Star Wars (7ABY; M04, D27-D30): Womp Rats & Vulture Droids
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Garth, Mon, and Sekar / [XP: 8]
Bevin was stick, Deb’s place of work was relocating (I think), Smike was out of town, and Preston had prior plans.
Month 4; Day 27 (Continued)
Near midnight that evening, Sekar was still out clubbing and Mon was still at the hotel room that he rented in Piringiisi; but Garth wasn’t quite ready to let go on the issue with the Engineer. And so he woke up Gordo (who was asleep on the couch in the lounge) and asked him how he might get in touch with Rebel elements on Sullust. After briefly lamenting the fractured nature of Alliance since the Battle of Endor, Gardo apologetically told him that he knew absolutely nothing about local activity.
Garth then instead found a public library which was open and spent the next few hours searching for any articles or research papers pertaining to water-reactive explosives. His search parameters apparently set off some red flags; because around 04:00 in the morning, his terminal locked out and he was detained by authorities moments later. Thankfully, between his IPKC and his previous interactions with Commander Tarrax, he was released after only a couple of hours. Upon returning to the Seventh Moon, he finally went to sleep.
Month 4; Day 28
Though still somewhat hung over, Sekar had returned to the ship around 03:00 in the morning; and Mon finally rolled in (looking far more refreshed) around 10:00. After a couple more hours, they still had no contact from the Engineer; and Garth finally agreed to depart and get Gordo to Tatooine as promised. He did, however, ask that the PC’s at least consider coming right back after they dropped him off.
That evening, the PC’s got their very first message on their illegal holo-net transceiver. It read, “Please tell Gordo that Dak came back; but no, I still haven’t told him.”
“Dak is Lita’s boyfriend”, Gordo explained. “But she’s terrified to tell him that she’s actually an Alliance operative. After a long string of broken plans recently, she had promised him and promised him that they’d do something special on his birthday. But she ended up working with you guys all night to deal with the Malis situation; and when she got home, he’d moved all of his stuff out. But apparently he came back; and apparently she’s still not being honest with him.”
Month 4; Day 29
After an uneventful voyage through the Outer Rim, the PC’s reached Tatooine at around 19:00 in the evening; and at Gordo’s request, they touched down in Docking Bay 87 in Mos Eisley. Gordo explained that the bay was owned by the same people who owned the bay where his ship was parked, and he promised to pay for their landing fees and fuel when he went to pay the back fees for his own vessel.
“After that”, he continued, “I’ll go straight to talk to that friend of mine who owes me the big favor and send him your way. He’s a Jawa named Het Nkik; he’ll probably have his buddy Jek with him. So, just make sure there’s at last one person here to meet them; even if it’s just your droid.” Gordo then took a moment to again thank the PC’s for all they’d done for him, said his goodbyes, and departed.
As promised, a pair of Jawas arrived around an hour later with a secondary transponder for the ship; stating that they would need three or four hours to get it installed and calibrated. They also offered, for 2000 credits, to additionally modify it to hold two alternate transponder codes; and throw in a second clean ID for another 1000. The PC’s eagerly agreed.
The Jawas finished their work by around 23:00 hours, and they then took the time to demonstrate to the PC’s how everything worked. In addition to the secondary transponder, the PC’s received a sliced BOSS datapad which they could unlock and alter. Not only could they switch among multiple false ID’s, any PC could upload an image of themself and attach it to the captain’s profile (the fake captain’s profiles were deliberately given unisex first names for exactly that reason). ‘The Seventh Moon under Seven Lunatics Freight Hauling’ could now also be ‘The Soaring Leaf under Captain Aubrey Metris’ or ‘Reckless Endeavor under Captain Riley Miro’.
Once that was done, the PC’s placed a subnet call to Badger; and after catching up and exchanging holo-net codes, they inquired about possible work. “Actually…”, Badger began, “my Capo on Tatooine has been complaining lately about being short-staffed. I don’t think she’s in right now; but some time tomorrow, head over to Lassiter Transport and ask for Calli. It’s right across the street from the used speeder lot just outside of Docking Bay 94. I’ll call her and let her know you’re coming.”
“Once she’s done with you”, he continued, “call me back. Some strange things have been going on on Obana where we all first met, and I think I’d like for you guys to check it out.”
Month 4; Day 30
Before heading over to Lassiter Transport the next morning, the PC’s stopped by Gep’s Grill to get something to eat; and as they continued on through the flea market, something on a table full of sundry knickknacks caught Sekar’s eye. Though she’d never seen a real one before, she’d heard descriptions and seen a couple of images; and she was fairly certain that it was a Jedi holocron!
