Star Wars (7ABY; M05, D19-D20): Scarif - Under New Management
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Morrigan, Ganen, Sekar, Ness, Roger, and Garth / [XP: 9]
Robert had prior plans. (Bevin had work early the next morning but missed nothing of great consequence at the tail end of the game).
Rewind
Back on Tatooine when the Seventh Moon caught up with the Ghost, Garth wound up in the fore-port cabin with Mon while Roger ended up in the aft-starboard cabin with Ganen. The PCs then had a lengthy conversation on names; finally settling on renaming the Ghost to ‘the Revenant’ and renaming the Phantom to ‘Specter’.
Month 5; Day 19 (Continued)
Despite all they’d heard about the lax law enforcement outside of Xandar, Ganen was pretty sure that a roof getting blown off of a high-rise apartment complex was likely to draw some kind of attention. Adding that a Hutt had just been murdered, Ganen strongly advocated a hasty and low-profile departure.
The PCs took the service lift down and then slipped out the back; but as Ganen started across the street to make sure that it was clear, an unmarked Strikebreaker riot control vehicle circled around from the side of the building and shone a spotlight on him. “Stop right where you are!”, a voice commanded over the vehicle’s PA.
Ganen held still until the vehicle landed and a number of people wearing heavy black armor and carrying blaster carbines and riot shields began to disembark. He then rocketed over the vehicle and disappeared into the night before anyone could get a good bead on him. Mon, who had gone unnoticed, waited until the vehicle cleared out and then calmly walked away; eventually taking a cab back to the starport.
Over in the parking garage under the Women’s Services Center, Sekar called Morrigan and Ness over for a quick powwow and implored them not to tell any of the other PCs (especially Garth) about her lightsaber or the fact that she was indeed Tempest (who was being pursued by bounty hunters, including Garth). Morrigan promised to keep it a secret, but firmly stated that Sekar could trust the others (even Garth).
As the conversation wound down, the PCs suddenly heard what sounded like a heavy and rusty door get thrown open somewhere else in the parking garage. Sekar hid behind one of the columns, Morrigan put her back to a nearby wall, and Ness his under the wreckage of the ambulance.
Morrigan was the first one to spot it: an ominous-looking red combat droid which almost silently floated into view. Moments later, Sekar would see it and realize that it was identical to the murder-bot which they’d encountered on Velabri.
The droid immediately spotted Morrigan and narrowly missed her with a pair of stun bolts as she dashed across the parking deck and dove under the ambulance with Ness. As it advanced on the ambulance, it obliviously floated right past Sekar; who ignited her saber and struck it from behind.
The initial blow staggered the droid long enough to prompt the other two PCs to come out of hiding and join the fray; Ness slashing at it with her force pike while Morrigan reached a hand into the opening which Sekar had made in an effort to pull its main power relay and shut it down. She wound up getting her arm stuck and painfully wrenched as the droid turned to face Sekar, but thankfully managed to get it free before it crashed to the ground after her sister cleanly decapitated it.
By this point, the PCs in the field had been gone for over two hours; so Roger and Garth decided to check in with them. When they got to the cockpit to get on the radio, R4-X7 (who’d been monitoring local communications) informed them that he’d just heard that ‘a building had blown up’ down by the coast.
A quick exchange of sit-reps confirmed what Ganen already suspected: whether the government had made some back-alley deal with them or just didn’t care, the Hutts (and their Revan allies) were running the show outside of Xandar. Ness had no information to confirm this, but she cited that it would certainly explain a lot of what had been going on for the last couple of months.
At this point, the PCs agreed that they’d done their job. As the ladies exited the Women’s Services Center, Sekar took a moment to get on the PA. “You’ve all been a part of a Revan experiment”, she announced. “I suggest you leave this building; enjoy your day.”
While Garth took his airspeeder out to pick up Ganen, the ladies took the time to swing by Ness’ apartment. Morrigan and Ness were able to take a desperately-needed shower, and the latter was able to gather up some cash and personal belongings. Morrigan didn’t think to radio ahead that they were coming in in a newly-acquired speeder, and she got half-way up the ramp to find Jacinta defiantly blocking the way with her Gaffi stick in her hand; though she quickly stepped aside when Morrigan called to her.
