Chapter 79: The Phantom Offensive

Disclaimer: Star Wars and all of it's Intellectual Properties is owned by George Lucas and Walt Disney, This fictional work and all of it's original characters are however mine.

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Well it's fortunate that according to Kado’s gathered intel, Jabba’s little operation to undercut Gardulla to replace her and become the Hutt in charge of Tatooine and wreck her standing with the other Hutts was still in its early stages. That meant we had time—time to make preparations, time to set things up our way, and maybe even time to strike at both Jabba and Gardulla if we played this properly.

That last part was what got me excited and had my mind racing.

I leaned forward in my seat, drumming my fingers against the durasteel table. “Alright, so what if we use this to our advantage? If the two Hutts are already playing dirty, we can nudge things along and make them hurt each other even more. We stoke the flames, make sure they keep bleeding resources, and then…” I gestured vaguely in the air, “…we step in when it benefits us the most. That being striking at two major players of slave trade and other crimes.”

I’ll be honest, I was expecting immediate agreement. Maybe some enthusiasm.

What I wanted is to my disappointment not what I got.

Arlos, Tarek, and Shmi? They were on board from the get-go. Full buy-in. No hesitation.

The others however...

Not so much.

To be fair, they didn’t reject the idea outright. But their lack of immediate agreement was still noticeable—and honestly, kind of frustrating. Even Arlos, Tarek, and Shmi were looking around like they didn’t understand what the holdup was.

And then I had a thought—maybe I was missing something.

I frowned. “Okay, so clearly there’s something I’m not seeing here. What are the considerations I didn’t take into account?”

I was expecting maybe one or two issues.

I got a lot more than that.

Davik was the first to speak up.

“Well I can say with the gear we have, and the droids you've built—they give us an unfair advantage, no questions about that, we fought with a team of Mandalorians and we were winning,” he admitted. “But so do the Hutts. Except their advantage isn’t limited to just firepower—it’s that they have numbers and credits. They’ve got more resources than we could ever hope to match, and they’re not afraid to burn credits to get what they want.”

Mira nodded. “Mercs will fight for whoever pays the most, and the Hutts can afford to pay a lot. And some of them, which I can confirm are not just some second-rate muscle. The best mercs out there are just as good as Mandalorians—maybe not in gear, but in tactics and skill. And trust me, if they have Mandalorians on their payroll, we are going to be in for a fight.”

Rina crossed her arms. “You’re thinking about what happens if we go after Jabba and Gardulla separately. But what happens if we overplay our hand and make ourselves the target? If they see us as an actual threat, there’s a chance they’ll stop fighting each other just long enough to work together and get rid of us first.”

Okay that… was a solid point.

But Kado wasn’t one to be outdone.

“And if, by some unknown miracle, the two Hutts don’t join forces?” He gave me a look. “If we’re discovered to be acting in open hostility against a Hutt, the other Hutts will take that as a declaration that we’re against all of them, all of them! The last thing we need is the entire Hutt Cartel putting a price on our heads.”

Yeah. That would definitely be bad.

Their concerns were valid.

But at the same time…

They were forgetting something.

I leaned back, arms crossed, and gave them all a knowing look. “Alright, those are good points. But tell me something—what do we have now that we didn’t before?”

They didn’t answer immediately, but their expressions shifted slightly. They have an idea on where I was going with this.

Still, I spelled it out for them.

“We have a kriffing space station as a base of operations.”

They all reluctantly nodded, their faces basically saying Yeah, we know but what's your point, Jake.

So I went ahead and asked the obvious next question.

“There are like-minded individuals out there—people who know exactly how wrong slavery is and hate the fact that the Hutts profit from it.” I let that sink in for a second before continuing. “And let’s not forget the people we saved before. I’ve been keeping tabs on them—quietly, of course—and guess what? Some of them banded together to free more slaves and attack slavers.”

I paused, letting that hang in the air.

“They’re not operating at our level of success. Yet. But if they’re already doing this on their own? We could recruit them. Bring them into the fold. Turn this from just us against the Hutts… into something bigger. Remember what I told you guys before?”

The moment the realization clicked, someone gasped. I wasn’t sure who—but I was pretty sure it wasn’t just one person.

And then came the best part.

One by one, the others started grinning.

Not just any grin.

The evil kind. The Oh-kriff-we-can-actually-do-this kind.

That’s when I knew I had them.

And I won’t lie—I was feeling pretty smug about it. So I let myself glance toward Shmi, where Anakin was still sitting on her lap.

Except instead of an excited grin like the rest of us…

The kid was giving me a very weirded-out look. Like, seriously disgusted.

I raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Anakin shook his head, scrunching up his face. “Why are you all smiling like that? You look evil.”

Mira snorted. “Kid, you’ve never seen an evil smile before if you think this is bad.”

Arlos chuckled. “Besides, sometimes being a little evil is necessary.”

Anakin groaned and buried his face in Shmi’s shoulder. “Ugh. I think I liked it better when you guys weren’t planning something really scary.”

I couldn’t help but smirk.

This plan was coming together.

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Seeing as Anakin was looking more and more disturbed by our perfectly normal (read: absolutely devious) smiles, we all sobered up and got back on track. Well it turns out, I wasn’t the only one who had a way of contacting some of the former slaves we’d freed. Everyone had their own methods and connections, their own ways of staying in touch—whether to keep tabs on potential threats or to make sure people stayed safe. Some had even been gathering intel on slaver movements. That was actually a solid reason to maintain open communication rather than my more secretive method.

