Star Wars (7ABY; M04, D24-D26): Bunnies & Bounty Hunters
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Ganen, Garth, Roger, (J’brel), and (Mon) / [XP: 8]
Bevin and Ruth were out of town for their cousin’s wedding; Robert and Deb both departed early.
Month 4; Day 24 (Continued)
It was right around midnight when Ki-Adi-Mundi drove off into the night with the kids. The PC’s had their money, but they also had some misgivings. After a bit of awkward silence, someone finally asked the question: “Are we going to do something?”
Garth was all for going straight to the school and getting the kids out, but nobody had a very satisfying answer as to where they would then take them. Ganen felt bad for the kids, but asserted that it wasn’t their place to get involved. The others were either on the fence or not especially forthcoming with their opinions; though when someone suggested that Mundi might completely calm down and change his mind by the time he got home, J’brel speculated that his loss of temper might have had something to do with the dagger they’d just handed over to him.
The final compromise was that they would let the old master sleep on it and then contact him in the morning to try to get a gauge on his mood and intentions for the children. They could then decide what, if anything, they wanted to do about it.
Around 01:00 in the morning, Aldan Arka came by the ship with a couple of books for J’brel; which he suggested that she keep concealed in the event of any Imperial entanglements.
Month 4; Day 25
Ki-Adi-Mundi had picked up the tab for the PC’s landing fee and much-needed fuel, and they would be ready to go by 07:00 hours. They had no jobs lined up, but Morrigan had previously expressed an interest in making it out to Ord Ibanna (which was less than a day away) to see her brother race in the Scrapper’s Run.
Most of the PC’s were asleep at around 06:00, but Roger had gone out for a run and Ganen was up and about when the ship was approached by cute blond girl in her late teens or early twenties. Seeming a little distressed and rushed, she introduced herself as Inari Ura and asked if the ship might be available for a short transport run.
The girl explained that she caught, tamed, bred, raised, and sold pet rabbits for a living. It had started just as a little side-hobby when she was a teen; but early in the previous year, she’d met a pilot named Gordo Ganfree who bought them in bulk for resale to a hoity-toity pet store chain on Eriadu called ‘Furry Friends’. For over a year he’d been making runs every couple of weeks or so, but his last visit had been late the previous month and she hadn’t seen him since. As a result, she had a big overstock of rabbits and a few overdue bills.
Ganen got the other PC’s up before Inari got down to brass tacks. She was hoping to sell 300 of them to the PC’s for 3 credits a head; assuring them that they’d be able to sell them for 10 credits a head on Eriadu. The numbers seemed right to Garth, who knew that Eriadu was a terribly polluted planet and that living pets would in fact be a somewhat pricy commodity. He also knew that the Seventh Moon would only take around 12 hours to get there.
By about 6:40; Inari and the PC’s had filled the floor of the starboard hold with big, fluffy, cuddly, lop-eared bunnies who not only had no fear of humans but were actually quite affectionate. The only one who didn’t help with the loading process was J’brel, who was very wary of the animals and spent most of the subsequent voyage hidden away in her bunk room.
Around the time that the ship was fueled up and the sun was rising, an alarm sounded from elsewhere on the tarmac; seemingly from one of the larger vessels parked closer to the big jetways. The PC’s who were outside could see a Starwind-class passenger ship being rapidly evacuated; and the PC’s who were more familiar with starships recognized the particular klaxon sound as a reactor alarm!
The PC’s quickly got on board and sealed up the ship and, deciding that they could return to Naboo to talk to Ki-Adi-Mundi the following morning, started firing up the engines. But just over a minute after the alarm had sounded, an announcement came over both a PA and the spaceport’s comm channel…
“Attention on the tarmac; this is starport control. Please do not panic! There is no need to evacuate at this time. We are not detecting any heat blooms or radiation leaks from the alarm-sounding vessel. We believe that it is simply an alarm malfunction. Please do not attempt to depart without clearance, but please do not approach the Starwind either until we’ve given an all-clear.” Garth immediately got on the comm to try to get clearance, but every other ship in the vicinity was attempting to do the same.