Ness was introduced to everyone and nobody opposed the deal to give her a ride off of Obana, though it was pointed out that their next stop was a formal party. It was suggested that said party might be a good place for her to find another job; though as the evening wore on, it was also hinted that she might make a good addition to the crew.
Though everyone was a little anxious to leave ASAP, they still had one more objective: acquire formalwear. Rather than wait for the stores to reopen in the morning and spend a lot of money, Ness pointed out that there were a number of essentially abandoned neighborhoods on the mainland and that formalwear wasn’t very high on most people’s looting lists.
As the PCs started heading to the Specter, Jacinta broke out an upholstery cleaning unit which had been left on the Ghost and started cleaning the entrail smell out of Morrigan’s new speeder; but Morrigan stopped her and informed her the she was coming too. “I really like it and appreciate it when you guys take me places and let me do things with you”, Jacinta replied with a sad smile, “but you don’t have to take me everywhere.”
“I mean…”, she continued, “what are you even going to tell people at this party? ‘Oh, this is Jacinta; she’s 11. She was raised by Revan, but don’t worry; it’s been almost three whole weeks since we killed her biological parents and she hasn’t done anything too terrible yet’.” Morrigan gave her a quick hug and told her something to the effect of ‘let us worry about that’.
Morrigan landed the Specter right on the roof of an abandoned mall which Ness led her to; and just as the Falleen had predicted, it had a big clothing outlet which had hardly been touched. After helping Sekar find a red dress which was appropriate but also reasonably functional, Morrigan got Jacinta into a lavender number with a skirt which was long and wide enough to conceal a weapon but short enough for her to quickly get to it. She then found a snazzy formal jumpsuit for herself.
Ganen acquired a nicer under-suit for his armor as well as an off-shoulder cape, while Roger actually decided that he would not be wearing his armor to the party; instead selecting the most expensive suit that he could find and then matching it with a ‘dad tie’ with blasters on it. Garth picked out something tasteful; but because he had such an uncommon body shape, it fit him rather awkwardly.
Month 5; Day 12
When Badger had first mentioned Scarif, Roger had thought he’d misheard him; but when the PCs left Obana at around 01:00 in the morning, Morrigan confirmed that that was where they were going. He’d technically been there, but had never actually even seen it; much less set foot on it. Vader’s ship had arrived just as the battle was winding down, and it then immediately took off in pursuit of the ship to which the stolen Death Star plans had been beamed. He knew nothing else of the planet, but couldn’t imagine that it would be the kind of place where one would want to hold a formal party.
After getting underway, Morrigan went down to take a look at her new speeder’s engine and found that Jacinta already had the interior smelling lemony fresh. As Morrigan got under the hood, Jacinta started clearing the exterior; but eventually Morrigan gently ordered the girl to go to bed.
The Revenant reached Scarif at around 08:30 in the morning, and the PCs were a little surprised to see that the entire planet was surrounded by a deflector shield; something which was ludicrously expensive and therefore exceedingly rare. After transmitting the code which Badger had given them to the aperture station, the shield was opened and they followed a nav beacon down.
Once they were low enough, the PCs could see that the ocean below them was dotted with absolutely stunning tropical archipelagos. Without a word, Jacinta suddenly dashed out of the cockpit and slid down the ladder; then pressed herself against the bubble of the nose gunwell like a Garfield doll.
As the ship neared the nav beacon, the PCs saw a monolithic tower of metal rising up from one of the island. Moment later, they got a call from Badger.
“Hey, you’re early!”, he said with a smile. “I forgot you’re not flying my slothful little Sunday cruiser anymore. All right, just stretch your legs a bit and I’ll be out as soon as I can. Fuel is on the house and the pump is on; see you soon.”
The nav beacon led to a tiny island not far from the huge tower. It had a tarmac, landing lights, the beacon which they’d followed in, a fuel pump, and what appeared to be a primitive hut on the west side. It also had quite a few palm trees and 360 degrees of lovely beach. The PCs practically ran each other over trying to get outside, where they found that the warm sun and ocean breeze felt just as wonderful as the place looked.