At a price of only 30 credits, the owner of the stall clearly didn’t have a clue as to what he had. Sekar bought it and then stuffed it into her bag.
Lassiter Transport was a high-security transportation company which, in addition to turning a tidy profit of its own, was a front company for the Zann Consortium’s operations on Tatooine; giving them the perfect excuse to move commodities around the planet in armored speeder trucks full of heavily-armed guards. It was owned by an attractive middle-aged woman named Callissa (‘Calli’) Lassiter, who also reported directly to Badger. Calli seemed legitimately pleased to meet the PC’s; commending them for saving her boss’ life. She then took them up to her office to talk business.
Breaking out a map of the main habitable zone of Tatooine, she pointed to a spot on the edge of the Jundland Wastes; west of Arnthout and south-west of Bestine. “We’ve tracked a few Cartel ships in and out of that spot over the last couple of months”, she explained; also giving the PC’s more exact coordinates. “And that spot just happens to be right outside of Bestine’s sensor zone and patrol radius. I’d really like to know what they’re doing up there.” She offered the PC’s 1000 in advance plus additional money depending on what they found out and what they had to go through; and the PC’s agreed.
To achieve an optimal balance of expediency and subtlety; the PC’s decided to take the ship to the outskirts of Arnthout, then take Garth’s airspeeder to within a mile or so of the target area, then go the rest of the way on foot. As they weren’t under any real time constraints, Garth wanted to take a few hours to do some work on his speeder; and he managed to significantly improve the handling and fix the problem in the lift system that had been causing it to lean to one side.
Sekar meanwhile took the holocron into the ladies’ bunk room and, after a few minutes, managed to figure out how to activate it. A full-sized hologram (quite lifelike apart from a bluish corona) appeared of an elderly man whose eyes were full of wisdom and benevolence. “Good morning”, the hologram stated with a smile and a warm voice. “Whom do I have the honor of addressing this fine day?”
Sekar, who didn’t really understand what a holocron was or what it was for, just stood there blinking. “My apologies”, the man continued with a patient smile. “I guess it was rude for me not to introduce myself first. I am an artificially-intelligent digital recreation of the memories, knowledge, and personality of the late Jedi Master Hoke Ilderim. How might I be of service?”
While Garth and Mon continued to work on the speeder, Sekar and Hoke had a long talk. She explained that she had not stolen the holocron but had in fact bought it for 30 credits at a flea market. Hoke Ilderim had apparently died around 100BBY, and his holocron had spent the next eight decades hooked up to the Jedi Archives when it wasn’t in use. “The very last thing I read”, he continued, “was a news bulletin stating that Senator Palpatine had declared himself ‘Emperor’. I was deactivated only minutes later and I remained deactivated until today.”
The ensuing conversation was practically a carbon copy of the one which the PC’s had had with J’brel after they’d defrosted her: catching up on the major events of the last quarter century. Their best guess was that the holocrons had been smuggled out of the Jedi Temple in anticipation of the Emperor making a move against them (which he of course did).
The boys finally came looking for Sekar and got involved in the conversation and, star-struck at the thought of all of the knowledge which must have accumulated over a century of living and another 80 years of perusing the Jedi Archives nearly 24/7, Mon kinda went full fanboy (going so far as to offer 15 credits to Sekar so that they could ‘go halfsies’). Garth eventually reminded everyone that they had a job to do, and Hoke’s holocron was left activated near the middle of the ship so that he could acquaint himself with it.
The first two stages of the trip went by without incident; but about half-way from Garth’s speeder to the target area, the PC’s were set upon by a pack of four hungry wamp rats. As they closed in, Garth advised everyone to keep the noise down; citing that they were only half a mile from their destination. While Mon responded by backing himself against the canyon wall and zapping away with stun bolts, Sekar heeded Garth’s advice by way of running up to the rats and punching one of them.
After one of the filthy creatures bit Sekar’s arm, dragged her to the ground, and shook her around like a rag doll; Garth jumped into the melee while Mon continued to lay down a barrage of stun bolts. After an intense minute or two of punching, kicking, biting, scratching, and wrestling; two of the wamp rats had been knocked out and the other two had fled in terror. Sekar broke the main incisors out of the mouth of the one which had chomped down on her arm and pocketed them.