The Starwind was just visible from the cockpit, and the PC’s noticed when its ramps closed and its drive systems fired up. The alarm finally stopped blaring as it lifted off of the tarmac; and after rapidly lurching around 180 degrees, it punched for orbit while its landing gear were still being retracted. When someone speculated that the ship was being stolen (a false reactor alarm being a good way to get everyone else off), someone else thought aloud: “Did Tanner strike any of you as an early riser?”
Garth immediately hailed the ship; and sure enough, Tillian’s voice sheepishly replied “Yes… it’s us.” Further queries quickly revealed that, not only did she have the other five with her, but they’d also brought ‘a few additional students’ along with them. She refused to say where they were going or what they were planning to do; commenting that the PC’s would likely be getting a visit soon from the local authorities and that she didn’t want them to have to lie for her.
“Especially on top of everything else that you’ve done for us”, she continued. “Which, I didn’t realize until it was too late… I don’t think any of us ever really properly thanked you for. And I hate to say it, but we might need your help again in the future; so if we manage to get our cash flow in the black, we’ll get in touch with you.”
Garth didn’t need to ask for clarification on how she intended to do that; given that the kids had helped install and conceal their HoloNet transceiver, she’d probably kept the frequency code. Also with that in mind, he asked her to let them know when they were safe.
Around the time the fleeing children got out of comm range, the PC’s saw a squadron of Royal Naboo N1 starfighters exit the big hangar at the top of the cliffs and tear off in the direction in which the Starwind had departed. The PC’s weren’t too worried, though; knowing that the pilots were highly unlikely to do anything more than radio the children to say, “Stop! Or we’ll tell you to stop again!”
It was also around that time that they got their departure clearance. As their desire to talk to Ki-Adi-Mundi was now substantially less urgent than it had been five minutes earlier, they PC’s decided to skedaddle rather than wait around until local security put a hold on them.
The trip to Eriadu was uneventful. Mon and Garth each took some time to sit in the cargo hold and play with the rabbits while J’brel continued to stay as far from them as she could. The PC’s reached their destination at around 20:00 that evening and, somewhat surprisingly, was cleared to land at the spaceport in Eriadu City almost immediately. They were, however, told to hold off on contacting their buyer or letting any of the rabbits loose until Customs had a chance to check them out.
The Customs officer who met them at their landing pad a short time later was a very friendly young woman who had the family name ‘Karsof’ on her uniform (though she never gave her first name). “Where’s Gordo?”, she asked after a fatigued-but-upbeat ‘good evening’. “Or are you guys new competitors or something?” The PC’s explained the situation, and the woman seemed a little concerned for the missing pilot. She apparently knew him pretty well from previous visits, and also mentioned that they’d gone out for coffee a time or two.
“Well, anyway…”, she continued after a yawn. “Your green flags got you expedited through basic inspection but we still need to spot-check a few bunnies to make sure they’re not carrying some kind of plague. The guy from animal control should be here any minute and then we can.. oh, what the actual hell!?”.
Karsof had turned mid-sentence and raised her voice when her eyes fell on the aforementioned animal control guy, who was wearing a full hazmat suit and carrying a telescoping pole with a dogcatcher’s noose on one end and some kind of shock prod on the other. “I said ‘rabbits’”, the woman called in a bemused and exasperated tone; “not ‘rathtars’!”
Gently wading through the fuzzy sea, Karsof picked up half a dozen at random; going over each with a medscanner and then putting them back down. She was clearly delighted by them, prompting the PC’s to offer to sell her one directly; but she replied that she already had two of them at home.
“Ok, they look perfectly healthy”, she declared after she managed to pry herself out of the starboard hold. After verifying that the PC’s were selling to Furry Friends, she informed them that she knew the foreman of their receiving and distribution center and offered to contact him for them.