Jacinta in particular looked almost mesmerized; and definitely more at peace than the PCs had ever seen her. “Take away the metal buildings and add some soaring featherless birds big enough to carry you off and eat you”, she said, “and I’d really believe I was home.” When Ganen asked where she was from, she replied that she was born on Darkknell but had left when she was only two and didn’t really remember it. Asked where she’d been living between Darkknell and Endor, she apologetically stated that she’d rather not say.
“Nearly all of the people there were born there and have no interest in going anywhere else or hurting anyone else”, she explained. “I’m sorry, but I think you know a lot of people who’d like to send a fleet of ships to bombard them from orbit just because they’re Revan.”
Around 15 minutes or so after they landed, Badger arrived in a white and blue airspeeder about the size of a starport shuttle but. After a quick round of handshakes and hellos with the PCs he knew, he was introduced to Ness and Jacinta.
Ness was perfectly polite but would later comment that she didn’t like ‘his type’. With regard to Jacinta, Sekar’s only explanation was that she was ‘taken her under her wing after one of their previous encounters’, which Badger seemed to find a satisfactory answer. After taking a moment to marvel at the ship formerly known as the Ghost, Badger launched into a lengthy monolog…
“So, as some of you probably know, that big building behind me was once a high-security data vault. It’s where the Emperor kept all the information on his special projects that he wanted to keep hidden from the Imperial Senate. One of those projects was the first Death Star, and you’re standing right where the Rebels won their first major victory while infiltrators stole the technical readouts which were used to destroy it.”
“Anyway; since the Rebels obviously knew about the data vault and the Emperor disbanded the Imperial Senate just a day or two later, the whole place got cleared out and just abandoned. Mining and shipbuilding still goes on on the other side of the planet, but the Citadel just sat empty for over four years.”
“Now, late in 4 ABY when I was setting up shop in this region, I happened to find out about this place; and I couldn’t believe that such a beautiful planet had been kept hidden away and then essentially forgotten. Long story short, I bought the building from the sector moff and I’ve spent the last two-and-a-half years having it renovated and refitted into a high-end luxury hotel. Tomorrow night will be its official grand opening, and that’s why we’re here.”
“We sent invitations to about a thousand people and we’re expecting two to three hundred of them to make it. That’s just the main invitees, of course; most of them will be bringing family and/or staff.”
“It’s going to be a mix of Consortium leadership, Imperial command, and corporate big-wigs; but no matter what the particulars, these people are all going to have five very important things in common. One, they have lots of problems. Two, these problems are often of a nature best dealt with by outsiders. Three, they have lots of money to pay outsiders to fix their problems. Four, they all have access to holonet transceivers. And five, they’re all willing to bend the rules when it suits them; otherwise they wouldn’t even be coming to this party. Play this right, and the only problem you’re ever going to have getting work is figuring out which jobs you want to take and which ones you need to turn down.”
Badger then opened up a small box which he had in his hand and started handing out small stacks of data cards to the PCs. They were grey and black business cards with a fancy logo reading ‘Seven Lunatics Freight Hauling.’
“Now, these have got your holonet code on them, so don’t just go throwing them at everyone you see. But if you meet someone at the party, you hit it off, and you think you might want to do business with them; give ‘em a card. You’ve got three or four green flags on your record last I knew (Morrigan informed him that they were up to five); nobody’s going to bust you over an illegal transceiver; not anyone who’s going to be at this party, anyway. And contrary to popular misconception; your code cannot be used to monitor your communications, or see who else you’ve been talking to, or track your ship, or anything else like that; it doesn’t work that way.”
“But anyway, like I said; you’re early. The party’s going to be tomorrow evening; but everything in the hotel is already up and running. We’ve got bars, restaurants, lounges, a spa, a gym, a big huge swimming pool complex if we get a storm or you just don’t like salt water. We’ve got shops, a shooting range, waveskimmer rentals… if you can’t find something to occupy you for a couple of days, then I recommend a trip to the medical center because there’s something very wrong with you.”