At the target coordinates, the canyon widened substantially; and on the north wall, there was a large cave entrance. Peering around the corner of the connecting canyon with his electro-binoculars, Garth spotted half a dozen armed droids standing guard at the mouth of the cave; back just far enough that they wouldn’t be spotted from the air. They were the same type of Hutt battle droids which they had encountered on Obana and again on Lofquar, and they had the same maroon coloration on their heads and shoulders as the ones from the latter planet.
With no way to approach without being spotted, the PC’s decided to look around for another entrance; and in fact climbed the canyon wall so that they could get above the cave. Sure enough; they found a wide and sloping tunnel which appeared to lead down to the same general area.
The tunnel eventually leveled out and opened up into a cavern which was so dark that even Sekar couldn’t see the far walls. The PC’s began to slowly creep through the darkness; and after a few moments, they all began to hear intermittent sounds from above which resembled some kind of mechanical actuators. Sekar turned her attention upwards, and Garth activated the low-light feature on his binoculars and did the same.
Hanging from racks attached to the cavern ceiling were dozens and dozens of enormous droids the size of airspeeders. Each moment, a number of them would move their head or a limb; giving the entire scene a strong resemblance to a colony of bats.
Moving even more quietly and cautiously than when they’d entered, the PC’s backed out of the cavern.
Back outside, the PC’s agreed that they had enough information to bring back to Calli; and they began the mile-long walk back to Garth’s airspeeder. The two previously-KO’d wamp rats were now conscious, but they were still stumbling around in sluggish and awkward manner. Out of spite, Sekar gave the one that had bitten her a swift kick.
Back at Lassiter Transport, Mon looked no worse for the wear; but Sekar and Garth both looked like they’d gotten into a street brawl with a bunch of giant rodents. After Garth explained what had happened, Sekar proudly held up the incisors and declared that she had punched their former owner. “I like you”, Calli said with a smile. “If you ever want more steady work, come back and see me.”
As to the main matter of the mission, it was pretty clear that one of the cartels was amassing a military force just outside of Bestine. While the PC’s were of the mind that a proactive invasion was immanent, Calli was more inclined to think that it was probably just a contingency plan in the event of a really heavy-handed crackdown by either the Governor of Tatooine or the Moff of the Arkanis Sector.
Regardless, Calli paid them an additional 2000 and thanked them for a job well done.
Garth, Mon, and Sekar / [XP: 8]
Bevin was stick, Deb’s place of work was relocating (I think), Smike was out of town, and Preston had prior plans.
Month 4; Day 27 (Continued)
Near midnight that evening, Sekar was still out clubbing and Mon was still at the hotel room that he rented in Piringiisi; but Garth wasn’t quite ready to let go on the issue with the Engineer. And so he woke up Gordo (who was asleep on the couch in the lounge) and asked him how he might get in touch with Rebel elements on Sullust. After briefly lamenting the fractured nature of Alliance since the Battle of Endor, Gardo apologetically told him that he knew absolutely nothing about local activity.
Garth then instead found a public library which was open and spent the next few hours searching for any articles or research papers pertaining to water-reactive explosives. His search parameters apparently set off some red flags; because around 04:00 in the morning, his terminal locked out and he was detained by authorities moments later. Thankfully, between his IPKC and his previous interactions with Commander Tarrax, he was released after only a couple of hours. Upon returning to the Seventh Moon, he finally went to sleep.
Month 4; Day 28
Though still somewhat hung over, Sekar had returned to the ship around 03:00 in the morning; and Mon finally rolled in (looking far more refreshed) around 10:00. After a couple more hours, they still had no contact from the Engineer; and Garth finally agreed to depart and get Gordo to Tatooine as promised. He did, however, ask that the PC’s at least consider coming right back after they dropped him off.
That evening, the PC’s got their very first message on their illegal holo-net transceiver. It read, “Please tell Gordo that Dak came back; but no, I still haven’t told him.”
“Dak is Lita’s boyfriend”, Gordo explained. “But she’s terrified to tell him that she’s actually an Alliance operative. After a long string of broken plans recently, she had promised him and promised him that they’d do something special on his birthday. But she ended up working with you guys all night to deal with the Malis situation; and when she got home, he’d moved all of his stuff out. But apparently he came back; and apparently she’s still not being honest with him.”
Month 4; Day 29
After an uneventful voyage through the Outer Rim, the PC’s reached Tatooine at around 19:00 in the evening; and at Gordo’s request, they touched down in Docking Bay 87 in Mos Eisley. Gordo explained that the bay was owned by the same people who owned the bay where his ship was parked, and he promised to pay for their landing fees and fuel when he went to pay the back fees for his own vessel.