Only 20 or so minutes after Karsof departed, a repulsor-truck with a wire mesh cage over its flatbed pulled up alongside the ship. After a quick looking over of the rabbits, the foreman paid the PC’s 3000 for the whole bunch.
While the truck backed right up to the starboard airlock, the PC’s quickly erected an impromptu barricade in the central corridor between it and the boys’ bunk room. It was then fairly effortless to herd the bunnies down the hall and right into the truck. As the gate was closed, the PC’s noticed a young redheaded woman sitting on a power converted at the edge of the landing pad; smoking a cigarette and watching the ship.
The moment the truck was out of sight, the woman got up and dashed right over to the ramp. She was dressed in a tight-fitting jumpsuit and was very attractive; though her blaze red hair was clearly fake and there was at least a possibility that her breasts were as well.
“Are you Gordo’s replacements?”, she asked with great urgency. Garth answered ‘Yes’, and began to clarify that they were just there to deliver the rabbits; but the woman talked over him as she proceeded up the ramp like she owned the ship.
“Good! I’m Lita; thank you for getting here so quickly. But we’ve got a big problem and not a lot of time!” As she spoke, she strode right down the central corridor; finally stopping when she reached the lounge. “Is this all of you?”, she queried as the PC’s gathered around her. They again tried to interject that they were not whomever the heck she thought they were, but she dove into a high-speed briefing before anyone could speak…”
“Ok! So we’ve learned that the same bounty hunter who got Gordo has now contacted the local authorities claiming to have extensive information about our personnel and operations on this planet and possibly elsewhere in the sector. We’re not sure what he has or how he got it, but his asking price is 10,000 credits!”
“Thankfully, this guy doesn’t have much trust for the Empire; and he hasn’t turned anything over yet. He requested a low-security meeting in a public place; and he’s apparently supposed to meet with one of Paige-Tarkin’s underlings at 10:00 tomorrow at the Tarkin Memorial Conference Center. We need to get in there, take out this bounty hunter, and destroy any information that he might be carrying. Paige-Tarkin’s aide will almost definitely be carrying cash; probably not the full 10K, but certainly enough to be worth grabbing. That’ll be your secondary objective. Any questions?”
The PC’s were finally given a chance to explain who they were and how they’d come to be there; and when it finally sank through the poor woman’s skull that she was talking to the wrong people, she instantly looked severely ill with fear and embarrassment. Ganen, however, immediately spoke up that they were mercenaries and that her mention of a large quantity of cash had piqued his interest. Once she confirmed their suspicion that she was an operative for the Rebel Alliance, the PC’s were agreeable to fill in for whomever it was that she was waiting for. Lita then went through the briefing again; this time more slowly and with fewer assumptions as to what the PC’s knew.
Gordo, like Lita, was a member of the Rebellion. His rabbit runs were apparently just a means to put a legitimate explanation on his trips between Naboo and Eriadu (and earn a little much-needed cash at the same time). The principal purpose of those trips was actually the smuggling of Rebel fugitives to safety of Naboo.
The bounty hunter who’d bagged Gordo (whose fate was presently unknown to the Lita) was a man called Malis; whom Garth, Roger, and Ganen had all at least heard of. He was an ex-stormtrooper with a rather malicious grudge against the Rebellion due to the devastating losses which his unit had suffered at the Battle of Keskin. Though licensed by the Empire, he had a rather unethical reputation; and was known for mercilessly gunning down Rebel non-combatants in the pursuit of legitimate targets.
The objective now, Lita again explained, was to ensure that whatever intelligence which Malis had on Rebel activity never made it into the hands of the local Moff: Shayla Paige-Tarkin; daughter-in-law of the late Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. If he could not be located and dealt with beforehand, their only shot would be to get him during his meeting with whatever aide Paige-Tarkin sent. If it came to that, however, the upshot would be that a large quantity of cash would be on hand.