“Oh, and speaking of shops and things…” He then handed each PC a single red datacard with a silver outline of the Citadel on it. “You’re officially here both as my guests and as part of my security detail; if anyone on my actual security detail gives you any hassle about weapons or anything else, show them these. These will also get you pretty much anywhere in the facility you want to go, please don’t abuse that; and they’ll get you anything for sale on the house, please don’t abuse that either. Last but not least; if you’d rather stay in the citadel than on your ship, these can be keyed to your rooms.”
Most of the PCs took the shuttle-bus back to the Citadel with Badger, then headed straight to a beachwear shop. After everyone perused for a bit, Morrigan found Jacinta standing in front of a mirror; holding a cute little black two-piece up in front of herself and looking inexplicably distraught.
“I can’t wear this”, she whispered when Morrigan asked her what was wrong. When asked why not, she sounded like she was almost choking back tears. “Didn’t Sekar tell you?”
Jacinta took a deep, slow breath and then explained. “ I have a brand on my back”, she said. “A Revan brand; right above my butt. That skirt and those exercise shorts you bought me have wide enough waistbands to keep it covered, even if they slip a little. This doesn’t.”
Sekar overhead the conversation and headed straight for the medical center as Morrigan insisted that Jacinta try the suit on. By the time she came out of the fitting room, her master had returned with a big waterproof bandage which she slapped right over her brand. They promised to look into a more permanent solution soon, but it would be enough to get her through the day.
Each of the PCs then took the time to enjoy a fun and relaxing day. Roger and Morrigan had an informal waverunner race, Ganen did some scuba diving and found a half-buried solar panel from a TIE fighter, and Sekar discovered that Jacinta liked the water (particularly free diving) almost as much as she liked violence.
The PCs all got together for lunch at one of the Citadel’s many restaurants; and as they were finishing up, they were approached by none other than Governor Gallus Flyte of Tatooine. He looked right past the veteran PCs, however; and spoke directly to Ness. “So sorry to interrupt, young lady”, he began, “but you wouldn’t happen to be the ‘Flying Lance’ from that arena in Xandar, would you?”
Ness confirmed that she was indeed; and when she expressed surprise that anyone would recognize her as such, the governor informed her that replays of her fights had actually become quite popular on Tatooine. “Oh, Prefect Irimoor will be kicking himself for not coming when he finds out that you were here”, he then added with a hint of a devilish grin. “He absolutely adores you; was completely heartbroken when your arena closed down after the Hutt incident.”
“But it’s nice to see that you’re doing well…”, Flyte continued as he glanced around the table, “though you’re keeping company with people who are very much drawn to danger. The trend might be broken now, though.” He finally turned to address the rest of the PCs. “After you came to my office with news of an ominous threat right under my nose for the SECOND time, I had customs keeping an eye out for you. But it seems you were in Mos Eisley just recently and, so far so good.”
After an afternoon as enjoyable as their morning, the PCs ran into another Imperial governor just before dinner; though it took them a bit of time to figured out who she was. She had thick brown hair, was wearing a blue bandana and a pair of big hoop earrings, and was completely hammered. “Hey!”, she loudly slurred out when she saw the PCs, “It’s my Rebel huntersz!”
The PCs eventually figured out that it was the governor of Baroonda whom they’d spoken to only very briefly a couple of months earlier; at which time she was dressed in a military uniform, had her hair up, and was sober. They also hadn’t caught her name at that time; and though they were having some difficulty understanding her, they were fairly sure that she was saying ‘Elsa Marl’.
“Rebel hunters?”, Ness queried to Ganen after the conversation.
“If you’re going to stick with us”, the Mandalorian replied, “it’s not a good idea for your political ideals to be immutable. We’re equal opportunity.”
After dinner, Sekar and Jacinta paid a visit to Badger and told him about the latter’s secret and the associated problem that it was creating for her. “Yea…”, Badger replied; not the least bit surprised that she’d been raised by Revan. “I kinda guessed you’ve had a rough upbringing.”
“But as to your mark”, he continued, “that won’t be a problem. I’ve got a 2-1B down in medical; he’ll get you squared away and then I’ll wipe the procedure from his memory.”
The droid informed Jacinta that there was a painless but time-consuming way to remove the brand and a quick but painful way. Jacinta made it clear that she had no time for the former, and did nothing more than flinch throughout the entire procedure.