We pooled our information, cross-referencing which groups had actively begun fighting back and are hunting slavers and other groups which had just gone into hiding. From there, we divided up the task of reaching out to the ones that showed real promise—the ones with the numbers, skill, and sheer determination to make a difference. Some groups were strictly anti-slavery, while others had also turned their sights on pirates. That made sense—many slavers doubled as pirates, and more than a few pirate crews took up slaving when credits ran dry. Either way, we’d be contacting them soon after the meeting.

Speaking of which, it was Davik’s turn to report. He and Arlos had spent the last week scouring the station’s ship graveyard with some help from Nick-01 and Nick-02 - so that's why they borrowed the two from me, picking through the derelicts that had been floating out there for Force-knows-how-long. According to Davik, they’d found quite a few ships that could be repaired and flipped for a profit. That had been the original plan, but given our latest goals, maybe selling them wasn’t the best move. If we were serious about forming an actual fighting force, then we’d need ships—ones that weren’t limited to just the Stellar Envoy.

Davik leaned back, crossing his arms as he continued his report. The station’s systems had flagged three of the larger derelicts as corvettes. That got my attention real fast. Corvettes were a whole different level from the small-time freighters and transports we were used to. The problem was, the system couldn’t give a specific ID on what models they were. They could be anything. Do I care what model they are if I'm going to modify them anyway?

Kado tapped his fingers on the table, thinking it over before suggesting we stick to the original plan—sell the derelicts and use the credits to buy something modern starships instead. He specifically mentioned the CR90-class corvette. That was actually a solid pick. The CR90s were sturdy, reliable, and—most importantly—very easy to modify. That part I particularly like.

I nodded in agreement, but then added a follow-up. “We should also get a carrier variant,” I said, glancing at Kado.

Kado raised a brow. “Thinking ahead, are we?”

“Thinking smart,” I corrected. “If we’re bringing in new allies, they’re gonna need a place to park their fighters. And if we’re planning on hitting slaver and pirate operations, we need mobility. A carrier-type ship means we don’t have to risk the Stellar Envoy every time.”

That got some nods of approval. It wasn’t a perfect plan yet, it's more on a general direction on what we want to happen.

With the reports done and everyone given their tasks, we started getting up to head out. Of course, Tarek wasn’t about to let us leave without sharing whatever gossip he’d been sitting on all meeting.

I rolled my eyes, but honestly though after all the scheming and planning, a bit of gossip didn’t sound too bad. Who knew Davik was secretly a gossip.

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A while later, back in my quarters aboard the space station, I finished strapping on my armor. My heavily customized combat set wasn’t just for show—it had been carefully crafted with inspiration from Mandalorian beskar’gam. Unless someone took the time to really scrutinize it, I could easily pass as a Mando. Not that I was trying to fool anyone, but having slavers and mercs hesitate at the thought of facing one? Yeah, that was an advantage worth keeping.

With Skew-01 and Skew-02 standing guard beside me, I took a seat at my workstation and keyed in a secure comm frequency. This wasn’t just any casual check-in—this was one of the more promising anti-slaver groups I’d been keeping tabs on with my scouting droids. They were also regular buyers, benefiting from our heavily discounted weapons sales.

The holo-call connected with a flicker, and a familiar face appeared—a young man, slightly older than me by appearance, though I had no real way of knowing his actual age. His expression shifted to recognition, and a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

"Savant," he greeted, using the alias I’d chosen for my merchant persona—the one that supported anti-slaver groups from the shadows.

"Harrin Jett," I responded, leaning back. "It's been a while."

Harrin’s smirk widened. "That it has. You're calling on a secured line—guessing this isn’t about our usual business? No fresh inventory for me?"

I exhaled through my nose in mild amusement. "Unfortunately, No new inventory for now," I confirmed, though in the back of my mind, I did have new gadgets in the works—just not ones I was willing to sell. "This call’s about something that will benefit us all the same"

Harrin leaned forward, intrigued. "Then what can I do for the ever-elusive Savant?"

I lowered my voice slightly, drawing out my words with a slow, deliberate cadence. "If you will hear I have a proposal…"

That got his attention. He straightened, brows furrowing slightly. "Well, kriffing hells… that coming from you, now you really have my attention. What kind of proposal are we talking about?"

I steepled my fingers, tilting my head. "You and I both know that small-scale raids against slavers and pirates are just temporary solutions. We hit a cell, free some of their captives, but the syndicates will just rebuild, the Hutts tighten their already considerable grip, and the cycle starts all over again. Unless…" I let the silence hang for a second before finishing, "we aim higher."

Harrin let out a low whistle. "You talking about something bigger than just skirmishes? What, you got a real offensive in mind?"

I nodded. "A campaign, Harrin. One that actually hurts the slavers. One that makes sure their operations don’t just take a simple bruise—but a collapse, an amputation strike to be poetic."

Harrin leaned back, arms crossed, his expression shifting as he processed my words. "You're serious."

"Very much so"

For a moment, the only sound was the soft hum of the holo-call connection. Then, Harrin gave a slow nod. "Alright. What's you plan?"