Mon objected to going in with the clear intention of killing Malis, so the PC’s asked about the possibility of just capturing him instead. Lita replied that they had nowhere to secure him locally; but added that if the PC’s could manage to get him off world, then she could get him transported to a secure facility.
The PC’s agreed to take the job, and Lita indicated that she’d be nearby if they needed anything else. [Deb and Robert both departed at this time.]
The PC’s first paid a visit to the Tarkin Memorial Conference Center. It was closed for the night, but they were at least able to scope out the surrounding area (which was fairly congested and busy). They then agreed upon a plan and split up to put it into motion.
Garth returned to the spaceport and hotwired an airspeeder with a warm engine from the long-term parking area, paid the ‘I lost my ticket’ fee, and then parked it on the street outside of the conference center in case they needed a getaway vehicle. Roger and Ganen meanwhile split up to find out anything they could about Malis; and lo and behold, the Mandalorian discovered that his ship (a Spectral-class transport) was parked at the spaceport just a couple minutes’ walk from where the Seventh Moon was parked! He also observed that the ship was fueling. Garth purchased a pair of grey coveralls closely resembling those he’d observed worn by the ground technicians, then jointed the others back at the spaceport.
The PC’s approached the bounty hunter’s ship from the back; and while Roger and Ganen lurked in the shadows on the opposite side from the ramp, Garth approached and quickly sliced the computer controlling the pump. After disabling the circuit which would send an alert to the spaceport staff, he altered the fuel flow in such a manner that it would likely trigger an alarm on the ship; and sure enough, the ramp opened moments later.
Malis wore a suit of pre- Clone War stormtrooper armor much like Roger’s, though his was painted black; and he carried a heavily-modified carbine with what appeared to be an under-barrel grenade launcher. While Garth explained to him what he was seeing on the pump side, Ganen and Roger snuck aboard and found a good spot between the ramp and engineering to set up an ambush. When Garth finally suggested that Malis needed to check the fuel cell that was throwing the alarm, he invited him aboard to give him a hand.
Ganen popped around a corner and fired a stun bolt, with Roger doing the same half a second later from the opposite direction. Garth then hit the guy with an injector stick full of his homebrew knockout agent. The combined effect should have dropped a charging rhino, but the man was heavily armored and apparently even tougher than he looked.
As the PC’s continued to lay into him, he shot a stun grenade at Ganen; but the Mandalorian was tough and heavily-armored too. The fight was finally won, not by force, but by deception; with Garth managing to bluff the guy into thinking that he’d injected him with a poison which would kill him if an antidote wasn’t administered quickly. Malis not only threw down his weapon and surrendered, but also allowed Garth to inject him again; which was enough to knock him out.
A quick check of the ship revealed that all of the crew cabins had been converted into holding cells and that the medical bay appeared to have been converted into a very grim ‘interrogation’ room. Inside one of the cells, they found an unconscious man who’d clearly been put through the wringer.
While Ganen went to find Lita, Garth searched the ship’s computer but found nothing resembling information on local Rebel activity. But as Roger was removing Malis’ armor, he found a data card tucked between his gauntlet and the back of his hand.
Ganen found Lita not far from the Seventh Moon; a cigarette in one hand, a comlink on the other, and a very distraught look on her face and tone in her voice. “I’m sorry; I have to go”, she said as she spotted the Mandalorian, “I’ll call you back as soon as I can; I promise.”
Lita identified the unconscious prisoner as the much-missed Gordo Ganfree, and further verified that the names and locales on data card did in fact pertain to the Alliance. Working with Lita, Garth erased the data and formed a new list which would put the Empire on a wild goose chase; adding some recently-abandoned facilities to give the list some legitimacy. Lita then remained aboard the ship with Gordo while the PC’s went back to their own ship for the night.
Month 4; Day 26
The next morning; Roger, wearing Malis’ armor and carrying his weapon, walked right into the Tarkin Memorial Conference Center and met with the Moff’s aide. He then walked right out with 5000 credits!