She spent the rest of the evening in her new swimsuit and then slept in it; just because she could.
Morrigan, Ganen, Sekar, Ness, Roger, and Garth / [XP: 9]
Robert had prior plans. (Bevin had work early the next morning but missed nothing of great consequence at the tail end of the game).
Rewind
Back on Tatooine when the Seventh Moon caught up with the Ghost, Garth wound up in the fore-port cabin with Mon while Roger ended up in the aft-starboard cabin with Ganen. The PCs then had a lengthy conversation on names; finally settling on renaming the Ghost to ‘the Revenant’ and renaming the Phantom to ‘Specter’.
Month 5; Day 19 (Continued)
Despite all they’d heard about the lax law enforcement outside of Xandar, Ganen was pretty sure that a roof getting blown off of a high-rise apartment complex was likely to draw some kind of attention. Adding that a Hutt had just been murdered, Ganen strongly advocated a hasty and low-profile departure.
The PCs took the service lift down and then slipped out the back; but as Ganen started across the street to make sure that it was clear, an unmarked Strikebreaker riot control vehicle circled around from the side of the building and shone a spotlight on him. “Stop right where you are!”, a voice commanded over the vehicle’s PA.
Ganen held still until the vehicle landed and a number of people wearing heavy black armor and carrying blaster carbines and riot shields began to disembark. He then rocketed over the vehicle and disappeared into the night before anyone could get a good bead on him. Mon, who had gone unnoticed, waited until the vehicle cleared out and then calmly walked away; eventually taking a cab back to the starport.
Over in the parking garage under the Women’s Services Center, Sekar called Morrigan and Ness over for a quick powwow and implored them not to tell any of the other PCs (especially Garth) about her lightsaber or the fact that she was indeed Tempest (who was being pursued by bounty hunters, including Garth). Morrigan promised to keep it a secret, but firmly stated that Sekar could trust the others (even Garth).
As the conversation wound down, the PCs suddenly heard what sounded like a heavy and rusty door get thrown open somewhere else in the parking garage. Sekar hid behind one of the columns, Morrigan put her back to a nearby wall, and Ness his under the wreckage of the ambulance.
Morrigan was the first one to spot it: an ominous-looking red combat droid which almost silently floated into view. Moments later, Sekar would see it and realize that it was identical to the murder-bot which they’d encountered on Velabri.
The droid immediately spotted Morrigan and narrowly missed her with a pair of stun bolts as she dashed across the parking deck and dove under the ambulance with Ness. As it advanced on the ambulance, it obliviously floated right past Sekar; who ignited her saber and struck it from behind.
The initial blow staggered the droid long enough to prompt the other two PCs to come out of hiding and join the fray; Ness slashing at it with her force pike while Morrigan reached a hand into the opening which Sekar had made in an effort to pull its main power relay and shut it down. She wound up getting her arm stuck and painfully wrenched as the droid turned to face Sekar, but thankfully managed to get it free before it crashed to the ground after her sister cleanly decapitated it.
By this point, the PCs in the field had been gone for over two hours; so Roger and Garth decided to check in with them. When they got to the cockpit to get on the radio, R4-X7 (who’d been monitoring local communications) informed them that he’d just heard that ‘a building had blown up’ down by the coast.
A quick exchange of sit-reps confirmed what Ganen already suspected: whether the government had made some back-alley deal with them or just didn’t care, the Hutts (and their Revan allies) were running the show outside of Xandar. Ness had no information to confirm this, but she cited that it would certainly explain a lot of what had been going on for the last couple of months.
At this point, the PCs agreed that they’d done their job. As the ladies exited the Women’s Services Center, Sekar took a moment to get on the PA. “You’ve all been a part of a Revan experiment”, she announced. “I suggest you leave this building; enjoy your day.”
While Garth took his airspeeder out to pick up Ganen, the ladies took the time to swing by Ness’ apartment. Morrigan and Ness were able to take a desperately-needed shower, and the latter was able to gather up some cash and personal belongings. Morrigan didn’t think to radio ahead that they were coming in in a newly-acquired speeder, and she got half-way up the ramp to find Jacinta defiantly blocking the way with her Gaffi stick in her hand; though she quickly stepped aside when Morrigan called to her.
