Republican Thunderdome 1

Tags: Star wars, multicross

Republican Thunderdome
Chapter 1

-VB-

Tatooine wasn’t the desert planet out there. 

There were plenty of desert planets with their own moisture farmers, seedy spaceports, rugged terrain, and native sentients.

One such planet was Molavar. 

And just like Tatoine, it sat outside of the Hutt Space but had a Hutt presence anyway. Like all of his cousins, this Hutt also appreciated oddities, relics, and cruelty. 

“Next!” his steward shouted over the low rumble of the crowd, and someone quickly stepped up and debased themselves at the foot of Rattan the Hutt. “What do you bring before the Glorious Rattan the Hutt?”

“I-I bring gifts from the village of Omon on the far side of the planet,” the haggard man said as he gestured for his companions to come forward. They came forward, carrying something between the four of them that was underneath a sheet. He quickly stepped back and pulled the sheet away.

Rattan looked at it and sighed. “That is a old and broken down component of a starship’s hyperdrive,” he drawled. “For wasting my time, I am increasing Omon village’s tax this year by half. Leave my presence before I increase it further.”

The pale men quickly bowed and left, their shoulders drooping in dejection. 

Inwardly, Rattan laughed at their misery. 

Outwardly, he made himself appear like a disappointed father.

“Next!” the steward shouted again. 

This time, a pair of twi’leks came up. Without further ado, they revealed what they brought: a crate of spice. 

It was … an expensive gift, especially for those who looked like they were offworlders. 

“You two are…?”

“Jymuh and Rammu, Your Grace,” the woman of the pair replied. 

‘Your Grace.’ What a delightful term to acknowledge someone’s superiority! 

“What is it that you wish?” he asked. 

“W-We have been … running into some bureaucratic resistance at the port for our affairs…” the man replied hesitantly. “We were hoping…”

“Of course, of course!” Rattan replied magnanimously. “You need not say it. I will ensure that all underneath my rule understand their position and yours so as to not run into any more problems.”

The two twi’leks bowed multiple times before he dismissed them with a wave of his hand. 

“Next!” 

And then someone else came up. 

It was … 

Well, the most polite way to describe them would have been to describe “rat men.”

Three rat men dressed in rags sniveled as they bowed. “We speak-revere the warlord-grace Rattan!” the three of them all spoke at once, though it wasn’t together and off cadence. They also seemed to have an odd way of speech. 

“What brings you to my domain?” he asked instead. 

“We bring-give gift-stuff to the warlord-big man!” they squeaked as two more showed up, dragging a crate behind them. 

Everyone who came here should have been scanned for anything volatile or weapons, so Rattan wasn’t worried about bombs or the like. 

But crates usually meant it was big. 

And big was usually good. 

Usually. 

“B-Behold!” the lead rat man spoke up loudly. “We bring-gift you … a Warpstone!” 

The two even less clothed rat men that had dragged the crate in used their fingernails - ergh - to pry the metal crate open.

And Rattan found himself slightly - and pleasantly - surprised by what he saw. 

A human-sized glowing crystal. 

Green, too.

… Was this one of the natural kyber crystals? The very same that the Jedi have their monopoly locked down on? 

He glanced at the rat men.

They didn’t look like they had connections or the wealth to pull this off. 

This was … suspicious. 

“And what … is a warpstone?”

“It does-do this!” 

The lead rat man pressed something on the side of the cra-.

That’s not a standard crate. 

His eyes widened as something underneath the crate lit up…!

…

…

And did nothing. 

“... Guards.”

“No, this is not-not how it should-should work! My great plan cannot fail-fail! Where is boom-boom?!” 

Yeah, suspicious little shits. 

The rest of the would-be audience seekers were now running away. 

His soldiers rushed in and grabbed the rat men-.

“I, I did sabotage-ruin this bomb-boom, yes!” one of the rat men who brought the crate in shouted as he raised his hands. “Sabotage-ruin, I did-did! Saved-saved you, I did, worm-thing! Yes-yes!”

Rattan stared at the creature that was admitting to its betrayal of its kin.

“Take that one and put him somewhere else. The rest, kill,” he ordered. 

The rat men tried to attack with metal shivs of all things and died like the pests they looked like. 

“And get this thing out of my -!” Then he froze. 

The light underneath the crate had not disappeared. No, if anything, it was getting brighter. 

He quickly activated his personal shield.

And just in time. 

The entire room detonated. 

Rattan grunted as he watched the world outside of his personal shield turn into green plasma before that quickly dissipated. When the smoke cleared, he saw … devastation. 

‘Those rat men dare to do this to my court…?!’

He pressed down on his wrist comm. “Noila,” he called his chief security officer. 

But the moment the call connected, he heard gunshots.

“G-Great Rattan!” Noila, a human woman, shouted. “The entire planet is under attack!”

“What?!” 

“Rat men! They are everywhere! They came out of the sewers and underground tunnels! There’s too many of them!”

“Then get in the starships and start blasting everything!” he snapped as he slowly made his way to the now window-less window that looked down at the largest settlement in Molavar. The smoke was just starting to rise. “And find out where these rat men came from! I want them all dead!” 

-VB-

First Faction: Under-Empire (Skaven)

Spawn location: Molavar (Hutt-influence)