Ganen, Garth, Roger, (J’brel), and (Mon) / [XP: 8]
Bevin and Ruth were out of town for their cousin’s wedding; Robert and Deb both departed early.
Month 4; Day 24 (Continued)
It was right around midnight when Ki-Adi-Mundi drove off into the night with the kids. The PC’s had their money, but they also had some misgivings. After a bit of awkward silence, someone finally asked the question: “Are we going to do something?”
Garth was all for going straight to the school and getting the kids out, but nobody had a very satisfying answer as to where they would then take them. Ganen felt bad for the kids, but asserted that it wasn’t their place to get involved. The others were either on the fence or not especially forthcoming with their opinions; though when someone suggested that Mundi might completely calm down and change his mind by the time he got home, J’brel speculated that his loss of temper might have had something to do with the dagger they’d just handed over to him.
The final compromise was that they would let the old master sleep on it and then contact him in the morning to try to get a gauge on his mood and intentions for the children. They could then decide what, if anything, they wanted to do about it.
Around 01:00 in the morning, Aldan Arka came by the ship with a couple of books for J’brel; which he suggested that she keep concealed in the event of any Imperial entanglements.
Month 4; Day 25
Ki-Adi-Mundi had picked up the tab for the PC’s landing fee and much-needed fuel, and they would be ready to go by 07:00 hours. They had no jobs lined up, but Morrigan had previously expressed an interest in making it out to Ord Ibanna (which was less than a day away) to see her brother race in the Scrapper’s Run.
Most of the PC’s were asleep at around 06:00, but Roger had gone out for a run and Ganen was up and about when the ship was approached by cute blond girl in her late teens or early twenties. Seeming a little distressed and rushed, she introduced herself as Inari Ura and asked if the ship might be available for a short transport run.
The girl explained that she caught, tamed, bred, raised, and sold pet rabbits for a living. It had started just as a little side-hobby when she was a teen; but early in the previous year, she’d met a pilot named Gordo Ganfree who bought them in bulk for resale to a hoity-toity pet store chain on Eriadu called ‘Furry Friends’. For over a year he’d been making runs every couple of weeks or so, but his last visit had been late the previous month and she hadn’t seen him since. As a result, she had a big overstock of rabbits and a few overdue bills.
Ganen got the other PC’s up before Inari got down to brass tacks. She was hoping to sell 300 of them to the PC’s for 3 credits a head; assuring them that they’d be able to sell them for 10 credits a head on Eriadu. The numbers seemed right to Garth, who knew that Eriadu was a terribly polluted planet and that living pets would in fact be a somewhat pricy commodity. He also knew that the Seventh Moon would only take around 12 hours to get there.
By about 6:40; Inari and the PC’s had filled the floor of the starboard hold with big, fluffy, cuddly, lop-eared bunnies who not only had no fear of humans but were actually quite affectionate. The only one who didn’t help with the loading process was J’brel, who was very wary of the animals and spent most of the subsequent voyage hidden away in her bunk room.
Around the time that the ship was fueled up and the sun was rising, an alarm sounded from elsewhere on the tarmac; seemingly from one of the larger vessels parked closer to the big jetways. The PC’s who were outside could see a Starwind-class passenger ship being rapidly evacuated; and the PC’s who were more familiar with starships recognized the particular klaxon sound as a reactor alarm!
The PC’s quickly got on board and sealed up the ship and, deciding that they could return to Naboo to talk to Ki-Adi-Mundi the following morning, started firing up the engines. But just over a minute after the alarm had sounded, an announcement came over both a PA and the spaceport’s comm channel…
“Attention on the tarmac; this is starport control. Please do not panic! There is no need to evacuate at this time. We are not detecting any heat blooms or radiation leaks from the alarm-sounding vessel. We believe that it is simply an alarm malfunction. Please do not attempt to depart without clearance, but please do not approach the Starwind either until we’ve given an all-clear.” Garth immediately got on the comm to try to get clearance, but every other ship in the vicinity was attempting to do the same.