Ness was introduced to everyone and nobody opposed the deal to give her a ride off of Obana, though it was pointed out that their next stop was a formal party. It was suggested that said party might be a good place for her to find another job; though as the evening wore on, it was also hinted that she might make a good addition to the crew.
Though everyone was a little anxious to leave ASAP, they still had one more objective: acquire formalwear. Rather than wait for the stores to reopen in the morning and spend a lot of money, Ness pointed out that there were a number of essentially abandoned neighborhoods on the mainland and that formalwear wasn’t very high on most people’s looting lists.
As the PCs started heading to the Specter, Jacinta broke out an upholstery cleaning unit which had been left on the Ghost and started cleaning the entrail smell out of Morrigan’s new speeder; but Morrigan stopped her and informed her the she was coming too. “I really like it and appreciate it when you guys take me places and let me do things with you”, Jacinta replied with a sad smile, “but you don’t have to take me everywhere.”
“I mean…”, she continued, “what are you even going to tell people at this party? ‘Oh, this is Jacinta; she’s 11. She was raised by Revan, but don’t worry; it’s been almost three whole weeks since we killed her biological parents and she hasn’t done anything too terrible yet’.” Morrigan gave her a quick hug and told her something to the effect of ‘let us worry about that’.
Morrigan landed the Specter right on the roof of an abandoned mall which Ness led her to; and just as the Falleen had predicted, it had a big clothing outlet which had hardly been touched. After helping Sekar find a red dress which was appropriate but also reasonably functional, Morrigan got Jacinta into a lavender number with a skirt which was long and wide enough to conceal a weapon but short enough for her to quickly get to it. She then found a snazzy formal jumpsuit for herself.
Ganen acquired a nicer under-suit for his armor as well as an off-shoulder cape, while Roger actually decided that he would not be wearing his armor to the party; instead selecting the most expensive suit that he could find and then matching it with a ‘dad tie’ with blasters on it. Garth picked out something tasteful; but because he had such an uncommon body shape, it fit him rather awkwardly.
Month 5; Day 12
When Badger had first mentioned Scarif, Roger had thought he’d misheard him; but when the PCs left Obana at around 01:00 in the morning, Morrigan confirmed that that was where they were going. He’d technically been there, but had never actually even seen it; much less set foot on it. Vader’s ship had arrived just as the battle was winding down, and it then immediately took off in pursuit of the ship to which the stolen Death Star plans had been beamed. He knew nothing else of the planet, but couldn’t imagine that it would be the kind of place where one would want to hold a formal party.
After getting underway, Morrigan went down to take a look at her new speeder’s engine and found that Jacinta already had the interior smelling lemony fresh. As Morrigan got under the hood, Jacinta started clearing the exterior; but eventually Morrigan gently ordered the girl to go to bed.
The Revenant reached Scarif at around 08:30 in the morning, and the PCs were a little surprised to see that the entire planet was surrounded by a deflector shield; something which was ludicrously expensive and therefore exceedingly rare. After transmitting the code which Badger had given them to the aperture station, the shield was opened and they followed a nav beacon down.
Once they were low enough, the PCs could see that the ocean below them was dotted with absolutely stunning tropical archipelagos. Without a word, Jacinta suddenly dashed out of the cockpit and slid down the ladder; then pressed herself against the bubble of the nose gunwell like a Garfield doll.
As the ship neared the nav beacon, the PCs saw a monolithic tower of metal rising up from one of the island. Moment later, they got a call from Badger.
“Hey, you’re early!”, he said with a smile. “I forgot you’re not flying my slothful little Sunday cruiser anymore. All right, just stretch your legs a bit and I’ll be out as soon as I can. Fuel is on the house and the pump is on; see you soon.”
The nav beacon led to a tiny island not far from the huge tower. It had a tarmac, landing lights, the beacon which they’d followed in, a fuel pump, and what appeared to be a primitive hut on the west side. It also had quite a few palm trees and 360 degrees of lovely beach. The PCs practically ran each other over trying to get outside, where they found that the warm sun and ocean breeze felt just as wonderful as the place looked.