“After that”, he continued, “I’ll go straight to talk to that friend of mine who owes me the big favor and send him your way. He’s a Jawa named Het Nkik; he’ll probably have his buddy Jek with him. So, just make sure there’s at last one person here to meet them; even if it’s just your droid.” Gordo then took a moment to again thank the PC’s for all they’d done for him, said his goodbyes, and departed.
As promised, a pair of Jawas arrived around an hour later with a secondary transponder for the ship; stating that they would need three or four hours to get it installed and calibrated. They also offered, for 2000 credits, to additionally modify it to hold two alternate transponder codes; and throw in a second clean ID for another 1000. The PC’s eagerly agreed.
The Jawas finished their work by around 23:00 hours, and they then took the time to demonstrate to the PC’s how everything worked. In addition to the secondary transponder, the PC’s received a sliced BOSS datapad which they could unlock and alter. Not only could they switch among multiple false ID’s, any PC could upload an image of themself and attach it to the captain’s profile (the fake captain’s profiles were deliberately given unisex first names for exactly that reason). ‘The Seventh Moon under Seven Lunatics Freight Hauling’ could now also be ‘The Soaring Leaf under Captain Aubrey Metris’ or ‘Reckless Endeavor under Captain Riley Miro’.
Once that was done, the PC’s placed a subnet call to Badger; and after catching up and exchanging holo-net codes, they inquired about possible work. “Actually…”, Badger began, “my Capo on Tatooine has been complaining lately about being short-staffed. I don’t think she’s in right now; but some time tomorrow, head over to Lassiter Transport and ask for Calli. It’s right across the street from the used speeder lot just outside of Docking Bay 94. I’ll call her and let her know you’re coming.”
“Once she’s done with you”, he continued, “call me back. Some strange things have been going on on Obana where we all first met, and I think I’d like for you guys to check it out.”
Month 4; Day 30
Before heading over to Lassiter Transport the next morning, the PC’s stopped by Gep’s Grill to get something to eat; and as they continued on through the flea market, something on a table full of sundry knickknacks caught Sekar’s eye. Though she’d never seen a real one before, she’d heard descriptions and seen a couple of images; and she was fairly certain that it was a Jedi holocron!
At a price of only 30 credits, the owner of the stall clearly didn’t have a clue as to what he had. Sekar bought it and then stuffed it into her bag.
Lassiter Transport was a high-security transportation company which, in addition to turning a tidy profit of its own, was a front company for the Zann Consortium’s operations on Tatooine; giving them the perfect excuse to move commodities around the planet in armored speeder trucks full of heavily-armed guards. It was owned by an attractive middle-aged woman named Callissa (‘Calli’) Lassiter, who also reported directly to Badger. Calli seemed legitimately pleased to meet the PC’s; commending them for saving her boss’ life. She then took them up to her office to talk business.
Breaking out a map of the main habitable zone of Tatooine, she pointed to a spot on the edge of the Jundland Wastes; west of Arnthout and south-west of Bestine. “We’ve tracked a few Cartel ships in and out of that spot over the last couple of months”, she explained; also giving the PC’s more exact coordinates. “And that spot just happens to be right outside of Bestine’s sensor zone and patrol radius. I’d really like to know what they’re doing up there.” She offered the PC’s 1000 in advance plus additional money depending on what they found out and what they had to go through; and the PC’s agreed.
To achieve an optimal balance of expediency and subtlety; the PC’s decided to take the ship to the outskirts of Arnthout, then take Garth’s airspeeder to within a mile or so of the target area, then go the rest of the way on foot. As they weren’t under any real time constraints, Garth wanted to take a few hours to do some work on his speeder; and he managed to significantly improve the handling and fix the problem in the lift system that had been causing it to lean to one side.
Sekar meanwhile took the holocron into the ladies’ bunk room and, after a few minutes, managed to figure out how to activate it. A full-sized hologram (quite lifelike apart from a bluish corona) appeared of an elderly man whose eyes were full of wisdom and benevolence. “Good morning”, the hologram stated with a smile and a warm voice. “Whom do I have the honor of addressing this fine day?”
Sekar, who didn’t really understand what a holocron was or what it was for, just stood there blinking. “My apologies”, the man continued with a patient smile. “I guess it was rude for me not to introduce myself first. I am an artificially-intelligent digital recreation of the memories, knowledge, and personality of the late Jedi Master Hoke Ilderim. How might I be of service?”