The Starwind was just visible from the cockpit, and the PC’s noticed when its ramps closed and its drive systems fired up. The alarm finally stopped blaring as it lifted off of the tarmac; and after rapidly lurching around 180 degrees, it punched for orbit while its landing gear were still being retracted. When someone speculated that the ship was being stolen (a false reactor alarm being a good way to get everyone else off), someone else thought aloud: “Did Tanner strike any of you as an early riser?”
Garth immediately hailed the ship; and sure enough, Tillian’s voice sheepishly replied “Yes… it’s us.” Further queries quickly revealed that, not only did she have the other five with her, but they’d also brought ‘a few additional students’ along with them. She refused to say where they were going or what they were planning to do; commenting that the PC’s would likely be getting a visit soon from the local authorities and that she didn’t want them to have to lie for her.
“Especially on top of everything else that you’ve done for us”, she continued. “Which, I didn’t realize until it was too late… I don’t think any of us ever really properly thanked you for. And I hate to say it, but we might need your help again in the future; so if we manage to get our cash flow in the black, we’ll get in touch with you.”
Garth didn’t need to ask for clarification on how she intended to do that; given that the kids had helped install and conceal their HoloNet transceiver, she’d probably kept the frequency code. Also with that in mind, he asked her to let them know when they were safe.
Around the time the fleeing children got out of comm range, the PC’s saw a squadron of Royal Naboo N1 starfighters exit the big hangar at the top of the cliffs and tear off in the direction in which the Starwind had departed. The PC’s weren’t too worried, though; knowing that the pilots were highly unlikely to do anything more than radio the children to say, “Stop! Or we’ll tell you to stop again!”
It was also around that time that they got their departure clearance. As their desire to talk to Ki-Adi-Mundi was now substantially less urgent than it had been five minutes earlier, they PC’s decided to skedaddle rather than wait around until local security put a hold on them.
The trip to Eriadu was uneventful. Mon and Garth each took some time to sit in the cargo hold and play with the rabbits while J’brel continued to stay as far from them as she could. The PC’s reached their destination at around 20:00 that evening and, somewhat surprisingly, was cleared to land at the spaceport in Eriadu City almost immediately. They were, however, told to hold off on contacting their buyer or letting any of the rabbits loose until Customs had a chance to check them out.
The Customs officer who met them at their landing pad a short time later was a very friendly young woman who had the family name ‘Karsof’ on her uniform (though she never gave her first name). “Where’s Gordo?”, she asked after a fatigued-but-upbeat ‘good evening’. “Or are you guys new competitors or something?” The PC’s explained the situation, and the woman seemed a little concerned for the missing pilot. She apparently knew him pretty well from previous visits, and also mentioned that they’d gone out for coffee a time or two.
“Well, anyway…”, she continued after a yawn. “Your green flags got you expedited through basic inspection but we still need to spot-check a few bunnies to make sure they’re not carrying some kind of plague. The guy from animal control should be here any minute and then we can.. oh, what the actual hell!?”.
Karsof had turned mid-sentence and raised her voice when her eyes fell on the aforementioned animal control guy, who was wearing a full hazmat suit and carrying a telescoping pole with a dogcatcher’s noose on one end and some kind of shock prod on the other. “I said ‘rabbits’”, the woman called in a bemused and exasperated tone; “not ‘rathtars’!”
Gently wading through the fuzzy sea, Karsof picked up half a dozen at random; going over each with a medscanner and then putting them back down. She was clearly delighted by them, prompting the PC’s to offer to sell her one directly; but she replied that she already had two of them at home.
“Ok, they look perfectly healthy”, she declared after she managed to pry herself out of the starboard hold. After verifying that the PC’s were selling to Furry Friends, she informed them that she knew the foreman of their receiving and distribution center and offered to contact him for them.