Jacinta in particular looked almost mesmerized; and definitely more at peace than the PCs had ever seen her. “Take away the metal buildings and add some soaring featherless birds big enough to carry you off and eat you”, she said, “and I’d really believe I was home.” When Ganen asked where she was from, she replied that she was born on Darkknell but had left when she was only two and didn’t really remember it. Asked where she’d been living between Darkknell and Endor, she apologetically stated that she’d rather not say.
“Nearly all of the people there were born there and have no interest in going anywhere else or hurting anyone else”, she explained. “I’m sorry, but I think you know a lot of people who’d like to send a fleet of ships to bombard them from orbit just because they’re Revan.”
Around 15 minutes or so after they landed, Badger arrived in a white and blue airspeeder about the size of a starport shuttle but. After a quick round of handshakes and hellos with the PCs he knew, he was introduced to Ness and Jacinta.
Ness was perfectly polite but would later comment that she didn’t like ‘his type’. With regard to Jacinta, Sekar’s only explanation was that she was ‘taken her under her wing after one of their previous encounters’, which Badger seemed to find a satisfactory answer. After taking a moment to marvel at the ship formerly known as the Ghost, Badger launched into a lengthy monolog…
“So, as some of you probably know, that big building behind me was once a high-security data vault. It’s where the Emperor kept all the information on his special projects that he wanted to keep hidden from the Imperial Senate. One of those projects was the first Death Star, and you’re standing right where the Rebels won their first major victory while infiltrators stole the technical readouts which were used to destroy it.”
“Anyway; since the Rebels obviously knew about the data vault and the Emperor disbanded the Imperial Senate just a day or two later, the whole place got cleared out and just abandoned. Mining and shipbuilding still goes on on the other side of the planet, but the Citadel just sat empty for over four years.”
“Now, late in 4 ABY when I was setting up shop in this region, I happened to find out about this place; and I couldn’t believe that such a beautiful planet had been kept hidden away and then essentially forgotten. Long story short, I bought the building from the sector moff and I’ve spent the last two-and-a-half years having it renovated and refitted into a high-end luxury hotel. Tomorrow night will be its official grand opening, and that’s why we’re here.”
“We sent invitations to about a thousand people and we’re expecting two to three hundred of them to make it. That’s just the main invitees, of course; most of them will be bringing family and/or staff.”
“It’s going to be a mix of Consortium leadership, Imperial command, and corporate big-wigs; but no matter what the particulars, these people are all going to have five very important things in common. One, they have lots of problems. Two, these problems are often of a nature best dealt with by outsiders. Three, they have lots of money to pay outsiders to fix their problems. Four, they all have access to holonet transceivers. And five, they’re all willing to bend the rules when it suits them; otherwise they wouldn’t even be coming to this party. Play this right, and the only problem you’re ever going to have getting work is figuring out which jobs you want to take and which ones you need to turn down.”
Badger then opened up a small box which he had in his hand and started handing out small stacks of data cards to the PCs. They were grey and black business cards with a fancy logo reading ‘Seven Lunatics Freight Hauling.’
“Now, these have got your holonet code on them, so don’t just go throwing them at everyone you see. But if you meet someone at the party, you hit it off, and you think you might want to do business with them; give ‘em a card. You’ve got three or four green flags on your record last I knew (Morrigan informed him that they were up to five); nobody’s going to bust you over an illegal transceiver; not anyone who’s going to be at this party, anyway. And contrary to popular misconception; your code cannot be used to monitor your communications, or see who else you’ve been talking to, or track your ship, or anything else like that; it doesn’t work that way.”
“But anyway, like I said; you’re early. The party’s going to be tomorrow evening; but everything in the hotel is already up and running. We’ve got bars, restaurants, lounges, a spa, a gym, a big huge swimming pool complex if we get a storm or you just don’t like salt water. We’ve got shops, a shooting range, waveskimmer rentals… if you can’t find something to occupy you for a couple of days, then I recommend a trip to the medical center because there’s something very wrong with you.”
“Oh, and speaking of shops and things…” He then handed each PC a single red datacard with a silver outline of the Citadel on it. “You’re officially here both as my guests and as part of my security detail; if anyone on my actual security detail gives you any hassle about weapons or anything else, show them these. These will also get you pretty much anywhere in the facility you want to go, please don’t abuse that; and they’ll get you anything for sale on the house, please don’t abuse that either. Last but not least; if you’d rather stay in the citadel than on your ship, these can be keyed to your rooms.”