While Garth and Mon continued to work on the speeder, Sekar and Hoke had a long talk. She explained that she had not stolen the holocron but had in fact bought it for 30 credits at a flea market. Hoke Ilderim had apparently died around 100BBY, and his holocron had spent the next eight decades hooked up to the Jedi Archives when it wasn’t in use. “The very last thing I read”, he continued, “was a news bulletin stating that Senator Palpatine had declared himself ‘Emperor’. I was deactivated only minutes later and I remained deactivated until today.”
The ensuing conversation was practically a carbon copy of the one which the PC’s had had with J’brel after they’d defrosted her: catching up on the major events of the last quarter century. Their best guess was that the holocrons had been smuggled out of the Jedi Temple in anticipation of the Emperor making a move against them (which he of course did).
The boys finally came looking for Sekar and got involved in the conversation and, star-struck at the thought of all of the knowledge which must have accumulated over a century of living and another 80 years of perusing the Jedi Archives nearly 24/7, Mon kinda went full fanboy (going so far as to offer 15 credits to Sekar so that they could ‘go halfsies’). Garth eventually reminded everyone that they had a job to do, and Hoke’s holocron was left activated near the middle of the ship so that he could acquaint himself with it.
The first two stages of the trip went by without incident; but about half-way from Garth’s speeder to the target area, the PC’s were set upon by a pack of four hungry wamp rats. As they closed in, Garth advised everyone to keep the noise down; citing that they were only half a mile from their destination. While Mon responded by backing himself against the canyon wall and zapping away with stun bolts, Sekar heeded Garth’s advice by way of running up to the rats and punching one of them.
After one of the filthy creatures bit Sekar’s arm, dragged her to the ground, and shook her around like a rag doll; Garth jumped into the melee while Mon continued to lay down a barrage of stun bolts. After an intense minute or two of punching, kicking, biting, scratching, and wrestling; two of the wamp rats had been knocked out and the other two had fled in terror. Sekar broke the main incisors out of the mouth of the one which had chomped down on her arm and pocketed them.
At the target coordinates, the canyon widened substantially; and on the north wall, there was a large cave entrance. Peering around the corner of the connecting canyon with his electro-binoculars, Garth spotted half a dozen armed droids standing guard at the mouth of the cave; back just far enough that they wouldn’t be spotted from the air. They were the same type of Hutt battle droids which they had encountered on Obana and again on Lofquar, and they had the same maroon coloration on their heads and shoulders as the ones from the latter planet.
With no way to approach without being spotted, the PC’s decided to look around for another entrance; and in fact climbed the canyon wall so that they could get above the cave. Sure enough; they found a wide and sloping tunnel which appeared to lead down to the same general area.
The tunnel eventually leveled out and opened up into a cavern which was so dark that even Sekar couldn’t see the far walls. The PC’s began to slowly creep through the darkness; and after a few moments, they all began to hear intermittent sounds from above which resembled some kind of mechanical actuators. Sekar turned her attention upwards, and Garth activated the low-light feature on his binoculars and did the same.
Hanging from racks attached to the cavern ceiling were dozens and dozens of enormous droids the size of airspeeders. Each moment, a number of them would move their head or a limb; giving the entire scene a strong resemblance to a colony of bats.
Moving even more quietly and cautiously than when they’d entered, the PC’s backed out of the cavern.
Back outside, the PC’s agreed that they had enough information to bring back to Calli; and they began the mile-long walk back to Garth’s airspeeder. The two previously-KO’d wamp rats were now conscious, but they were still stumbling around in sluggish and awkward manner. Out of spite, Sekar gave the one that had bitten her a swift kick.
Back at Lassiter Transport, Mon looked no worse for the wear; but Sekar and Garth both looked like they’d gotten into a street brawl with a bunch of giant rodents. After Garth explained what had happened, Sekar proudly held up the incisors and declared that she had punched their former owner. “I like you”, Calli said with a smile. “If you ever want more steady work, come back and see me.”
As to the main matter of the mission, it was pretty clear that one of the cartels was amassing a military force just outside of Bestine. While the PC’s were of the mind that a proactive invasion was immanent, Calli was more inclined to think that it was probably just a contingency plan in the event of a really heavy-handed crackdown by either the Governor of Tatooine or the Moff of the Arkanis Sector.
Regardless, Calli paid them an additional 2000 and thanked them for a job well done.