Only 20 or so minutes after Karsof departed, a repulsor-truck with a wire mesh cage over its flatbed pulled up alongside the ship. After a quick looking over of the rabbits, the foreman paid the PC’s 3000 for the whole bunch.
While the truck backed right up to the starboard airlock, the PC’s quickly erected an impromptu barricade in the central corridor between it and the boys’ bunk room. It was then fairly effortless to herd the bunnies down the hall and right into the truck. As the gate was closed, the PC’s noticed a young redheaded woman sitting on a power converted at the edge of the landing pad; smoking a cigarette and watching the ship.
The moment the truck was out of sight, the woman got up and dashed right over to the ramp. She was dressed in a tight-fitting jumpsuit and was very attractive; though her blaze red hair was clearly fake and there was at least a possibility that her breasts were as well.
“Are you Gordo’s replacements?”, she asked with great urgency. Garth answered ‘Yes’, and began to clarify that they were just there to deliver the rabbits; but the woman talked over him as she proceeded up the ramp like she owned the ship.
“Good! I’m Lita; thank you for getting here so quickly. But we’ve got a big problem and not a lot of time!” As she spoke, she strode right down the central corridor; finally stopping when she reached the lounge. “Is this all of you?”, she queried as the PC’s gathered around her. They again tried to interject that they were not whomever the heck she thought they were, but she dove into a high-speed briefing before anyone could speak…”
“Ok! So we’ve learned that the same bounty hunter who got Gordo has now contacted the local authorities claiming to have extensive information about our personnel and operations on this planet and possibly elsewhere in the sector. We’re not sure what he has or how he got it, but his asking price is 10,000 credits!”
“Thankfully, this guy doesn’t have much trust for the Empire; and he hasn’t turned anything over yet. He requested a low-security meeting in a public place; and he’s apparently supposed to meet with one of Paige-Tarkin’s underlings at 10:00 tomorrow at the Tarkin Memorial Conference Center. We need to get in there, take out this bounty hunter, and destroy any information that he might be carrying. Paige-Tarkin’s aide will almost definitely be carrying cash; probably not the full 10K, but certainly enough to be worth grabbing. That’ll be your secondary objective. Any questions?”
The PC’s were finally given a chance to explain who they were and how they’d come to be there; and when it finally sank through the poor woman’s skull that she was talking to the wrong people, she instantly looked severely ill with fear and embarrassment. Ganen, however, immediately spoke up that they were mercenaries and that her mention of a large quantity of cash had piqued his interest. Once she confirmed their suspicion that she was an operative for the Rebel Alliance, the PC’s were agreeable to fill in for whomever it was that she was waiting for. Lita then went through the briefing again; this time more slowly and with fewer assumptions as to what the PC’s knew.
Gordo, like Lita, was a member of the Rebellion. His rabbit runs were apparently just a means to put a legitimate explanation on his trips between Naboo and Eriadu (and earn a little much-needed cash at the same time). The principal purpose of those trips was actually the smuggling of Rebel fugitives to safety of Naboo.
The bounty hunter who’d bagged Gordo (whose fate was presently unknown to the Lita) was a man called Malis; whom Garth, Roger, and Ganen had all at least heard of. He was an ex-stormtrooper with a rather malicious grudge against the Rebellion due to the devastating losses which his unit had suffered at the Battle of Keskin. Though licensed by the Empire, he had a rather unethical reputation; and was known for mercilessly gunning down Rebel non-combatants in the pursuit of legitimate targets.
The objective now, Lita again explained, was to ensure that whatever intelligence which Malis had on Rebel activity never made it into the hands of the local Moff: Shayla Paige-Tarkin; daughter-in-law of the late Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. If he could not be located and dealt with beforehand, their only shot would be to get him during his meeting with whatever aide Paige-Tarkin sent. If it came to that, however, the upshot would be that a large quantity of cash would be on hand.