Most of the PCs took the shuttle-bus back to the Citadel with Badger, then headed straight to a beachwear shop. After everyone perused for a bit, Morrigan found Jacinta standing in front of a mirror; holding a cute little black two-piece up in front of herself and looking inexplicably distraught.
“I can’t wear this”, she whispered when Morrigan asked her what was wrong. When asked why not, she sounded like she was almost choking back tears. “Didn’t Sekar tell you?”
Jacinta took a deep, slow breath and then explained. “ I have a brand on my back”, she said. “A Revan brand; right above my butt. That skirt and those exercise shorts you bought me have wide enough waistbands to keep it covered, even if they slip a little. This doesn’t.”
Sekar overhead the conversation and headed straight for the medical center as Morrigan insisted that Jacinta try the suit on. By the time she came out of the fitting room, her master had returned with a big waterproof bandage which she slapped right over her brand. They promised to look into a more permanent solution soon, but it would be enough to get her through the day.
Each of the PCs then took the time to enjoy a fun and relaxing day. Roger and Morrigan had an informal waverunner race, Ganen did some scuba diving and found a half-buried solar panel from a TIE fighter, and Sekar discovered that Jacinta liked the water (particularly free diving) almost as much as she liked violence.
The PCs all got together for lunch at one of the Citadel’s many restaurants; and as they were finishing up, they were approached by none other than Governor Gallus Flyte of Tatooine. He looked right past the veteran PCs, however; and spoke directly to Ness. “So sorry to interrupt, young lady”, he began, “but you wouldn’t happen to be the ‘Flying Lance’ from that arena in Xandar, would you?”
Ness confirmed that she was indeed; and when she expressed surprise that anyone would recognize her as such, the governor informed her that replays of her fights had actually become quite popular on Tatooine. “Oh, Prefect Irimoor will be kicking himself for not coming when he finds out that you were here”, he then added with a hint of a devilish grin. “He absolutely adores you; was completely heartbroken when your arena closed down after the Hutt incident.”
“But it’s nice to see that you’re doing well…”, Flyte continued as he glanced around the table, “though you’re keeping company with people who are very much drawn to danger. The trend might be broken now, though.” He finally turned to address the rest of the PCs. “After you came to my office with news of an ominous threat right under my nose for the SECOND time, I had customs keeping an eye out for you. But it seems you were in Mos Eisley just recently and, so far so good.”
After an afternoon as enjoyable as their morning, the PCs ran into another Imperial governor just before dinner; though it took them a bit of time to figured out who she was. She had thick brown hair, was wearing a blue bandana and a pair of big hoop earrings, and was completely hammered. “Hey!”, she loudly slurred out when she saw the PCs, “It’s my Rebel huntersz!”
The PCs eventually figured out that it was the governor of Baroonda whom they’d spoken to only very briefly a couple of months earlier; at which time she was dressed in a military uniform, had her hair up, and was sober. They also hadn’t caught her name at that time; and though they were having some difficulty understanding her, they were fairly sure that she was saying ‘Elsa Marl’.
“Rebel hunters?”, Ness queried to Ganen after the conversation.
“If you’re going to stick with us”, the Mandalorian replied, “it’s not a good idea for your political ideals to be immutable. We’re equal opportunity.”
After dinner, Sekar and Jacinta paid a visit to Badger and told him about the latter’s secret and the associated problem that it was creating for her. “Yea…”, Badger replied; not the least bit surprised that she’d been raised by Revan. “I kinda guessed you’ve had a rough upbringing.”
“But as to your mark”, he continued, “that won’t be a problem. I’ve got a 2-1B down in medical; he’ll get you squared away and then I’ll wipe the procedure from his memory.”
The droid informed Jacinta that there was a painless but time-consuming way to remove the brand and a quick but painful way. Jacinta made it clear that she had no time for the former, and did nothing more than flinch throughout the entire procedure.
She spent the rest of the evening in her new swimsuit and then slept in it; just because she could.