ranes' work was already well known in select circles throughout the galaxy, it would only be a matter of time for the new business to spin up.  And spin-up it did.  Within six-months, business was truly booming.  Ranes was clearing and hiring staff as fast as he could.  As the staff grew, he started handing off responsibilities to his his original group and began taking a more general high-level involvement.  Though he kept primary design oversight on the work being done, these changes freed up a considerable amount of time from his schedule and Ranes began to look for more opportunities....

[RanesDsane]

Puppet Takeover and the Battle of Coruscant

_{OOC Note:  This is a summary of the events that led to the fall of the Trade Federation during the end of the GCW II campaign and the surviving organization's development into, essentially, a puppet state for Ranes' use.}

With the deaths of all but a few of the Trade Federation's former heads, an arrangement that Ranes would never admit to making, but at the very least took advantage of, Asani rose to power.  His survival of the day of the attack, and the subsequent attempts on his life made him focus of the few other survivors of the massacre.  He was happy to take on the role of head of the Trade Federation and quickly consolidated his power within the organization.  He was always careful to leave the other survivors with the impression that they still had authority an decision making power, but they had lost all actual power within weeks of the attacks.

Ranes provided the instructions, but Asani was as much partner as puppet in reality.  The two, amazingly, trusted each other and neither could hope to wield the influence that they held together as individuals.  Their personal histories together, though known to few, if any, certainly helped matters.  Together, they transformed the Trade Federation into a powerful faction again.  One that could once again stand on the galactic stage with the other powers of the galaxy.  The Battle of Coruscant was a huge opportunity for the organization, and they subtly took full advantage of it.  While most were quite busy pounding each other into spaces wrecks, Ranes' small contingent of ships and starfighters quietly added to the chaos.  Picking neither side, the forces simply lent a hand to cause the most destruction possible and to ensure, as long as possible, that neither side had the upper hand.

The massive destruction was a boon to both the Federation and Firestar as well.  Salvage work lent them an abundance of resources and materials with which to work.  Additionally, they also acquired a fully intact and crewed Victory II-class Star Destroyer.  The crew saw that, in the end, the real losers of the battle would be them, and their captain carefully positioned them in the battlespace for the best chance of survival.  As Ranes and his small fleet worked the salvage of many wrecks, the captain contacted him and inquired about defecting.  Not one to turn down such a powerful ship, Ranes agreed to make arrangements and towed the ship out of local space, claiming that it's systems were completely fried.  With so many salvage ships and so much wreckage, nobody noticed that was about as far from the truth as could be.

Following the chaos of the battle that erased entire fleets and factions from the galaxy, while forming many others, the Trade Federation transformed itself and took a new name, The Federated Trade Alliance.  Not very different from its original, buy symbolically changed to represent the new organization under Asani.  In addition to the name change, the new association with Firestar brought in a variety of technology and capabilities that the Federation had not previously had.  The federation moved away from its almost exclusive dependence on drones and, instead, became a more traditional force that leveraged its experience with drones and new access to higher technology drone brains to produce highly dangerous forces in all battlespaces.

_{OOC Note:  With that, the end of GCW II is covered and the transition leading up to the start of GCW III.}