Mon objected to going in with the clear intention of killing Malis, so the PC’s asked about the possibility of just capturing him instead. Lita replied that they had nowhere to secure him locally; but added that if the PC’s could manage to get him off world, then she could get him transported to a secure facility.
The PC’s agreed to take the job, and Lita indicated that she’d be nearby if they needed anything else. [Deb and Robert both departed at this time.]
The PC’s first paid a visit to the Tarkin Memorial Conference Center. It was closed for the night, but they were at least able to scope out the surrounding area (which was fairly congested and busy). They then agreed upon a plan and split up to put it into motion.
Garth returned to the spaceport and hotwired an airspeeder with a warm engine from the long-term parking area, paid the ‘I lost my ticket’ fee, and then parked it on the street outside of the conference center in case they needed a getaway vehicle. Roger and Ganen meanwhile split up to find out anything they could about Malis; and lo and behold, the Mandalorian discovered that his ship (a Spectral-class transport) was parked at the spaceport just a couple minutes’ walk from where the Seventh Moon was parked! He also observed that the ship was fueling. Garth purchased a pair of grey coveralls closely resembling those he’d observed worn by the ground technicians, then jointed the others back at the spaceport.
The PC’s approached the bounty hunter’s ship from the back; and while Roger and Ganen lurked in the shadows on the opposite side from the ramp, Garth approached and quickly sliced the computer controlling the pump. After disabling the circuit which would send an alert to the spaceport staff, he altered the fuel flow in such a manner that it would likely trigger an alarm on the ship; and sure enough, the ramp opened moments later.
Malis wore a suit of pre- Clone War stormtrooper armor much like Roger’s, though his was painted black; and he carried a heavily-modified carbine with what appeared to be an under-barrel grenade launcher. While Garth explained to him what he was seeing on the pump side, Ganen and Roger snuck aboard and found a good spot between the ramp and engineering to set up an ambush. When Garth finally suggested that Malis needed to check the fuel cell that was throwing the alarm, he invited him aboard to give him a hand.
Ganen popped around a corner and fired a stun bolt, with Roger doing the same half a second later from the opposite direction. Garth then hit the guy with an injector stick full of his homebrew knockout agent. The combined effect should have dropped a charging rhino, but the man was heavily armored and apparently even tougher than he looked.
As the PC’s continued to lay into him, he shot a stun grenade at Ganen; but the Mandalorian was tough and heavily-armored too. The fight was finally won, not by force, but by deception; with Garth managing to bluff the guy into thinking that he’d injected him with a poison which would kill him if an antidote wasn’t administered quickly. Malis not only threw down his weapon and surrendered, but also allowed Garth to inject him again; which was enough to knock him out.
A quick check of the ship revealed that all of the crew cabins had been converted into holding cells and that the medical bay appeared to have been converted into a very grim ‘interrogation’ room. Inside one of the cells, they found an unconscious man who’d clearly been put through the wringer.
While Ganen went to find Lita, Garth searched the ship’s computer but found nothing resembling information on local Rebel activity. But as Roger was removing Malis’ armor, he found a data card tucked between his gauntlet and the back of his hand.
Ganen found Lita not far from the Seventh Moon; a cigarette in one hand, a comlink on the other, and a very distraught look on her face and tone in her voice. “I’m sorry; I have to go”, she said as she spotted the Mandalorian, “I’ll call you back as soon as I can; I promise.”
Lita identified the unconscious prisoner as the much-missed Gordo Ganfree, and further verified that the names and locales on data card did in fact pertain to the Alliance. Working with Lita, Garth erased the data and formed a new list which would put the Empire on a wild goose chase; adding some recently-abandoned facilities to give the list some legitimacy. Lita then remained aboard the ship with Gordo while the PC’s went back to their own ship for the night.
Month 4; Day 26
The next morning; Roger, wearing Malis’ armor and carrying his weapon, walked right into the Tarkin Memorial Conference Center and met with the Moff’s aide. He then walked right out with 5000 credits!